Did You Know . . .

that Democratic Presidential candidates carried West Virginia in every recent election except the last 2?

I found this relevant question:

Why could Jimmy Carter carry West Virginia TWICE, even in the 1980 Reagan landslide, Michael Dukakis could even carry West Virginia, Bill Clinton carried it twice by huge margins both times, yet Al Gore and John Kerry lost there? . . . [W]hat can Dems do to win it again?

Any answers?

By Big Tent Democrat

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Mothers Hands

My mom's been gone for nine years now and I can hardly remember her face. When I think of my mother I see her hands. I don't think this is only due to the fact that her hand is in nearly every picture I have of myself or my sibs from years ago, as much[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/288191410/showDiary.do

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A Peek Inside the Obama Campaign

Again, a good article for political junkies from Richard Wolffe and Evan Thomas:

How do you know if Barack Obama is unhappy with what you're saying?or not saying? At meetings of his closest advisers, he likes to lean back, put his feet on the table and close his eyes. If he doesn't like how the conversation is going, he will lean forward, put his feet on the floor and "adjust his socks, kind of start tugging at them," says Michael Strautmanis, a counselor to the campaign. Obama wants people to talk, but he doesn't want to intimidate them. "If you haven't said anything, he'll call on you," says Strautmanis. "He's never said it, but he usually thinks if somebody is very quiet it's because they disagree with what everybody is saying ? so Barack will call on you and say, 'You've been awfully quiet'." There are no screamers on Team Obama; one senior Obama aide says he's heard him yell only twice in four years. Obama was explicit from the beginning: there was to be "no drama," he told his aides. "I don't want elbowing or finger-pointing. We're going to rise or fall together." Obama wanted steady, calm, focused leadership; he wanted to keep out the grandstanders and make sure the quiet dissenters spoke up. A good formula for running a campaign?or a presidency.

It worked against Hillary Clinton, whose own campaign has been rent by squabbling aides and turf battles. While Clinton veered between playing Queen Elizabeth I and Norma Rae, Obama and his team chugged along with a superior 50-state campaign strategy, racking up the delegates. If the candidate seemed weary and peevish or a little slow to respond at times, he never lost his cool. But the real test is yet to come. The Republican Party has been successfully scaring voters since 1968, when Richard Nixon built a Silent Majority out of lower- and middle-class folks frightened or disturbed by hippies and student radicals and blacks rioting in the inner cities. The 2008 race may turn on which party will win the lower- and middle-class whites in industrial and border states?the Democrats' base from the New Deal to the 1960s, but "Reagan Democrats" in most presidential elections since then. It is a sure bet that the GOP will try to paint Obama as "the other"?as a haughty black intellectual who has Muslim roots (Obama is a Christian) and hangs around with America-haters.

Obama says he's ready for the onslaught. "Yes, we know what's coming," he told a cheering crowd as he won the North Carolina primary last week. "We've seen it already ? the attempts to play on our fears and exploit our differences to turn us against each other for pure political gain?to slice and dice this country into Red States and Blue States; blue-collar and white-collar; white, black, brown." Hillary Clinton was not above playing on those fears. Refusing to concede defeat last week, she cited an Associated Press poll "that found how Senator Obama's support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again." As Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wrote: "Here's what she's really saying to party leaders: There's no way that white people are going to vote for the black guy. Come November, you'll be sorry." A top Clinton adviser, speaking anonymously so he could be more frank, says the Clinton campaign has actually been holding back, for fear of alienating other Democrats. The Republicans "won't suffer from such scruples," this adviser says. Sen. John McCain himself has explicitly disavowed playing the race card or taking the low road generally. But he may not be able to resist casting doubt on Obama's patriotism. And the real question is whether he can?or really wants to?rein in the merchants of slime and sellers of hate who populate the Internet and fund the "independent expenditure" groups who exercise their freedom in ways that give a bad name to free speech.

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Bursting Bubbles

Michael Fox:

We are now in the FOURTH consecutive financial bubble, all contrived to sustain the international investor class - to the detriment of the general public. The latest bubble will cause much worse destruction than any of the previous ones. And it's already out of control...

Lacking its once powerful manufacturing-based economy, the United States has come to depend on one financial ?bubble? after another to keep its economy afloat. Unfortunately, each successive bubble aids fewer people and costs more in the end to clean up once it?s popped. The dot.com bubble was followed by the Enron bubble, then the housing bubble, and now the commodities bubble. Each of these has caused progressively more damage to the value of the dollar and a disproportionate harm to the middle class.

The dot.com bubble made many instant millionaires, but far more losers in the end. Clearly it was fueled by hope and the belief that the internet was going to transform the economy. Of course, that it has done, but there was a point in 1999 when the stock value of Amazon.com exceeded that of General Motors. At that time, any visitor from Mars could see how ludicrous that was. At the time, Amazon had only rented warehouse/shipping facilities and a website that sold books and CDs, while GM had a century?s accumulated patents, subsidiaries including GMAC, Frigidaire, Hughes Aircraft, and extensive, international real estate. That simple metric made the nature of that bubble clear as the glass on a Cadillac. Only greed or total ignorance kept anyone hanging on to overvalued internet startups beyond 1999. In truth, the web today is a very thriving place to invest, as more people turn to it for commerce and entertainment. But ten years ago it was all based on belief in the conceptual.

The Enron bubble was a world-class swindle, enabled by a heavily lobbied California legislature and Governor (Wilson) that deregulated the wholesale provision of electricity, allowing ? well, forcing ? the sale of utility-owned generation plants to Texas companies like Enron and Williams, but not deregulating the provision of electricity to the consumer. The ?free marketers? were freeing the market, as usual, for themselves but not the public.

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Two of McCain's lobbyists bounced over ties to
Myanmar

McCain's campaign staff is rife with lobbyists. But, apparently, McCain finally found lobbyists who crossed the line. That line is pretty far out there -- representing a brutal military regime that is now letting hundreds of thousands of its citizens die. Over the weekend, he lost two key staffers because they represented the Myanmar regime:

Doug Davenport, the regional campaign manager for the mid-Atlantic states, founded the DCI Group's lobbying practice and oversaw the contract with Myanmar in 2002.

"Doug has tendered his resignation and we have accepted it," Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's communications director, wrote in a e-mail.

He joins former DCI Group CEO Doug Goodyear, who resigned yesterday from the post of convention CEO after Newsweek reported that DCI was paid more than $300,000 to represent Myanmar's ruling junta.

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Another Top Republicans Ties To Myanmar Junta
Surface

It turns out that [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/11/another-top-republicans-ties-to-myanmar-junta-s
urface/

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Disasters, Surge and Pandemics

So here are some cheery headlines to catch your eye:

US: Hospital ERs overwhelmed, one-day study finds (May 5)

A one-day snapshot of emergency room conditions at 34 U.S. hospitals shows they are all overwhelmed and none is prepared to handle a big event like a disaster or attack.

Bird flu pandemic risk just as real and probably growing (May 8)

Experts are warning that the risk of a human bird flu pandemic remains just as real and is in fact probably growing.

Doctors debate who would be allowed to die in pandemic (May 5)

Doctors know some patients needing lifesaving care won't get it in a flu pandemic or other disaster. The gut-wrenching dilemma will be deciding who to let die.

Together, they illustrate a dilemma. On the one hand, US hospitals are already strained, and can't really handle any more stress (see  Medical Crisis: The Shape Of Things To Come). On the other hand, any kind of major disaster, be it a Katrina-size storm or a pandemic, will add more patients and more demands to a medical system already maxed out, particularly when it comes to emergency departments and intensive care units (see Pandemic Challenges For Hospitals.) From the WaPo back in February:

The federal government's voluminous plans for dealing with pandemic flu do not adequately account for the overwhelming strain an outbreak would place on hospitals and public health systems trying to cope with millions of seriously ill Americans, some public health experts and local health officials say.

It's a problem. After all, from wildfires to tornadoes, natural disasters happen. So what does one do? A relatively new approach to major disasters after Katrina is to realistically appraise the numbers and try and figure out how hospitals can cope... see Hospital Surge, Exercises and Pandemics. And when they can't, well, at that point, when patients outnumber the available beds and equipment to take care of them, tough decisions need to be made.

...an influential group of physicians has drafted a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients wouldn't be treated. They include the very elderly, seriously hurt trauma victims, severely burned patients and those with severe dementia.

The suggested list was compiled by a task force whose members come from prestigious universities, medical groups, the military and U.S. government agencies. They include the Department of Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The proposed guidelines are designed to be a blueprint for hospitals "so that everybody will be thinking in the same way" when pandemic flu or another widespread health-care disaster hits, said Dr. Asha Devereaux. She is a critical care specialist in San Diego and lead writer of the task force report.

For anyone interested in the details, the medical journal CHEST has made the task force report available (in several parts) for free.

Now, whenever we talk about hospital surge and rationing, there's bound to be people that get upset. But in reality, it's much better to talk about these things in advance rather than avoiding the topic, having no plan and having a disaster hit. And limited beds, limited supplies and limited personnel (shortages of space, staff and stuff) will force these unpleasant rationing choices upon us, like it or not. That's why California and New York have both looked at versions of this. In addition, the nature of infectious disease outbreaks, with the possibility of quarantine and isolation, have raised civil liberties issues of a different sort (see The ACLU, Pandemic Preparedness, and You).

So, step back and look at the big picture. The sheer size and scope of disasters require a completely different approach than medical 'business as usual', yet that means bringing in ethical and legal issues (e.g., rationing) that our political candidates like to avoid (except when they are accusing the other guy of advocating it). But don't let the politicians fool you. As illustrated in today's post, looking at rationing is now a mainstream part of evaluating hospital disaster care, and an arguably appropriate response to shortages.

The California Department of Public Health recently released the first comprehensive surge guidelines for health care during a catastrophic emergency.

The new "surge capacity guidelines"  - which authorities hope will serve as guidlines for hospitals nationwide, especially in the event of a pandemic - calls for letting older, sicker patients be allowed to die in order to save the lives of patients more likely to survive a catastrophic public health crisis.

By the way, this is a topic (health reform, disaster preparedness and the state of disrepair of public health infrastructure) the Presidential candidates need to address. At the same time, looking at "gut-wrenching dilemmas" needs to be done openly and with the input and participation of the public. You certainly don't want decisions like these to be made without you, do you?

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Sands: Bush’s Architects Of Torture Are
‘Weaseling Out’ Of Responsibility For ‘Crimes’

In his new book, Torture Team, renowned international lawyer Philippe Sands documents the fact that Bush’s torture program was approved at the highest levels of the administration.

Speaking with PBS?s Bill Moyers on Friday, Sands noted that these architects of torture refuse to acknowledge they were “complicit in the commission of a crime.” “There was not a hint of recognition that anything had gone wrong, nor a hint of recognition of individual responsibility,” he said of his interviews with key torture advocates.

Sands cited former Pentagon official Doug Feith, who was instrumental in shredding the Geneva Conventions, as an example:

When you read my account with Doug Feith and with others, you will see the sort of weaseling out of individual responsibility, the total and abject failure to accept involvement. Read Mr. Feith’s book. on how to fight the so-called war on terror. And it’s as though the man had no involvement in the decisions relating to interrogation of detainees. And yet, as I describe in the book, the man was deeply involved in the decision making from step one. So it’s about individual responsibility. And there’s been an abject failure on that account.

Watch it:

video details and more

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently argued that torture is not unconstitutional. Speaking with Moyers, Sands slammed Scalia for being “foolish” and not considering the implications of his words:

I’ve listened, for example, to Justice Antonin Scalia saying, if the president wants to authorize torture, there’s nothing in our constitution which stops it. Now, pause for a moment. That is such a foolish thing to say. If the United States president can do that, then why can’t the Iranian president do that, or the British prime minister do that, or the Egyptian president do that?

“You open the door in that way, to all sorts of abuses, and you expose the American military to real dangers,” Sands concluded.

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Obama gets endorsement from DNC member Crystal
Strait

CALIFORNIA SUPERDELEGATE PLEDGES TO BARACK OBAMA

Young Democrats of America DNC Member Cites Obama?s Ability to Bring Young People into the Process

CHICAGO, IL ? Today, Young Democrats of America Board Member and Former California Young Democrats President Crystal Strait pledged to vote for Barack Obama for president. Strait is a superdelegate and Democratic National Committee Member from California. Strait is the 276th superdelegate to endorse Obama. Obama is 155 delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination.

Strait said, ?While representing the Young Democrats of America at the DNC, my number one priority is to ensure that young people are fully represented at the polls and in the Party. Barack Obama has shown a real commitment to young voters in his campaign and in response young people have overwhelmingly voted and caucused for Obama in these primary contests. We know that if a young person votes three times in a row for a Party, they become a Party voter for life. We know that because of high youth turnout in 2004 and 2006, 2008 is the third and critical election for young voters. And that?s why I know I want to pledge my delegate vote to Barack Obama.?

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"I will never support Emily's List again."

From Obsidian Wings blog:

I honestly do not see how someone like Ellen Malcolm, who founded Emily's List, is still its President, and knows how politics works, could have written that "the game is too close to call" in good faith. It is not too close to call. Barring catastrophe, or a Rapture in which Obama is called to be with his maker while Hillary Clinton is left behind, Obama will win the race....

I supported Emily's List for sixteen years. (Maybe seventeen: I can't recall whether I signed up in 1991 or 1992.) Over the years, I have sent their candidates thousands of dollars. That ended this campaign season, when it became clear to me that the leaders of Emily's List, and Ellen Malcolm in particular, had lost their intellectual integrity. This column is a perfect illustration of why I reached that conclusion. Luckily, Emily's List isn't so necessary anymore. It's a lot easier to find out about great progressive women candidates nationwide, and to give money to them. And there are a lot of other good political organizations whose presidents don't find it necessary either to lie to me or to invoke sexism, which I take very seriously, in a purely cynical fashion.

That makes it a lot easier to say that I will never support Emily's List again.

(Angry? Yeah. I expected much better.)

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