Americans have been treated to a rash of advertising about health care lately. Many of them are homespun YouTube efforts, or distributed virally via mass emailing by grassroots (or faux grassroots - let’s call ‘em “weedroots”) organizations. They’re clever, to be sure, but mostly made on the cheap.
You can really tell the difference between these low-budget independent production efforts and the polished offerings we’ve become used to by the high class ad agency commercials from the Pharmaceutical Industry, flooding our airwaves since the FDA lifted the ban on Direct To Consumer (DTC) advertising in 1997.
Animation of tube-people strolling around a tube-town, or animation of cute little fungae playing around between your toes, or famous movie stars confiding that they had a problem but some drug made it go away -- you’ve seen them. Trust us, we’ve spent enough time in the television world to know these spots cost millions. And the national air time even more.
We’re sure you’ve heard the passionate explanations of why we can’t allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. They go something like this: American drug companies do most of the research in the world, and they have to pay for that research by charging high prices for these miracle drugs; what’s more, patent protection runs out after a few years, and generics rip off the name-brand drugs and sell them for peanuts, so Big Pharma has to get the whole cost of all that research right away. So they do whatever they can to increase demand, and keep costs high.
Pharma will tell you they spend only a very small percentage of revenues on advertising. Their BIG money goes into research – and where will the new miracle drugs come from if they can’t get BIG money from selling the drugs they develop?
But wait. Apparently there is some figure fudging going on here.
A study by two York University of Toronto scientists, using publicly available data about the American pharmaceutical market from very well accepted and respected industry sources, tells us that Pharma spends about 13.4% on research, and 24.4% on promotion. That’s promotion, not just advertising. It includes all the “gifts” given to doctors who prescribe their products, free samples given away to get people hooked on their products, sales meetings held in the Bahamas for their top salespersons, detailed advertising in Medical Journals, and those fancy ads we’ve all come to love.
The study was released in January of 2008, but they based their study on 2004 data, since that was the latest year they could get complete information from the industry sources. The total: $57.5 Billion spent on pharmaceutical promotion in 2004. It amounted to $61,000 per physician in the US. It is safe to say those numbers have gone dramatically UP since 2004.
Other studies have shown that marketing efforts like Direct To Consumer Advertising and giving free samples aren’t having the impact the drug companies claim.
A Columbia University researcher and Tufts University professor surveyed the research which they say shows that giving "free" samples is "not effective in improving drug access for the indigent, does not promote rational drug use, and raises the cost of care." Apparently the sales reps use them themselves or give them to family, and doctors often do the same. The patients who get them are most likely to be patients with continuous health insurance coverage, not the indigent uninsured.
Now, as to advertising, you keep hearing the argument that TV can inform patients about things they really need to know, that they can’t get any other way. They don’t advertise to create an unnecessary new market for a slightly re-made existing drug. No, they do this as a public service. Guess they haven’t read the study that shows a 10% increase in advertising for a specific drug yields, on average, as of 2000, a 1% increase in sales. So $1 spent on ads yields $4.20 in sales. Not bad return, eh? Oh, but that wasn’t why they did it. No, really!
What does this mean for the cost of health care? National prescription spending increased
16% from 2000 to 2001, compared to a 9% increase for physician and clinical services
and an 8% increase for hospital care.
A November 2006 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office report noted that "studies we reviewed found that increases in DTC advertising have contributed to overall increases in spending on both the advertised drug itself and on other drugs that treat the same conditions. For example, one study of 64 drugs found a median increase in sales of $2.20 for every $1 spent on DTC advertising. Consumer surveys suggest that DTC advertising increases utilization of drugs by prompting some consumers to request the advertised drugs from their physicians, who studies find are generally responsive to these requests. The surveys we reviewed found that between 2 and 7 percent of consumers who saw DTC advertising requested and ultimately received a prescription for the advertised drug….”
(So basically the patient is getting between himself and his doctor, deciding what disease he has and recommending treatment. That makes sense.)
(Please note that in 2000, the sales per dollar spent on advertising was $4.20, and in 2006 it fell to only $2.20. Maybe all that money they spend on the increasingly fancy ads isn’t even doing what it used to do when they were simpler!)
The report continues …“Many of the drugs most heavily advertised to consumers in 2005 were for the treatment of chronic conditions, such as high cholesterol, asthma, and allergies," it noted.
So if they can get us to start using these drugs, they have a good chance of keeping us as customers for the rest of our lives. Love it.
Just think: if we went back to banning DTC ads, and stopped free samples dished out to docs, big Pharma could save billions and billions of dollars every year. What are the odds they’d pass that on to us consumers?
And how many consumers would be spared from being treated for diseases some high-priced commercial convinced them they have, but they don’t?
JM
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Kennedys: Lives lived and given in service
“From those to whom much is given, much is required.”
Luke 12:48
These are the words that motivated the Kennedys…that moved them to service for the betterment of their country and the world. And with the passing of Teddy, the youngest of four brothers, an era has drawn to a close.
Joseph Jr., the eldest, died during WWII, in 1944, when the bomber in which he was flying exploded over the English Channel. John, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas in 1963 during the third year of his presidency. Robert, a U.S. Senator, fell to an assassin’s bullet in Los Angeles in 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination. And finally Teddy, Senator Edward Moore Kennedy, succumbed to the ravages of a malignant brain tumor late Tuesday evening… the only one of the four brothers in this star-crossed family who was able to live out his years and die a natural, albeit horrible death.
While his three older brothers, either heroically or tragically, gave their lives for their country, it’s fair to say that Teddy gave his life to his country. The Lion of the Senate wrote or co-wrote some 2,500 bills during his illustrious 46-year career in Washington, resulting in over 300 laws that bear his name. And he was passionate about his work… passionate about helping create legislation that would make the country a better, more equitable place for all, passionate about representing the people of Massachusetts and about serving the people of America.
From Civil Rights to Labor Rights to Gay Rights…from Immigration to Education to the environment…from outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War to outspoken opposition to the Iraq War…Ted Kennedy championed all of these causes and issues along with so many more. But nothing has been more important to him…nothing has occupied more of his time during the past 46 years…than his never-ending fight to make quality Health Care available, accessible and affordable to all Americans, regardless of their circumstances.
It was only a month ago that he wrote these words in an article that appeared in Newsweek. “This (Health Care Reform) is the cause of my life. For four decades I have carried this cause…from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me…and more urgency…than ever before. But it’s always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years.”
Referring back to what he said during his emotional and inspiring address at the Democratic Convention in Denver last summer he reiterated his hope that with Barack Obama in the White House, “…we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American… will have decent, quality Health Care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege”.
Ted Kennedy was no saint. Who among us has been? But when he is eulogized at his funeral in Boston tomorrow he will be remembered as a flawed man who grew to become, as former President Jimmy Carter said on learning of his passing, “…an unwavering advocate for the millions of less fortunate in our country. The courage and dignity he exhibited in his fight with cancer was surpassed only by his lifelong commitment and service to his country.” And keep in mind, this comes from a man who, even though they were in the same party, was once a bitter political rival.
So Camelot, it seems, is no more. And it remains to be seen if the impetus provided by Ted Kennedy’s death, but more so his life and legacy, will be enough, finally, to help make the type of meaningful Health Care Reform he fought so long and hard for a reality.
Perhaps it will be his words that make the ultimate difference when the Senate reconvenes after Labor Day.
“For me…this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”
Edward Moore Kennedy – 1932-2009 – Rest in peace.
SC
Luke 12:48
These are the words that motivated the Kennedys…that moved them to service for the betterment of their country and the world. And with the passing of Teddy, the youngest of four brothers, an era has drawn to a close.
Joseph Jr., the eldest, died during WWII, in 1944, when the bomber in which he was flying exploded over the English Channel. John, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas in 1963 during the third year of his presidency. Robert, a U.S. Senator, fell to an assassin’s bullet in Los Angeles in 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination. And finally Teddy, Senator Edward Moore Kennedy, succumbed to the ravages of a malignant brain tumor late Tuesday evening… the only one of the four brothers in this star-crossed family who was able to live out his years and die a natural, albeit horrible death.
While his three older brothers, either heroically or tragically, gave their lives for their country, it’s fair to say that Teddy gave his life to his country. The Lion of the Senate wrote or co-wrote some 2,500 bills during his illustrious 46-year career in Washington, resulting in over 300 laws that bear his name. And he was passionate about his work… passionate about helping create legislation that would make the country a better, more equitable place for all, passionate about representing the people of Massachusetts and about serving the people of America.
From Civil Rights to Labor Rights to Gay Rights…from Immigration to Education to the environment…from outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War to outspoken opposition to the Iraq War…Ted Kennedy championed all of these causes and issues along with so many more. But nothing has been more important to him…nothing has occupied more of his time during the past 46 years…than his never-ending fight to make quality Health Care available, accessible and affordable to all Americans, regardless of their circumstances.
It was only a month ago that he wrote these words in an article that appeared in Newsweek. “This (Health Care Reform) is the cause of my life. For four decades I have carried this cause…from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me…and more urgency…than ever before. But it’s always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years.”
Referring back to what he said during his emotional and inspiring address at the Democratic Convention in Denver last summer he reiterated his hope that with Barack Obama in the White House, “…we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American… will have decent, quality Health Care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege”.
Ted Kennedy was no saint. Who among us has been? But when he is eulogized at his funeral in Boston tomorrow he will be remembered as a flawed man who grew to become, as former President Jimmy Carter said on learning of his passing, “…an unwavering advocate for the millions of less fortunate in our country. The courage and dignity he exhibited in his fight with cancer was surpassed only by his lifelong commitment and service to his country.” And keep in mind, this comes from a man who, even though they were in the same party, was once a bitter political rival.
So Camelot, it seems, is no more. And it remains to be seen if the impetus provided by Ted Kennedy’s death, but more so his life and legacy, will be enough, finally, to help make the type of meaningful Health Care Reform he fought so long and hard for a reality.
Perhaps it will be his words that make the ultimate difference when the Senate reconvenes after Labor Day.
“For me…this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”
Edward Moore Kennedy – 1932-2009 – Rest in peace.
SC
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Facing a Changing World
Oh, how our world is changing. People have told me that all through my life, but today I had a moment that brought home to me just how true that is.
Signing on to Facebook as usual this morning I read a few political jibes, a few mournful comments about Sen. Kennedy’s passing, a couple of complaints about having to go to a disliked job … these mostly by the over-40 friends I have linked to on the site.
Then there were the comments/status postings of the UNDER-40 friends (mostly my “kids” and nieces and their friends who have deigned to call me ‘friend’ for Facebook purposes). There were some comments about unhappy work life, showing that some things don’t change. But there before my eyes were discussions of personal health issues.
The first was a detailed back-and-forth about an implanted birth control device. Not just a dispassionate discussion of the characteristics and statistics, but personal details about cramps and gas and bloating and pain and periods that lasted 3 ½ weeks.
Never in a million years would I, or other women of my generation, casually put such intimate personal information out there for the world to read. The WORLD!
The second health posting was even more startling, but for entirely different reasons. A young mother posted that her son had a bad headache and a high, high fever – 105.6 -- and that she was very scared and waiting for the local clinic to open so she could take him in. A few minutes later, in response to a comment from one of her friends, she said the fever had dropped to 101, but she was still scared.
I know this woman to be a very loving and caring mother. My heart went out to her and her son, and I offered a quick prayer for a safe and happy outcome. But I was struck by the fact that, with a serious health emergency happening, she was at her computer, posting on Facebook. She felt so close to her circle of friends using this medium that that’s where she turned to cry out in her anguish. And her friends responded within minutes, with support and advice not to wait for the clinic, head for the ER.
I fully expect that we’ll learn how things turned out a little later today, when, I say hopefully, she posts again to tell us what was wrong and how it’s been fixed.
Our lives can be a completely open book today. For good or ill, we learn all about what’s happening to our acquaintances just by opening up the laptop. Wherever we are.
I see my daughter’s pictures of her weekend at the beach. I hear about another daughter’s bad day at work. I see video from a Pearl Jam concert from my other daughter. I learn that Republican friends in South Carolina are looking for some way to dump “LuvGov” Mark Sanford. My son-in-law is taking their dog to be “fixed”. A friend is looking for Red Sox tickets. Another friend is posting while he gets his car washed. Amazing.
And to top it off, the young mother knew to the tenth of a point what her son’s temperature was. Digital thermometers. Modern medical marvels. A taken-for-granted fact of life.
But one thing hasn’t changed. Moms still despair when their kids suddenly get really sick. The ones with great insurance or medicaid head straight for the ER. The ones with high deductibles wait for the doctor’s office to open, carrying the guilt and fear that this could be a dangerous decision. Do we hurry in for a $500 - $5,000 ER visit? Or do we opt for the $25 co-pay at the family doctor when he opens in the morning.
And the moms with no insurance at all know that no matter what type of health care service they seek, it’s going to cost them a fortune, big or small. Either they’ll set up a long term payment plan, or just kiss their credit rating goodbye. Or stay home and pray for a miracle.
Some of the over-40 friends have had to face that situation for themselves, as well. Is this lump worth checking out? Has that mole changed? The pain in my chest, is it acid reflux, gas, or am I having a heart attack?
Facebook friends can’t fix that. Universal health care can. No mother - no person -should ever have to face this question in America. This is indeed "Change we need."
JM
Signing on to Facebook as usual this morning I read a few political jibes, a few mournful comments about Sen. Kennedy’s passing, a couple of complaints about having to go to a disliked job … these mostly by the over-40 friends I have linked to on the site.
Then there were the comments/status postings of the UNDER-40 friends (mostly my “kids” and nieces and their friends who have deigned to call me ‘friend’ for Facebook purposes). There were some comments about unhappy work life, showing that some things don’t change. But there before my eyes were discussions of personal health issues.
The first was a detailed back-and-forth about an implanted birth control device. Not just a dispassionate discussion of the characteristics and statistics, but personal details about cramps and gas and bloating and pain and periods that lasted 3 ½ weeks.
Never in a million years would I, or other women of my generation, casually put such intimate personal information out there for the world to read. The WORLD!
The second health posting was even more startling, but for entirely different reasons. A young mother posted that her son had a bad headache and a high, high fever – 105.6 -- and that she was very scared and waiting for the local clinic to open so she could take him in. A few minutes later, in response to a comment from one of her friends, she said the fever had dropped to 101, but she was still scared.
I know this woman to be a very loving and caring mother. My heart went out to her and her son, and I offered a quick prayer for a safe and happy outcome. But I was struck by the fact that, with a serious health emergency happening, she was at her computer, posting on Facebook. She felt so close to her circle of friends using this medium that that’s where she turned to cry out in her anguish. And her friends responded within minutes, with support and advice not to wait for the clinic, head for the ER.
I fully expect that we’ll learn how things turned out a little later today, when, I say hopefully, she posts again to tell us what was wrong and how it’s been fixed.
Our lives can be a completely open book today. For good or ill, we learn all about what’s happening to our acquaintances just by opening up the laptop. Wherever we are.
I see my daughter’s pictures of her weekend at the beach. I hear about another daughter’s bad day at work. I see video from a Pearl Jam concert from my other daughter. I learn that Republican friends in South Carolina are looking for some way to dump “LuvGov” Mark Sanford. My son-in-law is taking their dog to be “fixed”. A friend is looking for Red Sox tickets. Another friend is posting while he gets his car washed. Amazing.
And to top it off, the young mother knew to the tenth of a point what her son’s temperature was. Digital thermometers. Modern medical marvels. A taken-for-granted fact of life.
But one thing hasn’t changed. Moms still despair when their kids suddenly get really sick. The ones with great insurance or medicaid head straight for the ER. The ones with high deductibles wait for the doctor’s office to open, carrying the guilt and fear that this could be a dangerous decision. Do we hurry in for a $500 - $5,000 ER visit? Or do we opt for the $25 co-pay at the family doctor when he opens in the morning.
And the moms with no insurance at all know that no matter what type of health care service they seek, it’s going to cost them a fortune, big or small. Either they’ll set up a long term payment plan, or just kiss their credit rating goodbye. Or stay home and pray for a miracle.
Some of the over-40 friends have had to face that situation for themselves, as well. Is this lump worth checking out? Has that mole changed? The pain in my chest, is it acid reflux, gas, or am I having a heart attack?
Facebook friends can’t fix that. Universal health care can. No mother - no person -should ever have to face this question in America. This is indeed "Change we need."
JM
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Words To Think About From Someone Who’s Been There
America has lost one of its heros. We want to acknowledge the passing Tuesday evening of Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Senator Kennedy devoted his entire career to making America - and the world - a better place for all of us, by championing socially conscious legislation for the last 47 years. He will be missed.
* * * * * * *
As we see it, the biggest obstacle we face in achieving meaningful Health Care Reform in this country is the lack of any kind of connect with the people in and around Washington who are in a position to help make the absolutely critical changes necessary to our current system. For the most part they’re advocating contrary to our wishes…either because it’s in their interest as stakeholders, beneficiaries or employees to assure ever more outrageous profits for the health care industry…or because it’s simply not possible for them to relate to the problems most Americans are confronted with every day, since they’re not!
What we need in Washington is someone representing us who’s facing bankruptcy because of a mountain of medical and household bills that they have no hope of paying…someone who can’t take their sick child to the doctor or go to the doctor themselves because they no longer have health insurance and can no longer afford to pay…in short, someone who’s just as fed up and pissed off as we are.
What we need in Washington is someone like Ed Broadbent, the former, long-time leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, the party that, although never in power, was almost solely responsible for bringing Universal Health Care to all Canadians.
The following are excerpts from remarks that Broadbent delivered to the NDP in Halifax on the occasion of the opening of their National Convention on August 14, 2009.
“…There's never been a time when our social democratic values have been more practical. This is a social democratic moment. It's a moment when governments of all stripes in advanced economies around the world have been forced by the economic crisis to acknowledge things we have always known, what we've always known about how the economy works and the important role of government. Even governments of the right, who created the current mess in the first place, have now had to adopt the kinds of policies we social democrats have advocated all along. So if ever there was a time for discussing the relevance of our values to practical politics…it's now, when the whole world has experienced the disastrous consequences of three decades of an ideologically based attack on equality of citizenship and social programs, complemented by a general denigration of government and the virtual worship of markets.
…More equal nations like Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, are better off in almost every way. Their citizens are healthier, live longer, have fewer teenage pregnancies, are more law abiding, participate more in civic projects and are more trusting of their neighbours. There is, in short, a greater flourishing of individual liberty. Transcending any differences in religion, language and culture, it is the higher degree of equality that makes those nations so much better off than the US or the UK, which are the most unequal. I repeat and emphasize that once a certain minimum level of wealth is reached, it is not more growth but more equality that leads to a better quality of life for everyone.
…Unequal societies are not only unfair, they are dysfunctional. They promote isolation and social estrangement, and they foster higher levels of consumerism that depletes the planet's resources. Not just the poor but everyone is worse off. Rich and highly educated British and Americans do worse than their equivalents in more equal societies, even in basic things like health.
The first leader of our party, my friend and mentor Tommy Douglas, was a political genius. About Tommy and about no one else can it be said “Without him universal medicare would still be a dream in North America.” Tommy's genius lay not in his arguing that health care should be a right and not a privilege. Others too had made this claim. His political genius, which laid the foundation for fundamental change, was that he showed why universal public medicare was a practical answer to the health problems of Canadians. He understood in every bone in his body that idealism only works in democratic politics when the idea is seen to be real. In politics people like to be inspired, but they need to be persuaded. Then, to get the job done, they need a reforming government that manages the economy with competence.”
One more item that we neglected to mention in our Media Blitz the other day, and this one probably should have led it off. So let’s put it in the category of giving overdue credit where credit is due.
In the beginning, we were not what you’d classify as big believers in radio-pundit, and now also TV-pundit, Ed Schultz. Truth to tell, we initially thought he was kind of an opportunist who just happened to be in the right place at the right time…and we weren’t all that convinced about his true commitment to progressive ideals. Well, he’s slowly but surely changed our minds.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding…and although, due mainly to style, he still may not be the person we most look forward to tuning in every day, we do tune in. What we are finding is that there’s absolutely nobody out there in the electronic media who, day in and day out, holds the feet of Democratic politicians to the fire more than Ed Schultz does when it comes to their thoughts, words and actions throughout this Health Care Reform debate.
All we can say is, well done Big Eddie. Keep keeping them honest.
SC
* * * * * * *
As we see it, the biggest obstacle we face in achieving meaningful Health Care Reform in this country is the lack of any kind of connect with the people in and around Washington who are in a position to help make the absolutely critical changes necessary to our current system. For the most part they’re advocating contrary to our wishes…either because it’s in their interest as stakeholders, beneficiaries or employees to assure ever more outrageous profits for the health care industry…or because it’s simply not possible for them to relate to the problems most Americans are confronted with every day, since they’re not!
What we need in Washington is someone representing us who’s facing bankruptcy because of a mountain of medical and household bills that they have no hope of paying…someone who can’t take their sick child to the doctor or go to the doctor themselves because they no longer have health insurance and can no longer afford to pay…in short, someone who’s just as fed up and pissed off as we are.
What we need in Washington is someone like Ed Broadbent, the former, long-time leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, the party that, although never in power, was almost solely responsible for bringing Universal Health Care to all Canadians.
The following are excerpts from remarks that Broadbent delivered to the NDP in Halifax on the occasion of the opening of their National Convention on August 14, 2009.
“…There's never been a time when our social democratic values have been more practical. This is a social democratic moment. It's a moment when governments of all stripes in advanced economies around the world have been forced by the economic crisis to acknowledge things we have always known, what we've always known about how the economy works and the important role of government. Even governments of the right, who created the current mess in the first place, have now had to adopt the kinds of policies we social democrats have advocated all along. So if ever there was a time for discussing the relevance of our values to practical politics…it's now, when the whole world has experienced the disastrous consequences of three decades of an ideologically based attack on equality of citizenship and social programs, complemented by a general denigration of government and the virtual worship of markets.
…More equal nations like Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, are better off in almost every way. Their citizens are healthier, live longer, have fewer teenage pregnancies, are more law abiding, participate more in civic projects and are more trusting of their neighbours. There is, in short, a greater flourishing of individual liberty. Transcending any differences in religion, language and culture, it is the higher degree of equality that makes those nations so much better off than the US or the UK, which are the most unequal. I repeat and emphasize that once a certain minimum level of wealth is reached, it is not more growth but more equality that leads to a better quality of life for everyone.
…Unequal societies are not only unfair, they are dysfunctional. They promote isolation and social estrangement, and they foster higher levels of consumerism that depletes the planet's resources. Not just the poor but everyone is worse off. Rich and highly educated British and Americans do worse than their equivalents in more equal societies, even in basic things like health.
The first leader of our party, my friend and mentor Tommy Douglas, was a political genius. About Tommy and about no one else can it be said “Without him universal medicare would still be a dream in North America.” Tommy's genius lay not in his arguing that health care should be a right and not a privilege. Others too had made this claim. His political genius, which laid the foundation for fundamental change, was that he showed why universal public medicare was a practical answer to the health problems of Canadians. He understood in every bone in his body that idealism only works in democratic politics when the idea is seen to be real. In politics people like to be inspired, but they need to be persuaded. Then, to get the job done, they need a reforming government that manages the economy with competence.”
One more item that we neglected to mention in our Media Blitz the other day, and this one probably should have led it off. So let’s put it in the category of giving overdue credit where credit is due.
In the beginning, we were not what you’d classify as big believers in radio-pundit, and now also TV-pundit, Ed Schultz. Truth to tell, we initially thought he was kind of an opportunist who just happened to be in the right place at the right time…and we weren’t all that convinced about his true commitment to progressive ideals. Well, he’s slowly but surely changed our minds.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding…and although, due mainly to style, he still may not be the person we most look forward to tuning in every day, we do tune in. What we are finding is that there’s absolutely nobody out there in the electronic media who, day in and day out, holds the feet of Democratic politicians to the fire more than Ed Schultz does when it comes to their thoughts, words and actions throughout this Health Care Reform debate.
All we can say is, well done Big Eddie. Keep keeping them honest.
SC
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Outsourcing the Fun Stuff
A Changing Military in a Modern World
Anyone who remembers reading Beetle Bailey in the Sunday funnies remembers that the consequences of the silly missteps of our hero resulted in his assignment to KP duties – kitchen patrol – read, potato peeling. That was back in the days when the Army prepared meals for soldiers.
Today’s Army is the very model of a modern major enterprise. Meals are outsourced. Oh, they might be prepared on base, but most likely, a caterer is contracted for the job. It’s just one of hundreds of functions the US military no longer does for itself. Our military is dedicated to operating as efficiently as the most successful businesses our capitalistic society has engendered.
And it makes sense. Sort of. In the words of one of the logistical experts of the US Army, “The outsourcing of non-core competencies is a recognized best practice. The reasons for outsourcing logistics functions include lower costs, a streamlined labor force, access to top personnel, and cutting-edge technologies. According to the Outsourcing Institute, 85 percent of companies now outsource work they used to do in-house. ... They provide significant economies of scale through their specialization. By partnering with world-class providers of logistics services, a company can improve its service levels, profitability, and response times dramatically."
(Source: Larry Smith, “Commercial Logistics Best Practices for the Revolution in Military Logistics”, Concepts Development Division, Army Logistics Integration Agency.)
You outsource things that aren’t at the core of your enterprise. The idea is that there is a private enterprise that concentrates on this function and has the leading edge in technology and methodology. Any former GI would probably agree that private enterprise could be better at catering, making uniforms, constructing boots, even plumbing. All sorts of things.
Sorry, but it scares the bejeezus out of us to think that our military has determined that there is some company out there that is more experienced and better trained and more efficient and better equipped than the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and CIA, at: interrogating prisoners, fighting in an urban guerilla insurgency environment, providing security for diplomats and high level military officers, tracking down enemy operatives, and “neutralizing” them. That company, apparently, is Blackwater.
Blackwater, it seems, is SO good at those things that they can be (and ARE) hired to do those things without the requirement of bidding on the contract. They are simply handed the work, and the money. Lots of money.
And here’s an irony: in most cases, we trained their personnel, at taxpayer expense, and then they quit and joined up with Blackwater. For lots of money.
It gets worse. You see, a private company isn’t constrained by the same rules and regulations and conventions as actual soldiers and Marines. And the way it worked for years was they got a “get out of jail free” card in Iraq, where they make up a significant percentage of our military force. Since January of this year, Defense Department contractors in Iraq were finally made subject to Iraqi law. Except, apparently, for Blackwater. Oh yeah, we forgot to mention, they call themselves Xe now. (It’s pronounced SHE.) You see, Blackwater, we mean Xe, is contracted through the State Department now, not Defense. So they can stay armed, protecting diplomats, without being subject to Iraqi law.
You may recall the reason Iraq revoked Blackwater’s license and changed the rules to put US contractors under Iraqi law. In September of 2007, while “protecting” a diplomatic convoy, they opened fire on civilians in Nisour Square, killing 17 people. But since these guys are clearly the ‘top personnel’, have ‘cutting-edge technology’ and provide ‘significant efficiencies of scale’, the State Department and President Obama decided they could stay. And gave them an extra $20million at the end of July, bringing the total paid by the State Department to Blackwater for Iraq service so far to over $1billion.
Aren’t we lucky? Outsourcing this military function to Blackwater – oops, Xe – will really make us popular with the Iraqis. (They already suffer some stigma, since one former executive of Blackwater has been quoted as saying that Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, sees himself as a Christian Crusader whose mission is to eliminate Muslims.) Too bad they are expected to leave Iraq, finally, in September.
And besides, we’re sure we got a super bargain because we the people are a really big customer of theirs. Not only do we hire them as mercenaries in Iraq, we also use their services in Afghanistan (part of the 70,000 contractors there), New Orleans, and for assassinations!
Yes, assassinations. Yeah, yeah, they’re illegal, both domestically and internationally, but the CIA spent about $20million to set up a hit squad, and worked with Blackwater – that is, Xe – to plan the logistics of it. So founder Erik Prince knew about the assassination squads before Congress did! Now that’s an insider.
Of course the New York Times and the Washington Post report that these squads never actually did anything, and Leon Panetta cancelled the handshake contracts when he heard about them as new director of the CIA. Basically, they say, we spent $20million on a Power Point presentation. (That makes us feel better.)
Old Beetle Bailey would be so much happier to be a soldier in today’s Army. All the unpleasant non-combat stuff he was forced to endure is outsourced, and so is a lot of the combat stuff. Even better, he could join a private enterprise like Blackwater, and do all the fun combat stuff for a fat paycheck and no “Sergeant Snorkle” standing over him enforcing the rules. What a comic strip that would be!
(Thanks to Jeremy Scahill at The Nation, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, for many of the above facts.)
JM
Anyone who remembers reading Beetle Bailey in the Sunday funnies remembers that the consequences of the silly missteps of our hero resulted in his assignment to KP duties – kitchen patrol – read, potato peeling. That was back in the days when the Army prepared meals for soldiers.
Today’s Army is the very model of a modern major enterprise. Meals are outsourced. Oh, they might be prepared on base, but most likely, a caterer is contracted for the job. It’s just one of hundreds of functions the US military no longer does for itself. Our military is dedicated to operating as efficiently as the most successful businesses our capitalistic society has engendered.
And it makes sense. Sort of. In the words of one of the logistical experts of the US Army, “The outsourcing of non-core competencies is a recognized best practice. The reasons for outsourcing logistics functions include lower costs, a streamlined labor force, access to top personnel, and cutting-edge technologies. According to the Outsourcing Institute, 85 percent of companies now outsource work they used to do in-house. ... They provide significant economies of scale through their specialization. By partnering with world-class providers of logistics services, a company can improve its service levels, profitability, and response times dramatically."
(Source: Larry Smith, “Commercial Logistics Best Practices for the Revolution in Military Logistics”, Concepts Development Division, Army Logistics Integration Agency.)
You outsource things that aren’t at the core of your enterprise. The idea is that there is a private enterprise that concentrates on this function and has the leading edge in technology and methodology. Any former GI would probably agree that private enterprise could be better at catering, making uniforms, constructing boots, even plumbing. All sorts of things.
Sorry, but it scares the bejeezus out of us to think that our military has determined that there is some company out there that is more experienced and better trained and more efficient and better equipped than the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and CIA, at: interrogating prisoners, fighting in an urban guerilla insurgency environment, providing security for diplomats and high level military officers, tracking down enemy operatives, and “neutralizing” them. That company, apparently, is Blackwater.
Blackwater, it seems, is SO good at those things that they can be (and ARE) hired to do those things without the requirement of bidding on the contract. They are simply handed the work, and the money. Lots of money.
And here’s an irony: in most cases, we trained their personnel, at taxpayer expense, and then they quit and joined up with Blackwater. For lots of money.
It gets worse. You see, a private company isn’t constrained by the same rules and regulations and conventions as actual soldiers and Marines. And the way it worked for years was they got a “get out of jail free” card in Iraq, where they make up a significant percentage of our military force. Since January of this year, Defense Department contractors in Iraq were finally made subject to Iraqi law. Except, apparently, for Blackwater. Oh yeah, we forgot to mention, they call themselves Xe now. (It’s pronounced SHE.) You see, Blackwater, we mean Xe, is contracted through the State Department now, not Defense. So they can stay armed, protecting diplomats, without being subject to Iraqi law.
You may recall the reason Iraq revoked Blackwater’s license and changed the rules to put US contractors under Iraqi law. In September of 2007, while “protecting” a diplomatic convoy, they opened fire on civilians in Nisour Square, killing 17 people. But since these guys are clearly the ‘top personnel’, have ‘cutting-edge technology’ and provide ‘significant efficiencies of scale’, the State Department and President Obama decided they could stay. And gave them an extra $20million at the end of July, bringing the total paid by the State Department to Blackwater for Iraq service so far to over $1billion.
Aren’t we lucky? Outsourcing this military function to Blackwater – oops, Xe – will really make us popular with the Iraqis. (They already suffer some stigma, since one former executive of Blackwater has been quoted as saying that Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, sees himself as a Christian Crusader whose mission is to eliminate Muslims.) Too bad they are expected to leave Iraq, finally, in September.
And besides, we’re sure we got a super bargain because we the people are a really big customer of theirs. Not only do we hire them as mercenaries in Iraq, we also use their services in Afghanistan (part of the 70,000 contractors there), New Orleans, and for assassinations!
Yes, assassinations. Yeah, yeah, they’re illegal, both domestically and internationally, but the CIA spent about $20million to set up a hit squad, and worked with Blackwater – that is, Xe – to plan the logistics of it. So founder Erik Prince knew about the assassination squads before Congress did! Now that’s an insider.
Of course the New York Times and the Washington Post report that these squads never actually did anything, and Leon Panetta cancelled the handshake contracts when he heard about them as new director of the CIA. Basically, they say, we spent $20million on a Power Point presentation. (That makes us feel better.)
Old Beetle Bailey would be so much happier to be a soldier in today’s Army. All the unpleasant non-combat stuff he was forced to endure is outsourced, and so is a lot of the combat stuff. Even better, he could join a private enterprise like Blackwater, and do all the fun combat stuff for a fat paycheck and no “Sergeant Snorkle” standing over him enforcing the rules. What a comic strip that would be!
(Thanks to Jeremy Scahill at The Nation, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, for many of the above facts.)
JM
Monday, August 24, 2009
On The Media Merry-Go-Round:
What’s Bin Did and What’s Bin Hid
So it turns out that one of the most intriguing rumors of the past week was, happily from this perspective, untrue. Whack-job Glenn Beck had not been suspended by Faux News, either indefinitely or at all, for his on-air claim that Barack Obama is a racist who hates all white people.
Now why, you’re probably asking, would we be happy that Beck will be back on the air this week spewing his frighteningly screwy brand of anti-Barack Obama, anti-Health Care Reform, or anti-anything even remotely Democratic, brand of venom on behalf of News Corp. We all know that he’s nutty as a fruitcake…quite likely certifiable if anyone were to do even a half-assed psychological analysis…but we need him on the job to make people understand. And sooner or later their viewers are going to wake up to the realization that these people are not now, and never have been, on their side. Nor are the Republican politicians whose music the Faux News fear-mongers sing every day, or the Health Care industry lobbyists who write the songs.
And besides, in fairness to Beck, how in the world could anybody ever come to the clear conclusion that he’s really any crazier than any of the rest of the Faux babbling heads. Seriously: Sean Hannity is a self-absorbed, self-stroking egomaniac; Bill O’Reilly is, in addition to being a pathological liar, a psychotic bully; and Neal Cavuto, Gretchen Carlson, Steve Doocy and their ilk…well, they’re little more than mouth-breathing parrots!
It’s inevitable that the (News) Corps is eventually going to rot from the inside out anyway. But the process will be expedited if Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly and the rest of the not-ready-for-prime-time boot-lickers on Faux simply keep opening their mouths. Because America is finally starting to pay attention to what these media whores are actually saying.
Wow! We knew Jon Stewart was both a skilled and a relentless interviewer. But we had no idea an interview with Stewart could cost someone their job. However, less than 24 hours after her ill-advised and apparently unprepared turn on the Daily Show, former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey, the mother of the ‘Death Panels’ controversy, is out as a member of Cantel Medical Corporation’s board of directors.
A spokesperson for Cantel insists McCaughey actually “…resigned to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest during the national debate over Health Care Reform”. Right…that was just after they said “…and don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out”.
Now we’re not saying McCaughey’s performance during her interview with Stewart was an unmitigated disaster…oh what the hell, yes we are! Although Stewart didn’t make her look quite as stupid and inept as he made CNBC’s blowhard financial guru Jim Kramer look a few months back, as we pointed out Friday on this blog, it was pretty humiliating.
When oh when are these people going to learn that if they agree to be interviewed by Stewart, they’d better understand going in that he’s much more than “merely a comedian”. While unfailingly polite, he’s also well-prepared and tenacious, especially if he doesn’t agree with his guest. Anyone who underestimates him does so at their peril. And if it costs someone their job, well, we won’t complain when that person deserves it.
We finish up our spin on the media Merry-go-round with a Stephanie Miller story. The radio host got off one of the best lines in recent memory while doing a guest spot on ‘The Ed Show’ on MSNBC.
During a panel discussion which had already touched on everyone’s take on Michael Vick’s pending return to the National Football League, the conversation turned to Sarah Palin. The panelists were asked whether or not they believed the former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate’s many recent, politically-motivated pronouncements and quite bizarre public appearances were her way of testing the waters for a possible 2012 Presidential run.
When her turn came, Miller…who, as anyone who has ever heard her radio show knows, is a Major League dog lover…couldn’t resist the set up and didn’t waste the opportunity.
“Well”, she said. “Everyone who knows me knows how much I love my dogs…and I’ll tell you right now that if it came down to a choice, I’d vote for Michael Vick for President before I’d vote for Sarah Palin”!
And so it goes.
SC
So it turns out that one of the most intriguing rumors of the past week was, happily from this perspective, untrue. Whack-job Glenn Beck had not been suspended by Faux News, either indefinitely or at all, for his on-air claim that Barack Obama is a racist who hates all white people.
Now why, you’re probably asking, would we be happy that Beck will be back on the air this week spewing his frighteningly screwy brand of anti-Barack Obama, anti-Health Care Reform, or anti-anything even remotely Democratic, brand of venom on behalf of News Corp. We all know that he’s nutty as a fruitcake…quite likely certifiable if anyone were to do even a half-assed psychological analysis…but we need him on the job to make people understand. And sooner or later their viewers are going to wake up to the realization that these people are not now, and never have been, on their side. Nor are the Republican politicians whose music the Faux News fear-mongers sing every day, or the Health Care industry lobbyists who write the songs.
And besides, in fairness to Beck, how in the world could anybody ever come to the clear conclusion that he’s really any crazier than any of the rest of the Faux babbling heads. Seriously: Sean Hannity is a self-absorbed, self-stroking egomaniac; Bill O’Reilly is, in addition to being a pathological liar, a psychotic bully; and Neal Cavuto, Gretchen Carlson, Steve Doocy and their ilk…well, they’re little more than mouth-breathing parrots!
It’s inevitable that the (News) Corps is eventually going to rot from the inside out anyway. But the process will be expedited if Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly and the rest of the not-ready-for-prime-time boot-lickers on Faux simply keep opening their mouths. Because America is finally starting to pay attention to what these media whores are actually saying.
Wow! We knew Jon Stewart was both a skilled and a relentless interviewer. But we had no idea an interview with Stewart could cost someone their job. However, less than 24 hours after her ill-advised and apparently unprepared turn on the Daily Show, former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey, the mother of the ‘Death Panels’ controversy, is out as a member of Cantel Medical Corporation’s board of directors.
A spokesperson for Cantel insists McCaughey actually “…resigned to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest during the national debate over Health Care Reform”. Right…that was just after they said “…and don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out”.
Now we’re not saying McCaughey’s performance during her interview with Stewart was an unmitigated disaster…oh what the hell, yes we are! Although Stewart didn’t make her look quite as stupid and inept as he made CNBC’s blowhard financial guru Jim Kramer look a few months back, as we pointed out Friday on this blog, it was pretty humiliating.
When oh when are these people going to learn that if they agree to be interviewed by Stewart, they’d better understand going in that he’s much more than “merely a comedian”. While unfailingly polite, he’s also well-prepared and tenacious, especially if he doesn’t agree with his guest. Anyone who underestimates him does so at their peril. And if it costs someone their job, well, we won’t complain when that person deserves it.
We finish up our spin on the media Merry-go-round with a Stephanie Miller story. The radio host got off one of the best lines in recent memory while doing a guest spot on ‘The Ed Show’ on MSNBC.
During a panel discussion which had already touched on everyone’s take on Michael Vick’s pending return to the National Football League, the conversation turned to Sarah Palin. The panelists were asked whether or not they believed the former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate’s many recent, politically-motivated pronouncements and quite bizarre public appearances were her way of testing the waters for a possible 2012 Presidential run.
When her turn came, Miller…who, as anyone who has ever heard her radio show knows, is a Major League dog lover…couldn’t resist the set up and didn’t waste the opportunity.
“Well”, she said. “Everyone who knows me knows how much I love my dogs…and I’ll tell you right now that if it came down to a choice, I’d vote for Michael Vick for President before I’d vote for Sarah Palin”!
And so it goes.
SC
Friday, August 21, 2009
Be Prepared: Why Jon Stewart is The Best
“Meticulous planning, tenacity spanning, decades of denial is simply why I’ll
Be king undisputed, respected, saluted, and seen for the wonder I am.”
(Lyrics from,’ Be Prepared’; The Lion King Soundtrack – Music Elton John, Lyrics Tim Rice)
Let this serve as both a lyrical salute to Jon Stewart…and yet another warning to anyone who agrees to be interviewed by him…that you’d better arrive ready. The host of Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ who, in this blog’s estimation…and we humbly submit that over forty combined years in television news and current affairs production gives us the right to an opinion in this regard…consistently proves to be one of the best prepared, most insightful and most skillful interviewers we’ve ever seen.
He illustrated why once again last night during an interview with former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey. She’s the self-serving, political ladder-climber whose alarmist criticism of a preliminary draft of the Health Care Reform package currently wending its way through Congress ended up forging that ‘Death Panels’ sledgehammer which whacked-out right-wingers have been using like a cudgel whenever seniors or their loved ones are within earshot.
Early on in the interview Stewart made it clear that although McCaughey herself had never used the words ‘Death Panels’ in her assessment of what has now become the most-discussed section of the package, he jokingly told her that “…that’s how it was translated in Alaska”, (hello Sarah Palin). He went on to say that her unfortunate interpretation of the section lit the fuse on a virtual stink bomb, and that it was not only wrong, it was “…hyperbolic and dangerous”.
McCaughey came armed with what looked like a six-inch thick binder, which she claimed was only about half of the Health Care Reform package being discussed. And she insinuated that she’d read it all, too…so obviously she knew what she was talking about. Well if that was the case, it sure didn’t show. Time after time when Stewart questioned her interpretation of part or all of the section in question… even to the point of telling her she was just plain wrong…she appeared stumped. And when he gave her chances to look things up in order to justify her pronouncements, once going to a commercial break to allow her more time, she still came up empty.
Things she said the package said, it turned out not to say. Words she used in going over parts of the section turned out not to actually have been used in the section. They were her words and her interpretations, and Stewart pointed out time and again that she was wrong. And the only thing she came back at him with during the televised portion of the discussion sounded not unlike a fifth-grade, school-yard argument retort. “No, you’re wrong Jon”, was the best she could do.
Here's a link to the interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zxKrPXLvFw
McCaughey has to be embarrassed today. She clearly underestimated Stewart’s abilities as an interviewer or, more likely, his willingness to both understand and familiarize himself with the portion of this very complex document that he intended to discuss. She should have known what would happen if she tried to baffle him with bullshit. Snow jobs don’t work on him. She should have asked CNBC’s faux financial blowhard Jim Kramer what happened when he rolled up his sleeves to face the Daily Show host.
It wasn’t pretty. As Jim Croce might have sung, you don’t mess around with Jon!
“It’s clear from your vacant expressions the lights aren’t all on upstairs,
But we’re talking (something important) so you shouldn’t be caught unawares.”
(More "modified" lyrics from’ Be Prepared’ – Music Elton John, Lyrics Tim Rice)
SC
Be king undisputed, respected, saluted, and seen for the wonder I am.”
(Lyrics from,’ Be Prepared’; The Lion King Soundtrack – Music Elton John, Lyrics Tim Rice)
Let this serve as both a lyrical salute to Jon Stewart…and yet another warning to anyone who agrees to be interviewed by him…that you’d better arrive ready. The host of Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ who, in this blog’s estimation…and we humbly submit that over forty combined years in television news and current affairs production gives us the right to an opinion in this regard…consistently proves to be one of the best prepared, most insightful and most skillful interviewers we’ve ever seen.
He illustrated why once again last night during an interview with former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey. She’s the self-serving, political ladder-climber whose alarmist criticism of a preliminary draft of the Health Care Reform package currently wending its way through Congress ended up forging that ‘Death Panels’ sledgehammer which whacked-out right-wingers have been using like a cudgel whenever seniors or their loved ones are within earshot.
Early on in the interview Stewart made it clear that although McCaughey herself had never used the words ‘Death Panels’ in her assessment of what has now become the most-discussed section of the package, he jokingly told her that “…that’s how it was translated in Alaska”, (hello Sarah Palin). He went on to say that her unfortunate interpretation of the section lit the fuse on a virtual stink bomb, and that it was not only wrong, it was “…hyperbolic and dangerous”.
McCaughey came armed with what looked like a six-inch thick binder, which she claimed was only about half of the Health Care Reform package being discussed. And she insinuated that she’d read it all, too…so obviously she knew what she was talking about. Well if that was the case, it sure didn’t show. Time after time when Stewart questioned her interpretation of part or all of the section in question… even to the point of telling her she was just plain wrong…she appeared stumped. And when he gave her chances to look things up in order to justify her pronouncements, once going to a commercial break to allow her more time, she still came up empty.
Things she said the package said, it turned out not to say. Words she used in going over parts of the section turned out not to actually have been used in the section. They were her words and her interpretations, and Stewart pointed out time and again that she was wrong. And the only thing she came back at him with during the televised portion of the discussion sounded not unlike a fifth-grade, school-yard argument retort. “No, you’re wrong Jon”, was the best she could do.
Here's a link to the interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zxKrPXLvFw
McCaughey has to be embarrassed today. She clearly underestimated Stewart’s abilities as an interviewer or, more likely, his willingness to both understand and familiarize himself with the portion of this very complex document that he intended to discuss. She should have known what would happen if she tried to baffle him with bullshit. Snow jobs don’t work on him. She should have asked CNBC’s faux financial blowhard Jim Kramer what happened when he rolled up his sleeves to face the Daily Show host.
It wasn’t pretty. As Jim Croce might have sung, you don’t mess around with Jon!
“It’s clear from your vacant expressions the lights aren’t all on upstairs,
But we’re talking (something important) so you shouldn’t be caught unawares.”
(More "modified" lyrics from’ Be Prepared’ – Music Elton John, Lyrics Tim Rice)
SC
Selling out Grandma
Holy crap!
Can’t people understand that we are already paying more than we should be for health care? The proposed new All-American Plan – as envisioned by our President and many other concerned, caring Americans – isn’t going to cost us any more than we are now paying. It might even cost less. And we’ll get more freedom to choose. More freedom, more choice, more caring. Am I dreaming? Consider …
Cutting overhead from 30% to 3%
Getting it right the first time instead of testing over and over again.
Cutting out the middleman
Negotiating reasonable fees with providers and drug companies
The fundamental principle is keeping all of us healthy, making us well
This is the dream our President has for us. And we can achieve it.
Health care will never be cheap in America. We want the best, and we want access to it at OUR choosing. We want to be responsible for our own choices. But it doesn’t have to cost 16% of our gross domestic product!
Where will we find the money? In our pockets, the same place we do now. And we won’t need any more than we already spend. It will just flow in a different pattern, and encompass all of us.
Our current system amounts to what George Lakoff calls “Private Taxation.” How’s that?
“Insurance companies have the power to tax and they tax the public mightily. When 20 percent to 30 percent of payments do not go to health care, but to denying care and profiting from it, that constitutes a tax on the 96 percent of voters that have health care. But the tax does not go to benefit those who are taxed; it benefits managers and investors. And the people taxed have no representation. Insurance company health care is a huge example of taxation without representation. And you can't vote out the people who have taxed you. The American Plan offers an alternative to private taxation”.
Let’s face it. Everybody needs to access health care in this country. But we pay through the nose for it. Break down where the money comes from now:
1. Insured with individual policies – we pay high, high premiums with high deductibles
2. Insured through employers – back breaking premiums (especially small business), lower pay checks to pay for it
3. Medicare/Medicaid – taxpayers like us already pay
4. Uninsured – providers just hike costs on everyone else to make up for those who can’t pay, and often the patient waits too long because they know they can’t afford it, so they need way more services than if they’d gone to a doctor or clinic at the first sign of the problem, costing even more, which we pay through higher premiums on everyone else
5. Self-insured – pay cash, at much higher prices for services than the insurance companies negotiate (these patients also tend to wait too long to get help because of the cost)
6. Pension coverage – my car costs more so GM can pay benefits to workers who accepted lower wages for years to fund their pension plans and retirement benefits. Now that health care costs have escalated so much GM can’t pay it anymore, they went bankrupt, and my taxes and “cash for clunkers” had to bail them out (George Lakoff suggests we should have made the insurance industry fork over a big chunk of the bail out money since they had a lot of responsibility for it.)
Add up all this money and you’ll find plenty enough to pay for the American Plan of President Obama’s dream. We just have to collect it in one place and apply the principles outlined at the beginning of this article.
Are you worried that a single entity for billing and paying would mean a government takeover of health care? That some government bureaucrat will come between you and your doctor? Rubbish! The American Plan would mean LESS interference than we put up with now. Lakoff again:
“Insurance Companies Govern Your Lives. They have more power over you than even governments have. They make life and death decisions. And they are accountable only to profit, not to citizens.”
“Your pain, their gain” (quoting an anonymous blogger).
With the ideal new American Plan, with a single billing and paying agency, we could achieve all those savings we mentioned earlier, almost immediately. We’d end up paying less for more. Choices would increase dramatically, because no provider would be “out of network”. But even if we do this in baby steps, beginning with providing an American Plan to supplement the existing private plans, we’ll start seeing some savings right away.
Legislators who refuse to even consider trying to use ideas that have worked quite well in other countries just show they care more about their campaign contributors than the health of their constituents. They’re selling out Grandma.
JM
Can’t people understand that we are already paying more than we should be for health care? The proposed new All-American Plan – as envisioned by our President and many other concerned, caring Americans – isn’t going to cost us any more than we are now paying. It might even cost less. And we’ll get more freedom to choose. More freedom, more choice, more caring. Am I dreaming? Consider …
Cutting overhead from 30% to 3%
Getting it right the first time instead of testing over and over again.
Cutting out the middleman
Negotiating reasonable fees with providers and drug companies
The fundamental principle is keeping all of us healthy, making us well
This is the dream our President has for us. And we can achieve it.
Health care will never be cheap in America. We want the best, and we want access to it at OUR choosing. We want to be responsible for our own choices. But it doesn’t have to cost 16% of our gross domestic product!
Where will we find the money? In our pockets, the same place we do now. And we won’t need any more than we already spend. It will just flow in a different pattern, and encompass all of us.
Our current system amounts to what George Lakoff calls “Private Taxation.” How’s that?
“Insurance companies have the power to tax and they tax the public mightily. When 20 percent to 30 percent of payments do not go to health care, but to denying care and profiting from it, that constitutes a tax on the 96 percent of voters that have health care. But the tax does not go to benefit those who are taxed; it benefits managers and investors. And the people taxed have no representation. Insurance company health care is a huge example of taxation without representation. And you can't vote out the people who have taxed you. The American Plan offers an alternative to private taxation”.
Let’s face it. Everybody needs to access health care in this country. But we pay through the nose for it. Break down where the money comes from now:
1. Insured with individual policies – we pay high, high premiums with high deductibles
2. Insured through employers – back breaking premiums (especially small business), lower pay checks to pay for it
3. Medicare/Medicaid – taxpayers like us already pay
4. Uninsured – providers just hike costs on everyone else to make up for those who can’t pay, and often the patient waits too long because they know they can’t afford it, so they need way more services than if they’d gone to a doctor or clinic at the first sign of the problem, costing even more, which we pay through higher premiums on everyone else
5. Self-insured – pay cash, at much higher prices for services than the insurance companies negotiate (these patients also tend to wait too long to get help because of the cost)
6. Pension coverage – my car costs more so GM can pay benefits to workers who accepted lower wages for years to fund their pension plans and retirement benefits. Now that health care costs have escalated so much GM can’t pay it anymore, they went bankrupt, and my taxes and “cash for clunkers” had to bail them out (George Lakoff suggests we should have made the insurance industry fork over a big chunk of the bail out money since they had a lot of responsibility for it.)
Add up all this money and you’ll find plenty enough to pay for the American Plan of President Obama’s dream. We just have to collect it in one place and apply the principles outlined at the beginning of this article.
Are you worried that a single entity for billing and paying would mean a government takeover of health care? That some government bureaucrat will come between you and your doctor? Rubbish! The American Plan would mean LESS interference than we put up with now. Lakoff again:
“Insurance Companies Govern Your Lives. They have more power over you than even governments have. They make life and death decisions. And they are accountable only to profit, not to citizens.”
“Your pain, their gain” (quoting an anonymous blogger).
With the ideal new American Plan, with a single billing and paying agency, we could achieve all those savings we mentioned earlier, almost immediately. We’d end up paying less for more. Choices would increase dramatically, because no provider would be “out of network”. But even if we do this in baby steps, beginning with providing an American Plan to supplement the existing private plans, we’ll start seeing some savings right away.
Legislators who refuse to even consider trying to use ideas that have worked quite well in other countries just show they care more about their campaign contributors than the health of their constituents. They’re selling out Grandma.
JM
Thursday, August 20, 2009
The Low Lowdown:
Little Pricks, Big Dicks, and Looking Out for Number One
Remember WAY BACK when wearing a t-shirt or carrying a sign with any sort of anti-George Bush sentiment on it would, at the least, get you barred from being anywhere within TV camera range of any Bush event, or, at the worst, get you arrested. Wow, how times have changed…and in this case, not for the better. Look what we’ve come to now!
Every time we see one of these gun-toting cretins displaying their manhood at a Town Hall Meeting on Health Care Reform…either with or without President Obama in attendance…we can’t help but be reminded of a print advertisement we saw in some British publication a few years back. The ad displayed a high-powered sports car…it doesn’t really matter which one…and the gist of it was as follows: “Little Penis?…Have We Got A Car For You!”.
These guys are nothing more than punks, pure and simple. They carry their guns for all to see in an effort to make up for some of the many things that they lack…like maturity, confidence, basic intelligence, and perhaps most of all, genuine toughness. Imagine thinking that it somehow makes you a big man to brandish a loaded gun at a large, public gathering that includes lots of women, children and old people. How pathetic!
They’re the kind of flaccid specimens who would immediately cry for Mom and reach for their weapons at the first sign of any perceived trouble, and it wouldn’t matter to them whether their imagined adversary was armed or not. They’ll shoot their guns first, and then they’ll shoot their mouth off about their second amendment right to have and bear arms. And it’s a slam-dunk that the smaller the pecker, the bigger the gun will be. The ones carrying the AKs to these gatherings are the most pathetic of them all…miserable excuses for men…miserable excuses for human beings.
Speaking of dicks… how about former Republican House Majority Leader DICK Armey, one of the limpest tools of them all. This is the guy who once said that “…God will never let the earth be destroyed by something called global warming”.
Well, the one-time Texas Congressman, now a disgraced yet unapologetic lobbyist, is at his absurd worst again. Now he’s on record as having issued a typically outrageous, lunatic-right ‘Obama as Nazi’ pronouncement about the Swine Flu. Claiming the administration will use fears of a Swine Flu pandemic to sway politicians who have yet to sign on to the President’s Health Care Reform agenda, Armey said, “In September or October there will be a hyped-up outbreak of the Swine Flu which they’ll say is as bad as the Bubonic Plague to scare the bed-wetters to vote for Health Care Reform”.
This is the same DICK Armey who recently had to resign his position as a lobbyist for DLA Piper because of a blatant conflict of interest…and when a raging conservative gets forced out as a lobbyist for drug manufacturers and others with a horse in the Health Care Reform race, you know it had to be blatant! Alas our boy DICK apparently also heads up a conservative advocacy group called, ironically, Freedom Works…the same Freedom Works that was found to have been “encouraging” right-wing activists to “disrupt” Town Hall meetings meant to be forums for discussing Health Care Reform.
“Scare the bed-wetters”. What a guy. What a…DICK!
So let’s step back for a moment and think about who, other than the regular, shameless cast of Republican politicians and health industry mouthpieces, seems to be the most passionately opposed to ANY KIND of meaningful Health Care Reform. First of all, sadly and most predictably, are the loyal legions of Faux News viewers and right-wing radio listeners…the unthinking sheep who unquestioningly devour all the slop that the Sean Hannitys and Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs of the world dish up for them…the kind of people Bill O’Reilly would refer to as “pinheads”, were it not for the fact that they’re his core audience.
It would be great to be able to say that that’s the extent of the dissent, but unfortunately that’s not the case…not even close. There’s another, larger group that, as is their wont, speak and act as individuals but are, collectively, both a significant voice and a sad commentary on our society. These are the type…probably good folks when seen under almost any other light…who, when push comes to shove, are ultimately and selfishly only concerned about themselves. And like the sheep, they've been led to believe, or they truly fear, that Health Care Reform is going to affect their own situations negatively.
We all know some of them…the ones who couldn’t give a tinker’s damn that there are almost fifty million uninsured people in America, as long as they have health insurance for themselves and their families…or the ones who are employed in the health care industry, perhaps selling health insurance. Almost invariably they have their health insurance provided for them and therefore don’t have any idea what it means to face skyrocketing premiums or policy exclusions. Or they’re responsible for their own health insurance but have never had to access their coverage to pay for any kind of catastrophic incident or life-threatening illness that sent their premiums through the roof and ultimately beyond their means.
They can’t fathom premiums so exorbitant that even people with good jobs simply can’t afford them. They have no idea what it feels like to have to self-diagnose…or to be forced to decide whether or not their child is sick enough to justify a trip to the doctor or the emergency room because they know that their deductible hasn’t yet been met and they really can’t afford it. They’ve never had to choose between their own child’s health or buying groceries to feed the family. They’ve never faced bankruptcy because of a mountain of unpaid medical bills that resulted from either a loss of or inadequate coverage.
These are not bad people. They’re our friends and neighbors and, in many cases, our relatives… and sadly, they just don’t understand. They can’t, and unfortunately they never will, unless they are faced themselves with the prospect of the same kind of personal financial disasters that so many American families have already experienced…and what so many more will most assuredly be confronted with until this mess that is our current Health Care System is finally fixed.
That’s why it’s so vitally important that the Democrats don’t give up on meaningful Health Care Reform. And that's why, if they continue to waiver, we have to remind them in no uncertain terms, why we elected them!
SC
Remember WAY BACK when wearing a t-shirt or carrying a sign with any sort of anti-George Bush sentiment on it would, at the least, get you barred from being anywhere within TV camera range of any Bush event, or, at the worst, get you arrested. Wow, how times have changed…and in this case, not for the better. Look what we’ve come to now!
Every time we see one of these gun-toting cretins displaying their manhood at a Town Hall Meeting on Health Care Reform…either with or without President Obama in attendance…we can’t help but be reminded of a print advertisement we saw in some British publication a few years back. The ad displayed a high-powered sports car…it doesn’t really matter which one…and the gist of it was as follows: “Little Penis?…Have We Got A Car For You!”.
These guys are nothing more than punks, pure and simple. They carry their guns for all to see in an effort to make up for some of the many things that they lack…like maturity, confidence, basic intelligence, and perhaps most of all, genuine toughness. Imagine thinking that it somehow makes you a big man to brandish a loaded gun at a large, public gathering that includes lots of women, children and old people. How pathetic!
They’re the kind of flaccid specimens who would immediately cry for Mom and reach for their weapons at the first sign of any perceived trouble, and it wouldn’t matter to them whether their imagined adversary was armed or not. They’ll shoot their guns first, and then they’ll shoot their mouth off about their second amendment right to have and bear arms. And it’s a slam-dunk that the smaller the pecker, the bigger the gun will be. The ones carrying the AKs to these gatherings are the most pathetic of them all…miserable excuses for men…miserable excuses for human beings.
Speaking of dicks… how about former Republican House Majority Leader DICK Armey, one of the limpest tools of them all. This is the guy who once said that “…God will never let the earth be destroyed by something called global warming”.
Well, the one-time Texas Congressman, now a disgraced yet unapologetic lobbyist, is at his absurd worst again. Now he’s on record as having issued a typically outrageous, lunatic-right ‘Obama as Nazi’ pronouncement about the Swine Flu. Claiming the administration will use fears of a Swine Flu pandemic to sway politicians who have yet to sign on to the President’s Health Care Reform agenda, Armey said, “In September or October there will be a hyped-up outbreak of the Swine Flu which they’ll say is as bad as the Bubonic Plague to scare the bed-wetters to vote for Health Care Reform”.
This is the same DICK Armey who recently had to resign his position as a lobbyist for DLA Piper because of a blatant conflict of interest…and when a raging conservative gets forced out as a lobbyist for drug manufacturers and others with a horse in the Health Care Reform race, you know it had to be blatant! Alas our boy DICK apparently also heads up a conservative advocacy group called, ironically, Freedom Works…the same Freedom Works that was found to have been “encouraging” right-wing activists to “disrupt” Town Hall meetings meant to be forums for discussing Health Care Reform.
“Scare the bed-wetters”. What a guy. What a…DICK!
So let’s step back for a moment and think about who, other than the regular, shameless cast of Republican politicians and health industry mouthpieces, seems to be the most passionately opposed to ANY KIND of meaningful Health Care Reform. First of all, sadly and most predictably, are the loyal legions of Faux News viewers and right-wing radio listeners…the unthinking sheep who unquestioningly devour all the slop that the Sean Hannitys and Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs of the world dish up for them…the kind of people Bill O’Reilly would refer to as “pinheads”, were it not for the fact that they’re his core audience.
It would be great to be able to say that that’s the extent of the dissent, but unfortunately that’s not the case…not even close. There’s another, larger group that, as is their wont, speak and act as individuals but are, collectively, both a significant voice and a sad commentary on our society. These are the type…probably good folks when seen under almost any other light…who, when push comes to shove, are ultimately and selfishly only concerned about themselves. And like the sheep, they've been led to believe, or they truly fear, that Health Care Reform is going to affect their own situations negatively.
We all know some of them…the ones who couldn’t give a tinker’s damn that there are almost fifty million uninsured people in America, as long as they have health insurance for themselves and their families…or the ones who are employed in the health care industry, perhaps selling health insurance. Almost invariably they have their health insurance provided for them and therefore don’t have any idea what it means to face skyrocketing premiums or policy exclusions. Or they’re responsible for their own health insurance but have never had to access their coverage to pay for any kind of catastrophic incident or life-threatening illness that sent their premiums through the roof and ultimately beyond their means.
They can’t fathom premiums so exorbitant that even people with good jobs simply can’t afford them. They have no idea what it feels like to have to self-diagnose…or to be forced to decide whether or not their child is sick enough to justify a trip to the doctor or the emergency room because they know that their deductible hasn’t yet been met and they really can’t afford it. They’ve never had to choose between their own child’s health or buying groceries to feed the family. They’ve never faced bankruptcy because of a mountain of unpaid medical bills that resulted from either a loss of or inadequate coverage.
These are not bad people. They’re our friends and neighbors and, in many cases, our relatives… and sadly, they just don’t understand. They can’t, and unfortunately they never will, unless they are faced themselves with the prospect of the same kind of personal financial disasters that so many American families have already experienced…and what so many more will most assuredly be confronted with until this mess that is our current Health Care System is finally fixed.
That’s why it’s so vitally important that the Democrats don’t give up on meaningful Health Care Reform. And that's why, if they continue to waiver, we have to remind them in no uncertain terms, why we elected them!
SC
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Journalism in America
We must note the passing of a legendary, groundbreaking journalist. Don Hewitt, originator and producer of 60 Minutes for over 30 years, producer of the first Kennedy/Nixon televised debate, has succumbed to cancer. The world of investigative journalism got a true energy burst from the development of 60 Minutes. They set a standard that has yet to be exceeded. Though we're sure he was disappointed with the state of journalism on television today, we believe he never lost sight of the importance of getting to the truth, and telling it effectively without bias. Any reporting of Don Hewitt's death by Fox News will be abruptly switched off in our home.
A day can't go by without more outrage over sputtering health care reform. The latest is the NBC poll that shows most Americans - 91% - want some kind of health care reform. Which makes it difficult to understand why most also believe three of the four biggest lies about the proposed health care reform bills in Congress. Breaking it down, 55% believe Obamacare would be available to illegal immigrants (not true); 54% believe the Government will completely take over health care (not true); 50% believe the Government would pay for every abortion (not true); and 45% believe the Government would use death panels to refuse care to Grandma (NOT TRUE!). Unbelievable. But real.
And here's where it gets really interesting. Viewers of Fox News account for most of those numbers. 72% of Faux News viewers believe illegal immigrants would be covered; 79% that Government would takeover all your health care; 69% that tax dollars would pay for abortions; and 75% that the Government would pull the plug on Grandma.
They have believed the outright lies that Fox propagates as news. Journalism. Without shame.
Sadly, CNN (supposedly completely neutral) and MSNBC (supposedly liberal) haven't been able to squelch the lies either. Among their viewers, 41% believe the illegal immigrant lie; 39% believe the takeover lie; 40% believe the abortion lie; and 30% - YES 30% - believe the death panel lie.
Pundits are complaining about the ineffective messaging put out by the Obama White House, but for heaven's sake, how do you combat the Big Lie when its primary promulgators are one of the most watched news outlets? Then add those internet scandal sheets, and the way ALL the news outlets, broadcast and cable, cover the liars at town hall meetings, only occasionally pointing out the lies.
Is there really no law that requires news outlets to tell the truth? Or correct their lies? Are Americans really so gullible? Obama wasn't born here? Obama's a Nazi? We despair.
And tonight, Tom Delay says it's Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP that are driving up the cost of health care. And he'd like the President to produce his birth certificate. And he gets on TV - virtually every channel. And we wonder why so many people believe the lies.
Of course there's more to life than health care.
Governor Bill Richardson has been talking with the North Koreans, and he reports that he feels they are now prepared to enter into dialog with us. So where do the "journalists" of today put the emphasis in their coverage? "Why aren't they talking with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton?" Pat Buchanan says this is evidence that Mrs. Clinton isn't being taken seriously. That this is a slight. Obama's playing it wrong. What game is Buchanan playing? What's important is that the relationship with North Korea may be warming up, substantive discussions may be possible. State Department had to give permission for these talks (since North Koreans aren't allowed to go anywhere in the US besides the United Nations without getting permission), and clearly Secretary Clinton was involved in this granting. The North Korean officials had had discussions previously with Gov. Richardson when he was a special envoy for then-President Bush in April of 2007. They knew him, he knew them, they were comfortable in talking with him. Is it such a stretch to posit that Secretary Clinton actually cared more about improving relations with a hostile nation than thumping her chest in a territorial in-fight? Men! Journalists! Thank God Hillary Clinton can set aside any ego issues and do what's right for America.
The people of Iraq are going to the polls in January in an effort to put their country on course for security and freedom. Sadly, that may be the reason behind the six deadly bombings that happened Wednesday, taking at least 95 lives and injuring 500 more. The location, timing and efficiency of the attacks indicate that a well-organized, well-funded and well-connected group is responsible. The most likely motivation for this outrageous violence is to show that the Iraqi government has failed to develop adequate security. Who could gain from such a demonstraton? Two possibles: those who want the US to maintain a military presence in the cities, and political opponents of Maliki and his governing party. Some journalists at Al Jazeera point the finger at interfering Arab neighbors, specifically Saudi Arabia. Regardless of who is responsible, the danger for America is getting caught up in the idea that we need to stay longer in order to give the Iraqi people more time to develop better security. Let's not forget that attacks like this, even in the Green Zone, happened when we had a huge military presence in the cities. Lately, things had been relatively peaceful in Iraq, despite our pullback from those cities. We need to maintain our resolve to get our military completely out of that country. The people of Iraq have to come together and stand up to the terrorists -- it's the only way to a secure and stable democracy.
JM
A day can't go by without more outrage over sputtering health care reform. The latest is the NBC poll that shows most Americans - 91% - want some kind of health care reform. Which makes it difficult to understand why most also believe three of the four biggest lies about the proposed health care reform bills in Congress. Breaking it down, 55% believe Obamacare would be available to illegal immigrants (not true); 54% believe the Government will completely take over health care (not true); 50% believe the Government would pay for every abortion (not true); and 45% believe the Government would use death panels to refuse care to Grandma (NOT TRUE!). Unbelievable. But real.
And here's where it gets really interesting. Viewers of Fox News account for most of those numbers. 72% of Faux News viewers believe illegal immigrants would be covered; 79% that Government would takeover all your health care; 69% that tax dollars would pay for abortions; and 75% that the Government would pull the plug on Grandma.
They have believed the outright lies that Fox propagates as news. Journalism. Without shame.
Sadly, CNN (supposedly completely neutral) and MSNBC (supposedly liberal) haven't been able to squelch the lies either. Among their viewers, 41% believe the illegal immigrant lie; 39% believe the takeover lie; 40% believe the abortion lie; and 30% - YES 30% - believe the death panel lie.
Pundits are complaining about the ineffective messaging put out by the Obama White House, but for heaven's sake, how do you combat the Big Lie when its primary promulgators are one of the most watched news outlets? Then add those internet scandal sheets, and the way ALL the news outlets, broadcast and cable, cover the liars at town hall meetings, only occasionally pointing out the lies.
Is there really no law that requires news outlets to tell the truth? Or correct their lies? Are Americans really so gullible? Obama wasn't born here? Obama's a Nazi? We despair.
And tonight, Tom Delay says it's Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP that are driving up the cost of health care. And he'd like the President to produce his birth certificate. And he gets on TV - virtually every channel. And we wonder why so many people believe the lies.
Of course there's more to life than health care.
Governor Bill Richardson has been talking with the North Koreans, and he reports that he feels they are now prepared to enter into dialog with us. So where do the "journalists" of today put the emphasis in their coverage? "Why aren't they talking with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton?" Pat Buchanan says this is evidence that Mrs. Clinton isn't being taken seriously. That this is a slight. Obama's playing it wrong. What game is Buchanan playing? What's important is that the relationship with North Korea may be warming up, substantive discussions may be possible. State Department had to give permission for these talks (since North Koreans aren't allowed to go anywhere in the US besides the United Nations without getting permission), and clearly Secretary Clinton was involved in this granting. The North Korean officials had had discussions previously with Gov. Richardson when he was a special envoy for then-President Bush in April of 2007. They knew him, he knew them, they were comfortable in talking with him. Is it such a stretch to posit that Secretary Clinton actually cared more about improving relations with a hostile nation than thumping her chest in a territorial in-fight? Men! Journalists! Thank God Hillary Clinton can set aside any ego issues and do what's right for America.
The people of Iraq are going to the polls in January in an effort to put their country on course for security and freedom. Sadly, that may be the reason behind the six deadly bombings that happened Wednesday, taking at least 95 lives and injuring 500 more. The location, timing and efficiency of the attacks indicate that a well-organized, well-funded and well-connected group is responsible. The most likely motivation for this outrageous violence is to show that the Iraqi government has failed to develop adequate security. Who could gain from such a demonstraton? Two possibles: those who want the US to maintain a military presence in the cities, and political opponents of Maliki and his governing party. Some journalists at Al Jazeera point the finger at interfering Arab neighbors, specifically Saudi Arabia. Regardless of who is responsible, the danger for America is getting caught up in the idea that we need to stay longer in order to give the Iraqi people more time to develop better security. Let's not forget that attacks like this, even in the Green Zone, happened when we had a huge military presence in the cities. Lately, things had been relatively peaceful in Iraq, despite our pullback from those cities. We need to maintain our resolve to get our military completely out of that country. The people of Iraq have to come together and stand up to the terrorists -- it's the only way to a secure and stable democracy.
JM
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Time Has Come Today:
Why We Can’t Let The GOP Torpedo Health Care Reform
It was really quite eerie when we departed Buffalo, New York and crossed the international bridge into Canada a few weeks ago. Actually, it was really Fort Erie, but this is not a forum for arguing geographical semantics. So, back to our story.
As soon as we passed Checkpoint Charlie in the middle of the bridge and began driving by the squads of sullen, heavily armed Canadian military personnel positioned sporadically yet threateningly all along the ill-kept gravel roadways, we were immediately struck by the pervasive grayness of it all. And it wasn’t long before we started noticing the long, dreary lines of peasants trudging back towards their Gulags…defeated looking women in their ancient, weather-worn babushkas and overcoats; stooped-over men in their party worker caps, fraying jackets and trousers with patches over the patches; and unsmiling children with their gaunt faces and dull, lifeless eyes. The bread line was beckoning after yet another seemingly endless day of toil in the labor camps.
“NOT!”
As ridiculous as most of us know this scenario is…and it truly is ridiculous…it’s basically what the braying, lunatic fringe in the Republican Party wants us to believe. They will say or do anything in their efforts to torpedo any kind of meaningful Health Care reform in the United States, just like they said and did anything they could in their thankfully unsuccessful attempts to stop the advent of both Social Security and Medicare. So cries of “…government run health care is socialism”, and “socialism is just another word for communism”, echo around the halls of Congress and in Town Hall Meetings throughout the country.
Get real people. If you really believe that Canada…or England, or France, or any other country in the western world that is fortunate enough to have some sort of universal health care system…is therefore to be considered communist, as in ‘communist’ like the former Soviet Union was, then you need to give your head a shake! That kind of rhetoric is not only unadulterated b.s., it’s also insulting to all the countries being thusly pilloried by the jingoists who currently scream so loudly for the Republicans.
In spite of what you may have been hearing or reading, particularly with regards to Canada, our research these past few weeks has revealed that not one of the people we spoke to would ever consider trading their health care system for ours. Not a chance…whether in regards to quality, affordability, accessibility, comprehensiveness, fairness, or any other criteria you care to list. We have interviews to that effect, from which we’ll be sharing excerpts with you on this blog in the coming days.
But it wasn’t always thus with our neighbors north of the forty-eighth. It was a long, hard, bitter, and at times violent fight before universal health care became a reality in Canada in the mid-1960s. People died in the process. But ask them if they’d give it up now and they look at you as if you’ve lost your mind. Oh sure, there are some dissenters, but there’s no way Canadians as a whole will ever agree to go back to a system like the one they had before…like the one Americans have now!
The truth of the matter is that none of these other countries has a perfect health care system, although France comes admirably close. But they all have systems in place that are vastly superior and exponentially fairer and more inclusive than the one that we’re forced to deal with in the United States. And we’re not talking about the quality of health care here. Everyone knows that the quality of care available in this country is at least as good…not better, but at least as good…as it is anywhere. What we’re talking about are affordability and accessibility…and with reference to those criteria, the current health care system in the United States is sadly lacking.
There’s a reason the American Health Care system is ranked an embarrassing 37th in the world…37th for crying out loud, just behind 36th place Costa Rica and just ahead of 38th place Slovenia. Our system is broken, especially with regards to insurance, and it needs fixing before it sucks us all down into the same sewer in which the Republican anti-health care reform rhetoric is being spawned.
What we really need is a single payer system modeled after the best that all these other systems have to offer. Failing that…and it seems that the Democrats we elected last fall on the promise of meaningful health care reform have already folded their single payer hand…at the very least we need a public option to keep the conscienceless health insurance industry honest.
It’s surely apparent to everyone by now that the Republicans will never help in this effort. They have proven time and again that they can’t be trusted to bargain in good faith. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has made that abundantly clear in the last few days. This piece of crap torpedoed the Senate Health Care Reform Committee negotiations and then bragged about it. That’s how they operate. They couldn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone thinks (except for the people who contribute to their coffers).
Fortunately and finally, we now have someone on the Democratic side of the aisle who’s apparently ready to go to war on this issue. After President Obama seemed to indicate yesterday that he might now be willing to take the public option off the table as well, New York Congressman Anthony Weiner yelled “Enough”! Although he would prefer single payer, Weiner said in no uncertain terms that if a public option, at the very least, is not in the bill that the President eventually sends to the House, at least 100 House Democrats will not sign on.
That’s laying down the gauntlet…and good on him. It’s about damn time that someone stood tall on Health Care Reform. As long as the rest of the Democrats in the House and Senate are willing to stretch their backbones…and assuming they can convince the ‘Blue Dogs’ that it would be in their best interests to come along for the ride…the numbers say that we don’t need anyone else. So screw the Republicans, and the health insurance industry, and the health care lobby as a whole. The GOP were never going to be there anyway, so what’s the difference. We don’t need ‘em! It’s time to draw a line in the sand.
With apologies for taking a modicum of poetic license, Congressional democrats need to listen, and listen hard, to these prescient lyrics from the 1967 anthem “Time Has Come Today” by The Chambers Brothers…and they need to pay close attention to what they say. For indeed it is true.
“Time has come today. (Our) hearts should go their way. Can't put it off another day. I don't care what others say. They say we don't listen anyway. Time has come today.”
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.
“Time has come today!”
SC
It was really quite eerie when we departed Buffalo, New York and crossed the international bridge into Canada a few weeks ago. Actually, it was really Fort Erie, but this is not a forum for arguing geographical semantics. So, back to our story.
As soon as we passed Checkpoint Charlie in the middle of the bridge and began driving by the squads of sullen, heavily armed Canadian military personnel positioned sporadically yet threateningly all along the ill-kept gravel roadways, we were immediately struck by the pervasive grayness of it all. And it wasn’t long before we started noticing the long, dreary lines of peasants trudging back towards their Gulags…defeated looking women in their ancient, weather-worn babushkas and overcoats; stooped-over men in their party worker caps, fraying jackets and trousers with patches over the patches; and unsmiling children with their gaunt faces and dull, lifeless eyes. The bread line was beckoning after yet another seemingly endless day of toil in the labor camps.
“NOT!”
As ridiculous as most of us know this scenario is…and it truly is ridiculous…it’s basically what the braying, lunatic fringe in the Republican Party wants us to believe. They will say or do anything in their efforts to torpedo any kind of meaningful Health Care reform in the United States, just like they said and did anything they could in their thankfully unsuccessful attempts to stop the advent of both Social Security and Medicare. So cries of “…government run health care is socialism”, and “socialism is just another word for communism”, echo around the halls of Congress and in Town Hall Meetings throughout the country.
Get real people. If you really believe that Canada…or England, or France, or any other country in the western world that is fortunate enough to have some sort of universal health care system…is therefore to be considered communist, as in ‘communist’ like the former Soviet Union was, then you need to give your head a shake! That kind of rhetoric is not only unadulterated b.s., it’s also insulting to all the countries being thusly pilloried by the jingoists who currently scream so loudly for the Republicans.
In spite of what you may have been hearing or reading, particularly with regards to Canada, our research these past few weeks has revealed that not one of the people we spoke to would ever consider trading their health care system for ours. Not a chance…whether in regards to quality, affordability, accessibility, comprehensiveness, fairness, or any other criteria you care to list. We have interviews to that effect, from which we’ll be sharing excerpts with you on this blog in the coming days.
But it wasn’t always thus with our neighbors north of the forty-eighth. It was a long, hard, bitter, and at times violent fight before universal health care became a reality in Canada in the mid-1960s. People died in the process. But ask them if they’d give it up now and they look at you as if you’ve lost your mind. Oh sure, there are some dissenters, but there’s no way Canadians as a whole will ever agree to go back to a system like the one they had before…like the one Americans have now!
The truth of the matter is that none of these other countries has a perfect health care system, although France comes admirably close. But they all have systems in place that are vastly superior and exponentially fairer and more inclusive than the one that we’re forced to deal with in the United States. And we’re not talking about the quality of health care here. Everyone knows that the quality of care available in this country is at least as good…not better, but at least as good…as it is anywhere. What we’re talking about are affordability and accessibility…and with reference to those criteria, the current health care system in the United States is sadly lacking.
There’s a reason the American Health Care system is ranked an embarrassing 37th in the world…37th for crying out loud, just behind 36th place Costa Rica and just ahead of 38th place Slovenia. Our system is broken, especially with regards to insurance, and it needs fixing before it sucks us all down into the same sewer in which the Republican anti-health care reform rhetoric is being spawned.
What we really need is a single payer system modeled after the best that all these other systems have to offer. Failing that…and it seems that the Democrats we elected last fall on the promise of meaningful health care reform have already folded their single payer hand…at the very least we need a public option to keep the conscienceless health insurance industry honest.
It’s surely apparent to everyone by now that the Republicans will never help in this effort. They have proven time and again that they can’t be trusted to bargain in good faith. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has made that abundantly clear in the last few days. This piece of crap torpedoed the Senate Health Care Reform Committee negotiations and then bragged about it. That’s how they operate. They couldn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone thinks (except for the people who contribute to their coffers).
Fortunately and finally, we now have someone on the Democratic side of the aisle who’s apparently ready to go to war on this issue. After President Obama seemed to indicate yesterday that he might now be willing to take the public option off the table as well, New York Congressman Anthony Weiner yelled “Enough”! Although he would prefer single payer, Weiner said in no uncertain terms that if a public option, at the very least, is not in the bill that the President eventually sends to the House, at least 100 House Democrats will not sign on.
That’s laying down the gauntlet…and good on him. It’s about damn time that someone stood tall on Health Care Reform. As long as the rest of the Democrats in the House and Senate are willing to stretch their backbones…and assuming they can convince the ‘Blue Dogs’ that it would be in their best interests to come along for the ride…the numbers say that we don’t need anyone else. So screw the Republicans, and the health insurance industry, and the health care lobby as a whole. The GOP were never going to be there anyway, so what’s the difference. We don’t need ‘em! It’s time to draw a line in the sand.
With apologies for taking a modicum of poetic license, Congressional democrats need to listen, and listen hard, to these prescient lyrics from the 1967 anthem “Time Has Come Today” by The Chambers Brothers…and they need to pay close attention to what they say. For indeed it is true.
“Time has come today. (Our) hearts should go their way. Can't put it off another day. I don't care what others say. They say we don't listen anyway. Time has come today.”
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.
“Time has come today!”
SC
Monday, August 17, 2009
Back in the saddle
Just back from a few weeks in Canada. My, my we were so surprised to see the country dotted with long lines of folks waiting for health care. Ooops. Wait a minute, that was the nightmare I had after seeing the various town hall events here in the US. Indeed, we saw few long lines in Canada. Not even very many on the highway. Seems they know how to merge successfully.
Now the nightmare is simply that President Obama has abandoned the idea of a public option for health care. Please please tell us it's just a negotiating ploy, or a public front designed to tell the health care reform opponents to "Put up or shut up." We'll echo Daily Kos on this: if Obama and Biden backtrack on their campaign promise for health care reform including a public option, they'll be betraying the millions who voted for them last November.
Got some great comments from several Canadians about how glad they are that they have their single-payer system, not the hodge-podge crazy quilt of insurers and medical bankruptcy their American friends have to battle. We're putting together a video of some of those remarks, to be posted soon.
On another topic entirely, is it true? Tom Delay on Dancing with the Stars? He tap danced his way through Congress, used the Texas Two Step to keep out of jail -- so far. Tom Delusional is once again to be in the public eye. This guy knows more about abusing power than any man alive except maybe Dick Cheney, or Karl Rove. What ever put the idea in the producers' minds that people would enjoy seeing him gyrate on stage? We would prefer to see him squirming on Court TV defending himself in a long-delayed (pardon the pun) trial on charges of money-laundering and violating Texas campaign finance laws. In fact, we'd add a trial on charges of promoting sex-slavery in the Marianas sweatshops. And how about gerrymandering to prevent fair elections in Texas? This creep did more damage to America through his machinations in Congress than any other representative we know of. So now he hopes to resurrect his previous status - his some-time role of pundit on Fox News, NBC, etc. didn't work all that well for him - through the role of entertainer. Gag me with a spoon.
Around the corner with Michael Vick: After the 60 Minutes interview, we're still not convinced that Vick has completed a conversion. He claims to have learned his lesson, and he certainly has paid his dues (unlike the politician noted above). He says his involvement with dogfights was "disgusting". We hope he means it. A second chance seems fair enough, but we'll wait and see if he has turned the corner and cleaned up his act. Will he be first in the door for practice? Will he keep up his support for the Humane Society? Millions of NFL devotees will be watching.
Down the block: The Supreme Court has issued a stay of execution for a Georgia man convicted of killing a police officer 20 some years ago. Seems 7 of the 9 witnesses who testified against him have recanted their testimony, and he has maintained his innocence throughout serving his time on death row. Justice Stevens thinks that's enough reason for a Federal Court to take a look for new evidence, while Justice Scalia dismissed the appeal as a "fool's errand" because previous appeals have been turned down. Meantime, down the road in Houston, we have a man released after serving 23 years for kidnapping and rape. Problem was, a re-examination of evidence, DNA specifically, proves it wasn't him. Indeed, it points to two other men who are on-the-street felons, but they can't be charged because the statute of limitations has already expired. This is justice in America?
Two thoughts on these stories. 1). If we have any doubts at all, reasonable or far-fetched, about the guilt of a man sentenced to death, how can we in conscience kill him? Is there a better argument against the death penalty?
2). How can a man serve a sentence longer than the statute of limitations for that crime? That just seems grossly unfair. So if the sentence is appealed and/or we discover we were wrong, and that process takes more than 7 years, we can't look for the real guilty party and prosecute them? And the scumbags that let someone else take the fall for their crimes get to laugh their asses off?
We've traveled enough to know that bad things happen everywhere. So does injustice. So do mistakes. Like everywhere else in the world, America isn't perfect. We can improve it. We just have to face reality and admit our failings and start looking for new answers. Pretending that we're best at everything and can't be beat is a sure recipe for disaster. Good to be home.
JM
Now the nightmare is simply that President Obama has abandoned the idea of a public option for health care. Please please tell us it's just a negotiating ploy, or a public front designed to tell the health care reform opponents to "Put up or shut up." We'll echo Daily Kos on this: if Obama and Biden backtrack on their campaign promise for health care reform including a public option, they'll be betraying the millions who voted for them last November.
Got some great comments from several Canadians about how glad they are that they have their single-payer system, not the hodge-podge crazy quilt of insurers and medical bankruptcy their American friends have to battle. We're putting together a video of some of those remarks, to be posted soon.
On another topic entirely, is it true? Tom Delay on Dancing with the Stars? He tap danced his way through Congress, used the Texas Two Step to keep out of jail -- so far. Tom Delusional is once again to be in the public eye. This guy knows more about abusing power than any man alive except maybe Dick Cheney, or Karl Rove. What ever put the idea in the producers' minds that people would enjoy seeing him gyrate on stage? We would prefer to see him squirming on Court TV defending himself in a long-delayed (pardon the pun) trial on charges of money-laundering and violating Texas campaign finance laws. In fact, we'd add a trial on charges of promoting sex-slavery in the Marianas sweatshops. And how about gerrymandering to prevent fair elections in Texas? This creep did more damage to America through his machinations in Congress than any other representative we know of. So now he hopes to resurrect his previous status - his some-time role of pundit on Fox News, NBC, etc. didn't work all that well for him - through the role of entertainer. Gag me with a spoon.
Around the corner with Michael Vick: After the 60 Minutes interview, we're still not convinced that Vick has completed a conversion. He claims to have learned his lesson, and he certainly has paid his dues (unlike the politician noted above). He says his involvement with dogfights was "disgusting". We hope he means it. A second chance seems fair enough, but we'll wait and see if he has turned the corner and cleaned up his act. Will he be first in the door for practice? Will he keep up his support for the Humane Society? Millions of NFL devotees will be watching.
Down the block: The Supreme Court has issued a stay of execution for a Georgia man convicted of killing a police officer 20 some years ago. Seems 7 of the 9 witnesses who testified against him have recanted their testimony, and he has maintained his innocence throughout serving his time on death row. Justice Stevens thinks that's enough reason for a Federal Court to take a look for new evidence, while Justice Scalia dismissed the appeal as a "fool's errand" because previous appeals have been turned down. Meantime, down the road in Houston, we have a man released after serving 23 years for kidnapping and rape. Problem was, a re-examination of evidence, DNA specifically, proves it wasn't him. Indeed, it points to two other men who are on-the-street felons, but they can't be charged because the statute of limitations has already expired. This is justice in America?
Two thoughts on these stories. 1). If we have any doubts at all, reasonable or far-fetched, about the guilt of a man sentenced to death, how can we in conscience kill him? Is there a better argument against the death penalty?
2). How can a man serve a sentence longer than the statute of limitations for that crime? That just seems grossly unfair. So if the sentence is appealed and/or we discover we were wrong, and that process takes more than 7 years, we can't look for the real guilty party and prosecute them? And the scumbags that let someone else take the fall for their crimes get to laugh their asses off?
We've traveled enough to know that bad things happen everywhere. So does injustice. So do mistakes. Like everywhere else in the world, America isn't perfect. We can improve it. We just have to face reality and admit our failings and start looking for new answers. Pretending that we're best at everything and can't be beat is a sure recipe for disaster. Good to be home.
JM
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