Hillbilly Report - Front Page

The Truth About the Tea-Baggers

RDemocrat — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:14:03 GMT

This interview is worth watching:

Follow after the fold for the Brad Blog vids.

On Veterans Day, Honor our Troops With Opportunity

RDemocrat — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:41:16 GMT

On Veteran's Day American honors it's Veterans both fallen, living, past and present. While we can thank those that have served previously and died for our freedoms it is our duty as a country to honor also those who are serving now, and will hopefully soon return home and finish their service. What better way to honor these present soldiers than to make sure that these Veterans will have opportunity and jobs when they begin civilian life??
For our Veteran's of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, our country has failed to reward them for their service:

The U.S. Labor Department reports the unemployment rate among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is 11.3 percent, significantly above the overall rate of 10.2 percent for the nation as a whole. Some 185,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are out of work. Many of these unemployed veterans are National Guard or Reserve troops who were called to duty but found when they came home that their old jobs were no longer there for them.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/11...

With that in mind, Mark Ayers Chairman of the Veterans Union Council has called on Congress and indeed all Americans to honor our veterans by helping them in their time of need and giving them a greater chance to land Federal jobs:

That is why the Union Veterans Council is calling on the U.S. Congress to quickly enact an extension of Unemployment Insurance benefits coupled with an effort to strengthen and enforce the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) which will ensure protections for veterans claiming their former jobs when they return from active duty.
We are also encouraging all Americans to support our efforts to strengthen and enforce veteran preference rules. Since the time of the Civil War, veterans of the Armed Forces have been given some degree of preference in appointments to Federal jobs. Recognizing the sacrifices that are continually being made by those serving in the Armed Forces, Congress has enacted laws to prevent veterans seeking Federal employment from being penalized because of the time spent in military service.

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/p...

He also called for greater assistance for returning veterans in job training and counseling:

Further, the Union Veterans Council encourages the expansion of state and local programs for providing job training and employment counseling services. We find ourselves dumbstruck that the U.S. Congress is actually considering cutting the funding for the nationally recognized "Helmets to Hardhats" program that has so successfully placed tens of thousands of transitioning veterans into careers in the construction industry. We are urging Congress not to cut this funding, just as we are urging them to expand coverage of the new post-9/11 GI Bill to include payments for apprenticeships and on-the-job training.

And in a praiseworthy move, President Obama has given Veterans something to be happy about on this holiday:

There is good news for vets on this holiday. President Obama signed on Nov. 9 a new executive order that underscores to federal agencies the importance of recruiting and training veterans, to increase the employment of veterans within the executive branch and to help recently hired veterans adjust to civilian life.
The executive order establishes a Veterans Employment Program office within most federal agencies, the White House said. These offices will be responsible for helping veterans identify employment opportunities within federal agencies, providing feedback to veterans about their employment application status, and helping veterans recently employed by agencies adjust to civilian life and a workplace culture often different than military service.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/11...

We should remember in the years leading up to our party taking power Veterans were honored mostly with just talking points. The men and women who have served our country whether we believe in the wars they served in or not deserve much more. They deserve action.

Democratic Cowardice More of a Threat Than Tea-Bag Lunacy in 2010

RDemocrat — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:20:17 GMT

After winning two Gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey we have heard all the doomsayers in the Republican bigmouth radio scene and in the Conservative blogosphere spelling out certain doom for Congressional Democrats in 2010 and telling how Republican have gained much ground, possibly enough to take back Congress.
But what are the real facts?? Has the Party of "NO" really made that many strides firing up their base to act like idiots while offering absolutely no valid ideas of their own to solve any of our country's problems?? Well, according to Real Clear Politics, no.

Looking at the RCP average, despite all the tedious ramblings, and irrational behaviors among the greediest, most brainwashed, and least patriotic among us, Democrats still lead on the Generic Congressional ballot:

RCP Average 10/15 - 11/8 -- 46.5-41.8 Democrats +4.7

http://www.realclearpolitics.c...

Robert Shrum has offered an analysis on just why the Republican victory lap may be very premature, and is not fueled by anything they have offered the American electorate since their crushing defeats in 06 and 08 for their miserable failure in governing:

If next year is a referendum on Obama -- and it will be --voters will care far more about jobs and economic growth than about the size of the deficit. Just think of Ronald Reagan, who ran record deficits even as he railed against them for eight years. Americans will feel the economic turnaround in their own lives certainly by the next presidential election, and hopefully by next November. This is what matters. Above all, this will determine whether Obama's presidency represents a passing moment or a new political era.
But it's not the only factor. What counts, too, is the character of both parties. Republicans have to show that they have something more to offer than a relentless, angry yearning for Obama's failure. And the Democrats have to prove that they're the party of "yes" -- not just in rhetoric, but in governing.
For the GOP, the lesson is fundamental -- the party must reach beyond its unstable base. That argument came from GOP consultant Alex Castellanos, and though I'm reluctant to tarnish his bona fides by praising him, he's right that this year's Republican gubernatorial candidates succeeded by remembering that their principles "were good for more than saying no." Not only did they adjure attacks on Obama; each portrayed himself as an affirmative leader with "an optimistic, populist vision of economic success."

But of course for the Republicans who have seemingly surrendered their party to a bunch of drooling, hate-filled, misled hypocrites who whimpered not once in protest as a Republican Congress and President wasted thousands of lives on failed, ideological wars, crashed our economy through their policies of Corporate theft and greed this may be hard for them to accomplish:

This is both diagnosis and recommendation for Republicans. But there's reason to believe they will have the hardest of times following the advice. Only one day after incantations of teabaggery led Republicans to a stunning defeat in upstate New York's 23rd Congressional District, a number of GOP leaders appeared at an anti-health reform rally on Capitol Hill. They looked out and saw the sign saying, "Stop Obamunism" and the banner comparing the health bill to the death camp at Dachau, complete with pictures of Holocaust victims. Another placard trafficked in overt anti-Semitism: "Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds." The spelling was wrong, but the obscenity was unambiguous. Yet not one Congressional Republican rebuked it.
This kind of politics is more repellent than appealing in a country where 56 percent of voters classify themselves as moderate or liberal -- and most of the 40 percent who are conservatives aren't extremists.

And the beauty of it all is that Republican politicians cannot escape this extremist mob and will in the end be completely held hostage to it:

But Republicans are hostages of the hardcore. When a clearly discomforted Eric Cantor, the House minority whip, was interviewed by Bloomberg's Al Hunt, he said he didn't "condone" comparisons with Hitler or "images that frankly are not, I think, very helpful." You think? Cantor's remonstrance was neutered to avoid rankling a GOP base that has rolled out an ideological guillotine. Unbelievably, even Utah Sen. Robert Bennett faces the threat of a primary challenge on the grounds that he's insufficiently conservative.

In fact, for Americans to turn their country over to a party of a bunch of blathering idiots who will believe any lie forwarded by their leadership, who in turn have selective memories of their own roles in being instrumental to creating the problems our country now faces, the Democrats themselves must prove they are unfit to lead:

For Democrats, there are other dangers ahead, especially Afghanistan -- an issue where the President's fiercest critics are also those most fiercely urging him to escalate. But I'm betting that a year from now -- and certainly in 2012 -- no one will remember last week's false prophesy of Democratic doom. Those who propounded it will likely move on to explaining how the economic recovery has nothing to do with Obama or his party because it would have happened anyway. Americans won't pay much attention to that.
If Obama and the Democrats keep succeeding, they will in the end realign American politics. Then, the GOP will have to redefine itself. You can't permanently rationalize your way forward any more than you can win a midterm election one year in advance.

In the end, all the right-wing looney-tunes who simply care only about their own greed and quite frankly do not know or care what is best for this country, only their own selfish interests hold no threat to our majorities. The truth threat is if the Democratic Party continues down the path it is currently on and allows itself to be cowed by the lunatic fringe of maniacal zealots on the right. My message to them is to get off your ass and fight these people tooth and nail. In the end the American people will not be swayed by the lunacy of the Tea-Baggers and will be turned off by it. The only question is will they continue to have Democratic cowardice to be turned off by.

If so, 2010 is a tossup.

Say Thanks to a True American Hero

RDemocrat — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:06:59 GMT

The tragedy at Ft. Hood has shocked the whole nation. Many lives were lost that should not have been. While the Right-Wing talking head idiots have done everything in their power to politisize this act of violence, I believe that instead of pointing fingers or scoring political points we should say thank you to a true American hero.
Kimberly Munley was a policewoman and one of the first to arrive on the scene of the tragic events at Ft. Hood. She is a mother, and a respected law enforcement officer in her community:

Munley, the mother of a 3-year-old girl, lives on a street where a lot of homes are vacant because so many residents are deployed at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I just felt more protected knowing she was on my street," neighbor Erin Houston said.
"We sleep a lot safer knowing she's on the block," said Sgt. William Barbrow, another neighbor.
When Bryan Munley heard that his sister-in-law thwarted the alleged gunman in a shootout, he wasn't surprised.
"There's nothing that stands in her way. It completely makes sense that she did what she did," he said from Downingtown, Pennsylvania. "It was amazing. Without her, there would have been a lot more people killed."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/...

Luckily, she was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene of the deadly shooting and despite being wounded managed to get four rounds into the shooter:

It was Munley who arrived quickly Thursday at the scene of the worst massacre at an Army base in U.S. history, where 13 people were killed. She confronted the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, and shot him four times. Munley was wounded in the exchange.

Her actions definately saved lives:

Lt. Gen. Bob Cone, Fort Hood's commanding general, described Munley as a "trained, active first responder" who acted quickly after she "just happened to encounter the gunman."
"Really a pretty amazing and aggressive performance by this police officer," he said.
Cone was asked on CNN's "American Morning" whether Munley's shots brought down the assailant and stopped him from shooting.
"That's correct," Cone said. "The critical factor here was her quick response to the situation."

Now, as a member of the American Federation of Government Employees, her union has decided that she should be honored and has set up a page where Americans can write to Ms. Munley and wish a true American hero well in her recovery:

Today, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) honors the service, courage, and commitment of Sergeant Kimberly Munley. Sgt. Munley is a civilian police officer at the Ft. Hood military installation and a member of AFGE Local 1920.
Please send your well wishes to Officer Munley. Your messages will be composited and we will deliver the messages on Friday, November 20th, 2009.

Instead of trying to place blame or score cheap political points as some pundits have, I think we should all go to the page set up for her by AFGE for Americans everywhere to send best wishes on a speedy recovery to a true American hero:

http://www.afge.org/index.cfm?...

As someone whose sister is a police officer that I am very proud of I think we should all honor the bravery and professionalism of this young lady whose actions saved many more lives at Ft. Hood.

Oh Say Can You See By The Drone's Early Light.

Hillbilly — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:00:13 GMT

So here we are fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fighting for freedom? Really? We're there because the folks that represent us want these two wars. It's that simple.
Never mind Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, and Bin Laden got away when we had a real chance to get him.

Washington Post
The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge.

Never mind that 93,911 - 102,465 Iraqi civilians have died due to our presence there. Never mind that we've spent $700 billion in Iraq and $231 billion in Afghanistan. Never mind that our Predator drones are killing innocent people.

ABC News
A U.N. human rights investigator warned the United States Tuesday that its use of unmanned warplanes to carry out targeted executions may violate international law.
Philip Alston said that unless the Obama administration explains the legal basis for targeting particular individuals and the measures it is taking to comply with international humanitarian law which prohibits arbitrary executions, "it will increasingly be perceived as carrying out indiscriminate killings in violation of international law."

Never mind the war profiteering corporations or the members of Congress that support the war profiteering Corporations are making out like bandits. Never mind that folks like Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein claim to be doing God's work while stealing us blind. Never mind we're paying the brother of Hamid Karzai, Aghanistan's President, Ahmed Wali Karzai a suspected player in the illegal opium trade.

New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.

Now we're considering sending more troops to Afghanistan.

Reuters
Officials described Wednesday's White House meeting, which will bring together Obama's top military and civilian advisers, as critical to a decision after two months of deliberations.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Obama was considering options that included sending roughly 15,000, 30,000 or 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan to try to stem Taliban gains.
Currently, there are nearly 68,000 U.S. troops and 40,000 allied forces in Afghanistan.

So what is it we're fighting for in Iraq and Afghanistan? You tell me, because I just don't get it.
Only in America "The Land Of The Fleeced And The Home Of The Unemployed And UnInsured".

On Paying For Immoral Things, Or, Is Stupak On To Something?

fake consultant — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:39:50 GMT

There has been a great wailing and gnashing of teeth over the past day or so as those who follow the healthcare debate react to the Stupak/Some Creepy Republican Guy Amendment.

The Amendment, which is apparently intended to respond to conservative Democrats’ concerns that too many women were voting for the Party in recent elections, was attached to the House’s version of healthcare reform legislation that was voted out of the House this weekend.

The goal is to limit women’s access to reproductive medicine services, particularly abortions; this based on the concept that citizens of good conscience shouldn’t have their tax dollars used to fund activities they find morally repugnant.

At first blush, I was on the mild end of the wailing and gnashing spectrum myself…but having taken a day to mull the thing over, I’m starting to think that maybe we should take a look at the thinking behind this…and I’m also starting to think that, properly applied, Stupak’s logic deserves a more important place in our own vision of how a progressive government might work.

It’s Political Judo Day today, Gentle Reader, and by the time we’re done here it’s entirely possible that you’ll see Stupak’s logic in a whole new light.
So let’s go back a moment and reconsider what Stupak wants: his religious beliefs are offended by the concept of abortion, and he is taking steps to ensure that the government is not using his taxpayer dollars to pay for the procedure.

This precedent is fascinating—and what I’m inviting you to do today is to consider, for a moment, what our government might look like if we take his logic and…extend it a bit.

“…In the game of life, the house edge is called Time. In whatever we do, Nature charges us for doing it in the currency of time…”

--Bob Stupak, “Yes, You Can Win!”

I always try to find common ground with those I oppose, and the most logical place to start would be to consider the fact that Stupak and I are both morally offended by the idea that we use taxpayer dollars to go around killing people.

So where do we differ?

For starters, I find it morally offensive that my taxpayer dollars are used, on a daily basis, to fund the actual killing of actual, living, people by my Government…so, Congressman Stupak, in the name of finding common ground, how about if the same day your Amendment goes into effect we also stop funding any military activities that might reasonably be expected to, as I hear people say, “stop a beating heart”, so as to prevent offending my religious sensibilities?

John Allen Muhammad, the so-called “Washington Sniper”, is scheduled to be executed today. Are you prepared to support legislation, Congressman Stupak, which will prevent his “post-term abortion” and the potential abortions of all those other human lives on Death Rows around this country if those state-sponsored abortions are as much of an affront to my religious beliefs as they should be to yours?

During the more or less four months worth of slow-walking and stalling that we have seen so far in this process 15,000 Americans have died…or, if you prefer, five 9/11s…simply because they have no health insurance—and unless your religion is a lot more bloodthirsty than mine, the abortions of 15,000 people because of the…what’s the word I’m looking for here…let’s see…could it be…sloth…of your colleagues should be an act as reprehensible as the greatest of blasphemies ever recorded in The Bible.

With that in mind, are you prepared to join me in cutting off the use of my taxpayer dollars to fund the salaries, the “public option” health care, and the office operations of those legislators who are behind these killings?

What else do we do that’s aborting lives on a daily basis that I’m sure Congressman Stupak would be glad to allow me, as a result of the offense to my conscience (and, presumably, his), to “negatively fund with extreme prejudice”?

There’s that Drug War, of course, and whatever we're doing in those secret prisons—and public ones—and subsidies for those who clear mountains and poison lands…not to mention the tax dollars I’ve been providing for a company who did electrical work that’s aborting soldiers.

So whaddaya think, Congressman Stupak?

Since you’re so proud of your pro-life credentials, are you ready to stand up with me and defend the principle that all human lives deserve to be protected, and that we have the right to withhold funding for all those activities that are morally repugnant…or are you just another one of those “enablers” who helped kill 15,000 people this past few months?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Congressman Ben Chandler (D-KY 6th) Speaking About Health Care 10.17.09

Hillbilly — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:43:11 GMT

Congressman Ben Chandler speaking at the Kentucky 6th Congressional District Family Fall Festival in Lexington Saturday October 17, 2009.

Dennis Kucinich On The Ed. Show

Hillbilly — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:37:24 GMT

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Some Ideas for Kentucky's Chamber of Commerce

RDemocrat — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:39:52 GMT

As everyone in our fair Commonwealth knows, we have a huge budget shortfall. Every year we are scrambling to plug holes in it. In keeping with the recurrent national theme of only asking working Americans to sacrifice or pay for anything, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has chimed in with a "study" on how we could make up some of our budget shortfall. Of course, it called for sacrifice from working Kentuckians not a single member of the Chamber.
Yes, according to Dave Adkisson the real culprit to all our woes is the fat and sassy state worker in Kentucky who just simply makes too much money and should not be recieving benefits such as healthcare:

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce recommended Monday that state employees and retirees pay more for their health insurance, a move that could shave $188 million from a potential $1.2 billion state budget shortfall over the next two years.
The business group said Kentucky can no longer afford to provide generous health benefits that dwarf what most private workers receive.
The average state worker pays for only 3 percent of his or her health insurance premium, compared to 20 percent for the average private employee in Kentucky, said Dave Adkisson, president and chief executive officer of the chamber.
The total cost to provide health coverage for 258,169 teachers, state employees, state retirees and their dependents is more than $1.2 billion a year - about $607 a month for each of 156,683 state workers and retirees, Adkisson said.

http://wbx.me/l/?p=1&u=http%3A...

Ah, but lo and behold this was not his only brainstorm:

Another cost-cutting solution, Adkisson said, would be to provide employees with a fixed dollar amount indexed for inflation to buy life and health insurance and other fringe benefits.
This would require employees to contribute some additional amount for health coverage, depending on the level of coverage selected. Total savings would depend on the amount of subsidy provided.

Of course, the President of Kentucky's Association of State Employees was not very enthused at the Chamber's suggestions on raising money for the budget shortfall:

Lee Jackson, president of the Kentucky Association of State Employees, immediately blasted the plan.
"We would oppose any attempt to tinker with state workers' health care benefits," he said.

So, in that spirit I thought that maybe I could put my mental efforts into providing our fine Commonwealth and the Chamber of Commerce located therein with a few suggestions to raise some money for our state that these fine folks may have overlooked. Please add yours in the comments.

First, while we are asking for sacrifice why do we not just repeal all the tax breaks and loopholes lobbyists have won for the chamber and their members in the last few decades?? Why should the taxpayers of our fair Commonwealth be footing the bill for these folks?? They do not seem to be hurting near as bad as the workers in this state.

Next, we could look at why this insurance is so high. Instead of expecting the working Kentuckian to pay more of their costs, why do we not ask or better yet FORCE the insurance companies to offer reasonable premiums for their insurance plans?? Why does the Chamber not come out for single-payer or a robust public option to nip the problem in the bud and at the source, the greed of the insurance companies??

Oh, but this next idea should bear particular consideration. Instead of asking Kentuckians who actually work for a living to pay more, I have a great suggestion. Lets look at every business that is a member of Kentucky's Chamber of Commerce. Then, for every member company of the Chamber we could charge a $50 a month fee to that company for every employee they have that makes less than $9.00 an hour. Further, for every employee within a Chamber company that does not have health insurance as an offered benefit we could charge another $50 a month per employee.

According to the Kentucky Youth Advocates, 162,000 workers in Kentucky benefitted from the minimum wage increase this year. According to Business First, 1.2 million Kentuckians went without health insurance at some point in 2007 and 2008. By my estimations this model could raise $68.1 million for the state budget shortfall in one year.

So what I want to ask Mr. Adksisson is before asking hardworking Kentuckians who have seen their wages stagnate and have fought for and won benefits such as healthcare to sacrifice $188 million over the next two years for working hard for our Commonwealth is the Chamber willing to sacrifice the $136.2 million over the same period for being selfish, greedy assholes??

I will not hold my breath waiting for the answer.

The Great Sadness of Healthcare Reform

RDemocrat — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:03:51 GMT

Oh, those poor souls who are crying so hard about the legislation provided for Universal Healthcare in the House. I mean, our "leaders" were so concerned with helping the average working American who do not have and cannot afford to buy private insurance for whatever reason that they just were so very unfair to those who have contributed so much to the problems we now face. My heart just bleeds with sympathy for these groups of people.
Yes, the first groups to fire up the violin and play a mournful tune were the insurance companies and makers of medical equipment:

Insurers do not like the provision to create a new government-run insurance program. Drug makers oppose billions of dollars in rebates they would have to give to the government over 10 years. Makers of artificial hips, heart defibrillators and other medical devices are not particularly happy about the proposed 2.5 percent tax on their products.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11...

Yes, this is such a very bad deal for them. They stand to get millions of new, forced costumers at their mercy. The need not worry about anything at all really. Everyone knows that a robust public option has been dead for a long time, and once the "House of Lords" known as the U.S. Senate gets a hold of this legislation, anything that would keep the insurers honest and actually help working Americans over big business and the insurance companies will be completely deleted.

The next group to line up at the wailing wall are America's employers, who through their low wages, and disappearing benefits in decades of huge profits have been instrumental in causing the problem all while outsourcing any job that pays enough for workers to buy their own insurance or that offers insurance as a benefit are outsourced so that they can pay virtual slaves in oppressed countries real slave wages:

And employers large and small oppose rules that, for many of them, would make health care coverage - long a job benefit - become a federally mandated obligation.

And again, these folks have little to cry about. They realize they have bought off the House of Lords long ago. The only mandate that will survive that chamber will be the mandate that the American worker, already with stagnated wages and few benefits will be forced to buy insurance without help from their employers. Yes, the working class will be the only ones expected to show any responsibility with a crushing mandate that will force them to pay more of their paltry wages to Corporate crooks without a public option to protect them by providing real competition, something the health insurance industry has not seen in a long time.

Which brings us to our next set of crybabys. The Drug industry:

The drug industry expected harsh treatment from the House and got it. The bill would require drug makers to pay much more in rebates and discounts than in the $80 billion, 10-year deal that the industry struck in June with the White House and the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus. The House bill tacked on $60 billion or so in rebates over 10 years, raising the total to around $140 billion.

It seems to me if these folks have all this money to run commercial after commercial for boner pills for us to explain the meaning of to our children on primetime T.V., that they might have a little money to spare towards the greater good of our nation. Maybe a little less "Smiling Bob" and gray haired, elderly men who can get it up again and a little more sacrifice towards our society as a whole would be a winning combination. As a girl at work recently told me, "That is all we need in this country, a bunch of 65 year old men walking around with 10-inch boners".

This is surely a Greek tragedy for all these folks is it not?? However, closer examination leaves one to wonder just what all the sadness is over:

"All industries stand to gain from this legislation," Steven D. Findlay, senior health policy analyst with Consumers Union in Washington, said in an interview. "They're going to continue to fight their narrow issues and get the best that they can get. But all of them are aware they stand to gain significant new business and new revenue streams as more Americans get health coverage and money flows into the system for them."
But some observers say the House legislation is much less of a threat than the industry had feared. While insurers were worried that the government plan would be able to piggyback on the Medicare program in being able to demand lower prices than the private insurers get from doctors and hospitals, the House legislation does not give the government plan the same bargaining power as Medicare.
In a victory for the biotechnology drug industry, the House bill would give biotech drugs, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year, protection from generic competition for 12 years.

Ah yes, how very torturous to be in the wealthy elite, and in Corporate America. The greediest and least patriotic among us have just gotten such a raw deal out of all of this.

To me, it seems as if the only group that are not crying like spoiled-rotten children is the very group that should be. The hard-working American whose wages have stagnated and have no benefits that is working harder than ever and still cannot afford to insure themselves. Out of all this gnashing of teeth, my bet is they are the only ones who will sacrifice from any of this. They will be provided with a crushing mandate that puts them at the mercy of heartless, greedy insurance companies without the benefit of a robust public option, or any public option at all to protect them.

Yes, despite all this those who needed this legislation to be real reform are the very ones who should be singing the blues. What was once something that would be good for them, and give them hope is being reduced to figuring out just how much Corporate Welfare is going to be doled out to who, and how we can keep the elite and greedy from sacrificing anything and in fact how we can enrich them further.

That is the great sadness of healthcare reform.

On Snow And Cameras, Or, Health Care Gets A Day Off

fake consultant — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:00:19 GMT

Whether you are deliriously happy, incredibly sad, or still uncertain about how you feel about what has emerged from the House this weekend, it’s probably safe to say that one thing everyone is...is sick of the whole thing.

Of course, we’re far from done—but just to give us all a break, I’m going to abruptly change the subject.

I have a Flip Video camera—which I am still getting used to—and last night we ran up the hill to Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, ostensibly to test the camera’s low-light capabilities...but really so we could drive around in all the fresh new snow.

There’s plenty of time to get back to the political wars in a bit; but for right now let’s head up the mountain, see some cool stuff, talk about what the camera can—and can’t—do, and, just for fun, we’ll answer the age-old Seattle question: “how long does it take to find three places that sell espresso at the top of a mountain pass in the middle of nowhere?”
Snoqualmie Pass is Seattle’s closest ski area (just take I-90 about 40 miles east, and when the road quits going up, you’re there). The Pass and the surrounding mountains are high enough that you can get a lot of snow on the ground—in fact, in an average winter 33 feet of snow will accumulate; in 1955-56 you could have stuck a stick 68 feet long in the snow...and the ground would have still been a foot out of reach.

When you have that kind of snow to deal with, you have to make certain adaptations, which is how we get to our first video. What you’ll see is a fire hydrant shed, which is basically a little A-frame cabin for a fire hydrant:

(This was lit by car headlamps.)

There is a “Travelers’ Rest” building that’s been there since 1938—but you won’t see it in the next video, because it’s behind me. What I want you to pay attention to, instead, is how the camera reacts as it pans, and also the how the camera responds to the varying light levels in the clip:

The Travelers’ Rest building now houses restrooms and (naturally) an espresso shop. Here’s the view through one of their windows:

You can see that if the image is well-lit, and the camera is nice and still, the results are surprisingly good...for a camera that fits in a pocket.

The Alpental Lodge is located a hundred feet or so above the Pass; this sodium-lit video shows snow falling in the Lodge’s parking lot:

There is a mountain gorge with a genuine babbling brook in front, and a covered wooden bridge gets you over to the Lodge from the parking lot. This next video shows how the camera reacts to low light combined with movement. It’s also a great example of how well the camera records sound, which it does pretty well. (As the video progresses, the light changes from ambient light to fluorescent to sodium lamps as the bridge ends.)

We are still a little ways from Alpental’s opening, but this is an “almost picture postcard perfect” image of the back of the Lodge—and again, you’ll note that if enough light is present, the results can be great:

People live up here, as you might imagine, but again, when you have this much snow, you have to adapt. In order to get in and out of the house in a place where the snow will probably pile up well past the second story windows before it’s all done, you need a plan. The two videos that follow show the “snow sheds” that people build just to get from the front door to the car.

In about four to six weeks, when serious snow is on the ground, these sheds will be completely buried, creating exit tunnels that are somewhat reminiscent of what you might see attached to an igloo.

We’re almost to the end, and it’s time to answer the question we posed at the beginning of the story: exactly how long does it take to find three places that sell espresso at the top of a mountain pass in the middle of nowhere?

Who picked the one minute, fifteen seconds square on the grid? If it was you...you’re the winner.

The final video of the story shows just what kind of a snow shovel works best when clearing the kind of snow that accumulates at the Pass. This video was taken at the front doors of the third espresso location you saw from the previous video.

See the yellow “caution” tape around the windows? Snow will be piled up at least that deep in a few weeks; they will have to cut holes in the snow banks to allow people to walk around the side of the building to get to that side of the parking lot.

Normally this would be the part of the story where I would wrap everything up, and to do that today I’m going to offer a few thoughts about the little Flip Video camera.

I bought this camera because it is so small that it can easily be carried in a shirt pocket, because with this camera it’s so quick to start shooting, and because it was capable of recording in 720p, which is a high-def format.

I knew, going in, that it would have a number of limitations, and we have seen those on display in the videos here. I did not buy this camera as a substitute for a Red Camera—but I did buy it as a camera that I could use for field interviews that could be put on the Web, and, as some of the video on display here testifies, the camera is fully capable of doing that and more.

So there you go: we saw some très cool snow video, you, perhaps, learned a few things about adaptation, and we managed to get in a camera review besides.

And the best part: for at least a few minutes—no health care!

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein "I'm doing God's Work"

Hillbilly — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:56:55 GMT

What's Up With CSPAN?

Hillbilly — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:23:28 GMT

Sat Nov 07, 2009, 23:50:48 PM EST I posted this diary. CSPAN provided a link to the HR 3962 House floor individual debates. You could go to your state and click the link of the House member you were interested in and view his or her speech, but that all changed Sun Nov 08, 2009. None of the Kentucky individual House floor debate videos were linked properly. For example when I clicked on Ed. Whitfield's link I got Rep. Michael F. Doyle (D) PA - See screen shot below. I know CSPAN has had a busy weekend, but this sort of stuff is unprofessional and leaves them open for us to speculate this is being done purposely.

Ah, Healthcare: Death Awaits You in the House of Lords

RDemocrat — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:49:44 GMT

While the House version of Healthcare was far short of what I wanted, at least we did have an employer mandate, public option and a few other good things. It was an historic vote that would improve our current system some, but not nearly enough. Now, as the bill moves into the "House of Lords" we call the U.S. Senate a most certain and foul death awaits.
With our paltry "in-spirit" minority in the House unfortunately in the Senate the "in-spirit" number may be lower and actually translate into a small Republican minority. Already, there are major differences in the approach of the small Democratic majority in the House and the House of Lords:

The are several major differences between the bills.
_The House would require employers to provide coverage; the Senate does not.
_The House would pay for the coverage expansion by raising taxes on upper-income earners; the Senate uses a variety of taxes and fees, including a levy on high-cost insurance plans.
The House plan costs about DOLLARSIGN_SOAPBLOX1.2 trillion over 10 years; the Senate version is under $900 billion.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_...

This causes many Repubicans in the House of Lords who realize that Mitch McConnell may actually be the Senate Majority Leader to confidently predict defeat for the bill:

"The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said dismissively.

And in typical fashion the Democrats in that chamber were showing their usual courage in disputing his analysis:

Democrats did not line up to challenge him. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has yet to schedule floor debate and hinted last week that senators may not be able to finish health care this year.

I will say that while I had some problems with the House version if it survives mostly entact then I may actually be able to support the final bill. However, we know the powerful forces that wait to ambush any Progressive idea that survived the House in the Senate. What we know is that the version we get from the Senate will be watered-down Corporate welfare that puts any reforms on the back of working America, and leaves Americans still at the mercy of the same forces in the healthcare industry and particularly the insurance sector that will be given a huge windfall of Corporate Welfare. Nothing will be in place to protect the ones who needed reform the most.

While many Democrats and Progressives consider this a victory it will be a bitter-sweet one at best. We are soon to realize that we are indeed in a minority in the Senate and are soon to have an attempted Corporate Welfare boon passed with a mandate only on working America and no public option to fall back on.

I hope I am wrong but I fear that many true Progressives after seeing the nightmare this bill will become in the Senate will be forced to do what Dennis Kucinich did. Oppose it on principle.

Sobering Numbers in the House Healthcare "Victory"

RDemocrat — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:17:40 GMT

While many were celebrating the historical nature of the House vote there are also reasons for real Democrats to temper celebration. Of course, we all know the ripping the House version, which actually did include some good things will get in the "House of Lords" we all know as the U.S. Senate. Of course, we know that we actually have a paltry majority in the Senate or quite possibly still a Republican majority, but the House Healthcare vote should give us a sobering reminder of just how small of a majority we have in the House.
Democrats in the House have a 221-214 majority. The Dennis Kucinich vote would have been a yes if the legislation were more Progressive. We simply have to face the fact that anyone who calls himself a Democrat and voted against this bill is merely a part of our party in label only and actually true Republicans in spirit and ideology.

The way I see it that leaves 38 seats we need not worry about helping in defending. If these folks are so determined to give ammunition, aid and comfort to the enemies of the working class in this country then they are actually Republican seats already. We should work to primary them, and if we cannot should abandon their races and let them lose and concentrate on other races elsewhere to expand our 221-214 majority.

There is too much that needs to be done for working America. If these folks jumped ship on Universal Healthcare what will happen when EFCA, Campaign Finance Reform, curtailing lobbyist influnce, ending the middle-eastern wars and providing real oversight over our economy comes to the fore?? Even more will jump ship and it will be like a Republican majority again. Yes, the much cherished Bush years once again.

I call for these DINOs to either leave our party, or kick us out of your party. Some of us do not have healthcare, and do not get millions of dollars of special interest money for protecting the interests of the most elite among us. These folks make our whole party look weak, and idiotic.

There are some of us who are serious about the betterment of our country as a whole. There are many Democrats that care about building the middle-class and seeing that more Americans see the fruits if we ever have a booming economy again.

We have seen who the Republicans in our party are in the House, and will soon see that we may indeed still be in a minority in the Senate. What worries me is that our party may not be able to muster the energy and the gumption once again to do what it takes to elect a real Democratic majority in the Senate or really expand our paltry majority in the Senate. First, we have to realize we must stop defending Republican seats.

At least now, we will have an accurate count of Democrats in both chambers.