The protests are turning violent, probably agitated by the police and other pro-Mubarak forces. The surest sign that things are getting dangerous is that Anderson Cooper’s live feed no longer shows him wading through the crowds, but is instead a camera shot from high up on a roof.
Archives for February 2011
The Importance of Being Insured
Freddie deBoer writes:
Personally, I think denying people adequate health care coverage because of their economic condition or employment status is a practical and ethical failure equal to Jim Crow or similar regimes of racial inequality. Now you can know me by my extremism. And so the meticulously curated pose of believing in a theoretical regime of universal health care while opposing all real reform seems to me to be dishonest and worse.
There have been no real efforts at reform emanating from the right. The closest thing was the Wyden/Bennett bill to which Bob Bennett hung his name and and for which he subsequently lost his long-held senate seat. That, in any case, was the brainchild of Ron Wyden, a real champion of the healthcare debates. I’m glad several Republicans were willing to sign on to it, even if they did so knowing it would never pass. Certainly no Republicans would now.
Dave Weigel reported recently on a new bill Senators John Barasso and Lindsey Graham have introduced in the Senate, The State Health Care Choice Act, which essentially allows states to opt out of the new healthcare law. It’s important to note that Senator Wyden already had something like this included in the original law (indeed, under Wyden’s amendment states can easily set up their own plans even without individual mandates, which sort of takes the wind out of the sails of all these lawsuits if you ask me…). The difference between his and Barasso/Graham’s legislation is that Wyden allowed opting out if states were able to meet or beat federal criteria. The Republican version is simply an opt-out, no strings attached.
Weigel reports Graham saying, “You didn’t listen to us when we had ideas.” Right. Republicans had control of the government until 2006, and of the White House until 2008. No healthcare reform bill full of Republican ideas was forthcoming – only the hugely expensive senior-citizen bribe known as Medicare Part D. Perhaps Graham means we didn’t listen to all the Republican ideas on how to obstruct healthcare reform.
Born in South Dakota
I wouldn’t be quick to assume that the South Dakota state legislature won’t pass the mandatory gun ownership law that John posted about yesterday. In 2006, the legislature outlawed abortion, only to have the law overturned by a 55-45 margin in a referendum. The statehouse is completely controlled by a fairly retrograde set of Republicans, and only Baby Jesus knows what these idiots will pass on any given day.
There are a lot of reasons that the South Dakota legislature is screwed up. Legislator is a part-time job that doesn’t pay worth a damn, so the typical legislator is some kind of self-employed or retired person. People with real jobs can’t cut a couple of months out of their schedule for what’s essentially free work, and the people who can are more likely to be Republicans. The legislature doesn’t do a whole lot except figure out how to cut spending, because the state’s only real revenue source is a sales tax. Schools and municipalities–the government that people really care about–are funded in large part by local property taxes, so the legislature can’t do much to fuck that up. And there are 70 House members, one for every 6,000 registered voters. Since the top two vote getters in each legislative district are sent to the House, it’s often possible for a dedicated wacko to squeak in.
In short, the place is useless and full of wankers because nobody good wants a shitty part-time job that’s easy to get but not really very important. The legislature has the luxury of jacking off over gun control and abortion because the state economy is fueled in large part by federally-subsidized farming and ranching. The money for that comes from DC, not Pierre, and everyone knows it. Even so, it’s a goddam embarrassing shame to see how poorly the legislature represents some of the hardest-working and most intelligent people in the nation.
Early Morning Open Thread: Foster Cats
From commentor FoxinSocks:
About a year and a half ago, I found out from a friend about three cats who were going to be shot and killed on a farm in West Virginia. I was unemployed at the time and exceedingly broke, but no one else would help them, so me and my friend made the short trip across the state line to pick them up. So there I was, with three sick and malnourished but very grateful kitties in my bathroom. Luckily for me, I was referred to the wonderful folks at the Montgomery County MD SPCA who helped me vet and place the cats. Now, over a year later, I’m a foster with the MCSPCA with a new group of kitties, but times are tough, as bad as I’ve ever seen, and all the rescue groups are struggling…
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This is Chip, an eight-year-old Tabby who was given up by his family. The family claimed he couldn’t be handled and that he had litter box issues, but he’s been great for me. Heck, I can barely get him off my lap! I call Chip the WB Frog cat though, because at home, he’s this loving, devoted cat and at the shows, he’s miserable and grumpy. So I tell people how wonderful he is and then they see him in person and he’s nothing like I’ve described. But I swear, he’s a friendly boy!
Late Night Open Thread: Winning the Evening
Via Dave Weigel at Slate, Michael Kinsley at… Politico:
Determined to be the website with the most and fastest coverage of presidential politics and in responding to reports, such as one in The New York Times on Sunday that said the 2012 election may be the most over-covered presidential contest yet, POLITICO announced that it has decided to skip the 2012 election cycle entirely and to concentrate its resources on 2016.
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“The 2016 presidential race begins today,” POLITICO Executive Editor Jim VandeHei said in a webcast press conference from the company’s headquarters at a secret address — 1100 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, Va. Asked whether the lack of candidates would be a problem, VandeHei insisted that “candidates play a less and less significant role in American politics, especially at the presidential level. By the time we have finished covering the political consultants and advisers, then throw in a poll or two, there is really no need to talk to the candidates themselves. Our best scientific evidence is that, while the candidates may still have some vestigial role in 2012, by 2016 they will largely have disappeared, except for purely symbolic activities like posing for pictures [while] coming out of church with their families.” By 2020, VandeHei said, even those will be fabricated. “We project [that] the lack of any official candidates, while it may be a problem for media attempting to cover the 2012 election, will be an anachronistic worry by 2016 and a question on ‘Jeopardy!’ by 2020.” Even today, “Have you seen what you can do with Photoshop?” VandeHei asked. “It’s incredible.”
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Jeff Jarvis, associate professor of sound bites at the City University School of Journalism in New York and author of the new book, “Net Neutrality: What Is It Again?” commented: “In the end, this is all about our children. If we want to leave them a rich legacy of media and empower them to enjoy the same media diet of stories about polls and debates and gaffes and commentary from the left and from the right and promises made and promises broken and pleas for civility and anonymous quotes and Sarah Palin that we have enjoyed up to now, we’re going to have to face facts and start rationing news.”
Funny, or just narcissistic? Opinions differ! (But I still have a copy of Kinsley’s first book Curse of the Giant Muffins, so I’m prejudiced… and old.)
Late Night Open Thread: Winning the EveningPost + Comments (47)
Internet Inventor Gore’s Website Crashed by Drudge
Pretty hard to top this as a snapshot of contemporary America.
Also too, the comments.
Internet Inventor Gore’s Website Crashed by DrudgePost + Comments (75)
Expanding Her Horizons, Expanding Her Parameters
Apparently McMegan was jealous with all the press Sarah Palin was getting for repeatedly demonstrating her stupidity, and decided to demonstrate that not only does her calculator not work, but her pocket Constitution is broken and lied to her about the first amendment.
I blame gastritis.
Expanding Her Horizons, Expanding Her ParametersPost + Comments (68)