Close Encounters of the Health Care Kind

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Nothing like a medical emergency to focus the mind and the attention. Once the dust settles and the hours drag on, and you view life through a hospital window and the limited television selection [no MSNBC!] of a hospital room, you learn to appreciate the blessings and ignore the rest for a while.

But there's no ignoring the health care system these days, and we're hearing snatches of real life about it everywhere. From the caller to NPR describing how her insurance will go from some $800 a month to over $1400 if she renews. To the couple in the ER worrying in whispers whether there'll be coverage. To...well, you and I know the examples are legion.

And it's almost inconceivable that the insiders in Washington could be so oblivious or deliberately disregarding of what's going on for their fellow citizens, their constituents, their voters every single day.

Maybe you Senators and former Senators and lobbyists and industry corporatists aren't talking to us...but we're talking to each other, and we're mad as hell that we're being ignored.

You remember us...We, the people?

Or as my dear friend Kathy shared with me from the letter she sent the White House [and the

North of the Border

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Obama effect? In the Middle East right after his speech there, perhaps. But that would be a stretch in Nova Scotia...although there was that first-ever international trip the President made to Toronto some months back.

Today, north of the Border, East of Ontario, for the first time ever, the NDP won. Nova Scotia has elected, well, here's the way the ruling Conservative party put it:

NDP Leader Darrell Dexter, a former journalist and lawyer, calmly and effectively persuaded voters to ignore dire warnings from the ruling Conservatives, who demonized the Opposition party as a shifty band of irresponsible, free-spending radicals.

My kind of people.

Congratulations to the folks in Nova Scotia.

And the global climate change slowly, inexorably, continues....
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crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette

One Is the Loneliest Number

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Lots of talk these days about some pretty big numbers. Deficits, stimulus bill price tags, tax cut giveaways to appease "centrist" Republicans, votes in the Congress....yep, they all have three or four or nine or... digits, these numbers.

So it's pretty easy to talk numbers and forget about people. Suck it up you folks who might benefit from the Democratic plan, says South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford this morning on CNN. Ten thousand jobs here or a bazillion foreclosures there? pffft. Piffle. You got yourself in this mess. It's gonna be tough getting out, guess you're gonna be one of the collateral damage.

And his rationale is the same entities that screwed up Katrina would screw things up if we go down the Democratic path. And John King just lets him spew that spin unchallenged. Unauthenticated.

For one thing, George Bush isn't at the top of the entities, having his minions and cronies seed everything with the corrupt incompetent ideologues who were in charge the last eight years.

The Republicans are in lockstep now, with few exceptions. Standing against the will of the American people. Standing against the needs of the American people. Standing against the interests of the American people.

Because for John "Bagman" Boehner (remember him handing out those tobacco lobby checks on the floor of the Congress? No? Well no wonder the country's in such dire straits) and Mitch McConnell and Richard Shelby and Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the Republican leadership, it's all about scoring points against the new President. It's all about roughing him up..."Welcome to Washington"...it's all about carrying water for the same elite insiders that drove us into this quagmire the last eight years.

And they're not going to give up...heck, they're going full bore with their talk radio partners in propaganda still.

This week, President Obama is reaching out to the American people. Going to town halls to talk directly to the American people.

While the Congress meets in their cloakrooms and closets and caucus retreats and talks to each other. And their willing watercarriers in the media.

And in northern Minnesota, here in tall timber country, the foreclosure listings fill the paper. The business news is the layoffs at Teamworks.

And in Akeley, Minnesota, the Paul Bunyan Grocery is going out of business because the owner cannot afford the losses any longer.

So tell that little eighty-year-old widow lady in Akeley who depended on that Grocery because she doesn't drive and the nearest "big" town of Walker is some ten miles away. And it's 20 below and the wind chill's even colder.

Tell that lady to suck it up, because the posturing and preening of the demigods for those who line their pockets is so much more important than passing an economic stimulus bill that will put America back on track.
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Kennedy vs. Reid

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Lots of sturm und drang on the internets about whether Caroline Kennedy should be appointed to fill the Hillary Clinton/Robert F. Kennedy Senate seat from New York.

Meanwhile, Harry Reid is proffering his list of "acceptable" chairs for the Senate Committees.

Which leaves one question: why is there no discussion about "process" for who will be Senate Majority Leader of the next Congress? If this isn't insiderism, what is?

Oh, and, yeah, I'm still appalled that Lieberman holds the HSC chair.

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Prairie's Reading: Taibbi on Rightness

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Rolling Stone's genius writer Matt Taibbi recounts why McCain and Palin, yes, and even the brush cutter, have done everything in their power to restore what's right with America.
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To Be Resolved

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The ongoing saga of the Judas Senator trying to keep his cadaverous fingers tightly clutched around the Homeland Security Committee chairmanship continues this weekend, thanks to articles like the homestate Hartford Courant piece which has stirred up more ire among those who wonder why there is even any question about Joe-the-Backstabber retaining any chairmanship or seniority in the Democratic caucus. Politico and Josh both have discussion worth reading.

The collegiality of the good ol' incumbent-cy boys seems to rear its head in Dodd's comments. Sorry, Chris, not buyin' it.

And then there's the Lieberman aide attributed with the insistence that national security depends on his Senator holding on to "his" chairmanship. Yeah, 'cause he did such a great job of it already, eh?

It took a commenter in the Politico thread to remind me, though, that Lieberman didn't just fail--deliberately, some say--to perform the oversight responsibilities of Homeland Security. Lieberman didn't just run against the Democratic-endorsed candidate for US Senate in Connecticut with strong Republican help in '06. Lieberman didn't just endorse and support McCain.

Not only did Lieberman actively, aggressively, gleefully, enthusiastically, scurrilously campaign against Barack Obama for the office of President.

He also campaigned for Minnesota Republican Norm Coleman over Democratic candidate Al Franken for the Wellstone seat in the U.S. Senate. Did he campaign in other Senate races, too?

The square is complete...the four sides enclosing one politician who eagerly embraced the opposition as he broke his word and campaigned in both Presidential and Senate races against the party he now thinks should bow and scrape before his Lieberliness.

Give me a frackin' break. Now more than ever, Joe Must Go.
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(crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette).

Lieberman the Extortionist

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Show him the door, Senate Dems...
enough's enough.

If the Republicans think having a double-dealing, self-aggrandizing, egomaniacal traitor in their midst is a plus, well, that's just more seats for Dems to pick off in 2010 and 2012.
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Grant Park Revisited

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Obama Wins!

Those of us who remember the other Grant Park, the Grant Park of 1968 and all the pain of that era look at Grant Park now, at the faces with tears of streaming joy, and we say yes, 40 years in the wilderness has brought us to this time.

Now, let's roll up our sleeves... the hard work begins.
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Andy, Opie and The Fonz

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I've been looking at some interesting endorsements for Obama of late. You know the ones. Susan Eisenhower, Colin Powell, CC Goldwater, former Minnesota Governor Arnie Carlson...Republicans all.

But here's the endorsement that really sums up spirit of what all the endorsements mean in one sentimental package.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Hey, it beats Pinochet for McCain....
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