Saturday, December 12, 2009
From Robert Reich’s excellent piece in HuffPost about big insurance companies’ keeping the Senate their bitch:
“From the start, opponents of the public option have wanted to portray it as big government preying upon the market, and private insurers as the embodiment of the market. But it’s just the reverse. Private insurers are exempt from competition. As a result, they are becoming ever more powerful. And it’s not just their economic power that’s worrying. It’s also their political power, as we’ve learned over the last ten months.”
Friday, December 11, 2009
My Huffington Post piece on the impending death of newspaper bible Editor and Publisher doesn’t go into what a world without vigorous dailies could mean — the D.C. weasels won’t be watched as closely.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Humorist Andy Borowitz’ latest gem:
“Politicians should have a warning label: ‘Past campaign promises are not a guarantee of future results.’”
(I can just hear all the disenchanted Obama voters nodding in agreement).
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
It looks like the health-insurance racketeers have survived their toughest challenge, and that the U.S. Senate is still its bitch.
These thugs should have been put out of business entirely earlier this year, when Democrats quickly bargained away single-payer.
Whatever comes of this latest Harry Reid-endorsed “compromise,” this nine-month dog-and-pony show has displayed how badly broken the Senate is. Then again, as thoughtful radio host Thom Hartmann is fond of pointing out, there wasn’t a single Republican vote for Medicare, either. These clowns are hopeless. Now we also know who the biggest Democratic insurance whores are.
It’s been, um, illuminating. Like shining a light in a septic tank.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
…I’ve got a bridge for ya.
Pres.Obama wants to use billions of $ of returned TARP money to create jobs. And jobs will, of course, be the top issue in next year’s elections. More jobs, happier people, ergo, more Democrats elected.
Republicans, of course, don’t want jobs created. Their bullshit story (this week, anyway) is that the TARP money should go to reduce the deficit. Talk about your late-to-the-party deficit hawks. This will be a nasty battle. And it’s all about what’s probably going to decide the midterm electioons.
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell says Pres. Obama may get Olympia Snowe and even “Droopy Dog” Lieberman on board for health care, but forget about Nebraksa Sen. Ben Nelson, the power-broker wannabe with the Ziebarted-on hair.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Columnist Gail Collins in today’s NYTimes:
“The Republicans are the fiscal conservatives in Congress, at least in the years when they aren’t actually in power.”
She then adds puckishly:
“They were never going to rally around an expensive new government program that fails to provide a single new market for corn-based products.”
Try http://twitter.com/newsmann
I’m a short-attention-span guy. I’m passing along a lot of good stuff there, even though I HATE the word “tweets.”
Thursday, December 3, 2009
…for GOP section of Senate dining room…
Thursday, December 3, 2009
From Gail Collins’ funny NYTimes column today about GOP offering amendments to health-care bill:
“The Republicans offered their first big motion of the debate, under the leadership of that famous fiscal hawk and former G.O.P. standard-bearer, John McCain. … Who got up and demanded that the bill be stripped of $450 billion in proposed Medicare savings.
“Come back with another bill. Only this time, don’t put the cost of it on the backs of senior citizens of this country,” he said.
It was a riveting moment. Perhaps never before had a member of the Senate dared to suggest that a piece of pending legislation should be changed so that senior citizens would be exempt from suffering.”
