Just a quick post on President Obama's town hall meeting today. I found it refreshing to see him get out and do some explaining to an audience. The reason? He is usually his own best public-relations team. When we see him in action, we recall why he won the election. The same vulgar subset currently shouting down others at town halls were around during the election in 2008, but their childish howlings, paranoid delusions, and racist conniption fits failed to hinder the will of the majority in November. It's worth remembering this.
When Obama takes the podium, such opposition (aside from more rational kinds of opposition, I take care to add) stands little chance. He is obviously a well-intentioned, honest and intelligent person, and those qualities shine through. His presence carries an authenticity that goes beyond the office he holds (in itself a considerable factor), and he cannot afford to leave the public-relations campaign entirely up to Democratic senators and congresspeople.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Reading HR 3200 once again.
Rather than to add on to the long comment stream following Reading HR 3200, I'd like to address the myth of a spontaneous movement behind the disruption of town hall meetings. Rachel Maddow does a good job here of telling you exactly which professional lobbyists are organizing it all using published data. There have been published photographs showing the same faces at these meetings that were at the Republican raid that stopped the Bush V. Gore recount in Miami in 2000 and they are not locals, but professional lobbyists. They were not there to express their opinions but to keep democracy from happening and they are not at the town hall meetings to add to the discussion, but to prevent the discussion and therefore protesting the use of unregistered lobbyists to prevent the democratic process is not an offense against free speech but a defense of it. OK? Can we end this line of discussion?
The argument that the wording of HR3200 is too obscure for the average guy and therefore "alternate" interpretations have a measurable degree of probability is a flimsy version of ad ignorantiam: I don't understand A, therefore B. Anyone should recognize this as a fallacy and recognize that you're not going to fool anyone here with it.
I don't have a lot of trouble reading the bill for what that's worth and I certainly don't have any trouble discerning that a discussion of limiting our of pocket expense for the insured doesn't mean "rationing" and the provision to pay for you doctor's time when discussing living wills isn't a "death panel." I surely don't have any trouble discounting the tirades of someone who insists these lies are true.
The only conclusion one may legitimately make from any difficulty in understanding is that one's opinion is based upon a minimum of information and most likely to reflect prejudice. If you don't understand HR 3200 don't tell me what it means and don't tell me Sarah Palin might have a point because the wording is too complex for you, OK?
The argument that the wording of HR3200 is too obscure for the average guy and therefore "alternate" interpretations have a measurable degree of probability is a flimsy version of ad ignorantiam: I don't understand A, therefore B. Anyone should recognize this as a fallacy and recognize that you're not going to fool anyone here with it.
I don't have a lot of trouble reading the bill for what that's worth and I certainly don't have any trouble discerning that a discussion of limiting our of pocket expense for the insured doesn't mean "rationing" and the provision to pay for you doctor's time when discussing living wills isn't a "death panel." I surely don't have any trouble discounting the tirades of someone who insists these lies are true.
The only conclusion one may legitimately make from any difficulty in understanding is that one's opinion is based upon a minimum of information and most likely to reflect prejudice. If you don't understand HR 3200 don't tell me what it means and don't tell me Sarah Palin might have a point because the wording is too complex for you, OK?
Monday, August 10, 2009
Elsewhere
Ok, I give up. It's impossible to win an argument with someone as totally dishonest as Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck or as stupid as their followers. The relentless, rabid and utterly false accusations of forced euthanasia, "death panels" and health care rationing continue despite the fact that the most rigorous reading of HR 3200 reveals nothing of the sort - and indeed nothing of the other sorts of lies they're telling. You could go look, but you won't and if you're a Republican you'll read one thing and swear you saw another, just as I could roll up the president's birth certificate and shove it up your nose and you'd go on asking for it, insisting it wasn't there, you flat-Earth bozo with too few dendrites to make a synapse.
So go ahead you demented, perverted self-righteously dishonest enemies of everything good and true. Go ahead; sit in your mother's basement with the spiders and watch Fox lies. E-mail everyone you know and assure them Obama's going to murder your kids and eat your grandmother and take away your guns too because Beck says so. I don't give a shit. A country with ten people like you in it wouldn't be worth saving anyway. Take it all you deranged psychotic cretins - whatever's left. You deserve the kind of shithole country you are making this into and you can have it.
Sayonara, assholes! I'm elsewhere.
So go ahead you demented, perverted self-righteously dishonest enemies of everything good and true. Go ahead; sit in your mother's basement with the spiders and watch Fox lies. E-mail everyone you know and assure them Obama's going to murder your kids and eat your grandmother and take away your guns too because Beck says so. I don't give a shit. A country with ten people like you in it wouldn't be worth saving anyway. Take it all you deranged psychotic cretins - whatever's left. You deserve the kind of shithole country you are making this into and you can have it.
Sayonara, assholes! I'm elsewhere.Rounding up the righteous.
Glenn Beck, that bottomless sack of snake shit, is trying to make you forget that the last administration set new highs in illegal surveillance of private citizens by referencing a small item at the Whitehouse.gov web page which asks that the endless stream of e-mail lies be forwarded. The site, if you care to look, has information and videos that attempt to disprove the mostly baseless claims. The professional liars are alarmed and so they want you to be alarmed -- and so they break out the swastikas again and try to pin them on the Democrats. "They're rounding up the conservatives, they cry, while trying not to snicker. "they've created a new 'Information Czar'" says the bullshit Czar, Glenn Beck.
People who invent psychotic scenarios and dress them up as dire warnings are "conservatives" you see and only trying to help you see that Obama is a fascistcomministmuslim and illegal alien -- conservatively speaking.
If you're like me, you've had enough of the Palin "death panel" fraud and a great many others and forwarding them to Snopes or Factcheck simply doesn't help much. Returning them with comment to the people who sent them to you doesn't help either. Depending on the Media to refute the obvious and childish fabrications is a lost hope, but it seems that Mr. Beck and Senator Cornyn and the other professional traitors and haters of honesty are afraid someone will get to the bottom of it all and trace the sabotage, the lies and the psychotic ravings back to the RNC and into their own hard drives from whence it originates.
Behold, we're now all being asked to "squeal on our neighbors" say the folks who wanted to have postal letter carriers peek in our basement windows a few years ago and encouraged librarians to spy on those of us who read. Obama is making up a list, just like Santa and he's going to put all those people who tried to warn you that Obama is Hitler into camps.
Did I mention that Poland invaded Germany? The Liberals don't want you to know.
People who invent psychotic scenarios and dress them up as dire warnings are "conservatives" you see and only trying to help you see that Obama is a fascistcomministmuslim and illegal alien -- conservatively speaking.
If you're like me, you've had enough of the Palin "death panel" fraud and a great many others and forwarding them to Snopes or Factcheck simply doesn't help much. Returning them with comment to the people who sent them to you doesn't help either. Depending on the Media to refute the obvious and childish fabrications is a lost hope, but it seems that Mr. Beck and Senator Cornyn and the other professional traitors and haters of honesty are afraid someone will get to the bottom of it all and trace the sabotage, the lies and the psychotic ravings back to the RNC and into their own hard drives from whence it originates.
Behold, we're now all being asked to "squeal on our neighbors" say the folks who wanted to have postal letter carriers peek in our basement windows a few years ago and encouraged librarians to spy on those of us who read. Obama is making up a list, just like Santa and he's going to put all those people who tried to warn you that Obama is Hitler into camps.
Did I mention that Poland invaded Germany? The Liberals don't want you to know.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
READING HR 3200
I've been extremely busy in recent weeks and anything not business related has pretty much taken a back seat. But I have made the rounds through the bloggerhood enough to see there is a frothing frenzy of misinformation and demonization developing over the dastardly health care reform. There was enough alarming screed and liars claiming to have read this document to prompt me to start reading the WHOLE document - even though I must do it in small bits of time that I can scrape together these days. Here is what I have gleaned so far:
Section 102 – Protecting the choice to keep current coverage.
This section allows those with current employer coverage to keep it but does require that the coverage meet the minimum requirements set by this bill in 5 years. So there will be a set of standards by which health plans will be judged.
Section 111 - Prohibits pre-existing condtions clauses.
Section 112 – Prohibits the cancelling of health insurance or refusal to renew coverage based on anything but nonpayment of premiums or fraud.
Section 113 - Will limit increases in rates based on factors such as age or location. This section also mandates that a study be done to ensure that the coverage risk is evenly spread out so as not to penalize one group over another.
Section 114 – Prohibits discrimination in benefits for mental health or substance abuse issues.
Section 115 – Ensures that any PPO health plan have an adequate network so the consumer can get in network treatment.
Section 116 – Calls for a medical loss ratio to be met. Simply put, if an insurance company collects X number of dollars from enrollees but pays out for medical expenses less than a preset percentage, they will have to rebate back to the consumer. (It could be argued that this would cut the insurance company’s profits and I suppose that is true – but the other side is it would no longer be profitable for the insurance companies to give that bonus money to providers for NOT performing life saving tests).
Sections 121 & 122 – This outlines what will be expected of all qualified health plans: There will be non-exchange participating plans (mostly current employer plans) and exchange participating plans (the so-called “public” plans).
Limits cost sharing (aka co-pays), requires coverage of medically acceptable items and services.
The plan cannot impose an annual or lifetime limit on any treatment.
A qualified plan must cover: hospitalization, outpatient services, professional services of doctors and other health care professionals, equipment and supplies, prescription drugs, rehab services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, preventative services, maternity and well baby.
No cost sharing (ie co-pay) for preventative and well baby services.
Annual deductible in year 1 will be $5,000 individual and $10,000 for family.
Co-pays until deductible met would be 70%/30%.
Section 123 – Establishes a health benefits advisory committee. They will establish benefits standards.
This section also provides for establishing an Enhanced Plan and a Premium Plan for those who desire to have more coverage.
Section 131 thru 137 – Provides additional consumer protections such as fair marketing practices in regard to health care plans, fair grievance and appeals mechanisms, accurate and timely disclosure of plan details in plain language and includes a provision for advance notice of any plan changes. All plans will have to comply to the same set of standards.
Sections 141 thru 144 – These sections cover the duties of the Health Choices Commissioner in ensuring that all plans are compliant. There is also a provision for a Health Insurance Ombudsman who will provide assistance and handle grievances for individuals.
The 150’s sections cover things like Whistleblower protection and prohibiting discrimination of health care plans.
Then comes the STANDARDIZE ELECTRONIC ADMINISTRATIVE
TRANSACTIONS section that seems to cause great alarm. I’m not sure why exactly. I mean, I’m not too keen on all my personal information out there in cyberspace but we have had electronic records for years now and so our information has been floating around out there for a long time.
Particularly rankling to many is:
‘‘(D) enable the real-time (or near real
time) determination of an individual’s financial
responsibility at the point of service and, to the
extent possible, prior to service, including
whether the individual is eligible for a specific
service with a specific physician at a specific fa
cility, which may include utilization of a ma
chine-readable health plan beneficiary identi
fication card;
‘‘(E) enable, where feasible, near real-time
adjudication of claims;
‘‘(F) provide for timely acknowledgment,
response, and status reporting applicable to any
electronic transaction deemed appropriate by
the Secretary;
Looking at this one section at a time: D is pretty much what happens now in larger medical facilities. If I needed to go to a specialist (when I had insurance) at the large metropolitan complex, they would take down my information, check my insurance and tell me what was covered, if the doctor was in my network and what my co-pay would be. Nothing too exciting or radical there.
For some reason there are people who want to read E and F together and come to the conclusion that the Secretary or some other government entity (read; devil) is going to dun their bank account.
But they are actually labeled separately. E has to do with adjudication, which generally means to settle a dispute. So, if taken by itself like it was written, I go to the doctor’s and they tell me my co-pay for a procedure will be $X but this is a preventative visit and there should be no co-pay so I protest. E says the provider or their employees should do what they can to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, preferable before I leave the office.
That leaves F. No where does F talk of obtaining funds. It addresses timely acknowledgement, response and staus reporting – regarding any electronic transaction deemed appropriate by the Secretary (of Health). This makes perfect sense if you have started reading from the beginning of this document, especially the entries describing how the Health Secretary will be responsible for establishing universal electronic standards.
Now if you add G and H which follow D,E and F in the document, it becomes a little clearer.
'(G) describe all data elements (such as
reason and remark codes) in unambiguous
terms, not permit optional fields, require that
data elements be either required or conditioned
upon set values in other fields, and prohibit ad
ditional conditions; and
‘‘(H) harmonize all common data elements
across administrative and clinical transaction
standards.
This brings me to page 60 of HR 3200, just 957 pages left!
AN ADDENDUM:
AARP has an informative article with resource references HERE. Worth reading ~
Section 102 – Protecting the choice to keep current coverage.
This section allows those with current employer coverage to keep it but does require that the coverage meet the minimum requirements set by this bill in 5 years. So there will be a set of standards by which health plans will be judged.
Section 111 - Prohibits pre-existing condtions clauses.
Section 112 – Prohibits the cancelling of health insurance or refusal to renew coverage based on anything but nonpayment of premiums or fraud.
Section 113 - Will limit increases in rates based on factors such as age or location. This section also mandates that a study be done to ensure that the coverage risk is evenly spread out so as not to penalize one group over another.
Section 114 – Prohibits discrimination in benefits for mental health or substance abuse issues.
Section 115 – Ensures that any PPO health plan have an adequate network so the consumer can get in network treatment.
Section 116 – Calls for a medical loss ratio to be met. Simply put, if an insurance company collects X number of dollars from enrollees but pays out for medical expenses less than a preset percentage, they will have to rebate back to the consumer. (It could be argued that this would cut the insurance company’s profits and I suppose that is true – but the other side is it would no longer be profitable for the insurance companies to give that bonus money to providers for NOT performing life saving tests).
Sections 121 & 122 – This outlines what will be expected of all qualified health plans: There will be non-exchange participating plans (mostly current employer plans) and exchange participating plans (the so-called “public” plans).
Limits cost sharing (aka co-pays), requires coverage of medically acceptable items and services.
The plan cannot impose an annual or lifetime limit on any treatment.
A qualified plan must cover: hospitalization, outpatient services, professional services of doctors and other health care professionals, equipment and supplies, prescription drugs, rehab services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, preventative services, maternity and well baby.
No cost sharing (ie co-pay) for preventative and well baby services.
Annual deductible in year 1 will be $5,000 individual and $10,000 for family.
Co-pays until deductible met would be 70%/30%.
Section 123 – Establishes a health benefits advisory committee. They will establish benefits standards.
This section also provides for establishing an Enhanced Plan and a Premium Plan for those who desire to have more coverage.
Section 131 thru 137 – Provides additional consumer protections such as fair marketing practices in regard to health care plans, fair grievance and appeals mechanisms, accurate and timely disclosure of plan details in plain language and includes a provision for advance notice of any plan changes. All plans will have to comply to the same set of standards.
Sections 141 thru 144 – These sections cover the duties of the Health Choices Commissioner in ensuring that all plans are compliant. There is also a provision for a Health Insurance Ombudsman who will provide assistance and handle grievances for individuals.
The 150’s sections cover things like Whistleblower protection and prohibiting discrimination of health care plans.
Then comes the STANDARDIZE ELECTRONIC ADMINISTRATIVE
TRANSACTIONS section that seems to cause great alarm. I’m not sure why exactly. I mean, I’m not too keen on all my personal information out there in cyberspace but we have had electronic records for years now and so our information has been floating around out there for a long time.
Particularly rankling to many is:
‘‘(D) enable the real-time (or near real
time) determination of an individual’s financial
responsibility at the point of service and, to the
extent possible, prior to service, including
whether the individual is eligible for a specific
service with a specific physician at a specific fa
cility, which may include utilization of a ma
chine-readable health plan beneficiary identi
fication card;
‘‘(E) enable, where feasible, near real-time
adjudication of claims;
‘‘(F) provide for timely acknowledgment,
response, and status reporting applicable to any
electronic transaction deemed appropriate by
the Secretary;
Looking at this one section at a time: D is pretty much what happens now in larger medical facilities. If I needed to go to a specialist (when I had insurance) at the large metropolitan complex, they would take down my information, check my insurance and tell me what was covered, if the doctor was in my network and what my co-pay would be. Nothing too exciting or radical there.
For some reason there are people who want to read E and F together and come to the conclusion that the Secretary or some other government entity (read; devil) is going to dun their bank account.
But they are actually labeled separately. E has to do with adjudication, which generally means to settle a dispute. So, if taken by itself like it was written, I go to the doctor’s and they tell me my co-pay for a procedure will be $X but this is a preventative visit and there should be no co-pay so I protest. E says the provider or their employees should do what they can to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, preferable before I leave the office.
That leaves F. No where does F talk of obtaining funds. It addresses timely acknowledgement, response and staus reporting – regarding any electronic transaction deemed appropriate by the Secretary (of Health). This makes perfect sense if you have started reading from the beginning of this document, especially the entries describing how the Health Secretary will be responsible for establishing universal electronic standards.
Now if you add G and H which follow D,E and F in the document, it becomes a little clearer.
'(G) describe all data elements (such as
reason and remark codes) in unambiguous
terms, not permit optional fields, require that
data elements be either required or conditioned
upon set values in other fields, and prohibit ad
ditional conditions; and
‘‘(H) harmonize all common data elements
across administrative and clinical transaction
standards.
This brings me to page 60 of HR 3200, just 957 pages left!
AN ADDENDUM:
AARP has an informative article with resource references HERE. Worth reading ~
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Area Dinosaur Confronts LaRoucheNuts Displaying Barack-as-Hitler Poster Outside Trader Joe's
Startled eyewitnesses told of a highly unusual clash today between a snarling but more or less civil dinosaur and a pair of LaRouche supporters determined to vilify President Obama at a local Trader Joe's grocery store.
"It was amazing," said Joanie Contreras of _____, a systems analyst. "The two humans asked this big lizard if it 'had a minute' to talk about what Barack Obama is doing to America, and the toothsome, khaki-colored lizard cocked its head from side to side …" ("just like you see in Jurassic Park right before the T-Rex eats that lawyer!" chimed in Alyssa, Mrs. Contreras' still excited nine-year-old daughter) "and then it snarled something that sounded a lot like, 'I voted for Barack Obama. I like Barack Obama. Go to hell!' But it couldn't have said that because, as everybody knows, dinosaurs can't vote."
"So then it went inside and I'll be damned if it didn't buy some groceries," continued middle-school teacher Jim Bogle of _____, "and when it came back out a short while later at the same time I exited the store, there were those same two smartypants, ill-informed humans with the Barack-is-Hitler poster, asking again if the extinct lizard 'had a minute.' We thought that this time it would surely eat the pair and have done with it, but again it cocked its head and snarled what sounded like, 'Are you out of your minds? Get an education!' But of course that couldn't have been what we heard. Anyhow, the two humans tried to offer a comeback of sorts, but it made no impression and the cantankerous reptile was off to whatever godforsaken, time-forgotten swamp it calls home. The whole thing was just strange! And who knew that a predatory dinosaur would like garlic fries, bread, and avocados?!"
TJ's Manager Joe Stinson points out that the saw-toothed beast is a regular at his store, often buying such items as half-and-half, ricola cough drops, soy milk, and rennetless cheese. "We've never really been thrilled to have the creature ambling around the premises, to tell you the truth," said Stinson, "but at least it has a credit card and doesn't seem to bother anybody – unless, evidently, he or she is a seedy-looking, bandy-legged moron who compares the president to an evil dictator with a stupid-looking mustache. Which I kind of understand."
"It was amazing," said Joanie Contreras of _____, a systems analyst. "The two humans asked this big lizard if it 'had a minute' to talk about what Barack Obama is doing to America, and the toothsome, khaki-colored lizard cocked its head from side to side …" ("just like you see in Jurassic Park right before the T-Rex eats that lawyer!" chimed in Alyssa, Mrs. Contreras' still excited nine-year-old daughter) "and then it snarled something that sounded a lot like, 'I voted for Barack Obama. I like Barack Obama. Go to hell!' But it couldn't have said that because, as everybody knows, dinosaurs can't vote."
"So then it went inside and I'll be damned if it didn't buy some groceries," continued middle-school teacher Jim Bogle of _____, "and when it came back out a short while later at the same time I exited the store, there were those same two smartypants, ill-informed humans with the Barack-is-Hitler poster, asking again if the extinct lizard 'had a minute.' We thought that this time it would surely eat the pair and have done with it, but again it cocked its head and snarled what sounded like, 'Are you out of your minds? Get an education!' But of course that couldn't have been what we heard. Anyhow, the two humans tried to offer a comeback of sorts, but it made no impression and the cantankerous reptile was off to whatever godforsaken, time-forgotten swamp it calls home. The whole thing was just strange! And who knew that a predatory dinosaur would like garlic fries, bread, and avocados?!"
TJ's Manager Joe Stinson points out that the saw-toothed beast is a regular at his store, often buying such items as half-and-half, ricola cough drops, soy milk, and rennetless cheese. "We've never really been thrilled to have the creature ambling around the premises, to tell you the truth," said Stinson, "but at least it has a credit card and doesn't seem to bother anybody – unless, evidently, he or she is a seedy-looking, bandy-legged moron who compares the president to an evil dictator with a stupid-looking mustache. Which I kind of understand."
Feeding the birds.
We had only a jumble of disconnected phrases from which to discern Sarah Palin's plans for the future and a possible reason for her abandonment of the governorship of Alaska. We have a few more complete and coherent sentences from Florida Republican Senator Mel Martinez but probably no better idea of why he's walking away and where he's going. "Feeding the birds" is the clearest hint he's given us of his plans.
I wouldn't blame anyone for not being aware that a US senator from a large state spontaneously resigned yesterday. The press has been otherwise occupied with trying to make it less obvious that Big Pharma and the Republicans are trying to disrupt any rational discussion of health care reform using violence and intimidation and symbols and tactics of the Third Reich. Martinez tries hard to emphasize however that it is indeed spontaneous and of his "own free will" and nobody is pressuring him. That he brings up that strange notion, rather suggests that someone is.
It will be up to Governor Charlie Crist to replace Mr. Martinez, but Crist will be leaving the Governorship to run for Senator himself and so isn't going to be motivated to replace him with anyone unbeatable -- which is a nice, but unavoidable conflict of interest.
On a more local level my State Representative Ken Pruitt recently resigned "for family and financial reasons." As Pruitt wasn't shy about endorsing the fundamentalist agenda, I'm not sorry to see him go, even though I have to wonder what the family and financial problems were and what improprieties might be involved. Of course his replacement is no less fond of government support of Christian institutions and the first thing one notices about him is his striking lack of intelligence, but one has to expect that in Florida.
But something is happening here and neither I nor Mr. Jones knows what the hell it is.
I wouldn't blame anyone for not being aware that a US senator from a large state spontaneously resigned yesterday. The press has been otherwise occupied with trying to make it less obvious that Big Pharma and the Republicans are trying to disrupt any rational discussion of health care reform using violence and intimidation and symbols and tactics of the Third Reich. Martinez tries hard to emphasize however that it is indeed spontaneous and of his "own free will" and nobody is pressuring him. That he brings up that strange notion, rather suggests that someone is.
It will be up to Governor Charlie Crist to replace Mr. Martinez, but Crist will be leaving the Governorship to run for Senator himself and so isn't going to be motivated to replace him with anyone unbeatable -- which is a nice, but unavoidable conflict of interest.
On a more local level my State Representative Ken Pruitt recently resigned "for family and financial reasons." As Pruitt wasn't shy about endorsing the fundamentalist agenda, I'm not sorry to see him go, even though I have to wonder what the family and financial problems were and what improprieties might be involved. Of course his replacement is no less fond of government support of Christian institutions and the first thing one notices about him is his striking lack of intelligence, but one has to expect that in Florida.
But something is happening here and neither I nor Mr. Jones knows what the hell it is.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Ben Stein's Money
I have to say I loathe Ben Stein, so I was pleased to hear the New York Times has fired him for conflict of interest. Dispensing financial advice from the Sunday Business Section while being a spokesman for Freescore.com which offers free monthly credit reports for only $359 seems reason enough, but of course there was the financial advice itself. Ben gets his prognostications from the same source on Neptune that Jim Cramer does.
"I’m writing this on Aug. 13, 2007… the stock market is cheap on a price-earnings basis, profits are fabulous… and in the long run, both here and abroad, stocks are a lovely place to be." [emphasis mine]
That's classic Ben Stein bad advice and bad enough to suggest seppuku to a more honorable man. In fact, it closely mirrors the bad advice of his close friend Cramer and to the point where Stein was willing to tell us all that Jon Stewart had "yelled and cursed" at him when in fact, it was not true. That's classic Ben Stein projection -- or outright lie, if you prefer. I did mention that I loathe him, didn't I?
For anyone who still thinks Ben has ever had much to offer beyond the faux elitism, the wildly dishonest defense of Creationism and enduring belief that Richard Nixon was not a crook, I will refer you to the Ben Stein Watch archives; about to close it's "doors" now that the mission has been accomplished. Let's hope it really has been.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
MOB VIOLENCE AT TAMPA HEALTH CARE FORUM
Reports here and here.
It was only a matter of time before demonstrations staged by town hall hooligans turned violent. Hours ago, a group of angry protestors clashed with healthcare reform supporters at the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County near Tampa, Florida. There were accounts of fistfights, minor injuries, and at least one handicapped woman knocked to the ground. It is time to investigate and indict those responsible for inciting mob violence … starting with Rick Scott, Dick Armey, Steve Forbes, and the other thugs at FreedomWorks.
It was only a matter of time before demonstrations staged by town hall hooligans turned violent. Hours ago, a group of angry protestors clashed with healthcare reform supporters at the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County near Tampa, Florida. There were accounts of fistfights, minor injuries, and at least one handicapped woman knocked to the ground. It is time to investigate and indict those responsible for inciting mob violence … starting with Rick Scott, Dick Armey, Steve Forbes, and the other thugs at FreedomWorks.
I HAVE SEEN THE ENEMY: AMERICA’S MEGA-CORPORATIONS AND THEIR MEDIA SHILLS
Before Octopus inks the aquarium, let me start this diatribe with a quote from Noam Chomsky:
“Personally I'm in favor of democracy, which means that the central institutions in the society have to be under popular control. Now, under capitalism we can't have democracy by definition. Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle under autocratic control. Thus, a corporation or an industry is, if we were to think of it in political terms, fascist; that is, it has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be established at every level (…) Just as I'm opposed to political fascism, I'm opposed to economic fascism. I think that until major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy.”
Before the seas turn black from enraged cephalopod ink, let me quote myself from this comment thread under Captain Fogg’s recent post, Regulation is bad for business:
All too often we forget that cable news is a product of media conglomerates … in other words “corporatists” … that depend upon other corporations for their advertising revenues. Thus, our news services do not serve the interests of citizens and voters, merely the interests of corporate advertisers.
Here is what happened today - CNN Refusing To Run Health Care Ad Critical Of Insurance Industry:
Americans United for Change [UAC], a top White House ally in the health care wars, tried to book time on CNN and MSNBC for the ad, which hits the insurance industry for wanting to preserve the status quo and levels harsh criticism at insurance giant Cigna’s CEO, Ed Hanway.
“Why do insurance companies and Republicans want to kill health insurance reform? Because they like things the way they are now,” the ad says, and then slams Hanway’s annual salary of over $12 million and golden parachute retirement package of over $70 million.
Jeremy Funk, the spokesperson for AUC, points out that CNN would be more than willing to accept paid advertising from Cigna; yet CNN turns down paid advertising critical of the company for their role in trying to kill health insurance reform.
See where I am going? Last year, we worked hard to elect a new president who promised change, who promised healthcare reform, who promised investments in alternative energy to free us from dependence on OPEC.
This year, the Empire strikes back. Our health management insurers want to protect their greedy franchises. Our fossil fuel suppliers want to preserve their filthy energy infrastructure. Corporations don’t vote but citizens do. Yet, corporations have the means to manipulate public opinion, and there are always idiots ready and willing to oblige.
Manipulating public opinion is easy … when you are the CEO of a corporation with lots of money and lobbyists and crooked politicians in your pocket ... and you can always count on an ignorant rabble all too willing to sell themselves short, sell-out their own interests, and serve as sycophants on behalf of their corporate masters.
Corporations need not dirty themselves when they can hire proxies like Dick Armey to do their dirty work, when their proxies can recruit goons, malcontents, and nut jobs to stifle public debate. This is how corporations assert their interests, nullify the popular will, and derail democracy.
The hooligans have taken over; the corporations have won. The American experiment in democracy is dead. Does anyone reading this diatribe doubt what I say?
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