My apologies

I just realized that I gave the soon to be former governor of Alaska the day's Cheney a while back. I'm afraid that it may have been too much for her, a politician who lives off being the victim of everyone from unknown bloggers, to Katie Couric, to the odd member of the Alaska state government trying to enforce ethics laws. I feel terrible in the possibility that my post pushed poor Sarah over the edge. So, it is with hat in hand that I must express my fondest and dearest apologies for my truly mean attack upon your distinguished career. But I have full confidence that you will pick yourself up, dust yourself off and again stir up hatred and angst among the dwindling GOP base. And once you get on your feet again, then please find time to go f#@k yourself.

Public Options

Why have the Democrats allowed the Republicans to redefine the debate once again? The "public option" is not about competition with insurance companies, it is about providing health care to millions of men, women and children who do not have access to health care because they cannot afford health insurance.

Look at what kind of jobs are being created in America, now and during the last decade. They are, by and large, not full-time jobs with benefits. Every year there will be more and more families without coverage, getting their healthcare at the ER, suffering with ear infections with no antibiotics. And yet our "leaders" want to worry about competition with private health insurance companies. One clue to the insurance industry: the people who would opt for the government plan are either uninsured and you're not competing for their dollars, or they are paying way too much for coverage. Once again, what is sold to the American public as a free-market economy is actually a corporate welfare state.

Use your public option and contact your elected officials.

Socialism! Beware!

Interesting how many legislators on both sides of the aisle are using the term "socialized medicine" and variations in order to shoot down the "public option" and in so doing, protect a huge industry and source of campaign contributions.

Question: What is the insurance industry and why does it need protecting? The most significant aspect of the insurance industry is that for any company, the claims going out have to be less than the premiums paid in so that it makes a profit. The best way for a business or organization looking for an insurance plan vendor is to find a plan that has the largest number of subscribers. Why? Because that way the company has the best chance of raking in more than it pays out, by virtue if it getting more people who don't file claims. And as the costs rise, this becomes more and more important. This doesn't mean that the costs will not rise as fast as any other plan, but everyone's premium will be lower than a plan with fewer subscribers.

So, in essence, the premiums of many support the claims of the few who undergo a costly crisis--and a CEO buys an island somewhere. But wait a doggone minute! Isn't the concept of many paying for the safety net of others a tenet of socialism? Only without the CEO and the island? Why aren't those legislators and conservatives up in arms about the way the mega-insurance companies are playing socialism? I mean really. I guess they don't mind because with the companies in charge, the costs can continue to rise unabated and so can the profits. And since corporations run the show, there is no transparency and we don't see where all that money is going. And the difference between our system and that of Canada and the UK, is that their contributions go to help all citizens, and ours go to support a private corporation, and the CEO and his island.

News Update

A Yemeni airliner crashed in the Indian Ocean with 150 on board. The Indian Ocean is expected to make a full recovery.

OMG! A linebacker for the Texas Longhorns was texting on his cell phone while driving and crashed into a building. Texas athletic department officials are concerned, but say that he will not be punished as long as he does not send text messages during the Oklahoma game.

Tuesday is the deadline for American troops to leave Iraqi cities and towns. And for the first time, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld are right, we are being treated as liberators.

Loud ad man Billy Mays passed away. Apparently his sleepless neighbors got a hold of some Mighty Putty.

Thousands gathered at the base of the mountain to see that Steve Jobs is back on the, um, job. He had to upgrade his liver to the new iOrgan. Unfortunately it will go out of style in two months and need to be replaced by the iOrganPod. He’s scheduled to have a third surgery in December to receive the long-awaited iOrganNanoPodThingy, the smallest liver ever, amid great fanfare.

And, in health care news, the health care industry is spending $1.4 million per day on lobbying. Which means that, yes, after they defeat any reform that would actually help us, we are going to have to pay even more to cover this cost. But that’s OK, because they need that money to develop new and better lobbyists--because we demand the best lobbyists in the world.

three moose for sister sarah

Isn't it obvious? Palin bagged the Alaska gig so she could take a seat on The View.

Communism! Beware!!

There have been a number of lame-brained attacks from the wingnuts about President Obama being socialist, communist, fascist, tyrant, and a number of other mutually exclusive terms. But I can't help but notice that as the country has careened further into unbridled capitalism, we have entered a much more communist lifestyle--not because of our government, far from it--because of the expansion of corporate power.

Just take a look at any suburban commercial center in America. What businesses do you see? A big-box store or two with corporate grocery stores, surrounded by a selection of franchised eating establishments, gas stations and other franchised small-box stores. If you go shopping in any of the stores, say, for pants, you will have a selection of one or two styles, and if you don't like them you can go to the other big-box and look at virtually the same garments with a different tag. This is consistent for goods from socks to cars.

When you've purchased your pants you can grab a venti latte that looks exactly the same as the last one. And when you want to get something to eat, you can get the same selection of entrees (faux-Australian, faux-Mexican, faux-Italian or faux-Texan) that were available at the other suburban commercial center. And after you eat the over-sized portion, you can go to the exact same movie that was available at the last multiple cineplex. And you pay for it with the same debit or credit card from the same mega-bank, with funds from the same corporate job as everyone else. The corporate goal has been realized: limit selection to control the market.

Now, what is more communist than a society in which all people look the same, all commercial centers are identical, and everyone drives home to the same pastel over sized boxes at the end of impersonal cul de sacs to watch the same shows and get their misinformation from the same cable network? Your $250 per month goes to the home owner's association so that all of the lawns and shrubs will look the same. Your SUV is cozy along side your sedan in your garage just like everyone else's. And we all go to hospitals owned by the same managed health care corporation, and pay for it by feeding the same enormous health insurance provider.

Looks like communism to me.

Just an observation.

health care reality

What is really shocking in the health care debate is how detached from reality the wingnuts and many dems are, and how they are blatantly in bed with the health care profiteers.

The mantra is that no one wants a single-payer system. Really? Which poll numbers are they going by? And, in reality we do have a single-payer, though it's more like a single-reaper. In Nebraska, there is one option for a business or school: Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS)of Nebraska. That's it. And when this thing boils down, look for the state Senators to defend them to the bitter end. Why? Well, let's look at what BC/BS represents.

In 2007 BC/BS raked in nearly $935 million, and sold coverage to 700,000 residents (about half the population). Nearly a billion dollareenees. That's $1,335 per insured. I don't have the figures on how much of that went to lobbyists and political campaigns. They also employed 985 people in Omaha alone, and their network includes 94% of the doctors in the state.

This is our system. You don't hear about them, and it's not on the 6:00 news that there is only one choice for health care, and they can do as they please. But you do hear from the corporate media what the pundit class thinks, and how bad our government is.

So, who is going to try and change the system? No one outside of the White House, that's who. When it comes down to it, BC/BS et al. will win. The status quo will remain, and the band will play on.