DemWit recommends you read today's New York Times op-ed by President Barack Obama:
"Why We Need Health Care Reform"
8.16.2009
8.14.2009
Making it clear: Case 8
IN FOR THE KILL
Two New York Times articles make it clear that protest organizers have tapped into a riptide of anger which could kill any efforts at healthcare reform.
I offer a brief synopsis of each, followed by a link to the full article. We must know what we’re up against, and these two articles are essential to that knowledge.
SAME OLD, SAME OLD
A lie is being spread by Republican leaders and at town hall meetings across the country.
The false “death panel” rumor – that government under healthcare reform will decide who will live and who will die – was not born, according to this Times article, “of anonymous e-mailers, partisan bloggers or stealthy cyberconspiracy theorists.”
This Big Lie has a “mainstream provenance,” according to the article. Turns out it came from the same conservative pundits and media who helped defeat President Clinton’s healthcare plan 16 years ago.
AARP Executive Vice President John Rother told the Times, “It’s people who are ideologically opposed to Mr. Obama, and this is the opportunity to weaken the president.” The AARP supports the healthcare proposals and has “repeatedly denied the ‘death panel’ claims.”
After all that I’ve read on this issue and all the right-wing comments I’ve seen on blogs, I am not easily shocked. But, the article’s quotes from conservative media shock me. A Washington Times editorial compares healthcare reform with Nazi Germany and tells me that President Obama wants to kill me, my son and my buddy Chris. Would I lie?
“False ‘Death Panel’ Rumor Has Some Familiar Roots,” Jim Rutenbrg and Jackie Calmes, New York Times, 14 August 2009: LINK
‘ROOTS OF RAGE’
On Tuesday morning, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) made every effort to keep his Lebanon town hall meeting civilized – to no avail.
Anti-Obama (yes, that’s what they are) protesters got there at dawn and, being first in line, got into the meeting while supporters of healthcare reform weren’t admitted.
Interviewing many of the protesters, NYT reporters found them motivated by “underlying dissent.”
“Many said the Obama administration’s plans for a new health care system were just another example of a federal government that had again gone too far, just as it had, they said, with the economic stimulus, the auto industry bailout and the cap-and-trade program.”
Many are angry about “abortion, euthanasia, coverage of immigrants, privacy” – fears born of lies circulating about reform legislation.
“This is about the dismantling of this country,” one woman told Specter. “We don’t want this country to turn into Russia.”
Overall, the article shows how civil discourse on healthcare issues was disrupted by people who apparently have no idea about the legislation’s content.
Nor did they learn. They didn’t come to learn.
“Senator Goes Face to Face With Dissent,” Ian Urbina and Katharine Q. Seelye, 12 August 2009: LINK
***
IMHO, the greatest enemy of this country is ignorance. I’ve quoted Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” many times before, but today Mr. Kelly’s prescience seems more timely than ever:
“We have met the enemy, and he is us."
Two New York Times articles make it clear that protest organizers have tapped into a riptide of anger which could kill any efforts at healthcare reform.
I offer a brief synopsis of each, followed by a link to the full article. We must know what we’re up against, and these two articles are essential to that knowledge.
SAME OLD, SAME OLD
A lie is being spread by Republican leaders and at town hall meetings across the country.
The false “death panel” rumor – that government under healthcare reform will decide who will live and who will die – was not born, according to this Times article, “of anonymous e-mailers, partisan bloggers or stealthy cyberconspiracy theorists.”
This Big Lie has a “mainstream provenance,” according to the article. Turns out it came from the same conservative pundits and media who helped defeat President Clinton’s healthcare plan 16 years ago.
AARP Executive Vice President John Rother told the Times, “It’s people who are ideologically opposed to Mr. Obama, and this is the opportunity to weaken the president.” The AARP supports the healthcare proposals and has “repeatedly denied the ‘death panel’ claims.”
After all that I’ve read on this issue and all the right-wing comments I’ve seen on blogs, I am not easily shocked. But, the article’s quotes from conservative media shock me. A Washington Times editorial compares healthcare reform with Nazi Germany and tells me that President Obama wants to kill me, my son and my buddy Chris. Would I lie?
“False ‘Death Panel’ Rumor Has Some Familiar Roots,” Jim Rutenbrg and Jackie Calmes, New York Times, 14 August 2009: LINK
‘ROOTS OF RAGE’
On Tuesday morning, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) made every effort to keep his Lebanon town hall meeting civilized – to no avail.
Anti-Obama (yes, that’s what they are) protesters got there at dawn and, being first in line, got into the meeting while supporters of healthcare reform weren’t admitted.
Interviewing many of the protesters, NYT reporters found them motivated by “underlying dissent.”
“Many said the Obama administration’s plans for a new health care system were just another example of a federal government that had again gone too far, just as it had, they said, with the economic stimulus, the auto industry bailout and the cap-and-trade program.”
Many are angry about “abortion, euthanasia, coverage of immigrants, privacy” – fears born of lies circulating about reform legislation.
“This is about the dismantling of this country,” one woman told Specter. “We don’t want this country to turn into Russia.”
Overall, the article shows how civil discourse on healthcare issues was disrupted by people who apparently have no idea about the legislation’s content.
Nor did they learn. They didn’t come to learn.
“Senator Goes Face to Face With Dissent,” Ian Urbina and Katharine Q. Seelye, 12 August 2009: LINK
***
IMHO, the greatest enemy of this country is ignorance. I’ve quoted Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” many times before, but today Mr. Kelly’s prescience seems more timely than ever:
“We have met the enemy, and he is us."
8.13.2009
Making it clear: Case 7
REPUBLICANS, STEP UP!
In this DemWit series, I’ve made it clear that the far-right fights dirty. Ethics, morals, principles are being shed like snakeskin as the core of the Republican Party has taken a desperate turn to the far right.
A party which cannot stand on its own merits, which resorts to lies, deception and personal attacks, cannot stand at all.
While medical industry lobbyists are rallying the troops at town hall meetings and across the Internet, the Republican Party has offered no solution to the healthcare crisis Americans are facing.
According to FactCheck.org (LINK):
“There is no plan around which Republicans have coalesced. … And Missouri Republican Rep. Roy Blunt was tapped to head a GOP healthcare task force in February, which was charged ‘with crafting Republican solutions to increase Americans’ access to quality, affordable healthcare,’ but which so far has produced no plan and seems unlikely to do so.”
Pretty hard to reign in the healthcare industry with all that lobby money in your campaign tills.
Your leaders are preaching, as Charles Dickens puts it, “the gospel according to monotony.”
I am personally acquainted with a very large number of Republicans – ethical, moral and principled folks who are not party to the despicable ploys aimed at killing healthcare reform.
When reading through a blog post about CNN, Lou Dobbs and “birthers” – the latter two denying President Obama’s legitimacy - I found this quote in a reader’s comment:
“Republicans come in three groups: ignorant tools, religious fools and dittohead stools.”
The Republcans I know personally do not want to be characterized this way, nor should they be.
We liberal (some prefer “progressive”) Democrats are fighting nail and tooth to debunk false claims and phony protests surrounding proposed healthcare reform legislation.
You know the old expression, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Can anyone deny our healthcare system is broken? The soaring costs of medical care, prescription drugs and health insurance, coupled with joblessness and a shaky (at best) economy, have expunged millions upon millions of Americans from medical access.
Yet, in my neighboring state to the north, Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC), all set to answer questions from concerned citizens, has decided not to host town hall meetings. Miller has received death threats because of his support of healthcare reform.
Is this democracy in action? In America?
Americans are not so easily fooled: they will see through this chicanery.
DemWit is throwing down the gauntlet to decent Republicans: we liberals and Democrats cannot save your party from extinction. It’s up to you to fight the radical turn it’s taken.
Republicans, step up!
In this DemWit series, I’ve made it clear that the far-right fights dirty. Ethics, morals, principles are being shed like snakeskin as the core of the Republican Party has taken a desperate turn to the far right.
A party which cannot stand on its own merits, which resorts to lies, deception and personal attacks, cannot stand at all.
While medical industry lobbyists are rallying the troops at town hall meetings and across the Internet, the Republican Party has offered no solution to the healthcare crisis Americans are facing.
According to FactCheck.org (LINK):
“There is no plan around which Republicans have coalesced. … And Missouri Republican Rep. Roy Blunt was tapped to head a GOP healthcare task force in February, which was charged ‘with crafting Republican solutions to increase Americans’ access to quality, affordable healthcare,’ but which so far has produced no plan and seems unlikely to do so.”
Pretty hard to reign in the healthcare industry with all that lobby money in your campaign tills.
Your leaders are preaching, as Charles Dickens puts it, “the gospel according to monotony.”
I am personally acquainted with a very large number of Republicans – ethical, moral and principled folks who are not party to the despicable ploys aimed at killing healthcare reform.
When reading through a blog post about CNN, Lou Dobbs and “birthers” – the latter two denying President Obama’s legitimacy - I found this quote in a reader’s comment:
“Republicans come in three groups: ignorant tools, religious fools and dittohead stools.”
The Republcans I know personally do not want to be characterized this way, nor should they be.
We liberal (some prefer “progressive”) Democrats are fighting nail and tooth to debunk false claims and phony protests surrounding proposed healthcare reform legislation.
You know the old expression, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Can anyone deny our healthcare system is broken? The soaring costs of medical care, prescription drugs and health insurance, coupled with joblessness and a shaky (at best) economy, have expunged millions upon millions of Americans from medical access.
Yet, in my neighboring state to the north, Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC), all set to answer questions from concerned citizens, has decided not to host town hall meetings. Miller has received death threats because of his support of healthcare reform.
Is this democracy in action? In America?
Americans are not so easily fooled: they will see through this chicanery.
DemWit is throwing down the gauntlet to decent Republicans: we liberals and Democrats cannot save your party from extinction. It’s up to you to fight the radical turn it’s taken.
Republicans, step up!
8.12.2009
Making it clear: Case 6
“But, his youthful fire was all composed of sparks from the grindstone; and as the sparks flew off, went out, and never warmed anything …”
- Charles Dickens, “Our Mutual Friend.”
Since I began this series on healthcare reform, visitors to DemWit have fallen off. Numbers aren’t important to me. On a good day I’m thrilled with 30 or so visitors. Sure makes the research and the writing worthwhile.
So, why do I have my nose to the grindstone on this issue?
In a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted July 24-27 (LINK), 36 percent of Americans thought healthcare reform was “a good idea.”
Now, here’s the interesting part:
“When given several details of the proposal, 56 percent said they favored the plan …”
A 20-percent jump!
All it took was a little information, a few facts!
Then, this from Gallup (LINK) yesterday:
“About as many Americans – 35 percent - say they would tell their member of Congress to vote for a new healthcare reform bill when Congress reconvenes in September as say they would tell their member to vote against such a bill – 36 percent. The rest – 29 pecent - have no opinion either way at this time.”
29 percent have no opinion either way at this time!
And, this morning, this from Gallup (LINK):
“More Americans disapprove (49 percent) than approve (43 percent) of Barack Obama’s handling of healthcare policy, hardly changed from views expressed in mid-July.”
So, do we have our president's back on this or not?
If we truly want healthcare reform in this country, we cannot afford to sit on our butts and do nothing. We have to reach that percentage of Americans who don’t seem to have a clue. Never mind that they don’t know we are working in their behalf.
In an email this morning, a dear friend asked:
“Really, BJ, what does it take to get human beings to exercise actual intelligence?”
I responded: “That, my dear, is the $64,000 question.”
Back to the grindstone.
- Charles Dickens, “Our Mutual Friend.”
Since I began this series on healthcare reform, visitors to DemWit have fallen off. Numbers aren’t important to me. On a good day I’m thrilled with 30 or so visitors. Sure makes the research and the writing worthwhile.
So, why do I have my nose to the grindstone on this issue?
In a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted July 24-27 (LINK), 36 percent of Americans thought healthcare reform was “a good idea.”
Now, here’s the interesting part:
“When given several details of the proposal, 56 percent said they favored the plan …”
A 20-percent jump!
All it took was a little information, a few facts!
Then, this from Gallup (LINK) yesterday:
“About as many Americans – 35 percent - say they would tell their member of Congress to vote for a new healthcare reform bill when Congress reconvenes in September as say they would tell their member to vote against such a bill – 36 percent. The rest – 29 pecent - have no opinion either way at this time.”
29 percent have no opinion either way at this time!
And, this morning, this from Gallup (LINK):
“More Americans disapprove (49 percent) than approve (43 percent) of Barack Obama’s handling of healthcare policy, hardly changed from views expressed in mid-July.”
So, do we have our president's back on this or not?
If we truly want healthcare reform in this country, we cannot afford to sit on our butts and do nothing. We have to reach that percentage of Americans who don’t seem to have a clue. Never mind that they don’t know we are working in their behalf.
In an email this morning, a dear friend asked:
“Really, BJ, what does it take to get human beings to exercise actual intelligence?”
I responded: “That, my dear, is the $64,000 question.”
Back to the grindstone.
8.11.2009
Making it clear: Case 5
STAMP
Remember envelopes? Remember stamps?
Let’s take advantage of the Republicans’ “scorched earth” tactics, a little number they call “delay and kill.”
Let’s use this extra time to start a real grassroots movement.
Let’s call it “STAMP.”
Support the American Majority’s President.
There is no greater “town hall meeting” than the editorial pages of your local newspaper. Why reach hundreds when you can reach thousands? And, without all the shouting. People read three things in their local newspapers on a daily basis: the comics, the obits and the letters-to-the-editor.
Take one envelope and one stamp, and sit down today or tomorrow and write a letter-to-the-editor on healthcare reform.
Don’t overwhelm. Make your letter BRIEF and focus on one positive aspect of the reform legislation. Sign with your name, address and telephone number (these are not published, but are used for verification of your authorship). And, by all means, use your own words as newspapers can check instantly for material copied from the Internet.
Remember envelopes? Remember stamps?
Let’s take advantage of the Republicans’ “scorched earth” tactics, a little number they call “delay and kill.”
Let’s use this extra time to start a real grassroots movement.
Let’s call it “STAMP.”
Support the American Majority’s President.
There is no greater “town hall meeting” than the editorial pages of your local newspaper. Why reach hundreds when you can reach thousands? And, without all the shouting. People read three things in their local newspapers on a daily basis: the comics, the obits and the letters-to-the-editor.
Take one envelope and one stamp, and sit down today or tomorrow and write a letter-to-the-editor on healthcare reform.
Don’t overwhelm. Make your letter BRIEF and focus on one positive aspect of the reform legislation. Sign with your name, address and telephone number (these are not published, but are used for verification of your authorship). And, by all means, use your own words as newspapers can check instantly for material copied from the Internet.
The mailing address for your newspaper is found in its "masthead" within the first four pages - the box with staff and policies listed. Rules for acceptable letters are found on the editorial pages.
I sent my letter yesterday. It measured 94 words in Microsoft Word, and it took five minutes to write. I can promise you’ll feel good afterward.
I don’t like the word “misinformation.” Let’s all STAMP out lies by countering them with one positive FACT.
As the song goes, “It only takes a little spark to get a fire a-going.” Please copy and paste this post and email it to all on your list.
Thanks, DemWit.
***
Previous “Making it clear” posts are indexed in DemWit’s sidebar.
8.10.2009
Making it clear: Case 4
America’s middle-class families, listen up!
Over the last few days DemWit has pointed out the absurd conspiracy theories and health industry lobby-backed “protests” aimed at stopping healthcare reform at all costs.
Democratic members of Congress have gone out across the country in an attempt to explain to their constituents exactly what this legislation will mean in their lives.
Here’s what they are trying to say. Here’s why they are being shouted down. And, here’s why America’s $2.4 trillion healthcare and health insurance industy is spending $1.5 million A DAY to kill this reform:
According to healthcarefactcheck.com, a Web site of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), here is what proposed healthcare reform legislation will mean to America’s middle-class families:
GUARANTEED COVERAGE
The days of being denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition - or being forced to pay higher premiums because of it - would be over, thanks to the House bill. Insurance companies also will be prohibited from other discriminatory practices like charging higher rates because of gender, health status or other factors.
GREATER CHOICE
If you like your doctor, your local hospital or your current insurance plan, you can keep your choice under the House bill. It also sets up a health insurance exchange to act as a marketplace where individuals and small business employers will be able to comparison-shop among private and public insurers.
LOWER COSTS FOR EVERYONE
The House bill would lower healthcare costs for all Americans. It ends co-pays and deductibles for preventative care and puts an end to rate increases for pre-existing conditions. It will give you access to lower group rates from a national pool if you buy your own plan. It also includes a public option to compete with private insurers (BJ NOTE: While public option remains in the House version, senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) said on CNN Sunday that public option is probably dead in the Senate). The bill caps annual out-of-pocket spending to prevent bankruptcy from medical expenses.
HIGHER QUALITY
The House bill makes sure that you and your doctor make healthcare decisions, not insurance companies. It provides new incentives, scholarships and training to encourage the very best and brightest to become doctors and nurses.
PREVENTION AND WELLNESS
The House bill also expands community health centers, strengthens wellness and prevention services, provides oral, hearing and vision care for children and ensures that mental health care is covered.
Read more HERE.
***
So, who are the Americans doing the actural shouting at town hall meetings – at the behest of health industry lobbyists? In my opinion, they are anti-Obama activists out to see, as my own South Carolina Republican senator, Jim DeMint, put it, that Obama meets his “Waterloo.” Their new catchphrase is “Obamacare,” referring, of course, back to the earlier Republican catchphrase, “Clintoncare.”
Dear reader, let me remind you of President Obama’s words:
"This isn't about me, This isn't about politics. This is about a healthcare system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses and breaking America's economy.
“Health insurance companies and their executives have reaped windfall profits from a broken system.
"Let's fight our way through the politics of the moment, Let's pass reform by the end of this year."
This is a trillion-dollar industry based on services to sick people, and it needs to improve its bedside manner.
Over the last few days DemWit has pointed out the absurd conspiracy theories and health industry lobby-backed “protests” aimed at stopping healthcare reform at all costs.
Democratic members of Congress have gone out across the country in an attempt to explain to their constituents exactly what this legislation will mean in their lives.
Here’s what they are trying to say. Here’s why they are being shouted down. And, here’s why America’s $2.4 trillion healthcare and health insurance industy is spending $1.5 million A DAY to kill this reform:
According to healthcarefactcheck.com, a Web site of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), here is what proposed healthcare reform legislation will mean to America’s middle-class families:
GUARANTEED COVERAGE
The days of being denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition - or being forced to pay higher premiums because of it - would be over, thanks to the House bill. Insurance companies also will be prohibited from other discriminatory practices like charging higher rates because of gender, health status or other factors.
GREATER CHOICE
If you like your doctor, your local hospital or your current insurance plan, you can keep your choice under the House bill. It also sets up a health insurance exchange to act as a marketplace where individuals and small business employers will be able to comparison-shop among private and public insurers.
LOWER COSTS FOR EVERYONE
The House bill would lower healthcare costs for all Americans. It ends co-pays and deductibles for preventative care and puts an end to rate increases for pre-existing conditions. It will give you access to lower group rates from a national pool if you buy your own plan. It also includes a public option to compete with private insurers (BJ NOTE: While public option remains in the House version, senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) said on CNN Sunday that public option is probably dead in the Senate). The bill caps annual out-of-pocket spending to prevent bankruptcy from medical expenses.
HIGHER QUALITY
The House bill makes sure that you and your doctor make healthcare decisions, not insurance companies. It provides new incentives, scholarships and training to encourage the very best and brightest to become doctors and nurses.
PREVENTION AND WELLNESS
The House bill also expands community health centers, strengthens wellness and prevention services, provides oral, hearing and vision care for children and ensures that mental health care is covered.
Read more HERE.
***
So, who are the Americans doing the actural shouting at town hall meetings – at the behest of health industry lobbyists? In my opinion, they are anti-Obama activists out to see, as my own South Carolina Republican senator, Jim DeMint, put it, that Obama meets his “Waterloo.” Their new catchphrase is “Obamacare,” referring, of course, back to the earlier Republican catchphrase, “Clintoncare.”
Dear reader, let me remind you of President Obama’s words:
"This isn't about me, This isn't about politics. This is about a healthcare system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses and breaking America's economy.
“Health insurance companies and their executives have reaped windfall profits from a broken system.
"Let's fight our way through the politics of the moment, Let's pass reform by the end of this year."
This is a trillion-dollar industry based on services to sick people, and it needs to improve its bedside manner.
8.08.2009
Making it clear: Case 3
THE SMACKDOWN
You’re sitting at your computer, checking out your favorite sites, surfing around on worldnetdaily.com and freerepublic.com, reading Rush’s latest, then Ann Coulter’s. You’re sipping coffee and wondering what you can do to stop those damn liberals and progressives from destroying America.
An email comes in – a three-page memo, and it announces that there’s a town hall meeting tonight in the city where you live. One of many planned to offer citizens a little Q&A on proposed healthcare reform.
Scrolling down though the instructions, you find a section labeled “Inside the Hall.”
“You need to rock-the-boat early in the rep's presentation,” the memo instructs. “Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the rep's statements early.
“If he blames Bush for something or offers other excuses - call him on it, yell back and have someone else follow-up with a shout-out. The goal is to rattle him.
“When the formal Q&A session begins, get all your hands up and keep them up. ... The balance of the group should applaud when the question is asked, further putting the rep on the defensive.”
Now, you’re fired up. You call a buddy to let him know you won’t make the bowling team tonight. Pulling on your Converses and a clean T-shirt, you head downtown.
Grabbing a gyro from a street vendor, you walk toward the meeting hall. Outside you wait in line behind a man and his wife. The man is in a wheelchair. Listening to the conversation, you learn he’s a diabetic, an amputee. He’s a poor-mouther, telling another man how he lost his job before he became so ill, how he lost his insurance and can’t afford a prosthesis.
Finally, you’re inside the meeting hall, ready to rumble, ready to create a little kick-ass havoc.
Pretty good night, you tell yourself as you arrive back at your apartment. All those poor-mouthers didn’t have a chance.
“Man, I love this country!” you say out loud, grabbing a beer and flipping channels until you find the wrestling match. Some guy is interviewing Outback Jack.
“Yeah,” you tell yourself, “that was some smackdown tonight.”
Across town, the protest organizers are reporting in to the national lobbying group which pays them.
The wife of the diabetic kisses her husband good-night, then begins work at her sewing machine, doing alterations which bring in extra cash beyond her 8-to-5 job.
Fade to black.
‘RENT-A-MOB’
The “Inside the Hall” instructions above are in a three-page memo from a group calling itself Right Principles (READ ABOUT THIS GROUP). Obtained by the Think Progress Web site, the memo “was written by a man named Bob MacGuffie. Bob MacGuffie is associated with an organization called FreedomWorks (READ ABOUT THIS GROUP). FreedomWorks is a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm, run by former Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey.
Yes, that Dick Armey.
“Armey's FreedomWorks is organizing against healthcare reform. Armey's lobbying firm represents pharmaceutical companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb. Armey's lobbying firm also represents the trade group for the life insurance industry. FreedomWorks is supporting the status quo at all costs. They are also fans of fossil fuels. Armey's lobbying firm represents Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE (BJ NOTE: United Arab Emirates), on energy- related issues.
“Last year, the Wall Street Journal exposed FreedomWorks for building ‘amateur-looking’ Web sites to promote far-right interests of Armey.” (SOURCE: alternet.org, 7 August 2009: LINK)
‘ONE BIG THING’
“What's becoming clear now is that there is a connection between the two big things that we have observed recently about the healthcare fight. On the one hand, are these crazy, disprovable, but nevertheless, endlessly stoked conspiracy theories that healthcare reform is communism, that it's a secret plot to kill your grandpa, that it's a government takeover, it's something called Obamacare. It's going to mandate abortions. It's going to mandate sex-change operations.”
(…)
“There are these crazy conspiracy theories about healthcare reform on the one hand. And, on the other hand, there are these organized efforts to shut down political debate about healthcare, by using angry crowds to take over town hall meetings and chase congressmen through parking lots. These two observable facts about the anti-healthcare reform forces, it turns out, are really one big thing.”
- Rachel Maddow, The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, 5 August 2009.
GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY?
"What Democrats call mob rule, the average American calls democracy. These kinds of despicable characterizations of middle-class Americans smacks of elitism."
- Ken Spain, Republican National Conservative Caucus (RNCC) spokesperson.
SOURCE OF MEMO EXCERPT AND THE KEN SPAIN AND RACHEL MADDOW QUOTES: “The Rachel Maddow Show,” MSNBC, 3 August 2009: LINK and 5 August 2009: LINK
You’re sitting at your computer, checking out your favorite sites, surfing around on worldnetdaily.com and freerepublic.com, reading Rush’s latest, then Ann Coulter’s. You’re sipping coffee and wondering what you can do to stop those damn liberals and progressives from destroying America.
An email comes in – a three-page memo, and it announces that there’s a town hall meeting tonight in the city where you live. One of many planned to offer citizens a little Q&A on proposed healthcare reform.
Scrolling down though the instructions, you find a section labeled “Inside the Hall.”
“You need to rock-the-boat early in the rep's presentation,” the memo instructs. “Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the rep's statements early.
“If he blames Bush for something or offers other excuses - call him on it, yell back and have someone else follow-up with a shout-out. The goal is to rattle him.
“When the formal Q&A session begins, get all your hands up and keep them up. ... The balance of the group should applaud when the question is asked, further putting the rep on the defensive.”
Now, you’re fired up. You call a buddy to let him know you won’t make the bowling team tonight. Pulling on your Converses and a clean T-shirt, you head downtown.
Grabbing a gyro from a street vendor, you walk toward the meeting hall. Outside you wait in line behind a man and his wife. The man is in a wheelchair. Listening to the conversation, you learn he’s a diabetic, an amputee. He’s a poor-mouther, telling another man how he lost his job before he became so ill, how he lost his insurance and can’t afford a prosthesis.
Finally, you’re inside the meeting hall, ready to rumble, ready to create a little kick-ass havoc.
Pretty good night, you tell yourself as you arrive back at your apartment. All those poor-mouthers didn’t have a chance.
“Man, I love this country!” you say out loud, grabbing a beer and flipping channels until you find the wrestling match. Some guy is interviewing Outback Jack.
“Yeah,” you tell yourself, “that was some smackdown tonight.”
Across town, the protest organizers are reporting in to the national lobbying group which pays them.
The wife of the diabetic kisses her husband good-night, then begins work at her sewing machine, doing alterations which bring in extra cash beyond her 8-to-5 job.
Fade to black.
‘RENT-A-MOB’
The “Inside the Hall” instructions above are in a three-page memo from a group calling itself Right Principles (READ ABOUT THIS GROUP). Obtained by the Think Progress Web site, the memo “was written by a man named Bob MacGuffie. Bob MacGuffie is associated with an organization called FreedomWorks (READ ABOUT THIS GROUP). FreedomWorks is a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm, run by former Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey.
Yes, that Dick Armey.
“Armey's FreedomWorks is organizing against healthcare reform. Armey's lobbying firm represents pharmaceutical companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb. Armey's lobbying firm also represents the trade group for the life insurance industry. FreedomWorks is supporting the status quo at all costs. They are also fans of fossil fuels. Armey's lobbying firm represents Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE (BJ NOTE: United Arab Emirates), on energy- related issues.
“Last year, the Wall Street Journal exposed FreedomWorks for building ‘amateur-looking’ Web sites to promote far-right interests of Armey.” (SOURCE: alternet.org, 7 August 2009: LINK)
‘ONE BIG THING’
“What's becoming clear now is that there is a connection between the two big things that we have observed recently about the healthcare fight. On the one hand, are these crazy, disprovable, but nevertheless, endlessly stoked conspiracy theories that healthcare reform is communism, that it's a secret plot to kill your grandpa, that it's a government takeover, it's something called Obamacare. It's going to mandate abortions. It's going to mandate sex-change operations.”
(…)
“There are these crazy conspiracy theories about healthcare reform on the one hand. And, on the other hand, there are these organized efforts to shut down political debate about healthcare, by using angry crowds to take over town hall meetings and chase congressmen through parking lots. These two observable facts about the anti-healthcare reform forces, it turns out, are really one big thing.”
- Rachel Maddow, The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, 5 August 2009.
GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY?
"What Democrats call mob rule, the average American calls democracy. These kinds of despicable characterizations of middle-class Americans smacks of elitism."
- Ken Spain, Republican National Conservative Caucus (RNCC) spokesperson.
SOURCE OF MEMO EXCERPT AND THE KEN SPAIN AND RACHEL MADDOW QUOTES: “The Rachel Maddow Show,” MSNBC, 3 August 2009: LINK and 5 August 2009: LINK
8.07.2009
Making it clear: Case 2
In an effort to inject a little xenophobia into the healthcare reform debate, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) did a mathematical hat trick and issued a press release titled, “CBO: 5,600,000 Illegal Aliens May Be Covered Under Obamacare.” (LINK)
CBO meaning Congressional Budget Office.
“Not true,” says factcheck.org of Rep. King’s release. (NOTE: There’s no direct link to factcheck.org’s full report on King’s claim. To read the report, go HERE, then click on “edit” at the top of your screen, then “find in top window” and type in “Rep. King.”)
According to factcheck.org:
“H.R. 3200 includes a provision that specifically says that there will be no federal funds spent to cover illegal immigrants:
H.R. 3200: Sec 246 - NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS
“Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”
***
SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL
To the people of Iowa:
While Rep. King is home on break, I suggest you take him to Dubuque and drop him from the top of the civil war-era shot tower (photo above). Maybe he’ll come out a more well-rounded representative of his constituents.
Signed, DemWit
CBO meaning Congressional Budget Office.
“Not true,” says factcheck.org of Rep. King’s release. (NOTE: There’s no direct link to factcheck.org’s full report on King’s claim. To read the report, go HERE, then click on “edit” at the top of your screen, then “find in top window” and type in “Rep. King.”)
According to factcheck.org:
“H.R. 3200 includes a provision that specifically says that there will be no federal funds spent to cover illegal immigrants:
H.R. 3200: Sec 246 - NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS
“Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”
***
SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL
To the people of Iowa:
While Rep. King is home on break, I suggest you take him to Dubuque and drop him from the top of the civil war-era shot tower (photo above). Maybe he’ll come out a more well-rounded representative of his constituents.
Signed, DemWit
8.06.2009
Making it clear: Case 1
President Barack Obama has made it clear how "healthcare consumers would be treated better by insurance companies if reform efforts pass." To-wit:
1) Insurance companies would be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history – “pre-existing conditions.”
2) Insurance companies would be barred from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become ill.
3) Insurance companies will no longer be able to charge exorbitant out-of pocket expenses.
4) Insurance companies cannot impose lifetime or annual caps on coverage.
5) Insurance companies will be "required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full."
6) Insurance companies "must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics."
SOURCE: The Progress Report, Center for American Progress, 3 August 2009: LINK
1) Insurance companies would be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history – “pre-existing conditions.”
2) Insurance companies would be barred from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become ill.
3) Insurance companies will no longer be able to charge exorbitant out-of pocket expenses.
4) Insurance companies cannot impose lifetime or annual caps on coverage.
5) Insurance companies will be "required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full."
6) Insurance companies "must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics."
SOURCE: The Progress Report, Center for American Progress, 3 August 2009: LINK
8.04.2009
'Legislators for Sale'
Have you ever wanted to bitch-slap a member of Congress? Yes, I mean the action in its most derogatory form, for how else would you treat members of Congress willing to sell themselves?
Well, that’s what MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann did on his show Monday night. He let a whole bunch of them have it – with facts that should make them writhe in embarrassment.
DemWit presents here in its entirety Olbermann’s SPECIAL COMMENT on health care reform and the legislators who would sell their soul to the devil for campaign donations. You may watch the 10-minute comment on video HERE. The transcript follows:
“Legislators for Sale”
A SPECIAL COMMENT by Keith Olbermann, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” MSNBC, 3 August 2009:
Members of Congress are failing to represent their constituents in the health care fight
In a Special Comment, Countdown’s Keith Olbermann slams members of Congress for acting more in the interests of their health industry campaign donors than their constituents who so clearly favor health care reform.
OLBERMANN:
Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on Health Care Reform in this country, and in particular, the "public insurance option."
In March of 1911, after a wave of minor factory fires in New York City, the City's Fire Commissioner issued emergency rules about fire prevention, protection, escape, sprinklers. The City's Manufacturers Association in turn called an emergency meeting to attack the Fire Commissioner and his 'interference with commerce.'
The new rules were delayed. Just days later, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The door to the fire escape was bolted shut to keep the employees from leaving prematurely. One hundred and fifty of those employees died, many by jumping from the seventh floor windows to avoid the flames. Firefighters setting up their ladders literally had to dodge the falling, often burning, women. This was the spirit of the American corporation then. It is the spirit of the American corporation now. It is what the corporation will do, when it is left alone, for a week. You know the drill. We all know the drill.
You get something done, at a doctor's, at a dentist's, at an emergency room, and the bills are in your hands before the pain medication wears off. And, if you're one of the lucky ones, and you have insurance, you submit the endless paperwork and no matter whether it's insurance through your company, or your union, or your non-profit, or on your own dime, you then get your turn - at the roulette wheel.
How much of it is the insurance company going to pay this time? How much of it is the insurance company — about which you have next to no choice, and against which you have virtually no appeal — how much is this giant corporation going to give you back? What small percentage of what they told you they were going to pay you, will they actually pay you?
You know the answer. And, you know the answer if you don't have insurance. But, do you know why that's the answer?
Because the insurance industry owns the Republican Party. Not exclusively. Pharma owns part of it, too. Hospitals and HMO's, another part. Nursing homes — they have a share. You name a Republican, any Republican, and he is literally brought to you by campaign donations from the Health Sector.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota? You gave the Republican rebuttal to the President's weekly address day before yesterday. You said the Democrats' plan was for "…government run health care that would disrupt our current system, and force millions of Americans who currently enjoy their employer-based coverage into a new health care plan run by government bureaucrats."
That's a bald-faced lie, Senator. And you're a bald-faced liar, whose bald face is covered by … your own health care plan run by government bureaucrats. Nobody would be forced into anything; and the Public Insurance Option is no more a disruption than letting the government sell you water, and not just Poland Spring and Sparkletts. But, as corrupt hypocrites go, Senator, at least you're well paid. What was that one statement worth to you in contributions from the Health Sector, Sen. Thune?
Five thousand dollars? Ten? We know what you are, Sir, we're arguing about the price. What about your other quote? "We can accomplish health care reform while keeping patients and their doctors in charge, not bureaucrats and politicians." Wow, Senator — this illustrates how desperate you and the other Republicans are, right? Because, Sen. Thune, if you really think "bureaucrats and politicians" need to get out of the way of "patients and their doctors," then you support a woman patient's right to get an abortion, and you supported Michael Schiavo's right to take his wife off life support, and you oppose "bureaucrats and politicians" getting in the way, and we'll just mark you down on the pro-choice list. That's a rare misstep for you, Sen. Thune. No $12,000 payoff for that statement! I am not being hyperbolic, am I, Senator? On the money?
Sen. Thune has thus far received from the Health Sector, campaign contributions — and all these numbers tonight are from The Center For Responsive Politics — campaign contributions amounting to $1,206,176.
So much for Sen. Thune. How about Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite? Good evening, ma'am. You are the Florida representative who claimed on the Floor that Democrats had “…released a health care bill which essentially said to America's seniors: ‘drop dead.’ ”
Now those are strong, terrorizing, words — that's exactly what your Insurance and Medical Overlords wanted to hear. But, are you truly worth every dollar of the $369,000,255 of them you have received over the years from the Health Sector? I'd read the rest of the operative part of your speech myself, but your rendition actually cannot be matched:
“Listen up, America. Seniors have special needs. This bill ignored the, ignores the needs of Florida's health care system. We should be fixing what is broke. Not disseminate, disseminating, decimating, the care of our senior population.” - July 21, 2009
You can always tell, can't you, Congresswoman, when the hostage is reading her own ransom note, and when she is reading one written for her? So much for Rep. Brown-Waite.
There are so many other Republicans, bought and sold — like the unfortunate Congresswoman there —by the Health Sector. Minority Leader McConnell of the Senate?
Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee. Congressman? Undecided on the public option? At $1,173,000 in donations from the Health Sector, I'm surprised. You should have already said “no” — and loudly. The only thing you should be "undecided" about is whether or not you're really a Democrat. So much for Rep. Gordon.
Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. Good evening, Senator. So, you're supposed to be negotiating all this out with the Republicans and hesitant Democrats? To gain bi-partisanship with a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Health Sector? Bi-partisanship that will get you, what? A total of no votes? And, your price has been, let's see, $414,000 in donations from Hospitals. About $667,000 from the insurance companies and just over a million from Big Pharma. There was a $1,300,000 from other health professional and $237,000 from Nursing Homes.
When you think of getting $237,000 in campaign contributions from nursing homes, Sen. Baucus, do you ever think about whether they subtract that amount of money evenly from all the patients suffering and dying in the lousy ones, or just from a few of the lousy ones? So much for Sen. Baucus. Sadly, this list could go on almost all night, too.
I could ask Blue Dog Congressman, Democrat John Tanner of Tennessee, if, since he's gotten $215,000 from hospitals over the years, if I and the appropriate number of my friends were willing to make it $216,000, if we could buy his vote — or would there have to be an auction?
We could bring up Senator Hagan, and Congressman Pomeroy, who, at $628,000, appears to represent the Insurance Industry and not North Dakota. I could bring up Sen. Carper, and Sen.Blanche Lincoln.
Senator Lincoln? By the way, considering how you're obstructing health care reform, how do you feel ... every time you actually see Sen. Kennedy? I could bring up all the other Democrats doing their masters' bidding in the House or the Senate, all the others who will get an extra thousand from somebody if they just postpone the vote another year, another month, another week, because right now without the competition of a government-funded insurance company, in one hour the health care industries can make so much money that they'd kill you for that extra hour of profit, I could call them all out by name.
But, I think you get the point. We don't need to call the Democrats holding this up “Blue Dogs.” That one word "Dogs" is perfectly sufficient. But, let me speak to them collectively, anyway. I warn you all: you were not elected to create a Democratic majority. You were elected to restore this country. You were not elected to serve the corporations and the trusts who the government has enabled for the last eight years.
You were elected to serve the people. And, if you fail to pass or support this legislation, the full wrath of the progressive and the moderate movements in this country will come down on your heads. Explain yourselves not to me, but to them. They elected you, and in the blink of an eye, they will replace you.
If you will behave as if you are Republicans — as if you are the prostitutes of our system —you will be judged as such. And, you will lose not merely our respect. You will lose your jobs!
Every poll, every analysis, every vote, every region of this country supports health care reform, and the essential great leveling agent of a government-funded alternative to the unchecked duopoly of profiteering private insurance corporations. Cross us all at your peril.
Because, Rep. Ross, you are not the Representative from Blue Cross.
And, Mr. Baucus, you are not the Senator from Schering-Plough Global Health Care even if they have already given you $76,000 towards your re-election. And, Ms. Lincoln, you are not the Senator from DaVita Dialysis.
Because, ladies and gentlemen, President Lincoln did not promise that this nation shall have a new death of freedom, and that government of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation, shall not perish from this earth.
Good night and good luck.
***
DemWit submits that every newspaper or television report on where senators and representatives stand on issues - and how they vote - should disclose the total amount of contributions received from entities who would profit from passage of the legislation.
Now, do a search on each of your senators and your representative, followed by “contributions from the health industry” and hold them accountable for their allegiance.
Is it you they represent?
Well, that’s what MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann did on his show Monday night. He let a whole bunch of them have it – with facts that should make them writhe in embarrassment.
DemWit presents here in its entirety Olbermann’s SPECIAL COMMENT on health care reform and the legislators who would sell their soul to the devil for campaign donations. You may watch the 10-minute comment on video HERE. The transcript follows:
“Legislators for Sale”
A SPECIAL COMMENT by Keith Olbermann, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” MSNBC, 3 August 2009:
Members of Congress are failing to represent their constituents in the health care fight
In a Special Comment, Countdown’s Keith Olbermann slams members of Congress for acting more in the interests of their health industry campaign donors than their constituents who so clearly favor health care reform.
OLBERMANN:
Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on Health Care Reform in this country, and in particular, the "public insurance option."
In March of 1911, after a wave of minor factory fires in New York City, the City's Fire Commissioner issued emergency rules about fire prevention, protection, escape, sprinklers. The City's Manufacturers Association in turn called an emergency meeting to attack the Fire Commissioner and his 'interference with commerce.'
The new rules were delayed. Just days later, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The door to the fire escape was bolted shut to keep the employees from leaving prematurely. One hundred and fifty of those employees died, many by jumping from the seventh floor windows to avoid the flames. Firefighters setting up their ladders literally had to dodge the falling, often burning, women. This was the spirit of the American corporation then. It is the spirit of the American corporation now. It is what the corporation will do, when it is left alone, for a week. You know the drill. We all know the drill.
You get something done, at a doctor's, at a dentist's, at an emergency room, and the bills are in your hands before the pain medication wears off. And, if you're one of the lucky ones, and you have insurance, you submit the endless paperwork and no matter whether it's insurance through your company, or your union, or your non-profit, or on your own dime, you then get your turn - at the roulette wheel.
How much of it is the insurance company going to pay this time? How much of it is the insurance company — about which you have next to no choice, and against which you have virtually no appeal — how much is this giant corporation going to give you back? What small percentage of what they told you they were going to pay you, will they actually pay you?
You know the answer. And, you know the answer if you don't have insurance. But, do you know why that's the answer?
Because the insurance industry owns the Republican Party. Not exclusively. Pharma owns part of it, too. Hospitals and HMO's, another part. Nursing homes — they have a share. You name a Republican, any Republican, and he is literally brought to you by campaign donations from the Health Sector.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota? You gave the Republican rebuttal to the President's weekly address day before yesterday. You said the Democrats' plan was for "…government run health care that would disrupt our current system, and force millions of Americans who currently enjoy their employer-based coverage into a new health care plan run by government bureaucrats."
That's a bald-faced lie, Senator. And you're a bald-faced liar, whose bald face is covered by … your own health care plan run by government bureaucrats. Nobody would be forced into anything; and the Public Insurance Option is no more a disruption than letting the government sell you water, and not just Poland Spring and Sparkletts. But, as corrupt hypocrites go, Senator, at least you're well paid. What was that one statement worth to you in contributions from the Health Sector, Sen. Thune?
Five thousand dollars? Ten? We know what you are, Sir, we're arguing about the price. What about your other quote? "We can accomplish health care reform while keeping patients and their doctors in charge, not bureaucrats and politicians." Wow, Senator — this illustrates how desperate you and the other Republicans are, right? Because, Sen. Thune, if you really think "bureaucrats and politicians" need to get out of the way of "patients and their doctors," then you support a woman patient's right to get an abortion, and you supported Michael Schiavo's right to take his wife off life support, and you oppose "bureaucrats and politicians" getting in the way, and we'll just mark you down on the pro-choice list. That's a rare misstep for you, Sen. Thune. No $12,000 payoff for that statement! I am not being hyperbolic, am I, Senator? On the money?
Sen. Thune has thus far received from the Health Sector, campaign contributions — and all these numbers tonight are from The Center For Responsive Politics — campaign contributions amounting to $1,206,176.
So much for Sen. Thune. How about Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite? Good evening, ma'am. You are the Florida representative who claimed on the Floor that Democrats had “…released a health care bill which essentially said to America's seniors: ‘drop dead.’ ”
Now those are strong, terrorizing, words — that's exactly what your Insurance and Medical Overlords wanted to hear. But, are you truly worth every dollar of the $369,000,255 of them you have received over the years from the Health Sector? I'd read the rest of the operative part of your speech myself, but your rendition actually cannot be matched:
“Listen up, America. Seniors have special needs. This bill ignored the, ignores the needs of Florida's health care system. We should be fixing what is broke. Not disseminate, disseminating, decimating, the care of our senior population.” - July 21, 2009
You can always tell, can't you, Congresswoman, when the hostage is reading her own ransom note, and when she is reading one written for her? So much for Rep. Brown-Waite.
There are so many other Republicans, bought and sold — like the unfortunate Congresswoman there —by the Health Sector. Minority Leader McConnell of the Senate?
Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee. Congressman? Undecided on the public option? At $1,173,000 in donations from the Health Sector, I'm surprised. You should have already said “no” — and loudly. The only thing you should be "undecided" about is whether or not you're really a Democrat. So much for Rep. Gordon.
Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. Good evening, Senator. So, you're supposed to be negotiating all this out with the Republicans and hesitant Democrats? To gain bi-partisanship with a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Health Sector? Bi-partisanship that will get you, what? A total of no votes? And, your price has been, let's see, $414,000 in donations from Hospitals. About $667,000 from the insurance companies and just over a million from Big Pharma. There was a $1,300,000 from other health professional and $237,000 from Nursing Homes.
When you think of getting $237,000 in campaign contributions from nursing homes, Sen. Baucus, do you ever think about whether they subtract that amount of money evenly from all the patients suffering and dying in the lousy ones, or just from a few of the lousy ones? So much for Sen. Baucus. Sadly, this list could go on almost all night, too.
I could ask Blue Dog Congressman, Democrat John Tanner of Tennessee, if, since he's gotten $215,000 from hospitals over the years, if I and the appropriate number of my friends were willing to make it $216,000, if we could buy his vote — or would there have to be an auction?
We could bring up Senator Hagan, and Congressman Pomeroy, who, at $628,000, appears to represent the Insurance Industry and not North Dakota. I could bring up Sen. Carper, and Sen.Blanche Lincoln.
Senator Lincoln? By the way, considering how you're obstructing health care reform, how do you feel ... every time you actually see Sen. Kennedy? I could bring up all the other Democrats doing their masters' bidding in the House or the Senate, all the others who will get an extra thousand from somebody if they just postpone the vote another year, another month, another week, because right now without the competition of a government-funded insurance company, in one hour the health care industries can make so much money that they'd kill you for that extra hour of profit, I could call them all out by name.
But, I think you get the point. We don't need to call the Democrats holding this up “Blue Dogs.” That one word "Dogs" is perfectly sufficient. But, let me speak to them collectively, anyway. I warn you all: you were not elected to create a Democratic majority. You were elected to restore this country. You were not elected to serve the corporations and the trusts who the government has enabled for the last eight years.
You were elected to serve the people. And, if you fail to pass or support this legislation, the full wrath of the progressive and the moderate movements in this country will come down on your heads. Explain yourselves not to me, but to them. They elected you, and in the blink of an eye, they will replace you.
If you will behave as if you are Republicans — as if you are the prostitutes of our system —you will be judged as such. And, you will lose not merely our respect. You will lose your jobs!
Every poll, every analysis, every vote, every region of this country supports health care reform, and the essential great leveling agent of a government-funded alternative to the unchecked duopoly of profiteering private insurance corporations. Cross us all at your peril.
Because, Rep. Ross, you are not the Representative from Blue Cross.
And, Mr. Baucus, you are not the Senator from Schering-Plough Global Health Care even if they have already given you $76,000 towards your re-election. And, Ms. Lincoln, you are not the Senator from DaVita Dialysis.
Because, ladies and gentlemen, President Lincoln did not promise that this nation shall have a new death of freedom, and that government of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation, shall not perish from this earth.
Good night and good luck.
***
DemWit submits that every newspaper or television report on where senators and representatives stand on issues - and how they vote - should disclose the total amount of contributions received from entities who would profit from passage of the legislation.
Now, do a search on each of your senators and your representative, followed by “contributions from the health industry” and hold them accountable for their allegiance.
Is it you they represent?
8.03.2009
Racial fearmongering
With just a few clicks of your mouse you can be transported into the Internet underbelly of U.S. society.
A headline caught my eye this morning – “Fear of a Black President: Conservative Media Deumming Up Racial Fear.” Turns out it’s a YouTube video which I cannot play on my dial-up connection. You can view it HERE and give me a report on its content.
Quotes such as the following make it apparent that the right-wing media are attempting to undermine Presiddent Barack Obama by stirring up racial hatred in America:
With all evidence to the contrary, Rush Limbaugh, on his Premier Radio Network show of July 27, had this to say about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: “Gates is an angry racist.”
On July 28, Fox News’ superstar Glenn Beck had some choice words to say about Obama, although with Beck he seems to say something inflammatory, then attempt to recant his own words.
Said Beck: "[Obama] has exposed himself, I think, as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or white culture" … "I'm not saying that [Obama] doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. He has a, this guy is, I believe, a racist."
I’ve had three blogs over the last several years and am on record as having pointed out that Fox News is in no way a professional journalism outlet. It is, in fact, a well-run propaganda machine.
Reading comments – many replete with blatantly racist remarks - on the various sites I researched this morning, I found this truism:
“If Heinrich Himmler were alive today he'd take notes from Fixed Noise. I don't think in the history of Man there has ever been as efficient a corporate-state propaganda machine as this channel. Even the average citizen in Nazi Germany didn't believe the state propaganda as hard as the right believes in the propaganda from this channel.”
Hell, Josef Goebbels would have his own show!
The media – any media – love conflict. It sells. Over the last week there has been much discussion of racism following the incident at Professor Gates’ home. The time to examine racism in America was after those horrifying television images following Hurricane Katrina. Ironically, the only person with a microphone who wanted to discuss the apparent racial ramifications of those images from New Orleans was Don Imus, at the time on MSNBC. Sadly, the I-man was silenced, when he himself was accused – in my opinion, falsely – of racism.
The Boston Herald (LINK) reports this morning that Professor Gates is receiving death threats and is considering moving from his home. Is it any wonder with the right-wing wunderkinder above exacerbating the situation?
One more thing: I noted a number of comments claiming that worldnetdaily.com has a photocopy of “Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate.”
Is there any question in your mind, dear reader, that all of this is simply an effort to undermine Obama’s presidency and his policies?
And once more, it all comes around to this question: is there any level the right-wing won’t stoop to to promote its twisted ideology?
A headline caught my eye this morning – “Fear of a Black President: Conservative Media Deumming Up Racial Fear.” Turns out it’s a YouTube video which I cannot play on my dial-up connection. You can view it HERE and give me a report on its content.
Quotes such as the following make it apparent that the right-wing media are attempting to undermine Presiddent Barack Obama by stirring up racial hatred in America:
With all evidence to the contrary, Rush Limbaugh, on his Premier Radio Network show of July 27, had this to say about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: “Gates is an angry racist.”
On July 28, Fox News’ superstar Glenn Beck had some choice words to say about Obama, although with Beck he seems to say something inflammatory, then attempt to recant his own words.
Said Beck: "[Obama] has exposed himself, I think, as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or white culture" … "I'm not saying that [Obama] doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. He has a, this guy is, I believe, a racist."
I’ve had three blogs over the last several years and am on record as having pointed out that Fox News is in no way a professional journalism outlet. It is, in fact, a well-run propaganda machine.
Reading comments – many replete with blatantly racist remarks - on the various sites I researched this morning, I found this truism:
“If Heinrich Himmler were alive today he'd take notes from Fixed Noise. I don't think in the history of Man there has ever been as efficient a corporate-state propaganda machine as this channel. Even the average citizen in Nazi Germany didn't believe the state propaganda as hard as the right believes in the propaganda from this channel.”
Hell, Josef Goebbels would have his own show!
The media – any media – love conflict. It sells. Over the last week there has been much discussion of racism following the incident at Professor Gates’ home. The time to examine racism in America was after those horrifying television images following Hurricane Katrina. Ironically, the only person with a microphone who wanted to discuss the apparent racial ramifications of those images from New Orleans was Don Imus, at the time on MSNBC. Sadly, the I-man was silenced, when he himself was accused – in my opinion, falsely – of racism.
The Boston Herald (LINK) reports this morning that Professor Gates is receiving death threats and is considering moving from his home. Is it any wonder with the right-wing wunderkinder above exacerbating the situation?
One more thing: I noted a number of comments claiming that worldnetdaily.com has a photocopy of “Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate.”
Is there any question in your mind, dear reader, that all of this is simply an effort to undermine Obama’s presidency and his policies?
And once more, it all comes around to this question: is there any level the right-wing won’t stoop to to promote its twisted ideology?
7.30.2009
Cornerstones of the radical right
There are, in my opinion, four cornerstones of the radical right: lies, hypocrisy, fearmongering and greed.
After years of following the antics of the far right, I didn’t think anything it could do would shock me, but shocked I am over its latest gambit.
With “Brave New World” tactics, the right-wing is attempting – with dystopian delusion - to strike fear in the hearts of elderly Americans – by suggesting that the healthcare reform package …
Well, let’s read the opening paragraphs of a report on politico.com, written by Carrie Budoff Brown and headlined “Will proposal promote euthanasia?”
“Sean Hannity believes it. So does House Minority Leader John Boehner. Talk show host Fred Thompson calls it 'the dirty little secret' of the healthcare reform debate.
“The focus of their ire is a provision tucked deep inside the House bill that would provide Medicare coverage for an end-of-life consultation once every five years. If a person falls ill with a life-threatening disease, more frequent sessions would be allowed.
“Republicans are now using this language as a wedge between senior citizens and Democrats.
“Boehner and Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) issued a statement last week saying it ‘may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia’ — even though the concept behind the provision has been embodied in federal law since 1990 and has been promoted by Republicans and Democrats for years.”
It’s called a living will.
These dirty, rotten scoundrels are taking a provision intended to prevent another national tragedy – and political football - like Terri Schiavo’s death and trying to convince old folks they’re going to be systematically euthanized.
That’s right. The Democratic Party – surreptitiously, of course - is pushing the United States of America into setting mandatory death dates for old folks.
I have found myself with a condition those who know me will never believe – I am speechless.
What next, boys? Are you going to dig up something about “Soylent Green”?
***
I recommend you read the politico.com article HERE. Then, hold the hands of persons old and dear and tell them of their worth.
After years of following the antics of the far right, I didn’t think anything it could do would shock me, but shocked I am over its latest gambit.
With “Brave New World” tactics, the right-wing is attempting – with dystopian delusion - to strike fear in the hearts of elderly Americans – by suggesting that the healthcare reform package …
Well, let’s read the opening paragraphs of a report on politico.com, written by Carrie Budoff Brown and headlined “Will proposal promote euthanasia?”
“Sean Hannity believes it. So does House Minority Leader John Boehner. Talk show host Fred Thompson calls it 'the dirty little secret' of the healthcare reform debate.
“The focus of their ire is a provision tucked deep inside the House bill that would provide Medicare coverage for an end-of-life consultation once every five years. If a person falls ill with a life-threatening disease, more frequent sessions would be allowed.
“Republicans are now using this language as a wedge between senior citizens and Democrats.
“Boehner and Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) issued a statement last week saying it ‘may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia’ — even though the concept behind the provision has been embodied in federal law since 1990 and has been promoted by Republicans and Democrats for years.”
It’s called a living will.
These dirty, rotten scoundrels are taking a provision intended to prevent another national tragedy – and political football - like Terri Schiavo’s death and trying to convince old folks they’re going to be systematically euthanized.
That’s right. The Democratic Party – surreptitiously, of course - is pushing the United States of America into setting mandatory death dates for old folks.
I have found myself with a condition those who know me will never believe – I am speechless.
What next, boys? Are you going to dig up something about “Soylent Green”?
***
I recommend you read the politico.com article HERE. Then, hold the hands of persons old and dear and tell them of their worth.
7.29.2009
'Proven ad nauseam'
‘PROVEN AD NAUSEAM’
At Monday’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs – like yours truly – just threw up his hands over the so-called “birthers.”
When talk show host Bill Press asked Gibbs if there’s anything he can do to shut these conspiracy theorists up, the press secretary replied, “The God’s honest truth is no!”
Why does the issue, which Gibbs said “has been proven ad nauseam,” keep coming up? Gibbs: "Because for $15 you can get an Internet address and say whatever you want."
DemWit, solely for the edification of readers, reprints here a portion of The Progress Report, Center for American Progress, 27 July 2009:
RADICAL RIGHT: ‘THE WACKO WING’
Last Thursday, CNN President Jon Klein sent an email to a handful of the network's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" staffers informing them that he considered one of the stories pursued by the infamously anti-immigrant host to be "dead." On his radio show the week before, Dobbs declared that President Obama needed to "produce a birth certificate," picking up on a thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that claims Obama was not born in the United States, and the birth certificate released by his campaign last year was fake. Dobbs repeatedly pushed the "birther" cause despite the fact that his colleagues at CNN have repeatedly called the story "total bull."
In fact, while guest-hosting Dobbs' own show on July 17, Kitty Pilgrim refuted the fringe theory, saying, "CNN has fully investigated the issue, found no basis for the questions about the president's birthplace, but the controversy lives on, especially on the Internet." But Dobbs has persisted, attacking his critics as "limp-minded, lily-livered lefties" who hate him because he has "the temerity to inquire as to where the birth certificate was."
As Dobbs continued to air the conspiracy theory, Klein backed off his admonition of the host, telling the Los Angeles Times that Dobbs had handled the issue in a "legitimate" manner and "if there are future news pegs, then we have to take that story as it comes."
On Sunday, Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz used his CNN show (“Reliable Sources”) to chastise media outlets that "give the birthers any airtime" to repeat their "ludicrous claims." Kurtz specifically criticized Dobbs for not acting "responsible."
BORN IN THE USA
Obama was born on Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. This date is on the Certification of Live Birth released by the Hawaii Department of Health last year at the request of Obama. Birthers like Dobbs point to the fact that the campaign released the "short form" certification rather than the "long form" - which is drawn up by the hospital and contains more information - as the crux of their argument that the President is hiding something.
But as FactCheck.org noted when they investigated and debunked claims about Obama's birth certificate, "the Hawaii Department of Health's birth record request form does not give the option to request a photocopy of your long-form birth certificate," and "their short form has enough information to be acceptable to the State Department." Birthers, like conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, claim that the certificate posted by the Obama campaign was "a false, fake birth certificate," but its authenticity has been independently confirmed by FactCheck.org, which examined it in person and declared that "it is real and three-dimensional."
Additionally, on Oct. 31, 2008, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii Department of Health, issued a statement saying that he had "personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obama's original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures." Definitive proof of Obama's Hawaii birth has also been found in the archives of two Hawaii newspapers, the Honululu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which both printed birth announcements days after Obama was born in 1961. Birth announcements in those papers are placed by the state Department of Health, not the family.
RIGHT-WING MEDIA GIVES VOICE
Dobbs isn't the only media personality giving voice to the birthers. As PolitiFact's Robert Farley wrote last month, "the conservative WorldNetDaily.com Web site is the conductor of the Birther train." The far-right outlet, which sells "Where's The Birth Certificate?" bumper stickers, convinced someone to ask White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the conspiracy in May.
The birther theory has also been pushed by bigger names in the right-wing media. Before the 2008 election, radio host Rush Limbaugh speculated that Obama may have gone to Hawaii to visit his dying grandmother to take care of "this birth certificate business." Since then, Limbaugh has joked, "[W]hat do Obama and God have in common? Neither has a birth certificate." Earlier this month, Limbaugh stepped it up a notch, declaring that "Barack Obama has yet to prove he's a citizen."
Fox News has also elevated the birther conspiracy, running headlines like "Should Obama Release Birth Certificate?" on its Fox Nation Web site and running reports on birther-based lawsuits on its news shows. Fox's Sean Hannity has aired claims that "the president is not, in fact, a legitimate citizen by birth" and asked a caller on his radio show if he had "ever seen" Obama's birth certificate.
THE BIRTHER BILL
In March, Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) introduced legislation requiring "presidential candidates to produce copies of their birth certificates and other documentation to prove natural-born citizenship." Posey's bill has gathered nine co-sponsors in the House. Trying to explain why he introduced the bill, Posey issued a statement saying, "This bill, by simply requiring such documentation for future candidates for president, will remove this issue as a reason for questioning the legitimacy of a candidate elected as president." But Posey has undermined this seemingly innocuous rationale for his legislation by outright accusing Obama of hiding something on a right-wing Internet radio show. "The only people that I know who are afraid to take drug tests are the people who use drugs," said Posey. Claiming that he hadn't looked at the evidence, Posey previously told the Orlando Sentinel, "I can't swear on a stack of Bibles whether he is or isn't" a citizen.
On MSNBC's “Hardball” last week, host Chris Matthews challenged one of the bill's co-sponsors, Rep. John Campbell (R-CA), telling him that "what you're doing is appeasing the nutcases...you're verifying the paranoia out there." Asked if he believed Obama was a citizen, Campbell responded, "as far as I know, yes." Matthews retorted, "As far as you know? (and waving it in Campbell's face) I'm showing you his birth certificate!" Matthews is correct that many conservative lawmakers are comfortable "feeding the wacko wing." Just today (7/27/09), Politico reported that Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) said birthers "have a point." "I don't discourage it," said Inhofe. –End of The Progress Report-
***
For a copy of The Progress Report with documentation: LINK
“Conspiracy plots and paranoia,” I See My Dreams - my post on how and why conspiracy theories evolve: LINK
At Monday’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs – like yours truly – just threw up his hands over the so-called “birthers.”
When talk show host Bill Press asked Gibbs if there’s anything he can do to shut these conspiracy theorists up, the press secretary replied, “The God’s honest truth is no!”
Why does the issue, which Gibbs said “has been proven ad nauseam,” keep coming up? Gibbs: "Because for $15 you can get an Internet address and say whatever you want."
DemWit, solely for the edification of readers, reprints here a portion of The Progress Report, Center for American Progress, 27 July 2009:
RADICAL RIGHT: ‘THE WACKO WING’
Last Thursday, CNN President Jon Klein sent an email to a handful of the network's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" staffers informing them that he considered one of the stories pursued by the infamously anti-immigrant host to be "dead." On his radio show the week before, Dobbs declared that President Obama needed to "produce a birth certificate," picking up on a thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that claims Obama was not born in the United States, and the birth certificate released by his campaign last year was fake. Dobbs repeatedly pushed the "birther" cause despite the fact that his colleagues at CNN have repeatedly called the story "total bull."
In fact, while guest-hosting Dobbs' own show on July 17, Kitty Pilgrim refuted the fringe theory, saying, "CNN has fully investigated the issue, found no basis for the questions about the president's birthplace, but the controversy lives on, especially on the Internet." But Dobbs has persisted, attacking his critics as "limp-minded, lily-livered lefties" who hate him because he has "the temerity to inquire as to where the birth certificate was."
As Dobbs continued to air the conspiracy theory, Klein backed off his admonition of the host, telling the Los Angeles Times that Dobbs had handled the issue in a "legitimate" manner and "if there are future news pegs, then we have to take that story as it comes."
On Sunday, Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz used his CNN show (“Reliable Sources”) to chastise media outlets that "give the birthers any airtime" to repeat their "ludicrous claims." Kurtz specifically criticized Dobbs for not acting "responsible."
BORN IN THE USA
Obama was born on Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. This date is on the Certification of Live Birth released by the Hawaii Department of Health last year at the request of Obama. Birthers like Dobbs point to the fact that the campaign released the "short form" certification rather than the "long form" - which is drawn up by the hospital and contains more information - as the crux of their argument that the President is hiding something.
But as FactCheck.org noted when they investigated and debunked claims about Obama's birth certificate, "the Hawaii Department of Health's birth record request form does not give the option to request a photocopy of your long-form birth certificate," and "their short form has enough information to be acceptable to the State Department." Birthers, like conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, claim that the certificate posted by the Obama campaign was "a false, fake birth certificate," but its authenticity has been independently confirmed by FactCheck.org, which examined it in person and declared that "it is real and three-dimensional."
Additionally, on Oct. 31, 2008, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii Department of Health, issued a statement saying that he had "personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obama's original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures." Definitive proof of Obama's Hawaii birth has also been found in the archives of two Hawaii newspapers, the Honululu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which both printed birth announcements days after Obama was born in 1961. Birth announcements in those papers are placed by the state Department of Health, not the family.
RIGHT-WING MEDIA GIVES VOICE
Dobbs isn't the only media personality giving voice to the birthers. As PolitiFact's Robert Farley wrote last month, "the conservative WorldNetDaily.com Web site is the conductor of the Birther train." The far-right outlet, which sells "Where's The Birth Certificate?" bumper stickers, convinced someone to ask White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the conspiracy in May.
The birther theory has also been pushed by bigger names in the right-wing media. Before the 2008 election, radio host Rush Limbaugh speculated that Obama may have gone to Hawaii to visit his dying grandmother to take care of "this birth certificate business." Since then, Limbaugh has joked, "[W]hat do Obama and God have in common? Neither has a birth certificate." Earlier this month, Limbaugh stepped it up a notch, declaring that "Barack Obama has yet to prove he's a citizen."
Fox News has also elevated the birther conspiracy, running headlines like "Should Obama Release Birth Certificate?" on its Fox Nation Web site and running reports on birther-based lawsuits on its news shows. Fox's Sean Hannity has aired claims that "the president is not, in fact, a legitimate citizen by birth" and asked a caller on his radio show if he had "ever seen" Obama's birth certificate.
THE BIRTHER BILL
In March, Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) introduced legislation requiring "presidential candidates to produce copies of their birth certificates and other documentation to prove natural-born citizenship." Posey's bill has gathered nine co-sponsors in the House. Trying to explain why he introduced the bill, Posey issued a statement saying, "This bill, by simply requiring such documentation for future candidates for president, will remove this issue as a reason for questioning the legitimacy of a candidate elected as president." But Posey has undermined this seemingly innocuous rationale for his legislation by outright accusing Obama of hiding something on a right-wing Internet radio show. "The only people that I know who are afraid to take drug tests are the people who use drugs," said Posey. Claiming that he hadn't looked at the evidence, Posey previously told the Orlando Sentinel, "I can't swear on a stack of Bibles whether he is or isn't" a citizen.
On MSNBC's “Hardball” last week, host Chris Matthews challenged one of the bill's co-sponsors, Rep. John Campbell (R-CA), telling him that "what you're doing is appeasing the nutcases...you're verifying the paranoia out there." Asked if he believed Obama was a citizen, Campbell responded, "as far as I know, yes." Matthews retorted, "As far as you know? (and waving it in Campbell's face) I'm showing you his birth certificate!" Matthews is correct that many conservative lawmakers are comfortable "feeding the wacko wing." Just today (7/27/09), Politico reported that Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) said birthers "have a point." "I don't discourage it," said Inhofe. –End of The Progress Report-
***
For a copy of The Progress Report with documentation: LINK
“Conspiracy plots and paranoia,” I See My Dreams - my post on how and why conspiracy theories evolve: LINK
7.27.2009
The patron saint
No one can spin a yarn, combining fiction and historical fact with characters real and imagined, like writer James Micherner.
From his historical novel “Centennial:”
“At about this time, Centennial became the butt of a prank by a group of high school students who had been complaining about poor food served in the cafeteria. They erected over its portals a sign which infuriated some, evoked hilarity in others. Unfortunately, all the perpetrators were offspring of Republican families, and a regrettable political overtone was cast over the affair where none was intended.
“The sign read: ‘Alferd Packer Memorial Cafeteria,’ and when the teachers saw it all hell broke loose, the local Democratic leader claiming that to erect such a sign on a building paid for by taxpayers was an insult to Franklin D. Roosevelt, not a favorite figure in the area. The leader of the Republicans had the wit to snap back, ‘Nonsense! That sign has no national significance whatever. It merely recognizes, and belatedly at that, a thoughtful citizen of Colorado who performed a public service for which we should all be grateful.’ And so, the confrontation raged until some children from Democratic families tore the sign down.
“Alferd Packer had been a mountain guide as mixed up as the spelling of his first name, and late in 1873, for a grub stake, he volunteered to lead a hunting party of 20 into the western mountains. When a blizzard struck he got lost with five of the members. The party was snowbound for three months. They ran out of food, so Packer, as the man responsible for the leadership and survival of the group, began eating his fellow sportsmen.
“When the spring thaws came, Alferd Packer returned, picking his teeth and showing no signs of ordeal. But later, the skeletons of his companions were found, each skull showing signs of having been smacked with the sharp edge of an ax. The macabre episode might have passed unnoticed into history as one more macabre affair along the Continental Divide, except for the memorable charge made by the judge when he sentenced Packer. Whether the judge actually said these words cannot now be proved, but they have passed into the folklore of the state, providing Colorado with its one indisputable folk hero.
“Said the judge, ‘Alferd Packer, you voracious, maneating son of a bitch, they wuz only seven Democrats in Hinsdale County, and you ate five of them.’
“This affair made Packer the patron saint of the Republican Party.”
***
While most references refer to Packer as “Alfred,” he spelled his name “Alferd.” His body bore a tattoo with that spelling, and it is not known if the tattoo artist got it wrong and Packer adopted the spelling as a joke.
That school cafeteria sign? Fact: In 1968, students at the University of Colorado-Boulder named its student cafeteria “The Alfred Packer Memorial Grill” – its slogan, "Have a friend for lunch!" According to Web reports, students can enjoy the meat-filled "El Canibal" underneath a giant wall map outlining Packer’s travels through Colorado. In 1982, the university dedicated a statue of the former mountain guide.
The facts of Packer’s cannibalistic sojourn into the Colorado mountains are as fascinating as Michener’s yarn, and I found an excellent account on trutv.com – a report of 10 chapters and a bibliography. (About 20 pages on 12-point bold font.) In addition to the facts of the “crime” (for many still believe Packer was innocent), this report is peppered with illustrations and photos from the Colorado State Archives.
So, if you’ve got nothing better to do on a rainy afternoon, curl up with this historical account, “Alfred Packer: The Maneater of Colorado,” well documented by TruTV writer Katherine Ramsland: LINK
Bon appetit!
PHOTO: Alfred “Alferd” Packer, 1886.
***
Can you answer the question in the following post?
From his historical novel “Centennial:”
“At about this time, Centennial became the butt of a prank by a group of high school students who had been complaining about poor food served in the cafeteria. They erected over its portals a sign which infuriated some, evoked hilarity in others. Unfortunately, all the perpetrators were offspring of Republican families, and a regrettable political overtone was cast over the affair where none was intended.
“The sign read: ‘Alferd Packer Memorial Cafeteria,’ and when the teachers saw it all hell broke loose, the local Democratic leader claiming that to erect such a sign on a building paid for by taxpayers was an insult to Franklin D. Roosevelt, not a favorite figure in the area. The leader of the Republicans had the wit to snap back, ‘Nonsense! That sign has no national significance whatever. It merely recognizes, and belatedly at that, a thoughtful citizen of Colorado who performed a public service for which we should all be grateful.’ And so, the confrontation raged until some children from Democratic families tore the sign down.
“Alferd Packer had been a mountain guide as mixed up as the spelling of his first name, and late in 1873, for a grub stake, he volunteered to lead a hunting party of 20 into the western mountains. When a blizzard struck he got lost with five of the members. The party was snowbound for three months. They ran out of food, so Packer, as the man responsible for the leadership and survival of the group, began eating his fellow sportsmen.
“When the spring thaws came, Alferd Packer returned, picking his teeth and showing no signs of ordeal. But later, the skeletons of his companions were found, each skull showing signs of having been smacked with the sharp edge of an ax. The macabre episode might have passed unnoticed into history as one more macabre affair along the Continental Divide, except for the memorable charge made by the judge when he sentenced Packer. Whether the judge actually said these words cannot now be proved, but they have passed into the folklore of the state, providing Colorado with its one indisputable folk hero.
“Said the judge, ‘Alferd Packer, you voracious, maneating son of a bitch, they wuz only seven Democrats in Hinsdale County, and you ate five of them.’
“This affair made Packer the patron saint of the Republican Party.”
***
While most references refer to Packer as “Alfred,” he spelled his name “Alferd.” His body bore a tattoo with that spelling, and it is not known if the tattoo artist got it wrong and Packer adopted the spelling as a joke.
That school cafeteria sign? Fact: In 1968, students at the University of Colorado-Boulder named its student cafeteria “The Alfred Packer Memorial Grill” – its slogan, "Have a friend for lunch!" According to Web reports, students can enjoy the meat-filled "El Canibal" underneath a giant wall map outlining Packer’s travels through Colorado. In 1982, the university dedicated a statue of the former mountain guide.
The facts of Packer’s cannibalistic sojourn into the Colorado mountains are as fascinating as Michener’s yarn, and I found an excellent account on trutv.com – a report of 10 chapters and a bibliography. (About 20 pages on 12-point bold font.) In addition to the facts of the “crime” (for many still believe Packer was innocent), this report is peppered with illustrations and photos from the Colorado State Archives.
So, if you’ve got nothing better to do on a rainy afternoon, curl up with this historical account, “Alfred Packer: The Maneater of Colorado,” well documented by TruTV writer Katherine Ramsland: LINK
Bon appetit!
PHOTO: Alfred “Alferd” Packer, 1886.
***
Can you answer the question in the following post?
7.24.2009
A bit blogged down
(To the tune of “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Anymore,” sung by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond.)
Reader:
You don’t bring us Bushies;
You don’t sing on lefties …
BJ:
You hardly read my blog anymore
When I write all my thoughts at the end of the day.
Reader:
I remember when you couldn't wait to tell us,
Used to hate to leave us
Uninformed on latest news at night …
BJ:
When it's good for your view,
And you're feeling all right …
Reader:
When you just get offline and turn out the light,
And you don't bring us big news anymore …
BJ:
It used to be so natural …
Reader:
It used to be ...
BJ:
To talk about politics …
Reader:
Mmm ...
BJ:
But used-to-bes don't count anymore
Not since Dems took the floor
When we swept them away.
Reader:
And, BJ, we remember all the things you taught us …
BJ:
We learned how to laugh, and we learned how to cry …
Reader:
Well, we learned who was right, and we learned who would lie …
BJ:
So, you’d think I could learn how to tell you goodbye.
Reader:
So you think we could learn from some other guy?
You don't bring us big news anymore?
BJ:
Well, you’d think I could learn to convince the other guy.
‘Cause you don’t really need me …
Reader:
We still like to read you …
BJ
Obama’s been in six months,
And all folks do is gripe.
Can’t get any real news,
All I get is hype.
I know how to research, and I know how to write,
But I just get off and turn out the light.
No one’s ever satisfied
With the truth and the right …
And I don’t feel like bloggin’ anymore.
***
I have been deeply affected by yesterday’s post and its comment zone. DemWit’s intention is not to hurt readers, but to inform them. Throughout all my years of blogging, all those years of trying to enlighten about the dark side of Bush and Cheney, one old saying holds true: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”
No matter how well researched, how well documented, how factual.
DemWit was started as my stepchild blog while I was writing “I See My Dreams.” I took a break from blogging, then decided to archive that blog and continue this one. And, now my traffic counter registers 10,000 visits. To sit in my living room and write my thoughts, then have a visitor from some place like Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia, read them; well, that just boggles my mind.
DemWit’s mission these days is not to cover The Big Story. There are about a million sites where readers can find those. I’m just writing about things which are on my mind and letting the chips fall where they may.
I’ve lost a couple of very faithful readers along the way, and I guess I’ll always wonder about the “why,” but I’m very appreciative of the remaining faithful.
DemWit is not shooting for big numbers. As I’ve written before, it’s been the strangest and seemingly most insignificant posts which have attracted the most visitors. This blog is an outlet for me – a chance to write and to share my thoughts, nothing more.
So, thanks for reading and for sharing yours!
Reader:
You don’t bring us Bushies;
You don’t sing on lefties …
BJ:
You hardly read my blog anymore
When I write all my thoughts at the end of the day.
Reader:
I remember when you couldn't wait to tell us,
Used to hate to leave us
Uninformed on latest news at night …
BJ:
When it's good for your view,
And you're feeling all right …
Reader:
When you just get offline and turn out the light,
And you don't bring us big news anymore …
BJ:
It used to be so natural …
Reader:
It used to be ...
BJ:
To talk about politics …
Reader:
Mmm ...
BJ:
But used-to-bes don't count anymore
Not since Dems took the floor
When we swept them away.
Reader:
And, BJ, we remember all the things you taught us …
BJ:
We learned how to laugh, and we learned how to cry …
Reader:
Well, we learned who was right, and we learned who would lie …
BJ:
So, you’d think I could learn how to tell you goodbye.
Reader:
So you think we could learn from some other guy?
You don't bring us big news anymore?
BJ:
Well, you’d think I could learn to convince the other guy.
‘Cause you don’t really need me …
Reader:
We still like to read you …
BJ
Obama’s been in six months,
And all folks do is gripe.
Can’t get any real news,
All I get is hype.
I know how to research, and I know how to write,
But I just get off and turn out the light.
No one’s ever satisfied
With the truth and the right …
And I don’t feel like bloggin’ anymore.
***
I have been deeply affected by yesterday’s post and its comment zone. DemWit’s intention is not to hurt readers, but to inform them. Throughout all my years of blogging, all those years of trying to enlighten about the dark side of Bush and Cheney, one old saying holds true: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”
No matter how well researched, how well documented, how factual.
DemWit was started as my stepchild blog while I was writing “I See My Dreams.” I took a break from blogging, then decided to archive that blog and continue this one. And, now my traffic counter registers 10,000 visits. To sit in my living room and write my thoughts, then have a visitor from some place like Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia, read them; well, that just boggles my mind.
DemWit’s mission these days is not to cover The Big Story. There are about a million sites where readers can find those. I’m just writing about things which are on my mind and letting the chips fall where they may.
I’ve lost a couple of very faithful readers along the way, and I guess I’ll always wonder about the “why,” but I’m very appreciative of the remaining faithful.
DemWit is not shooting for big numbers. As I’ve written before, it’s been the strangest and seemingly most insignificant posts which have attracted the most visitors. This blog is an outlet for me – a chance to write and to share my thoughts, nothing more.
So, thanks for reading and for sharing yours!
7.23.2009
'Certifigate'
DemWit dedicatees this post to:
* Malcontents who believe (and spread) every conspiracy theory that comes along.
* People who pass along, via email, propaganda with no author and no documentation.
* Right-wing bastions of the Web, such as worldnetdaily and freerepublic.
* Followers of CNN’s Lou Dobbs, who, if they have not yet figured out he’s an idiot, never will.
All of the above are questioning President Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship, and proof be damned.
DemWit salutes Brian Williams of “NBC Nightly News” for jumping into the fray Wednesday night and pointing out the insanity of these claims.
Williams introduced the segment thusly:
“Spreading lies about President Obama's birthplace and about his U.S. citizenship. Who's doing it and why?”
“A lot of us live with this issue,” Williams said. “We get emails. We get asked about it.”
The conservative site News Busters (LINK) has this slant:
“Exaggerating the extent of the attention the issue gets on the right, reporter Pete Williams declared: ‘It hasn't gone away, becoming a staple of blogs and conservative talk radio.’ He soon asserted that ‘legal scholars - liberal and conservative alike - are in widespread agreement that Barack Obama is fully qualified.’”
Williams reported:
* “Obama's campaign long ago released his birth certificate showing that he was born in Hawaii after it joined the union,”
* Hawaii has the original birth certificate.
* “The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper faxed us its birth announcements from August 13, 1961, noting that a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Barack Obama.”
Williams didn’t bother to mask his frustration and anger over these continuing rumors:
“It's the question that won't seem to go away for President Barack Obama even though it's been answered.”
It’s an enigma to this writer how these conspiracy theorists – and that’s exactly what they are – nobly wrap themselves in the mantle of truthseekers, yet totally deny FACTS which fail to substantiate what they choose to believe.
Rather than championing truth, these self-appointed saviors are only impeding the progress of this nation. They are desperados of denial pouring their energy into worthless campaigns.
So, thanks, Mr. Williams, for pointing this out to your viewers. Only two words – directed at these kooks - could have improved your broadcast:
‘SHUT UP!”
* Malcontents who believe (and spread) every conspiracy theory that comes along.
* People who pass along, via email, propaganda with no author and no documentation.
* Right-wing bastions of the Web, such as worldnetdaily and freerepublic.
* Followers of CNN’s Lou Dobbs, who, if they have not yet figured out he’s an idiot, never will.
All of the above are questioning President Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship, and proof be damned.
DemWit salutes Brian Williams of “NBC Nightly News” for jumping into the fray Wednesday night and pointing out the insanity of these claims.
Williams introduced the segment thusly:
“Spreading lies about President Obama's birthplace and about his U.S. citizenship. Who's doing it and why?”
“A lot of us live with this issue,” Williams said. “We get emails. We get asked about it.”
The conservative site News Busters (LINK) has this slant:
“Exaggerating the extent of the attention the issue gets on the right, reporter Pete Williams declared: ‘It hasn't gone away, becoming a staple of blogs and conservative talk radio.’ He soon asserted that ‘legal scholars - liberal and conservative alike - are in widespread agreement that Barack Obama is fully qualified.’”
Williams reported:
* “Obama's campaign long ago released his birth certificate showing that he was born in Hawaii after it joined the union,”
* Hawaii has the original birth certificate.
* “The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper faxed us its birth announcements from August 13, 1961, noting that a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Barack Obama.”
Williams didn’t bother to mask his frustration and anger over these continuing rumors:
“It's the question that won't seem to go away for President Barack Obama even though it's been answered.”
It’s an enigma to this writer how these conspiracy theorists – and that’s exactly what they are – nobly wrap themselves in the mantle of truthseekers, yet totally deny FACTS which fail to substantiate what they choose to believe.
Rather than championing truth, these self-appointed saviors are only impeding the progress of this nation. They are desperados of denial pouring their energy into worthless campaigns.
So, thanks, Mr. Williams, for pointing this out to your viewers. Only two words – directed at these kooks - could have improved your broadcast:
‘SHUT UP!”
7.22.2009
Minding your Ps and Ps
My dear B. J.:
It’s one of the shortest words in the English language. It suffers from both overuse and misuse, and its usage should be limited whenever possible.
The word? It.
Now, read that first sentence again, and let me expound on the word’s various uses.
Exactly how many people across the Internet missed school the day the various uses of this word were taught is incalculable, but as I read various blogs, I am alarmed by the constant misuse of the pronoun!
And, another thing. Did folks generally also miss lessons on the plural and possessive forms of words? EGAD!
Perhaps the best way to improve education in this country is to set a higher standard for teachers.
So, let’s refresh ourselves:
it – a pronoun
it’s – a contraction meaning “it is”
its – the possessive form of the pronoun, as in “The dog lost its collar.”
its’ – incorrect usage
As for other plural and possessive forms, I see this a lot:
The boy’s ran down the street.
No, no, no, my dear. Here are the correct forms:
Plural: The boys ran down the street.
Possessive: The boy’s dog ran down the street.
Plural Possessive: The boys’ dog ran down the street. (The dog belongs to more than one boy.)
Incorrect usage: The boy’s ran down the street. The boys’ ran down the street.
I swear just about every blog I read confuses the usage of these forms, and this “old maid school teacher” is ready to come out of retirement! Maybe knock a few heads around.
Really gets my crinolines crawling!
I’ll leave you with this joke I heard an old gal tell on “America’s Got Talent:”
“I went to pick up my youngest daughter at the airport. She hopped into the car, all excited about her college break, and said, ‘Mom, I’ve got news. I ain’t a virgin any more.’ I looked at her, my mouth falling open, and said, ‘All this money I’m spending to send your ass to college, and you still say ain’t?'"
Amen, sister!
We grammarians have to stick together!
Respectfully,
OMST
***
OMST: Old friend! Thanks for writing. I haven’t heard from you since I was blogging on “I See My Dreams.” My readers love it when you get your dander up and can read three of your previous letters HERE.
It’s one of the shortest words in the English language. It suffers from both overuse and misuse, and its usage should be limited whenever possible.
The word? It.
Now, read that first sentence again, and let me expound on the word’s various uses.
Exactly how many people across the Internet missed school the day the various uses of this word were taught is incalculable, but as I read various blogs, I am alarmed by the constant misuse of the pronoun!
And, another thing. Did folks generally also miss lessons on the plural and possessive forms of words? EGAD!
Perhaps the best way to improve education in this country is to set a higher standard for teachers.
So, let’s refresh ourselves:
it – a pronoun
it’s – a contraction meaning “it is”
its – the possessive form of the pronoun, as in “The dog lost its collar.”
its’ – incorrect usage
As for other plural and possessive forms, I see this a lot:
The boy’s ran down the street.
No, no, no, my dear. Here are the correct forms:
Plural: The boys ran down the street.
Possessive: The boy’s dog ran down the street.
Plural Possessive: The boys’ dog ran down the street. (The dog belongs to more than one boy.)
Incorrect usage: The boy’s ran down the street. The boys’ ran down the street.
I swear just about every blog I read confuses the usage of these forms, and this “old maid school teacher” is ready to come out of retirement! Maybe knock a few heads around.
Really gets my crinolines crawling!
I’ll leave you with this joke I heard an old gal tell on “America’s Got Talent:”
“I went to pick up my youngest daughter at the airport. She hopped into the car, all excited about her college break, and said, ‘Mom, I’ve got news. I ain’t a virgin any more.’ I looked at her, my mouth falling open, and said, ‘All this money I’m spending to send your ass to college, and you still say ain’t?'"
Amen, sister!
We grammarians have to stick together!
Respectfully,
OMST
***
OMST: Old friend! Thanks for writing. I haven’t heard from you since I was blogging on “I See My Dreams.” My readers love it when you get your dander up and can read three of your previous letters HERE.
7.21.2009
DeMinted
Republican Jim DeMint ran for the U.S. Senate here in South Carolina on a two-prong platform.
This is the buckle of the Bible Belt, and he assured South Carolinians he is anti-gay.
In a debate between the former U.S. representative and his opponent Inez Tenenbaum, then state school superintendent (South Carolina ETV, 3 October 2004), DeMint stated:
“If a person is a practicing homosexual, they should not be teaching in our schools.”
He later apologized for the remark.
Send him to the Senate, he promised, and he would do away with the IRS and the federal income tax by establishing a 23 percent national sales tax on all goods and services.
And, the poor be damned.
That’s it. That was DeMint’s two-prong vision for a better America. And, it got him elected.
Now, DeMint has a new vision for America, telling a group of conservatives last week that if Republicans can stall until lawmakers go on vacation in August, they can stop health care reform and stop Obama.
"If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him,” DeMint said of our president.
On Monday, speaking at a Washington, D.C., children’s hospital, President Obama replied:
"This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses and breaking America's economy.”
In taking the measure of the man. how does Jim DeMint stack up against President Obama, whose policies he seeks to derail?
I recall the 17 October 2004 appearance of candidates DeMint and Tenenbaum on “Meet the Press” with the late Tim Russert.
Everything you need to know about DeMint’s character can be found in the transcript of that interview. Read it. It’s a classic.
This is the buckle of the Bible Belt, and he assured South Carolinians he is anti-gay.
In a debate between the former U.S. representative and his opponent Inez Tenenbaum, then state school superintendent (South Carolina ETV, 3 October 2004), DeMint stated:
“If a person is a practicing homosexual, they should not be teaching in our schools.”
He later apologized for the remark.
Send him to the Senate, he promised, and he would do away with the IRS and the federal income tax by establishing a 23 percent national sales tax on all goods and services.
And, the poor be damned.
That’s it. That was DeMint’s two-prong vision for a better America. And, it got him elected.
Now, DeMint has a new vision for America, telling a group of conservatives last week that if Republicans can stall until lawmakers go on vacation in August, they can stop health care reform and stop Obama.
"If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him,” DeMint said of our president.
On Monday, speaking at a Washington, D.C., children’s hospital, President Obama replied:
"This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses and breaking America's economy.”
In taking the measure of the man. how does Jim DeMint stack up against President Obama, whose policies he seeks to derail?
I recall the 17 October 2004 appearance of candidates DeMint and Tenenbaum on “Meet the Press” with the late Tim Russert.
Everything you need to know about DeMint’s character can be found in the transcript of that interview. Read it. It’s a classic.
7.20.2009
One month in 1969
This nation needs the passion and social commitment that marked the 1960s – maybe the most volatile, certainly the most inspiring decade of my lifetime.
With a level of selflessness and dedication not seen since, Americans supported those who fought and died in Vietnam, fought against that same war, fought and died for civil rights.
Our collective heart stood still for four days as we mourned a slain president who had promised to put an American on the moon by decade’s end.
In a few years, more assassinations caught our collective conscience.
By the ‘80s we had evolved into the “Me Generation,” a self-absorbed lot with runaway consumerism and a cultural and educational dumbing-down – a “don’t give a damn” attitude toward environmental issues, workers’ rights, education and integrity in government.
There was a flicker of hope in the early 70s when hard-hitting investigative reporters uncovered the Republican “ratf*cking” of Watergate – the flicker rose to a fiery crescendo and just as rapidly faded out.
A new century, a new millennium and an undoing of the struggle, an unraveling of the nation’s soul.
Looking back on this date in 1969, possibly the last great decade of my lifetime was winding down. A month of headlines mark, in a remarkable way, that it did not go quietly:
July 20: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the moon.
July 25: Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts pleads guilty to leaving the scene of the Chappaquiddick car accident which took the life of Mary Jo Kopechne
August 9 – 10: The Tate-LaBianca murders occur in California, the culmination of Charles Manson’s “Helter Skelter.”
August 16 – 18: In a muddy field near the village of Bethel, New York, 400,000 young people celebrate drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll at “Woodstock.”
August 17 – 18: Hurricane Camille, the second category 5 hurricane to hit the U.S., wiped out the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The same old timers who didn’t believe man had walked on the moon blamed this storm on the moon landing! (After riding out 160 mph winds at Monticello, Miss., the first news I got the next morning was “The Coast is gone.”)
August 20: Camille moves into the Atlantic and regains strength after crossing Mississippi, western Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. Torrential rains and flooding claimed more lives. Total damage: $1.5 billion, total dead: 248.
One month in 1969. One American decade that never let up.
***
This post originally appeared on my blog, “I See My Dreams” on 20 August 2007.
With a level of selflessness and dedication not seen since, Americans supported those who fought and died in Vietnam, fought against that same war, fought and died for civil rights.
Our collective heart stood still for four days as we mourned a slain president who had promised to put an American on the moon by decade’s end.
In a few years, more assassinations caught our collective conscience.
By the ‘80s we had evolved into the “Me Generation,” a self-absorbed lot with runaway consumerism and a cultural and educational dumbing-down – a “don’t give a damn” attitude toward environmental issues, workers’ rights, education and integrity in government.
There was a flicker of hope in the early 70s when hard-hitting investigative reporters uncovered the Republican “ratf*cking” of Watergate – the flicker rose to a fiery crescendo and just as rapidly faded out.
A new century, a new millennium and an undoing of the struggle, an unraveling of the nation’s soul.
Looking back on this date in 1969, possibly the last great decade of my lifetime was winding down. A month of headlines mark, in a remarkable way, that it did not go quietly:
July 20: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the moon.
July 25: Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts pleads guilty to leaving the scene of the Chappaquiddick car accident which took the life of Mary Jo Kopechne
August 9 – 10: The Tate-LaBianca murders occur in California, the culmination of Charles Manson’s “Helter Skelter.”
August 16 – 18: In a muddy field near the village of Bethel, New York, 400,000 young people celebrate drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll at “Woodstock.”
August 17 – 18: Hurricane Camille, the second category 5 hurricane to hit the U.S., wiped out the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The same old timers who didn’t believe man had walked on the moon blamed this storm on the moon landing! (After riding out 160 mph winds at Monticello, Miss., the first news I got the next morning was “The Coast is gone.”)
August 20: Camille moves into the Atlantic and regains strength after crossing Mississippi, western Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. Torrential rains and flooding claimed more lives. Total damage: $1.5 billion, total dead: 248.
One month in 1969. One American decade that never let up.
***
This post originally appeared on my blog, “I See My Dreams” on 20 August 2007.
7.17.2009
Walter Cronkite
On July 18, 1965, my beautiful boy Michael came into the world. Just four years later, I gathered Michael and his two-year-old brother Ladd in front of our TV, then took them outside and pointed to the moon. “There is a man standing on the moon,” I told my boys. My words caught the impact of the moment.
Michael died in 1982 at age 17. I’ve thought about him a lot today, and that Walter Cronkite moment has been a part of my thoughts as NASA prepares to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.
That moment belonged to Neil Armstrong, Walter Cronkite and me and my boys. I remember hearing Cronkite in an interview saying that was the most important story he ever reported, and “all I could say was ‘Oh, boy!’ “
I fell asleep tonight at 6, listening to another chronicler of history, James Michener. When I woke at 9:30 p.m., I came online for my daily dose of “Frodo, Keeper of the Ring.” The hobbit had chosen to write about Cronkite, I assumed in connection with the NASA anniversary. Then, as I read down throught the hobbit’s pennings, he began to write of the former CBS anchor in the past tense.
“He’s dead!” I said out loud, and backed away from the keyboard as tears began to fall.
Like Frodo, I hope I don’t have to talk with anyone for a while who is too young to remember that there once was a journalist known as “the most trusted man in America.”
Michael died in 1982 at age 17. I’ve thought about him a lot today, and that Walter Cronkite moment has been a part of my thoughts as NASA prepares to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.
That moment belonged to Neil Armstrong, Walter Cronkite and me and my boys. I remember hearing Cronkite in an interview saying that was the most important story he ever reported, and “all I could say was ‘Oh, boy!’ “
I fell asleep tonight at 6, listening to another chronicler of history, James Michener. When I woke at 9:30 p.m., I came online for my daily dose of “Frodo, Keeper of the Ring.” The hobbit had chosen to write about Cronkite, I assumed in connection with the NASA anniversary. Then, as I read down throught the hobbit’s pennings, he began to write of the former CBS anchor in the past tense.
“He’s dead!” I said out loud, and backed away from the keyboard as tears began to fall.
Like Frodo, I hope I don’t have to talk with anyone for a while who is too young to remember that there once was a journalist known as “the most trusted man in America.”
7.16.2009
Good show, old boy!
In a bit of serendipity last night, with no book on hand to listen to, I switched on “Late Show with David Letterman” and caught Paul McCartney’s appearance.
Totally entertaining! And, why wouldn’t it be? The king of ad lib met his quick-witted match.
Letterman welcomed McCartney back to the Ed Sullivan Theater where the Fab Four rocked America in 1964.
Sir Paul’s dry wit played perfectly off Letterman, who said he had been trying to get him on the show since its beginning “maybe once a week, so what do we need to know going forward?” In his best deadpan cockney, McCartney said, “I don’t like the show.”
The two reminisced about what it was like for a 22-year-old kid that night 45 years ago on Sullivan’s show. McCartney said he found out backstage that he would be doing a solo of “Yesterday,” something he had never done before. As he stood in the wings waiting for Sullivan to finish his introduction, he said the floor manager asked, “Are you nervous?” When he replied in the negative, the guy said, “Well, you should be; 73 million people are watching.”
Letterman said the Beatles always reminded him of “four guys on a very, very long spring break.”
"Well, it certainly seemed like that, you know, yeah," McCartney said. “You say spring break; we went down to Miami. The British car firm loaned us an MG each, and, you know, there was a beach and sand and girls, and come on!”
You could sense the nostalgia. And, if you're a certain age, you felt it.
In a really grand finale - recalling that last Beatles concert on the Apple label's roof - McCartney performed two songe atop the Theater’s marquee and again had New York City at his feet as thousands lined Broadway for the impromptu concert:
Appropriately, “Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged …” followed by a song from his new album, “The Fireman.” (This is how Lettermna introduced the song although reports this morning say it was "Sing the Changes," off his latest CD, “Electric Arguments.”)
The crowd on the street was treated to a number of other songs after the show, and you can listen to the full concert HERE.
The Baltimore Sun’s entertainment blogger has a pretty thorough recap of the interview HERE.
Let’s see, a 22-year-old kid 45 years ago. That would make Sir Paul my age! I had no idea he was so young!
PHOTO: Paul McCartney, bass guitarist and singer, The Beatles, 1964.
Totally entertaining! And, why wouldn’t it be? The king of ad lib met his quick-witted match.
Letterman welcomed McCartney back to the Ed Sullivan Theater where the Fab Four rocked America in 1964.
Sir Paul’s dry wit played perfectly off Letterman, who said he had been trying to get him on the show since its beginning “maybe once a week, so what do we need to know going forward?” In his best deadpan cockney, McCartney said, “I don’t like the show.”
The two reminisced about what it was like for a 22-year-old kid that night 45 years ago on Sullivan’s show. McCartney said he found out backstage that he would be doing a solo of “Yesterday,” something he had never done before. As he stood in the wings waiting for Sullivan to finish his introduction, he said the floor manager asked, “Are you nervous?” When he replied in the negative, the guy said, “Well, you should be; 73 million people are watching.”
Letterman said the Beatles always reminded him of “four guys on a very, very long spring break.”
"Well, it certainly seemed like that, you know, yeah," McCartney said. “You say spring break; we went down to Miami. The British car firm loaned us an MG each, and, you know, there was a beach and sand and girls, and come on!”
You could sense the nostalgia. And, if you're a certain age, you felt it.
In a really grand finale - recalling that last Beatles concert on the Apple label's roof - McCartney performed two songe atop the Theater’s marquee and again had New York City at his feet as thousands lined Broadway for the impromptu concert:
Appropriately, “Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged …” followed by a song from his new album, “The Fireman.” (This is how Lettermna introduced the song although reports this morning say it was "Sing the Changes," off his latest CD, “Electric Arguments.”)
The crowd on the street was treated to a number of other songs after the show, and you can listen to the full concert HERE.
The Baltimore Sun’s entertainment blogger has a pretty thorough recap of the interview HERE.
Let’s see, a 22-year-old kid 45 years ago. That would make Sir Paul my age! I had no idea he was so young!
PHOTO: Paul McCartney, bass guitarist and singer, The Beatles, 1964.
7.15.2009
Mermaids and centaurs
With “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” opening today in theaters nationwide, it would be nice to think that busy U.S. senators like Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) took the time to read the seven books of the fantasy series.
Mermaids in the depths of the Hogwarts campus lake and centaurs patrolling The Forbidden Forest play pivotal roles in the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermoine, but it’s possible the senators took Ms. Rowling’s amazing imagination a little too seriously.
Or, for that matter, even Greek mythology.
Last week the two senators introduced the “Human-Animal Hybrid Prohibition Act of 2009” for legislative consideration.
“This legislation works to ensure that our society recognizes the dignity and sacredness of human life,” Brownback said. “Creating human-animal hybrids, which permanently alter the genetic makeup of an organism, will challenge the very definition of what it means to be human and is a violation of human dignity and a grave injustice.”
You can read more of Sen. Brownback’s reasoning HERE.
In the meantime, I can name a number of Republicans on Capitol Hill who “challenge the very definition of what it means to be human.”
***
A reader sent this along from an online medical dictionary, said it would "blow Brownback's mind:"
Chimerism
A child's genes are inherited from his or her parents, so when a 52-year-old woman from Boston had a completely different set of genes than two of her three children, the medical community was at a loss for an explanation. It took two years for doctors to conclude that she was a "human chimera," someone with two or more distinct sets of genes. For example, DNA extracted from the skin of a human chimera may be different from DNA in the blood. Chimerism -- named after a Greek monster called the chimera with the head of a lion, body of a goat and tail of a snake -- occurs during pregnancy when two embryos that would have resulted in fraternal twins fuse early on in the pregnancy, resulting in one baby with two separate sets of DNA. While some chimeras have two different eye colors, most lead normal lives and never realize their condition.
Mermaids in the depths of the Hogwarts campus lake and centaurs patrolling The Forbidden Forest play pivotal roles in the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermoine, but it’s possible the senators took Ms. Rowling’s amazing imagination a little too seriously.
Or, for that matter, even Greek mythology.
Last week the two senators introduced the “Human-Animal Hybrid Prohibition Act of 2009” for legislative consideration.
“This legislation works to ensure that our society recognizes the dignity and sacredness of human life,” Brownback said. “Creating human-animal hybrids, which permanently alter the genetic makeup of an organism, will challenge the very definition of what it means to be human and is a violation of human dignity and a grave injustice.”
You can read more of Sen. Brownback’s reasoning HERE.
In the meantime, I can name a number of Republicans on Capitol Hill who “challenge the very definition of what it means to be human.”
***
A reader sent this along from an online medical dictionary, said it would "blow Brownback's mind:"
Chimerism
A child's genes are inherited from his or her parents, so when a 52-year-old woman from Boston had a completely different set of genes than two of her three children, the medical community was at a loss for an explanation. It took two years for doctors to conclude that she was a "human chimera," someone with two or more distinct sets of genes. For example, DNA extracted from the skin of a human chimera may be different from DNA in the blood. Chimerism -- named after a Greek monster called the chimera with the head of a lion, body of a goat and tail of a snake -- occurs during pregnancy when two embryos that would have resulted in fraternal twins fuse early on in the pregnancy, resulting in one baby with two separate sets of DNA. While some chimeras have two different eye colors, most lead normal lives and never realize their condition.
Monument to Americana
“My kind of town, Chicago is ..”
And the best view of the town – day or night – is from the top of the Sears Tower, a black monolith visible for miles rising high above the city’s skyline.
If one can move beyond the jet elevator to the top and the swaying sensation experienced in the observation deck’s restrooms, this is one of Chicago’s biggest thrills.
The Sears Tower remains – at 110 stories – the nation’s tallest skyscraper, and today this momument to Americana becomes the Willis Tower.
And the best view of the town – day or night – is from the top of the Sears Tower, a black monolith visible for miles rising high above the city’s skyline.
If one can move beyond the jet elevator to the top and the swaying sensation experienced in the observation deck’s restrooms, this is one of Chicago’s biggest thrills.
The Sears Tower remains – at 110 stories – the nation’s tallest skyscraper, and today this momument to Americana becomes the Willis Tower.
7.14.2009
Honoring their love
When the killing of a loving couple, who opened their hearts and home to children with special needs, is eclipsed on broadcast news by speculation over the death of a pop star, we turn to print journalism for the story beyond the soundbites.
Melissa Nelson of The Associated Press, in an in-depth report, gives readers the kind of details we seek and allows us to feel the love these parents imparted.
Of special note are remarks by the Escambia County, Fla., sheriff comparing this senseless slaughter to that of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. What led the two killers to the Clutters’ rural home was prison talk that Herb Clutter had a fortune stashed away there. This, then, might be a key to motive. Truman Capote’s book about those murders, “In Cold Blood,” has one of the most chilling lines ever to appear in nonfiction: “And the black Chevrolet crept slowly up the drive.”
We cannot overlook the love in the Billings' story, exemplified by this quote from the Florida couple’s adult daughter, “My mother always told me some people grow up wanting to be doctors or lawyers or teachers. She wanted to be a mommy,”
Thanks to my friend in the Florida Panhandle for sending me the following article. She said she is “trying to make sense of the whole horrible event.”
We can’t make sense of the deaths of this couple, but acquainting ourselves with the depth of their love will allow us to honor their lives.
“Chilling Footage Shows Florida Killers,” Melissa Nelson, Associated Press, 13 July 2009, LINK.
PHOTO: Byrd and Melanie Billings in their home, 2005. AP/Photo, Pensacola News Journal, Karena Cawthon.
Melissa Nelson of The Associated Press, in an in-depth report, gives readers the kind of details we seek and allows us to feel the love these parents imparted.
Of special note are remarks by the Escambia County, Fla., sheriff comparing this senseless slaughter to that of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. What led the two killers to the Clutters’ rural home was prison talk that Herb Clutter had a fortune stashed away there. This, then, might be a key to motive. Truman Capote’s book about those murders, “In Cold Blood,” has one of the most chilling lines ever to appear in nonfiction: “And the black Chevrolet crept slowly up the drive.”
We cannot overlook the love in the Billings' story, exemplified by this quote from the Florida couple’s adult daughter, “My mother always told me some people grow up wanting to be doctors or lawyers or teachers. She wanted to be a mommy,”
Thanks to my friend in the Florida Panhandle for sending me the following article. She said she is “trying to make sense of the whole horrible event.”
We can’t make sense of the deaths of this couple, but acquainting ourselves with the depth of their love will allow us to honor their lives.
“Chilling Footage Shows Florida Killers,” Melissa Nelson, Associated Press, 13 July 2009, LINK.
PHOTO: Byrd and Melanie Billings in their home, 2005. AP/Photo, Pensacola News Journal, Karena Cawthon.
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