Healthcare Headache

When the Democrats put Max Baucus in charge of
Senate healthcare reform it certainly wasn't to promote a broad-
ranging discussion on how to reform the nation's broken healthcare system. It was to narrow the debate to a few corporate friendly options. Baucus has taken more money from the healthcare industry than any other member of congress. Blue Cross, Blue Shield, New York Life and Schering-Plough are his top five contributors. The conservative Blue Dog Democrats get 18% of their campaign contributions from the same sector.
America's healthcare system is the most expensive of the planet and leaves nearly 1/6th of us out in the cold and many more shivering. We have the poorest health outcomes in the developed world.
The industries stuffing money in the campaign chests of Baucus and the Blue Dogs are directly responsible for all of the above.
Insurance companies and HMOs make money by cherry picking patients, charging as much as the market will bear and denying care. Big Pharma are one of the most profitable industries on the planet and after their US customers finish funding their research, they pay more for their drugs than anyone else. 25-30% of our healthcare dollars go to administrative costs levied by the insurance giants.
Baucus's refusal to even discuss a single payer option, a proven and effective solution to what ails us, is a direct result of his own gross conflict of interest. The Democrats ran as the Party of change but plainly, it's business as usual.

The most disappointing Democrat by far is our president. He knows better and still refuses to act in the best interests of the country. His response to the considerable pressure being brought to bear for single payer doesn't pass the sniff test. No nation that has adopted a single payer, inclusive public health system "started from scratch". His fondness for schmoozing with healthcare industry bigwigs has CREW (Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington) up in arms. They have submitted a FOIA request to see who is and isn't visiting the White House.

Obama's hour long promise to the corporate sponsored AMA was depressing. He seems to be taking his cues from the opponents of reform rather than the advocates.
By the time the convoluted and costly plan being shoved through congress plays itself out, the current administration and their supporters will have left town and we'll be stuck with the the bill.

We pay for the best healthcare system on the planet and the last time I read the Constitution, the job of the president and congress are to see that we get it.

Carol DW

Tarnished

President Obama's outrage over the North Korean's nuclear test is understandable but rife with troubling inconsistancies.
He points out that the second nuclear test of the North Korean's is a "blantant violation of international law".
Is it a violation? The North Koreans withdrew from the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 2003 when Bush began threatening them. As a designated member of the "axis of evil" the North Koreans were quick to note Americans did not bomb or invade nations who had a nuclear arsenal.
As long the US continues to flaunt international law itself, the president stands on shrinking ground. The list of our crimes are long and varied; aggressive war, illegal occupation, torture, rendition, the use of banned weapons, failure to protect civilians, destroying civilian infrastructure, failure to provide aid and medical services to civilians, extra judicial detention, assassination by drone, stealing national resources and supporting the expansionist and genocidal agenda of other nations.
America's "soft power", the ability to influence others to operate in the common good will continue to be enfeebled as long as the policies that undermined it remain.
Obama's cries of "foul" will continue to have the ring of blatant hypocricy as long as he refuses to prosecute those Americans that did so much harm to so many.
Carol DW

President Obama

Your selection of General McChrystal, a man tainted by his past, to head the ill advised expansion of the war in Afghanistan exposes the fallacy of the position you outlined to the American people.
It seems clear that your refusal to prosecute torture is not because it's "litigating the past" but because you want torture in your tool box. Abuse continues apace at Guantanamo. Bagram, where torture began is open for business. You have all ready authorized rendition flights and now you select a man associated with brutality to run operations in Afghanistan. His soldier's may have been advised not to abuse civilians and prisoners but the CIA and mercenaries, those who have been most deeply involved in torture, are under no such constraints.
There are no fledgling democracies in the Middle East for you to protect only the degenerate remains of western meddling headed by our corporate lapdogs.
Aggressive war is a more serious war crime than even torture yet you are fully committed to a militant Afghan policy. The Taliban had nothing to do with 9-11 and no threat to the US.
Your willingness to flaunt legality and constitutional restraints is equal to that of the last president who the world is now demanding be brought to justice.
The folly of escalating military operations in Afghanistan exceeds the hubris and willful ignorance of the last administration. You have the advantage of seeing that years of unnecessary bloodshed, destruction and crippling expense in Iraq has produced nothing lasting.
There are reasons Bush and Cheney shunned Afghanistan and why you should also.
In the late 19th century a group of Afghans calling themselves The Taliban destroyed British forces and drove out the Empire. The Afghans beat the Persians, the Turks and the Russians.
The landscape is unbelievably rugged, infrastructure is non-existant and the climate much harsher. An air war will only harden innate national and cultural resistance.
You are squandering your presidency on an undertaking that is wrong in its inception, murderous in its conduct and futile in its outcome.
Carol DW

The Twilight of Reason

Obama's decision not to prosecute members of the CIA who

engaged in torture and offering them legal services at taxpayers

expense against future investigations is breathtaking in its flawed reasoning and hubris.

The speed at which he violated his oath of office has no peer. Even Bush took more time to show his true colors.

Citing the fear of low moral at the CIA if prosecutions were brought forward Obama gutpunched Justicia, knocking the scales clean out of her hands.

How many of us would think morale would improve in our workplace if those of our co-workers who had engaged in acts of torture and violent death against helpless victims were not prosecuted and incarcerated? Would you even want to use the restroom?

A spokesman said that these "practices" were no longer acceptable (were they ever?) and therefore not a problem.

Now let's translate that onto the streets of America. Murderers, rapists serial killers rejoice.

If you are no longer engaging in any of these at the present time, you will not be prosecuted. That was then, this is now.

Obama's convulted reasoning appears to be a product of turf battle over the release of memos containing graphic descriptions of torture.

It never hurts to follow the money. A mercenary firm named Triple Canopy is long time, generous supporter of Obama's political career. Firms like Titan and Blackwater have been involved in "enhanced interrogations" from their inception at Bahgram. Prosecutions could put a dent in the bottom line.

Besides, these guys have guns, the weapon of preference for assassinating American presidents.

PS It's worse than we thought. It seems our new president simply wanted to have torture in his toolbox. The fact that he is all ready using it makes prosecution a bit awkward.

Triple Canopy will be taking over some of the Blackwater contracts that have expired, and yes they are implicated in abuse as well.

No Change*

The results of the New Hampshire primary, if they

can be believed, are a blow to those hoping for a return to sanity and reason. Clinton, a consumate corporatists who hasn't seen a war or a war crime she doesn't like and shakes her fist at Iran everytime the Israeli lobby pulls her chain, is Bush in a skirt.
McCain is as mad as a hatter, just like the man whose job he wants. We may as well elect a baby as elect McCain. It would be more entertaining and a lot less dangerous.

Electing either of them to a muscular presidency, awash in power stolen from the legislature and you and I, is national suicide.
But hold on. I said IF the results can be believed. Clinton was trailing by 10 points in the polls before the primary. It is simply unheard of to overcome a handicap like that unless you are Chuck Hagel and own the machines that counted the vote. There is reason to question these returns according to Bev Harris of Black Box voting. Here's the scoop.
It has a familiar ring. The name Diebold rears its ugly head as the builder of the opitcal scanning machines used to tally the New Hampshire vote. They use same model that was hacked in a demonstration in Leon County Florida who no longer permit their use.
One man, a private contractor named John Silvestro is the chain of custody. He has access to every memory card in the state as well as the chips inside the machines. Silvestro claims the security issues that plagued Florida have been dealt with. He argues that they not as easy to hack as everyone believes. His fix is to hire not very smart programmers. I kid you not.
Blackbox purchased a Diebold scanner and took it to a repair shop. The technician found the weaknesses in the system within minutes.
For a Party that's been victimized by partisan election contractors the Democrats have been very slow to address gapinholes in the voting system.
Since being marginalized by rigged elections, the Democrats have become adept at imitating the rhetoric off the right. Are they now aping the right wing's talent for election fraud as well? Time will tell. The Democrats are no where near as good at fraud as the GOP. They always get caught.
Check back with http://blackboxvoting.org/ for the latest. http://www.bradblog.com/ also does a great job of covering election news. Don't expect the corporate media to give you the straight scoop. They profit from tainted elections and are only too happy to pimp for power. The last thing they want is anyone talking nasty about the politicians they've bought and paid for.

*Thanks to the caller on Mike Malloy's show this evening for the inspiration.

Carol DW

A Murder of Crows

The way that America houses people has created more than an economic bubble, it has it has created a crisis for the urban and suburban wildlife that depend on native plants and a healthy ecosystem for sustainance.

The SOP for developers here (Kirkland WA) is to scrape the nutrient poor glaciel till into to little landing pads for oversized homes that peer into their neighbors bathrooms and dining rooms.
There are supposed to be restrictions on tree removal but I have yet to see them enforced. The mandate that requires developers to preserve 25% of "heritage trees" is more than esthetic. It rains in the Pacific Northwest and trees suck up soil moisture, preventing flooding and help to pin down the thin, acidic soils.

The development next door is symptomatic of the greed and ignorance that drives business today. The land once held a healthy grove of fir and cedar that housed a crow rookery among other things. Walking into the grove in spring would excite the rath of crow parents and send them noisily circling above your head. It was lively, interesting and comforting to know that they could thrive without any help from us
Besides controlling runoff, the trees absorbed pollutents from a nearby freeway and provided solace to the soul.

The land was originally a homestead and was occupied by generations of the same family. Many generations of people and many generations of crows grew together on this land.

All but three of the trees in the little forest were murdered. Others were in the way of a "house footprint". Still more succumbed when workers ran heavy machinery over their root systems, damaging them beyond recovery. The crows vanished.

Now the crows are back with a vengence; dozens and dozens of them. They fly in every afternoon to forage in the wheat straw the builders have spread on the raw earth to help absorb the run off and keep the "weeds" (wild flowers and berries) from returning. Because they are intelligent birds, they play.

These crows are not pokey little blackbirds, they are formidable. They are the jumbo sized, raucous birds of the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps they are just grabbing a quick snack, exploiting all the food sources in their increasingly restricted environment. Perhaps there is no real significance to their return, but I don't think so.

I like to think they are re-asserting their ownership of the land. They are reminding us that there are higher laws than the laws of profit and ownership. That when push comes to shove, natural law trumps everything.

I look forward to see them perched amid the spindly, nursery grown cherry blossoms this spring like an omen. I like to think about them crowing and crapping while the realtors try and separate their clients from obscene amounts of money in exchange for their shoddy merchandise. I look forward to their daily return like an uncomfortable thought to a troubled conscience.

Carol DW

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

It's close to the winter solstice now and the days are disappointingly short. The air is chill and here in the Northwest we tend hibernate like grouchy old bears. It's a good time to think about the summer past and recall the warmth of the sun.

It seems like only yesterday that I took an airplaine to the "State of Enchantment" drove three hundred miles to an undisclosed location, stuggled up huge rock formation and watched the an almost full moon rise over the the canyons.

We were perched on a pinnacle that was part of a rock ridge that stretched for 100 miles between Utah and Arizona. The ribs of the earth.

On one side of this rocky throne, the sun was sinking slowly, painting the sky and land with lurid, unimaginable color. At the same moment and directly opposite, a pale moon began floating up through the pastel colors of the reflected sunset.

The company was more than congenial. The wine and the food tasted marvelous after the climb. Nothing moved on the land to disturb our homage to the dying day. The silence was palpable.

Such silence that is unknown in an urban landscape. It is a deeply moving experience. Even the wind stopped. If you listened carefully, you could hear the earth breath.

It was an eternal moment, unsurpassed in its beauty and simplicity.
Carol DW