Canada is like England, only different

Nate Silver does a brilliant and hilarious job of explaining to wingnuts the difference between Canada and England, and their respective health care systems. Read it, it's wonderful writing. Read More......

Can you fight two wars with no one heading the Army?

Good question for two Republican Senators who apparently want al Qaeda to win. (Oh come on, you've been dying to throw that charge back at them too.) Read More......

More on Bush firings of US Attorneys

Using the apparatus of state to target your political enemies. One might even call it un-American:

The dismissal of U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias of New Mexico in December 2006 followed extensive communication among lawyers and political aides in the White House who hashed over complaints about his work on public corruption cases against Democrats, according to newly released e-mails and transcripts of closed-door House testimony by former Bush counsel Harriet Miers and political chief Karl Rove.

A campaign to oust Iglesias intensified after state GOP officials and Republican members of the congressional delegation apparently concluded that he was not pursuing the cases against Democrats in a way that could help then-Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R) in a tight reelection race in New Mexico, according to interviews and Bush White House e-mails released Tuesday by congressional investigators. The documents place the genesis of Iglesias's dismissal earlier than previously known.

Using the apparatus of state to help your political allies -- even if it breaks the rules. Might be called unethical and un-American:

A phone call from the top lawyer in President George W. Bush's White House may have prompted the Department of Justice to violate its own policy of silence and speak out about a criminal investigation targeting then-Congressman Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., according to deposition transcripts released Tuesday.

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Putting a spotlight on the Maine campaign to save marriage

Just posted this over at gay.AMERICAblog.com, but it needs a lot of amplification. Maine is having a referendum in November on the state's new same-sex marriage law. A lot of attention of late has been focused on California's gay leaders, who continue to suck up a lot of energy trying to decide when and if to launch a campaign next year or in 2012. But, Maine's campaign is real. It's happening this November. And, we have to win.

Kerry Eleveld put the spotlight on the Maine campaign in The Advocate:

Marriage equality opponents led by Stand for Marriage Maine turned in 100,000 signatures -- 45,000 more than necessary -- at the end of July to qualify for the ballot. If they are certified by the state, as everyone expects they will be, Maine’s vote on a so-called "people’s veto" of the marriage law will be the first such vote on the right of gay couples to marry since California’s highly contentious Proposition 8 showdown, which banned same-sex marriage there.

The Maine picture is rife with both similarities and differences to California: Like Prop. 8, analysts expect the battle to be the most expensive referendum campaign held in Maine, though totaling closer to several million dollars rather than the $85 million spent in the Golden State; while it is also a popular vote, Mainers will be weighing in on a law enacted by their legislature rather than a decision rendered by their high court; and although the same company that led the successful fight to ban gay marriage in California -- Schubert Flint Public Affairs -- is also running the opposition's show in Maine, the landscape is a bit different, dominated less by air space than by word of mouth.

Maine is different in so many ways. The campaign to save marriage is being run by some of the best politicos in the state. I know them. They aren't messing around with in-fighting and turf battles, which was too often the case in California during Prop. 8. In Maine, they're focused and playing to win. And, we have to win.

Every dollar in Maine will go a long way towards achieving victory. Contribute to the campaign via our ActBlue page here. This quote from the campaign's finance director, Andy Szekeres, sums up the situation:

“But all roads for marriage are running through Maine right now,” he says. “If we want to make a statement to advance the gay rights movement forward across the country, Maine is a good place to start.

Maine is a good place to start. And, while the other side will have plenty of money, we can win. If you want to make a statement, contribute to No on 1/Protect Maine Equality. Read More......

HHS: Insurance Companies Encourage Employees to "Revoke Sick People's Health Coverage"

Now health care advocates want to demonize the insurance industry. Now that everything's falling apart and it's quite possibly too late. How many times do we need to repeat this pattern before the administration takes issues head on from the beginning, and our "advocates" grow a pair? We harp on this because it's an ongoing pattern of behavior by all Democrats - this "waiting until all is nearly lost before finally fighting back" - and it needs to stop. Wash Post:

“When a person is diagnosed with an expensive condition such as cancer, some insurance companies review his/her initial health status questionnaire,” the HHS said in a posting at HealthReform.Gov. In most states, insurance companies can retroactively cancel individuals' policies if any condition was not disclosed when the policy was obtained, "even if the medical condition is unrelated, and even if the person was not aware of the condition at the time.” ....

WellPoint and Assurant told the committee that they automatically investigate the medical records of every policyholder with certain conditions, including leukemia, ovarian cancer, brain cancer, and becoming pregnant with twins, the committee staff wrote.

In November 2006, after a Texas resident was found to have a lump in her breast, Wellpoint investigated her medical history and concluded that she had been diagnosed previously with osteoporosis. The insurer rescinded her policy and refused to pay for treatment of the lump, the committee staff wrote.

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Santorum is just another word for... nothing left to do

Politico:

Add former Sen. Rick Santorum to the list of potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates.

POLITICO has learned Santorum will visit first-in-the-nation Iowa this fall for a series of appearances before the sort of conservative activists who dominate the state GOP’s key presidential caucuses.

The Pennsylvanian, who lost his 2006 re-election bid, will visit Iowa on October 1st, appearing on a Des Moines radio talk show and speaking to a luncheon and workshop of Iowa’s Right to Life group before heading east to Dubuque, where he’ll headline a fundraiser for the conservative America’s Future Fund PAC and then speak about the future of the GOP to a public audience in the Mississippi River city.

God please make it so. Read More......

Wake up, Democrats - the angry crowds aren't real

AP:

Jeers and taunts drowned out both Specter and McCaskill on occasion Tuesday. President Barack Obama was treated more respectfully at his town hall meeting in New Hampshire.

"You'll be gone, by God the bureaucrats will still be here," one man told Specter at a session in Lebanon, Pa.

"If they don't let us vent our frustrations out, they will have a revolution," Mary Ann Fieser of Hillsboro, Mo., told McCaskill at her Missouri health care forum. McCaskill admonished the rowdy crowd, saying "I don't understand this rudeness. I honestly don't get it."

The reason you don't get it is because these people came over from FOX News and the Rush Limbaugh show, mixed in with some Dick Armey astroturfing to boot. They're not real. They don't represent America. They represent the 20% of Americans who still call themselves Republican, who still think George Bush did a bang up job. They've been told to disrupt your sessions, and like the good mindless lemmings they are, they're doing just that. There is no logic behind it. They're rude, boorish far-right extremists who will never accept a Democrat as a legitimate elected official. The sooner the Democrats realize what they're up against, the better. But this kind of reaction only feeds the impression that these crowds are real. They're not. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

So, good work by Obama on health insurance reform in Portsmouth yesterday. Sounds like the White House is honing its message (finally.) Meanwhile, the GOP mob is still working its campaign of intimidation. Not sure thuggery is a good marketing strategy.

Later today, President Obama will hand out the Medals of Freedom. You'll recall that Harvey Milk is a recipient. It's a well-deserved tribute. But, now, we just need the President to follow through on his LGBT campaign promises. That White House cocktail party didn't really make things better. We need action. A good question for our "leaders" at this juncture is: What would Harvey do?

What else is going on out there? Read More......