DOWNLOADS: (0)

PLAYS: (3)

Embed

The Affordable Care Act is working. 2.5 million more young adults ages 19 to 26 now have health insurance. The shrinking of the Medicare "donut hole" allowed 3.6 million seniors to save $2.1 billion on their prescription drugs last year. And the ban on insurers refusing to cover pre-existing conditions is saving lives (even among those who opposed so-called "Obamacare"). And even though most of its provisions don't go into effect until 2014, the data from Oregon and Massachusetts strongly suggest the 30 million people who will gain coverage will be much healthier and more financially secure.

In Massachusetts, the 2006 health care reform Governor Mitt Romney signed into law lowered the insured rate from 10 percent to a national low of two percent. Even with its individual mandate, "Romneycare" is extremely popular, enjoying a 3 to 1 margin of support from Bay State residents. Now, a new study by Charles J. Courtemanche and Daniela Zapata published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBR) shows that universal coverage in Massachusetts is indeed making people there healthier. As Ezra Klein of the Washington Post summed up their findings:

The answer, which relies on self-reported health data, suggests they did. The authors document improvements in "physical health, mental health, functional limitations, joint disorders, body mass index, and moderate physical activity." The gains were greatest for "women, minorities, near-elderly adults, and those with incomes low enough to qualify for the law's subsidies."

Importantly, the researchers concluded that "the general strategies for obtaining nearly universal coverage in both the Massachusetts and federal laws involved the same three-pronged approach of non-group insurance market reforms, subsidies, and mandates, suggesting that the health effects should be broadly similar." (Or MIT professor and architect of both laws Jonathan Gruber put it bluntly last year, "they're the same f--king bill.") It's no wonder Mitt Romney used to recommend his Massachusetts reform as a model for the nation.

If the individual mandate is one of the highest profile (if contentious) aspects of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the expansion of Medicaid is among the most important in enabling 30 million currently uninsured Americans to get coverage. By extending Medicaid coverage to families earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and providing subsidies to those up to four times the FPL, starting in 2014 the Affordable Care Act passed by Democrats in Congress will bring insurance to millions more Americans. A March 2011 analysis by the Commonwealth Fund revealed that when fully implemented, the ACA will bring relief to "nearly all of the 52 million working-age adults who were without health insurance for a time in 2010."

As it turns out, America's future is Oregon's present.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (21)

PLAYS: (303)

Embed

MSNBC's Tamron Hall spoke to Talking Points Memo's Nick Martin about the probe into Rep. Peter King's "Manhunters" videos which showed the Representative on a "ride-along" which may have violated federal policy due to some of it being filmed inside a private residence and where King could be in trouble for impersonating an officer due to his attire.

Here's more from TPM -- Rep. Peter King ‘Manhunters’ Video Sparks U.S. Marshals Probe:

A video posted to the YouTube account of Rep. Peter King (R-NY) has sparked an investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service into why a videographer accompanying the New York Republican was allowed to film inside private residences against a federal policy.

Shortly after noon on Tuesday, a tweet from King’s account linked to an eight minute video of a ride-along with a “fugitive task force” including U.S. marshals on Monday. It showed King, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, joining police as they broke down doors and arrested a suspected fugitive. The video carried the logo of the “Manhunters” reality TV show and featured one of its stars, marshals commander Lenny DePaul.

After TPM made inquiries about the video with King’s office, it was marked “private” and no longer available to the public on YouTube. Later, the video was removed from YouTube entirely.

A shorter version, with almost a minute of footage cut out, was posted later in the day, and tweeted from King’s account. Clips of an officer kicking in a door, a joke about how King “got” a suspect and an officer describing to King how he kicked someone, perhaps the suspect, off a ladder were cut out.

But even the new video features shots that appear to have been filmed within the confines of a private residence in violation of federal policy. [...]

Barket also questioned King’s attire. “Why was he wearing a police coat and a badge?” he said. “I’m just searching for a legitimate reason why he’d be wearing a badge and a coat like that. If you did it, you’d be arrested for impersonating a police officer.”

Continue reading »

Stephen Walt: The top 10 media failures in the Iran war debate.

Blue Cheddar: The danger of Wisconsin Republicans for sex education and reproductive rights.

Fablog: The danger of “abiding truth” for “delicate young men.”

Kaiser Family Foundation: What Americans don’t know about the Affordable Care Act is a lot.

Speaking of which, your quote of the day: “I understand that the president considers his plan, in some respects, following the model of Massachusetts – let’s learn from our experience.” (Mitt Romney, June 2009.)

Guest blogging Mike's Blog Round Up today is Jon Perr from Perrspectives. Send your tips, recommendations, comments and angst to mbru AT crooksandliars DOT com.

Conservatives are making a huge mistake using the term "ObamaCare." The day middle-class Blue Dog 'independent' voters find out it is to their advantage, the GOP loses one more constituency.

Open thread below....

Anybody got a favorite Dead song?

Workingman's Dead
	Artist: Grateful Dead Price: $5.97 (As of 03/15/12 04:52 am details)

DOWNLOADS: (242)

PLAYS: (4314)

Embed

Jon Stewart took the talking heads at Fox to task for their defense of Rush Limbaugh and his sexist attacks on Sandra Fluke and the false equivalencies when comparing Limbaugh to Bill Maher and other comedians and the fact that they tried to play off Rush Limbaugh being a comedian with their defense of him.

Stewart had it exactly right with his finish here after he showed some of Sean Hannity's hypocrisy with his love of Ted Nugent:

STEWART: Ted Nugent didn't get boycotted. That was the Dixie Chicks for saying on stage they were ashamed President Bush was from Texas. But that makes sense. The Nug was actually sentenced for his diatribe, to having to jam "Catch Scratch Fever" with Huck.

And by the way, I'm not saying speech should be policed and censored and boycotted or that people don't have a right to say crazy things, or to boycott them. I don't believe that's true. I think speech should be much freer.

But here's the one thing I do believe. Fox... shut the f**k up about how victimized you, and you alone are. Nobody cares!

“We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists,” a documentary covering the hacking collective Anonymous, premiered March 11th at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

The film takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical "hacktivist" collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age. The film explores early hacktivist groups like Cult of the Dead Cow and Electronic Disturbance Theater, then moves to Anonymous' raucous beginnings on the website 4chan.

Through interviews with current members, people recently returned from prison or facing trial, writers, academics, activists and major players in various "raids," the documentary traces Anonymous’ evolution from merry pranksters to a full-blown movement with a global reach, the most transformative civil disobedience of our time.

More showings this week (For those of you in the Austin area):

Wednesday, March 14
5:00PM - 6:29PM

Venue: SXSatellite: Alamo Slaughter

Friday, March 16
4:15PM - 5:44PM

Venue: Alamo Lamar B

The award winner will be announced on Saturday, March 17th,

DOWNLOADS: (332)

PLAYS: (376)

Embed

Rick Santorum will not do much to move his delegate count after his victories this Tuesday in the latest Republican primaries in the South, but he was doing his best to try to win the messaging wars and continue to cast doubt on whether frontrunner Mitt Romney is the inevitable nominee.

Unlike Santorum and fellow rival Newt Gingrich, Romney decided to sit it out rather than give a concession speech after his third place finishes in Alabama and Mississippi. I guess I can't blame him since all that pandering, and ya'll's and talk of "cheesy grits" were just embarrassing and didn't help him win over the primary voters in either state.

Rick Santorum Wins Alabama, Mississippi:

Rick Santorum won primary victories in Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday, according to network projections, bolstering his credibility as Mitt Romney’s top challenger and denying the former Massachusetts governor an opportunity to solidify his status as inevitable nominee. With most of the vote counted, Romney appeared likely to finish third in both races, with Newt Gingrich poised to take second.

“We did it again,” Santorum declared at an election night rally in Louisiana, saying his underdog campaign was about “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”

The races were among the first high profile contests in which both Gingrich and Santorum, who have alternated wildly between surges and collapses, were competitive at once. The predictable result: they split the conservative anti-Romney vote closely and threatened to give the frontrunner a game changing victory right as his campaign is struggling to assert its dominance. Read on...

So we get to look forward to many more weeks on Rick Santorum continuing to push Mitt Romney off a cliff to the right before this thing is over.

Live stream by Ustream

Update: Livestream has signed off, so I've added more video footage of today's action below.

1 percenters for Romney rally outside fundraiser luncheon for Romney outside the Waldorf Astoria Hotel at 301 Park Ave. (at 50th St).

Planned to be a fun filled 1 percenters for Romney rally with people dressed to the nines, ball gowns, suits, top hats and tiaras – and signs that echo Romney’s own words, “Corporations are People too!” as well as “Buy Your Own Politician. Romney’s Mine.” We’ll highlight the nightmare of corporate personhood and the selling of our democracy to the top bidder.

Tim Pool is livestreaming from NYC where Occupy protesters wait to greet GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

A huge turnout by Occupy Wall Street, with the hotel also surrounded by NYPD - naturally - and circled by helicopters.

Also, via Twitter so this is unconfirmed, Waldorf Astoria Hotel employees are said to be planning to refuse to serve Romney, and instead have a walk-out in protest.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (80)

PLAYS: (508)

Embed

After his second place wins in both Alabama and Georgia this Tuesday night, Newt Gingrich vowed to stay in the race all the way through the Republican nomination process and called for a brokered convention if Romney fails to receive the adequate number of delegates to secure the party's nomination before then.

Which has many in the media asking why Gingrich is still staying in the race unless he's trying to make sure Mitt Romney secures the nomination, since the one person he's pulling the most votes from is Rick Santorum. Gingrich refusing to drop out has made many, myself included, wonder if his billionaire backer Sheldon Adelson is just doing his best to make sure Santorum cannot win the nomination with continuing to fund Gringrich because he does not want to see Santorum win the nomination and would rather have Romney in there if his candidate cannot win.

I guess we'll find out before long when we see if Gingrich gets out shortly despite what he said here.

Here's more from TPM -- Gingrich Calls For Open Convention Against Romney:

Addressing supporters in Alabama, Newt Gingrich made an open call for the Republican nomination to be decided by a contested convention, with Mitt Romney blocked from winning a majority of delegates.

"So you have my promise, at a time when I hope this evening we have ended any news media talk of the inevitability of their handpicked candidate. at a time when we can forget about trying to nominate a Massachusetts moderate.

"And start talking about: When the primaries are over, and it's clear no one person has won, who would do a best job of representing America, governing, and winning the election against Barack Obama."

I'm still trying to figure out whether any of these candidates who are hanging in there actually really want a brokered convention as Newt was calling for here and they are just running off of pure ego despite their slim chances of winning the nomination, or whether they're staying in the race on purpose to help Romney because they know they'll split the votes from the Evangelical Christian right base of the party and they're playing their supporters for fools. I think Gingrich is in this to make sure he raises his profile and his ability to make money later no matter what happens. His other motivations... I'd love to hear some feedback on.

I've just always assumed his motivations for getting in the race in the first place were the same as Palin pretending she was going to get in, and that's to raise the price of speaking engagements later and more time on Fox "News" pretending anyone should care what you think about much of anything.

What's astounding is that if they are staying in to help Romney, what they've managed to do in the mean time is really harm Romney by moving him so far to the right that he's going to have trouble getting elected in the general election. It all just looks like insanity to me if any of them truly care about Republicans having a chance to defeat President Obama, but maybe I'm missing something with the big picture here. I think they're actually lucky that most voters and our corporate media aren't paying as much attention to what comes out of all of their mouths on the campaign trail on a daily basis as the blogs like ours have.

I'll just finish with saying, here's to a Republican brokered convention if that's what the party really wants. I'll be sitting on the sidelines with the popcorn.