Keith Olbermann PO'd about health care

Read the rest of this post...

St. Sulpice, Nuit Blanche

I wrote the other day about the Nuit Blanche event I attended at St. Sulpice in Paris. I finally got my video up on YouTube. I threw a few of my photos in to the video as well. Enjoy. (And this was the other fire show taking place at St. Sulpice at the same time.) This was my earlier description of the event in the video:

One night a year Paris celebrates the Nuit Blanche. It means "White Night," but in French is also means "an all-nighter." The entire city erupts with outdoor cultural events, all night long (ALL night long). One such event was at St. Sulpice (Da Vinci code place). They put funky lights all over the inside of the church, and then turned off every other light. Imagine strobe lights in a confessional, and no other lights around.

Read the rest of this post...

My $2,000 eye surgery in France would have been $20,000 here

Just went to an eye specialist for further follow-up to my eye issues, and he checked out the surgery I had in France for my detached retina, and told me two things:

1. Wow, they did a good job.
2. The surgery would have cost, easily, $20,000 in the states. It cost me a little over $2,000 in France.

It's amazing how bad our health care system really is, when you finally get sick enough to find out. I can't wait for Blue Cross to give me a hard time for the $2,000 French surgery when they'd have had to pay ten times that, were I to have had the surgery here. We'll cross that bridge when the French finally bill me for the surgery that took place at the end of July... Read the rest of this post...

Michelle Obama's Ancestors 14-Year-Old Slave Girl and White Slave Owner

From Huff Post:

A genealogist working with the New York Times has discovered a new page in the family history of First Lady Michelle Obama; her great-great-great grandmother was a 14-year-old slave girl named Melvinia impregnated by a white slave owner.

Genealogist Megan Smoleynek reconstructed this long-lost piece of the First Lady's family by using probate records, old photos and legal documents, and also interviews with senior citizens who remember the family of the biracial son born by the young slave, named Dolphus T. Shields (the Shields were the family that owned his young mother). The genealogist said of the discovery: "Out of all of Michelle's roots, it is Melvinia who is screaming to be found."

Read the rest of this post...

Dems Discussing Public Option With Opt-Out Clause: The Silver Bullet?

Definitely need more information as to what decreasing the size of the overall market does to costs. But there is a certain irony, and magic, in the fact that all the red states could simply opt out and screw themselves while the rest of us get healthy and save money with better care. Read the rest of this post...

IOC gives themselves gold medal for Beijing Olympics

I mean sure. What's not to love about a few bashed heads, global protests, violent police actions and mass arrests? Between the human rights problems with their last location, previous problems with bribery and then the regular dopings (which go well beyond Beijing, obviously) the IOC remains as clueless as ever. Has Beijing really changed at all?

In a report to the IOC, the committee's chief evaluator and coordinator for the 2008 Olympics insisted that the games produced "lasting legacies" for Beijing and its people.

"I am more convinced than ever that the games have and will prove to be a positive catalyst for change in China," said Hein Verbruggen, who led both the IOC's evaluation commission for the 2008 Games and its coordination commission.

The former IOC member's 28-minute report made no mention of the arrests and harassment of dissidents before and during the games, protests that were violently crushed in Tibet, forced evictions to clear the way for Olympic construction or other abuses documented by human rights groups.

Read the rest of this post...

Liberal Dems. pushing Harry Reid to include public option in Senate bill

This morning, I linked to an article in The Hill that contained a typically dumb comment from an unnamed "Senate Democratic Aide." But, that article also highlighted the importance of Senator Jay Rockefeller's vote in the Senate Finance Committee on the Baucus bill. Rockefelller hasn't committed to supporting the final bill yet. This was one of the first times that the focus was on the import of a liberal instead of the usual fawning over Max Baucus, Olympia Snowe or House Blue Dogs.

The liberals in the Senate are starting to understand that they have power, which is why this news from David Dayen is important:

I'm hearing from sources about a letter to Harry Reid from a collection of liberal Senators, led by Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Sherrod Brown, insisting that Reid publicly commit to putting a public option in any health care bill that reaches the Senate floor.

There's a big difference between having a public option in the bill before the fact or trying to get it in by amendment. It's likely that amendments to the bill will require a 60-vote threshold, therefore it would take 60 votes to get a public option into the bill if it's absent, or 60 to get one out of the bill if it's present. Nobody has said that there are those numbers of votes to do either of those actions, so, whether the bill comes to the Senate floor with a public option or not is a crucial decision. The four people in that room making that decision are Max Baucus of the Finance Committee, Tom Harkin of the HELP Committee, Harry Reid and someone from the White House. A lot of this will depend on the White House's inclination, and they certainly floated their support over the weekend. But Reid's public statements have been noncommittal.

The meeting is at 5 PM today.

David makes the critical point here: Including the public option in the Senate Democrat's health insurance reform bill means the GOPers need 60 votes to take it out, not the other way around. We're so used to needing the 60 votes. Let's make them do it.

There's very strong public support for the public option. The President supports it. Senate Democratic Leaders really need to use their power here. Including the public option would be one way of showing that they know how to do just that. The Republicans are going to filibuster health insurance reform every step of the way. Harry Reid and his caucus shouldn't make it easy for the GOPers to weaken the bill. The heavy lift should be on the GOP side. And, the bill should have a public option. Read the rest of this post...

Himalayan glaciers could be gone in a few decades

Terrible news, if this study turns out to be accurate. CNN:

The result of this deglaciation could be conflict as Himalayan glacial runoff has an essential role in the economies, agriculture and even religions of the regions countries.

The Himalayan glaciers form the world's largest ice body outside of the polar caps. Popularly known as the "Water Tower of Asia," they are the source of water for rivers that flow across the continent: the Indus River in Pakistan, the Brahmaputra that flows through Bangladesh, the Mekong that descends through Southeast Asia, the Irrawaddy in Myanmar, the Yellow and Yangtze rivers of China and a multitude of smaller rivers that flow through the Indo-Gangetic plains of Northern India.

Read the rest of this post...

Nearly 3/4ths of House Dems support public option

They still need more votes for passages, but this is very good. And it sends a clear signal. Read the rest of this post...

GOP Senator at center of sex scandal refuses to resign

It's what Jesus would do, if Jesus had an affair with one of the apostle's wives, and then tried to bribe the apostle to shut up. Read the rest of this post...

Obama's health care reform poll numbers rising

Key quote:

Before his prime-time speech to Congress, 52 percent disapproved of Obama's handling of health care. Now the public is split, with 48 percent approving and 47 percent disapproving.

"Getting more directly involved in the outcome is what people expect a president to be doing," said Blendon.

The irony is that the poll is whether people approve of "congress's" health care plans. Which plan would that be? No idea. But the general idea is that people want reform, and that is good. Let's hope Dems take advantage of the sentiment, and build on it. Read the rest of this post...

Jon Stewart on "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and Obama

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Gay After Tomorrow
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Read the rest of this post...

Senate Democratic aide elevates Snowe's importance over progressive Democratic Senators

What is it with "Senate Democratic aides"? Too often, when I read an article quoting a "Senate Democratic aide," I cringe. Like today, where an unnamed Democratic Senate aide again elevated the importance of Republican Olympia Snowe. Apparently, Snowe can be used as a defense against progressives:

Democratic aides say Snowe’s and Rockefeller’s votes could nevertheless have a significant impact on the debate going forward.

One aide said that a no vote from Snowe would make it more difficult for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to include provisions she favors in the bill he puts on the floor. One such provision would set up a government insurance program that would only go into effect if private insurance companies failed to meet certain benchmarks for providing affordable, quality care.

“The public option with a trigger would be a compelling thing to put in the merged bill if the Finance bill has the endorsement of Snowe,” said the aide. “When progressives howl, you can point to Snowe’s support.”

Really. The trigger may be compelling to this aide, but progressives don't want a trigger, even if Snowe does. This quote shows the disdain some of those Democrats on the Hill have for progressives. Most of us want the best possible policy, like the kind we were promised by Obama and the other Democratic candidates.

Can someone explain to those Senate Democratic aides who speak to the press that there are 60 Democratic Senators, which should mean a filibuster-proof majority. Senator Snowe shouldn't matter. All of us who worked and contributed to get those 60 seats for the Democrats didn't expect all the power to end up in the hands of Olympia Snowe. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The President is holding another big meeting at the White House today on Afghanistan. All the major national security players will be there again, including Biden, Clinton, Gates, Panetta, Mullen and Petraeus. Gen. McChrystal will be on videoconference from Afghanistan. This war has gotten more attention in the past few weeks than it did during eight years of the Bush administration. Bush launched that war eight years ago today, on October 7, 2001.

The House Democrats are holding a meeting today to discuss the final version of their health insurance reform bill. In the Senate, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will be "scoring" the Senate Finance Committee bill. That basically means they'll provide the estimated cost of the legislation and how that compares to the overall budget, then the Committee will vote it out -- or not. So, we are getting closer, day by day, to floor action in both houses.

Also, expect final action over the next week on the Department of Defense (DoD) Authorization, which includes the Hate Crimes legislation. The House GOPers forced a vote last night on an instruction to remove hate crimes from the DoD bill, but failed.

Plenty going on...start threading. Read the rest of this post...

Spain removing final representations of Franco

It's hard to believe that some still have such high respect for the dictator Franco. It's a bit strange that a law had to be passed to put him in the past but it's even more bizarre that some still wanted him in view even today.

For almost four decades General Francisco Franco was someone Spaniards could not escape. He was there in school books, church prayers, statues, plaques, street names and thousands of other reminders of a violent insurrection that led to a vicious civil war.

Now his face and name are being erased from public view. Even the army, where nostalgia for the dictator survived long after his death in 1975, has pledged to remove all plaques, statues and monuments to the regime of a man it once revered as the saviour of the nation. A full list of the Francoist paraphernalia still lurking inside the country's barracks will be ready by the end of the year. Then the cull will start.

Read the rest of this post...

Second Stonehenge discovered

Interesting enough, it's very close to the well known Stonehenge. The Guardian:

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of what they believe was a second Stonehenge located a little more than a mile away from the world-famous prehistoric monument.

The new find on the west bank of the river Avon has been called "Bluestonehenge", after the colour of the 25 Welsh stones of which it was once made up.

Excavations at the site have suggested there was once a stone circle 10 metres in diameter and surrounded by a henge – a ditch with an external bank, according to the project director, Professor Mike Parker Pearson, of the University of Sheffield.

Read the rest of this post...