'Nonprofit' insurers bloated with cash surplus but still may raise rates

It's a good thing that horrible public option was never given a chance by the White House. I mean really. Who would ever have gone with that option when they could be gouged early and often by the insurance industry? What red-blooded American doesn't like to get shafted by Big Insurance and proudly wave the flag because they kept "socialism" at bay? Corporate socialism is great though! Thankfully Big Insurance can count on Obama and a few key Democrats and a slimy "independent" to protect consumers from having the chance to receive a better deal.

The report released Thursday by Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, found that seven of 10 Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates examined had amassed surpluses more than three times the level regulators deemed necessary for them to remain solvent.

For instance at the close of 2009, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona had a surplus of $717 billion, more than seven times the regulatory minimum. The same year the company raised premiums for its individual market customers between 8.8 percent and 18.4 percent.

Similarly, Regence Blue Shield of Oregon had about 3.6 times the regulatory minimum surplus, yet it raised rates on some individual policies an average of 25.3 percent in April 2009 and 16 percent in April of this year, the study found.

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Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello now down by 23%

In what could be a harbinger of House seats to come, SurveyUSA has a poll for the Tom Perriello / Robert Hurt race. Perriello has gone from even to 23% down. Doesn't look good:

VA-05: Democrat Perriello in Peril, One More House Seat Poised for Republican Take-Away: In an election for US House of Representatives in Virginia's 5th Congressional District today, 07/20/10, Republican State Senator Robert Hurt defeats incumbent Democrat Tom Perriello 58% to 35%, according to this latest exclusive WDBJ-TV poll conducted by SurveyUSA.

The seat is one of many Republicans hope to capture in November 2010. 39 "take-aways" are needed for Republicans to capture control of the US House of Representatives.

Perriello, who defeated 6-term Republican Virgil Goode by 727 votes in 2008, today trails among most demographic groups.

At FireDogLake, Jane Hamsher puts the blame on the health care bill:

[F]orcing members of Congress like Tom Perriello to vote for the health care bill was truly a Paths of Glory move by House leadership and the administration. As our SurveyUSA polling indicated at the time, the health care bill was hugely unpopular in swing districts. . . members like Perriello were counseled to vote for the Stupak amendment as a sop to conservative voters in their districts. Well, looks like that didn’t work out so well[.]

Take a look at the poll; the numbers are pretty striking, even among women. Perriello is a conservative Dem in Virginia. The White House plan was to make the ConservaDems vote for health care (which was unpopular in their districts), and sop the district base with Yes votes on Stupak.

Looks like the Stupak sop-vote was a negative with women, and not a plus with men. Jane's point is that guys like Perriello got played, and the piper's now back with his hand out.

Perriello could be one of many, whatever you think of the health care bill.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Dan Choi found out today that he has been discharged under DADT

I posted about this news at AMERICAblog Gay. And, I was able to talk to Dan, who is in Las Vegas for Netroots Nation. Here's the video:
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Huff Post is the same thing as Breitbart, really?

And the accusation comes from, of all places, the Politico (not exactly known for its tendency to avoid "oh my God!" stories). Salon writer Justin Elliott does a great job holding Politico's Jim Vandenhei accountable for his bizarre comparison. Huff Post is partisan, to be sure. But so is much of Politico, which many Democrats feel leans to the right. Politico simply does its bias more subtly, sometimes less subtly. But there's a difference from having a bias, which Huff Post, Politico, and AMERICAblog all have, and being a bit of a hack, which would be Breitbart. Read the rest of this post...

Politico executive editor says those who attack Teabaggers as racist are creating a dangerous political climate

Yes, because now suddenly Politico is worried about getting too extreme and hurting the culture. Putting that aside for a moment, calling the Teabaggers on their racism - anyone remember people spitting on John Lewis and using the n-word? - suddenly makes you the back guy and them the victim. As if this dangerous political climate started because people are standing up to the far right of the Republican party. Or rather, Dick Armey, the guy behind the Teabaggers, was part of the Gingrich revolution in the early 90s that perfected dangerous political climates and raised them to a fine art. Does anyone remember the Teabaggers shutting down townhall meetings last year, and making fun of people for telling their heart-wrenching health care stories?

It seems the Politico has now bought into the religious right's favorite insult: You're intolerant of intolerance. Yes, we are. Read the rest of this post...

Bankers who fought against financial reform furious because they were not invited to signing ceremony

Screw them. It's hard to understand why any of the bankers were invited but it would have made a mockery of the feeble "reform" if anyone invited Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan executives. Those two organizations more than any others fought against reform and are responsible for the watered down, poor excuse for reform that Washington thinks is impressive. (Hey, I didn't get a harrumph out of that guy!) Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein are a couple of spoiled brats who can't be happy with anything. They should be thankful that the Democrats are fearful of their own shadow and crumbled to Wall Street-GOP opposition to reform.

Something tells me they will be just fine now that they get to keep their bonuses and exclusive lifestyles thanks to the bailout. Boo hoo.

The White House’s decision not to invite the chief executives of JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs to today’s ceremonial signing of the financial overhaul legislation has many on Wall Street fuming.

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein were both left off the invitation list for the signing of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill into law.

Rivals at other major financial firms—including the heads of Citigroup, Bank of America, Barclays, and Morgan Stanley—got invitations.

“Basically, the White House made the decision to invite only the banks that were most sycophantic in the run-up to the passage of Dodd-Frank,” one senior Wall Street executive said.

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While US stalls, progess on LGBT equality in Ireland and Argentina

We probably don't post enough of the LGBT content from AMERICAblog Gay on the front page. So, we're going to make a concerted effort to highlight more of those posts.

This week, for example, showed great progress on the international front for LGBT equality. The female Presidents of two very Catholic countries signed legislation granting rights to same-sex couples.

On Monday, Ireland's President President Mary McAleese signed the country's new Civil Partnership Law:

My grandparents emigrated from Ireland 100 years ago. I've got loads of family in Ireland. It's a very Catholic country. And, now, it provides more rights for same-sex couples than the U.S.:

The Civil Partnership Bill, which provides legal recognition for same-sex couples in Ireland for the first time, has today been signed into law.

The Bill was signed into law by President Mary McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin this morning

It extends marriage-like benefits to gay and lesbian couples in the areas of property, social welfare, succession, maintenance, pensions and tax.

Yesterday, Argentina's President signed the country's marriage law:

Argentina's President signed the country's new marriage legislation into law today. And, she gave an eloquent speech about equality:

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner enacted the same-sex marriage law during a speech given at Government House. She stated that "this has been a construction, because we haven't enacted a law, but a social construction that is transversal, diverse, and all-encompassing."

"This belongs to the society that built it, and I appreciate everyone's efforts and I evade petty policies. We mustn't impair what's important. This creates institutional quality. We have given more equality," she assured.

In yesterday's post on Argentina, I wrote:

Okay. I know it's a pipe dream, but I am still hoping that someday, in the not too distant future, we'll watch the President of the United States sign legislation granting full equality. But, we're so far from that, I'd settle for having the Obama administration not defend discriminatory laws like DADT and DOMA in the courts.

Two very Catholic countries ignored the criticism and lobbying of the Catholic Church and moved forward on human rights. Be great to live in a country where religious hard-liners don't control public policy. Read the rest of this post...

Seems BP photoshopped a third photo

It seems Joe and I started a bit of a fad.

Washington Post:

The search for doctored BP photos is on. And it's a bit like finding Waldo in the famous game.

On Wednesday, for the second time this week, a blog has identified an altered photograph about BP's oil spill response on the company's Web site.

The Gawker Web site said it received a tip about a BP photo, taken from inside a helicopter, that shows a panorama of vessels working on the sea surface near the damaged well. The view through the windows makes it appear as though the helicopter is in the air.

But the astute tipster noticed a small glimpse of a control tower in a corner of the photograph. A poor Photoshop job left some white space around the shoulder of one of the pilots next to a patch of sea that was a brighter shade of blue than other parts of the gulf. In addition, zooming in on the helicopter's gauges reveals that the helicopter is not in the air at all; the dashboard indicates that the door and ramp are open and the parking brake engaged, Gawker noted. The pilot appears to be holding a pre-flight checklist.

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Media Matters has the Breitbart Big Falsehoods list

The latest disgraceful smearing of Shirley Sherrod is his most recent but there are plenty more. It's a long list so keep scrolling when you open the link. Think Progress has one more that can be added to the list as well. Even in the face of reality, Breitbart refuses to admit that Eloise Spooner (the white farmer in the story) is a real person.

Tell me again why the White House chose to believe Breitbart over anyone else? Read the rest of this post...

Arrested: Jihadi jerk who threatened "South Park" over Mohammed episode

Boing boing:

Zachary Chesser, an unemployed 20-year-old man in Virginia who this year threatened South Park's creators over an episode featuring the Prophet Muhammad dressed in a bear suit, has been arrested on federal charges "after speaking openly to the FBI about his connection to a terror organization and his plans to travel overseas to fight with the group."

The organization, Al-Shabaab ("Movement of Warrior Youth"), is identified by the US as a terror group affiliated with al-Qaeda. Mr. Chesser was Jewish, but converted to a wacked-out, militant crazystrain of Islam that involves uploading jihadi videos to YouTube and invoking assassination unto the creators of Cartman and Butters.

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Alan Grayson: 'I punch back'

Thanks Digby, for pointing this out, as you do all things Grayson.

This is Alan Grayson, in the well of the House yesterday, via Joe yesterday. (Be sure to watch the vid — it's priceless.)

Next the winger reaction, via the HuffPost:

Dan Gainor, Right-Wing Media Critic, Offers Cash For Assault On Alan Grayson

Prominent conservative media critic Dan Gainor has offered $100 to the first member of Congress who punches "smary [sic] idiot" Alan Grayson (D-Fl.) in the nose, reports Media Matters.

But guess what?

Grayson is not one to back down from a media brawl. He told HuffPost: "I think he's overlooking something important: I punch back."

Thanks, Alan, for showing the way.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Shirley Sherrod

Jena McGregor in the Washington Post:

There appears to have been little careful examination. In her telling, she was pushed to resign immediately--so immediate, she says, that she was told to pull off to the side of the road and do it because the story was going to be on Glenn Beck that evening. (Sherrod also says the White House was involved in her dismissal; Vilsack has said it wasn't.)

If what she says is true, it's an extraordinary rush to judgment that could tarnish not only the reputation of Vilsack's leadership, but also of the NAACP, which was also quick to condemn Sherrod before later admitting it was "snookered."

We pay our leaders to think clearly. To examine all the facts before they make decisions. To act quickly and decisively, but not so much that fairness goes out the window. In the Sherrod affair, Vilsack--and the NAACP--should have issued statements that they were investigating the matter, and only made a decision after gathering all information possible and considering the full weight of the issues. Instead, the review is coming now, when it may be too late.

The reporter takes a small slap at the blogosphere in her essay. She fails to note "conservative blogosphere." I challenge her to find that kind of false reporting from the top liberal blogs.

Note from Joe: The full video and transcript of Sherrod's speech can be found here. Read it. Watch it. It's an amazing discussion about race in America. Here's an excerpt:

But where am I going with this? You know, I couldn't say 45 years ago -- I couldn't stand here and say what I'm saying -- what I will say to you tonight. Like I told you, God helped me to see that it's not just about black people -- it's about poor people. And I've come a long way. I knew that I couldn't live with hate, you know. As my mother has said to so many, "If we had tried to live with hate in our hearts, we'd probably be dead now."

But I've come to realize that we have to work together and -- you know, it's sad that we don't have a room full of white and blacks here tonight, 'cause we have to overcome the divisions that we have. We have to get to the point where, as Tony Morrison said, "Race exists but it doesn't matter." We have to work just as hard. I know it's -- you know, that division is still here, but our communities are not going to thrive -- you know, our children won't have the -- the communities that they need to be able to stay in and live in and -- and have a good life if we can't figure this out, you all. White people, black people, Hispanic people, we all have to do our part to make our communities a safe place, a healthy place, a good environment.

Sherrod did the rounds on the morning shows today. She's got an amazing story. I don't think we've heard the last of her. And, that's a very good thing. Read the rest of this post...

BP's possible 'industrial homicide'

On Tuesday's Countdown, Lawrence O'Donnell gets right down to it with Bob Cavnar, former oil industry exec. O'Donnell: "Lethal disregard for safety" . . . "industrial homicide":



About time. If this were a novel, there would be a perp.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's early in Las Vegas, but I'm still on East Coast time. I'm here for Netroots Nation. Today, at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time, I'll be moderating a panel titled, Marriage Equality: Building a Movement Online. My co-panelists are Adam Bink from Open Left, Julia Rosen from PCCC, Michael Crawford from Freedom to Marry and Jesse Connolly who managed the No on 1 campaign in Maine last year. It will be livestreamed here.

The President isn't in Las Vegas, although many people here would like to speak to him about a variety of progressive issues. I know I would (but interesting factoid: Obama has not spoken to anyone in LGBT media since his election. Not once.) The Obama administration is sending the Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood. So, the President won't be here in Vegas. He'll be at the White House where he's going to sign the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act. Those improper payments add up. The White House reports that it costs us $110 billion last year.

Let's hope that crack political team at the White House learned something from the disastrous way they handled the Shirley Sherrod situation. Here's some advice for Rahm and Messina: Stop fearing the right wing media machine. And, don't trust Breitbart videos. I have more advice but I'm not sure the geniuses at the White House would ever deign to listen to anyone outside their circle.

Okay...let's get hopping... Read the rest of this post...

Talk about bad timing for everyone

Unlike BP this is a real photo. A couple was following a whale off the South African coast when it breached and landed on their boat. The problem was probably due to the engine being off so the southern right whale did not notice the boat. The mast broke but everyone survived. They later saw the same whale as they motored back to land.

A couple on a whale-watching trip off Cape Town, South Africa, say they had a lucky escape when a 10m (33ft) specimen leapt on to their yacht.

The southern right whale, a species known for poor eyesight, snapped the mast before sliding back into the water, said Paloma Werner.

She and her partner had just seconds to take cover, she said. A nearby tourist caught the moment on camera.

"I still like whales," Ms Werner told the BBC afterwards.

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British economy facing inflation, limited growth and increased unemployment

But besides that everything is great.

The British economy faces a triple whammy of higher inflation, lower growth and rising unemployment, according to one of the Bank of England's most senior policy makers. Living standards over the next few years will rise only "minimally".

In an interview with The Independent, the Bank's chief economist, Spencer Dale, said that he did not expect inflation to return to its 2 per cent official target before the end of next year, about a year later than previously hoped, partly because of the hike in VAT to 20 per cent from January announced in the Budget.

And, although Mr Dale acknowledged that the emergency Budget had done much to avoid the risk of a UK sovereign debt crisis and a rise in interest rates, he also acknowledged that the Budget would mean lower growth. Mr Dale agreed that he would not be surprised if unemployment went higher in the next few months. For the next "three, four, five years, demand in the economy will be "incredibly anaemic" relative to previous recoveries.

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