On Maine, marriage and mothers

I spent the past couple days in Maine and wrote about it here.

When I arrived on Saturday, my mother, who has become one of the biggest advocates for the "No on 1" campaign, handed me a copy of the Press Herald and told me to read one of the op-eds. So, I did. Turns out, my mom, a very devout Catholic, is scanning the paper every day to find the articles and good letters to the editor. She's also having a lot of conversations about the referendum. It means a lot to me to have that much support from my dad and her. And, as I mention in the post on AMERICAblog.com Gay, along with my sisters, they hosted a very successful fundraiser for the campaign yesterday.

I posted the op-ed my mother made me read late Saturday night at AMERICAblog.com Gay. But, after spending a couple days back home, I really thinks it captures the essence of the campaign in Maine.

So, I'd encourage everyone to read the piece from another Maine mother, Margaret Daros, titled, "Gender aside, this family's story is all about love and commitment." She asked if she could share her story with us and you'll be glad she did. This is how the op-ed concludes:

We have lived in Maine for all these years because we love this state. We love its values, its independence, its commitment to life as it should be.

I ask that you who believe in fairness, the rights of all individuals, and who hold a belief that family values count, join me and my family in voting "No on One" in November.

And, it turns out, Margaret's son, Jeremy, is a long-time AMERICAblog reader. So, thanks Margaret and Jeremy.

The election is November 3rd, just four weeks from tomorrow. Absentee voting has already started. So, it's game on. You can contribute to "No on 1" here. I'm very impressed with the way this campaign is being run. It's top-notch. Read the rest of this post...

Clearly the UN has socialist leanings

Life expectancy, literacy and school enrollment can be so overrated. AP:

Norway enjoys the world's highest quality of life, while Niger suffers the lowest, a U.N. agency said Monday, as it released a ranking that highlights the wide disparities in well-being between rich and poor countries.

The annual Human Development Index, unveiled in Bangkok by the United Nations Development Program, takes into account life expectancy, literacy, school enrollment and per capita gross domestic product in 182 countries.

The full UN rankings here. Read the rest of this post...

Nuit Blanche à Paris, bis

Just got home from Paris a few hours ago. Sigh. It actually is good to be home. Though I suspect I'll be over that by Thursday :-)

I mentioned in my post yesterday, about the Nuit Blanche cultural events that took place Saturday night in Paris, that when we arrived at St. Sulpice, around 130am or so, there were some women jugging fire, or something, kind of sensually in one of the doorways to the church. I got some really interesting photos of them, uh, juggling. Here are a few.

First, this is what we saw on approaching the church. It's not a pretty photo, I'm just including it to give you a sense of the scene:



Then the nicer shots:



I like this one, above, with the guy sitting there watching on the left in a hoodie (just barely visible).



I found this guy far more interesting than the women he was doing back up to.



I like the light on their arms in this one.

Read the rest of this post...

Apple quit U.S. Chamber of Commerce over climate change

There's an emerging trend in business these days, which involves leaving the Chamber of Commerce because of its archaic policy on climate change. Today, Apple quit:

Apple has become the latest company to resign from the United States Chamber of Commerce over climate policy.

“We strongly object to the chamber’s recent comments opposing the E.P.A.’s effort to limit greenhouse gases,” wrote Catherine A. Novelli, the vice-president of worldwide government affairs at Apple, in a letter dated today and addressed to Thomas J. Donohue, president and chief executive of the chamber. Click here to read the letter.

“Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the chamber at odds with us in this effort,” Ms. Novelli continued.

Now that Apple is out, it's cool to quit the Chamber. This does show that there is not a united front from business in the battle to enact smart climate change legislation. Read the rest of this post...

Krugman on the GOP's "politics of spite"

Brilliant Krugman column today on the right wing's virulent reaction to the 2016 Olympics decision. He saw a "teachable moment':

So what did we learn from this moment? For one thing, we learned that the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old.

But more important, the episode illustrated an essential truth about the state of American politics: at this point, the guiding principle of one of our nation’s two great political parties is spite pure and simple. If Republicans think something might be good for the president, they’re against it — whether or not it’s good for America.

Most of what the Republican Party proposes and has proposed isn't good for most Americans. They got us into the economic and foreign policy messes we're still in -- and seem to revel in that.

In terms of enacting policy, the GOP shouldn't even matter. If they have any power, it's only because Obama and Hill Democrats give it to them. Read the rest of this post...

Now, it's about a strong, robust, real public option

McJoan has an excellent update on the state-of-play for the public option. It's not question of if there will be a public option in the health insurance reform bill, it's a question of whether it's a real public option:

The House Progressive Block is fully committed to a robust public option, and has the numbers to back that up. Every poll that's been done in the past month--even after the August temper tantrum townhalls--show that the majority of American voters support a Medicare-like public option. That even includes Blanche Lincoln's constituents. And according to Chuck Schumer, a healthy majority of Senate Democrats are behind it.

Winning the war on a robust public option, on real healthcare reform that at least puts us on a path to universal, affordable, comprehensive coverage shouldn't be this hard. There's no need to settle for "some version" of a public option.

She's right, of course. The pieces are in place to make this happen. Now, we need the leadership to make it happen.

Elected Democrats in D.C. often spurred on by their weak-kneed and ineffective political consultants, have an uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Over the next few weeks, we'll see all kinds of attempts to waffle on the public option and the health insurance reform bill. There will be trial balloons floated with all kinds of gimmicks and schemes. Enough. Democrats have the power. We all worked our asses off in the election so they'd have the power. Now, they have to do the right thing. McJoan is so right when she said, it shouldn't be this hard. Read the rest of this post...

At GOP rally in Virginia, top supporter of McDonnell mocked his opponent's stutter

Not Larry Sabato has the video of Bob McDonnell supporter Sheila Johnson mocking the way Democrat Creigh Deeds speaks. NLS calls the move "pathetic." It is.
Read the rest of this post...

Why the crazy right never understood a problem existed

And keeping one of the critical team members (who some might suggest is a liar) surely didn't help. These people still think there was never a problem and failing to hammer away at the reality is still costing Obama.

Senior U.S. officials deliberately created the impression last year that banks receiving huge government cash infusions were healthier than was the case, a Treasury Department watchdog's report released Monday said.

As a result, the government and the bailout lost public credibility when the financial crisis deepened.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said at the time that their dramatic force-feeding of $125 billion into nine banks in October 2008 was a program for "healthy" institutions.

Read the rest of this post...

Nobel prize for medicine goes to American team

Congratulations to the team who delivered critical research that will help cancer treatment.

Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak won the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering a key mechanism in the genetic operations of cells, an insight that has inspired new lines of research into cancer.

The trio solved the mystery of how chromosomes, the rod-like structures that carry DNA, protect themselves from degrading when cells divide.

Read the rest of this post...

Obama will speak at HRC dinner this weekend

Looks like we're going to get another speech about LGBT equality from the President this weekend at the HRC National Dinner. The NY Times actually wonders if this speech will "mollify" the concerns of gay rights activists. (Hint: Actions, not words.)

UPDATE: Since I wrote my original post at AMERICAblog.com Gay, the AP published its article on this event with an excellent take from Richard Socarides, who provides context for the discussion about the president's appearance at the HRC Dinner:

"Eleven months after his election, he has failed to deliver on any of his commitments to gay Americans, but even worse has been his refusal to engage around these issues,'' said Richard Socarides, who advised President Bill Clinton's administration on gay and lesbian policy.

''What he needs to do now is engage and deliver,'' said Socarides. ''Spend some of his political capital on ending the gay military ban, a hugely symbolic issue. And with no intellectually sound arguments left against it, come out squarely for gay marriage equality.''

Obama wasn't likely to go that far, though, despite a rocky relationship with gay grass roots activists. He has taken a slow and incremental approach to the politically charged issues.

Obama really needs to go that far. And, soon. Read the rest of this post...

How the same drug costs three times the price in the US than in Europe

(NOTE FROM JOHN: This really ticks me off. Apparently, governments in Europe tell the drugs companies that they simply can't charge crazy prices over here in Europe, so they don't. Instead, they jack the prices up in the US to make up the difference. Absolutely criminal. So why haven't we heard about this from our elected officials, ever? PS I bought Advair 500-50 for 60 euros this past Friday in Paris - it goes for $272.79 at Costco.)

This post is inspired by John A’s question about his asthma medicine, Advair and draws on conversations I have had with some industry insiders who prefer to remain unnamed. Though Advair is sold under different names in France (Seretide) and in the USA (Advair), it is in both cases the identical drug manufactured by the same company, GlaxoSmithKline. So how is it that "Advair 500-50" costs 60 euros in France ($88 at today's exchange rate), but $270 at Cotsco in the states - nearly three times as expensive in the USA? And what can we do about it?

First, the most important fact is that France controls the price and the USA does not. While it is not entirely obvious (at least to me) on what basis they pick the price, it is clear that France has a consumer driven system where the government’s goal is to make its citizens happy without worrying at all about drug company profits. But there is no question that the drug company (GlaxoSmithKline) is free to stop selling the drug in France if they can’t make a profit. So we know that they can make money at the controlled French prices – no surprise since they already have the production process up and running and the cost of actual ingredients in prescription drugs is less than 10% (on average) of the selling price in the USA.

But what of the price in the USA? How is that picked? While drug can't entirely ignore the demand side of the market (e.g., if they price too high, insurance companies can refuse to cover the drug under their plans), they DO have monopoly power. The patent rights that companies get for prescription drugs last 20 years -– but that period includes the time required for clinical testing, reducing the effective patent protected period of sales to less than half that time. Companies make good use of this protection as any capitalist monopolist would -- they charge a price designed to maximize company profits.

Should we then just limit prices to the 10% of current prices that represent the cost of actual ingredients? Certainly not. A major portion of the cost of a drug is the research and development that goes into finding it in the first place. After all, years of research and clinical trials are needed for a new drug and only about one in ten drugs that make it to trials ever pan out and make it onto pharmacy shelves. It is only fair that companies be able to recoup this amount. It is worth noting that it isn’t fair at all for the entire cost of R & D to be borne by US consumers alone as is the case right now with controlled prices everywhere else in the world.

But how much does it cost to develop a drug? Big pharma claims at the moment that it costs about $800 million for each new drug. This amount is complete BS as it includes the drug company estimates of what the money could have earned if it had been invested elsewhere rather than being invested in drug development. A more legitimate estimate of the amount it costs a pharmaceutical company to develop a new drug is more like $200 million to $300 million.

But even this number is inflated. Remember that pharmaceutical giants are truly giant. These are huge bureaucracies –- GSK employs about 100,000 people. Efficiency is not a word we would normally associate with such a huge structure. Much of the cost of development is really just life support for the bureaucracy; small biotech companies can do the same R & D at half the cost because they don’t have tens of thousands of employees doing God knows what activities unrelated to discovering and patenting new drugs.

So, are there excess monopoly profit hidden in US drug prices? You bet. Is there excess cost included in the price that could further inflate the price to consumers? No question – our loyalty needs to be to consumers, and not to gigantic corporate bureaucracies.

So what do we do about it? Some will say that what we have to do is regulate prices as France and other countries do. While I wouldn’t argue against doing that at some point, there is a far easier way to make an immediate impact and it is one that has been proposed in Congress already -- just open the gates to reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada and Europe. With appropriate safeguards against drugs manufactured elsewhere (e.g., China) we would at a stroke provide some very real competition which would immediately bring down prices here.

But that would eliminate the companies’ ability to recoup R & D costs wouldn’t it? Well, no. It WOULD force them to charge a higher price abroad since in effect that would become the price in the USA as well. If this happened, the increase in price compensating the pharmas for the cost of R & D would then be spread over everyone in all countries, as it should be. The drug companies would have to negotiate that price with each of the governments involved. Which is only fair because let's drop the pretense that any of this is a free market. It isn’t. And we need somebody with some market weight operating on OUR side for a change. How about our own government? Read the rest of this post...

Beware using MasterCard, Visa or American Express abroad

This article in the NYT relates something that happened to me in Paris. Our credit card industry is too lazy, and cheap, so our good ole American credit cards are now increasing obsolete - and don't work - in a growing number of places worldwide.

Like Paris. My hospital couldn't get any of my cards, MasterCard, Visa or AMEX to work (fortunately, on a second visit, my MasterCard worked). Oh, but don't get too full of yourselves, Mastercard, because after I spent a good hour-plus trying on clothes at Celio (being stuck in Europe for three months with the same two shirts can get a bit old), Celio wasn't able to run my MasterCard. I had to return back to my apartment, get my Visa, and go back. Fortunately, the Visa worked. This time. Read the article. It's pathetic. We have backwards credit cards that don't have the latest anti-theft protections, and now don't work in a lot of places abroad, because big business runs our country.

But more importantly, you can no longer rest assured that any of your credit cards, or your ATM cards, will work abroad any more. Great way to have an absolute disaster far away from home.

We're number one!

PS For an added bonus, the way it rejects your credit card over here, it looks like your card was denied. Imagine the fun when you store clerk hands you back your card and everyone in line looks at you! Read the rest of this post...

GOP Hill leaders in smack-down with RNC Chair Steele

In GOP world, there's a battle underway between RNC Chair Michael Steele and the brain trust on Capitol Hill. Sounds like House and Senate Republican leaders ganged up on Steele last week because he's doing too much "policy" and that's their turf:

The congressional leaders were particularly miffed that Steele had in late August unveiled a seniors’ “health care bill of rights” without consulting with them. The statement of health care principles, outlined in a Washington Post op-ed, began with a robust defense of Medicare that puzzled some in a party not known for its attachment to entitlements.

Elected Republicans urged Steele to focus on the governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia and other political matters, such as fundraising, rather than on attempting to establish party policy.

Steele was taken aback by the comments from Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Senate GOP conference Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Senate GOP policy Chairman John Thune of South Dakota and grew defensive during the 10-minute discussion, according to two people in the room.

The RNC, according to one source, was planning to roll out more policy initiatives.

If you're Michael Steele, you must be looking around that room thinking, "You're the clowns that led us to the point where Democrats have the presidency, a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a wide margin in the House." It sure sounds like this meeting was the culmination of a lot of bad feelings:

Since Steele took over the party earlier this year, congressional leaders and their staff have often cringed at the voluble chairman’s gaffes and rolled their eyes at his unambiguous view that he alone leads the party.

“He’s on a short leash here,” said one top House GOP leadership aide.

At the same time, Steele and his backers can be annoyed at what they see as the know-it-all arrogance and even jealousy of some in their party’s congressional wing.

I'm pulling for the GOP's congressional wing here. They do have a "know-it-all-arrogance," which is completely out-of-touch with real Americans. Read the rest of this post...

White House stands by the remarks of NSA James Jones on DADT repeal

The White House is clearly in no rush to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. When National Security Adviser James Jones indicated the President was too busy to work on this issue yesterday, he was giving the White House line. Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

A new week begins. The Olympic selection is behind us. I'm sure all the right-wingers are still hung over from their raucous anti-American celebration after Chicago lost. That was a disgusting display.

It's getting down to crunch time on health insurance reform. The President is hold a Rose Garden event at 11:10 a.m. with doctors who support reform. On the Hill, the pressure is on Majority Leader Harry Reid to deliver a very good bill. Just a quick reminder to Democrats in the Senate: You have a filibuster-proof majority. You asked us all help you get there last fall during the elections -- and we helped. Now, do something with that filibuster-proof majority.

I'm still in Maine. My family had a fundraiser for the No on 1 campaign, which went really well. The campaign manager, Jesse Connolly, was here as was the Senate President, Libby Mitchell, who helped pass the marriage equality legislation last May. I've been struck by how many people are really annoyed with the Catholic Bishop's aggressive involvement on the anti-gay side. The election is four weeks from tomorrow.

Let's get threading... Read the rest of this post...

UK grocery store terminates Fox News advertising

The haters at Fox News now have a worldwide reputation. Who are the creepy advertisers that still send money to Fox?

Now Waitrose, which advertises on the channel carried by Sky in Britain, has followed suit after customers complained about the Glenn Beck Show.

An angry Waitrose shopper who emailed the chain to express his distaste over its decision "to be associated with this particular form of rightwing cant" received an apology last week.

Read the rest of this post...

English soccer match to be shown exclusively online

For many (most?) Americans, a soccer match may not be important but for many in England, it's definitely big. Even though the Brits are unhappy about their own slow broadband service (which is also expensive) this really is big news for a relatively important football match to be shown only on the internet. Wow.

This weekend's England football international will be broadcast exclusively live over the internet for the first time, it emerged today.

Media group Perform is to stream Saturday's away clash against Ukraine on a pay-per-view basis.

Read the rest of this post...

Let's hope these pilots never fly again

Prison better be in their near future for many reasons. The Guardian:

Panic gripped Air India flight IC884 early today when a mid-air fight allegedly broke out between the two pilots and cabin crew members – bewildering passengers who had just been told they were flying over Pakistan. To the relief of the 106 passengers, the international flight landed safely in the Indian capital.

Air India has grounded the pilots and crew involved and launched an inquiry.

According to reports quoting the Delhi police, Commander Ranbeer Arora and Captain Aditya Chopra were accused of trying to "molest" a female flight attendant who resisted their advances and was then thrown out of the cockpit.

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