Best holiday photo of the year

Here's the story behind the photo. (After you read the back story, then check these out.) Read the rest of this post...

A little Friday Matt blogging

My friend Matt came to visit this past week. Every year, my friends and family vie for a chance to come visit me for a week while I'm house-sitting in France. This year was Matt's turn. And this past Sunday, we went to my friend Marcus' open house at his art studio (atelier). I really enjoy Marcus' windows - they're those nice tall French ones that open wide. The reflections are always great, with all of his artwork around, and I caught a few shots of Matt reflected in the windows alongside Marcus' art. I think they're kind of cool. Hope you agree.





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The insurance industry is holding America "hostage," but some of the hostages on Capitol Hill have the Stockholm Syndrome

Obama is finally targeting the real culprits: the insurance industry. Yes, Americans are held hostage by the insurance company. But, too many members of Congress, including some leading Democrats, have gone beyond the hostage stage. They've got the Stockholm Syndrome. Those Capitol Hill "hostages" have become apologists for the insurance industry. Max Baucus and Kent Conrad are acting like insurance industry lobbyists, not Democrats. That's a real problem for Obama. But, a least this message should resonate:

U.S. President Barack Obama, pushing for healthcare reform during a trip to conservative Montana, said on Friday the country was "held hostage" by insurance companies that deny coverage to sick people.

Obama, on a multi-state swing to tamp down vociferous opposition to his top domestic priority, targeted insurance companies for dropping customers who become sick or forcing patients to cover huge costs.

"We are held hostage at any given moment by health insurance companies that deny coverage or drop coverage or charge fees that people can't afford," Obama told a crowd of some 1,000 people in Montana.

"It's wrong. It's bankrupting families. It's bankrupting businesses. And we are going to fix it when we pass health insurance reform this year," he said.

The other problem we face, besides sell-out Democrats, is that many Americans don't realize they're hostages -- yet. But, almost every American is one illness away from understanding the dire straits. Read the rest of this post...

Whole Foods freaks out over CEO's anti-Obama health care op ed

Below is Whole Foods' apology to customers who are offended that they're CEO and co-founder is using their company's good name to try to kill Obama's health care reform package. He wrote an op ed in the Wall Street Journal opposing real health care reform. He used the word "socialism." Now Whole Foods is blaming it on the Wall Street Journal's editor for choosing a bad title for the piece.

Oh? Did the WSJ also include the Thatcher quote at the beginning of the piece warning about the evils of socialism, against your CEO's objections I'm sure? And did your CEO tell the WSJ not to include Whole Foods in the byline, but they did anyway? How about all the Republican talking points seeded throughout the entire piece - where did they come from?

Now Whole Foods would like you to believe that the piece actually supported health care reform. Yeah, the reform the man endorsed was eating your fruits and vegetables. Seriously. Read the piece. That's his solution to America's health care woes. Eat more fruit.

And oh we will. From Harris Teeter, and Safeway and everyone who isn't taking our money in order to lobby for John Boehner and Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin. Whole Foods thinks you're chumps. You can read their letter after the jump, courtesy of reader Scott who wrote them to complain.

To our customers,

As you are aware, John Mackey wrote an Op/Ed piece that was published in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week on health care reform, one of the biggest and most emotional issues facing our country. John’s intent was to express his personal opinions — not those of Whole Food Market team members or our company as a whole. Still, it’s very clear that John’s piece offended some of our customers, other members of the communities we serve and some of our team members as well.

We offer you our sincere apology.

We’d like to clarify a few things that have been misinterpreted:

John’s Op/Ed piece was written in favor of health care reform.
In response to President Obama’s invitation to all Americans to put forward constructive ideas for reforming our health care system, John was asked to write an Op/Ed piece and he gave his personal opinion. John titled the piece “Health Care Reform,” but an editor at the Journal rewrote the headline to call it “Whole Foods Alternative to Obamacare,” which led to antagonistic feelings by many. That was not John’s intention – in fact, John does not mention the President at all in his piece. John has posted the unedited piece to his blog where people can read it as it was intended.

Whole Foods Market has no official position on the issue.
That said, we have attempted to be part of the solution in health care reform for many years by providing innovative health care options to our team members. We believe that our high deductible medical insurance plan coupled with a company-funded HSA is an excellent way to empower team members to make their own health care choices.

John wanted to share our experience with others through his Op/Ed piece.
He believes that the specific ideas he put forward would improve access and cost of health care for more people. Because our plan has held down overall costs (relative to other plans), Whole Foods Market has been able to pay 100 percent of the premiums for our full-time team members — about 89% of our workforce. (Part-timers are eligible for the insurance plan too and pay the premium themselves.) Our team members vote on our plan every three years to make sure they continue to have a voice in our benefits.

Whole Foods Market has a 30-year track record of caring about our customers, team members and communities. From local loan programs to salary caps, from donations to non-profits to funding the Whole Planet Foundation, our innovative programs are created and designed by team members who care about their fellow citizens.

We all know there are many opinions on the health care debate, including inside our own company. As we, as a nation, continue to sort through this together, we are hopeful that both sides can do so in a civil manner that will lead to positive change for all concerned, and we thank you for sharing your opinions with us.

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Clinton wants the blogs to help Obama

But does Obama want the blogs to help Obama? It's never been entirely clear, even during the election, whether the Obama wanted any outside help from anyone - blogs, non-profit advocacy groups, the media. And it's still not terribly clear. No one is coordinating a strategy for using the blogs to fight back on health care reform. No one did it on the stimulus package either. The White House does have a staffer who is in charge of blog outreach, Jesse Lee, and he valiantly does what he can with what he's given. But Jesse is not in charge of running the health care reform strategy. And if no one gives him marching orders on how to better integrate the blogs in to the campaign, into a real strategy - rather than simply occasionally giving us talking points when things go wrong - then we won't be able to effectively help the president. We are clearly not a partner in this effort. And as I've said before, you can go it alone - and that's fine - but I don't think you're ever as effective going it alone as you are part of an actual team coordinating strategy on a regular basis. And that we most certainly are not. Read the rest of this post...

Santorum is dangerous

President Santorum, he means.

I’m a pretty tolerant guy, but beyond his ideology, some of Santorum’s behavior is just a little bizarre. For example, Santorum has six children. In 1996, he had son born prematurely who lived for only two hours. He and wife brought the child home and introduced the dead infant to the rest of their children as “your brother Gabriel” and slept with the body overnight.

Despite his actions and extreme ideology, and the fact that he was defeated in his bid for re-election by the widest margin of any incumbent senator since 1980, Rick Santorum should be taken seriously. He is articulate, focused, and a tenacious campaigner. And ideological conservatives love him. His base will be narrow but passionate. They will mobilize and they will vote. Especially in early primary states like Iowa and South Carolina.

And that means there’s one word that should come to mind when thinking about a Rick Santorum presidential candidacy: dangerous.

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Getting Cancer in a 'Hell Hole' Socialist Country

My friend Jane, who's also a reader of the blog, penned a piece for TPM about her recent diagnosis of breast cancer, and how she's faring in the French health care system. Read the rest of this post...

GOP leaders voted for death panel bill in 2003

Including bipartisan hypocrite Chuck Grassley:

GOP officials John Boehner, Thaddeus McCotter, Johnny Isakson, and Chuck Grassley all voted in 2003 for a measure very similar to the one in the current House health care bill they now suggest in various ways could lead to government-encouraged euthanasia.

As Time’s Amy Sullivan reported late last night, Grassley voted for the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, which — ready? — provided coverage for “counseling the beneficiary with respect to end-of-life issues and care options, and advising the beneficiary regarding advanced care planning.”

The only difference between the 2003 bill and the House Dem one that’s inspired the “euthanasia” talk, Sullivan reports, is that the earlier one “applied only to terminally ill patients.”

Let’s go back and check the roll call on that 2003 vote to see who else voted for it. Turns out Boehner, McCotter and Isakson all did, too.

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Taegan: Obama Willing to Stake Presidency on Health Care Reform

I don't think it's ever good to telegraph to the other side that you're desperate to win. Committed to win, sure. Willing to stake your presidency, well, I'm not so sure that's wise. It reminds me of when some White House aide let it be known that Obama wanted 80 votes on the stimulus package. That signaled that he was desperate for GOP support, and it suggested that perhaps the support was more importance than the substance of the bill. That's my concern this time around with health care reform. We all want to see health care reform passed, but I want my leaders to be willing to walk away from a bad deal, rather than feeling that they've staked their entire presidency on getting any deal, and thus any deal might just suffice. Obama has not said that "any" deal will suffice, but I do worry that the White House political folks (read: Rahm) would be willing to put lipstick on any pig so long as he can call it "reform" and use it for re-election. Read the rest of this post...

Losing the messaging war

There's a price to be paid for the Democrats' ongoing ineptness at spinning the health care reform debate, or anything else for that matter. A new PEW poll shows a majority of Americans have no problem with the rowdy protests happening at health care rallies and talks. I suspect that's because no one has done a good job of showing Americans just how nasty people are being. And when it comes down to it, even the White House sided with the mobs against Nancy Pelosi, so why wouldn't the American public side with them too? After all, their president said it was ok.

There's a price to be paid for not being willing (White House) or able (Congress) to fight back. No one respects weakness.

Sixty-one percent of those tested in the Pew poll called the protests "appropriate" while just 34 percent said they were inappropriate. Nearly two-thirds of independents, the critical voting bloc as both parties look to the 2010 midterm elections and the 2012 presidential race, described the protests as appropriate.

In the Gallup polling, 51 percent said that "individuals making angry attacks against a health care bill and what it might do" was an example of "democracy in action" (the Republican argument) while 41 percent called it an "abuse of democracy" (the Democratic argument).

The numbers were far different when the Gallup sample was asked about the booing of members of Congress (44 percent called it democracy in action while 47 percent said it was an abuse of democracy) or the "shouting down of supporters" of the health care plan when they attempted to speak. (33 percent democracy in action/59 percent abuse of democracy).

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Bill Clinton on DADT and DOMA

Bill Clinton was asked today at the Netroots Nation conference about Don't Ask Don't Tell and DOMA, both of which happened under his watch. Here is what he said, courtesy of a rush transcript provided by gay journalist Rex Wockner:

Netroots Nation '09 convention
Aug. 13, 2009
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Pittsburgh, PA

Lane Hudson (screaming from the audience): Mr. President, will you call for a repeal of DOMA and Don't Ask Don't Tell right now? Please.

Bill Clinton: ... You want to talk about Don't Ask Don't Tell, I'll tell you exactly what happened. You couldn't deliver me any support in the Congress and they voted by a veto-proof majority in both houses against my attempt to let gays serve in the military, and the media supported them. They raised all kinds of devilment. And all most of you did was to attack me instead of getting me some support in the Congress. Now that's the truth.

Secondly -- it's true! You know, you may have noticed that presidents aren't dictators. They voted -- they were about to vote for the old policy by margins exceeding 80 percent in the House and exceeding 70 percent in the Senate. The gave test votes out there to send me a message that they were going to reverse any attempt I made by executive order to force them to accept gays in the military. And let me remind you that the public opinion now is more strongly in our favor than it was 16 years ago, and I have continued supporting it. That John Shalikashvili, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under me, was against Don't Ask -- was against letting gays serve -- is now in favor of it. This is a different world. That's the point I'm trying to make.

Let me also say something that never got sufficient publicity at the time: When General Colin Powell came up with this Don't Ask Don't Tell, it was defined while he was chairman much differently than it was implemented. He said: 'If you will accept this, here's what we'll do. We will not pursue anyone. Any military members out of uniform will be free to march in gay rights parades, go to gay bars, go to political meetings. Whatever mailings they get, whatever they do in their private lives, none of this will be a basis for dismissal.' It all turned out to be a fraud because of the enormous reaction against it among the middle-level officers and down after it was promulgated and Colin was gone. So nobody regrets how this was implemented any more than I do. But the Congress also put that into law by a veto-proof majority, and many of your friends voted for that, believing the explanation about how it would be eliminated. So, I hated what happened. I regret it. But I didn't have, I didn't think at the time, any choice if I wanted any progress to be made at all. Look, I think it's ridiculous. Can you believe they spent -- whatever they spent -- $150,000 to get rid of a valued Arabic speaker recently?

And, you know, the thing that changed me forever on Don't Ask Don't Tell was when I learned that 130 gay service people were allowed to serve and risk their lives in the first Gulf War, and all their commanders knew they were gay; they let them go out there and risk their lives because they needed them, and then as soon as the first Gulf War was over, they kicked them out. That's all I needed to know, that's all anybody needs to know, to know that this policy should be changed.

Now, while we're at it, let me just say one thing about DOMA, since you -- the reason I signed DOMA was -- and I said when I signed it -- that I thought the question of whether gays should marry should be left up to states and to religious organizations, and if any church or other religious body wanted to recognize gay marriage, they ought to. We were attempting at the time, in a very reactionary Congress, to head off an attempt to send a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to the states. And if you look at the 11 referenda much later -- in 2004, in the election -- which the Republicans put on the ballot to try to get the base vote for President Bush up, I think it's obvious that something had to be done to try to keep the Republican Congress from presenting that. The President doesn't even get to veto that. The Congress can refer constitutional amendments to the states. I didn't like signing DOMA and I certainly didn't like the constraints that were put on benefits, and I've done everything I could -- and I am proud to say that the State Department was the first federal department to restore benefits to gay partners in the Obama administration, and I think we are going forward in the right direction now for federal employees. ...

But, actually, all these things illustrate the point I'm trying to make. America has rapidly moved to a different place on a lot of these issues, and so what we have to decide is what we are going to do about it. Right now, the Republicans are sitting around rooting for the president to fail, as nearly as I can see.

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The Deathers: Defining the debate for the GOP.

Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican dictating the terms of health insurance reform, is a deather.

Meet the rest of the Deathers: spreading the GOP lies, setting health care policy. Courtesy of Jed:
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Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning from Pittsburgh.

I'm at Netroots Nation. Had a busy first day, but I achieved my goal of meeting both Jed Lewison and Andy Cobb. Today, I'm going to do a couple interviews with members of Congress. I met Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner yesterday. She's running in the Democratic primary for Senate in her state. I'll post that video later today.

It's always fun being at a conference with bloggers. But, I always feel a little out of touch because I'm not online all day. But, news spreads pretty quickly here in a very old-fashioned way: word-of-mouth.

Let's start... Read the rest of this post...

Germany, France out of recession

For now, at least. There are plenty of signs pointing in the direction of trouble ahead as unemployment is surely set to move up in the autumn. Then again, driving across France this summer I've been impressed with the number of active infrastructure projects. Whether it's enough to help balance out the other problems remains to be seen though.

Shares in London closed tonight at their highest level this year after an unexpected return to growth in Germany and France – the eurozone's two powerhouse economies – boosted hopes of recovery from the severest financial crisis since the 1930s.

The City's FTSE 100 closed 38.7 points up at 4755.46 – a level not seen since early October when bourses around the globe were gripped by panic in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Both Germany and France reported that output had grown by 0.3% in the three months to June – bucking market fears of a fresh contraction in activity and far exceeding the performance of the UK, which contracted by 0.8% over the same period.

And no, share prices mean nothing in this case beyond the market reacting on that specific day to the news. Read the rest of this post...

Les Paul dies at 94

What a legend.

Les Paul, the virtuoso guitarist and inventor whose solid-body electric guitar and recording studio innovations changed the course of 20th-century popular music, died Thursday in White Plains, N.Y. . He was 94.

The cause was complications of pneumonia, the Gibson Guitar Corporation and his family announced. .

Mr. Paul was a remarkable musician as well as a tireless tinkerer. He played guitar alongside leading prewar jazz and pop musicians from Louis Armstrong to Bing Crosby. In the 1930s he began experimenting with guitar amplification, and by 1941 he had built what was probably the first solid-body electric guitar, although there are other claimants. With his guitar and the vocals of his wife, Mary Ford, he used overdubbing, multitrack recording and new electronic effects to create a string of hits in the 1950s.

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New allegations against Myanmar regime and Big Oil

Forced labor again? It's practically expected from the Myanmar dictatorship but shouldn't Western companies do more to prevent such actions? Then again, this is Big Oil that we're talking about.

The French energy giant Total is at the centre of allegations that Burmese villagers are being used as forced labour to help support a huge gas pipeline that is earning the country's military regime hundreds of millions of dollars.

Testimony from villagers and former soldiers gathered by human rights workers suggests that Burmese soldiers, who provide security for the Yadana pipeline on behalf of Total, are forcing thousands of people to work portering, carrying wood and repairing roads in the pipeline area. They have also been forced to build police stations and barracks.

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Nassim Taleb on rewarding failure

Obviously the former trader is a communist who doesn't understand the new capitalist model that rewards gamblers and failures and instead punishes success and common sense. Read the rest of this post...