Month: March 2010

Yesterday my wife told me about a great web site she'd heard mentioned on the Thom Hartmann program (which originates from KPOJ in nearby Portland, Oregon -- on America's proudly left coast).It's Stop My Benefits, where the people who are ranting about Obamacare, socialized medicine, and government taking over our freedoms can sign a form asking that their participation in distasteful programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Veteran's benefits, and Social Security be stopped.Excellent idea. As the site says: It has been apparent that some people think that “government-run, socialized” healthcare programs are bad.  There has even been discussions where people don’t…

Much of the furor has died down over the fatal shooting by a Portland (Oregon) police officer of a drunk transient who came out of a public restroom bloodied and holding an x-acto knife.But I'm still bothered by it, notwithstanding the most press release from the Portland Police Bureau after an interview with the officer, Jason Walters -- which, disturbingly, didn't take place until days had passed after the shooting.Download 032510_Updated_Hoyt_ArboretumThe transient, Jack "Jackie" Collins, was intoxicated and threatening people at Hoyt Aboretum. After Walters knocked on the restroom door, Collins came out. Pretty clearly, Collins had been cutting on…

Republicans, beware. Your dream of an angry electorate rising up next November and returning your party to control of Congress probably is as fantastical as your objections to the health care legislation that passed the House of Representatives a few days ago.Watching the debate on television, and then listening to it on my car radio off and on as I drove around Sunday afternoon, I kept hearing Republicans scream, "People don't want this bill!"Well, if that was true on the weekend, Americans changed their minds by Tuesday. A Gallup poll taken after the House vote, on Monday, found that 49%…

I feel great, knowing that passage of the health care reform bill is virtually assured in the House. All the work and money millions of people put into electing Obama and a solid Democratic majority is paying off for the American people.It's a big moment, just as the passage of Social Security and Civil Rights legislation was. Soon the United States will be well on the road to assuring that everyone is able to get high quality needed medical care at a reasonable cost.Political junkie that I am, around 1:00 pm I sat outside a grocery store here in Salem…

It looks like health insurance reform legislation is going to pass the House this weekend, and that the Senate will approve it. Great news -- for the 30 million Americans who will finally get insurance, for the 44,000 who have been dying each year from a lack of insurance, and for the rest of us who will no longer be screwed over in various nasty ways by profit-hungry private insurance companies.But it won't be pleasant news for Fox News, which will be deeply embarrassed (or at least, should be) by how inaccurate its reporting and prognosticating on this issue has…

It drives me crazy when people (usually right-wingers) ignore what has worked in other countries, wanting the United States to go its own dysfunctional way.Allowing gays to serve openly in the military is a great example. The first question Congress and Defense Department officials should be asking is, "what do other countries with top-notch forces do?"Just fine. Most Western military forces have now removed policies excluding sexual minority members; of the 26 countries that participate militarily in NATO, more than 20 permit open lesbians, gays, or bisexuals to serve; of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, three (United…

Ah, it's nice for my progressive and once-Catholic soul to see the head of the Catholic Health Association coming out in favor of the Senate health insurance reform bill -- the abortion language being just fine with her.Sister Carol Keehan makes a lot of sense when she says that supporting the bill is a pro-life stance.In her statement Saturday, Keehan made it clear she thinks any qualms about abortion language in the Senate version can be resolved, and in any event are not enough to justify opposition to what Catholic leaders say is a pro-life issue and a "human right"…

Talk about a no-brainer. Why shouldn't the United States save lots of money and help tens of millions of people?Today the Congressional Budget Office released an updated analysis of the Senate's health care reform bill, which will be the basis for an improved version planned to be passed through reconciliation.The bottom line is that the deficit will be reduced by $118 billion over the next ten years, which is just about the same as what the CBO projected in a previous analysis.So why are Republicans united in their opposition to a bill that markedly reduces the deficit while giving thirty…

I doubt that our senior senator here in Oregon, Ron Wyden, is losing sleep over Jim Huffman's announcement that he's seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Wyden next November.At least, I assume Huffman is running as a Republican. You can't tell from his campaign web site, which as far as I could tell doesn't mention his party affiliation at all (a wise move, given the demonstrated inability of R's to win statewide offices).His web site is rather strangely named jobsfororegonians.com, a URL that has nothing to do with either (1) Jim Huffman or (2) the race for a U.S. Senate…

I like coffee more than tea. And I like the Coffee Party movement hugely more than the Tea Party version.The Coffee Party got brewed up by Annabel Park via a status update on her Facebook page. let's start a coffee party . . . smoothie party. red bull party. anything but tea. geez. ooh how about cappuccino party? that would really piss 'em off bec it sounds elitist . . . let's get together and drink cappuccino and have real political dialogue with substance and compassion.Friends replied, and more friends replied. So last month, in her Silver Spring apartment, Park started…