With Democrats Like These, Who Needs Republicans?

The Blue Dogs are watering down health care reform, eliminating subsidies for lower-income folks to buy coverage, strengthening the mandate to buy insurance, and all but eviscerating the public option...the very safety net people who can't afford a plan would rely upon to meet the mandate. They're also looking at ways to tax benefits provided by employers, which will drive down disposable income during the worst recession in anyone's memory.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

News Flash: Pigs Fly, Hell Freezes Over

Anyone who's known me for a long time could probably tell you a few truisms about me: I'm not subtle, I'm never at a loss for words, and a laugh or joke is always close at hand.

Some of them would also tell you that I'm not the marrying type. Those people, it turns out, were a bit off the mark. Two days ago I did what some would say is out of character and proposed to Anne. She said yes :)

It's an interesting feeling...I knew long ago that Anne was right for me. Marriage was never high on my list of priorities. I'm not a religious guy, and I could care less whether the state blesses my relationship with somebody. But it's still comforting to make it official. And I'm excited about it :)

Shatner Reads Palin...

The More You Talk...

There are lessons to be learned by listening to others.

Goldman Games the System

Nobody likes TARP. And Goldman Sachs is rapidly turning into the lead pariah. After getting government bailouts of all sorts, Goldman recently posted record revenue of $736 million. Matt Taibbi has an interesting blog post on the subject, detailing the extent of Goldman's sucking from the public trough.

Sanford Likes His Business Class Seats

South Carolina governor Mark Sanford claims to be a frugal fiscal conservative. But he sure likes his airline hospitality, according to AP. The governor spent thousands in state funds to fly in business and first class on domestic and international trips.

I wish I could fly first class everywhere. That would be fun.

Paranoid, Delusional, Massochistic Fantasies

There’s a paranoid delusional state among wingnuts these days. It’s both frightening and amusing at once. Today I saw a bumper sticker on a pickup truck in St Louis:

I’ll keep my guns, my freedom, and my money.

You can keep the change.

One part of me wanted to find the owner of the truck and try desperately to provide him with a dose of reality. But I doubt it would have taken hold.

Some wingnuts have this fantasy that Obama and his minions are coming for your guns, with the ghosts of Mao Tse Tung and Lenin in tow. Despite legions of evidence that such a thing just won’t happen, they hold fast to this idea of the ATF knocking down their front door, killing their family, and taking their guns. They also hold fast to the laughable notion that an armed population can somehow hold the government in check…with its tanks, its planes, armed unmanned drones, cruise missiles, and vast treasure. Laughable. But somehow the fantasy lives…it’s almost like they want it to happen; they want to be martyrs for the cause.

The right has fed on paranoia and fear for the better part of a century now. They get some of their power from red scares, xenophobia, and myths resulting from paranoid fantasies. That’s ultimately self-destructive. Too bad they end up dragging the rest of the nation down with them.

Just Like Grand Theft Auto...

Flying from SFO-LAX-STL yesterday, I spent a lot of time enjoying the sights from the airplane. The Golden Gate bridge and the beautiful Bay Area skylines, coastal California, the Hollywood sign, downtown LA, South Central, Mojave airport and the airplane boneyard, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, and Lake Mead all passed below on a gloriously sunny day. A little later in my flight to STL, it hit me…this is like a microcosm of the digital landscape Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. All of these sights are replicated fairly faithfully in the game, but with different names. Then I thought I should probably get a life.

All-Stars at the St Louis Airport

I’ve been in St Louis today working with a customer. It wasn’t until I arrived that I learned that the All-Star Game is going on tonight, and that the President is scheduled to attend. My flight leaves at 4:40 PM CST, which is just about the time Air Force One is supposed to arrive. So I’ll either get out of here on time, or I’ll get to see the most powerful jet in the world land, and maybe catch a glimpse of the first President I voted for. Good times!

House Dems: Tax the Wealthy to Pay For Health Reform

I keep having to pinch myself. House Democrats have proposed a modest income surtax on individuals with incomes above $280,000 and couples with income over $350,000. The tax would raise around $540 billion, and would be used to pay for nearly half of the proposed health care reforms. Just a few years ago, this modest idea would have been laughed out of the halls of Congress. Even these days, the blue dog democrats might kill it. But it's at least refreshing to see that some in the halls of power appreciate the idea of progressive taxation.

A Case In Point...

A few months ago I had to take the girlfriend to the emergency room. No, I didn't end up on Cops...she was experiencing tightness in her chest and was having difficulty breathing. After calling her health plan's difficult-to-find advice line, we were advised to go to the hospital. The ER staff at CPMC took chest x-rays, an EKG, and declared her fit as a fiddle...and prescribed her an inhaler.

We opened up the mail tonight to find a bill for nearly $700...and that's after her health insurance company paid their share. We also found that the hospital had added billing codes for lab work...which never occurred that night. Apparently, these billing errors are extremely common. Health care providers, especially hospitals, have every incentive to make these kinds of mistakes and not correct them. And insurance companies just pass the buck along to you.

This is a perfect example of how broken our current health care system is. Perverse incentives, duplicate and redundant bureaucracies abound. And all of this from the same companies fighting hard to prevent true health care reform. And it's coming out of your pocket. Isn't America great?

Over 6000 Years Old!

Thanks to Keith Olberman for this one. Today's worst person in the world is State Senator Sylvia Allen from the great state of Arizona. While speaking in favor of approving a permit to mine uranium, the distinguished State Senator reminds us that the Earth is over 6000 years old...and predates all those pesky environmental laws.



You heard right...we need to mine Uranium, which has a half-life of 4.47 bilion years and is used to carbon date artifacts from the earliest human civilizations (8000 years ago) and to do so, we need to get around those environmental laws that weren't around when the Earth was created 6000 years ago. Classic.

Are you A Can-Do Person?

Success comes in cans, not in cannots.