“[Note from Ryking: What Pearlstein fails to mention below is that the endless senatorial holds on nominees have been placed by Republicans. The 60-vote “requirement” to pass legislation after two centuries of “51 votes wins?” A GOP requirement that the Democrats idiotically went along with.]Last weekend, after months of committee deliberations, backroom dealmaking and leadership arm-twisting, the House narrowly approved a complex, 2,000-page plan after a mere four hours of political and ideological posturing that allowed for only two amendments, one having to do with abortion.Almost nobody — including the House members themselves— found it odd that this process offered no chance to vote on what kind of “public option” they wanted, or whether they wanted to add some form of malpractice reform, or whether there should be some limit on the value of tax-free health benefits or any of the other two dozen key issues in the health reform debate. In the world’s oldest continuous democracy, these apparently are questions considered too important to be decided individually by a majority of the elected representatives.The health bill now heads to a much less certain fate in the Senate, where instead of a dictatorship of the majority there is a dictatorship of the minority.Because of the quaint traditions of the upper chamber, there are today scores of top positions in government that routinely remain unfilled for months because one senator or another has decided to put a “hold” on a nomination. And on any controversial issue, and even some that are not, 60 votes are now required to overcome the threat of endless “debate” and actually pass a piece of legislation, along with 60 votes on as many amendments as senators can dream up.It’s gotten to the point now where all it takes to kill something in the Senate is the mere threat of a filibuster, without anyone actually having to mount one. And if you somehow managed to get, say, health reform legislation to the floor, it would take 60 votes to pass a bill that included the public option and 60 votes to pass one without it…Despite what you hear from legislative leaders, there is nothing preordained about this wholesale disregard for majority rule. In fact, it violates the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution, which expressly delineates a limited number of instances in which anything other than a majority vote is required. And it makes a mockery of Senate rules and precedent, which for nearly two centuries were grounded in a tradition of comity and mutual respect between majority and minority.”
Communicating with 'A Woman's Nation'
“A new book by Maria Shriver documents women’s ascension into the workforce and the fundamental societal changes that have occurred as a result. An important question remains: how should political campaigns communicate with working women?
“For campaigns, women are key. Obama captured 56% of the women’s vote in 2008; by contrast, Corzine captured 50% of the women’s vote this year and Deeds only 46% — both candidates lost. Year to year, women remain a swing group of voters, particularly non-college and suburban women, and the bulk of late deciders.
“But reaching these busy women has grown increasingly difficult. (full story)
Badfellas : How Rahm And My President Killed Health Reform
“When I supported Barack Obama in 2008, two of most compelling reasons were his stand on health care reform and his strong opposition to the power of lobbyists in Washington. When he was elected, it was like we were all elected. Finally, we’d have one of our guys as the President.”
Dear Progressive Allies in Health Care Reform: Where Were You on the Stupak Amendment?
“Unfortunately, I’m not sure I have seen this kind of unity when it comes to the anti-choice Stupak Amendment. In my email inbox, I’m getting elation-infused emails from Moveon.org, my state Democratic party, Americans for Democratic Action, even SEIU. Organizations for which I have tremendous respect - truly. But even as your emails proclaim that “the fight is far from over”, none of you mention the heinous hit women’s access to abortion care took when this House bill was passed.
“Not one of your emails even references the fight pro-choice legislators and women’s health advocates have ahead of us. Not one of your emails touches on the ways in which abortion access is critical to a broader progressive agenda. Women’s reproductive and sexual health care access is tied to women’s rights, of course, but also to environmental sustainability, maternal health, immigrants’ rights, LGBTI rights, newborn health, healthy economies, and more. How can it be that somehow abortion access has been largely ignored by other progressive organizations working for health care reform?”
(via @iamdrtiller and @billieraven)
~ Michael Buble - Fever ~
Seriously, how much must this guy get laid? I don’t know how he even has time to sing. He was on the Graham Norton Show, and he has a ton of personality with a great sense of humor. Blue collar background; father is a fisherman and plumber.
“
Crazy people are like wasps - if you pay too much attention to them they only get agitated.
Ray Fischer
2,200 Vets Died Last Year Because They Lacked Health Insurance
“Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are working people – too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care,” said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a professor at Harvard Medical School. […]Dr. David Himmelstein, the co-author of the analysis and associate professor of medicine at Harvard, commented, “On this Veterans Day we should not only honor the nearly 500 soldiers who have died this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the more than 2,200 veterans who were killed by our broken health insurance system. That’s six preventable deaths a day.”
Republicans are so transparent. ”Support the troops…unless they disagree with our politics”. Laughable.
“While many Americans believe that all veterans can get care from the VA, even combat veterans may not be able to obtain VA care, Woolhandler said. As a rule, VA facilities provide care for any veteran who is disabled by a condition connected to his or her military service and care for specific medical conditions acquired during military service.
“Woolhandler said veterans who pass a means test are eligible for care in VA facilities, but have lower priority status (Priority 5 or 7, depending upon income level). Veterans with higher incomes are classified in the lowest priority group and are not eligible for VA enrollment.”
Think Progress » Maddow Rips Rep. Pete Hoekstra For Leaking Sensitive National Security Information
(via ryking)
The Democrats' new "Family" values: Thanks to C Streeter Bart Stupak and his allies, the GOP isn't the only party kowtowing to the Christian right
“American women will pay the price for the Democratic dithering that allowed Saturday’s passage of the Stupak-Pitts amendment, a worm virus inserted into the House healthcare reform bill with surgical precision. But the Democratic Party will suffer collateral damage.
‘Stupak-Pitts isn’t just “the biggest restriction on women’s right to choose in our generation,” as Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado puts it; it’s also evidence that on abortion the Democratic Party is now captive, just like the GOP, to Christian conservatism. Of course, Republicans traded away their party’s moderate wing for real electoral gains, a base that propelled them to power for decades. The Democrats, already in power, sucker-punched themselves, and all they have to show for it is a big fat shiner in the shape of Bart Stupak’s knuckles.”
Chomsky on acceptable opinion
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.”This is why we have a two party system rather than a parliamentary one.
This is why we shouldn’t only have two parties, Chomsky’s belief is that a two-party system is more like a one party system that does not allow for a diversity of ideologies.
Right; my point was that we have a two party system instead of a parliamentary one is so that change and reform on slowed; with a parliamentary system we’d be able to enact social change much more quickly. Proponents of the two party system simply don’t believe that democracy is an effective method of governance, if they did they’d favor more influence for the voting population.
(this post was reblogged from jonathan-cunningham)
(via slob-without-a-name)
What Good Is A Democratic Majority If It Governs Like A Republican Majority?
Anthony Wiener has abandoned single-payer, joining the rest of the Dems who foolishly abandoned it months ago:
“I feel very strongly that the employer-based model is not the way to go and single-payer is the better way,” Mr. Weiner said in an interview. “But I never wanted it to be the situation where we literally let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”Unfortunately Mr.Wiener, the bill you have is so watered-down for the DINO Blue Dogs it doesn’t remotely approach “good.”
While Mr. Weiner said he recognized that his decision would disappoint legions of single-payer advocates, he said the danger to the larger bill was too great.
Forcing a vote on single-payer could be particularly problematic for lawmakers who represent districts that split heavily between liberal and more moderate or conservative voters. A vote against the single-payer issue would anger constituents on the left, while emboldening opponents on the right, making it more difficult to support the larger bill. Avoiding a vote on the issue, in turn, could allow centrist Democrats to take a tough vote in favor of the larger bill.
In short: Some members of the Democratic Party from the dumber districts are willing to fight against and even vote against actual progressive reform (in favor of supporting legislative pablum) out of fear that they may lose their seat to a Republican who will also fight against and vote against progressive reform.
Time for better Democrats.
