Tag: Senator Harry Reid

Arizona Follies

I hate to put up a “me too” post of “Arizona’s Papers Pleez Law is Bad mmkay,” so I prefer to consider this a roundup post of things others have said. I’ll start by reminding you that just last week I said “By the way, ‘reasonable suspicion’ means the cop doesn’t like you and/or you’re brown. I don’t think most people appreciate that most people don’t carry proof of citizenship in their pockets….”

So I can’t express any real shock that before the Arizona bill even hit the Governor’s desk, an Arizona trucker was asked to present proof of citizenship at a routine weight stop. Hell, I predicted such things would happen, I just didn’t think it would be a matter of days.

So frankly, it seems obvious for conventions to want to meet someplace other than Arizona, particularly if they have a lot of “brown” people who are planning to attend. After all, the last thing you want is for your attendees or speakers to be detained and possibly deported to unknown places for the “crime” of not slipping a birth certificate in their luggage! Boycotts are already underway, and an interesting array of figures have come out against the bill. Even Mexico is warning its citizens against travel to Arizona, despite the fact that surely Mexican tourists would come armed with legitimate passports.

Arizona authorities even have the unmitigated audacity to ask Federal officials for help training cops to harass Americans suspected of being non-Americans. But then again, this is the land of Bully-in-Chief and perennial civil rights defendant Sheriff Arpaio.

Just the same, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that this whole exercise boils down to race. Specifically, they want to discourage “brown” people from showing up to vote in November. Notice that all this came down right after those Census forms went back? Arizona cronies want the Congressional seats and other goodies that come from having all those Hispanic votes with no risk that those Hispanics will show up and vote… Democratic.

In closing: I am embarrassed for my local paper that they printed this “proof” that women prefer Democrats not because of say, policies that support women’s rights and needs but rather because they are “fickle“; speaking of local issues with national implications, don’t lose track of this lawsuit!; more local-is-national news, Harry Reid gets real; Japanfilter comes to you from the continuing controversy of American troops at Okinawa; loopholes in the health insurance reform bill; Haven’t I been telling you for 7 years that we never really had a recovery from the 2001 recession?; after all these years, rubella is a serious but preventable disease; stricter financial reform now; don’t let political adversaries define the problem you are trying to solve!; 30 years of sticky-notes; PowerPoint has its place, just not on the battlefield; I’m not sure I agree with the idea of a top tax bracket at 90% (which it was pre-Reagan), but it’s an interesting argument; and 6 important things humanity forgot.

Public Option: Resurected or Zombie?

Let’s put the pieces together and see if we have something functional, or some kind of Frankenstein’s Health Insurance Reform. Americans are rightly disgusted by the thing that Congress has brought forth, mostly because it includes such odious things as mandatory coverage and taxing of “decent” health insurance plans. There is still a big health care reform “summit” next week, which is looking more and more like a circus the closer it gets. Health insurance premiums are continuing to rise steeply, and health insurance company profits are rising too, even though they managed to increase “political giving” — that’s legal bribes — 14% in 2009. Add the fact that more Americans are depending on Medicaid, while there is less money for the states to cover them.

Gee, no wonder Americans are disgusted by the idea of mandatory coverage and taxing plans that the tax code decrees too expensive.

Amid this backdrop, the President has finally announced that he will throw an official, Presidential seal of approval health insurance reform bill into the mix, and is planning on stapling it to a budget bill so it can’t be filibustered. He’s even indicated that he’s willing to back a public option — but only if Senator Reid will jump with him. Harry’s in a tough re-election race this fall, and could really use something to bring his polling numbers up. Ah, the real reason for his Nevada visit is out — it’s certainly not because the President feels he owes the Mayor a martini.

Perhaps the feds should start by killing two birds with one stone. If they fully fund Medicaid, the states will have an easier time making their budgets balance and all those extra people on the rolls (see above) will be proof that a public option can work!

But what about this new public option that might be under consideration? We don’t have any real details, so it’s hard to support it. Is it going to be a decent plan? Is it going to be cost competitive with the for-profit insurance companies or will it be a higher priced insurer of last resort? Is it going to have gutted provisions for women’s health so as not to offend the far religious right? Is it going to be available to all Americans, or only to a small percentage of us? Is it going to be saddled with triggers and means tests and all sorts of other crap that will cripple it?

In short, is it some variant of Medicare For All, or is it just another favor for insurance companies?

If this is the real deal — a resurrected public option — I will preach the gospel for it. But beware, if it is a zombie, I will be ready with my blogging boomstick to blow its head off.

In Closing: Getting ahead at the office and getting head at the office are mutually exclusive (I love the story of what was found in a certain executive’s office); a great t-shirt; there has to be some balance between what the community thinks education should be and what the educators think education should be; Japan has overtaken China as America’s biggest creditor; more people trying to ditch “too big to fail” institutions; Dude, where’s my stimulus funds?; class, race, and the War on (some) Drugs; TrueMajority; “Rich people create jobs, all we have to do is cut their taxes enough”? Might just as well wait for Santa to put one in your stocking; if this is true, the dumbest school administrators in the nation thought it would be a good idea to spy on students in their homes using the webcams in their school issued notebook computers; Catholic Charities has decided that politics is more important than that “helping the poor and the sick” crap that Jesus was on about (one more reason my charitable giving is secular whenever possible); and why people pirate DVDs.