bobmmay's blog

We all know that Max Baucus kept single-payer advocates from testifying at his hearing. It turns out that not even Ted Kennedy mentions single payer in his plan (not yet submitted).

We all know that 60% of the American public favors single payer.

We all know that the insurance and pharmaceutical companies are spending hundreds of millions of lobby dollars to keep the "government option" from providing any significant benefit or competition to the status quo.

One Senator, Bernie Sanders, is actively promoting single payer. You can read his message and watch a brief video here. If you so choose, you can sign his petition:

http://sanders.senate.gov/petitions/index.cfm?uid=7fd59f2e-88e1-477a-8ea...

There are a few major issues to be resolved before single payer can be adopted:

1. The insurance company employees who will be displaced must have a federal program to help them find other work. Otherwise, they will fight against single-payer.

2. The public must be educated in more detail about what the other OECD countries are doing to beat the pants off U.S. health care, with lower cost and better outcomes. Otherwise, the industry fear-mongering will win. Obama is tip-toeing through industry and the AMA to minimize antagonism. Understandable. So have somebody like the OMB or the GAO put out the info in easy-to-understand format. Don't point people to OECD; they'll give up before they read it all.

3. Last but not least, politicians must not be indebted to industry for campaign funds. Can anyone say "campaign finance reform?"

Bob May

Title: Words Designed to Kill Health Care Reform

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-merkley/words-designed-to-kill-he_b_199373.html

By Sen. Jeff Merkley, U.S. Senator from Oregon Posted May 7, 2009 | 06:48 PM (EST)

Summary: "Republican strategist Dr. Frank Luntz laying out plans to dismantle any effort to give all Americans access to quality health care."

Good question.

The answer is up to us.

There's a rather lengthy article in Tom Dispatch which discusses this topic:

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175058/roane_carey_will_israel_attack_iran_

Israel has stepped up its rhetoric, with the implication that it will attack Iran unless the United States steps in and forces Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment program.

Regardless of your position on the two countries, I hope that most of you will agree that a military attack on Iran is against the best interests of Israel, the United States and the entire Middle East. As a matter of fact, I'm quite certain that the world's Muslim community will react against this aggression. The United States, which has been a good friend and ally of Israel, unfortunately, also would be subject to whatever reprisals arise, regardless of by whom.

I encourage you to call your elected officials to ask that they urge President Obama to talk with Netanyahu about this situation and to find a non-military solution.

Sold Out is the "Best Demonstration"

1. The Best Demonstration of the Need for Campaign Finance Reform
2. The Best Demonstration of the Need for Citizen Involvement in the Political Process.
3. The Best Demonstration of Greed in "Wall Street"
4. The Best Demonstration of Greed in the Congress
5. The Best Demonstration of Complicity in the White House

This is a highly-researched report on the history of, and the players in, the dismantling of our federal system for financial regulation and oversight.

"Sold Out - How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America," March 2009

The full report and excerpts are available in PDF format on the home page of www.wallstreetwatch.org.

Read the overview on the Home Page of Wall Street Watch, then the Executive Overview.

Then scan through Appendix, Pages 115 through 231, "Leading Financial Firm Profiles of Campaign Contributions and Lobbying Expenditures."

It also lists the major recipients of Wall Street's money, including President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and many significant Democrats, in addition to the Republicans.

You may be shocked at the amount of lobby money used to offload all ("Wall Street") financial risk onto the American taxpayer.

Palin: the real scandal

By Leonard Doyle in Anchorage
Saturday, 6 September 2008

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/palin-the-real-scandal-...

Here is a quote from the article:

"But the woman who could soon be a 72-year-old's heartbeat away from the United States presidency has an environmental policy so toxic it would make the incumbent, George Bush, blush."

MSNBC has an excellent documentary on the life of Barack Obama. I wish all Republicans and skeptical Democrats could watch it. They would see that Obama's entire life has been a quest to find and fulfill his purpose, helping people.

The documentary was created by Peacock Productions, which now is a subsidiary of NBC/MSNBC. I looked for the video on the NBC web sites but could not find it.

However, I did find it on YouTube. If you haven't yet seen it, watch it and you will be re-inspired and re-energized all over again! It's in five parts. The URL is for Part 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLnT-HolC9w&feature=related

If you know how to get a DVD of this program, please reply to this post.

Bob May

I am saddened and angered at the same time. I never thought I would see such violent police actions at the Denver and St. Paul conventions. This is an indication of just how popular Bush's Department of In-Justice policies actually are in this country. Free speech is only free when it is spoken quietly, out of earshot from the police.

As of approximately midnight, ET, all three were released with charges pending. See the Democracy Now web site for latest details (www.DemocracyNow.org).

Monday 01 September 2008

Editor's Note: Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was arrested Monday afternoon in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she was covering the Republican National Convention. Police seized Goodman as she attempted to defend two Democracy Now! producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who had just been arrested on "probable cause for riot." Goodman and her colleagues are now being held at the Ramsey County Jail.

Picture and video at:
http://www.truthout.org/article/amy-goodman-and-two-democracy-now-produc...

Ramsey County Sherrif Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul.

Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar. These calls can be directed to: Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman's office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).

We occasionally see David Axelrod as Obama's campaign spokesperson. Has anyone seen David Plouffe? Here's the article introduction:

David Plouffe is the man steering Obama's campaign

Political strategists say David Plouffe is smart, competitive, confident and frugal. And they say he has no intention of straying from his unconventional and audacious strategy to get Barack Obama elected.

Here's the complete article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-plouffe8-2008jul08,0,4482990....

In walking my neighborhood, about 30 Democratic households in the list I was given, I have encountered, thus far:

1. Two people who registered Democrat so they could vote against the better candidate. Both men volunteered that information.

2. A Clinton supporter who has voted Democrat all her life but is going to vote for McCain because Clinton lost. She was visibly angry as she spoke.

3. A Republican husband who told me to get off the property even though his wife votes Democratic.

4. A couple, maybe in their late thirties, who are waiting for the voter manual to decide which candidates get their votes, i.e., they plan to "pick and choose."

5. One person who said he would not vote for Obama but did not volunteer why.

6. Others who say they are just too busy to follow the campaign.

This is the first time that I have experienced these situations. Getting into discussions wasn't my goal but I admit I was a little taken aback by the lack of interest in discussing the campaign (or the candidates).

I would like to have handouts to give to everyone I talk with. This would enable me to give people the necessary information and not tie them up at the door. Simple handouts that compare positions of the candidates. Enough detail to indicate substance. No "cut taxes" or "full employment" talk unless there is a plan on how to make it work. FAQs. Talking points. etc.

I missed the program but here's an interesting tidbit from my compatriots in Claremont, CA:

"Frontline" on 4/15/08 had a program on health insurance in various countries. I found 2 of them particularly interesting.

Switzerland formerly had a US-style health insurance market. A national referendum barely approved government-regulated insurance. The current President of Switzerland, who had opposed the change, now supports it, since it's popular. There is one mandated package of services. Insurers compete on service quality and price.

Taiwan, which recently established a government-run system, studied all of the others and picked the "best" features. Prof. William Hsiao -- of Harvard (as I recall) -- was the consultant. Taiwan's government is the single insurer (a la Medicare), participation is mandatory, administrative cost is only 2%, the program costs 6% of GDP, and it operates at a deficit. I don't recall whether the 6% is the amount of premiums collected or the actual cost of the program.

==============================================================
Can anyone point to a report that compares the various countries? A few weeks ago, I went to the WHO site, http://www.who.int/en/, and tried to find a readable report in their "Data and statistics" section but couldn't find any coordinated, integrated report.

Bob

The latest Gallup Poll and the media are abuzz that Obama is taking the lead, in some cases, strongly. See:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/107806/Obama-Gains-Among-Women-After-Clinton-...

MSNBC says that Obama has a huge lead in the Latino vote but I can't find a verifiable source.

I'm glad we're ahead but that could lead to problems. Let us hope that Obama supporters and voters in general do not become complacent.

Actually, some people have a pretty good explanation:

http://www.imvotingrepublican.com/

Walking the neighborhood and talking with people is a great way for me to quickly learn that people's opinions and perspectives are as varied as snowflakes. And, how much I don't know!

I looked for a blog or a forum that has discussions on items of specific interest to PCPs. I didn't find any, so I'm using this blog item to see if there is interest in doing this on a wider scale. A forum would seem to be more appropriate because it's easier to track chains on a given topic.

Are you as a PCP or an NL or an HDL interested in a forum like this? If it does interest you, we can pass our request on to the web folks.

For example, today I heard the following comments from my neighborhood and from people on the street:

1. We should have a fixed-rate tax for everyone. The big companies don't pay taxes, so it's all on the little guy.
2. The May ballot is too legalistic for me to understand so I won't vote for anything that isn't written in plain English.
3. Proposals 51 and 52 are identical.
4. Superdelegates and the Electoral College take away the rights of the voters.
5. All the young people are excited about the Presidential Election but nothing will happen and the kids will be turned off even more.

I have my own questions, primarily where do I go to learn about the candidates and issues, other than their web sites? This is especially true for the judges! Another question, who does the best job of comparing positions among the candidates? Or the opposing sides of a proposition?

In the meantime, if you know of good sources of information for any of the ballot items, please reply.

Thanks,

Bob May

There's a very interesting PDF slide show on the economics of green buildings. Most of the slides, however, are very interesting to those of us who are concerned about global warming but not up to digging into all the numbers. Go through the slides and you will see:

• 30% of CO2 in the atmosphere right now will still be there 100 years from now still capturing heat
• The EU has set standards of 50 MPG by the year 2012.
• Portland is not on the list of the top 10 green cities in the U.S.

The report doesn't give a date but it appears to have been done in late 2007 or early 2008.

http://www.costar.com/partners/costar-green-study.pdf

Most of you already know this but perhaps some don't. The Sundance Channel has an ongoing series on the Green Movement that is very enlightening and very encouraging (at the local level).

Bob May

Part 1 of 3

Bill,

I am a regular viewer and I essentially enjoy and agree with your perspectives. You're the preacher and I'm in your choir.

However, my regard for you just got bumped up to the next level as I listened to your editorial about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. When the controversy arose, i.e., when the media didn't drop it after Obama's Philadelphia speech to the nation, I viewed a number of Wright's sermons on the Internet, including his "God Damn America."

I completely agree with your comments and I ask the other readers to continue reading to see why. Your analysis of Wright's remarks and Wright's remarks themselves are completely valid when they are viewed in context.

Perhaps Wright's style is "Black;" I don't know but his content is relevant, not only for the the people in United States, but also for a large percentage of the entire world. I knew exactly to what Wright was referring when he said the chickens have come home to roost. The United States, that is our government, not the large majority of the people, has been the big bully of the world for many decades, militarily and economically. When the U.S. doesn't get its way with a country, it often punishes that country economically and when that doesn't work, goes after the leadership of that country, as it is doing right now in Venezuela. The assassination of Allende in Chile, initiated and funded by the CIA, is one of many extreme measures initiated by our government.

Robert May (Part 1 of 3)

Thanks to our great web crew for posting the article. I looked for a way to comment there but didn't see one.

The recap posted on our web site and on the Clinton web site omits an important item that Hillary mentioned in her Hillsboro speech (My thanks also to KPOJ for giving us the recording). It was a good campaign speech with this one exception.

Hillary continues to push to have the Michigan and Florida primary votes count for delegate numbers at the convention. She also has a petition for this on her web site.

What she in her speech and her web site fail to mention is that Obama and Clinton both signed an agreement (before the primaries) to not count those two states because the state's Democratic parties had moved their primaries into January, which was against the DNC rules. When both states, against the warnings of the DNC, held their Democratic primaries on the premature dates, their delegate votes were nullified by the DNC.

This is text from the AP article about her speech: "The party voted to strip both states of their delegates and all the candidates, including Clinton and rival Barack Obama, signed a pledge not to campaign in either state. Obama and several other Democratic candidates also removed their names from the Michigan primary ballot."

Here's one URL for the full article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080405/ap_on_el_pr/primary_scramble_clinton

Perhaps now that Mark Penn is gone, she'll start being a little more honest with the public.