Chanel 1988 - 2009

Chanel, the wirehaired dachshund who held the Guinness World Record for oldest dog, died Aug. 28, PEOPLE Pets has learned. The pooch celebrated her 21st birthday on May 6 — that's 147 in dog years, according to the Guinness Web site.

Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

C'mon down to the Batcave Rob'n Honey..... (ed note: this is an allusion to Fiedler's famous essay)

And it wasn't just them, now was it?

Glenn Beck's Nightmare Really Happened

4/29/09

Let's Make It A Rich(ard) Friday

I saw Richard for the first time during this tour



The Wall Of Death? It's the nearest thing to being alive.

And More ...

One Of GT12's Top 5

Red hair and blacl leather, my favorite color scheme

Continuing the Theme ...

All this Death!

The Best Song Ever about suicide:

Ellie Greenwich 1940 -2009

they're dropping like flies ....

Ellie Greenwich, a songwriter who collaborated with Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and others to create a greatest-hits list of 1960s teenage pop songs like “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Then He Kissed Me,” “Hanky Panky” and “Leader of the Pack,” died on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 68.

Ms. Greenwich was among the songwriters, music publishers and producers working at the Brill Building, at 1619 Broadway in Manhattan, which (along with 1650 Broadway, across the street) became a center of pop music in the early 1960s.

The buildings were home to the songwriting teams of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and Carole King and Gerry Goffin, among many others, and from their offices and studios came a flood of teenage anthems, story songs and achy love songs fraught with the hormonal angst of the young.

For a time Ms. Greenwich and Mr. Barry, who was then her husband, were the most successful of the teams, especially when they wrote for the girl groups the Crystals, the Dixie Cups, the Shangri-Las and others.

In 1964 alone, 17 singles by Ms. Greenwich and Mr. Barry landed on the pop charts, according to “Always Magic in the Air,” a 2005 book by Ken Emerson about the Brill Building days. They included “Chapel of Love,” a No. 1 for the Dixie Cups, and “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” which became a No. 1 for Manfred Mann.

Ms. Greenwich and Mr. Barry also wrote “Be My Baby,” “Baby I Love You” and “River Deep — Mountain High” (all with Mr. Spector). They were also singers, recording their own songs and those of others as the Raindrops.

Perhaps their most famous song was “Leader of the Pack,” which Ms. Greenwich and Mr. Barry wrote with the producer Shadow Morton. His previous hit, for the Shangri-Las, was the idiosyncratic “Remember (Walking in the Sand),” a song about a girl’s heartbreak that included sound effects and spoken words.

“Leader of the Pack” made use of similar tools, creating what Mr. Barry called “a movie for the ear.” Telling a soap-opera-like story of a girl who is in love with a biker but forbidden by her parents to see him, it ends with the biker’s death as he speeds away from her after their breakup and crashes. The music is melodramatic — “I met him at the candy store” was its signature wail — and woven into it are the sounds of a revving motorcycle, the fatal crash and the cooing, speaking voices of the girl’s friends.

“Leader of the Pack” was a No.1 hit for the Shangri-Las in 1964, and it became emblematic enough to be lampooned almost immediately by a band calling itself the Detergents, which recorded a song called “Leader of the Laundromat.”

Bette demonstrates:

And, we can't forget:

Larry Knechtel 1940 - 2009

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Larry Knechtel, a Grammy Award-winning keyboardist who played in the 1970s soft-rock group Bread and accompanied a long roster of big-name performers including Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and the Doors, died on Thursday. He was 69.

Mr. Knechtel, who also played bass guitar and harmonica, performed live and in the studio with a wide range of artists. Others included the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, Duane Eddy, Neil Diamond, Randy Newman, the Beach Boys, Hank Williams Jr., Elvis Costello and the Dixie Chicks.

He shared a Grammy for the arrangement of the Simon and Garfunkel song “Bridge Over Troubled Water“ (he also played piano on that record). He also played keyboards on the Dixie Chicks’ Grammy-winning album “Taking the Long Way” and played organ for the group’s tour of the same name.

He joined Bread, a Los Angeles-based quartet, in 1971, replacing Robb Royer. Beginning in 1969, the group had a string of hits including “Make It With You,” “Baby I’m-a Want You” and “It Don’t Matter to Me.”

Early in his career Mr. Knechtel, who was born in Bell, Calif., was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a group of West Coast studio musicians that also included Glen Campbell and Leon Russell.

“Larry’s résumé is a history lesson in great American music all unto itself,” reads Mr. Knechtel’s biography on the Dixie Chicks Web site, dixiechicks.com.

Slap The Moron

NPR's Inskeep does what no body else has done: Just pucnh the shit out of Michael Steele's stupidity.

Ted Two

Two Great Things You Won't Hear Much About:

1. In 1971, as a senator, Kennedy opposed ending the draft and going to the all-volunteer force.

If you think that he was wrong, then you haven't thought it through.

One of the great liberal knee-jerk missteps was the 'all-volunteer', responsible-only-to-itself army.

Ted saw that.

2. He stood up as one of only fourteen Senators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. An act that Saint Bill Of Clinton proudly ran on.

Ted

Thanks.

One year ago today:

Welcome To The Vineyard

Today's Bo Postings for Mr G Baker:

(Most Likely) For A Limited Time Only

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Aren't White People Clever!

One of the great things about being gay, I'm not in these guys cohort.

Come to think about it, even better: Coming from Ireland, I'm Not In Their GENE-POOL!

My Life Rules!

Great Moments In Christianity

"You want to know who the biggest hypocrite in the world is? The biggest hypocrite in the world is the person who believes in the death penalty for murderers and not for homosexuals. Hypocrite. The same God who instituted the death penalty for murderers is the same God who instituted the death penalty for rapists and for homosexuals - sodomites, queers! That’s what it was instituted for, okay? That’s God, he hasn’t changed. Oh, God doesn’t feel that way in the New Testament … God never “felt” anything about it, he commanded it and said they should be taken out and killed,"

- Pastor Steven L. Anderson, Faithful Word Baptist Church.

Jim Dickinson 1941 - 2009

GT12 is ashamed to have missed this.

Jim Dickinson, a pianist, singer and producer who helped make Memphis a hot spot for recording artists and who played as a session musician with Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Ry Cooder, died on Saturday in Memphis. He was 67 and lived near Coldwater, Miss.

The cause was complications of heart surgery, said his wife, Mary Lindsay Dickinson.

Mr. Dickinson spanned several rock ’n’ roll eras. He sang and played piano on one of the Sun label’s last great records, the 1966 song “Cadillac Man” by the Jesters, and, as one of the Dixie Flyers, an Atlantic Records house band, he backed up Aretha Franklin on her 1970 album “Spirit in the Dark.” His piano is heard on the Rolling Stones hit “Wild Horses,” and his producing work with Alex Chilton and Big Star put him in demand as a producer for younger acts like Willy DeVille, the Replacements and Mojo Nixon.

In 1997 he played keyboards on Bob Dylan’s album “Time Out of Mind,” which was named album of the year at the 1998 Grammy Awards.

After graduating from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), Mr. Dickinson worked as a session musician at several Memphis studios. At the Sound of Memphis studio in the late 1960s, he and other session players formed the Dixie Flyers, which backed up Atlantic artists like Ms. Franklin, Sam and Dave, Carmen McRae and Jerry Jeff Walker.

During an interview with swampland.com, Mr. Dickinson described his involvement with the Rolling Stones as an accident. At a recording session in 1969 at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, Ian Stewart, the Stones pianist, abruptly left when it came time to record “Wild Horses.” Mr. Dickinson sat down and filled in.

“After we’re doing it for about 45 minutes, Jagger’s in the control room, listening, and he says to Keith, ‘What do you think about the piano?’ ” Mr. Dickinson recalled, referring to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. “I thought: ‘Well here goes. I’m going home now.’ And Keith says, ‘It’s the only thing I like so far.’ ”

Ten years later Mr. Stewart told Mr. Dickinson he left that day because he did not play minor chords.

One of his most productive collaborations was with Ry Cooder, with whom he produced several albums, including “Into the Purple Valley,” and collaborated on music for “Paris, Texas,” “The Long Riders” and other films.

Mr. Dickinson recorded several solo albums, beginning with “Dixie Fried” in 1972.

After performing with and producing for the Memphis group Mudboy and the Neutrons in the 1970s and 1980s, he began producing records for groups including Green on Red, Tav Falco’s Panther Burns and Mudhoney.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his two sons, Luther, of Cochran, Miss., and Cody, of Southhaven, Miss. Both are members of the North Mississippi Allstars, a blues-rock band. Mr. Dickinson played keyboards on many of their records, some of which he also produced and recorded at Zebra Ranch, a studio he set up at his home.

Mick and the Boys listen to Jim's Work - Jim sitting next to Keith



Big Star



Something of his own ...

Here It Is

Today's Must-See-Cuz-Everybody's-Talking-About-It-Jon-Stewart-Interview.

Betsy McCaughey, lobbyist and creator of the Death Panel Myth meets JS.

"I like you. But I don't understand how your Brain works"

The majority of the interview that DID NOT make it on TV is in Pt.3. All of Pt 1 and 2/3 of Pt 2 were telecast last night.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Betsy McCaughey Pt. 1
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The Best News of 2009

I have never felt so good about a reality show ending.

Chicago's Rick Bayless wins 'Top Chef Masters'

Much-lauded Chicago chef Rick Bayless told the story of his career in food to win the finale of Bravo TV's "Top Chef Masters," which aired Wednesday night.Bayless, chef and co-owner of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, relied on his mastery of Mexican regional cooking to best competitors specializing in the cuisines of France (Hubert Keller of Fleur de Lys in San Francisco and Las Vegas) and Italy (Michael Chiarello of Bottega in California's Napa Valley).

His $100,000 prize goes to the charity he helped found, Frontera Farmer Foundation, which supports small Midwestern farms considered "sustainable."

This first season of "Top Chef Masters," a spinoff of Bravo's popular "Top Chef," pitted accomplished chefs against each other in the same types of stressful cooking challenges as the scrappier parent show. The so-called master chefs, though, exhibited more cooperative spirit than the often bickering younger contestants of "Top Chef."

Throughout the series, Bayless relied on the Mexican regional dishes that have made him famous, including a heck of a lot of guacamole, but also more unusual dishes such as beef tongue tacos. His appearances were also notable for his calm, composed approach to tackling challenges, even when producers threw twists at contestants.

Another Chicago chef, Art Smith of Table Fifty-Two, also made the finals but was sent packing in the second round, done in by rice ice cream that the judges hated.

Here's Your 'How-To' Info

All you need to know and do to take back Healthcare from John Boehner And Michelle Bachman.

Go Here then get going!

Why It Matters

One stakeholder's view of the Healthcare debate

Dear President Obama,

Thank you for your leadership on Healthcare reform. This is a very personal issue for me. It’s not abstract. It’s not optional. You see, my youngest son, Woody, has been severely disabled since birth. He spent his first 6 weeks of life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Such a unit costs up to $50,000 per day. It is a staggering sum to start life. Since then, he has been hospitalized dozens of times, and had numerous surgeries. His last unexpected hospitalization over Christmas 2008 was over 30 days long. His surgery was over 11 hours. We estimate the costs of that stay to be in excess of $560,000. Getting true costs are almost impossible, given how hospitals bill, how insurance companies pay, and how these things are reported to us, the consumers. We may never know the full cost.

Additionally Woody is fed through a gastronomy tube (G-Tube). He is unable to get any nutrition orally. His food is a special, prescription, liquid diet costing over $1,800 per month. Every month. For life. It will only get more expensive as he grows and requires more.

If you’re getting the impression that my medical bills are astronomical, you’re partially right. I am one of the lucky ones. I have coverage through my employer (for now). My insurance company (United Healthcare) does an admirable job of denying claims and refusing payment. Luckily, my son also qualified for Medicaid here in North Carolina -- he had the G-Tube, shunt tubes in his head, and a tracheostomy so he got in on the “3-Tubes” loophole -- so his out-of-pocket costs are close to zero. But that could change in an instant. North Carolina is considering changing the Medicaid guidelines which would make Woody ineligible. My company is being acquired by another, and I may lose my job. Either one of those things would mean I lose my insurance, and Woody loses his. If he were to get sick again, I’d lose my house and everything I own or ever hope to own. As it stands, Woody is getting dangerously close to his “lifetime maximum benefit” with United Healthcare at which point they will refuse any more claims for him for the rest of his life. He’s 11, and though no one knows how long he will live, it will certainly be longer than United Healthcare will cover him.

In addition, and more frightening, I am uninsurable. With Woody’s history, I could not get insurance on the “Free Market” for any amount of money. Ever. No one will take on a family with a kid that has already cost millions of dollars. He is a pre-existing condition. The daily struggles to care for Woody are nothing in comparison to the fear that I will one day not be able to pay for the care he needs in order to survive. To be blunt, without insurance to pay for his food, Woody will starve to death. For me, and for my family, this is a life or death struggle. The fear of losing my insurance is a daily nightmare.

I have called dozens of Senators and Representatives. I have met with the staff of my congressional delegations. I have written letters to the editor of my local paper. I am doing everything I can think of to work for healthcare reform. I beg you not to give up on the public option. While I would prefer a single-payer solution where I would never have to worry about being covered, at least a public option, for now, would fill the gap. Please remember that this is, for some of us, literally a life or death matter.

NOW YOU NEED TO DO YOUR DUTY

If this matters to you, or your family

If your Congress Critters are wit' us or Agin' us

They need to hear from you.

Don't even talk to me if you drop this ball.

Find Your Congressman Here.
Find Your Senator Here.
Write the White House Here.
Twitterers can also use @whitehouse

Who's Your Daddy?

Lily wanted me to post this.

How They Do It

Yglesias, via Political Animal

Matt Yglesias raised a terrific point: "Voters don't have a great deal of knowledge about the issues, or a great deal of interest in acquiring knowledge about the issues. But they are human beings, equipped with our species' excellent ability to read the emotional states of other human beings. If they see a politician acting defensive about his 'side' in an argument, they conclude that this critics are probably on to something. If they see a politicians acting outraged and hitting back fearlessly, they're likely to conclude that he has nothing to apologize for."

Obama and Bill Clinton won because they projected strength, something people don't expect from Deomcrats (Kerry). Reid, Baucus, Conrad prove the point.

It's time get Fired Up and Ready To Go Mr Pres. and it's time for Senate Dems to make him their role-model.

For now, please Substitute Barney Frank and Anthony Weiner for BHO.

OK, Is Clowntime Over?

I suppose they could've been waiting for the opening that Grassely and Kyle gave them this week ...

Democrats Seem Set to Go It Alone on a Health Care Bill

WASHINGTON — Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority’s cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks.

Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, said the heated opposition was evidence that Republicans had made a political calculation to draw a line against any health care changes, the latest in a string of major administration proposals that Republicans have opposed.

“The Republican leadership,” Mr. Emanuel said, “has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama’s health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day.”

Republicans have used the Congressional break to dig in hard against the overhaul outline drawn by Democrats. The Senate’s No. 2 Republican, Jon Kyl of Arizona, is the latest to weigh in strongly, saying Tuesday that the public response lawmakers were seeing over the summer break should persuade Democrats to scrap their approach and start over.

“I think it is safe to say there are a huge number of big issues that people have,” Mr. Kyl told reporters in a conference call from Arizona. “There is no way that Republicans are going to support a trillion-dollar-plus bill.”

The White House has also interpreted critical comments by Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican negotiator in a crucial Finance Committee effort to reach a bipartisan compromise, as a sign that there is little hope of reaching a deal politically acceptable to both parties.

Mr. Grassley, who is facing the possibility of a Republican primary challenge next year, has gotten an earful in traveling around his home state. At one gathering last week, in a city park in the central Iowa town of Adel, a man rose from the crowd and urged him to “stand up and fight” the Democratic plans. If he does not, the man yelled, “we will vote you out!”

The White House, carefully following Mr. Grassley’s activities, presumed he was no longer interested in negotiating with Democrats after he initially made no effort to debunk misinformation that the legislation could lead to “death panels” empowered to judge who would receive care.

Our First Gay President

'Cause he has balls and he knows how to use them

A Cautionary Tale.

Still Not Bill's Fault

... according to him anyway. And he makes a good case. Not airtight, but good.

Thanks for all the joy that your work has brought for both my family and the families of the many Olympians that I have worked with.

Woodstock

I was 11. But the movie and album were Monsters Of Influence a year later.

If you know me, here's where to place the blame:

No Need To Comment

... although, the Title of the post that I found this at should be noted:

The stupid, it burns!

and then there's the racism of course.

'Bout Time, PT 2

'Bout Time.

Who's a guy gotta threaten to get arrested around here?

A man who held a sign reading 'Death To Obama, Death To Michelle And Her Two Stupid Kids' at a town hall in Maryland yesterday has been detained by the Secret Service, according to the AP.

The Hill first reported on the sign yesterday afternoon. The man in question was attending a town hall event held by Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) at Hagerstown Community College.

Washington County Sheriff's Captain Peter Lazich said the as-yet-unidentified, 51-year-old man was detained by deputies near the entrance to the college after receiving multiple calls from people in attendance at the event. According to Lazich, the man was turned over to the Secret Service by the sheriff's office.
From the AP:

Back To The Safeway Boy and Girls

You a Liberal?

Time to dump Whole Foods (via TPM):

Whole Foods Exec Slams Health Care Reform, Says People Should Just Eat Whole Foods

"[W]e should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction--toward less government control and more individual empowerment. Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost of health care for everyone." Sounds like a policy brief written by House Republicans, right?

Wrong.

The above passage comes from a Wall Street Journal op-ed written by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. His solution for the health care crisis includes common Republican ideas--"Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year"--to unexplained platitudes--"Now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible, but individual health insurance is not. This is unfair."

But conveniently, it also includes the following advice: "Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and are expensive to treat."

Translation: Whole Foods is the solution to all of America's health care woes.

Major Moments In Les Paul History

Les Paul 1915 - 2009

GT12's Les Paul Classic, Heritage Honeyburst Finish

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.

As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the "tracks" in the finished recording.

With Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records and 11 No. 1 pop hits, including "Vaya Con Dios," "How High the Moon," "Nola" and "Lover." Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Paul the inventor had helped develop.

"I could take my Mary and make her three, six, nine, 12, as many voices as I wished," he recalled. "This is quite an asset." The overdubbing technique was highly influential on later recording artists such as the Carpenters.

The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s, and then exploded with the advent of rock the 1950s.

"Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music," Paul once said. "To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn't think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system."

A tinkerer and musician since childhood, he experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called "The Log," a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings.

"I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut." He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape.

In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production on the Les Paul guitar.

Action!

I'm a free speach guy, but there has to be some baseline ....

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Keeping The ******* Down

Would a white man do this to a white woman?

Missouri obviously still ambivalent about that whole Civil War thing.

(watch in full screen mode)

Today's Brave Journalism

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Reform Madness
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Reform Madness - White Minority
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Chill

Remember the campaign?

Remember how well Sarah Palin convinced the average 'Joe' that Barack Obama was a terrorist Socialist Muslim Honkey-Hater?

Remember how Barack Obama's campaign just kept on not being crazy.

Remember how that turned out.

We need to maintain pressure and presence, but cool will win out.

Starve The Beast

Cut off funding for this orgy of stupidity and reactive racism:

Your one-stop resource: here

In less than a month UPS, GEICO, Progressive Insurance/LexisNexis, Sargento Cheese, Proctor and Gamble have dropped their sponsorship.

Jesus Wept

I am no fan of Arlen Specter (Mad for Joe Sestak) but this is about us, about what America is.

Somehow, the stupid have to learn not to fear the informed. We learned ones should think about this.

Steve Benen

THE WORST AMERICA HAS TO OFFER.... They served as interesting bookends. President Obama hosted a very strong town-hall event in New Hampshire on health care this afternoon, featuring good questions -- from supporters and opponents of reform -- and covering a lot of ground.

The president's event began on the heels of Sen. Arlen Specter's town-hall event in Lebanon, Pa. Watching Obama's gathering, one got the sense that it was American politics as it's meant to be done. Watching Specter's, one got the sense that the American political system is an experiment on the verge of collapse.

Senator Arlen Specter and his staff tried mightily to control a town hall meeting this morning but he was repeatedly booed and heckled by a majority of the 250 people inside a large hall here at the Harrisburg Area Community College. At least 700 more were kept outside, police said.

Inside, fury erupted over a range of topics, from health care to immigration, government spending and the cap-and-trade program to control pollution. Many also expressed broad if unspecified disdain for the government and for President Obama.

"Where do you see an honest man in politics?" one man asked Mr. Specter. "Tell Obama to represent us as an American and if not, there's other countries!"

It certainly wasn't Specter's fault, but this event was enough to make one weep for our future. Fox News' Megyn Kelly called it an "extraordinary showing," filled with "informed" and "articulate" Americans.

Perhaps Megyn Kelly was watching a different event. More likely, Megyn Kelly doesn't know what she's talking about.

Specter's largely right-wing crowd insisted President Obama isn't an American. One nutty man said to applause, "One day, God is going to stand before you and he's going to judge you!" Another yelled, "This is the Soviet Union, this is Maoist China."

One attendee drew a standing ovation when said health care reform is about "dismantling" the United States and "turning" the country "into Russia." She later added that she feared toilet paper rationing.

Someone in the audience wanted to explain that the Qu'ran says that "all unbelievers will be executed." The same person added that if we close Gitmo, "criminals" will "escape" and we'll find "a bunch of innocent people are murdered. And that's what's gonna happen."

We're better than this. We have to be.

No Shark In Sight Today

I was dreading this when it began (I mean, how much real outrage is there, after all, to milk from Sarah Palin) ... but I was literally on the edge of my seat, near tears, by the end.

Give yourself the 14 minutes it takes to watch this.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Facts

Forgot to post this on Friday due to long twit-scussion with a wingnut on the twitter; It's important.

Republicans Propagating Falsehoods in Attacks on Health-Care Reform

By poisoning the political well, they've given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They've become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems.

While the government will take a more active role in regulating the insurance market and increase its spending for health care, that hardly amounts to the kind of government-run system that critics conjure up when they trot out that oh-so-clever line about the Department of Motor Vehicles being in charge of your colonoscopy.

By now, you've probably also heard that health reform will cost taxpayers at least a trillion dollars. Another lie.

First of all, that's not a trillion every year, as most people assume -- it's a trillion over 10 years, which is the silly way that people in Washington talk about federal budgets. On an annual basis, that translates to about $140 billion, when things are up and running.

Even that, however, grossly overstates the net cost to the government of providing universal coverage. Other parts of the reform plan would result in offsetting savings for Medicare: reductions in unnecessary subsidies to private insurers, in annual increases in payments rates for doctors and in payments to hospitals for providing free care to the uninsured. The net increase in government spending for health care would likely be about $100 billion a year, a one-time increase equal to less than 1 percent of a national income that grows at an average rate of 2.5 percent every year.

When Democrats, for example, propose to fund research to give doctors, patients and health plans better information on what works and what doesn't, Republicans sense a sinister plot to have the government decide what treatments you will get. By the same wacko-logic, a proposal that Medicare pay for counseling on end-of-life care is transformed into a secret plan for mass euthanasia of the elderly.

Government negotiation on drug prices? The end of medical innovation as we know it, according to the GOP's Dr. No. Reduce Medicare payments to overpriced specialists and inefficient hospitals? The first step on the slippery slope toward rationing.

Can there be anyone more two-faced than the Republican leaders who in one breath rail against the evils of government-run health care and in another propose a government-subsidized high-risk pool for people with chronic illness, government-subsidized community health centers for the uninsured, and opening up Medicare to people at age 55?

Fact Free

TPM:

AJC columnist Jay Bookman noticed that in the latest Investors Business Daily editorial about how the 'death panel' will condemn all handicapped or disabled people to death on some horrid wind-swept mountain, it notes that ...

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

Needless to say, Hawking, who is recognized as one of the great theoretical physicists of the 20th and 21st century, was born in the UK and has lived his entire life there.

The Death Panel

Make sure Granny says that

1)She's from Flint MI

2)Loves the Yankees

3) Never Trusted That Richard
Wollfe fellow

'Like Driving Cross Country To Protest Highways'

Bill Maher says things that should not be true:

Whites Only

The day after 31 Republicans vote against the first Latina ever nominated for the Supreme Court, the only Republican Latino in the in the Senate resigns.

Granted, he was not running for re-election anyway but ... well, What?

Thelma & Louise

Apparently to win a Republican Primary even in the most Hispanic-dense states you must remain anti-Hispanic.

That's gonna work out well.

Kos reports: Per R2K wkly poll: 4

4/20-23, before Sotomayor: Latino favorability of GOP was 15% fav-70% unfav.

This week: 3% fav 86% unfav

Rare Success

Mr S, long-time friend and theater critic, and I were discussing how awful 'Rock' Musicals are when they are written by 'Rockers' (Spring Awakening, Movin' Out etc.).

It takes a theater guy who likes Rock to do it.

And that was true from the very beginning:

Mowing The Astroturf

Si Se Puede

Beautiful

Sotomayor Confirmed by Senate, 68-31

For many Hispanic voters, the symbolism of the first Latina joining the Supreme Court — and the memory of who opposed her — could be all that lingers, said Janet Murguía, president of the National Council of La Raza, an Hispanic advocacy group.

“This is a singularly definitive historic moment,” she said. “So it is a vote, I think, that will matter to the Latino community and will be remembered by the Latino community.”.