Saturday, August 8, 2009

THERE was a letter to the editor in last evening's local newspaper that cites page and paragraph numbers of an unspecified document that, it alleges, will cause President Obama will do terrible things to people. Of course, this letter is one of the more gross falsehoods being passed around the country by Republican Party operatives and/or their surrogates. There is no single health care bill yet, but rather several, and none agreed to, so just what document the writer is referring to can't be known — perhaps pages in "Alice in Wonderland"?

It was not a legitimate letter. The editor who decides what letters to print should know better. Let Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners, weigh in on the moral virtues of truth-telling.

To check out the latest claims being perpetuated by the proponents of the status quo (as well as claims by proponents of "reform), go to Politifact.com, a fact-checking site operated by the St. Petersburg (FL) Times.

Or to get the skinny on the "protesters" disrupting town hall meetings on health care reform, read Paul Krugman's Friday column in the NYT. A quotation:

Yes, well-heeled interest groups are helping to organize the town hall mobs. Key organizers include two Astroturf (fake grass-roots) organizations: FreedomWorks, run by the former House majority leader Dick Armey, and a new organization called Conservatives for Patients’ Rights.

The latter group, by the way, is run by Rick Scott, the former head of Columbia/HCA, a for-profit hospital chain. Mr. Scott was forced out of that job amid a fraud investigation; the company eventually pleaded guilty to charges of overbilling state and federal health plans, paying $1.7 billion — yes, that’s “billion” — in fines. You can’t make this stuff up.

You can't? Wanna bet?

Meanwhile ...

AS Charles Blow so ably points out, wishy-washy Democrats are letting the health care debate be "hijacked by hooligans." A quotation:

... Belligerence is the currency of the intellectually bankrupt.

Trapped in their vacuum of ideas, too many Republicans continue to display an astounding ability to believe utter nonsense, even when faced with facts that contradict it.

Friday, August 7, 2009

"landscapes" (2009) mixed media/acrylic glazes

Thursday, August 6, 2009

TIMOTHY Egan, blogging at NYT, gets it exactly right:

They hate it (cash for clunkers), many of these Republicans, because it’s a huge hit. It’s working as planned, and this cannot stand. America must fail in order for President Obama to fail. Don’t be surprised if the tea party goons now being dispatched to shout down town hall forums on health care start showing up at your car dealers, megaphones in hand.

Addendum ...

HOW about a little counter-spin here by a former health insurance PR guy?

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

YEP, we'd better start ramping up some new nuclear power generators — and the reprocessing plants to deal with spent fuel — or the alternative energy folks will indeed have the last laugh (if anybody is left laughing).

Sunday, August 2, 2009

FRANK Rich explains the realities behind the "teachable moment" that wasn't, post-battle of Cambridge:

If there was a teachable moment in this incident, it could be found in how some powerful white people well beyond Cambridge responded to it. That reaction is merely the latest example of how the inexorable transformation of America into a white-minority country in some 30 years — by 2042 in the latest Census Bureau estimate — is causing serious jitters, if not panic, in some white establishments.