McCain met her twice and spoke on the phone once. The second time he met her is when he told her that she was the Republican Parties pick for his running mate. I’d bet that Senator Larry Craig screens his aids more carefully.
I wonder what McCain’s fighter jock drinking buddies are making of his pick.
Gee, If McCain actually wins the election I guess that Sarah Palin will need to brush up on her beauty contest stuff. “There she is Miss Vice President”.
It looks like Palin is just a pretty face with long legs for the Republican Convention goers to gape at.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/29/andrea-mitchell-john-mcca_n_122517.html
"On MSNBC this evening Andrea Mitchell reported on how minimal John McCain's interactions with his choice for vice president, Sarah Palin, have been. According to Mitchell, McCain only met Palin once."
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Property-tax Madness
Texas has 4 school districts. In my opinion the proliferation of school districts in Pennsylvania does nothing at all to improve education and nothing at all to facilitate local control. I believe that what it does do is create multiple oppurinities to steal public funds. It is just not possible to investigate each school district in Pennsylvania. There are not enough forensic accountants available. There is a very good series about PA school districts in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "Property-tax Madness".
Posted on Sat, Jun. 14, 2008
Special Report
Property-tax Madness
By Anthony R. Wood
Inquirer Staff Writer
After 34 years living in a four-bedroom brick home on a leafy acre in Radnor Township, retirees Karl and Jean Dorschu wanted something smaller, something with less raking and snow shoveling, something less taxing, physically and financially.
They chose to stay in Delaware County, buying a $325,000 two-bedroom house in the Boothwyn section of Upper Chichester Township, 20 miles away.
There, they assumed, their property tax would be much lower than the $7,000 they paid in Radnor. Their new place was half the size and value, on one-fifth the acreage, in a middle-class community without Main Line gilt or top-drawer schools to support.
So much for logic.
After moving in, the Dorschus learned they'd be paying $8,500, or 21 percent more.
In the two years since, their bill has jumped above $9,500.
"If we had a top-notch school district, I wouldn't mind," said Karl Dorschu, 77, a former engineer.
In Radnor, where his three children were educated, 88 percent of the students go on to four-year colleges, compared with 38 percent in the Chichester School District. Radnor students rank among the region's highest in academic performance; Chichester's are in the lower echelon.
All things considered, his tax bill "doesn't make sense," he said. But he is certain of this much: "They're choking us homeowners to death."
Complaints about the property tax - that it's unfair, bewildering, exorbitant, pick a pejorative - may be nothing new. But their volume and intensity are.
The colonial-era system that provides most of the money for America's public schools and local governments is under unprecedented assault, with taxpayer protests, lawsuits or legislative overhauls rumbling through at least 20 states.
Pennsylvania is one.
The state is jigsawed into 3,134 local taxing authorities, including 501 school districts, 2,566 municipalities, and 67 counties - a patchwork among the most manifold in the nation. Here, the chaos and inequities wrought by a flawed, fragmented system are worsening as tax bills rise, the housing market falters, and the economy deteriorates.
An Inquirer analysis of 500,000 tax records in Philadelphia and the four Pennsylvania suburban counties has found wildly disparate property-tax rates that are widening the economic divide between have and have-not towns, and further balkanizing the region.
Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/special/19940504.html
Posted on Sat, Jun. 14, 2008
Special Report
Property-tax Madness
By Anthony R. Wood
Inquirer Staff Writer
After 34 years living in a four-bedroom brick home on a leafy acre in Radnor Township, retirees Karl and Jean Dorschu wanted something smaller, something with less raking and snow shoveling, something less taxing, physically and financially.
They chose to stay in Delaware County, buying a $325,000 two-bedroom house in the Boothwyn section of Upper Chichester Township, 20 miles away.
There, they assumed, their property tax would be much lower than the $7,000 they paid in Radnor. Their new place was half the size and value, on one-fifth the acreage, in a middle-class community without Main Line gilt or top-drawer schools to support.
So much for logic.
After moving in, the Dorschus learned they'd be paying $8,500, or 21 percent more.
In the two years since, their bill has jumped above $9,500.
"If we had a top-notch school district, I wouldn't mind," said Karl Dorschu, 77, a former engineer.
In Radnor, where his three children were educated, 88 percent of the students go on to four-year colleges, compared with 38 percent in the Chichester School District. Radnor students rank among the region's highest in academic performance; Chichester's are in the lower echelon.
All things considered, his tax bill "doesn't make sense," he said. But he is certain of this much: "They're choking us homeowners to death."
Complaints about the property tax - that it's unfair, bewildering, exorbitant, pick a pejorative - may be nothing new. But their volume and intensity are.
The colonial-era system that provides most of the money for America's public schools and local governments is under unprecedented assault, with taxpayer protests, lawsuits or legislative overhauls rumbling through at least 20 states.
Pennsylvania is one.
The state is jigsawed into 3,134 local taxing authorities, including 501 school districts, 2,566 municipalities, and 67 counties - a patchwork among the most manifold in the nation. Here, the chaos and inequities wrought by a flawed, fragmented system are worsening as tax bills rise, the housing market falters, and the economy deteriorates.
An Inquirer analysis of 500,000 tax records in Philadelphia and the four Pennsylvania suburban counties has found wildly disparate property-tax rates that are widening the economic divide between have and have-not towns, and further balkanizing the region.
Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/special/19940504.html
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Listen to the "Candidates Forum" Coatesville, PA
On Thursday, August 21, 2008 a Candidates Forum was held at the Coatesville Area Senior Center in Downtown Coatesville, PA. The theme of the Candidates Forum was; "Find out what the candidates for Congress & State House intend to do about:
• Jobs
• Wages
• Healthcare
• Coatesville Revitalization
The Daily Local News wrote an article published on Saturday, August 23, 2008. Candidates from all parties were invited. Only Democratic Candidates showed up. Those candidates were:
• Bob Roggio for Congress 6th Congressional District
• Bruce Slater for Congress 16th Congressional District
• Fern Kaufman PA 26th Legislative District
The Daily Local News seems to feel that groups that support Working Families and affordable and professional level health care are "left leaning". I believe that middle class working people are (or were) the backbone of the nation and that although hospitals advertise professional level heath care; the staff of most PA hospitals do not practice basic infection control procedures. Listen to the Forum and judge for yourself:
8/23/2008
Candidates speak to their base
By DAN KRISTIE, Staff Writer
COATESVILLE — Three local Democratic candidates spoke this week about their support for government-sponsored health care and their reservations about free trade.
Their comments came at a forum held Thursday at the Coatesville Senior Center and sponsored by two left-leaning political advocacy organizations, Working Families Win and the Pennsylvania Health Access Network.
"Treaties like NAFTA and CAFTA look good on paper," said Bob Roggio, the Democrat running against Republican incumbent Jim Gerlach in the 6th Congressional District. But Roggio said these trade deals must be adjusted and made fairer to American workers.
"A free market has to be a fair free market," Roggio said. "And we can do that. It's just a matter of regulation."
According to Phila Back, an organizer with Working Families Win, the event was held to get candidates to go on record with their support for implementing universal health care, reforming free trade, strengthening unions and increasing funding for education.
The forum was also attended by Fern Kaufman, the Democrat running against incumbent state Rep. Tim Hennessey in Coatesville area's 26th Legislative District, and Bruce Slater, the Democrat running against incumbent Joe Pitts in the 16th Congressional District.
Read the rest of the DLN article here:
http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20088470&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=635398&rfi=6
LISTEN TO THE "CANDIDATES FORUM" HERE
http://www.box.net/shared/jy96l2bo1t
• Jobs
• Wages
• Healthcare
• Coatesville Revitalization
The Daily Local News wrote an article published on Saturday, August 23, 2008. Candidates from all parties were invited. Only Democratic Candidates showed up. Those candidates were:
• Bob Roggio for Congress 6th Congressional District
• Bruce Slater for Congress 16th Congressional District
• Fern Kaufman PA 26th Legislative District
The Daily Local News seems to feel that groups that support Working Families and affordable and professional level health care are "left leaning". I believe that middle class working people are (or were) the backbone of the nation and that although hospitals advertise professional level heath care; the staff of most PA hospitals do not practice basic infection control procedures. Listen to the Forum and judge for yourself:
8/23/2008
Candidates speak to their base
By DAN KRISTIE, Staff Writer
COATESVILLE — Three local Democratic candidates spoke this week about their support for government-sponsored health care and their reservations about free trade.
Their comments came at a forum held Thursday at the Coatesville Senior Center and sponsored by two left-leaning political advocacy organizations, Working Families Win and the Pennsylvania Health Access Network.
"Treaties like NAFTA and CAFTA look good on paper," said Bob Roggio, the Democrat running against Republican incumbent Jim Gerlach in the 6th Congressional District. But Roggio said these trade deals must be adjusted and made fairer to American workers.
"A free market has to be a fair free market," Roggio said. "And we can do that. It's just a matter of regulation."
According to Phila Back, an organizer with Working Families Win, the event was held to get candidates to go on record with their support for implementing universal health care, reforming free trade, strengthening unions and increasing funding for education.
The forum was also attended by Fern Kaufman, the Democrat running against incumbent state Rep. Tim Hennessey in Coatesville area's 26th Legislative District, and Bruce Slater, the Democrat running against incumbent Joe Pitts in the 16th Congressional District.
Read the rest of the DLN article here:
http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20088470&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=635398&rfi=6
LISTEN TO THE "CANDIDATES FORUM" HERE
http://www.box.net/shared/jy96l2bo1t
Thursday, August 21, 2008
McCain Doesn't Remember How Many Houses He Owns
FROM HUFFINGTON POST
Nico Pitney
pitney@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting From DC
McCain Doesn't Remember How Many Houses He Owns
August 21, 2008 09:32 AM
John McCain said in an interview with Politico on Wednesday "that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own."
"I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," McCain said. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you."
The answer, according to the group Progressive Accountability, is an even 10 homes, ranches, condos, and lofts, together worth a combined estimated $13,823,269.
John and Cindy McCain own a plethora of houses spread throughout the United States, including: two beachfront condos in Coronado, California, condo in La Jolla, California, a two-unit condominium complex in Phoenix, Arizona, three ranch houses located outside of Sedona, Arizona, a high-rise condo in Arlington, Virginia, a rental loft, and, according to GQ, a loft they bought for their daughter, Meghan.
As Politico notes, McCain's comments are a serious potential gaffe, as they dovetail with an increasingly aggressive effort to paint the GOP nominee as wildly out of touch on economic issues.
Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/21/mccain-doesnt-know-how-ma_n_120322.html
Nico Pitney
pitney@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting From DC
McCain Doesn't Remember How Many Houses He Owns
August 21, 2008 09:32 AM
John McCain said in an interview with Politico on Wednesday "that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own."
"I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," McCain said. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you."
The answer, according to the group Progressive Accountability, is an even 10 homes, ranches, condos, and lofts, together worth a combined estimated $13,823,269.
John and Cindy McCain own a plethora of houses spread throughout the United States, including: two beachfront condos in Coronado, California, condo in La Jolla, California, a two-unit condominium complex in Phoenix, Arizona, three ranch houses located outside of Sedona, Arizona, a high-rise condo in Arlington, Virginia, a rental loft, and, according to GQ, a loft they bought for their daughter, Meghan.
As Politico notes, McCain's comments are a serious potential gaffe, as they dovetail with an increasingly aggressive effort to paint the GOP nominee as wildly out of touch on economic issues.
Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/21/mccain-doesnt-know-how-ma_n_120322.html
Afghanistan on Fire
The war with Osama bin Laden’s troops in Afghanistan and nuclear armed Pakistan is the reason it is foolish and extremely dangerous to keep US troops in Iraq. I believe that the Bush/McCain/Cheney effort to save face for themselves by not withdrawing troops from Iraq and re-equipping and resting our military could mean military victory for Osama bin Laden and more very deadly attacks in the USA.
Jim
“Afghanistan’s war is not a sideshow. It is the principal military confrontation between America and NATO and the forces responsible for 9/11 and later deadly terrorist attacks on European soil. Washington, NATO and the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan must stop fighting it like a holding action and develop a strategy to win. Otherwise, we will all lose.”
________________________________________
The New York Times
August 21, 2008
Editorial
Afghanistan on Fire
The news out of Afghanistan is truly alarming. This week, Taliban forces staged two of their most complex and audacious attacks of the war. Nearly 100 insurgents killed 10 French paratroopers in an attack near Kabul. At least 10 suicide bombers mounted a coordinated assault on one of America’s largest military bases, wounding three American and six Afghan soldiers. An earlier attack at the base killed 12 Afghan workers.
The number of United States and NATO casualties is mounting so quickly, that unless something happens soon this could be the deadliest year of the Afghan war. Kabul, the seat of Afghanistan’s pro-Western government, is increasingly besieged. And Taliban and foreign Qaeda fighters are consolidating control over an expanding swath of territory sprawling across both sides of the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Let us be clear about why this is so dangerous. The more territory the Taliban controls, the more money it can raise from narcotics and black-market activities to mount an even fiercer challenge against the foundering civilian governments in Kabul and Islamabad. And the more territory the Taliban controls, the more freedom Al Qaeda will have to mount new terrorist operations against this country and others.
There is no more time to waste. Unless the United States, NATO and its central Asian allies move quickly, they could lose this war. The following steps need to be taken in the coming weeks.
Washington must finally make clear to Pakistan’s leaders the mortal threat they face. The Army must turn its attention from India to the fight against the Taliban. Civilian leaders must realize that there can be no separate peace with the extremists. Sending American troops or warplanes into Pakistani territory will only feed anti-American furies. That should be the job of Pakistan’s army, with intelligence help and carefully monitored financial support from the United States.
More American ground troops will have to be sent to Afghanistan. The Pentagon’s over-reliance on airstrikes — which have led to high levels of civilian casualties — has dangerously antagonized the Afghan population. This may require an accelerated timetable for shifting American forces from Iraq, where the security situation has grown somewhat less desperate.
Read the rest of the editorial here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/opinion/21thu1.html?ref=opinion
Jim
“Afghanistan’s war is not a sideshow. It is the principal military confrontation between America and NATO and the forces responsible for 9/11 and later deadly terrorist attacks on European soil. Washington, NATO and the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan must stop fighting it like a holding action and develop a strategy to win. Otherwise, we will all lose.”
________________________________________
The New York Times
August 21, 2008
Editorial
Afghanistan on Fire
The news out of Afghanistan is truly alarming. This week, Taliban forces staged two of their most complex and audacious attacks of the war. Nearly 100 insurgents killed 10 French paratroopers in an attack near Kabul. At least 10 suicide bombers mounted a coordinated assault on one of America’s largest military bases, wounding three American and six Afghan soldiers. An earlier attack at the base killed 12 Afghan workers.
The number of United States and NATO casualties is mounting so quickly, that unless something happens soon this could be the deadliest year of the Afghan war. Kabul, the seat of Afghanistan’s pro-Western government, is increasingly besieged. And Taliban and foreign Qaeda fighters are consolidating control over an expanding swath of territory sprawling across both sides of the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Let us be clear about why this is so dangerous. The more territory the Taliban controls, the more money it can raise from narcotics and black-market activities to mount an even fiercer challenge against the foundering civilian governments in Kabul and Islamabad. And the more territory the Taliban controls, the more freedom Al Qaeda will have to mount new terrorist operations against this country and others.
There is no more time to waste. Unless the United States, NATO and its central Asian allies move quickly, they could lose this war. The following steps need to be taken in the coming weeks.
Washington must finally make clear to Pakistan’s leaders the mortal threat they face. The Army must turn its attention from India to the fight against the Taliban. Civilian leaders must realize that there can be no separate peace with the extremists. Sending American troops or warplanes into Pakistani territory will only feed anti-American furies. That should be the job of Pakistan’s army, with intelligence help and carefully monitored financial support from the United States.
More American ground troops will have to be sent to Afghanistan. The Pentagon’s over-reliance on airstrikes — which have led to high levels of civilian casualties — has dangerously antagonized the Afghan population. This may require an accelerated timetable for shifting American forces from Iraq, where the security situation has grown somewhat less desperate.
Read the rest of the editorial here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/opinion/21thu1.html?ref=opinion
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Endangered Species Act Changes Give Agencies More Say
I once worked as a Riverkeeper volunteer on watershed issues. I had a chance to speak with a water quality specialist (scientist) who was then an EPA (Federal) employee. His range of operation included the entire state of Pennsylvania. He said that it was impossible for him to check water quality without the help of citizen volunteers alerting him to areas of interest. That was more than 10 years ago. The Bush Administration has since taken the skin and muscle from the EPA staff so that the Republican’s favorite “robber barons” can run over environmental regulations.
(Several international Mafias and Mafiyas have infiltrated our deregulated financial institutions, but that is another chapter in the Conservative Republican Robberbaron Takeover of the USA.)
Some of our worst pollution has stemmed from illegal dumping of hazardous materials; many times by syndicated organized crime; the very same people that bring you heroin and cocaine. I have seen the effect of TCE water pollution on a small boy. He developed a brain tumor when he was two years old and spent the next 5 years in Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. In my view polluting our air and water is as much a criminal and anti-social act as those that destroy lives by pushing drugs.
From Aldo Leopold:
“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, "What good is it?" If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of eons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”
This new Bu$h proposal is really a blank check for polluters to rape God’s Creation and steal from our progeny.
Jim Pitcherella
Endangered Species Act Changes Give Agencies More Say
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 12, 2008; A01
The Bush administration yesterday proposed a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act to allow federal agencies to decide whether protected species would be imperiled by agency projects, eliminating the independent scientific reviews that have been required for more than three decades.
The new rules, which will be subject to a 30-day per comment period, would use administrative powers to make broad changes in the law that Congress has resisted for years. Under current law, agencies must subject any plans that potentially affect endangered animals and plants to an independent review by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. Under the proposed new rules, dam and highway construction and other federal projects could proceed without delay if the agency in charge decides they would not harm vulnerable species.
In a telephone call with reporters yesterday, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne described the new rules as a "narrow regulatory change" that "will provide clarity and certainty to the consultation process under the Endangered Species Act."
But environmentalists and congressional Democrats blasted the proposal as a last-minute attempt by the administration to bring about dramatic changes in the law. For more than a decade, congressional Republicans have been trying unsuccessfully to rewrite the act, which property owners and developers say imposes unreasonable economic costs.
"I am deeply troubled by this proposed rule, which gives federal agencies an unacceptable degree of discretion to decide whether or not to comply with the Endangered Species Act," said Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, who asked for a staff briefing before the proposal was announced but did not receive one. "Eleventh-hour rulemakings rarely, if ever, lead to good government -- this is not the type of legacy this Interior Department should be leaving for future generations."
Bob Irvin, senior vice president of conservation programs at the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife, questioned how some federal agencies could make the assessments, since most do not have wildlife biologists on staff.
"Clearly, that's a case of asking the fox to guard the chicken coop," Irvin said, adding that the original law created "a giant caution light that made federal agencies stop and think about the impacts of their actions." He said, "What the Bush administration is telling those agencies is they don't have to think about those impacts anymore."
Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/11/AR2008081102299.html
(Several international Mafias and Mafiyas have infiltrated our deregulated financial institutions, but that is another chapter in the Conservative Republican Robberbaron Takeover of the USA.)
Some of our worst pollution has stemmed from illegal dumping of hazardous materials; many times by syndicated organized crime; the very same people that bring you heroin and cocaine. I have seen the effect of TCE water pollution on a small boy. He developed a brain tumor when he was two years old and spent the next 5 years in Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. In my view polluting our air and water is as much a criminal and anti-social act as those that destroy lives by pushing drugs.
From Aldo Leopold:
“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, "What good is it?" If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of eons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”
This new Bu$h proposal is really a blank check for polluters to rape God’s Creation and steal from our progeny.
Jim Pitcherella
Endangered Species Act Changes Give Agencies More Say
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 12, 2008; A01
The Bush administration yesterday proposed a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act to allow federal agencies to decide whether protected species would be imperiled by agency projects, eliminating the independent scientific reviews that have been required for more than three decades.
The new rules, which will be subject to a 30-day per comment period, would use administrative powers to make broad changes in the law that Congress has resisted for years. Under current law, agencies must subject any plans that potentially affect endangered animals and plants to an independent review by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. Under the proposed new rules, dam and highway construction and other federal projects could proceed without delay if the agency in charge decides they would not harm vulnerable species.
In a telephone call with reporters yesterday, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne described the new rules as a "narrow regulatory change" that "will provide clarity and certainty to the consultation process under the Endangered Species Act."
But environmentalists and congressional Democrats blasted the proposal as a last-minute attempt by the administration to bring about dramatic changes in the law. For more than a decade, congressional Republicans have been trying unsuccessfully to rewrite the act, which property owners and developers say imposes unreasonable economic costs.
"I am deeply troubled by this proposed rule, which gives federal agencies an unacceptable degree of discretion to decide whether or not to comply with the Endangered Species Act," said Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, who asked for a staff briefing before the proposal was announced but did not receive one. "Eleventh-hour rulemakings rarely, if ever, lead to good government -- this is not the type of legacy this Interior Department should be leaving for future generations."
Bob Irvin, senior vice president of conservation programs at the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife, questioned how some federal agencies could make the assessments, since most do not have wildlife biologists on staff.
"Clearly, that's a case of asking the fox to guard the chicken coop," Irvin said, adding that the original law created "a giant caution light that made federal agencies stop and think about the impacts of their actions." He said, "What the Bush administration is telling those agencies is they don't have to think about those impacts anymore."
Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/11/AR2008081102299.html
Monday, August 11, 2008
Can It Happen Here?
For a developed nation that is supposed to be the “world’s only superpower” our health care system is a catastrophe. Our health care system only works well for Billionaires, near Billionaires and members of Congress. It does not even work well for most of our severely wounded troops. Our health care system has a truly catastrophic effect on the lives of many middle class citizens.
The only real obstacle we face in rising from our now catastrophic level of health care to an acceptable level health care program for the all of our citizens is the propaganda machine that the insurance companies can muster up.
Jim
________________________________________
August 11, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Can It Happen Here?
By PAUL KRUGMAN
The draft Democratic Party platform that was sent out last week puts health care reform front and center. “If one thing came through in the platform hearings,” says the document, “it was that Democrats are united around a commitment to provide every American access to affordable, comprehensive health care.”
Can Democrats deliver on that commitment? In principle, it should be easy. In practice, supporters of health care reform, myself included, will be hanging on by their fingernails until legislation is actually passed.
What’s easy about guaranteed health care for all? For one thing, we know that it’s economically feasible: every wealthy country except the United States already has some form of guaranteed health care. The hazards Americans treat as facts of life — the risk of losing your insurance, the risk that you won’t be able to afford necessary care, the chance that you’ll be financially ruined by medical costs — would be considered unthinkable in any other advanced nation.
The politics of guaranteed care are also easy, at least in one sense: if the Democrats do manage to establish a system of universal coverage, the nation will love it.
Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/opinion/11krugman.html?hp
The only real obstacle we face in rising from our now catastrophic level of health care to an acceptable level health care program for the all of our citizens is the propaganda machine that the insurance companies can muster up.
Jim
________________________________________
August 11, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Can It Happen Here?
By PAUL KRUGMAN
The draft Democratic Party platform that was sent out last week puts health care reform front and center. “If one thing came through in the platform hearings,” says the document, “it was that Democrats are united around a commitment to provide every American access to affordable, comprehensive health care.”
Can Democrats deliver on that commitment? In principle, it should be easy. In practice, supporters of health care reform, myself included, will be hanging on by their fingernails until legislation is actually passed.
What’s easy about guaranteed health care for all? For one thing, we know that it’s economically feasible: every wealthy country except the United States already has some form of guaranteed health care. The hazards Americans treat as facts of life — the risk of losing your insurance, the risk that you won’t be able to afford necessary care, the chance that you’ll be financially ruined by medical costs — would be considered unthinkable in any other advanced nation.
The politics of guaranteed care are also easy, at least in one sense: if the Democrats do manage to establish a system of universal coverage, the nation will love it.
Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/opinion/11krugman.html?hp
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION-WATCH FUNDRAISER
THURSDAY AUGUST 28, 2008
Western Chester County Democrats are “Throwing Open the Doors” and inviting you to a
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION-WATCH FUNDRAISER
at the Masonic Lodge
Hall, 360 E Lincoln Hwy, Coatesville, PA 19320
Food/Beverages
Music
Large Screen TV
Campaign SuppliesRaffle/Give-a-ways
AUGUST 28, 2008
Come watch history in the making as Barack Obama delivers his Acceptance Speech live at Denver’s Invesco Stadium
6:30
Doors open
7:30-7:45
Welcome:
Kathleen Hood-South Coatesville Mayor Kennedy
8:30-8:40
“I Have A Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr.
8:40
take your seat for Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech
November 4TH HERE WE COME!!!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
McCain: racist, bigot & homophobe
It is now abundantly clear that McCain’s only campaign strategy is “vote for me I’m White”.
Even though racism and the Republican “Southern Strategy” elected Ronald Regan as President two times he managed to cloak racist code words in patriotic themes. But there was no YouTube and bloggers during Regan’s election or even Junior Bush’s elections.
The demographics in the South have changed dramatically with an influx of “Yankees” and immigrants. Many of the hard core racists in both rural Northern and Southern areas have literally died and will continue to die off. The Republican “Southern Strategy” may be dying with them.
With McCain's storied temper maybe all we need to do is wait for McCain's "Macaca-YouTube moment" and hope that the South has learned that the war is over and black people are no longer their slaves.
Jim
Jim
Published on Capitol Hill Blue (http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont)
McCain: racist, bigot & homophobe
Created 08/01/2008 - 7:14am
John McCain, a member of the House of Representatives in the mid-1980s, often held court at a table near the bar at Bullfeathers, a popular Capitol Hill watering hole, telling jokes and matching hangers-on drink by drink.
As a Capitol Hill chief of staff, I often drank at Bullfeathers and was invited to join the throng at McCain's table one evening. A few minutes listening to the racism, bigotry and homophobia of the Arizona Congressman told me all I needed to know.
McCain loved to tell jokes about lesbians, blacks, Hispanics and the Vietnamese community that occupied a large section of Arlington County, Virginia, just south of the District of Columbia.
Of course, McCain didn't use polite language in the jokes: He used names like "fags" or "queers" or "dykes" or "niggers" or "spics" or "wetbacks" or "gooks."
A typical McCain joke (overheard at Bullfeathers):
Two dykes are talking at a bar and one leaves. As she walks toward the door, the other watches her leave and says out loud: "God, I've love to eat her out."
Two men are standing near by and one turns to the other and says: "I'd like to do the same. Guess that makes me a dyke."
Or another (also overheard at Bullfeathers):
Question: Why does Mexican beer have two "X's" on the label?
Answer: Because wetbacks always need a co-signer.
(McCain has a documented history of lesbian jokes [1]. He's also come under fire for other jokes about rape [2].)
Exampe:
Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/10086
Even though racism and the Republican “Southern Strategy” elected Ronald Regan as President two times he managed to cloak racist code words in patriotic themes. But there was no YouTube and bloggers during Regan’s election or even Junior Bush’s elections.
The demographics in the South have changed dramatically with an influx of “Yankees” and immigrants. Many of the hard core racists in both rural Northern and Southern areas have literally died and will continue to die off. The Republican “Southern Strategy” may be dying with them.
With McCain's storied temper maybe all we need to do is wait for McCain's "Macaca-YouTube moment" and hope that the South has learned that the war is over and black people are no longer their slaves.
Jim
Jim
Published on Capitol Hill Blue (http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont)
McCain: racist, bigot & homophobe
Created 08/01/2008 - 7:14am
John McCain, a member of the House of Representatives in the mid-1980s, often held court at a table near the bar at Bullfeathers, a popular Capitol Hill watering hole, telling jokes and matching hangers-on drink by drink.
As a Capitol Hill chief of staff, I often drank at Bullfeathers and was invited to join the throng at McCain's table one evening. A few minutes listening to the racism, bigotry and homophobia of the Arizona Congressman told me all I needed to know.
McCain loved to tell jokes about lesbians, blacks, Hispanics and the Vietnamese community that occupied a large section of Arlington County, Virginia, just south of the District of Columbia.
Of course, McCain didn't use polite language in the jokes: He used names like "fags" or "queers" or "dykes" or "niggers" or "spics" or "wetbacks" or "gooks."
A typical McCain joke (overheard at Bullfeathers):
Two dykes are talking at a bar and one leaves. As she walks toward the door, the other watches her leave and says out loud: "God, I've love to eat her out."
Two men are standing near by and one turns to the other and says: "I'd like to do the same. Guess that makes me a dyke."
Or another (also overheard at Bullfeathers):
Question: Why does Mexican beer have two "X's" on the label?
Answer: Because wetbacks always need a co-signer.
(McCain has a documented history of lesbian jokes [1]. He's also come under fire for other jokes about rape [2].)
Exampe:
Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/10086