Etc.

The trouble with Obama is his halfassed ideas end up pleasing nobody at all. The USSC, fond of making up justifications for overturning long-established ideas (for example, claiming the second amendment gives citizens the "right to bear arms" in complete violation of precedent, or its twisted reasoning behind Bush v. Gore and Jones v. Clinton), will likely kick Obamacare to the curb.

The US Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments Monday into the constitutionality of the health care legislation signed into law by Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The high court has scheduled an unprecedented six hours over three days this week to hear challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and its defense by the Obama administration.

Federal district and appeals courts have issued conflicting decisions in numerous challenges to the health care law, including from 26 of 50 US states, the National Federation of Independent Business and individuals opposed to the legislation. At the heart of the challenges has been the bill’s requirement that every American adult obtain insurance, either through an employer, a government program, or by purchasing it individually.

Just in time for the elections, of course.
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It isn't difficult to see the pattern of education "reform" if only one takes a look at it.

It's all about the money, ripping off the taxpayers for profit.
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If this story is true, this person should absolutely not be allowed to compete in a beauty pageant.

Shit, you want to playact as a "woman," there are drag queen contests.

Not that I even believe in the archaic concept of beauty pageants, but this just makes a mockery out of them.
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News, Etc.

Too bad one has to go clear to NYC to find a principal who actually gives a shit about teachers and education.
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It's time to take a look at a couple of Obama's failed foreign policy attempts.
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A federal judge doesn't like Obama's health care reform law.
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We should know from his educational "reforms" billionaire celebrity Bill Gates is dumber than a box of rocks outside of his tiny area of expertise, and his attempts to buy polio's extinction fall into the same category of ignorance.

Jonas Salk or Albert Sabin he is not.
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Under "no kidding" is this article showing what few jobs were created were largely shitty jobs paying shitty wages.
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Now That the Health Care Legislation Has Been Signed

by the president, what happens next? I am confused about all of this, frankly:

Most of the major provisions in the health care legislation do not take effect for months, if not years.

Even some popular changes that Democrats are promoting as “immediate benefits,” like allowing adult dependent children to remain on their parents’ insurance policies, do not actually take effect for six months.

But when President Obama signed the Senate bill into law at the White House on Tuesday morning, some provisions took effect immediately.

For example, states will be required to maintain their existing Medicaid and children’s health insurance coverage based on policies currently in effect. While states can expand their programs, they are not allowed to cut back on eligibility and are not allowed to put in place any paperwork requirements that would make it harder for people to sign up for coverage, according to Jocelyn A. Guyer, co-executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University.

NYT

Michael Moore Gives His Opinion on the

health care "reform" legislation Obama will sign:




For people with health insurance, it won't be worse for them, but it isn't good for those of us out here without health insurance who will be forced to purchase it or face a fine.

And then it doesn't begin to go far enough.

But of course we will NEVER have single payer health insurance as long as industry can buy off Congress.

Pigs Flew This Weekend Over the Nation's Capital,

with "heath care" reform or health insurance reform or whatever you call it passed Congress. President Obama will sign it Tuesday:

With the 219-to-212 vote, the House gave final approval to legislation passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve. Thirty-four Democrats joined Republicans in voting against the bill. The vote sent the measure to President Obama, whose yearlong push for the legislation has been the centerpiece of his agenda and a test of his political power.

The president intends to sign the measure on Tuesday.

After approving the bill, the House adopted a package of changes to it by a vote of 220 to 211. That package — agreed to in negotiations among House and Senate Democrats and the White House — now goes to the Senate for action as soon as this week. It would be the final step in a bitter legislative fight that has highlighted the nation’s deep partisan and ideological divisions.

This legislation is hardly on the same plane as Medicare or Social Security, and there will no doubt be a LOT of problems with this law down the road when people are forced to buy health insurance they can't afford.

Private health insurance should not exist, period. It should be Medicare for all.

The WSWS is also cynical about this legislation:

The main features of the bill include hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, and the requirement that individuals and families obtain insurance or pay a fine, thus providing a new influx of cash-paying customers for private insurance companies. Businesses are under no obligation to provide their workers with insurance, paying only minimal fines if they do not.

The government and the corporations are to a large extent absolved of any responsibility for funding health care, and the working population made to foot the bill.

Those elements of the overhaul which, within the framework of American liberal politics, were proclaimed to be absolutely essential—such as the public option—were abandoned long ago. They were initially included as a fig leaf, to make it easier for Obama’s liberal supporters to sell the scheme to the American people.

Concession after concession to the Republican Party was said to be necessary in order to obtain bipartisan support. But after it became clear that no Republican support would be forthcoming, rather than restoring the discarded provisions, new regressive measures were added.

A shameful agreement was reached with the most right-wing sections of the Democratic Party itself to further restrict abortion coverage. Final passage was secured through a deal with Democratic Representative Bart Stupak, an anti-abortion advocate from Michigan. Obama agreed to sign a last-minute executive order confirming that no federal funds would be used for abortions under the terms of the bill.

I'll Believe It When I See It

For the 2,203rd time, Democrats are promising some kind of health care "reform" will pass Congress and the president will sign it into law:

As the House prepares to convene Sunday afternoon for action on President Obama's long-pursued overhaul of healthcare, the House's Democratic leadership is voicing confidence in passage of the bill.

"We've got the votes," Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) said in an appearance Sunday morning on CNN's "State of the Union."

The House plans to convene at 1 p.m. Eastern time to take up a "reconciliation" measure that merges the House and Senate on healthcare and vote on a Senate-passed healthcare bill. House leaders need 216 votes for passage.

"This is a historic day, and we are happy warriors," Larson said. "We will be a part of history, joining Franklin Delano Roosevelt's passage of Social Security, Lyndon Johnson's passage of Medicare and now Barack Obama's passage of healthcare."

Note to Obama: FORGET Health Care "Reform"

There needs to be a serious attempt to restart this economy instead of being so on the take from the corporations and wealthy individuals.

People are HURTING out here.

Well, No Shit, Sherlock,

Paul.

A lot of us knew from Day One this guy would cave to the GOP or not have the willingness to fight for what he believed in, if there ever was anything he believed in independent of his wealthy backers.

As Usual, Robert Reich Asks a Rude Question,

and he knows, I know, and everybody else knows WHO is going to foot the bill on health care "reform." Hint: It won't be the rich.

The Health Care Mess

The toughest job for Democrats now that the legislation has passed the Senate and will eventually be law in some form is trying to persuade a skeptical public this reform is any good.

More Health Care Reform Mess Regarding Obama

The video rather spells it out, and it's small wonder "progressives" and liberals are fed up with the president:

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Obama deserves all the criticism he is getting on this. I mean his words on the campaign trail belie what he is saying now.

The Health Care Mess: Obama's Own Words

He was on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer talking about the health care bill:

So when you look at the criteria that I've set forth, this is a good deal. Now, are there provisions here, provisions there, that I would love to have in the bill? Of course. But overall, I think that I've seen 95 percent of what will work for the American people, for small businesses and for the government budget that I was seeking from the beginning.

JIM LEHRER: Ninety-five percent of what you wanted?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Absolutely.

JIM LEHRER: Now, do you feel the same way about the House version that passed a few weeks ago?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, what's interesting is, the House version and the Senate version are almost identical. There are some differences in terms of how they pay for particular provisions. But the same principles about setting up an exchange where small businesses and individuals can buy in, pool their purchasing power to get a better deal from insurance companies, that's in both bills. The insurance reforms are both in the House and the Senate versions.

Naturally the nutroots are all upset about Obama being a sellout. He's actually the same person he always was.

The WSWS Naturally Doesn't Have Much Good to Say

about the forthcoming health care "reform" legislation:

In the early morning hours on Monday, the US Senate approved a procedural motion to move its version of health care legislation to final passage later this week. The bill proposes deep cuts in Medicare, ensures the profits of the giant insurers and pharmaceuticals, and will result in reductions in care for millions of ordinary Americans.


The Senate voted 60-40—the exact majority needed to avoid a Republican filibuster—with all members of the Democratic caucus voting for the legislation and all Republican senators opposing it. The final form of the bill was the product of joint manoeuvres by White House officials and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, to secure the votes of key Democratic holdouts.


The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, hailed by President Obama as a “big victory for American people,” is in reality a thoroughly reactionary piece of legislation. The central focus of the $871 billion bill is to slash government health care spending. It includes more than $400 billion in cuts to Medicare, the government-run program for the elderly and disabled.

The Nutroots Chronicles: Chapter 64,000

The blogosphere and the so-called progressives are madder than hell blogger Jane Hamsher went on Fox News today condemning the Senate's version of health care reform:





In light of how "successful" her and her blog's efforts were to get justice for Valerie Plame and to get Ned Lamont elected to the United States Senate, I strongly suspect her petition drive will see similar success.

The Nutroots Chronicles, Chapter 50,000

Yet another "prominent" blogger is upset as hell with President Obama and demands he quit forcing the "left" to "eat shit":

What we are seeing right now is a semi-coordinated, semi-spontaneous revolt on the left to the latest compromises in the Senate health care reform bill. We can talk about the wisdom and possible efficacy of this revolt, but the administration has to deal with the left they have, not the left that they might wish to have (to use some Rumsfeldian logic). What the administration is facing is a consequence of the left having to eat too much shit on a whole host of issues from military commissions, a failure to root out and punish the crimes and practices of the Bush administration, the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, a too-friendly bailout of Wall Street, and now a health care bill that bears little resemblance to what Obama promised us in the campaign.

Obama can't pass anything that doesn't have unanimous support in the Democratic caucus because of the ruthless obstruction and opposition of the Republican Party. This forces him to govern to the center and make all his compromises with centrist Democrats and/or the two still-existing centrist Republicans in the Senate. The Republican obstruction empowers people like Joe Lieberman. It actually gives veto power to every single senator, but the only way to make up for a defecting Democrat is to win over Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins. So, if Bernie Sanders or Roland Burris revolt, he has to move the bill further to the right in response.

What this writer and the nutroots in general who cheerleaded Obama don't understand is Obama's constituency has NEVER been the "left" anyway; he couldn't give a shit less about them now that the election is over with.

What this writer and the nutroots in general who cheerleaded Obama don't understand is the "center" or rather the "right" is where Obama ALWAYS stood, flowery rhetoric and media propaganda notwithstanding. This has nothing to do with the "progressives'" behavior of insults and the like alienating the "center" Democrats. Insult the "center" or "right" Democrats and you insult Obama himself.

What this writer and the nutroots in general who cheerleaded Obama don't understand is fixing the economy is vastly more important than that stupid health care reform debacle. I ALWAYS said this was a loser as long as the health insurance industry has both political parties by the throat and few if any politicians outside of the nutcase egotist Dennis Kucinich have the political will to change matters.



Democrats have a disaster on their hands, but it isn't too late to reverse course.

What is Left of Health Care/Insurance "Reform"

is no real reform at all.

This according to someone known for his outspokenness:

Real health-care reform is supposed to eliminate discrimination based on preexisting conditions. But the legislation allows insurance companies to charge older Americans up to three times as much as younger Americans, pricing them out of coverage. The bill was supposed to give Americans choices about what kind of system they wanted to enroll in. Instead, it fines Americans if they do not sign up with an insurance company, which may take up to 30 percent of your premium dollars and spend it on CEO salaries -- in the range of $20 million a year -- and on return on equity for the company's shareholders. Few Americans will see any benefit until 2014, by which time premiums are likely to have doubled. In short, the winners in this bill are insurance companies; the American taxpayer is about to be fleeced with a bailout in a situation that dwarfs even what happened at AIG.

From the very beginning of this debate, progressives have argued that a public option or a Medicare buy-in would restore competition and hold the private health insurance industry accountable. Progressives understood that a public plan would give Americans real choices about what kind of system they wanted to be in and how they wanted to spend their money. Yet Washington has decided, once again, that the American people cannot be trusted to choose for themselves. Your money goes to insurers, whether or not you want it to.

Keith Olbermann blathers against it as well:

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The Health Care Bill Mess

A lot of blame is being thrown at Senator Joseph Lieberman over the gutting of just about every bit of reform in the health care legislation, a waste of time as I had stated over and over on this blog when time, money, and effort should have focused on job creation, but the real blame rests squarely on the president.

Although I have little use for Senator Russ Feingold, he puts the blame where it belongs:

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), among the most vocal supporters of the public option, said it would be unfair to blame Lieberman for its apparent demise. Feingold said that responsibility ultimately rests with President Barack Obama and he could have insisted on a higher standard for the legislation.

“This bill appears to be legislation that the president wanted in the first place, so I don’t think focusing it on Lieberman really hits the truth,” said Feingold. “I think they could have been higher. I certainly think a stronger bill would have been better in every respect.”

But Feingold added there are “obviously good things in the bill” and focusing on an individual member is not an “accurate portrayal of what happened.”

Obama, being a neoliberal, is doing exactly what he wants. It isn't all of a sudden he has been held hostage to Wall Street and corporate interests; he has ALWAYS been a neoliberal. It isn't my fault and the fault of other people out there that we always saw what he was and didn't want him as our presidential nominee.

I fully expect Obama to start targeting Social Security next.

Isn't this something? Neoliberalism or Friedmanism has been completely debunked by history, yet these people still persist in pushing these ruinous policies on the public. It's like they are captives of a cult.

Paul Krugman Asks a Good Question

about reining in Wall Street excesses, but remember, we are dealing with this worthless piece of shit called the United States Senate, so don't expect any miracles coming out of that body.

Speaking of the Senate, it appears Senator Lieberman has succeeded in hijacking what little reform there is in the proposed health care legislation.

More about him here.

It Appears the Health Care Bill

has cleared the 60 votes needed for cloture, and the legislation can now be debated.

Miscellaneous Articles

The WSWS takes a dim look at a government panel's breast cancer recommendations, even though there have been serious questions raised about mammograms for years.

This isn't any kind of conspiracy against women; besides, women who want them can still get them. This recommendation was based on a cost-benefit analysis.

Of course the panel recommended women with family histories of the disease should get mammograms just as they always have.
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So what does health care reform REALLY mean?
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A federal judge has just ordered compensation in the case of a gay couple denied spousal benefits.
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The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, will not be running for governor again. Of course this is no surprise.
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The euthanization of Oreo, the abused pit bull mentioned on this blog last week, has created a huge uproar, for many people believe the ASPCA didn't want to bother with the long process of rehabilitation.

The dog was euthanized only a little over three months after her legs were broken by her abusing owner having thrown her out the window.