Daily Topics - Friday April 16th 2010

"Anything Goes on Townhall Friday!"
Hour One "Brunch With Bernie" Senator Bernie Sanders www.sanders.senate.gov
Hour Two - Dr. Joseph Scherzer Practicing Dermatologist in Scottsdale, AZ - Is he closing his practice over Obamacare???
Hour Three - Elizabeth Kucinich www.healthyschoollunches.org - What is Citizen Lobbyist Day for the school lunch bill?
Comments


I'm sorry . . . Not OBAMACARE . . . Richard Nixon's suggested Health Insurance Industry reform.

@harry,
I was going to include Mexico, but got too depressed at the prospect.

RawStory guy Meets Karl Rove at a booksigning - kinda funny:
The French's docs don't have a financial interest in the imaging centers and labs.

So keep your own insurance if you like it you big baby.
How old is this doc? Maybe he was going to retire in 2014 anyway!
A Robert s.: In Mexico, they have 2 sayings about the US:
1. Whenever the US sneezes, Mexico gets cancer; and,
2. Poor Mexico...so far from God, so near the United States.

I suggest that Canadians who show up in US medical offices complaining about their wait times, etc. are mostly upper middle class folks who can afford to travel.
It's kind of like some of the first polls that showed Herbert Hoover to be many points ahead of Roosevelt. The reason? The pollsters used the telephone system, which most people could not afford.

@rladlof:
Painful as it is to admit, on a domestic agenda, Nixon was to the left (economically) of Clinton, Obama or many current democrats. Sure he pushed Milton Freidmanism on Chile, but refused despite great urgings, to implement the Chicago Boys agenda in the US. Freidman almost had a fit when NIxon imposed wage and price controls.

The problem with enforcing the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is that the times are more complicated than they once were. Back in the day, the courts only required the "belief" that a business was behaving in a monopolistic manner. But the Act itself doesn't specifically define what is or is not monopolistic behavior (only its outlines) and in the past 30 or 40 years the courts have required more specific guidelines that make it more difficult for bringing successful cases against monopolistic behavior. It is interesting to note that at the time the act was passed many people--perhaps Sherman himself-- thought that the act was merely a political charade that had no real authority or benefit.

Isn't Dr. Scherzer actually threatening to take *down* his shingle, not hang it UP, which is what one does to open UP a practice?
@Robert S.: wonder how many Americans can find Earth on a map? :D

This doctor claims Canadian after Canadian that comes to his office bitches about their system. Just how many Canadians need to travel to Arizona for Skin issues? How stupid does this Doc think average people are to buy that load of BS? (He must be hanging 'round too many t-hags)

@harry, c'mon everyone knows Earth is right there between Pluto and.... Mickey Mouse.

Actually . . . Except for the runaway paranoid insanity, Richard Nixon was not heinous as a President.
thats not earth, thats Pluto's play-toy.

@harry,
The US War on Some Drugs goes on unfettered, to the extreme detriment to Mexico, Colombia, etc. Hillary was in Mexico City the other day, and Gates in Colombia...
Mexico by Grace Slick - Jefferson Airplane ca 1970
Owsley and Charlie, twins of the trade,
Come to the Poet's Room
Talking about the problems of a leaf,
And yes, it'll be back soon
There used to be tons of gold and green
Comin' up here from Mexico
A donde esta la planta, mi amigo, del sol?
[The translation is: "Where is the plant, my friend, of the sun."]
But Mexico is under the thumb
Of a man we call Richard
And he's come to call himself king
But he's a small-headed man
And he doesn't know a thing
About how to deal for you
How to deal for you
There are millions of you now
I mean it's not as if you were alone
There are brothers everywhere
Just waiting for a toke on that gold
And God knows how far it can go
You're famous Uncle Charlie
For your Mexican smoke
You're a legend Owsley
For your righteous dope
There were a half a million people on the lawn
And we sang to their faces in the dawn
How long will that young race
Wait for the jailer's time to end?
How long will the Panther race
Wait for the iron bars to bend?
And no no no no no nobody waits
How Long

@rladlof, Nixon not heinous as a president? Sure if you look at all the Presidents ('cept Carter) since him, amazing how our expectations in Presidents seem to continually fall. :-(

@harry, sorry you're right... Earth is over there next to Uranus

I wonder if you can flag your own comments as offensive? I might just have to try it on that last one of mine. :-)

All Presidents pale when compared to Jefferson and the Roosevelt boys . . .

Actually, "head funge" manager sounds as sensible as anything in that territory.

@rladolf, I don't know, Polk achieved all his goals in a single term and didn't seek re-election because of it.

Runaway Paranoid Insanity must cover an awful lot. A little trip down memory lane:
The bombing of Cambodia, the deportation of John Lennon, the enemies list, the plumbers, paraquat, Bebe Rebozo, Spiro (nolo contendre) Agnew, the Saturday Night massacre...just off the top of my head.

John Adams, for all his faults and idiosyncracies, is a president who kept us OUT of a war. It's too bad that the US celebrates weapons, hegemony, empire, and destruction of anything strange.
@Maxrot: "Circle of Debris found around Uranus" - headline from leftwingwacko.com. @Robert s. re: Nixon: Dont forget the overthrow of Allende in Chile.

MSHA, NIOSH, OSHA, NASA, NLRB . . . All faired well under tricky Dick . . . Unfortunately the paranoid insanity does cover quite a lot of stuff.

Student loans are the new system of indentured servitude. Wage slavery runs an interesting parallel.

Orwellian covers a lot of the Bagger bull-hockey.

There must have been *some* tea party rallies somewhere, for these mocking signs to appear:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-best-fake-teabagger-signs-at-the-boston-common
@Robert S.: do you remember this old joke from National Lampoon?
"How is the Starship Enterprise like a wad of toilet paper?....they both circle Uranus searching for Klingons!"

Kucinich: White House Assassination Policy Is Extrajudicial
One of the few Democrats to publicly address the issue of government-sanctioned assassinations is Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich. "I don't support it--period," he said in an interview. "I think people in both parties that are concerned about the Constitution should be speaking out on this. I can't account for what anyone else doesn't do."
Kucinich told The Nation he has sent several letters to the Obama administration raising questions about the potential unconstitutionality of the policy, as well as possible violations of international law, but has received no response. "With all the smart people that are in that administration, they've got to know the risks that they're taking here with violations of law," he says.
Targeted killings are not a new Obama administration policy. Beginning three days after his swearing in, President Obama has authorized scores of lethal drone strikes, including against specific individuals, in Pakistan and Afghanistan, surpassing the Bush era numbers. The elite Joint Special Operations Command maintains a list of individuals, including US citizens, which it is authorized to assassinate. In January, Dana Priest reported in the Washington Post that the CIA had US citizens on an assassination list, but the Post later ran a correction stating that only JSOC had "a target list that includes several Americans." The policy of the CIA targeting al-Awlaki, a US citizen, for assassination, therefore, appeared to be a new development, at least in terms of public awareness of approved government assassinations.
"In the real world, things don't work out quite so neatly as they seem to in the heads of the CIA," says Kucinich. "There's always the possibility of blowback, which could endanger high-ranking US officials. There's the inevitable licensing of rogue groups that comes about from policies that are not strictly controlled and that get sloppy--so you have zero accountability. And that's not even to get into an over-arching issue of the morality of assassination policies, which are extra-constitutional, extra-judicial. It's very dangerous from every possible perspective."
He added: "The assassination policies vitiate the presumption of innocence and the government then becomes the investigator, policeman, prosecutor, judge, jury, executioner all in one. That raises the greatest questions with respect to our constitution and our democratic way of life."
Kucinich remains one of the few members of congress actually concerned with the rule of law. Crimes remain crimes regardless of administration.

What about William Henry Harrison, only President for 31 days, we need a few more of those presidencies.
re Tea parties: I don't think many people attend them unless there's a big-name demagogue there.

@RANDY WINN: Your Link Wins Today:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-best-fake-teabagger-signs-at-the-boston-common

Thom Hartmann
The Loveboat with Louise and Higgins
Portland, Oregon
Dear Mr. Hartmann,
Prior to 1984, I was a deep operative for the goose-stepping Republicans. Our operations were to search and destroy decent, honest, and truthful Democrats.
I did not vote for Reagan in 1984. I became enlightened by listening to Reagan and his pathological lying and I could no longer be a Republican.
As I look back on the Reagan years, he was a total disaster for average and middle class Americans.
Please continue to share with us your truthful insights regarding our elected officials.
Sincerely, gerald

I've been working as a critical care nurse for almost 10 years at THE major University Hospital one hour from the canadian border and worked for a further 3 at the neighboring teaching hospital here in Syracuse NY.
I have yet to meet ONE canadian who came here or there to get care that couldn't be had in a timely fashion in Canada.
Their system has it's issues too. But it's a far bet fairer and more efficient than ours. Their system has enormous logistical issues. 33 million people in a land mass that is second only to one other nation. If you're in a big city you're fine. If you live in rural Nova Scotia (like my friend's mom) or Nunavut or northern Saskatchewan you may have a problem seeing specialists.
The same is true for Alaska, rural Montana, or rural upstate NY for that matter. We ship people 3 hours to get to my facility since we have 24 hour trauma services or simply services the other hospitals don't provide on off hours (opthomology, neurosurgery etc.).
Still, no canadians running here for care.
I'll find out soon enough since I"m moving my family up there this summer since we got our permanent resident status there.

Celebrate Confederacy Month, shoot a separatist today!

I had to flag my last comment, that was just over the top.

@rladlof,
Nixon also created the EPA and signed the Clean Air Act. He also, as I noted previously, resisted calls to implement the Chicago Boys Freidmanesque Shock Treatments that were part of the Chilean experiment.
@harry,
The Allende case is exactly what I was refering to earlier, and yesterday I believe, as well.

Thom Hartmann
The Loveboat with Louise and Higgins
Portland, Oregon
Dear Mr. Hartmann,
I have been critical of your optimism for America’s future. I disagree that our nation has any future. I must give you credit for being objective in assessing both Democrats and Republicans.
I voted for Clinton twice and he fooled me. How can a person vote for either Democrat or Republican candidates who give us nonsense? We need decent, honest, and truthful candidates but they are all bought with money.
Personally, as I look back on the Clinton years, he was a disaster for average and middle class Americans.
Please keep being objective in assessing both the Democrats and the Republicans.
Sincerely, gerald
@Robert S. maybe thats why i thought of it.

Thom Hartmann
The Lovebaot with Louise and Higgins
Portland, Oregon
America’s worst nightmare is no longer president. George W. Bush is a perfect example of turds rising to the top.
His years in office brought me continuous BOHICA days. From these BOHICA days I have now a chronic hemorrhoid illness. When I sit, I am in pain from the swollen hemorrhoids that have surfaced through my continuous bending over to be jammed by the Republicans.
Lying down in bed does ease some discomfort from my chronic hemorrhoid condition.
I hope that you and your listeners do not have to suffer as much as me from my chronic hemorrhoid illness.
Sincerely, gerald

I've put the states of Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Georgia,South Carolina, Alaska, and North Carolina up on eBay (no reserve). Surprise seccessionists! You're now owned by Goldman Sachs and/or Mexico and Venezuela!

Has Eric Holder done anything?
It seems that I only hear about what he isn't prosecuting.

@Maxrot,
He gave Tad Stevens a "get out of jail free" card. Paul Minor and Don Siegelman, not so lucky.
@Maxrot: re Holder: He's doing plenty to negate our civil liberties!

Also, Maxrot, as I posted yesterday, Eric Holder has now indicted whistleblowers, Bradley Birkenfeld USB, and also Thomas Drake for revealing the illegal NSA wiretapping.
What the Whistleblower Prosecution Says About the Obama DOJ
The more I think and read about the Obama DOJ's prosecution of NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, the more I think this might actually be one of the worst steps the Obama administration has taken yet, if not the single worst step -- and that's obviously saying a lot. During the Bush years, in the wake of the NSA scandal, I used to write post after post about how warped and dangerous it was that the Bush DOJ was protecting the people who criminally spied on Americans (Bush, Cheney Michael Hayden) while simultaneously threatening to prosecute the whistle-blowers who exposed misconduct. But the Bush DOJ never actually followed through on those menacing threats; no NSA whistle-blowers were indicted during Bush's term (though several were threatened). It took the election of Barack Obama for that to happen, as his handpicked Assistant Attorney General publicly boasted yesterday of the indictment against Drake.
Aside from the indefensible fact that only crimes committed by high-level Bush officials -- but nobody else -- enjoy the benefits of Obama's "Look Forward, Not Backward" decree, think about the interests being served by this prosecution. Most discussions yesterday suggested that Drake's leaks to The Baltimore Sun's Sibohan Gorman were about waste and mismanagement in the "Trailblazer" project rather than controversial NSA spying activities, but that's not entirely accurate.
Of all the disappointments of the Obama Administration, Holder is one of the most egregious. I mean, no one could expect any differences from Robert Gates, he's a holdover war criminal. Holder is a fresh apologist for aggression and torture.
re: Obama: Yeah, I didn't really expect him to be able to make meaningful change, i think only public campaign financing and breaking up the media panopoly will do that; but i didn't expect to be considering him just another war criminal at this point.
Good Lord,
Look how easily and thin-skinned this dermatologist's 'arguments' are.