The two percent robustness
Imagine public elections in which 2 percent are allowed to vote and Diebold gets to nominate the candidates. Or public parks with guest lists of 2 percent of the public, and private prisons for anyone else who tries to enter. Or how about public schools serving 2 percent of children with fully televised lessons broken up by commercials promoting illiteracy? Welcome to the world of the robust public option.
At first the "public option" was to be a massive but less-than-universal healthcare plan that would prove so efficient and effective that over several years the public would all opt into it. It was a backdoor to a civilized system of Medicare for all. Now what's left of it? Now it's a public option for 2 percent of Americans, and in some states 0 percent, to be run by private corporations, with prices set to avoid any efficiency or competition for the wasteful health insurance companies.
At first the "public option" was to be a massive but less-than-universal healthcare plan that would prove so efficient and effective that over several years the public would all opt into it. It was a backdoor to a civilized system of Medicare for all. Now what's left of it? Now it's a public option for 2 percent of Americans, and in some states 0 percent, to be run by private corporations, with prices set to avoid any efficiency or competition for the wasteful health insurance companies.
The war stampede
Disputes are raging within the Obama administration over how to
continue the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. A new leak tells us that
Washington’s ambassador in Kabul, former four-star general Karl
Eikenberry, has cautioned against adding more troops while President
Hamid Karzai keeps disappointing American policymakers. This is the
extent of the current debate within the warfare state.
During a top-level meeting November 11 in the White House, the Washington Post reports, President Obama “was given a series of options laid out by military planners with differing numbers of new U.S. deployments, ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 troops. None of the scenarios calls for scaling back the U.S. presence in Afghanistan or delaying the dispatch of additional troops.”
No doubt there are real tactical differences between Eikenberry and the U.S./NATO commander in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, the ultra-spun brainy spartan who wants to boost the current U.S. troop level of 68,000 to well over 100,000 in the war-afflicted country. But those policy disputes exist well within the context of a permanent war psychology.
During a top-level meeting November 11 in the White House, the Washington Post reports, President Obama “was given a series of options laid out by military planners with differing numbers of new U.S. deployments, ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 troops. None of the scenarios calls for scaling back the U.S. presence in Afghanistan or delaying the dispatch of additional troops.”
No doubt there are real tactical differences between Eikenberry and the U.S./NATO commander in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, the ultra-spun brainy spartan who wants to boost the current U.S. troop level of 68,000 to well over 100,000 in the war-afflicted country. But those policy disputes exist well within the context of a permanent war psychology.
The next phase of healthcare Apartheid
In Washington, “healthcare reform” has degenerated into a sick joke.
At this point, only spinners who’ve succumbed to their own vertigo could use the word “robust” to describe the public option in the healthcare bill that the House Democratic leadership has sent to the floor.
“A main argument was that a public plan would save people money,” the New York Times has noted. But the insurance industry -- claiming to want a level playing field -- has gotten the Obama administration to bulldoze the plan. “After House Democratic leaders unveiled their health care bill [on October 29], the Congressional Budget Office said the public plan would cost more than private plans and only 6 million people would sign up.”
At its best, “the public option” was a weak remedy for the disastrous ailments of the healthcare system in the United States. But whatever virtues the public option may have offered were stripped from the bill en route to the House floor.
What remains is a Rube Goldberg contraption that will launch this country into a new phase of healthcare apartheid.
At this point, only spinners who’ve succumbed to their own vertigo could use the word “robust” to describe the public option in the healthcare bill that the House Democratic leadership has sent to the floor.
“A main argument was that a public plan would save people money,” the New York Times has noted. But the insurance industry -- claiming to want a level playing field -- has gotten the Obama administration to bulldoze the plan. “After House Democratic leaders unveiled their health care bill [on October 29], the Congressional Budget Office said the public plan would cost more than private plans and only 6 million people would sign up.”
At its best, “the public option” was a weak remedy for the disastrous ailments of the healthcare system in the United States. But whatever virtues the public option may have offered were stripped from the bill en route to the House floor.
What remains is a Rube Goldberg contraption that will launch this country into a new phase of healthcare apartheid.
The reactor relapse takes 3 hits to the head
The much-hyped "Renaissance" of atomic power has taken three devastating hits with potentially fatal consequences.
The usually supine Nuclear Regulatory Commission has told Toshiba's Westinghouse Corporation that its "standardized" AP-1000 design might not withstand hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes.
Regulators in France, Finland and the UK have raised safety concerns about AREVA's flagship EPR reactor. The front group for France's national nuclear power industry, AREVA's vanguard project in Finland is at least three years behind schedule and at least $3 billion over budget.
And the Obama Administration indicates it will end efforts to license the proposed radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. After more than fifty years of trying, the nuclear industry has not a single prospective central dump site.
The usually supine Nuclear Regulatory Commission has told Toshiba's Westinghouse Corporation that its "standardized" AP-1000 design might not withstand hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes.
Regulators in France, Finland and the UK have raised safety concerns about AREVA's flagship EPR reactor. The front group for France's national nuclear power industry, AREVA's vanguard project in Finland is at least three years behind schedule and at least $3 billion over budget.
And the Obama Administration indicates it will end efforts to license the proposed radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. After more than fifty years of trying, the nuclear industry has not a single prospective central dump site.
Joel Peresman of the Rock Hall Foundation says the time has come today
In the aftermath of two of the biggest rock concerts in history, an exhausted Joel Peresman tells me "now the REAL work starts."
The first task for the head of the foundation that runs the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is turning somewhere between eight and ten hours of prime musical footage into a four-hour show for HBO.
On October 29 and 30 the Hall filled Madison Square Garden with the crème-de-la-crème of rock and roll, a set list that included Jerry Lee Lewis; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and James Taylor; Simon & Garfunkel; Aretha Franklin; Annie Lennox; Bruce Springsteen; Billy Joel; Jeff Beck; Ozzy Osbourne; Patty Smith; Sting; U2; B.B. King; Mick Jagger and many, many more.
The staggering array of historic talent filled the news media and internet for two solid nights in a benefit event designed to raise a permanent endowment for the Museum. "We think it will be between $4 million and $5 million," says Peresman "We won't know for a while."
The first task for the head of the foundation that runs the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is turning somewhere between eight and ten hours of prime musical footage into a four-hour show for HBO.
On October 29 and 30 the Hall filled Madison Square Garden with the crème-de-la-crème of rock and roll, a set list that included Jerry Lee Lewis; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and James Taylor; Simon & Garfunkel; Aretha Franklin; Annie Lennox; Bruce Springsteen; Billy Joel; Jeff Beck; Ozzy Osbourne; Patty Smith; Sting; U2; B.B. King; Mick Jagger and many, many more.
The staggering array of historic talent filled the news media and internet for two solid nights in a benefit event designed to raise a permanent endowment for the Museum. "We think it will be between $4 million and $5 million," says Peresman "We won't know for a while."
Hall of Fame benefit takes rock & roll to a new level
NEW YORK (with Gary Baumgarten and Abbie Wasserman) – Music history has been made with two uniquely powerful nights of performances at Madison Square Garden in celebration of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame---and the educational foundation it supports.
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band; U2; Simon & Garfunkel; Metallica; Aretha Franklin; Annie Lennox; Stevie Wonder; Crosby, Stills & Nash along with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and James Taylor; Dion; Patti Smith; Smokey Robinson; the Jeff Beck Band; a surprise appearance by Mick Jagger; intros (both nights) by Tom Hanks (who said he did it "just to get the access pass") and much much more turned midtown into the center of the musical universe once again.
With two (almost) completely different concerts (Jerry Lee Lewis played both nights) the Hall of Fame celebrated its 25th Anniversary and raised more than $4 million for a permanent endowment for the Cleveland-based museum and the educational work in which it specializes. An HBO special from the show will debut at the end of the long Thanksgiving weekend, Sunday, November 29.
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band; U2; Simon & Garfunkel; Metallica; Aretha Franklin; Annie Lennox; Stevie Wonder; Crosby, Stills & Nash along with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and James Taylor; Dion; Patti Smith; Smokey Robinson; the Jeff Beck Band; a surprise appearance by Mick Jagger; intros (both nights) by Tom Hanks (who said he did it "just to get the access pass") and much much more turned midtown into the center of the musical universe once again.
With two (almost) completely different concerts (Jerry Lee Lewis played both nights) the Hall of Fame celebrated its 25th Anniversary and raised more than $4 million for a permanent endowment for the Cleveland-based museum and the educational work in which it specializes. An HBO special from the show will debut at the end of the long Thanksgiving weekend, Sunday, November 29.
Between hate speech and adoration
Statements of undisputed facts about President Barack Obama's actions can generate declarations on progressive websites that one has "gone too far" or said something that "should not be said." Honesty has been replaced by loyalty. The most common place to find accurate statements on presidential abuses of power is buried in a sea of lunacy on rightwing websites that conclude their analyses with encouragement of violence, gun purchasing, and assassination.
Denunciations of rightwing incitement of violence and hatred come most often from groups and individuals eager to change the topic from the abysmal failures of Democrats who have been given large majorities in the House and Senate, plus the White House, and chosen to do nothing.
Tough talk about the failures of Democrats is most often heard from racist, xenophobic believers in fantastical fairy tales with very little connection to reality.
Denunciations of rightwing incitement of violence and hatred come most often from groups and individuals eager to change the topic from the abysmal failures of Democrats who have been given large majorities in the House and Senate, plus the White House, and chosen to do nothing.
Tough talk about the failures of Democrats is most often heard from racist, xenophobic believers in fantastical fairy tales with very little connection to reality.