For today's "this day in history" items, I'll note a couple infamous events & a birthday dear to my heart. Let's get infamy out of the way first. GWB's White House cleaning lady, Harriet Miers, withdrew her nomination to the Supreme Court on this date in 2005. And, on this date in 2008, Sen. Ted "Tubes" Stevens (R - Land of St. Sarah from Wasilla) was convicted of seven corruption charges for lying about free home renovations and other gifts from a wealthy oil contractor. A judge later dismissed the case, saying prosecutors had withheld evidence. There's that faboo GWB DOJ for y'all! Now, I'll discuss a bittersweet birthday dear to my heart.
One of my favorite "non - Beat" poets, Sylvia Plath, was born on this date in 1932. Y'all probably didn't realize I had "non - Beat" authors I like! ;D The details & controversies of her life, marriage, death, & aftermath are well - known, and I don't really want to go into them here. Suffice it to say that family has faced a few dozen lifetimes of tragedy. After the suicide of Nicholas Hughes, Sylvia & Ted's youngest child, the lone surviving family member is the older daughter, Frieda, a successful author & artist in her own right. What you all may not know, however, is that half of Sylvia Plath's archives, including journals, correspondence, poetry drafts, etc., are part of the Lilly Rare Books Collection at Indiana University in Bloomington; I have seen it & spent the better part of a day going through it. Included in the archives are correspondence between Ted Hughes & Aurelia Plath (Sylvia's mother) after the suicide. To call the correspondence stunning would be an underestimation of biblical proportions. Here is audio of Sylvia Plath reading my favorite poem of hers, "Lady Lazarus." And, here's the trailer for Sylvia, the movie that came out about her a couple years ago. Gwyneth Paltrow was a pretty damn good Sylvia Plath; Daniel Craig was not nearly good looking enough to be Ted Hughes. Yes, I own this movie! ;D
Here endth the poetry lecture; let's Countdown!
#5 "Public Optional" AKA "The Party of Joe" AKA "Minority Rules" AKA "Health – Care Busters" - Both the House & the Senate are in the process next week of debating health care reform on the floor of their respective houses of Congress. And, Joementum has decided to be a fly in the ointment (to be charitable about it) because he’s missed the spotlight & demands to not be ignored! In the vein of there is no such thing as bad publicity, Joementum will more than likely join the GOP in any filibuster of a public option in any form in the Senate health care legislation. Senator Harry Reid has had absolutely no success in bring Joementum "in line" for the Dem caucus, and President Obama wasted an opportunity after his election to give Joementum a "good talking to" concerning his conduct during the 2008 POTUS campaign & on a host of other issues. His insistence on relying on Senator Reid’s stature as Senate Majority Leader has brought us to what happened today. So, what are the chances, do y’all think, of a little Oval Office "time out" between President Obama & Joementum? If that’s not going to happen, I’d settle for Reps. Anthony Weiner & Alan Grayson having a little "one on one" with Joementum! Joementum in his generous soul will allow debate to at least begin in the Senate, but he’s going to cry "foul" once the public option debate begins. So, will Joementum get his committee chairmanship revoked NOW? Duh...silly me for even asking THAT question. Unless the spirit of LBJ invades Harry Reid, it ain’t gonna happen. OK, so does Joementum get an inordinate amount of campaign coin from the industries in question? I can’t really buy the argument about all the powerful industry headquarters being in Connecticut because you don’t see Chris Dodd pulling this $hit. So, either Joementum gets a hell of a lot of contributions from them, or he’s going to pull an Arlen Specter & switch parties to save his Senate gig. I would trust the good citizens of Connecticut (including a sister – in – law & her family) to see that tactic for what it is! Connecticut has a public option that was introduced by their GOP Governor?! DAMN! Hey! Maybe, Senator McCentury’s whispering sweet nothings in Joementum’s ear again! Harry Reid still has the utmost confidence in Joementum’s stature as a legislator. Ugh...well, that brief good feeling I had about Harry lasted not even a day; frankly, I’m surprised it lasted that long. Will Joementum say the public option is still too costly if the CBO comes back & says it won’t contribute to the deficit or comes in under the $900 billion mark set by President Obama? 73% of the American people favor a public option option; over 60% of Connecticut citizens favor a public option. Mitchie McConnell is going to try to prevent debate on ANY health care reform measure in the Senate because he knows damn good & well the GOP is sunk if a public option in any form is in the picture. Senator Ron Wyden thinks Joementum will eventually fall in line, too. OK, I know this statement might earn me some flames, but I’m starting to think Ron Wyden’s full of $hit; flame away. Of course, I think a vast majority of politicians on both sides of the aisle are full of $hit. But, Senator Wyden’s been making such an effort of putting himself out there as a "man of the public option" but not voting as such. Talk is cheap, honey. I don’t want the Senate bill to change in the favor of Joementum – just like I didn’t want it to change in the favor of Olympia Snowe! It’s weakened as it is, in my humblest of opinions, until a whole mess of questions about the opt – out provision in a public option are answered. I think Keith needs to add Connecticut to the list of states getting health fairs courtesy of the National Association of Free Clinics. To follow the logic of Keith’s challenge in his HCR "special comment," it would now appear that Connecticut is one of those states represented by a Senator instrumental in stopping, aiding, whatever a filibuster in the Senate over health care reform. What say you all? The GOP was supposed to offer their own ideas for health care reform long ago; they have yet to do that & never intended to do that. Howard Fineman basically called on President Obama to take Mitch McConnell to the proverbial wood shed! And, I absolutely agree with the point made by Howard that whatever magic moment President Obama decides to come out & state in clear no uncertain terms of what he expects to see in final health care reform legislation, it’ll be too late.
#4 "Medical Waste" AKA "Waste & Opportunity" - President Obama has said that merely eliminating wasteful redundant spending in the health care field would pay for a decent chunk of health care reform. President Obama underestimated the waste – by a damn lot! At least $505 billion is wasted every year. One of the study leaders that helped to come up with this number said,
That’s one – third of the nation’s healthcare bill. The good news is that by attacking waste we can reduce healthcare costs without adversely affecting the quality of care or access to care.
Uh – oh! That kind of puts the kibosh on that whole "rationing of care" argument! 37% of health care money waste is from unnecessary care to protect against malpractice exposure. Well, that’s a bit of a tricky argument; one person’s "unnecessary care" is another person’s absolutely vital care. 22% is from out – and – out fraud. 18% comes from administrative inefficiency and repeat paperwork; now, THAT I can buy! 11% is from medical mistakes; frankly, I’m surprised that number’s not higher. 6 – 10% comes from treatment for preventable conditions. The pharm industry made $77 billion in profits last year. Wow... I am so in the wrong line of work, but I’m not willing to sell my soul, so I guess I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.
** A dude in China is walking a tight rope & other acrobatics between 2 cliffs. People in Australia are eating breakfast on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Now, I’d do that! That looks like fun! Hell, I walked the Golden Gate Bridge with semis driving past me honking their horns & everything! I’d eat breakfast there, too, if I could! Justice Scalia is an "originalist" to the extreme when it comes to the Constitution. Whatever ain’t written in the sucker ain’t valid. Oh Keith, I don’t know that Scalia’s the worst justice EVER; he’s absolutely up there, but I’d put Clarence Thomas right up there if not higher. Over 3 years of not saying a peep or asking a single damn question during oral arguments is truly something to behold & not in a good way. At least Scalia acts involved – crazy but involved! Lou Dobbs didn’t like being called out by Geraldo Rivera & got anatomical in his rant. George Will reports that Bat$hit Bachmann was Gretchen Carlson’s nanny. Well, hell, that explains EVERYTHING! **
#3 "Uncivil War" AKA "Uncivil Right" - People absolutely unfamiliar with local politics & issues in the NY – 23 Congress critter race are sure braying about it a lot! Or, wait, I guess that would be "tooting" since they’re GOP elephants. An endorsement from the N –R – sparkin’ A ain’t conservative enough for some "people"?! $HIT! Doug Hoffman, the darling of the likes of Tim Pawlenty & St. Sarah from Wasilla & Dick Armey, doesn’t even live in the district he hopes to represent? How’s that legal? New York ain’t Texas as far as I can tell! Did Tom DeLay have something to do with this? Mr. Hoffman objected to the harsh tone of his interview & demanded questions ahead of time when HE WAS PROVIDED questions ahead of time?! THAT’S WHY GRANDMA EXGOV TURKEYLOVER SUPPORTS HIM! He’s her soul mate! Rich Lowry’s gonna be a sad panda tonight. HA! ;D Newt Gingrich, who supports the "official" GOP candidate, is a bit of a carpet bagger in this arena, too. But, he did a great calling out of "that woman," so I’ll cut him a bit of slack!
WPITW – The New York Post may have fibbed about cable news ratings. Boss Limbaugh’s brother, David, has some interesting thoughts about the role of dissent in political discourse. Dr. Paul Braun, Congress critter from Georgia, wants to privatize Medicare.
#1 "Words of Wisdumb" AKA "Get Motivated!" - GWB is a motivational speaker now. And, GWB’s a 24 fan. What a damn shock. And, yes, Carlos Bernard DID come back. ;D OK, all this segment’s doing is getting me to look forward to 24 coming back even more!