h/t Jonathan Bernstein on why health care reform will happen no matter what: http://www.healthbeatblog.com/2011/04/health-care-reform-and-the-markets-response-is-reform-already-baked-into-the-cake-.html
It’s baked in already and institutions will have responded already by the time anyone gets around to doing anything. By that point, there’s no going back.
****
Thoma asks what we can do to lower costs in health care, so here are my top n suggestions:
Health care works something like education in terms of labor costs and intensiveness of labor. Education costs are very high, and for the part of our lives that we’re involved in education, we don’t really mind. Parents will pay HUGE sums to get their kids into “good” schools — either through direct tuition, or through vast mortgages and property tax bills.
So we can first, simply embrace the costs while we’re involved. But we have social problems when we do it this way, as not everyone has direct involvement their whole lives in education. The kids grow up, they finish college, you become Alan Simpson-style grumpy pretty quickly thereafter.
Health is similar — you care about it when you’re sick, and you don’t want to pay for it the rest of the time. Could we learn better to pay without the grumps? And without the resentment. The cost doesn’t matter if we don’t care about it as an issue.
***
If we’re going to continue to be irritated, then we need to do some of the following:
Universities already do huge amounts of the drug research and they do it on the cheap. Admit this publicly and let the commercialization of drugs be turned over to some non-profit entities. End Pharma.
Teach doctors to live on less, subsidize their education more fully so that no one finishes med school with a debt that equals a couple of mortgages. End half million dollar a year specialist pay. We might get the same care for half the physician income for some specialties.
Encourage the use of lower end clinics for early treatment of earaches and tummy aches and teach us all to stay away from antibiotics for self-limiting viral infections. End early overtreatment, and end overprescribing of stuff we don’t need and stuff that’s clearly counterproductive.
Build sidewalks and encourage healthy living, ban sugar and fat entirely, start a national salt-free soup awareness campaign. Start community gardens to grow arugula!
Seriously, some decent sized chunk of our health bill comes from premature weight/diet/lifestyle diseases. Give people a chance to live better. Many will choose motion if they grow up in motion. Makes space for hyperactive kids and teens. Hyperactive motion defeats obesity! But teachers who are panicking about test scores would rather have drugged out motionless kids in the room. We have two social goods competing against each other. Many childhood meds have obesity as a side effect. Clearly school has its own stresses and immobility. Gym class is insufficient.
And adult rec is important too. Not just gyms and pools, but places to walk, to engage, to escape from stress and feel better. Diet and blood pressure can improve from simple interventions like safe outdoor recreation.
Figure out where economies of scale pay off and use them, figure out where smaller is better and institute that. Local clinics, clinics attached to emergency rooms, clinics with the kinds of hours that people actually have might do better than ERs for basic care.
Perhaps some midgrade nursing training might help. Computer databases with good diagnostic questions built in might cut down on the number of specialists needed for oddball diagnoses.
Recognize suffering and don’t pass it off to the next specialist because you think the patient is crazy. Recognize diagnostic limitations, and recognize the fact that sometimes the patient actually knows something about the symptoms. Misdiagnoses are not uncommon.
Realize that insurance should simply be not-for-profit and stop skimming off health money to go to shareholders. Same for a range of other services.
Teach us how to die. Turns out that if we are given a chance to talk about life and death, we don’t always panic and we might choose palliative care rather than significant interventions. But give us the choice, as the we all deserve the right death, not the wrong one.
Find out if Type II diabetes really is autoimmune, as an LAT story suggests. That might make a huge difference in treatment.
Basic research now can do a whole lot of good later. Invest. Support your local university medical research departments.
Remember, ulcers used to be “caused” by stress. Suddenly one day, they were caused by h. pylori infections. Let’s always remember this lesson.
Note that none of this is really market-based. It’s needs based, and it is related to our values. If we support wisely, we might end up with something that turns out to be humane.
Or maybe not. Geeze, my physics isn’t good enough to read a Wiki page sometimes…. Oh dear.
Here’s Wiki A:
“Weak interaction (often called the weak force or sometimes the weak nuclear force), is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, alongside the strong nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. It is responsible for the radioactive decay of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as hydrogen fusion in stars. Weak interactions affect all known fermions; that is, particles whose spin (a property of all particles) is a half-integer.
In the Standard Model of particle physics the weak interaction is theorised as being caused by the exchange (i.e. emission or absorption) of W and Z bosons; and because it is a consequence of the emission (or absorption) of bosons it is a non-contact force. The best known effect of this emission is beta decay, a form of radioactivity. The Z and W bosons are much heavier than protons or neutrons and it is the heaviness that accounts for the very short range of the weak interaction. It is termed weak because its typical field strength is several orders of magnitude less than that of both electromagnetism and the strong nuclear force. Most particles will decay by a weak interaction over time. It has one unique property
The front page is still odd….
DeLong is now grasping reality with a weak force. It’s an interesting thought.
He has a remake of Jefferson Airplane’s “Go Ask Alice” up. Alice Rivlin? Feed your head? When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead? I think that might be the line. (I actually never knew it was “sloppy dead” til now. The internet is a marvelous thing.) (Grace Slick, by the way, belts it out with far more intensity.)
We should consider feeding not just our heads, but also our hearts, we should think about what we’re eating in general, and we should probably worry a whole bunch about logic and proportion. So sayeth Alice.
Meta — when the front page loads, it defaults to a thread way way down, is this a feature or a bug?
****
Congresscritters routinely do things they desperately want others to undo. It’s one of the wonderful things about checks and balances and separations and bicameral legislatures and two parties — there’s always someone to come rescue you from the hazards of political positioning. And if the political system can’t do it for you, the media might step in and lend a hand.
The biggest things we seem to need rescue from domestically would be every Republican governor, the Ryan plan, and soon perhaps, the Gang of Six. Here’s hoping that whatever emerges from all the foolish positioning on economic issues is something someone rescues us from. Because if the cutters get their way, it’s gonna get uglier out there.
****
As I had hoped, someone did all the vote tallying on the Republican side regarding the Republican Study Group budget and the continuing resolution. The results are up at kos on the front page: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/19/968469/-Know-Your-Caucuses:-Parsing-the-Budget-Votes?detail=hide
Gives a nice sense of the right most in the caucus and those who perhaps hope to be rescued from their very own positioning disasters.
It might be nice to find out what these people might actually do if they were governing as if they governed, instead of engaging in sophisticated and completely insincere voting.
Do people really think we can “shrink” the gov’t? Even the ones who take all sorts of ag subsidies and then vote austerity for others?
********
Salon War Room has many nice pieces up:
Pareene “gets” Rhee!!!!! Thanks!
Kornacki “gets” Trump! Nice interview regarding Trump and the USFL. Trump definitely does not have the vote of the USFL fans!
There’s a piece up on GOPfrosh and money. But so many of the GOPfrosh “introduced” bills seem like standard fare and “introductions” aren’t passages, so it’s not really clear how much this is proof of dollar-for-vote bribery. Still, it’s nice to read about the not so pure hands of the GOPfrosh.
And Kornacki muses about the birther disaster. The Monkey Cage also looks at the birther mess and there is research that a number of birthers actually BELIEVE the birther thing, and aren’t just expressing irritation at Obama or merely joking or posturing for the surveyor. People who are paid actual money if they answer correctly still express belief in media memes. There are clearly people who are pretty damned sure there is SOMEthing odd about the circumstances around Obama’s birth. Fascinating!
Someone needs to rescue the entire Republican party from itself. It’s not just overreach anymore. It’s self-destruction in a game whose rules they set up for their own advantage. They are burning out, and their know-nothing irrationalism, their ridiculous competitive posturing, their cruel budgeting, their power grabs — all of this will be their end, and it’s of their own making. Much deserved. Sadly, they bring down the lot of us in their insane quest for power.
****
Via bobswern at kos and Yves Smith and Matt Taibbi, apparently if you announce an investigation from your seat in Congress, the money will flow to you quite suddenly!
One wonders which way the money winds blow? What direction, really, is the shakedown? Who is blackmailing whom? Who is threatening whom? Who has the power?
Are those MCs really victims of the campaign finance system such that when a big bad lobby concern threatens them, they cower in the corner, or are the MCs playing the money bags for all they’re worth?
The direction of causation is never clear in such instances.
A large group of experimental political scientists needs to run for Congress. Each of these people should have a testable hypothesis regarding some aspect of campaigning and serving. And all the other variables should be controlled.
And then these people should co-write THE paper of the century!
********
Wisconsin gets more and more interesting. Lots of stories around about the signature gathering behavior among the Republicans. They cheat and lie and then accuse the dems of cheating. Where’s the real fraud, typically?!
Kloppenburg is collecting funds for the recount. Prosser is trying to block it. Or something. Probably too many votes to swing, but keeping this alive for a while as the recall season gets underway is not a bad idea.
Wisconsin could really help move Michigan. Nothing would seem to help in Florida. Lessons learned perhaps?
Credit where its due –thank you Michael Gerson!
“If Objectivism seems familiar, it is because most people know it under another name: adolescence.”
and
“Rand
In bits and pieces, and as he can, Obama is a)making the country a little better, b)playing to his base, c)showing his liberal side d)all of the above: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/20/968774/-Obamas-New-Executive-Order:Show-Us-the-Money!
A little bit of a push back against Citizens United. It may well be a smart push back! I’m not a lawyer, so I’ll leave it to the press to talk to lawyers and we’ll see what comes of it. But if contractors have to declare their political donations, then this is good!
We certainly put all kinds of strings on gov’t money and I’m pretty sure the courts uphold the restrictions as there is no “right” to gov’t money.
Bill link please? You know Phil Weiss is a fact based writer.
Sounds like more of that hysterical reactionary bull that worked for decades. Not working anymore. Too bad you can not come out with something that makes sense and is not inflammatory and factually inaccurate.
Senate Resolution 138 passed. Did not know that they do not have to show their names when it passes unanimously
Senator Gillibrand should be lambasted for sponsoring this piece of trash. Clearly she has no respect for UN investigations or international law
Gillibrand should be strongly reminded that
“Posted by brigid, Apr 19 2011, 6:16PM – Link
Such a boon to the Trump candidacy! An endorsement from the rehab reality show circuit of brain damaged celebrities for a candidate who is a recycled serial adulterer and serial bankrupt filer, star of a reality show for the brain dead.”
And the whole world is laughing. They know we are not only almost economically bankrupt but clearly morally and spiritually bankrupt.
Phil over at Mondoweiss was on that piece of trash legislation. Both Adam, Phil and others followed Goldstones op ed feeding frenzy. As well as responses to it and Goldstones clarification after he purposely undermined the report. Finkelstein as well as many others had a great deal to say in response to his rolling over.
Was deeply disappointed in the Diane Rehm show when on her weekly round up show she brought up Goldstone op ed and let the guest feed on it, distort it etc. But Diane and her team had done no research on the fact that Goldstone had come out soon after to clarify that his comment only had to do with the “intention” piece. Not the fact that war crimes had been committed. He came out in the AP. The biggest selective crime on the REhm show committed is that her program as well as other NPR programs did not touch the original Goldstone Report. So selective, manipulative and more pathetic and inaccurate coverage.
The best over all coverage of that Goldstone op edfeeding frenzy was at Mondoweiss
Folks need to contact their Reps and demand that they say no to Co Sponsoring S Resolution 138.
Is it believable that the MSM does not know that if one of your parents is an American citizen, you are automatically a citizen no matter where you are born? End of story.
Perhaps this is why Geithner is Geithner?
“But today the world is awash with money looking both for good investments like growing businesses and for safe assets, like federal bonds and the asset-backed agency bonds that seemed so safe before 2008. In these circumstances, the problem is not to avoid the crowding out of investment, but to promote the “crowding in” of globe-circling money so that some of it goes into investments in infrastructure and manufacturing in the U.S. as well as into manufacturing in China or energy exploration in Brazil.” http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/19/economic_recession_liberal_conservative_plan_obama/index.html
Michael Lind at Salon/War Room.
If we’re hostile to big money, it simply doesn’t come here. If it doesn’t come here, well, we’re in trouble. I think.
*****
And the NYT has another of those incredibly gentle looks at the painkiller industry — this time in Ohio. Noted in the incredibly gentle articles:
The painkiller boom is killing more people than the crack/cocaine “epidemic” of the 80s.
“These houses all look so nice. Hard to believe what is really happening here.” (that’s a paraphrase.”
Grandparents are supplementing their SoSec checks.
Parents go to jail or die from the drugs, and grandparents raise the kids instead. The kids turn to painkillers.
There are “clinics” that sell the prescriptions or the pills.
NOT noted in the article:
Pretty much everyone is white.
“Culture of poverty.”
“Lazy people.”
“Irresponsible people.”
There’s no panic about superpredators, opiated babies, midnight basketball, jobs or income support, how completely universal self-medication is when life feels really really bad or boring or painful, what it means when corporations build towns and then dump them.
The racism is so deep and thick and wide and vast.
The acceptance of corporate amorality is equally deep and thick and wide and vast.
And we will never ever blame this on the addicts the way we blamed the crack boom on THOSE addicts. We will be gentle.
Meanwhile, Kasich is a Republican and he’ll continue to Republicanize the state, and such Republicanization is guaranteed to create all the more problems.
Ohio is not about to start funding decent lives for its rural population.
Oh, and the salt of the earth, middle America, rural population DOES DRUGS just like the “urban” population does. Hmmm. Think on that! Real America and non-real non-America — it’s all the same thing.
And if I recall correctly, many many pills seem to come from Florida where Rick Scott is refusing to regulate clinics that sell oxycodone across the planet. Might have this one wrong, but I think not.
The race to the bottom continues. The craving to draw in big money at any cost, human or divine, continues.
Money loves money, and that love is indeed a strong force.
Wanna bring that money back in? Make space for good investments in infrastructure. Pay more in interest than it’s worth.
Whatever helps repatriate some trillion plus American-based dollars, and grabs some of the gazillions of non-American based money is going to have to compete in value with speculation on both returns and taxes. It’s evil, it’s amoral, it’s sickening to reward the rich with greater riches, it’s a disease, the people who would push us into this are pretty thoroughly vile, but that’s the rule of money, this is capitalism, and the love of money is a strong force.
And we worried about crack??????
Oh!!! Lookie here!!!
Heres a list of some fine upstanding regular folk in DC who are co-sponsoring a bill to rescind the Goldstone Report.
I see ‘ol regular folk Ben Nelson has joined this group of faithful Americans pursuing justice, equality, security and freedom for all people, no matter their race, ethnicity, or religion.
Can you bake a kosher apple pie?? Does it smell anything like incinerated Palestinian??? http://www.capwiz.com/aipac/issues/bills/?bill=41312726&cs_party=all&cs_status=C&cs_state=ALL
John Boozman (R) 04/14/2011
Connecticut
Richard Blumenthal (D) 04/13/2011
Florida
Marco Rubio (R) 04/13/2011
Bill Nelson (D) 04/13/2011
Idaho
Jim Risch (R) 04/08/2011
Michael Crapo (R) 04/12/2011
Illinois
Mark Kirk (R) 04/13/2011
Kansas
Jerry Moran (R) 04/13/2011
Louisiana
David Vitter (R) 04/14/2011
Maine
Susan Collins (R) 04/12/2011
Maryland
Barbara Mikulski (D) 04/13/2011
Benjamin Cardin (D) 04/12/2011
Massachusetts
Scott Brown (R) 04/13/2011
Michigan
Carl Levin (D) 04/14/2011
Minnesota
Amy Klobuchar (D) 04/14/2011
Al Franken (D) 04/14/2011
Missouri
Roy Blunt (R) 04/12/2011
Montana
Max Baucus (D) 04/12/2011
Nebraska
Ben Nelson (D) 04/14/2011
Mike Johanns (R) 04/14/2011
New Hampshire
Kelly Ayotte (R) 04/14/2011
New Jersey
Robert Menendez (D) 04/13/2011
Frank Lautenberg (D) 04/14/2011
New York
Kirsten Gillibrand (D) 04/08/2011
Charles Schumer (D) 04/13/2011
Oklahoma
James Inhofe (R) 04/14/2011
Oregon
Ron Wyden (D) 04/13/2011
Pennsylvania
Bob Casey (D) 04/13/2011
Rhode Island
Jack Reed (D) 04/14/2011
Sheldon Whitehouse (D) 04/14/2011
South Carolina
Jim DeMint (R) 04/13/2011
Texas
John Cornyn (R) 04/14/2011
Utah
Orrin Hatch (R) 04/13/2011
Mike Lee (R)
Heres a pretty good piece by Ira Chermus, in regards to the Isr/Pal thing. Worth reading. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD20Ak03.html
There are two distinct ways to go when writing essays on the subject, eh? Chermus seems to prefer an approach that telegraphs a courage that is commendable.
Personally, I think Ira’s blunt honesty and common-sensical musings are of far greater benefit to Israel’s future security than is the staus quo scripted crap that we usually read about Israel’s “security” being under constant “threat” from the savage hordes of drooling Muslims. And glaring omissions, ignoring events, policies, and actions that cast Israel in an unfavorable light certainly cannot benefit Israel in the long run, either. Where is the incentive for Israel to pursue peace if the global journalistic community, and think tanks such as the NAF, just continue to adhere to the script?? Of ALL the political issues I discuss with workers on our jobsites, the Isr/Pal issue is where I find the most ignorance, their body of knowledge shaped wholly by these insidious media implanted myths that Chermus so clearly exposes.
Failing to question these myths is just as egregious as peddling them, if one seeks to discuss the issue constructively or in an unbiased manner.
Chermus is to be commended. Its a pity all discussions surrounding this issue do not have the benefit of Chermus’s kind of journalistic courage being injected into the discourse.
It took a sec to find a usage on google to confirm that we use the word “brood” for people, too, but here’s one: http://www.momlogic.com/2010/01/what_to_feed_your_brood_in_2010_10_things_you_need_to_eat.php
It’s probably less standard, but I’ve certainly heard it or I wouldn’t have typed it.
If it’s particularly offensive, sorry. From now on I’ll refer to them by name:
Donald Jr, Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany.
They may not inherit a penny unless we all speed out to buy his books!
“Not that Trump will have anything left to give his brood………”
He has a brood?????
Wow.
Was the method of fertilization, and the gestation period, similar to that of a human being?
Its really quite amazing how successfully Trump has re-introduced the birther thing back into the national discourse. Listening to talk radio today, one of our local jackasses, (Not ad hominem, Steve. I have listened to the man a few times over the years, and I can assure you, Steve, he REALLY IS a jackass. Honest.) Chaz McKay, (SP?), was all over the birther thing, as if it has major relevance in the overall scheme of things.
I mean hey, wars on three different fronts, country going bankrupt, corporations given free rein to buy the power that used to belong to the people…….
I mean whats to debate??? Its really quite obvious that the foremost number one issue facing this nation is the details of Obama’s birth.
Good Lord, the man coulda been born anywhere!!!
Who’s to say some of that deep black Kenyan color isn’t lurking right under Obama’s skin??? And are the women folk in the White House safe?? With this black bull’s inate raging lust for white meat barely harnessed under his carefully feigned veneer of civilized behaviour???
No, by golly, this man might just be too close, genetically, to his savage ancestorage for comfort.
What if he goes cannibal on us??? What then???
Thank gawd for Trump, he might well save us all from this President’s sinister and savage animalistic instincts. This is a national emergency of epic scale.
Wise up people, we might just have a closet Kenyan in our White House.
Such a boon to the Trump candidacy! An endorsement from the rehab reality show circuit of brain damaged celebrities for a candidate who is a recycled serial adulterer and serial bankrupt filer, star of a reality show for the brain dead.
The official Israeli line is like Washington’s–if you take them at face value, you’re just showing your gullibility and naivete.
Washington and Tel Aviv are just like Hollywood. They thrive on manufactured stories, like the one about Iraq NOT being about oil or the one about Libya being a humanitarian operation…
Sadly, sometimes they don’t even bother to cook up a lie. Washington official-dumb never deigned to create a plausible narrative about the stakes in Afghanistan.
The US has become the world’s largest freak show.
Try to imagine how we got from our founders separation of church and State to freaks like Bachmann.
Think about the fact that this woman is preaching exactly what the constitution prohibits.
What is responsible for the insanity of it being being perfectly acceptable for a US official to say that the US is cursed if it doesn’t support a foreign country? And it’s not just Bachmann, many dems have made the same kind of comments.
Truly, our entire government is corrupt and a sizable portion of our society is either fatally ignorant or insane or both.
“Bachmann:
Thank you Cee for that post. One more example of how the ruling class will go to any lengths to sustain their favorite myths.
I lived in the New York City area when Donald Trump first came on the scene; using his father’s political connections to get the City to give a 100 year tax holiday, so he could get financing to renovate a hotel. And although at times he was practical; getting a Central Park ice rink renovated then the city government appeared to be incapable of doing so; most of his projects were achieved through apparent gimmicks and backroom deals.
I suggest that he is total salesman, in line with those people who did and do kitchen appliance selling on late night infomercials. But he has no substance, no character; and at some point in his campaign he will crash and burn as did H. Ross Perot. If he does get elected, with the perfect vice president Sarah Palin (two peas in a pod if there ever were one), it will just be one more sign that most of Americans are still progressively sinking into chaos, perversion and a large degree of insanity.
I wonder if Trump thinks that Russia and China would just stand idly by as we simply “take” the assets of sovereign nations by military means? The man is dangerous. He intends to take our military adventures to a whole new level that the world community will not, and should not, tolerate.
Yeah, its kinda interesting that Steve has become rather mute on the Isr/Pal thing, isn’t it?
MSNBC seems to really love his contributions, though. Perhaps Maddow and Steve had a little pow-wow on what it takes to become a successful media celebrity.
Most telling is Steve’s faithful adherence to the Israeli narrative on the last two sets of murders, where specious Israeli claims are made as to the perpetrators prior to any real evidence being offered. It is as though all Israel need do is offer an accusation, and it is as good as a conviction. Alternative possibilities are ignored, even when evidence is offered that would seem to place a fair reason for pessimism about the Israeli narrative. Interesting too that Jdldell has not posted here since his disclosures about his nephew’s revelations about a possible Taiwanese perpetrator. I found Jdeldell’s posting quite compelling, as it preceded any media accounts of this possible scenario.
Yes, the “tone” and flavor” here on TWN has definitely changed in this last year, becoming more in line with the narrative being offered by the MSM, particularly in regards to Isr/Pal. Certainly, the glaring ommissions, Steve’s silence when particularly relevent and important events unfold on this issue, are inconsistent and inexplicable when one considers Steve’s past interest and involvement with this particular arena of Middle Eastern affairs. It is as though he has been muzzled. One wonders if it is due to a change of heart, intimidation, or simple proffessional tithing, the cost of having the keys to the inner sanctum.
At least he need not be accused, here, of rewriting history in regards to Cast Lead and the Goldstone Report. Theres no history to rewrite, as he did not create any. It is as though the event, and the subsequent investigation, never occurred. So too Tristan and Emily, Netanyahu’s arrogance and disrespect for our President, the expanded and accelerated settlement activity, the UN veto that was directly polar to our actual stated position on the settlements, the mutiny in our own Congress against Obama’s originally stated intentions in regards to Isr/Pal, and many more developments that deserved far more than silence on a blog that purports itself to be progressive and pertaining to foreign policy.
Apparently, Isr/Pal is only an issue now when settlers are murdered, and the Palestinians can be painted as vicious terrorist rogues, sans any real evidence as to who actually committed the crimes.
I see that Israel is being accused, once again, of the use of white phosphorous in the current hostilities.
Sssshhhhh, don’t tell anyone. Crispy smoldering Palestinian babies are hardly a welcome addition to the narrative.
Cee important to hold killers accountable.
Now Israel needs to start holding the killers of these folks accountable http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/deaths.html.
Israel needs to get remove their illegal settlements in the West Bank. Instead they expand them. And the world ignores the Palestinian protest in response
Busey bought the million dollar line sold to the American public by Republican strategist Frank Lutz and insurance companies. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/dec/16/lie-year-government-takeover-health-care/
In the spring of 2009, a Republican strategist settled on a brilliant and powerful attack line for President Barack Obama’s ambitious plan to overhaul America’s health insurance system. Frank Luntz, a consultant famous for his phraseology, urged GOP leaders to call it a “government takeover.”
More old news
Itamar Killers Found?
18. APR, 2011
by: Mohammad/KABOBfest
The Israeli press is ablaze this morning with the
news that the killers of the Fogel family in the
illegal colony of Itamar in the occupied West Bank
have been found. After several weeks of besieging
the village of Awarta, arresting virtually all of
its inhabitants, and causing extensive property
damage, the Israeli authorities have announced
that two teenagers from the village have admitted
to carrying out the killings.
This particular case has been quite interesting,
because of the fact that all Palestinian factions
publicly distanced themselves from it and denied
responsibility for carrying it out. Despite the
Israeli government immediately blaming it on
Palestinian
Enough of Trump. Sure seems like Steve has been avoiding the I/P conflict just like the rest of the MSM. Whats up with that? May be the reason he keeps getting on the MSM. Self Censors
During Michelle Kelemen
If anyone still doubts that the government and its megaphone, the corporate media, lie constantly, here’s some convincing evidence: “Plans to exploit Iraq’s oil reserves were discussed by government ministers and the world’s largest oil companies the year before Britain took a leading role in invading Iraq, government documents show.” But Dick & Bush constantly denied that it had anything to do with oil. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-memos-expose-link-between-oil-firms-and-invasion-of-iraq-2269610.html
When listing to any Washington official, the safest bet is to assume they’re just telling another bald faced lie…and then watch what they do–keep a close eye on them.
And then there’s the “humanitarian” mission in Libya, where they use depleted uranium…
Trump would fit right into this gang of shameless criminals.
h/t Jonathan Bernstein on why health care reform will happen no matter what:
http://www.healthbeatblog.com/2011/04/health-care-reform-and-the-markets-response-is-reform-already-baked-into-the-cake-.html
It’s baked in already and institutions will have responded already by the time anyone gets around to doing anything. By that point, there’s no going back.
****
Thoma asks what we can do to lower costs in health care, so here are my top n suggestions:
Health care works something like education in terms of labor costs and intensiveness of labor. Education costs are very high, and for the part of our lives that we’re involved in education, we don’t really mind. Parents will pay HUGE sums to get their kids into “good” schools — either through direct tuition, or through vast mortgages and property tax bills.
So we can first, simply embrace the costs while we’re involved. But we have social problems when we do it this way, as not everyone has direct involvement their whole lives in education. The kids grow up, they finish college, you become Alan Simpson-style grumpy pretty quickly thereafter.
Health is similar — you care about it when you’re sick, and you don’t want to pay for it the rest of the time. Could we learn better to pay without the grumps? And without the resentment. The cost doesn’t matter if we don’t care about it as an issue.
***
If we’re going to continue to be irritated, then we need to do some of the following:
Universities already do huge amounts of the drug research and they do it on the cheap. Admit this publicly and let the commercialization of drugs be turned over to some non-profit entities. End Pharma.
Teach doctors to live on less, subsidize their education more fully so that no one finishes med school with a debt that equals a couple of mortgages. End half million dollar a year specialist pay. We might get the same care for half the physician income for some specialties.
Encourage the use of lower end clinics for early treatment of earaches and tummy aches and teach us all to stay away from antibiotics for self-limiting viral infections. End early overtreatment, and end overprescribing of stuff we don’t need and stuff that’s clearly counterproductive.
Build sidewalks and encourage healthy living, ban sugar and fat entirely, start a national salt-free soup awareness campaign. Start community gardens to grow arugula!
Seriously, some decent sized chunk of our health bill comes from premature weight/diet/lifestyle diseases. Give people a chance to live better. Many will choose motion if they grow up in motion. Makes space for hyperactive kids and teens. Hyperactive motion defeats obesity! But teachers who are panicking about test scores would rather have drugged out motionless kids in the room. We have two social goods competing against each other. Many childhood meds have obesity as a side effect. Clearly school has its own stresses and immobility. Gym class is insufficient.
And adult rec is important too. Not just gyms and pools, but places to walk, to engage, to escape from stress and feel better. Diet and blood pressure can improve from simple interventions like safe outdoor recreation.
Figure out where economies of scale pay off and use them, figure out where smaller is better and institute that. Local clinics, clinics attached to emergency rooms, clinics with the kinds of hours that people actually have might do better than ERs for basic care.
Perhaps some midgrade nursing training might help. Computer databases with good diagnostic questions built in might cut down on the number of specialists needed for oddball diagnoses.
Recognize suffering and don’t pass it off to the next specialist because you think the patient is crazy. Recognize diagnostic limitations, and recognize the fact that sometimes the patient actually knows something about the symptoms. Misdiagnoses are not uncommon.
Realize that insurance should simply be not-for-profit and stop skimming off health money to go to shareholders. Same for a range of other services.
Teach us how to die. Turns out that if we are given a chance to talk about life and death, we don’t always panic and we might choose palliative care rather than significant interventions. But give us the choice, as the we all deserve the right death, not the wrong one.
Find out if Type II diabetes really is autoimmune, as an LAT story suggests. That might make a huge difference in treatment.
Basic research now can do a whole lot of good later. Invest. Support your local university medical research departments.
Remember, ulcers used to be “caused” by stress. Suddenly one day, they were caused by h. pylori infections. Let’s always remember this lesson.
Note that none of this is really market-based. It’s needs based, and it is related to our values. If we support wisely, we might end up with something that turns out to be humane.
Or maybe not. Geeze, my physics isn’t good enough to read a Wiki page sometimes…. Oh dear.
Here’s Wiki A:
“Weak interaction (often called the weak force or sometimes the weak nuclear force), is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, alongside the strong nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. It is responsible for the radioactive decay of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as hydrogen fusion in stars. Weak interactions affect all known fermions; that is, particles whose spin (a property of all particles) is a half-integer.
In the Standard Model of particle physics the weak interaction is theorised as being caused by the exchange (i.e. emission or absorption) of W and Z bosons; and because it is a consequence of the emission (or absorption) of bosons it is a non-contact force. The best known effect of this emission is beta decay, a form of radioactivity. The Z and W bosons are much heavier than protons or neutrons and it is the heaviness that accounts for the very short range of the weak interaction. It is termed weak because its typical field strength is several orders of magnitude less than that of both electromagnetism and the strong nuclear force. Most particles will decay by a weak interaction over time. It has one unique property
The front page is still odd….
DeLong is now grasping reality with a weak force. It’s an interesting thought.
He has a remake of Jefferson Airplane’s “Go Ask Alice” up. Alice Rivlin? Feed your head? When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead? I think that might be the line. (I actually never knew it was “sloppy dead” til now. The internet is a marvelous thing.) (Grace Slick, by the way, belts it out with far more intensity.)
We should consider feeding not just our heads, but also our hearts, we should think about what we’re eating in general, and we should probably worry a whole bunch about logic and proportion. So sayeth Alice.
Meta — when the front page loads, it defaults to a thread way way down, is this a feature or a bug?
****
Congresscritters routinely do things they desperately want others to undo. It’s one of the wonderful things about checks and balances and separations and bicameral legislatures and two parties — there’s always someone to come rescue you from the hazards of political positioning. And if the political system can’t do it for you, the media might step in and lend a hand.
The biggest things we seem to need rescue from domestically would be every Republican governor, the Ryan plan, and soon perhaps, the Gang of Six. Here’s hoping that whatever emerges from all the foolish positioning on economic issues is something someone rescues us from. Because if the cutters get their way, it’s gonna get uglier out there.
****
As I had hoped, someone did all the vote tallying on the Republican side regarding the Republican Study Group budget and the continuing resolution. The results are up at kos on the front page:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/19/968469/-Know-Your-Caucuses:-Parsing-the-Budget-Votes?detail=hide
Gives a nice sense of the right most in the caucus and those who perhaps hope to be rescued from their very own positioning disasters.
It might be nice to find out what these people might actually do if they were governing as if they governed, instead of engaging in sophisticated and completely insincere voting.
Do people really think we can “shrink” the gov’t? Even the ones who take all sorts of ag subsidies and then vote austerity for others?
********
Salon War Room has many nice pieces up:
Pareene “gets” Rhee!!!!! Thanks!
Kornacki “gets” Trump! Nice interview regarding Trump and the USFL. Trump definitely does not have the vote of the USFL fans!
There’s a piece up on GOPfrosh and money. But so many of the GOPfrosh “introduced” bills seem like standard fare and “introductions” aren’t passages, so it’s not really clear how much this is proof of dollar-for-vote bribery. Still, it’s nice to read about the not so pure hands of the GOPfrosh.
And Kornacki muses about the birther disaster. The Monkey Cage also looks at the birther mess and there is research that a number of birthers actually BELIEVE the birther thing, and aren’t just expressing irritation at Obama or merely joking or posturing for the surveyor. People who are paid actual money if they answer correctly still express belief in media memes. There are clearly people who are pretty damned sure there is SOMEthing odd about the circumstances around Obama’s birth. Fascinating!
Someone needs to rescue the entire Republican party from itself. It’s not just overreach anymore. It’s self-destruction in a game whose rules they set up for their own advantage. They are burning out, and their know-nothing irrationalism, their ridiculous competitive posturing, their cruel budgeting, their power grabs — all of this will be their end, and it’s of their own making. Much deserved. Sadly, they bring down the lot of us in their insane quest for power.
****
Via bobswern at kos and Yves Smith and Matt Taibbi, apparently if you announce an investigation from your seat in Congress, the money will flow to you quite suddenly!
One wonders which way the money winds blow? What direction, really, is the shakedown? Who is blackmailing whom? Who is threatening whom? Who has the power?
Are those MCs really victims of the campaign finance system such that when a big bad lobby concern threatens them, they cower in the corner, or are the MCs playing the money bags for all they’re worth?
The direction of causation is never clear in such instances.
A large group of experimental political scientists needs to run for Congress. Each of these people should have a testable hypothesis regarding some aspect of campaigning and serving. And all the other variables should be controlled.
And then these people should co-write THE paper of the century!
********
Wisconsin gets more and more interesting. Lots of stories around about the signature gathering behavior among the Republicans. They cheat and lie and then accuse the dems of cheating. Where’s the real fraud, typically?!
Kloppenburg is collecting funds for the recount. Prosser is trying to block it. Or something. Probably too many votes to swing, but keeping this alive for a while as the recall season gets underway is not a bad idea.
Wisconsin could really help move Michigan. Nothing would seem to help in Florida. Lessons learned perhaps?
Credit where IT’S due…. hmm.
Credit where its due –thank you Michael Gerson!
“If Objectivism seems familiar, it is because most people know it under another name: adolescence.”
and
“Rand
POA…John Boozman is not(R) CT. and Richard Blumenthal is not (D)Fla. Blumenthal is (D) CT.
Oh… Oh, dear.
In bits and pieces, and as he can, Obama is a)making the country a little better, b)playing to his base, c)showing his liberal side d)all of the above:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/20/968774/-Obamas-New-Executive-Order:Show-Us-the-Money!
A little bit of a push back against Citizens United. It may well be a smart push back! I’m not a lawyer, so I’ll leave it to the press to talk to lawyers and we’ll see what comes of it. But if contractors have to declare their political donations, then this is good!
We certainly put all kinds of strings on gov’t money and I’m pretty sure the courts uphold the restrictions as there is no “right” to gov’t money.
Oh, frack:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/20/968731/-Massive-Fracking-Blowout-spill-in-PA
Bill link please? You know Phil Weiss is a fact based writer.
Sounds like more of that hysterical reactionary bull that worked for decades. Not working anymore. Too bad you can not come out with something that makes sense and is not inflammatory and factually inaccurate.
Senate Resolution 138 passed. Did not know that they do not have to show their names when it passes unanimously
Senator Gillibrand should be lambasted for sponsoring this piece of trash. Clearly she has no respect for UN investigations or international law
Gillibrand should be strongly reminded that
As for the co-panelists challenging their boss Goldstone, I posted large parts of their statement
five days ago here:
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2011/04/nellies_confess/#comments
with a link to their entire statement.
“Posted by brigid, Apr 19 2011, 6:16PM – Link
Such a boon to the Trump candidacy! An endorsement from the rehab reality show circuit of brain damaged celebrities for a candidate who is a recycled serial adulterer and serial bankrupt filer, star of a reality show for the brain dead.”
And the whole world is laughing. They know we are not only almost economically bankrupt but clearly morally and spiritually bankrupt.
POA/all
Gaza Inquiry Panelists Challenge Chair
Worth watching and reading
Chris Hedges
Phil over at Mondoweiss was on that piece of trash legislation. Both Adam, Phil and others followed Goldstones op ed feeding frenzy. As well as responses to it and Goldstones clarification after he purposely undermined the report. Finkelstein as well as many others had a great deal to say in response to his rolling over.
Was deeply disappointed in the Diane Rehm show when on her weekly round up show she brought up Goldstone op ed and let the guest feed on it, distort it etc. But Diane and her team had done no research on the fact that Goldstone had come out soon after to clarify that his comment only had to do with the “intention” piece. Not the fact that war crimes had been committed. He came out in the AP. The biggest selective crime on the REhm show committed is that her program as well as other NPR programs did not touch the original Goldstone Report. So selective, manipulative and more pathetic and inaccurate coverage.
The best over all coverage of that Goldstone op edfeeding frenzy was at Mondoweiss
Folks need to contact their Reps and demand that they say no to Co Sponsoring S Resolution 138.
Is it believable that the MSM does not know that if one of your parents is an American citizen, you are automatically a citizen no matter where you are born? End of story.
Perhaps this is why Geithner is Geithner?
“But today the world is awash with money looking both for good investments like growing businesses and for safe assets, like federal bonds and the asset-backed agency bonds that seemed so safe before 2008. In these circumstances, the problem is not to avoid the crowding out of investment, but to promote the “crowding in” of globe-circling money so that some of it goes into investments in infrastructure and manufacturing in the U.S. as well as into manufacturing in China or energy exploration in Brazil.”
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/19/economic_recession_liberal_conservative_plan_obama/index.html
Michael Lind at Salon/War Room.
If we’re hostile to big money, it simply doesn’t come here. If it doesn’t come here, well, we’re in trouble. I think.
*****
And the NYT has another of those incredibly gentle looks at the painkiller industry — this time in Ohio. Noted in the incredibly gentle articles:
The painkiller boom is killing more people than the crack/cocaine “epidemic” of the 80s.
“These houses all look so nice. Hard to believe what is really happening here.” (that’s a paraphrase.”
Grandparents are supplementing their SoSec checks.
Parents go to jail or die from the drugs, and grandparents raise the kids instead. The kids turn to painkillers.
There are “clinics” that sell the prescriptions or the pills.
NOT noted in the article:
Pretty much everyone is white.
“Culture of poverty.”
“Lazy people.”
“Irresponsible people.”
There’s no panic about superpredators, opiated babies, midnight basketball, jobs or income support, how completely universal self-medication is when life feels really really bad or boring or painful, what it means when corporations build towns and then dump them.
The racism is so deep and thick and wide and vast.
The acceptance of corporate amorality is equally deep and thick and wide and vast.
And we will never ever blame this on the addicts the way we blamed the crack boom on THOSE addicts. We will be gentle.
Meanwhile, Kasich is a Republican and he’ll continue to Republicanize the state, and such Republicanization is guaranteed to create all the more problems.
Ohio is not about to start funding decent lives for its rural population.
Oh, and the salt of the earth, middle America, rural population DOES DRUGS just like the “urban” population does. Hmmm. Think on that! Real America and non-real non-America — it’s all the same thing.
And if I recall correctly, many many pills seem to come from Florida where Rick Scott is refusing to regulate clinics that sell oxycodone across the planet. Might have this one wrong, but I think not.
The race to the bottom continues. The craving to draw in big money at any cost, human or divine, continues.
Money loves money, and that love is indeed a strong force.
Wanna bring that money back in? Make space for good investments in infrastructure. Pay more in interest than it’s worth.
Whatever helps repatriate some trillion plus American-based dollars, and grabs some of the gazillions of non-American based money is going to have to compete in value with speculation on both returns and taxes. It’s evil, it’s amoral, it’s sickening to reward the rich with greater riches, it’s a disease, the people who would push us into this are pretty thoroughly vile, but that’s the rule of money, this is capitalism, and the love of money is a strong force.
And we worried about crack??????
Heres another pretty good in-your-face essay. I don’t like alot of what Ray Hanania has to say, because he is a card carrying member of the carefully nurtured Hamas VS PLO Club that Israel, AIPAC, and our own Congress supports as a means to keep the Palestinians under heel.
But he nails it in this essay…..
http://palestinenote.com/blogs/blogs/archive/2011/04/16/obama-s-deceptive-failed-leadership-and-his-refusal-to-speak-to-american-arab-groups.aspx
Oh!!! Lookie here!!!
Heres a list of some fine upstanding regular folk in DC who are co-sponsoring a bill to rescind the Goldstone Report.
I see ‘ol regular folk Ben Nelson has joined this group of faithful Americans pursuing justice, equality, security and freedom for all people, no matter their race, ethnicity, or religion.
Can you bake a kosher apple pie?? Does it smell anything like incinerated Palestinian???
http://www.capwiz.com/aipac/issues/bills/?bill=41312726&cs_party=all&cs_status=C&cs_state=ALL
John Boozman (R) 04/14/2011
Connecticut
Richard Blumenthal (D) 04/13/2011
Florida
Marco Rubio (R) 04/13/2011
Bill Nelson (D) 04/13/2011
Idaho
Jim Risch (R) 04/08/2011
Michael Crapo (R) 04/12/2011
Illinois
Mark Kirk (R) 04/13/2011
Kansas
Jerry Moran (R) 04/13/2011
Louisiana
David Vitter (R) 04/14/2011
Maine
Susan Collins (R) 04/12/2011
Maryland
Barbara Mikulski (D) 04/13/2011
Benjamin Cardin (D) 04/12/2011
Massachusetts
Scott Brown (R) 04/13/2011
Michigan
Carl Levin (D) 04/14/2011
Minnesota
Amy Klobuchar (D) 04/14/2011
Al Franken (D) 04/14/2011
Missouri
Roy Blunt (R) 04/12/2011
Montana
Max Baucus (D) 04/12/2011
Nebraska
Ben Nelson (D) 04/14/2011
Mike Johanns (R) 04/14/2011
New Hampshire
Kelly Ayotte (R) 04/14/2011
New Jersey
Robert Menendez (D) 04/13/2011
Frank Lautenberg (D) 04/14/2011
New York
Kirsten Gillibrand (D) 04/08/2011
Charles Schumer (D) 04/13/2011
Oklahoma
James Inhofe (R) 04/14/2011
Oregon
Ron Wyden (D) 04/13/2011
Pennsylvania
Bob Casey (D) 04/13/2011
Rhode Island
Jack Reed (D) 04/14/2011
Sheldon Whitehouse (D) 04/14/2011
South Carolina
Jim DeMint (R) 04/13/2011
Texas
John Cornyn (R) 04/14/2011
Utah
Orrin Hatch (R) 04/13/2011
Mike Lee (R)
Heres a pretty good piece by Ira Chermus, in regards to the Isr/Pal thing. Worth reading.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD20Ak03.html
There are two distinct ways to go when writing essays on the subject, eh? Chermus seems to prefer an approach that telegraphs a courage that is commendable.
Personally, I think Ira’s blunt honesty and common-sensical musings are of far greater benefit to Israel’s future security than is the staus quo scripted crap that we usually read about Israel’s “security” being under constant “threat” from the savage hordes of drooling Muslims. And glaring omissions, ignoring events, policies, and actions that cast Israel in an unfavorable light certainly cannot benefit Israel in the long run, either. Where is the incentive for Israel to pursue peace if the global journalistic community, and think tanks such as the NAF, just continue to adhere to the script?? Of ALL the political issues I discuss with workers on our jobsites, the Isr/Pal issue is where I find the most ignorance, their body of knowledge shaped wholly by these insidious media implanted myths that Chermus so clearly exposes.
Failing to question these myths is just as egregious as peddling them, if one seeks to discuss the issue constructively or in an unbiased manner.
Chermus is to be commended. Its a pity all discussions surrounding this issue do not have the benefit of Chermus’s kind of journalistic courage being injected into the discourse.
It took a sec to find a usage on google to confirm that we use the word “brood” for people, too, but here’s one:
http://www.momlogic.com/2010/01/what_to_feed_your_brood_in_2010_10_things_you_need_to_eat.php
It’s probably less standard, but I’ve certainly heard it or I wouldn’t have typed it.
If it’s particularly offensive, sorry. From now on I’ll refer to them by name:
Donald Jr, Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany.
They may not inherit a penny unless we all speed out to buy his books!
“Not that Trump will have anything left to give his brood………”
He has a brood?????
Wow.
Was the method of fertilization, and the gestation period, similar to that of a human being?
(should read “taxed” and “untaxed” — spell check doesn’t catch such things, sadly.)
WAY more important than Trump’s trumpery is this:
“A survey released Tuesday shows only 49% of wealthy parents say it
Its really quite amazing how successfully Trump has re-introduced the birther thing back into the national discourse. Listening to talk radio today, one of our local jackasses, (Not ad hominem, Steve. I have listened to the man a few times over the years, and I can assure you, Steve, he REALLY IS a jackass. Honest.) Chaz McKay, (SP?), was all over the birther thing, as if it has major relevance in the overall scheme of things.
I mean hey, wars on three different fronts, country going bankrupt, corporations given free rein to buy the power that used to belong to the people…….
I mean whats to debate??? Its really quite obvious that the foremost number one issue facing this nation is the details of Obama’s birth.
Good Lord, the man coulda been born anywhere!!!
Who’s to say some of that deep black Kenyan color isn’t lurking right under Obama’s skin??? And are the women folk in the White House safe?? With this black bull’s inate raging lust for white meat barely harnessed under his carefully feigned veneer of civilized behaviour???
No, by golly, this man might just be too close, genetically, to his savage ancestorage for comfort.
What if he goes cannibal on us??? What then???
Thank gawd for Trump, he might well save us all from this President’s sinister and savage animalistic instincts. This is a national emergency of epic scale.
Wise up people, we might just have a closet Kenyan in our White House.
Such a boon to the Trump candidacy! An endorsement from the rehab reality show circuit of brain damaged celebrities for a candidate who is a recycled serial adulterer and serial bankrupt filer, star of a reality show for the brain dead.
Wasn’t Three Cups of Tea a smash hit around here back in the soft power days?
First 60 Minutes and now Jon Krakauer:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/jon-krakauer-slams-greg-mortenson-in-digital-expose/2011/04/19/AFxToE6D_blog.html?hpid=z2
Maybe they can tackle Trump and Busey next!
So much debunking, so little time.
With Busey and Trump, it must be a kindred hair thing….
“Is NATO
The official Israeli line is like Washington’s–if you take them at face value, you’re just showing your gullibility and naivete.
Washington and Tel Aviv are just like Hollywood. They thrive on manufactured stories, like the one about Iraq NOT being about oil or the one about Libya being a humanitarian operation…
Sadly, sometimes they don’t even bother to cook up a lie. Washington official-dumb never deigned to create a plausible narrative about the stakes in Afghanistan.
“Once they
The US has become the world’s largest freak show.
Try to imagine how we got from our founders separation of church and State to freaks like Bachmann.
Think about the fact that this woman is preaching exactly what the constitution prohibits.
What is responsible for the insanity of it being being perfectly acceptable for a US official to say that the US is cursed if it doesn’t support a foreign country? And it’s not just Bachmann, many dems have made the same kind of comments.
Truly, our entire government is corrupt and a sizable portion of our society is either fatally ignorant or insane or both.
“Bachmann:
Thank you Cee for that post. One more example of how the ruling class will go to any lengths to sustain their favorite myths.
I lived in the New York City area when Donald Trump first came on the scene; using his father’s political connections to get the City to give a 100 year tax holiday, so he could get financing to renovate a hotel. And although at times he was practical; getting a Central Park ice rink renovated then the city government appeared to be incapable of doing so; most of his projects were achieved through apparent gimmicks and backroom deals.
I suggest that he is total salesman, in line with those people who did and do kitchen appliance selling on late night infomercials. But he has no substance, no character; and at some point in his campaign he will crash and burn as did H. Ross Perot. If he does get elected, with the perfect vice president Sarah Palin (two peas in a pod if there ever were one), it will just be one more sign that most of Americans are still progressively sinking into chaos, perversion and a large degree of insanity.
I wonder if Trump thinks that Russia and China would just stand idly by as we simply “take” the assets of sovereign nations by military means? The man is dangerous. He intends to take our military adventures to a whole new level that the world community will not, and should not, tolerate.
Yeah, its kinda interesting that Steve has become rather mute on the Isr/Pal thing, isn’t it?
MSNBC seems to really love his contributions, though. Perhaps Maddow and Steve had a little pow-wow on what it takes to become a successful media celebrity.
Most telling is Steve’s faithful adherence to the Israeli narrative on the last two sets of murders, where specious Israeli claims are made as to the perpetrators prior to any real evidence being offered. It is as though all Israel need do is offer an accusation, and it is as good as a conviction. Alternative possibilities are ignored, even when evidence is offered that would seem to place a fair reason for pessimism about the Israeli narrative. Interesting too that Jdldell has not posted here since his disclosures about his nephew’s revelations about a possible Taiwanese perpetrator. I found Jdeldell’s posting quite compelling, as it preceded any media accounts of this possible scenario.
Yes, the “tone” and flavor” here on TWN has definitely changed in this last year, becoming more in line with the narrative being offered by the MSM, particularly in regards to Isr/Pal. Certainly, the glaring ommissions, Steve’s silence when particularly relevent and important events unfold on this issue, are inconsistent and inexplicable when one considers Steve’s past interest and involvement with this particular arena of Middle Eastern affairs. It is as though he has been muzzled. One wonders if it is due to a change of heart, intimidation, or simple proffessional tithing, the cost of having the keys to the inner sanctum.
At least he need not be accused, here, of rewriting history in regards to Cast Lead and the Goldstone Report. Theres no history to rewrite, as he did not create any. It is as though the event, and the subsequent investigation, never occurred. So too Tristan and Emily, Netanyahu’s arrogance and disrespect for our President, the expanded and accelerated settlement activity, the UN veto that was directly polar to our actual stated position on the settlements, the mutiny in our own Congress against Obama’s originally stated intentions in regards to Isr/Pal, and many more developments that deserved far more than silence on a blog that purports itself to be progressive and pertaining to foreign policy.
Apparently, Isr/Pal is only an issue now when settlers are murdered, and the Palestinians can be painted as vicious terrorist rogues, sans any real evidence as to who actually committed the crimes.
I see that Israel is being accused, once again, of the use of white phosphorous in the current hostilities.
Sssshhhhh, don’t tell anyone. Crispy smoldering Palestinian babies are hardly a welcome addition to the narrative.
Cee important to hold killers accountable.
Now Israel needs to start holding the killers of these folks accountable
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/deaths.html.
Israel needs to get remove their illegal settlements in the West Bank. Instead they expand them. And the world ignores the Palestinian protest in response
Busey bought the million dollar line sold to the American public by Republican strategist Frank Lutz and insurance companies.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/dec/16/lie-year-government-takeover-health-care/
In the spring of 2009, a Republican strategist settled on a brilliant and powerful attack line for President Barack Obama’s ambitious plan to overhaul America’s health insurance system. Frank Luntz, a consultant famous for his phraseology, urged GOP leaders to call it a “government takeover.”
More old news
Itamar Killers Found?
18. APR, 2011
by: Mohammad/KABOBfest
The Israeli press is ablaze this morning with the
news that the killers of the Fogel family in the
illegal colony of Itamar in the occupied West Bank
have been found. After several weeks of besieging
the village of Awarta, arresting virtually all of
its inhabitants, and causing extensive property
damage, the Israeli authorities have announced
that two teenagers from the village have admitted
to carrying out the killings.
This particular case has been quite interesting,
because of the fact that all Palestinian factions
publicly distanced themselves from it and denied
responsibility for carrying it out. Despite the
Israeli government immediately blaming it on
Palestinian
Enough of Trump. Sure seems like Steve has been avoiding the I/P conflict just like the rest of the MSM. Whats up with that? May be the reason he keeps getting on the MSM. Self Censors
During Michelle Kelemen
If anyone still doubts that the government and its megaphone, the corporate media, lie constantly, here’s some convincing evidence: “Plans to exploit Iraq’s oil reserves were discussed by government ministers and the world’s largest oil companies the year before Britain took a leading role in invading Iraq, government documents show.” But Dick & Bush constantly denied that it had anything to do with oil.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-memos-expose-link-between-oil-firms-and-invasion-of-iraq-2269610.html
When listing to any Washington official, the safest bet is to assume they’re just telling another bald faced lie…and then watch what they do–keep a close eye on them.
And then there’s the “humanitarian” mission in Libya, where they use depleted uranium…
Trump would fit right into this gang of shameless criminals.
Trump is resonating with a large section of the American people according to Tea Party Nation.
From “Change you can believe in” to “You’re fired, America!”