And we get? Updated

I got an email today from HealthJustice with the subject line: Single-Payer Vote Called Off

It said:

On the eve of what could have been the first vote on single-payer legislation in our nation’s history, we have just learned that because of last minute developments, the vote and debate on Congressman Weiner’s single-payer amendment will not happen.

Speaker Pelosi received a statement from Rep. Kucinich and Rep. Conyers, the co-authors of HR 676, that they do not think that this is the right time for a vote on national single-payer legislation. They made this statement despite the extensive mobilization in support of this vote across the country. In addition, Speaker Pelosi felt that offering a single-payer amendment would open the floodgates to amendments proposed to limit abortion funds, restrict immigrant access to healthcare, and other regressive legislation.

 So, what happens? Pelosi allows an amendment introduced by a Democrat that limits abortion funds for women wishing to purchase insurance from the exchanges created by the health care bill. And 64 Democrats voted for it, along with all the Republicans. It passed. As a commenter put it at Firedoglake:

OMG I am just sick. Who are these Democrats? They have now determined that any woman who wanted to buy a policy in the exchange – even with their own money – will no longer be allowed to buy a policy that allows her to have a legal procedure. They have effectively made this the most discriminatory bill conceivable. Women are the losers and this bill deserves to go down in flames now.

Another comment:

Oh, first no negotiated rates, no single-payer for the states, and now that it’s got Stupak in it (and let’s not delude ourselves of any guarantee that center-right Obama would or could have it pulled in conference)… exactly what are we gaining from this bill again? Closing one more loophole for the insurance companies in exchange for allowing them to tax us? Scuttle it and start over!

I shouldn’t be surprised. And yet, I am. As a reminder, these tidbits from the 2008 Democratic Party platform:

We oppose the current Administration’s consistent attempts to undermine a woman’s ability to make her own life choices and obtain reproductive health care, including birth control. We will end health insurance discrimination against contraception and provide compassionate care to rape victims. We will never put ideology above women’s health.

[...]

The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.

Why any Democratic woman who supports choice remains in the Democratic Party after this sell out by the leadership is mystery to me. Time for them to step back and stop being the workhorses for The Party until it lives up to its platform. No money. No time. Women, just STOP.

Updated to add this comment by WMCB at The Confluence. She says it just right.:

Women need to WAKE THE FUCK UP. It’s The DEMOCRATIC party that has more power now than ever before – they are COMPLETELY in charge. They can do whatever they want. And they are FUCKING YOU OVER without even blinking. And they are dead certain that you will walk into the booth and punch that “D” every damn time – no worries.

WAKE THE FUCK UP. Don’t pick up the dirty socks, then whine and bitch about how you always have to pick up the dirty socks. STOP doing it. Period. STOP voting for these assholes.

Update #2 – Violet:

Personally, I’m just grateful that we have Democrats in power. I’m so glad that American women voted in a Democratic president and overwhelming Democratic majorities in Congress last year. True, most women voted that way because they thought the Democrats were on the side of women’s issues, but fortunately, they were wrong. The Democrats clearly have a more historic, a more — how shall I say? — masculine vision for America.

First, they made sure that women’s medical needs would not be considered part of basic healthcare. Then, this morning, they added in an extra special amendment to make extra-double-plus sure that abortion wouldn’t be covered. Even by private plans! That’s right: any insurance plan that participates in any way in the new exchange, or receives any federal subsidies, or is paid for with any tax credits, will not be allowed to offer abortion coverage. Gosh, it’s almost like making abortion illegal.

 

Can’t win

 

Dude, there’s a reason they give you a script

Out here in the wild and woolies of Nevada, we rely heavily on volunteers to do jobs that actually earn a paycheck for people living in the metropolitan areas. Volunteers are our  jewels and we know that they sacrifice time and treasure for the communities they love. We are grateful for their dedication and often fail to acknowledge them for the good they do. But we never, ever disrespect them.

Needless to say I have never regretted my support for Alan Veil for Sheriff. I did not support Larry McPherson for County Commission because I felt he didn’t have the chops for the job.

Alan Veil is no hothead, so for him to call out McPherson so publicly says a lot.

Veil accused McPherson, a long-time public announcer for the Nevada Day Parade, of unprofessional and inappropriate comments directed at the Lyon County Search & Rescue Unit as it drove past his announcing stand during this past Saturday’s event. 

According to Veil, as the unit approached McPherson’s reviewing stand, McPherson diverted from the prepared script describing the Search & Rescue Unit’s history of volunteerism and President Lincoln theme associated with this year’s parade and, instead, noted, “Look at that pretty new truck.  They should thank the county commissioners for that.  It cost the County $65,000.”  He did not finish reading the prepared announcement. 

Veil said the fallout from McPherson’s comments has been immediate and Search & Rescue volunteers are embarrassed and incensed.  He said several members have approached the Unit Commander in regards to “the disdain conveyed by McPherson.” 

“This type of action pushes volunteers away and hinders us in our mission.  We will have to fight to bring morale back into line after this ignorant display of a lack of appreciation for our volunteers by this announcer.” 

Referring directly to McPherson, Veil stated, “Commissioner McPherson, I have heard some unprofessional comments out of you in the past, but never have I heard you treat our own people with such an uncaring attitude and lack of respect.  How dare you treat our people that way?  You should be ashamed of yourself for such a public display.  You owe our Search & Rescue people, and the other employees and citizens of Lyon County alike, a public apology.”

[...]

According to Veil, the Unit has been working to replace their old, worn out, unreliable equipment “a little at a time” and that volunteers have donated countless hours to conducting searches and assisting the Sheriff’s Office in numerous ways.  He noted activities of the past 10 months included: 

• Responded to 24 missions
• Provided staffing at Lahontan Reservoir on Memorial Day; 4^th of July; and several community functions
• Put over 19,000 miles on personal vehicles
• Accounted for over 8,000 hours volunteer time
• In totaling the above, donated over $365,000 in time and money to Lyon County

 

Ablation done

Oh yeah, he found the spots. Six of them, to be precise, and if he could, he would have zapped some more. It appears that my heart, when it repaired itself after the ASD surgery, decided to put in a whole lot of extra wiring. I was awake for some of it, sedated for most, and heavily sedated for the ablation itself. Funny to me: the name of the ablation machine: Maestro 3000. Don’t know why I think it’s funny, but it tickled me.

More later. I’m still at the hospital and it’s still too early for any action to get me outta here. More on my adventures later.

 

Okay, one thing before I go

Thanks to Derek of Skepticality for posting this on FB.  As he put it: “Now, here is a case where woo can get people directly killed/dead.”

The American military does not use the devices. “I don’t believe there’s a magic wand that can detect explosives,” said Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe Jr., who oversees Iraqi police training for the American military. “If there was, we would all be using it. I have no confidence that these work.”

The Iraqis, however, believe passionately in them. “Whether it’s magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs,” said Maj. Gen. Jehad al-Jabiri, head of the Ministry of the Interior’s General Directorate for Combating Explosives.

Dale Murray, head of the National Explosive Engineering Sciences Security Center at Sandia Labs, which does testing for the Department of Defense, said the center had “tested several devices in this category, and none have ever performed better than random chance.”

Basically dowsing rods for bomb detection.  And we all should be aware how dowsing “works” right?

See ya later…

 

It’s the day…

Today I go in for my procedure.  I’ll most likely be spending the night.

Yeah, I admit it. I’m nervous. I mean, it is my heart we’re talking about. But mostly I’m worried that he won’t be able to fix it. Anyhoo…if you don’t hear from me by Saturday evening, then you can worry. Until then, browse the archives, eaxplore a category, or visit some bloggers in my blog roll. See ya in a day or so.

 

You have no right not to be framed

Welcome to 1984. Or Stalinist Russia. Or Mao’s China.

Really.

Between this and this and this and this, do we even have any individual rights at all?  From the first (and latest) link:

But here’s the twist: The prosecutors say that they can’t be sued for anything they do in their official capacities, even framing suspects.

It is not an argument outside the legal mainstream. The federal government, a majority of states and thousands of prosecuting attorneys are supporting the proposition that prosecutors must receive absolute immunity for their actions at trial to do their jobs properly. And that extends, they say, to any investigative work they do before the suspect is charged.

[...]

There is no “free-standing due process right not to be framed,” Deputy Solicitor General Neal K. Katyal agreed. Having to worry about a potential lawsuit when deciding whether to introduce certain evidence, Katyal said, might cause prosecutors to “flinch” from their duties.

Oh. My. Gawd.

 

Post-election musings

From the headlines this morning:

ABCNews: GOP Sweep: Big Governor Victories in Virginia, NJ

Independents who swept Barack Obama to a historic 2008 victory broke big for Republicans on Tuesday as the GOP wrested political control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a troubling sign for the president and his party heading into an important midterm election year.

Conservative Republican Bob McDonnell’s victory in the Virginia governor’s race over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds and moderate Republican Chris Christie’s ouster of unpopular New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was a double-barreled triumph for a party looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008.

And in Virginia, the R’s won all downticket races as well, by huge margins. With redistricting coming up…this is not a good sign.

Riverdaughter (who lives in NJ) explains why she believes Corzine lost.

Corzine’s loss should have Obama peeing his pants right now,  Those of us who voted for Corzine in 2005 thought we were voting for a financially savvy, socially liberal Democrat who would fix New Jersey’s egregious property tax system.  Corzine came to office blessed with a Democratic Assembly.  And yet, he did virtually nothing about the property tax issue.  He shuffled some things around and made incremental changes.  Then, he walked away from the issue early in his term and has spent the last four years coasting on the fact that he’s a Democrat.

But it is the glacial incrementalism that is doing him in.  He was elected with the same expectation of hope and change that swept Obama into office.  And what we got instead was the status quo and a placeholder.  New Jerseyans are really struggling to pay these taxes and if Corzine can’t be bothered to do something, he’ll be replaced by the Republican who at least promises to not raise them.

NYTimes: Conservative Loses Upstate House Race in Blow to Right

. . . But the race was perhaps most notable for the fissures it opened in the Republican Party. Ms. Scozzafava, who was selected as the Republican nominee by the 11 leaders of the county committees that comprise this vast district along the Canadian border, was excoriated by Washington’s conservative establishment almost as soon as she was nominated.

Stunning blow to the wingnuts (and well-deserved, in my opinion), perhaps, but c’mon. The R’s didn’t lose the House over this. Worst case scenario is that they lost this seat, but let’s see what happens next year when Owens has to run for re-election in a regular election year in this heavily red district.

Maine voters overturned their own elected legislators yesterday because some of them can’t bear to think about what those icky ho-mo-sek -shuals do. I can’t bear to think of my parents doing it, but I’m not going to stop them from getting married just because I find the thought “icky.”  The tyranny of the majority rears its ugly head. Gosh, it sure would be nice if we had a Constitution that called for “equal protection” under the law or something like that. And anyone who got their panties in a twist over the Mormons funding Prop 8 in California better turn their ire at the Catholics now:

The Catholic Church was a leading supporter of the repeal campaign, even asking parishes to pass a second collection plate at Sunday mass to help the cause.

In Washington state, it appears that domestic partnerships will get expanded rights, but nearly 400,000 ballots have yet to be counted as of 5:40 this morning. Note, this ballot question also expands domestic partnership rights to heterosexual seniors, so in my heart, I can’t really count this as a “big win” the gay marriage column.  Gay couples still have no federal recognition of their legal marriages, nor any federal rights or protections,  and no other state is required to recognize them.

On the other hand, Houston may elect an openly gay mayor (run-off election pending), so there may be hope yet. But I’m not holding my breath.

 

I’m ready to move to Canada now.

Greenwald

Yesterday, the Second Circuit — by a vote of 7-4 –  agreed with the government and dismissed Arar’s case in its entirety.  It held that even if the government violated Arar’s Constitutional rights as well as statutes banning participation in torture, he still has no right to sue for what was done to him.  Why?  Because “providing a damages remedy against senior officials who implement an extraordinary rendition policy would enmesh the courts ineluctably in an assessment of the validity of the rationale of that policy and its implementation in this particular case, matters that directly affect significant diplomatic and national security concerns” (p. 39).  In other words, government officials are free to do anything they want in the national security context — even violate the law and purposely cause someone to be tortured — and courts should honor and defer to their actions by refusing to scrutinize them.  

Excuse me while I go throw up.

And for contrast.

Mr. Medvedev made the comments on his video blog, on the occasion of a holiday devoted to the memory of victims of repression. He warned that revisionist historians risked glossing over the darker passages of the Soviet past, citing a poll that showed that 90 percent of young people could not name victims of the purges.

“Even now we can hear voices saying that these numerous deaths were justified by some supreme goals of the state,” Mr. Medvedev said. “Nothing can be valued above human life, and there is no excuse for repressions.”

 

3 Beliefs

Really worth the click.  Especially #3.