Blue Dawg Salve

 

 

We have heard the Blue Dawgs express their major concern that healthcare reform will break the budget. They also bemoan the “interference” by the government in the free market. With healthcare decisions being so personal no one wants multiple rules restricting treatment. The healthcare industry is one sixth of the nation’s economy. These facts only increase the importance of getting the right reform. So what to do to allay the Blue Dawgs’ fears? Here is my suggestion. The government should eliminate farm subsidies to pay any increase in healthcare costs. No busted budgets, no more “evil” government manipulation of the agriculture markets. To decrease any rise in healthcare costs using a single payer system will reduce any farm subsidy offsets. An added benefit to the single payer is that it allows the market function without the heavy waste of the insurance company overhead (exec pay, admin costs, and high profits) which adds NO value to the end service. Having a single payer system will simplify healthcare provider administrative procedures and reduce their costs. Lets focus on improving healthcare and drop the parasites. Win-win. So, come on Blue Dawgs we know you value your principles over the big donors from agribusiness and insurance companies.

Cloture

There is an anachronism from the 1800’s that is choking American democracy. The U.S. Senate makes its own rules and has a rule to cut off a filibuster (read unlimited delay), known as cloture. Currently cloture requires a supermajority of 60 votes.  The senate’s original cloture rule was 66, but the senate changed its rules after Watergate scandals to 60. This rule purportedly protects the minority from a tyranny of the majority. The effect of this rule is that a bill in the senate must have 60 votes before it can even come to the floor for an up or down vote. Some would argue that this practice is a reasonable restraint on the excesses of populism, a control on rash actions. Even accepting this opinion ignores the structure of the senate specified in Article I. At the constitutional convention the Connecticut compromise ensured that the large states would not have simple majority control. By allocating two senators from each state a minority of the population can defeat the ambitions of the majority. These citizens of the small states are commonly portrayed as being wiser. In concert these two rules, one constitutional and one institutional, are an excessive block on legislative actions, often until the situation is in extremis. A minority of senators representing a minority of the national population are more subject to actions that are contrary to what is best for the entire country. Let us observe the other branch of government where individuals reach a decision, i.e., the Supreme Court. In that court a simple majority of the justices prevails. No supermajority is required to “protect the minority”. The common sense idea that the more people in favor of an action means better prospects for it being right is at the core of democracy. No reasonable person argues that the minority doesn’t need to be protected in this system. But when a minority of a minority can substitute their opinion for the majority democracy is suffocated. How can advocates of democracy tell a skeptical public that they should be involved in their government when their cause will be sidetracked by special interests? Let’s give democracy a chance to work.

 

Currently reading: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Now is the time for an increase in the gas tax.

Yes,  not long ago when gas was $4 per gallon people cried, “Why didn’t we do something beforehand.” So, now with gas under two dollars the government should act quickly. Oh, I know the economy is in the tank, people are out of work and gas is one of few affordable necessities. How on Earth can you raise taxes now? The answer is quite simple. When gas was twice the current price ridership on public transportation increased, driving decreased and sales of fuel efficient cars rose. Candidates proposed to eliminate the gas tax. Now the situation has reversed. It is estimated than a one dollar increase in the gas tax would bring in 100-200 billion dollars a year. This money could be quickly returned in funding green projects, infrastructure repair and lessening the massive federal deficits. By adjusting the gas tax to keep the price steady regardless of supply and demand conservation could become the salvation of the economy and the environment. With demand for oil down OPEC will soon begin to cut production to raise the price back to bad old days. Where would you rather your increased gasoline expenses go? For American research on carbon free transportation? For fixing American roads? Or to fund foreign religious extremists? We just had an election where the voters were asking for change. If we delay until the economy recovers, then demand will recover and the price of gas will be right back when it was and we will have lost an opportunity to make real change. Backsliding on conservation when conditions temporarily improve has been the practice of both the public and their leaders for over 30 years. Let’s just try not to go back this time before it’s too late. Tell the officials to stop pandering and do what’s right.

Current Landscape

I got taste of the misinformation that seems to be swallowing the electorate. A man retired from the Army after serving in Korea and Viet Nam let me know that Barack Obama has now said he is of the “Arab religion”.  The treaty that allows the US to maintain forces in Iraq for three years was not signed by George Bush, but rather by Barack Obama. The return of “the draft” is part of Obama’s plan to make America’s military a force to spread that “Arab religion”. For further evidence of the difficulty of democracy the gentle reader is referred to here to examine the ballots in the Minnesota Senatorial election. The past failure of the public education system to imbue the current generation with the principles upon which this nation was founded and how the mechanisms of an election work will continue to have lasting implications. See Codrescu . As rightwing radio begins its assault on the incoming administration with hoots of “Obama’s Recession” we can expect some turbulent times. Nobody said Change was going to be easy.

 

Now reading Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

But Not This Time

Election Day, 2008. A typical Presidential election day has 10-20 voters waiting in line before the poll opens. Mostly people on their way to work or early-rising seniors. Today there were 50+ in the cool dark morning and they kept coming, lines to the front door until 8:30 a.m. Past the distance marker the House district Republican candidate has his cell phone glued to his ear and waves his sign at the honking cars as they pass. We are used to a mid-morning slow down, so when the rate slowed to a steady stream of two short lines, no surprise. The short bus from the upscale assisted living center drops off two ladies. One blind the other just came for company. The Automark gets its first use of the day, straight Republican. An elderly man votes and says he will bring his handicapped wife. So we get ready for a curbside vote process. But not this time. She is wheeled in and votes. We anticipated the lunchtime bump. But not this time. The Hispanic female in business suit needs help voting straight Democratic, except to vote for McCain/Palin, “it’s for religious reasons, you know.” The afternoon slowed while the wind whipped the candidates’ plastic signs posted out at the street. Homeschoolers trickle in with 2,3,4 children. The occasional voter whose name did not appear on the rolls. Claims of registration or address changes through the DPS fall on deaf ears at the voter registrar. You can vote a provisional ballot, but it probably won’t count. We said after 3:30 pm school would soon be out and the wave would swell and we might need to call for more ballots. But not this time.  The 18 year old first-time voter who needed assistance to vote straight Democratic and then split his ballot for Sarah Palin, “because I like her.” Visions of Mrs. Robinson glimmered in his eye. Voters at the wrong precinct. Find their correct polling place and give directions. Plenty of time to get there before the polls close.  Hospital doctors in their scrubs. The thirty something couple extract a frail grandpa from their luxury SUV and escort him to the booth and back out. Bring out your dead. When 5 p.m. came we just knew those lines would stretch back down the hall out to the parking lot. But not this time. At 6:30 p.m. we consolidated to one reception table. At 7 p.m. when the polls closed and the door was locked there was one voter at the reception table. By 7:10 p.m. he was gone.  Perhaps, a few late comers knocking on the door after 7. But not this time. The 1,600 ballots we stacked at the beginning of the day now had one full packet of 400 unopened and another not half used. Surplus poll workers sent home. Signs, distance markers and sample ballots taken down at 7, ballot scanner done printing totals tapes by 7:40 p.m. 961 votes plus one provisional ballot out of a 5,100 precinct of registered voters. Ballots inventoried,  multi-colored distribution envelopes stuffed with forms, transfer boxes loaded with marked ballots and sealed. Compensation form completed. Smooth as cool cream. Walked out the door at 8:15 p.m. Early voting and Republican depression took their toll. Change may have roared in at other polls. But not here. Not this time.

Cornyn’s Shame

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has brought shame to the great state of Texas by his vote against the “McCain Amendment”, SA1977. This amendment to the Defense Authorization Act for 2006 would have prohibited the torture of persons held by our armed forces. Sen. Cornyn was  one of just nine Senators to oppose this amendment, while 90 voted in favor.  Was he pandering to the Neocons? Did he learn nothing of the principles of this country while on the Texas Supreme Court? Since Sen Cornyn’s cohorts in the House prevailed in approving torture in the final act, there is NO moral retribution for our enemies who torture captured American military. The lessons of Abu Graib and the renditions will return to haunt Sen. Cornyn as he runs for re-election in 2008. He counting on you forgetting all about his shame.

 http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00249

     

It’s time for him to go.

Shorts

 

Now that the primary race is over we can enjoy some tasteless fun (Rated M).

Hillary supporters – I feel your pain.

 I have a suggestion for President Obama. Move the District of Columbia to New Orleans.  That would get some federal money that way.  Oh I know the current residents would lose their voting franchise, but It hasn’t done them much good before, during or after Katrina.

Should the Presidential race now be called: Obama vs. Ol’ Bomba’ ? Comments welcome.

 

Banishing Science

 The economic future of this state and nation depends upon the intellectual development of our young citizens. We must continue to teach science in an appropriate manner to these children. The ‘dumbing down’ of the curriculum puts our state at risk. By removing science from these students it will be more difficult to instill a love of science in later years. What elected representative would even consider such a modification? Is there another agenda at work? Is this the first step in moving from a fact-based society to a faith-based society? Without the critical thinking skills of the scientific methods our future generations will be led by emotion, superstition and prejudice. The Texas legislature, keeping the “Dumb” in dumb-ocracy.

Professional Responsibility

Let me see if I have this straight. A group of extremist legislators want to insure that a state-licensed pharmacist is not required to sell birth control pills to women, if he simply believes they may be contributing to an abortion. I don’t wish to engage in reductio ad absurdum, but doesn’t this principle protect a midwife from treating a single mother-to-be, if she believes the mother behaved immorally? Is a nurse protected from administering anti-HIV drugs to an AIDS patient whose gay lifestyle he believes is an abomination? Does the protection extend to a Emergency Room physician who withholds treatment from a critically ill Republican legislator, if he sees him as the Spawn of Satan? Wouldn’t the more reasonable approach be that if anyone who feels he may be unable to fulfill his publicly licensed responsibility due to moral objections, just find another occupation that would not put his convictions in conflict? Judging the morality of our fellow human beings is better left to a higher authority. In the immortal words of Hank Williams, “Mind your own business.”

The Southern Surge

With all the recent public attention to immigrants’ costs and benefits to the U.S. economy it is time to examine the causes rather than just the results. The mass migration of people from their homes at an annual rate of 800,000 a year can only be seen as a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. The depopulation of rural Latin America is the ruthless destruction of a way of life. While it is true that for decades Mexicans seasonally crossed the border to exchange their labor for meager wages, the traffic in recent years from their farms to cities in the U.S. and Mexico has exploded. What cruel force is so powerful that it can drive fathers and mothers to leave their children and the bucolic life, the only one they have known, to trek across vast deserts? Let us be honest. They are not coming to vote for millionaire tax cuts and environmental deregulation. The facts are that the international trade agreements, NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO have suffocated subsistence farmers. In the past their oppressive governments, supported by U.S. foreign policy, bled the poor, but at least allowed their hosts to survive.  Now the masses’ only survival option is to risk a perilous migration, work in the most grueling industries, and suffer employer intimidation for sparse wages. These economic refugees are the fuel for the globalization engine for cheap goods and cheaper labor, regardless of the human cost. The world’s only superpower must use the obscene corporate profits and force the ruling elites to rebalance the social contract. President Kennedy proposed the Alliance for Progress by stating, "The money will be used to combat illiteracy, improve the productivity and use of their land, wipe out disease, attack archaic tax and land-tenure structures, provide educational opportunities, and offer a broad range of projects designed to make the benefits of increasing abundance available to all." International corporate agri-business derides "Free Trade" and crushes the livelihood of our Southern neighbors at our peril.