It's 2010 and The Ducks Are In The Rose Bowl

First of all, Happy New Year. Most of us, we believe, are happy to see 2009 go. What a weird year. We'll be discussing that aspect in further reports this weekend.

But the big story of the moment concerns the University of Oregon Duck football team, who will be playing tomorrow in the Rose Bowl. Most everyone in Eugene who has a recognizable pulse is pumped up, and the phrase "gonna watch the game?" is repeated repeatedly.

My son, pictured here, is a huge Duck fan. He knows more about the team than I ever will. His prediction for the results of tomorrow's game: 28-17 Ducks win. The game starts tomorrow at 2:00 PST, on ABC.

Go Ducks!

Postgamescript: My son's prediction did not come true this year, but we're all very proud of our Ducks and what they accomplished this year. Just remember, most of them will be coming back next year, and it's quite possible they will revisit the Rose Bowl. Way to go Ducks!

Weekend Update - X-Mas Edition

• Glenn Beck has been named by Media Matters as "The Misinformer of the Year." The honors for Mr. Beck are piling up, as we're proud to announce that Glen has been chosen for our "Bad Hat Douche Bag of the Year Award." There's no monetary reward involved here for Beck, just his own joy in knowing that he's a fat racist pin-headed greaseball just like his daddy, Rush Limbaugh. (How's that for seasonal name-calling?) Happy New Year.


• And in further tribute to Mr. Beck and his lies and conspiracy theories, a gentleman in Virginia, a Mr. Warren Taylor (his friends call him "Gator") held three hostages in a local post office because "the government is taking over the right to bear arms," and he was angry about "overtaxing." I just betcha he listens to Limbaugh too.


• I'm not making this up: Here are The Top 50 Assclowns of 2009.


• "The Charge of the Light Brigade" was a poem written by Lord Tennyson to commemorate a moment in the 1854 Crimean War, when British officers misdirected more than 600 troops into an area known as the Valley of Death to face 25,000 Russians. There were hundreds of casualties, the British officers were disgraced, and the Russians won the day. And so Rep. Michelle Bachman, who would still be called crazy even if her brain functioned normally, cheered on the latest misguided efforts of a group of "teabaggers" by yelling "It's the Charge of the Light Brigade!"


• You know the tune. For the loveofgawd you can't seem to get it out of your head around this time of year. Over and over and over ... 'Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad ...' Well, of course in the spirit of the holidays our Conservative Idiot Friends decided to make a racist parody of Jose Feliciano's classic Christmas annoyance, and it pissed Jose right off. The parody, titled "The Illegal Alien Christmas Song," was created by radio producers and writers Matt Fox and A.J. Rice and was posted in mid-December on the Web site for Human Events, a Washington-based conservative weekly publication. For your "enjoyment" here's the song.


• Render your garments. Tear out your Liberal hair by the roots. Cry and wail. Previously Democratic Congressman Parker Griffith of Alabama has gone over to the Dark Side and is now Republican Congressman Parker Griffith. But wait, there's a lot more to this story, and some of it is mighty curious indeed.


• Sarah Palin has come out strong and has flatly stated "I'm NOT the biggest liar of the year." Our response: "Are too, are too."


• Hostile, vindictive, sarcastic - what's happened to John McCain? Sure his pick of Palin for running mate will rank as one of the worse political blunders in history, but what's happened to the good ol' boy we knew and loved? Maureen Dowd asks, "Is There a Real McCain?"


• And here's one more little gift from under the tree: The Top 20 Funniest Political Moments of 2009.

Iran Keeps Simmering

What is going on in Iran currently has been, and seems likely to continue to be, an upending of conventional wisdom as to who the Iranian people are, or are not. One thing we learned from the "Green Revolution" movement in the wake of a laughably fraudulent election is that many Iranians, young and old, are not very happy with the way things are. There is a faction within Iran who are fervent conservative thugs (can we say "thugs" on this website?) and they are no different from the opportunistic thugs in any other nation. They are Iranian Brown Shirts, pure and simple. Bought, paid for, protected and mindlessly loyal to those who support them. Such creatures will always be with us, in those societies that let them thrive and use them to suppress the people.

But bad things keep happening to the badly-corrupted Iranian Revolution; the people are fed up with it and spend their nights on rooftops calling out across the city, giving heart to one another and announcing protests, key figures in recent Iranian history are speaking up and taking strong stands in support of a sweeping change in the Iranian government. Opposing these populist forces are the predictable organs of state control. The odds seem good that the state, as the state usually does, will prevail. But things keep happening, like the death of this outspoken and principled senior figure in Iran's religious establishment. His death reminds Iranians of all that he stood for, all that he said over the years. This is very inconvenient for the current regime, based as much on cronyism as principle, deeply corrupt and no longer popular with the average Iranian, the majority of whom were not alive during the time of the Shah, so cannot be swayed by calls to recall what they never saw, never knew personally. Keep an eye on Iran. It still may change that part of the world in ways that none of could ever predict.

Arthur

Weekend Update - December 5th

• They're Out There Dept.: The Mayor of Arlington, Tennessee, Russell Wiseman, has accused President Obama of deliberately timing his speech about the war in Afganistan this week to block the airing of the "Peanuts" Christmas television special. We quote His Honor: "We sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim president is there, what a load ... try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose." Wiseman did not immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press on Friday.


• Many are saying Obama's not all he's cracked up to be because he has yet to completely revolutionize every aspect of human life as we know it by instantly turning everything organic, curing all diseases and setting all gay military personnel free to romp in the fields of boot camp. Mark Morford begs to differ.


• We used the trusty old debit card the other day, but apparently we went about three dollars over. The bank paid it, of course, but charged us $25 dollars in fees. Now listen to this: Our nation's financial institutions will collect some $1.8 billion during the 28-day holiday shopping season, through practices such as charging $34 for an average $17 debit card overdraft and manipulating the order in which they subtract debits from their customers' accounts. And remember, we bailed these bastards out with our tax money. Our suggestion? Break up these "too-big-to-fail" institutions and let some of the cockiest ones fail. Fail, big time. In the mean time, let's all just use cash. Happy Holidays.


• Uncle Bob and I had several lively arguments concerning the death penalty in America. Uncle Bob always was dead set against it. I, of course, played "devil's advocate" and did all the standard pro-death arguments, what-if-he-killed-your-family things. Uncle Bob always won of course, and now there's this: Some innocent dead men walking can now take hope. Two cases have been decided in the last four months that suggest that in the United States, at last, it may actually make a difference whether or not the prospective visitor to the death chamber is guilty or innocent. From Common Dreams.


• Women are smoking more pot. That's right. And here's a fascinating article about why women have signed onto marijuana reform -- and why they could be the movement's game-changers. Oh, you go girl!

Indian "Tea-Baggers"

(From Arthur, November 21st)

This all may sound far crazier than anything that could happen in the United States, but we would be fools to assume that "it could not happen here". It could. A call to mob action is something that extremists have always used in the early stages of their political insurrections. The claims of Congressional candidate Doug Hoffman in upstate New York that the special election there was hijacked by ACORN, with the complicity of the local Republican Party(!) is an example of political actions that have no basis in fact, but that are no more than trumped-up charges of evil-doing intended to motivate gullible and extreme right-wing elements in that Congressional District (though you can donate, too!) in an attempt to build passion, a paranoid story-line and gather donations.

To say that such actions are entirely cynical is too obvious to be a breaking news item. It is often easier to see such patterns in other countries, rather than our own. One can see similar actions, but taken to extremes or done more obviously. The Indian political parties in this story operate in the State that Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is the capital of. Actions taken recently by a splinter political party there included the beating of immigrants from other parts of India, which the leader of that political party participated in. I think it is unlikely that we will ever see Lou Dobbs or Tom Tancredo punching out Mexican day-laborers, but that would be a comparable phenomena. While that is a far-fetched idea, the fetid (i.e. "rotten smelling") ravings of the various Fox News pundits is the rhetorical equivalent of such actions. We would be fools to imagine that extreme words can be uttered without in some cases sparking actions and producing terrible consequences.

At one and the same time I am proud of our country, and as fearful for its soul and its future as I have been in many years. It seems to me that there are clear calls for extremists to take violent actions and undertake an insurrection of either spirit or action, purportedly in "defense" of all that is holy and noble about our nation. Such actions, to call on the weakest elments of society, to alarm the disaffected and frightened, has parallels in Germany during the Weimar Republic that we would ignore at our peril. I do not intend to suggest that our current challenges, as a country, as a society and an economy are remotely as dire as that of Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s. To the contrary we are a nation with powerful advantages, resources and potential, that other nations can but envy. But we are going to be going through "a bad patch" over the next year or two which will test our character as a people and as a society. Many are suffering and suffering greatly now, as our go-go economy of the early twenty-first century falls apart and must be reconstructed, brick by brick. Those of us who can grind through it, relatively unscathed, are the lucky ones, but there are millions in our country who will not be so lucky. There will be terrible stories of poverty and loss that play themselves out all around us, often largely unseen. Certainly we will not hear about it on Fox News, while they are otherwise occupied trying to turn our county into a massive sandbox in which corporate giants can play with lavish toys without any form of parental oversight. The utter childishness of what is being broadcast is stunning. The base appeals to fear and ethnocentrism appear to be an attempt to roll back the clock to a simpler and darker period of our history, where those who have can gather much more, while those who don't have can either lump it, or go someplace else.

Arthur

Weekend Update - November 1st

• Someone shot at Lou Dobbs and missed? After CNN host Lou Dobbs stated this past Monday on his radio show that “my wife has now been and I have been shot at,” right-wing pundits and nativist groups are rallying to his cause. But statements by New Jersey state police are putting Dobbs' claim that he and his wife had been shot at into question.


• The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama. The movement’s undisputed leaders, Palin and Beck, neither of whom has what Palin once called the “actual responsibilities” of public office, would gladly see the Republican Party die on the cross of right-wing ideological purity. Over the short term, at least, their wish could come true. Frank Rich in the NYT.


• Sean Hannity and Michele Bachmann recently did their best to disprove the theory that FOX news is an arm of the Republican Party. And failed laughably.


• Former Death Star VP Darth Cheney has been involved in interviews with the FBI concerning the Plame leak. And guess what, he just can't remember anything. Here's a non-comprehensive list of 22 things Dick Cheney claimed he couldn't recall about the Plame case, in the order they appear in the FBI's notes. From Mother Jones.


• It's true. My guess is that many clumsily educated Americans have been fully expecting some sort of wacky Hollywood-style apocalypse scenario as a result of all those dire prognostications, and are now feeling a little ripped off. "Where is my wrathful hurricane?" they demand in response to all the dire-but-boring scientific info about, say, melting ice caps and severe weather conditions in places most of them don't actually live. "Where are the screaming frogs? Where is the tidal wave crashing over the Himalayas with John Cusack yelling in panic? I still have to wear a jacket in December! Global warming, my meat-loving American ass!" Mark Morford in Part 2 of "10 Amazing Truths You Already Suspected."

Weekend Update - Empathy Edition

• Arthur starts our weekend: "I heard this guy on NPR today on 'Science Friday.' Fascinating stuff. He spoke about empathy as being something seen in animals, obeying some of the same characteristics we see in humans, where those seen as most similar to us are responded to, while those increasingly less like us are far less valued or taken into consideration. Something I have obsessed about for years. The author called out Senator Kyl for saying that he personally didn't need maternity care, so why should the government pay for it? Why indeed, since Kyl doubtless was hatched from a lizard's egg.


• You know how those staircases are getting longer, and the arthritis and the colon cancer is getting worse? We feel for you. Yes, we here at the Coca-Cola Company feel your pain. Or rather, we don't, actually, but we like to say we do in marketing copy, because it makes us sound beneficent and honest, like a good corporate citizen, when in fact we're all about figuring out sinister ways to keep you wildly addicted to as many of our products for as long as humanly possible -- which, if you drink enough of them, won't be that long at all. Mark Morford empathizes.


• And we can certainly feel for that little boy who kept throwing up everytime he was supposed to lie on camera. We can be empathetic and morally superior at the same time. No matter what our own faults as parents, we could never top Richard Heene, who mercilessly exploited his child for fame and profit. Nor could we ever be as craven as the news media, especially cable television, which dumped a live broadcast of President Obama in New Orleans to track the supersized Jiffy Pop bag floating over Colorado. Frank Rich comments.


• Now this one's going to be difficult. Let's see, how could we feel empathy for Rush Limbaugh? How 'bout, it must be really tiring carrying around all that bullshit in one golf shirt. Hey, really, we care.


• John Hagee teaches "theological racism," the idea that the destiny of peoples is based on their biblical genealogy. Hagee claims Jewish souls are different from those of gentiles and that, according to divine plan, Jews have no right to live anywhere on Earth but in Israel. Hagee's fellow Christian Zionists predict that a coming, divinely ordained paroxysm of anti-Semitic violence, a "second Holocaust," will be necessary to force all Jews to make aliyah. So why is Elie Wiesel supporting events sponsored by John Hagee's Christians United for Israel? An open letter to Wiesel from Rachel Tabachnick.


• We all feel other people's pain from time to time, it's only human. That is, except for some people: About 300 protesters outside a downtown hotel blew plastic horns, tossed shoes and burned George W. Bush in effigy Thursday as the former U.S. president spoke to a luncheon of the Montreal Board of Trade. Darn those Canadians. (tee hee)

Weekend Update - October 18th

• "The Governator is stale news," writes Bad Hat Marin County Political Correspondent Arthur. "There are those who worry that Governor Schwwartsawhatever will run for Senator from California and win. Not very likely if this Field poll is any gauge of public sentiment, which is far from approving, even amoung Republicans. The experience of having a steroid-addled Austrian body-builder and stiff actor serve as one's Governor is beyond my powers to describe. In a recent encounter with the California Democratic Caucus at a dinner in San Francisco where a good deal of drinking had already gone on, most reports of the encounter had a lot of blank spaces where family newspapers were not able to print what the attendees told the Governor. Nothing was actually thrown, aside from insults and curses, presumably because the Governor travels with a security detail. But from this Fields poll it really does look as though Arnold has scored a perfect trifecta: the Legislature hates him, Democrats hate him, Republicans don't trust him and can't stand him. What an amazingly unifying figure he is!"


• It's a story from the dark political underbelly that makes you question the entire setup, rethink humanity, and lean out your window and scream: what the hell is wrong with these people? Who are they, really? Why do we give them power? Mark Morford writes about a gang rape and 30 Republican senators who don't give a damn about battered women.


• I swear I'm not making this one up: "Pigs still can't fly, but this winter, the mayor of Moscow promises to keep it from snowing. For just a few million dollars, the mayor's office will hire the Russian Air Force to spray a fine chemical mist over the clouds before they reach the capital, forcing them to dump their snow outside the city. " From Time Magazine.


• I read somewhere recently that the audience for FOX News is supposedly up 20%, sort of like the most popular newspaper is the National Enquirer. As Bill Mahar would say, "Americans are stupid..." At any rate, the Obama Administration has had enough. They've finally declared war on Fox.


• In an interview with CBS News radio, former President George H.W. (Poppy) Bush assailed the tone of our national discourse. He even went so far as to refer to Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow as "sick puppies." Oh gasp.


• Rush Limbaugh wanted to be part owner of the Rams football team. NFL players said they wouldn't play for a big fat racist like Limbaugh. And the world, as we know it, keeps on turning.


• And we can't close out this week's report without yet another Vaporub induced weep-fest from The-Creepy-Clown-Who-Is-Glenn Beck.

Weekend Update - Nobel Peace Prize Edition

• Pop! Pop! Pop! What's that? Oh, just the sound of hundreds of pinheaded pundit heads exploding. President Obama, in case you didn't hear Friday, has won the Nobel Peace Prize for ... well, for not being George Bush, actually. It seems that replacing BushCo with Obama gave the rest of the world a whole new outlook on America; so much so that they're giving out prizes in sheer relief. Glen Beck, meanwhile, is whining and rubbing vapo-rub in his eyes and wants Obama to give back the award. Limbaugh doubled his output of spit and venom and called his pharmacist. Tell me something. These people cheer when the President of the United States can't get the Olympics for Chicago, and boo when he wins the Nobel Prize. Why do these men hate America?


• Guess the boys at NASA got bored this week so they decided to blow up the moon. Well, at least a chunk of it. Mark Morford explores the cosmic reasons why we do things like this.


• Sarah Palin stands ready to stump for the Republican gubernatorial candidates running in the two most closely watched campaigns in the country this fall, but neither seems to want her help. Poor baby. We thinks this is just the beginning, or rather the end for Sarah.


• "Michael Moore has made the most important and urgent political film of our time. In fact, he might have made the most American of films since the populist cinema of Frank Capra." Or so says Dan Siegel in this report. We will be in line.


• "The pain came as I began to realize for the first time that I had been using my faith to bring harm to others. That's not a pleasant realization for anyone who marches under a Christian banner of love, respect, and compassion." Holy Crap! Evangelical Christian Brent Childers explains his journey from believing that homosexuality was an abomination to marching in a pro-gay march on Washington.


• Does the financial industry in this country OWN our government? Check out this alarming article from Salon.com.
• Arthur writes: I love it. Tired of breaking all those pesky "commandment" thingies? You know, the sissy stuff about the seven deadly sins and coveting your neighbor's wife and all that namby-pamby stuff? No problemo. Let's just write our own! Yes! Our own Bible, the one God should have written, if he wasn't such a wussy boy!

Weekend Update - October 3rd

• Congressional Republicans are furious indeed that uppity Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) claimed, right there on the House floor and using a big piece of paper with large, clear letters they could actually read and everything, that the GOP's health care plan basically consists of hoping that sick people will just "die quickly." Of course, the GOP is outraged. Mark Morford reports on this and 9 more important stories you may have overlooked recently.


• Ever wonder why Right-Wing Demagogues Are Trying to Peddle Ludicrous Conspiracy Theories? Even before Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, the internet was seething with lurid conspiracy theories exposing his alleged subversion and treachery. As far as some of these nutbags (and you know who you are) are concerned, it's the end of the world as we know it.


• ...late in the afternoon, Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the top Republican on the committee, requested consideration of the "Grassley F-1 Modified Amendment." Its goal: eliminate $7 billion a year in fees that the government would charge private health insurance companies, and make up the shortfall by reducing benefits to poor people and legal immigrants... It's like Robin Hood, the amended version.


• Glen Beck has revealed that he uses Vick's Vaporub under the eyes to get his "sincere" tears rolling for the camera. What a guy. We suggest he try pepper spray next time.


• And speaking of our beloved Beckster, let us take a trip back into history. Not ancient history. Recent history. It is the winter of 2007. The presidential primaries are approaching. The talk jocks like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and the rest are over the moon about Fred Thompson. They’re weak at the knees at the thought of Mitt Romney. Meanwhile, they are hurling torrents of abuse at the unreliable deviationists: John McCain and Mike Huckabee. David Brooks actually writes a column worth reading: "The Wizard of Beck."


• For many years now, the Religious Right in this country has battled the evils of sex. But apparently they've tired of all that, and are returning to their racially bigoted origins. What a difference an election makes. Even if you believed that compassionate conservatism was always a bit of a con, it's amazing to see how quickly it has vanished, and how fast an older style of reaction, one more explicitly rooted in racial grievance, has reasserted itself.


• Idiot of the Month: Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. There's something in the Health Care bill that just has her goat. Sex clinics! "... someone's 13-year old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back, and go home on the school bus that night? Mom and dad are never the wiser. They don't know any different." How did this moron ever get elected in the first place?


• David Letterman shows us how adults handle extortion attempts with intelligence and dignity.


• Yesterday, Newsmax columnist John L. Perry brought up the possibility of a military coup against President Obama. Most chilling, perhaps, was the fact that Perry seemed to offer tepid support for the idea. "A coup is not an ideal option," he acknowledged, "but Obama's radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible." (Just want you to know that "John L. Perry" is NOT affiliated with Bad Hat in any way.)

Weekend Update - September 27th

• When facts, truth, scientific date, and plain old common sense doesn't work, how DO you talk to idiots? Mark Morford helps us out.
• We heard just recently that former senator Rick "man-on-dog" Santorum plans to run for president. Oh joy! But it seems that thanks to columist Dan Savage, Santorum has a "Google problem." Apparently when you Google Santorum's name you get, amongst other things, a web site that defines ...well, check it out yourself. We think it couldn't happen to a more deserving homophobic idiot.
• It has been frustrating to watch Republican leaders posture as the vigilant protectors of Medicare against health care reforms designed to make the system better and more equitable. This is the same party that in the past tried to pare back Medicare and has repeatedly denounced the kind of single-payer system that is at the heart of Medicare and its popularity. NYT editorial.
• A woman wakes up in bed and finds her shirt covered with blood. She's bleeding from her nipple, and she rushes to the emergency room. It could have been a tumor the doctor says, but luckily it wasn't. Her insurance company denied her hospital bill because "she should have known it wasn't an emergency." A sad, but typical true story.
• The latest PARANOIA from your friends at the Church of Right Wing Nutbags: Census workers with GPS's! Be sure to watch the video. Will it lead to more of this?
• With admirable calm, President Obama has sought to deflect the supercharged politics of race by expressing his optimism about American attitudes and ignoring the most extreme statements by his critics. For his own sake, as well as the nation’s, he is wise to give a pass to the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. That is not, however, what they deserve. Joe Conason: The Truth About Two Racists - Beck and Limbaugh.
• The ugly side of Evangelical Christianity. (There's a pretty side?)
• “As soon as I heard Bernie’s story, I sensed a kindred spirit,” said Kenneth Copeland. “I received a word in my heart that this man has the skills—I mean spirit, I, I mean Holy Spirit—to become an important part of our ministry.” Yes, dear friends, Bernie Madoff has found Jesus. (I swear I can hear Uncle Bob laughing...)

Weekend Update - September 13th

• We love starting off our weekly news rant with yet another Republican sex scandal. Really, half the GOP congressman in Washington could admit to a gay affair and the other half to snorting blow off the tailbone of a needy lobbyist/hooker/intern in front of a church on Sunday, and still the party leadership would say, gosh, that's too bad, what a shame, let us now respect the privacy of the families involved at this difficult time and leave them alone and hey by the way, Obama is a socialist tyrant who wants to indoctrinate your babies. Fear him! Mark Morford reports.


• So that mealy-mouthed congressman from South Carolina yells "you lie!" at the President of the United States. Is this a sign of growing racial attitudes? Maureen Dowd thinks so, and lays it on the line.


• Glenn Beck's 9-12ers had their little "march on Washington" yesterday, and while we don't deny these idiots their right to express themselves, take a hard look at these pictures of the signs some of them were carrying and ask yourself if these people are patriotic, or dangerously unhinged.


• After a good couple of years of living with the guy, we know the drill that defines his leadership, for better and worse. When trouble lurks, No Drama Obama stays calm as everyone around him goes ballistic. Then he waits — and waits — for that superdramatic moment when he can ride to his own rescue with what the press reliably hypes as The Do-or-Die Speech of His Career. Frank Rich writes about "Obama's Squandered Summer."


• I love this: Let’s not mince words here: We now have an entire political party that is not only dedicated to the mediocre. It is dedicated to the nearly deranged. The Boston Globe editorializes on the "Extreme Republican Party."


• Life's so unfair: Darth Cheney and his wife donated millions to his old alma mater, and was still heckled and booed when he gave a speech there. Maybe Darth needs to go back to the DeathStar from whence he came.


• Read this and weep for our country: The Top Ten Ridiculous Quotes by Health Care Reform Opponents.


• Oh, and speaking of Cheney, here's a wonderful article from Germany's Der Spiegel on The Dick's bloody legacy.

What It Is, Is a Harley

You hear him before you see him, always. You hear that sound, that unmistakable rumble of an American made exhaust system and you know it's a big one. I don't know about you, but every time I hear a Harley coming down the street I always turn and watch it go by. You can't always tell who's riding it because here in Oregon it's mandatory by law to wear a helmet. But I can tell when it's him. It's that damn grin of his. It's not "an illegal smile" of the John Prine song, but it's really close to it. And when my friend Dan Dreier is riding his Harley-Davidson he's grinning. Always grinning.

What it is, is a dream

Dan Dreier has gone through a metamorphosis recently that's nothing short of remarkable. We all go through somewhat of a melancholic reaction when we approach the age of 60, but when Dan turned 60 in September of 2006 something happened in him. His friend Dave Barton sort of instigated the whole thing. Dave rode a motorcycle and had told Dan the joys of tooling around the countryside, and Dan realized that in 60 years he'd never in his life been on one. What happened one afternoon was somewhat of an intense experience for Dan, because that was the day he first saw her, tucked away in the corner of the showroom of Greg Coen Motor Co., in Springfield. A brand new 2007 Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe. Now here's where the craziness starts. The very next day, without ever being on a big motorcycle in his entire life, Dan went back to Coen's and bought it. $20,000. Just like that. His friend Dave had to ride it home for him.

Dan was born on September 13, 1946, and as a baby moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa with his parents. His father was a professor at the University of Northern Iowa, and his mother was a loving and hard-working woman who raised 5 children. But it was on his grandparents' farm where Dan got his first taste of riding out in the open, literally. Dan's beloved Granddad would let him stand on the front of the seat between his Granddad's knees and steer the old John Deere tractor. It was of course a thrilling thing for a young man, and much later in life he would compare that time to his motorcycle riding: the wind in his face, the noise of the engine, and the feeling of doing something a little bit "naughty."

It was a week before Dan even attempted to ride. He took a short motorcycle course at the local community college and before long was riding, somewhat gingerly, all over town. But this metamorphosis thing still had Dan in it's grip. He took his brand new bike back to Coen's and upgraded it from a 96 cubic-inch engine to a more powerful 103 cubic-inch. Dan's a bit hard of hearing, so he had them change the roaring stock muffler to a thundering Vance Hines exhaust system, capable of rattling windows 2 blocks in any direction. He kept upgrading, and when he was finally satisfied, another $20,000 had been invested.

Dan's brother Jim, after being told of all this Harley madness, gently reminded him that their mother, all her life, had disapproved of noisy dangerous motorcycles, and the news of Dan's recent purchase might make her a bit upset. So, in a stroke of Iowan genius, Dan named his new Harley after her. What sensible mid-western mother could be upset with something named after her? And thus was born The Mighty Mary Ellen.

What it is, is a trip

Now most of us would be happy to take our new machine on the occasional trip to the coast or the mountains, when the weather was nice. But my friend Dan had something more in mind. A lot more. A hell of a lot more. In June of 2008 Dan and The Mighty Mary Ellen (referred to in his e-mail journals as The MME) set out on the first of what he calls his Major Motorcycle Pilgrimage Across America (MMPAA, no, I'm not making that up.) What he did was, he drew this enormous "X" on a map of the West Coast of the United States, and rode 10,000 miles in a few weeks, averaging 500 miles A DAY. Now, remember, Dan had only been riding a motorcycle for several months in his whole life, and also remember that Dan is about to turn 63 years old, but he does have one thing in his advantage: Bus driver butt. I'll explain that one to you some other time.

In June of 2009, Dan and Mary Ellen traveled the entire 12,000 miles of U.S. Highway 20 from Newport, Oregon to Boston, Mass., then around the perimeter of Maine, then south to Key West, Florida, then to New Orleans, then home again through Cedar Falls, Iowa to visit the original Mary Ellen. All in all, it took him his entire 4 week vacation, again at 500 miles a day. But the really cool thing for the rest of us, is that Dan took his laptop with him and wrote us a steady stream of reports from the road, some of which I pass on to you.

What it is, is truth

Traveling across Idaho was a smorgasbord of terrain -- farmlands, vast empty spaces, mountains, and even a city or two. Best moment in Idaho? Waiting for a massive herd of cattle to clear the road, complete with dozens of cowboys on horseback, herd dogs working furiously, and even a chuck wagon -- on a Dodge pickup truck, bringing up the rear. There were many hundreds of cattle, maybe a thousand head. It took a LONG time to wait for them and then to slowly drive along side as the herd moved beside the roadway.

The speed limit on Hwy 20 in Idaho is 65 (in good ol Oregon its only 55). It went up to 70 as it crossed the southwest tip of Montana. Traffic was light and I made good time until I reached this cool little park called Yellowstone. Bison on the road a couple of times brought already slow moving traffic to a halt. At one point it was warm enough that I did something I'd never done on a motorcycle, ride without a helmet. No helmet laws in Idaho, Wyoming or Montana, I noticed. I always wear my helmet, even if it isn't required, but since traffic was moving slowly and there was much to see, I went bare headed for ten miles. Then it suddenly got cooler and I put my helmet back on.

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At 4:00 AM in my Valentine, Nebraska motel room, I was awaked by a ferocious thunder storm. Lighting lit up the room through heavy curtains. The thunder could be felt, not to mention heard almost as loud as the Mighty Mary Ellen in the passing lane.

I got up and got ready for the day, determined to depart at daybreak, come hell or high water. I departed at daybreak in both. It was POURING rain and lightning was still giving me strobe light glimpses of the road ahead. My raingear held up well enough. Heated gloves kept my hands warm. Heated socks kept the water in my boots warm. You'd think $130 Harley-Davidson boots would keep the water on the outside. You'd be wrong. They DO keep water on the inside, however.
It was tough going though most of the eastern 250 miles of Nebraska. The biggest difficulty was seeing the road. My goggles were useless as they fogged over on the inside. I changed into my regular glasses and that worked better, as air can circulate around the lens. What I really needed was tiny windshield wipers mounted on my glasses. Want to know what its like to drive though pouring rain on a motorcycle going 65 MPH? First, smear your glasses with, oh, how about . . . Vaseline. Then, have someone stand four feet in front of you, point a garden hose at your face and turn on the water full blast. Fun, I know.

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Highway 20 in eastern Nebraska runs though dozens of small to tiny towns. One had a sign declaring Population 10. You could tell the size of the town by how far the speed limit dropped down to 45 for the smallest, 35 for some, and 25 for others. A few had a town stop sign. Two even had a traffic signal. Dropping the throttle and shifting into lower gears felt like a tip of the hat to these small towns, a sign of respect. I didnt mind at all. If fact, it was a pleasure. Iowa, on the other hand, has demolished any vestige of the old highway and has constructed a freeway-like road that bypasses any and all towns along the way. I was so ready to get to Cedar Falls I didnt really mind the faster travel, but its a shame for those towns to loose their Main Street highway.

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The neighborhoods of greater Chicago are distinct and dramatically different. From affluent to impoverished. For a while there, I didnt see another white person for miles. Traffic seemed to move less efficiently in the poorer neighborhoods, so I spent lots of time sitting at intersections. That gave me a chance to look around. Wow! I tried to imagine a young Barack Obama doing his community organizing here.

The many hours I spent studying my maps really paid off today. The street names and intersections were familiar to me as Highway 20 twisted and turned its way through the cities along the southern tip of Lake Michigan. It felt good when I finally emerged on the Red Arrow Highway and then the Blue Star Highway in Michigan -- roads that hug the lake shore. US 31 took me the rest of the way to my stop here in Ludington.

In each of his e-mails to us, written most often at the end of the day in yet another Mom-and-Pop motel along the way, Dan would assure us that The Mighty Mary Ellen was "parked just outside my window." And each message became more, well...almost religious sounding. Something was happening to Dan. It was like when he was on board this machine, with the wind, and sometimes rain, Dan was finding himself. He was able to be alone with his thoughts, sure, but he was never really alone. He had The Mighty Mary Ellen.

Impatient for the sun to make an appearance, I headed out in the predawn darkness of a sultry Jacksonville morning. It was fun, to say the least, riding before dawn on a nearly empty freeway, watching for the first signs of dawn to streak across the horizon. Though I was perfectly comfortable, shivers of joy occasionally rippled thought my body. Hugging the MME tightly with my knees, I couldn't help but burst into song -- Oh beautiful, for spacious skies . . . I must have started off in too high key as my throat still hurts from the America, America part. I was singing the Ray Charles version. Mary Ellen provided an excellent percussive bass line. Actually, she purrs along so loud I can barely hear myself sing. (Talk about your basic blessing!)

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On my way home from Parkersburg, I stopped by a big red house on the corner of 26th and College. Five children were playing outside. I stopped to watch them. They didnt see me. One boy was on his bike. He could ride with no hands and liked to ride fast. The childrens father walked home from his job at the college on a curving brick road across the street. He was happy to be home. The mother and a stooped-over grandmother could be seen through the kitchen window. It was a happy, busy, beautiful family. I wished I could talk to them. I wanted to tell them how wonderful they were, what fine parents they had, and how much this place would mean to them someday. I wanted to stay with them, but they faded away.

And sometimes Dan's writing got downright spooky. Like the entry on June 12th that began, "This is the Mighty Mary Ellen speaking." Dan has his motorcycle wax almost poetic on the meaning of life. She refers to Dan as "ODB," Old Danny Boy.

This is the Mighty Mary Ellen speaking. Old Danny Boy is dead tired after a long day in the saddle. He asked me if I would do the journal honors tonight. It seems that Im the one who has all the energy -- as long as ODB keeps my tank filled with premium grade gasoline. We did 540 miles today but it took forever, he said. It took just over 13 hours is what it took. We were stopped at traffic lights in towns and villages, or traffic jams on I-95 after we hit Boston, for much of the day. I didnt mind, but ODB isn't long on patience...

Eastern New York was lots of fun. I loved climbing those steep hills in high gear. I've got more horse power and torque than I know what to do with. We had to pull over before long and ODB put his rain gear on. He tried to convince himself it wasn't going to rain by not wearing his gear. That didnt work. He took it off when the sky cleared up in Massachusetts. Then we stopped by the side of the freeway on our way down to Rhode Island. ODB is getting quite adept at anticipating the rain before it hits. Nothing more embarrassing than waiting by the side of the road while he struggles with his gear in the pouring rain...

Things got rather quiet when we finally hit the end of US 20. We've been following those 20 signs for 3,335 miles. Funny thing was, there wasn't any sign saying, THE END. Nothing. ODB was a bit disappointed, I think. He wanted to take a picture of the other end of the road. The other end of the road turned out to be nothing more than the beginning of another road. Kind of like life, if ya know what I mean.

Dan and Mary Ellen have in 2 short years visited all the lower 48 states. Dan says driving 500 miles is like driving a bus 10 hours a day, but each day with Mary Ellen is "recoverable," a term I think is in reference to his rear end. Before he started, his original plan was to camp out along the way, but after a mere 3 days of that, he gained a whole new respect for inexpensive motels. Arriving in Maine the first time, he unceremoniously shipped all his camping gear home, and that was that.

Next summer, Dan and Mary Ellen plan to travel the entire length of Interstate Highway 50, nicknamed "The Loneliest Road in America," from Sacramento, California to Ocean City, Maryland. Incidentally, there's a Harley dealership in Lewiston, Maine, where Dan stops every trip. He has Mary Ellen serviced there, and the employees joke that of all their regular customers Dan rides the farthest to get service. And Dan's fame locally is spreading. He's currently featured in a television commercial for Greg Coen Motor Co.

I just recently figured out something about myself, thanks to Dan. Every time I see Dan roar by on The Mighty Mary Ellen, with that fantastic, exhilarated grin on his face, I get this strange feeling in my chest, or the pit of my stomach, or both. I didn't know what it was until I re-read all of his e-mail journal. It's a feeling that happens to most all of us from time to time, but as we get older it happens less and less. It's actually, in the case of my friend Dan, a good feeling.

What it is, is envy


Love to all, John Perry

A Great Speech

Girlie Men Gone Wild.

The Republicans are really in a box here, aren't they? They keep coming up against this young guy who can string a turn of phrase and a train of thought into this THING that just sort of fills the room, fills all the voids in a massive public debate, leaving very, very little room around the edges. Worse, his opponents are sort of always on stage, without quite realizing what a fishbowl they are in all the time. At the end of the debate over health care reform, if we can call it a debate, we are left with the impression that one side was debating and negotiating, while the other side was having a tantrum. Last night an adult stepped up to set some limits, enforce a curfew and remind us that school is back in session.

We're clearly going to have a health care reform bill soon. It will not be an express ticket to nirvana, but it will be the most substantive step towards solving a festering (often literally) wound in our society. Medical care will never offer the American people the benefits that it should if an average American is always at risk of losing access to or never being able to afford the basic medical care that they need. A tremendous amount of study has gone into developing an optimal regimen of testing and "preventive maintenance" that at its core is rather like making sure that one keeps up with their car's recommended maintenance, keeps their oil topped up and changed regularly. If it works for a car, and I can promise you it does, why wouldn't it work for people? No reason, but instead of making certain that everyone has access to the basics of preventive medical care... we have done something else. That alternative has become an overpriced system of inflated charges and endless bargaining between insurance companies and the health insurance industry. Our youngest son recently needed a surgery, of a type that turned out to be seen as an elective surgery, since the condition does not immediately kill you. Usually. So we had the option of waiting until he had another type of insurance (which may be hard for him to get, since he has this pesky "pre-existing condition" now) or we could be self-pay. We chose Option B and it turned out to be a highly educational experience. I won't bore you with numbers, but the asking price would buy a really nice car. We asked about a discount, since we were self-pay. The process ground its way along, and ground some more, we were told our ideas were unrealistic and it ground on some more, the Doctor told us that we needed to understand that he was running a business here, had pretty high overhead, we had a choice to make, yadda, yadda, yadda. In the end we paid one-sixth of the list price for that medical procedure. That works out for us, but remember that we were not in crisis mode. We could wait, we weren't about to do something totally stupid, so we were in a better negotiating position than most people would be. One staffer commented that we ended up paying "about what an insurance company would have paid". I guess that we were meant to take that as high praise. We had done what can only normally be done by the professional wrestlers of the insurance world. Whoopie. But what it also told me is that the health care "industry" is a world of inflated pricing and endless bargaining, where an average person stands relatively little chance of being able to make sense of it all.

Imagine if colleges were run like that? Students would be told that tuition was $200,000 a year and their families would either need to have "education insurance" or they'd be screwed. That wouldn't make a lot of sense, would it? So if that is so obviously absurd in that situation, how come we see the medical "industry" as a more logical realm for such absurdity? I mean, it's not like it is important to the lives of the American people, our fellow citizens, right? Oh, it really sort of is? Oh yeah, well never mind, let's make up stories and take large donations from the insurance industry so we can stay in office to "serve the American people", you know that marionette theater in Washington where trained performers go out and deliver the talking points provided to them by their financial patrons. Heck, if you have a couple of spare millions you could buy yourself a Senator, too! See, for what they cost they are quite a bargain. And that deal they've made with the Devil? Oh yeah, it's all a bit worrisome, but it's kinda like one of those adjustable rate mortgages. The bad news only comes later. I mean who knows, maybe the Rapture will happen first, so why worry?

Arthur

Weekend Update - American Nuts Edition

• You know that kidnapping/rape/confinement story that's been in the paper lately? Maybe you take the easy route. Maybe you, like millions of others, go for the knee-jerk, right-wing reaction and simply say, "Great, another psycho rapist madman. Let's just kill Phillip Garrido right now and be done with it. Or maybe throw him in prison and let him suffer for a while first and then inject him, hang him and zap him with 2,000 volts all at once because he's obviously an unspeakable monster who doesn't deserve another breath on this planet." Mark Morford comments.


• President Obama is going to make a little speech to kids this week about staying in school and stuying hard. But Colorado mother Shannon Barron says “Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me. I’m an American. They are Americans, and I don’t feel that’s OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now.” Note to kids: Sneak into school and listen. Don't tell your parents. And before you go, check this out. Hilarious!


• Reading the wing-nut code: When Glen Beck throws up a graphic of a segmented snake as his project's mascot, or Sarah Palin speaks of her native land as the "sovereign" state of Alaska, they're blowing a kind of dog-whistle for the armed and paranoid who make up the right-wing, neo-militia "Patriot" movement and the broader "Tea Party" coalition. This story is both fascinating and scary.


• Michele Bachmann is encouraging right-wing activists to slit their wrists. By gawd we never thought we'd ever agree with Ms. Bachmann on anything. (We're kidding, but this mentally unstable woman isn't. But, gawdhelpus, if GOD asks her to run for President, she will! Please god, ask her ask her.


• You know all those right-wingnuts screaming about "death panels?" The real "death panels" are run by the insurance companies. More than one of every five requests for medical claims for insured patients, even when recommended by a patient's physician, are rejected by California's largest private insurers, amounting to very real death panels in practice daily in the nation's biggest state, according to data released Wednesday by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.


• Listen to Arthur. Get involved! Calling out the Senators: WeWantThePublicOption.com

What's Good for Pharma/Sure is Good for America

Americans don't need a "Public Option", they don't really need an FDA and it is surely the case that they do NOT need a Justice Department that wants to investigate Pharmaceutical Companies. As many have told us, the health "industry" is ONE-SIXTH of our economy! It is just TOO BIG TO FAIL and all that pesky oversight stuff? That poses a risk to insurance companies and pharmaceutical giants that is just plain BAD FOR AMERICA. In the 1930s the President of General Motors (if memory serves me) said, "What's good for General Motors is good for America", by which I think we can infer that he was saying to Congress, "Back off you pesky regulators, GM can regulate itself just fine!"

Or could.

But when we read a story like this, suddenly the financial links between the health "industry" and our population seems slightly... predatory. Hold that thought. Big Pharma is not your friend, they are already in a committed relationship with their stockholders. We are no more than raw materials, to be manipulated through advertising, selectively medicated through bonus payments to physicians, promised the moon and handed a cantaloupe. Sometimes a rotten one. Why would our friends in Pharma and Insura be acting like that?

Here's why: Click Here.

See, there is a lot of money in the health "industry". That innovation they talk about? Oh, they do that, but they are also pretty good at innovative marketing, advertising and manipulation techniques, which is what earned Pfizer a $2.3 Billion legal "settlement". Wow, that's really a lot of money, isn't it? But we learn that the size of that penalty is because this is the 4th time Pfizer has done something exactly like this, in violation of Federal Law.

Given that history, how on earth would Americans be willing to trust healthcare to the government, instead of to the warm embrace of the "industry" that works tirelessly and selflessly on behalf of all Americans (who own their stock). What could possibly go wrong?

My suggestion is to call your Senator (and other people's Senators) and let them know that you want a Public Option to be part of the healthcare reform. Grinding one's teeth is an excellent jaw exercise, but doing something is an even better exercise of one's rights as a voter and citizen.

Those who are trying to push reform are in a real battle here. They can't do it alone.

Arthur

Weekend Update - Semper Fi Edition

(Dear friends, today is Uncle Bob's birthday. He is greatly missed by his family and those who knew him. Today I plan on opening that bottle of VSOP brandy and toasting the Sergeant Major. To one and all, Semper Fi. -JP)

• Darth Cheney told "Fox News Sunday" that the DOJ interrogation misconduct investigation is "a terrible decision" and "clearly a political move." He even has the cahones to state that whether or not he speaks to the investigators will "depend on the circumstances." This man clearly is in need of some serious jail time. Here's more.


• Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina said “If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him,” this being the health care overhaul. The NYT editorializes for Obama to get tough and go it alone without Republicans if he wants to get anything done. We couldn't agree more. President Obama needs to focus on why we voted for him in the first place.


• Blackwater is being investigated by the Justice Department for possible crimes ranging from weapons smuggling to manslaughter and by the IRS for possible tax evasion. It is being sued in federal courts by scores of Iraqi civilians for alleged war crimes and extrajudicial killings. And yet, despite these black marks, the Obama administration continues to keep Blackwater on the government's payroll. What the hell's going on?


• Is the federal government building secret camps to lock up people who criticize President Barack Obama? It's the end of August, and the Nutbags are in full bloom.


• Good News: Presidential shoe-hurler and former Bad Hat Person of the Month, Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al Zeidi is finally being released from prison. Someone buy that man a drink, and put it on our tab.


• And Even More Good News: Not only does smoking marijuana NOT cause cancer, new research shows here seems to be something in pot that actually undermines cancer, instead of causing it. -- and the media are doing their best to ignore it. Far out, man.


• Idaho GOP gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell slipped and fell face first on his foot the other day as he confirmed Idaho's home-for-assholes reputation by saying he was going to sell "Obama (hunting) tags."

A Survivor, a Senator, and His Own Man

(Uncle Ted is gone. This column by Ellen Goodman touched us and we reprint it here. It says it all.)

SO THE FAMILY will be gathering again. No, not the family, the clan. That’s the word we always used to describe the Kennedys, as if they were the huge, sprawling, royal tribe of our political life. And they were.

Kennedy funerals have marked our history: JFK. RFK. Jackie. John Jr. And two weeks ago, Eunice. This time the death to be mourned is the youngest brother who became the oldest, the only male to achieve something tragically denied the others: longevity.

I first met him in 1962 when I was a student and he was a neophyte. My father, a JFK stalwart, was strong-armed into supporting this brother in his run for the Senate. The 30-year-old was so raw that when reporters asked him about an issue, he would excuse himself to check the notes from his handlers. The man who ran against him said bluntly and unwisely that if Teddy’s name were Edward Moore instead of Edward Moore Kennedy, the candidacy would be a joke. But he was “a Kennedy’’ in Massachusetts.

Like most Boston reporters, I have stories that come to mind this day but none so fond - if you will indulge me - as the time I was flying from D.C. with my young daughter. Having spotted the senator, she asked to meet him. I made her promise to just say hello and leave him to his peace. But Kennedy stood up in the aisle and talked to this 10-year-old about school and life for 10 minutes, while she warily eyed me to see if she had violated our agreement.

He was like that, less a patriarch than a father, most at ease and most himself with children, especially the children of his brothers. It was Teddy who showed up at graduations and weddings when their fathers were missing. It was Teddy who, tempered by loss, reached out to innumerable others in pain.

The obituaries say that Kennedy never achieved the dream of becoming president. But there is a difference between a family destiny and a man’s dream. When Teddy took on Jimmy Carter in 1980, he ran a desultory campaign, uncertain, floundering, bumbling. Some blamed the weakness on Chappaquiddick, some on the press.

As I followed him on the trail, one thought kept coming to my mind: He doesn’t want it. When I wrote this, my political colleagues laughed at my naivete in believing that “a Kennedy’’ wouldn’t want it. But then CBS’ Roger Mudd lobbed the softball question - Why do you want to be president? - and Teddy couldn’t answer.

The youngest brother closed that chapter with a convention speech that left his supporters in tears. But by running and losing, he had exorcised the family burden. He was no longer a President-Kennedy-in-waiting. He became a survivor, a senator, and his own man.

When Kennedy came to the Senate as the youngest brother, he was told by an older senator, “you measure accomplishments not by climbing mountains, but by climbing molehills.’’ As an insider for more than four decades, he climbed molehills. As “a Kennedy,’’ he bore the loss and burnished the legacy. As his own man, he never lost sight of the mountains.

Ellen Goodman’s e-mail address is ellengoodman1@me.com.

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.

Weekend Update - Long Strange Trip Edition

• All right, first let's get all scientific on everyone, okay? Whether or not marijuana is a "gateway drug" has been debated for decades. But could it also lead to total enlightenment? (Sure, just look at me...) Mark Morford reveals the truth behind the so-called Foundation for a Drug-Free World.


• A former CIA agent has testified that in 2002 the agency hired Blackwater in order to outsource assasinations. "What the agency was doing with Blackwater scares the hell out of me," said Jack Rice, a former CIA field operator who worked for the directorate of operations, which runs covert paramilitary activities for the CIA. Click HERE for the rest of the story.


• Joe Bageant writes, "There ain't any health care debate going on, Bubba. What is going on are mob negotiations about insurance, and which mob gets the biggest chunk of the dough."


• Something strange has happened in America in the nine months since Barack Obama was elected. It has best been summarised by the comedian Bill Maher: "The Democrats have moved to the right, and the Republicans have moved to a mental hospital." Johann Hari: Republicans, religion and the triumph of unreason.


• While I never really enjoyed his magazine, Hustler, I've always liked Larry Flynt for his outrageous opinionated truth-telling. You don't have to agree with everything he says, but you've got to admit, Larry's got a point. Common Sense 2009.


• Are you a "proud right-wing terrorist?" Well God bless you, you're a great American, according to Rep. Wally Herger. Is there anyone on the other side still sane?

The Commonwealth Fund

We've had a good deal of nonsense said about healthcare reform, spouted by those who could be called "the usual suspects". Who are they? A motley crew of Congressmen and Senators on the take from the Insurance "Industry" and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Marketers, shills for the healthcare "industry" who are to some extent or a great extent disguising their affiliation with an interested party in this debate. Why is everyone raving about the concept of healthcare reform? Because health care, in all its forms, is an enormous private industry in this country.

Think about it. You might sort of like a new car, but that's a purchase you can usually defer. When you feel like you need a new liver, or you will die, that's not a "discretionary purchase". A lot of medical decisions that one makes are life-changing. Big Insurance and Big Pharma know that. While other industries have tanked in recent years, those involved in providing medical care and medical insurance have been blasting along at a rate that has been making the wealthy even wealthier, but in consequence the costs of medical care, be it through insurance and co- pay costs or through direct payments, has skyrocketed. Everyone loves skyrockets, right? Fourth of July, the Star Spangled Banner, it really is a part of our national belief system that things should go up and up and up; stocks, bonds, real estate, women's breasts, men's "parts"... and by Golly they should stay up (consult your doctor if you experience an inflationary bubble that lasts more than four years). We're a country that grows, that builds, that paves over whatever failed in the past and that likes to rewrite history to prove that we have always been winners. I feel better now, don't you? Let's all go out and buy some Health Insurance, to celebrate.

And in the addle-pated "debate" over healthcare reform, who ya gonna trust? Some Senator who sounds like a jerk? A paid flack? An aspiring sociopath from Alaska? You betcha. Fools and blaggards, the lot of them. Instead it might be worth reading this long and tiresomely-detailed report by a private foundation who have been tracking the issue for decades. Fair warning here, there be graphs and there be logic. If that is a deal-breaker, then just step back and don't go here. But if you feel adventurous, this may help put the issue into perspective. It does not answer every question or resolve every concern, but in one stroke it does a better job of laying out the issue than anything I have ever seen. I found myself nodding my head in agreement. I have SEEN and lived through some of what is discussed and I suspected some other parts. When I was growing up my mother was surprised to find out that her doctor and his wife used powered milk, to save money. That's another part of the puzzle. Doctors are a lot better paid these days. I think one thing we should consider is helping students through Medical School, so they can graduate without soul-numbing debts, which they are forced to charge high fees to repay, after which they feel that since they have suffered for so long, now it is time for them to be rewarded by being able to keep collecting those high fees. It's a vicious cycle, that we all pay the price for.

Arthur

More on the same topic:

How Health Insurance Premiums Are Eating Up American Middle-Class Incomes

Something rather remarkable happened on Tuesday’s Morning Joe. Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York pointed out that the health insurance industry has no clothes, and Joe Scarborough, after first trying to spin it some gossamer threads, broke down and said, By God, you’re right, this emperor is a naked money-making machine! Click HERE

Wednesday Weirdness

• Zygotes are people too! If the anti-choice movement has its way, the moment one sperm eats its way through an egg's outer shell would be the last moment in human development that wouldn't be covered by the Constitution. Unsurprisingly, it's a rather lucrative racket. Rates high on the "Oh Brother" scale.


• Whole Foods is the Wall Mart of "organic foods," and its "concerned" CEO John Mackey wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal decrying Obama's health plan. and he even quotes Margaret Thatcher. According to Mackey, if we could all just afford to eat organic food from Whole Foods we wouldn't need health care. Or something like that.


• Feeling depressed? Well, Mark Morford says that very soon now, maybe three, four or 30 years hence, just about every American and most of the planet, too, will be on some sort of narcotic, behavioral med, modifier, zinger or zapper or calmer or leveler designed to mollify or numb or dry up all your saliva, give you some really weird dreams and make you never want to have sex. Now, don't you feel better?


• Going Weird in the Middle East Dept.: Arthur gives us senior class chum Vinnie Grace Holderman who has her own web page, mp3, and radio show. Arthur explains: "she was much into theater, and hoped to have a career on the stage but that ultimately was not to be. She then became an evangelical and is now beaming ham radio messages of peace and reconciliation into the Middle East, which I rather suspect are used by Hamas as either recruiting tools or as a means of torture." We listened to a couple of her Mp3 recordings and found them not only delightfully weird, but actually somewhat disturbing. Click here.


• Wow. A large number of big-name advertisers have dropped Glen Beck's show like a frozen dog turd. Who's left? Penis enlargers and egg cookers. Here's the latest list of Glen Beck advertisers.


• Today's picture is of a tobacco smoke enema device, a remarkable device that...well, I'll let Wikipedia explain: The stimulation of respiration through the introduction of tobacco smoke by a rectal tube was first practiced by the North American Indians. In 1745, Richard Mead was among the first Western scholars to recommend tobacco smoke enemas to resuscitate victims of drowning. One of the earliest reports of resuscitation by rectally applied tobacco smoke dates from 1746, when a seemingly drowned woman is reported as being successfully revived after, on the advice of a passing sailor, the stem of the sailor's pipe was inserted into her rectum and air was blown into the pipe's bowl through a piece of perforated paper. Now given that someone tending to a drowning woman would seek advice from "a passing sailor," one can imagine the ensuing conversation. "Help, my wife is drowning!" "Drowning, is she? Arrgh. Turn her arse over and lift her skirt, I've got an idea!" Now envision the husband being restrained as the wizened old sailor deftly thrusts the stem of his Meerschaum into the helpless damsel's nether region. The stuff of legends.


• It never gets weird enough for us, but it's getting close....

Who Yah Gonna Trust?

Are you going to trust Glenn "Lonesome Rhodes" Beck of Fox News, shown in this clip (see below) interviewing a British Conservative MP, a player of the Tory "shadow government" whose comments were later rebuked by the leader of his Tory Party? Or are you going to trust our President and the progressive members of the Democratic Party in our country? Are you going to trust statistics posted by Fox News? Oh golly, only 43% of the British say their healthcare is "excellent"? Why, that's terrible, or is it? How many in this country would say ours is?

It turns out that our satisfaction ratings are surprisingly similar to the UK, though Fox News did not choose to confuse its viewers by mentioning that pesky fact: Click Here

But here is Beck, in full lying-eyes-mouth and other parts mode: Click Here

As Beck puts it, "You were warned". I would argue, based on Beck's lengthy record of public lies and the lively backlash currently being directed toward Beck's advertisers, roughly a third of which have pulled their advertising to steer clear of Beck's negative image, that what Beck's viewers have been warned about is... Beck. But this staged interview accidentally did the British voters a huge favor by showing them exactly what sort of a person a key member of the photogenic Tory leader's shadow cabinet really is. It also showed the Brits that Dannon is a complete dolt, who did not realized that his words would quickly be drawn up onto the Internet and Youtube, where everyone in the world will be able to see him profess himself to be an avowed enemy of a public medical system that there is no public interest in dismantling. Saying one thing in their own country and another abroad has come to be a bit of an intelligence test for political figures, one that Dannon just flunked. Britain says, "Thanks Glenn!"

(And More...)

You've got to hand it to the Republicans, they've done a tremendous job of vilifying healthcare reform. Our task is to educate ourselves and others and to push back. Some sort of a bill is going to be passed, but the strength of breadth of the reform is what is at stake here. If the changes make the tremendous differences that many of us believe it will, that will pretty could help sink the more regressive wing of the Republican Party. Click Here, and FAQ's.

Arthur

Weekend Update - Dumb Edition

• Did you know that Barak Obama and his evil group of health care reform Democrats want to KILL OLD PEOPLE!? Oh yeah Baby, and that's why we must not let them talk about health care and we must not listen to the facts because that would just confuse us. These people are just like the Nazis, and Pol Pot, all those other evil people who killed people. Death, Dishonesty, and the GOP.


• The idiotic shock jock and Fox host Glenn Beck, who has built a career out of stoking the paranoid delusions of the right-wing fringe, managed to outdo himself last week when he accused President Obama of hating white people.


• Well, I feel slightly better about ignoring my Facebook account, ever since Archbishop Vincent Nichols, leader of the Roman Catholic Church of England and Wales stepped out from behind the drab, heavy curtain of a massive, dying religious dogma haunted by millennia of abuse and homophobia and scandal and misogyny and generally Getting it All Wrong Nearly All the Time Forever, to let the world know he is deeply concerned about kids today and their newfangled gizmongery and how it all just might be destroying social life and inviting death. Mark Morford reports.


• Mr. Obvious has been saying this for years: Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food, according to a major study published Wednesday. It just costs more. Oh, and tanning beds cause cancer. Thank you, Mr. Obvious.


• President Obama's poll numbers are slipping. Not happy with the way he's handling the remnants of the Bushies mess? Here's an extraordinary Frank Rich column that brings it all home.


• Here's a quote directly from Sarah Palin: The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil. There are quite a few dumb people in America, and Sarah Palin is their queen.


• Here's an interesting yet scary story by Chris Rodda about the influence of "The Family." "C Street and the Military."