No One Is Listening

An excellent article by Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall Street Journal about exactly what is wrong with the health care "debate" currently underway in this country:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342653428074782.html

Overpopulation is a Myth. Check it Out.

Why Obama Health Care Is The Only News Item You Should Care About Right Now

Sonia Sotomayor is a smoke screen.

I'm not sure if it was by design or by lucky accident, but one thing is certain: Sotomayor is commanding conservative attention that she doesn't need, and certainly doesn't deserve.

She is a soft-serve candidate who cannot be pinned on any issue, although in their haste not to appear like buffoons (or, more accurately, like Rush Limbaugh, who is happy to "lead" the Republican party with unsophisticated malice), her Republican foes spent most of the hearing lobbing spitballs instead of hand grenades.

But in the broader scheme, it seems a fair question to ask: why is Sotomayor important? Her rulings have been relatively uncontroversial (certain firefighters aside), and, in fact, some have been in the favor of pro-life issues. Her "wise Latina" comment that has garnered so much media attention sounds to me more like liberal navel-gazing than some sinister activist agenda.

And, ultimately, she is replacing Souter. Souter is a liberal justice. The balance of the court remains unchanged. And who knows? She might be more moderate.

No one knows. They sure as hell didn't try very hard at the hearing.

In the big picture, though, Sotomayor seems like the right choice for Obama to have made. She is mysterious, seemingly moderate, Latina, and female--all traits that make conservatives very uncomfortable, but for no clear reason. Obama knew they would do precisely what they did: go straight for the jugular, only to get lost along the way.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Obama wants to pass health care reform before the August recess.

This bill, if passed, would represent the most sweeping changes to American health care ever enacted, including a complete removal of health care from the private sector and the eradication of all existing conscience clauses, on both the state and federal level. The House version of the bill, entitled "America's Affordable Health Choices Act," (H.R. 3200) is available here.

Even for the bill's most vocal supporters (who, ironically, seem to consist primarily of big drug corporations, who stand to benefit immensely from the bill), this should be a momentous and frightening event. These are the kinds of changes that liberals have talked about enacting for decades. Now they stand to really do it; and in the next few weeks, no less.

But no one seems to care. Or even notice.

Add to that the fact that the plan would cost $2 trillion over the next 15 years, does nothing to lower costs, has little impact on actual care, and strikes down even the most commonsense conscience clauses. It would mandate abortion coverage for nearly all insurance plans in America. And it would allegedly introduce a highly subjective and controversial "quality-of-care" calculus into medical treatment.

And Obama insisted, in a read-my-lips-style moment, that health care reform would pass without increasing the national deficit. The American people should have laughed uneasily. Instead, they watched Sotomayor.

Leading Democrats have taken great pains to frame the debate in terms of "for/against" language eerily reminiscent of George W. Bush's infamous 2001 statement, where he baldly stated that other nations were either "with us or against us." In similar fashion, congressional Democrats are simply ignoring the fact that the majority of Americans agree that some kind of health care reform is needed, and would be glad to work with them on something bi-partisan. The Dems are creating a false dichotomy between their reform, or no reform at all.

"Are you for or against health care reform?" they ask, instead of the real question: "are you for or against our health care reform?"

Unfortunately, an uncritical and lazy media has been only too happy to absorb that message and regurgitate it.

The truth of the matter is, not only is the nation divided on this issue, but so are the Dems, no matter how cozy the view might look from Nancy Pelosi's padded cell . Pro-life Democrats like Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) refused to support the plan unless it "explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan." Stupak insisted that "we are not going to roll over just because the title of the bill is 'health care.'"

Also opposed are Congress's "Blue Dogs:" fiscally and socially moderate Democrats, who oppose the bill because of its outrageous spending requirements. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) complained that the house bill "did not include blue dog thinking," and spoke on how he would oppose the bill in its current form, even if it involved staying in session rather than breaking for summer recess. "I'd rather be accused of ruining somebody's vacation," he said, "than passing a bad piece of health care legislation."

These Democrats, oddly enough, were not reassured by Nancy Pelosi's simple insistence that "it's a good bill. It's a good bill."

This serves to illustrate how opposition to Obama's plan cannot simply be attributed to conservative reaction against some socialist bogeyman. It is right to be nervous about a plan that possibly represents even more out-of-control, short-sighted and ideologically undisciplined spending. These dissident Democrats are especially worthy of admiration because of the punishment that is already being meted out to them for their failure to goose-step on this issue.

Ours is a bi-partisan nervousness. Basically, no matter how you feel about this plan, it's a really big deal.

Obama and Congress need to recognize that if they cannot be accountable to themselves, they can at least be accountable to the American people. The problem is, the American people need to care first. They need their leaders, both political and journalistic, to stop misleading them on what is actually important.

I would invite all politically-conscious Americans to read and understand this new health care legislation, and to become involved in a rigorous exchange. Congress has worked hard to throw up barriers to public discourse on this subject. Let's pull them back down.

Classic Lightsaber Duel

Just thought I'd post this.  An oldie but a goodie.  I'm also testing the Vimeo embed.  Enjoy.

A Vast, Worldwide Network of People With Too Much Time On Their Hands

As an ardent despiser of all things that reek of conspiracy-theories, I heartily and without reservation recommend the following article, gleaned from InsideCatholic.com.  This article, originally published in Crisis magazine, was the most "heavily debated" article in the magazine's history.

The following paragraph is just a preview.  Hold onto your hats.

Question: Who's afraid of Jews in the boardroom? Freemasons in the basement? Reds under the bed? Black helicopters in the sky? Answer: A surprising number of otherwise sensible people. Even under the new shadow of terrorism, old fears live on, breeding bogeys that knot together in a vipers' tangle of menace.

 

Regrettably, Catholics do their share of worrying about the Judeo-Masonic-Communist conspiracy and/or the imminent arrival of the Antichrist to rule over the New World Order. Their anxieties are often fueled by anti-Semitic screeds, polemical histories, eccentric economics, and even heavenly messages. Fear-mongering is standard fare in the pages of radical traditionalist publications such as The Remnant, Catholic Family News, and The Fatima Crusader. The principal Catholic publisher of such conspiracy theories is Omni/Christian Book Club of Palmdale, California. Books and tapes of this sort are routinely featured in the mail-order catalogs of Catholic Treasures of Monrovia, California, and Our Lady's Book Service of Constable, New York, but they may also find their way into local religious bookstores.

 

To be sure, conspiracy junkies are a tiny subculture in the midst of 63 million American Catholics. (The Remnant's circulation is about 7,000.) But the wily ones are learning to use the Internet, and what they lack in numbers, they more than make up for in fervor.

Read the rest of the article here.

Barney Frank Thinks "Labels Are Important"

Watch the video first here.

I think the real scary part of this encounter is not Barney Frank's abominable treatment of a student asking a reasonable question, but rather his straightforward approval of the use of unsophisticated labels in political discourse.

In his own words, it's ok to call someone names instead of addressing their points because "labels are important."

Definition of Infinity: Rush Limbaugh and Barney Frank trapped in the same room arguing politics.

Props to Richard M. for the lead.

Is This A Big Deal?

So Michelle Obama apparently broke protocol by touching the back of Queen Elizabeth II this week.  

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090402/wl_time/08599188896200

Is this a big deal?

The jury's still out for me.

Props to Jenne O. for the news tip.