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The Nation: Top Stories Progressives vs. the President 10 Jul 2009 at 8:40am Eyal Press Is Rachel Maddow right when she says that 'the left' has grown increasingly disappointed with Obama? John Nichols: Jobless Numbers Threaten Obama's Agenda
Real Health, Real Reform 8 Jul 2009 at 12:40pm Katrina vanden Heuvel Sen. Bernie Sanders continues the fight for progressive healthcare reform with new stories from across the nation.
Off Dead Center 2 Jul 2009 at 12:53pm Greg Grandin William Appleman Williams and the tragedy of American diplomacy. Barry Schwabsky: Hubbub and Stillness
CIA Must Come Clean 10 Jul 2009 at 8:40am
Altercation: Slacker Friday 10 Jul 2009 at 11:19am
Iran's Next Showdown 8 Jul 2009 at 3:51pm
Racism at the Pool 9 Jul 2009 at 3:53pm
McNamara's Evil Lives 9 Jul 2009 at 9:49am
them.ws The Nation: All Weblogs
Wrap-up: We have a new "Think Again" column called "Conflicts by the Rich, for the Rich," here . I also did a Daily Beast post on Palin's defenders on Sunday, which is here. And I do recommend that if you have a few minutes free, you give them over to the Samminator, here. Those were the days, huh? On to Mr. Pierce. I also recommend if you have a few minutes, try to pick up a copy of 'Rolling Stone' and read the wonderful account of the life of Mr. Gregory Allman, it is a wonderful piece of writing. It's not online and I never heard of the writer, but trust me... This Week on Moyers:
With almost twenty years inside the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter saw for-profit insurers hijack our healthcare system and put profits before patients. Now, he speaks with Bill Moyers about how those companies are standing in the way of healthcare reform. Potter spoke out against the industry for the first time last month, testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee he said, "Recently it became abundantly clear to me that the industry's charm offensive, which is the most visible part of a duplicitous and well-financed PR and lobbying campaign, may well shape reform in a way that benefits Wall Street far more than average Americans." Wendell Potter is a senior fellow on healthcare for the nonpartisan watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy, for which he writes a blog on healthcare reform.
Charles Pierce
Altercation: McNamara Memories by Eric Alterman 9 Jul 2009 at 2:12pm
Wrap-up:
We have a new "Think Again" column called "Conflicts by the Rich, for the Rich," here.
I also did a Daily Beast post on Palin's defenders on Sunday, which is here. (Otherwise, I've been at the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake which I'll write about a bit next week.) Meanwhile: Read More ...
The Notion: Racism at the Pool by The Nation 9 Jul 2009 at 12:34pm For my daughter the moment came in kindergarten. Even though she was the only African American girl in her classroom, she made friends easily, adored her teacher, and was growing in confidence as a student. Then in May, just a few weeks from the year's end it happened. She and a little white boy were playing together at recess as they had done all year when he looked at her and said, "You know, I would like you better if you would take off your brown skin and put on some white skin." It was 2008 and we live in a liberal enclave in the Northeast. She was confused, hurt, and surprised when she told the story. She wasn't completely sure what it meant, but I could hear in her voice the creeping, sticky shame of inferiority. I sat listening with my stomach in my feet and a voice in my head screaming, "Not yet. It's only kindergarten. Not yet. Not yet." Read More ...
The Notion: Obama & Progressives (II) by The Nation 9 Jul 2009 at 9:20am This comment appeared from a reader, responding to my post about how progressives view Obama and objecting to the notion that people who approve of his overall performance may not also harbor serious disappointment. As the reader put it: If asked, I'd say that, overall, I approve of Obama's performance. However, the president has disappointed me on more than one issue since he was elected… So because I've been disappointed in some of the Obama administration's actions, I'm not supportive? If I express that disappointment and disagreement, I'm not supportive? I'm really troubled by the trend of criticizing anyone who questions and disagrees with Obama. We are abdicating one of our fundamental rights as Americans if we offer unquestioning, blind allegiance to Obama or any other government leader. Read More ...
The Beat: CIA: We Lied to Congress by John Nichols 9 Jul 2009 at 6:59am In May, at a point when congressional Republicans and their amen corner in the media were attempting to defend the Bush-Cheney administration's torture regime, their primary defense was: Pelosi knew. The spin held that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, had in 2002 been secretly briefed about the use of harsh interrogation techniques on terror suspects. Pelosi said the Central Intelligence Agency had failed to inform her about the character and extent of the harsh interrogations. Read More ...
Editor's Cut: Real Health, Real Reform by Katrina vanden Heuvel 8 Jul 2009 at 3:33pm
With both the House and Senate looking to pass health care bills prior to the summer recess which begins August 8, now is the moment of truth for Democrats: will they offer a real public plan option to compete with private plans and drive down costs? Or will they cater to the healthcare industry which is now spending $1.4 million per day on lobbyists to protect their profits?
Throughout this debate, one Senator who has been willing to tell it like it is, with the people's interest at heart, is Bernie Sanders. This week he will publish 'The Health Care Crisis: Letters from Vermont and America'--a collection of healthcare stories sent to him from across the nation.
"In early June we sent out a letter to our email list--and we said two things," Sen. Sanders told me in an interview this week. "Number one, please sign a petition calling for a single-payer system; and two, give us some of your experiences with the private health insurance and your experience in terms of health care in general. Well, in a few weeks, we got 40,000 signatures on a single-payer petition. But, as important, we received well over 4,000 responses--from Vermont and all over the country--people telling us what's going on in their lives with regard to healthcare." Read More ...
The Notion: Does Rachel Maddow Speak for the Left? by The Nation 8 Jul 2009 at 2:43pm A few weeks ago, Rachel Maddow appeared on Charlie Rose and announced that conservatives weren't the only ones disenchanted with Barack Obama. "The President has disappointed the left," she said. Rose asked her to be more specific – on what exactly? "I would say on the war, on healthcare, on economic [policy]… on civil liberties and on civil rights," Maddow said. That's pretty deep disappointment. But if it's true, it begs the question of what, exactly, constitutes "the left." Certainly not most Democrats, 90 percent of whom approve of Obama's job performance (that's from the latest Quinnipiac survey; other polls have recorded even higher figures). Or most African-Americans, among whom Obama's approval rating is 94 percent. Or most Hispanics, 70 percent of whom think Obama is doing a fine job. Or most voters under thirty-five. Maddow, presumably, was referring to a much smaller cohort of self-identified (white) progressives: people who favor a single-payer universal health-care system, have attended antiwar demonstrations, believe catastrophic global warming is imminent, support shutting down Guantanamo immediately, champion full equality for gays and lesbians, and perhaps supported John Edwards or Dennis Kucinich in the Democratic primary before finally coming around to Obama. Read More ...
The Notion: The Black Funeral of Michael Jackson by The Nation 8 Jul 2009 at 11:16am Funerals tell us more about the living than the dead. It's why anthropologists often begin with rituals of death as an entry point for understanding societies and cultures. I remember watching the funeral of Princess Diana. It was a perfectly British event: the poignant, silent march of her children, the bells tolling at Westminster Abbey, the red coat pallbearers. But I remember being taken aback as the car carrying Diana's casket drove through the streets of London. I was surprised because at that moment the mourners began to applaud. They'd stood for hours lining the streets and as the casket passed they needed to grieve collectively and publicly. Stiff-upper lip British culture does not have a mechanism for such public grieving. There is no piercing death wail, no garment rending, no ceremonial dance, so instead the British applauded. Those applause revealed the missing place in English life for public mourning. Read More ...
AlterNet Blogs: PEEK Democracy Now! MoJo Articles Monday kicks off the confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor, and by all accounts, the event promises to be a snoozer. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will speechify about empathy and legislating from the bench. They'll demand to know what Sotomayor thinks about Roe v. Wade or probe her reasoning in the infamous Connecticut firefighters case. And like all prospective justices, her answers will be unsatisfactorily vague. Republicans are no doubt longing to take swipes at President Obama's first nominee, but they don't have the votes to block her appointment, so they'll probably pull their punches to avoid alienating Latino voters with gratuitous attacks. Sotomayor has also given them precious little material to work with. But there is one question to which Sotomayor might have to provide a straight answer—and that could trigger some drama. Her response could shed light on what kind of a justice she'll be and, at least in one respect, how she'll differ from the man she's replacing, Justice David Souter. Twenty-First-Century Colonialism in Iraq by By Michael Schwartz 9 Jul 2009 at 4:14pm Here's how reporters Steven Lee Myers and Marc Santora of the New York Times described the highly touted American withdrawal from Iraq's cities last week: "Much of the complicated work of dismantling and removing millions of dollars of equipment from the combat outposts in the city has been done during the dark of night. Gen. Ray Odierno, the overall American commander in Iraq, has ordered that an increasing number of basic operations—transport and re-supply convoys, for example—take place at night, when fewer Iraqis are likely to see that the American withdrawal is not total." Acting in the dark of night, in fact, seems to catch the nature of American plans for Iraq in a particularly striking way. Last week, despite the death of Michael Jackson, Iraq made it back into the TV news as Iraqis celebrated a highly publicized American military withdrawal from their cities. Fireworks went off; some Iraqis gathered to dance and cheer; the first military parade since Saddam Hussein's day took place (in the fortified Green Zone, the country's ordinary streets still being too dangerous for such things); the U.S. handed back many small bases and outposts; and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki proclaimed a national holiday—"sovereignty day," he called it. Brodner's Cartoon du Jour: Bob McNamara Passes Through Customs by By Steve Brodner 9 Jul 2009 at 2:59pm "Do you have anything to declare?" Here's The Fog of War, as recommended by Brian, and me: The Fog of War - Watch more Politics Videos at Vodpod .
BTW: Robert Scheer on Robert Strange McNamara +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ News Quiz Today in Pakistan, US drones killed: Greenpeace placed an Obama banner, with a plea for the G8 to act on global warming, over: A- Mount Rushmore B- Neverland Ranch C- The Society of Illustrators Later the G8: Public Option Enemy No. 1 by By Nick Baumann 9 Jul 2009 at 7:06am You've probably seen the ads. Ominous voice-overs warn you about how health care reform "could put a bureaucrat in charge of your medical decisions, not you." A massive bulldozer with "government-run insurance plan" written on the side crushes your health care "choices." Canadians and Britons relay horror stories of their experiences dealing with health care in those nightmarish socialist dystopias. The ads are the product of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign designed to derail health care reform—especially what's been dubbed the "public option," which would set up a government-run plan to compete with private insurers. The man behind this ad blitz is the person who might be Public Option Enemy No. 1: one-time hospital executive and longtime Republican donor Richard Scott. High Sierras by By Josh Harkinson 8 Jul 2009 at 9:44pm EARLY ONE MORNING in August 2005, a small team of game wardens and deputies climbed through coyote brush and manzanita in the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve outside San Jose, California, searching for an illegal pot farm. As they crested a ridge, they discovered densely planted rows of cannabis stalks. Suddenly, a high-powered rifle cracked and an officer fell to the ground, shot through both legs. Seconds later, another deputy shot and killed a man wielding a sawed-off shotgun. "It was literally like a jungle firefight," recalls warden John Nores, who fired at the other shooter before he escaped into the woods. Left behind in a meadow just minutes from the heart of Silicon Valley were 22,000 marijuana plants worth some $88 million. Over the past decade, marijuana patches known as "grows" or "gardens" have sprung up on public lands across the West, including a third of California's national parks and nearly 40 percent of all national forests. Where hippies once grew just enough weed to peace out, traffickers now cultivate more than 100,000 plants at a time on 30-acre terraces irrigated by plastic pipe, laced with illegal pesticides, and guarded by men with MAC-10s and Uzis. Grows have turned up everywhere from the deepest backcountry to the edges of suburban subdivisions. Farming pot on public land can be more profitable than smuggling it across the increasingly militarized border. The 3.1 million pot plants seized in national forests in the year prior to last September had an estimated street value of $12.4 billion. "We Bring Fear" by By Charles Bowden 8 Jul 2009 at 7:09pm THERE IS A MAN DRIVING FAST down a dirt road leading to the border. A rooster tail of dust marks his passage. He is very frightened and his 15-year-old son sits beside him in silence. The boy is that way—very bright, yet very quiet. They are unusually close. The father has raised him as a single parent since he was four. The father and son are fleeing to the United States. Back in their hometown of Ascensión, Chihuahua, men with assault rifles are searching for them. These men are soldiers in the Mexican Army and intend to kill the father, and perhaps the son, also. As the man drives toward the border crossing at Antelope Wells, New Mexico, he thinks the soldiers are ransacking his house. No one in the town will have the guts to speak up. The man knows this absolutely. Las Baladas Prohibidas by By William T. Vollmann 7 Jul 2009 at 8:36pm IT WAS THE GREAT LUPE VÁSQUEZ who first informed me of the existence of the baladas prohibidas. We were at the 13 Negro drinking early in the evening, which is to say that it was not yet midnight and Lupe had not yet blacked out. The jukebox exploded into another happy song, indistinguishable to my ignorance from the others, and the grim field workers at other tables nearly smiled, while the dancing couples on the metal floor grew livelier, and several men shouted along with the singer. Even Lupe, who trudged bitterly through life, cheered up when he heard this corrido, which was naturally so loud that he had to shout into my ear for me to apprehend that it dealt with the demure lady friend of a wanted drug lord who happened to be absent when two federales visited their residence, promising her that they wouldn't hurt him, so she told them to sit down and wait if so it pleased them; but while fixing refreshments she overheard their plan to liquidate her lover, so she sweetly invited them to rest just a moment longer, then strode out and blew them away! Lupe's hatred of authority exceeded even mine, and for good reason; most days he had to deal with the lordly ways of United States immigration inspectors, of foremen who might or might not offer him a job and who if they did cared about their production quotas, not about his back; of companies who didn't pay him for the hours he had to sit in buses waiting for the frost to melt off the broccoli; and whenever he got a vacation from these entities, he got to visit the know-it-alls at the employment office in Calexico. Now and then he had also enjoyed the hospitality of Northside's police and judges. That was why a few beers at the 13 Negro soothed the pain of the 13 Negro's prices, and when a certain sort of corrido came on the jukebox, Lupe even smiled. Brodner's Cartoon du Jour: Swine Flu Totem by By Steve Brodner 7 Jul 2009 at 2:18pm Apparently the swine flu is all the rage in London. This from Harper's Weekly: Officials in Britain said that the number of new cases of swine flu in that country was doubling weekly and could reach 100,000 new cases per day by the end of August; Dr. Richard Jarvis, chairman of the British Medical Association's public-health committee, cited reports of people throwing "swine flu parties" to expose themselves to the virus and build their immunity. "I don't think it is a good idea," he said. Here's my take (from The American Prospect): them.ws
them.ws WorkingForChange In These Times Daily Kos Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 7/06-7/09/2009. All adults. MoE 2% (6/29-7/02/2009 results in parentheses): FAVORABLEUNFAVORABLENET CHANGEPRESIDENT OBAMA61 (63)34 (32)-4PELOSI:33 (34)57 (56)-2REID:31 (32)55 (54)-2McCONNELL:22 (23)61 (60)-2BOEHNER:16 (16)62 (61)-1CONGRESSIONAL DEMS:43 (44)50 (49)-2CONGRESSIONAL GOPS:12 (13)71 (71)-1 DEMOCRATIC PARTY:49 (50)45 (43)-3REPUBLICAN PARTY:22 (23)72 (71)-2Full crosstabs here. This poll is updated every Friday morning, and you can see trendline graphs here. The slight dip in numbers across the board suggests there is some growing concern across the board directed at lawmakers, as voters start to feel a deeper sense of pessimism about the state of the nation. Aside from the marginal drops in favorability for...well...everyone this week, this is also borne out by the right track/wrong track statistics. As you can see below, the percentage of Americans thinking the country is on the right track has receded noticeably over the last couple of weeks: Republicans are not spared either in this week's poll, which is particularly remarkable, given the fact that the GOP's margin for further disdain is pretty thin. When Congressional Republicans are already sitting at 12% approval, how much lower can they truly go? The Democrats, with numbers that are a bit more lofty, have some soft support that can be easily swayed by a lousy jobs report or a spate of bad political news. But the GOP's soft support abandoned ship a couple of election cycles ago. If they are now shedding massive amounts of their base, that is perilous news for the minority party. For several weeks in a row, the various ebbs and flows of public opinion has done little to change the 2010 generic Congressional ballot. Since its inception here several weeks ago, the tracking poll has seen a double-digit Democratic lead, with plenty of undecideds. As voters grew a tad more grumpy this week, that basic theme remained unchanged: Would you like to see more Republicans or Democrats elected to Congress in 2010? (last week in parentheses) Democrats 41 (42) The "takeaway" from this week's edition of the Daily Kos/Research 2000 tracking poll is twofold. First, the basic dynamics in place since Obama took the oath of office have changed only marginally. Democrats remain considerably more esteemed in the eyes of the voters than Republicans, and Barack Obama remains a fairly popular political figure. Much of his erosion of support can be owed to the simple fact that with every day he is in office, the country's difficulties become HIS problem, and not the problem of his predecessor. And therein lies the second takeaway from this week's poll, and with it, a note of caution for the Democrats: voter patience is not in infinite supply. For Democrats to remain in an enviable political position, one of two things needs to be happening: there either needs to be demonstrable improvement in the state of the nation, or there needs to be a sense that the Congress and the President are successfully acting to bring about said demonstrable improvement. Absent those two things, one would expect to see a marked erosion in the considerable differences in popularity between the two parties.
OH-Gov and OH-Sen: Dems Have Narrow Leads In the Buckeye State by Steve Singiser 10 Jul 2009 at 1:30pm Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 7/6-7/8. Likely voters. MoE 4%. General Election Trial Heat: Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D) 44 Our new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll out of the Buckeye State shows what other polls (such as this week's Quinnipiac poll) have also shown: Ted Strickland is going to have to expend a lot of energy to earn a second term as Ohio's governor. Strickland still manages a modest lead over former GOP Congressman John Kasich, but he is quite far under the 50% threshold of comfort for an incumbent. Furthermore, Strickland's favorabilities are cause for concern: 44% favorable, 40% unfavorable. Kasich can also claim that Strickland's narrow edge is owed to Kasich's own lack of name recognition: just 43% of Ohio voters had an opinion on Kasich (31% favorable, 12% unfavorable). Of course, Strickland can also claim that Kasich's numbers are artificially high, as he is undefined as a political entity. To be sure, Kasich might have trouble gaining votes as the Strickland campaign works to offer its own definition of what a potential Kasich administration might look like. On the Senate side, the Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll mirrors Quinnipiac's closely, as we see narrow advantages for both Democratic candidates over leading GOP candidate Rob Portman. The former GOP congressman and Bush administration appointee trails both Democratic Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. General Election Trial Heat: Ohio Senate Lee Fisher (D) 42 Jennifer Brunner (D) 40 None of the candidates has anything close to universal name recognition. Fisher's favorability spread is 36% favorable, 16% unfavorable. He is the only one of the three candidates that a majority of the electorate recognizes. Brunner's favorabilities are similar to Fisher's at 33% favorable, 17% unfavorable. Portman is an unknown quantity, but beloved by Republicans (46/5). Overall, Portman stands at 29% of voters with a favorable impression, with just 9% of voters having an unfavorable opinion of him. Worth noting: almost no Democrats have heard of him. In the Democratic primary, undecided is the BIG winner here. Fisher has a nominal lead over Brunner, but nearly two-thirds of the electorate remains undecided (Fisher leads 22-17). Barack Obama remains fairly popular in Ohio: 59% of voters hold a favorable opinion of Obama in the state, while just 35% of voters hold an unfavorable opinion. In a state with a flagging economy, these numbers could well be a sign that the emerging media meme that Obama is in the beginning stages of a tailspin might be a tad overblown.
PA-Sen: The Senate's biggest hypocrite calls someone else a hypocrite by kos 10 Jul 2009 at 12:50pm It boggles the mind. "Congressman Sestak is a flagrant hypocrite in challenging my being a real Democrat when he did not register as a Democrat until 2006 just in time to run for Congress," Specter said in the statement. "His lame excuse for avoiding party affiliation, because he was in the [military] service, is undercut by his documented disinterest in the political process." His "lame excuse"? Sestak was an admiral, and the military should be an apolitical organization, at least in functioning democracies. That Specter -- the sleaziest political opportunist in the entire US Senate (a mighty accomplishment, given the bunch that inhabit that place) -- would deign insult a real Democrat for not politicizing his military service is beyond the pale. Given the nature of this attack, it's as if Specter has forgotten he switched parties, continuing to operate out of the Karl Rove playbook. Sestak responded: "Like Colin Powell (who was also registered as an Independent while he served), I believe that military officers should be nonpartisan," Sestak said. "The military depends on cohesion and unity, and the defense of this nation must never be political. I’m proud that I was an Independent during my 35 years in the Navy, and I was proud to register as a Democrat as soon as I retired from active duty." No fucking shit.
The NIMBY candidate by Jed Lewison 10 Jul 2009 at 12:06pm Despite her offer to campaign for fellow Republicans, it appears the newly-retired Sarah Palin may have some more time on her hands than she bargained for. The GOP's top two candidates in 2009, New Jersey gubernatorial hopeful Chris Christie and Virginia gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell, say they have no plans to campaign with Palin. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley also said that while he'd love her to hold a fundraiser for him, he didn't need her on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, Palin has managed to get at least one Republican willing to pal around with a quitter: the pro-secession governor of Texas, Rick Perry. Update (8:13AM) -- The Hill reports even more Republicans want Sarah to stay home.
Health Care Friday by DemFromCT 10 Jul 2009 at 11:18am Yesterday, Daily Kos featured two live blogs of interest: Federal Pandemic H1N1 Influenza Summit Today covered the all day summit that reviewed possible H1N1 vaccine recommendations and possible school closures coming down the pike from the Feds. School-age children will be among the population groups likely to get pandemic H1N1 flu vaccine in the fall, and they may get their shots at schools. Howard Dean Liveblog: His Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform featured Dr. Dean commenting on his ideas about moving the health reform ball forward. The bottom line on healthcare reform is that it is not worth doing if it is not done right.... Subsidizing Americans to buy private health insurance without giving them the choice of a more rational and less expensive system is simply pouring money into a system that increases costs at twice the rate of inflation, serves preferentially those who don't need help, and offers not peace of mind to those at risk in difficult economic times. In short, the healthcare reform bill is not worth passing unless the American people have the choice of signing up for a public option--a real public option.... If healthcare reform is not the desired outcome, this administration or the Democratic Party or the Congress as a whole should pass guaranteed issue and community rating and be done with it. NY Times: The Obama administration warned Americans on Thursday to be ready for an aggressive return of the swine flu virus in the fall, announcing plans to begin vaccinations in October and offering states and hospitals money to help them prepare. and Vaccinations will begin in October only if tests scheduled to begin in August prove that it is safe and effective. Even then, officials expect only tens of millions of doses to be ready, so they will have to decide who gets vaccinated first. The most likely candidates, Ms. Sebelius said, are school children, health care workers, pregnant women and people with asthma or other conditions that make the flu more risky. DSCC press release: Today, as the Obama Administration holds an important summit on flu preparedness at the National Institutes of Health, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is spotlighting Congressman Roy Blunt’s vote against crucial flu pandemic funding. Blunt voted against the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009, which appropriated $7.65 billion for flu pandemic funding. "When it comes to public health, politics should take a back seat," said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Communications Director Eric Schultz. "But as a Washington insider, Congressman Roy Blunt cannot help himself. While Congressman Blunt's busy protecting wasteful pork projects, he's turning his back on the people who will suffer from H1N1 flu. The people of Missouri deserve better." Those funds are badly needed at state level for vaccination programs. It is unfortunate that "just say no" extends to public health. But the larger picture is that public health infrastructure deserves congressional support. There's nothing wasteful about saving lives, and influenza doesn't care what party you belong to. From the Gates Foundation, a reminder that there are other diseases that matter: An international network of malaria scientists is to be established to map the emergence of resistance to antimalarial drugs and guide global efforts to control and eradicate the disease, thanks to a $20m (£12.5m) grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN), which will be administered and supported from Oxford University, will provide the comprehensive and rigorous evidence base needed for policy makers to select the best antimalarial treatments and to formulate strategies to control the critical problem of resistance wherever it arises. Shocking news: brilliant scientist appointed to important science post. It's official: The White House intends to tap geneticist Francis Collins to lead the National Institutes of Health. President Barack Obama's announcement today ends months of speculation that Collins, leader of the international Human Genome Project, was about to be named to head the "0.6 billion agency. Collins has been rumored to be interested in the job since he stepped down as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) last summer. Kaiser reports on stalling momentum for a health reform bill, at least in terms of meeting deadlines. Drew Westen: Economists may define "middle class" as the group whose income lies some distance from the mean family income (the average of all households) or the median income (the income level above which half of American families fall below and half above). But in the United States, as surveys over many years have shown, middle class is as much a state of mind as a state of wealth... As the administration and Congress figure out how to pay for health care reform, they need to bear in mind the meaning of middle class in America, because understanding or failing to do so could make the difference between strong or weak popular support. Want to get in the weeds of making health care cheaper and/or figuring out how to pay for it? Here's a trio of articles from the simple to the interesting to the complex. But any way you look at it, a health system overhaul has to be paid for. House and Senate Democrats appeared on Thursday to be on a collision course over how to pay for a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system, with the House planning to propose an income tax increase on the wealthiest Americans, an idea that Senate negotiators have all but dismissed as unworkable. If it were easy, it'd have been done already.
Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up by DemFromCT 10 Jul 2009 at 7:51am Friday punditry! Adam Ross: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that the United States will set aside billions of dollars to pursue a vaccine for H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu. The Obama administration has officially overreacted. First comment on WaPo site: Let me guess. The WaPo editorial writers would rather US tax dollars be spent bombing Iran than defending America, right? Seriously, are you all brain dead - or were you just dropped on your head as children? Paul Krugman: Ok, I was right about the size of the stimulus. And don't pester me with comments about what could and could not pass the Senate after 30 years of 'govt spending is bad.' What he needs, in short, is to do for economic policy what he’s already done for race relations and foreign policy — talk to Americans like adults. William Schneider: Right now, the economy is a good news/bad news story. On the one hand, during the second quarter, stocks turned in one of their best performances in years. On the other hand, it would take several more such quarters to bring the market back to where it was before last fall's crash. And consumer confidence went down last month as job losses climbed sharply. The economy has shed nearly 3 million more jobs than the Obama administration originally forecast. What to make of it all? Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said last month, "These early signs of improvement are encouraging, but the global economy is still operating well below potential and we still face very acute challenges." Challenge #1: jobs Charlie Cook: Like the health care and the cap-and-trade proposals that have dominated center stage for months, another stimulus package would not be easy to move through Congress. In the June 12-15 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Americans said, by 58 percent to 35 percent, that keeping the federal budget deficit down was more important than "boosting the economy even though it may mean larger budget deficits now and in the future." Michael Kinsley: Why doesn't the president give himself a well-deserved treat and slow down a bit on health-care reform? Instead of going for a total overhaul, go for some smaller successes, or what business executives and gorillas call the "low-hanging fruit"? Pick half a dozen, get Congress to swallow them and see where we stand? More on Sarah Palin's Republican problem from the likes of Peter Wehner, Dan Schnur, and my favorite, Vin Weber: ...she has a core of supporters that will never desert her but can never elect her. This is all, of course, good news for John McCain. Except that it reflects on his poor judgment to choose her. Joe Conason: Franken's party up, Palin's party down. Matthew Continetti: Something about Sarah Palin riles people up. Hint: it's that she was not remotely qualified for the job she auditioned for. Her charisma is such that she does not need to hold an office to command attention or wield influence. See Vin Weber.
Green Diary Rescue & Open Thread: Driving Less by Meteor Blades 10 Jul 2009 at 1:31am John Petro of the Drum Major Institute writes: Last month, Senators John D. Rockefeller and Frank Lautenberg introduced a bill that would establish performance-based goals for our surface transportation system. The bill would, according to Senator Lautenberg, "establish a national policy that improves safety, reduces congestion, creates jobs, and protects our environment." Among these goals is to reduce the amount Americans drive, or more specifically, to "reduce national per capita motor vehicle miles traveled on an annual basis." Basically, Americans should be driving less—fewer trips over shorter distances. This has as much to do with the way we use our land as it does with transportation policy. Where we choose to live and work and get the groceries largely determines how much we drive. We are driving longer distances to work and to complete all the other little errands that populate our days. However, Gabriel Roth argues in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that reducing the amount we drive should not be a policy goal of the federal government. Roth’s claim of coercion is absurd. = = = The rescue begins below and continues in the jump. With this edition, the Green Diary Rescue departs for a two-week vacation. The next GDR will appear on July 26. If you haven’t yet joined DK GreenRoots, you’re missing out on a dynamic group of eco-blogger advocates. = = = Haole in Hawaii posted Another Random Photo Diary from his island retreat. This is a shot from last winter off Laie Point. Bruce Nilles announced a Milestone: 100th Coal Plant Stopped: "As of today, 100 coal plants have been defeated or abandoned since the beginning of the coal rush. Late yesterday, news came down that Utah-based Intermountain Power Agency is abandoning plans for a third coal-fired generator in the state. This news comes as President Obama is at the G8 summit in Italy discussing action on global warming. As other countries like China say they will not act until the U.S. does, these 100 stopped plants are a sign from Americans. We are taking action against global warming, and it's time to join us." = = = The Overnight News Digest is posted. Included is the story Panetta orders internal probe of secret spy program after some members of Congress say CIA misled them.
Open Thread and Diary Rescue by Diary Rescue 10 Jul 2009 at 12:18am Please enjoy reading these outstanding, ranger-selected diaries: Gabacha reports on the latest unpleasant surprise from Congress: Senate Requires Mexico Border Wall Be Completed By 2010. (taylormattd)arodb claims he's too old to be an activist, but he sure seems like one as he becomes enmeshed in challenging the recent police overreaction at a Francine Busby fundraiser: Just back from speaking at City Council. (ItsJessMe) ShadowSD analyzes Progressive vs. Moderate Voters: The Conservadem and GOP Myth. (ybruti) First-time diarist snaxattack explains the importance of the insurance exchange model in The future of health insurance portability? (dadanation) jimluce discusses one way to obtain an affordable, high-quality college education in Fall Pick: American University of Nigeria. (taylormattd) BenGoshi reports that India Hikes Science Budget, Hard Times Notwithstanding. (ybruti) greendem highlights how, in retaliation for losing a lawsuit to the residents of Richmond, California, Chevron gets busted, fires workers, attacks local tax laws. (dadanation) Nulwee discusses an innovative scientist who radicalized conservation and re-branded it as a potent force for change: Richard Jenkins and Thinking Through Your Environmentalism! (taylormattd) jotter has High Impact Diaries: July 8, 2009. va dare has Top Comments 7.9.09 - Coal Country Film finds new WV venue. Please feel free to promote your favorite diaries in this open thread.
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