Daily Archives: February 20, 2009

Around the Horn Friday

Another week, another Delaware Blogosphere “crisis.” This time, Mike Matthews proclaims boldly that he is done with Delaware Liberal because I guess we were too critical of him, or mean. Oh the irony. He’ll be back. We are like the mob. Just when you thought you were out, we will pull you back in. Meanwhile, in an interesting turnaround from the events of last week, “John Feroce” and “FSP” are back commenting here… alot. See Matthews, it is impossible to resist us.

Now onto serious, or at least, non-meta posts from around the Delaware Blogosphere:

• Dana Garrett reports that states may stop executions to cut costs. That is an interesting side affect of the Great Depression II. Who knew that killing people cost more money than jailing them?

• Dana also discusses Governor Markell’s “Green is Gold” plan, and is somewhat critical:

But I am not sure I want a visionary heading up DNREC as much as I want a watchdog, a particularly tenacious and vigilant one. I want someone who focuses on cleaning up Delaware and keeping it safe, not someone also focused on growing its economy. I worry that a “green is gold” Secretary could find a conflict of roles between regulating polluters and looking out for Delaware’s bottom line.

I want both a watchdog on the old industries and a visionary for the new industries. I guess I am trusting that we can walk and chew gum at the same time.

• Redwater Lily gives us a recipe for homemade Artisan bread.

• Nancy Willing reports on DLC Tom Carper just missing being listed as one of the Senate’s Top 10 recipients of lobbyist and PAC money in 2006. He finished 11th. Darn. Better luck in 2012.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) $164,490 Individuals, $48,193 Lobbyists, $212,683 PACs

Continue reading →

APRI Legislative Conference Update

APRI writes to let us know that the lunch speaker for this event is now scheduled to be John Carney.

We gave you the details about this conference here, and definitely hope that some of you can go. It is this Saturday, 21 February 2008, starting at 8AM at Ezion-Mt. Carmel Church, 800 N. Walnut St in Wilmington. See if you can get Carney to tell you which Federal office he is running for….

QOD

What news do you not see here at the number one website for Delaware news and liberal opinion that you would like to?

A Wingnut Smack Down Sans Profanity

When you get smacked down by tommywonk you remain smacked down.

Of course, being stridently wrong about thing’s is Dave’s strong suit, so I am sure he will be unfazed by the fact that tom makes minced meat out of his GOP economic theory.

Here is a taste:

Am I missing something? Have the laws of economics (or physics for that matter) been altered to allow for later events to affect prior measurements? Are we stuck in some weird time/space vortex?

Read the whole thing.

Will Healthcare Take Center Stage In Obama’s Big Prime Time Speech?

I sincerely hope so.

According to The Plum Line.

President Obama may make health care a theme of the big prime-time speech he’s making next Tuesday about the major challenges facing this country, Obama aides confirm to me.

This could be a big deal, particularly if Obama uses the high-visibility speech (which will be made before Congress) to press the case that health care reform is essential to righting our economy.

The news comes amid other signs that Obama is moving on health care. Today’s New York Timesreports that Kathleen Sebelius has emerged as the front-runner for the post of Health and Human Services secretary, a choice that would cheer reform advocates.

It’s not yet clear how central health care would be to Obama’s speech, but if it’s a major component of Obama’s message, it could signal a renewed determination to prioritize reform.

I have always thought that fixing healthcare is one of the major keys to fixing our economy.  And, let’s face it, healthcare/insurance in this country is definitely broken.  It’s expensive, unresponsive, and more focused on denying claims than providing good-faith service.

How many of us have struggled to have a claim paid?  How many of us have submitted a claim only to be told that it’s not, or it’s no longer, covered – and I’m not talking about some over the top procedure, unless you consider a child’s yearly check-up excessive.  

It seems to me that the first course of action for Health Insurance companies is to deny.  That also appears to be their second and third choice as well.  And when they do pay there’s nothing to stop them from changing their mind.  RSmitty, from Delaware Politics, is living this nightmare. 

From the “When it rains…” file.  Today, just a smidgen under six-months-to-the-day of receiving settlement, we received a subrogation request from my wife’s old health insurance to recover over $1200 worth of claims from the accident they paid for the first handful of hours…due to the settlement we received…you know, the one that didn’t cover total costs, after the fees, etc were worked in.  Oh yeah, this is good times here

Read the entire post.  One accident changed Smitty’s life.  And it can happen to all of us, because the truth is… no one knows how good or bad their Health Insurance is until they need to use it.

So I hope Obama does put Healthcare front and center in his speech next week.  The country is more than receptive.

Oh, and those of you tempted to regale us with horror stories from France and Canada.  Save your breath, because for every one of your Nationalized Healthcare horror stories I’ll raise you two American privatized health insurance nightmares. I’ll start the ball rolling here, here and here.

Credit Where Credit is Due

Castle Introduces Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Enhancement Act of 2009

Landmark Bill Would Create National Patient Registry, Increase Public Awareness of Deadly Lung Disease

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis (CPF) is excited to announce a pivotal time in our national pulmonary fibrosis (PF) advocacy program — the introduction of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Enhancement Act of 2009 (PFREA) in the 111th Congress. The PFREA, H.R. 1079, represents the first Congressional legislation to increase federal funding of PF — a progressive and ultimately fatal disease affecting more than 128,000 Americans. The PFREA was introduced by two members of the House of Representatives who know personally the impact of PF. Congressmen Brian Baird (D-WA) and Mike Castle (R-DE), have both lost family members to the disease. The bill will fund the creation of a national PF patient registry, and call on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand and intensify PF research efforts.

These kinds of things are nice – but we all know that when the chips are down, Castle is a Republican first and a Delawarean second.

There should be no more doubt in anyone’s mind that Mike Castle is wholly owned by John Boehner.

Proof Elections Matter: Obama Dumps Bush LGBT Policy

Under Dubya, the US proudly joined the Vatican, aka the Holy See (…No Evil from Holocaust Deniers & Pedophile Priests), and the Islamic world in opposing the universal decriminalization of homosexuality.

Cowards that they are, Bush’s henchpersons cited ‘technical issues’ in voting against a non-binding UN Resolution.

Thanks to Obama, that opposition is no longer operative.

In a perfect world, this would not even be an issue. In Bushworld and the Christian Brotherhood of the American Taliban, it was public policy.

Not any more.

Fashizzle My GOPnizzles

Oh man, grab the popcorn, sit back and enjoy the train wreck that is Michael Steele:

“We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles,” Steele told the Washington Times. “But we want to apply them to urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”

“It will be avant garde, technically,” he said of the new public relations team he’s signing on. “It will come to the table with things that will surprise everyone – off the hook.” He also added: “I don’t do ‘cutting-edge.’ That’s what Democrats are doing. We’re going beyond cutting-edge.”