Senator Carper is apparently holding a telephone Town Hall tonite — there was a message waiting for me on my phone last night providing a heads up that they would call. And we had a tip from one of our contributors that he had gotten the same call.
I’m going to try to be on this call tonite and try to ask a question. So I ask you — what would you ask Tom Carper about the health insurance reform effort if you could? Post your ideas in the comments and I’ll try to ask one.
Senator Kaufman will be taking questions via live chat at the NJ at 3:30 TODAY.
If this works like the one they did with Senator Carper, you can type in your questions as the interview is in progress, and the NJ editor will pick and choose the questions. The Carper one worked better than I thought it did, but it was awfully short — just a half hour. And I thought some of the answers could have used stronger followup to focus Carper’s answers.
But check in if you can.
Weird, but you can’t look away:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wRkzCW5qI[/youtube]
The NJ reports:
announced that not only did they think there was a “likelihood” the leagues would prevail at trial, but had decided the state’s plan violated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992.
Likelihood that the leagues would prevail — that sounds dire.
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Reuters updated their article with some detail on the ruling. Apparently they really don’t like the single bet scheme:
Judge McKee ruled Delaware’s plan does not qualify for an exception and said there may be a risk that if a player suddenly and unexpectedly makes a move that turns the outcome of a game on which betting is allowed, the integrity of that game may be called into question.
“People are going to begin to wonder, did he throw that game?” the judge said.
Andy Bouchard, an attorney for Delaware, argued that the state’s proposal meets the definition of a lottery, as allowed by the 1992 law, and so does not violate the its intent of preventing the spread of gambling.
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UPDATE: Reports from all over note that the panel came back and ruled against Delaware:
A U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday that a plan by Delaware to allow sports betting violates federal law, siding with major sports leagues who had argued it would promote game fixing.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled against the state which wanted to allow betting on single games in all the major sports from Sept. 1 at three of its racetrack betting locations.
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Most of you know that today is the day that the State of Delaware and the NFL, et al show up in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals to try again to roll back the State’s plan to parley bets only until the court case is settled in December or so.
USA Today provides some reporting on the hearing this AM:
Judge Theodore McKee questioned how Delaware’s proposed sports lottery would diminish the integrity of sports as an attorney for the four major sports leagues and the NCAA presented his case in front of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday.
McKee recalled listening to the NFL Network on Sirius/XM Radio and hearing the hosts freely discuss betting on football
“There’s constant chatter and betting advice given by people — since the league owns the network — paid by the league,” McKee said. “Isn’t this like chicken little yelling the sky is falling at the same time selling tickets to watch meteor showers?”
I wish that this article talked about what the response from the NFL lawyer was. I also hope he asked what the difference was on sports betting and the branded lotto games they support through states. There is a decision expected by the end of the week.
Have you heard about this one? An ex-Bush appointee, Jim Towey — one in charge of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives under BushCo (!) — writes an op-ed in the WSJ painting a booklet that provides some guidance on end-of-life planning and claims that it deliberately steers vets towards death.
This would be, of course, wrong. The HuffPo has some great info on this, but the first thing you should know about Mr.Jim Towey and this current jihad of lies is this:
In addition, Towey seems to have his own axe to grind. He has repeatedly tried to get the government to spend millions to purchase his “Five Wishes” book, which is published by Aging With Dignity, a non-profit group he founded, to distribute to veterans across the country, according to sources within the VA. Towey used his influence with the White House to get a meeting with VA officials, including then-Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. At one meeting, Towey was informed that the VA could not act on such an unsolicited proposal without violating federal procurement regulations, according to VA sources.
Got that? Towey has his own book to peddle and is likely not real happy to not have a steady buyer of his product. On top of that, he’s working the refs:
In his op-ed, Towey stated that this panel did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. In fact, according to the VA, the panel included a priest, a rabbi, a renowned disability rights advocate, and the president of the organization that produces “Five Wishes,” the alternative advance care planning document that Towey is promoting and selling.
The panel supported the use of the “Your Life, Your Choices” booklet but included some suggestions for revising its content. The plans to update and release the booklet were developed under the Bush administration and it is due for release in 2010.
And the last nail in the coffin is that this lie was picked up by the Quitta from Wasilla — which means that every wingnut on the planet is peddling this BS by now. Even though the only thing that they are working towards is to have the government buy Towey’s book.
Adding — Kevin Drum took a look at this today, and he did a Nexis search to find any mention of this pamphlet developed by the VA from 2006 through last month. He can’t find any. Why is that, you ask? Because there was no controversy over this until the wingnuts decided that they needed another fearmongering arrow in their already overflowing quiver.
Bonus Question — how is it that these people with all of this showy faith business can be such liars? I thought that was one of the 10 Commandments that they so badly want to hang in courthouses. Seems that the more useful place for the 10 Commandments is right by their keyboards.
One of our frequent targets of derision is The News Journal — from their inexplicable and often wrong keeper of the Delaware Way, Mr. Ron Williams, to some of their very shallow reporting of local politics — this is a paper that doesn’t seem to know how to be the “paper of record”.
Delaware’s paper of record can frequently do very nice work –Sunday’s piece on the Mountain of Garbage was quite good (and we’d recommend taking a look at some of the players behind the cheerleading for incinerators and WTE plants). They just as frequently succumb to the gossip, innuendo and general high school tittering that was their piece last week on the Potter/Pastor D blowup.
Sunday they succumbed to more of the high school gossipy in their writing (that sure wasn’t reporting) about recent tensions and changes around the Delaware blogosphere. What we start with is their cluelessness about blogs — and why people would choose to be basically anonymous in a world where Google looks hard for you. We’ll continue by noting that Delaware’s “paper of record” didn’t contact any of us to make sure their narrative was adequately sourced (and I assume they didn’t contact any other blogs, either). We’ll also note that while they were tittering over the food fights, they missed the creation of at least one new, really fine blog, The Palmer Lyceum.
While the NJ staff are glued to us looking for more of the Secret Lives of Bloggers, they are avoiding stories that matter to people who live and pay taxes in this state. Like the fact that the Insurance Commissioner’s office has hired an industry lobbyist to do business development for Captive Insurance — and has hugely grown the staff to do that. All while the state is not supposed to be expanding programs and spending money. Like the fact that the state has a spanking new “think tank” that is not what it advertises itself to be — but is probably on all of their rolodexes for for future quoting purposes. And that work is not just here — Steve Newton at Delaware Libertarian has done detailed work debunking the conservative movement talking points in creation ( see here and here) that are the CRI’s work product. DelawarePolitics had info on the town hall that Governor Markell conducted in Dover last week, that wasn’t covered in the NJ. And let’s add in the live-blogging work that Mike Matthews has done — bringing us info about our school board, county council and other meetings that we’d never get as much detail from the NJ on.
But with all of the real news happening all over Delaware, apparently the Secret Lives of Bloggers is the topic that the NJ thinks will deliver value to their shareholders. Hope this helps you guys when the Gannett bean counters come looking for the next quarter’s pound of flesh.
Smart, funny and some of the language is NSFW. Dana Gould really hits the heart of what passes for the debate on this right now — lots of yelling a spittle on whatever the wingnut fear and resentments are and then there are the people just trying to take care of themselves.
From Crooks and Liars.
At his Town Hall at the DNC the other day, President Obama took notice of how dysfunctional the media’s role has become:
“…I have to say, part of the reason it spreads is the way reporting is done today. If somebody puts out misinformation, ‘Obama’s Creating Death Panels,’ then the way the news report comes across is: ‘Today such-and-such accused President Obama of putting forward death panels. The White House responded that that wasn’t true.’ And then they go on to the next story. And what they don’t say is, ‘In fact, it isn’t true.’
“You know, it’s fine to have a debate back and forth — he said, she said — except when somebody else is just not even telling remotely the truth. Then you should say in your reports, ‘Oh, and by the way, that’s just not true.’
“But that doesn’t happen often enough.”
You got that right. He made this observation after being asked a question via Twitter wanting to know where all of the lies about the reform effort come from. Not only did he point the finger at certain cable channels, but reminded folks that they are not being informed by a media who thinks that objectivity is just reporting the he say/she say.
More like this please!
And if you are interested in the entire video:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdrXh7wunMM[/youtube]
The thing to know about QT movies is that the language is brutal and definitely in the NSFW or probably little kids category. That said, this is a video essay from Matt Zoller Seitz that is quite good — showing how his characters use language to best and dominate each other:
From L Magazine
Anyone seen Inglourious Basterds yet?
Make sure you watch this all the way through the credits — nicely done!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHVwrCzRUX0[/youtube]
h/t Bob Cesca, who also notes that one of the organizing tenets of the C Street “Family” is:
about a Calvinist interpretation of the New Testament as a divine mandate for the acquisition of wealth, and government ought to be shaped around supporting this, they say.
Not exactly WWJD, you know?
I had no idea this was going on!
STAR TREK: THE EXHIBITION features the world’s most comprehensive collection of authentic Star Trek objects and transports visitors into parallel universes of the future and past. This 12,500 foot exhibition, an amalgamation of all five television and ten film series spanning over 40 years, is the ultimate opportunity to connect with iconic Star Trek moments and characters, while celebrating the creative spirit of science fiction and science that gave rise to many of today’s modern marvels. From the Next Generation Bridge, to the Engine Room, to sitting in Kirk’s original captain’s chair, STAR TREK: THE EXHIBITION not only relives the legacy but invites you to be a part of the Enterprise!
Apparently this has been at The Franklin Institute since May and will be here until September 20. If you’ve been to this, let us know what you thought!
obVideo:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNl7vCfaeOk[/youtube]
Baseball Superstar Accused of Performance-Enhancing Genie Use:
Baseball Superstar Accused of Performance-Enhancing Genie Use
from The Onion!
A bacon-themed road trip? Surely you jest!
And since we are approaching the end of summer, how about the biggest BLT I’ve ever seen (1 pound):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u6zw6RyzjQ[/youtube]
Last — the Top 10 Things That Not Even Bacon Can Make Better. Ick. I agree with every damn one.
Feel free to form up your carpools for the bacon festivals in the comments; and add to the Top 10 List of Things Even Bacon Cannot Make Better.