Author Archives: xstryker

About xstryker

X Stryker is also the proprietor of the currently-dormant poll analysis blog Election Inspection.

Tell Tom Carper to Support the Public Option

We all know that Senator Carper has corporate health care lobbyists in his ear and corporate money filling his campaign coffers. But don’t any of you DARE give up this fight – every quitter provides an excuse for mass surrender. You’ve got to work for this – if we don’t fight like hell with our own Senator, how can we expect national groups, the president, and our progressive allies in the Senate to fight him for us? And if we don’t have the guts to fight Carper, how can we expect more from the constituencies of Lieberman, Conrad, Bayh, Hagan, Landrieu, Lincoln, Specter, Collins, and Snowe? Fight harder. Today. And don’t stop – not until public option healthcare is signed into law.

Washington, D.C.
United States Senate
513 Hart Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2441
Fax: (202) 228-2190

Wilmington
301 North Walnut Street
Suite 102L-1
Wilmington, DE 19801
Phone: (302) 573-6291
Fax: (302) 573-6434

Dover
300 South New Street
2215 Federal Building
Dover, DE 19904
Phone: (302) 674-3308
Fax: (302) 674-5464

Georgetown
12 The Circle
Georgetown, DE 19947
Phone: (302) 856-7690
Fax: (302) 856-3001

Email – you can use the form on this page.

Contact the News Journal:
The News Journal
P.O. Box 15505
Wilmington, DE 19850
Letter to the Editor web form
• FAX 302-324-2595

Tell Tom Carper to stand with Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Don’t sell out our health to corporate lobbyists!

The co-op plan is an attempt to prevent competition with private companies. Only a national plan, accountable to and backed by the government, is strong enough to compete with multinational health insurance megacorps. Competition will result in lower rates for everyone. We need the public option – Americans are sick and tired of getting dropped by their health insurance companies, just for getting sick and tired.

David Anderson is crazy and I love it

David Anderson on Roe v. Wade:

The gates of hell were opened that day in 1973 and our values seem to be sucked down to the pit. Child abuse soared, families collapsed, murder soared, rape climbed, schools became war zones, and America suffered humiliation in Viet Nam and a disgraced Presidency. The once great manufacturing giant loses jobs everyday. The social safety net of social security misses the very citizens who could save it. We have become confused on even the definition of marriage or even what is -is.

“Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!”
“Forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes!”
“The dead rising from the grave!”
“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w91-GMc3j7I[/youtube]

David, thank you for sharing your insanity with us. You make blogging fun.

Sex, Hypocrisy, and Inquisition

The following “family values” Republicans voted to impeach (House) or remove (Senate) President Clinton.

  1. Newt Gingrich
  2. Henry Hyde
  3. Mark Sanford
  4. Bob Barr
  5. Dan Burton
  6. Helen Chenoweth
  7. Bob Livingston
  8. John Ensign
  9. Vito Fossella
  10. Jim Gibbons
  11. Sue Myrick
  12. Joe Scarborough
  13. Bill Thomas
  14. John McCain
  15. Larry Craig
  16. Rod Grams
  17. Tim Hutchinson

They are all adulterers. Also voting for impeachment: Ken Calvert (BJ from a hooker in public), Mark Foley (sent sexually explicit messages to underage pages), Charles Canady (allegedly slept with a married woman, leading to her divorce), John Peterson (alleged sexual harassment), and Joseph McDade (flasher). Adulterous Congressmen David Vitter (sex with hookers) and Don Sherwood (choked his mistress) were elected in 1998 during the run-up to the impeachment, and took office after the impeachment vote.

Naturally, adultery is wrong, and people of all political persuasions become ensnared in lust and infidelity. The response to such scandals, however, should be left to the voters, unless something more serious is involved – violence, harassment, sexual advances to a minor, corruption, or dereliction of duty (I won’t get into the argument over whether or not prostitution belongs on this list). The only difference between a Democratic sex scandal and a Republican sex scandal is hypocrisy. The GOP has annointed itself with Supreme Moral Authority, which conveniently serves to allow Republicans to be very selective in who to condemn and who to forgive. “Sanctity of Marriage” – what a crock.

When you consider the people who’ve claimed to serve as the conservative movement’s moral voice – such as Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Dr. Laura, Haggard, Swaggart, Jimmy Bakker – it becomes obvious that those who claim Moral Authority think that they are so righteous that they have earned the right to commit very serious sins. The lesson, of course, is that Inquisitors are those who seek to punish the sins of others in order to absolve themselves of sin. This is the psychological origin of systemic hypocrisy.

Tell Tom Carper to Support the Public Option

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2v5tVWcnGE&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

We have a little over a month to apply pressure to Senator Carper to support public option health care.

(302) 573-6291

Put this number in your cell phone or your wallet or purse. Call it on your lunch break tomorrow. Ask his staff (or leave a message asking) if Senator Carper supports offering public option healthcare for uninsured families, like the what Senator Carper himself has and what is offered to our troops and veterans. Tell them that the US healthcare system is the envy of no one – it is the worst in the civilized world. Remind them that in most states, only one or two companies hold 60-80% of the market share (65% in Delaware), and in half of the states, one company holds 50% or more (42% in Delaware)1.

I assure you, the companies that limit amputees to one prosthetic limb per lifetime (imagine wearing one pair of sneakers for the rest of your life, or driving one car) will be spending plenty of time and money wooing Senator Carper. He is, after all, perhaps the most anti-consumer, pro-megacorp Democrat in the Senate. If we don’t raise holy hell, I guarantee you that Carper will be voting to keep our health insurance system as it is – for the benefit of few and to the detriment of most.

China and the Electric Car

A lot of conservatives are pissing their pants because they think the Chinese will go on polluting the world while America and Europe seek to reduce emissions. While China at the moment certainly has smog problems, I’m quite certain that by 2020, they’ll be working as hard as the West is on trying to prevent imminent, obvious catastrophe. Why do I think this, besides the fact that China has plenty of coastline? They’re already ahead of America in one very important area: The Electric Car.

For now, BYD will focus on China’s domestic market. Priced at about $22,000 each, the cars are a bit pricey for average consumers, so BYD will first aim at government and corporate buyers. Jia says it will take time for the new technology to win acceptance.

From an environmental standpoint, electric cars are not yet as green as they could be. That’s because most electricity is generated by burning coal. But BYD is working on that, too. It’s in the early stages of researching electric cars powered by solar energy.

Oh, but surely no American investor would be crazy enough to try to bring that venture to the USA, right?

Wang impressed investor Warren Buffett. In September, one of Buffet’s companies purchased a 10 percent stake in BYD for $230 million.

Independent auto industry analyst Jia Xinguang explains how this might work: “Buffett has a company called MidAmerican Energy. They made the investment in BYD. They also have an electricity grid in the American Midwest. So that’s the cooperation: BYD builds the cars, and MidAmerican Energy builds the charging stations.”

I don’t know about you, but when I hear that Warren Buffet is investing in charging stations for conumer electric cars, I start to think that green investing may be a safer investment than say, gold bars or inaccessible land in Wyoming. But hey, Republicans, go ahead and hide your gold bricks in Wyoming, and don’t fill out the census form while you’re at it.

In the meantime, I figure it will take 5 to 10 years for BYD to design a model that’s snazzy and safe enough for surburbia. That’s a mighty short window for Ford, GM, Chrysler, and Tesla to try to salvage some market share. Remember, if we don’t invest in the technology now, we’ll never own a piece of the market.

Why Delaware Needs Health Reform

Health Care facts and figures, from HealthReform.gov (thanks, HHS Secretary Sebelius!)

DELAWAREANS CAN’T AFFORD THE STATUS QUO

Roughly 575,000 people in Delaware get health insurance on the job, where family premiums average $14,579, about the annual earning of a full-time minimum wage job.
Since 2000 alone, average family premiums have increased by 108 percent in Delaware.
Household budgets are strained by high costs: 24 percent of middle-income Delaware families spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care.
High costs block access to care: 11 percent of people in Delaware report not visiting a doctor due to high costs.
Delaware businesses and families shoulder a hidden health tax of roughly $1,000 per year on premiums as a direct result of subsidizing the costs of the uninsured.

AFFORDABLE HEALTH COVERAGE IS INCREASINGLY OUT OF REACH IN DELAWARE

12 percent of people in Delaware are uninsured, and 69 percent of them are in families with at least one full-time worker.
The percent of Delawareans with employer coverage is declining: from 73 to 67 percent between 2000 and 2007.
Much of the decline is among workers in small businesses. While small businesses make up 70 percent of Delaware businesses, only 45 percent of them offered health coverage benefits in 2006.
Choice of health insurance is limited in Delaware. CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield alone constitutes 42 percent of the health insurance market share in Delaware, with the top two insurance providers accounting for 65 percent.
Choice is even more limited for people with pre-existing conditions. In Delaware, premiums can vary based on demographic factors and health status, and coverage can exclude pre-existing conditions or even be denied completely in some cases.

(h/t DKos)

Mike Castle, of course, gets his health insurance via single-payer public option. And so do 9.2 million Americans through the Department of Defense. And yet, Republicans insist the system that serves our nations troops is too terrible to inflict on ordinary Americans. Ask a veteran – such as our own Donviti – and they’ll likely tell you that they much prefer the public option.

Climate Change Bill Passes, Castle Votes Aye

Here is the roll call on the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

Aye: 219
No: 212

8 Republicans voted Aye:
Castle (DE, duh)
LoBiondo (NJ)
Lance (NJ)
Smith (NJ)
Kirk (IL)
Reichert (WA)
McHugh (NY)
Bono Mack (CA)

44 Dems voted against:
Altmire (PA)
Dahlkemper (PA)
Holden (PA)
Arcuri (NY)
Massa (NY)
Costa (CA)
Stark (CA)
Foster (IL)
Costello (IL)
Kucinich (OH)
DeFazio (OR)
Kissell (NC)
McIntyre (NC)
Nye (VA)
Kirkpatrick (AZ)
Mitchell (AZ)
Salazar (CO)
Wilson (OH)
Visclosky(IN)
Donnelly (IN)
Ellsworth (IN)
Mollohan (WV)
Rahall (WV)
Berry (AR)
Ross (AR)
Melancon (LA)
Barrow (GA)
Marshall (GA)
Davis (TN)
Tanner (TN)
Pomeroy (ND)
Herseth Sandlin (SD)
Rodriguez (TX)
Ortiz (TX)
Edwards (TX)
Boren (OK)
Bright (AL)
Davis (AL)
Griffith (AL)
Childers (MS)
Taylor (MS)
Matheson (UT)
Minnick (ID)

“Moderate” Republicans who should catch hell for opposing this:
Cao (LA)
King (NY)
Lee (NY)
Bartlett (MD)
Garrett (NJ)
Freylinghuysen (NJ)
Biggert (IL)
Wolf (VA)
Dent (PA)
Gerlach (PA)
Dreier (CA)
Rohrabacher (CA)
Brown-Waite (FL)
Ros-Lehtinen (FL)
Diaz-Balart (both) (FL)
Paulsen (MN)
Terry (NE)

Credit is due to some Moderate Dems voting Aye
Kratovil (MD)
Shuler (NC)
Skelton (MO)
Cuellar (TX)
Gordon (TN)
Teague (NM)
Markey (CO)
Moore (KS)
Yarmuth (KY)
Murtha (PA)
Sestak (PA)
Peterson (MN)
Periello (VA)
Space (OH)
Thompson (MS)
Titus (NV)

Someone wanna explain to me why Henry Cuellar supported it and Ciro Rodriguez didn’t? Topsy-turvy.

Keep in mind, Kucinich, Stark, and DeFazio likely voted against because the bill didn’t go far enough (or gave too much money to so-called “clean coal”). Not sure about Costa.

Anyway, what the heck is the point of all those coal giveaways if we couldn’t get the support of Mollohan and Rahall? Effing coalmongers.

UPDATE: Burnt Orange Report on the Texas delegation:

Now i know Edwards has a conservative, rural district. But Ortiz and Rodriguez? If memory serves, Rodriguez lost a primary to Henry Cuellar after redistricting, and lost because Cuellar ran to the right of him. Now, then how in the world is Cuellar voting yes and Rodriguez no? Rodriguez’s district is also home to the most renewable energy potential of any part of not only Texas but possibly the country. And he’ll vote no on renewable energy? Too bad those hundreds of wind turbines that produce clean energy and local jobs out in Fort Stockton can’t vote.

And Ortiz? I guess the bill was good enough for the refiners in Houston (as evidenced by Gene Green’s vote) but not the refiners in Corpus Christi? #EPIC FAIL#

Lunch Break News

You’ve been told a lie – Monsanto and the Agribusiness lobby want you to think chemical farming is vastly superior to organic farming. Organic farming can feed about as many people as chemical farming, and in the developing world, it could feed 80% more. Check out the science. (DKos)
Obama leads Republicans by about 20 points on terrorism – Who do you trust to do a better job handling the threat of terrorism — Obama or the Republicans in Congress? Obama leads 55% to 34% in this WaPo/ABC News poll, but let’s face it – Congressional Republicans are even less trusted than the GOP brand as a whole. (Greg Sargeant)
Work begins on world’s deepest underground lab – Deep in an old South Dakota gold mine, they’ll build a lab thousands of feet below the surface to catch dark matter. The depth is necessary to be protected from cosmic rays. (AP)
Is a Counter Coup in the Works in Iran? Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Assembly of Experts, which has the ability to elect and remove the Supreme Leader (Ayatolla Ali Khamenei) is said to be considering a slightly more democratic theocracy – replacing the dictatorial Supreme Leader position with a “leadership council” of top clerics. The reality in Iran is that theocracy and democracy coexist there, and the current protests are not a rejection of theocracy, but a demand for real checks and balances. I don’t believe a theocracy can ever function with effective checks and balances, of course; but most Iranians do, and whatever leadership emerges is likely to represent reform, not revolution. (MyDD)

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