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November 3rd. Oh, thank God.
Finally, finally, finally it is Election Day. People in battleground districts and states (such as the NY 23rd, NYC itself, New Jersey, and my own Commonwealth of Virginia) will see the last of the attack ads and the self-promoting bullhonkery run by the candidates themselves. But perhaps I am just tired. I’m usually tired, these days. The point is, it’s time to vote. I’m not registered in Williamsburg because I wanted to vote on my home county’s local referenda, but I have already voted absentee. I’ve participated in delicious democracy – and as my old US Government teacher says, “If you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain.” (Obviously this excludes the underage, etc. They can complain all they want – goodness knows I did. But now I can use my voice for something other than shouting to the indifferent night.)
I’m looking forward to learning the results of the elections (while scrupulously avoiding my Twitter feed and the partisan bullets flying thereabouts at…yes, at ten in the morning with premature numbers showing one candidate trumping the other in a massive pissing contest). I’m going to get my news the old-fashioned way: From the teevee, like someone stuck in the 1990s.
And I mean the proper six o’clock evening news, nothing partisan. I’m staying away from pundits. You could say I’m detoxing. I just want the facts today, thank you – no spin cycle necessary. I’m enough of a grown-up to have my own opinion and not need one spoon-fed to me.
You see, what I really can’t wait for is the end of the news cycle about all this. Mostly I’m waiting for the end of the 24-hour pontificating about whether or not this is a referendum on Obama’s performance as President so far. The theory, when used as a generalization, is patently absurd.
Let’s look at this through sodas. Read More…
Let’s talk about ‘mandates.’ I’ll just go ahead and say there will be ‘mandates’ in the Health Insurance Reform bill that is not yet finished.
I’d like to break some stuff down, then, after that, I would like to know what’s so terrible about the ‘mandates’ cuz i sure as hell can’t tell what the real downside is.
First: As of 2002, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, most businesses with more than 50 employees provide health insurance for their employees … 97.8% in fact. So, 2.2% of employers with more than 50 employees just don’t wanna … seems pretty obvious and pretty lame, equally. If an employer with 50 or fewer employees is providing health insurance, and those with 500 or fewer are considered a ’small business’ then those who aren’t at least giving their employees an option as to whether they can even afford what the business probably can afford to offer (esp. with 499 employees) are truly awful indeed.
I like the idea of GE selling NBC Universal, but to Comcast? I guess anything beats being a cog in the military industrial complex. Actually, it kinda makes sense that GE would dump NBC–they haven’t exactly been catapulting the propaganda the way they did back in the day. But going from being owned by a huge military contractor to being owned by a cable giant that would take carnal pleasure in ending net neutrality is not much of an improvement for democracy.
Not creeped out yet? How about this lovely nugget–the former president of News Corporation and Rupert Murdoch’s right hand man since the mid-nineties, Peter Chernin, is consulting Comcast on the deal.
Even if this isn’t some diabolical strategy to create a second Fox Network and to run Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann back to Air America and ESPN respectively, I do have serious reservations about Comcast’s ability to run a vacuum cleaner, much less a vertically integrated media behemoth. As proof I offer this horrendous Comcast commercial that shamelessly rips off the sound of anti-folk darling Kimya Dawson with absolutely none of her soul.
As I’ve mentioned before, RJ Eskow is a fair, knowledgeable source on health care reform issues. So when he begins to come out against the health care bill, you should listen.
…while it’s wise to be realistic, there are two critical tests for reform: Is it an improvement over what we have today? And is it structured so that further improvements can be made as it becomes politically feasible to do so? There are significant problems with both the House and the Senate versions that could cause the final bill to fail one or both of these tests.
This is for you, Joe Scarborough. Yet another poll shows ridiculously high support for a public health insurance option.
The rest of the poll is rife with the kinds of contradictions that arise from the gap between what people want, and what they are willing to do for it. What a surprise, for example, that a poll of people who 89% of have health insurance think that health care reform is too focused on insuring the uninsured, as opposed to controlling costs. As if insuring the uninsured does nothing to control costs.
To be clear, I think polling is irrelevant to whether the public option is a good idea. The public can be idiots. I mention it because the public option is a good idea, and since the public supports it so overwhelmingly, there’s no good reason for the Democrats not to pass it.
I have a beef with Robert Kolker of New York Magazine’s source “former staffer,” and it sure as sh** has nothing to do with David Letterman.
There’s a paragraph quote that has been eating at me, and it really is one of the worst ways to insult a woman … by beginning with a compliment.
Here is the offending bit – of an otherwise interesting article about a work environment, like any other, that has a boss, like any other, who happens to be a little bit domineering, like any other:
“Lasko, like Markoe before her, had a great mind. Dave, it seemed, had a type: women who impressed him intellectually, who somehow had his number. They were not necessarily the obvious choices. “You can look at these women and see how they look,” says one former staffer. “You see he’s going for personality as well, but I think he’s also going for easy targets. He’s not setting himself up for rejection. He’s not going to ask the head of the cheerleading team to prom. He’s going to ask the head of the band or something.”
Essentially, what “former staffer” says is that David Letterman prefers the company of intelligent women, perhaps those women who didn’t let him get away with what may be typical Letterman crap. Mmmmkay … well … that’s refreshing, right? But then “former staffer” decided to continue talking and actually reveal what sort of person he or she is rather than the sort of person David Letterman is … said staffer recalls how these women weren’t the obvious sort that ANYONE would choose, much less David Letterman.
But, “former staffer” doesn’t stop there … oh no … this person goes on to say that while Letterman is attracted to intellect and personality he only is attracted to them because, due to their vivacious personality and superior intellect, they are … wait for it ——-AN EASY TARGET. WTF?! Since when in the world does being an intelligent woman (who isn’t a ’supermodel’) make one an ‘easy target?’
Oh, and there’s more…that somehow there’s no way a “cheerleader” type could POSSIBLY be attracted to Letterman or seduced by Letterman, which again is insulting – both to the “intellectual” women and the “cheerleader” women.
Face it, David Letterman is a smart, funny, successful man who MANY women would find attractive – young and old, intellectual and shallow … get over it! Alternatively, there are PLENTY of women who find Letterman repulsive, rude, and unfunny….get over that, too!
Well, whomever “former staffer” is the WORST sort of sexist (whether “former staffer” be male or female). This is right out of a chauvinist playbook of assuming all feminists don’t shave their legs and hate men, and just as bad as assuming that all lesbians are butch and all cheerleaders are stupid and shallow … what the hell decade are we living in again?
Really, if “former staffer’s” notion of what women are supposed to be and what men are supposed to be attracted to was around while I was working for the Late Show … well, it isn’t David Letterman who I would feel uncomfortable around.
On that note – I really really really don’t care about David Letterman’s – or his staff’s - sex lives. However, the blackmail attempt, and subsequent storm … FASCINATING.
My new health care reform video addresses the absurdity of ‘solving’ our country’s health insurance problem by forcing everyone to buy it with higher premiums.
Want a few reasons to oppose the current health care reform package?
 | ulisesjorge on Gov is a Battlefield |
 | Alex Villanueva on Gov is a Battlefield |
| ulisesjorge on Gov is a Battlefield |
| Alex Villanueva on Gov is a Battlefield |
| ulisesjorge on Gov is a Battlefield |
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