Even if Pew’s March numbers still hold, and only 27% of U.S. voters self-identify as “Republican,” that’s 19.44% of Americans that are at least “somewhat likely” to vote for the Shilla from Wasilla if she somehow manages to claw her way to the top of the GOP ticket – and this is after last Friday’s teevee quit-o-rama.

I need a drink.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

it’s enough to wipe last year’s grant park vibes right from your soul

[W]e’re about where Germany was before World War II where they became a social democracy. You still had votes but the votes were just power grabs like you see in Iran, and other places in South America, like Chavez is running down in Venezuela. People become more dependent on the government so that they’re easy to manipulate. And they keep voting for more government because that’s where their security is.

But Obama had better kick Larry Summers & Co. under the bus while he has the chance, or it will be Mourning in America all over again:

President Barack Obama gets a lackluster 49 – 44 percent approval rating in Ohio, considered by many to be the most important swing state in a presidential election, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This is President Obama’s lowest approval rating in any national or statewide Quinnipiac University poll since he was inaugurated and is down from 62 – 31 percent in a May 6 survey.

By a small 48 – 46 percent margin, voters disapprove of the way Obama is handling the economy, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. This is down from a 57 – 36 percent approval May 6. A total of 66 percent of Ohio voters are “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the way things are going in the state, while 33 percent are “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied,” numbers that haven’t changed since Obama was elected.
…
“The economy in Ohio is as bad as anywhere in America. These numbers indicate that for the first time voters have decided that President Barack Obama bears some responsibility for their problems,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

It’s not the socialist part I’m worried about, Sen. DeMint. It’s the rabid, xenophobic, blame-shifting fascism that seems to rear its ugly head every time we have an economic downturn in this country.

I don’t remember Hitler or Goebbels (or Reagan) being all that concerned about universal health care or labor union rights.

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Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

more like malaise redux

July 8 (Bloomberg) — Morgan Stanley plans to repackage a downgraded collateralized debt obligation backed by leveraged loans into new securities with AAA ratings in the first transaction of its kind, said two people familiar with the sale.

Morgan Stanley is selling $87.1 million of securities that it expects to receive top AAA ratings and $42.9 million of notes graded Baa2, the second-lowest investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service, according to marketing documents obtained by Bloomberg News. The bonds were created from Greywolf CLO I Ltd., a CDO arranged in January 2007 by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and managed by Greywolf Capital Management LP, an investment firm based in Purchase, New York.

Two years after the credit markets began to seize up, costing the world’s biggest financial institutions $1.47 trillion in writedowns and losses, banks are again taking so-called structured finance securities and turning them into new debt investments with top credit ratings. While the Morgan Stanley deal is the first to involve CDOs of loans, banks have been doing the same with commercial mortgage-backed securities in recent weeks.

A lot of banks and insurers “cannot buy anything but AAA,” said Sylvain Raynes, a principal at R&R Consulting in New York and co-author of “Elements of Structured Finance,” which is due to be published in November by Oxford University Press. “You’re manufacturing AAA out of not AAA, therefore allowing those people who have AAA written on their forehead to buy.”
…
Structured finance securities fueled the writedowns and losses at the world’s biggest financial institutions since the start of 2007, helping to plunge the U.S. economy into the worst recession since the 1930s. Finance companies have been forced to raise $1.27 trillion in capital, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
…
Banks are using re-REMICs to protect against losses on residential-mortgage securities during the worst housing slump since the Great Depression.

About $27 billion of home-loan bond Re-REMICs have been issued this year, up from $17 billion for all 2008, according to a June 12 report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Re-REMIC stands for “resecuritizations of real estate mortgage investment conduits,” the formal name of mortgage bonds.

‘Make Magic’

The strategy is increasingly being used for commercial mortgage debt.
…
“Somebody does something and it seems to make magic, and the other guy says ‘Hey, let’s do that, too,’” Raynes said.

New York-based Goldman Sachs plans to sell $216.9 million of repackaged commercial mortgage debt, according to people familiar with the sale who declined to be identified because terms aren’t public. The re-REMIC is being carved out of four bonds sold in 2006, said the people. Michael DuVally, a Goldman Sachs spokesman, said he couldn’t comment.

Anyone in the Obama Admin care to comment on this? Larry Summers? Little Timmy? Anybody?

Jesus Christ on a Hermes-covered throw pillow: Do they never learn? Or care? Or get sent to a fucking mental ward?

h/t atrios

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

unfuckingbelievable

1 Comments

• At July 9, 2009, Real Estate Content Guy wrote:

  Your photo is hilarious! Guess what...the rating agencies are the ones that determine AAA rating quality--so what if they change their mind--who is the checker?

  Anyhow, for those who like to write about the real estate tabockle, I just whipped up this data aggregation website that allows you to create some cool content for your real estate related website. Check it out, and build some of your own customized real estate data & information. Let me know what you think.

City Employees’ Union AFSCME Local No. 307VC
Endorses Tim Leavitt for Mayor of Vancouver

Vancouver, Washington — The American Federation of State, County and Local
Employees (AFSCME Local 307VC) has endorsed Vancouver City Councilman Tim
Leavitt for Mayor of Vancouver. Local 307 is the labor union that represents 154
employees working in the City’s Water, Streets, Traffic, and Public Works
Departments, as well as the clerical unit of the Law Department.

Ron Fredin, President of Local 307VC and Vice President of the Executive Board
of Washington State AFSCME Council 2 says of their endorsement, “Leavitt is
truly committed to collaboration and relationship-building, has respect for
labor issues, and boasts an unmatched record on advocating for jobs that pay
family wage.”

Leavitt joined the Vancouver City Council in 2003 and served on the City’s
Planning Commission before that. During his time as a councilman, Tim has
regularly attended Labor Roundtable meetings, met individually with union
leadership, and held frank discussions about issues affecting both sides of the
table.

AFSCME reps cite Leavitt’s dedication to fostering relationships of
substance, and looking toward the future of Vancouver. “We’re supporting Tim
because he walks the talk,” says Local 307VC member Joe Devlaeminck. “Tim is
the candidate who has been building respectful and effective working
relationships with us and throughout our community. He is never too busy to
listen to our concerns, and he then works with us to try and find solutions that
meet everyone’s needs. We intend to work diligently to see him become the next
Mayor of Vancouver.”

“Our city employees are passionate about the future of Vancouver,” says
Leavitt. “We are in absolute agreement that the City must stop cutting budgets
for core services like roads maintenance, traffic control and street light
repair, and utility services. It’s time to re-prioritize at City Hall. That
is what I’ve been fighting for and one of the reasons why I have received
support from the city employees.”

Leavitt has also been endorsed by Amalgamated Transit Union Local No. 757
(C-Tran employees) and has received the informal support of Unite Here Local No.
9 (Hilton Vancouver employees).

Persons interested in volunteering, donating, or learning more may contact the
campaign office at 360.609.4846, via email at leavitt4mayor@gmail.com, or by
visiting the campaign website at www.leavitt4mayor.com. The campaign also has a
Facebook page and group, at “Leavitt4Mayor”.

About Tim Leavitt (personal)

Councilmember Leavitt was born 1971 in Yakima, Washington. The Leavitt Family
moved to Clark County in 1980. Tim graduated from Fort Vancouver High School,
Clark Community College (1992) and Washington State University (1994, Civil
Engineering & 1997, Masters – Environmental Engineering).

Tim returned to Vancouver from WSU and became active in the Image Neighborhood
Association, serving as Co-Chair. From there, he applied for and was appointed
to the City’s Planning Commission, graduated from the Leadership Clark County
and volunteered his time to the Vancouver Rotary Club, the Clark College Alumni
Association, the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board, and the Harney Elementary
School lunch buddy program.

IN 2003, Leavitt was appointed to the Vancouver City Council to fill a vacancy.
Tim won re-election to the seat in 2004 and 2007. He has served as a C-TRAN
Board Member, including Chair of the Board in 2007 and 2008. Leavitt also been
active on numerous board, commissions and panels relating to transportation
(Regional Transportation Council subcommittees), neighborhood revitalization
(Fourth Plain Corridor), environmental (Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board),
community building (Safe Community Coalition) and education (Clark College
Alumni Association).

Leavitt is the Director of Civil Engineering Services for the Vancouver office
of PBS Engineering + Environmental. Leavitt started the Vancouver office in
2000. There are now over 40 professionals in the fields of engineering,
environment and health & safety employed in that office.

In his available free time, Tim enjoys traveling, skiing, golfing, music and
the performing arts, and fitness. Most of his free time is dedicated to
volunteering in our community.

Leavitt regularly writes an online blog about events and issues in Vancouver,
at www.leavitt4vancouver.blogspot.com

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

City Employees’ Union AFSCME Local 307VC Endorses Leavitt for Mayor of Vancouver

Somebody, somewhere, will get something I didn’t approve of. Somebody who’s overweight, maybe, or smokes, or drinks too much, or took drugs once or a thousand times. Somebody who has been ignoring a nagging illness, somebody who should have eaten more vegetables, somebody who lives near a power plant, somebody who had a family history of something and gave birth anyway and now has the temerity to want ME to pay for her kid’s care with MY TAX DOLLARS and OH MY GOD THE HORROR I NEVER SAID YOU COULD DO THAT.

And the only possible response to any of that is the one nobody in elected office really wants to make, which is fuck you, you smug, self-satisfied, sheltered bitchweasel who thinks the only virtuous choices are the ones you made and that everybody else is scamming you.

I am dreaming nightly of the day when someone at the forefront of this debate points out that most of this wanking — about how women will use free health care to get abortions when they shouldn’t have been such sluts, and fat people will use it to get treated for their heart disease when they should have just laid off the cheeseburgers — is just people being judgmental dicks and YES IT IS THAT SIMPLE. All the people in this country who have made choices you or I might not approve of do not constitute a greater drain on America’s vast resources than a single week of either war we’re fighting, nor a single lifetime of a gazillion-year-old senator who works on Tuesdays and spends the rest of his company time eating oatmeal in the Senate cafeteria on your and my dollar.

The reason this argument gets any traction at all is that for years now we’ve thought of health care as a reward, as a sign of your virtue, as something you get because you’re a contributing member of society who works hard at a good job and tries on average not to drown in Bugles filled with spray cheese every night… Health care is something everybody doesn’t get, so if you get it, you must be doing something right. Like eating salads, or exercising, as if people who do those things don’t ever get clobbered by potato chip trucks on their way to work.

If it’s not a reward, though, if it’s something everyone should get, then how on earth will you know you’re special? It seems all we do, in this new reality these days, is take away the things assholes can cling on to make themselves feel superior to everybody else. And if we want this to work, that’s how it’s going to have to be. Somebody you think is a totally irresponsible slut is going to get a free abortion, somebody you think shouldn’t have any more kids is going to get IVF, somebody you think is a hambeast is going to get blood pressure medication, somebody you think is a goddamn worthless drunk will get treated for liver disease. If we want this to work, people are going to have to look at those possibilities, yawn loudly, and say, “So fucking what?”

Discussing healthcare with my folks last week (on a 4½ hour drive to my 70-y.o. Dad’s orthopedist for his pre-op appointment for his knee replacement ‘revision’ ), I heard a lot of this. Yes, we should all get healthcare, BUT. Obese people shouldn’t get knee replacements. Drunks shouldn’t get liver transplants. Meanwhile, we’ll find out on 7/14 whether Dad’s need for a new knee replacement is due to an infection – which he couldn’t control – or a mechanical failure due to the fact that he’s 6′5″, has abnormally long tibias, went skiing within 6 months of the replacement, and followed that up with singles tennis against a guy half his age.

I love my folks, but the truth is that everybody thinks they’re doing the best they can. Playing a tough game of tennis on new knees will keep your heart in good shape, but may cause failure of your artificial joints.

We all make mistakes. I stripped the cartilage from my “good” hip by pounding the shit out of it while pregnant with my son, walking 3-5 miles a day with progesterone loosening all of my ligaments and making me blissfully unaware of the damage I was doing with its magical anti-inflammatory properties. And the joke is that I was walking so much to try to keep the extra weight off my “bad” hip. So now instead of one hip replacement, I’ll need two.

Like Athenae says, we need to forgive each other our trespasses, and just get this done.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

athenae ftw

NEAR MULTNOMAH FALLS, Ore. — Interstate 84 heading east into the Columbia River Gorge was going to be closed six to eight hours as crews worked to clean a massive spill after a truck tipped, according to state officials.

The truck tipped over about seven miles east of Multnomah Falls, closing all lanes heading east, ODOT said.
…
The truck was carrying a load of hot asphalt and overturned in the curvy section of interstate between Cascade Locks and Multnomah Falls, according to ODOT.

State spokesperson Christine Miles called it a “mess” and said anyone heading east would be stuck in traffic a good part of the morning.

One lane of westbound I-84 may need to be closed during the cleanup as well, she said.

Unfortunately, there were no easy detours with the river on one side and Gorge cliffs on the other.

All semi trucks heading out I-84 eastbound were told to take detour routes in Washington, ODOT said. Freight trucks are not allowed on the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks, though.

Commuters and travelers heading east were urged to take Washington State Highway 14.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

that’s one way to fill potholes

Joe Galloway ends his article:

I can only hope that the last voices Robert S. McNamara heard before he was gathered into the darkness at long last were those of the poor boys in the Infantry, the poor boys of Project 100,000, the poor victims of Agent Orange, the poor Vietnamese farm families whose lives and the very land itself were torn apart by millions of tons of bombs rained on them by the best and the brightest.

Save your tears for them. Bob McNamara certainly doesn’t deserve them.

May the victims of the Vietnam War rest a little easier now knowing this architect of the war who contributed to so much needless death and misery is finally dead himself.

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War is Hell and McNamara Belongs There

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Chomsky – Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours

Happy Independence Day

“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” ~ William Faulkner

Fourth of July Fireworks behind the Washington Monument 1986

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Fireworks and Freedom

Palin's Pad

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Palin for Prez in 2012

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

President Obama Holds Online Town Hall on Health Reform

Transparency?

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

More Bush III -- More Change We are Not Getting

In political organizing, as in traveling or hiking, it’s always useful to have a compass, and a sense of what’s around the bend – the immediate future.

Accordingly, what can we expect by this fall, re: health care reform legislation in Congress?

Why is this conjecture relevant? Because it can help to guide what we do, as advocates of any particular point of view.

At least three things may be true by October/November this year, that are not yet true today.

1. Re: Legislation. We’re likely to see a “least common denominator” health care reform bill, one which is tremendously costly (triggering further taxpayer concern and perhaps revolt), and/or which brings dubious benefits and coverage to households that today lack coverage (or adequate coverage).

If it includes a public plan as an option, there likely will be trade offs between high cost and good benefits. And any public plan may be hobbled by legislative or budgetary restrictions (restricted availability of the plan; tiered benefits traded for lower cost; etc.) – items we disapprove of – yet demanded and enforced by private special interests during the lawmaking process.

Some of these restrictions may prove destructive or even eventually fatal – either to the workability of the plan itself, or to public confidence in government ever to provide a generic service that citizens need – like health care coverage and services.

Keep in mind: Our patchwork quilt of participants in the health care system today consists of many hundreds (if not thousands) of entities, each protecting their turf and silo – totally understandable.  But the result is: If powerful interests and players need to be bought off to achieve any reasonable “reform”, it threatens to break the bank even further. Money trumps good policy every time.

And so, as reform advocates seek changes including cost containment – partly by trimming the profit, overhead costs and administrative waste inherent in the system, it is precisely the private corporate “fat” we seek to trim that has the most staying power – the most political influence – and therefore is least likely to be trimmed. Congress will “tailor” any legislation with edits to garner votes – and those votes (and edits) will be heavily influenced by corporate players in the health care industry.

In any case, we should fight to include single payer principles and features in any public plan option – principles and features such as:  a) available to all;  b) same good benefits to all who are enrolled;  c) financed according to ability to pay;  d) fair reimbursement to health care providers.  This might be the only chance we’ll have to shape a public plan that might eventually evolve into a true national program, serving everyone, with good benefits, financed socially (like Social Security), and with full choice of any health care provider we choose.

2. Re: Awareness/Support for Single Payer: By this fall, more people everywhere may have learned that only a single payer system can bring truly affordable coverage (with cost control), comprehensive benefits, and full patient choice of providers and care – all in a manner that is sustainable over time.

How many more people? – and at what level of awareness? It may be depend on what advocates choose to do, and can do with limited resources – working with like-minded allies locally and nationally.

How staunch and steadfast will be their understanding and support? Again, it may depend on what advocates do during this “teachable moment” – along with a willingness to recognize actual public worries, doubts and concerns, and to respond in ways that allay these fears.

3. Re: Campaign finance reform: Lastly, and importantly: Public awareness is likely to grow, how lawmaking in Congress is in effect “for sale” – skewed by the influence of money and lobbyists, mostly corporate, with seemingly unlimited ability to quietly shape law and regulations to their benefit.

Perhaps, more people will see how this stymies progress on issues important to ordinary households.  It will be an opportunity to explain public financing of campaigns as a way to “buy back our democracy” and to make elected lawmakers accountable to constituents rather than to private campaign financiers.

And if we truly believe that campaign finance reform is essential to any real progress on many issues, we should take full advantage of this “teachable moment” – this rising tide of opportunity.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Craig Salins is executive director of Washington Public Campaigns – a grassroots statewide organization with the mission to bring public financing of campaigns at every level. www.washclean.org

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Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Predicting – and preparing for – the future: Health care reform debate in Congress

Friends:

I am very happy to say that TONIGHT the Vancouver City Council will be discussing the resolution against hate crimes that we drafted after recent racially motivated acts of vandalism.

Please join us tonight at the start of the City Council meeting, when the resolution will be presented.
7pm, City Hall Council Chambers,
Thank you to all of the local leaders, from all sectors, who offered support and guidance as we drafted this resolution. I look forward to the City of Vancouver taking a firm stand against hate and bias crimes, and standing FOR diversity, understanding, and collaboration.

Let’s fill the room with supporters of this resolution, to show the City Council that they have the support of this community to take a stand and do what is right!

Please join us tonight at the start of the City Council meeting, when the resolution will be presented.
7pm, City Hall Council Chambers, 210 E. 13th Street, First Floor, Vancouver.

Please forward this email to your various lists. I look forward to seeing you tonight!

Thanks,

-tim

–
www.leavitt4mayor.com
Facebook Group: Elect Tim Leavitt for Vancouver’s Mayor
Facebook Page: Leavitt4Mayor

LEAVITT for MAYOR
PO Box 1325
Vancouver, WA 98666
360.609.4846

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Vancouver City Council will be discussing the resolution against hate crimes

rip pretty angel

funeral photo gallery

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Farrah Fawcett Tribute

I [Cenk Uygur] can begin to forgive Sanford if he gives this apology:

I am so sorry for all of the people I judged through my false righteousness. I am so sorry to have judged Bill Clinton for what he did in his personal life. We should have never dragged him through that. I am so sorry for voting for impeachment. I am so sorry to the all of the loving gay couples in this country who want to make marriage work while I made a mockery of it. If they can find it in their heart to forgive me, I will try to be a better, less judgmental, less hypocritical and more open-minded person. Help me to become that person.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford met Argentina's former vice president, Daniel Scioli, on June 26, 2008, in LaPlata, Argentina, during a trip last year made to see his mistress. Sanford said he would repay the state for the costs of that trade trip to Argentina, a country that was blacklisted at the time for failing to repay its foreign debt.

Mark Sanford didn’t make this apology. Like Cenk, I would forgive him if he had. But that would mean taking responsibility for one’s own actions. Who does that anymore?

Update:  Nice work if you can get it. How convenient to be able to combine business and pleasure on the taxpayer’s dime.  Now that the gig is up, he is reimbursing the government for the $8000 cost.  I’ll be surprised if Sanford is still governor by this time next Tuesday.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

What a Sincere Apology Sounds Like

Operation how to downsize medicare

The health care debacle is a stark and continual reminder that the government of the United States does not represent the people of the United States.  In an article written by the AP in The Saratogian today, President Obama is paraphrased:

Obama on Tuesday dismissed as “not logical” the insurance lobby’s assertion that a new government health plan he backs would dismantle the employer-sponsored coverage most Americans now have.

Of course it is logical Mr. President.  If the government plan is worth its salt, it would serve to undermine the private insurance and pharma interests.  Otherwise of what benefit would it be to the people of the United States?

The article goes on with a quote from North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad:

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to have an alternative that gets votes,” Conrad said.

And he is not talking by the way about your vote.  They could care a less about that.  He is talking about Senate votes.  Which is exactly the real problem in a nutshell.  Put another way, the US Senate will not vote for a health care plan that favors the people of the United States if it serves to undermine the private insurance and big pharma financial interests.  It just will not happen.  Now who is working for whom?

And then this dictum from the health care industry itself:

“We do not believe that it is possible to create a government plan that could operate on a level playing field,” said the insurers’ letter, signed by AHIP head Karen Ignagni and Blue Cross CEO Scott Serota. “Regardless of how it is initially structured, a government plan would use its built-in advantages to take over the health insurance market.”

In other words, “You cannot legislate a public option because it would mean that we could no longer continue to rip off people.”

And of course we have the “it will cost too much” obfuscation:

Cost continued to be a big issue. Officials disclosed Tuesday that key Senate Democrats had whittled more than $400 billion off the cost of a health care plan that carried a $1.6 trillion price tag last week.

If a public program will drive the private interests out of business as they contend, how is it possible a public option will cost more than what we have now?  It seems rather illogical to argue that a public plan will undermine private interests if the former will cost more.

So what is it going to be Senators?  Will you stand up for 72% of your constituency and “bite the hand that feeds you” or will you continue to work for your de facto employers, the private insurance and pharma interests?

And to the people of the United States:  Will you continue to support Senators that go against your interests or will you stop contributing to these scoundrels, work to vote them out of office and promote public financing of campaigns?

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Emboldened Liberals v the Health Care Industry

Why is it that you have to turn on a comedienne these days to hear advocacy for progressive values that the majority of Americans want.  As Maher says:

Cutting the Military Budget
Gun Control
Gay Marriage
Higher Taxes on the Rich
Universal Health Care
Legalizing Pot
Steep, Direct Taxing of Polluters.

These aren’t radical ideas.  The majority of Americans are either already for them or would be if they were properly argued and defended… Democrats are the new Republicans.

With all the brainwashing and bullshit that is spewed from the major media, it is amazing that most of us Americans support these things.  But if there is no one hearing the tree fall in the forest, is it really making a noise?

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Government Isn’t Listening and Media Doesn’t Care

I’ve worked for the same small company for the last 14 years. We have 5 employees, one of whom -- the President -- is 81 years old and finally capitulated to socialism by joining Medicare last year. So only 4 of us are on the company-provided healthcare plan.

I’m pretty lucky: my employer pays for 100% of the premiums, and we have medical and dental. We have gone from a co-pay only, no deductible plan to first $250 deductible (last year) and $500 deductible (this year), because the cost of premiums without those deductibles was exorbitant.

Here’s the problem: I desperately want to leave this job, for a variety of reasons, but without a healthcare-providing job in hand, I can’t.

But even if I don’t, we’re probably going to drop health insurance coverage here all together within 5 years. My employers would have dropped it this year -- and just upped employee pay for each to get their own -- except for my explaining to the Vice President (the President’s wife, who’s 59), that she would find it impossible to get healthcare coverage on the open market, given her myriad health problems. So in 61 months, when she’s eligible for Medicare, all bets are off.

I must have healthcare coverage to survive, both literally and practically. In addition to my degenerative hip disease, which will require a dual hip replacement sometime in the not-too-distant future and which requires me to take daily pain meds ($235/mo without insurance), I suffer from chronic migraines -- a hereditary condition passed from grandfather to mother to me, and now, unfortunately, to my 10-year-old son -- which also require daily as well as episodic medications (+/- $400/mo without insurance); and, as of April, I have melanoma, which no insurance company would touch on the open market. The melanoma requires no medication, but it has so far necessitated eight minor-to-moderate outpatient surgeries, and in the months and years to come will require skin checks every three months by a dermatologist, and innumerable biopsies to rule out a recurrence of the disease.

Without the question of medical coverage, I would have left my bad employment situation years ago; and with the new addition of melanoma, I cannot leave this now intolerable situation without having another job in hand -- almost impossible in the current marketplace.

The joke is that in today’s USA, I am one of the lucky ones. While I may have limited choices, I do have healthcare coverage and a job. For those with neither, life is an unmitigated hell of choosing between prescriptions and food, or giving up entirely because the battle is too exhausting.

And for those who say that publicly funded healthcare would lead to rationing, please explain to me how the fact that I have spent the last 4 months waiting for an appointment to my local pain clinic because only one physician there takes my particular insurance is not rationing. Or how it is not rationing for my insurance company to allow my only 6 doses of abortive migraine medication for month when I may need 12-15 doses?

We have healthcare rationing in this country, but it is rationing care on the basis of preserving the insurance company’s profits rather than on treating the most urgent medical crises first. It is red-lining pretending to be triage.

Yes, there will be up-front costs to providing healthcare to everyone, but those costs per-capita will be minimal (and reasonable) when compared to the social and economic costs of 50 million Americans going without care, and employers like mine having to absorb 20%-40% premium increases, year upon year, making them less competitive and innovative, and less productive within the overall economy because insurance costs eat up any budget for capital improvements or equipment purchases.

I don’t know what it’s going to take to shake up our bought-and-paid for Senate and get a plan that actually eliminates health insurance as a class wedge in this country (while not incidentally improving our infant mortality and overall morbidity and mortality statistics). But I will be contacting my Senators and Congressman to tell them my story.

Will you?

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

my healthcare conundrum

2 Comments

• At June 22, 2009, John wrote:

  I personally knew someone that also had breast cancer (like Robin in this video) and had an individual policy (and ironically was a nurse like Robin). Her policy covered the treatment and then they immediately canceled her policy. She was forced to obtain coverage from the state under a program for people that could not obtain coverage elsewhere.

  What good is insurance if they will only cover you until you have a major illness? The purpose of insurance is to spread the risk and cost among everyone. This is another massive government failure to properly regulate an industry.

• At June 23, 2009, Michael wrote:

  Missy: I know that this does not address the entire point of the post, but is seems to me that your current employer is keeping you there by offering you more than anyone else in the open market will.

  You have a complex medical situation, and I'm sorry for that. But the first part of your post is a little like me complaining that my current job's salary is holding me prisoner. I could never make my mortgage payments on what competitors would offer me. My quality of life would nosedive if I quit.

  As would yours. But I don't think it would be impossible for you to get coverage if you left, but it would leave you with less - maybe much less - to spend on other things. Bad news, but ... that's how employers keep us.

  Best of luck ... for what it's worth, I bet you will get your public option.

Headquarters of Aetna Insurance Company

Public Financing of Campaigns is Essential!

by Craig Salins,  June 21, 2009

If we want real health care reform in this country, we must also support public financing of campaigns. These are two advocacy campaigns that need a political marriage.

Real progress on many issues -- including health care reform -- depends on Fair Elections (public campaign financing) -- so that decisions by Congress are made in the public interest, not skewed by lobbyists and campaign cash from insurance and pharmaceutical corporations.

Right now, money rules the debate. So long as decisions in Congress are shaped by the quid-pro-quo of lavish campaign contributions and spending on lobbying, we are unlikely to achieve affordable single-payer health care for all with comprehensive benefits. Policy debates in Congress are driven by campaign cash and corporate lobbying -- rather than by logic or what’s best for all Americans.

Let’s keep in mind: A winning campaign for the U.S. Senate now costs nearly $10 million. That means raising over $27,000 every day of the year! Who has that kind of money?

The health insurance industry does. They get it from our premiums (even if paid by employers or by union benefit plans), and from our taxes funneled through federal programs that provide huge revenue streams to for-profit health insurers.

Last year, over $6.8 billion in profits was reported by just the top three companies alone -- UnitedHealth Group ($2.9 billion), Wellpoint ($2.5 billion), and Aetna ($1.4 billion).

Do we think they won’t use any means to keep the gravy train flowing?

The business of these companies depends greatly on Congressional action -- and they’ve become expert at extracting favors from Congress.

Most sitting lawmakers want to keep their seats. They need campaign cash to get re-elected -- even while they also need constituent votes. So naturally, they play the game -- dialing for dollars where the big dollars are.

Corporate America is willing to oblige. In 2008, more than $550 million was spent on campaign cash and lobbying by health industry corporate players -- $200 million by insurers alone.

It’s mutual back-scratching. Money rolls in; political favors roll out. In effect, lawmaking is for sale to the high bidders -- and all Americans pay the price, in higher prices for prescription drugs, skewed public policy, and more.

This is why we need to change the system!

We need public funding of Senate and Congressional campaigns. REAL health care reform -- getting it, and keeping it -- depends on changing the source of campaign cash, getting rid of “pay-to-play” politics, so that lawmakers listen to voters, not big donors. Of course, we’ll need a robust grassroots movement for this -- just as we need for real health care reform.

Fortunately, more and more Americans are learning how public financing of campaigns has changed politics forever in states that offer “Clean Elections” like Maine, Arizona, and recently New Jersey, Connecticut and others.

This year offers a “teachable moment” in many ways. With the bailouts, the economic meltdown brought by a deregulated Wall Street, and now the historic fight over health care reform, it’s a lesson in how our campaign finance laws must change to bring about the promise of a people’s democracy that is not yet fully realized.

If we’re disappointed this year in progress toward affordable health care (even single payer), let’s not be discouraged. Instead, let’s redouble our efforts to get our democracy back -- through a game-changer like public financing of campaigns.
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Craig Salins is executive director of Washington Public Campaigns, a statewide organization advocating for public financing of campaigns at local, state and national levels. More information available at www.washclean.org

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1 Comments

• At June 22, 2009, John wrote:

  Here is Dr. Dean saying if the Senate kills the public option, it will LOOK to the American people that they are in the pockets of the insurance industry. Memo to Governor Dean: You and I both already know that they are.