Majikthise

Biblical assassination bumper stickers

2009-11-20T22:16:27-05:00

Eliminationist wags were selling bumper stickers that read "Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8" on Cafe Press. Psalm 109:8 reads: "Let his days be few. Let another take is his office." The next verse is, "Let his children be fatherless And his wife a widow." Followed by, "Let his children wander about and beg; And let them seek sustenance far from their ruined homes." How long before one of these is spotted on the bumper of a hapless Republican county chair? I'm taking bets.

A Botox tax is kind of sexist

2009-11-19T22:28:54-05:00

Like Jill, I've got misgivings about the provision in the senate healthcare bill that would defray the costs of reform by levying a 5% tax on cosmetic surgery.

In practice, a plastic surgery tax would be relatively economically progressive. Plastic surgery is, after all, a luxury. But if this is really about progressive taxation, why not just tax the rich? Why single out relatively rich people who get their eyes done, rather than buying Hummers, or other luxuries?

According to one estimate, 91% of cosmetic surgery patients are women. (The American Society of Plastic Surgeons says 86%.) Yet, it's not as if women who get cosmetic surgery get 100% of the benefits, nor do they supply 100% of the pressure on other women to get these procedures.

It’s one of those classic sexist double binds: Society tells you that you have to look perfect and then sticks you with a ’sin’ tax when you do what’s expected of you. If you tax cosmetic surgery, boob jobs will titillate men and subsidize their health care. Cui bono?

The standard argument for a health-related sin tax is that the extra cost will deter people from engaging in the unhealthy behavior, and/or help pay for the public health consequences of overindulgence. Cigarette taxes are a prime example.

If the cosmetic surgery industry withered and died, it would probably be a boon to women and aesthetics in general.* But a 5% cosmetic surgery tax probably won't deter anyone from getting work done. If you can afford a nose job in the first place, an extra 5% isn't going to stand in your way. And unlike soda pop or cigarettes, privately-paid cosmetic surgery isn't a significant driver of health costs nationwide.

Unless you see this tax as a tool for reducing cosmetic surgery rates; and reducing cosmetic surgery rates as a tool to enhance public health--why create a special tax on these procedures? If it's just about raising money, you could slap a surtax on anything Gasoline hurts our health way more than someone else's boob job. Ditto high fructose corn syrup. If you really wanted to reduce cosmetic surgery rates, why not tax the adult entertainment industry or fashion magazines, for creating a market?

Taxing cosmetic surgery seems like, effectively, a form of slut shaming. It's an excuse to punish women for being vain or frivolous or sexually provocative. Once again, society puts massive pressure on women to look good and then throws gendered insults back at them when they take that directive seriously.

*Not that there's anything intrinsically wrong with cosmetic surgery. In an ideal world, it would be just one more option that people could freely choose. In the actual world, sometimes it seems like more of a burden than a benefit. A lot of women feel pressured to get work done just because it's possible and other people do it, not because the actual results of the procedure are so great.

My first Newsweek story: Senate May Thwart Stupak

2009-11-19T12:14:39-05:00

My first Newsweek story, on the Stupak Amendment, the senate, and what's next in the fight over abortion access under health reform.

Bad Mommies Jump the Shark: Mom let cop taze her 10-year-old daughter

2009-11-19T09:41:44-05:00

This story should put the annoying "bad mommy" confessional genre out of its misery. Nothing can top this. Bad mommies have officially jumped the shark:

An Arkansas mom allegedly allowed a police office to taze (link fixed) her 10-year-old daughter because the girl was having a tantrum. The girl will face disorderly conduct charges. The head of the Arkansas State Police says he isn't sure if the officer made a mistake when he shocked an unarmed child who wouldn't take a shower.

C Street house no longer tax exempt

2009-11-18T09:18:41-05:00

The IRS finally figured out that the fundamentalist flophouse on C Street owned by the secretive Christian group known as "The Family" is a dorm. Until recently, the C Street home for legislators avoided paying property taxes by claiming to be a church.

This is big news, not only because C Street will have to start paying property taxes on its snazzy digs, but also because its new status has transparency implications. If I understand correctly, claiming to be a church also exempted C Street from disclosing financial details that an ordinary non-profit would have to divulge on its publicly accessible tax returns. If it continues to operate as a non-profit, it will have to file 990s like other non-profits.

The truth hurts: Newsweek's Palin cover

2009-11-17T21:07:40-05:00

Newsweek used this photograph of Sarah Palin as this week's cover shot.

The headline reads, "How do you solve a problem like Sarah? She's bad news for the GOP--and for everybody else, too."

It's a damned good question, and I couldn't think of a better image to make the point.

Palin posed for this picture as part of a photo essay captioned Governor Palin, The Runner, which ran in the August issue of Runner's World. When I saw this image in its original context, I was appalled that a sitting governor would pose for a shot like this; or this stretching shot that puts the visual center of gravity squarely on her crotch.

Maybe Palin didn't realize that the photographer, Brian Adams, was depicting her this way. If so, he totally fucked her over. But I think she was on board with the concept. If Palin had assailed Runner's World for making fun of her, I might now take her complaint about Newsweek seriously. She liked the Runner's World spread, though. She thought it was appropriate. [NB: In an earlier version of this post, I misspelled Brian Adams' name "Bryan Adams." Today, I got an email from a firm called Web Sheriff telling me that they'd take legal action if I didn't apologize to the rock star Bryan Adams and ACI for any injury I might have caused to his reputation. So, I sincerely apologize to Bryan Adams. I wouldn't want my name associated with these ridiculous pictures either.]

There's nothing scandalous about Palin showing some skin, or wearing Spandex. But this cover image is deliberately styled to make the then-governor of Alaska look like a Vargas pinup girl. Unlike the other images in the series, this one references her status as a governor. As she poses like a swimsuit model, she's clutching one icon of political power--the Blackberry--and leaning on another. The theme isn't Sarah Palin, athlete. The theme is Sarah Palin, Sexy Governor. (As in: one of those dime store Halloween costumes: sexy cop, sexy lady bug, sexy sanitation worker...)

Predictably, Palin complained that Newsweek's use of the image was sexist. Yes, the image was plucked from its original context. The whole point was that the picture was appalling it its original context. Newsweek is holding this picture up to the world and asking: Who does this?

The bottom line is that Palin's a clown. She doesn't get a pass because her chosen clown persona is stereotypically feminine.

She caricatures herself. Day in and day out. Good for Newsweek for pointing and laughing.

The story is about why Sarah Palin is a problem for the GOP. The picture answers the question. She's a problem because she's a freak with no judgment who regularly makes a spectacle of herself. Obviously, she's a potential problem for America because she's an incompetent leader who supports terrible policies. But that's not Newsweek's question.

Newsweek's question is why she's bad for the GOP. The answer is that she's dragging down her party because it's impossible for adults to take her seriously. Not because she's beautiful or maternal or fit, but rather because she has no decorum, no dignity, and no common sense. I mean look at her, she's working the goofy MILF persona like that's a perfectly normal thing for a governor with presidential aspirations to be doing.

Palin's not even bad news for her party because she's ignorant or radically reactionary. Lots of American politicians are both and they do just fine. Palin has the double whammy of being ignorant and absurd. She's absolutely not ready for prime time. John McCain plucked her from obscurity as a publicity stunt and he lived to rue the day.

The tighter the wingnut base embraces her, the more clownish they reveal themselves to be.

Continuing Medical Propaganda Education

2009-11-16T16:20:30-05:00

A little known provision in the House health care bill would require the $1 billion continuing medical education (CME) industry to disclose more about what it's teaching the nation's doctors:

WASHINGTON—Health legislation moving through Congress would force drug makers to disclose how much they spend on continuing medical education classes for doctors, sparking some resistance from the industry.
For-profit continuing medical education companies have seen revenue fall by double digits in the last year, according to industry statistics, following congressional investigations into the influence of drug makers on medical research and course content. [WSJ]

Good.

I used to write CME modules on high blood pressure drugs, sleeping pills, anti-malaria medicines, anti-depressants, hepatitis vaccines, and other remedies. Keep in mind that I quit medical writing several years ago and the rules have changed a lot since I left.

Sometimes these CME modules were financed by drug companies. In which case, they'd often consist of PowerPoint slide decks summarizing industry-funded research, which had been presented by industry-funded experts at industry-funded conferences.

The drug companies would give these training modules away. Doctors could answer multiple choice questions to earn points towards renewing their medical licenses. Sometimes CME companies would commission CME modules to sell to doctors for a profit. Some CME is produced by non-profit corporations and/or independent academic or professional outlets.

The drug companies did hire real doctors and lawyers to make sure that non-doctors like me didn't accidentally recommend anything lethal or fictional. This was called "med/legal review." Med/legal sent stuff back to us all the time when creative excess got the better of us and we started making claims that were "too promotional." This was a necessary check because we answered to marketing executives.

Review was thorough because the company didn't want to get sued. But a CME module that will stand up in court isn't automatically a quality teaching tool for your doctor. The standard for a true claim was basically whether the statement had been accurately paraphrased from an approved source, typically a peer-reviewed study. Usually, the drug company would tell us which papers to use. More often than not these were write-ups of research sponsored by the company.

It was obvious to me at the time that this was no way to go about educating the nation's doctors. It wasn't that the information was false, it was just profoundly biased in favor of whoever was selling the drug. The drugs with the most money got the most exposure. Doctors could learn about the latest blockbuster for free, but they'd have to pay out of pocket to learn about a less heavily marketed alternative. So, doctors being much busier versions of normal people, were more likely to learn about whatever the industry literally put in front of them.

The overriding goal was to familiarize doctors with the key sales points for that drug. The specific claims were backed up by research, but at the end of the day doctors were getting a heavily-footnoted sales pitch. The primary object of the exercise was to hype a product, not to disseminate scientific truth.

At a time when the future of health reform depends on cost control, it might not be such a good idea to let pitchmen educate doctors.

More transparency in the CME industry can only be a good thing. The public might not like what it sees.

You wouldn't want Reps making up their own remarks, would you?

2009-11-16T14:00:19-05:00

Ken Silverstein on the widespread phenomenon of lobbyists writing talking points and even whole statements for members of Congress:

(A few years ago I found that the lobby firm of Patton Boggs had drafted a statement for Congressman Joe Barton of Texas in support of it’s client Kazakhstan. “Mr Speaker, if the United States is to become truly energy independent, it must seek non-OPEC alternatives for our supply of oil,” Barton’s statement said. “Kazakhstan can — and is willing to — help greatly in this endeavor.” When asked about this, Barton’s spokesman replied: “Some think Congress has no business listening to people who are paid to know something. They think congressmen would do better to get all their information from newspapers and social activists. We think that’s baloney. We take our facts where we find them, and we use them where we choose.”)

Someone enterprising politician could make political hay with a pledge never to let a lobbyist put words in their mouth.

Links for 2009-10-28 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-29T00:00:00-07:00

The Public Option Redux: Carper's Folly | Mother Jones
While proponents of health care reform celebrate Majority Leader Harry Reid's pledge to support a public option in the Senate bill, nobody--journalists or politicans, advocates of opponents--seems to know what it is he's supporting. It's quite possible that the latest reincarnation of the public option will simply lay out one more circuitous route back into the insurance industry, with a a public entity subcontracting the actual insurance back to a private insurer in something akin to an outsourcing scheme.
Trumka Sets AFL-CIO Standard for Real' Health Reform - Working In These ...
As Congress haltingly moves toward approval of some version of health care reform legislation, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned today that “we cannot be in favor of reform for reform’s sake. This is the moment to make it real. The fight now is about what reform looks like.”
Snowe: I'll Block The Health Care Bill If I Have To
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) has already suggested she won't vote for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's health care bill if it comes to the floor. Now she says she could prevent it from getting there in the first place.
The Washington Monthly
HOW LIKELY IS THE BLUFF?.... Marc Ambinder notes this afternoon that Senate Democratic leaders and the White House still think that Joe Lieberman, when push comes to shove, will join Dems and support cloture on health care reform. "They think he's posturing for power but will cave," Ambinder said.
Nevada: A Good Place to be a Bad Boss
Nevada is a good place to be a bad boss. According to a new report, you can flout safety rules and state inspectors just shrug it off. Even when workers die. Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a sweeping indictment of Nevada's OSHA program. Nevada OSHA (NOSHA) is one of over 20 state-level occupational safety programs supervised and partially funded by the federal OSHA.

Links for 2009-10-21 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-22T00:00:00-07:00

Say It Ain't Snowe -- In These Times
I don’t get it. I know that’s the simplistic refrain of every 10-year-old, but I’m 33 and I mean it: I just don’t get it. Specifically, I don’t get why Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) — or any Republican senator, for that matter — is attracting so much attention.
Democrats lost leverage early in health reform ...
Democrats pushing for a government-backed insurance option as part of their health reform strategy are finding out the hard way that, by taking single payer health care off the table early, they have little leverage now to force a strong public plan.
Harkin touts health reform advantages for small businesses
“Right now small businesses are at the end of the tail that is wagged,” the Democratic lawmaker explained. “They don’t get the discounts and the rates and the coverage like the huge businesses do because they just don’t have the bargaining power, and they don’t have the choices available to them. So many small businesses in Iowa basically have one insurance company to deal with or maybe two at the most. So, therefore, there is no competition out there.
Abortion Remains A Foil for Opponents of Reform
All the sexual health-specific sturm und drang around the process of health reform over the past few months---hysterical anti-choice protests, representatives spreading false stories about school field trips to get abortion, and Senators pushing to restore abstinence-only funding---has resulted in a set of bills all of which that take roughly the same approach to abortion, what some call an “abortion neutral” approach.
TPMDC: Pelosi Whipping House Health Care Plan--Including Robust Public Option
As I reported last night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is making a concerted push to pass a health care bill with a robust public option. In previous weeks, Pelosi maintained that House health care principals were still hashing out whether the public option in the bill would pay providers Medicare-like reimbursement rates, or whether those rates would be negotiated by administrators.

Links for 2009-10-16 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-17T00:00:00-07:00

Dems vs. Insurance Industry, Round II " The Washington Independent
Health insurance companies, for decades exempt from federal anti-trust laws, are exploiting that privilege to churn profits at the expense of patients, a number of Senate Democrats charged Wednesday. The lawmakers — including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) — want to repeal the exemption as part of broader efforts this year to overhaul the nation’s dysfunctional health care system.
Here's What to Tell Obama, Congress About Real Reform
If you campaigned to elect Barack Obama last year, on the theory that doing so would deliver health care reform, it is likely that you will get a call next week. The president himself might even be on the phone. Obama is throwing his weight -- or, in this fit president's case, the proper word is probably "stature" -- behind a grassroots organizing effort to get 100,000 Americans to call Congress in support of health care reform.
The Insurance Industry Can't Lose
The health insurance industry’s double cross of Obama has created a storm of controversy. But it probably won’t amount to much. There's been a lot of talk about punishing the industry for its actions: through a barely conceivable threat to remove the industry’s antitrust exemption or by resurrecting the public option. Neither seems very likely.
Harkin: Bill Would Include Higher Threshold for "Cadillac Plan" Tax
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), head of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told reporters on Friday that a public option will be included in the health reform bill ultimately signed by President Obama.
Moderate Dems Blast Medicare Doc Fix Bill
t’s not looking good for Senate Democratic leaders hoping next week to pass a $245 billion proposal to give Medicare doctors pay raises over the next decade. That’s because there are a number of Democratic moderates lining up to oppose the proposal because it’s not paid for. The New York Times points out this morning that at least two moderates, Sens. Evan Bayh (Ind.) and Kent Conrad (N.D.), are already vowing to vote against the bill.
Franken speaks up for competition in the health insurance industry ...
WASHINGTON — Earlier this month, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine raised eyebrows when it sued the state for refusing to grant an 18.5 percent premium hike on 12,000 individual policy holders — an increase that would have generated a 3 percent profit margin for the company. Instead, Maine’s insurance superintendent granted a 10.9 percent hike — effective last July — which nets the company no profit on those policies. Reportedly, the superintendent reasoned that Anthem, a subsidiary of Wellpoint Inc., had profited enough in recent years — and paid out enough huge executive pay packages — that it could afford to break even for 12 months while patients struggle in the down economy.
Nativism is Dangerous to Our Health
Oct. 16, 2009 | Of all the wingnut mythology surrounding healthcare reform, nothing has stirred greater fury or louder denials than the suggestion that government might somehow provide insurance to America's undocumented workers and their families. "You lie!" screamed Rep. Joe Wilson as the President told Congress that his plan would provide no coverage to them. "No, we don't!" replied the Democrats, who scrambled to make sure that the undocumented are excluded by statute.

Links for 2009-10-15 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-16T00:00:00-07:00

Contrarian Double-X hires sociopath as friendship expert
The self-proclaimed feminist website Double-X shrewdly hired noted sociopath Lucinda Rosenfeld to write its friendship column. This is precisely the kind of fresh, contrarian perspective we've come to expect from the Slate/Double-X brand.
CNN Contributor Has Ties to Insurance Industry
THE BLURRED LINES ON CNN.... Alex Castellanos' role as a CNN political analyst has been controversial for a while, but this might be the most serious incident to date: "Media Matters for America has obtained evidence that CNN contributor Alex Castellanos' political consulting firm, National Media, is the ad buyer for the insurance industry group America's Health Insurance Plan's (AHIP) new ad blitz attacking Democratic health reform plans. CNN has a responsibility to insure that Castellanos' obvious conflict of interest does not tarnish their future coverage of the health care debate."
Petition: Fire Lucinda Rosenfeld from "Friend or Foe"
A petition urging the editors of the self-proclaimed feminist blog Double-X to fire advice columnist Lucinda Rosenfeld for her columns trivializing the ordeal of a letter writer who reported being involuntarily drugged at a bar and abandoned by her friends.

Links for 2009-10-14 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-15T00:00:00-07:00

Baucus Committee OKs a Health Bill, But Not Reform
Public Health Before Wall Street Wealth
Featured in the Daily Pulse!
BAUCUS BILL NOT MODERATE ENOUGH FOR LIEBERMAN....
Featured by Lindsay Beyerstein in the TMC's Weekly Pulse.
My Insurance Company Says Being Pregnant Is An "Unhealthy Lifestyle ...
Featured by Lindsay Beyerstein in TMC's Weekly Pulse.

Links for 2007-03-10 [del.icio.us]

2007-03-11T00:00:00-08:00

The face of war | Salon Life
My second Salon cover story, an interview with photojournalist Nina Berman about her prizewinning portrait of a horribly burned Marine and his bride on their wedding day in small-town Illinois.

Links for 2007-03-03 [del.icio.us]

2007-03-04T00:00:00-08:00

"Goring the Former Veep" By Howard Kurtz
At last, a common-sense blogger! In Salon, Lindsay Beyerstein describes how she turned down an offer to blog for John Edwards--from a staffer she calls "Bob"--before the hiring of Amanda Marcotte ended in a meltdown: " 'I'm probably not . . . the perso