Majikthise

AP trafficks in innuendo over Ft. Hood shootings

2009-11-06T08:26:35-05:00

AP reporter Brett Blackledge should be ashamed of this lead:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.

Soon after Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire at Ft. Hood, web surfers discovered some radical online comments signed "NidalHasan."

Interesting discovery. Bloggers like Steve Huff of ASSME kept this factoid in perspective:

We should really, really keep in mind the possibility that Nidal Hasan may not be as uncommon a name as the average American might assume. Still, an interesting comment was made by a “NidalHasan” on May 20, 2009 on a document published on the document hosting service, Scribd.com.

Blackledge wasn't so responsible. A casual reader would assume from the lede that Blackledge has some proof that these comments were written by the alleged shooter. Not so much:

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
They had not determined for certain whether Hasan is the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.

So, Blackledge's anonymous source basically told him that the authorities had noticed the same inflammatory comments as everyone else. For obvious reasons, the FBI spends a lot of time scouring the internet for people waxing poetic about suicide bombings. People who write about suicide bombings probably know that. Which is one reason to wonder whether "NidalHasan" was the poster's real name.

The authorities admit they don't know who wrote it. Blackledge doesn't specify whether the authorities had any evidence besides the handle to link Nidal Hasan, MD of Fort Hood, TX to the posting.

It's the height of irresponsibility to imply that Nidal Malik Hasan posted those musings about suicide bombers on scribdb. We simply don't know.

There's no shortage of Nidal Hasans out there. Googling "Nidal Hasan" last night, I came across one in Nidal Hasan in Florida, one in Pakistan, and several others. There's even another Nidal Hasan, MD, an endocrinologist in Illinois. (By the time you google this, the page rankings will have changed. Items related to the alleged shooter will progressively crowd out the other Nidals.)

Let's not turn this horrible crime into an excuse for an orgy of Islamaphobia.

But what if they pray for abortions?

2009-11-04T20:27:14-05:00

praying for time, originally uploaded by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³.

Dave Noon remarks that the House health care bill would cover Christian Science prayer treatments in lieu of medical care.

Arrest yourself and your brother, stat

2009-11-03T10:40:53-05:00

Karzai with Afghan-made pen, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

Obama warns newly "reelected" Afghan president Hamid Karzai to crack down on corruption. Karzai swears he won't rest until the real criminals are behind bars, signs a lucrative book contract for his memoir "Who Cares if I Did It?" Karzai was declared the winner this week after his opponent dropped out of the runoff election because the pro-Karzai "independent" election council did nothing avert a re-run of the massive pro-Karzai cheating that necessitated the runoff in the first place. The New York Times recently exposed Karzai's brother Walid as an opium-trafficker in the pay of the CIA. Karzai's running mate is an ex-warlord accused of drug trafficking.

My favorite costume: Motorized fortune-telling machine

2009-11-01T09:15:27-05:00

Motorized Automaton Costume, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

MANHATTAN--My favorite costume in the parade was the guy who went as a motorized coin-operated fortune telling machine, like the Zoltar Speaks machine in the 1988 move Big. The booth is mounted on wheels and rolling along in the parade. A one-man float.

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