Barry's Democratic Darlins

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Comment by M 10 hours ago

Some interesting news from Washington Post Sunday from Bernanke and about his comments from AP & Bernie Sanders.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/28/AR2009112801361.html

Eileen AJ Connelly piece on Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s comments in his Op-Ed piece in Sunday's Washington Post, which is five days before the Senate Banking committee holds a hearing on his nomination for a second term. His current four-year term expires Jan. 31.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/27/AR2009112702322.html

Bernanke’s Op-Ed piece where he cites his objection to the two bills in congress, one Chris Dodd’s and the other Ron Paul’s.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/29/AR2009112900995.html

Another piece where Vt. Senator Bernie Sanders says Bernanke is part of the problem facing the US economy.

Both Bernanke and Sanders comment on HuffPost as well

Comment by Laurie Wheeler on November 25, 2009 at 11:32am

Hello, Everyone!

I would also like to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in this wonderful group! I'm thankful that we have this place to share our love for this country and the democracy that unites us. I'm grateful for my family, dear friends and for this great country we live in! Let's also take this opportunity to give thanks for all the brave young men and women who serve our country and defend the freedom we cherish every single day because freedom isn't free! Yes, our country is going through rough times, but I believe we will come out of it better and stronger!

P.S. Don't count calories, carbs or fat grams on Thanksgiving Day!!!

Manilove,

Laurie :)

Comment by Sharon DiCiolla on November 25, 2009 at 8:16am

Thank you to everyone here for this wonderful board where we can all share our love of this great country and the democracy that we share. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Sharon

Comment by M on November 25, 2009 at 7:45am

I have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and being able to share with all of you is one of my blessings. Ditto to MoonStone's wishes to all.

Comment by MoonStone on November 24, 2009 at 9:54pm

Just want to wish everyone here:
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

moon :)

Comment by MoonStone on November 24, 2009 at 8:13pm

On November 20, 2009, Sarah Palin visited Columbus, OH as part of her book signing tour for "Going Rogue." When her supporters were asked broad questions about why they thought she should be president, the responses were vague: She's "real." She'll "stick up for America."

Comment by Laurie Wheeler on November 23, 2009 at 8:55pm

Deepak Chopra
Author, Sirius/XM radio host

Sarah Palin: Fooling None Of The People All Of The Time
Last fall it seemed as if Sarah Palin would light a fuse and cause a social explosion. Behind her beauty-pageant smile lurked the shadow, the dark side of human nature. Her tactic of appealing to the worst impulses of the electorate had a long history in the Republican Party. Indeed, Palin inherited the selfish, mean-spirited values of another politician with a gleaming smile, Ronald Reagan.

When it first dawned in American politics, the shadow was shocking. Values were turned upside down. The AIDS crisis? Ignore it. They deserve what they got. The deficit? Doesn't matter as long as the rich get what they want. Huge unemployment and falling incomes among the working class? Feed them crank social issues so they have someone to hate. Palin breathes this noxious atmosphere like the clear air of Alaska and thrives on it.

Now, however, Palin brings a smile. When she quit her job as governor, it was obvious that someone had whispered in her ear, "You're fading. Soon you'll be a nobody. Grab the money while you can." And so she did, earning a hefty advance, much of which, fittingly, goes to paying off lawsuits related to her ethical violations while in office. The shadow that seemed so dangerous a year ago has been defanged, reduced to spiteful backbiting against the McCain campaign, the very people who gave Palin her spot in the limelight to begin with.

I hope the left will take a deep breath and stop treating Palin like a diabolical force. The American character has always had a large dose of orneriness in it, and the more ornery you were, the farther west you moved. Alaska has a reputation for being an icebox for malcontents. Palin came straight from the source, and countless Americans root for her. In hard times, being the bellyacher-in-chief is a valid role. Hence the rise of Glenn Beck.

But nobody is being fooled. A recent Gallup poll showed that 67% of responders don't want Palin to run for president. Fear of Palin is ill-advised on two counts. First, fear is what the shadow wants. Without it, the shadow has no power. Second, the left needs to learn how to win graciously. The current upheaval in American society, which has been an enormous threat on many fronts, called forth a president and a constituency that knows how to handle crisis. The voices of sanity are prevailing. The solutions that have emerged on all fronts -- economic, social, and international -- represent the best in the American character.

But you can't expect everyone to join the party. As long as we know that Palin is fooling nobody all of the time, the darker side can be tolerated. The shadow is always with us. Today it's on a book tour.

Published in theSan Francisco Chronicle

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/sarah-palin-fooling-none_b_367364.html

Comment by Laurie Wheeler on November 23, 2009 at 6:30pm

Linda Bergthold
Health policy consultant
Posted: November 21, 2009 10:32 PM

Some Good News About Health Reform

You may feel daunted by the number of pages in these health reform bills, not to mention the legislative language that is often impossible to decipher. But here are some important provisions in the new Senate Health Care bill that you should know about. The White House Blog has highlighted a few, and I have made some comments in "plain English" about what they might mean for you (my comments under the highlighted White House language).

Before we get into these provisions, you should know that this is far from the final version, so don't get too excited about it. The bill will change as it is debated in the Senate and ultimately combined with the House Bill passed a few weeks ago. But the provisions mentioned here are probably going to stay in the final bill because they are so popular. Probably the biggest issue for you is that you may not see as much change immediately as you would like. Some things will go into law immediately in 2010, but a lot of the changes will take a few years to put into place. So be patient, but be encouraged by the few things mentioned below.

The White House Blog Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on November 20, 2009 at 11:30 PM EST
• On page 78 you'll learn that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ends discrimination based on pre-existing conditions.
What this means for ordinary folks is that no longer do you need to worry about whether or not you can get insurance if you lose your job or have been uninsured because of some treatment or condition you had in the past. Some insurance companies have denied access for conditions as minor as allergies or a rash. This practice has caused people to lie about their past conditions or apply for insurance and sweat it out.

• On page 17, it makes preventive care completely free, with no cost-sharing. (This might be of particular interest to those who have chosen to seize on concerns about the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations on mammograms to spread baseless myths and advance their own political agenda.)
It's true that the reaction to the new guidelines for mammograms has been distorted and extreme. Most of the distortion has come from using a single case as an example of the problem. The only hitch here is that the preventive services in the legislation that will be covered free of charge will be services that the U.S Preventive Services Task Force has given a score of A or B, meaning the evidence supports the level of screening that is being recommended. So the new guidelines will have an impact. Most likely mammograms and other services will be covered for certain age groups. There will undoubtedly be controversy over this for some time to come, but the intent of the legislation is to make preventive services much more available and not to screen people unnecessarily, thus increasing the chance that too much treatment will be delivered. (Note this good article by Gina Kolata on history of mammogram guidelines in the NY Times.)

• Flipping back to page 16, you'll find that insurance companies are prohibited from dropping your coverage or watering it down when you get sick and need it most.
This practice of reducing or dropping coverage when a person most needs it is one of the worst insurance practices ever. It is a shame we need to ban it. It should never have existed. But this should give people a lot of peace of mind about the coverage they have.



• Also on page 16, you might notice that it puts an end to lifetime caps on coverage.

This is a big deal. Lifetime caps are often around 1 million dollars. That sounds like a lot, but it actually is not so much if you have a serious and debilitating disease. In my career working with large employers on their benefit packages, there were times when the employer had to decide to cut someone off coverage because they had reached their million dollar limit. The family usually was in dire straits already, and the decision was very painful for the employer. But if the employer had a policy and made an exception for one individual, then it was likely the policy would have to be amended for everyone, and that would drive up costs. This absolute cap on lifetime expenses is truly important to know about. You can rest much more easily if you know that there is no arbitrary amount hanging over you or your family in case you have a catastrophic disease.

• Page 18 is where the bill extends family coverage eligibility for young Americans through the age of 26.
This provision is super important for any family with a young adult who can't get insurance coverage any other way. I personally know a family whose 24 year old son got cancer and with their current policy, he was going to be knocked off just when he needed his insurance the most. So many entry level jobs do not have insurance benefits, so this is good news for families with children in this category.

• On page 83 it requires insurance companies to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full - that means they can't refuse to renew your coverage just because you get sick.
It is important that there be a requirement that the company cannot drop you if you pay your premiums, even if you get a serious disease. This is all part of the "game" that insurance companies play with your coverage, and you really want to have government behind you in these cases.



• Page 307 is home to tax credits for small businesses to help them afford insurance for their employees.

There are quite a lot of provisions to help small businesses of fewer than 100 employees help pay for insurance coverage. Small businesses do not have to provide insurance, but if they do there are credits for doing so. The formula is pretty complicated, but if you are a small business it would be worth reading this section carefully.

• And folks looking to scare our senior citizens about what reform means for them might be interested to check out page 923 and learn that it provides a 50% discount on drugs for seniors in the so-called donut hole.
For all eligible patients, Medicare covers 75 percent of the first $2,250 worth of drugs. But after that, coverage drops to zero -- and doesn't resume until the patient hits $5,100 in expenses. Then Medicare kicks in again, paying 95 percent of costs. But it's this gap -- of almost $3,000 -- that many sick and disabled seniors call unaffordable. So this provision in the bill to cut the costs of drugs in this donut hole in half, will help a lot of poorer Medicare beneficiaries.

Bottom line? There are quite a lot of things to like about the way health reform legislation is playing out. And there are things to worry about as well. But if you are already employed or retired (and have Medicare), little will change for you. If you are, however, one of those whose insurance is precarious, have a pre-existing condition, want to change your jobs, don't have any insurance at all - what these bills will offer you next year will help a lot.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-bergthold/some-good-news-about-heal_b_366625.html

Comment by MoonStone on November 22, 2009 at 4:35pm

I am sorry to hear that Bill Moyers is giving up his weekly TV show in the spring. Sure hope he still stays active in some way! You make some very valid points regarding who's in the financial services pockets!

Found this article below interesting...

What is the current health care debate really about?

Is it about cost? Is it government's inability to adequately deliver services that are best left to the private sector? Or is it a middle-class disdain for the poor?

According to the Congressional Budget Office, Senate Democrats this week unveiled The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at an estimated cost of $849 billion over 10 years. The act would provide insurance to 94 percent of the nation, extending coverage to 31 million more Americans.

This obviously takes the statement attributed to former Senate Majority Leader Everett Dirksen, "a billion here, a billion there and pretty soon, you're talking about real money" to a whole new level.

But the $849 billion price tag is still less than the cost spent on occupying Afghanistan and Iraq over the same time period. Sadly, health care has garnered far more congressional debate than did America's decision to enter into two wars.

That is not to suggest a vigorous health care debate is not warranted; it is. But the public option has become infamous in opposition circles.

It has fueled erroneous cries of socialism. But as Vice President Joe Biden said recently on The Daily Show, and what I've been saying for years, we already have socialism -- for the wealthy.

It is the poor who are given the message of rugged individualism and the virtues of capitalism exactly the way Adam Smith drew it up. This theory has long been debunked, but the narrative persists with the reality of any garden variety urban myth.

It is easy to portray government as Darth Vader and the private sector as Luke Skywalker in this epic battle of good versus evil.

But both have a vital role to play in the formation of effective public policy. It is when one is allowed to act unchecked that problems occur.

America's two worst economic meltdowns were not the result of high taxes or government regulation, quite the opposite.

The Glass Steagall Act became law in 1934, on the heels of the Great Depression. Glass Steagall kept banks from behaving like brokerage houses and insurance companies, while the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, passed by Congress and signed by Bill Clinton in 1999 loosened those restrictions.

What Glass Steagall held together for 65 years was undone by a less regulated market in roughly eight years.

I marvel that the arguments made in opposition to health care legislation are portrayed as novel. Read the dissenting argument to Social Security and Medicare and see for yourself if they do not possess the same hollow ring of fear.

Could it be that any health care reform proposals that include a public option reflect our collective disdain for the poor? The poor are the unwitting piñata within our public discourse, where we are free to blindly take whacks without fearing reprisal.

As former Sen. Bob Dole surmised over a decade ago, "There's no poor people's PAC." The poor have no K Street lobbyist working on their behalf. Therefore, the poor become tools for the opposition in their quest to misrepresent the health care debate for political purposes.

It tragically remains easier for some members of Congress to support a misguided war than to support health care reform that includes low income individuals.

Any serous attempt to decrease the estimated 47 million people who do not have healthcare is in the nation's best interest economically as well as socially. There is a correlation between healthier children and improved student outcomes.

Health care reaches into practically every aspect of American life. If we can't get this right we have no chance at addressing the other myriad challenges that confront us.

I don't expect the final health care legislation that President Obama ultimately signs will represent the policy I prefer, but I do believe in what theologian Reinhold Niebuhr called "proximate gains."

Nor do I think what passes will be the final word on the health care debate, but rather a beginning that will require multiple revisits during the life of the Obama administration and/or a Democrat majority in Congress.

But the subtext of this landmark debate has been regretfully framed by opponents as the fear induced us v. them -- the middle class v. the poor.

Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist and blog-talk radio host. He is the author of Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections of the Iraq War. E-mail him byron@byronspeaks.com or visit his Web site: byronspeaks.com

Comment by M on November 22, 2009 at 12:29pm

I love PBS, too. I just read that Bill Moyers will be giving up his weekly tv show come spring which is too bad for us who want straight talk. I think that the banks will figure a way to take all they can from each card-holder or on checking accounts such as the courtesy coverage for overdraft protection. I understand they don't call it a loan or they'd have to publish the rate which would be about 400% like the pay day loan stores which number more than Starbucks! I think all dems and repubs are in the financial services pocket due to raising money for their campaign election costs.

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