Monthly archives: October, 2009

Will Health Insurance Industry Report Be Enough to Set Congress on Fire?

October 13, 2009
AmericaCongressConstitutionDemocratic NewsEconomyEthicsHealth CareRepublicansWhite House
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The health insurance industry issued a report that has Democrats fuming, finally. Will it be enough to set Congress on fire for reform?

From the Sun-Times:

Insurance companies aren’t playing nice any more.

Their message that health care legislation will drive up premiums for people who already have coverage comes as a warning shot at a key point in the debate and threatens President Obama’s top domestic priority.

Democrats and their allies scrambled on Monday to knock down a new industry-funded study forecasting that Senate legislation, over time, will add thousands of dollars to the cost of a typical policy. “Distorted and flawed,” said White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass. “Fundamentally dishonest,” said AARP’s policy strategist, John Rother. “A hatchet job,” said a spokesman for Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).

But the health insurance industry’s top lobbyist in Washington stood her ground. In a call with reporters, Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, pointedly refused to rule out attack ads on TV featuring the study, though she said she believed the industry’s concerns could be amicably addressed.

At the heart of the industry’s complaint is a decision by lawmakers to weaken the requirement that millions more Americans get coverage. Since the legislation would ban insurance companies from denying coverage on account of poor health, many people will wait to sign up until they get sick, the industry says. And that will drive up costs.

The first sentence of this article is absurd, “Insurance companies aren’t playing nice any more.”

When have the insurance companies ever played nice? It’s not about playing nice. It’s not about health insurance profits. It’s about people’s lives against an industry’s quest for obscene profits.

The good news today is that GOP Senator Olympia Snowe says she will support the reform bill currently in the Senate Finance Committee. The rest of the GOP and the Conservadems need to jump on board also.

Look, the New Deal was passed because the rich got it. They understood that a 90% tax rate on upper income brackets was good for everyone in the economy, including the rich! Do the rich really want to see the United States return to a Gilded Age with tent cities popping up in ever suburb?

I’ve said it before: the for-profit health insurance industry should be illegal. The purpose of the industry is to make a profit, an obscene profit.

Congress needs to finally feel the fire. Right now it’s burning us alive.

Apparently We’re Killing Each Other Less Frequently in Chicago

October 12, 2009
Chicagogun controlViolence
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The news is better in Chicago, but only 11% better.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Homicides continued to decline this year in Chicago through September, including homicides of school-age children, according to Police Department statistics.

Homicides fell 11 percent through the first nine months of 2009 compared with the same period a year ago, department officials said.

Through Sept. 30, there had been 348 slayings, down from 393 for the same period last year.

Through Sept. 15, killings of youths between the ages of 6 and 18 declined by 14.5 percent compared with the same period last year.

Last week, police Supt. Jody Weis trumpeted a 47 percent decline since last year in homicides involving youths — but that figure included those between ages 9 and 19.

Despite the decline in youth slayings in Chicago, the issue has grabbed the spotlight since the fatal beating of 16-year-old Derrion Albert near Fenger High School after classes on Sept. 24.

The city and nation have been riveted by the startling video of the beating, in which several teenagers can be seen wielding large planks of wood in a melee involving more than 50 youngsters.

In response, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder came to Chicago last week to meet with students and city officials about youth violence.

Was this a quick move on Mayor Daley’s part to quell the unease surrounding the death of Derrion Albert? You bet. 11% means that forty-five fewer people were killed in Chicago this year compared to last year.

That is significant.

Let’s hope it lasts…

Schwarzenegger Signs Bill Establishing May 22 Harvey Milk Day

October 12, 2009
GLBT
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From Change.org:

Harvey Milk, the legendary LGBT activist and San Francisco Supervisor who was assassinated in 1978, has finally been given official recognition by the state of California with his own day. The bill to establish May 22 — Harvey’s birthday — as Harvey Milk Day was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last night, capping off a whirlwind year in which Milk Day was originally vetoed by the Terminator, then the “Milk” movie exploded, then a Presidential Medal of Freedom was given posthumosly to Milk, and now, full circle, Schwarzenegger gets that Milk is an important figure for the state to honor.

Kudos to the state of California and to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for making this finally happen.

And thank you, Harvey Milk.

Tip of the hat to Michael Jones for this.

Eric Berger, Off-Duty Chicago Police Officer, Killed in Kennedy Rollover

October 12, 2009
ChicagoChicagoland
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From the Southtown Star:

An off-duty Chicago police officer was killed overnight in a rollover crash on the Kennedy Expressway on the city’s Northwest Side.

Eric Berger, 52, lost control of a 2007 Volkswagen two-door hatchback about 3:45 a.m. in the northbound lanes of Interstate 90 at Nagle Avenue, Illinois State Police Trooper Mark Hall said.

A preliminary investigation indicated Berger lost control on a curve at Bryn Mawr Avenue, at which point the car rolled over and he was ejected, Master Sgt. Todd Borisy said.

From WBBM:

State police are now confirming that it was an off-duty Chicago police officer who was killed in an early morning crash on the Kennedy Expressway.

State police say 52-year-old Eric Berger of the Albany Park district on the Northwest Side was off-duty and driving a 2007 Volkswagen north on the Kennedy expressway when he lost control. 

The car flipped over and Berger was ejected. He was dead by the time emergency crews arrived. 

Police say there’s no evidence alcohol was involved. They say it appears he was simply driving too fast. 

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Read more

Video: Michael Jackson’s ‘This Is It’

October 12, 2009
General
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The album, Michael Jackson’s This Is It
, is a companion piece to the Michael Jackson’s This Is It Movie and features the music that inspired the film, demo recordings and two versions of the previously unreleased song, "This Is It".

Source: michaeljackson.com

Business Week: Job Crisis Hits Young People Especially Hard

October 11, 2009
AmericaEconomyHomelessness
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As if we need any more proof that we’ve all hit hard times, Business Week focuses on the trouble young people are having finding employment.

I’ve heard enough stories about recent college graduates lucky to get part time jobs in the fast food industry. It’s bad. The money isn’t flowing — or what little we have is all flowing to pay off the credit card industry.

Americans would be wise to abandon the credit card industry. Pay them off, and tear them up. They are absolute bastards. All of them.

From Business Week:

Bright, eager—and unwanted. While unemployment is ravaging just about every part of the global workforce, the most enduring harm is being done to young people who can’t grab onto the first rung of the career ladder.

Affected are a range of young people, from high school dropouts, to college grads, to newly minted lawyers and MBAs across the developed world from Britain to Japan. One indication: In the U.S., the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds has climbed to more than 18%, from 13% a year ago.

For people just starting their careers, the damage may be deep and long-lasting, potentially creating a kind of "lost generation." Studies suggest that an extended period of youthful joblessness can significantly depress lifetime income as people get stuck in jobs that are beneath their capabilities, or come to be seen by employers as damaged goods.

Read more here.

Video: President Obama Addresses Gay Rights at HRC Dinner

October 11, 2009
Barack ObamaCivil RightsGLBT
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Watch President Obama’s speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner in Washington, D.C., on October 10.

The President vowed to end the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, but did not say when.  The President also acknowledged that policy changes he promised on the campaign trail are not happening as quickly as many had expected.

Video Highlights: Penguins Top Maple Leafs 5-2

October 10, 2009
Sports
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The Pittsburgh Penguins improved their record to 4-1-0 by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto tonight.

Game recap from the Associated Press:

Intent on playing a physical style, the Toronto Maple Leafs need better penalty killing to keep it from backfiring.

Undisciplined penalties resulted in three power-plays goals for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night – two of them by Sidney Crosby – in Toronto’s 5-2 loss to the defending Stanley Cup champions.

There was plenty wrong all-around for the Maple Leafs (0-3-1), but the porous penalty killing was one area that particularly stood out. Crosby’s goals, both set up by Evgeni Malkin, came in the second period for a 4-1 lead that erased any hopes the Leafs might have had of mounting a comeback.

"There are a lot of things we have to do better," Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. "Clearing pucks is No. 1. … I’ve never done it, but we have to somehow practice shooting the puck down the ice, because we just aren’t very good at it."

Jordan Staal, Matt Cooke and Sergei Gonchar also scored for the Penguins (4-1-0), who were coming off a grinding 5-4 win over Philadelphia on Thursday night as they continue a grueling stretch of five games in eight days. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 18 shots to remain unbeaten.

Read more here.

Let’s go Pens!

 

Obama Says He Will End ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ But Doesn’t Say When

October 10, 2009
Barack ObamaCongressConstitutionDemocratic NewsHealth CareMilitary
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Giving what some are calling a “barn-burner of a speech,” President Obama told attendees at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner that he would end the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for the U.S. Military.

But he didn’t say when.

From the Chicago Tribune:

President Barack Obama pledged to end the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military in a speech Saturday, but acknowledged to a cheering crowd that the policy changes he promised on the campaign trail are not coming as quickly as they expected.

“I will end ‘don’t ask-don’t tell,'” Obama said at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights advocacy group.

He did not give a timetable for the repeal of the law passed by Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton, who also promised to repeal the ban on homosexuals in the military but was blunted by opposition in the military and Congress.

“We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country,” Obama said. “We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage … especially when we are fighting two wars.”

Coming from a different perspective, a Muslim Imam told me he recognized President Obama’s ability to speak, and speak well.  He said that, through his gift of rhetoric, the President can give any group the perception that their concerns are the most important thing in the world to him.

And then the President goes and does what he wants.

The jury is still out on President Obama, really.  Congress will have to act to end the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military.  Let’s see what the President accomplishes with health care reform.  With a Congress so polarized and afraid to come together to address issues in any rational manner, I’m wondering how much true reform Barack Obama will be able to accomplish at all.

He must step up his efforts to reform if he’s serious.  And Congress must learn how to be a deliberative body again.

2009 Nobel Peace Prize Announcement

October 10, 2009
AmericaBarack Obama
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I know so much water has already gone under the bridge about this.  For what it’s worth, I want to have the complete Nobel Peace Prize Announcement from the Norwegian Nobel Committee here on Turning Left for the benefit of our readers, and myself:

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”

Oslo, October 9, 2009