Baron Dave Romm
Health Care Facts
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Fake Town Hall Riots
Inside Story on Town Hall Riots: Right-Wing Shock Troops Do Corporate America's Dirty Work touching on corporate greed driving the battle against Health Care Reform, the anti-government fringe driving Republican hysteria and how the media is complicit in the lies being spread in such an emotional state. Alternet, 8/10/09 with update. Excerpt:
Okay, now put on the hat of a media mogul, one who rails against the minimal restrictions the U.S. has on multi-outlet ownership, and one for whom the bottom line is everything. In fact, you actually own the Wall Street Journal.
If you can nip this health care thing in the bud, you could stand in the way of a president who wants to rein in Wall Street's worse excesses and who may depress the profit margins of health-care companies in which your readers invest with his dastardly public option. What's a mogul to do?
Why not hire a guy known for riling the discontented to host a show on your cable news channel, and empower him as an organizer? Let him create a little project pegged to fear and nationalism -- something, say, like 9/11 -- through which he mobilizes bands of those aggrieved by the fact of a black president to disrupt town hall meetings.
That's exactly what Rupert Murdoch did when he hired Glenn Beck to host a Fox News Channel show and to put together a little organizing site called The 9-12 Project.
Comparison of Healthcare around the world
Healthcare around the world a quick comparison by the BBC 8/14/09. This is the major place you should go to demonstrate conclusively that conservatives are completely unable to add and subtract. The US spends more on Healthcare and gets less from it.
Myths and falsehoods about health care reform
Myths and falsehoods about health care reform is a good list, shooting down many lies. Media Matters 8/20/09. Example:
MYTH 1: There is no health care crisis
CLAIM: The health care system currently works fine, and only a purportedly small number of uninsured people would benefit from reform.
REALITY: Roughly 25 million Americans were underinsured in 2007. According to Cathy Schoen, senior vice president of The Commonwealth Fund, "From 2003 to 2007, the number of adults who were insured all year but were underinsured increased by 60 percent. Based on those who incur high out-of-pocket costs relative to their income not counting premiums despite having coverage all year, an estimated 25 million adults under age 65 were underinsured in 2007." [Testimony from Schoen before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, 2/24/09]
The underinsured do not receive adequate care and face financial hardship. Schoen explained that the "experiences" of the underinsured were "similar" to those of the uninsured, noting that "over half of the underinsured and two thirds of the uninsured went without recommended treatment, follow-up care, medications or did not see a doctor when sick. Half of both groups faced financial stress, including medical debt." [Schoen testimony, 2/24/09]
Health Care Reform to counter rising costs of health insurance
Why Health Reform Must Counter the Rising Costs of Health Insurance Premiums Report by the Commonwealth Fund that projects the increases in health insurance premiums by 2020, if effective reforms aren't enacted. We need the public option for the leverage to set rates. Karen Davis of Commonwealth Fund 8/18/09. Excerpt:
As health reform advanced through congressional committees this summer, much attention was given to trimming the federal budget cost and slowing the growth in Medicare outlays. But equal attention needs to be focused on provisions to address the rising costs of health insurance premiums for employers and families. Health system reform will be effective only if the legislation considers the financial well-being of all participants, not just that of the federal government. It is time to ask what effect health reform will have on the cost of insurance for businesses and families-and to remember what will happen if we do nothing. Without reform, projected premium increases will put the country at high risk for having health insurance costs absorb all of the average family's future wage increases, eventually pricing middle-income families out of insurance altogether.
Health insurance is already becoming unaffordable for families and businesses, with premium inflation outpacing wage increases. Between 1999 and 2008, employer family health insurance premiums rose by 119 percent, while the median family income rose by less than 30 percent. As a result, average family premiums for group policies have risen from 11 percent to 18 percent of median family income. And if Congress fails to pass health reforms that control health care costs, premiums are projected to rise to 24 percent of a family's income by 2020. [emphasis mine -- Baron Dave] In any economic climate, but especially in today's recession, most families cannot afford to devote a fourth of their income to insurance coverage, nor can businesses afford their share of insurance premiums in addition to raises for employees
Betsy McCaughey, professional liar Elizabeth McCaughey lied the first time around during the health care debate but is still being touted on the mainstream media. James Fallows apologizes for not coming down harder on her. Atlantic 8/13/09: "Twice recently I've done brief interviews on NPR's On The Media show. Both times have concerned the pernicious influence of one Elizabeth "Betsy" McCaughey" See also strange bedfellows with long history of her and Sarah Palin's imaginary "death panels", and links to the long version of Jon Stewart's interview 8/22/09
45,000 deaths linked to lack of health coverage
New study finds 45,000 deaths annually linked to lack of health coverage Harvard, 9/17/09. Excerpt:
Nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance, according to a new study published online today by the American Journal of Public Health. That figure is about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002.
The study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993.
Baron Dave Commentary
As usual, reality is the exact opposite of right wing whining. Faceless corporate bureaucrats can deny coverage without transparency (yes, this is personal). The current US system is more expensive than in any other industrial country and is remarkably bad at preventing infant deaths or keeping costs down. The conservative Culture of Death is out to get you, because too many on the far right don't care about this life, and too many politicians of any political stripe are beholden to the insurance companies.
Key votes are happening in Congress now. Call your Senator and Representative and let them know you want to keep more people alive and keep costs down with a single payer/public option system.
Vikings vs. Packers: The Sequel
Despite being on the road, Antoine Winfield on the sideline and my application of gravitational homeopathy, the Vikings won convincingly 38-26. The Packers were outplayed in every aspect, though the Packers came back to threaten in the fourth quarter.
For the anticipated quarterback duel, stats will probably favor Favre, who played excellently without much flash or swagger, but Rogers played the better game behind a lesser team. I'm still not quite on the Vikings bandwagon, but if they keep beating good teams I'll have to give them their due. Maybe a healthy Favre really was the last piece of championship team.
Poor Sage Rosenfels. For a mere $9 million over two years, he is forced to sit on the bench and be invisible. (I'd do it for half that...)
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Poor Elijah (Peter Berger): Education Reform - Not so Much (irascibleprofessor.com)
We consult surgeons about surgical techniques, engineers about engines, and architects about skyscrapers. But when it comes to fixing our schools, we consistently rely on people who have absolutely no firsthand experience with real students or classrooms. No wonder education reform hasn't made schools better.
Susan Estrich: Vaccine Supply and the Public Option (creators.com)
My internist told me he is now using the technique he learned many decades ago in the military, when supplies of vaccine were short and they had to split doses. I wouldn't even think of asking.
Froma Harrop: The Phantom of the Option (creators.com)
The public option, we hear, is about to take earthly form.
Roger Ebert's Journal: The autumn leaves of red and gold
One day not long ago in the country I gathered a small pile of dried leaves and started a little fire. Then I closed my eyes and remembered. The aroma was a trigger as intense as the taste of Proust's madeleine, the little cake from childhood that summoned his remembrance of time past. It evoked nostalgia but it also evoked curious excitement and desire.
Aaron Sagers: Monsters: Creepy, crawly and completely real (popmatters.com)
There is a lot to be afraid of out there in the big, bad world; terrorism, swine flu, Lady Gaga and bad sushi, just to name a few. But of the things that frighten me, vampires, werewolves, zombies, mummies (which are just antique, gift-wrapped zombies) and ghosts are not amongst them.
Chris Jones: "The peasants love it: Mel Brooks defends his musical creation 'Young Frankenstein'" (Chicago Tribune)
In the 2008 satirical revue "Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab," a green-faced monster and a Mel Brooks-like narrator sing a dirty little song to the tune of "Puttin' On the Ritz," mocking audiences for, to paraphrase it delicately, puttin' up with less-than-stellar material for lots of cash.
Chris Riemenschneider: New all-star band Monsters of Folk has enjoyed it from the get-go (Star Tribune)
The main problem with a supergroup, side project or whatever you want to call Monsters of Folk is how serious the musicians are about it. Are they really investing a lot of time and energy into the music, or are they just looking for a quick excuse to get away from their regular bandmates for a while?
George Varga: Alice Cooper, Puscifer in the Same Weekend -- Blessings for Halloween (creators.com)
Trick or treat? For Alice Cooper and Maynard James Keenan, there may be no difference.
John Cusack: 'I like to take risks' (guardian.co.uk)
He made his name in edgy, offbeat films and is known for his outspoken political views. So why is he starring in a Sony blockbuster? Ryan Gilbey finds out .
Roger Ebert: THIS IS IT (PG; 4 stars)
"This Is it," Michael Jackson told his fans in London, announcing his forthcoming concert tour. "This is the final curtain call." The curtain fell sooner than expected. What is left is this extraordinary documentary, nothing at all like what I was expecting to see. Here is not a sick and drugged man forcing himself through grueling rehearsals, but a spirit embodied by music. Michael Jackson was something else.
George Varga: Cashing in on the Man-child (creators.com)
What's the difference between Michael Jackson and a dead cow lying on the side of the road? The cow can't be milked anymore.
The Weekly Poll
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
BadtotheboneBob
Paying It Forward
Lottery winners give back big to a tiny UP town | freep.com | Detroit Free Press
Group spreads the lotto wealth, everybody wins...
What a story! Yoopers are da best!
Reader Comment
Re: Quote
Hi Marty,
I absolutely loved that Old Indian quote about daylight savings time! Let me see if I remember this story correctly. Back in the late 1960's and early 1970's, the state of Michigan put daylight savings time on the ballot, it was rejected overwhelmingly by voters there. So, they put it on the ballot again, businesses saying that it would cost the state millions if Michigan did not pass it. Airlines and trains said they would have to print new schedules which would cost them millions, ( I often wondered what the schedules were printed on to cost that much). Well, the voters rejected the businesses B.S., and voted it down again. Not to be taking defeat lightly, the businesses came up with a new idea. They put it on the ballot again only this time the wording for the proposal was: If you don't want daylight savings time vote yes. If you do want daylight savings time vote no. I kid you not. It passed.
Uncle Sky
Thanks, Uncle Sky!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Got yesterday's page up late - FTP problems, again.
Hope it's fixed this time.
Sigh.
Honored in Kosovo
Bill Clinton
Former US president Bill Clinton vowed Sunday that Barack Obama would stand by Kosovo as he attended the unveiling of a huge statue in his honour.
The three-metre (10-foot) tall statue, which depicts Clinton waving his left hand, was erected in a boulevard already named after him in Pristina, where he is viewed as a hero for his role in the war against Serb forces.
"I am profoundly grateful that I had a chance to be a part of ending horrible things that were happening here 10 years ago and giving you a chance to build a better future for yourselves," he said at the ceremony.
Kosovo's Albanian majority sees Bill Clinton as the architect of the 1999 NATO bombing campaign that ended a brutal crackdown against separatists by the forces of then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Bill Clinton
Stars Boost Literacy
Envelopes
Many stars are used to turning up to the opening of an envelope - but Sir Ian McKellen, Sir David Jason and Phillip Pullman are among those who have actually designed their own.
They are among a number of prominent figures who have added their artwork and words to create personalised envelopes to raise cash for the National Literacy Trust.
The signed works of art - which also feature contributions from figures such as Dame Helen Mirren, JLS and Grayson Perry - will be auctioned on eBay.
Contributors were asked to create designs on the theme of 'words that mean most to you' for the annual Pitney Bowes Pushing the Envelope campaign.
Envelopes
Tales of 'Easy Rider'
Peter Fonda
Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper smoked real cannabis during a scene for movie classic Easy Rider.
Fonda has confessed the trio used "real pot" to capture the moment Nicholson's character tries the drug for the first time.
But he refutes longstanding rumours they took LSD on the set of the 1969 movie.
Fonda tells Extra, "We did not take LSD, no matter what the rumours say. You can't make a movie when you're ripped like that."
Peter Fonda
Hospital News
Sir Elton John
Sir Elton John is "absolutely fine" despite cancelling more shows on doctor's orders, his spokesman said.
The 62-year-old singer is suffering from a serious case of E.coli bacterial infection and influenza, a statement on his official website said.
Doctors have advised him to postpone three concerts which he was due to perform with Billy Joel in the US over the next couple of weeks.
The veteran performer is being treated at the King Edward VII Hospital in central London, according to the Mail on Sunday.
Sir Elton John
Asked For ID
Pink
Pop star Pink was surprised to be asked for ID to get into her own dressing room before a gig in Britain.
The American singer was performing at the National Indoor Arena (NIC) in Birmingham on Friday and Saturday when a security guard apparently failed to recognise her.
She wrote on her Twitter feed on Friday morning: "The security guy just carded me for my laminate to get into my dressing room."
Pink
Cash Bail Offer
Roman Polanski
A French lawyer for director Roman Polanski, imprisoned in Switzerland, says a new bail offer will be filed Monday and it will be a "very, very significant" cash amount.
Swiss authorities rejected an offer Friday, considering the 76-year-old filmmaker awaiting a decision on extradition to the United States a high flight risk. They noted it was not a cash offer.
Herve Temime told France-Info radio Sunday the latest offer is in cash. He wouldn't say how much. He said Polanski would accept the extradition decision "whatever it is" and assured his client would never behave "like a fugitive."
Roman Polanski
Qatari Film Project
Prophet Mohammad
An epic film about Islam's Prophet Mohammad backed by the producer of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Matrix" is being planned with the aim of "bridging cultures."
Filming of the $150-million English-language movie is set to start in 2011 with American Barrie Osborne as its producer, Qatari media company Alnoor Holdings said on Sunday.
The film - in which the Prophet would not be depicted, in accordance with Islamic rules - is in development and talks are being held with studios, talent agencies and distributors in the United States and Britain, Alnoor said.
Alnoor, which was set up this year to take advantage of opportunities in the entertainment sector, focuses on international film production, Arabic production and animation and wants to acquire distressed assets in the U.S. and British film industries.
Prophet Mohammad
Defections, Court Fights
Difficult Season
The Church of Scientology is going through a difficult season.
Over the course of two days last week, a French court convicted the church of fraud and Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis' resignation from the church over a litany of concerns was aired publicly. On one hand, it was just another bad press week for the embattled institution founded in 1953 by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
But for former Scientologists and scholars of the movement, the setbacks pose a greater challenge coming on the heels of defections of top-level Scientologists who lifted a veil of secrecy on the organization and alleged a culture of violence and control under Hubbard's successor, David Miscavige.
The church has strenuously denied the allegations against Miscavige, portraying the accusers as lying disgruntled ex-employees.
Difficult Season
Weekend Box Office
'This Is It'
"Michael Jackson's This Is It" pulled in $101 million worldwide in its first five days, and distributor Sony is extending the farewell performance film beyond its planned two-week run.
The film was the No. 1 Halloween thriller domestically with a $21.3 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, Paramount's low-budget horror sensation "Paranormal Activity," slipped to No. 2 with $16.5 million, lifting its total to $84.8 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com; final figures will be released Monday:
1. "Michael Jackson's This Is It," $21.3 million.
2. "Paranormal Activity," $16.5 million.
3. "Law Abiding Citizen," $7.3 million.
4. "Couples Retreat," $6.1 million.
5. "Saw VI," $5.6 million.
6. "Where the Wild Things Are," $5.1 million.
7. "The Stepfather," $3.4 million.
8. "Astro Boy," $3.04 million.
9. "Amelia," $3 million.
10. "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," $2.8 million.
'This Is It'
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