Drinking Liberally in New Milford

7/8/09

7/1/09

The Million Can March!

Les Enragés.org has an interesting challenge up for both the left and right:

Million Can March: Yes We Can!

Welcome to the Unruly Mob and the launching of our Million Can March! This all started with a vague notion that we should do something more than just have a good laugh at the next round of tea parties scheduled for July 4th. I thought that if teabaggers are so afraid of socialism, maybe we could show 'em socialism on a national scale. And what is more socialistic than sharing our food with others. Food banks across the nation are struggling with shortages as increasing demands meet head on with decreasing donations. But bloggers also reach across the nation - and the world - and we could make a real difference for our neighbors and make this a memorable 4th of July.

THE CHALLENGE: To collect one million cans of food for our nation's food banks, food pantries and shelters by July 4, 2009.

WHO: Progressive bloggers with a special invite to conservative bloggers.

HOW: Act locally. Here are some examples:

• Take a bag of food to a local pantry
• Organize a food drive where you work or play, your church or motorcycle club, etc.
• Organize some friendly competition amongst a group of blogs
• Challenge your Facebook & Myspace friends and your twitter followers
• There's no one right way to get involved. Look around you, see the need and do something about it.

They have more information on what you can do over there. I have lots of experience with can drives from doing this for Cubs Scouts with my son. Also, our family regularly donates to our local food bank so I already have a good idea of what they need. The best way to be sure is to call your local food bank and ask them what they need at this time. Often, they have a list of their shortages already.

Please consider joining in on this effort. I have always loved the motto: "Give what you can and take what you need." Right now, there are a lot of families that are in need.

If anyone wants to post this at their own Blog and has trouble with the flashplayer embed of marching cans, Tengrain made a whole bunch of images to match most Blog color schemes like this fine badge here:

6/30/09

Hey Joe...

Where ya goin' with that healthcare lobbyist's money in your hand?

Nice ad... Joe needs a nice warm cup of shut the buck up.

6/24/09

Duncan Hunter wants to know what YOU think about Healthcare Reform

Pharyngula noticed that California 52nd District Representative Duncan Hunter was asking people about healthcare reform:

Even if he does try to clumsily word his polls to drive answers towards the one he wants — we're smart enough to see through that and boldly click where we want. Let's surprise Congressman Duncan Hunter with the vigor of our response.

Do you support a government imposed healthcare policy?

An astute commenter down at #57 (OK, would you believe someone vaguely coherent?) noticed that Pharyngula had drawn the ire of the far right-wing fringe Freepers:

Posted by: connecticut man1 | June 24, 2009 11:59 AM

You have angered the Free Republic:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2278370/posts

Witness #GOPepicFLAIL:

ROTFLMAO!

6/15/09

The Minutemen Are Lunatics

After the killing of a nine year old girl gets linked to one of the Minutmen groups' leaders the others are scrambling to distance themselves from Shawna Forde's M.A.D.. But their past words betray them. They are all linked and they are all lunatics and deserve to be scorned for their radical movement that has endangered the security of this nation. And, surely, they all need to be investigated thoroughly to discover the extent of their movements radical and violent actions. Via ctblogger at MLN:

It's only a matter of time...

cross post from HatCityBLOG

a group known for patrolling the border, and is dedicated to "Defending America's Borders" was arrested for home invasion and the double homicide of a 29 year old male and 9 year old girl.

An act of unspeakable violence from a leader of a xenophobic group? Why am I not surprised?

Three people have been arrested in connection with last months deadly double homicide in Arivaca that left a nine-year-old and her father dead. One of the people arrested for the homicide is the National Executive Director of the Minuteman American Defense group (M.A.D.), a group known for patrolling the border, and is dedicated to "Defending America's Borders" according to their website - http://minutemenamericandefens...

Jason Eugene Bush, 38, Shawna Forde, 42 and Albert Robert Gaxiola, 43, were all taken into custody and charged in connection with the murders of 29-year-old Raul Flores and 8-year-old Brisenia Flores. Both were killed during an alleged home invasion.
According to authorities, Bush, Forde, and Gaxiola broke into the home of the Flores family just after midnight on May 30th. At the time, the mother, father and daughter were home. The invaders reportedly shot the three members of the Flores family, killing the father, Raul, and the daughter, Brisenia. The invaders then left the scene.

The mother survived the shooting, called police, and found a gun. Sheriff Dupnik says the three returned moments later to make sure everyone was dead. At that point, the mother shot and injured Bush, and the three fled the scene.

The trio has been charged with two counts of First Degree Murder, one count of First Degree Burglary, and one count of Aggravated Assault.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik says, "Jason Bush was in fact the shooter of all three of these people under orders from Ms. Forde."

[...]

Sheriff Dupnik adds, "To just kill a 9-year old girl because she could be a potential witness, to me, is one of the most despicable acts I have ever heard of."

[...]

"If you look at her history closely, and you know what we know, she is at best a pyschopath," says Sheriff Dupnik referring to Forde during a press conference Friday.

The website Raw Story also states:

The group's Web site, which does not appear to bear any mention of Jason Bush, places the group as actively involved in the "tea parties" which swept right-wing media around tax day.

Hmm, an anti-immigrant xenophobic, described by police as a pyschopath, was involved in a despicable act of violence AND is a leader of a anti-immigrant group that's actively involved in tea-parties?

Hmm, let me think...didn't an anti-immigrant/hate gorup just hold a "teabagging" party in Danbury this weekend. Well, yeah BUT "those folks" would NEVER EVER advocate any form of violence around here...I mean Elise Marciano, her deranged ilk/supporters are such peace-loving people and all...

Even up north in Connecticut they are a radical group and, as ctblogger notes, they are the same radicals that support the Teabaggers movement. The backbone of what is left of GOP support. But the bigger problem with these crazies is the fact that as they practice their right wing ideology of hate and preach to direct it at undocumented workers, it spills over easily into a general hatred of all minorities in the USA:

Latinos in South Targeted for Abuse

A new Southern Poverty Law Center report finds that low-income Latino immigrants in the South are routinely the targets of wage theft, racial profiling and other abuses driven by an anti-immigrant climate that harms all Latinos regardless of their immigration status.

Read More...

When Newt Gingrich's knee jerk reaction is to call a Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sotomayor, a racist or the right wing in general attacks her nomination to the Supreme Court, understand that this a spillover effect from an an ingrained hatred of all things latin that started with a more focused hate of what they like to call "illegal immigrants". And as other insane Minutemen groups scramble to distance themselves from M.A.D. because of Forde's cold blooded killing of a 9 year old girl remember these words, via stef in comments, not long before the murders:

Jim Gilchrist, President - The Minuteman Project

2009/02/23 • 10:33

Dear Readers,

I talked to Shawna Forde yesterday about the story written by journalist Scott North of the Everett Herald and she opined that the newspaper story was reasonably fair and balanced and covered most aspects of her life since she was born.

Forde and I both think the newspaper did exactly what it is supposed to do: report facts based on investigation and interrogatories. The story is neither a “hit piece” against Forde, nor a supportive propaganda piece. Simply, it is newspaper reporting at its best and within the professional canons of journalism.

Despite Shawna Forde’s checkered past, here is a woman who really has been a “victim” throughout her life, perhaps willingly, perhaps unwillingly. To have come through the trials and uncertainties of adolescence and young adulthood with odds stacked against you, and to have overcome those odds, is a statement of her willingness to ultimately do the right thing.

Few of us do not have a skeleton in our closet, especially some of Forde’s harshist critics. The harsh critics have managed to hide those skeletons, unlike Forde, who is willing to face up to her mistakes as an imperfect mortal and then to face down demons from her past.

In my experience with Ms. Forde I conclude that she is no whiner. She is a stoic struggler who has chosen to put country, community, and a yearning for a civilized society ahead of avarice and self-glorifying ego.

The Minuteman Project is proud to be a supporter of Shawna Forde’s Minutemen(women) American Defense (M.A.D.)

Jim Gilchrist, Founder and President, The Minuteman Project, Inc.

You pwned yourself, Gilchrist. You cannot hide from your support of M.A.D.'s lunacy and violence, feigning that "they are not us." Clearly, there can be no delineating between one Minutemen group and another, regardless of infighting over control of each group.

David Neiwert at Crooks and Liars has an extensive piece on Shawna Ford and Minutemen in general and exposing a clearer picture of what we may dealing with and I encourage you to read in its entirety. Here is an excerpt:

My old friend Scott North, who has been around the block with reporting on the activities of the far right in Snohomish County -- where Forde is from -- reports this morning that Forde may have been involved in another violent home invasion in California already:

On Saturday, Arizona detectives were pursuing tips that members of Forde's group may have staged a home invasion robbery in Shasta Lake, Calif., on Monday.

The victims, friends of Forde's mother, reported being robbed at gunpoint of nearly $12,000 by two men who showed up at the door and presented badges claiming they were U.S. Marshals.

Truck driver Peter Myers, 48, said he recognized one of men who robbed him after he saw news reports about Forde's arrest and photographs of her co-defendants.

He said the man who directed the robbery in his home was Jason Eugene Bush, 34. The ex-convict from Eastern Washington is a Forde associate now accused of being the gunman in the Arivaca killings.

"That is the guy. He pointed a gun right at us," Myers said.

***

Arizona officials have said Bush is recovering from a gunshot wound received during the home invasion there. Myers said that description fits the tall man who bound him with zip ties and then took cash from the family's lock box.

"He was moving real slow," Meyers said.

Forde's mother, Rena Caudle, said her daughter recently visited the area. After Friday's arrest, Caudle said she made certain that Arizona officials knew about the suspected link to the California robbery.

This may just be the tip of the iceberg with this gang. Already Jim Gilchrist, the Minuteman leader with whom Forde has had a long association, is making the signs of the cross in her general direction and declaring he had nothing to do with her:

Jim Gilchrist, president of the California-based Minuteman Project and a longtime Forde ally, made it clear Saturday that his earlier support of Forde should in no way be construed as approving the actions now attributed to her.

"Am I going to come to her support at this time? Of course not. How can I?" Gilchrist said.

Forde ran her own organization, Gilchrist said.

"Unfortunately, some people in this Minutemen movement have used this movement to carry out sinister agendas," he said.

We'll see. Investigators may not be done making arrests yet.

Indeed, it's starting to look as though Forde may have been organizing basically a low-rent version of The Order: an ideological army turned into criminal moneymaking operation. Only this time, anti-immigrant nativism instead of white supremacy is the ideological driver. And when The Order crumbled in flames, it exposed all kinds of criminal dealings on the far right.

Read the whole thing...

6/5/09

Senator Dodd Wants to Know What YOU Think About Healthcare Reform

More specifically, he wants to know your likes and dislikes in the admittedly dysfunctional American Healthcare system:

I am thinking that this is another opportunity to drive home the message of support for Single Payer!

Have at it right over here:

Senator Dodd asks: Is your health care working? What changes would you like to see? Add your ideas at YouTube's Senate Hub at http://youtube.com/senatehub
Democratic Senators are writing a major health reform bill. Rising costs are hitting families and businesses and now 46 million Americans live without health coverage. We need reform. Respond now with your ideas as the Senate writes health care legislation. You can help.

What are you still doing here?

6/3/09

A personal Comment on Healthcare Here and in Canada

This is just a comment I dumped into a great diary yesterday at dKos, by Karen Wehrstein, setting the record straight on Canadian healthcare, that grew into what really really is near diary proportions.I tweaked it a bit and and brought it here:

I lived in Canada for about 28 years.

I can't begin to list how much better everything is in Canada compared to the health care disaster we all suffer from south of the border. Cradle to grave, there is never any question about whether they will do everything they can to treat you in a reasonable amount of time.

I could walk in to my primary care physician any time he was open. If it was his golf day or something like his vacation time? I would go a couple of blocks down the street to another doctor. I chose those doctors based on my level of comfort with them.

My primary would even do house calls (probably still does?) if you or your kid were too sick to make it in.

If you had something so severe as to need more than what your typical primary could provide? Walk into the emergency room (or take the ambulance - they don't ask if you have insurance first because that would be inhumane). It is my understanding that they now have CLSCs in Quebec to cover the less severe emergencies like breaks, sprains, stitches, etc., that might just need the basics or to use when your primary caregivers office might be closed. This alleviates pressure on emergency rooms at hospitals so they can concentrate more on the serious emergencies.

My father was diagnosed with cancer not too long ago and given about six months to live.

He was treated by the best medical staff he could find for his specific problems. He also had a good backup for second opinions. He chose them based on how he wanted and needed to be treated based on consultations with many caregivers. He lived 3 more years after that original dead end diagnosis and died in his 70s.

No healthcare or treatment is perfect but had he lived in the USA he very likely would have been uninsured because of previously existing health conditions. In the USA he wouldn't have even had that "six months" diagnosis.

And never, not even once, did he have to make any healthcare decisions based on whether or not he could afford the treatment. He decided (as do all Canadians) in conjunction with and on the advice of his doctors. There was no insurance company in between them to turn him down.

The American system is as cruel to the poor and those that really need the medical help as it is profitable to the insurance companies.

Those are just some of the things I can say about the Canadian system.

Americans, in surveys, appear to be "more satisfied" with their healthcare providers than Canadians do. Maybe you don't understand this, being that you have had a crappy healthcare system all of your life...

That is because Canadians expect a lot more from their healthcare system than Americans do.

Never mind that the polls I have seen always point to satisfaction with providers BUT rarely address the cost and the mode of payment directly. Why? Because the few times we hear the voice of the people on this, for the most part, they say they hate their medical insurance companies.

My primary doctor in the US is great. He supports Single Payer. Most of the hospital people I have dealt with are great at their jobs, too. I always ask them and they support single payer by a large margin. My children have a great pediatrician and, yes, he supports single payer as well. Nothing to complain about the actual service providers. That side is pretty much equal to the Canadian providers. Some are better and some are worse, but competent and caring nonetheless. They want to give you the best service possible. And, for the most part, the majority of those providers want to give you single payer.

I am among the few that has half decent insurance. For how long, who knows? In this economy corporations are stripping workers of higher quality insurance for less costly junk plans. Our family's plan was changed to add higher co-pays and more restrictions on usage AGAIN, this year. And that is if these cash strapped corporations and small businesses aren't laying people off people all together so they have no insurance at all. If our family lost our source of health insurance we know that our budget would eliminate any possibility of keeping coverage regardless of government's provision of the costly Cobra plans. On unemployment, we would struggling to keep a roof over our heads and the kids fed. Regardless of that, I expect more from my healthcare AND I expect it to cost a hell of a lot less. But that is because I have seen and lived with a better healthcare system than the one we have here.

I expect nothing less than Single Payer!

Shouldn't you?

Via Healthcare-NOW!

"Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, is organizing healthcare reform house parties to support President Obama's health reform plan on June 6th.

It's likely the Obama administration is using these parties as cheer leading sessions for their plan. So we're asking that you--single-payer supporters--attend or host a party near you. You can find parties, or set up one, at www.barackobama.com.

According to Organizing for America, "This moment is so critical that President Obama will join registered hosts and attendees on a live conference call next week."

This is a perfect opportunity to meet others interested in healthcare reform, but are not yet part of the movement for single-payer healthcare. There's also the possibility that you'll be selected to participate in a conference call with the President.

A great list of resources as tips for organizing a party can be found in our House Party Packet. This was intended for showing a film, but can be used for this purpose as well.

Again, visit www.barackobama.com for more information."

This is the best way to move President Obama in the correct direction. Participate directly in and take control of the movement to ensure that there is real change.

5/20/09

GOP Recreating Another Donut Hole?

Only this time they want to make the entire health system a nightmare of junk choices... Call it a donut hole in a pastry puff.

Republicans talk in circles to justify subsidizing junk for-profit plans putting your healthcare in the hands of, for the most part, foreign corporations:

The argument is this: after the employer exclusion is repealed, employers will convert the money they spend on your health care benefits into higher wages and you’ll be able to use that increase and the ($2,290 per individual or $5,710 per family) refundable tax credit to purchase health care coverage in the new State Health Insurance Exchanges or the existing individual market.
Since everyone would have “universal access” to coverage, greater government involvement in health care would be counterproductive. Government rots the system, and Americans know this, they argue:

In solving our health care crisis, Americans already know that government will not work…Patients should be able to choose from a variety of private insurance plans. The Federal government would run a health care system — or a public plan option — with the compassion of the IRS, the efficiency of the post office, and the incompetence of Katrina.

Therefore, greater government involvement must not only be avoided, but existing government involvement should be phased out. Low-income families with dependent children should shift out of Medicaid and into “higher quality private plans through direct assistance that will be coupled with a tax credit.” Medicare Advantage — the program that contracts with private insurers — should be “reformed” and possibly expanded.

But today, the Commonwealth Fund released a new survey indicating that “elderly Medicare beneficiaries reported greater overall satisfaction with their health coverage, better access to care, and fewer problems paying medical bills than people covered by employer-sponsored plans.” “The findings bolster the argument that offering a public insurance plan similar to Medicare to the under-65 population has the potential to improve access and reduce costs,” the organization concluded:

- Medicare beneficiaries report easier access to physicians. Ten percent of Medicare beneficiaries’ physicians did not accept their insurance, compared with 17 percent of respondents with employer-sponsored plans.

- Medicare beneficiaries are less likely to report not getting needed services. Twelve percent of elderly Medicare beneficiaries reported going without care, such as prescribed medications or recommended tests, because of cost restraints. Of individuals with employer-based plans, 26 percent reported experiencing these cost/access issues.

- Medicare beneficiaries are sicker and poorer but report fewer medical bill problems.

Medicare beneficiaries were less likely to report a medical bill problem than those covered by employer plans.

Within our hybrid public-private system of coverage, public plans compliment private insurers — providing services to vulnerable populations more efficiently. Today, talk of “government-takeover” conjures up images of health care rationing in Great Britain or Canada. If, however, Democrats are able to shift the frame of reference to an expansion and improvement of Medicare, then they may very well win this debate.

The overcomplicated answers republicans try to offer are simply a distraction from the really easy, inexpensive solutions that Americans want. It would be too easy and make too much sense to simply open up Medicare to anyone that wanted it. An even more common sense solution would be a single payer solution.

You know? The government pays the bill for healthcare, nothing more and nothing less from Uncle Sam, and everything else is between you and your doctor.

No insurance companies to mess it up by denying you care, or offering so many different levels of care from the poor man's death plan to the elites Cadillac plan (generally reserved for politicians), or making a 30% cut from your paycheck to buy a new yacht for their CEOs - the very people that caused this healthcare disaster.

Just you, your doctor, making medical decisions... And a medical bill that you (and any company you work for) never have to see again for the rest of your life.

Some basic and indisputable facts in this debate:

The majority of Americans want a single payer healthcare system.
The majority of Americans are willing to pay more taxes for a single payer healthcare system.
The majority of doctors want a single payer healthcare system.

Special interests and lobbyists are the only ones that are trying to force insurance companies into the middle of the Doctor patient relationship. And politicians are obliging them like their special-interest-life-after-politics-retirement-funds depended on it.

Some resources from 1Payer.net:

Join Us Now, It's Free!

Join us in making Medicare For All a reality. Sign up to receive important information and alerts. Help spread the word about Medicare For All -- full health care access with free choice of doctor, no deductibles, no pr...

5/19/09

The Missing Link?

Maybe:

Scientists Unveil Missing Link In Evolution

Scientists have unveiled a 47-million-year-old fossilised skeleton of a monkey hailed as the missing link in human evolution.

The search for a direct connection between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom has taken 200 years - but it was presented to the world today at a special news conference in New York.

The discovery of the 95%-complete 'lemur monkey' - dubbed Ida - is described by experts as the "eighth wonder of the world".

I want to see what some of the many science Bloggers out there have to say about this because I am pretty sure this only plugs one hole in the links.

[update] Pharyngula is already telling people not to overeact:

When Laelaps says, "I have the feeling that this fossil, while spectacular, is being oversold," I think he's being spectacularly understated. Wilkins also knocks down the whole "missing link" label. The hype is bad news, not because Ida is unimportant, but because it detracts from the larger body of the fossil record — I doubt that the media will be able to muster as much excitement from whatever new fossil gets published in Nature or Science next week, no matter how significant it may be.

Anyways...

Descended from the apes! My dear, let us hope that it is not true, but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known.
- Bishop of Worcester's wife to Charles Darwin

5/18/09

Dodd and DeLauro Get Hammered on Single Payer

Yet again, protesters turn out to demand single payer at another forum on healthcare:

A “town hall discussion” on health care reform held at Griffin Hospital Saturday became contentious when advocates of a single-payer health insurance system shouted at U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd to put the plan back “on the table.”

A group of Yale School of Medicine students also challenged Dodd and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, on the issue, but they didn’t repeatedly shout their questions without being called upon. And so, unlike the earlier advocates, they were not taken out of the building by security guards.

At least 200 people jammed the hospital cafeteria for the session, which gave the public a chance to ask questions of not just Dodd and DeLauro, but also Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform.

Some basic and indisputable facts in this debate:

The majority of Americans want a single payer healthcare system.
The majority of Americans are willing to pay more taxes for a single payer healthcare system.
The majority of doctors want a single payer healthcare system.

singlepayeraction.org 5/16/09 A group of doctors, lawyers, Yale medical students, and universal health care activists called on Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut), and Obama health care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle to put single payer health insurance back on the policy table.