Cheap Blogging Crutch 10.27

Auditor Faults Work on U.S. Embassy in Iraq
It's a shame that most of us will never be able to see the $700 million "monument to shoddy work and incompetent oversight" that the government built in Iraq. It seems like they put so much work into providing a stark metaphor for everything we did in Iraq that it hardly seems fair that only some members of the State Department will get to see it. Well, theoretically. It can't pass safety regulations and is "significantly deficient in multiple areas”, so I doubt many State officials will see it either. Perhaps we can just frame the bill next to the Iraq war authorization and hang it in a modern art museum.

House Democrats John Adler, Carolyn Maloney Move To Weaken Investor Protection Bill
It's nice to know that even after Enron, Worldcom, and the financial apocalypse that there's still people walking around that believe that Wall Street is over-regulated and investors are over-protected. I mean haven't we learned that making sure oversight is as ineffective as humanly possible all but ensures companies will follow the rules out of some duty bound respect for the public trust? I thought that was the clear lesson of The Day the Money Went Away. Keep on makin' us proud Democrats!

Revealed: Like McCain, Bush is ‘Jack Bauer kind of guy’
On the Surprise-O-Meter, what's the level of surprise you're registering over the fact that the man who ordered America to torture was an obsessive fan of 24, to the point where he harassed actors about upcoming plot points? I'm somewhere around -15. I'm surprised that this article didn't reveal that Bush had a back tattoo of Jack Bauer sticking a knife into a terrorist's head. I wonder if Obama is a fan of 24? That must be why he's not doing anything serious to combat Bush's torture and claimed national security and executive powers either.

Saudi female journalist sentenced to 60 lashes
Whew! I had forgotten there for a second that Saudi Arabia was an immensely backwards and oppressive state that represses, suppresses, and brutalizes its people. I appreciate the reminder. See what slips your mind when it's all IranIranIran, AfgahnistanAfghanistanAfghanistan, and PakistanPakistanPakistan 24/7? You forget about the smaller scumbags. Isn't that always the way?

Schumer: We Prevailed On White House That Public Option Was The Way To Go
Chuck Schumer gives a bit on a rundown of the process that finally ended up with Harry Reid putting the a public option into the Senate bill. It involved a stick of truth being effectively and publicly used to spank the behinds of non-believers, progressives actually making a stand and succeeding on the matter of a public option trigger, and a wacky ghost mystery that resulted in Reid falling through a revolving bookcase, finding the mummy's hidden gold and a spare spine. He doesn't talk about how the debate got so shoddy that a weak public option opt-out was viewed as a victory, but I think we know the answer to that. (*psst* the Senate is a stupid place)

Crisis averted....for now

Health Insurance Stocks Rise After Defeat Of Public Option Amendments

Shares of companies that operate private health plans turned higher or trimmed losses in afternoon trading Tuesday after a Senate committee rejected an amendment that would have created a government-run insurance option. Humana Inc. (HUM) shares, which had been down earlier, were recently up 1% at $38.41. UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) shares gained 3 cents to $25.83.

Private health insurers have bitterly fought the creation of a public insurance option, fearing that such an option would cut into their profits. Yesterday, Life And Health Insurance News reported that the insurance industry has responded positively to the defeat of the public option amendments. “We are pleased by the rejection of both the Rockefeller and Schumer amendments,” said Tom Currey, president of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. Janet Trautwein, president of the National Association of Health Underwriters, also told the press that her organization is pleased by the failure of the Schumer and Rockefeller amendments.

Whew, that's a relief to hear. We have averted the looming crisis of middling stock growth for insurance companies. I'm glad. I wouldn't want our precious health insurance industry to be unable to grub every dime it has coming to it. I'm just sad the stocks grew so little. 1%? 3 cents? For shame, Wall Street. I can only hope that the stocks went up in the previous days knowing that the amendments were almost 100% likely to be defeated. Still, we're not out of the woods yet. Chuck Schumer still seems optimistic and there's still a danger that a public option could come out of the House/Senate conference committee.

Stay vigilant, otherwise our health care system might have to suffer the indignity of lower quarterly dividend payments, creating insurance options that don't vacuum money out of people's pockets in return for nothing, and *shudder* covering sick people. Hopefully we can still avoid that nightmare dystopian future.

Lick my bootheel, shiteyes

In and event that surprises no one, Sen. Rockefeller's strong public option amendment failed 15-8 and Sen. Schumer's weak public option amendment failed 13-10, thus the Senate Finance Committee health care bill goes out without a public option. Baucus, Carper, Conrad, Lincoln, and Nelson voted against Rockefeller's, and Baucus, Conrad, and Lincoln voted against Schumer's.

Conrad and Baucus were quick to point out that while they totally supported a public option, they were going to vote against it because it didn't have enough votes to pass...because they didn't vote for it. Circular logic....head..hurts. Which also means that they're essentially protecting Democrats who would support a Republican filibuster (against the biggest attempt public health care reform in US history) by making sure they won't ever have to raise their head up and stick by that "no public option" "no reducing the cost of health care" conviction they allegedly seem to so strongly believe in. Awesome, we wouldn't want to play hardball with public plan opposing Democrats or try to exert pressure based on the extreme unpopularity of supporting a GOP filibuster, now would we?

For their part Schumer and Rockefeller were quick to declare moral victories, what with their moral health care savings, claim that the public option is not dead, and claim that a future fight for the public option in the full Senate will be less daunting. Proving that both of them must have hit their heads on something very hard and forgot how the Senate works. Thanks again for all this nothing Democrats.

KA-BOOM

What's that sound? It's a ticking clock strapped to a a bundle of TNT. Why? Because this health care debate is READY TO EXPLODE!!! Like a roadside bomb in Afghanistan or like a pro wrestling grudge match. Why? Because the Huffington Post said so. Why would they say that? Sensationalism, but also because the Senate Finance Committee is going to consider public option amendments and SHIT is about to GO DOWN and simultaneously GET IT ON. Why? Because these rotten SOB's finally have to go on the record about a public option.

As reporter Jill Lawrence puts it in Politics Daily, ""The debate over whether to create a public insurance plan to compete with private plans is about to explode in the Senate Finance Committee. The stakes are high and so is the suspense."

Although the public plan isn't expected to get a majority of the panel, supporters say at least they'll know where everybody stands.
...
Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., is already in the hot seat -- accused of being lukewarm, if not downright hostile, to the government option.
...
Senators will have at least two Democratic alternatives to choose from – and maybe a compromise from a moderate Republican who is keeping all her options open.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is proposing a public plan modeled on Medicare, in which the government would set what it pays doctors, hospitals and other medical providers.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is proposing a government plan that looks more like a private insurance company and negotiates payment rates with providers.

As the story goes, 9 of 13 panel Democrats have publicly come out in favor of some public option. If the dark and mysterious Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) comes out a supports one, then Baucus will have the tiebreaking vote. And one can see why Baucus is hesitant about including a public option, I mean why would Max Baucus want to tie his vote to a crazy idea that fringe leftists like Max Baucus support in their health care white papers. Plus, as Max Baucus knows, the public plan doesn't have much support in the Senate because jerkoff Senators like Max Baucus say they won't support it. Can't you see what he sees? Riddles wrapped up in enigmas wrapped up in Senators from Montana.

If these various public plans fail in the finance committee, there is still the weak-ass public option trigger supported by Olympia Snowe (R-ME) back when she thought she was the big shit 60th vote. But now that Massachusetts altered its Constitution in time to get a Kennedy replacement seated, its unclear whether or not she still feels like she has to be a responsible adult. So...tick-tick-tick. The assured childishness is probably happening on C-SPAN as I type. Go watch and weep as you see Democrats try to hem, haw, and weasel their way out of supporting the one thing that will be guaranteed to put the reform in health care reform

Great moments in religious relations

Republican Senator hopeful Kim Hendren, on some of the outreach to the Jewish community he's undertaking.

Hendren, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, told Arkansas blogger Jason Tolbert he put his foot in his mouth while explaining “that unlike Sen. Schumer, I believe in traditional values, like we used to see on ‘The Andy Griffith Show.’”

“I made the mistake of referring to Sen. Schumer as ‘that Jew’ and I should not have put it that way as this took away from what I was trying to say,” Hendren elaborated.

Defending himself again to the Arkansas News, Hendren went further, saying he didn’t know why the words “that Jew” came out of his mouth. He added that there is a Jewish person he admires — Jesus. He’s also partial to Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Well, that was a nice campaign your were running Mr. Hendren, but now it's all ov...oh...you're running in Arkansas. Everything's fine. Actually, you might have gained votes. Smart move.

I do like his contention that the main reason it was wrong to refer to a sitting US Senator as "that Jew" was because it weakens his argument. Yeah, taking an entire race, ethnicity, or religion and then referring to a member of that group by the singular name of that group does tend to weaken the strength of an argument. In fact I think the only time "that Jew" is an acceptable answer is if someone asks you "Which one of these Jews do you want to give a hug to" and even then it's kind of sketchy.

But then again since the argument you were trying to make was probably something like "the socialists are coming to steal the American Dream" or "The liberals done hate the heartland", I'm not sure even a trip to Slur-ville could have weakened the intellectual heft of anything you said.

The honorable and buyable Sen. Charles Schumer

Senator Charles Schumer (D-$$), gets taken to task (kind of) in today's Times. Here's the champion of the little guy addressing a couple dozen finance industry executives in the early days of the financial apocalypse:

“We are not going to be a bunch of crazy, anti-business liberals,” one executive said, summarizing Mr. Schumer’s remarks. “We are going to be effective, moderate advocates for sound economic policies, good responsible stewards you can trust.”

The message clearly resonated. The next week, executives at firms represented at the breakfast sent in more than $135,000 in campaign donations.

Fine, fine. Senator from New York. Must cater to the financial industry, given that its long-term solvency and the state's are intertwined. Senator Schumer would naturally then look to ways of ensuring growth and sustainability, right?

But Mr. Schumer, a member of the Banking and Finance Committees, repeatedly took other steps to protect industry players from government oversight and tougher rules, a review of his record shows. Over the years, he has also helped save financial institutions billions of dollars in higher taxes or fees.

He succeeded in limiting efforts to regulate credit-rating agencies, for example, sponsored legislation that cut fees paid by Wall Street firms to finance government oversight, pushed to allow banks to have lower capital reserves and called for the revision of regulations to make corporations’ balance sheets more transparent.

“Since the financial meltdown, people have been asking, ‘Where was Congress? Why didn’t they see this coming? Why didn’t they provide better oversight?’ ” said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America. “And the answer for some, including Senator Schumer, is that they were actually too busy pursuing a deregulatory agenda. Their focus was on how we have to lighten up regulation on Wall Street.”

Apparently, their focus has not shifted.