The Next Argument Against Health Care

Opponents of developing an American health care system can only seem to demonize the Canadian health system. They essentially are comparing no oranges to oranges since current proposals in Congress are not the same as the Canadian system and the United States doesn't have a health care system. Since their no oranges argument is a distraction I have found their new argument:


Lucy Van Pelt Is Not Really A Doctor.

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Barack Obama's birthday is next week do you think we will do anything special, such as getting over this craziness?

Apparently CNN chief Jon Klein will allow Lou Dobbs to descend deeper into the lunacy he is helping to foment. After telling the Dobbs show that the birth certificate story was dead Klein has said that he will not stop the network or specifically Dobbs from continuing to discuss this "dead story."

According to the LA Times Klein says referring to Dobbs:

"He's got more than 30 years as a television journalist, and I trust him, as I trust all our reporters and anchors, to exercise their judgment as various stories evolve."

Klein's lack of courage in the face of the truth is disgusting. To defend Dobbs as a journalist of great experience, while at the same time you explicitly describe his reporting as ignoring facts. Klein wrote in an email earlier to Dobb's producer:

"It seems to definitively answer the question. Since the show's mission is for Lou to be the explainer and enlightener, he should be sure to cite this during your segment tonight. And then it seems this story is dead -- because anyone who still is not convinced doesn't really have a legitimate beef."

I can understand, I don't agree, but I understand not just accepting the claims of authenticity of the certificate from FactCheck.org but to ignore the confirmation from the State of Hawaii is just wrong. Dobb himself has said that the Certificate of Live Birth is a document that shows that there is another document. It takes a special kind of genius to ignore the logical conclusion at which you just arrived. The State of Hawaii is saying that they have the birth certificate.

I don't think that Dobbs should be fired for perpetuating this non-issue but he should be fired for not doing his job. If Dobbs is truly a journalist and CNN, therefore Klein, truly values good reporting based on facts and the logical conclusions that those facts present they should stop this mess before any further legitimization of the conspiracy nuts continue.

I firmly believe that this non-issue is so important to the conspiracy nuts because the of 44 presidents Mr. Obama is “one of these thing is not like the others, one of these thing does not belong” (Sesame Street for the ill informed). Responses from readers to previous posts about the birthers have used language that sounds troubling. Perhaps I am being too sensitive. Here is an example:

“Mr. Obama was born to a woman separated from her Kenyan husband, a woman who went to see him shortly before Obama was born. Obama spent his early youth abroad, thinks of himself as a citizen of the world, and wrote an autobiography strongly focused on his absent father and his supposed African roots.

That's unusual. We've never had such an exotic candidate with such a peculiar personal story. Most past presidents have had two American parents.

So it's not unreasonable to ask to see some proof of his place of birth. What is unreasonable is that he steadfastly refuses to provide it. In fact, that goes beyond unreasonable: it's bizarre.”

What do you think am I being too sensitive? Are the use of "exotic", "citizen of the world", "unusual" and "peculiar" innocent or are they displaying that President Obama's differentness from the previous 43 presidents is threatening?

Barack Obama's birthday is next week do you think we will do anything special, such as getting over this craziness?

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Rhetorical Terms

I love my copy of The Handlist of Rhetorical Terms. Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic has brought a new term of argument to my attention. reductio ad Hitlerum. Hopefully it makes in to the next addition.
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Gary Kreep, Attorney at Law

The birthers have the best names. They have two lawyers with names that could come out of a Mike Myers movies or the next Naked Gun movie, Gary Kreep and Orly Taitz.

The Washington Independent reports how the McCain Campaign dimissed these nutjobs and how McCain fought his own battle on this front.

The Daily Show on Taitz

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Born Identity
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

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Get Your Berlusconi 'sex tapes' Here

I would rather not, but if you want it The Times Online has the story. Sphere: Related Content

Phuket, Hillary Clinton Insulted By North Korea

Alex Wagner writes at politicsdaily.com:

"While in Phuket, Thailand, for the regional ASEAN conference, the Secretary of State has been trying to drum up regional support for isolating the North Korean government and for U.N. sanctions on North Korean arms and missile development. In an interview with ABC on Monday, HRC had this to say in response to Pyongyang's recent missile tests: 'What we've seen is this constant demand for attention. Maybe it's the mother in me, the experience I've had with small children and teenagers and people who are demanding attention: Don't give it to them." 'When she added on Wednesday that North Korea 'has no friends left,' Pyongyang hit back in personal terms, asserting that Clinton was 'by no means intelligent' and that North Korea 'cannot but regard Mrs. Clinton as a funny lady as she likes to utter such rhetoric, unaware of the elementary etiquette in the international community. . . . Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping."

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538 Asks: Where Did The Optimism Go?

Nate Silver calls some of the left's defeatism due to the delay of a health care bill the stupidest thing since Chris Weber's time out screw up at Michigan.

Silver writes:

"The media likes to talk about 'momentum'. It usually talks about the momentum in the present tense -- as in, 'health care has no momentum'. But almost always, those observations are formulated based on events of the past and sloppily extrapolated to imply events of the future, often to embarrassing effect: see also, New Hampshire, the 15-day infatuation with Sarah Palin, the Straight Talk express being left for dead somewhere in the summer of 2007, the overreaction to 'Bittergate' and the whole lot, and the naive assumption that Obama's high-60's approval ratings represented a paradigm shift and not a honeymoon period that new Presidents almost always experience."

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Kinsley on Dr. Gates, Race and Police

Michael Kinsley on Dr. Gates arrest.
Kinsley writes:

"generalizations about race don't lead only to bad things, like an unjustified arrest. They can lead to good things, too. The best example is well known around Harvard Square and other academic communities: affirmative action. Part of the rationale for affirmative action is that African Americans are more likely than whites to have struggled harder, under the burden of greater disadvantages, to reach the point where they are poised to enter Harvard. Therefore, they deserve a break. No doubt this is true on average. And no doubt it is false in many cases. You can easily decide that some generalizations are just too toxic to allow, even if true on average, and race might be a good area to start. But you'd be hard-put to justify forbidding racial generalizations in split-second decisions during tense confrontations between citizens and cops, while allowing them in the relatively leisurely precincts of a college admissions office."

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

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Rest Of The World Likes US More Now. Must Be Because Pres. Obama Is Not American.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project announced Thursday that the image of the United States in the world has improved. Much of this can be attributed to the election of Barack Obama.

I will read the full report tomorrow and write something if anything strikes me as interesting. Sphere: Related Content

Hopes For The "Race To The Top Fund"

I am hopeful that President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan's "race to the top fund" will help public schools. Finally we will be able to get a clear picture of the state of our education system. With 50 different standards for performance the data available about performance is very inaccurate. We are well past the time and need for absolute local control of standards and curriculum. The department is to hand out five billion dollars to states and nearly three quarters of a billion dollars directly to districts. Hopefully this is just to start. But this is a nice carrot to present the states when they can really use the dollars.

Arne Duncan said in February:

"If we accomplish one thing in the coming years—it should be to eliminate the extreme variation in standards across America.

I know that talking about standards can make people nervous—but the notion that we have 50 different goal posts is absolutely ridiculous.

A high school diploma needs to mean something—no matter where it's from.

We need standards that are college-ready and career-ready, and benchmarked against challenging international standards."

Amen. Sphere: Related Content

Michael Eric Dyson Makes A Joke Regarding Dr. Gates Arrest

Michael Eric Dyson makes a fair joke about the arrest of Dr. Gates. I think it goes to my previous point. Henry Louis Gates Arrest.



Sorry about the quality of the video. Sphere: Related Content

Henry Louis Gates Arrest

I read the police report and have initially three questions.

1. Is it possible to act disorderly on your own property or in your house?
2. If you are going to show ID to an officer in this situation why not show ID with your address?
3.It is possible the person with the real problem with race is the woman who called the police?


I did find funny the line in the report that says Gates said his front door was unsecurable because of a previous break in attempt. Sphere: Related Content

Transexuals In Iran

Sex change is not forbidden by religious law or Iran. Surprising.

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The Plank @ TNR on Gates and Pres. Obama's Statement

Jason Zengerle at The New Republic distills the aftermath of Dr. Gates interaction with Cambridge police and President Obama's statement.

23.07.2009

Race, Power, and the Law

And, while I realize there are all sorts of issues of race tied up in the Gates case, I think that the power dynamics involved are getting short shrift. Even if you're white, any time you have an encounter with a police officer, the officer has the upper hand in terms of power, since he's the guy who has the power to arrest you. After that initial encounter, however, that power dynamic can be reversed--at least if you're sufficiently rich, accomplished, and connected, as Gates is. (If you're not those things, that power dynamic will probably never change.) Which is why, at this point, Gates clearly has the upper hand over Crowley in terms of power. The irony is that Crowley's initial abuse of power has now put him in the position of being largely powerless.

To read the essay click here

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Was That The Purpose Of The News Conference?

Tom Shales writes in the Washington Post,

"Still, viewers who sincerely wanted to know the essentials of the president's health-care reform plan got an opportunity."

The evening was a little weak on policy specifics. I was hoping for much more from President Obama. I was disappointed with only ten questions. The reporters were also disappointing because they did not ask detailed policy questions.

The only two detailed questions were why the rush? and are the "American people are going to have to give anything up in order for this to happen?" The Presidents answer to the timeline question was ridiculous. President Obama responded to the query about the dealine with,

"I'm rushed because I get letters every day from families that are being clobbered by health care costs. And they ask me, 'Can you help?'"

He goes to convey some very touching examples and anecdotal stories about Americans experience with health care. But he gets letters everyday. Come on. He is the President of the United States I am sure he get many letters everyday. This does not seem to be a justification of this timeline he is demanding. Is there wisdom in the philosophy that we need to get this done quickly?

The image that the President needs to express more, as does the Congress when speaking to the American people is that "in a country like ours, that's not right." It is not right that people suffer because we don't have a health care system, but we need a system that is structured smartly not rushed in a couple months. I want the President to come to me and be able to explain what the plan is not just anecdotal stories that display the urgency. Even though those stories are important.

Can President really say that the American people with health insurance are not going to sacrifice something after a new structure is in place? Maybe he his correct but it does seem fanciful.

Shale's also wrote,

"Obama did nothing at the news conference -- other than preempt or delay some prime-time shows -- that would seem potentially harmful to his image. About the most justifiable criticism that could likely be made: "Barack Obama still seems too good to be true." It's doubtful any president would lose sleep over such criticisms as that -- no matter what the Cambridge police department might be saying about him Thursday morning. "

I don't care that he did nothing to hurt his image. I wanted more information.


P.S.
I love that a reporter stood up to ask a question even though he was not called on bt the President. Sphere: Related Content

The birthers have a website???

The birthers have a website Sphere: Related Content

I Think Michelle Malkin Fantasizes During Presidential News Conferences

While I don't think the news conference was very informative or very useful there are some reactions that just don't make sense. It is almost as if they watch the news conference on television but imagine what is being spoken.

Michelle Malkin describes the evening as fear-mongering. She writes, "Uhhhhhh, demonizing doctors doesn’t exactly seem the best way to shore up support for the ailing, failing government health care takeover." Fear-mongering. demonizing doctors. What was she watching. It can't be news to her that doctors are susceptible to incentives. Malkin does not provide specifics when she makes claims such as fear-mongerer, much like the president was very weak on specifics last night. I can only assume that she was referring to this section of the news conference:

"Right now, doctors a lot of times are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that's out there. So if they're looking and you come in and you've got a bad sore throat or your child has a bad sore throat or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, "You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out."

Now, that may be the right thing to do, but I'd rather have that doctor making those decisions just based on whether you really need your kid's tonsils out or whether it might make more sense just to change -- maybe they have allergies. Maybe they have something else that would make a difference.

So -- so part of what we want do is to free doctors, patients, hospitals to make decisions based on what's best for patient care. And that's the whole idea behind Mayo. That's the whole idea behind the Cleveland Clinic."

This is where President Obama was the most expansive regarding doctors but is this fear-mongering? Perhaps the President could have quoted George Bernard Shaw's The Doctor Dilemma and avoided this jab from Malkin. Shaw wrote:

"That any sane nation, having observed that you could provide for the supply of bread by giving bakers a pecuniary interest in baking for you, should go on to give a surgeon a pecuniary interest in cutting off your leg, is enough to make one despair..."

Much more colorful and entertaining and it makes the same point. The Progressive Policy Institute reported last year that "$700 billion is wasted each year on unnecessary tests and procedures that do not improve patient outcome." To call out behavior that is wrong doesn't equate to Demonization. Sphere: Related Content

McIntosh Repeat Errors About Sotomayor's Judicial History

David McIntosh has created of number of errors. I made some coffee and now to get to work.

In today’s Wall Street Journal McIntosh writes “Vote No On Sotomayor.” He attempts to assert facts that support his case but his claims are wrong.Unlike Mr. McIntosh, I am not a lawyer but I can read. To be fair these errors have been made everywhere.

As I said I am not a lawyer so if this wrong or boring I apologize (I hope I am not wrong).

Mr. McIntosh writes:

“Judge Sotomayor is almost certainly a vote in favor of restricting Second Amendment protections and property rights, upholding racial preferences, and providing unlimited abortion on demand.”

From this premise he cites rulings she has made while on the Court of Appeals.

According to McIntosh, as Justice, Sotomayor will certainly “vote in favor of restricting Second Amendment protections.” His first error is the reading of a Second Circuit decision on Maloney v. Cuomo (2009). Here McIntosh quotes the Second Circuit opinion, “the Second Amendment applies only to limitations the federal government seeks to impose on this right.” In Maloney v. Cuomo the court considered a claim by a New York attorney that a state law prohibiting possession of a chuka stick (also known as nunchaku, a device used in martial arts consisting of two sticks joined by a rope or chain) violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms.

The problem with McIntosh’s complaint is that it does not support the idea that legal precedent and rule of law. His argument is that in ruling on Maloney, Sotomayor disregarded the Supreme Courts decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. Unfortunately a close reading of Heller shows that the ruling is not explicitly applicable to Maloney. Justice Scalia’s majority opinion in Heller states,

“The handgun ban amounts to a prohibition of an entire class of ‘arms’ that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society for that lawful purpose. The prohibition extends, moreover, to the home, where the need for defense of self, family, and property is most acute. Under any of the standards of scrutiny that we have applied to enumerated constitutional rights, banning from the home ‘the most preferred firearm in the nation to ‘keep’ and use for protection of one’s home and family,’ 478 F. 3d, at 400, would fail constitutional muster.”

The first problem I find is that a chukka stick is not a handgun therefore not the weapon “most preferred” “to keep and use for protection”. It is also not in the “class or arms” considered in Heller. As written in the Maloney decision Heller “did not present the question of whether the Second Amendment applies to the states.” Knowing this and the importance of rule of law and precedent there seems no way the Second Circuit could have ruled the way McIntosh would have preferred without being the horrible “judicial activists.” Since Heller was not applicable the Second Circuit applied Presser v. Illinois, it explained that it was “settled law . . . that the Second Amendment applies only to limitations the federal government seeks to impose” on the individual’s right to bear arms.

McIntosh commits the same error as he cites Ricci v. DeStefano. McIntosh writes “a Second Circuit panel of judges, including Judge Sotomayor, upheld the city’s decision to disregard the results of a promotion examination because too few racial minorities passed.” But in reality, if McIntosh had read the decision he may have avoided his error. The Second Circuit upheld the case because they found:

“The remedy chosen here was decidedly less “race conscious” than the remedies in Kirkland and Bushey, because New Haven did not race-norm the scores, they simply decided to start over, to develop some new assessment mechanism with less disparate impact. Thus, while the evidence shows that race was taken into account in the decision not to certify the test results, the result was race-neutral: all the test results were discarded, no one was promoted, and firefighters of every race will have to participate in another selection process to be considered for promotion. Indeed, there is a total absence of any evidence of discriminatory animus towards plaintiffs-under the reasoning of [Hayden v. County of Nassau, 180 F.3d 42, 51 (2d Cir. 1999)], “nothing in our jurisprudence precludes the use of race-neutral means to improve racial and gender representation.... [T]he intent to remedy the disparate impact of the prior exams is not equivalent to an intent to discriminate against non-minority applicants.”

Again I’m not a lawyer but I can read. I agree with McIntosh that this sucks for the firefighters that did well on the first test but that is not the standard by which the law functions.

There are other problems with McIntosh’s latest attempt but I won’t don’t want to bore you with why Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund aren't crazy abortionists.

Note: There has been a correction from the original posting. I attributed the essay Vote No On Sotomayor to Karl Rove. The essay was written by David McIntosh. Apologies.

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False arguments on health care.

I have heard twice tonight the argument that the world comes here for care. That is true. The world comes to the United States for complicated surgeries and procedures. People who can afford to come here and pay for procedures use that market power to take advantage of the amazing research and hospitals. But no one is coming here from Canada to take part of the everyday medical care because it is so great. We need to be honest about the differences between everyday health care or preventative care and the complicated procedures make our health care amazing. But don't forget that too many people can't afford either. Sphere: Related Content

The Mystery That is Glenn Beck. Solved.

I have thought that Glenn Beck was not for real but have not tried to articulate the idea. Luckily Cajun Boy @ has the overnight at Gawker to think about Glenn Beck.

Cajun writes:

"...I think that Glenn Beck is a guy who looked out across the vast expanse of America and saw a nation filled with paranoid dipshits waiting to have their irrational fears confirmed and exploited by an expert modern charlatan, a role he's been all too happy to fill."

This idea sound right to me.

Here is the video that enlightened Cajun.

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