The Weekly Rewind

You know why you’re here, so let’s just get right to it.

Heckle: to $4.109. That was the average price of a gallon of gasoline earlier this week, setting a new record. According to AAA, gas prices have risen 40 percent in the last year. We just keep getting screwed deeper and deeper, but at least the pace is slowed from a sprint to a stroll……it still hurts like hell.

Applaud: to avoiding a knee jerk reaction. The Congress voted to override President Bush’s veto of a Medicare bill aimed at forestalling an 11 percent cut in payments to doctors taking care of Medicare patients. The House voted 383 to 41 to override the veto, while the Senate voted 70 to 26. We need a long term solution to what will become a bigger problem and we need serious thoughts and discussions NOW.

Heckle: to lives cut down due to misguided thinking. Nine American soldiers died last Sunday , in the worst violence against Americans in Afghanistan in three years. The killings illustrated the growing threat of Taliban militants and their associates, who in recent months have made Afghanistan a far deadlier war zone for American-led forces than Iraq. Which once again points to the fact that our beef is with the Taliban, (which knows no country) and not the country of Iraq who we conveniently invaded. Our focus should not be on Iraq or even Afghanistan, but on the Taliban.

Applaud: to our troops bravery and determination. It was reported that the Taliban insurgents who attacked a remote American-run outpost near the Pakistan border on Sunday outnumbered allied forces almost three to one and some breached the NATO compound in a coordinated assault that took the defenders by surprise. The attackers were eventually “driven back in a pitched four-hour battle.” Once again, our focus should be on fighting the Taliban. Ours troops should be commended for their grit and determination in fighting back this overwhelming force.

Applaud: to waking up. On Wednesday, Pentagon leaders announced that a surge in forces in Afghanistan will occur “sooner rather than later.” The moves are expected to happen within weeks, as officials prepare to lower troop levels in Iraq. And I am sure for our troops already in Afghanistan, this cannot happen soon enough!

Heckle: to the fact we cannot be this blind. In Afghanistan, “the killing of civilians in foreign military airstrikes is shattering Afghans’ support for keeping international troops in their troubled land and driving angry young men into the arms of the Taliban.” A spokesperson for NATO explained, “There is a perception problem.” You think? We seem to have a big problem in this area of the world with people’s perceptions. Could it be that we truly suck in communicating our intentions and our purpose? And maybe the fact that we don’t seem to give a crap about the people who actually live there and are just trying to live their lives and take care of their families? Yeah it’s a possibility. This administration is not known for its communicative skills.

Heckle: to combining the church and state. The Bush administration is seeking to require “all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.” The proposed rule would force hospitals, clinics and medical schools to sign “written certifications” as a prerequisite to getting federal funds. I’m sorry is the country being run by Americans or by the Vatican?

Heckle: to “remain calm, all is well”, yeah sure it is. Earlier this week, President Bush tried to calm consumers troubled by the economy, but his words had little effect. By the end of the day on Tuesday, the Dow had closed at its lowest level in two years, and the government reported that prices had jumped at their sharpest pace in 27 years. Sorry Mr. Bush, too little, way too late. Remember Kevin Bacon at the parade panic near the end of Animal House?

Heckle: to just plain criminal. According to internal Army documents, “shoddy electrical work” by private contractors at “American military facilities” in Iraq is causing more “deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged.” There were 283 fires between August 2006 through January 2007. What a surprise, the Pentagon not being honest and upfront about something as serious as this. Not only do our troops have to live with the fact that every time they go out on patrol they may not come back. They also have to worry that they may die taking a shower, or sleeping, or just relaxing back at base camp. There is no excuse for this and the companies responsible should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

Be good, stay informed….later.

Spinning something that can't be spun... again

Yesterday I posted about how, in the eyes of the Bush(whacked) Administration, that an up-tick in violence in Afghanistan was a good thing… and this administration's knack of spinning bad things as good. They’re doing it again...

This time it’s healthcare.

Back in 2000, the WHO ranked the US 37th in health care out of 191 countries… not soon after, “President” Bush said; “we have fabulous health care.” All fine and good, but when millions of your citizens aren’t covered, something’s amiss… and it’s not fabulous.

Fast-forward to this week and OMB Director Jim Nussle echoing Bush’s inaccurate claim while explaining Bush’s new (historical – and not in a good way) budget... that US healthcare is the “best,” saying;

“So beneficiaries, I don’t think, will see the differences. … We have the best health care in the world. And our seniors especially get great health care. And that will not be affected by this small drop in percentage increases over the next five years.”

He apparently wants all of us to ignore the $200 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts over the next five years, which will make the dismal state of U.S. health care even worse… yes, that’s possible. Scary, but possible…

The way that Bush’s budget cuts Medicaid, by $18.2 billion over five years, essentially shifts costs to the states and thus will force the states to institute even bigger program cuts or tax increases to cover the expenses. So who gets screwed in the end? Well, it’s the Bush(whacked) Administration… so naturally it will be the little guy… and senior citizens, and in turn the people that care for them.

Nussle wasn’t done spinning as he continued by saying that Medicare “access and quality should not suffer at all.”

Uh-huh… why do I not believe that? And I’m not the only one, as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) also disagrees, strongly;

“Many of the proposed cuts go well beyond the reductions that MedPAC, Congress’ expert advisory commission on Medicare payments, recommended and considers safe. […] These reductions could drive some health care providers to limit the number of Medicare patients they see or drop out of the program entirely. That, in turn, would jeopardize health care for significant numbers of people who are elderly or have serious disabilities.”

Remember that a majority of Medicare savings would be achieved by reducing the annual update in federal payments to hospitals, many of which service large numbers of the uninsured… thus creating an incredibly large lack of funds to help the uninsured…

Bush is a lame duck and it’s high time Congress starts treating him like one. They need to get it through his thick skull that he’s screwed up big time and that he needs to stop doing stupid things before he pushes the populace even further into an economic pit of darkness… the likes of which this country has not seen in a very long time.

As if his legacy is not battered enough and rife with both moral and fiscal irresponsibility, he has to pull something like this in the last act of what is a very sad presidency… and an even sadder time in the history of the United States.