Yet another HCR rant

Hopeful Skeptic

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Monday December 14, 2009 · 8:11 PM PST

2009/12/14 · 20:11

This will be short and anything but sweet...

So, as we currently are aware... it appears that the HCR bill will include the following:

personal mandates

NO Public Option

NO employer mandates

NO medicare buy-in

NO limits on insurance premiums

Perhaps some limits on insurance companies ability to exclude coverages

Hopeful Skeptic

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 09, 2009 · 11:39 PM PST

2009/11/09 · 23:39

I used to live in the MD-01 district.

While I lived there, I had a number of pretty respectable correspondences with Wayne Gilchrest. And while I didn't always agree with him, Wayne took the time to explain his position, and it was usually based on a reasonable set of facts (that I just happened to think had a different solution).

So, when I saw that Gilchrest was primaried by a right-wing-nut-job thanks to the fringe of his own party, I was happy to see him endorse Kratovil. It was a bold move, and reinforced my good opinion of Gilchrest.

And even though I'm no longer in that area, I even threw some money at Kratovil... and was thrilled to see him eek out a win.

I'm tempted to call and ask for my money back after his HCR vote.

Since I am a campaign donor, I received an e-mail from him today, "explaining" his vote. See the details below the fold.

Poll

53 votes Show Results

What would you do in my shoes?

53 votes Vote Now!

What would you do in my shoes?

Give him the stick (demand an immediate refund).

21 votes

Give him the carrot (tell him that I'll continue to support him if he does the right thing).

23 votes

Give up (I'm not going to be able to change his mind, and he's a blue dog, so forget about it!).

7 votes

Throw a pie at him! (virtual pie, of course!)

2 votes

Making abortion illegal does not make it stop

Hopeful Skeptic

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Tuesday October 13, 2009 · 3:58 PM PDT

2009/10/13 · 15:58

We progressives all know that making abortion illegal does not make abortions stop. It only makes women seek out dangerous illegal procedures often with dire consequences.

Well, now there is a study of trends over the last decade that proves it with actual data from statistics around the world.

The study was reported on the BBC News page.

Essentially, the study(PDF) found that all regions of the world have abortion rates that range from 20 to 40 abortions per 1,000 women. However, in regions where abortion is illegal, nearly all of the abortions are unsafe.

The study also found that the best way to reduce abortion rates is to provide women with access to contraception. Wow, such a non-shocking result.

However, a congressional committee (the same one who couldn't manage to approve a public option for health care) recently approved additional funding for Abstinence only education. Brilliant.

Some cut and past quotes from both the BBC story and the report itself below the fold.

Hopeful Skeptic

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Tuesday August 25, 2009 · 4:51 PM PDT

2009/08/25 · 16:51

Via PR newswire release: CtW Investment Group (Self described as an organization that "works with pension funds sponsored by unions affiliated with Change to Win, a federation of unions representing nearly 6 million members, to enhance long-term shareholder returns through active ownership.") has written a letter to a Whole Foods Board Director in which they call on the Board to replace John Mackey as CEO.

This is an amazing development, and never would have been possible without the groundswell of support for a boycott of Whole foods.

More discussion, and letter excerpts below the fold.

Hopeful Skeptic

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday August 12, 2009 · 2:41 PM PDT

2009/08/12 · 14:41

First of all, I must admit that I LOVE my local Whole Foods market. There is no other place that can hold a candle to their quality of produce. And as a vegetarian, their produce section is my little slice of heaven.

However, after I saw the Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's WSJ op ed piece (thanks to Aptoklas's recommended diary) I have to stop giving them my money.

This will be one of my most difficult boycotts. But I was so horrified by the Ayn Rand hardheartedness of his piece, that it actually overpowers my love of their produce section. I'll gladly search out alternatives, and perhaps even find some great local stores in the process.

A draft of my planned letter to the company is posted below the fold. I welcome any suggestions/comment on how to improve it. It needs to be under 3000 characters, and it's now 2500, so I can add a bit more, but not a lot.

Hopeful Skeptic

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday August 05, 2009 · 4:49 PM PDT

2009/08/05 · 16:49

Okay, perhaps I'm making a bit of a leap, but a CNN poll shows clearly that people over 50 are more scared of health care/ health insurance reform.

From the CNN article about the poll:

A majority of Americans over the age of 50 oppose Obama's plan; a majority of those under 50 support it.

** I also point readers to a diary written earlier today by khin (apparently not widely read) that discusses some problems with the poll **

Unfortunately there are no actual numbers broken down in their "Full transcript of Poll" (links to a PDF), so we have no way of assessing how significant the generation gap is.

However, let's assume that it's significant...

Further speculation below the fold.

Poll

62 votes Show Results

What is the biggest reason for the apparent generational divide in opinions regarding health care insurance reform?

62 votes Vote Now!

What is the biggest reason for the apparent generational divide in opinions regarding health care insurance reform?

A) Health Insurance funded scare tactics

18 votes

B) Old dogs are just plain scared of new tricks

6 votes

C) Old people don't like Obama, and young people all love him

5 votes

D) A and B

12 votes

E) A and C

3 votes

F) A, B and C

18 votes

Schwarzenegger proposes switch to digital texts

Hopeful Skeptic

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Monday June 08, 2009 · 5:45 PM PDT

2009/06/08 · 17:45

You are all aware of the terrible financial crisis in California... and the subsequent failure of bond measures that were designed to help alleviate a portion of that crisis.

Well, since that failure, there have been all sorts of new ideas on what to cut out of the budget.

The newest bid to save the state money, proposed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is the idea of converting public schools to digital, rather than print text books.

Some of his arguments in favor of the switch are compelling. However, I wonder about the consequences he left out of his glossy sales pitch.

Details below the fold.

Poll

141 votes Show Results

Do you think it is a good idea to move public schools to digital text books?

141 votes Vote Now!

Do you think it is a good idea to move public schools to digital text books?

Yes, and I am an educator (teacher, assistant, etc.).

20 votes

Yes, and I am not an educator.

53 votes

No, and I am an educator.

24 votes

No, and I am not an educator.

35 votes

Can we just give the kids pie instead of text books??

9 votes

The re-told story of 100,000,000 missing women

Hopeful Skeptic

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Sunday June 07, 2009 · 1:57 AM PDT

2009/06/07 · 01:57

This purpose of this diary is to encourage continued discussion of the topic that was diary'd (and subsequently removed) on Saturday.

I am not going to wade into the plagiarism broo-ha-ha. But there were a lot of kossacks who were engaging in very good conversations about women's rights in that diary's comments section.

So please continue here. I've pasted some excerpts of the Toronto Star Article and added some of my own "insight" and opinions below the fold.

Hopeful Skeptic

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 06, 2008 · 1:07 PM PST

2008/11/06 · 13:07

I just received an e-mail from the Charlie Brown campaign asking for donations to their "Election Protection Fund". Since the readership here is much wider than any of my personal e-mail lists, I'm posting it as a diary. (I hope that doesn't violate too many rules, and draw the ire of the diary police.)

As you are probably aware from the front page storyupdates, there are less than 500 votes separating Brown (D) from McClintock (R). And McClintock is trying to pull the typical republican stunt of tossing out votes to win an election.

The key message of the e-mail it this:

Yesterday, Tom McClintock hired an election attorney and brought in
a team of lawyers to "watch" the locations where absentee and
provisional ballots are being counted.

With McClintock's massive fundraising list, he has the financial
ability to hire as many lawyers as he needs to challenge the votes of
thousands of people who faithfully cast their ballots.

We need to combat this, but that takes resources.

Full e-mail below the fold:

Hopeful Skeptic

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 03, 2008 · 2:09 AM PST

2008/11/03 · 02:09

Yes. This is yet another personal diary about voting and volunteering for the Obama campaign.

I suppose just the fact that these diaries are so common on Dkos speaks volumes about Obama’s 50-state ground game. However, since we never know which diary will be inspiring to which reader, I am adding mine to the list.

I had some pretty exciting Saturday plans. After completing a huge milestone for my graduate project, I was finally going to have an hour or two that I could "donate" to Obama. Up until that point, I had only been able to donate money. And while I’m glad I could afford to give moola, I also know that money isn’t everything, and people on the ground are the real heart of the Obama campaign. I wanted to be a part of this historic campaign before it was too late. This was my last weekend to make it happen.

So my Saturday plans included 1) casting my ballot in person in early voting and 2) heading to the San Jose, CA Obama HQ to give them some of my time, probably phone banking to swing states. I got both done, but not quite as planned. It was really exciting and pretty unexpected.

Follow me below the fold for the details of my day.

Hopeful Skeptic

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday October 27, 2008 · 4:18 PM PDT

2008/10/27 · 16:18

It may be a little too early to start counting our chickens, but I'm going to try anyway.

For the sake of posterity, I'm interested in creating a list of all of the significant events that have transpired over the last 8 years to put the Democratic party at this historic crossroads.

I will start off with the obvious ones. But I know there are many Kossacks who are more informed than I, so please add to the list with a comment. My plan is to compile them into a new diary, or perhaps just update this one.

Follow below the fold for the list.

Hopeful Skeptic

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday October 24, 2008 · 3:12 PM PDT

2008/10/24 · 15:12

I was entertained that Dana Perino was forced to clarify who Bush actually voted for in a follow up e-mail today.

So this is what an impending tidal wave looks like, apparently. The press can't even be sure that the Republican president will vote for the Republican candidate. Classic!

Excerpts from the story below the fold...

Newer
Older

RSS

Yet another HCR rant

Kratovil's "reasons" for his dissapointing HCR vote

Making abortion illegal does not make it stop

Investment group calls for replacing Whole Foods CEO

My heart-breaking letter to Whole Foods

Why do people believe "Obama's health care plan will kill old people"

Schwarzenegger proposes switch to digital texts

The re-told story of 100,000,000 missing women

Charlie Brown (CA-04) needs $$ to protect the vote count!

I Stayed the F&%k In Line!

Community Diary: This perfect storm is made of...

Who did Bush Vote for?