-
Democrats Score an Abortion Rights Victory in Healthcare Bill
Tweet Share on Facebook September 30, 2009 Comment (22)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The healthcare reform proposal that will emerge from the Senate Finance Committee won't include the two most ticklish issues affecting healthcare reform at the moment. Yesterday the committee shot down two proposals that included so-called public options backed by President Obama and liberal Democrats. Today the committee defeated a proposal that's a darling of the extreme right wing: an expansive ban on even private insurance plans that include funding for abortions, so that even women who now pay privately for that coverage would have to pay again separately if anti-abortion extremists had their way. From CNN.com:
-
It's Not a 'Vast Right Wing Conspiracy,' Mr. Clinton, Just Honest Disagreement
Tweet Share on Facebook September 28, 2009 Comment (54)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Bill Clinton had a tendency to trust the media too easily when he was in office and that unfortunate tendency has continued unabated into his post-presidential period. Yesterday, he caved into a phraseology he should have avoided like crazy. From ABC News:
Former President Bill Clinton says the right-wing conspiracy that attacked him during his presidency now is after President Obama.
When asked whether the "vast right-wing conspiracy" is still present today, the former president answered without hesitation, "Oh you bet."
Are there a lot of conservatives out there trying to do in Clinton's reputation? And trying to do in some of President Obama's programs? Of course! Is it a "vast conspiracy?" Somehow conspiracy feels like the wrong word.
-
Healthcare Bill Will Pass With Public Option Despite Media Distortions
Tweet Share on Facebook September 25, 2009 Comment (17)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I've just emerged from a Democratic Women's Working Committee briefing for reporters on Capitol Hill and the four female House members there believe the ultimate bill to emerge from Congress will contain a public option. More about other interesting facts in a report they released at that meeting down below. But the headline is that the media have portrayed an unfairly negative view of healthcare negotiations on Capitol Hill, and these women believe healthcare reform will prevail and the bill sent to President Obama will contain a public option, so opposed by conservatives.
-
DHS’s Napolitano Claims al Qaeda is "Not as Strong as it Was"
Tweet Share on Facebook September 23, 2009 Comment (9)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I share herewith part of an interview I conducted with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for National Preparedness Month. The interview will appear on my PBS program, To the Contrary, on PBS stations this weekend. I have seen Secretary Napolitano say elsewhere that we are safer now than when 9/11 took place in 2001. I have not been able to find her saying al Qaeda is weaker than it was before. If you, dear readers, can find her saying that, please post a reference below.
JANET NAPOLITANO: We are certainly safer than we were prior to 9/11 and I say that with confidence. The Department of Homeland Security rose out of 9/11 and one of our, indeed our lead mission, is to work on making sure that we are safer. And we work with many throughout the federal system. We have the Department of Defense, the Dept of Justice, FBI, the national counter- terrorism center. All are organized and set up differently in a way to deal with terrorism than they were before 9/11.
-
Obama Sees that Immigration is to Blame for Lack of Jobs in Recession
Tweet Share on Facebook September 21, 2009 Comment (35)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Overpopulation is, according to this humble observer, the source of so many U.S. problems. Most of them are overlooked or ignored by politicians and by the media. From my perspective, I've blogged ad nauseam about U.S. population growth's negative impact on our environment, on suburban sprawl, on the underground economy, on pay scales for low income workers and so on.
But over the weekend, none other than President Obama told an interviewer at CNN he blames population growth for the jobless recovery:
-
Too Much Religion Leads to High Teen Pregnancy Rates
Tweet Share on Facebook September 18, 2009 Comment (86)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Is this a surprise to anybody? The following was posted on rhrealitycheck.org Thursday:
U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, according to a new study forthcoming in the journal Reproductive Health.
It's not surprising to me, because most of those "religious" states are also so-called red states. Generalizations are always dangerous, but lack of education, low or no income, and increased religiosity tend to intertwine and build on each other. Take one of the most egregious examples known.
-
Dodd Could Face Bout with WWE CEO Linda McMahon
Tweet Share on Facebook September 16, 2009 Comment (6)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
We knew Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd was in trouble, but now he’s going to have to wrestle his way to reelection—literally. The female head of WWE, CEO Linda McMahon, has tossed her, er, name in the ring and even admits a few “body slams” may help her win the race. Even though wrestling is hardly seen as a pristine industry, this woman may have managed to make it to the top of her profession without engaging in fixed matches. And she’s got some interesting things to say as a fiscal conservative running in a time of record federal debt:
-
Obama's Healthcare Public Option Is On a Respirator--Or Dead Already
Tweet Share on Facebook September 14, 2009 Comment (17)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
If the weekend TV talk shows are the crystal balls of national politics, then the so-called public option in the Obama healthcare reform effort is on the respirator if not already dead. About the most Democrat-friendly Republican in the U.S. Senate (particularly on healthcare reform) Olympia Snowe of Maine, told CBS this weekend the public option is,
"universally opposed by all Republicans in the Senate" and "therefore, there's no way to pass a plan that includes the public option."
The president's address to Congress last week may have swayed some apolitical Americans, or served as fodder to those who believe healthcare is a "right," not a service for which we all must pay. But his talk does not seem to have done much to change the minds of key Senators who will decide whether government-sponsored health insurance lives or dies.
-
Obama Should Boost Troops in Afghanistan
Tweet Share on Facebook September 4, 2009 Comment (26)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
President Obama, though he launched his campaign by opposing the Iraq War, should support what looks like a military recommendation to boost the troop presence in Afghanistan. From the New York Times:
The emerging debate follows the delivery Monday of a new strategic assessment by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who took over all American and NATO forces in Afghanistan in June. Mr. Gates has now forwarded the general's report of about 25 pages to Mr. Obama.
His administration is divided, with foreign policy expert Vice President Joe Biden opposing a build-up in Afghanistan. Biden believes instead the United States should deploy scarce resources to help stabilize Pakistan.
-
Women Will Soon Outnumber Men in the Workforce, Thanks to the Bad Economy
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2009 Comment (7)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
It's great that women are making headway in the work world, but the reason why they are is not so great. USA Today reports that American women are on the verge of making history and outnumbering men in the workforce. But that's due largely to the fact there are more men in industries smacked harder by the recession, such as construction and heavy industry:
The change reflects the growing importance of women as wage earners, but it doesn't show full equality, Hartmann says. On average, women work fewer hours than men, hold more part-time jobs and earn 77% of what men make, she says. Men also still dominate higher-paying executive ranks.
Women predominate in industries such as education and healthcare, which have not lost as many jobs. In fact, the comparison is rather scary. Since December of 2008, women lost a total of 1.66 million jobs, while men lost almost three times that much, at 4.75 million.
