In Pain

I hurt my right shoulder seven weeks ago.  Pain, as measured on the 10-point scale, started in the 7 to 8 range and has mellowed into 2's and 3's.  That's bad enough to wake me several times a night.  My medical insurance coverage is OK, though more pricey and less comprehensive than what I had a decade ago.  Out of pocket expenses are now a little over $900.  In one sense, yes, I can afford it which means that I don't have to choose between physical therapy or groceries, haven't been late on the mortgage in order to pay a doctor bill, and have kept up with utilities and health insurance.  But, pain does wonders for focusing the mind and, in my case, for examining ideas about fairness.  Here is my radical idea:  Mitt Romney should pay my medical expenses.  So should Donald Trump, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul; also the Koch brothers, Hunt brothers, and Baldwin brothers.   Add Michael Moore, Jane Fonda, and John Kerry.  And, my neighbors, cops on patrol, and the county firefighters.

Because, here's the deal.  Pain is awful.  Cancer and heart disease are worse.  And, we the people have a moral obligation to help each other.  Sometimes we have to grit our teeth like when a drinker needs a liver transplant or a motorcyclist riding without a helmet requires brain surgery.  We may not like their behavior, but that's just too bad.  Health care is a human right, not an entitlement.   My injured shoulder gets treated and my taxes help pay for everyone else's health care.  Anything less is grotesque cruelty.

Former Senator Rick Santorum thinks he should be President and tens of thousands – perhaps hundreds of thousands – of Americans agree. This is Santorum at a campaign stop yesterday or the day before:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told the mother of a child with a rare genetic disorder on Tuesday that she shouldn't have a problem paying $1 million a year for drugs because Apple's iPad can cost around $900.

Speaking to more than 400 people at Woodland Park, Colorado, the former Pennsylvania senator said that demand should set prices for drugs.

"People have no problem paying $900 for an iPad," the candidate explained. "But paying $900 for a drug they have a problem with — it keeps you alive. Why? Because you’ve been conditioned to think health care is something you can get without having to pay for it."

The mother replied that she could not afford her son's medication, Abilify, which can cost as much as $1 million a year without health insurance.

"Look, I want your son and everybody to have the opportunity to stay alive on much-needed drugs," Santorum insisted. "But the bottom line is, we have to give companies the incentive to make those drugs. And if they don't have the incentive to make those drugs, your son won't be alive and lots of other people in this country won't be alive."

"He’s alive today because drug companies provide care," the candidate continued. "And if they didn’t think they could make money providing that drug, that drug wouldn’t be here. I sympathize with these compassionate cases. … I want your son to stay alive on much-needed drugs. Fact is, we need companies to have incentives to make drugs. If they don’t have incentives, they won’t make those drugs. We either believe in markets or we don’t."

I do not know what caused Santorum's emotional disfigurement. Just get him the hell away from me and everyone else. There aren't enough therapists or enough couches in this land to repair his twisted psyche. Has Santorum or any of his cohort ever responded to a question or comment with, “Oh. Wait a moment. You've got a good point there. I may have been wrong/hasty/ill informed/misguided about that idea. I guess I just didn't think it through. Thank you.”? 

Only this one datum – a family can't afford extraordinarily expensive medication for seriously ill child – should smash forever the idea that unfettered markets solve all problems.  Anyone who can't understand that or cannot have a sophisticated discussion about expensive on-going treatments should leave politics.  They have chosen the wrong career.   

More Math

The tax returns are out.  Mitt and Ann Romney received $21,600,000 in 2010.  Received is the most neutral verb I've found for the previous sentence.  Earned has a moral sense.  Collected implies some effort.  Acquired doesn't add useful nuance.  Income is a noun.  I'll stay with received.

And received they did.  $59,000 spewed through the Romney spigot on an average day.  Every day, for a full year.  In 2010, one day of being Romney -- just one day -- brought in more money than the median US household earned in an entire year.  Or, think about the four days of Thanksgiving.  Mitt and Ann received almost a quarter of a million dollars: $237,000 from the time the turkey was slid into the oven until the last leftovers were eaten.  In just those four days, the Romney's got more money than 98% of Americans get in one year.

Ooops.  I had to put this post on hold while running an errand.  The little trip took 20 minutes and, in that time, Mitt sucked up another $820.

America has reached banana-republic-magnitude income disparity.  Our skewed distribution of wealth is the sign of a sick society.

Wrong wrong wrong, again

America and Europe are running their economies as well as Francesco Schettino steered the Costa Concordia. The financial results are and will be just as predictable.  But, Very Serious People demand even more austerity to supplement failed austerity.  Why?  Because people can believe just about anything:

Evolution is only a theory, global warming is a hoax, the Earth is 6000 years old, homeopathy works, vaccines cause autism, Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons, a mythical magical invisible omnipotent all-powerful being guides holy quarterbacks to victory, women should be subservient to men, the President is a Muslim, Earth Day   celebrates Lenin's birthday, Yuri Geller, foreign aide takes a large part of the national budget, Obama is a communist, Iraq helped the 9/11 hijackers, cell phones cause brain cancer, the Laffer Curve, Sylvia Browne, Jonathan Edward, Juan de Dios, The Secret, and Jim Jones,

not matter how strong the opposing evidence.

Cheating Our Children

Laurie Abraham's long article, Teaching Good Sex, in the Nov 20th New York Times Sunday magazine is a powerful reminder of what we have lost to the right wing's pro-ignorance agenda.  Read the article and try to imagine if it described a typical American school.  Imagine the tangible results of fewer abortions, less sexually transmitted disease, and fewer teen pregnancies.  And, then think of the intangible results of a happier, confident, plain spoken, and less neurotic young men and women.

Instead, we have let conservative crazies have their way for years.

Reality -- for nearly everyone -- is sickeningly far from Friends Central School's normalcy.  Start with the obvious.  An openly gay teacher is a red flag to right wing America; and one who teaches human sexuality to teenagers would bring out the torches and pitchforks.  Principals would be forced to resign and school superintendents would recite profound apologies.  Then, there's the reality of Friends Central having small discussion classes led by a highly respected teacher when the rest of the country's schools endure increasing class sizes, narrowing curricula, and teacher union bashing.

Enough.  True education places critical thinking and intellectual rigor above all else.  To hell with worse-than-mediocre bland substitute that is given our children.  To hell with the sieves formed by standardized tests.  To hell with morons who rank religion above biology.  Creationism ain't science no matter how much lipstick you smear on a bible.  To hell with all censors and book burners.  If Twain's Huck Finn says, "Nigger," then nigger it be.

Cherchez Les Rapports Annuels

Thanks, once again, to Matt Taibbi  and to the Professional Left podcast for correcting Republican nonsense about the financial meltdown.

Taibbi took on New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg for repeating the lie that, "It was not the banks that created the mortgage crisis. It was, plain and simple, congress who forced everybody to go and give mortgages to people who were on the cusp."  Not only is this a favorite Republican misdirection, but Taibbi points out that everyone on Wall Street knows it to be a big lie.

Driftglass and Bluegal slap down Congressman Joe Walsh for emitting the same blame-Congress nonsense.  Walsh deserves the reprimand even though he may not be smart enough, nor mentally balanced enough, to separate truth from Republican battle orders.  

Here's one more point.  Nearly all of the companies consumed by the mortgage-related conflagration were publicly traded.  The list includes Countrywide, Washington Mutual, AIG, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America and on and on.  Business risks due to Congressional mandates should have been described in their annual reports to shareholders.  Yet, none of the reports from all of those publicly traded companies during the decade preceding the implosion mention those risks.  Not one damn word.  

The next time anyone does a Flip Wilson Congress-made-me-issue-those-bad-mortgages shtick, ask to see the risk assessments in the annual reports.  

Kate Smurthwaite

Kate Smurthwaite spoke truth to insanity on the beeb, and I just love the collective gasp.  She actually implied that people who believe in heaven are idiots.  Can you imagine?  And, she did the math on the Muslim's Jan and Dean heaven that promises two girls for every boy.  Where do all those extra women come from? 

The clip is great; see for yourself:



 As always, the arguments in favor of god are just piss weak.  There's the guy claiming that money doesn't really exist.  Where's a 16-ton sack of coins when you really need one?  His thinking is so polluted by religion that he can't distinguish different meanings of the word "faith."  Face it, bro.  Would you rather own Treasury bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, or just by the full faith in god? 

I also love the pompous boring old fart who pronounced Ms. Smurthwaite's comment rude.  OK?  Is that supposed to prove the existence of heaven?  If so, how?  Please explain in 250 polite words, or less.