09/12/09 : DoD Identifies Army Casualty 1st Lt. Tyler E. Parten, 24, of Arkansas, died Sept. 10 in Konar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
09/12/09 : DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (3 of 3) Gunnery Sgt. Edwin W. Johnson Jr., 31, of Columbus, Ga...assigned to 3rd Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan....died Sept. 8 while supporting combat operations in Kunar province
09/12/09 : DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (2 of 3) 1st Lt. Michael E. Johnson, 25, of Virginia Beach, Va...assigned to 7th Communications Battalion, 3rd Marine Headquarters Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan....died Sept. 8 while supporting combat operations in Kunar province
09/12/09 : DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (1 of 3) Staff Sgt. Aaron M. Kenefick, 30, of Roswell, Ga...assigned to 7th Communications Battalion, 3rd Marine Headquarters Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan...died Sept. 8 while supporting combat operations in Kunar province
Pool photo by Chris Hondros (NYT) The ceremony at the World Trade Center site on Friday, eight years after the terrorist attack.
Bill in Portland, Maine, gives us "Questions Worth Re-Asking:"
Why did the president sit in that Florida classroom for several minutes after being told "America is under attack"?
Why did Rudy Giuliani put the anti-terrorism command center in the World Trade Center against the advice of experts who knew better?
Could there be any greater examples of heroism than the passengers who fought back on Flight 93, the rescue teams at the Pentagon, or the NYPD and NYFD responders who ran into the towers without hesitation because "It's my job"?
Father Mychal Judge: Saint...or Supersaint? - Why did firefighters have faulty radios instead of dependable ones, Mr. Giuliani?
Yesterday was too busy and too long for me to post a decent memorial to that day.
Somewhere, God willing, I have a CD with my photos from St Petersburg, September 2001, and I will share them, but I have not seen it for a very long time. Here are my memories.
We were on our first visit to Rusia, seeing the sights of the imperial city. As we gathered for dinner two sisters came downstairs and informed the rest of us that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. This seemed so bizarre that we asked if it was some small private plane gone off course. No, they said, an airliner. In horror and disbelief we had a very subdued supper.
The last thing we would want to do when visiting a foreign city is spend time glued to the tube but everyone rushed back to their rooms. Seeing a disaster movie's special effects while reason says "this is real, not Hollywood," was so disorienting. The scope of it all was difficult to fathom. We were eight time zones ahead of New York so this went into the late hours for us. When CNN re-ran the same material, I switched to BBC. When both were endless loops, I began bouncing around in French, Spanish, and Italian channels where I could understand most of what they said. Exhausted with horror we went to bed.
Before we left the room the next morning we remembered that our new step-brother-in-law, Mike, was supposed to be at the WTC. We called home. Sister-in-law said that surely father-in-law would have told us. My ex reminded her that father-in-law did not tell us for months that his sister had died and asked for some follow up.
The Russian people were amazing. The compassion and grace they showed in our remaining days touched us deeply. Strangers would come up and offer their condolences. Our tour guide changed our plans that day so we could stop by the American Consulate. We visited a large produce market, stopped at a flower shop for flowers, then parked a street away from the consulate, walked through a school playground to get to the next street over, which was blocked to traffic, and approached. Expat Americans and Russians were gathered, laying flowers, standing in silence, weeping, praying, holding each other. Guards were everywhere on the assumption that any US outpost was a target.
I am no fan of Vladimir Putin as he appears to be an unreconstructured lover of permanent power. Even so, he was the first world leader to call the White House and express sympathy. By his order all the flags in Russia were at half mast. As our coach left the hotel that morning I saw the white-blue-and-red at half mast over the Winter Palace (Hermitage) and wept. Not one but five minutes of silence were called for at noon that day. We were, at that point, in the Russian Museum, working our way through the amazing exhibits with school children ahead of and behind us. Noon came and and complete silence fell. Long, total silence. The only sound was one American in our group who was clueless and kept asking questions of our guide who only nodded in response.
When we returned to the hotel there was a message on the phone in our room. The first four words are engraved on my memory. "Bill, Bob, Mike's OK." It was brother-in-law Bob telling us all we really needed to know. He elaborated a bit. We later learned from our stepmom that Mike was in the second tower. Folks had been drilled since the bombing back in 1993 (I think that was the year). Feeling the neighboring impact they immediately began to evacuate. They took the elevator part way then the stairs. He emerged from the building and walked straight to his hotel and called home. I have never asked him about it. I know he fled amid falling bodies.
The fact that we had no idea how or when we would get home was disorienting but chump change compared the the awful reality, the stunned grief, the global uncertainty. Planes were not flying in the United States (if we ignore the one taking the bin Ladens and other Saudis out of the United States and why have we NEVER been given a good explanation of that one?). Our visas expired on Saturday so we had to leave Russia.
The first leg of our return occurred on schedule. We flew from Pulkovo Airport in St Petersburg to Helsinki. The original plan was to change planes, fly to JFK, then to LAX. Instead the travel agency that arranged this tour put us up in a hotel in Helsinki for two nights until we could all fly back to the States.
There was not much security in Pulkovo. There was overwhelming security in Helsinki. We went through metal detectors three times. If you did not look northern European your bags were examined (profiling of the most blatant sort). Dogs went by repeatedly. The airport was crawling with armed police and military. In the chaos that greeted us at JFK there was plenty of security but not as much as in Finland. We cheered when we touched down on US soil.
The return involved booking each leg when you got there. It was beginning to look as though we would not get the next connecting flight as a very inefficient and, yes I will say it, incompetent doofus fumbled. Finally one of the Finnair folks, having finished with his own passengers, stepped over and almost immediately got us on our flight to Los Angeles. More security. The wand was going off by my shirt pocket. I told the security lady that I had a piercing there. She groped me to verify it then let me through. (It is long gone.) Then I realized it was not that at all but the little foil-lined packet with a towelette that I had from the previous flight.
We finally got to LAX and forked over for a taxi to take us to my in-law's home. It was the wee hours of the morning and I don't recall how long we slept and how quickly we returned to the Bay Area where we lived.
Special prayers and sharing time had been arranged at St Cuthbert's while I was still in transit. (Thank you, Pamela.) I went through the phone book, looking for the nearest Mosque to arrange for some dialogue and diffusing of ethnic and religious prejudice. The world needed, and still needs, healing. The entire nation was grieving, processing fear, making choices on how to respond.
And the stories of heroism, tragedy, and dislocation kept unfolding.
I think I am grateful to have been so far away in another country (the land of the enemy of my childhood). Distance was a small cushion. We received support from total strangers, people who could not speak English, people who had been raised to think of us as the enemy, people who lived in the city besieged by Germans in WWII. Responses were personal, heartfelt, and free of agenda but they reminded me of the larger human family, of the mortality we all share and the compassion of which we are all capable.
Ultimately, there are no words - for that day or for the sorrows we humans inflict upon one another. I will close with this (which was posted by Elizabeth Kaeton).
Leonard Slatkin Conducts the BBC Orchestra on September 15 2001 in honor of those who lost their lives a few days prior. (Use this link if embed is not working.) Samuel Barber's Adagio:
If you don't live in New Mexico you may not know that New Mexicans tend to give standing ovations for damn near everything. A perfectly respectable but in no way stunning performance of a symphony, opera, play, or recital brings them to their feet. I live here and am a citizen of New Mexico and happy to be one, but I will always be a Californian, OK? I don't get it. This is one of those things that reminds me I am not from here.
So I resist this behavior. I will happily applaud to show my appreciation of a performance but if I am going to stand they bloody well better earn it. I need to be thrilled, moved, exalted... something out of the ordinary to want to rise and show special recognition.
Tonight I could hardly wait to leap to my feet when the play was over. I gushed to some of the Vortex staff and tried not to hold up the director too long to say how fine it was.
So, if you like theatre, if you like Albee, if you like good acting... go see this production.
I am hardly a casual observer. The movie was a scandal when it came out in 1966 and my mother was horrified that I took a nice girl to see it. (We were halfway through college at the time.) You need to have a feel for the bland "niceness" of the 50's to appreciate how much buzz there was over this film with its occasional vulgar language and adult topics- unbelievably tame by today's standards. So it was part of the liberating challenge the 60's gave to my parent's generation. It was powerful, passionate, horrifying, gut-wrenching, and finally tender when one did not expect it.
Though no details remain in my mind there is little doubt that I scoured the bookstores immediately, obtained a copy of the play, and read it. And re-read it. Lines from the play are burned into my memory like phrases from Shakespeare. When George or Martha began a number of lines tonight I could finish them in my mind. ("I am the Earth Mother and you're all flops.") After 43 years, mind you. I may have watched the movie a second time, though I am quite unsure. I have never seen a live performance of the play.
My water-damaged copy of the play (Pocket Books, 75¢) is foxed at the bottom, has portions of the covers ripped off, and has not yellowed but browned, brittle pages. There are underlinings in what was then called peacock blue ink. I read most of the first act before going tonight.
When a play has been made not only into a movie but a notorious, famous, well-received movie - with Taylor and Burton, no less - it is a challenge to actors, directors, and audiences to produce and experience the play outside the framework of the image and memory in everyone's head. It is a mistake to reproduce the film on stage but how does one give it independent life?
I am delighted to say the actors in this production inhabited the play in their own manner, so that one heard Albee's George and Martha and Peter Shea Kierst's George and Debi Kierst's Martha but not reproductions of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. I now have fresh images of Martha and George to carry in my head, not to mention the joy of having watched them perform just feet away from me.
They were just amazing: forces of nature, two people engaged in a deadly earnest dance/game of mutual assault with incomprehensible ties under it all. I say "incomprehensible" unless one can appreciate the complexities of life and of human character and interaction. I was impressed as a callow youth but this is really a play for people who have been through the wringer more than once.
Debi and Peter could shift, convincingly, from raw vulnerability to all-out attack. Their Martha and George are people one is not easily inclined to like but one cannot turn away from. The viewer is horrified, entranced, caught up, curious (no matter how well one knows the work).
The program notes that Shakespeare is the first love of Lori Stewart, the director. There was much about this that resembled an excellent Shakespearean production. You know the story, you vaguely remember many of the lines, the characters are old friends (old enemies? old acquaintances?) yet one still wants to see what happens and how it happens. The tale has many layers, the language is rich, and the experience is rewarding time and time again.
Eli Browning as the physical, ambitious Nick and Clara Boling as Honey, Nick's mouse, I mean, spouse, carried out their roles very well also. Eli captures the large (yes, people defer to tall persons in this world), good-looking (ditto) type hoping for preferment and willing to play games to get it. Externally he has it all, but we realize over the course of the evening how trapped and desperate he has let himself become. Clara expresses the perpetually childish, whiny, timid type that annoys the hell out of all the rest of us and reveals her own terrors to become, at last, someone we begin to understand and feel compassion for - even if the role of Honey is one I suspect everyone wants to slap at some point.
Four tragically broken characters, caught in games - in roles - they don't know how to break out of, driven to carry out το παναρχαιο δραμα (the ancient primal drama, to borrow a phrase from Greek poet George Seferis). It is like a Greek tragedy in which, driven by their particular fate, each performs the sacrificial rites that necessity demands while we watch on in horror, all the way to the exorcism, the final sacrifice, and some catharsis that allows us to leave the theatre and go on living with ourselves.
I have one cavil. It is an extremely minor yet integral part of the play. George reads from the Latin Office of the Dead. It was painful to hear, the Latin Consultant notwithstanding. I would assume George, an academic in the history department, would read Latin out loud, particularly Church Latin, in one of three modes: whatever passes for classical Latin, wine country Church Latin, or beer country Church Latin. I have sung in choirs where we sang Latin texts with music by Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven the way Germans pronounce Church Latin and music composed by Verdi, Vivaldi, of Josquin the way Italians pronounce Church Latin. The difference shows in how "c" or "g" sounds when followed by e, i, or ae. Germans use "ts" for such a "c" and a hard "g." Italians use "ch" (as in church) for such a "c" and soft g (as in George) for such a "g." Both pronounce "ae" to rhyme with "day." When I was taking Latin in high school we always used a hard k and hard g sound for c and g and "ae" rhymed with "high." When George was reading I heard a combination of sounds that just seemed weird. And, as I said, painful. I suggest someone who sings Church Latin all the time or an Italian professor help soften this out. THAT is my only gripe, but I'm putting it out there because I was a language major and my companions both saw me wince tonight.
Another bit of praise I must heap on this ensemble: I was so caught up that most of the time I unconsciously set aside awareness that I was observing a performance and felt that I was watching not this actor or that but THIS Martha and THIS George, THIS Honey and THIS Nick.
So.
Awesome.
Go see it.
Vortex tickets are dirt cheap (especially if one is used to buying season tickets in the San Francisco Bay Area with the annual bribe, I mean donation). This is not just a bargain but a helluva experience. Treat yourself.
The Vortex Theatre 2004½ Central Avenue SE Albuquerque, NM 87106 505-247-8600
I came home this evening to a note from Mother Rhonda asking our prayers for Mother Sandra and her niece's family:
Dear All,
I just talked with Mother Sandra, and she is at Presbyterian Hospital on the westside being evaluated for surgery. If the doctors agree to go ahead with the surgery, she will be moved to Presbyterian downtown for the procedure. Cheri and Fr. Brian Winter are with her now, and I will go to wherever she is this evening. She fell at home on Wednesday, and the situation has gotten worse since then. She asked for our prayers . . . and I do not have the e-list of the Intercessory Prayer Guild that she keeps. Therefore, will you please send this request to any others you can think of....
In addition, Mother Sandra's niece, Hilary, lost her baby yesterday. Mother Sandra said they are aware of our prayers and ask you to continue to offer them for that dear family at this time of loss.
May the grace, wisdom, and peace of God surround Mother Sandra, her niece's family, and all those who love and care for them.
I will update you as I know more.
In Christ, Rhonda
UPDATE:
Dear Friends in Christ,
Mother Sandra is being well-cared-for and, in her words, "feeling safe" with the care she is receiving. She is in Intensive Care receiving antiobiotics for a severe infection, which had weakened her and was the cause for the fall earlier in the week. No surgery is scheduled after all. Her nephew Christopher is flying in from Fort Worth this morning, and, as you know, she adores him and is delighted he will be here.
For this weekend, she has several close friends and clergy who are doing "shifts" to be sure she and Christopher are not alone. And, as you would expect, she asked me to tell you that she feels your prayers and asks that you continue them -- but, please, no visitors or calls at this time.
If here is any change, I will let you know as soon as possible.
May our Savior's healing power and love abundantly embrace Mother Sandra now and always.
09/10/09 : DoD Identifies Marine Casualty (3 of 3) 1st Lt. Michael E. Johnson, 25, of Virginia Beach, Va...assigned to 7th Communications Battalion, 3rd Marine Headquarters Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan...died Sept. 8 while supporting combat operations in Kunar province, Afghanistan
09/10/09 : DoD Identifies Marine Casualty (2 of 3) Staff Sgt. Aaron M. Kenefick, 30, of Roswell, Ga...assigned to 3rd Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan...died Sept. 8 while supporting combat operations in Kunar province, Afghanistan
09/10/09 : DoD Identifies Marine Casualty (1 of 3) Gunnery Sgt. Edwin W. Johnson Jr., 31, of Columbus, Ga...assigned to 3rd Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan...died Sept. 8 while supporting combat operations in Kunar province, Afghanistan
09/10/09 : DoD Identifies Army Casualty Sgt. Youvert Loney, 28, of Pohnpei, Micronesia, died Sept. 5 in Abad, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle using small arms and recoilless rifle fires. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
09/10/09 : DoD Identifies Navy Casualty Petty Officer 3rd Class James R. Layton, 22, of Riverbank, Calif., died Sept. 8 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, while supporting combat operations. He was assigned to an embedded training team with Combined Security Tranisiton Command in Afghanistan.
Some friends and I are going to catch "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" at the Vortex tomorrow evening. Woohoo!
I saw the 1966 movie of it and fell in love with the play. I immediately bought a paperback copy and read and reread it. Tonight I dug out the copy, one of the many books of plays that were damaged when there was flooding in the storage locker where many of my books resided before moving here. The bottom is foxed but I can turn the yellowed pages and reread it. Which is what I am just about to do.
This should be fascinating. What will this slice of 1960s academia liberally sprinkled with fear and loathing feel like now? Will this be visiting an old friend? A fresh revelation? A new disappointment? Who knows.
Across the river and not far from the great oak forest P’s slayer also wept. He had brought H’s body to the princess and the duke. H. of U., the noble hostage and brave fighter, had been a romantic figure to the young F. of V. They both intended to be brothers in glory, fighting for the princess and Fjorn. They had sworn eternal friendship and sealed it in blood, promising to tell their children and grandchildren about each other’s exploits. But H. would have no wife, no children, no grandchildren. F. had lost his friend.
While F., the muscle-bound younger brother of a character in the first two books, is four years into his manhood he is still only nineteen years old. To him this journey to fight with and for friends is a grand adventure. He formed a bond with a somewhat older but still young man who shared his romantic view of the glory of fighting. They were united in a cause and eager to make names for themselves.
We come to the day when harsh reality intrudes, when the former hostage and son of the late Lord Marshall of the principality engages a key player in the tale and is slain. F. avenges the friend he looks up to by killing his hero's killer. With a sword thrust through the back. Hardly the "honorable" way to kill, though immediately effective. F. takes his fallen oath-brother back to the camp, overcome with grief and shame.
Yes, I got soppy writing this scene. Fran can testify I was soppy writing an earlier scene between the princess and H. (back when we were at Doxy's wedding weekend).
Still, three events in one day have turned the tide in the battle for the throne. A lot of twists and turns to pursue before a new Black Lion sits on that throne and is acclaimed.
Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.
The BB:
And about time someone said so. I loved the "don't be pulling this shit with me" tone tonight.
The President:
I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than improve it.
The people who value human lives over corporate profits aren’t the ones who should be required to explain ourselves. Our argument is sound. We believe all people are equal, and that the rich’s wallets are therefore not more important than your lives. We’re the ones who stick by the principles of our founding documents, and we’re the ones who steadfastly maintain that human life is valuable, even if the human holding it isn’t a rich insurance company executive.
It’s the people who are putting corporate profits ahead of human lives who need to explain themselves. They’re the ones who should be asked why corporate profits count more than lives. They’re the ones who should be asked why working class citizens should be forced to decide between paying for an insurance bill or paying their rent in order to make sure that no insurance company executive goes without a fresh supply of yachts and fancy cars. They should be forced to explain why insurance company executive yachts count more than your ability to avoid homelessness, or your ability to have a perfectly treatable illness actually treated. (If you think that laws against rescission will stop the practice, keep kidding yourself. The fines will be low enough to count as the cost of doing business.) Instead of asking why “the left” is so unreasonable, let’s start asking why everyone else thinks human lives count less than rich people’s dollars.
September 04, 2009 DoD Identifies Army Casualties Staff Sgt. Todd W. Selge, 25, of Burnsville, Minn.; and Spc. Jordan M. Shay, 22, of Salisbury, Mass. They died Sept. 3 in Baqubah, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. The soldiers were assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash. The incident is under investigation.
September 09, 2009 DoD Identifies Air Force Casualty 1st Lt. Joseph D. Helton, 24, of Monroe Ga., died Sept. 8 near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive devise. He was assigned to the 6th Security Forces Squadron, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.
September 02, 2009 Dod Identifies Army Casualties Spc. Jonathan D. Welch, 19, of Yorba Linda, Calif. Pfc. Jordan M. Brochu, 20, of Cumberland, Maine. They died Aug. 31 in Shuyene Sufia, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device. The soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
September 02, 2009 DoD Identifies Army Casualty Spc. Tyler R. Walshe, 21, of Shasta Calif., died Aug. 31 in southern Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
September 04, 2009 DoD Identifies Navy Casualty Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin P. Castiglione, 21, of Howell, Mich., died Sept. 3 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Battalion.
September 05, 2009 DoD Identifies Marine Casualty Lance Cpl. Christopher S. Baltazar Jr., 19, of San Antonio, Texas, died Sept. 3 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
September 06, 2009 DoD Identifies Army Casualty 2nd Lt. Darryn D. Andrews, 34, of Dallas, Texas, died Sept. 4 in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device and a rocket-propelled grenade. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.
September 07, 2009 DoD Identifies Army Casualty Sgt. Randy M. Haney, 27, of Orlando, Fla., died Sept. 6 in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fires. He was assigned to the 4th Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
September 08, 2009 DoD Identifies Army Casualty Staff Sgt. Michael C. Murphrey, 25, of Snyder, Texas, died Sept. 6 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.
September 09, 2009 DoD Identifies Marine Casualty Capt. Joshua S. Meadows, 30, of Bastrop, Texas, died Sept. 5 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
MEANWHILE, IN A BUNKER DEEP BENEATH THE FOX NETWORK NEWSROOM
Now, y'all know about Godwin's law, don't you?
Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies) is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 which has become an Internet adage. It states: "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."
Godwin's Law is often cited in online discussions as a deterrent against the use of arguments in the widespread reductio ad Hitlerum form. The rule does not make any statement about whether any particular reference or comparison to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis might be appropriate, but only asserts that the likelihood of such a reference or comparison arising increases as the discussion progresses. It is precisely because such a comparison or reference may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued, that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact. --Wikipedia
I am definitely fired up over health care, as you can tell by this evening's posts, and not a few leading up to them.
I am fired up over the shift toward autumn. I know it's technically almost two weeks away, but existentially it has clearly begun. The days and nights are cooler, leaves are beginning to fall.
I am fired up over the turning points in the war I narrate. Two really big events in one fictional day: it is D-Day in the battle for the Lion Throne.
These siblings are the arch-villains of my book. Their raw lust for power really drives the tale's action. She is like a Lady Macbeth only egging on a brother instead of a husband. I have been waiting a long time to send her to Ušni's hall.
P’s unconscious form had been quickly lashed to her steed so she was semi-upright, which kept her from drowning as the warhorses negotiated the river.T. held the lead and begged the stars to save her.
There will be lamentation on both sides of the river this night.
All this time I've been calling Max Tax health care Max Baucus' health care plan.
But, as William Ockham points out, it's actually Liz Fowler's health care plan (if you open the document and look under document properties, it lists her as author). At one level, it's not surprising that Bad Max's Senior Counsel would have authored the Max Tax plan.
...
What neither Politico nor Bad Max himself want you to know, though, is that in the two years before she came back to the Senate to help Max craft the Max Tax plan, she worked as VP for Public Policy and External Affairs at WellPoint.
Thank you William Ockham and Marcy Wheeler!
Marcy also discusses the evil incentives in the Max Tax plan.
It's really bad. And being touted.
I am learning to loathe Max Baucus and he was to me just a vague name a year ago.
Cue the chorus of priests in Jesus Christ Superstar: "he is dangerous." --the BB
What a miserable little troll. He is one truly disgusting human being (this is a gunnysack rantlet for all the shit he's uttered in his sick, twisted career).
In 2008, he was named one of 10 worst congressmen by Esquire Magazine, which described the competition as "staggering."
Click on Wikipedia above to read about the 2002 race, a low point in American politics.
This is the man lecturing the President on humility.
As for health care, Clarence is a bit sloppy. Check out the crap he tried to pull on August 12. As Bernita writes at Blog for Democracy:
As long as Saxby follows the Republican talking points he will continue his mission of misinforming Georgia voters who voted for him to be their voice in government. I am so not shocked - Saxby reaps a lot from his friends in the health care industry. He will take care of their interests before Georgia voters. Saxby on Health Care Reform. Epic Fail.
Here is Senator Jeff Bingaman's further information on Public Option (from his website):
How does the "public option" fit into health care reform?
The Need for a Public Option
One key element of the debate we’ve been having is whether to create a so-called “public option” – a health care plan available to all Americans that ensures that there is at least one health insurance option for Americans that is affordable and would focus exclusively on providing meaningful care, not turning a profit. With my strong support, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved a bill which contains a robust public option described below:
Run by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Secretary of HHS would have the authority to negotiate provider payment rates that are no more than the local average private rates, which would help control costs. The government would provide funding for the first three months of the plan in order to get it up and running and make the public option available in all parts of the country. The funding would be repaid once the public option began operating.
Public option would be one of the Gateway choices. The public option would be available to all Americans alongside private insurance options within the newly established health insurance “Gateways.” .
States would help tailor a public plan to their needs. Each state would create an Advisory Council to recommend strategies for quality improvement and affordability. This would allow states to implement strategies that would provide efficient, affordable care to their residents.
Participation would be purely voluntary; Americans would have the choice of participating in the public option but there would be no obligation to do so.
The committee chairman, Max Baucus, released a framework of his proposal for the group to discuss Tuesday. The three Republicans declined either to endorse or reject the proposal on their way into the meeting.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said that there was much in the proposal that he could go along with but that he wasn't sure where his Republican counterparts stood. "I don't know anything about their position," he said. Bingaman, however, has never been the reluctant negotiator. The third Democrat, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), declined to tell a reporter if he could support the Baucus proposal.
Snowe said much of the negotiations will focus on costs.
[Emphasis mine.]
Negotiation is an important and valuable skill. Unfortunately, recent years have taught us that negotiating with Republicans in Congress is nothing more than giving away the store and they STILL won't give anything significant in return - certainly not their support.
I also don't want any part of the Max Baucus plan these folks are pondering. Nothing I have read about it sounds like good news.
The WSJ - a notoriously non-progressive source - says today:
[Obama's] support for the public plan sets up a split with the Senate Finance Committee, which has been drafting the health bill that has been seen as the only hope of winning bipartisan support for a health overhaul in Congress. Over the weekend, the committee's chairman, Montana Democrat Max Baucus, distributed a draft of his health proposal that leaves out the public plan in order to win support from a small group of Republicans. Mr. Baucus's plan costs less than $900 billion over 10 years and would expand insurance coverage to tens of millions of Americans. (Read the health proposal here.)
"The only hope of winning bipartisan support for a health overhaul in Congress"? My friends, there is no hope of winning bipartisan support for anything that will meaningfully overhaul health in this nation. Ain't. Gonna. Happen.
So they are considering sacrificing the health and economic well being of the American People "to win support from a small group of Republicans." Hey, why not toss in thirty pieces of silver while you're at it?
At a town hall meeting, Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, arguably the most liberal of the Democrats in the group, said he would back the use of a procedural tactic called reconciliation that would allow Senate leaders to move a health bill forward with a simple majority, instead of 60 votes.
“It would be my preference to come up with something we could get some bipartisan support for and try to move ahead with that,” Mr. Bingaman said at the meeting, on Monday in Albuquerque. But he left the door open to a reconciliation bill. “If we are unable to do it any other way, that is an option,” he said. “It is a very difficult option to get implemented, but clearly I would support that if that’s the only way” to enact a measure, he added.
On September 4, prior to the unveiling of the Baucus proposal, the NYT reported:
Two members of the group of six, Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, and Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, have been pushing for a more generous package of benefits, with a higher “actuarial value.” The other Republicans have been pushing for a package that would be more affordable to consumers.
Well, what can I say? I say it's spinach and to hell with it.*
Mike Lux at AlterNet today writes:
The Baucus mark-up only adds to this conventional wisdom, of course. But keep in mind that Senate Finance is almost without question the most conservative committee in either house of Congress right now. Its chair, Max Baucus, is in the top five Democrats in terms of conservatism, and has been historically very close to big business and the ranking Republican on the committee (Grassley). He was happy to cut the deal with Grassley in 2001, against the wishes of the vast majority of the Democratic caucus, for the massive Bush tax cut for the rich that was the main cause of our massive federal deficit over the last few years. Other key committee Democrats like Conrad and Bingaman, of the Gang of Six fame, aren't exactly liberally stalwarts either.
[Emphasis mine]
In his latest newsletter, Senator Bingaman writes:
Ongoing health care reform negotiations have moved from Congressional debates in Washington to discussions in neighborhoods, districts, and town halls across the country. I held four town halls across the state in recent weeks to speak with New Mexicans and listen to concerns and priorities about potential legislation; in turn, I had the opportunity to discuss why I am fighting for reform. Watch footage of the New Mexico First town hall in Albuquerque, or listen to my in-depth interview on health care reform with Dr. Barry Ramo of KOAT News. I remain concerned about many of the misconceptions about the proposals for health care reform. The White House provides a good resource that debunks many of these harmful rumors.
And here is my letter tonight:
Dear Senator Bingaman:
We are now in the very hard work stages on health care reform. I imagine negotiating with some of your colleagues on the Finance Committee is arduous and often frustrating. I applaud you for hanging in there.
As I read these words in the Wall Street Journal today my flesh crawled:
"Over the weekend, the committee's chairman, Montana Democrat Max Baucus, distributed a draft of his health proposal that leaves out the public plan in order to win support from a small group of Republicans."
To my eyes that sounds like sacrificing the health and economic well being of the American People for a few Republican votes.
Has bipartisanship become some golden calf, some Molech to whom we will sacrifice our children?
My message to you is DON'T SACRIFICE THE PUBLIC OPTION. Collegiality is not worth it. For all the brilliant technology and dedicated professionals in this nation health care in the United States is a disgrace. We do not score well on life expectancy, infant mortality, and several other key indicia yet we spend more than any industrial nation. Over sixty per cent of our bankruptcies are related to medical costs. This is simply not acceptable. We need to do better. We must do better.
I beg you to stand firm and not merely support the public option but FIGHT for it.
I have written to you about this before but I cannot remain silent when so much is at stake.
Thank you.
Well, folks, that's all three letters. Have you contacted your elected representatives about health care lately?
--the BB
*I actually like fresh or lightly cooked spinach. This is an old aphorism and the younger among you need not worry if it rings no bells.
Here is what my junior Senator, Tom Udall, has on his website:
Health Care To provide every American with quality health care, control skyrocketing costs, and ensure patients have choices, we need to dramatically improve our health care system. Congress has already passed legislation to ensure that 11 million children have health insurance. We have also begun the process of reforming the health care system to cover every American man, woman and child. America deserves a health care system that reflects the ingenuity and compassion of the American people. President Obama has pledged to push for broad health care reform, and I will work with him and my colleagues in the U. S. Senate to enact a plan that increases coverage, improves quality of care, reduces costs, and refocuses our system on preventing illness and promoting wellness.
OK, Tom is a junior senator just getting his feet wet. Still, I would like something more forceful.
Here is what I wrote to him tonight.
Dear Senator Udall:
I was happy to support you and vote for you last fall and hope the first year in the Senate has not been too traumatic.
I appreciate your comments: "America deserves a health care system that reflects the ingenuity and compassion of the American people. President Obama has pledged to push for broad health care reform, and I will work with him and my colleagues in the U. S. Senate to enact a plan that increases coverage, improves quality of care, reduces costs, and refocuses our system on preventing illness and promoting wellness."
I would love to hear more specifics and am more than happy to share with you what I wish to see in health care reform.
First and foremost, I believe that without a strong public option there will be no leverage to change how health care is done in this nation, nothing that will pressure the insurance companies to focus more on the collective well being and less on their usurious profits. I would like to see you push for a strong public option. Without it I think any reform is mere window dressing.
Additionally, I hope you are pushing for legislating an end to rescission, to denial based on pre-existing conditions, and to caps that leave people with catastrophic illness bankrupt.
Co-ops are not a sufficient substitute for a public option.
Thank you for your service. Please fight for the People.
Most significantly, I hosted a Health Care Town Hall meeting on Aug. 22nd. A thousand constituents attended the meeting and many more watched online. This forum, along with one-on-one conversations with voters across the district, highlighted that the single most important topic on people’s minds is health care. You can watch the forum online by clicking here.
I believe the time to reform our health insurance system is now.
Today, I’m heading back to Washington to fight even harder for health care reform that:
• Guarantees choice in health insurance – including a robust public option; • Covers all Americans to control health care costs; and • Ends immoral practices such as denying patients coverage due to pre-existing conditions or dropping your coverage when you get sick.
I responded to his campaign staff first (a chap I know from church). The critical lines:
Anyway, I want to thank Martin for the stance he takes in the e-mail that just went out. I like what I read.
I would LOVE for him to join those pledging no public option = no vote. Any chance he can go that far?
This is what I wrote to his formal congressional site:
Dear Congressman Heinrich:
I appreciate what I read in the e-mail you sent out today. I am glad you are fighting for us in Washington.
I especially, and vigorously, support you in pushing for a strong public option in health care.
May I ask if you will join the Progressive Caucus in pledging not to vote for a bill that lacks a strong public option?
I realize this is a lot to ask someone from NM01 but it is what I very much want to see.
Again, my thanks for your service.
Y'all cannot imagine how glad I am we elected him to replace Bush-enabling Heather Wilson. Martin is the first Dem to represent NM01. Some of you will remember me touting my "homeboy" back during the election season last year.
Today is the day Jane R is urging us all to write to our elected officials about health care. I hope you have done or will do before the evening is over.
1 down, 2 to go.
UPDATE: Martin has an August 9 op-ed piece at the Albuquerque Journal. --the BB
The views expressed on this blog are solely those of the blogger and do not represent the positions of any group or organization with which he may be affiliated. As one who spent decades stuffing down his opinions and emotions, I am inclined to cut loose here, which I believe is healthy, honest, and part of the process of sanctification in the long run. Politics and spirituality mingle freely here, along with theatre reviews, photography, and passionate talk about food, literature, and the human journey. If anything written here offends you, please find other blogs to read. I am here to share, not to do battle.
