Entries for September 2009

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:

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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: