Month: May 2013

“Things are pretty bad when we have to ask the pope to save a woman from abortion opponents”


by digby

Katha Pollit wrote today about the barbaric horror unfolding down in El Salvador and has helpfully included some links for us to use to try to avert this shameful tragedy.

She explains:

Ten weeks ago, when Beatriz was in the first trimester, the minister of health said she should be allowed to have an abortion. The country’s powerful Catholic Church and far right erupted. Despite stern calls from the office of the UN Commission for Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes has dithered as Beatriz’s condition deteriorates and an abortion becomes more dangerous: she is now 24 weeks pregnant.

Since 1998, El Salvador has had a complete no-exceptions ban on abortion, promoted by the country’s powerful Catholic Church and passed with the votes of legislators from the former left-wing movement FMLN—because if there’s one thing right and left agree on, it’s that women’s lives are less important than achieving political power. (Daniel Ortega made the same move in Nicaragua in a successful bid for church support.)

Since the ban, the Central American Women’s network reports that over 600 Salvadoran women have been imprisoned for having abortions, including miscarriages and stillbirths suspected of being the result of abortion. A word to the wise: when US abortion opponents insist they would never put women on trial for terminating a pregnancy, be skeptical.

Indeed. This is where this idea of full personhood for fetuses inevitably leads.

And what Pollit says about the perfidy of leftist politicians is right on. When it comes to
sacrificing for the cause, it’s always the right of women that are thrown on the alter. We’ve seen it time and again in our own politics, even in the past few years.

Sign the petition to Pope Francis urging him to step in and save Beatriz. (I know, I know: things are pretty bad when we have to ask the pope to save a woman from abortion opponents!) 

Donate to the fund to help Beatriz pay for her medical care. Any funds left over will go to Salvadoran organization Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto Ético, Terapéutico y Eugenésico, which is leading the legal fight to save Beatriz. 

Tweet to the President of El Salvador @mauriciofunesSV.

More here on this heartbreaking case.

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The Prince of Darkness and his heirs

by digby

Predictably, much of the right wing is writing off Bob Dole as a senile old jerk for suggesting that the party has become a little bit looney. But the great thing about the ancient among us is that they really don’t give a damn what people think and tend to speak the truth:

All true, you simply can’t dispute it.

I do, however, think W. James Antle III at The American Conservative makes an excellent point. Dole isn’t an innocent in all this. I watched him throughout my life, and at one point he was known as the GOP prince of darkness. The party certainly evolved far beyond him in abject meanness, but he cannot escape his role in shaping it:

Newt Gingrich, who became Dole’s partner in crime during the GOP Congress of 1995-96, is a good example of the party’s evolved brand. He led Republicans to their first House majority in 40 years, displaying a creativity that past Republican leaders conspicuously lacked. But he was undone by his excesses, cultivating an image of partisanship, over-the-top statements, and a penchant for unpopular crusades.

Today’s GOP is as much Gingrich’s party as Reagan’s or Nixon’s. Chest-beating often replaces prudence, the party frequently makes use of both libertarian and traditionalist themes without taking either of them very seriously.

The auther goes on to complain that none of these people are the one true conservative, as usual, but the point is correct, in my opinion. Dole previewed the nasty attitude that animates the right today. He may have been more of a legislative pragmatist, but his rhetoric was Gingrichian before Gingrich was cool.

Having said that, I must confess that I miss him. He was one of the funniest politicians in my lifetime. And I could really use some laughs.

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QOTD: Mark Steyn

by digby

Michele Bachmann Could Have Been “America’s Thatcher”

No really, he said it:

You can say a lot of things about Margaret Thatcher. She was a very tough, trail-blazing ultra-conservative. perhaps you could attribute some of that to Bachman as well. But margaret Thatcher wasn’t an idiot or a crook, as far as I know. Bachman was quite obviously and openly the first — and it looks as though the second may have chased her out of the congress.

Bachman was no worse than a lot of the Tea Partiers. Indeed, she represented them quite well. But she was very flamboyently foolish. And I hate to say it, but women have to be more careful. Louis Gohmert isn’t going anywhere. Steve King may even ascend to higher office. And both of those guys are easily as nutty as Bachman.(I don’t know about the corruption.)

In any case, this was my first memory of Michele Bachman and I knew she was going to be a gift to bloggers:

Newly-elected Congresswoman Michele Bachmann got quite a bit of face time with President Bush after his State of the Union Speech Tuesday night.

While the President was signing autographs for members of Congress after the speech, the sixth-district Republican put her hand on Bush’s shoulder. However, it wasn’t just a tap. After he signed an autograph for her, Bachmann grabbed the president and did not let go for almost 30 seconds.

After signing the autograph for Bachmann, the president turns away, but Bachmann doesn’t let go. In fact, the video shows her reaching out to get a better grip on him.

Bush then leans over to kiss another congresswoman, but Bachmann is still holding on. Bachmann then gets more attention, a kiss and an embrace from the president. A few seconds later, Bachmann’s hand finally comes off the presidential shoulder.

Someone at the time described her as “clinging to the president like a Tiberian Bat,” which became my secret nickname for her. (She is batty …)

But this is my favorite Michele Bachman moment. It happened at the beginning of that unctuous “faith” debate hosted by Frank Luntz (which Romney couldn’t attend being a heathen Mormon and all.)

I kind of doubt that Maggie Thatcher doubled as a waitress during her parliamentary debates.

It’s interesting to me that attractive, dim-bulb right wing female politicians like Palin and Bachman end up dropping out of politics under cloudy circumstances to pursue media careers. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Roger Ailes had found a new recruiting tool.

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Save the date: Human Chain against the Chained CPI

by digby

Ok, this is something that will require you to get out of your chair, but it will be worth it:

Human Chain Against Chained CPI

Save the date

July 2ND, 2013

Where: AZ, CA, CT, IA, IL, MD/DC, ME, MO, MT, NC, NH, NM, NV, OH, PA, RI, TX, VT, WA
What: National Day of Action to create a HUMAN CHAIN in front of target Congressional offices and key Federal Buildings
Contact: Michelle Campbell, Field Mobilization Support Administrator 202-637-5361 or mcampbell@retiredamericans.org

On Tuesday July 2nd, the Alliance will sponsor a National Day of Action in which we focus specifically on elevating grassroots voices in the battle to protect and enhance retirement security. We will work together to create a HUMAN CHAIN in front of target Congressional offices, key Federal buildings, and other strategic locations in states around the country. It would be a Human Chain against the Chained CPI. The National Alliance will host a media event in DC with a smaller chain to create powerful symbolism of what the States are doing, spotlighting the national day of action.

I’m going to guess this will mostly be retired folks, which is good since they tend to scare the hell out of politicians. But it would be good if some young people joined in. After all, they’re the ones who will feel the brunt of this hideous policy.

You can go here for more information.

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Lincoln Chafee to join the neoliberal party. Rhode Island Dems should reject him.

by David Atkins

Lincoln Chafee has finally decided to switch parties and become a Democrat. The short and simple analysis is that Chafee faced an uncomfortable three-way battle in which many Democrats declined to endorse their own fellow Democrat Frank Caprio in order to assure that a Republican didn’t sneak into the Rhode Island governorship. Chafee’s switch to the Democratic Party means that he can potentially avoid that situation if he runs for re-election.

A lazy progressive take on Chafee’s switch is that Republicans have become so extreme that they’ve driven the likes of Chafee out of their party, that more sensible Republicans should switch away also, that the GOP is facing death throes as the Bachmanns are laughed out of Congress while the Chafees become Democrats. Yada yada. But I’m not going to do that, because it would be whistling past the graveyard.

The reality is that while Chafee is reliably liberal on social issues, he largely remains an economic conservative. That makes him wholly inadequate as a Democrat.

Now, if Rhode Island were a tough red state in which Chafee was a reliable winner against a bevy of hyperconservatives, that would be different. Ben Nelson, for instance, will always get a pass in Nebraska because there aren’t good alternatives. But Rhode Island is not that. Good progressive Democrats with real progressive economic values can and should win in Rhode Island. Lincoln Chafee is not the best of a bad bargain. He’s the worst of a good bargain.

Not surprisingly, then, the Neoliberal-in-Chief has wholeheartedly supported him even as it rankles the state Democratic establishment in Rhode Island:

Obama has returned the favor: he declined to endorse a Democrat for governor in 2010, when Chafee was running as an independent in a three-way race. And when Chafee ran TV ads featuring archival footage of the president praising him, Obama and his aides did not object.

In fact, despite being officially neutral in 2010, Obama was perceived as so Chafee-friendly that the Democratic nominee that year, Frank Caprio, told Rhode Island radio station WPRO that the president could “take his endorsement and really shove it.”

Chafee ultimately won with 36 percent of the vote, while Caprio fell into third place.

While Chafee’s party switch is likely to avert the possibility of another messy three-way race, it is unclear whether other national Democrats will embrace Chafee as ardently as Obama has.

Both Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and state Treasurer Gina Raimondo are likely candidates in a Democratic primary. The Democratic Governors Association is not expected to take sides in a competitive nomination fight; in a statement, DGA Chair Peter Shumlin said he’s “excited” about Chafee’s switch but that the DGA will support “whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee” in 2014.

Taveras reacted to the news of Chafee becoming a Democrat with a wry rejoinder: “I have been a Democrat and a Red Sox fan my whole life, and I don’t intend on changing either.”

As Democrats, we can do better than Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island, particularly now that he’s saddled with bad approval ratings. We must do better.

And it must be the state party leadership in Rhode Island that stands up to the President and makes it clear that they expect and demand a real Democrat run for and win the governorship of the Ocean State.

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The “natural” way

by digby

Maternal death:

After more than a month of delays, El Salvador’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday to deny a critically ill woman a lifesaving abortion. The 22-year-old woman, identified only as Beatriz, is 26 weeks pregnant with a nonviable, anencephalic fetus; her doctors have warned that, due to severe health complications related to Beatriz’s lupus, cardiovascular disease and kidney functioning, she may not survive the pregnancy.

Abortion is illegal under all circumstances in El Salvador, and the court’s ruling is final, according to her lawyers. “The only way now is to go to the international courts,” Victor Hugo Mata, one of Beatriz’s lawyers, told CBS News.

“[The Supreme Court is] saying Beatriz is not in danger and she must pursue the natural way of delivery and we must see what happens,” Mata told CBS. ”Everyday, the health of Beatriz is [getting] worse. If they wait another week or two weeks, she will be too feeble to endure the operation.”

This is absolutely barbaric. But it is consistent. If you believe that a fetus cannot be aborted under any circumstances because it is a person entitled to all the rights of any other person, including the woman in whose body it resides, then you logically cannot make the choice to save the mother even if the fetus will definitely die. Which it will:

Anencephaly is a cephalic disorder that results from a neural tube defect that occurs when the rostral (head) end of the neural tube fails to close, usually between the 23rd and 26th day of conception, resulting in the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull, and scalp.[Strictly speaking, the translation of the Greek term to English is “no brain” (that is, totally lacking), but it is accepted that children with this disorder are born without a telencephalon, the largest part of the brain consisting mainly of the cerebral hemispheres, including the neocortex, which is responsible for cognition. The remaining brain tissue is often exposed, i.e. not covered by bone or skin.

The prognosis is death.

That they will put that anencephalic fetus, already tragically doomed to die, on the same plane as a 22 year old women who can be saved, is moral depravity. There’s just no other term for it.
To call it “natural” is to say that women are “naturally” less worthy of living than a fetus with no brain.

Holy Land in disrepair


by digby

I don’t know what this symbolizes, but it must symbolize something:

Abandoned theme parks are always creepy, but there’s something extra, super creepy about Holy Land USA, a decaying biblical-themed park in Connecticut which shuttered 30 years ago and is now being sold for the bargain basement price of $350,000. The park was once a hot-spot in the 1960s and ’70s, but fell into disrepair after the owner passed away in 1986. To complete the horror movie cliche, it was the site of an actual murder in 2010, the Daily Mail reports.

But hey—$350,000 for 9,472 square feet! In addition to a “single family home,” the lucky buyer will inherit crumbling “replicas” of Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the Garden of Eden, and huge displays of bible verses.

Republican bubble rap

by digby

You can’t say they lack chutzpah:

The National Republican Campaign Committee announced Tuesday that it will put versions of the billboard below on thousands of trucks in the districts of Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), Ron Barber (D-AZ), Collin Peterson (D-MN) and John Barrow (D-GA).

“It’s time that House Democrats are held accountable for their support of ObamaCare, especially now that the scandal-ridden IRS is in charge of enforcing the program,” NRCC spokeswoman Andrea Bozek told TPM.

Howie points out what a stupid strategy this is. Barrow and the others are being targeted for voting for Obamacare. But even if it were true — it isn’t, Barrow voted against the ACA — the numbers show this isn’t the way to take conservative Democrats out:

These are the Democrats who voted against the Affordable Care Act in November, 2009:

• John Adler (Blue Dog-NJ)- defeated
• Jason Altmire (Blue Dog/New Dem-PA)- defeated in primary
• Brian Baird (WA)- retired
• John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA)
• John Boccieri (Blue Dog-OH)- defeated
• Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK)- retired
• Rick Boucher (VA)- defeated
• Allen Boyd (Blue Dog-FL)- defeated
• Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL)- defeated
• Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY)- defeated
• Tavis Childers (Blue Dog-MS)- defeated
• Artur Davis (New Dem-AL)- defeated/ now a Republican
• Lincoln Davis (Blue Dog-TN)- defeated
• Chet Edwards (TX)
• Bart Gordon (Blue Dog-TN)- retired
• Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL)- switched parties, defeated anyway
• Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (Blue Dog-SD)- defeated
• Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA)- defeated in primary
• Larry Kissell (Blue Dog-NC)- defeated
• Suzanne Kosmas (Blue Dog-FL)- defeated, sunk into alcoholism
• Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD)- defeated
• Dennis Kucinich (OH)- defeated in primary; works for Fox News
• Betsy Markey (Blue Dog-CO)- defeated
• Jim Marshall (Blue Dog-GA)- defeated
• Eric Massa (NY)- retired
• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
• Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem- NC)
• Michael McMahon (Blue Dog-NY)- defeated
• Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA)- defeated
• Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID)- defeated
• Scott Murphy (Blue Dog-NY)- defeated
• Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA)- defeated
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR)- retired
• Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)- retired
• Ike Skelton (MO)- defeated
• John Tanner (Blue Dog-TN), retired
• Harry Teague (Blue Dog-NM), defeated
• Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS)- defeated

All of these (mostly former) Members of Congress were either forced to resign or were defeated because they had lost the support of the Democratic base in their districts.

The four targeted Dems are all voting like Republicans. They would, therefore, seem to be vulnerable. But the fact remains that it’s Democrats who elect them. They’re not going to get anywhere by demagogueing Obamacare, even in conservative Democratic districts.

It makes no difference to me because all four of these Democrats might as well be Republicans 99% of the time. But it’s interesting that the GOP is still so stuck in their little bubble that they are making the case for the likes of Barrow despite the fact that he could fairly easily be defeated if only his voters really knew how much the Republican Party depends on him.

Howie says:

So a little advice to the Republicans: instead of making up stories about John Barrow that stretch the imaginations of anyone other than a brain-dead Fox News fan (i.e.- a base Republican voter, who is likely to vote Republican anyway), go after him at his own base and get them to not vote by exposing the truth about him instead of lying about him. Forget about the right-wing crackpots in Columbia County and think about the voters in Richmond, Burke, Treutlen, Screven and Jenkins counties instead, Barrow strongholds where he needs strong turnout from yellowdog Democrats who won’t turn out if they understand Barrow is as hideously against their interests as a Republican. You can do the same thing to Ann Kirkpatrick. Defeat her by telling the truth about her record in blue Apache and Coconino counties and she’s out of a job again. Why is that so hard for Republican bozos to understand? Running billboards like the one up top– even though Barrow voted against the Affordable Care Act– will only inspire Democrats to turn out in bigger numbers. This isn’t rocket science; if you guys were in any of my classes you’d be complaining to the dean that I gave you an F.

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A moment of zen

by digby

The jokes just write themselves …

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Tough love for sick people

by digby

I wondered how this was going to work out:

One provision of President Obama’s historic healthcare law, dubbed the Cadillac Tax, penalizes companies that offer extremely generous healthcare plans to their employees. If an employer offers a plan that costs more than $10,200 for an individual or $27,500 for a family, the employer will be forced to pay a 40 percent tax on the portion of the plan cost that exceeds those thresholds. The idea, as the Times reports, is to “encourage employers to move away from plans that insulate workers from the cost of care and often lead to excessive procedures and tests, and galvanize employers to try to control ever-increasing medical costs.”

In order to avoid the Cadillac tax, which goes into effect in 2018, employers are already searching for ways to scale back on costs, including cutting health benefits and increasing plan prices. (Employers are also amping up spending on preventive care services, which is a good thing.) And as Bradley Herring, a health economist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the Times, these health plan changes will likely affect a lot of people, not just the well-off; up to 75 percent of plans could be affected by the tax over the next ten years. “The reality is it is going to hit more and more people over time,” he says.

One of those people affected is Abbey Bruce, a nursing assistant in Washington state whose employer increased the costs of the plan that she and her husband, who has cystic fibrosis, rely on. The Times tells her story:

Starting this year, they have a combined deductible of $2,300, compared with just $500 before. And while she was eligible for a $1,400 hospital contribution to a savings account linked to the plan, the couple is now responsible for $6,600 a year in medical expenses, in contrast to a $3,000 limit on medical bills and $2,000 limit on pharmacy costs last year. She has had to drop out of school and take on additional jobs to pay for her husband’s medicine.

The number of employers adjusting their plans because of the Cadillac tax has increased from 11 percent in 2011 to 17 percent this year, the Times reports. And the amount that employer plans require workers to pay as a deductible—the amount an insured person has to pay out of pocket for healthcare costs before the insurer will pay—has jumped. The number of workers in plans with deductibles of at least $2,000 doubled between 2009 and 2012 to 14 percent.

I suppose it’s a good thing that we’re trying to even out the levels of coverage a bit, but as usual this change will only negatively impact lower wage and middle class workers like the one above who had a “cadillac” plan and will feel the financial pinch. The executives who more typically had such employer benefits will simply have to cash in a stock option or something and won’t even feel the difference. Indeed, they’ll be spending as much on health care as they feel they need to — as always.

I’m going to assume that this notion of people buying less expensive care if they are aware of how much things cost is born out by some empirical data. Otherwise, this is just another manifestation of the belief that “Americans are spoiled brats” and need some tough-love to force them to stop spending so much money on … their lives. Let’s say that it’s very convenient that it lines up so nicely with the other elite calls for “self-sacrifice” and “skin in the game” we hear so often.

I doubt that the nursing assistant with the sick husband was “over-spending” on health care, but she’s going to get a lesson in health care economics just the same. I’m sure it will be character building for both of them.

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