Comment

Comment by doone on May 18, 2011 at 12:02pm

More of the same ilk from the Minnesota B's

 

Bachmann's Christianist BFF

Tim Murphy reports on her close ties to Bradlee Dean, a Minnesota radio host, anti-gay activist, and drummer for the heavy metal band Junkyard Prophet:

On his radio show, he's alleged that gays were responsible for the Holocaust, and that gay men will, on average, molest 117 people "before they're found out." He's also suggested that extremist Muslims who call for the execution of American gays are morally justified. "If America won't enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that," Dean explained. "[Homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator."

Comment by Dallas (on hiatus) on May 18, 2011 at 11:50am

Yes, yellow.

Comment by Adriana on May 18, 2011 at 11:50am

@DG: I saw that yesterday. Unbelievable cruelty. It has nothing to do with the economy or balancing the budget. They show their true colors.

Comment by Dallas (on hiatus) on May 18, 2011 at 11:49am

If you need further proof of the mean-spiritedness of conservative republicans:



Hospital visitation rights for same sex couples under threat in Wisconsin

Comment by Neal on May 18, 2011 at 10:05am

I have to drive for 40 minutes to get into liberal land. =( 

 

Have two doctors, both crazy. 

Comment by Adriana on May 18, 2011 at 10:02am

You need to find another physician, Neal

Comment by Neal on May 18, 2011 at 9:58am

One of the physicians that I see when needed is a staunch conservative. I know he's a selfish bitch and don't trust him to do anything right.

Comment by doone on May 18, 2011 at 9:26am

The Cause Of Death: Greed?

Earlier this week, Michelle Andrews reported that "hospitals perform autopsies on only about 5 percent of patients who die, down from roughly 50 percent in the 1960s." She also dug up a 1998 report that found "autopsy results showed that clinicians misdiagnosed the cause of death up to 40 percent of the time." Robin Hanson has a theory:

A pretty obvious explanation for fewer autopsies: docs don’t like being proven wrong. Such dislike can lead to lawsuits, and generally make docs look bad. ... Could there be any clearer evidence that docs care more about getting paid than about healing patients, yet the public can’t bring itself to imagine docs are that selfish?

Comment by doone on May 17, 2011 at 5:50pm

People die every day, but life expectancy myths live forever

by Kay

I saw DougJ’s post on the effort currently underway at the Washington Post to browbeat us all into handing over our anticipated Social Security benefits and then I recalled this from last week, where we found out that Alan Simpson doesn’t know anything about Social Security, and that reminded me of this, from the last round of Social Security mania, where we found out former President Bush didn’t know anything about Social Security, either.

 

The message to blacks is that Social Security screws them because they die younger. By all accounts, that’s what Bush told black business and community leaders at a two-hour private meeting on Jan. 25. It’s also the centerpiece of black community town halls and speeches to black audiences by GOP chairman Ken Mehlman, according to the Los Angeles Times.

 

 

As Paul Krugman has explained, remaining life expectancy for a 65-year-old black man is 14.6 years, not two. It’s true that black male life expectancy at birth is only 69, but black-white mortality differences trail off throughout life. (By the late stages, black men outlive white men of the same age.) So, while blacks are likely to spend fewer years taking money out, they’re also likely to spend fewer years paying in.

 

Here’s Paul Krugman on the last round of lies about Social Security:

 

Let’s start with the facts. Mr. Bush’s argument goes back at least seven years, to a report issued by the Heritage Foundation – a report so badly misleading that the deputy chief actuary (now the chief actuary) of the Social Security Administration wrote a memo pointing out “major errors in the methodology.” That’s actuary-speak for “damned lies.”

 

 

Here’s why. First, Mr. Bush’s remarks on African-Americans perpetuate a crude misunderstanding about what life expectancy means. It’s true that the current life expectancy for black males at birth is only 68.8 years – but that doesn’t mean that a black man who has worked all his life can expect to die after collecting only a few years’ worth of Social Security benefits. Blacks’ low life expectancy is largely due to high death rates in childhood and young adulthood. African-American men who make it to age 65 can expect to live, and collect benefits, for an additional 14.6 years – not that far short of the 16.6-year figure for white men.

 

So, both former President Bush and Alan Simpson don’t understand life expectancy, and they simply apply that misunderstanding to advance whatever policy goal they hope to achieve. People die younger, people die older, whatever, don’t bother them with details. They’ll use younger (like Bush did) when it fits the push to privatize, but they may also use older (like Simpson did) because that slots in nicely this round.

This cavalier attitude towards a program that tens of millions of working people will rely on doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. There’s a history here. We have been misled on Social Security in the past. That happened. Those of out here in the cheap seats watched it happen, and there wasn’t any crisis that last time other than the crisis created by the people who hoped to push privatization hurry-up-quick, before we noticed.

The crowd that don’t and won’t have to rely on Social Security and their opinion-page mouthpieces have a credibility deficit on social programs, it’s been accruing over years, and they never seriously address it. I’ll get serious when they do.

Comment by doone on May 17, 2011 at 5:47pm

Obama As A "Third Culture Kid"

A reader writes:

You are indeed right regarding Cornel West. He is a an articulate, well-read, pseudo-intellectual who plays the part of the black Yoda well, but is ironically very provincial. His world is literally black and white which limits his analytic powers and makes him ineffective as a true intellectual and impotent as a true force for change. Contrast this with Barack Hussein Obama.

Obama, is what we call, a TCK—A Third Culture Kid. TCK’s grow up as the children of missionaries, or as military brats, or as the children of businessmen. It means that you grew up during your early developmental years in a culture outside of your parents’ home culture.

In our family we are quite familiar with this term since both my wife and I are second generation TCK’s and we are now raising one (Costa Rican/American born and raised in Europe and China). Between us we’ve been to 70 countries and lived on 4 continents.

TCK’s are usually unable to view the world in a simplistic dualistic way. On the contrary, they are usually over-achievers, get advanced degrees, and are infinitely curious about the world. They can accentuate different facets of their personality and experiences based on who they are talking to—and it’s not fake. This is the reason Obama really could connect and appreciate rural farmers in Illinois, fit in with the Harvard crowd, and work as an effective community organizer in Chicago’s South Side. Obama is the classic TCK. This is why he represents the new America so well—he is post-racial, globalized, and a great example of America’s own Third Cultural nature. It also helps to explain why he is so loathed by provincial Middle America.

Yet, you notice that Obama seems to deeply understand them better than they seem to understand themselves. He can be Kansan, Chicagoan, Bostonian, and fittingly really enjoys Hawaii. His key speeches including the Philadelphia race speech, his famous 2004 Democratic Convention speech, and his Cairo speech show that propensity to truly get all sides. This also helps to explain why he’s not a closet Muslim terrorist. He is the anti-thesis of Osama Bin Laden with his provincial, dualistic, desire to homogenize the world by creating a Muslim Caliphate. This is the exact opposite of who Obama is at his core. Osama looked for his father figure in the provincial world of 7th Century and 20th Century Arabia. Obama looked to go beyond his father’s provincial, naïve aspirations and became a little bit of everything.

The liberal label doesn’t fit Obama either. As you have pointed out, like Reagan or Thatcher, at his heart he is a pragmatist. Like a true TCK, he doesn’t romanticize any one culture or ideology. He understands that there is good or bad in everything. Yet another reason why he can also be called the anti-Bush who along with Cheney is trapped in a juvenile Manichaeism.

Look closely at Sarah Palin and George W. Bush. They are not just anti-intellectual but they are deeply provincial people that made sure not to expose themselves to much outside of their comfort zone. Sarah bounced from college to college unable to really fit in anywhere but Wasilla. Not even the Governor’s mansion felt like home to her so she left that too. Bush grew up in the upper crust East Coast and found his identity as a simple, “aw’ shucks” Texan who just knows what to do in his gut. He can be detached from the real world when necessary. TCK’s have no choice. They must engage the world.

This is one reason why I do not believe Sarah Palin will ever really run for President: She is deathly afraid of the world. She’s fine with fame and money (and pretending to be relevant assures the cash flow)—but she will always need to hide in the tundra from this complicated world. No surprise that on her recent trip to India, she mainly stayed in the hotel and the mall and got out of their as soon as possible.

I wish people would realize that we have a President that was born in the USA, raised in Asia and multi-cultural Hawaii, and who lived in Harlem, and went to uppity Harvard and then spent a lot of time in African-American ‘hoods. Oh, and he’s driven up and down the rural highways of Illinois hundreds of times. Furthermore, much of his life was spent in obscurity so he had to live amongst us normal people paying back student loans. Even as a Senator he lived in a run down apartment in D.C. This is why I never worried about Obama’s lack of experience. All he’s had is experience. Even Bill Clinton, who entered into the political upper class networks by the time he was at Georgetown, looks provincial and cut-off from real America compared to this. Have we ever had a President that has lived in this many American worlds and cultures and succeeded in all of them? 

Cornel West and Sarah Palin have a lot in common. They speak the language of a time gone by and really get very little of what is going on.

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