TheNextReport

The Mighty Wave As the GOP basks in the Republican mid-term landslide, it is useful to consider what was lost and what the results say about the nature of our democracy and the intelligence of the electorate. This was a victory for the deliberate GOP strategy of government by obstruction - of hamstringing the party in the majority so that it will be rendered unable to govern, angering the voters sufficiently that they will award the throne and scepter to the minority... well at least the scepter. Never mind that the important business of the country will be either put on hold (like energy policy), critically diluted (like health care policy) or way-layed entirely. Never mind that this irresponsible strategy was enacted in the midst of the worst economic crisis in a generation, a crisis that was in large part the result of GOP anti-regulatory theology. Perhaps even worse was the manner in which the voters blithely permitted Republican candidates in several key elections - such as Nevada...

The American people have proven the sad truth: Democracy is a wasted effort in the U.S. where the rich rule, the ignorant struggle and the rest prefer to roll over and go back to sleep. How could anyone vote for those who promised to repeal the modest health care reforms the Obama administration squeeked through Congress? How could anyone vote for those who refused to extend unemployment benefits in the middle of the worst financial crisis in a generation? How could anyone vote to return power to those who advocate the same type of governing philosophy that led to the crisis in the first place? How could anyone be that stupid?

Now the media, which endlessly hyped the certainty of a massive Republican victory during the run-up to the mid-term elections, is trying to "figure out what happened." What happened was a massive decision by the liberal side of the political spectrum not to bother going to the polls because of the official certainty of a Republican victory. The pundits pronounced the verdict long before a single polling place opened. In case you haven't guessed, we no longer live in a democracy. How many of us are going to ever bother voting if the outcome has already been determined by the media?

Pom Pom Princesses The cast of characters that the Republican Party presents to the world, it's social media profile, has at last come fully into the open. We have seen the boorish, nativist side of the GOP in the person of Sean Hannity - the thuggish traffic cop; Rush Limbaugh - the race-baiting gasbag; Glenn Beck - the sequestered child of Josef Goebbels. We have also seen the corporate manager, the ethically challenged Wall Street player who would just as soon see impoverished children go without medical coverage than to have to pay a few dollars more in yearly taxes; and we have witnessed the pastors, reverends and priests, all experts in the revealed word of God, who don't quite get the Sermon on the Mount. With the appearance of kewpie doll Christine O'Donnell onto the national political stage, following in the footsteps of media darling Sarah Palin, the profound neurosis that is the GOP has at last fully emerged from its gristled cocoon. A twisted form of repressed s...

The key executives of the companies responsible for the titanic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico were raked over the coals by members of Congress Tuesday and managed to skillfully dance away and blame each other when the grilling got too hot. Called to account before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer (D) of California were BP America President Lamar McKay; Steven Newman, CEO of well driller Transocean limited; and Halliburton chief health, safety and environmental officer Tim Probert. In their testimony, all three men appeared to simultaneously accept responsibility for what happened then shift the blame to the other parties. All relied heavily on the fact that critical details regarding the precise cause of the accident are not yet available. Indeed, when asked by several senators about whether certain industry standards for building ocean-based oil rigs were followed, the witnesses indicated several times that they didn’t know the answe...

It Came From Beneath the Sea In France it is known as “la Marée Noir”, the Black Tide. The waves of oil that are rushing to choke the shorelines of Louisiana are well-known to the residents of the Galician coast of Spain and the shores of southwestern France where I used to live. It was there in 2002 that the giant oil tanker Prestige broke apart in rough seas, a nightmare that would bring death to more than 20,000 birds and other wildlife, a nightmare that would spell destruction to the fishing and tourism industries for years afterward. Living near Bordeaux at the time, I witnessed the results of the disaster first hand. For those concerned about the effects of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, past tanker calamities such as the Prestige and the 1989 wreck of the Exxon Valdez are instructive; they help us understand the magnitude of the damage such accidents can have on a region’s habitat, and the dangerous consequences of insufficient government regulation and political wrangling. Wh...

Between 2008 and 2010, millions of average Americans lost their jobs, their homes, their lives to the amoral practices of corporate greed. After ponying up to bail them out the government got around to us; we had to endure a year long spectacle where we were made to grovel for a measure of basic justice in our healthcare. We were told we couldn't afford it Civil War by otheer means; limitations of democracy ; no Medicare, no public option, no trigger, not even support for individual states that might want to institute a public option on their own. The victor? Joew Lieberman

You're in Good Hands So it goes. President Obama and the Democrats can finally crow about the passage of health reform legislation. Yes, it is laudable that the United States has managed, against tremendous political resistance, to provide bare-bones guarantees that most Americans will be "covered" by insurance and that some of the most egregious practices of the insurance companies will finally be brought under a measure of control. Are we to be happy and grateful, however, that we have moved from the Middle Ages to the 19th Century? Now, in retrospect, the fight over reform has been a tragic national drama revealing just how truly backward the United States is and how easily manipulated its electorate has become. The American government allowed a thoroughly criminal private insurance system to flourish for decades, a racket that extorted the populace and profited by refusing an equitable return of services, resulting in the deaths of millions and the obscene enrichment ...

When Mr. Lieberman says no public option, he means no public option—not an "opt-in" or an "opt out" or a "trigger" (a public option only comes into effect if private insurers fail to spread enough coverage). "We are at the point now where this has become the clas Before commenting on what will certainly be an exciting week in Washington, I would direct those interested in the health care debate to a recent that explores some of the myths that have, as I predicted, gradually eaten away at the Democrats health proposal so that the most fundamental institutional reform (the ending of the private insurance monopoly) will be lost.

To Promote the General Welfare Over the last few days we have been graciously informed by the media pundits of two critical facts regarding the seemingly interminable debate over health care reform: first, that President Obama's decision to postpone his trip to Indonesia next week means that a final deal among Democratic legislators is at last ready for prime time; and second, that the agreement -- according to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi -- will exclude from the American people the opportunity to choose a government-run public plan as an alternative to private insurance. Though we have heard this last assertion before, this time the death knell for the public option seems to have a ring of truth. For those of us who at times suffer from short-term memory loss when it comes to the opera of American politics, it may be useful to recall that the public option as presented last year with the full support of the president was passed by the House of Representatives and only bargai...

Privilege Vs. Right Kept pointing to their prop -- the stck of paper admission: we, your leaders lack the intellectual capacity to understand complex legislation The GOP leaders at today's health care summit kept repeating that they had philosophical differences with the Democrats, namely they don't believe in government regulating the health care industry. Does anyone remember what has happened in the United States recently? The economy of the country was nearly crushed, millions of jobs and homes lost; our standard of living sustained damage that will take years to recover, all because of inadequate government regulation of private industry. Why anyone should accept including the GOP and its disproven "philosophy" as part of our political discourse is completely beyond me. Why doesn't the White House explain this simple idea to the country?

Statesman or Warrior First they gave away single payer without an argument; then they gave away expanding the eligibility age for Medicare; then they gave away the Public Option to get a 60 vote majority in the Senate that evaporated. President Obama couldn't be going into the health care summit if he wasn't prepared to give away more. The question is: how much should our president be willing to sacrifice in useless negotiations with an opposition that has proven itself to be entirely ignorant and corrupt, one that has clearly demonstrated its disdain for representative democracy? The wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry known as the Republican Party should have no voice in deciding what everyone knows is the most profound public issue of our time. President Obama has made clear that the Public Option, a component of health care reform that he endorsed as an intrinsic part of his policy, won't be on the table at tomorrow's summit, in spite of the fact that ...

National Anthem While American citizens still wait for their government to pass health care reform, a report was released that Anthem Blue Cross Insurance, the largest health insurer in California, plans to raise its premiums 39%. It may be tempting to both curse and cheer the odd logic displayed by Anthem's executives in making such a dastardly announcement at such a crucial time in the health reform debate. While we must excoriate the executives who made this decision, it nevertheless proves better than volumes of policy speeches the sad evil of private corporate healthcare. President Obama, the AMA, AARP and scores of reform advocates have struggled for over a year to explain reform proposals to Americans who still can't seem to figure out that universal health care is in their interest. Progressives have watched as weak-kneed presidential leadership, GOP stone-walling, and opposition from conservative democrats have succeeded in strangling legislation. The Anthem board and...

A Statesman Stands Up Just when I was about to lose all confidence in President Obama for his tame demeanor before the GOP, just when we thought his base was about to abandon him for not fighting more aggressively on health care, he goes off and proves again that he is one of the most skilled politicians to ever hold the office. The encounter with Republican leaders at their retreat in Baltimore was an uncanny bit of impromptu political theater where the President boldly confronted political opponents who have demonstrated their ideological mindlessness and disdain for the current occupant of the White House. Clearly expecting to use the opportunity to sand-bag Obama with ideologically charged set-up questions, GOP leaders found the tables adroitly turned by the president who swiftly and easily showed himself to be not only a master of the issues, but surprisingly skilled in the art of political gamesmanship as well. Mr. Obama had been broadly criticized by progressives for his continu...

Saddle-up Your Pickups, Boys or You're in Good Hands with Joe the Plumber It's amazing that the Democratic Party and the White House haven't yet been able to figure it out. The GOP has once again managed to out-smart it's Democratic rivals by relying on the dim-witted, Pavlovian responses of the electorate in a key state. Scott Brown, the newly elected Senator from the blue state of Massachusetts, has apparently raised the location of the Mason-Dixon line up to the suburbs of Boston. Is it that hard to figure out that, given the opportunity, American voters, no matter where they reside, will fall for any semi-charismatic figure who rides into town in a pickup truck, sings praises of the local sports franchise and carries a firearm? Such is the sophistication of American politics, the land of the free and the homer of Joe the Plumber. The mandarins of the Democratic Party in Mass have been left scratching their heads. How could it have happened? The voters just one year ...