Uncritical Media Magnify GOP’s Lies About Health Care

From an article in the Open Left Blog, by my friend, David Sirota:

“Political headlines of late have all been some version of Dow Jones Newswire’s recent scream: ‘CBO Puts Health Care Bill Cost at $1 Trillion.’ That’s as true as an Enron press release touting only one side of the company’s ledger. Though the bill’s expenditure do total $1 trillion, the CBO confirms its other provisons recover more than that, meaning headlines should read, ‘CBO Says Health Bill Saves $110 Billion’.”

To really get your blood boilding, read David’s detailed examples of media malfeasance here.

Some Things I’d Like To Know …

• Is there another word for synonym?


• What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an
endangered plant?


• If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to 
remain silent?

• Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?


• If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?


• If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is 
it considered a hostage situation?



Open Letter To Harry Reid

Dear  Leader,

Hey, did you see the Pew Research Center poll? The one just out? Showing voter rage at congressional incumbents stronger than the majority-changing years of 1994 and 2006?

Now think back to when I ran for the Senate, also in an anti-incumbent year (‘92). Remember the funny thing that happened to me along the way? Where the guy who’d never been dogcatcher–that was his proud credential–came within 330 votes of me in the Democratic primary and doomed my general election candidacy right there? It didn’t matter that I was “influential” [1] or had a bunch of accomplishments. Voters despised an out-of-touch Congress so much they voted for “outsiders.”

Yeah, I do have some bona-fides to be frank here. So allow me to say this: you and your Senate Ds are in deep shit!

Top General: Nat’l Missile Defense Could Backfire

Be damned. A general–not just any general, mind, but the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command–actually talked sense about National Missile Defense (NMD), my bete noir for years.

He stated what I’ve contended since my days on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the U.S. House–that NMD could make us more, not less, vulnerable. Why? Because it could be seen by China (in his example) as part of an offensive arms buildup and start a destabilizing arms race.

General Kevin Chilton stated yesterday (11/11/09) that  NMD “… might encourage [China] to double, triple, quadruple their current nuclear forces. Because they would feel that their deterrent was no longer viable.”

But that’s not the half of it. As I wrote at Counterpunch.com in 2006 at BlueOregon.com in 2007, even if the Pentagon could deploy an anti-missile missile that was 80 percent effective–a better success rate than any in history–the system would be unlikely to prevent a successful enemy attack. The explanation lies in probability theory …