Yearly Archives: 2007

Last week, John Edwards put forward his healthcare plan which got pretty positive reviews – not an all-out single-payer system, but a good step in the right direction, pitting private and state providers in direct competition with each other (and since state can provide better care more efficiently for less money than any business, in the long run it should become popular enough to displace private health insurance from all but the richest people’s plans) which should reduce the cost of healthcare over time.
Unfortunately, the Right-wing attack on bloggers on the matter of science and medicine (not to mention the angry astronaut, Libby trial, Obama announcement, and the death of a Playboy playmate) reduced the amount of space given to the plan in the media.
I hope there will be more coverage of this week’s proposal. A few minutes ago, Edwards posted his comprehensive proposal to enact his plan to end the war in Iraq:

* Cap funding for the troops in Iraq at 100,000 troops to stop the surge and implement an immediate drawdown of 40-50,000 combat troops. Any troops beyond that level should be redeployed immediately.
* Prohibit funding to deploy any new troops to Iraq that do not meet real readiness standards and that have not been properly trained and equipped, so American tax dollars are used to train and equip our troops, instead of escalating the war.
* Make it clear that President Bush is conducting this war without authorization. The 2002 authorization did not give President Bush the power to use U.S. troops to police a civil war. President Bush exceeded his authority long ago, and now needs to end the war and ask Congress for new authority to manage the withdrawal of the U.S. military presence and to help Iraq achieve stability.
* Require a complete withdrawal of combat troops in Iraq in the next 12-18 months without leaving behind any permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.

Discuss…

Chris Bowers: More Resignations! More Apologies! and Terrorism Remains A Key Political Tool Of the Right

Aldon Hynes: Fighting for Democracy

Lane Hudson: Right-Wing Attack Puts Bloggers’ Lives in Danger

Amanda resigned.
You know, if they were going to hurl this kind of crap at me every day, I’d have resigned, too. Not just that they lie about what she said and what that means, they even lie about who they are:

The Catholic League is the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. It defends individual Catholics and the institutional Church from defamation and discrimination.

Yeah, right! Didn’t we just spend the last couple of days showing that this is a loudmouth organization of anal sphincters defending other individual anal sphincters from the – oh, horror! – hearing the truth every now and then.
We do not know the complete story yet, but of course trolls arrived on Kos insisting that she was fired, not that she quit. I don’t know, but I do not expect Amanda to lie – she would have not posted anything until she could post everything.
The dominant mood, though, at comments there and elsewhere is that this means we need to redouble our efforts in countering the rightwing swiftboaters of all kinds, religious nuts included. Especially religious nuts. Not just Donohue-The-Major-Anal-Sphincter.
Also, support Amanda by blogrolling Pandagon and hit her paypal button. If you think she was too mild on Donohue and religion so far, wait until she unleashes her real wrath on them, now that she is free of editorial shackles. This is going to be fun to watch.

A bunch of new links on the Basic Concepts and Terms in Science list (or my ‘enhanced’ list, if you prefer).
Bitch PhD has a new (paying!) gig at Suicide Girls News Blog and starts out with a post explaining the Plan B: How Does This Plan Work?
Revere on Effect Measure: Freethinker Sunday Sermonette: the Edwards blogger dust-up
Ezra Klein, in an op-ed in The Guardian (online only): We want a divider, not a uniter, and more on the topic on his own blog: More Shamefaced Obama Skepticism
Chuckles1 puts it even better: The OTHER Abraham Lincoln
A comment by Elizabeth Edwards – Response to a Rhetorical Analysis – on the MyDD diary: The Problem with John Edwards’ Urban Radicalism (Or you can see the same Diary and the same comment in the context of different other commenters on DailyKos)
Catchawave: The Man Who Saved Bill Clinton’s Ass, An Anniversary 2/12/99
Kos: ‘I Was Wrong’
Digital Journal: John Edwards Blog Has A Very Refreshing Hands-Off Policy
Neil the Ethical Werewolf: Welcome Chris Bowers!
David Neiwert on Orcinus: Donohue and the Jews
Chris Bowers on MyDD is on a quest:
This Isn’t Over
Keep Piling On The Pressure
Donahue As An Example of a Large Problem
First Democratic Campaign Disses Edwards