We need Health Care Reform with a Public Health Insurance Option now.  

BCBS is a metaphor for the health insurance industry. It works for some. It doesn't work for others. Denial of coverage (or sky high premiums) for pre-existing conditions and rescission practices still leave people out in the cold. BCBS itself is however actively opposed to health care reform that would help those people. Accessible, dependable and portable health insurance is a minimum requirement for health care reform.

We need a system that encourages more primary care and covers people that clog expensive emergency rooms with preventable conditions.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Treating an uninsured patient in an emergency room is an option but not a sustainable one. We don't need modern day "Typhoid Marys" wandering around. Reasonable access to primary care for everyone is important for financial, physical & mental well being of the entire population.

I learned to play the ukulele so I could do this. Although often attributed to Tom Lehrer, the lyrics are by Frank Jacobs of Mad Magazine. The music is of course Blue Skies by Irving Berlin.

NC State Senator Neal Hunt, running for re-election and supporting John McCain on C-Span November 1st:

"I would like some, some, normal person that knew him growing up to come forward and say "I love America and, and eh, I really like Barack Obama" I just hadn't seen anybody like that. Everybody, all of his associations seem to be radical American haters."

A good friend Liisa Ogburn a creative documentarian in Raleigh NC collected pictures of homemade Obama signs and wove them into a story in this inspiring video.

Obama: Signs of Hope

This is Fred Eshelman, CEO of PPD, Inc, the man paying millions to attack Barack Obama with his own 527, RightChange.com.  Perhaps Fred Eshelman is funding RightChange.com attacks on Barack Obama because he is chafing under Federal oversight after his performance at the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing in February 2008. The Committee was investigating FDA approval of the drug Ketek, which caused liver problems, despite being based on fraudulent clinical research.

1   2   3

The Campaign of John McCain has begun sending out misleading information to North Carolina voters about absentee voting.  His target audience?  Republicans.

The flyer above went to a registered Republican in Wake County, NC.  John McCain is telling people to request a ballot on a postcard using their own handwriting with their name, residence, phone number and signature.  The address example actually contains two addresses.  One address in the example has a non-existent zip code, 127602.  The other address immediately below it is a PO Box address.

The return address given is actually that of the Wake County, NC, Board of Elections but there is no clear identification of the Board.  It simply says "Director of Elections".  The postcard requires a first class stamp but does not tell the recipient the actual postage required.

Here is what the Wake County Board of Elections actually requires:

HOW TO REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT
All requests for absentee ballots must be made in writing.  We cannot accept requests by phone or email.  Mail, fax, or hand-deliver a written request to the Wake County Board of Elections.

WHAT MUST I INCLUDE IN MY WRITTEN REQUEST?
    * Voter's name
    * Voter's current residence address
    * Voter's date of birth
    * Address where ballot should be mailed
      (if different from the residence address)
    * A daytime phone number
      (in case we have questions or need additional information)
    * Voter's signature

WHERE DO I MAIL MY ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUEST?
Wake County Board of Elections
Attn: Absentee
PO Box 695
Raleigh, NC 27602

WHAT ARE THE DEADLINES FOR REQUESTING AND RETURNING AN ABSENTEE BALLOT?
September 15, 2008
Beginning date to request an absentee ballot to be mailed.
October 28, 2008 5:00 P.M.
Absentee ballot requests must be received by BOE office.
November 3, 2008 5:00 P.M.
Voted absentee ballots must be received by BOE office.

The critically missing piece information is the date of birth and, to avoid the risk of identity theft, that should not be placed in full view on the back of a postcard.  At first blush this looked like a voter caging exercise but upon review it just seems sloppy.  The pre-sorted mailing rate does not allow for returns.  Such a request to the Board of Elections would not be valid and a response would generate more expense and delay and likely frustrate the recipient.

For anyone who has received this mailing, please contact the Board of Elections in your own state (in NC your County Board of Elections) to clarify the requirements that apply to your circumstances and needs.  Lord only knows what Democrats received in their McCain Mailin'.

Now the neo-cons are saying what they really mean by "surge".  The AEI, one of the originators of the "surge" in a new Op-Ed redefined it as an 18 month minimum deployment.(Originally in WaPo)

The only "surge" option that makes sense is both long and large.

Rep. Brad Miller will be live-blogging at BlueNC.com on Thursday morning December 28th from 9am-11am (Eastern). Questions and comments are welcome

In anticipation of this event a question thread has been running at BlueNC. Some good questions have already been posted and Rep. Miller has been reading.

Some of you will have seen my previous MyDD posts and those of others about Brad Miller and the absurdly venomous campaign by his unsuccessful opponent Vernon Robinson.

The NY Times today published an article by Philip Shenon called The Hammer Strikes a Comeback Blow about Tom DeLay's new blog but completely omitted the fact that when the blog started up a 11 days ago it was quickly bombarded with unflattering unmoderated comments and just as quickly taken down to be restarted in a moderated format with the offending comments removed.  Tom DeLay blew it and the NY Times blew it by not reporting on his false start in this fluff piece about DeLay that displays very little knowledge about blogging.

Not to worry.  Enterprising blogger James J. Risser saved the original for posterity (or posteriority) at tomdelaydotcom.blogspot.com
 complete with all the comments.