Sen. Reid Carves Tombstone for Public Option

Anyone have any ideas on what the tombstone over the public option for healthcare will look like? Will it be a picture of Harry Reid's face alone or can we get a group photo of Senator Reid, Ms. Don't-Snow-on-my-private-parade Olympia, Senator MyPeopleGetWhateverItell'emIwant Montana's Max Baucus (a Corporate Pinocchio if there ever was one), and our own beloved almost-democrat-but-hey-she's-star-quality-cute-to-look-at Congresswoman Betsy Markey plus a few of the other Colorado Republicans wearing democratic drag these days. Maybe we can even get a shot of the nine faces of Joe Lieberman included.

From the WSJ on Lieberman

"Sen. Joseph Lieberman, speaking in that trademark sonorous baritone, utters a simple statement that translates into real trouble for Democratic leaders: "I'm going to be stubborn on this."

Stubborn, he means, in opposing any health-care overhaul that includes a "public option," or government-run health-insurance plan, as the current bill does. His opposition is strong enough that Mr. Lieberman says he won't vote to let a bill come to a final vote if a public option is included."

Or how about that great ex-insurance salesman turned Senator Forty-two-percent-of-folks-without-health-insurance Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Maybe he'll stop in for a prime time photo-op as well. I'm sure he will want his grandchildren to understand how he helped create a second class citizenry for the other families in America.

From ABC Blog News:

"On "This Week" Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said he couldn't live with the health care bill that was just voted on last night.

He gave me a list of non-starters, including the opt-out public option. Nelson did leave a little room for negotiation on a public option. "

It is the beautiful twins of corporate irony in action. The House bill takes out the provision that would remove protections for the Insurance Industry put in place around WWII which allows the entire industry to collude with impunity. Next the Senate takes out single payer and the true public option. I doubt the movie Mafia characters could have cooked up a better scheme.

While the rest of us work for a living the insurance industry has been choosing those best dressed guys who like to sell shampoo to a bald man and nurturing and funding them for years straight into your Congress seats. Don't you love it when a plan comes together and you wake up in the morning feeling powerless in your own country?

And then these senators go home to their well tended families, whip the servants (excuse me... the undocumented workers) into a frenzy getting a round of scotch for everyone, and tuck their loved ones into their warm cozy corporate paid-for beds. It is a tale even Hollywood wouldn't dare to film.

If you want to get the undigested version the Library of Congress's Thomas is a one-stop reading point. Hey maybe we should eliminate access to the library to those who can't afford to buy the books. Seems only fair and should move America back into feudalism more quickly than what the conservatives have planned. A short trip. Just a suggestion--I digress.

Am I upset? Of course I am. I have no idea what to wear to the prison when I get thrown in as a conscientious objector refusing to purchase a government "approved" private nonprofit plan. Better garbage you couldn't snag out of Paris Hilton's boudoir than the rancid elitist fluff of hot air pumping out of the Senate.

Although prison might not be such a bad idea if I get really sick. Prisoners have healthcare. Prisoners have more status than the poor and the working class in the Senate's eyes.

So what does it take to get all these chumps out of office who sunk this ship? I'm ready to go to work to oust them. Each and every one of them.

Bye bye Harry... your arrogance to make your face in history will take you back down to the jowls of the working class. This country is going to see an election that really will make the history books the next time around. Now I suddenly understand how all those third parties achieved power and how some parties died out. I say "bury" the Republicans and reduce the Democrats to groveling choir boys.

I am not the only one disaffected. This commentary written by local chemist Ed Craig in a response to a friend asking about his feelings following Markey's House vote. It should also raise the "find a new job" on the list of priorities of some politicians. Thank you Ed for the use of this material.

"I see this very similar to what the Republicans are doing with Abortion. They make a big deal about making Abortion illegal. It get's the conservatives to show-up and vote for them. Well, the conservatives were in control of virtually everything for 8 years and they never once tried to push an Anti-Abortion bill through congress. Why? It's simple, as long as Abortion is out there they can count on the conservatives and religious idiots to show-up and vote for them. They know as soon as they make Abortion illegal all those people with evaporate.

Health Care Reform is the same on the Democrat side. As long as it's out there Democrats will line-up to vote. Once people are satisfied with their Health Care then they won't be as interested in showing up to vote. Also a lot of the people in Congress are getting huge kickbacks from the health insurance companies and health care providers. Keeping people in office that are already beholding to the insurance companies and health care providers doesn't serve us any purpose at all other than preventing us from putting someone else in office that might not be so beholding.

If Bennet, Udall, or Markey want my vote they'll find a way to vote for some type of real health care reform. Otherwise they're no better than the Republicans so why keep them around. I went through this 30 years ago... I'm not waiting another 30 years for them to

grow a set of gonads. Either they can do the job or they can't. If they can't do the job then why would I want to keep them there?"

They don't have these problems in England and France. Oh that's right, England and France shed its love-affair with Monarchies a few heads ago except for photo shots and sound bites. Here our companies crawl in bed with the Monarchs while the not-too-bright peasants serve the both tea and crumpets in the hope that someday, maybe just someday, they, the servant might also be a royal.

Personally I only bought into the Cinderella and Prince Charming on a White Horse idiocy until about age sixteen. I am not buying what the Congress is selling this time either. Proverbially, I say we set the Queen O'Hearts on the lot of them. My reasoning? Few seem to understand that Alice really lives in the real world and not everyone is so lucky as to pull a seat next to the White Rabbit.

Pass the magic cookies please.

Tomorrow, okay or maybe the next day--on Greeleyville, a surprise guest columnist on Health Care Reform. Stay tuned.

Mango Couscous And A Big Turkey

I hate cooking the same things over and over again. I don't like reading the same book twice, driving the same route every day, and I rarely watch a movie twice. I think that sensation of newness and creativity. I like the exploration of spaces, nooks, and crannies that can fill my mind. I'm an insatiable woman that way.

Hence I look for new ways to torture my family on Thanksgiving every year.

This year however I will be cooking at my brother's home. So I may have to calm the raging fires a bit and produce something akin to a normal Thanksgiving. I've got the organic bird. The stuffing recipe that could float a whale. Mashed potatoes (the one common bond between all genetically linked family members and non) with gravy. Oh, and the pumpkin pie.

So I figure that leaves everything else to mess with.

I'm posting one of my favorite previous, more successful, "different" things I've thrown in for Thanksgiving. I'm thinking of doing it again this year--since I didn't get time in isolation for this dish last year.

I thought I'd post and share with readers. An apology for not blogging so to speak. Feel free to send me others--I'll post them if you want or else put them in with your comments. There is a comment link at the end of each post. If you click on that link you should get a comment window to open up.

Mango Couscous

The Washington Post, November 8, 2006

* Cuisine: African

* Course: Side Dish

* Features: Fast, Meatless

Summary:

Who knew that tomato, raisins and mango go so well together? This is a very fruity, pretty and easy side dish.

4 servings

Ingredients:

* 1 cup couscous

* 2 tablespoons olive oil

* 1 medium clove garlic, minced

* Flesh of 1 mango, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 1 cup)

* 1 jalapeño chili pepper, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped

* 1/2 cup dark raisins

* 1 medium tomato, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped

* Juice of 1 lime

* 1/4 cup loosely packed small cilantro sprigs, finely chopped

* 1/4 cup loosely packed small flat-leaf parsley sprigs, finely chopped

* Salt

Directions:

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, mango and jalapeño chili pepper and cook about 5 minutes, until the mango begins to color lightly. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the couscous, raisins, tomato, lime juice, cilantro and parsley, stirring to combine. Cook long enough just to heat through. Season with salt to taste. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Making Instant Window Ice in Greeley Colorado

All right. Stop calling. I'll write. I'll write!

It's true I have been skipping out on those refreshing blood pressure gushing cynical observations of mine. And, yes, I realize I've let some of my readers down and made them go search for some other neurotic politically minded blogger.

But my heart has been more into reflection the last couple of months and I don't generally write about things when I feel befuddled and undazzled.

I first came to Greeley less than a year ago. After finishing the job from Mars, I wanted to be near my Mother where I could visit her in her final declining months. I also wanted to rekindle that spark of extended family I had left while my sons spent their twenties chasing mates. I figured my sons would check in as soon as they found someone they could bring home to Mom.

The last Blondy bimbo barely-high-school grad wannabe my youngest son almost introduced me to flopped miserably. He will be joining the household for Thanksgiving. I've noted he isn't bringing a guest. Is it the stuffing recipe or is it Mom?

Or to put it another way, the nest was finally empty and I decided it wasn't really a nest at all so I set out looking to find a new one or at least have the fun of poking around other people's nests.

After a few months I have learned some exciting things about Greeley and northern Colorado. One is how to make instant ice on my windshield in the morning. Another is that almost every town in Colorado sprawls all over the place uncontrolled. Greeley doesn't have a lock on the poor planning decisions department at all. I've also learned to expect the streets of Greeley to roll up at about seven in the evening. The only things I've seen out on the town in the evening are furry, harry, and Peter Cottontail. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.

But what daunted me the most, and made me draw back considerably from writing, was the election process and the ideologies that process highlighted.

I've never been someone who seriously wanted to tell other people what to do with their lives. In my book, if you are living up to your set of ideals and what you believe in, and you are not physically menacing or threatening another human being then that is a good thing. If some one's politics are not my own I have never really felt a serious need to change them.

Then, again, I've never felt harm threatened by a conflicting political mindset.

As I drive around Northern Colorado I can definitely feel the forces at work for minimum government and regulation. Every time I have visited my Uncle Billy's ranch I see those forces at work. He would sic his ranch dogs on any government anything that came on the ranch I think. Jail be dammed. Just leave him alone and he will be just fine. Probably some of the last words he whispered in his head as his family, not my side, shuttled the 96 year-old off into the rest home so they could mine his landed fortunes.

Government has its place. Rules and regulation have their place. Keeping government out of our individual lives has a place too. There isn't one way that works for everything or everybody.

But watching and reading and talking to people in Greeley holding vested interests in their own future well-being and their children's vote down 3A made me take a big breath and retrace my own views a bit.

Yes, I blogged furiously about the problems in the District. I still believe that those problems are a big problem. But promoting the gutting and dismantling of what is left of Greeley's public school system was never my own intent. You don't identify that there is a deep gaping wound on your leg so that surgeons can cut the leg off. You identify it so it can be tended and bandaged and returned to normal.

I guess that is not what the voters in Greeley are in tune with. They are in tune with taxes and their own personal advantages in the world. Well that may be a sweeping generalization but it does represent the total experience I've heard, summarized.

To add onto my personal feelings of woe over the political environment I've recently read through the City's Charter and discovered that technically most the political power really has been handed over to a nonelected official, the City Manager. The City Council are in effect stuffed puppets used to assuage the public mindset that they are the ones in charge and can vote out those who don't perform.

Do Greeley citizens really think that paying someone $1200 or so a month gives them a full-time Mayor for the city? Do Greeley citizens think that Greeley is still small and rural and doesn't need a full-time Mayor? Do Greeley citizens really think it is in their best interest to limit the people who can run for political office to a pool of people who are retired or have enough money they don't have to work for real wages or to build a real career? Fire the Mayor, either one Clark or Norton, I doubt they would be troubled about losing their position for long. Neither would the other council members. After all being the public whipping post when your City Manager really makes all the calls on how things are done and who gets to benefit isn't a position of comfort.

But I digress here over my disillusionment. Just remember YOU CALLED ME and asked me to write! Suffer my melancholy whims.

But I still like the people here. I like all the trees. I like the fact that the downtown needs fixing--it is something for the community to work on together. I like my family and they are here. I like it that Denver is only an hour away but that Denver is not HERE. And I like the snow. I haven't had to shovel it yet though.

In short, I'll get over it. I've decided I've just got the change blues. I'm going to volunteer for a while I think doing something that matters to the future big picture. It should help lift my spirits. There is a lot of work to be done in this community. My only regret is that I meet so many people that say change can't happen here and won't. They quit before they start. Or they have started before and it hasn't happened.

Well change comes incrementally and it always demands payment in the form of human energy, patience, conflict, and time.

I'm not quite sure it works the same in a town like Greeley. As I said I've never been particularly inclined to try to change things for other people. But here I don't think I'll be working to change things. I think I'll just be working to put reasonable working solutions together. The people Greeley already want good schools and good government. We just disagree on how to get to that nice safe warm place. As I see it, the places we are heading aren't going to get us there, so time to change course as compared to people. The people are good, the system choices are bad, and it is time to look further than out into our own backyards.

The people can, and will, choose which path they want to walk.

In the end I guess that is just like how it is supposed to be.

Don't Forget Cranky's Students Are Posting Good Things

The UNC class covered election night at the Greeley Tribune. It is interesting to read their impressions for that night. So don't forget to give them some support and visit their postings on the Cranky Copy Editor's page. If you look to the left hand side of the blog you'll see the City Council links to the student postings. I am not a big fan of the Tribune myself. And I certainly would like to see their editorials improve. Maybe they could let the students write them so they have more factual reasoning and content. That would be nice! Some of these students are pretty good at this stuff.

But the Cranky Copy Editor's post is a little life-changing. I just went back and changed the title on this piece from "Kids" to "Students". Sometimes it is easy to forget how language can be offensive even when not intentional. My favorite complaint is why does an individuals race or color has to come into a conversation when their race or color has absolutely nothing to do with what is being discussed. For example this conversation recently passed during a routine dinner in this household, "My old roommate, who was black, showed up later after I had talked to the landlord." Race and gender bias is embedded deeply in a culture. Always a hot button issue. These references happen frequently I've noticed but yet no one else seems to pay attention. Kind of like the gender discussion on CCE's (Cranky Copy Editor) page.

Anyone got other ones?

Congressional Shocker: Betsy Markey Bats For The Other Team

It would appear that I am not the only one peeved at the Democrats voting against health care reform. Thunderhead, a Greeley Colorado resident, posted the following note to my previous thoughts about Northern Colorado's Congresswoman Betsy Markey. I thought I'd repost it here.

Thunderhead: No one wants you on their football team when you cannot come through in the pinch.The Virginia governor's race should have been example enough, Betsy. Virginia's progressive base stayed home last Tuesday because their democratic governor decided he'd behave legislatively, like a Republican, and did so throughout his term. Like Virginia, we mistakenly believed you were on our team. The rule of thumb: when there's a choice between a republican candidate, and a democrat who acts like a republican, the republican will be chosen every time.That is what happened in Va. and is why Betsy, you do not deserve, nor will you win a second term as House Representative in this district. You betrayed your base on an historical issue. You may think, like other handwringing democrats who cannot be progressive, "what will the voters do instead, vote in a republican?" Wrong reasoning:That is what the, now former, democratic governor of Va. thought.To your base you are now a republican; you cannot make it up by voting left on other important issues; you voted to keep our health insurance industry monopolized, you voted for zero competition for the health insurance cartel, your base told you clearly: single or payer or robust public option. Always do what your base tells you. If in doubt within your district, always do what progressives nationally tell you; progressive democrats are progressive democrats anywhere in the country; they're not timid shape-shifting chimeras. But you knew better Betsy; you chose to be a political hybrid and try to hold your base hostage to a republican taking your seat. But it was you who brought harm to your base. You're a lame duck now, one year in to a two year term. And you are no democrat.