THE OBAMA PRESS CONFERENCE: THE POLICE ACTED STUPIDLY?

I listened carefully to our president's press conference held at 8PM ET on the topic of health care. I was impressed by his attention to detail and his careful and compassionate analysis of the American health care crisis. He had me. He captured my attention, until the end. He had me until the last question which [seemed designed] dealt not with health care but with an isolated incident that spoke to the arrest of a Harvard professor named Henry Gates, or "Skip" as the president calls him.

I was astonished when the President of the United States criticized the Cambridge police, calling them "stupid" for arresting "Skip." He said he was not there, so he really does not know what happened. The fact is Professor "Skip" forgot his keys, and had to "jimmy" his way into his house. A neighbor called, and cops responded, as they should. They confronted "Skip" and he provided identification. Well, so far so good, but it didn't end there. On the contrary, "Skip" chased the officers, who were satisfied that he was not a burglar, out into the yard and continued to scream at them accusing them of being racists, bigots, and etc. He was out of control, and he was playing the race card. It had nothing to do with race. The police were doing their job and the situation got out of control through no fault of their own. The only party acting "stupidly" here was "Skip" Gates. He should have been shaking the hands of the cops who risked their lives to protect people and property; in this case his property.

The police should not be expected to tolerate behavior that goes beyond the extreme. It matters not to me that Professor Gates is a black man. I am neither a racist or a bigot and my writings will reflect that sentiment, however, this is a case of Professor Gates being black. It has nothing to do with a fair assessment of the facts. The fact is if Gates were white this would not have been news. That is what bothers me about America. There is discrimination on both sides of this fence and in this case the Cambridge police were doing their job. The president should never have commented on an isolated case such as this. It does nothing but feed the right wing crazies in the country and alienate our first responders. I am disappointed in our president. This question should never have been raised and certainly should not have been answered in a forum that spoke to health care and the economy....MM

Health Care is Like a Locked Cadillac for the Rich

One must admire the panache of the Republicans and others who loudly boast that America has the best health care system in the world. Raising their well dressed arms and pointing in no particular direction with their manicured nails attached to fingers cared for by one of the best heath coverage systems in this country they shrilly tell all who will listen about the poorly run systems in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom under government control. Not that any of them have ever tried any of those systems because they are all well covered by the Federal employee health insurance plan, not to mention the fact that there are usually paramedics and physicians hanging around the congressional sick rooms anyway. Additionally, we should not forget that these poor souls were well covered, well insured and well heeled people before attaining their offices to begin with; after all, the idiocy of a poor man running for political office is no longer a pipe dream, it is simply a pipe probably filled with crack or some similar substance. But, alas, I digress. The question is do we have this great and wonderful health care system? The answer is a resounding yes, if you can afford it. Therein lies the rub and it is not just the 47 million without any health insurance. Oh nooooo! We must also consider those who could only afford marginal insurance and are nothing more that one catastrophic diagnosis away from homelessness, food stamps, and the welfare line. It would be well for most everyone to read the fine print on their health insurance policies and see who really makes the decisions and what their real maximum limits are, ... and of course how easy it is for the insurance company to walk away.
Yes, here in America our great health system may well be the Cadillac of Health System in the World. The problem is, the car is locked and only the rich and the powerful have the key and seem to have no intention of sharing. All the rest of us can do is sit around it and say... "Ain't That Great"!!!!!!

PALIN A "LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS" SAY AIDES

It is a given that I suffer from Palin Derangement Syndrome (PDS). Then again so do millions of Americans. The fact that this incurious, cluelesss, amoral woman could be a VP nominee, much less a governor, is frightening in what it says about our country.

It's well known that there were tensions between Arizona Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin last year during their presidential run, but a new article in Vanity Fair magazine sheds light on just how serious the rift between the two camps was.

According to the article, former McCain campaign staffers suffer from a collective "survivor's guilt" over the problem-plagued choice of Palin as vice-presidential candidate. The friction between the McCain and Palin was so intense that it carried right on into election night, when Palin wanted to address the Arizona crowd to whom McCain was to give his concession speech. After much back-and-forth wrangling, Palin didn't speak that night.

But trouble had been brewing long before that. Over the course of the campaign, one close adviser to McCain "was heard to refer to Palin as "little shop of horrors'" during the campaign.

McCain campaign members, in a series of conversations, told the magazine that "no serious vetting had been done before the selection (by either the McCain or the Obama team), and there was trouble in nailing down basic facts about Palin’s life" -- an omission that would cause immediate trouble as details of Palin's sordid family life began to emerge.

Palin's lack of aptitude in her new starring role as V-P candidate became obvious quickly. At times, it seemed as if Palin was more concerned with her popularity back home in Alaska than with the national presidential campaign that she was now a central part of.

"By all accounts, Palin was either unwilling, or simply unable, to prepare," the piece says. "In the run-up to the Couric interview, Palin had become preoccupied with a far more parochial concern: answering a humdrum written questionnaire from her hometown newspaper, the Frontiersman ... At the same time, she grew concerned that her approval ratings back home in Alaska were sagging as she embraced the role of McCain’s bad cop."

From Vanity Fair:

As Palin has piled misstep on top of misstep, the senior members of McCain’s campaign team have undergone a painful odyssey of their own. In recent rounds of long conversations, most made it clear that they suffer a kind of survivor’s guilt: they can’t quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be.

The Vanity Fair piece asks some poignant questions about the significance of Palin's vice-presidential bid last year. "What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded?" the article asks.

"What does her prominence say about the importance of having (or lacking) a record of achievement in public life?" the piece continues. "Why did so many skilled veterans of the Republican Party—long regarded as the more adroit team in presidential politics—keep loyally working for her election even after they privately realized she was casual about the truth and totally unfit for the vice-presidency?"