Healthcare reform tough without legislator reform

Health and healthcare happen to be up high in my priority list, yet, as you can see, I haven't been posting much about the reform, which no doubt is a critical issue in this country.

Why?

Because it's a clusterfuck.

It's gotten so complicated that it's not only overwhelming to try to understand but also nearly impossible to explain--and that's a bad sign, if you ask me.

Why is it such a clusterfuck?

Because of special interest groups (insurers and healthcare providers) lobbying the crap out of spineless legislators who are more interested in what they can get from these groups than in doing their jobs.

Surely there's a simpler way to approach universal healthcare--there has to be. But that would lead to reduced profits for most of this heath-caring (not!) people.

One of the most contended aspects of the reform is the $1 trillion price tag. Well, I think that's probably twice of what it would cost if these fuckers weren't out to get obscenely rich vs. seeking to make a decent living, even be wealthy.

Furthermore, how many millions (ahem, billions) of dollars to we send to other countries disguised as "aid" to advance geopolitical agendas, among other things...? Sometimes the so-called aid enables some of these foreign governments to provide basic services, such as healthcare, to their people. Charity starts at home.

In addition, it is acceptable to spend $12 billion a month of taxpayers' money to fund a pseudo-war in Iraq (launched by the Bush administration based on a series of lies) that has done absolutely nothing to improve the quality of life in this country, but it's not acceptable to allocate that kind of effort and resources on the healthcare of Americans.

I think the best system would be one without insurance companies.

You think I'm oversimplifying things? Fine, but I think it is that simple.

Clusterfucks are notoriously present when a bunch of irrationally motivated people are set on getting their way above all else, unwilling to cooperate among themselves to reach a compromise that serves everyone's needs to a certain degree vs. catering either exclusively or disproportionately to one or more groups at the expense of others.

Case in point: Last week, South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint told fellow legislators that "if we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."

Does it sound like this distinguished (not!) member of Congress is interested in anything other than his and his party's political agenda? Nope.

While the Obama administration labors to find a way to make decent healthcare accessible to all--rich, poor and in-between--Americans, this asshole is stuck on how to "stop Obama."

"Think about that," President Obama said Monday during a visit to Children's National Medical Center in Washington in response to DeMint's remark. "This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses, and breaking America's economy. And we can't afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care. Not this time. Not now."

Here's the thing: DeMint can dedicate his precious energy and resources to this irrational cause because either he's healthy enough to do so or, when he's not, he's got a killer health plan--paid by you and me--to cover his ass.

I'd like to see what he would do if illness Waterloo-ed his life and he didn't have the so-called "Cadillac plan" he's entitled to as a congressman to get catch him when he falls.

Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
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FLASH NEWS - Michael Jackson, Honduras, Sanford

King of Pop Michael Jackson stands on a brick road at his Neverland Ranch in this undated photo of unknown source.

- A seven-year-old draft of Michael Jackson's will that leaves his estate to his mother, his three young children, and some charities is expected to surface today.

- Meanwhile, private and public memorials have been set for the pop icon. His body will return Thursday to his Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara for a public viewing Friday. A private memorial service has been scheduled for Sunday. No word yet on where he'll be buried.

Though it's not the Jackson's hometown, Neverland was his beloved place. Shouldn't he rest there? It's a tough call. It's too bad the amusement park was cleared out...too bad Michael spent money the way he did. The family must realize the earning potential of turning Neverland into a Graceland-like touristic attraction, and they'll probably need the money given Michael's debts. It would also be a constant source of income for years to come. Graceland reportedly generates some $50 million in annual revenues, though I've seen figures as low as $25 million and as high as $200 million. In any case, that's what the fans would want--a place to visit Michael.

The deposed president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, addressed the United Nations on Tuesday. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

President Manuel Zelaya could face 20 years in prison if he returns to Honduras, interim President Micheletti, who says he will not resign despite international pressure, said Tuesday after a Honduras court issued an arrest warrant on charges of corruption and narcotics trafficking.

Narcotics trafficking? I can't help but think this accusation is as "real" as the resignation letter Congress "accepted from Zelaya." (Isn't forging a signature illegal?)

- The interim government said Tuesday it will send a delegation of politicians, lawyers and business people to Washington for talks.

I have been in a room with delegations of politicians, lawyers, business people and their titles, and all I can say is that it sucks. There's no worse place on Earth...it's a torture chamber.

- The United Nations Tuesday condemned the removal of Zelaya as a coup and demanded his “immediate and unconditional restoration” via a one-page resolution passed by acclamation in the 192-member body.

I've no idea what's going to happen here. If over two weeks of violent protests did nothing to change the outcome of Iran's presidential elections (a council that recounted 10% of the ballots confirmed Ahmadinejad was the winner), then what effect could a UN resolution have in Honduras?

(Chastain/AP)

- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said he "crossed lines" with women other than his mistress but never had sex with them.

Oh, brother... this just keeps getting better and better. What is he still doing in office?

Sources: AP, Reuters, CNN, USA Today, US magazine
Copyright © 2009

FYI: U2 tour, N. Korea ship, Sanford affair, Honduras coup, Madoff, Iraq bomb, Farrah RIP

The oval-shaped stadium in Camp Nou, Barcelona, where U2 will kick of it's tour is known as "the Claw" because of the gigantic structure over the stage.



• Irish rock group U2 kicks off their first tour--"U2 360"--in three years on Tuesday, playing to fans in Barcelona on one of the biggest concert stages ever built--97,500 capacity. Over the next four months U2 will perform to an estimated three million fans in 31 cities across Europe and North America.
• U.S. defense official told AP that the North Korean ship under watch has reversed its course. The U.S. said Tuesday if imposed financial sanctions on an Iran-based company allegedly serves as a cover for N. Korea’s missile proliferation network.
• South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford "is admitting more encounters with his Argentine mistress than he previously has disclosed."
• Several presidents including the OAS head to accompany ousted Honduras President Zelaya back to - Honduras, according to Argentinian source. Robert Micheletti, a congressman of Zelaya's party sworn-in as president after the coup, says Zelaya will be arrested if he comes back to Tegucigalpa.
• Iraqi police and hospital officials say death toll from Kirkuk car bomb today rises to at least 24.
• 10 or more people associated with multibillion dollar swindler Bernard Madoff could face criminal charges in investigations.
• After two straight gains, U.S. consumer confidence declined slipped to 49.3 from 54.8 in May, private research group Conference Board said Tuesday.
• Actress Farrah Fawcett, who died of cancer last week, will be laid to rest this afternoon.

Sources: Reuters, AP, CNN

South Carolina governor reappears, admits affair

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (Mary Ann Chastain/AP)

Another Republican politician with impeccable morals bites the dust.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said Wednesday he has been unfaithful to his wife with a friend from Argentina, explaining his recent sudden disappearance.

The 49-year-old Republican governor (that is, the aides that prepared his speech) said he's sorry for letting his wife and children down and apologized to his family, staff and the state for leaving without saying a word to anyone.

And they still blast liberals for their "lack of family values"...

He said he is resigning as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

UPDATE: Sanford's wife, SC First Lady Jenny Sanford, released a statement later Wednesday to explaining that the couple had separated and that's why he was gone and out of contact for a week.

"I deeply regret the recent actions of my husband Mark, and their potential damage to our children," she said.

"I believe wholeheartedly in the sanctity, dignity and importance of the institution of marriage. When I found out about my husband's infidelity I worked immediately to first seek reconciliation through forgiveness, and then to work diligently to repair our marriage. We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago," she said, noting that he was not to contact the family during the "trial separation," whose goal was to strengthen their marriage.

"Because of this separation, I did not know where he was in the past week," she added.

She then went on about marriage, enduring love, commitment, honor, forgiveness, humility, repentance, healing, reconciliation, Psalm 127, the Lord, the wisdom of Solomon, the strength and patience of Job, the grace of God...

(More than a statement about her husband's affair, it looked like a sermon about marriage, if you ask me.)

Apparently, only a miracle can save their relationship:

"I believe Mark has earned a chance to resurrect our marriage," she said.

UPDATE #2: Sanford emails to mistress emerge

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford told the woman with whom he was having an affair they were "in a hopelessly impossible situation of love" last year when he was thought to be under consideration for the Republican vice presidential nomination, according to e-mails obtained by The State newspaper.

The Columbia-based newspaper, which acquired the e-mails in December, told CNN that the governor's office had confirmed their authenticity Wednesday. When contacted by CNN, a spokesman for the governor would neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of the e-mails.

Right: Gov. Mark Sanford speaks during a news conference at the State Capitol in Columbia on Wednesday. (Getty Images)

The e-mails between the GOP governor and a Buenos Aires resident named Maria were exchanged in July of last year, according to the newspaper.

"You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty," Sanford wrote, according to the e-mails published on the newspaper's website.

"I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night's light--but hey, that would be going into sexual details ..."

(My eyes! My eyes!)

"How in the world this lightening strike snuck up on us I am still not quite sure. As I have said to you before I certainly had a special feeling about you from the first time we met, but these feelings were contained and I genuinely enjoyed our special friendship and the comparing of all too many personal notes ..."

Maria, whose full name has not yet been released, also proclaimed her devotion in a July 9 e-mail.

"You are my love...something hard to believe even for myself as it's also a kind of impossible love, not only because of distance but situation," she wrote. "Sometimes you don't choose things, they just happen...I can't redirect my feelings and I am very happy with mine towards you."

The affair began in the last year and was discovered five months ago, Sanford told reporters without elaborating. He added he and his wife were trying to work through it.

The Case of the Missing Governor

Sanford returned from an undeclared absence spent in Argentina meant to relieve the pressures of office. His staff had insisted at one point that he was off hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

"I wanted to do something exotic," Sanford said. "It's a great city."

Well... he was doing something exotic--with someone--in a great city.

He arrived at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport this morning after cutting his trip short because of the media attention regarding his disappearance.

Sanford, one of a cast of possible--now IMpossible--GOP presidential aspirants, was scheduled to hold a news conference today to explain the sudden departure that left political allies and his family making excuses that turned out to be less than accurate.

"All we've had is lies, lies, lies," South Carolina state Sen. John Knotts said in a televised news conference today. There have been "cover-ups where the governor is and where the governor is not," the Republican senator said.

"I don't have a problem with the governor taking some time off," Knotts added. "But the people in South Carolina need to know that somebody is at the helm, not just a staffer."

Perhaps "the staffer" or staffers have been running the state all along. There might be hope in new blood for the Republican Party after all!

Because of his presidential aspirations, Sanford has been one of the frequent targets of the national Democrat Party, which has trumpeted his disappearance since June 18 as an example of erratic behavior.

Did he think no one would notice he was gone? Does that mean that he was never there to begin with? This is a disaster, if you ask me.

Sanford was a visible opponent of President's Obama's economic stimulus package, at one point insisting he wouldn't accept the $700 million set aside for his state. Sanford was forced to relent after opponents won in court, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Sources: BNO, CNN, USA Today, Chicago Tribune
Copyright © 2009