Joseph Wiseman died back on October 19. He was 91. You’ll be forgiven if his name isn’t top of mind. After all, he was only what they call a character actor. It’s a label that has always mystified me. Isn’t playing characters exactly what all actors do? Whatever. Wiseman’s career spanned almost seven decades, and he was superb at his craft. I remember taking note of him first in Elia Kazan’s classic Viva Zapata. But his best known role came ten years later when he played Dr. No in the first, and some feel best, James Bond film. So we may not all remember his name, but who could forget that emblematic 1962 performance? Despite Wiseman’s demise, an invigorated Dr. No remains with us, especially these days.
As we approach the final weeks of 2009 and await a vote on the Senate healthcare bill, I don’t think of Ben Bernanke, Time’s Person of the Year, but of Dr No. When we looked toward the inauguration of President Obama last December and of a widened majority for Democrats in both the House and Senate, we had high hopes for the year to come. We had a leader who seemed bent on ending divisiveness and a Congress that finally could address some long smoldering problems and do so with decisiveness. That hasn’t quite happened. This is not to suggest that there weren’t significant accomplishments across many fronts, but each has fallen short, been less (sometimes much less) than it might or should have been.
Yes we can. How quickly a euphoric chant can fade into distant memory, or more accurately be forced off the stage. As controversial as he was, George W. Bush could count on a few Democrats, often more than a few, to support The President on matters of national interest, including his budget busting tax cuts and ill conceived venture into Iraq. That was not to be for Barack Obama. Considering that this President came in with a decisive popular and Electoral College victory compared with Bush’s disputed elevation, that’s really astounding. In some measure of course it reflects the unintended consequences of the Democrats regaining power, much of it at the expense of the few moderate Republicans that were still around. In fact, while the now majority party is even more diversified, the GOP is increasingly homogeneous; a party that is ideologically right of right.
It’s been clear from the early votes on rescuing a tanking economy to this moment that Republicans have made a strategic decision to play Dr. No. They have always been better than Democrats at finding the right battle cries and preemptive self-serving descriptors – partial birth abortion, death tax – but now they have imposed a single voice rule that is truly impressive and equally disquieting. It demands lockstep adherence to the party line with an ever-present threat of primary challenges to any elected official to strays from their now clearly defined reservation. It’s a calculated gamble that may pay off ideologically in the short term and perhaps even at the polls in 2010, but a high risk calculation nonetheless. It’s a stance that in the end is neither good from them or, I would argue, for us.
Thoughtful opposition and alternative ideas are a necessary component in making democracy work best. It isn’t merely checks and balances that are required but a broadening and enrichment of legislation. By catering to their so-called ideological base, it has been said that the Republicans are marginalizing themselves and embedding their minority status into concrete. Predictions like that are often the product of wishful thinking or one of those media inventions aimed at hyping and insuring the drama of those critical revenue-producing election cycles. What astounds me and challenges credulity is that there is not a single Republican Senator ready to vote for better healthcare. What’s going on with Snowe and Collins from Maine or the otherwise non-ideological (onetime mayor) Lugar of Indiana? One has to wonder how these people, and probably some unnamed others, really feel about their actions, how they can look themselves in the mirror. It’s truly hard to forgive them for seemingly thinking more about their own reelection than the good of their fellow citizens, so many of them lacking healthcare. No Profiles in Courage here.
And Dr. No is not limited to Republicans. The duplicitous arrogance of Joe Lieberman and the personal religiously motivated stance of Ben Nelson who have used unvarnished blackmail to gain their 15 minutes of fame is equally reprehensible. The pious Senator from Connecticut may deny influence by the fat cat Insurance companies that make their home in his state. Yes and there is a Santa and the Red Sea really parted at the raising of a staff. Nelson’s stance, in this case used for his own leverage and display of self-importance, represents yet another assault on the wall of separation between church and state. These two men apparently are not going to stand in the way of passing a bill, but must be held accountable for a bill that is significantly less than it should have been. In that Lieberman may be the worst offender because his stance denying a public option or an extension of Medicare affects the underlying structure of the system, delaying the inevitable and destined to hurt a lot of people in the interim. Nelson’s draconian abortion funding restrictions may well be Unconstitutional.
Come let us reason together. These words have faded even more into history than yes we can. They were spoken by Lyndon Johnson, a man who knew how to reach legislative consensus but who in the end may be responsible for sewing the very seeds of division that plague us now. It’s not too soon to suggest that the poison of mistrust in this country began with Viet Nam, a war that absolutely tore us apart. It was a time of hardening positions for both citizens and politicians, something that now has morphed into an environment driven and characterized by conflicting absolutes. He was Vice President at Dr. No’s release, but assuredly could never have dreamed how enduring the idea embodied in the villainous Ian Fleming named character could be. Watching this year’s events has truly been experiencing a movie in real time. Don't expect an Academy Award for this one.
One thing is for sure, Bernanke is arguably the most powerful man in the world and for that he may deserve a cover. After all, who else has the ability to create trillions of dollars out of nothing?
Posted by: Hal (GT) | December 19, 2009 at 05:22 PM
THE PUBLIC OPTION - http://bit.ly/5l7TBP
MANDATES MUST GO! THE FILIBUSTER MUST GO! It's undemocratic. It was created to subvert democracy and the will of the people. The Constitution Of The United States only calls for a simple majority vote in the Senate (51 votes). The Senate should pass the strongest Public Option it can with 51 votes by Reconciliation.
The Senate bill is a Swisses cheese of loopholes for the insurance industry. Without a strong Public Option, insurance reforms in the bill are worthless and have no teeth.
CRITICAL!! From jacksmith - Working Class
My Fellow Americans and People Of The World
A strong Government-run MEDICARE like Public Option is CRITICAL!!
A Medicare Buy-in at 55 is a GOOD! idea. But!, not a substitute for a strong Medicare like public option CHOICE for everyone. Nor is the (FEHBP). Without a strong public option on day one the Senate health-care bill is a disaster for the American People and the World. Therefore you must KILL!! it. Without a strong public option the health-care reform bill is MUCH WORSE! than what we have now, and what we have now is a catastrophe. SO YOU MUST KILL!! IT.
What is proposed in the Senate is the worst case scenario for health-care reform. It would shift trillions of taxpayer, public and private dollars into the hands of the private insurance industry (The single most costly, deadly and dangerous product sold in America). And it would compel by law millions of Americans to financially support this oxymoronic criminal enterprise. You cant have a MANDATE WITHOUT A STRONG PUBLIC OPTION CHOICE!
You will have NO! realistic way of controlling cost and quality. Cost will continue soaring through the roof bleeding the American people dry, and KILLing our economy. And our quality of healthcare will continue to decline below our current ranking of "WORST! quality of healthcare delivery in the developed World".
H1N1 IS A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION!
I have to tell you now that the H1N1 virus is a man-made WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION! and TERROR! It is a WEAPONIZED version of a flu virus. It has swept the planet infecting millions. And causing a global pandemic that has killed tens of thousands, and injured millions.
The H1N1 virus is the product of the DISGRACEFUL, GREED DRIVEN PRIVATE FOR PROFIT MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX! It was released in the U.S. in Texas in early January of this year, but not recognized until around April in California. The reason I know this is because when it came to America, it came to see me FIRST! How sweet...
This was around the time the MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX! assaulted the Whitehouse with all their devils deals to cripple and weaken YOUR! healthcare reform. Especially your right to have a single payer system like HR676 (Medicare For All) which most of you wanted.
They don't even want you to have your HUGE!!! compromise position of a strong government-run MEDICARE like Public Option CHOICE. To compete with their DISGRACEFUL, GREED DRIVEN, MURDEROUS, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT PRODUCT (The single most costly, deadly and dangerous product sold in America).
They also wanted to take away your rights to have your government meet it's responsibility to use it's full power to regulate, negotiate, and control drug cost, healthcare cost and quality. Something every other civilized country in the developed World has done for it's people. Their Greed! moral degeneracy and lack of patriotism knows no bounds.
Many of you will remember that before we knew about H1N1. I posted a open message to the President and Congress warning them to be vigilant about their health, and cautious about any medical advice they received. As I said then "they will not hesitate to try and hurt you".
The U.S. and the World have been under a BIOLOGICAL TERROR ATTACK! for over a year now. It is CRITICAL that We The People Of The United States take away control of our healthcare system from the GREED DRIVEN MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX!
For our own National security, and the security of the world.
A Strong, government-run, MEDICARE like Public Option CHOICE. Available to everyone on day one, with the full unfettered power of the federal government to regulate, negotiate, and control cost and quality. Would be the most workable way to deal with this global crisis at this time. Including patent suspensions as needed for national security or the greater good.
As an American I invite the peoples of the World to help us fix our healthcare crisis. And bring pressure on our government to meet it's responsibility to protect global security by controlling, and removing the corrupting influence of GREED and the PRIVATE FOR PROFIT motivations from healthcare in the U.S. and around the World.
I call on the governments of the World and the global intelligence community to track down these MASS MURDERERS, and bring them to justice. CONNECT THE DOTS! And be vigilant that they don't slip in another viral strain on you under the cloak of H1N1 sequestration.
Further, the proposed patent protection on biologic's must be stripped from the US bill. And greatly shorten/restricted, or abolished completely. This is a grave danger to humanity and global security.
I think President Obama is doing the best he can at playing the disastrous deck of cards he inherited from the previous administration. And I think he is doing an excellent job. But the wolves and devils of the medical industrial complex! are trying to exploit, and take advantage of his good heart, and desperate desire to help suffering Americans. But we must be strong and insist that healthcare reform be done right for the American people. Or everyone loose's.
This is all I can say in a message post. I'll try to find a way to tell you more later.
God Bless You My Fellow Human Beings
jacksmith - Working Class
p.s. The so-called nominal H1N1 virus is designed in such a way as to make it more lethal to children and young adults. The medical community must be more vigilant of secondary bacterial infections in the young caused by H1N1. And remember, a viral infection is also a transfer of genetic code to you. Think about it, and be vigilant. :-(
Posted by: jacksmith | December 19, 2009 at 06:49 PM
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