Bad Deeds for 10-5-2009

 

Conservative Bible Project to Change Bible to Make it Less Liberal – The eager young men at Conservapedia are p.o.’d that the Bible might be seen as too liberal. So they’ve come up with the Wiki-style Conservative Bible Project, to make sure the Lord doesn’t go all wobbly on us. Among the changes they would like to see:

1. Framework against liberal bias
2. Avoiding unisex, “gender inclusive” language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity
3. Exclude later-inserted liberal passages
4. Utilize powerful new conservative terms as they develop
5. Not Dumbed Down
6. Prefer conciseness over liberal wordiness

Notice that from number 1, these guys feel that these guys feel that the early church councils that canonized Scripture were biased. Number 2 seems to say that they think women need to stay in their place. Numbers 3 and 4 say the Bible shouldn’t have any liberal stuff in it, but it’s ok if they insert some new conservative stuff that they haven’t even dreamed up yet. And numbers 5 and 6 seem to conflict (No big words, please).

You really need to read the whole Conservapedia entry to grasp how crazy this is. It’s like what you’d get if you crossed the Jesus Seminar with the College Republican chapter at a rural institution of Bible learnin’.

 

WellPoint Insurance Cuts Workers’ Health Insurance Benefits – WellPoint health insurance company, which has encouraged its employees to lobby against health care reform, is now cutting their benefits.

The insurance giant plans to raise deductibles and premiums for some of its employee health benefits. “Your cost per paycheck will probably increase,” said a memo to Wellpoint employees that was obtained by Bloomberg News. WellPoint illegally pressured California employees this summer to fight health care reform, according to Consumer Watchdog.

WellPoint’s CEO, Angela Brady, made nearly $10 million in 2008.

 

Democratic Candidate’s Stutter Mocked By Prominent Endorser Of Republican Candidate In Virginia Gubernatorial Race – The Virginia gubernatorial race took an ugly turn this past weekend when a prominent endorser for Republican Bob McDonnell mocked the slight stutter of Democrat candidate Creigh Deeds.

At a rally for McDonnell’s campaign, Sheila Johnson was taped discussing the importance of communication skills in the state’s next governor. “We need someone who can really communicate,” she said. “And Bob McDonnell can communicate. The other people that I talk to, especially his o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-opponent… could not articulate what needed to be done.” After ribbing the Democratic candidate, Johnson lets out a slight laugh before insisting that, “communication is hugely important.”

The National Stuttering Association release d the following statement condemning Johnson’s remark. “[We have] a question for Sheila Johnson, who ridiculed Virginia gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds’ stuttering. Do you also make fun of people in wheelchairs, or do you believe that stuttering is the only disability it’s okay to ridicule?”

 

22 Year Old Dead From Swine Flu Because Of Delayed Care Due to No Health Care Insurance – Friends say Miami University graduate Kimberly Young died this week after reportedly suffering from swine flu delayed getting medical treatment because she did not have health insurance. She was working at least two jobs in Oxford after graduating with a double major in December 2008. Young became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost, according to Brent Mowery, her friend and former roommate.

Mowery said Young eventually went to an urgent care facility in Hamilton where she was given pain medication and then sent home. On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Young’s condition suddenly worsened and her roommate drove her to McCullough Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford, where she was flown in critical condition to University Hospital in Cincinnati.

 

Senators Who Oppose “Socialized” Health Insurance Voted for “Socialized” Property Insurance – The Republicans who oppose health care reform and the conservative Democrats who oppose a public option have deeply principled, philosophical objections to the concept of government insurance—except when insurance companies benefit from it.

The big arguments against the public option have been these: that the government is incapable of running an insurance plan, that the free-market provides consumers with better choices, that socialized insurance will have unfair advantages. But as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David K. Johnston recently reported, these arguments do not stop some of the big opponents of socialized insurance for voting for socialized insurance when that insurance is not for the wellbeing of people but of property and insurance companies.

When the Senate Finance Committee voted against including the option in its version of health care reform, Republicans were joined by a handful of Democrats. But each of them voted just last year in support of government-run insurance, that insurance however protects property.

(You see, government involvement in property insurance is a good thing since rich people have more property, and the poor have nearly none.)

 

Many Employed People Now Get Health Coverage From Taxpayers – Ohio says more than 100,000 Ohio employees of major retail and restaurant chains get health insurance not from the companies but from taxpayers, through Medicaid. A report released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services shows Walmart has more than 15,000 Ohio workers receiving Medicaid coverage for the poor and disabled, more than any other company on the list. The retail giant is Ohio’s largest employer with more than 54,000 workers. The report notes that some Ohioans who could be insured through their employer opt for Medicaid instead because it costs them less or offers them more coverage.

 

Texas Utilities’ Rejection of Stimulus Funds Could Lead to Higher Bills for Customers – The companies building Texas’ $5 billion renewable-energy transmission network have decided against seeking stimulus funding that could have saved money for consumers. The decision was made last month in a little-noticed hearing of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, where regulators agreed with the companies that stimulus funds came with regulations that could slow construction. One commissioner, Kenneth W. Anderson Jr., told the companies, “The juice may not be worth the squeeze.”

The $750 million in loan guarantees for transmission was a signature piece of the stimulus law, which was crafted with an eye to help create millions of green jobs. In particular, Congress hoped the stimulus would help finance the transmission needed to move renewable energy from the Texas Panhandle and other remote locations to urban areas that need the power.

 

What Are Our Priorities: Cure Millions of Disease or Give a Tax Break to the Billionaires? – Consider how we dealt with smallpox. That airborne virus, with its fevers reaching 106 F and signature pus-filled skin eruptions, was the greatest killer of man ever known. The cost of erradicating smallpox: $300 million.

By contrast, the price paid to defeat humanity’s greatest foe wouldn’t cover a 24-hour day of Iraqi combat operations. In Wall Street bailout terms, there’s no way to even talk about sums this tiny. To do that, we have to go the level of overcompensated individuals. So, sure, $300 million could eradicate history’s greatest killer of humans — yet the same sum wouldn’t cover the bonus pool for the executives of the insurance company AIG after its great meltdown. It’s less than what just one man, Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld, pulled down over the past 5 years.

These are sad economic times, sadder still when you consider the tsunamis of wealth going to waste: four trillion dollars for Wall Street welfare queens; somewhere from one to three trillion for anyone affluent enough to own a top hat and a monocle; another trillion or so (and counting) for our current military escapades abroad.

For $200 million of public money we can take a walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ himself, curing millions of leprosy. A truly inspiring future is, as always, easily within reach, if we choose it.

Or we can just give Hank Paulson a tax break. Maybe throw in a credenza by way of thanks.

 

Toxic Coal Ash Being Used in Everything from Golf Courses to Carpeting in Schools to Kitchen Counters – Leslie Stahl on Sunday’s 60 Minutes did an in-depth look at the problems with the by-products of coal production, commonly known as coal ash. Coal ash contains many toxic medals, including arsenic, which unchecked, can leak into ground water and be extremely hazardous to breathe. Stahl starts with a look at devastating coal ash spill that engulfed homes and destroyed whole communities in Tennessee in 2008 with a flood of a billion gallons of toxic sludge. This was the largest environmental disaster of its kind in the US. This disaster brought the issue of coal ash to the national spotlight, and Stahl moves on to how coal ash is not labeled a hazardous waste by the EPA, and is currently being used as filler in everything from golf courses to carpeting in schools to kitchen counters.

 

The Politics of Spite – There was what President Obama likes to call a teachable moment last week, when the International Olympic Committee rejected Chicago’s bid to be host of the 2016 Summer Games.

“Cheers erupted” at the headquarters of the conservative Weekly Standard, according to a blog post by a member of the magazine’s staff, with the headline “Obama loses! Obama loses!” Rush Limbaugh declared himself “gleeful.” “World Rejects Obama,” gloated the Drudge Report. And so on.
So what did we learn from this moment? For one thing, we learned that the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old.

If Republicans [Conservatives Without Conscience] think something might be good for the president, they’re against it — whether or not it’s good for America. [They hate what America has changed to with the last election. Their vision of American is a theocracy. If they can’t have what they want, then no one can and they will help destroy America in the process. Some are domestic terrorists just looking to punish those not like them.]

Regards,

Jim