kathleen sebelius Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Thursday Evening News Roundup

Enjoyed a little present from the American Board of Surgery today. It was less fun than you think.

President Bill Clinton in Orlando. He is on.

I am still trying to figure out what the hell happened in Libya. So, a You Tube video did all of this? Really? I ain’t buying it. It looks like it is more complex than the original story. I still don’t understand how the ambassador died. It seems that everyone was leaving the embassy and he got separated from everyone and somehow ended up dead at the hospital. Crazy.

From MaddowBlog:

Turmoil spreads: “Deadly outrage in the Arab world over an American-made video insulting Islam’s founder spread to at least half a dozen places across the Middle East on Thursday and threatened to draw in Afghanistan.”

As President Obama vows to be “relentless” in pursuing those who attacked the U.S. consulate in Libya, officials in Libya have already made four arrests as part of the investigation.

Is Egypt an ally or an enemy of the United States? Well, it’s complicated. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2013-11-03T18:13:22-04:00September 13th, 2012|Al Qaeda, Domestic Issues, Foreign Affairs|Comments Off

Happy 4th of July

Here are 10 things to be very, very happy for this July 4th:

From TP:

1) Americans serving our country at home and abroad. 1,452,939 Armed Service members,80,000 AmeriCorp members, and 9,095 Peace Corp volunteers and trainees are serving our country, at home and abroad. I do love our troops!!

2) Americans speak out against sexism. After two female legislators were banned from the Michigan House floor last week after saying “vagina” during a debate about an anti-abortion measure, an estimated 5,000 people gathered at the state capitol for a reading of “The Vagina Monologues.”

(more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2012-07-05T23:56:09-04:00July 5th, 2012|Domestic Issues, Healthcare, Military|1 Comment

Interview with McJoan of the Daily Kos – Politics and Healthcare

We discuss the current healthcare debate. This is an excellent discussion with a premier liberal blogger who has really been all over this healthcare debate.

Last week, the Democrats and specifically those who have pushed healthcare reform were on the defensive. I think that they were overwhelmed by the ferocity and viciousness of those who do not want reform. There was a lot of activity at the end of last week with the progressive Democrats in the House clearly stating that they will not support any healthcare reform bill that does not have a “strong” public option. President Barack Obama, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seemed to back away from the public option over the weekend.

The leadership in the Senate is either confused or completely silent. Senator Max Baucus does not seem to reflect the mainstream Democratic Party. He seems to reflect the interests of big medical business. Senator Kent Conrad, also a major player in the health care debate, has come up with this idea of healthcare co-ops. I’ve written about co-ops on this blog before. Although we do not know all the details of how a co-op would work, it doesn’t seem that co-ops would help drive down prices and truly increase competition as they been billed.

I asked Joan about a couple of broad goals of healthcare reform which would be to control costs and to cover 46 million Americans who are currently uninsured. Joan points out how these two goals are interrelated. If the 46 million Americans were to have health insurance then they could go for preventative care, decreasing emergency room visits and costs. This is critical and I appreciate Joan for making this point.

We also discussed the fact that a strong public option, really single-payer, would make business more competitive. Small business becomes more competitive both in their local markets and also abroad because they don’t have to worry about the burden of providing health care for their workers. That cost is shared by all Americans.

This is a great conversation. Really, don’t miss this interview with Joan McCarter from the Daily Kos. Enjoy!