leadership Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Obama before Parliament (Updated with video)

I’ll try and get the video of our President before Parliament as soon as I can. (Found it!! See below)

In a speech to both houses of the British Parliament Wednesday, President Barack Obama declared that the trans-Atlantic alliance between America and Britain is indispensable to the goal of a more peaceful and prosperous world.

He said it will remain so even as more nations take on the responsibilities of leadership around the world.

Countries like India and Brazil actually owe their fortunes to U.S.-British leadership, Obama contended during his speech at London’s Westminster Hall on the second day of a state visit to England.

Before delving into the countries’ relationship, Obama laced the beginning of the speech with humor, saying the most recent speakers in the hall were the pope, the queen and Nelson Mandela, “which is either a very high bar or the beginning of a very funny joke.” He referred to the two countries’ early relations as “a small scrape about tea and taxes.”

By ecthompsonmd|2011-05-25T11:44:55-04:00May 25th, 2011|Obama administration|Comments Off

This Senate compromise is beginning to smell

The more I read on this compromise, the less I like it. It is like that stuff I used to get at the fair – cotton candy. It looks interesting. It tastes nice, but in the end it is mostly nothing but air.

From FDL:

I contacted Dr. Ida Hellander, Executive Director of Physicians for a National Health Program, to get her feedback on whether or not PNHP thought lowering the Medicare age to 55 was a good idea. I respect Ida and the PNHP folks a lot, and wanted to see what they thought.

Here is the PNHP Statement:

Lowering the eligibility age for Medicare to 55 only works if it is mandatory. Otherwise it becomes the place where all the sickest patients get dumped. That might be okay for the sick people since Medicare is often better and more secure than private coverage, but it would drive total health care costs (and premiums) up, not down.

I know Anthony Weiner is saying that lowering the eligibility “would perhaps get us on the path to a single payer model.” That would be the same Anthony Weiner who pulled his single payer amendment when asked by Leadership to do so, while Bart Stupak got waived through.

We don’t know what the restrictions on access to Medicare will be, so I question why anyone is out there promoting a pig in a poke.

By ecthompsonmd|2009-12-10T10:22:29-04:00December 10th, 2009|Healthcare|Comments Off

What's Going On: Late Edition News Round-up

Russian flights off the coast of Alaska? Secretary Condoleezza Rice warned Russia that these flights needed to stop. Does any of this make sense to you?
Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones from Ohio died today of a brain aneurysm at the age of 58. She was the first black female representative of Ohio. A liberal Democrat, she was the chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. I know that her leadership will be missed. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family and her constituents.
Again, I would emphasize that we should ignore national polls. We need to focus locally and everything will take care of itself on the national scope. Last week, all the talking heads from the Right were asking why Senator Barack Obama’s lead wasn’t substantial. Now, two national polls are showing Obama with a three-point lead— well within the margin of error. The real race starts in two weeks. Obama has with stood up to Senator John McCain’s attack dogs and he is still standing tall. He will be fine. We need to up step to the plate and help him knock this one out of the park.

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By ecthompsonmd|2008-08-20T23:16:50-04:00August 20th, 2008|Domestic Issues, Election 2008|Comments Off