rahm emanuel Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

What a jerk!

From TP:

Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti this week, many activists and politicians haveheightened the cry for granting undocumented Haitians in the U.S. Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS is a longstanding cornerstone of U.S. immigration policy that is afforded to undocumented immigrants from a small number of federally designated countries suffering armed conflicts, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances until conditions improve. Many claim Haitians should’ve received TPS after four consecutive tropical cyclones in 2008 left 800 people dead, hundreds missing, and made the Haitian city of Gonaives “uninhabitable.”

However, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) seems to think that not only were undocumented Haitians undeserving of TPS status then, undocumented Haitians living in the U.S. should now be deported back to their country to specifically serve as much-needed relief workers. ABCNews reports:

“This sounds to me like open borders advocates exercising the Rahm Emanuel axiom: ‘Never let a crisis go to waste,’” Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said in an e-mail message to ABCNews. “Illegal immigrants from Haiti have no reason to fear deportation but if they are deported, Haiti is in great need of relief workers and many of them could be a big help to their fellow Haitians.”

By ecthompsonmd|2010-01-15T21:28:24-04:00January 15th, 2010|Congress, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Party Politics|Comments Off

Grab bag – Traveling

Currently I am out of town. Therefore, there’ll not be a whole lot of time for blogging. Something about going away on vacation and blogging… my wife doesn’t think that’s the best use of my/her time. Go figure!

Katy Couric is proving less of a pushover than I thought. In her interview with Fox’s (it’s really hard to categorize him) emotional, opinionated, uninformed commentator Glenn Beck, Couric asked, “Can you explain what you mean by white culture?” Of course, Glenn Beck was unable to answer the question and danced around it. He also was unable to answer the question about whether he stood by his assertion that President Obama is a racist. No surprises there.
Democrat Senator Kent Conrad continues to remain confused over the public option.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel says that we will probably have a public option in a viable bill by Thanksgiving.
Welcome to Paul Kirk! That’s Senator Paul Kirk. GOP has filed one of those lawsuits that they hate to stop the appointment.
Finally, I literally got sick when I read Mackenzie Phillips’ account of drug induced sex.

By ecthompsonmd|2009-09-24T16:37:17-04:00September 24th, 2009|Domestic Issues, Entertainment|Comments Off

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!