So David Postman and Josh Feit have been doing some excellent reporting on Dino Rossi’s Idea Bank. What I find most fascinating is that Lou Guzzo and Matt Manweller of WhackyNation, according to Postman, “review submissions to his Idea Bank,” on a supposedly bi-partisan committee (and apparently have some lousy nettiquette). Now there are some things that Manweller has said that are annoying, like attacking the notion of helping pay for middle class children’s health care and his assumption that if we just impose capitalism on Iraq, then everything will be fine. But Manweller is pretty much a standard issue Republican. He’s annoying, sure, and against most of what Washington voters stand for, but isn’t every Republican in the state? Who I want to talk about is Lou Guzzo!
Feit describes him as a, “former D Governor Dixy Lee Ray staffer” and I’m guessing that’s where Idea Bank’s supposed bi-partisanship comes from. But if you think Rossi’s current employee might make his project a model of bi-partisanship, well let’s take a look at the record. This sampling is by no means complete.
It’s tough to know where to start with Guzzo, but I guess for this post, it might be a good idea to go with his repudiation of the Democratic Party. So, um, he seems to think that most Democrats may be surprised to learn that FDR existed. Oh, and by the way, he was totally a Socialist:
Completely ignored by the columnist and by virtually all of his Liberal mouthpieces in the print and broadcast news media is the fact that the real identity crisis now exists not in the Republican Party but in the Democratic Party, which has obliterated its once-honorable past and assumed a character that is anything but “democratic.”
Frankly, I don’t believe the Left Wing columnists and the rank-and-file in the so-called Democratic Party aren’t aware of what has happened to the party in the past half century, dating back to the days Franklin Delano Roosevelt assaulted the U.S. Constitution with a barrage of Socialist programs.
So you can totally see how he’s bringing balance to Rossi’s Idea Bank. But you know what I bet the ol’ Idea Bank needs? War mongering mixed with some sexism!
Shame on the Democratic Party! With its vote to defy the President’s authority as commander in chief and to withdraw its support for American troops and their mission in Iraq, the Democrats have also tried to destroy our role as the world’s peacemaker and our mission to bring freedom and democratic government to oppressed people.
The howling Democrats, led by their new standard bearer, Big Momma Nancy Pelosi, have also delivered a loud slap to the memories of their own Democratic Presidents of the past — Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy — all of whom pursued Teddy Roosevelt’s philosophy to “speak softly but carry a big stick.”
So now FDR’s brand of Socialism is now a good thing? And by the way, one of Kennedy’s policies he talks about is Viet Nam, and speaking of Viet Nam, oh sweet God.
It was a war we could easily have won. Because of the withdrawal of support at home, our generals, admirals, and Air Force leaders were persuaded to pull back their ground, sea, and air units and to table the final assault they knew could have routed the Communists and put an end to the war in Vietnam. It was clearly a war we could have and should have won. Instead, we permitted the Communists to swallow up South Vietnam, and we begn our humiliating retreat.
And no, “begn” isn’t a word. But don’t worry, that isn’t the only place that Guzzo draws a parallel between Iraq and Viet Nam, but um, not the one you think.
It bears repeating. We should have won the Vietnam War and made it possible for Vietnam to become a democratic republic, instead of the Communist nation it is now. The crucial battle in Vietnam, the Tet Offensive, was actually an American victory and would have led to the defeat of the Viet Cong Communists. But the loud-mouthed peaceniks at home and their allies in Congress withdrew support and funds from our military forces in Vietnam, with the assistance of that traitorous scamp, Jane Fonda — who is at it again today.
But don’t think it’s just foreign policy. Oh no, Guzzo, a former KIRO 7 commentator and PI Managing Editor has also recently engaged in some media criticism. Basically, why don’t members of the media read people’s minds?
I wonder if the political editors of the print and broadcast news media, the politicos at the national and local levels, and particularly the leaders of the two major political parties are aware of a most interesting pattern of thought that seems to be going on in the minds of all the men and women who have their eye on nominations for the presidency in the 2008 election.
If any of them have glommed onto the “pattern of thought” but are wary of putting words to it for the press and the public, they are doing a good job of hiding it. And just what is the primary name that goes with that pattern of thought these days? It is the name of Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.
Seriously, you can read the whole thing but it won’t make any more sense. But one of the things I especially like is his obsession with Silent Spring. In the less than a year he’s been writing on WhackyNation he’s written at least 7 posts on the subject. Including calling for murder charges for the people who got DDT banned.
After the Carson book was published, the Liberals and environmental fanatics attacked DDT because, they said, it has infected the eggs in eagles’ nests, a fairy tale without substance. And, even if the eggs were affected, how does anyone in his or her right mind prefer 3,000,000 deaths a year to the possible cracks in eagles’ eggs — even though the latter was something of a fairy tale, or nightmare?
I still say the perpetrators of the DDT ban should be put on trial for murder!
Anyway, I’m not sure if any of that is Rossi’s official position, but it’s one of the Idea Bank’s vetters. So you know the project is both non-partisan and totally legit. I’m sure old school Seattle people will remember other things about him from KIRO and the PI, but that’s it for me.
FDR _WAS_ a socialist. There’s a strong indication his government programs extended the Great Depression rather than shortened it. WWII effectively ended the depression.
Tet was a huge loss for the N. Vietnamese. They got kicked all over the map. The press and the hippies lost Vietnam for the US. Jane Fonda should have been prosecuted for treason for having her picture taken sitting on a NVA anti-aircraft gun.
Nancy Pelosi is an idiot. So’s Harry “We’ve lost in Iraq” Reid. Nancy should have never gone to Syria. Harry should shut up.
Malaria has killed millions more in Africa since DDT was banned. Malaria is the leading cause of death for children under the age of 5 in Africa.
President Bush is the Commander in Chief. He gets to run the war. Congress declared it, now they can only decide to pay for it or not. But why is President Bush C-in-C? Because the Democratic Party ran a simpering idiot for president. Twice.
Blame Bush? Hardly. Look in the mirror the next time you want to complain about how the country is run. Run a decent candidate and you might get the brass ring. Ditto for the the Wa 8th CD, Darcy Burner took 2nd in the race, when the rest of the country was purging Republicans like Romans at the vomitorium. Weak candidates finish last.
2008?
Clinton – NFW. Her negatives are over 50%. The Republicans would have to run Ron Paul for her to win.
Obama – Maybe. If you want an empty suit from the far left end of the rack. Two years ago he was in the Illinois statehouse.
Edwards – Mr. Poverty with the $400 haircut. Nobody likes trial lawyers, really.
Richardson – Most likely to succeed. Executive experience, decent foreign policy experience. Only one I’d consider.
The rest of the pack – has-beens and never-will-bes
These conservative ideologues will do and say anything to promote their narrow agenda of concentrating more and more power in the hands of the few and the wealthy.
It would be instructive to everyone to learn how and why Samuel Gompers invited the mafia into the labor movement.
A deal with the Devil, for sure, but some good came of it.
Dixie and Lou were Dino’s even by Washington blue-collar Dem’s standards back in the 70’s. Lou was a paternalistic knob BITD (back in the day) and he seems to have gotten worse over time. Not only is Lou not a Dem, he hasn’t done or said anything relevant in 30 years.
Ah yes, you dems will make a great addition to my realm. Remember, you belong too me. I will save a commie on the bar-B for ya mate.
Ah, I see you’ve been good little kiddies and they’ve given you open Internet access at the Washington State Home For The Bewildered tonight.
At the risk of fueling anger, it seems to me that Dino elicits the sorts of reaction amongst Dems I usually associate with the Publicans and WJ Clinton.
Every time I ask for specifi8cs, I get the sort of ad hominem charges w/o specifics that the White Wingers used vs the First Black President.
For example, I was told that Rossi had voted against sex education. That uset me so I looked up his votes and rationale, What his camps says is the Rossi opposed taking fed govt money because ti cam with Title 19 strings that would have taxed mens’ sports to support women’s sports. Maybe he wqs wrong about but if this is a true story I donlt see the issue in extremist colors.
This sport of issue is important for liberals for another reason. In 06 many folks voted straight Demo to block GWB
control of congress. From the looks of it 08 is going to be Demo sweep, but such a perspective is likely to lead independents to vote the “wrong” way.
I will extend the offer I have made before, I would really, really like to see evidence that Dino has sought an agenda that would be nutty. evil, or incompetent.
I love the DDT rant. It shows just how out to lunch he is. He could play DDT Ban Myth Bingo:
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoi.....an_myt.php
Carl, I mean Stephen, you’re commentary is weak at best, and irrelevant at worst. You slap Postman and Feit on the back for “excellent reporting,” but what you’re really doing is suggesting that Rossi doesn’t have a right to exercise free speech. How dare he, or any other conservative for that matter, criticize Dear Leader Gregoire! Pull your nose out of the Guvs ass, and try explaining the real reasons behind Democratic support for Dino (the real “Dinocrats”).
Lou Guzzo’s older than dirt. Remember Ronald Reagon was once an ardent New Deal Democrat, as was my uncle who’ll be 90 next month and thinks Nixon got a bum rap.
When Dixy was running for re-election against John Spellman, both were pretty much up front about her being the more conservative of the two. On the other hand, either one of ’em had far more intelligence and class in their pinky fingers than Rossi could possibly imagine.
As to Delbert up above…he must be smoking some really good stuff, or he’s just an idiot.
The Liberals “Free Health Care” is why we all see our premiums go up 20% every year. Nothing is free!
This exchange between me and Proud Leftist is so good, I am going to post it in every thread on HA from now on. It destroys the Publicans’ stupid talking points – period.
“I’m working really hard to understand how President Bill Clinton’s actions act as justifcation for the righties. Read this fuckwads.
If your lame ass argument is that Bill Clinton was a bad President – which is what you say – and if your argument now is that the AWOL coward GW Bush is in someway comparable to Bill Clinton, what you are actually saying is that GW Bush is NO BETTER THAN CLINTON.
Does it hurt to be that stupid? I really want to know.
proud leftist says:
RES @ 18
You’ve hit it on the nose. The rightwing fringefucks consider Clinton to be the personification of evil–indeed, he is the devil incarnate in their twisted little minds. Nonetheless, their justification for all of the Bushites’ sins is, always, “well, Clinton did it, too.” Methinks they never studied logic.”
And what’s better, is that the rightie traitor keeps pointing out that this is true. Thanks MTR. Please keep proving my point for me.
Pac Man asked Goldy by email why did he ban me. Of course the empty suit didn’t answer. So this will be my last transmission on this worthless blog IF IT GETS THRU!
P * U ^ D % D $ Y # B @ U ! D
Waaa haaa haaa haaa
@9 – Care to refute anything I posted or just going for the complete ad hominim attack?
@11 – The rank hypocrisy of Hillary complaining about Libby’s commutation when Bill _sold_ pardon’s is what people are noting.
Hypocrisy seems to be the underlying priciple of the entire Demoractic Party. Do as I say, not as I do. Save the enviroment, whilst I fly around in my private jet. Drive hybrids, whilst I drive around in an SUV motorcade. Public transit, ditto. Ban guns, except for my bodyguards. Cleanest congress in history, except for Jefferson, Mollohan, McDermott, Murtha, and 27,000 earmarks.
re 6: One of Dino’s pet money-saving projects would be to defund state supported health care for poor children.
Delbert said:
Argument is easy when you define the terms to suit yourself. If your definition of “socialist” is someone that is in favor of some governmental (social) control over the economy, then you are correct, but then the only non-socialist politician in the current political spectrum would be Rep Ron Paul.
(I like Dr. Paul, as he appears to be both honest and consistent. That being said, I still wouldn’t vote for him, because by his political philosophy, we should do away with child labor laws, workplace safety laws, environmental protection laws, and all those other “socialist” functions.)
As to whether FDR’s actions extended or shortened the Great Depression, the economists have been arguing about that since the programs started. I do, however, note that history shows a strong cyclic economic pattern until FDR imposed some controls, and we have not had a serious depression since.
Perhaps nobody told you this, but just to get the record straight. We left Vietnam at peace, with sufficient defensive equipment to deal with any reasonable threat. Unfortunately, we also left them with a government that was corrupt and hated by most South Vietnamese, and was only being kept in power by US troops. Unlike our troops in Iraq, the NVA troops were actually welcomed as liberators.
Speaker Pelosi has a responsibility as one of the senior leaders of the legislative branch of government, as does Senator Reid, to be both active and vocal in public affairs. Don’t like that? Tough. Get over it. We won.
Get your facts straight. DDT is still in use, legally, to control disease bearing insects in Africa. While most developed countries forbid its use, malaria is not a serious health issue in those countries.
However, since you seem concerned about malaria in Africa, I suggest you consider a donation to Nothing But Nets, which raises money for bed nets. It appears that a simple mosquito net is the most effective means available for combating malaria.
Sorry, but nothing in the Constitution forbids or even discourages Congress from advising the President, nor is there anything in the Constitution the forbids or discourages Congress from placing limits on the President’s war making ability.
As to Senators Gore and Kerry being “simpering idiots”, I’ll just point out that Senator Gore actually received more votes (even with the stunts that the Republicans pulled) than Mr. Bush, and there is considerable evidence that without some very underhanded actions by members of the Bush campaign, he would have lost to Senator Kerry as well.
re 6:
http://www.evergreenpolitics.c.....ive_a.html
COMPREHENSIVE, AFFORDABLE HEALTH COVERAGE FOR ALL CHILDREN
“Then we get to the two steps backward part. The legislature sent a bill to then Governor Locke, championed by Senate Budget Committee Chair Dino Rossi, that cut children as many as 40,000 children off the healthcare rolls and put administrative hurdles in place that made it difficult for families to enroll. Governor Locke signed it.
Gregoire ran on this issue in 2004, charging correctly that Rossi was instrumental in preventing low income Washington children from obtaining healthcare. (She didn’t talk much about Locke’s part in the two-steps-back bill.) Then one week after taking office, she implemented an Executive Order that undid a cumbersome and punishing income verification process, provided for continuous eligibility for children whose parents incomes fluctuated somewhat and eliminated premiums for low income families. Caseloads stabilized and the number of children covered began to go up. Passage of a bill that year declared that Washington would have the goal of health coverage for all Washington children by 2010.”
What could be more backasswards Republican?
re 15: WW II was a huge socialist program.
Think about it. If you insist that war profitters break even and not make a profit, you’ll see an end to war — today!
I remember MTR the other day insisting to us all that bad old Iran was behind a recent attack in Karbala in which five US soldiers died. Turns out that the Iraqi police cooperated with the attackers, which makes it seem like an inside job. Is MTR saying that Iran runs the Iraqi police forces? You klnow, the ones we trained and armed, and cite frequently as evidence of our “success?”
http://www.usatoday.com/printe.....12.art.htm
It’s totally broken over there and our presence makes things worse, not better. And while we shoot ourselves in the foot in Iraq, al Qaeda (the real one in Pakistan, not the wanabed in Iraq–you know, Osama?) is as strong now as it was in 2001. Another bit fo evidence that the ridiculous team mismanaging the “GWOT” should be removed from office for making us less safe.
@15
Well done, sir. You handled the “a strong indication his government programs extended the Great Depression rather than shortened it” nonsense with ease.
Lou Guzzo has been non-stop entertainment for us at Effin’ Unsound for a while. One thing that Carl didn’t mention was his “Foster Nation Program.” That shit is hilarious. His idea is that we “adopt” different nations in the world one at a time and send all our scientists and engineers over there to “fix” it.
I don’t know about FDR, but Milton Friedman thought John Kenneth Galbraith was a socialist, and Galbraith was a high mucky-muck in FDR’s administration. Galbraith, in an article I read about him couple of years ago, said that he really enjoyed dictating to business leaders how much they should charge for their products and services. He said he particularly enjoyed being a relatively young fellow and dominating these old-fart business leaders. In short, he was on a real ego trip.
Hillary Clinton’s unfavorable rating is around 35-45%, but one would know this only if one were to, you know, read polls. The most recent polling shows her with the lowest unfavorable rating, and they’re going down over time.
Newsweek poll July 2-3 2007 has her at 57% favorable and 36% unfavorable. This could be really bad news for the eventual
loserRepublican candidate.CBS news June 26-28 2007 has her at 45% favorable and 40% unfvorable. CNN June 22-24 2007 has her at 51% favorable and 44% unfvorable.
http://www.pollingreport.com/C2.htm
If by “socialist” one means using the power, influence, and finances of government to achieve social goods and/or ameliorate social evils that unregulated capitalism would totally ignore, most Americans are comitted socialists.
That’s why you guys lose.
Dirty socialists.
http://www.pollingreport.com/health3.htm
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. May 4-6, 2007. N=1,028 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
“Do you think the government should provide a national health insurance program for all Americans, even if this would require higher taxes?”
Yes 64%
No 35%
Unsure 2%
“Do you think the government should provide a national health insurance program for all children under the age of 18, even if this would require higher taxes?”
Yes 73%
No 25%
Unsure 2%
“Do you think all employers, including small businesses which employ few workers, should be required to provide health insurance to every employee, or don’t you think so?”
Yes 56%
No 43%
Unsure 1%
I don’t think national health care will work unless the government dictates all health care workers (docs, nurses, med tech guys, lab techs, hospital admin, hospital orderlies, etc.)are made government employees and paid according to a government-decided pay scale. How else can government control costs?
Libertarian 24
I don’t know. Have you looked at the universal coverage available in the other industrialized nations?
L 24
Businessweek magazine does not seem to agree with you.
http://www.businessweek.com/ma.....ries_ssi_5
Same story:
But you know what? If large majorities want a government service, shouldn’t a government “of the people” figure out how to provide it?
@24
I don’t think national health care will work unless the government dictates all health care workers (docs, nurses, med tech guys, lab techs, hospital admin, hospital orderlies, etc.)are made government employees and paid according to a government-decided pay scale. How else can government control costs?
Libertarian,
You may want to take a quick peek at what some other countries are doing.
Sorry, but that’s the way I see it.
Where is it written that all medical doctors are entitled to make a fortune?
These guys are still fighting FDR? Nowadays it’s difficult to even get people to remember Nixon and his sorry administration, much less a president who died over 60 years ago. Good luck, Publicans.
@30,
The Businessweek article nails the central point when it comes to health care. The best outcome is when public and private providers compete against each other and people choose the best service. The competition improves the quality. And there’s no sane person who doesn’t believe that the French system works much better than ours.
Where is it written that all medical doctors are entitled to make a fortune?
Back in the 19th century, a doctor could get stinking rich if he just followed free market principles. When someone in his town got sick, he’d just say “what’s it worth to you to get better”. Anyone faced with death would pay as much as he/she possibly could. Of course, if the doctor did this, the townspeople would probably string him up by his toenails in the town square. That’s the part that’s different about our health care system today.
15 “As to whether FDR’s actions extended or shortened the Great Depression, the economists have been arguing about that since the programs started. I do, however, note that history shows a strong cyclic economic pattern until FDR imposed some controls, and we have not had a serious depression since.”
It might also be noted that as the right-wingers and their “moderate” Democrat placators have whittled away at those controls, the system becomes more unstable with each passing year. Sooner or later we’re likely to go over the precipice and learn what the “good old days” were really like.
30 Dude, you need a new pair of glasses.
That’s the problem with health care: there’s really no competition between providers. We’d need about three or four times as many docs to have some real competition and lower prices. Even meidocre docs do pretty well, in the financial department. Heck, these costs are why we have to use the insurance principal to pay for health care in the first place!
Will the insurance industry have to be made obsolete to make government-run health care to work?
That’s the problem with health care: there’s really no competition between providers. We’d need about three or four times as many docs to have some real competition and lower prices. Even meidocre docs do pretty well, in the financial department. Heck, these costs are why we have to use the insurance principal to pay for health care in the first place!
Wow. I mean, wow. Only you could think that adding more doctors to the system would lower the costs.
Wow. I don’t even know what to say. Even the people like Larry Kudlow who have no idea what they’re talking about make a lot more sense than this.
Well, would reducing the number of health care providers lower costs?
The DOCTORS are the problem? You must have been watching too many of those TV spots the insurance companies ran with actors pretending to be doctors claiming they were going to stop treating people because of the “trial lawyers” and pushing “tort-reform” legislation.
Anybody else notice the piece in yesterday’s Pea-Eye about Aetna and Virginia Mason? It was couched in some benign-sounding rhetoric about a “study report”, but basically Aetna arm-twisted the administration at VM to take a look at a number of medical procedures on Aetna’s exclusion list for their victims-er, policyholders, and make them unavailable to anybody! The thinking was that not having to keep the stuff on hand to do said procedures, VM’s overhead would be reduced and they could shave a few pennies off what they charged for everything else. Turns out it actually cost the hospital more to farm out these treatments or administer more costly alternatives.
If that’s the best the Goddamned “private sector” can do for us, fuck ’em. Let’s go to a single-provider system NOW!!!!!
Well, would reducing the number of health care providers lower costs?
Are you talking about doctors or insurance companies? You seem to be conflating the two.
Yeah, but how would reducing the number of docs reduce costs?
BTW, why do we need the insurance principal to pay for health care? Can’t we just abolish the insurance companies’ role in health care?
No, Lee, I’m asking how reducing the supply of docs will reduce health care costs?
Pakistan is heading for an Islamic revloution – isn’t THAT just peachy-keeno news!
Yeah, but how would reducing the number of docs reduce costs?
Oh my. Let’s see here. Doctors have these things called “salaries”. They’re basically payments that they receive for doing their job of taking care of patients. If hospital A has 10 doctors and hospital B has 20 doctors, the overall cost of these “salaries” will be more for hospital B if the doctors have roughly the same skills and experience.
On a more serious note, hospital A could incur other costs because they have less doctors than hospital B, but in your overall example, you haven’t really explained why you think we have a shortage of doctors in the United States (we don’t).
OK, so what are Hospital A’s revenues, and what are Hospital B’s revenues? What is the demand for the doc’s services? Is Hospital A smaller than Hospital B?
(BTW, you’re not a Supply-Sider, are you?)
Here’s a simpler example of what I’m talking about. The CPA force is carefully controlled by the AICPA. I could take the CPA exam in November and do really well, but still not pass. That’s because the AICPA controls the number of people who pass by adjusting the passing grades to fit their estimate of how many CPAs will be needed. They strive to allow younger folks to come into the profession and to keep the overall numbers at a level when CPAs can command a salary premium. Heck, if everyone who did well passed and was made a CPA, there’d be too many of them to get away with charging what they do (which, in my view, amounts to a career of filling-out goverment forms!).
If everyone who had the desire, skills, knowledge and financial resources to go to med school actually went to med school, the overall effect on salaries would be for them to drop, ceteris paribus. But I don’t think this will happen because it would be attacking the “rice bowls” of some heavy-hitters in our society, like the AMA and the health insuance industry.
@47
All of that doesn’t mean anything to what we’re talking about here. No one anywhere thinks that the problem with our health care system has to do with the number of doctors we have. The problem is that it’s being run by outfits whose main motivation is profit, and therefore their prerogative is far too often contrary to the needs of patients. Basically, it creates a system where we pay up front for our care and only get it if we’re lucky. It means we pay for the entire world’s pharmaceutical research. And it means that there’s no publicly-funded alternative to keep the private system from becoming bloated, lazy, expensive, and overly bureaucratic.
OK, so what are Hospital A’s revenues, and what are Hospital B’s revenues? What is the demand for the doc’s services? Is Hospital A smaller than Hospital B?
In my example, revenues, demand, and hospital size are all the same…
re 34: There were a lot of Civil War veterans around at that time. “A bullet in your ass if you don’t,” might have been a common reply.