Yesterday (11/24/09) Chris Bowers posted that Blue Dog leader Jim Matheson is complaining whining that it isn’t nice to question Blue Dogs Democratic credentials. So Bowers digs into Blue Dogs campaign sites, and, barring a campaign site, the Congressional website, of the Blue Dog leadership.

Very interestingly, Bowers finds a lack of use of the moniker, Democrat, including Reps. Gordon and Tanner of Tennessee.

• Rep. Gordon: Couldn’t find a campaign website, but his House website has nothing.
• Rep. Tanner: Again, couldn’t find a campaign website, but his House website has no mention of the word

So, my question posed directly to Reps Gordon and Tanner, are you Democrats or not?

Here is a thought for these TN Reps that have run away from the moniker “democrat”: Why the hell should TN dems (and lefty-Independents that remain Independents because they refuse to support a good-ole-boy network of righty dems in this state) be loyal to you, if you cannot be loyal to them?

In my local paper today, Rebecca Ferrar profiles a local doctor who is helping the uninsured homeless in the area via her position as a County Health Department public health officer. The following quibble is not with the work of Dr. Buchanan, but with the choice of words Rebecca uses in the beginning of her article. Rebecca starts her article thusly:

Martha Buchanan has joys and troubles serving as the Knox County Health Department’s public health officer.

The joys come in helping patients with serious illnesses who have let their condition get so debilitating they are without a job and have become homeless.

Dr. Buchanan is then quoted:

“You work with getting their life under control,” Buchanan said. “It’s a Catch-22 for lots of folks if they can’t afford medicine and their case worsens and they lose their income and wind up on the streets. We try to reverse that.”

In other words these people did not LET their “conditions” get worse. They couldn’t AFFORD to have their “conditions” be treated (in the early stages)  in the first damn place!

This is a HUGE difference, and one where the choice of words really matters.

At the beginning of the week, the United States Preventative Task Force issued a set of new guidelines for use of mammography. And the storm hit — OMG, the government will be rationing health care; OMG! the gubmint wants women to die!

“I do believe that women will die” if they’re followed, she said.

Not once in the ensuing storm of criticism, did anyone bother to look at the statement that these new guidelines are NOT for ALL women, and will actually promote doctors to spend some time with their patients and give them some individualized time deciding on the most effective course of prevention for the individual patient. Furthermore, not a single one of the idiots trotted out to oppose the new guidelines (Kathleen Sebelius, Debbie Wasserman, for example) have bothered to recognize that even low doses of radiation from yearly mammography can lead to breast cancer — yes, radiation (which remains in the body) is one of the KNOWN causes of breast cancer. And finally, not once have I heard anyone in the media note that these new guidelines put the US in line with European nations that also use a screening process and which have no higher incidence of breast cancer with less screening.

Today, another group, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, has issued new guidelines for Pap Smears. Again, the guidelines call for less screenings.

The new guidelines say women 30 and older who have three consecutive Pap tests that were normal, and who have no history of seriously abnormal findings, can stretch the interval between screenings to three years.

In addition, women who have a total hysterectomy (which removes the uterus and cervix) for a noncancerous condition, and who had no severe abnormalities on previous Pap tests, can quit having the tests entirely.

The guidelines also say that women can stop having Pap tests between 65 and 70 if they have three or more negative tests in a row and no abnormal test results in the last 10 years.

The changes do not apply to women with certain health problems that could make them more prone to aggressive cervical cancer, including H.I.V. infection or having an organ transplant or other condition that would lead to a suppressed immune system.

These are some pretty specific ifs contained in the new guidelines, just as there were specific ifs in the new guidelines for mammography.

Nevertheless, the idiots with serious reading comprehension problems and a basic understanding of cervical cancer are coming out of the woodwork, including for this NY Times article.

On the other hand, Ms. Jemison said that now that she is over 21, “I would still go every year” for the Pap test.

“One of my cousins had cervical cancer, so that’s in my head too,” she said. “I’d rather get it checked out regularly than have to worry about that.”

There is no evidence that cervical cancer is inherited. However, there can be a familial connection of a suppressed immune system, which, under the new guidelines, means you should continue to get yearly pap smears.

I’m left wondering why the media insists on promoting stupid, which will not further discussion of the cause and effect of over-testing, for both mammograms and pap smears.

64 Democrats voted for the Stupak amendment — you know, the one that says woman’s uteri are not their own, especially poor women’s uteri.

64 Democrats have completely disregarded one of the core tenets of the Democratic party – guaranteeing personal liberties for all. Women deciding with their doctors whether a pregnancy carried to term would be the best thing for them (whatever the reason) falls under personal liberties. What the hell are these 64 thinking?

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Goopers, during debate of the House Health Insurance Bill, were disgustingly rude, boorish pigs as members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus took the microphone. Egalia has the video.

64 dems join the goopers in throwing women’s rights under the bus, on the Stupak amendment, and 39 of those dems voted against health insurance reform. Because one lone republican had the wherewithal to vote for HR3962, this is being touted as a Bi-Partisan bill. (Yeah, it is technically because of that one republican vote, but if it were TRULY bi-partisan, more republicans would have voted “yes.”)

Now we turn our attention to the Senate, and how badly will health insurance reform will be watered-down from there. I’m sorry to say, I do not have high hopes that women’s rights will survive, and I have absolutely no faith, whatsoever, in Obama stripping regressive language in Conference.

And folks wonder why I have a very serious case of outrage fatigue! This debacle of a bill is just the tip of the iceberg, I’m sorry to say.

The reason for the rise in STD’s in women between 2002 – 2007 is “difficult to pinpoint.” I guess it’s too hard for Dr. Katherine Hartmann to look at the other speed humps in this state regarding women’s reproductive health.

It’s not difficult to extrapolate that the problem lies in abstinence only education; conscience laws denying women the morning after pill and basic birth control. And then we have the more recent study linking religiosity to high teen birth rates, which we find this statement from researcher Joseph Strayhorn:

“We conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself.”

If young women and men are actively being encouraged not to use contraception (ie condoms) the rate of STD’s will also rise, along with the teen birth rate.

This, it seems to me, is a logical sequence: lack of education results in higher incidences of STD’s.

hey boys, don’t be silly, cover your willy!

One might have thought so, when the legislative session ended earlier this year. The republican-controlled legislature focused on numerous gun laws, at least one of which is showing a backlash the NRA and TN legislators did not expect. That would be the Guns in Parks bill. Interestingly, it is the New York Times that points out how TN’s legislators have not and do not listen to ALL of their constituients, and that lobbists (particularly the NRA’s lobby) carry more weight (and money) than the citizens the legislators are representing.

Safety-minded localities in gun-friendly Tennessee have delivered a blunt and very welcome lesson in gun control to the National Rifle Association. While Tennessee’s ever-obeisant Legislature has enacted a law permitting handguns in all state and local parks, about 70 cities and counties have voted to opt out of this latest lock-and-load obsession from the N.R.A.

This is common-sense evidence that statehouse bullying tactics by the gun lobby do not necessarily translate to the local level, not when people have a chance to disinvite guns into areas designed for adult relaxation and children’s play.

I point this out as Knox County has yet to decide whether to ban guns in parks, or not. One County Commissioner, Amy Broyles, is trying to get this on the agenda, while expressing the same concern of patch-work safety that others have presented. Hopefully, the County Commission will take the advise of the County Parks Advisory Board and opt out of gun-totting in parks.

The County Parks and Recreation’s Citizen Advisory Board voted in July to recommend a ban on guns in county parks. Members expressed concerns that included having guns present where children play and in large crowds where heated confrontations could occur. Many public greenways connect to schools and libraries, and the city, Farragut and 28 county parks routinely host school events.

But, as more and more localities opt out of guns-in-parks, the NRA is not happy. As the NYTimes editorial notes:

The gun lobby is not giving up, of course. It is already marshaling lobbyists and cash to ensure the next Legislature strips localities of their right to just say no.

And herein lies the problem. Exactly who are our legislators working for, the citizens or the lobbyists? I contend that if during the next session of the general assembly a majority of legislators support stripping localities, and thus the citizenry, of their right to safe havens, the legislature is nothing more than a patsy for the NRA.

On Tuesday, Pres. Obama is going to address school children nationwide, urging them to stay in school and get an education. But, as Media Matters has documented, there is a fringe element on the right that feels this is un-amurrukin, starting with the talking heads that are whipping up this frenzy.

So, here in Tennessee, teh stupid are leaking out of the woodwork, calling into school administrators demanding that their children be safe from the un-amurrukin. Teh stupid started in middle Tennessee and has spread to east TN, as we can see from this quote by Loudon County schools instructional supervisor:

“As a school system we believe the president’s speech will probably be positive in nature, but we wanted to make sure it’s useful for educational purposes,” said Jason Vance, Loudon County Schools sixth to 12th grade instructional supervisor.

“will probably be positive?” and “make sure it’s useful for educational purposes?” Sounds to me like Vance is falling for the un-amurrukin-this is all politicized line, but doesn’t want to quite leave that flag hanging out on his front porch.

What is more interesting is reading teh stupid in comments to these articles.

armsbearer writes:

School is for learning, not for listening to Un-American socialist propaganda!

and:

HILANDER writes:

Leave the children alone. Any teacher that forces a child to watch Hussein’s socialist propaganda should be fired. If it were my child they would have more to worry about. That’s why my grandchildren are staying home.

Higlander appears to be a follower of several of the extremist-talking heads that have been advocating keeping children out of school on the day of Obama’s address. No sheep there. (/sarcasim)

As the comments to this article are just getting started, lets take a look at the comments to 9/4’s edition when it was reported several middle-Tennessee school districts were not going to air Pres. Obama’s speech to school children.

MB97 writes:

Sounds like Obama has been taking propoganda lessons from his buddy Castro.

and:

98harleyrider#385132 writes:

Time might be better spent studying the Constitution. Appears it will soon be a part of history.

Now, if I were to delve into what might possibly be behind the extremist-right’s thinking on this, I might find a group of people that truly want to keep the younger generation indoctrinated to their own ideology. You know, those that scream the loudest about something are really after the same thing. We can come to this conclusion when there was no up-roar by the same folks when Poppy Bush made a similar address to school children back in 1991.

It is truly sad to read these articles and comments that show so much ignorance and know that these are my neighbors.

Sen. Ted Kennedy has passed on.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew triumph and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died late Tuesday night. He was 77.

“Edward M. Kennedy – the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply – died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port,” the statement said. “We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever.”

May he find peace after his battle with brain cancer.

May we each recognize that through his work in the Senate, millions of individual lives were changed for the better through his work on civil rights issues, education, voting rights, occupational safety, and, most importantly,  health care. Without Ted’s passion in working for those less fortunate, each of us, our parents and grandparents would not have had healthcare in their/our golden years, may not be able to vote through fear, may still be segregated in schools.

I am especially saddened as I do not see anyone on the political horizon or already in the senate, that has the strength and passion to follow in his footsteps.

Finally, may his family show pity on the mean-spirited, nasty, disgusting trolls, such as the folks that have commented to Sen. Kennedy’s passing in my local paper. Here is one example (when you read crap like this, one really wishes online papers would do away with comments):

If you are one of the folks that honestly thinks that health insurance companies DO NOT ration health care, you are sadly mistaken. If you are one of the folks that believes that the “free market” will correct itself in the health care industry, you are sadly mistaken. Take a look:

This, teabaggers, is what you are fighting for.

It’s time to end the legalized extortion of the health insurance companies. Single-payer now!

This really sucks.

Skype might have to shut down because of a dispute over the core technology used to make the internet telephone system work.

EBay, which paid $2.6 billion (£1.6 billion) for the voice-over-the-internet system in 2005, is facing a court battle with the original founders of the company who retained the rights to the technology at the heart of the system.

I use Skype, and it really isn’t that bad of a service. The video conferencing can be a bit choppy, but the actual calls are quite good. In other words, when I talk to folks I can hear them clearly and they can hear me clearly, and that’s what counts.

But, OMG!, we can’t share the technology. Yeah, this is all about software licensing.

Earlier this year, Skype filed a claim in London against Swedish company Joltid, which is controlled by Skype co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. Skype is seeking resolution on a dispute over a software licensing agreement between the parties that Joltid was seeking to terminate.

“In particular, Joltid has alleged that Skype should not possess, use or modify certain software source code and that, by doing so, and by disclosing such code in certain US patent cases pursuant to orders from US courts, Skype has breached the license agreement,” eBay said in the filing.

Joltid brought a counterclaim, reiterating that it held the rights to the peer-to-peer technology and that Skype was in violation of the original agreement.

I have not been following this case, and I will be now. Based on this, it seems to me that when you sell a company, you sell the company and all the components (if you will) are included. Nitpicking over bits and pieces, like licensing, is detrimental to the hundreds of millions of users. But, who thinks about the users?

Ain’t capitalism grand? /sarcasm