Today I painted our first room. It was the water closet in the master bath and only took an hour to mask and primer, but still. The fab GF came out twice to snap photos.

The drywall has been ready for three weeks, but we had such crap weather, I didn't even want to go outside. We had drifts over four feet high and both of the roof vent pipes are bent like mofos. I don't think they're broken, but I won't know until it's safe enough to scramble up on the roof, something I hate doing even in dry weather. No sign of any leaks, but until I can touch 'em, I won't know for sure. Read more…

Monroe/Seattle Healthcare House Party
The Raw Story

We promptly start later than anticipated because one participant wanted cocoa.

The Participant noted: “This really is like a Tupperware party. It seems like it’s a party because there are little wieners with toothpicks in them, but really, it’s about selling you Tupperware.”

The Host went through the goals as stated in the Moderator’s packet: Read more…

We'll be picking up the discussion

Today, Saturday, Dec. 27 at 8EST

Lambert will be rolling out the survey so we can spread the word.

Amberglow linked to an excellent article on why single payer opponents fear the single payer option. Basically, peons like us would like public insurance so much, we would choose it instead of more expensive private health insurance plans. Read more…

Hope all of you are enjoying your holidays.

Some business...

We'll be picking up the discussion

Saturday, Dec. 27 at 8EST

after the fab GF and I have our house party, which comprises me, her, and the cats. We have two feet of snow and no one in their right mind she drive up here.

Also, we may lose power, so if I disappear, that may be why. Or I spilled my cocktail, which happens, you know.

Moving on...

Continuing from the last virtual house party on healthcare, lambert asked me separately if anyone else wanted to discuss why healthcare is an issue for them. Read more…

Our Festivus healthcare discussion rollicked along at a good pace.

Before jumping in, thanks to all for participating. And may everyone find the joy of the season.

And join us

Friday, Dec. 26, 8pm EST for more ideas and agitating

Please add as you see fit.

In response to the question, “Why is healthcare an issue for you?”, the answers ranged from rage (that would be me, lambert, and gqmartinez), not being a bully (vastleft), personal experience with the system as patient or provider (DCBlogger, hipparchia, and oceansandmountains) creating equitable healthcare system as a foundation on which to build a more just society (lambert), the basic need for healthcare, and so on. Read more…

Hello and welcome. First a little business...

Thanks, lambert for the place and the constant support.

Thanks DCB and hipparchia for yeo-woman work on the issue of single payer. You are why I got involved. Well, that and I got really pissed off.

Next virtual house parties:

All 8pm EST
Friday, Dec. 26
Saturday, Dec. 27 (fab Gf and ohio report)
Tuesday, Dec. 30 (Paul L's report)
Possibly a wrap-up on the 31st.

Spread the word.

Here's the list of questions we gathered.

1. Have you or anyone in your family ever failed to seek medical attention because you couldn’t afford it? (h/t a little night…)

2. Have you or anyone in your family ever failed to seek medical attention because you couldn’t afford treatment though you had health insurance? (h/t a little night…) Read more…

Other contacts

Contact your legislator, the executive branch, or opinion-makers. Be well informed, courteous, and shove the Overton Window left!

Other: 

ewarrenlaw [dot] harvard [dot] edu

If you're inclined, send Elizabeth Warren an attagirl email. ewarren at law dot harvard dot edu

Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret

You know all that money we gave the damn banks? Well, be grateful they took it and now go away.

Think you could borrow money from a bank without saying what you were going to do with it? Well, apparently when banks borrow from you they don't feel the same need to say how the money is spent...

"It is entirely appropriate for the American people to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent in private industry," said Elizabeth Warren, the top congressional watchdog overseeing the financial bailout... Read more…

[We're having the first virtual House Party tonight at 8PM -- Because it's festivus!]

Suggestions for virtual house party healthcare topics? We can take some of the questions from the list we developed---see below.

Lambert, do you have times that work best for people all over the country? And even some of our foreign friends (hiya, Mandos) to join in? Also, is there anyway to let people who aren't registered to take that survey you created? Or do you want it limited to registrants? Read more…

Edited to correct spelling of "bugaloo." And to add Paul L's info.

Our responses (Monroe/Seattle):

Date and time:
December 27, 2pm

Please describe your event:
Lunch and discussion in support of single payer national health insurance.

What are the major areas you want to discuss?
Making single payer national health insurance a reality now.

Why should the health policy team send Senator Daschle to your event?
Please don't. But any co-sponsor of HR676 will be welcomed and well fed.

From Paul_Luckasiak (outside Philly):

Date and Time of Event
Monday Dec 29, 6:30PM

Please describe your event
Potluck dinner with health care as the topic

What are the major areas you want to discuss?
Best way to fund health care for all Read more…

Revise, replace, rewrite, do your on as you see fit---okay, just fix it. It sucks. trying to get a one-pager that cracks the whip a little. Our goal is to get press to the house party and to write a story about how single payer/healthcare for all/whatever you want to call it is a real solution and not some half-assed attempt.

(I am pleased with the last quote, I will say.)

Edited based on comments...

Don't stop now.

====

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR PHONE NUMBER]
[YOUR EMAIL]

Headline: Locals Agree with Obama: Healthcare Is A Right Read more…

There was a lot of eyerolling with this---I mean, honestly, the original is all sleazy and weasel-y, no offense to weasels.

Anyway, revise, replace, and add your own as necessary.

====
1. What do you perceive is the biggest problem in the health system?
a. Cost of health insurance
b. Cost of health care services
c. Difficulty finding health insurance due to a pre-existing condition
d. Lack of emphasis on prevention
e. An emphasis on health insurance and not on healthcare for all as the solution to our healthcare crisis

2. What do you think is the best way for policy makers to develop a plan to address the health system problems?
a. Community meetings like these
b. Traditional town hall meetings
c. Surveys that solicit ideas on reform
d. A White House Health Care Summit Read more…

Questions to get us started. Revise, replace, add your own as necessary. We'll compile and you can choose the ones you want to use at house parties or online as you go.

Edited based on comments. Sorry if I missed tipping a hat to anyone.

The list is getting long. Damn, good questions though.

=====

1. Have you or anyone in your family ever failed to seek medical attention because you couldn’t afford it? (h/t a little night…)

2. Have you or anyone in your family ever failed to seek medical attention because you couldn’t afford treatment though you had health insurance? (h/t a little night…)

3. Have you ever lost your health insurance? If so, why?

4. Have you ever been refused health insurance? If so, why? Read more…

[I'm leaving this sticky because it's important and creative -- a virtual Daschle house party with reality-based material! But I'm also seeing people volunteering for house parties on the ground. Kudos to all on this thread, and let's do it! --lambert]

Edited to add:

RL house party volunteers as of 12/18:

• allys gift in Baltimore
• basement angel in L.A.
• Paul Lukasiak in Philly
• Me and the fab GF in Monroe/Seattle area

Can't host but will help a host:

• ElizabethF in West Palm Beach

We also have document development:

• -6Qs That Should Be Asked
• -Press release and PSA templates
• -Fun Facts factsheet

[I will revise and sharpen if others will draft. Perfection is not necessary! --lambert]

Keep a lookout for dates for virtual house parties here in the Mighty Corrente Building.

Via the PNHP website, I downloaded the Participant Guide PDF and the Moderator Guide PDF to HHS Sec.-designate Daschle's healthcare house parties thing just to take a quick look. My impressions as follows... Read more…

Thank the flying spaghetti monster with all noodley appendages, the drywall is up, taped, and mudded, and the PVA applied. Russ did an amazing job. I never could have done this. I can hang drywall and stuff, but this...smooth wall is right.

We're going on week nine of what Russ thought would be a five weeker. Ah, well. I was framing and helping for the first few weeks, but I've been inside trying to earn money. So starting this week, I get to start back with sawing and hammering and swearing. Yay. So here are some pics.

Warning: several big pictures.

It's been really cold, so cold the rain froze in the copper cups last week and hasn't thawed. Read more…

Waste Coffee Grounds Offer New Source Of Biodiesel Fuel.

I told you coffee was the bestest beverage ever and now all of science agrees with me.

Now get off yer butt and brew yourself a pot. The planet isn't going to save itself, you know---it doesn't know how to work the grinder.

Oh Yet We Trust

Oh yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill,
To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroyed,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete;

That not a worm is cloven in vain;
That not a moth with vain desire
Is shrivelled in a fruitless fire,
Or but subserves another's gain.

Behold, we know not anything;
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last—far off—at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.

So runs my dream: but what am I?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.
---Alfred, Lord Tennyson Read more…

Last May, Kevin Phillips wrote an article for Harper's that I completely missed: The Numbers Racket.

Today, the AP reported (via the NYT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A record one in 10 American homeowners with a mortgage were either at least a month behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of September as the source of housing market pressure shifted to the crumbling U.S. economy.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday the percentage of loans at least a month overdue or in foreclosure was up from 9.2 percent in the April-June quarter, and up from 7.3 percent a year earlier. Read more…

Dr. James Galbraith says, “In principle, economic growth can come from household consumption, business investment, government spending, or exports. This is a tautology, indisputable and known to everyone who has ever opened a textbook...”

Well, yeah. Note the “in principle,” though. Snort. What about in practice? Practically speaking, economic growth can also come from stealing. But be that as it may…I’m making fun because I am in disagreement with Dr. Galbraith, Dr. Krugman, and a bunch of other smart people regarding the fiscal stimulus and I am too insecure to take them head on. So I will occasionally be snide. It’s a weakness but I accept this flaw in my character.

But less about me and more about why I am confused… Read more…

Thanks, BDBlue, for linking to Yves at Naked Capitalism, who linked to this in the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/busine...

Elizabeth Warren has no power but the bully pulpit, and Elizabeth Warren is using the pulpit on behalf of us little people. My favorite part:

Meetings with Treasury officials so far have made her question whether they understand that “household financial health is profoundly tied to the economic health of the nation,” she said. “You cannot repair this economy if you can’t repair those families, and I’m not sure the people directing the bailout see that as their job.” Read more…

I've known our neighbor Russ since we moved up here. Good guy. Biker who rebuilds Harleys for fun---we all call his garage the Museum because the bikes he's fixed up are beautiful. I had know idea he was a drywall guy until our neighbor, Rick, who engineered our house, suggested we ask him to drywall our house.

Russ is actually a taper and hadn't hung sheetrock for awhile. But he had had no work for two months and had bills to pay, so we agreed on a price, and he started working. It took longer than expected to get all the drywall on, but he did an amazing job. The guy is an artist. Persnickity as hell, didn't want help, brought his little dog, and fought his way through the zig-zags we have throughout our house. Read more…

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/

Because Jesus loves you.TM

Saw Ryan last night and took him for dinner. He's lost weight since he got out of the pokey, but he looked pretty good.

He's now an indentured servant.

Ryan's working for a guy who restores classic cars, from tires to antennas, rebuilding, painting, the whole thing. He helps with that work as well as rebuilding the barn the guy uses as a shop, bracing the posts as the whole structure is on the verge of collapse. Read more…

I was trolling satellite TV the other night when I stopped to watch an NSF lecture given by Angela Belcher of MIT.

Dr. Belcher is a professor with appointments in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Biological Engineering Division and has developed custom-evolved viruses to advance nanotechnology. What good is that?

Oh, my, the good is all over the place.

First, she's smart as hell and smart is hot. Second, she clearly loves what she does. She actually talked about designing experiments because they'd be "fun" and "neat." She used big words, too, but I found her enthusiasm adorable. Third, she talked about applying her research to devices like nanobatteries and semiconductors. Read more…

Happy Halloween, my little pirates.

Every year we go to the Pal's house in the Central District to scare the neighborhood. Her house was built in 1906 and is on asmall hill that rises from the sidewalk. It looms over you especially and when lit from beneath.

This year our theme is Circue du Scaree. A couple years ago, the Pal and I bought a bunch of stuff from one of those professional haunted house things---we have probably a hundred skeletons and skeleparts, dozens of cast masks and related costumage, even bollards with skulls on them to mark out the walking path. And we got the creepiest clown costumes ever. I mean, so creepy, my skin crawled carrying the headpieces to the car. And I rarely get creeped out. Read more…

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good girl. I recycle, am nice to stray animals, help old people across the street whether they want to go or not, and eat all my broccoli even though I hate it. Please bring me one of these. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=...

While your elves are handy, I'd prefer this Jet Benchtop Oscillating Spindle Sander as it's made really well (five stars on Rockler!) and will match my table saw. If this is too hard for you (or you just don't have the cash), please guilt someone reading this blog to buy one for me. Read more…