Backbencher of the Week

With Congress back in session we return to our practice of rewarding unheralded action of Congressmen/women and Senators.

The August break was marked with several confrontations between members of Congress and angry constituents. Senator Al Franken(D-MN) demonstrated the best way to handle angry protesters when he was confronted by some tea party activists. Later during the recess, Sen. Franken drew a map of the United States using nothing but his memory.

For handling the August recess like a seasoned veteran, Sen. Al Franken is this week's Backbencher of the Week.

Book Review

I like Graham Greene and this week I finally read Our Man in Havana. Our Man in Havana tells the the story of a Mr. Wormold; a vacuum cleaner salesman who is recruited to be British intelligence's man in Havana. Wormold has no idea to run a spy network and decides to make things up including passing off a drawing of a vacuum cleaner as secret weapon. Things begin to spin out of control when everyone assumes that what Wormold reports is true.

The easy parallel is to The Quiet American and there are quite a few similarities. They are both satires of Cold War adventurism and both aim to criticize western interference in other countries. However, Our Man in Havana is not nearly as scathing and it does not attempt to take sides in the way The Quiet American does.

The real them of Our Man in Havana is love. Womold is both motivated and haunted by his love for his teenage daughter and for the wife who left him. In fact, Wormold's scheme is an attempt to gain enough money to provide his daughter a better life. Later Wormold realizes he is in love with the Beatrice; the aid British intelligence sent to him. Beatrice gives the theme of the book when she tells the assembled military and intelligence chiefs that "a country is more a family than a Parliamentary system."

I always enjoy reading Greene and Our Man in Havana is a quick, enjoyable and fun read.

Political SAT

Elizabeth R. Dilley is to Red Oak as

A) Richard Daley is to Chicago

B) James M. Curley is to Boston

C) Tom Pendergast is to Kansas City

D) Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall are to New York

E) All of the Above

Healthcare Reform to the Max

Sen. Max Baucus(D-MN) finally is circulating his idea for healthcare reform and moderates appear to be gathering around a public option with a trigger that would go into effect if insurance companies fail to meet certain targets.  It now appears that the outlines of a healthcare deal appear to be in place.  After the craziness of August it is hard to believe that we are close to some type of deal but Jonathan Cohn explains how August affected the the political situation and how the odds of a bill being passed are unchanged and perhaps more likely.

Based on my studying of the issue, this is my guess as to what will happen.  A bill with a public option that has a trigger will pass.  The bill will increase Medicaid eligibility and will include an individual mandate.  To help people pay for the mandated insurance there will be subsidies of about 350% of poverty level.  There will also be an employer mandate and some type of insurance exchange that will allow individuals who don't get insurance from their employers, and small businesses, to have access to reasonably priced insurance.

I am not the first to suggest this but President Obama strikes me as someone who uses conservative means to achieve progressive ends.  As The American Prospect pointed out earlier this summer, Obama maintains a strong belief in the ability of American institutions to solve our country's problems.  As far as I can tell this belief includes the medical establishment in the U.S. 

The current reform proposals seek to keep the basics of our the employer based health insurance system but it wants to make the system achieve universal coverage and do it in a more efficient manor.

This is a far from perfect bill and it feels like a colossal disappointment when compared with what seemed possible at the beginning of the debate.  However if a bill like the one described above passes then it will be the most progressive legislation in a generation.  More important a bill that is successful and popular will set the stage for further progression towards public based universal healthcare.

The reality is that not all Democrats are liberal progressives.  Even though the Reagan era looks over, the Democrats are still struggling to posit a positive message about governments role in our society.  The most important thing this bill might do is to reverse the "government is the problem" mentality that marked the last 3 decades of political debate and restore the public's trust in the government's ability to pursue collective action for the public good  If the bill does that then it will be easier to move from this bill to an even more substantial reform of our healthcare system.  

Book Review

One of the reoccurring themes of this blog is my attempt to find and read good fiction.  I trust my ability to find good non-fiction but I feel like I need help to find good novels.  This time, I followed the advice of blogger Matt Yglesias and read his father's most recent book titled A Happy Marriage.

The book tells the two intertwined stories of how the main character(who is a stand in for the author) meets and falls in love with his wife, and how he prepares to say good-bye to her as she dies of cancer.  Using flashbacks the book moves from the present day, where plans are being made to say good-bye, to 30 years ago when the protagonists first falls in love.  The chapters alternate between the present and the past with a couple of detours thrown in that explain revelations the main character has about his wife and his marriage.

The only criticism comes because the book is autobiographical the setting is among the literary set of upper middle class Manhattan.  The couple in this book have access to more resources and advantages then an average person and they press those advantages to get the best care.  Since this is autobiographical, this is only a small complaint but I do wish the more novelists writing about the struggles of a similar couple without the advantages being well off brings.

That said, the story is a good; especially the last half.  As the twin narratives move toward a consummation, the tension in both narrative arcs draws the reader into the story.  Most importantly the author tells a story and tells it well.  There is enough tension and emotion in the subject matter of love, life, and death that a straight forward approach is all that is needed.  All the writer needs to do is tell the story and tell how he felt.  He does and the book is better for it.

A Happy Marriage is really a good piece of writing.  It tells a story in a straightforward, honest manner and it does so with showing off how much work was behind the production of the story.

Blackouts

The depressed economy is also affecting sports.  The NFL believes that up to twelve teams could face blackouts.  A blackout occurs when the home team does not sell all of the tickets for the game and the game is therefore not shown on TV in the home team's city.  Bad and mediocre teams in economically troubled areas (like the Detroit Lions) are having trouble.  More surprising is that teams expected to be contenders like the Miami Dolphins, the Minnesota Vikings, and the San Diego Chargers are also facing the likelihood of having games blacked out.

This news hits a little close to home to me because my hometown team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, face the very real possibility of having all eight games blacked out.  Jacksonville is facing blackouts because the team is not expected to do well, they play in the second smallest market, and the stadium is large due to the demand of the college games played there.

I think the idea of blacking out games, especially during economically troubled times, to be ridiculous.  Since I just bought tickets to an NFL game, I know how expensive even the cheapest tickets are.  To deny people a chance to see their favorite team just because they can't afford tickets in tough economic times seems a sure fire way to guarantee a gradual loss of support.

I also believe that the blackout itself is a bad policy.  It was put in place in the 1970's and it was not until the recent decade that just about every game was a sellout.  Often that sellout came because local TV stations and corporate sponsors bought enough tickets to avoid a sellout.  However, I have been to many games that did not come close to selling out and the threat of blackouts did not bring out a rush of people to see the game.  

Between the ever growing expense of game tickets, and the fact the game is structured to be enjoyed on TV, the experience of watching a game at home often surpasses the experience of watching in person.  At home there is no traffic, or expensive parking, or concessions the overcharge, or the possibility of bad weather.  Given that the at home experience compares nicely with the at the game experience, the best idea is to not punish those who stay at home but to find a way to include them in the league's marketing strategy.  

However, since the NFL is run by the type of greedy bastards who sell directly to ticket scalpers and think that people who can't afford to keep their season ticket contracts in bad economic time need to be sued it is unlikely that NFL will go the route I suggested.

All that being said, for a lot of people who root for bad teams not having to watch their team lose on TV might be a blessing in disguise.

The Moral and Political Case for Healthcare Reform

Nicholas Kristof wrote a column this week that tells a heartbreaking story of a couple forced to divorce because our healthcare system made it impossible for them to stay together and still afford the treatment for the husband's early onset dementia.  The moral case for healthcare reform is that in a civilized and just society this would not happen.  Working people would be able to have access to health care.  Middle income people would have sufficient resources to get care and not face going broke when they realize their insurance is not sufficient to pay their medical bills.  And there would not be insurance companies making obscene profits while people go broke or can't afford the care they need.

Despite our pretensions, we don't really live in a civilized and just society.  Working class people can't afford healthcare.  Middle income people often find their insurance is not sufficient and they go broke.  All the while insurance companies make profits.  The reason for this is we have politicians that fine with this reality.  Rep. Lynne Jenkins(R-KS-2), who recently said the Republicans need a "Great White Hope" to go after President Obama, held a town hall this week.  A single mother said the she has trouble getting medical care for her child because she can't afford the insurance.  Rep. Jenkins laughed off the woman's concern.  The political case for healthcare reform is that people like Rep. Jenkins need to be kept far from power.  The better the health care is then the more likely the forces that profit off our dysfunctional system, and their political minions, will continue to be in the political wilderness.