Fallon, Nevada

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GV Council Meeting tonight includes IMM agenda item

The Grass Valley City Council meeting tonight -- scheduled for 7 PM -- includes the following agenda item (the last item of the evening, as it turns out):

"Status Report on Development Applications / Projects pending before the City"

This is an information-only item. No action is required, although I believe (I'm not sure about this), public comment will be allowed.

The item is described as follows:

"Staff will provide a verbal status report on the more significant development applications and/or projects which are pending before the City. The status report will cover such projects as the Special Development Areas (SDA’s), the Idaho-Maryland Mine and Berriman Ranch. The report will provide a brief overview of the project, its current application status and the major milestones or challenges that are being addressed or need to be addressed in the future."

You can see the full Council Meeting agenda here.

Ignorance is a National Resource

A case can be made that ignorance is a national resource. That sounds like an absurd proposition on the face of it, doesn't it? But all you have to do is update that old adage from the fifties: "What's good for General Motors is good for the country."

Change it to "What's good for United Health Care is good for the country." Then, consider whose interests are best served by ignorance such as the following, documented in a new national survey done by the Indiana University Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research (CHPPR) and the Indiana University Center for Bioethics. (See news release).

With regard to the following particular survey question, Republicans are the most ignorant, believing by a majority of 53% that "the government will require the elderly to make decisions about how and when they will die." (Is this a Fox News effect?).

Chomsky and Herman could well have used this example in their book, "Manufacturing Consent," which describes how -- in a system like ours, based on the consent of the governed -- corporations are able to manipulate the media in order to "manufacture" consent compatible with their profit-based interests.

Other notable results in the CHPPR survey:

• ... 29 percent of respondents believe that private insurance coverage would be eliminated (44 percent of Republicans, 11 percent of Democrats, 33 percent of Independents) and only 33 percent believed that reforms would result in the elimination of employer-sponsored health insurance coverage (56 percent of Republicans, 14 percent of Democrats, 31 percent of Independents).
• Additionally, ... 36 percent of Americans believes that a public insurance option will put private insurance companies out of business (56 percent of Republicans, 18 percent of Democrats, 35 percent of Independents).

How to get more information about the H1N1 flu

I called the Nevada County Public Health Department today to ask for a clarification of some information printed on their web page about the H1N1 flu.

Holly Whittaker, Epidemiologist, called me back and answered all my questions patiently and thoroughly. She seems very well-informed on the latest science and thinking on the subject, including which groups are at highest risk, when the vaccine might be available (it's still in clinical trials), etc.

Rather than pass along my understanding of this information in detail, and risk getting it wrong, I am merely passing along Ms. Whittaker's phone number, so you may call her yourself if you wish:

530-470-2658

She was very generous with her time, and emphatically encouraged me to call again if I had any further questions.

I'm sure she'd welcome your calls as well.

A Disturbing Combination of Passion and Ignorance

Lawrence O'Donnell is gentle and kind here in his interview with Katy Abram, a young woman who recently got in Arlen Specter's face at a town hall meeting, raising her voice finally to a rude shout.

But in this interview, she shows herself to be woefully ignorant about the very matters that aroused her ire. This is apparently typical of many of those town hall protesters, who are determined to exercise their "freedom of speech" by effectively and rudely denying it to others.

Billionaires for Wealthcare

Who says we can't all get along?

Here, the "Billionaires for Wealthcare" (formerly the "Billionaires for Bush") seem to appreciate and work well with all the opponents of health care reform (except maybe for that guy who shouts, "Go to France!").

My favorite slogan?

"We've got the most profitable health care system in the World!"

A Medicare Proposal, by Thom Hartmann

Published on Monday, August 17, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Reprinted on Sierra Voices with the permission of the author.

Dear President Obama: A Modest Medicare Proposal

by Thom Hartmann

Dear President Obama,

I understand you're thinking of dumping your "public option" because of all the demagoguery by Sarah Palin and Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich and their crowd on right-wing radio and Fox. Fine. Good idea, in fact.

Instead, let's make it simple. Please let us buy into Medicare.

It would be so easy. You don't have to reinvent the wheel with this so-called "public option" that's a whole new program from the ground up. Medicare already exists. It works. Some people will like it, others won't - just like the Post Office versus FedEx analogy you're so comfortable with.

Just pass a simple bill - it could probably be just a few lines, like when Medicare was expanded to include disabled people - that says that any American citizen can buy into the program at a rate to be set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which reflects the actual cost for us to buy into it.

So it's revenue neutral!

To make it available to people of low income, raise the rates slightly for all currently non-eligible people (like me - under 65) to cover the cost of below-200%-of-poverty people. Revenue neutral again.

Most of us will do damn near anything to get out from under the thumbs of the multi-millionaire CEOs who are running our current insurance programs. Sign me up!

This lets you blow up all the rumors about death panels and grandma and everything else: everybody knows what Medicare is. Those who scorn it can go with Blue Cross. Those who like it can buy into it. Simplicity itself.

Of course, we'd like a few fixes, like letting Medicare negotiate drug prices and filling some of the holes Republicans and AARP and the big insurance lobbyists have drilled into Medicare so people have to buy "supplemental" insurance, but that can wait for the second round. Let's get this done first.

Simple stuff. Medicare for anybody who wants it. Private health insurance for those who don't. Easy message. Even Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley can understand it. Sarah Palin can buy into it, or ignore it. No death panels, no granny plugs, nothing. Just a few sentences.

Replace the "you must be disabled or 65" with "here's what it'll cost if you want to buy in, and here's the sliding scale of subsidies we'll give you if you're poor, paid for by everybody else who's buying in." (You could roll back the Reagan tax cuts and make it all free, but that's another rant.)

We elected you because we expected you to have the courage of your convictions. Here's how. Not the "single payer Medicare for all" that many of us would prefer, but a simple, "Medicare for anybody who wants to buy in."

Respectfully,

Thom Hartmann

Thom Hartmann (thom at thomhartmann.com) is a Project Censored Award-winning New York Times best-selling author, and host of a nationally syndicated daily progressive talk program The Thom Hartmann Show. His most recent books are "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight," "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights," "We The People: A Call To Take Back America," "What Would Jefferson Do?," "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It," and "Cracking The Code: The Art and Science of Political Persuasion." His newest book is Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture.