AN OPEN LETTER

Published on Monday, November 30, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore

by Michael Moore

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan's nickname is the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev's number though. It's + 41 22 789 1662. I'm sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you're about to commit.

With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.

Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.

I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.

Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"

Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.

We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?

Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.

The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by abandoning the rest of us.

President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.

All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.

When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.

Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.

Tonight we still have hope.

Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.

We're counting on you.

Yours, Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com MichaelMoore.com

P.S. There's still time to have your voice heard. Call the White House at 202-456-1111 oremail the President.

Michael Moore is an activist, author, and filmmaker. See more of his work at his website MichaelMoore.com

A word about Afghanistan:

I don't always agree with Moore on everything but I do on this topic. I thought his latest Movie wasn't very good by the way. Why Obama wants to channel LBJ on this one is beyond me? Binny and boyz are in PAKISTAN Barack not Afghanistan! You want cause to worry its Pakistan you should be worried about , they're the country with NUKES remember? Afghanistan is going to end up back in the hands of the Taliban because the Afghanis essentially hate foreigners more then they hate religious fundamentalists. I feel sorry for the millions of women and girls that are going to reduced to slaves again but whats to be done about it? We'd need to send in millions of troops to ever secure this place and while were @ it put most of the men in prison. So, sending another 30K into that God forsaken hell hole isn't going to do it.

We once fought our own Civil War to free a group of people Barack and not a day after it ended the south started to figure a way to re-enslave the newly freed slaves didn't they and they got away with this project for over 100 yrs. The change that society needs will come but maybe not ever because we invaded. It has to come from inside the people. That said sometimes an evil like the Nazis is so great it has to be fought and who knows the Talibs might indeed mutate as might the Shias in Iran. If these people do they'll face the sobering fact of thousands of nuclear warheads poised in bunkers on missiles, ships and on planes, I think they'll get the picture.

BEACH REPORT:

MEETINGS !!

It was a week of meetings in AC , 1st the Cordish org. out of Baltimore's Inner Harbour Corp. mall and AC's center city Corp. mall held a meeting of area notables and decided they knew how to set the city straight. Oddly, Mayor Langford either wasn't invited or decided to just observe and said nada. Then it was the Mayor's turn the next day and he had his meeting of local pols and business notables etc.. The upshot of all these meetings is everyone wanted everyone else to give someone, preferably themselves lots of taxpayer $$ to do things. The conclusion of all these meetings was of course the obvious, that AC is heading into the dumps and somebody needs to do something fast or else! Of course that somebody is somebody besides them because they're all doing just fine. Ok, so nothing is going to be done is how I read all these meetings.

IN THE SHORT

Ac started it's decline almost 2 yrs. before last falls plunge off the cliff Internationally. Since then AC's decline steepened and is now some say bottoming out. Don't believe it. The worst is yet to come for AC and environs. Once the Delaware Ave. Casinos in Philly are built Pa., will also have full service Casinos like AC. These Casinos will sit smack dab in the middle of AC's biggest market draw and will take a huge bite out of our gaming market. So, gambling as an attractor is over. AC's Casinos except for Borgata and Revel ( not opened yet) are all aging and in a variety of conditions from really poor to ok but none are in sterling shape. Wall st. isn't going to fork over anymore $$ to fix these places up so we can expect further deterioration of them over the next few yrs. and no expansion past REVEL.

THE FUTURE OF THE CASINOS

My prediction for the gaming market is this: We'll be seeing the sale of a few more properties soon at rock bottom prices probably the Hilton and then Trump Marina and then the Trump Plaza. Don't be surprised folks if Borgata sells out and leaves town as well. The simple truth is the Casino Industry has plundered , pillaged and raped the area and is now preparing to abandon ship for greener pastures.

WHAT GLOBAL SEA RISE HAS IN STORE FOR ABSECON ISLAND

Forget about our economic future for a second and lets focus on our environmental problems instead. If even the most conservative estimates of sea rise are correct ( 3ft. by 2100) most of Absecon Island its major approaches and its beaches and bays are going under in this century no matter what we do short of building an enormous dike of stone and earth around the Island. The cost for such a structure would be billions and long before its ever built the nation will be turning its attention to the plight of rapidly sinking cities like NYC, Baltimore, Miami, Boston and others. In other words AC is nowhere on any one's list of places that absolutely needs to be saved. By the time this becomes readily apparent to the Ostriches that run this town it will be way to late anyway. In the short they'll believe that all is well because they have a dune in part of the city. The flooding will start and has already started though on the BAY side not the @ the Beach! Now if the more plausible and more extreme sea rise predictions come true say 7 to 20 ft. of sea rise by 2100 it won't really matter what we try to do NOTHING will suffice and the only thing left will be an eventual evacuation and abandonment of all of the world's Barrier Islands , So. Fla. and may other areas that are now @ sea level or slightly above , such as most of Absecon Island. Here's another fact of sea rise I gleaned from Pilkey's and others predictions, if we stopped putting any greenhouse gas into the atmosphere today it won't stopped the sea rise underway that train has long ago left the station. So, its more likely we not only won't stop putting anymore gases in but if past is prologue were going to see an even larger increases in the amounts in the near future with world leaders calling it a reduction! How will they get away with this seemingly absurd proposition you say? Easy they're masters of it and they fool us every time by simply saying they're reducing the amount of gases that would have been added other wise! The politicians simply will not stop the polluters which are all of us before its to late. Personally, I think its already way past to late. Does all of this mean the end of the world ala 2012? NO, of course not but if you want some sure fired investments put your $$ in anything that cools people off cause its going to get really hot by mid-century and if predictions are correct absolutely scorching by 2100.

BLACK FRIDAY 2009 !!

All lined up and ready SHOP @ 5 am this morning!!

Get out there and shop till you drop!! America's economy is depending on all of you! Some retailers make over 50% of their entire years sales from today till X-mas! Personally, I've joined the legions of crafts people out here that has returned to handcrafting the majority of their gifts. I've found that everyone likes handcrafted items, except young children for obvious reasons. Now that said, I know most of you are talentless when it comes to making anything beyond breakfast so by all means SHOP instead!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!

Pilgrims @ the Beach 1621 Plimoth, Mass.

By the end of that first year in Plimoth more then half of the original Pilgrims were dead of starvation and disease. The local Indians didn't help them till the 2nd yr. and the Thanksgiving day dinner with the Indians never happened. Thanksgiving day for the Pilgrims was a day of religious worship and then a light meal. Lucky for the Pilgrims that 90% of the local Native Americans had been wiped out by small pox from a Portuguese fishing expedition 10 yrs. earlier and only the ragged remnants of a once thriving culture remained to offer little resistance to the new comers. We all know what happened next. Today the Native Americans are taking back the country one Casino @ a time.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!

THE RISING SEA

The Rising Sea - by Orrin Pilkey & Rob Young

I just finished reading this book. If your at all interested in what Global warmings effects will be on the world's coasts in this century buy this book! It's well written and easy to read. Pilkey and his associate, another scientist Rob Young do not pull any punches with this book.

@ the title link go directly to Barnes & Noble to order your copy or get someone a gift for Xmas they'll enjoy reading.

WHY AC SUCKS

30 yrs. have passed since then Gov. Brendan Byrne promised the residents of AC that a new day was dawning for the rundown old Queen of America's coastal resorts. I was present the day he came to AC and gave that speech in front of the old Convention Hall. I'm still waiting for that new day to dawn. For the last 30 yrs. Ac has been waiting also. So why does AC suck so badly today after 30 yrs. of Casino gaming?

BIG CORPS & BIG GOV'T a love match

It's actually pretty simple why AC sucks and why the town looks like Camden today. If you add Gov't @ all levels together with Big Corps. that have no real interest in developing your community and are really parasites, AC and actually now America is what you get. Big business kills small and mid-size business if it can and Gov't today hates small business. In AC Gov't especially hates small business. So, AC looks like hell and nothing the above two groups is going to not do or do is going to change that. In fact these two groups are having lots of meetings these days ( they love meetings as way of not having to really do anything but bitch about the rest of us.) and they're basically blaming the small business community and the population for why AC sucks. Of course they never do anything wrong do they? I guess they don't when it comes to taking care of No. 1. and AC and yes, now America looks like it they've done a great job of taking care of No. 1. So, AC sucks and its not going to suck any less with the present groups that run everything ( into the ground). They have the $$ and they have the power but they don't have a clue @ what to do now that AC's suckiness is hurting them. Oh and thats the only reason they suddenly care folks. Its because AC is starting to hurt them and theirs and that has to stop right?

ANTARCTIC MELTDOWN!!

Antarctica from space - Areas in red and yellow are melting rapidly

@ the title link read about the new data showing that our ice caps are melting far faster then previously thought and its effects on global sea rise. Dr. Orrin Pilkey in his new book "The Rising Sea" predicts a possible 20 ft. sea rise by 2100! If this occurs every major coastal city on earth is threatened or doomed!

SPINNING IT'S WHEELS

ATLANTIC CITY'S HIGHEST ROLLER HAS WALKED away from the table, and that's a bad omen for the Boardwalk.

Donald Trump, whose career in the gaming industry has had more waves than his legendary coiffure, last week resolved his bitter dispute with bondholders over restructuring three Atlantic City casino-hotels. The deal struck by the man who has been the face of gambling in the depressed New Jersey city shows just how tough things are amid a rocky economy and competition from slot machines in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware.

Gambling revenues in Atlantic City fell 13.5% for the first 10 months of 2009, to $3.4 billion. Four of the city's 11 casino-hotels look troubled, including two owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts, and the situation could get worse if table games such as blackjack and craps are allowed in neighboring states' casinos.

Trump Entertainment Resorts (ticker: TRMPQ), which owns the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Marina and Trump Plaza casino-hotels, filed for bankruptcy in February because it couldn't support debt of more than $1.7 billion amid falling revenue and cash flow. That marked its third bankruptcy, a rare three-peat in American business. Trump submitted a reorganization proposal, only to be countered by one from a group of bondholders who own the company's $1.25 billion of 8.5% notes.

With the more substantive bondholder proposal gaining the upper hand in bankruptcy court, Trump's concession looks smart. He gets a face-saving package of 5% of the equity in the reorganized company and warrants for another 5%. In a statement, Trump said he acted because the dueling plans had "become mired in highly expensive and distracting litigation that threatens the entire enterprise." Bondholders hope the plan will allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy in early 2010.

The group has agreed to inject $225 million of new money in return for the bulk of the equity in the reorganized company. Their debt would be extinguished with a nominal payment of 5% of the new equity. Reflecting the limited recovery value, the 8.5% notes trade for just seven cents on the dollar. Current Trump Entertainment shareholders probably will be wiped out. The stock trades around 12 cents a share.

Still, the Donald isn't getting much in the settlement, which permits the three casinos to continue using his name. His new stock and warrants may not be worth much more than $11 million. We calculate that figure by taking 5% of the $225 million of new equity and giving no value to the out-of-the-money warrants.

The bondholder proposal may finally create a tenable balance sheet for the company. Some $125 million of the $225 million of new equity will help pay down the $485 million of existing senior bank debt, leaving it with about $360 million in debt and $100 million in cash.

In August, the company projected its pretax cash flow at $68 million for 2009, down from $180 million in 2006. Bondholders effectively are putting in equity at about seven times projected 2009 cash flow. They are betting that 2009 is a trough year, and the company agrees, projecting $87 million in 2010 cash flow.

Others, however, see Atlantic City as poison. The investment firm Lazard tried and failed to bring in outside investors to help recapitalize the Trump company earlier this year. According to a company filing, major concerns included: whether Atlantic City can recover from the downturn; "significant existing competition;" and deferred maintenance and capital spending at the Trump properties. Of the three Trump casino-hotels, the Trump Taj Mahal is by far the most valuable, with gambling revenue of $383 million for the first 10 months of 2009 -- more than the two other Trump properties combined. The company has unsuccessfully tried to sell the money-losing Marina, which was valued at just $24 million by Lazard.

With slot machines in Pennsylvania, Atlantic City is losing gamblers, many of them elderly slot players who come midweek. There are slots in Yonkers, 15 miles north of Manhattan. More than ever, Atlantic City needs to remake itself as a destination resort. That's made tough by the dangerous reputation of the city, which even lacks a supermarket.

Despite the city's image problem, the upscale Borgata has been a success. And a group led by Morgan Stanley is going forward, perhaps unwisely, with construction of the $2 billion Revel casino-hotel. Other casinos holding their own include Harrah's Marina, Bally's and Caesars. Some think the four weakest properties -- Trump Marina, Trump Plaza, the Resorts casino-hotel and the Atlantic City Hilton -- may not be viable over the long haul.

At least one notable bottom-fisher sees opportunity. Billionaire Carl Icahn, who has profitably flipped Atlantic City casinos before, is leading a group that has gained control of the bankrupt Tropicana. Trump's bondholders also could profit from their contrarian bet on one of the country's least-loved gambling venues

Another damning article about Atlantic City from the Barron's financial newspaper.

MORE DEBATE?

Your tax $$ being pumped into the Ocean @ $12 a cubic yard

@ the title link is another article about the renewed debate on Beach replenishment, or is that the Faux debate the media echo chamber dreamed up? In reality the debate is long over as far as the powers to be and their Corp. and Big Gov't pals are concerned. In their minds it goes like this Beach Replenishment good must do spend spend spend no limits now we scared etc... critiques bad people want your children to drown etc..blah blah blah. You get the picture. of course. The folks parroting this mindless crap are usually making boat loads of $$ off these projects in one way or another and the public doesn't know this. As for the media its just part of the fading storm coverage. Next big storm the debate of course will rage on once again, at least in their minds.

THE DEBATE?

Beach Replenishment Project

@ the title link is the AC Press Editorial today. Take a look @ it. The AC PRESS a staunch proponent of Beach Replenishment seems to be singing a slightly different tune on this topic. It's still shrill and angry @ anyone that doesn't accept it's criteria for a debate on the topic but I see some movement in it's position after all these yrs. At least now the Press admits their are lots of people out here that question the need and the utility of these Projects , especially after this last storm. Nevertheless, as is usual with the Press whomever wrote the editorial shows how little they really know about the topic and in the end they resort to bashing those of us who have a different perspective , one based on massive amounts of actual research.

The Boardwalk Merchants

The AC Press must have been pretty shaken up this year when a local Boardwalk based Merchants association headed by a popular long time local Radio host frontally attacked the Absecon Island Shore Protection Project, accusing it's planners of essentially destroying business on the Boardwalk by hiding it behind a 15 ft. high dune. This is a FACT the Press cannot escape and a reality that these folks are living daily. In the Press' zeal and the politicians zeal to protect the physical structure of the boardwalk it's now very apparent that they've destroyed much of it's appeal and reason for existing in the 1st place. They have no answer for this except to mouth the same ignorant self serving platitudes about having to protect it from storms.

Protecting What?

In today's Press editorial I found it rather amusing that the writer mentions an area of the Ventnor boardwalk as an example of what might have a happened if no dune had existed in front of it this last week. If this person had bothered to visit the areas in question at any time before this storm he might have noticed that the entire southern end of the boardwalk from Newport Ave. to Margate hasn't had any dune in front of it since spring 2004 when then Mayor Tim Kreischer with the NJDEP's approval removed it! The irony is the Press is basically trying to say that had the dunes that were washed away not existed in front of those 5 blocks of boardwalk that something might have happened to them and didn't because they protected the walk. Thats kind of odd since the 15 blocks just south of these 5 blocks of dunes protected area didn't have any dunes at all and suffered no damage during the storm, as the ocean simply washed under these areas. In other words as usual the Press tells a very distorted and dishonest tale and tries to create in the readers mind a picture that is totally @ odds with the reality of the situation. Anyway, read the Editorial and please leave comments about it here if you'd would.

HEALTH CARE DEFORM

Published on Monday, November 16, 2009 by The Alburquerque Journal

Health Deform

by Carol Miller

A very complex, mandatory private insurance scheme recently passed the U.S. House. The public is being overwhelmed by sound bites on one hand about how great it is, on the other, how terrible. We are hearing few of the details that are actually in the bill. Having read the bill, it is clear now that what started as health reform has emerged from the political process as health "deform," building on the worst, not the best of the current system.

It is still a toss-up as to whether the Senate will pass any bill this year. However, due to intense political pressure, the Senate is likely to pass a bill that will make some House provisions better and others worse. What actually comes out in the final conference-committee bill is anyone's guess at this point - so little time, so many deals still to be made, so many political funders to be appeased.

A careful analysis of the bill shows that it is designed more for political goals than to eliminate financial barriers to health care. For example, the actual coverage doesn't even begin until 2013, opportunistically after the next presidential election, in 2012. Run on having accomplished "historic reform" but before anyone actually experiences how bad it is? How cynical is that?

Yes, there are some good provisions. The best relate to improving existing programs like the Indian Health Service, community health centers, and health professionals education and training; all are important for New Mexico.

But there bad provisions, which comprise most of the 1,990 pages of the bill. Five key reasons this legislation must be stopped:

• If passed, this law will move the U.S. farther from universal health care, making it harder than ever to accomplish health care justice in the future. If Congress does not have the courage to stand up to the private insurance industry now, it will be even more difficult in the future, especially after giving the industry trillions of new dollars through this terrible legislation. Let's call this what it is: another corporate bailout on the backs of working people.

Pay attention to your federal representatives as they carefully talk about "health insurance reform." They aren't talking about health reform any more. Congress could have defended and built up a system based on popular, high-quality government-run health programs like the military and veterans fully socialized health systems or Medicare, a single-payer program. Instead, the president and Congress let the corporations and government-haters take control of the agenda.

• The legislation institutionalizes permanent inequality in health care. Unlike Medicare where all beneficiaries have a single plan, this bill further divides the U.S. system into tiers based on ability to pay. It creates basic, enhanced, premium and premium-plus plans. A basic plan will provide only 70 percent of the coverage of a "reference benefit package," one that includes even fewer services than most insured people have today. The bill doesn't even mention coverage for essential services like vision and adult dental care except in the most costly premium-plus plan.

• Out-of-pocket costs remain sky high. Everyone will be required to pay monthly insurance premiums. Some low-wage workers will receive taxpayer subsidies on a sliding scale. The lowest income people will have full subsidies. But remember, this is not money for care, it is support only to buy insurance.

Almost everyone will have to meet a deductible, capped in the bill at $1,500 a year, higher than most insurance-plan deductibles today. On top of this, insurance companies can charge even more under various "cost sharing" schemes for items like co-pays and co-insurance.
The bill puts a cap on cost sharing, but the total amount is obscene. The cap for an individual is $5,000 a year and for a family it is $10,000 before the plan must cover everything. Well, not exactly everything. Even after paying this huge amount of money, the legislation still allows the corporations to make us pay, billing for non-network providers and, since it is not a comprehensive benefit package, we are still on our own to pay for health care that the plans refuse to cover.

The legislation creates a law to let these corporations increase what they charge people as they get older. In fact, they can be charged up to twice as much as younger people for identical coverage.

• The legislation makes it illegal to not buy health insurance. The penalties are described in a section of the legislation called "Shared Responsibility." This will let the IRS impose a tax of up to 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income for not having health insurance. People on the financial edge, people fighting foreclosure to stay in their homes or people who are unemployed all or part of a year will not be able to afford the insurance premiums or the penalties for not having insurance.

• We will all be drowning in paperwork, which will continue to drive up administrative costs. Right now, insurance administrative waste is about 30 percent of every health care dollar- or about $1 billion a day. Adding more people to an insurance-based system will result in even more money going into this bottomless pit.

As if this isn't bad enough, the government will be setting up many new agencies to oversee the whole process including, at the top, the Orwellian Health Choices Administration, headed by the Health Choices Commissioner. This is not an agency to help us make health care choices, but to choose a health insurance company. The IRS will play a very large role in everything from certifying our income for subsidies to monitoring and taxing people who don't buy insurance.

Health Insurance Exchanges will be created across the country with at least one in every state offering both Web sites and telephone assistance. This is where we will go every year to pick our insurance plan in an open enrollment period of at least 30 days between September and November. We can add this unpleasant task to all of our other fall chores.

It is hard to imagine the chaos and wasted resources with the entire country picking insurance plans at the same time, attended by marketing, billboards, advertising and misinformation. We will gamble as we choose a plan, decide which corporation will be the best for us, hoping we pick one that is not dominated by corporate bureaucrats focused on rationing care to maximize their profits. It is not an easy task and if a wrong plan is selected, we are stuck for a year, until the next national open enrollment cycle.

The United States can do better. We can build on a strengthened and well-funded Medicare program. In Medicare, when a person reached the age of eligibility or is determined to qualify because they have a permanent disability, they are in, and there is no re-enrollment.

Imagine real reform, as simple as adding people ages 55 to 65 years old to Medicare in 2010, 35-55 in 2011, and so on until everyone is included by 2013. The bills that promote this kind of reform are under 200 pages, they are simple to implement, cost effective and equitable. Choose a doctor, choose a hospital when needed and let the government pay the bills. Everyone in one system.
That is what real health reform would look like.

© 2009 The Alburquerque Journal

Miller is a long-time public health professional and health care advocate. She lives in Ojo Sarco.

Another great article on the ongoing so called health Care reform being worked on in Congress.

MAYOR LANGFORD TEAR DOWN THIS WALL !!

On top of the Dune wall near Central Pier in AC.

Spent part of the day taking photos of the beach in AC a day after the Big Nov. Nor'easter here. A large area of the Project dune has been totally demolished from Vermont Ave. all the way to Steel Pier! What was immediately apparent was the tourists walking this 10 block area were loving having the view of the ocean again and everywhere in this zone they sat watching the surfers and the sea gulls enjoying the beach and the ocean!

Buried!

From the other side of Steel Pier south it was such a contrast. In this area the Project dune wall pictured above stood undamaged and the boardwalk was buried behind it to the dismay of everyone. If the Politicians would take their heads out of the this awful sand dune and just look at the economic damage it's causing the community they'd bulldoze this monstrosity in a minute. They'd be heroes for doing it. If they really are intent on protecting the boards fine then build a solid bulkhead in front of it not behind it. The beach in front of this structure will narrow some, so what nobody uses it much anymore except for 3 mos, but everybody wants to be able to enjoy the Ocean vista, horizon and the wonderful salty sea breeze!

What makes us Unique

This is what we as a community have that no slot parlour in Pa., can offer. TEAR this stupid wall down Mayor. Let the NJDEP come and fine you so what. Hell, I bet I could find a hundred volunteers to do it for you , gladly. I'm one of them. Let the State come and arrest and fine us. In the end the town needs the view more then it needs the Army's dumb Project. The people that say the dune is there to protect the town are idiots, at the present rate of decay of our economy soon there won't be any town to protect.

MAYOR LANGFORD TEAR DOWN THIS WALL

PILKEY ON THE OFFENSIVE AGAIN!!

Dr. Orrin Pilkey

Dr. Pilkey the bane of the Sand Lobby attacks again. Read the article @ the title link featuring him today. As those of you who having been following the whole beach replenishment controversy know Dr. Orrin Pilkey of Duke University in North Carolina is one of America's preeminent Coastal Geologists and a world expert on Barrier Islands. He probably has more books, articles and studies published then anyone else on this topic.

Dr. Pilkey's basic premise and strategy for dealing with coastal development and sea rise, so called beach erosion etc. is to retreat against the rising sea levels where necessary and strictly enforce zoning laws that require much deeper set backs for development right along the beach and bays. All of this is really just commonsense. Tell the developers and pols this though. They'd prefer to listen to the siren song of the Sand lobby that it's possible to provide taxpayer financed beach replenishment forever and that retreat would be to costly. Would it? Read the article here @ the link and buy Dr. Pilkey's various books there available at Amazon.com. His latest book "The Rising Sea" has just been released!

STORM COLLAGE

VENTNOR BEACH TODAY

Not much left of the AISPP dune system south of the brand new Ventnor Pier. No big loss here as much of what was left of it was already heavily eroded anyway. Very little damage of any kind from this storm, at least along the beach. The usual flooding along the back bays. The pols of course are in full panic mode like this was a major disaster. They'll use it though to do as they do, which is primarily weasel money from the Gov't for more sand and to make themselves look like their doing something. All in all the BIG Nor'easter was a non-event!

BEACH REPORT

AC PRESS Pic. today of Harvey Cedars Beach Erosion

It's all about the BIG NOV. Nor'easter. It's finally ( sigh) moving out to sea as I write this. It's definitely one for the record books and without a doubt the worst storm of this decade so far. My guess is were in for a fall and winter of these storms as they usually run in a pattern. I can remember falls and winters where we literally had over 20 of these storms in a row, one almost every week. As we know a moderately powerful El Nino is happening in the Pacific this year and it's definitely influencing events in the Atlantic. As is the case in El Nino yrs. the Atlantic Hurricane season was somewhat curtailed with a fewer then normal number of Hurricanes and tropical storms. However, were seeing instead an increase in other types of storms as big Pacific systems move across the country.

A storm update is at the title link.

TINY TIM's Revisionist History MEDIA TOUR continues..

In other beach news. Ex. Ventnor mayor Tiny Timothy Kreischer unable to get over his recent electoral thumping ( he came in 6th in a field of 6 last yr.) continues to do his version of a local history tour, complete with radio interviews on his favorite hard rt. wing nut local radio show ( Don Hurley ) and in the local fish wrappers the AC Press and the Downbeach Current. Of course history according to Tim has little to do with actual history and tons to do with Tim trying to rehabilitate himself politically. It must have really hurt to have come in last after being mayor for over 14 yrs. OUCH! Get over it Tim you still have a wonderful full time job at Harrahs and plenty of clueless friends. Life's good dude, move on , maybe even go fishing.

HEIGHT OF THE DUNE..blah blah blah

Below is a re-print of a letter to the editor published to day in the AC PRESS from Ventnor's EX-Mayor Tim Kreischer.

When I was mayor of Ventnor, I was able to negotiate with the Department of Environmental Protection to relocate a dune constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers. It was relocated from in front of the Boardwalk to behind the 'walk and closer to the sea wall. This may be the only time a municipality was able to alter a dune. It was accomplished as a result of a reasonable DEP commissioner, Bradley Campbell, some tough negotiating and providing the DEP a rational basis (public safety) to modify their policies.

I would like to provide a rational basis for the DEP to allow Atlantic City to trim the dunes down to their original height as constructed by the Army Corps.

The height of a dune is based on the value of the property the dune protects. Well, the Sands Casino Hotel is now an empty dirt lot, the Tropicana Casino and Resort's value has fallen from nearly $1 billion to $250 million, and at The Pier Shops at Caesars, the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Resorts Atlantic City, the owners and finance companies are fighting not over control, but who will be stuck with the properties. There is no question that property values have fallen drastically since the dunes were constructed. This should be a strong basis for lowering the dune, as it is not protecting property that is as valuable as before.

Times are tough in Atlantic City. Visitors, dollars and jobs are being siphoned off by our competitors. The competition can't compete with our ocean and beach views from the Boardwalk. We need to accentuate our advantages and not hide them.

TIM KREISCHER

Ventnor

TINY EX-MAYOR TIM & THE TRUTH

First of all the so called Height of the AISPP's dunes are not calculated according to the evaluation of anything other then the Army and NJDEP's wet dreams, so that's total B.S. In fact almost everything this lying blow hard has been spewing all over town lately is nothing but his own self-serving phony re-constructions of secret meetings he held with his political pals @ the NJDEP back in spring 2004. The Ex-Mayor is still so upset that he's no longer Ventnor's leader for life he's decided to create this fantasy about how he single handily negotiated the tear down of those 20 blocks of the AISPP dunes in May of 2004. It's all a bunch of crap that he's made up folks. The truth is nobody will ever know exactly went on in those secret meetings because he and his co-conspirators in the NJDEP made damn sure those meetings weren't held under the auspices of NJ's so called "Sunshine Law." Kreischer and the NJDEP made sure only 3 people attended these meetings , so since NO transcripts exist of them we have Kreischer out here telling us he's some kind of great negotiator, as if many of us don't know that's nonsense.

THE FACTS:

What we do know is that Tim and the boyz were political allies of the NJDEP and also that Tim and the Commission had never signed the AISPP Project agreement back in 2003 even after he ran a special election in fall 2002 supposedly giving the voters in Ventnor the say over whether to join or not. That turned out to be BS as well. As I've explained here on more then one occasion that election was NEVER about allowing the voters to say yes or no to the "Dunes Project." It was only about rescinding a law that the local anti-dune group D.U.N.E. had collected thousands of petitions to have made into law allowing such an election. Tim hated this law but signed it after the 2001 9/11 attacks and then after it appeared America would survive he reversed his pledge not to run an election and he ran one to rescind this law! The Public though was hoodwinked into thinking the election was really a public referendum on the Dunes Project. D.U.N.E. lost that election & the public I'm sure thought that Tim and the boyz signed the Army/NJDEP 50 yr. Project agreement. NEVER happened. So, in spring 2004 when that Dune washed away Tim and his pals had LOL a negotiation with Bradley Campbell ( the then head of NJDEP) and I'd loved to have been a fly on the wall in those meetings. Remember, Tim and the boyz haven't agreed to join yet and they owed NJ 800K! Nobody knew any of this and you can imagine the shit storm that would have happened had the full details of this deception been made public. The AC press ever Tim, the NJDEP and Dune Projects in general's dutiful ally even played along and turned Tim into a local folk hero making it appear as though he was standing 4 sq. for Ventnor against the evil NJDEP. What a load of crapola! Tim was more or less holding the 800K and the unsigned contract over Bradley's head and threatening who knows what? Plus, at the same time these guys were using all of this as an excuse to weasel even more cash from the taxpayers in an elaborate revenge & extortion scenario involving their scapegoat for all of this MARGATE! This little conspiracy was carried out once again @ considerable taxpayer expense to the pt. where Stevens Institute of NJ produced detailed engineering drawings of the new mid-Island groin planned for Ventnor's Swarthmore ave. This entire kabuki dance was played out daily in the AC Press back in 2005-06 and 07 and Tim and his pals were threatening to build this monster right up till the 2008 election. As we now know Tim and his gang loved political revenge and even we are told celebrated defeats of enemies with all kinds of bizarre and sometimes violent rituals.

In summary, Kreischer had better STFU about this whole tawdry affair or eventually even the slow to pick up on the truth local print media is going to start asking him real questions and who knows maybe they'll even start asking others about this incident? Oh, and as for X-Mayor Tim's sudden conversion over the importance and centrality of "THE VIEW" for the local economy. To late Tim you and your stupid arrogant pals have already done enough damage. That your so clueless that you think you can now lecture the rest of us on this topic is really actually no surprise.

Posted in Letters on Friday, November 13, 2009 2:10 am

GALE WARNING!!

Major Nor'easter blowing as I write this ! 50+ kt. winds are blowing with huge surf and back bay flooding! This is the first major NE I remember since the early 90's. We've already had a couple good sized Northeaster this fall with major beach erosion. If Ventnor's lucky a good sized section of the southern end of the AISPP project dune will wash away in this storm. Maybe, someone in Ventnor will finally realize the steps placed on the ocean facing sections of the boardwalk back in 2003/4 during the AISPP start should have been removed yrs. ago. Eventually, these steps are going to be washed away. This is a slow moving storm that like the 91' Halloween storm has been built from the remnants of a Hurricane ( IDA) and like that storm it's been blocked by a stationary high pressure zone over Maine. Coastal NJ is getting a real pounding at this hr.!!

MORE ON THE HEALTH CARE FRONT

The Corporate Empire Strikes Back: Corporate Dems Seek "Alternative" To Public Option. Again.

by Hunter

Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 11:10:03 AM EST

The Corporate Empire Strikes Back: Corporate Dems Seek "Alternative" To Public Option. Again.

Yesterday we learned:

Even as Senate Majority Leader Reid seeks votes for a healthcare bill with a public option that states can opt-out of, Reid has allowed Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., to work on what one aide called a "Plan B" if Reid cannot line up 60 votes for cloture.

The "Plan B" Carper has come up with is not a co-op, and not a trigger, but a co-op trigger. A co-op that wouldn't even happen unless it was triggered. Which it wouldn't be, because "triggers" are the legislative equivalent of sternly worded letters; they don't happen. That's the brilliant plan being dreamed up because not only is the public option too controversial, not only is an option with opt-out controversial, not only are the ineffective and nonsensical "co-ops" too controversial, and not only was a trigger itself much too scary, but the only thing Carper and some other Dems think would be milquetoast enough for the Senate to stomach would be a trigger that does nothing attached to a co-op that will do nothing.

Ahem.

Sen. ranking, percentage corporate PAC money raised in relation to individual contributions (viafivethirtyeight.com.)

So, let me get this straight: we've got Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), of all people, coming up with an "alternative" to the currently proposed opt-out public option. We're going to be listening to the earnest proposals from Tom Carper, the senator from the great state of corporate-magic-fairyland Delaware, a state that seems at this point only to exist in order to allow America's largest corporations to circumvent the corporate laws and taxes of other states.

Tom Carper, who is the number one recipient of corporate cash vs. individual contributions of allDemocrats in the Senate, with about 44 percent of every one of his campaign dollars coming from corporate PACs -- a feat that required him out-grubbing all four of the other top corporate go-to Democrats on that list, Blanche Lincoln, Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson and Max Baucus, all of whom have already gone to great and much-publicized lengths to make sure that any bill passed by the Senate is as much of a cash cow for private insurance companies as possible, and who have become regular fixtures in the attempt to gut, water down, or carve away anything that might be the slightest bit inconvenient for those companies.

That Tom Carper.

With all due respect -- which is to say, next to zero -- you have got to be kidding me. After months of knock-down, drag-out bullshit from the most mealymouthed, weak-kneed, PAC-funded, cowardly, out of touch, let-them-eat-cakeish, preemptively-surrendering, fake-bipartisaney corporate-humping voter-dodging cash-grubbing incompetents of the Senate, they've left it to the top Democratic Sen. GimmeCash McCorporatePants of all to come up with one more last-ditch effort to make sure nothing, absolutely nothing of substance might remain in this bill that would stand in the way of insurance companies continuing to gouge both Americans and the government for every last penny they've got.

While all the while ensuring that the number of uninsured Americans stay high (unless we're willing to simply funnel government cash, with few strings attached, to the very insurance companies causing the problems), and that heath care costs will continue to be irrational and unsustainable. You know, as long as they don't reach some future imaginary level of too irrational, or too unsustainable, like most of us think we reached decades ago but which the Senate still can't quite be persuaded that they should give a shit about.

You know, seriously -- we all know that a sizable chunk of Democrats in the Senate don't want to fix America's healthcare problem. We all know perfectly well that they consider it a threat to their corporate cash, and that in the end they don't give a flying damn about fixing anything about the fiasco that passes for healthcare in this country, so long as they can do some bare, pissant substanceless nothing that can allow them to write up a nice victory message on their next voter pamphlet and get the hell on with their day.

But by far the thing that is most infuriating is that the Democrats don't even try to hide it very much. This whole time the biggest political hurdle to healthcare reform hasn't been the Republicans -- a dead party that nobody expects to support or have ideas about or even understand anything, since they're too busy locked in an internal masturbatory struggle to see who can paint the most pleasingly scary conspiracy theories and alternate realities with which to titillate the dumbest of the dumb, back home -- no, the hurdle has been this phalanx of ten or so absolutely whorish corporate Dems, leaders who have never found a damn thing on any issue, anywhere worth doing unless it either weakens the government against the corporations they represent or funnel cash by the billions to those self-same companies.

Every bill they support seems hand-tailored by lobbyists. Every position they take can be guessed not by applying moronic ideological labels like "conservative" or "liberal" or "Blue Dog" or whatever, but by just looking at what legislative choice would put more cash into the pockets of whatever company has hired the most lobbyists.

Every fucking name that has come up as being "against" the public option has been one of these unwaveringly corporate whore-Dems. Every damn time. What possible sense it makes to have all of the top corporate cash-sucking Dems in positions of supposedly "watchdogging" the corporations that feed them -- well, it's not an irrational act or a conspiracy, it's just a natural product of our Fine Upstanding Senate Traditions, and of our own Democrats, like the Republicans, very much wanting to be as crooked and corrupt and corporatist and money-grubbing as their voters will possibly let them squeak by with being, and presuming that as long as they're slightly less corrupted, slightly lesscrooked than the worst of the other party, they'll be fine, what the hell -- serve the drinks and pass the bills.

A very large chunk of our greatest-deliberative-body Democrats don't want to pass healthcare reform, they want to kill it. Our leadership, frankly, doesn't seem to give a rat's ass either way, and all parties involved think we have the intelligence of doorstops, but I think what we would all really, really like most of all, in this ongoing and thoroughly asinine "debate", is if this vaunted national leadership of ours would quit trying to blow smoke up our ass and tell us we're hickory-smoked.

Fine, we get it, senators: you're corporate whores, money-grubbing professional campaigners who don't have the slightest interest in actually solving this problem. You seek any avenue to avoid the obvious, most cost-effective option, the one that will insure the most people and do the most to control costs, itself a mealy compromise offered to avoid plans that would work even better -- but which none of the offending companies offering up their opinions and lobbyists for this debate would possibly tolerate.

But good God, could the Dems at least do us the decency of putting up a person or two "negotiating" for this legislation who isn't among the top single-digit cash-grabbers from the very industries they're supposed to be policing?

• ::

HISTORIC STORM BATTERS EAST COAST!

Batten down the hatches as the old sailors used to say! The Mid-Atlantic and North east coast is getting battered by a long duration Nor'easter with many of the same features as the so called Perfect storm of Halloween 1991. Tidal surges over 8 ft. are expected and possible extreme back bay flooding on many barrier Islands and beaches. If you live near the bay move your car now! Severe beach erosion will also be happening as the storm will persist through to Sat.

We can also expect local officials to simultaneously ask for millions in Fed. relief to buy more sand and in the next breathe claims by these same people that THEY saved us with beach Replenishment. ( these windy claims and requests just go along with these storms anymore.)

READ more about this developing storm @ the title link!!

NO H1N1 Vaccine? Wall St. has it though.

Can't get an H1N1 ( Swine flu shot?) Maybe it's because Wall st. has all the vaccine? Read @ the title link all about this latest Wall st. outrage.

AC PRESS - DUNE ARTICLE

TYPICAL AC PRESS DUNE ARTICLE

@ the title link is an article that headlined yesterday's AC Press. It's only interesting because of how it's so almost totally one sided. The Press never allows any other view on this topic but the official State and Army view and this article is no different. I was however surprised to hear that the Boardwalk Merchant group has hired Prof. Stuart Farrell from Stockton as a consultant. Don't these folks know that Farrell is totally for Dunes a 100 f. high? I bet he's loving how ignorant these chumps are. Eventually the Merchants are going to come to realize you cannot glad hand these pricks. The NJDEP and The Army don't give a damn about the boardwalk or AC.

WHY HE VOTED NO!

Published on Sunday, November 8, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Why I Voted NO

by Dennis Kucinich

We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system.

Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution. They are driving up the cost of health care. Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills. The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%. It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care. Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick.

But instead of working toward the elimination of for-profit insurance, H.R. 3962 would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care. In H.R. 3962, the government is requiring at least 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers. This inevitably will lead to even more costs, more subsidies, and higher profits for insurance companies - a bailout under a blue cross.

By incurring only a new requirement to cover pre-existing conditions, a weakened public option, and a few other important but limited concessions, the health insurance companies are getting quite a deal. The Center for American Progress' blog, Think Progress, states, 'since the President signaled that he is backing away from the public option, health insurance stocks have been on the rise.' Similarly, healthcare stocks rallied when Senator Max Baucus introduced a bill without a public option. Bloomberg reports that Curtis Lane, a prominent health industry investor, predicted a few weeks ago that 'money will start flowing in again' to health insurance stocks after passage of the legislation. Investors.com last month reported that pharmacy benefit managers share prices are hitting all-time highs, with the only industry worry that the Administration would reverse its decision not to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices, leaving in place a Bush Administration policy.

During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back. The 'robust public option' which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million. An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies.

Recent rises in unemployment indicate a widening separation between the finance economy and the real economy. The finance economy considers the health of Wall Street, rising corporate profits, and banks' hoarding of cash, much of it from taxpayers, as sign of an economic recovery. However in the real economy - in which most Americans live - the recession is not over. Rising unemployment, business failures, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still hammering Main Street.

This health care bill continues the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America's manufacturing and service economies which suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of health care. America continues to stand out among all industrialized nations for its privatized health care system. As a result, we are less competitive in steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping while other countries subsidize their exports in these areas through socializing the cost of health care.

Notwithstanding the fate of H.R. 3962, America will someday come to recognize the broad social and economic benefits of a not-for-profit, single-payer health care system, which is good for the American people and good for America's businesses, with of course the notable exceptions being insurance and pharmaceuticals.

MY VIEW:

Sadly, I have to concur with Rep. Kucinich. The first rule of Medicine is "DO NO HARM " and this bill doesn't pass that muster even remotely. The Dems. had a historic opportunity to do the right thing here and instead they allowed their worst instincts to prevail on this issue and the result IMO is going to backfire on them and us. Allowing the same Monopoly Health Corps causing the problem ( over priced lousy Health Care) to essentially write these reforms has predictably ended up in what could be accurately called a SHIT TACO of a bill. Even worse is that this awful twisted piece of CRAPOLA is going to just get even worse as it passes through the next part of the Congressional gut the Senate and then even worse when it's merged in the Congressional colon and is from their shit onto Obama's desk.

WASTED YR. / WASTED Political Capital

Why did they waste a yr. of their time on this if they had no intention of doing anything more then spending trillions of our tax dollars on subsidies for some of the worst monopolies ( The health Care Mafia and Big Pharma) in America today? It's really an insult to our collective intelligence to call this whole effort even remotely REFORM. Personally, I hope this thing dies in the Senate and never sees the light of day. As bad as our present system is this IMO only will make things far worse for the great majority of Americans.

REFORM WAS NEVER ALL THAT HARD

All Obama and Congress had to do here was roll the 40 mil + people without Health Ins. into Medicaid or Medicare fund these programs adequately and be done with it. Instead, they caved to the Health mafia lobbies and the result is this (sic) Historic mess.