H.G Wells' Birthday Today (1866 - 1946)

Orson Wells meets H.G. Wells (audio):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUdghSMTXsU

Are we, as Americans, too stupid to ever learn?

http://www.truthout.org/091709R

Thom has said on many occasions that Obama is functioning as a senator and not as a president. I believe Obama is his worst enemy.

President Obama, you sought the presidency. Being president is not an easy task. You must have the courage to what is right even though it may be unpopular.

War is outmoded, creating more problems than resolving them. We must leave the war and start to rebuild a country from the chaos we have created in Afghanistan.

Or, is Obama the little man who is not there? These problems will not go away. You must make the difficult decisions. Today, I see you as the little man who is not there. I see you lacking in courage and leadership skills. Are we to face the next three plus years with a president who is not there?

The most bizarre aspect of the Obama-as-Hilter analogy made by Limbaugh, Beck, Savage, tea-baggers and assorted right-wing mobs is the question of what do neo-Nazis--for whom Hitler is their idol and ideological master--think of Obama being their bosom pal? Tom Metzger of the White Aryan Resistance, for one, disapproves, and has called for a meeting of the minds among right-wingnuts to come-up with a different concept than besmirching the image of the beloved Fuhrer by comparing him "favorably" to a black man. Metzger, however, confesses that since he can’t afford health insurance for the members of his organization, universal health care for “pure white Christians” is fine with him. At least one of his followers agrees, saying that after fighting Latinos in a parking lot, he received a owie that required medical attention, but he wasn’t able to see a doctor because WAR couldn’t afford to offer him medical.

Of course, tea-baggers will claim that they are not “racist” because of “differences” in opinion in regard to Hitler as opposed to neo-Nazis and assorted hate outfits. This has not stopped neo-Nazis, such as the ones who strategize together on the Storm Front website, to tell us how they have infiltrated various town halls, tea-bag get-togethers and other examples of right-wing mob rallies in order to promote the White-Way cause; by the looks of it, they have had some considerable success. Claims to the contrary by tea-baggers fall on their fundaments when one considers that the beliefs of these people who consider Limbaugh and Beck messiahs of the right differ little or not at all with hate groups. The only other defense that they have is complete and irredeemable ignorance.

Meanwhile, Pat Buchanan earlier this month repeated his shibboleth on the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II that Hitler didn’t want war; he may not have wished war with Britain, but war he without a shadow of a doubt sought. Buchanan should re-read Mein Kampf and Hitler’s speeches. Hitler wanted to increase ‘living space” for the “master race,” mainly in the East. That Buchanan actually believes that Hitler expected to achieve this through anything but war indicates that his “secret” hero-worship of Hitler—doubtless along racial lines—runs especially deep, to the point of ignoring the facts and Hitler’s own words. Hitler was a militarist; he was a self-styled military “genius;” who idolized Napoleon and sought to emulate him. Hitler wanted war in 1938, but Goering “thwarted” his plans by initiating the Munich agreement. The eventual invasion of Russia had been plainly spelled out in Mein Kampf and in his pre-war strategizing; Stalin himself expected the invasion to occur, but not so soon. Frankly, the very idea that a thinly-disguised racist, and someone who has the audacity to praise Hitler, is on mainstream television news is more than a little disconcerting—and disgusting.

Let me say that President Carter is right. Racism is alive and sick when it comes to President Obama.

Dear Thom,

I am writing you an open letter for you and your fans. You have numerous fans.

I know that you are an optimist. Optimism is acceptable but there comes a time to accept what is painful to an optimist. Thom, the fascists in our country, have won. It is their duty to enslave the 90% of Americans who have no power and voice. I am sharing with you and your fans an article.

I believe that upon reading the article you will have to conclude that the fascists have won and the Nazi Party is in total control over the 90% of us who are now enslaved to exist as slaves in our fascist-Nazi country.

Thank you for the good fight to alert us and to set us free but the fight is over and we have lost.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Stick-A-Fork-In-It-It-s-D-by-Jon-Faulkn...

Cindy Sheehan is a voice that is important to be heard. There are many voices that need to be heard. I have enjoyed reading Cindy's articles.

Thom's progressive radio show is another source to be heard. I wish that we had as many liberal media sources as there are conservative media sources. When I say sources, I am talking about ownership sources.

Thank you for the Rational Radio Progress Forum today - it was great!! Next time we need to schedule for a couple of extra hours, I guess... :) It was an honor to meet you both!
Peace!
~Mundy

That Micheal Medved -- such a rude and dismissive way of interrupting, talking over, and verbally bullying in what was called a "debate". Sheesh. He wasn't a very good host to his guest either.

The most frustrating thing about listening to the exchange was it's self-contained format. We usually get to hear liberals discount a righty's words and ways. And I missed that.

Dear Thomm,
I am absolutely floored that you will not address the fact that Kaiser Permanente AKA Group Health are part of the same empire as Kaiser Mines which are heavy polluters in this country and that there is a very unsavory conflict of interest being had when a major polluter is also caring for people in another hat through a health care insurance company pseudonym (Group Health) .

I did not come upon this information by accident. I worked in Spokane at a site that was affecting my health for over 7 years. I could not see that this school site was polluted but i began having a serious rash the first week on the job. I thought I was allergic to a cleaning product being used there. Three years later I had thousands of sores bleeding through my clothes and no idea what was happening to me. After a while I started have my joints lock up and was becoming unable to walk. An old shoulder injury became completely frozen and my shoulder swelled up to about 3 to 5 times its normal size. I became deformed like a hunch back and couldn't more the arm at all. i worked still two more years on heavy meds but the pain was off the charts. Soon I slowly became bedridden and was unable to work.

Right before I quit my job, I found out the site was a Superfund site. It had been the location of a oil refinery for over 70 years prior. There was a tank farm still out back of the school polluting under cover of darkness less than 30 feet away and many many building size tanks. I hung on to my Group Health as long as I could and I begged my doctors to run tests to see if I had any of the heavy metals in me that were listed by EPA. The chemicals listed were lead, chromium 4 and 6, arsenic, cadmium. My Group Health refused to run one tests even though the rash and the arthritis were classics exposure symptoms. I begged them regularly because by now I was literally an invalid and I was suffering 24/7. The pain was like someone was twisting my arm as hard as they could all day long. I was so weak I couldn't change my clothes, bath, or leave the house except to drag myself to see them. i would become so distraught I would call almost every day and come in over and over in tears. They simply said I had arthritis and sent me for physical therapy which I tried to do but couldn't because it was so painful. They changed my primary care doctor over and over, at least 10 times. Each doctor would do nothing. They refused to test or anything. Did I say I was 43. The last time I saw them I said I was going to kill myself and I really was but had kids so hung on. I lost my insurance very soon after I got this ill. They never checked up on me or even seemed to care. I was home in bed filthy and dying for sure. I was this sick for about 18 months at this point.

When I begged for these tests the doctors would turn away from me and act like I wasn't talking. They would cut me off and leave. Over and over again this happened. I became mad and said why won't you just give me the tests so I won't worry about it any more. No they wouldn't even acknowledge what I said.

I was talking to a friend of mine who is older and she said oh Group health is never going to help you document exposure to toxins because they are Kaiser as in Kaiser mining which we have right in my town. I was freaked out and didn't believe her. i searched the net to find the connection and I could find nothing for a very long time. Finally I found all the info on Wikipedia about Henry J. Kaiser. I was really scared at this point.

Just as a matter of coincidence my father used to be a Workman's comp judge in the seventies. He heard exclusively Black Lung Cases. We moved to Evansville Indiana for that job. He said the mining industry was so ruthless that when miners started coughing in the days before Black Lung legislation that miners would be shoved down mine shafts and killed. The mining industry is beyond heartless and those are just a few examples.

It also was very unnerving to me that I saw that Kaiser designed legislation for the creation of HMOs at the same time the Black Lung Legislation had forced oversight on the mines.

Since then I do research all the time on Kaiser mining and their pollution which is extensive around the country and they are being sued by many thousands of people for callous indifference to the people they poison. They have left properties here in the Spokane area to be developed into neighborhood while knowing they were contaminated. The law suits are still going on years and years later.

How you can hold up Kaiser P as a good example of a good company is beyond me and really makes me mad. It is also a concern that the oil industry is contributing millions to stop health care reform. i got a chart from Huff post showing they were major funders of these groups against health care reform. I beg you to explain to me how this doesn't concern you in the least because I for one have no doubt that they went into the medical business to control documentation against them and others like themselves. Just like PG&E did in the Erin Brockovich story. I would like to know why this seems okay to you. I can't hardly bare it when you hold up Kaiser as a good example of health care because the whole thing is worse than a nightmare to me.

PS I am much better now but my life has been on hold for about 6 years. Every day away from the contaminated site has helped me heal. it took me years and I swore to God if I ever got well enough to expose this story I would do so. Not to sound aggressive but I really demand that you explain this to me if you are going to promote Kaiser.

B Roll,

Be well.

Quark,

Sorry to hear about your health difficulties, but glad that you're getting better. Now for the obligatory "Take care", as if you might not remember too.

A review of 10 years of uninsurance came out from Treasury on 9/11/2009

•
48 percent of non-elderly Americans are uninsured at some point over a ten-year span. Between 1997 and 2006, 47.7 percent of Americans under age 65 went at least one month without health insurance. As we discuss below, this percentage is likely an underestimate of the share of people who actually spent time without insurance during this period and an even greater underestimate of the share who will spend time without coverage over the next decade absent reform.
Individuals who lost health insurance within the past year are nearly three times as likely to have forgone a needed physician visit. Women who lost insurance within the past year are about twice as likely to forgo a clinically indicated mammogram,1 and among women diagnosed with breast cancer, being uninsured increases the risk of death by 49 percent.2 Children who have spent part of the previous year uninsured were about ten times as likely to have necessary care delayed due to cost.3 A 2002 study by the Institute of Medicine estimates that individuals without insurance have a mortality rate 25 percent greater than otherwise similar individuals with insurance.4
1 Ayanian J, et al., 2000, “Unmet Health Needs of Uninsured Adults in the United States,” JAMA1 Ayanian J, et al., 2000, “Unmet Health Needs of Uninsured Adults in the United States,” JAMA 284(16):2061-9.
2 Ayanian JZ, Kohler BA, Abe T, Epstein AM, 1993, “The relation between health insurance coverage and clinical outcomes among women with breast cancer,” N Engl J Med. 329:326-331.
3 Duchon, L et al., 2001, Security Matters: How Instability in Health Insurance Puts U.S Workers at Risk. The Commonwealth Fund.
4 Institute of Medicine, 2002, Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late, The National Academies Press