Necessary News

All you need to know to sound brilliant

California Legislature Approves Universal Health Care

• SB 840, the “California Health Insurance Reliability Act,” passed the state Assembly and is not headed to the governor’s desk for approval. [San Francisco Chronicle]
• What the bill does: it creates a single-payer universal health care system that eliminates private medical insurance plans and establishes a statewide fund that pays all health care bills for everyone. Sounds cool, huh?
• But don’t call it socialized medicine. Under SB 840, the government does not own all the health care facilities. Health care delivery is still privately run, allowing consumers to personally choose physician and hospitals — it is simply administered and funded on a public level.
• How’s it financed, then? Well, all of the money now being spent on health care by the state will make up a big part of it. The remaining costs will be paid for by taxes, which would simply replace insurance premiums now being paid by all those who are insured.
• Gov. Schwarzenegger has said in the past that he opposes a single-payer system like the one this bill would create, but his office has not declared whether he will indeed use veto power on this occasion.
• Want to learn more about California’s plan? Check out Mic Check’s breakdown here.

We’re waiting to see if Schwarzenegger “terminates” the bill. Sorry...we had to.

EVERYBODY PANIC: States Lack Federal Direction For Flu Pandemic

• We know it’s been a while. And we apologize for that. That said, we’d like to once again remind you that — if bird flu strikes — chances are, you’re not going to make it. [USA Today]
  
• New research is saying that states lack clear direction from federal officials on what should be done in the event of an avian flu pandemic.
• Uniformity? Who needs uniformity? Scientists at the non-profit Research Triangle Institute International reviewed 49 pandemic plans posted on state health department websites (only Louisiana’s plan was not posted) and found wide disparities.
• Other discoveries made during the research include, but are definitely not limited to:

1. No clear plan on how to limit contact, or guidance on prevention measures.
2. “Confusion and lack of specificity” in the plans when it comes to practical measures to identify and contain an outbreak.
3. Only a handful of states plan such surveillance efforts as monitoring hospital emergency rooms for flu-like illnesses or screening international travelers.

Scared yet?

GAO: Government Anti-Drug Campaign A Failure

• Always good: the Government Accountability Office says that a “$1.4 billion anti-drug advertising campaign conducted by the U.S. government since 1998 doesn’t appear to have helped reduce drug use and instead might have convinced some youths that taking illegal drugs is normal.” Fantastic. [USA Today]
• The GAO’s report urges Congress not to fund the campaign until better plans are made. Already, the Bush administration has asked for $120 million — a $20 million increase from last year.
• The drug czar’s office is saying the report’s irrelevant, citing data that indicates a decrease in drug use among 10th graders.
• The approach: the campaign purchased TV time, radio spots, and newspaper space, and advertised parents and informed teens as “the anti-drug.”
• A $43 million, government-funded study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and Westat, Inc. says that exposure to the ads did not change kids’ attitudes about drugs and that the reduction in drug use in recent years could be attributed more directly to a range of other factors, such as a decline in high school dropouts.
• Better: Westat says that kids could interpret the ads as suggesting that pot use is more prevalent than it actually is.
• This isn’t the first time the campaign has been criticized. In 2003, the White House Office of Management and Budget called the “anti-drug” ads non-perfoming.

The government: not your anti-drug.

People Are Talking: Katrina

As Katrina’s one year anniversary continues, the air waves are still buzzing with hopes, promises and...blame. Here’s what people are saying:

• President Bush, from Newshour: “I take full responsibility for the federal government’s response, and a year ago I made a pledge — that we will learn the lessons of Katrina and that we will do what it takes to help you recover.”
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• President Bush, from Newshour: “I have returned ot make it clear to people that I understand we’re marking the first anniversary of the storm but this anniversary is not an end. And so I come back to say that we will stand with the people of southern Lousiana and southern Mississippi until the job is done.”
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• President Bush, from Newshour: “I felt it was important that our government be generous to the people who suffered. I felt that step one of a process of recover and renewal is money.”
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• First Lady Laura Bush, responding to the New York Times criticism of President Bush, from Good Morning America and Media Matters: “Well, I think that’s not right, of course, and I think we should consider the source. But — with all due respect.”
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• Senator Collins (R-Maine), from The Situation Room: “I think the person who was the biggest failure in this was Michael Brown, the director of FEMA who failed to take control and deliver essential services.”
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• Former FEMA Chief Michael Brown, responding to Senator Collins, from The Situation Room: “Isn’t that amazing that the Senator who oversees FEMA, the one that I went to for two years and said, “Senator this is not working, we need these things.” Isn’t that amazing that she now tries to deflect that blame back to the one guy who was saying all along we need to fix these things. It’s the same old Washington politics. And I would say to Senator Collins, come on Senator, get real about this.”
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• Michael Brown, from The Situation Room: “You know Secretary Chertoff and Secretary Ridge just flatly refused to do catastrophic disaster planning and we’re now reaping the problems of that. ”
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• FEMA employee Leo Bosner, from The Situation Room: “The plan to this day is incomprehensible. Nobody understood it under Katrina and nobody understands it today.”
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Priorities? What Priorities? Bush To Host Oppressive Leader

• The President launched an initiative earlier this month to combat high-level corruption by foreign officials, explaining that it “threatens our national interest and violates our values.” [Washington Post]
• In a twist of faith, however, the White House is now making arrangements to host the leader of Kazakhstan. Meet President Nazarbayev, a.k.a. a corrupt autocrat who runs a nation that is anything but free.
• Is this guy really that bad? Nazarbayev has banned opposition parties, intimidated the press, and profited from his post, according to the U.S. government. He has also been accused by U.S. prosecutors of pocketing the bulk of $78 million in bribes from an American businessman.
• So why so much love for this tyrant from our freedom-loving President? Coincidentally, Nazarbayev happens to sit atop massive oil reserves in his country. Huh, that may have helped open some doors in Washington.
• This upcoming visit causes some confusion on the Bush administration’s priorities. The president has vowed to fight for democracy and against corruption around the globe, but apparently has no problem having dinner with oppressive, corrupt, oil-rich leaders.

Flashback: “Here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil” — George W. Bush, January 31, 2006.

Rescue Response Teams: Underfunded and Understaffed

• Just in time for Katrina’s anniversary! [Wall Street Journal]
• A new report released by the Homeland Security Inspector General seems to contradict the assurance being spouted by senior administration officials that the federal goverment learned its lessons from Katrina.
• Namely, the IG’s report shows that the specialized government rescue teams that search out and save people trapped in damaged buildings are severely underfunded, understaffed, and underprepared for another catastrophe.
• Some background: he National Urban Search and Rescue Response System was created 18 years ago to save people trapped in collapsed or damaged buildings after earthquakes, but has evolved into a national effort to quickly respond to terrorist acts, hurricanes and other national disasters. The system relies on 28 task forces in 19 states made up of local emergency responders.
• This bodes well: FEMA is charged with monitoring the program. Given that fact, this next one may not be surprising: Of seven task forces the inspector general studied, six fell below 50% of the urban system standards for operational readiness.

If luck favors the prepared, things aren’t looking good.

Good News, Bad News

A group of British farmers claims that cows moo with regional accents. That’s not as crazy as we might think, though: phonetics experts say the idea is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Let’s look at the pros and cons. [Reuters]

Good

Cows with English accents: almost as funny as monkeys in tutus.

Bad

You try dealing with cows when they start asking for ‘tea and biscuts’ at 5 o’clock.

Quote Of The Day

“I think you might then say that the obesity crisis could be the fault of government, liberal government. Food stamps, all those — you know, I’m gonna tell you people a story. I — just, well, the government, you could say, is killing these people because we know obesity kills, and the government’s killing the poor. The Bush administration is killing the poor with too much food.”

- Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, blaming obesity on liberals. Now, Rush...who should we blame that little Viagra habit on, hm? [Media Matters]

Speed Round

AUDIO — RUMSFELD

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, from The Situation Room: “Indeed in the decades before World War II, a great many argued that the Fascist threat was exaggerated, or that it was someone else’s problem...Once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of Fascism. But some seem not to have learned history’s lessons.”

AUDIO — IRANIAN PRESIDENT’S OFFER TO DEBATE BUSH

State Dept. spokesman Tony Kasey, Newshour: “I think this is a distraction. And I also think it’s somewhat odd for the president of a country that represses all debate within its own society to be talking about free and open exchange of ideas.”

AUDIO — WARREN JEFFS ARREST

Author John Krakauer, The Situation Room: “...He’s created this culture that’s damaging in its own right.”

POLYGAMY

Maybe (one of his) wives tipped the Feds: fugitive polygamist Warren Jeffs is caught. [AP]

HURRICANES

Thank God. We thought we’d missed hurricane season! Florida shoppers crowd supermarkets and gas stations in preparation for Ernesto — even though the storm appears to be losing its punch. [AP] [Forbes]

OIL

Good news: Ernesto is going to avoid our oil facilities? Bad news: gas prices will still go up because of Iran’s standoff with the West – sorry. [AP]

GOOD DEEDS

Victims of post-hurricane Katrina justice system get help from law students. [FOX]

SHOCKING

Rumsfeld lashes out at Bush critics. You don’t say. [AP]

ECONOMY

Don’t worry, you’re not the only one passing up the Labor Day sales. Consumer confidence plunges in August. [AP]

CRIME

Law and order: Detroit man charged with the death of seven prostitutes. [AP]

TRAGEDY

Not a happy road trip: Greyhound bus headed to Montreal crashes, killing 5. [AP]

SANTORUM

And in today’s issue of crazy, Senator Santorum (R-PA) says the “Islamic Facists” are just like the WWII bad guys. [AP]

SCALIA

It feels good to be a justice: Supreme Court justice Scalia took 24 expense-paid trips last year — the most of any of his peers on the high court. [AP]

BIG DIG

Seriously? Big Dig officials seek an additional $12 million. [AP]

TEACHERS

If we had to live in Detroit, we’d be mad, too: Detroit teachers on strike. [AP]

CORRUPTION

With friends like these, eh? U.S. broadcasting official hires friend to tune of $250,000. [New York Times]

FDA

Having dealt with all other health issues, the FDA decides to ban skin bleaching creams. [AP]

HEZBOLLAH

Please note: if you were thinking of donating to Hezbollah, you can’t. The government’s made it illegal. [Washington Post]

IRAQ

Feeling left out, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez pays a visit to Iraq. [Washington Post]

LONDON TERROR PLOT

Three more suspects are charged in this month’s plot. [USA Today]

FRIST

He’s not our McDreamy. Senator Frist needs more classes to renew is medical license. [AP]

WILDFIRES

It just wouldn’t be August without a natural disaster: the West is a-blaze with wildfires. [AP]