The headline you won’t be reading…

50 Japanese nuclear engineers are staying behind at the Fukushima Power Plant to try and prevent a nuclear meltdown. They are getting the same amount of radiation per hour that a nuclear engineer receives in his/her ENTIRE career. Get these heroes on the front page.

Nuclear meltdown! Holy Godzilla NOOOO!!! – Wanker

Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation

Michigan is screwed.

Michigan Republicans create “financial martial law”; appointees to replace elected local officials

Bank of America Fraud Documents Released!

The Obameter: Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center – Shame.

As I read the political news over the past few weeks I am becoming convinced that we are witnessing the end of Democracy in America. – Double Dog Wanker

Tea Party Group Blames ‘Leftist’ for Giffords Shooting
Associated Reddit thread (and others as well…)

Fox News Briefly Airs Giffords Vigil, Mourner Says ‘And I Say to You, Sarah Palin…’

“Second Amendment Remedies” [re: Arizona Shooting] and numerous other SDMB threads.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shooting sparks national debate

Sarah Palin’s website literally put crosshairs on Gabrielle Giffords and 19 other congress members

Daily Show: Arizona Shootings Reaction

Palin’s ‘Blood Libel’ Remark Raises Sordid History

President Obama in Tucson: “The Forces that Divide Us are Not as Strong as Those that Unite Us”

Fuck, I sat on this one too long and lost the passion. But I’ll be damned if I let this sit in my “drafts” box.

It appears that the USS Iwo Jima is being used as a floating hospital to deal with the outbreak in Haiti. (Here, here).

Also, a Chinese hospital ship made the rounds a while ago. (Here)

In related health news, a bunch of healthcare reform provision took effect a while ago, and there was a bunch of hoopla about that. However, there’s no reason we needed to phase in any of the proposals of the bill, and this is just a reminder that we got not true healthcare reform, but a neutered program to line the pockets of the insurance industries. (Here)

On a bright spot, my article has been published! The article can be found online here. 10 Ideas: Defense and Diplomacy can be found here. The entire 10 Ideas series is here. The Roosevelt Institute is, for completeness’ sake, here.

This spawned the Publications section of my blog.

Edmund Morgan. The Birth of the Republic.

Bernard Bailyn. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.

Pauline Maier. From Resistance to Revolution.

Michael Kammen. The Origins of the American Constitution.

Gordon Wood. Creation of the American Rupublic.

I had to read these for my class on the American Revolution. I’m reading them “lately” because I didn’t actually finish all of them when they were assigned.

Aired clip 1

Aired clip 2

Aired clip 3

Funny story about this article. I was asked to write it before the IR Center’s meeting tonight. So, at 5:55pm, I sat down and pounded it out; took me an hour. Got to the meeting room at 7:10. That’s when I realized that the IR Center meets at 6. So I fucked up doubly. Ah well…

JUSTICE Act Summary

Text of the Bill (S 1686)

Track the Bill

A Battle Looms Over the Patriot Act

“Remember, to make reform work we have to have an individual mandate. And everything I see says that there will be a major backlash against the idea of forcing people to buy insurance from the existing companies. That backlash was part of what got Obama the nomination! Having the public option offers a defense against that backlash.

What worries me is not so much that the backlash would stop reform from passing, as that it would store up trouble for the not-too-distant future. Imagine that reform passes, but that premiums shoot up (or even keep rising at the rates of the past decade.) Then you could all too easily have many people blaming Obama et al for forcing them into this increasingly unaffordable system.”

—-Why the Public Option Matters

He’s absolutly right. With the idea of an individual mandate the most likely part of the reform package to pass, the public option is the only thing seperating a sensible attempt at healthcare reform from a massive handout to insurance companies. If there is no public option, there is no incentive for insurance companies to become more competitive price-wise, and yet they will still recive an influx of 50,000,000 customers.