Today's Review (Free subscription) | yesterday
Earl Blumenauer, the author of the (non-existent) "death panels" provision for health care reform, explains why the Republicans went nuts about it. * One problem with public acceptance of global warming: apocalypse fatigue.
DownWithTyranny! (Free subscription) | 11/21/2009
If you've been following the Blue America PAC at all, you may already be aware that we've decided that we won't be endorsing any candidates for the House in 2010 unless they are genuinely enthusiastic about passing John Larson's Fair Elections Now Act ( HR 1826 ). We're not asking for some unenforceable pledge; we want nothing less than heartfelt enthusiasm. Right now Larson has 117 co-sponsors from...
Red State (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
Got this from a high level source: I just came from dinner and recognized the voices beside me. It was Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and three other Democrats. I knew the other faces but names escape me. They were strategizing on how to raise the gas tax. Congressman Blumenauer said he knew a way to get at least 20 Republicans on board a gas tax increase. The place was loud and that’s about all I could...
CNN (Free subscription) | 11/18/2009
Congressman Earl Blumenauer says he's just a regular fellow "trying to get things accomplished." As a result, the Oregon Democrat tells me, he spends much of his time "looking for ideas that can bring people together -- simple, straightforward ideas that would help people and their families."
The Huffington Post (Free subscription) | 11/18/2009
Democrats in Congress want to use unspent TARP funds to support homeowners and struggling workers, according to The Hill . More than half of the Democrats in the Senate want to use the remaining money to provide small businesses with easier access to credit. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has proposed using $2 billion of it to give aid to homeowners facing foreclosures. Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and...
Never Yet Melted (Free subscription) | 11/16/2009
Oregon democrat Earl Blumenauer made liberals happy with a New York Times editorial calling conservative critics of democrat Health Care Reform “liars” and ridiculing the very idea that what Sarah Palin referred to on Facebook as “death panels” could possibly be found in the bill passed by the House of Representatives. The most bizarre moment came [...]
Newshoggers (Free subscription) | 11/16/2009
Commentary By Ron Beasley It has become obvious that the Republicans will attack and try to obstruct anything - anything the Democrats and the Obama administration try to do even if it was something they might have agreed with a few days before, In yesterday's New York Times Oregon's Representative Earl Blumenauer gives us an example. My Near Death Panel...
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub (Free subscription) | 11/16/2009
Heckuva story. Earl Blumenauer is the man responsible for the language in H.R. 3200 that Sarah Palin erroneously claimed created “death panels.” He’s a Congressman from Oregon. In Saturday’s New York Times he detailed how critics hijacked the debate with false claims. Fascinating story. A very odd result: Because of the false claims, a provision to help people [...]
Vox Verax (Free subscription) | 11/16/2009
By EARL BLUMENAUER NYT Washington I DIDN’T mean to kill Grandma. I didn’t even mean to create death panels. But now that I and my fellow lawmakers in the House have passed a health care bill, I’m finally free to explain what I learned as the author of the now-famous end-of-life provisions. My experiences during the bizarre controversies of the summer should provide a note of caution...
Blog Town, PDX (Free subscription) | 11/16/2009
I always save the Week In Review section of the New York Times for last on Sundays. By then I've had at least 40oz. of coffee, making me fully buzzed for a bit of opinion. And seeing Congressman Earl Blumenauer's name on an op-ed piece that filled almost the entire back page offered an extra jolt. It started out cute: "I didn't mean to kill Grandma. I didn’t even mean to create death panels."...
Connecting.the.Dots (Free subscription) | 11/15/2009
A long-time Congressman offers a lesson today about how politics and the media collude to distort rational discussion. In an Op Ed , Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon explains how his bipartisan proposal to have Medicare pay for voluntary end-of-life discussions morphed into death panels: "I found it perverse that Medicare would pay for almost any medical procedure, yet not reimburse doctors for...
The Clue Batting Cage (Free subscription) | 11/15/2009
Complaining i n a NYT editorial about his end-of-life counseling provision in "the" health care bill lead to that horrible "lie" about "Death Panels", Rep Blumenauer wrote The most bizarre moment came on Aug. 7 when Sarah Palin used the term “death panels” on her Facebook page. She wrote: “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or...
Delaware Liberal (Free subscription) | 11/15/2009
Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) writes in The New York Times about his intentions and the ramifications of a small piece of legislation he added into the health care package. . . . I found it perverse that Medicare would pay for almost any medical procedure, yet not reimburse doctors for having a thoughtful conversation to prepare [...]
HorsesAss.Org (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
This is kind of an odd story, not sure what to make of it. Oregonian reporter Allan Brettman reports that eleven members of the Northwest Congressional delegation signed a Nov. 9 letter to the Obama administration requesting funds for land purchases and economic development in the Columbia River Gorge. The letter was signed by Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Washington Sens. Patty Murray...
Exposing Liberal Lies (Free subscription) | 11/12/2009
Good email: Two Profiles in Class This past weekend, Americans were treated to two completely different profiles in class. First there was former president George W. Bush. On Friday night, George and Laura Bush traveled by car to Fort Hood to meet with the devastated families of last week’s tragedy. They specifically asked the base commander not to alert the press, and spent hours simply doing...
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