Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts Health Care Reform Was The Model For Federal Health Care Reform—What Did Romney Tell People To Get Elected In Liberal Massachusetts?

NBC News reports that the White House used the Massachusetts health law as the model for federal Health Care Reform, and that the Obama White House met with policy experts who helped write the Massachusetts law that was signed by then Governor Mitt Romney.

“Above–Governor Romney’s portrait as Governor of Massachusetts. Painted by Richard Whitney.)

From NBC—

“Newly obtained White House records provide fresh details on how senior Obama administration officials used Mitt Romney’s landmark health-care law in Massachusetts as a model for the new federal law, including recruiting some of Romney’s own health care advisers and experts to help craft the act now derided by Republicans as “Obamacare….. “The White House wanted to lean a lot on what we’d done in Massachusetts,” said Jon Gruber, an MIT economist who advised the Romney administration on health care and who attended five meetings at the Obama White House in 2009, including the meeting with the president. “They really wanted to know how we can take that same approach we used in Massachusetts and turn that into a national model.” Romney has forcefully defended the Massachusetts law he signed, but says he is adamantly against a “one-size-fits-all national health-care system” imposed on all 50 states. “I will repeal Obamacare,” he has said. “And on day one of my administration, I will grant a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states.”

Federal Health Care reform will help millions of now uninsured Americans get access to health insurance.  It will stop insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and kicking you off coverage if you get sick. Having health insurance will allow people  to change jobs more freely, and will allow people to avoid bankruptcy if they get sick.

Read here for yourself what Health Care Reform is really about.

For Governor Romney to threaten to effectively repeal Health Care Reform that he helped bring about–and that will help millions of Americans—is just sick.

This is all simply about catering to extreme states rights views among the Republican primary electorate.

It is no surprise though. Republican primary voters get their kicks by cheering executions, cheering uninsured people dying, and booing gay Iraq combat veterans. 

I wonder if the Republican primary electorate is so caught up with anger that they fail to ask themselves what Mitt Romney must have told the people of Massachusetts to get himself elected in that liberal state. It can’t be what he is telling Republicans nationally in 2012.

Adherence to to extreme right-wing views by average working people will be of little comfort when you need health insurance, and when you need Social Security.

I Had A Dream I Was Swimming In Boston Harbor—Would This Be Advisable?

A few nights ago I had a dream that I was swimming in Boston Harbor.

(Above–Boston Harbor and the Boston Skyline from Spectacle Island.)

In this dream, the water I was swimming in was calm and blue. I was near a beach.

Not far away from where I was swimming, was an industrial portion of the harbor with power plants and factories.

Do people swim in Boston Harbor? Is it safe to swim in Boston Harbor? How polluted is Boston harbor?

It does seem that people do swim in Boston Harbor. Here is the link to an event where people swim around the harbor to raise money for charity.

I’m not sure what this tells us because  the people doing this appear to be active swimmers who would swim anywhere for the challenge—Though they do not appear  to die on the spot after they get out of the water. They do serve this guinea pig function.

As for normal people who would like to use the harbor , there is a group called the Boston Harbor Association that has a focus on water quality issues. They say they are for a “Clean, alive, and accessible Boston Harbor.”

Here is some of what the Harbor Association says about the cleanliness of water in the harbor—

“Water quality at Boston Harbor Beaches has improved dramatically over the past decade due to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s Boston Harbor Project and water and sewer projects being implemented by the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. These projects are eliminating long-time bacteria problems associated with wastewater discharged into Boston Harbor and the number of days that beaches are closed due to water quality issues has continued to decline. Most of Boston Harbor Beaches meet swimming standards over 90% of the time.”

If the water is safe to swim in 90% of the time, I guess my chances are nine in ten that I was okay after the swim in my dream.

(Below–Boston Harbor in 1973. Picture taken by Michael Manheim.)

Some of you will recall that the condition of Boston Harbor was an issue in the 1988 Presidential campaign. George H.W. Bush asserted that his opponent, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis had not done enough to clean the harbor. Here is one the ads from the 1988 campaign that attacked Mr. Dukakis.

It sure is something that a Republican could get the edge on an environmental  issue. They must have been laughing it up at the Bush campaign.

Here is the link to the advocacy group Save The Harbor. If you poke around this site you’ll find facts about the harbor and a list of links to news stories involving the harbor.

The Massachusetts Water Resource Authority has many facts about the harbor and about harbor beaches.

Here is a list and some facts about Boston-area beaches.

A book on the harbor that I’ve not read is––Political Waters: The Long, Dirty, Contentious, Incredibly Expensive but Eventually Triumphant History of Boston Harbor—A Unique Environmental Success Story. This book is by Eric Jay Dolin. While the length of the title is a turnoff, I’m sure the book is quite useful. Mr. Dolin wrote a book I’ve read about the history of U.S. commercial whaling and he is well-informed on these New England nautical topics.

I don’t know why I had this dream. It could because I was in Boston two years ago. It could be that my father once told me that he swam in what was then a very dirty Providence River when he was a kid.

Whatever the reason for the dream, it does seem that, in most cases, you can swim in Boston Harbor.

(Below—A 1854 painting called Boston Harbor. The artist was Fitz Hugh Lane.)

Recount! Ted Kennedy Beats Scott Brown

Not long ago, all we heard about is how Scott Brown winning the Senate election in Massachusetts to replace Ted Kennedy meant that Mr. Kennedy’s hope of health care for all was finished.

Well—There has been a recount in this matter. The House had passed the health care bill and it appears that Mr. Kennedy had gotten the better of Mr. Brown.

Scott Brown Takes Oath—Many Fights Ahead

Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts took the oath of office today to become a U.S. Senator.

Above you see the swearing-in being conducted by Vice President Joe Biden.

You win and you lose some. There are many fights ahead.

President Obama and the Democratic leadership of Congress say they are going ahead with the Health Reform Bill that will extend care to most Americans and prohibit denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions.  I believe that they will move ahead and that they will be successful.

I’m glad for the democracy we have in this country that elected Senator Brown. I also hope he will be defeated the next time he is on the ballot.

I’m glad for the fights ahead and I’m glad that progress can be made even after setbacks.

Regardless Of Massachusetts Outcome, We As Liberals Must Become Harder And More Realistic About What We Are Facing

In the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, people are going to have to decide if we are going to live in a nation run by racist Tea Party mobs, or in a country where there is hope for the future and some measure of progress.

I don’t have a vote in Massachusetts.

All I can say is that if we live in a country where populism means the rich get richer and insurance companies dictate public policy, then we must work harder than we’ve been working so far.

Win or lose in Massachusetts, it is clear to me that liberals and progressive need to become harder and tougher people.

Our political fights today are quite often about good and evil and we must be willing to see it as such.

Our political fights have often been about good and evil. Why would it not be so today?

None of this means that we lose who we are.

It is simply clear enough that winning a big national election victory is not nearly all that is required.

We must do more. We need a clear-headed view that bad people do bad things and we have an obligation to try and stop what they are doing.

We have an obligation to make our nation and our world better.

Hyatt Hotels In Boston Outsource Housekeeping Staff For Much Lower-Paid Replacements—Governor Threatens Boycott

Hyatt Hotels in Boston have fired longstanding housekeeping employees and replaced them with outsourced and lower paid staff.

( Above–Boston is a great place to visit. But please do not stay at a Hyatt in Boston until they do right by the people who have worked hard for the company.)

From a September 18th post in the USA Today blog Hotel Check-In— 

It all started on Aug. 31 after the morning shift, when Hyatt Hotels’ corporate headquarters laid off the entire housekeeping staffs at the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge and Hyatt Harborside Hotel, according to the Globe. Citing the tough economy, the existing housekeepers – some of whom at worked at the hotels for years – were fired. Hyatt then hired new workers from an out-of-state staffing firm, according to the story. And in a point now being disputed by Hyatt, the Globe also said that the housekeepers had to train their replacements after being told they would fill in for vacations…. Fast forward to this past Thursday. Several hundred hotel workers came out to rally against the firings in front of the Hyatt Regency Boston, chanting “Hyatt, shame on you,” according to the Globe..US Representative Michael Capuano and state Senator Anthony Galluccio called for a boycott of Hyatt, according to the Globe’s piece. “Maybe they should have just taken the chocolates off the pillows, I don’t know,’’ Capuano told the people assembled, according to the story. “If we let them do this, another hotel will do it, and then another business, and on and on.’’… The controversy kept snowballing today, with even the Harvard Business Review scolding Hyatt in its blog post headlined, “Lessons From Hyatt: Simple Ways to Damage Your Brand.”

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has threatened a boycott of Hyatt Hotels  by state employees on official business. 

Hyatt provides jobs for people and most of us need jobs. But we can’t get by in a nation where loyalty and good work has no value. Hyatt should bring back the dismissed workers. If wage cuts must be made, then deal with the people who have had a hand in making Hyatt a successful hotel chain.

When will American business places realize that if they hope to make money, that there are going to have to be workers and consumers who have good paychecks and steady work?

When will American consumers realize that a focus on price at the expense of everything else will lead only to a downward spiral of wages and benefits?

Links To Learn About Ted Kennedy And The Causes He Supported

Here are links to help recall the life of Senator Ted Kennedy and to look ahead to the battles still to be fought and won.

(Above–Ted Kennedy running for the Senate in 1962.)

Here is the link to Senator Kennedy’s official government website. 

Tedkennedy.org is a good memorial site.   

Ted Kennedy represented Massachusetts in the Senate for 46 years. Here is the link to the Art & History page of the U.S. Senate web home. If you look around, you’ll learn a lot. It’s a site to bookmark and visit many times.

Health care was Senator Kennedy’s leading cause. Here is the White House Health care reform web home. President Obama and the Democratic majorities in Congress must keep faith with Senator Kennedy’s lifelong work for health care for all. 

Here is the web page of Physicians for A National Health Program.  This group supports single payer national health insurance. This is the public option that has been in the news.

Here is Senator Kennedy’s obituary in the New York Times.

Here is coverage of Senator Kennedy’s passing in his hometown Boston Globe.

The American Prospect and The Nation are good liberal magazines. These magazines are strong resources to learn about many of the causes Senator Kennedy fought for and to renew your own commitment to political liberalism. 

To win the fights still to come, we need leaders like Senator Kennedy and we need the hard work of average citizens.  

( Below–Senator Kennedy in the 1990’s.)

If Massachusetts Repeals State Income Tax, Maybe They Could Rename The State “Texas.”

Massachusetts has an initiative on the ballot that would repeal the state income tax.

Latest polls have the issue failing, but not by much.

(Above–What might as well be Massachusetts.)

If the people of Massachusetts choose to repeal the state income tax, maybe they could just rename the state “Texas.” Texas has no income tax.

Massachusetts could have our high poverty rate and absence of basic services. Maybe the folks up in Boston and Gloucester and Worcester could even start executing people like we do down here.

Howdy Massachusetts! Why don’t you folks pull the trigger and become the new Texas. We’d love to look up north and see you Yankees living as we do.

Three Black Governors Since Reconstruction—Who Have They Been?

(Blogger’s Note 3/7/12—Four years fater this post was written, there have still been only three black post-reconstruction governors. Mr. Paterson is no longer Governor of New York. He did not run for reelection in 2010. Also, Mr. Wilder is no longer Mayor of Richmond. Governor Patrick won reelection as Governor of Massachusetts in 2010. Maybe somebody reading this post can be the next black governor, or will work hard to elect such a person.)

Newly inaugurated New York Governor David Paterson is America’s third black post-reconstruction governor.

Who are the other two black governors in American history and who is Mr. Paterson?

( Please click here for a post on black U.S. Senators and reasons why there have been so few black Senators.)

Click here for information about black statewide officeholders in the United States.

It was only relatively recently that any U.S. State elected a black governor.

It is often difficult to elect a black to statewide office.

Douglas Wilder was elected Governor of Virginia in 1989 and served the one term a Virginia Governor is permitted.

(Below–Douglas Wilder)

Here is what it is says about Douglas Wilder and Virginia in the 2008 Almanac of American Politics—

In the 1980s, three moderate Democrats were elected governor–Charles Robb in 1981, Gerald Baliles in 1985, Douglas Wilder in 1989–because they no longer represented an attempt to impose a labor-liberal agenda on an unwilling Virginia, and because they argued they could use government effectively to improve education and build Virginia’s economy. Wilder’s election was a national breakthrough, a successful attempt by a black politician to campaign and govern on equal terms. His fiscal conservatism, which resulted in sharp spending cuts in the early 1990s, like his elegant manners and thick Richmond accent, echoes Virginia’s elitist and libertarian tradition; his insistence on the rule of law helped him win election as Richmond’s mayor in 2004.

You can make of that what you will.

The following description of Mr. Wilder is from the Virginia Historical Society—

Lawrence Douglas Wilder was born on January 17, 1931, in Richmond, Virginia. The grandson of slaves, he was named after abolitionist-orator Frederick Douglass and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Wilder attended Richmond’s racially segregated public schools—George Mason Elementary and Armstrong High School. In 1951, he graduated from Virginia Union University with a degree in chemistry. He served in the army during the Korean War, during which he won the Bronze Star for heroism in combat. After the war, Wilder returned to Richmond and worked as a chemist in the state medical examiner’s office. Using the benefits provided under the G.I. Bill of Rights, he studied law at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He received his degree in 1959 and after passing the bar in Virginia established his own law firm, Wilder, Gregory, and Associates.

In 1969, Wilder entered politics, running in a special election for the Virginia state senate. He won and became the first African American state senator in Virginia since Reconstruction. Wilder spent ten years in the General Assembly and was recognized as one of its most effective legislators.

Mr. Wilder is the current Mayor of Richmond, Virgina. Here is his homepage as Mayor.

In Massachusetts, Deval Patrick was elected in 2006 as the second black Governor.

Here is information about Governor Patrick from the Almanac.

“Patrick grew up in a tough South Side Chicago neighborhood, and lived in an apartment where he shared a single room with his mother and sister; his father left the family when he was a child. As early as grade school he showed tremendous promise and a teacher recommended him to A Better Chance, an organization that identifies and sends gifted minority students to college preparatory schools. Patrick received a scholarship and was sent far from home to the tony Milton Academy in Massachusetts. “[It] was like coming to a different planet,” Patrick would later say. He attended Harvard College and after graduating spent a year working in Africa on a United Nations project in the Darfur region of Sudan. When he returned, he enrolled at Harvard Law School and then clerked for a federal appeals court judge in Los Angeles. In 1983, he joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York and in 1986 Patrick went into private law practice; in 1994, he was appointed as the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights by President Bill Clinton. After three years in that post, Patrick returned to private practice in 1997 and later served as general counsel for Texaco and Coca-Cola…. Patrick was a long-shot in his first-ever run for elected office but his grassroots campaign quickly built support among liberal activists who liked his outsider message and his criticism of the state’s “backroom” political culture. He won the state party endorsement at its June 2006 convention, and after holding a steady lead in the polls throughout the summer, won the nomination decisively in the September 19 primary….Republican nominee was Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, who sought to become the state’s first female governor….Patrick pointed to his credentials as a Justice Department prosecutor and highlighted his executive-level experience at two Fortune 500 companies as evidence of his business-friendly background. Late in the campaign, Patrick was put on the defensive when Healey’s campaign ran tough ads criticizing him for his advocacy on behalf of convicted rapist Benjamin LaGuer. Patrick declined to respond with an aggressive counterattack, insisting that his success so far was the result of avoiding such conventional political tactics. His instincts proved correct: the ensuing publicity surrounding the negative ads—which featured a woman walking alone in a parking garage—muted the charges that Patrick would weaken criminal justice laws. He won a sweeping 56%-35% victory….In office, Patrick set about unraveling ( former Governor Mitt) Romney’s initiatives. He restored $383.6 million in budget cuts made by Romney, rescinded an agreement with the federal government that empowered the state police to arrest illegal immigrants, and put the brakes on a Romney administration plan to revamp the state’s automobile insurance system. He refused to sign a proclamation commemorating February 6, the late president’s birthday, as “Ronald Reagan Day.” But Patrick’s honeymoon period ended quickly as a series of missteps tarnished his image. Lavish spending on his official state car, helicopter travel, a renovation of the governor’s office that included $12,000 drapes and the hiring of a chief of staff for his wife led to weeks of bad press and harsh criticism. In March, Patrick acknowledged making a telephone call to Robert Rubin of Citigroup, which has significant business interests in the state, on behalf of the controversial mortgage lender Ameriquest; Patrick had served on Ameriquest’s parent company’s board of directors as recently as 2006. “   

Here is the website for Governor Patrick. 

Governor David Paterson of New York State has been in office for just a short time since taking over for the disgraced Eliot Spitzer.

Here is a photo essay on Mr. Paterson’s life. 

Here are a variety of facts and links to learn more about Mr. Paterson.  

(Below–David Paterson. Photo by MMR Dad)

Here is some information about Mr. Paterson from the New York Times–

David A. Paterson was elected lieutenant governor of New York in November 2006, a position with no power and little prestige, then propelled into the governorship by Eliot Spitzer’s shocking fall from power after the revelation of his involvement with a prostitution ring. Taking office on March 17, 2008, Mr. Paterson became New York’s first African-American governor, and the first legally blind person to serve as the governor of any state….As the leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, Mr. Paterson tried to make up for his lack of power with wit, flurries of reform proposals and unusual bursts of candor, a combination that has made him a quotable presence in a Capitol where such leaders are often ignored as irrelevant….Mr. Paterson was born to politics. His father, Basil, represented the same Harlem district that his son later did, and ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1970. The younger Mr. Paterson was raised at the knees of much of Harlem’s old guard. He also grew up legally blind, after an infection as an infant that left him totally without sight in his left eye and with severely limited sight in his right. His family moved to Long Island, where they found a school that agreed to educate him in regular classrooms. He graduated from high school in three years, went to college at Columbia and graduated from Hofstra Law School.

Here is a longer New York Times story reviewing Mr. Paterson’s career.

Good Blog About A Gay Marriage

 

Here is a blog I just discovered.

Jos 76’s Blog–Thoughts and musings on life in a gay marriage is by a man in a legal gay marriage in Massachusetts.

This blog shows, yet again, that gay people are just folks like anybody else who want to live decent normal lives.

Why can’t we leave these people alone?

Here is my post on attending a “Half-Gay” wedding in Cincinnati.   

Six Black U.S. Senators Since Reconstruction—Who & Why So Few?

There have been six Black United States Senators in post-reconstruction America.

Just six.

( Here is a post on the three black post-reconstruction Governors.)

Here are the five Black Senators to date—

Ed Brooke (above) was a Republican elected from Massachusetts in 1966 and 1972.  He was defeated in 1978 by Paul Tsongas who went on to a notable career himself. Mr. Brooke was part of the moderate to liberal wing of the Republican party that does not so much exist anymore. The decline of moderate Republicanism is a big reason why Democrats are so strong in New England and New York state today.

Here is a Time Magazine article from 1971 pondering if President Richard Nixon would consider replacing Vice President Spiro Agnew on the ticket with Senator Brooke.

Carol Moseley Braun (Above) is the only Black woman to have served in the Senate. She represented Illinois. Ms. Moseley Braun defeated an incumbent Democrat Senator in a primary in 1992 and went on to win the General Election.

People had hopes for Carol Moseley Braun. For a variety of reasons, some maybe relating to her own mistakes and some maybe a product of unreasonable expectations, Ms. Moseley Braun lasted only one term.  This New York Times story from Ms. Moseley Braun’s 2004 run for President offers some perspective.

If Ms. Moseley Braun had been able to hold on, Barack Obama would most likely not have been elected to the Senate as the third post- Reconstruction black senator.   Mr. Obama won the seat once occupied by Ms. Moseley Braun. The Republican who defeated her in 1998, Peter Fitzgerald, did not run for reelection in 2004 against Mr. Obama in strongly Democratic Illinois.

Barack Obama of Illinois was elected to the Senate in 2004. He then went on to even bigger things.

The fourth Black U.S. Senator was Roland Burris (Above) of Illinois.  Mr. Burris was appointed by the Governor of Illinois to replace Barack Obama. His appointment was made under controversial circumstances as Governor Rod Blagojevich made the nomination while under indictment for a range of offenses including trying to sell the Obama Senate seat.

Mr. Burris was the first statewide elected Black in Illinois. He was elected as Comptroller of Illinois in 1979 and served in that post until 1991. In 1990 he was elected Attorney General of Illinois. He has also run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, Governor of Illinois, and Mayor of Chicago.

Here is a comprehensive profile of Mr. Burris.

Mr. Burris did not run for reelection in 2010.

The fifth post-Reconstruction Black Senator was Tim Scott (Above) of South Carolina. Mr. Scott was designated in December, 2012 to replace Senator Jim DeMint who resigned his office.

Here is profile of Mr. Scott from the PBS News Hour.

Mr. Scott is the fIrst Black Republican Senator since Ed Brooke. He is expected to run to fill the seat on a permanent basis.

The sixth post-reconstruction Black Senator is Mo Cowan (Above) of Massachusetts.

Mr. Cowan was appointed to the Senate by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to fill the vacancy caused by John Kerry being appointed Secretary of State.

Mr. Cowan is a well-connected attorney who has served as Governor Patrick’s Chief of Staff. Here is a profile of Mr. Cowan from the Boston Globe. 

Mr. Cowan will serve in the Senate until an election takes place on June 25. Mr. Cowan is not a candidate for the June election.

Why only six black senators in post-Reconstruction America?

Here are some reasons for the low number —

1. Jim Crow and racism long denied Black people the right to vote and to run for office.

2. Even given the (not always uncontested) right of Blacks to vote today, a large proportion of Blacks in America live in the South where whites are not always inclined to vote for Blacks. This is how George W. Bush or Mitt Romney easily carries Mississippi even though 30% of people in Mississippi are Black.

3. Many states have very few Black people and so Black candidates are less likely to emerge from these places. Though it must also be said there were not so many Black folks in Massachusetts to help elect Ed Brooke.

4. The overwhelming majority of Blacks are Democrats. As many Senators are Republicans, this limits the options for Black Republican Senators.

5. Since most Blacks are going to vote for Democrats no matter what, Democrats use this fact and do not push Blacks to run for the highest offices. If someone is going to do something for you anyway, why not take advantage of them?

6.  Since many Black office holders have safe majority-minority districts or serve in majority-Black cities, why take a chance on a tough statewide race?

7. Black politicians often have a terrible record of cultivating new people and young people for the tough battles ahead. It’s easy to sit in a safe seat and accumulate power . It is more difficult to help people and fight for people in a more constructive way.

(There have been a full total of seven black U.S. Senators in our history. The other two, from the Reconstruction Era were Hiram Revels a Republican from Mississippi who served in 1870 and 1871, and another Mississippi Republican, Blanche Bruce, who served from 1875 until 1881. Both of these men were appointed by the state legislature as was done for much of American history. Here is information about the 17th Amendment, ratified in 1913, that provided for direct election of Senators.