MOMocrats ask REAL debate questions; Obama answers
After the ridiculous debate on ABC, readers and writers over at MOMocrats alike were outraged. While countless prime-time minutes were spent on pins and pastors, we were robbed of an opportunity to learn about what Senators Clinton and Obama planned to do about global warming, torture, poverty, the credit crisis, food safety, relations with China, health care, child care costs, the rising cost of fuel, and education funding.
As a mom, I know how frustrating it is to see something important trivialized and set by the wayside in favor of fluff, non-issues and stupid conflicts. My first instinct is to fix it, or go find the answers on how to fix it. The MOMocrats are no different. They took matters into their own hands, compiled a list of questions from readers and writers alike, and contacted the Clinton and Obama campaigns.
Barack Obama responded to the interview questions, and MOMocrats has posted the interview on their blog*. (Read the press releases here or here)
The significance of Senator Obama’s response to the MOMocrats’ inquiry shouldn’t go unnoticed. It puts legs to the words he speaks about building a movement from the ground up, instead of the top down. His willingness to address their questions seriously and in good faith (not to mention timely) shows an unprecedented commitment to transparency and two-way communication.
His choice to respond directly to a group of bloggers who are clearly influencers, but have been organized for only six months (though their writers have been blogging much longer than that) reinforces the strength of his commitment. If I were wearing a hat, it would be off to Senator Obama. I’m looking forward to continuing the conversation for eight more years.
Long live the MOMocrats for taking the initiative and getting REAL answers to the questions we all care about.
*Note: as of this writing, there was a technical glitch with getting the interview posted, but it’s expected to be published within the next couple of hours. If it’s not there when you click, keep trying…they’re getting it posted as fast as they can.
Technorati Tags: MOMocrats, debate, interview, Barack Obama, global warming, environment, health care, economy, Iraq, gas prices, child care, education
Kyla’s Story and why we should care
Momocrats has the text of Kyla’s testimony before the Texas State Legislature, about her daughter’s life-threatening condition, the deficiencies of employer-provided insurance, and the direct impact that the veto last year of the SCHIP bill had on her life. The revised SCHIP increased the income ceiling for coverage. Had it passed, Kyla’s daughter would have qualified for the High Risk pool. As it is, their income is too high by $260 per month to qualify. Of course, that $260 doesn’t buy them the care for their daughter that she so desperately needs.
Because of this, KayTar has been without vital therapies and specialized medical care for two months. In that short amount of time, I’ve had to cancel her hearing test. I’ve had to cancel a crucial appointment with her feeding disorder specialist. A few months ago her feeding situation had declined so much so that we were beginning to discuss the possibility of a feeding tube, and now I cannot even take her in to see the specialist who can help her overcome these obstacles. If things were to decline further, we have no safety net. There are no treatments or therapeutic options for her without health insurance. We can’t even afford for her to be seen in the feeding clinic without insurance coverage.
Right now, this is the strategy they’re considering:
Unfortunately we are $260 dollars over the monthly income limit set for CHIP. Because we have no other viable options, my husband has requested a pay cut in that amount, so that our children can qualify for proper health coverage. Not only will this decrease our monthly income, it will also cap him out at work. He will no longer be eligible for raises or positional promotions. It shouldn’t be this way; my husband should not have to handicap his career to provide for his children.
But he will, because we will do whatever we have to for our children.
This is so wrong. Kyla, her husband and her family are law-abiding, taxpaying citizens who are caught in an endless loop of technicalities and immoral policy-making. This is why we need to deal with this. She’s right. Her husband shouldn’t have to cap his career in order to qualify for the high-risk pool. And her daughter should be able to get the care she needs. I really hope we can offer Kyla’s family a better solution in the months and years to come.
Technorati Tags: momocrats, health care, SCHIP
Sphere: Related ContentShell’s profits rise 25% on the wings of global warming
Seriously, no lie. A 25% increase in profits., straight out of corporate PR’s mouth.
But wait! There’s more!
Chief Financial Officer Peter Voser said on a conference call the company wasn’t investing money in projects that would require oil prices to remain this high to be profitable. “We don’t understand the oil price at this stage,” he said. “The fundamentals will not justify an oil price as we see it at the moment.”
He said the company is wary of predicting prices apart from a long-term upward trend, but said economists had expected demand to slacken in response to the high prices and with the U.S. economy slowing. However, he said that has so far failed to materialize because of continuing growth in the rest of the world.
To which I replied with a big fat middle finger, particularly when I saw the source of their soaring profits:
Earnings from oil production rose 52 percent to $5.14 billion, due almost entirely to the price increases. The company said combined production of gas and oil equivalents increased by less than 1 percent to 3.4 million barrels per day, as a 9 percent rise in gas production outweighed a 6 percent fall in oil production.
I hear over and over again about how global warming is melting the ice in the Arctic circle, right? That’s a bad thing, right? (It certainly is to me, and especially after enduring three days of 98-degree weather in an area which averages 72 degrees in April). But wait for it…the best is yet to come:
Voser said that the company was also investing in resources in or near the Arctic circle which have been difficult to access in the past because of the cold but “quite clearly we see as one source of energy going forward.”
Wow. Global warming benefits oil companies’ profit margins. How about we really, truly take seriously the idea of losing our dependence on oil as an energy source?
Also, could someone check the financials for the Bush blind trust to see how much is invested in the Shell companies? I’m guessing that with these profits, he’ll be a billionaire when he leaves office.
Technorati Tags: economy, Shell, oil companies, profits, global warming
Miles from Nowhere
They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought, either.
Full text of Senator Obama’s remarks.
In my opinion, this ends the controversy. If anyone wants to re-ignite it, they should feel compelled to examine the sermons of Rod Parsley and John Hagee as well, remembering that those endorsements were courted. To be clear, an endorsement means that the endorser believes the endorsee most closely parallels the endorser’s goals and objectives.
You can sit in church for 20 years and disagree for 20 years. Trust me, I’ve done it. Or you can sell out and court the extremists, pandering to the worst underbelly of the self-righteous.
Or we can drop the whole thing and move on to what really matters, like hunger riots, escalation in the Persian Gulf, incoherent economic policies, stupid ideas like gas tax holidays, and taking back our government.
Bob Cesca has it right:
If the corporate media had been as diligent about watchdogging President Bush as they have been about watchdogging Reverend Wright, it’s very likely we wouldn’t have invaded Iraq
Technorati Tags: Obama, Jeremiah Wright, media madness
Sphere: Related ContentDemocratic Primary: This is Survivor, not Deal or No Deal
Let’s be clear here. For all of the constant yammering about electoral votes in primary races, daily tracking polls that move one way or the other consistent with the whims of the media stream that day, uncounted states and superdelegates, the Democratic primary race is all about endurance.
We’re not here to open 47 cases and wait for the banker’s call before deciding whether the last 9 have the million bucks. That’s the game show George Bush played last week.
Survivor: Democrats is the name of this race. When Chris Wilson over at Slate makes the absurd call for Barack Obama to withdraw from the primary race despite having won the greatest number of primaries, having a solid delegate lead, raising the most money, closing the superdelegate gap, and acting as the driving force behind the new voter registrations of one million new Democrats, I can only ask: “Whose crack are you smoking?“
Somewhere in this silly post there’s a vague argument that Obama should withdraw for the sake of party unity because he would have a better chance in 2012. Or something. There’s more than a small whiff of bait in the tone mixed with some sarcasm, which would at least give credibility to the idea that I’m the sucker who has gulped it down. Guilty as charged, with the defense that some poor fool out there might actually take it seriously.
Think about that for a minute. I don’t know how anyone else would feel, but I’d hardly be willing to put my support behind someone who quit when they were 10 feet from the finish line. That’s like holding the immunity idol but not playing it because of some strange trust in one of the other players. Imagine telling a marathon runner to stop when the finish line is just around the corner because, hey, he’s young and can win next year but the woman behind him has worked soooo hard and wants it soooo much that he should let her win. How insulting and patronizing!
Imagine it:
November comes around. Hillary wins. She’s inaugurated. The next day she’s on the phone, that red phone, to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Mahmoud, I know you have the nukes. I know you can control Iraq. I know you can win. But I’m asking you to step down, and give me the nukes. Because I want them sooooo very much. If I can’t have them, I will obliterate you.”
As reports leak out of this conversation, a Slate blogger calls for Ahmadinejad to step down for the good of the world.
Yeah, right.
Note to Chris Wilson: Come on back to earth, that crack must’ve been laced with a heavy dose of illusion. The Democrats will survive this primary season, they’ll have a great convention, and Hillary Clinton will do her part to smooth ruffled feathers, as will Barack Obama. So relax, breathe, and enjoy the road to Denver. He or she who plays the smart game wins.
Bonus: Here’s a hidden treasure clue for the media pundits smoking up my living room tonight…listen to me now….are you ready?
Jeremiah Wright isn’t running for office. He’s interesting (even to me), but irrelevant. Calm down.
Photo Credits:
Technorati Tags: slate, chris wilson, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Survivor, DealorNoDeal
It Could Happen to You
One of the 15 Obama in 30 Seconds Finalists, and another one of my original favorites from the first round:
Technorati Tags: obamain30seconds, hope, video, commercial
