The most progressive part of the Affordable Care Act is working the best. There’s no doubt that the craptacular launch of Healthcare.gov will go down in history with the vice-presidential nomination of Sarah Palin as one of the early 21st century’s great unforced errors. Calling it Obama’s Katrina is absurd, but we can’t ignore the fact that people will die […]

The American healthcare system could be headed for a perfect storm, says one expert. And that’s a good thing. Regular readers of Eclectablog know that healthcare is something I write about often. In fact, I’ve been writing about it for more than a decade, long before I became a contributor here. Particularly with the passage of the Affordable Care Act […]

As some debate whether this country has become more like George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, keep in mind that for millions of Americans who have no time to debate such a lofty question, actual oppression exists. This oppression isn’t a overwhelming fear of the Thought Police or even a steady drugging that manufactures consent. It isn’t […]

The biggest problem Democrats have  had in selling the Affordable Care Act is about to become its greatest strength. Approximately 85% of American adults are insured through their employer or the government. The vast majority of the insured will barely notice when Obamacare goes into effect in January of 2014. That doesn’t mean they won’t benefit from the law. Obamacare […]

Austerity is supposed to be dead but Tuesday night the Senate voted to cut $4.1 billion from the “Heat and Eat” programs that supplement food assistance for seniors and those with disabilities. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) offered legislation last month that would block any cuts to the SNAP program. It was soundly defeated after Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chair of […]

ObamaCare is the best thing to happen to the middle class since Medicare — of course, the GOP wants to destroy it Republicans have fallen in love with repeating the warning from Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) that ObamaCare could be a “train wreck.” This has given them confidence to resume to their favorite pastime: pretending to repeal ObamaCare. It also […]

Dude, are you SERIOUS???!

There’s a piece in today’s Livingston County Press & Argus that starts with this statement: “Both those for and against the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” agree on one thing: Emergency room visits by those with little or no insurance are driving health-care cost increases.” The article then goes on to prove that’s not entirely correct. Apparently Republican state Senator Joe Hune DISAGREES with this.

All the facepalming details after the jump.

Sorry, face. This nose has got to go

Governor Rick Snyder is warning Michigan Republican legislators that time is running out to set up a state-run health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”.) As Gov. Snyder points out, we have the choice of doing this in a way that is customized for Michigan or letting the federal government do it for us.

Meanwhile, tea party groups in Michigan are working overtime to kill it, a position I have come to cheer on. Click through to see why.

This past week, I spoke to former Governor Howard Dean on a wide range of topics. My chief interest was to get his impressions about current gun control measures being considered in Congress. During his run for governor in Vermont, Gov. Dean received high ratings from the NRA. Yet, recently, he has been highly critical of that group, saying that they are “populated by crazy people”.

It’s also the tenth anniversary of the Iraq War and, at a time when there was nearly unanimous support for that war, Gov. Dean was one of the most outspoken opponents. Finally, Gov. has come out in favor of the sequester so I wanted to ask him more about that.

Enjoy (after the jump.)

DC bound… I’m typing this as we drive down the highway, en route to the 57th Inauguration of the President of the United States. Vice President Joe Biden was sworn in just a short time ago by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The President will be sworn in a bit later. Why today? Because today is the official Inauguration Day. […]

Pure Progressive blogging First, a big “THANK YOU” to everyone who has contributed during our first quarter fundraiser. It’s your contributions that keep us going and help us to pay the bills. The face of blogging is changing dramatically. Daily Kos, which once was able to sustain itself on ad revenue, has changed to a membership approach because blogad revenues […]