More terrific Netroots photos from Eli

Since last November, I have unexpectedly found myself blogging the auto crisis and bailout. Between my five-plus years consulting for an automotive company internationally and living in Michigan, I seemed to have the ability to explain the larger causes of the crisis that were largely missed elsewhere in the blogosphere and much of the traditional media.

That’s the title of a study published by The Journal of the American Medical Association. The study attempted to determine whether the “considerably greater” US health expenditure of US$5274 per capita vs the UK percapita expenditure of US$ 2164 resulted in a better health outcome for Americans.

Not even slightly surprisingly it doesn’t. It’s bad, shockingly bad. How Bad? This bad:

The top of your American society is as unhealthy as the bottom of their British one.

While the Netroots has gotten better at helping elect good candidates to office, there’s still a lot of uncharted territory in making policy happen once the people we elect get there. This panel will discuss how the Netroots and progressive movement can have a greater impact on Congress. We’ll also discuss current Congressional processes and some of the innovations being pursued by the Progressive Caucus.

Dr. Dean narrowly escapes condemnation from Jane Hamsher over squishy moderate health reform plan

livebloggery

After Valerie Jarrett finished her NN interview with Baratunde, I was hoping there’d be a press availability in which I might have the chance to ask a follow-up or two about some of the topics that came up on the stage. Unfortunately (or so I thought), when I got to the media room, it was empty. Well, I was hungry anyway. So I walked back to the hotel to find some eats.

And there she was. Right up front (not hiding), seated with Michael Strautmanis, her chief of staff.

Oh dear. The Iowa Department of Elder Affairs is telling people how to set up advance medical directives? Where’s Senator Grassley to condemn such despicable government steps to pull the plug on thousands of Iowa grandmothers?

This is what I tell wingnuts who I suspect of fantasizing about committing grievous bodily harm against President Obama, Democrats, or non-wingnuts in general: “Remember how we got the Great Society, aka New Deal II? It was after JFK was shot when he visited a hotbed of racist right-wing hatred.”

Who is Shannyn Moore? She is Alaska’s most courageous, outspoken and mercurial independent commentator. She can build a log cabin or remodel an upscale urban house. She can pilot a limit seiner in the Gulf of Alaska. She can field dress a moose or a bear. She can also field dress a lipstick-encrusted pitbull.