Published

NPR Latino USA
Originally uploaded by naden

Bare with me while I toot my own horn for a second. So, last week I got an e-mail from an editor for NPR's Latino USA station. They were preparing to do a series of stories on immigration reform and wanted to use this photo of mine from the protests in Postville, Iowa last summer.

Here's the text that summarized the broadcast:

"After federal immigration reform legislation failed in 2006, many local governments began passing their own laws. New Haven, Connecticut was the first in the country to offer municipal IDs to all its residents regardless of immigration status. But reports of police harassment and racial profiling show that not every one agrees with the premise of a sanctuary city. Reporter Aswini Anburajan profiles a catholic priest arrested while looking into immigrant harassment reports. Also, a new study suggests that home raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents violate some basic legal tenants." latinousa.kut.org

Okay, putting the horn down now. Thanks for indulging me.

Republicans for Voldemort

Republicans for Voldemort
Originally uploaded by naden

With all the "Death Panel" talk this week stirred up by Palin and Chuck Grassley (to name just a couple), I thought posting this photo was appropriate. It's completely frackin amazing to me that the Dems have capitulated on End of Life Counseling even though most Republicans (including Grassley) were FOR this type of counseling that was included in the 2003 Medicare bill. That's right, the Republicans were FOR these so-called "Death Panels" before the were against them.

Score one for Voldemort and his Death Eaters. I'm not proud to be a Democrat today.

Every Vote Counts

With the fire sale outside Norm Coleman's soon-to-be former office in the Capitol, and the news that Republican Sen. Judd Gregg is on the list for Commerce Secretary, it's starting to look like the Dems may be able to pull out a 60 seat majority in the Senate after all.

See, every vote does count (especially in Minnesota)!

Finally.

I finally was able to flip the last page of my "Bad President" desk calender this morning. At the bottom of every page was a countdown keeping track of how many days until Dubbya would be ousted from office. Today the bottom of the calendar page simply read, "It's finally over." That pretty much sums it up. It's finally over.

I woke up this morning and could feel the energy in the air - it was like waking up on Christmas morning as a kid...only way better. I'm filled with so much hope and optimism about our country. I realize that President Obama doesn't have a magic wand that he can wave and cure all of the ills imposed on us and the rest of the world by the white house's former occupant...but just knowing that there is an intelligent and thoughtful person in charge will make me sleep much better tonight.

Now I'm just waiting for the day when I can see/hear President Obama (I'll never get tired of saying that) without getting all weepy and emotional. I've been a hot mess the past couple of days with the non-stop inauguration coverage (the HBO special at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday nearly put me over the edge). I watched President Obama's inaugural address this morning at work, crowded into an office with 8 of my co-workers peering at the live video stream from NPR. I snapped the photo above with my phone, not that I really needed a photo, I'm certain I will always remember exactly where I was today at 11am. The rest of my evening will likely be spent glued to MSNBC with the dog in my lap fighting for space with the box of kleenex.
Happy Inauguration Day. It's finally here!

Stoogeon General

If you know me, you know I'm a big Obama fan. So it pains me when he makes a decision that I'm not entirely happy with (like this one). When I heard that Obama was considering Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General, I developed a sharp pain that emanated from behind my right eye through my ear and up my forehead. The pain is not unlike the pain I feel every time I hear fingernails on a chalkboard, or Sarah Palin's voice.

I don't have any problem with Dr. Gupta's qualifications. In fact, I sort of agree with Howard Dean that the job of Surgeon General is not unlike what Dr. Gupta currently does for CNN: explaining medical issues of public concern in a manner that the public can understand. My problem with Dr. Gupta stems from his on-air accusations that Michael Moore had "fudged his facts" in his movie Sicko. (If you haven't seen Sicko yet, then I urge you to open up a new window in your browser right now and add it to the top of your Netflix queue. Go ahead, I'll wait.)

In reality, Michael Moore had been entirely accurate and CNN was wrong on each and every one of the supposedly fudged facts. To their credit, CNN admitted after the fact that Dr. Gupta had been wrong, but the damage had already been done. If we're ever going to fix our ailing health care system, then we need people in respected positions (like Dr. Gupta) to stand up with those, like Michael Moore, and speak the truth about our broken system. Instead, Dr. Gupta called Michael Moore a liar and gave the public one more reason to not take Moore, or his message, seriously.

Also, I'm not really sure that the chief public health official (you know, the one in charge of telling us all to stop smoking and to lose weight) should really be showing our kids how to eat fire. Am I wrong here?