The Poor, The Adrift, The Uninsured

We interrupt yesterday, today and tomorrow's media soccer scrum ("Does Ellen DeGeneres Think Michael Vick Should Agree With Joe Wilson About Health Care?") to bring you the consequences of a Gilded Age economy:

The U.S. Census Bureau has just announced that the poverty rate for 2008 was 13.2%. This means the number of people in poverty has increased by about 2.5 million, to 39.8 million. To give you some perspective, 2.5 million is more than the number of people who live in Detroit and San Francisco combined.

The Census data is just devastating, particularly when you take into account that the numbers come before the job loss in the first 8 months of this year. In addition to the uptick in the poverty rate, real median household income fell 3.6%, the biggest drop in 40 years. The richest tenth of one percent saw their incomes rise by 35% over the last 10 years while median incomes stayed flat. And the number of Americans lacking health insurance increased by about 700,000 to at least 46.3 million, which does not account for the under-insured. In fact, if it wasn't for government programs, this number would be far worse.

Things would have been worse but for one thing: continued expansion of government-provided health insurance coverage. Between 2007 and 2008, the proportion of Americans reporting any private coverage fell by 0.8 percentage points, from 67.5 percent to 66.7 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage reporting some form of government coverage rose by 1.2 points, from 27.8 percent to 29.0 percent [...]

First, the absolute number of uninsured has increased. Second, employer-based coverage is eroding. Third, adverse trends in private coverage are partly masked in the overall numbers by the rise in public coverage.

Fourth, improved insurance coverage among children--thanks largely to Medicaid and SCHIP--is more than offset by increases in the number and proportion of uninsured working-age adults. As shown in the final column, the number of uninsured adults increased by almost 9 million in nine years. Since working-age adults are much more likely to actually get sick, this is a significant economic and public health concern.

Yes, it's been government - eeevil, socialist government - which has had to step into the breach and take care of its citizenry amid a failing private market. And that includes your local fire department, increasingly becoming a primary care doctor for millions of Americans.

In 2008, fire departments around the country responded to 15.8 million medicals calls, a 213 percent increase over the 5 million medical runs record in 1980. The combining of cities’ fire and emergency medical services accounts for some of the increase.

But as the logs of a Washington, D.C., fire company show, the lack of health insurance by too many people—especially low-income families—has turned some local fire departments into mobile emergency rooms.

In one 24-hour period this summer, D.C.’s Engine Company No. 10 responded to more than two dozen emergency calls—two fires and the rest were medical emergencies. It is the same throughout the District. The Times reports the D.C. fire department responded to more medical emergency calls per capita than any other in the nation—and most come from poor neighborhoods [...] such calls tie up a community’s resources and cost communities more because so many calls for emergency medical care aren’t true medical emergencies. Also, the increasing reliance on first responders and on 911 also comes at a time when firefighters and paramedics all across the country are being laid off, as the nation’s economic woes place a strain on public budgets. The recession is shrinking our resources and reducing manpower while the demand for emergency medical care is skyrocketing.

Best health care system in the history of man.

This is bigger than just health care, though, and it's driving a lot of the anxiety out there. Recessions are disruptive events, but in previous years quick turnarounds would blunt the pain. More recently, jobless recoveries that last years and years have become the norm, and as a result, people cannot keep up. Inequality has risen to an almost comical degree, while more and more people sit on the other side of a gated community. This breeds anger, unrest, and ultimately enormous amounts of needless suffering.

And as long as government is captive to interests which place their corporate well-being above the well-being of the people, it will remain this way.

Firefighters Chase Rudy Out Of Iowa

Rudy has an intervention at the Drake Diner:



Perhaps not coincidentally, Rudy will skip caucus night, hoping that the firefighters don't look for him in Florida, and that nobody will take notice of his potential 6th-place finish in the Hawkeye State.

But don't worry! They have a great plan to win the nomination, based on not imitating those other losers who... won their nominations and the Presidency...

As voting nears in the Republican nomination process, our campaign remains convinced that our strategy we have long had in place is right – bold, innovative and designed to deal with the radically different election calendar. While many of the beltway insiders seem to remain committed to the old “Carter/Clinton” approach and have questioned the adjustments we have made to our strategic thinking based on the new calendar, we clearly have a winning plan to secure the nomination in an election cycle unlike any other. History will prove us right.

President Carter? President Clinton? What do they know about becoming President?

Rudy To Face 9/11 Emergency Radio Investigation

The New York City Council has responded to legitimate questions over emergency radios used on 9/11 that resulted in the unnecessary deaths of dozens of firefighters, and has vowed an investigation.



Eric Gioia is basically the Henry Waxman of New York City, the chair of the Oversight and Investigations Committee. Here's what he needs to investigate:

Why was nothing done to improve FDNY radio performance for seven years after a clear need was demonstrated in the 1993 World Trade Center attack?

When new radios were finally ordered, why did the city award a contract to Motorola without a competitive bidding process?

Once Motorola was given the contract, why did its cost jump from $1.4 million to $14 million?
Why were these new radios never field tested?

These are serious questions about preparedness and emergency management that must be a part of a fuller picture of anyone who believes he should be President of the United States. Bottom line.

Media Taking A Break From Campaign Season To Actually Go To A Racetrack and Cover Horse Races

This is truly an indictment of what passes for political reporting in this country. Rudy Giuliani has made a habit of wild exaggerations, from claiming that he spent as much time at Ground Zero than any rescue worker, to saying that he's "studied Islamic terrorism for 30 years," to claiming that Hillary Clinton said "Capitalism is the most destructive force in modern America" when she actually quoted someone else calling capitalism a "disruptive" force. There are more exaggerations here, yet Giuliani continues to espouse the same bombast (others would call it "lies") because he is able to get away with them. But look how Washington Post reporter Lois Romano reacts to this persistent issue when confronted with the evidence at an online chat last week:

New York: Hi, Lois. In the GOP debate earlier this week, Rudy Giuliani said: "The leading Democratic candidate once said that the unfettered free market is the most destructive force in modern America. I mean, just get an idea of where that philosophy comes from." Rudy uses this line on Hillary frequently. But as has been conclusively proven, it's an almost comically dishonest distortion of what Hillary actually said in a 1996 interview with Brian Lamb. In that interview, Hillary quoted another author saying that the unfettered free market had been radically disruptive, not destructive, and actually went on to praise free markets.

My question, though, is this. If Al Gore can be painted as a serial liar and exaggerator by the media for things he didn't actually say, why has Giuliani so far gotten a pass on the lies he's actually spouting publicly?

Lois Romano: He hasn't been really challenged on every word yet. That will come. Right now, there are so many people in the race trying to get footing, and the media is trying to illuminate facts about all of them. As the field starts to winnow, you will see more and more scrutiny of what candidates say and do, and what they have done or said in the past....

"We'll get around to it," is the answer (it certainly wasn't the answer with Al Gore, who they pounced on mercilessly from day one). You know, for the betterment of Republican voters, even, I think it's time to get around to it.

We, The Undersigned, demand an investigation into the Giuliani administration's failure between 1994 and 2001 to equip firefighters with the radio equipment they needed to perform their duties on 9/11 with the highest likelihood of their own survival. We ask for an investigation to find answers to the following, unresolved questions:

Why was nothing done to improve FDNY radio performance for seven years after a clear need was demonstrated in the 1993 World Trade Center attack?

When new radios were finally ordered, why did the city block other companies besides Motorola from bidding on the contract?

Once Motorola was given the contract, why did its cost jump from $1.4 million to $14 million?
Why were these new radios never tested?

The families of the firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11 deserve answers to these questions. We call on a full, public investigation to uncover the facts behind the Giuliani administration’s pre-9/11 emergency preparation.

Rudy's unpreparedness for the events of 9/11 led to the needless deaths of firefighters who never heard the evacuation call. That's relevant information that we shouldn't have to wait for until the field is "winnowed."

You can sit there and watch passively as the campaign runs its course, which would be fine if you were merely an observer of the political scene. But a JOURNALIST is charged with distilling information and providing the fullest possible context, in the interest of allowing for a more well-informed citizenry. This shirking of responsibility doesn't cut it, and it bodes ill for the general election as well.

UPDATE: The Real Rudy has a petition for you to sign.

Quick Hits

Yes, today was busy enough that I think it warrants a "best of the rest":

• The Chertoff-to-Attorney General trial balloon has officially popped.

I think, by the time I got to this story, BushCo had already decided Chertoff was an impossible replacement candidate (though if he's not, let's not forget the allegation that Chertoff allegedly okayed Chiquita Banana's funding of right wing terrorists in Colombia). Just on the off-chance that Chertoff really is named as Gonzales' replacement, Pat Leahy had the perfect response when asked if he would support a Chertoff nomination. I can't find the quote (it was NPR), but he basically said nothing more than, "You mean the guy who was in charge of the Katrina reconstruction?"

I agree with Glenn Greenwald, the next AG must come from outside the Administration, and no insider hack can be allowed to be confirmed.

• Yes, it's hysterical that on the same day Abu Gonzales resigns, the President goes and attends a fundraiser for Pete Domenici, who of course helped push out US Attorney David Iglesias after meddling in the middle of a state corruption investigation and pressuring Iglesias to indict Democrats. When Iglesias would not politicize his office, Domenici brought the hammer down. The reward is today's event, which I guess is the price of loyalty. There's a tragic sidenote to that event, as a police officer in Bush's motorcade died after crashing his vehicle.

• Bush is in Washington State tonight at another fundraiser for Rep. Dave Reichert, and the national netroots community made a huge push to raise $100,000 for his Democratic opponent Darcy Burner. And they've reached their goal. I met Burner at Yearly Kos and found her to be piercingly intelligent and very down-to-Earth. I can't wait to see her torch Reichert next year and make the trip to DC.

• Larry Craig, not content with destroying his own credibility, is taking down the Romney campaign's as well. Romney's team tried to scrub a pro-Mitt message from Craig (a co-Senate liaison until today), but it's hard to hide anything on the Internets. It's been found. Also Hugh Hewitt is calling on Craig to resign, no doubt because he might hurt Golden Boy Mitt, who is to Hewitt as a golden statue is to an idol worshipper.

• Meanwhile, this juxtaposition is just freaky. Apparently the Idaho Values Alliance has a shout-out to Sen. Craig on their site, and just underneath, a paragraph decrying the scourge of homosexuals using airport bathrooms for anonymous sex. Is that where Sen. Craig got the idea?

• This IAFF endorsement of Chris Dodd is news for his campaign, but I think that really falls under the category of "no endorsement," since they clearly didn't want to get into a top-tier fight. The IAFF endorsed John Kerry when it looked like he was about to drop out of the race, though, so maybe this will have some import.

• Here's something I missed from last week: some wingnut actually said "You're going to look super in a burka." Out loud. On television. There is this strain that really thinks we're about to be taken over by an Islamic caliphate. Really. They think that little of the United States.

• This is worrying but unsurprising. Apparently there's a loophole in the President's recent executive order outlawing torture that you can drive a truck through.

The Judge Advocates General of all branches of the military told the senators that a July 20 executive order establishing rules for the treatment of CIA prisoners appeared to be carefully worded to allow humiliating or degrading interrogation techniques when the interrogators' objective is to protect national security rather than to satisfy sadistic impulses [...]

The JAGs cited language in the executive order in which Bush said CIA interrogators may not use "willful and outrageous acts of personal abuse done for the purpose of humiliating or degrading the individual." As an example, it lists "sexual or sexually indecent acts undertaken for the purpose of humiliation."

Among lawyers, "for the purpose" language is often used to mean that a person must specifically intend to do something, such as causing humiliation, in order to violate a statute. The JAGs said Bush's wording appears to make it legal for interrogators to undertake that same abusive action if they had some other motive, such as gaining information.

I try to refuse to be shocked anymore and I always fail.

• Finally, Fred Thompson is trying to set the record for most people fired from a campaign that hasn't even started yet.

So Soon?

The International Association of Fire Fighters' video about Rudy Giuliani's tenure in New York City and his disrespect of firefighters, Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend, was released on the Internet yesterday, and it's pretty devastating.



I'm not sure why this would start off with a union boss' comments instead of the firefighters themselves (even though the IAFF is a fairly nonpartisan union), and I really don't understand why this is coming out now, 5 months before the first votes in Iowa and 16 months before the general election. The Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry filled a news gap in August of 2004, very close to the Presidential cycle, and its momentum, driven by the press, carried through to Election Day. There's no way you can achieve that 16 months out. I respect the firefighters union for trying to educate the public about Rudy's record (his lying to the 9/11 Commission and blaming the firefighters for ignoring the evacuation order, when they never got it, is particularly despicable). They should have waited, though, for maximum impact. Although, there is I suppose a merit to defining him early. I mean, if this becomes the measure of Rudy, it's something:

"Rudy has used the horrible events of September 11 to create a persona that is an elaborate fabrication," says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. "He is nothing more than a shameless self-promoter."

The fact that a Rudy Presidency would essentially be a third Bush term, with the likes of Norman Podhoretz arguing and praying for the bombing of Iran from inside the White House, is also a significant frame that I'd like to see explored.

Hmm... making money, saving America... I'll go with making money.

Please, please, PLEASE Republicans, pick Rudy Giuliani as your candidate.

Today we learned that Mr. "Terrorist War On Us" guy, the boldest and strongest leader on how to take the fight to the Islamomurderfascists, walked out of the Iraq Study Group to go raise some money.

Rudolph Giuliani's membership on an elite Iraq study panel came to an abrupt end last spring after he failed to show up for a single official meeting of the group, causing the panel's top Republican to give him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit, several sources said.

Giuliani left the Iraq Study Group last May after just two months, walking away from a chance to make up for his lack of foreign policy credentials on the top issue in the 2008 race, the Iraq war.

He cited "previous time commitments" in a letter explaining his decision to quit, and a look at his schedule suggests why -- the sessions at times conflicted with Giuliani's lucrative speaking tour that garnered him $11.4 million in 14 months.

Incidentally, the first time MSNBC mentioned this today, they attributed it to Fred Thompson. Love that media.

But Josh Marshall is right, this is the kind of thing that ends a campaign. Once MSNBC got their facts straight, Chuck Todd envisioned the ad, seeing Giuliani smiling as he gives a big-money speech while kids die in Iraq. He's trying to run a race on national security and he'd rather make cash than help formulate a solution.

Not to mention that the firefighters will dog him throughout the campaign for betraying the men who wore the uniform on 9/11.

Really, pick him. I'd like to see the Democrat win 49 states.

UPDATE: David Dreier on MSNBC with David Shuster, moments after saying that admitting mistakes is noble, vis a vis Bernie Kerik, who was crying to himself today about missing his partner in crime.

SHUSTER: David, is it OK to have a candidate running for the President of the United States who has not been to Iraq, and why is it that Rudy Giuliani has not been to Iraq?

DREIER: I can't tell you why Rudy Giuliani hasn't been to Iraq. You don't have to be in iraq to understand the magnitude of the challenge in prosecuting the global war on terror. Rudy Giuliani was at the base of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. I think that's being in a line of fire in and of itself.

Is that true? Rudy's never even been to Iraq? And this is how they're combating it? He was on the "front lines" on 9-11 because he happened to be mayor at the time? (and he was only at the base of the WTC because he mistakenly put the emergency command center inside a terrorist target?)

More of this, Team Rudy. This is transparently absurd.

Marked Man

Really, I'm just begging for Republicans to nominate Rudy Giuliani. The accompanying outrage will make the Swift Boaters look like a tea party. Not only will the hardcore religious right go out of their minds:

The early success of Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid has provoked a groundswell of opposition from disparate forces including conservative Catholics, remnants of Pat Buchanan's presidential campaigns and regional political operatives seeking to break into the Republican firmament....

The new organizations are relying on two fundraising models, both of which were highly successful in previous attacks. One is the drive in 2005 to force White House counsel Harriet Miers to withdraw her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. That campaign, spearheaded by conservatives opposed to Miers, raised an estimated $2 million. The other is the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign in 2004, which began with a modest budget but ended up raising millions in an effort to destroy John Kerry's reputation as a war hero....

Paul Nagy, the group's top-gun in New Hampshire, believes nominating Giuliani would be disastrous for the American conservative movement. Along with other activists, Nagy signed a letter seeking additional signatories to the anti-Rudy declaration. The letter states: "Rudy Giuliani is an unacceptable Republican nominee for President of the United States. He is pro-abortion, pro-partial birth abortion, pro-registration of handguns, and pro-homosexual rights. He is the most liberal Republican candidate for President in our nation's history."

But groups very close to Rudy are going to follow him around.

Here’s an unwelcome birthday gift for Rudy Giuliani, as he travels around the city raising money: protests from fire fighters and family members of September 11th victims.

They've shown up in the past at Giuliani's presidential events. Today, they’re gathering in Bay Ridge, and they have plans to follow him nationwide starting sometime around January, according to Jim Riches, a deputy chief with the fire department whose son was killed in the World Trade Center attacks.

“We have all the UFA, the UFOA, and the fire members are all behind us -- the International Association of Fire Fighters,” said Riches. “And we’re going to be out there today to let everybody know that he’s not the hero that he says he is.”

The group’s complaints center on the faulty radios used by the fire department that day and what they say was a lack of coordination at Ground Zero.

And Riches disputes the notion that Giuliani provided any form of leadership on September 11 or in the days following.

“If somebody can tell me what he did on 9/11 that was so good, I’d love to hear it. All he did was give information on the TV”

“He did nothing,” Riches continued. “He stood there with a TV reporter and told everyone what was going on. And he got it from everybody else down at the site.”

Please, please, please nominate Giuliani. He doesn't have the temperament to handle this kind of pressure. I want to see the headline "CANDIDATE HITS PROTESTER." I don't ask for much, just this. It'd be the best 9 months ever.

Fire in Griffith Park

I blame Vince Vaughn's character in Made. Actually, the rumor is that it started on the same par-3 golf course that is featured in Swingers.

It's been ridiculously hot and dry here since Sunday, making the firefighters' job even worse. The smoke cloud was enormous this afternoon.

If the Observatory has to shut down, after just opening back up from a five-year hiatus... all right, I might not be that pissed, because I went opening weekend to see it, but still, the irony would be cruel.

Gimme Rudy

In the space of about a week, Rudy Giuliani was lambasted by the nation's largest group of firefighters, his law firm was revealed as a paid lobbyist for a company owned by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and one of his top lieutenants was headed to court on an imminent indictment for tax fraud, illegal eavesdropping and other charges, to which he has already plead guilty in state court.

Let's go Rudy. Make it happen and win that Republican nomination.

The End of Giuliani Time

This is astonishing.

Many people consider Rudy Giuliani "America's Mayor," and many of our members who don't yet know the real story, may also have a positive view of him. This letter is intended to make all of our members aware of the egregious acts Mayor Giuliani committed against our members, our fallen on 9/11, and our New York City union officers following that horrific day [...]

The disrespect that he exhibited to our 343 fallen FDNY brothers, their families and our New York City IAFF leadership in the wake of that tragic day has not been forgiven or forgotten.

In November 2001, our members were continuing the painful, but necessary, task of searching Ground Zero for the remains of our fallen brothers and the thousands of innocent citizens that were killed, because precious few of those who died in the terrorist attacks had been recovered at that point.

Prior to November 2001, 101 bodies or remains of fire fighters had been recovered. And those on the horrible pile at Ground Zero believed they had just found a spot in the rubble where they would find countless more that could be given proper burial.

Nevertheless, Giuliani, with the full support of his Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, decided on November 2, 2001, to sharply reduce the number of those who could search for remains at any one time. There had been as many as 300 fire fighters at a time involved in search and recovery, but Giuliani cut that number to no more than 25 who could be there at once.

In conjunction with the cut in fire fighters allowed to search, Giuliani also made a conscious decision to institute a "scoop-and-dump" operation to expedite the clean-up of Ground Zero in lieu of the more time-consuming, but respectful, process of removing debris piece by piece in hope of uncovering more remains.

Mayor Giuliani's actions meant that fire fighters and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever, with no closure for families, or be removed like garbage and deposited at the Fresh Kills Landfill.

One group of people that you don't mess with in this country... firefighters. Ask Arnold in 2005. The IAFF supported Kerry early in 2004, but they weren't out in front. If Giuliani is the nominee, expect them to be in the headlines for months. It's more advantageous to the firefighter's union, or really any interest group, to be opposing a candidate than to be supporting one. Sadly, negative campaigning works.

I wasn't sure they'd speak out this vocally and this early. Firefighters are unimpeachable. Giuliani is done.

See also here. When your wife and kids no longer speak to you... you've got a long road.

UPDATE: Yes, Giuliani takes the wingnuts back to the glory days of 2002 when they were arrogant, authoritarian and on top of the world. But firefighters attacking him for his callousness will hit him right at his strength. He's running to be President of 9-11. If his performance on that day is tarnished, he's got nothing.