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n2doc's JournalBernie Is the Pragmatic Pick for True Liberals
Hillary Clinton’s realism is overrated.
BY PAUL BLEST
February 24, 2016
Since the Democratic debate in October, where Hillary Clinton labeled herself as a “progressive who gets things done,” her campaign surrogates—such as her husband—and liberal writers like Jonathan Chait and Ezra Klein have argued that Clinton’s pragmatism is preferable to the “idealistic” proposals made by Bernie Sanders. As Chait writes in his case against Sanders, the Vermont senator “offers the left-wing version of a hoary political fantasy: that a more pure candidate can rally the People into a righteous uprising that would unsettle the conventional laws of politics.” In short: Clinton will be able to move the needle a little bit on progressive issues, and a little bit is better than nothing, right?
In truth, neither candidate has much of a chance of getting their desired reforms passed through Congress, at least not for the next several years. And when it comes to the use of executive power, Sanders’s moves would be more likely to satisfy liberal Americans.
Consider healthcare reform. Clinton’s position is that with liberal reforms—such as lowering copays and out-of-pocket expenses, and adding a public option—will eventually get Obamacare to the place all progressives including Sanders want it: universal coverage. Sanders, on the other-hand, wants to scrap Obamacare in favor of a Medicare-for-all plan, theoretically getting to universal coverage much faster. Klein denounced this plan as “vague and unrealistic.”
The House of Representatives has repealed Obamacare over 50 times, and the last time, in January, the Senate sent it to President Obama’s desk for a veto. It wasn’t long ago that Republicans shut down the government over the law. Likewise, on the issue of Wall Street reform, Clinton has said that she wants to improve on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, rather than bring back Glass-Steagall, as Sanders proposes. But Republicans want to kill Dodd-Frank, a modest law that has been weakened since its passage. Tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans? Dead on arrival.
more
https://newrepublic.com/article/130445/bernie-pragmatic-pick-true-liberals
Patients struggle to get medical marijuana in New York
Thousands of critically ill New Yorkers have struggled to access medical marijuana, and some doctors are saying state Department of Health failures are keeping the potentially life-saving drug out of reach.
The state agency mishandled regulations on how doctors certify marijuana patients, including thousands in the Lower Hudson Valley suffering from serious illnesses such as epilepsy and cancer, an investigation by The Journal News/lohud has found.
Questions about conflicts, inaccurate statements and botched dispensary openings have also mounted.
more
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2016/02/24/medical-marijuana-new-york/79655424/
Sanders Opposes Bill to Block GMO Labeling
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 – Sen. Bernie Sanders issued the following statement ahead of the Senate agriculture committee’s hearing on legislation introduced by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) that would block Vermont and other states from requiring labels on genetically modified foods:
“All over this country, people are becoming more conscious about the food they eat and the food they serve their kids. When parents go to the store and purchase food for their children, they have a right to know what they are feeding them.
“The overwhelming majority of Americans favor GMO labeling. We cannot allow the interests of Monsanto and other multi-national food industry corporations to prevail.
“I am very proud that Vermont took the lead nationally to make sure people know what is in the food they eat. Vermont and other states must be allowed to label GMOs.”
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-opposes-bill-to-block-gmo-labeling?utm_content=bufferadaf4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Ramon Castro, Cuban Leader's Older Brother, Dies at Age 91
Source: NYT
Ramon Castro, a lifelong rancher and farmer who bore a strong physical resemblance to younger brother Fidel Castro, has died, Cuban state media announced Tuesday. He was 91.
Widely known by his nickname "Mongo," the white-bearded Ramon Castro preferred tending crops and livestock to the revolutionary political life embraced by his younger siblings Fidel and Raul, who replaced Fidel as Cuba's president in February 2008.
Two years older than Fidel, Ramon was long used to getting double-takes from people who insisted he looked just like his famous brother. At times, Ramon was said to reply that because he was older, Fidel actually looked like him.
Ramon, Fidel and Raul were the second, third and fourth children of Angel Castro, a Spanish-born rancher, and his second wife, Lina Ruz. Angel Castro also had two other children from a previous marriage.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/02/23/world/americas/ap-cb-cuba-obit-ramon-castro.html?_r=0
Get ready for Halloween early: Donald Trump They Live mask
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Trick or Treat Studios is accepting pre-orders for their $70, official They Live Donald Trump Hallowe'en mask, the first in a series of masks based on the 2016 presidential candidates, which will be released in late Sept/early Oct.
As wonderful as this thing is, it seems likely you'll only get one Hallowe'en out of it: either it will be obsolete by 2017 (because the Donald's campaign will be a distant memory), or its use will be punishable by death.
http://www.trickortreatstudios.com/they-live-alien-donald-trump-limited-edition-halloween-mask.html
http://boingboing.net/2016/02/23/donald-trump-they-live-mask.html
Not the Onion:US Study proposes 'nicking' genitals instead of Female Genital Mutilation
FGM IN THE U.S.
A controversial new study published in the Journal of Medical Ethics says “nicking” the genitals of young girls is an acceptable compromise for the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the West.
Arguing that criminalizing FGM in Western countries such as the U.S. and U.K. has pushed the practice underground, the authors suggest a “compromise solution” that would legally permit a minimal form of genital mutilation “in recognition of its cultural and religious obligations.” Despite being perceived as a practice linked to Islam, FGM is a cultural practice that has no basis in religion. No religious texts prescribe FGM, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), while Human Rights Watch says the practice is “erroneously linked” to religion and “is not particular to any religious faith.”
In the study, published on Monday, U.S.-based authors Dr. Kavita Shah Arora, director of quality, obstetrics and gynecology at the MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland and Dr. Allan Jacobs, professor of reproductive medicine at Stony Brook University, write that “in order to better protect female children from the serious and long-term harms of some types of non-therapeutic [FGM], we must adopt a more nuanced position that acknowledges a wide spectrum of procedures that alter female genitalia.”
more
http://www.newsweek.com/fgm-compromise-nick-western-countries-429250
Formula for Beauty: The Geo-Chemistry Behind Rookwood Pottery
By Ben Marks
Some of us look at an eight-place setting of fine porcelain china and see a family gathered for Thanksgiving dinner. Gazing upon a curvaceous piece of art pottery, we immediately picture it up on the mantel, lit by a pin spot and casting seductive shadows on the wall. But when Jim Robinson of Rookwood Pottery looks at a ceramic mixing bowl, a stoneware jug, or even a single piece of architectural tile, he sees rocks.
“Oh, I’m absolutely crackers for geology,” Robinson confirms when we spoke recently. “I was reading John McPhee once,” he says of the famous “New Yorker” writer, “where he talks about how the movement of plate tectonics forces rocks down into subduction zones. When that happens, most common minerals like feldspar melt, but McPhee calls out this one particular mineral compound for its heat resistance—zirconium silicate, what us potters know as zircopax or zircon. Even after being fried inside the earth’s crust for millions of years, zircon doesn’t lose the memory of what it was, which is why potters use zircon to make a glaze opaque. It’s actually zircon’s ability to take the heat that makes it an effective opacifier. So, as I’m reading my McPhee, I’m thinking, ‘Zircon, you dog!’”
Such epiphanies explain why being an amateur geologist is probably not a bad avocation for a glaze chemist, Robinson’s job title for the past seven years at Rookwood in Ohio, and his passion for four decades before that as a “clayworker” (his term) in Oregon. That said, “glaze chemist” doesn’t begin to describe the full extent of Robinson’s role at Rookwood. Sure, he’s developed hundreds of glazes in his relatively brief time there, but he also designs vases, formulates recipes for the clay itself, and generally pitches in when things go haywire. “I work my butt off,” he says with undisguised pride.
more
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-geo-chemistry-behind-rookwood-pottery/
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