How do SEE bias in the news?

Open your eyes.

Here is one example, from Fox News:

ObamaCare's red state rate squeeze

• Reuters
• STUDY FINDS OBAMACARE premiums will be highest in states that did not vote for President Obama, prompting some lawmakers to say it proves 'law picks winners and losers' across the country.

"Study finds Obamacare premiums will be highest in states that did not vote for President Obama ..." ???

So this "proves" that the "law picks winners and losers"???

What?

First, a law cannot pick anything.

Second, premiums go up or down based on a lot of factors, one of which is NOT the candidate for President voted for by citizens.

In fact, one factor that determines rates is whether state governments decided to expand Medicaid. When they did, rates did not increase (or not as much). Then they didn't, rates increased (and increased more).

Turns out, red states generally did not do this, whereas blue states did.

So, the law did not pick winners and losers. The voters in states pick winners and losers.

And for some reason, some voters pick to lose. And keep losing.

Which costs them more money.

Google it.

But at least those same people have an entire news network to tell them it is not their fault.

I saw this once. It actually happens.

We were driving on the Interstate, probably about 70 miles per hour, in the right lane of traffic. Alongside us on the left side of the car a young woman flew by us. In the short amount of time we had to see her as she sped past, this is what we saw:

* a young woman
* driving way too fast
* with a young baby in the front, passenger seat of the car (presumably there is an airbag and whether there is or there isn't, the baby is supposed to be in the backseat!)
* the baby was facing forward instead of backward (major mistake since a baby's head can literally fly right off in a high speed crash)
....

AND
....

* while driving, the young mother was pouring a can of Coke into the baby's bottle. Yes, Coke.

Should anything of this be a crime?

We make behaviors "crimes" because we think they are wrong and/or harmful to other, innocent people.

Does anything above thus make these behaviors worthy of being "crimes?"

Before you answer, consider this story from Salon:

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/10/dont_put_mountain_dew_in_a_baby_bottle/


Turns out lots of people do this sort of thing. And it's not just because they are uninformed about children's health.

It's also because they are poor and don't have access to quality health care, including routine dental care.

Still think it should be a crime? Or what else can we do about it?

"Obamacare" and the Supreme Court: Today is the day!

Today, a bit after 10am EST, the US Supreme Court decides the fate of all or parts of the Affordable Care Act, referred to by many as "Obamacare."

The Court will either set the case aside and rule that it cannot decide a tax issue until the tax imposed on non-payers is actually paid (and this does not happen in 2012!) or the Court will simply rule on the individual mandate part of the law (can Congress require you to buy anything?).

Most observers expect the Court to rule on that issue alone, and leave the rest of the law intact (the Court may also rule on the Medicaid expanasion component). And most think the Court will strike down the mandate by a vote of 5-4 (I have predicted the Court will uphold it by a vote of 6-3, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority opinion).

But the Court could also strike down the whole law, including parts that even a majority of Republicans agree with (like not being able to denied insurance due to having a pre-existing condition or being charged more because you are sick).

So today is an important day. Check back later to see how the media are covering the decision. The talking heads on the news this morning are already talking about how this case will "change the Presidential race" (like that is what matters here). Stay tuned for more ...

UPDATE: Supreme Court upholds the mandate 5-4!

But as I watched CNN and Fox News., each said the individual mandate was struck down! Then on MSNBC they were saying nothing, so I waited. Eventually they said it was upheld and a victory for Obama.

So I turned back to Fox and CNN and they had to correct themselves live!

Here is one example from CNN when they got it wrong:

And here is what Fox News had on their web site prior to the ruling and even a bit after (so much for Fair and Balanced, right?):



Life in prison is good for black men?

That is surely how some legislators will spin this story, from a study of inmates in North Carolina.

From the article:

"Black men are half as likely to die at any given time if they're in prison than if they aren't, suggests a new study of North Carolina inmates.

"The black prisoners seemed to be especially protected against alcohol- and drug-related deaths, as well as lethal accidents and certain chronic diseases."

But why? Here is the kicker:


"Ironically, prisons are often the only provider of medical care accessible by these underserved and vulnerable Americans," said Hung-En Sung of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

"Typically, prison-based care is more comprehensive than what inmates have received prior to their admission," Sung, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health by email.

...

"What's very sad about this is that if we are able to all of a sudden equalize or diminish these health inequalities that you see by race inside a place like prison, it should also be that in places like a poor neighborhood we should be able to diminish these sort of inequities," said Evelyn Patterson, who studies correctional facilities at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

"If it can be done (in prison), then certainly it can happen outside of prison," Patterson, who wasn't linked to the new work, told Reuters Health.
Get that? Black men die more on the outside because they do not have access to quality health care. On the inside--in prison for committing crimes that we abhor--they get quality health care.

Conservatives will probably call for an elimination of quality health care in prisons, because after all, criminals don't deserve quality health care, paid for by taxpayers.

Liberals might say, let's just make sure we provide access to quality health care to all, since it is a human right.

Either way, it is a sad reality that, for many, quality of health care is better in prison than it is in the free world. That's a horrific indictment of our society and what its people find permissible.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/14/us-prison-blacks-idUSTRE76D71920110714

Speaking of the law, another judge rules health care law unconstitutional

From the article:


"Judge Roger Vinson has suggested strongly that he ... will rule the individual mandate oversteps constitutional limits on federal authority. He may also move to invalidate the entire law, by granting the plaintiff states' request for an injunction to halt its implementation.

"The power that the individual mandate seeks to harness is simply without prior precedent," Vinson wrote in an earlier opinion in October.

"Speaking during another hearing last month, he added that it would be "a giant leap" for the courts to encroach on the freedom of citizens to buy or not buy a commercial product."

Interestingly, the "70-year-old appointee of President Ronald Reagan even noted that he himself had been uninsured, paying out of pocket when the first of his five children was born."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_nm/us_usa_healthcare_states

Interesting political news from the first day of the new Congress

They pledged to repeal the new health care law (which by the way is impossible).

Yet, they also pledged to reduce the deficit.

Only, repealing the health care law will add to the deficit.

So, what to do?

Why is this on a blog about crime?

Because it ought to be illegal for more than 30 million Americans to be uninsured in the richest nation on Earth.

And with comments like this one, we'll have to start calling him BONER from now on:

"... the best health-care system in the world is going to go down the drain if we don't act" (House Majority Leader John Boehner).

For the record, our rankings from the World Health Organization and CIA World Fact Book put us nowhere near the top in any health rankings.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/06/AR2011010606159.html