Well, let me tell you. Yes, I can actually tell the future here. The House today will vote to repeal health care reform passed just last year... But The Senate won't dare touch this bill, and President Obama won't even have to veto it because it won't get anywhere in The Senate. (Thanks, Harry!)
518,000 residents who are uninsured and 132,000 residents who have individual market insurance will gain access to affordable coverage.
311,000 residents will qualify for premium tax credits to help them purchase health coverage.
328,000 seniors will receive free preventive services and 58,200 seniors will have their drug costs in the Medicare Part D “donut hole” covered over time.
30,300 small businesses will be eligible for tax credits for premiums.
9,400 young adults will be eligible for quality affordable coverage through their parents
Premium Tax Credits to Expand Private Insurance Coverage in Nevada:
Reform will provide $5 billion in premium tax credits and cost-sharing tax credits for residents in Nevada from 2014 to 2019 to purchase private health insurance.
Reduced Premiums:
Health insurance reform will lower premiums in the nongroup market by 14 to 20% for the same benefits – premium savings of $1,380 to $1,970 for a family in Nevada.
Increased Medicaid Support:
The Federal government will fully fund the coverage expansion for the first three years of the policy, and continue substantial support, paying for 90% of costs after 2020, compared to Nevada’s current FMAP of 50.2%.
In total, Nevada could receive $3.6 billion more dollars in federal funds for Medicaid as a result of the expansion from 2014 to 2019.
Improved Value for Medicare Advantage:
The 228,000 seniors in Nevada who are not enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan will no longer cross subsidize these private plans, saving $45 in premium costs per year.
The proposal will gradually move toward a fair payment system that rewards performance.
Again, we're talking about real help for real Nevadans. This is what's at stake. Remember this as talk of repealing health care reform in the "mainstream media" swirls down the drain of 2012 politics and ignores the actual policy.
Before I leave the door this morning, I just wanted to share some stories I'm keeping my eye on:
- Rep. Joe Heck (R-WAY uphill from my house) gets another mention in today's Sun. Basically, he's basking in the glow of all the media attention and love from GOP leadership. Sounds nice, I guess, but will he remember that District 3 needs a representative in Congress (not just another politician looking to use this seat to jump to higher office)?
- Justin McAfee, of The Nevada View, wonders if the "tea party" can really last much longer. It seems whenever times are turbulent, American politics gets shaken up by extremists and/or opportunists hoping to benefit from populist rage. Will the teabaggers eventually join the likes of The Know-nothings, The Populists, and Ross Perot's Reform Party in the dustbin of history?
- Today's Reno Gazette Journal has an interesting article on Bill Raggio, "The Lion of the Legislature", who was forced by a foot injury to retire from The State Senate. Wow. He's been winning and losing elections almost as long as my dad has been alive!
- And finally, it sounds like Maven was feeling as frustrated as I was yesterday. Really, what have we done with Dr. King's dream?
In the next week, I'll continue to track the aftermath of the Arizona Tragedy, what's coming up in the 2011 session of The Nevada Legislature, and take a look at what Nevada's members of Congress are up to. Stay tuned!
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had a dream. All too often, we don't talk about the entire dream. And all too often, we don't want to talk about our failures over the last four decades to get anywhere close to that dream.
So where are we? And what has happened to King's dream? When did the dream become this nightmare?
Not that long ago, it was easy to just laugh off "tea party" extremism as silly... But look at what's happened. And for far too long, questions of inequality have been placed aside. And as we wonder when our occupation of Iraq will end, when our occupation of Afghanistan will come to a close, and when another military invasion and occupation might ensue, we must wonder if we've become far too much of a culture of violence.
What happened? What happened to Dr. King's dream? Where have we gone wrong in the last 43 years? Why are so many of our people still treated as "second class citizens"? Why do we never have the resources to help our people help themselves, but we somehow always have more money to wage more wars? Why have we become so violent toward each other?
These are the questions I have today. As six people have been buried in Tucson, our country is still mired in two wars abroad, Congress is set to debate (again) why we should or shouldn't have access to affordable health care, and federal courts consider whether queer folk actually have Constitutional rights, we need to ask ourselves what happened to Dr. King's dream... And how we can finally turn the dream deferred into the dream fulfilled.
The lawmakers got an ear and an eye full as they were quick-marched, among other classes, through a risk-management class, an advanced-placement government class, and an elementary school mathematics class where second-graders sang about “My Hero, the Zero.”
It was also an opportunity for School District officials to lobby a captive audience of legislators. Lauren Kohut-Rost, deputy superintendent of instruction, asked the assemblymen on the bus, “What is $189 million?”
When no one knew, she answered her own question: “That’s the dollar amount the Class of 2010 at Clark High School won in scholarships last year.”
There are some amazing kids doing amazing things at our schools... But that may change, and not for the better, if school budgets are further slashed to death.
If politics were principle based, we could get a lot more done. Since we all agree that our efforts would be better spent teaching a man to fish than just handing him one, perhaps we should agree to keep our education system accessible and affordable so all people can learn to fish. [...]
While our tax environment in Nevada is one of the best in the nation for businesses, our overall business environment is horrible because of our poorly funded education system. Ikea and other businesses will continue to pass up coming here if we refuse to change.
The very conservative neighbor state of Arizona has more taxes and spends more on education than we do because they see business opportunity over ideological stubbornness. If we truly want to be business friendly, we need to provide services in this state that attract business. Education is number one on that list. To do this, conservatives need to write their legislators and tell them that education is too important to cut.
People were there to thank Shelley for what she's been doing, ask her about upcoming legislation, ask for help with various federal agencies. Again, at any point last year this would have been considered just another day at Shelley's office in Las Vegas. But today, this means something more. Today, this means our democracy is getting back to work.
I would never say that the Tea Party wanted somebody to put a bullet in Gabrielle Giffords' head, but at the same time, you can't tell me that everybody in that movement feels bad that it happened.
I would never claim that talk-show lemmings—who leapfrog each other in a desperate attempt to be the one who is most out there—are giving secret orders to listeners to go out and shoot members of Congress, but at the same time, you can't tell me that the ratcheting up of the vile content by some of these creeps isn't enough to push some Travis Bickle-wannabe over the edge.
And I don't believe that Sarah Palin wanted Gabby Giffords to get shot, but damn you if you try to claim that putting a bulls-eye over the district of a United States congresswoman is all just good, clean fun.
This all goes way past disingenuous. You can't build a bonfire in a clearing and then deny any culpability when the embers get caught in the breeze and ignite dry tinder somewhere downwind. You don't have to ascribe to chaos theory to make that connection. You do, however, have to practice self-delusion on a grand scale to claim that the connection doesn't exist.
As Rush Limbaugh himself loves to say, words mean things; words are important. Messages tend to morph and degrade as they are passed along from one person to the next, even if they are done so on a word-for-word basis. It should surprise no one that hate speech that is spewed as self-congratulatory cleverness can, after a few iterations, become an insistent whisper in some nut-job's head.
Many Tucsonans understand this. After all, they've been living this nightmare for the last week. And they saw firsthand the build-up of anger from all the diatribes of the last two years.
Words matter. People matter. Actions matter. That's why it's critical for all of us to lead by example.
And I'm reminded of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's speech last night. Yes, you heard me right. I've had plenty of policy disagreements with her before, but that's just it. Those disagreements over policy should not negate someone's human value and should not prevent us from finding common ground.
I appreciate what Governor Brewer is doing there, as well as President Obama's words yesterday. Hopefully, we can all continue to learn from their example.
Gabby Giffords is healing and recovering... And perhaps our democracy can, too. I guess some on the extreme right, a few on the far left, and others will continue slinging mud and hurling dung until the cows come home, but that doesn't mean our government has to plagued with vitriol and reduced to paralysis just because the "tea party" demands its pound of flesh and no one wants to negotiate in good faith.
I'm actually proud to live in a community that reacted the way it did, from the woman who grabbed a spare magazine away from the shooter, to the emergency-response teams and medical personnel who all did their jobs heroically. I'm especially proud of Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who spoke his mind and did his job while wearing his emotions on his sleeve. He focused in with laser-like precision and told all the Tree of Liberty jackasses what they could do with their cooler heads.
I don't want to hear about "senseless tragedy." This was a calculated act with a cause and an effect. Let's just hope that part of that effect is to admit that the cause exists—and to take peaceful steps to deal with it.
Perhaps we can all learn from the good people of Tucson.
I guess House GOP leadership won't be waiting for Gabby Giffords to be discharged from the hospital to embark on this.
Staff for Eric Cantor informs Greg Sargent that the "Dems want to kill jobs and your grandma Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act" has been scheduled for next week. (And they are not changing the name, no matter how crass and inflammatory it is after the Giffords shooting.)
I was really hoping that after the horrific tragedy of last week, that perhaps Speaker Boehner would reconsider this. After what happened, the last thing we need is any more inflammatory crap. We all know repeal of health care reform will likely pass in the new House, but we also know repeal will likely fail in The Senate, and that Obama wouldn't sign it anyway. But even more important than internal Congressional politics, repealing health care reform would add to the budget deficit, hurt our economy, and allow the insurance industry to again abuse the system to charge us more and give us less health care.
518,000 residents who are uninsured and 132,000 residents who have individual market insurance will gain access to affordable coverage.
311,000 residents will qualify for premium tax credits to help them purchase health coverage.
328,000 seniors will receive free preventive services and 58,200 seniors will have their drug costs in the Medicare Part D “donut hole” covered over time.
30,300 small businesses will be eligible for tax credits for premiums.
9,400 young adults will be eligible for quality affordable coverage through their parents
Premium Tax Credits to Expand Private Insurance Coverage in Nevada:
Reform will provide $5 billion in premium tax credits and cost-sharing tax credits for residents in Nevada from 2014 to 2019 to purchase private health insurance.
Reduced Premiums:
Health insurance reform will lower premiums in the nongroup market by 14 to 20% for the same benefits – premium savings of $1,380 to $1,970 for a family in Nevada.
Increased Medicaid Support:
The Federal government will fully fund the coverage expansion for the first three years of the policy, and continue substantial support, paying for 90% of costs after 2020, compared to Nevada’s current FMAP of 50.2%.
In total, Nevada could receive $3.6 billion more dollars in federal funds for Medicaid as a result of the expansion from 2014 to 2019.
Improved Value for Medicare Advantage:
The 228,000 seniors in Nevada who are not enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan will no longer cross subsidize these private plans, saving $45 in premium costs per year.
The proposal will gradually move toward a fair payment system that rewards performance.
So why is it necessary for Congress to engage in some ridiculous pomp and circumstance over legislation that would hurt our budget, hurt our families, hurt our economy, and hurt health care consumers? So some Republican politicians can score political points with the teabaggers? How about Congress working on real legislation that might allow for real progress for our country for a change?
The event billed as a memorial service for victims of the Tucson, Ariz., massacre turned into what critics called a "pep rally," with cheering and hooting and hollering crowds. I don't understand what bothered people, because it was clear to me from the start: The University of Arizona crowd was celebrating the heroism that was on display last Saturday, when ordinary people became heroes and saved lives. And they were cheering the very idea of America.
There it was, folks, Saturday morning and again Wednesday night: our country, as good as it gets. Remember how great it looked and felt and sounded, when things inevitably get ugly again. Reagan-appointed Supreme Court Justice Sandra O'Connor, now retired, sat admiringly next to Daniel Hernandez Jr., the 20-year-old Gabrielle Giffords intern who helped save her life Saturday (who happens to be gay and Mexican American). Attorney General Eric Holder was side by side with Gov. Jan Brewer, whose racial profiling law he's fighting. The service began with an Indian blessing from Dr. Carlos Gonzales, who described his mother as Mexican, his father as a Yaqui survivor of "genocide," and his son as a soldier in Afghanistan, who praised "this great country, where a poor barrio kid from the south side of Tucson could get an education at a fine institution like the University of Arizona -- and then, even better, come back and teach here."
Like it or not, that's American history: We are imperfect, descended from people who took land from Indians and Mexicans and who held slaves, but also from people who fought for equal rights for everyone, and who, over time, managed to create laws and values and customs that (mostly) do that. Daniel Hernandez began his speech with the words "e pluribus unum" -- out of many, one -- and even if it's not an ideal we always live up to, it's the best idea we've ever had as a nation. President Obama delivered what I think was his best speech ever, but for a while Wednesday night, Hernandez stole the show, reminding us "what defines us is not difference ... we are all Americans," and rejecting the label "hero," since he said, "The real heroes are those who have dedicated their lives to public service." Obama correctly differed with Hernandez, congratulating him as a hero for helping to save Giffords' life.
E pluribus unum. When did we lose this? And how can we get it back? President Obama's speech last night gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, we can find our way again.
It's already encouraging to see Giffords recover, but I hope that as she recovers, our representative democracy also recovers. For far too long, our system has been ripped apart. People have been intimidated out of participating. Congress has often descended to a madhouse of constant "political warfare". We have to get past this.
So will we? Will we see the kind of change that Americans have been longing for so long? Will we see our government work? Will we see inflammatory rhetoric on caustic politics replaced with honest dialogue on good policy? I think this may very well be the best way we can honor Gabby Giffords, the other survivors of last Saturday's attack, and all those we've lost.
Just as Americans keep asking what happened last weekend and what we can do to stop the madness, the "mad hatters" of the "tea party" continue to be more preoccupied with gaining some sort of "political advantage" after this.
"Clarabelle Dopenik." That's what one wit on the popular conservative Web site freerepublic.com called Clarence Dupnik, the Pima County, Arizona sheriff who turns 75 this week. Elected continuously since 1980, he is the public face of the investigation into the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 19 others. He is also, according to bloggers on that site, "an incompetent unhinged sonofabitch" and "a jerk" "using this tragedy for baseless, cheap political shots."
Sheriff Dupnik's crime was decrying
"the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business.... When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government -- the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on this country is getting to be outrageous, and unfortunately Arizona has become sort of the capital.... People tend to pooh-pooh this business about all the vitriol we hear inflaming the American public by people who make a living off of doing that. That may be free speech, but it's not without consequences."
The problem with Sheriff Dupnik's calling out vitriol, blogged one conservative, was that it was actually "calling out Rush, Glen[n], Sean and Fox!!!!!" Dupnik was, wrote another, "inciting violence accusing Rush, tea parties, Palin, and Republicans of bigotry and murder."
What threatened the right the most was losing control of the national political narrative. Until the slayings in the Safeway parking lot, the master story had been the triumphant G.O.P. sweeping into Congress to repeal "the job-killing health care bill." But as of Saturday, the new story connected the dots between the inflammatory rhetoric of McCain/Palin events in 2008, the ugly confrontations at congressional town halls in the summer of 2009, the "lock and load" cackling of the 2010 campaign - and the cultural climate of the Tucson murders. Within the space of a few hours, the story had been transformed from a revenge narrative (Obama brought low) to a soul-searching meta-narrative: How has our society come to this season in hell, and what must be done to heal us?
Former Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle has spoken out against the shootings in Tucson this weekend that included Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- who remains in critical condition after being shot in the head -- saying that "expanding the context of the attack to blame and to infringe upon the people's Constitutional liberties is both dangerous and ignorant."
Angle has been repeatedly mentioned by the media in the wake of the shootings, for her comments during the campaign: "People are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying, my goodness, what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you, the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out."
Politico reports that Angle now says that "the irresponsible assignment of blame to me, Sarah Palin or the TEA Party movement by commentators and elected officials puts all who gather to redress grievances in danger." [...]
She continued: "Finger-pointing towards political figures is an audience-rating game and contradicts the facts as they are known - that the shooter was obsessed with his twisted plans long before the TEA Party movement began."
Angle added that the shooting "is a horrifying and senseless tragedy, and should be condemned as a single act of violence by a single unstable individual" and that she has "consistently called for reasonable political dialogue on policy issues to encourage civil political education and debate."
And Sarah Palin is joining her in doing the same... And making sure we know that SHE is somehow the real victim here.
After nearly a week of silence and waves of bad press, Sarah Palin finally speaks. To Facebook.
Since journalists and pundits are manufacturing "blood libel," the former Alaskan governer must want to speak directly to the people. However, as The Guardian points out, she probably could've picked a better phrase to describe the media's unified attack against her use of violent rhetoric -- most notably putting Giffords in the crosshairs on a campaign poster distributed before the shootings.
"Blood libel" according to Wikipedia:
"Blood libel (also blood accusation) refers to a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, almost always Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays. Historically, these claims have–alongside those of well poisoning and host desecration–been a major theme in European persecution of Jews."
Also, Gabrielle Giffords is Jewish. Oh dear.
Really, Sarah? Really, Sharron? So everything is all hunky dory and coming up rainbows because Palin never actually took out a pistol to duel with Joe Biden during the 2008 Vice Presidential Debate? And it's obvious that Angle has always been about "reasonable political dialogue on policy issues" because she didn't actually take out her "best friends, Smith and Wesson" when she was debating Harry Reid last fall?
[... I]t's difficult to directly link violent political rhetoric like Sarah Palin's illustration showing gun sight cross hairs on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' Arizona district to the shattering of Giffords' office door after her vote for health insurance reform last March or Jared L. Loughner's shooting spree last weekend that left six dead and Giffords and 13 others wounded.
What is clear, however, is that vile and threatening communication that becomes so repetitive that it's routine has the effect of sanctioning an atmosphere of violence.
Conservatives are yammering that they're not the only ones who engage in brutal rhetoric. That's true. But in a contest for production of violent words and images, Republicans would, to use their words, "kill" the Democrats.
The Department of Homeland Security concluded in an April 2009 internal report that right-wing extremism, with a growing potential for violence, was on the rise. That was followed last spring by Capitol security officials reporting a tripling of threats against members of Congress -- almost all from opponents of health care reform -- in other words, from Republicans, right-wingers or people influenced by GOP TV and radio front men who personally profit from the hostile climate they generate.
I remember that report. And I remember the teabaggers whining about how that report was trying to "criminalize politics". So that report was ignored... And this happened...
"Read what Jefferson said about the 'tree of liberty'. It's coming."
"It's time to water the tree of liberty."
This isn't even about health care any more with these radical righties. For them, it's all about racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia... To sum it up in one word, hate. And how sick are the GOP & sick care industry to actually use this thinly veiled hate to rile up these people and encourage them to start violence!
I actually don't mind debating the merits of universal health care with rational conservatives that want to talk about the economics of health care. Where are they? Has today's Republican leadership scared them all out of the party? Are the GOP, the HMOs, and the pharmaceutical companies so afraid of rational discussion of health care that they have to resort to this?
Violence should NOT be condoned, and xenophobia should not be celebrated. If the GOP wants to debate us on health care, then I encourage it. I'm not afraid or making good arguments, and I know many more progressives who feel the same. However, I am afraid of this "teabagger/birther/deather" cult, fully funded by the GOP and the sick care industry, becoming increasingly violent.
I wrote that back in August 2009. And I was already starting to fear what would eventually bear fruit in January 2011. And for Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, and others to blithely ignore the consequences of "politics" turning violent is nothing short of horrifying.
Maybe we need to pay more attention to Gabrielle Giffords herself, and to outgoing Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R).
The friendly email Republican Trey Grayson got from Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) last Friday night, congratulating him on a new job, came amid a flood of similar messages. The Kentucky Secretary of State, and erstwhile Senate candidate, recently accepted a position as director of Harvard University's Institute of Politics. It was only the next day that Giffords' message took on a particular significance.
"After you get settled, I would love to talk about what we can do to promote centrism and moderation," Giffords wrote. "I am one of only 12 Dems left in a GOP district (the only woman) and think that we need to figure out how to tone our rhetoric and partisanship down."
On Saturday, Giffords was shot in the head at an event in Tucson, by a gunman who killed six and wounded 13 others. Giffords miraculously survived, but remains in critical condition. As the national conversation turned to what role, if any, violent political rhetoric played in the shooting, Grayson's office released Giffords' email.
"If we could honor Gabby, honor other victims, by having this conversation, and actually doing it, it's a way to honor them," Grayson told TPM in a phone interview.
Grayson, who said he was "really disturbed by how it immediately became political on both sides" after the shooting, said he and Giffords spoke often about the need for more civil discourse. Friday's message was just the latest dispatch in a years-long back and forth of texts and emails.
"We want to have good Republicans and want to have good Democrats," he said, citing the close relationship between the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as an example. "If we would show that a little more publicly, maybe, maybe that would help."
I hope we can learn and we can stop repeating these scary mistakes.
The real-life version of the crime that played out on the casino’s security cameras last month was as daring as anything dreamed up by Hollywood. But it would have made for a poor movie, as it was neither sexy nor sophisticated. And it presented little physical risk to the thief inside the Bellagio — one of many major casinos that tell unarmed security staff to stand down during armed robberies to avoid violence in a crowd.
To casino security experts, it also shows how casinos are vulnerable to theft at a time when other gambling crimes are rising in the poor economy.
Layoffs have affected many departments of the big casinos, including security and surveillance. Less security, experts say, may have motivated the Dec. 14 incident when an armed thief grabbed about $1.5 million in chips off a craps game in the predawn hours and got away on a motorcycle parked just outside. Moreover, Nevada law doesn’t require a guard by each entrance as they are in many other states or countries with casinos that refuse entrance to children and, in some cases, check IDs.
That’s why casino security consultant Willy Allison says the major Strip casinos, for all their high-tech bells and whistles to track crime, “have the worst casino security in the world.”
“You’ve got a better chance of walking into a hooker at the entrance of some of these casinos than a security officer,” said Allison, who organizes the annual World Game Protection Conference in Las Vegas.
That's from Liz Benston's chilling article in today's Sun about the shortcomings of casino security on The Strip. And remember, we are still most likely the most visited place on earth with over 37 million visitors per year. And Las Vegas Boulevard is the #1 attraction here. As it's been said many times before, we are such an attractive target for prospective terrorists that we can't afford to ignore this.
The video on top is from last month's infamous Bellagio robbery. Thankfully, no one was injured then... But what could have happened if someone with far more sinister motives had attacked? Or if someone with serious mental issues had just lashed out? Or if the robber had just decided to turn violent? Do we really want to see any of these scenarios approach real life?
[F]or the past two years, many conservative leaders, activists, and media figures have made a habit of trying to delegitimize their political opponents. Not just arguing against their opponents, but doing everything possible to turn them into enemies of the country and cast them out beyond the pale. Instead of “soft on defense,” one routinely hears the words “treason” and “traitor.” The President isn't a big-government liberal—he's a socialist who wants to impose tyranny. He's also, according to a minority of Republicans, including elected officials, an impostor. Even the reading of the Constitution on the first day of the 112th Congress was conceived as an assault on the legitimacy of the Democratic Administration and Congress.
This relentlessly hostile rhetoric has become standard issue on the right. (On the left it appears in anonymous comment threads, not congressional speeches and national T.V. programs.) And it has gone almost entirely uncriticized by Republican leaders. Partisan media encourages it, while the mainstream media finds it titillating and airs it, often without comment, so that the gradual effect is to desensitize even people to whom the rhetoric is repellent. We’ve all grown so used to it over the past couple of years that it took the shock of an assassination attempt to show us the ugliness to which our politics has sunk.
Again, I am reminded of what happenedlast year. A number of Harry Reid and Nevada Democratic events were on The Strip, including the November 2 victory party at Aria. At one point, some "tea party" group was looking to have an election night party there as well.
At some points, it seemed Nevada was precariously close to violent explosion as the Senate campaign was heating up. Even though the vast majority of Nevadans knew better and behaved better, there were always a few on the fringe who lashed out. Have we learned from the bitter campaign of last year and the horrific Arizona tragedy of last week? And are Clark County law enforcement and Strip casinos prepared to fend off someone intent on wreaking violent havoc on Las Vegas?
I’m not going to suggest that such correlations necessarily mean that self-described Tea Party supporters are more violent, or prone to commit or support violent acts against the government. But when there’s enough smoke, reasonable people might be forgiven thinking there is a fire somewhere.
Add to this, the influence of Fox News and similar media outlets, who have undertaken a deliberate campaign of mis-information designed to fan the flames of Tea Party mistrust - because it makes for great ratings, and even greater revenues for them, while their pundits enjoy even brisker book sales and public appearance ticket receipts. It isn’t ideology that drives that train - it’s money. [...]
I’ll tell you what the real tragedy of all this could be. That come a year from now, and nothing has changed. We’ll have ‘moved on’ to the next crisis. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of moving on before having made a good faith and BIPARTISAN attempt to fix what’s wrong.
Even with all the security in the world enveloping The Las Vegas Strip, we may still be in danger... Because of our own hot heads. Again, we must rethink how we do "politics" these days. Without a doubt, there are also issues of gun safety, mental health care, law enforcement, and much more that must be addressed at the local, state, and national levels, all of us "ordinary people" can do something about this... Now.
Steve Sebelius adds much needed sense to the debate raging on cable and on the net.
[N]either Angle nor Palin pulled the trigger on Saturday. Neither Angle nor Palin told Loughner to do what he did.
I wonder if perhaps people such as Angle and Palin — and anybody else who uses the rhetoric of violence in a political context — may want to consider that there are people out there who aren’t quite sane. That these people may interpret that language far more literally than the rest of us, and even act on it, with deadly results. This is especially true in a political and economic environment where desperation is high, reason is scarce and hatred is plentiful.
Following the shooting, the sheriff of Pima County, Clarence Dupnik, blamed the vitriol in the political arena for the tragedy, saying his state (with its anti-illegal immigration law) had become ground zero for that vitriol. “That may be free speech, but it’s not without consequences,” he said.
Indeed, our free speech does have consequences. And while those consequences should never be cause for us to circumscribe our rights, they should at least give us pause before we exercise them. This is America, after all, a democratic republic, where we settle our disputes with ballots, not bullets. Or at least, where we should.
You know, Rachel Maddow has a point. This wasn't really "unimaginable". It's been happening all over the country...
So might the next horrifying American massacre happen here in Nevada? At UNR? Near an Elko mine? At a casino on Las Vegas Boulevard? At a brothel in Pahrump? Perhaps so.
On July 7, 1995, Senate Bill 299 was signed into law, and soon afterward, thousands of Nevada residents took advantage of the law that allowed them to carry a handgun concealed upon them. A steady stream of Nevadans have been obtaining carry of concealed weapon permits ever since. In 1999, Assembly Bill 166 made legal concealed carry possible in more public places.
Registration
Clark County requires registration of handguns only. All other counties have no registration of any guns.
Background Check
All Nevada counties implement the national background check through the Nevada Highway Patrol. By state law, any private party may access Nevada's background check system for the purpose of checking the background of a potential gun purchaser. Currently, the check costs $25.
Open Carry
In Nevada, you may carry a loaded or unloaded firearm on your person without a permit so long as the firearm is fully exposed (known as "open carry"). An example of open carry is when a handgun is carried in an "outside the pants" hip holster. Full or partial concealment (such as a purse, jacket, etc.) is considered concealed carry.
And here's what's been happening.
With more guns sold and registered per capita than anywhere in the U.S., Nevada is a gun state - always has been.
It also is the gun-death state. According to the Center for Disease Control, since 2000, Nevada has led the nation with an average of 26 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people.
War-torn Iraq averaged 32 gun deaths per 100,000 people last year, according to the same study.
At least once a year, an accidental gun death here makes national headlines.
And here's the frightening reality of how incredibly easy it is for some mentally disturbed person or deranged sociopath to obtain lethal firearms in Nevada.
According to the latest scorecard by the National Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Nevada fails miserably when it comes to curbing illegal firearm trafficking, conducting background checks, promoting child safety, banning assault weapons, and keeping guns out of public places.
Nevada received only 11 points out of a possible 100. [...]
While there is no state law requiring a waiting period for first-time handgun buyers, [Gun store owner Bob] Irwin says Clark County has a 3-day restriction.
Yet anyone can buy a handgun or assault weapon on the spot at a Nevada gun show — no questions asked.
“I can’t believe that’s allowed. It’s putting people at risk,” said Maria Outcalt with Domestic Violence Prevention.
It’s that easy access that has Outcalt convinced that stronger gun control laws would help curb violence.
While our gun laws are not nearly as lax as Arizona's, they're certainly "forgiving" enough for someone who otherwise shouldn't be carrying guns to access them.
Yes, yes, I've heard that famous clause: "Guns don't kill. People do." But you know what? When mentally disturbed people can access extremely lethal "weapons of mass distruction" so easily at the neighborhood gun store or local gun show, that's a serious problem.
Nevada's mental health director says this state ranks near the bottom of per person spending on services. And it's just about to get worse with deep budget cuts.
Jared Loughner's mindset and motives before the Tucson shooting are now under scrutiny. Those who know him these past years paint a picture of a mentally disturbed young man, describing his as ranting, destructive and threatening. Fellow students feared he might bring a gun to the school. [...]
[Las Vegas/Clark County] Metro police say there are around 6,000 cases of mental health detainments every year. Those detainments last up to 72 hours and then the state may get involved if there's and issue.
State mental health services face a 14 percent cut and program eliminations this year which is in addition to cuts they have suffered in previous years. UMC's Emergency Chief Dale Carrison spoke to the I-Team last fall about the backlog.
"We've medically cleared them. Now, there's a big line, and if southern Nevada adult mental health for some reason can't turn the patients over, than it builds up."
Nevada's budget cuts this year are likely to include mental health court. It's a program designed to get convicted mental ill people into treatment programs so jail is not their only option.
Back in December, then Governor-elect Brian Sandoval didn't wince as news was leaking of severe budget cuts in the pipeline. And if that wasn't bad enough, The Nevada View reported just last week my new State Senator, Michael Roberson (R-Henderson), hinted at the renewed "tea party" effort to push a "cuts only" budget agenda that would gut the very mental health resources that can possibly prevent another mentally unstable person from taking to violence here in Clark County, as Jared Lee Loughner did in Tucson last week.
Sure, Loughner's homicidal outburst might have been affected by anti-government rhetoric and political diatribes on the Internet or on the airwaves. But we're missing the point if that's all we focus on.
Arizona has implemented dramatic cuts in mental health services in the last few years, as have states across the nation. And if the national healthcare reform bill is repealed, as government-shrinking crusaders are promising, more mental health services will be lost.
Loughner was able to buy a gun — the gun authorities said he used to shoot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others at a supermarket — despite numerous interactions with authorities suggesting he was unstable. If you're surprised, you shouldn't be. Many in this country have worked hard to make it easier to get guns than mental health services, even after the Virginia Tech massacre of 2006, in which 32 people were killed by a young man who was mentally ill.
Now let me pause here to clarify something, because the last thing I want to do is make the stigma surrounding mental illness worse than it is, or to suggest that you ought to pick up the phone and call authorities every time you see someone who acts a little peculiar.
The vast majority of people with mental illness aren't dangerous. But a small minority will become violent, especially those with severe symptoms that go untreated. Ironically, one reason so many don't seek help is because of the stigma, along with the fact that this country has never given mental health treatment the priority it deserves. If you doubt that, just take a look at recent reports on the military's disinclination to diagnose and treat traumatic brain injury in soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.
What the Arizona tragedy ought to spark is not a hysterical conversation about politics, but an honest conversation on the need for earlier diagnosis and better education about mental illness. Since the first signs of delusional behavior often emerge in the late teens and early 20s, teachers and staff at high schools and colleges should be trained to recognize the signs of mental disorders and intervene effectively.
I know from experience that it isn't always easy to convince someone to seek help or to predict the behavior of someone who has severe mental disorders. But although mental illness can't be cured, it can often be treated and managed in a way that relieves suffering for those afflicted, as well as for their families, and helps prevent tragedy.
While California's own mental health resources have been strained due to budget cuts there, they at least have something. Both Arizona and Nevada have next to nothing. Strangely enough, it's far easier here to buy a gun than to get help. This is nothing short of frightening.
As usual, Desert Beacon sheds more light on this pressing issue.
The consequences may be not always be nationally tragic, but for families and individuals trapped by the debilitation of mental diseases the results are always tragic. And not always addressed -- as demonstrated by this commentary from a nurse: "Having spent many years of my life working in a locked psychiatric unit as a nurse, I can attest that the majority of our schizophrenic clients, though sometimes frightening, especially to those not familiar with the illness, were not dangerous. However, clients diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia will sometimes act on their paranoid delusions. I have personally seen how difficult our mental health system can be to navigate. Family members would call me and beg for help, but help is available only under a very special set of circumstances. Sometimes people will seek treatment voluntarily, however, in order to commit a person involuntarily they have to meet certain criteria, either DTS (danger to self), DTO (danger to others) or GD(gravely disabled). The greater problem is that now it is very difficult to obtain any type of outpatient treatment, as insurance generally will not pay for it, or pay only a very small amount. Most people simply cannot afford any more to pay for mental health treatment."
We know that Loughner appears to have some traits associated with mental illness, including confused and distorted thought patterns, implying his receptivity to conspiracy theories, both internally and externally derived. We may infer that he acted on these, which adds another layer to the overall diagnosis. Those who had contact with him at Pima Community College report that he was removed from a math class by a counselor and a police officer, was suspended, and later agreed to withdraw from school in October. [WaPo]
What help he might have sought, or what assistance might have been sought for him, have yet to be revealed publicly. However, it's clear that obtaining mental health services is at least as difficult as the nurse-commenter referenced above. Google "state mental health budget cuts" and you'll get at least 22,200,000 results. Mental health advocates in Texas are worried about the impact of decreased funding, [KHOU] advocates in Mississippi are worried as well, they may be facing cuts of 15%. [LaurelLdr] Mental health budgets have been slashed in Oklahoma. [KRMG] At the top of the list of NAMI's Ten States Hurt by the Mental Health Budget cuts, is Arizona. Nevada stands 7th on that listing. [...]
Before anyone in Nevada is tempted to pass judgment on Arizona's situation in terms of mental and behavioral health services, we should note that in 2006 Nevada received a "D" grade from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and the same "D" grade three years later in 2009. In health promotion and measurement terms (evidence based practices, emergency room waiting time, quantity of psychiatric beds) Nevada got an "F." Nevada got a 45% "D" for financing, Medicaid reimbursements to providers to evidence based providers, and more; another "D" for measures such as consumer and family access to essential information from the state, promotion of consumer run programs, and family/peer education and support. There was another "F" for state support of activities requiring collaboration among state mental health agencies and other state agencies and systems. Among the "urgent needs" suggested by the NAMI: (1) restore inpatient staffing levels; (2) increased support for case management, medications, and therapy; and (3) increased resources for supportive housing options.
Interestingly enough, this week's news was supposed to be dominated by upcoming Congressional debate over repealing health care reform... The very same health care reform legislation that included efforts to improve mental health care.
The law signed by President Obama last week expands parity to a much wider pool, making it possible for millions more people to get the same coverage for substance abuse and illnesses like bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia as they would for, say, diabetes or cancer. There are no exact figures, but the mentally ill are more likely to be uninsured than the general population, advocates and researchers say.
“A lot of this still has to play out in terms of how parity works,” said Michael J. Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, an advocacy group. But the new law “can change the mental health system in America and really give families and individuals an opportunity to get a level of access to care we could only fantasize about before this became law,” he said.
Parity means that deductibles, co-payments and limits on the number of visits or days of coverage must be no more restrictive for coverage of mental illnesses and substance abuse than for coverage of medical and surgical treatments. If a plan provides for out-of-network medical benefits, it must provide out-of-network mental health benefits.
Under the new health law, employees of companies with 50 or fewer workers, whose employers were not required to comply with the existing parity law, would receive equal mental health benefits if their employers opt for the state-run exchange plans, available in 2014.
Health care reform also means expanded coverage for mental health care in Medicare and Medicaid programs. Considering what just happened last weekend, perhaps House Republican leaders need to do more than just postpone their planned vote on repealing health care reform. Since repeal is unlikely and the reform legislation now looks more necessary than ever before, perhaps repeal needs to be permanently shelved. Instead, wouldn't it be refreshing to see Congress actually address the pressing issues of today by examining why it's easier to obtain a gun than to access mental health care? And wouldn't it be encouraging to see Governor Sandoval and The Nevada Legislature also address these pressing issues by looking at our own budget and our own problems in taking care of our fellow Nevadans?
As I talked about early this morning, last year's Senate campaign often brought out the worst in us. We saw brawls break out at "candidate forums", people's lives threatened, and an overall climate of unfettered rage and unprecedented fear plague our state. It was frightening...
But even amidst all of that, there were glimmers of hope. I saw the best of us shine through as I talked with my friends, my family, and my neighbors, even as the campaign blabber on TV often devolved to outright insanity.
One of my all time favorite videos of last year, if not my #1 favorite, was City of Reno Sustainability Administrator and Nevada System of Higher Education Regent Jason Geddes discussing what he does and how he viewed Senator Reid and his legislative agenda.
He just told it like it was, without resorting to histrionics or inflammatory language. And as I've said before, good policy always puts a big smile on my face.
[L]et's face it, it's much easier to believe the stereotypes of Nevadans than to take the time to really get to know us. It's easy to look at the numbers, but it's harder to look at the stories behind the numbers.
I actually did that. I met the kids who confronted Sharron Angle at Rancho High School over her race-baiting ads. I met my typically Republican neighbors in Henderson who voted early for Harry Reid. I met people who drove many miles to Dina Titus' campaign office because they believed she was "the real deal". I met folks pissed off at everyone and everyone, because they felt "overwhelmed" by all the negative campaign ads. I met volunteers who tuned out the political insanity as they were collecting food for the hungry, keeping community centers open, making parks and trails accessible to all the neighbors to use, and keeping the local libraries running with new and interesting knowledge just around the corner. [...]
Over the years, many authors have come to "investigate" Nevada and uncover all our "deep, dark secrets". We've been called everything from "The New American Dream" to the most evil, corrupt hellhole on the planet. However, you showed me that reality is quite different from any fairy tale or horror story shared by outsiders. You showed me that Nevada can be rough, but the people can be awfully tough.
There were many people, Democrats, Republicans, Nonpartisans, and others, here in Nevada who reaffirmed my faith in our country and our democracy. I will never forget that. Despite the efforts of some to rip our communities apart, there were so many Nevadans I met who just did what they knew to be best for our state and our country. And even when we disagreed, I was able to discuss issues with my friends, family, and neighbors respectfully.
I was thinking about this as Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough, CA), someone who survived the horror of Jonestown in 1978, went on CNN to remind us what politics and public service are all about.
Maybe we need to listen to them. Maybe we need to listen to what Gabby tried to tell us. Right before Saturday's "Congress on Your Corner", Giffords did this.
The night before she and 19 others were shot at an event in Tucson, Arizona, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) wrote a warm email to Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, where she told the Republican "we need to figure out how to tone our rhetoric and partisanship down."
Giffords remains in the hospital in critical condition after being shot in the head Saturday.
According to cn|2 Politics, which obtained the email, Giffords sent the message to congratulate Grayson for his recent appointment as director of Harvard University's Institute of Politics.
"After you get settled, I would love to talk about what we can do to promote centrism and moderation," Giffords wrote. "I am one of only 12 Dems left in a GOP district (the only woman) and think that we need to figure out how to tone our rhetoric and partisanship down."
Giffords and Grayson met in 2005, when they were part of the inaugural class of the Aspen Institute's Rodel Fellowship. In her email, Giffords promised to visit Grayson, and told him she thought his new job was "truly an incredible opportunity that will lead to wonderful things." Grayson told cn|2 Politics that he and Giffords spoke often about divisiveness in politics.
"That is something she and I have been quite passionate about -- to run for office in the right way and for the right reasons," Grayson said. "I think Gabby was really sincere in that email ... And I am going to to redouble my efforts."
I don't need to repeat what I've already said about this whole matter. When we've become so desensitized to violence and averse to honest policy discussion, there's a problem. We can't operate representative democracy like warfare. It only leads to bloodshed like we saw in Arizona on Saturday.
We all need to put aside our hostilities and have a serious conversation on how to move forward as a country without violence, with mutual respect, with a renewed focus on discussing policy rationally, and without fearing what happens when we seek common ground.
