Guest Opinion: Les Gara on Medicaid

Walker Is Right: We Need Medicaid Expansion

guest opinion, by Rep. Les Gara (D-Anchorage)

Governor Walker, like other Republican and Democratic governors who have hopped on board, is right that accepting Medicaid expansion will save Alaska money and cut our budget deficit. Turning away an opportunity to get ill people medical care and cut the budget at the same time would be an opportunity wasted.

Here’s a reality check as we look at budget cutting options. Given the fall in oil prices, the budget deficit is so large that you could fire EVERY state employee, and still have a roughly $1.5 billion deficit. Cutting government waste alone won’t fix the budget gap. We need to take advantage of smart opportunities like this, too.

I agree with the governor that we can’t afford to turn up our noses at $28 million in budget savings over the next four years. Yet, under Medicaid expansion we can provide treatment to people who are ill and can’t afford  it, and bring over $130,000,000/year in federal funds to Alaska that will ripple through our economy. Turning away the 4,000 new Alaska jobs that would be created when Alaska is facing potentially serious economic hardship, makes little sense if you are looking to protect the economy.

How does Medicaid expansion save Alaska money? 

First, until 2017 the federal government pays 100 percent of the cost of expansion, and after 2020 it becomes a permanent ninety percent federal match to cover these costs. That’s all instead of the normal, much smaller fifty percent federal Medicaid match. Even at ninety percent federal funding it will continue to cut our budget gap.

It would be a classic political bungle to delay, and miss the early years of 100 percent federal Medicaid coverage.

How will this cut Alaska’s budget deficit? Accepting Medicaid expansion will bring federal funding to cover medical care for which the state now pays 100 percent to cover. For example, current Medicaid generally doesn’t cover you unless you are pregnant or have children. Expansion brings coverage to adults with no children. This will reduce alcohol and substance abuse treatment costs the state currently pays with state dollars, prisoner medical costs we currently pay with state dollars, and other costs the state fully foots to cover adults without children.

And Medicaid expansion requires mental health coverage parity—so we will receive needed alcoholism, drug, and mental health treatment funds the state now covers. That saves us money, saves families agony, puts fewer children into expensive and potentially damaging foster care, and makes our streets and homes safer.

When Alaska receives federal road funding with a ninety percent federal match all legislators jump at it because road maintenance—and the infusion of federal funds—creates jobs and provides better roads. Turning away 90–100 percent federal funding to get people medical care, create jobs, and qualify more people for federally funded private insurance subsidies just doesn't make sense.

And there’s a cost-saving bonus for people with private insurance. Alaskans with private insurance will benefit when hospitals no longer have to pass the high costs of uninsured patients to the rest of us.

Let’s be smart. As a Democrat I’m happy to work across party lines with the governor. I hope some of the undecided or recalcitrant members of the governor’s own party will also agree, so we can work together and do the right thing for Alaska and our budget woes.

—Representative Gara is a member of the House Finance Committee.

(Editor's Note: See also The Lewin Group analysis of the impact of Medicaid Expansion in Alaska.)

Ye Olde Independence Day Celebration and Hoo-Roar

Yes,it's that time of year again. The annual 4th of July parade & picnic is about to deluge Ester with gazillions of people who aren't into the militaristic display at Pioneer Park or the (now not-happening) Fairbanks parade. Folks who like a bit of political and social satire (well, okay, a LOT of satire) with their floats come out to Our Fair Republic for a lot of beverage-through-the-nose-snorting fun on Independence Day here where Progress Is Our Least Important Product. For those unsuspecting innocents who don't realize that off-color and politically incorrect silliness is the usual fare at this event, consider yourselves forewarned.

After the parade comes the Park Picnic, put on by the Ester Community Association. A large roast beast (usually a pig) is served up to the public, purchased and cooked by the Ester Volunteer Firefighters' Auxiliary, along with the usual hot dogs, potato salad, watermelon, et cetera, from the ECA. Be prepared to bring a large side dish full o' your most succulent potluck food, and to shell out a donation. The money raised at this event (also known as Organized Eating and Fun & Games) is used to help Ester firefighters in the aftermath of a fire, keep the park ship-shape, and pay for all that food and beverage and flatware provided to the public.

Details: parade check-in (for participants) 11 am, Main Street & Ester Loop. Kids on bikes should wear a (preferably wildly decorated) helmet. Getcher paper plate when you sign in so the judges can tell who you are so's to give you a Fabulous Award. Don't forget to bribe the judges early, well, and often.

The parade starts at noon for all you Designated Spectators, and the picnic starts after the parade reaches the park. Be prepared for Silly Games and Water Sports (willing or non).

Rumor has it that the Red Hackle Bagpipe Band will be back and in surprising costume. The Banana Girls will return but may not be as organized as last year. There is also a rumor that actual Republican candidates will walk this year. Let's hope they're not as serious as the Democrats have been. Other than that, the Publisher has no word of the contents of aforementioned parade.

See you there!

Even the American Library Association wants single-payer health care

Congress, and in particular the Blue Dog Democrats (which I am increasingly suspecting are actually DINOs, or Democrats In Name Only), need to PAY ATTENTION! Here's what the ALA said in their press release:

ALA Calls for ‘Public Option’ in Health Care Reform
August 19th, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jenni Terry

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Library Association (ALA) today sent a letter [PDF] to all members of Congress, voicing its support for including a “public option” in health care reform legislation.

The association, which represents over 65,000 members, also supports a “single-payer” option and believes removing public options, including potential cooperative arrangements, from the final legislation would not accomplish the strong reform needed.

“Without a ‘single-payer’ provision, ALA is even more committed to retaining a ‘public option’ as reform legislation moves forward,” Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the ALA Washington Office, said. “Like every segment of our society, our nation’s library budgets are being outpaced and even consumed with increasing costs of health care. With the vast majority of librarians and library workers employed in the public sector, the rising cost of providing health insurance has placed enormous burdens on state and local governments. This makes it increasingly difficult for them to adequately fund libraries – and threatens our ability to serve the public.”

Sheketoff said the association has previously informed Congress of its support of health care reforms and is calling upon Congress again to pass significant legislation that will ensure health care is available to all.

An ALA resolution passed at the association’s July 2009 Annual Conference in Chicago states, “The ever-increasing expense of health care benefits continues to inhibit the ability of libraries to create career opportunities for librarians and library workers, stunts improvements in wages and thereby threatens the future of our profession and our libraries.”

“Libraries must be able to offer affordable and comprehensive health care insurance to assure healthy employees, to manage library budgets and to promote healthy communities that our libraries serve. We need a public option to make this happen,” Sheketoff said.

I mean, good god, other countries have been doing this quite successfully at less cost and with better health care delivery for decades! so why can't we?

Or maybe the question should be, why won't we?

The Onion's got it right

Again.

Congress Deadlocked Over How To Not Provide Health Care

"Both parties understand that the current system is broken," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Monday. "But what we can't seem to agree upon is how to best keep it broken, while still ensuring that no elected official takes any political risk whatsoever. It's a very complicated issue."

"Ultimately, though, it's our responsibility as lawmakers to put these differences aside and focus on refusing Americans the health care they deserve," Pelosi added.

The legislative stalemate largely stems from competing ideologies deeply rooted along party lines. Democrats want to create a government-run system for not providing health care, while Republicans say coverage is best denied by allowing private insurers to make it unaffordable for as many citizens as possible.

"We have over 40 million people without insurance in this country today, and that is unacceptable," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said. "If we would just quit squabbling so much, we could get that number up to 50 or even 100 million. Why, there's no reason we can't work together to deny health care to everyone but the richest 1 percent of the population."

"That's what America is all about," he added.

Thank the gods for the Onion.

Senator Baucus: bought and paid for?

Well, this is one possible answer to my question on why, if Senator Baucus thinks we have such a terrible health care crisis in this country, he isn't (as chair of the hearings) allowing single-payer advocates a seat at the table:

One of the Baucus 13, Kevin Zeese, recently summarized Baucus’ career campaign contributions:

“From the insurance industry: $1,170,313;
health professionals: $1,016,276;
pharmaceuticals/health-products industry: $734,605;
hospitals/nursing homes: $541,891;
health services/HMOs: $439,700.”

In other words: his campaigns have been financed by the for-profit health industry.

Interesting, wouldn't you say?

Let's just take a look at WHY single-payer reduces expenses so dramatically. Here's the United States' system as it currently stands:



Rather messy, no? Convoluted, even.

And here's Canada's single-payer system:



Much simpler. It's the complexity of the US system that breeds an expensive wastefulness, and the profit motive that creates an incentive to whittle away people's coverage and endurance through (again wasteful) quantities of paperwork, etc.

These graphic representations of health care systems are from Neil Davis' book, Mired in the Health Care Morass, which I published last year. Reading that book made it very very clear just why Congress' and the White House's approach on this is so wrong-headed, and doomed to failure--from a health care standpoint. It will work beautifully from an investor's profit-making standpoint, so long as you don't care that people will be dying and sickly and going broke as a result.

The fundraiser phenomenon

This year, I've noticed far more fundraisers to pay medical expenses than ever before. Three fundraisers for kids with cancer (no insurance or not enough) right around the beginning of March. Then a couple more. The latest one is for Evan Phillips of the Whipsaws, who is having surgery for an old injury that damaged his hip years ago and lately has been causing him so much pain that he couldn't participate in the planned tour this winter of Tim Easton, Leeroy Stagger, and him.

So now there's a fundraiser in Anchorage, featuring all kinds of musical types. He travels in musical circles, and has friends who are great at graphic design and publicity, so he's likely to be able to raise enough to pay a good bit of the bill.

Doesn't something strike you as horribly wrong with this picture?

While Obama and the Democrats in Congress are moving together on supposed health care "reform," the Republicans are plotting To-Hell-With-The-People obstructionism. But that obstructionism may just save the public's bacon--all the Democrats seem to be talking about is health insurance. Story after story talks about "coverage", "benefits packages," and "insurance". THIS ISN'T HEALTH CARE, you BOZOS!

The REAL health care reform proposal, HR 676, sponsored by John Conyers, is barely mentioned, even in articles that propose things like an expansion of Medicare. Hell, Conyers barely got into the roundtable Obama held earlier this year on the subject of health care reform, and it was only after an e-mail barrage and deluge of protests that they let him in the doors.

So Congress is talking about health insurance and Obama is talking about providing "health insurance to every American that they can afford and that provides them high quality." That's still not the same thing as health care, Mr. President, and I think your route is a mistake.

In the meantime, sick people get to rely on the charity of their friends. Again and again, until their friends and neighbors are tapped out.

What a stupid way to run a country.

All Fools up here in Alaska

Hoo, boy what a hilarious week we've had. Just when I thought Alaska politics couldn't get any more ridiculous, BAM!

• Wayne Anthony Ross gets appointed as attorney general not because he's good at law, but because he's got an agenda! From the Gov's own press release:

As Attorney General, Ross will work with the governor on issues surrounding development of Alaska’s rich natural resources as the state continues its efforts to provide energy security for America and lower energy costs for Alaskans. As Attorney General, Ross also will help the governor protect Alaskans’ right to bear arms, and he will work tirelessly to manage Alaska’s fish and game resources for abundance through science and not politics.

• Recently-Republican Democrat Grussendorf gets chosen (by Sarah), then rejected (by the legislature)
• Mike Doogan makes an idiotic move and unveils a pseudonymous political blogger's real name
• a volcano goes off and Chevron decides to follow Exxon's wise example and leave 6 million gallons of oil in tanks on the side of said volcano--with no response plan ready! More here.
• Three years after the fact, the state sues BP for some oil spills and back royalties.
• Ted gets off scot-free because the prosecution screwed up their big case with a capital S

Sheesh. Can it get any worse?

Hah. Better not bet against it--in this state, it can always get worse...

Doogan: champion of the First Amendment. Not.

And from the other editorial cartoonist on staff at The Ester Republic:

A little bysplash from an outing

Just one of many cartoons that will be generated by this brouhaha, I'm sure.

The pertinent point

As Progressive Alaska and others have pointed out, Mike Doogan was wrong to out Mudflats. As Mudflats herself says,

The big picture, the thing that should outrage all of us, despite political party or affiliation, is this: an elected official in a position of power and authority utilized state resources to deliberately and with malice, knowing there would be negative consequences, impinged on the free speech and privacy rights of a private citizen.

What matters is not which team is in office, what matters is how they play the game. And Doogan is not playing fair, or with rectitude. This was sleazy.

Anonymity, the Press Club, and real stupidity

One of the subjects that came up last night on the blogging panel was whether bloggers (read: the subset of bloggers that tend to be political commentators with a journalistic/observational bent) should remain/be allowed to remain anonymous. Shannyn Moore and I both agreed (us on the left of the podium) that yes, of course, anonymity is the perogative of the individual blogger. Andrew Halcro also agreed, with the observation on a standard true-name byline, "How could you enforce it, anyway?"

Well, as Mike Doogan has, as of this morning, demonstrated, one way to enforce it is by the method of forced outing. Doogan revealed the actual name of a popular blogger, Mudflats. (He used, rumor has it, an e-list of constituents to spread this word, which may constitute a conflict of interest. More on this later.)

This immediately brings to mind the outings of closeted gay public figures; the ethics of this has always been troubling to me. On the one hand, outing someone who can't yet deal with this innermost conflict in their identity is, to me, a form of violence perpetrated on the outee. On the other hand, the outee may in fact be a perpetrator of, say, legislative violence upon fellow gays who are honestly out, taking that risk that the closeted can't bear to face.

However, Mudflats is simply an individual commenting on politics. The refuge of the pseudonym in literature and journalism has a time-honored history. I think it is Doogan here who is in the wrong. He has overstepped his bounds.

I'll have to get off line here for the moment. The hotel needs to do some maintenance.

Back to the political grind

Hans snorted out loud this morning when he heard the news about Senator and not-so-honorable Jerry Ward. Yet another corrupt Republican. Ben has yet to be bagged, and Don's still spending money on defense lawyers in anticipation of, well, something he doesn't want to tell us about. The Democrats down south now have their token crook (we've been hearing about that over and over again, too), and apparently he's a foul-mouthed so-and-so. Not a civil servant, indeed not.

And just in case you thought it was cold up here in the Frozen North, Sarah Palin's hometown church was recently torched.

Ah, politics!

Alaska's strategic voters

Hans and I went to the Blue Loon because we wanted to be in the company of the like-minded when the election results came in. And it was a wonderful thing. Both McCain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech were moving. And I was intensely relieved that Obama won.

It was frustrating, however, to sit there watching the election returns and not hear about the Alaska races. We went to the Eagle, in case they had news, but no, still the national stuff. At this point, it appears that both Stevens and Young have been re-elected, thereby proving that Alaska voters aren't thinking too clearly, yet again.

As one local Republican down at the Eagle put it (at top volume), "I'd rather vote for a felon than a Democrat!" But, of course, now both of those Republicans are going to be in the minority party and Stevens won't be able to be on any committee positions, due to the Senate rules. Said Republican shouted that it wouldn't matter if Bush pardoned him. Of course, it will still be up to the Democrats as to whether Stevens is accepted. He's not going to be the powerhouse he was.

So Alaska will be relegated to backwater status, politically speaking.

But somehow it doesn't it matter to me right now. Obama won, and for the right reasons. This country has a chance to redeem itself now--has already begun to do so.

Whew.

The latest from Ivan Moore: Palin's popularity slipping

According to the latest press release from Ivan Moore Research, "Sarah Palin's positive-negative rating in Alaska [is] taking a real hit, for the first time since Palin was elected in November 2006." Moore has a margin of error in this poll of 4.4%, but shows a drop as of his most recent survey (Sept. 20-22nd) down to a 68% approval rating (from 82% in January). He breaks it down by ideology and party, showing the most significant drop among progressive voters (-28.5 points) and a small but still notable drop among conservatives (-5.5 points). Republicans show a -2 point drop, but this could be off because of the margin of error, so Moore counts it as basically unchanged and exceedingly positive (around 88 to 89% approval).

What is important here, however, is the drop in no party/other party and moderate numbers: 17 points downward. Palin is not pleasing the middle ground.

And it's pretty clear why: obvious, repeated lies; a negative campaign with little of substance; polarizing rhetoric. Interestingly, I never hear news about McCain anymore--it's Sarah this, Sarah that, and then news about Barack Obama, who certainly sounds like a sensible, thoughtful man who might actually weigh the consequences of his decisions rather than charging into them and then thinking about them. Or, as Bush and McCain both appear to do, rationalizing them after the fact.

Nope, Palin is making McCain look worse and Obama look better.

Had a talk with Ethan

I had a thoroughly enjoyable discussion with Ethan Berkowitz yesterday evening. Of course, it only got rolling just before he had to leave. I'm going to be writing up an article for the next issue of the Republic, and plan to interview him via phone later to get some more details (and, of course, quotable quotes).

One of the things that struck me was how animated he became when we started talking about local agriculture and food sustainability—he lit up and started talking a mile a minute, all about Bernie Karl's plans for lettuce and Chena Hot Springs, the Jones Act (which I have to do some reading up on), and the estimate of a mere three days' food in the stores should our transportation links to Seattle be shut down. (And incidentally, the state's emergency food supplies are stored in Oregon, according to Kim Sollien of the Anchorage Daily News. Talk about stupid planning.)

Nice to see a candidate for national office getting so enthusiastic about something that's good for the long-range future of the state and the country, and in so many ways.

More later.

Fluff and lies

Obsidian Wings has an excellent analysis of the falsehoods in Sarah Palin's speech. In condensed form, here they are:

1. McCain shows constancy. Nope: check the Carpetbagger Report on this.
2. "Thanks, but no thanks." Er, she did accept the money, and at a time when Louisiana and Mississippi were in desperate need of money for infrastructure rebuilding.
3. Obama hasn't authored major legislation. Unless you think that the "strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet" is, perhaps, major. Apparently Palin doesn't actually think much of ethics... And all these other bills that Obama sponsored or co-authored don't count with her either.
4. Obama is against producing more energy. Uh, what? That's directly contradicted here, on his website.
5. Under Obama, our taxes would go up. Yeah, right. See my commentary below on this pony puckey. (Pay attention, Mark. You mocked me the other night on this, and I'm not happy about it. )

Many thanks to Hilzoy for this excellent factchecking and analysis.

The Reality-Based Community also has a good refutation of Palin's lies.

And of course, the Daily Show has the word on community organizers. (See this interesting New York Times discussion of the term.)

Sarah, I'm really disappointed in you. Your speech is making me think seriously for the first time ever of actually donating money to the Democratic presidential campaign. I've been a long-time Green, but with this particular election and these particular candidates I might just break ranks. (God, I cringe to say this out loud.) Of course, what's really really annoying is that the Greens are damn good, but are shut out.

The Republicans offered nothing but the same old crap, with more extremism. Given what that's brought us to in the last eight years, I'm appalled that people could possibly think this would be good for the country. Apparently, though, you can fool a chump again and again.

McCain: a liberal conservative

A local conservative described John McCain this way tonight, saying that this was why most conservatives hated McCain: he was a liberal conservative. In other words, he was too dang liberal. I laughed myself silly. John "Bush Lite" McCain has long since ceased being "conservative" but he was never a liberal, least of all now.

An oxymoron, indeed. Of course, most conservatives are not, these days, at least in this country. They're either neocons (as in, the "new con game") or rightwingnuts (missing any bolts to hold them down to earth). McCain panders to the both of them, thereby, apparently, pissing off both segments. And he's certainly raised the ire of Democrats who were pleased with his "maverick" qualities so long ago.

I was playing cribbage with Kate, but was sitting too close to the rather loud and exuberant political discussion at the right wing of the bar, and just couldn't keep my mouth shut on the more egregious statements (Kate's valiant efforts to distract me ["Shut yer piehole and play!"] notwithstanding). But mostly I managed to keep out of it. Not very well, but I did.

Anyhoo, now I'm home and for some reason I keep thinking of the seven deadly sins. These are, for those of you not familiar with the Church's views on the world, lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Of these, the ones that pop into my head with relation to tonight's political discussion and cribbage game are:

• gluttony: the overindulgence and overconsumption of anything to the point of waste.
• greed or avarice: a sin of excess; disloyalty, deliberate betrayal, or treason (especially for personal gain, for example through bribery); hoarding, theft and robbery; simony.
• wrath: inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger; vehement denial of the truth, both to others and in the form of self-denial, impatience with the procedure of law, and the desire to seek revenge outside of the workings of the justice system (murder, assault, and in extreme cases, genocide).
• envy: sorrow for another's good.
• pride: the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins: love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor; a desire to be more important or attractive than others.

I wonder how my neighbor and I can be so far apart on political issues. It seems to me crystal clear that the Republican favorite (indeed, the Republican party) has degenerated into representing the worst and most sinful and most fearful of the United States and its character; I fail completely to see how good people can fall for their lies, or think that continuing so many of the failed policies of the past three Republican administrations can do anything but fail us and the country, again, thoroughly. Yet, people keep voting for them. Stevens won the primary again. Many of my local conservative neighbors voted for Bush. Twice.

And they seem to be amazed that I can vote for "wackos" like Nader, or a Democrat (any Democrat).

There's this tremendous, vast, uncrossable chasm between us, and not only can I barely see my neighbors on the other side, I can barely hear them—and they me. We can't seem to communicate. We can wave, and shout, but there's no real discussion, or understanding. I just don't get it. Neither do they. And this just doesn't seem right.

Upcoming first anniversary of the FBI raid on Stevens' house

I received this afternoon a public service announcement of an event commemorating the FBI raid on Senator Stevens' house in Girdwood last year. To whit:

What: An observance of the first anniversary of the FBI's raid on Ted Stevens' Girdwood home
When/Where: 11:30 AM Wednesday July 30 at Ted Stevens' Fairbanks campaign HQ, Old Steese just north of College Road
Why: Let the public know the following facts have not been forgotten, we'll provide signs!
Who: Alaskans who want the corrupting influence of big money removed from Alaska politics

In the year since FBI agents raided Ted Stevens' Girdwood home, we've learned that:

• VECO employees donated over $180,000 in large dollar amounts to Ted Stevens - based on FEC records
• VECO employees doubled the size of Ted Stevens' $440,000 Girdwood home. Stevens claims to have paid $130,000 for this remodel. VECO was not in the housing renovation business, rather it is an oilfield service company.
• Ted Stevens arranged huge funding increases to the National Science Foundation to expand arctic research.
• The National Science foundation awarded contracts to VECO totalling $170 million to provide logistical support for arctic research.
• VECO hired Ben Stevens, paying him $243K for "giving advice, lobbying colleagues and taking official acts in matters before the legislature," (8/16/07 Anchorage Daily News)
• When asked by federal prosecutors, former VECO executives Bill Allen and Rick Smith stated under oath that their payments to Ben Stevens constituted an illegal bribe.

(I can't say as I see increasing the National Science Foundation's funding as a bad thing, but it does look a little sticky when all those oil types are involved.)

Things looked bad enough to the FBI that they started taping Stevens' conversations.

For a really extensive listing, got to Alaska Report's Corrupt Bastards Page, an excellent reference. Retire Ted! also has a lot of stuff, but it's paid for by the Democratic Party of Alaska and hasn't been kept current.

At any rate, it looks like things will be lively at Stevens' campaign headquarters on Wednesday around lunchtime.

Surveillance state

From the abstract of Jack Balkin's recent paper published in Minnesota Law Review, "The Constitution in the National Surveillance State":

The question is not whether we will have a surveillance state in the years to come, but what sort of state we will have. The National Surveillance State poses three major dangers for our freedom. The first danger is that government will create a parallel track of preventative law enforcement that routes around the traditional guarantees of the Bill of Rights. The second danger is that traditional law enforcement and social services will increasingly resemble the parallel track. Once governments have access to powerful surveillance and data mining technologies, there will be enormous political pressure to use them in everyday law enforcement and for delivery of government services. Private power and public-private cooperation pose a third danger. Because the Constitution does not reach private parties, government has increasing incentives to rely on private enterprise to collect and generate information for it, thus circumventing constitutional guarantees. Corporate business models, in turn, lead companies to amass and analyze more and more information about individuals in order to target new customers and reject undesirable ones.

There's been some interesting discussions on Balkinization recently on surveillance and FISA. For those of you wondering about voting for McCain, he's right there with ol' George on invasive powers undreamed of by kings of yore: the guy voted to give the telecom giants immunity from prosecution for flouting the law and now says he'd do exactly what George did. Bush III, anybody?

Yet another reason for Truth Through Action (although I'm not a Democrat, this is a damn funny site). Check out their premier film, Blue Balled:

Writing from the Insurgent49 bunker in a new undisclosed location

Yep, I'm visiting with the old Insurgent49 rabblerousers, Aaron Selbig and Nova Stubbs, here in Anchorage. While spending my days as a mild-mannered publisher hawking cool aviation books, I am spending wild nights on the town with my volunteer marketer, Melinda, or eating red meat and playing Scrabble with my fellow insurgents here in their new digs in Anchortown's outpost by the sea. They just moved to this house from their loft on 5th, and they've got a wonderful big back yard--rare for Anchorage itself.

Aaron, of course, is still getting into loud and noisy trouble (or causing it), as any good insurgent does. He's been the programming director for KUDO and the host of their top-rated talk show (called, naturally, the Aaron Selbig Show), which has featured some movers and shakers not only in the Anchorage area, but statewide, too. But alas, he finally poked one too many oxen, and got gored: KUDO just fired him last week, ostensibly to "cut costs", but later they decided it was because ratings were low. No, wait, it was for both reasons. Aaron points out that the advertising budget for the station to promote itself was close to zilch, so that might have had something to do with the low ratings, too.

An interesting aspect of this is that KUDO is a union-owned station. Yet, their one full-time employee at the station had no health insurance. Tsk. A bit ironic, don't you think? So when he blew out his Achilles tendon and had to have surgery, and then got a staph infection at the hospital and had to have a second surgery and the infection taken care of, there was no health insurance to take care of it. So now he's facing what will probably end up being around $20,000 worth of medical bills.

Lovely. So I brought him a copy of Neil Davis' book, Mired in the Health Care Morass. I'm hoping it will help him trim the bills down to a reasonable size. He's been hobbling around the house here this weekend. He's got a gaping hole in the back of his leg, but it does appear to be healing. (He keeps it under wraps most of the time, but showed it off to Nova and me yesterday to demonstrate that yes, it finally was healing, look! Nova and I pretty much both went, "Ick.")

Aaron is now looking for a job. He's applied to several places, one of them Outside. I dread the thought of Alaska losing such a champion. Aaron won a Liberty Award from the ACLU last year, and well-deserved it was, too.