...about Obama being one-term and blah, blah, blah are horseshit inspired by a never-ending news cycle. Fact is, in December, we'll be like "Remember all that hoopla about health care reform?"
People have a memory of about twenty minutes.
For example, remember this?
Not really? Not until just now? Right.
The fact is Democrats have been trying to complete some form of health care reform for a very long time. Everyone takes a crack at it, and it always fails. Obama, even if the bill is nowhere near as comprehensive as we'd like it to be, will probably actually wind up passing comprehensive reforms of some sort. And if he does that, it will be a major accomplishment. Period.
But besides that, I'm a bit weary of the news about this. Frankly, it reminds of the Democratic primary. If you were to watch this from afar, and describe what actually is going to happen, it pretty much always does. False drama drives ratings and spikes hit counts. But you could draw a map of how this will all play out from now until November, and have an 80% of nailing it.
Health Care Reform was always going to be 1) done early 2) resisted by Republicans 3) complicated to negotiate 4) attacked by various lobbyists 5) a legislative slog 6) tough on Obama's ratings. That's why he did it now. First thing. So he had some room to fall. Also, it's clear that with the majorities the Democrats have, something will pass. And once it passes, that'll be that. Everyone will be taking CREDIT for it. Republicans will say they are proud of the bill because they kept costs under control and still got good reform. Democrats will say they fulfilled their campaign promises. We'll continue to have an imperfect system, but it'll have some practical improvements. That, as they say, is that.
The rest is window dressing.
Remember the Clinton - Obama primary that lasted forever? Obama had won the nomination something like 5 months before Clinton conceded. There were no actual surprises. He won where he was expected to win. She won where she was expected to win. He got the nomination. Everything that happened was evidence that maybe he couldn't win the Presidency. Now, he's President. Christ, when I saw him speak in 2004 at Kerry's convention I said aloud "That guy is going to be President." Everyone did. And so it came to pass.
I'm not saying there isn't such a thing as surprises. But there is a reason that's what they're called: they are rare. They are a surprise. Generally, if it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, and it acts like a duck, it's a duck.
Unless you're CNN, Fox or MSNBC. Then, it's a Rasmussen Poll showing 51% of Americans didn't understand the question.
About Me
- Freeman
- Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.
Friday, August 21, 2009
One Minute Play Festival
The One-Minute Play Festival is back this year, coming next month. More details as they become available.
My contribution (unless I write another) is called GOOD ADVICE.
My contribution (unless I write another) is called GOOD ADVICE.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
More David Pogue fun
This time with Tracey Gilbert (When is a Clock) and of course David DelGrosso. Check it out.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Dear those who support my blog and therefore - I would assume -me
Have you purchased a copy of When is a Clock? If not, I'd really appreciate it.
It's a good play, and its a way to directly support me. Available directly through Samuel French and also Amazon.com.
If you saw it, read it, liked it...you could post a short review on Amazon. That, too, I would appreciate.
If you're thinking "That's nice, I hope someone buys his book or reviews his book on Amazon..." I mean you.
It's a good play, and its a way to directly support me. Available directly through Samuel French and also Amazon.com.
If you saw it, read it, liked it...you could post a short review on Amazon. That, too, I would appreciate.
If you're thinking "That's nice, I hope someone buys his book or reviews his book on Amazon..." I mean you.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Why are we bothering again?
To try to compromise with the GOP if they are, in fact, just going to vote against any bill that is put forth?
The crazy meter is turned up to 11
What I found truly amazing about what the right wing has been able to do in this country over the last 10 years, is to move the goal posts entirely about what is considered debatable.
Here are the debates in which the country has debated as of late:
1. Should we commit more deeply to a war that was entered into under false pretenses?
2. Is it okay to torture people?
3. Should the people who have, in power, lied to the American public be held accountable or even prosecuted?
4. Is it reasonable to arrest a man in his own home who is doing nothing wrong, if you are a cop?
5. Is it a constitutional right to bring a gun to a protest of health care reform?
6. Is health care reform a bad thing?
These are, on their faces, absolutely absurd questions. But once you get the debate into "Are you sure it's not okay to torture people?" country, all bets are off. Instead of simply declaring that everyone who tortured, justified torture, promoted torture, and tried to worm torture into law are criminals and subject to international law; we have discussed it as if there is a question. All things have become a matter of relative principle, all things are debatable, everything becomes a question of political persuasion and, in the end, there is no functional meter by which we judge right and wrong. We've lost the ability to distinguish the quality of an argument.
The insurance industry is simply trying to stop the government from becoming competition. They want to remain profitable, and in the business of sickness. We (paralyzed by a bemused, wealthy media without a point of view) are now debating on its terms.
We are actually hearing public officials...elected representatives of the law and the people...defending the bringing of assault rifles to protest rallies.
Here are the debates in which the country has debated as of late:
1. Should we commit more deeply to a war that was entered into under false pretenses?
2. Is it okay to torture people?
3. Should the people who have, in power, lied to the American public be held accountable or even prosecuted?
4. Is it reasonable to arrest a man in his own home who is doing nothing wrong, if you are a cop?
5. Is it a constitutional right to bring a gun to a protest of health care reform?
6. Is health care reform a bad thing?
These are, on their faces, absolutely absurd questions. But once you get the debate into "Are you sure it's not okay to torture people?" country, all bets are off. Instead of simply declaring that everyone who tortured, justified torture, promoted torture, and tried to worm torture into law are criminals and subject to international law; we have discussed it as if there is a question. All things have become a matter of relative principle, all things are debatable, everything becomes a question of political persuasion and, in the end, there is no functional meter by which we judge right and wrong. We've lost the ability to distinguish the quality of an argument.
The insurance industry is simply trying to stop the government from becoming competition. They want to remain profitable, and in the business of sickness. We (paralyzed by a bemused, wealthy media without a point of view) are now debating on its terms.
We are actually hearing public officials...elected representatives of the law and the people...defending the bringing of assault rifles to protest rallies.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Do the math
The peaceful protests in New York City of the Republican National Convention in 2004 resulted in hundreds of arrests; but bringing an assault rifle to a protest near President Obama results in a sideways glance from the Phoenix police?
Protecting President George W. Bush in 2004 was a matter of national security, and protecting President Barack Obama in 2009 is, it seems, a matter of debate.
Or maybe the Second Amendment has finally become more important to law enforcement than the First Amendment.
Or, better still, they want to send a clear message: if you want the cops to respect your rights, bring a gun.
Protecting President George W. Bush in 2004 was a matter of national security, and protecting President Barack Obama in 2009 is, it seems, a matter of debate.
Or maybe the Second Amendment has finally become more important to law enforcement than the First Amendment.
Or, better still, they want to send a clear message: if you want the cops to respect your rights, bring a gun.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Capt. Matthew Freeman
According to my sitemeter, there are a large number of people finding this blog because they're looking for information about Capt. Matthew Freeman, who was killed in Afghanistan on August 7th, 2009 at the age of 29. That is not me, clearly. But I'd like to send anyone who finds this blog looking for information about him my sincere condolences. According to what I've read, he was an exceptional person from a long military family. The fact that he was married only three weeks before he passed away is absolutely tragic.
To find information about him, you could look here, here, here or here.
To find information about him, you could look here, here, here or here.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Now that's more like it
An article that actually called the death panel rumor "false" in its headline. Thank you, New York Times.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Boycott Whole Foods
Get this...all you upscale, well-meaning kids who love Whole Foods. John Mackey, the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal that quotes Margaret Thatcher on "socialism," refers to "Obamacare" and says that there is no intrinsic right to health care.
He says:
So assisting the homeless find shelter, or food stamps... bad ideas? I'm sure that the poor often choose to shop at Whole Foods.
His solution to the health care crisis? Um...
He thinks that if we all shopped at Whole Foods, we wouldn't need this "socialist" public option for health care reform. I'm sure he'll give up some of his own salary, or pay more in taxes, to subsidize the prices at Whole Foods so shopping there is affordable for those who are on the margins.
Wait... that's socialism.
In short, if you can afford to be healthy, you can be healthy. That's his philosophy.
Boycott Whole Foods.
Let Whole Foods what you think of Mackey here.
He says:
"Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care—to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?"
So assisting the homeless find shelter, or food stamps... bad ideas? I'm sure that the poor often choose to shop at Whole Foods.
His solution to the health care crisis? Um...
"Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and are expensive to treat. We should be able to live largely disease-free lives until we are well into our 90s and even past 100 years of age."
He thinks that if we all shopped at Whole Foods, we wouldn't need this "socialist" public option for health care reform. I'm sure he'll give up some of his own salary, or pay more in taxes, to subsidize the prices at Whole Foods so shopping there is affordable for those who are on the margins.
Wait... that's socialism.
In short, if you can afford to be healthy, you can be healthy. That's his philosophy.
Boycott Whole Foods.
Let Whole Foods what you think of Mackey here.
I traffic in End of Life Care
At my job, we publish a booklet called Planning for the End of Life. In fact, my entire day job is essentially about creating life income gift, end of life issues, establishing bequests, and considering your legacy when making certain kinds of gifts. In short: end of life issues, at least from a charitable perspective. We advise people about sample bequest language, but also about how to create a medical directive and things of that nature.
When people are educated about their options, they tend to find ways to supplement their retirement income, avoid capital gains and gift taxes, and also financially take care of their family and themselves as they move into a phase of their lives where their medical costs will skyrocket.
When the insurance lobbyists and conservatives refer to "end of life care consultations" in dire terms, they make me laugh out loud. All day, every day, I work in the world of "end of life." I see more death certificates cross my desk every week than most people see in their entire lives.
Powerful people are trying to terrify the poor and the elderly into protesting against their own interests. And the media is helping them do it by not treating any scare tactics relating to end of life care with the chuckle they deserve.
This "issue" is less than legitimate: it doesn't exist.
Articles like this one are a fine example of how the media is failing to do its job. Lies, not fears, are driving the political protesters. If the media doesn't exist to expose lies, what use is it, except to serve as a mouthpiece for the loudest?
When people are educated about their options, they tend to find ways to supplement their retirement income, avoid capital gains and gift taxes, and also financially take care of their family and themselves as they move into a phase of their lives where their medical costs will skyrocket.
When the insurance lobbyists and conservatives refer to "end of life care consultations" in dire terms, they make me laugh out loud. All day, every day, I work in the world of "end of life." I see more death certificates cross my desk every week than most people see in their entire lives.
Powerful people are trying to terrify the poor and the elderly into protesting against their own interests. And the media is helping them do it by not treating any scare tactics relating to end of life care with the chuckle they deserve.
This "issue" is less than legitimate: it doesn't exist.
Articles like this one are a fine example of how the media is failing to do its job. Lies, not fears, are driving the political protesters. If the media doesn't exist to expose lies, what use is it, except to serve as a mouthpiece for the loudest?
The best thing about Mamet writing Anne Frank
...is that he can finally bring his well-documented love of women and women's issues to this weighty subject.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Another addition to the blogroll
Zack Calhoon, who I thought was there already. He's been blogging for a long time, and is in the midst of a series of excellent interviews.
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