NQ First Responders – The KENNEDY family seat; Levi’s liar radar; healthcare conundrum and BO promise to air negotiations on C-SPAN
By LisaB on September 3, 2009 at 9:00 AM in Current Affairs
Do the Kennedys “own” Teddy’s Seat? ; Levi talks trash about his baby mamma’s family and may bare nearly all for Playgirl; another writer and friends just can’t figure out health care, but BO PROMISED negotiations on C-SPAN (video)
1) According to Irish Central, the Kennedy family would rather Teddy Jr take his father’s seat.
The Kennedys very much want to keep the Senate seat. “Remember, this was meant to be Joe Junior’s seat originally, then John F. took it, and then Teddy. This is the family business, and they are in no mind to hand it off elsewhere,” said a family friend.
Am I the only one who wishes just about anyone other than a Kennedy “take” that senate seat? What about all those “little people” Teddy Sr “worked on behalf of” for “so long?” Why can’t someone who won’t be forced to practice noblesse oblige be the junior senator? (As an aside, why do the little people HAVE to depend on someone with serious bucks to “look out for” them in the first place? Does this mean the little people are incompetent, that only rich, influential people can/should look after them or that the system only allows rich, influential people in, so you’d better get a good one?)
2) As Vanity Fair touts its beyond fail “mega story” about Sarah Palin and her family, as told by man-of-honor Levi Johnston, Gawker notes Levi plans a Playgirl spread.
After reading on Gawker that Levi was game for posing nude, the guy who puts together Playgirl’s photoshoots, Daniel Nardicio, emailed Johnston’s manager Tank Jones about having his client pose nude for their website. . .
Tank referred the matter to Levi’s lawyer Rex Butler (how many handlers does one Alaskan babydaddy need?) who emailed back: “There are people out there that want to see such a shoot of Levi and we are ready to do it if the proposal is right.” The only hitch, Levi’s not willing to do a nude shoot, only pose in his skivvies.
And since a nearly nude Levi is better than no nude Levi at all, Playgirl’s down and there’s an agreement in place to do the shoot. They’re in final negotiations to get the thing together right now.
Now, look for someone looking after Levi to derail the Playgirl spread. Wouldn’t want Levi to look trashy, do we? It would so upend his straight-talking, not-a-fame-ho rep.
Here’s the thing (well, one of them anyway). Why in the world would anyone take a 17/18 year old boy’s analysis of a marriage seriously? Levi has no special insight into anything, he’s just got something to sell. Maybe he’s trying to make money for his son’s college education?
3) Politics Daily has an interesting piece on healthcare. Basically, the writer, Donna Trussell, says she and her friends don’t have a clue about what should be done. But not for lack of attention.
We talked about the flaws of the current system, the experience of other countries, cost, tough calls — some of the same issues that have surfaced at town hall meetings across the country. And what I kept thinking was: If this smart, engaged, and relatively like-minded group — all of whom actually like each other! — was having trouble discussing and figuring out the health care reform morass, what must it be like for the nation as a whole?
————–In the end, it’s about sick people and those who accept what is (to me, anyway) a sacred calling. They’re healers. They can’t always stop death from advancing, but they try. Most people can’t even bear to talk about or look at disease, much less get their hands bloody. The men and women who go into medicine deserve better than a system that blames them for the impossibility of perfection. And so do their patients, who must take responsibility for their health and their lives. And their mortality; all the medicine in the world can’t change that.
Sunday I left our Big Questions meeting with one question answered anyway: No matter what we do to our health care system, a lot of people will be left out, one way or another.
I’m in agreement with Trussell. I think, ultimately, most of us will pay more and we’ll still have people not getting care. The only people likely to do well will be either the new bureaucrats in DC who will fill buildings with cubicles and offices devoted to US Health Administration (or something like that) or the ever swelling numbers of people filling office buildings with HMO “case managers” and others devoted to managing the revenue stream.
Wouldn’t it have been nice if BO had actually followed through on his campaign promise to put legislation (ooops, forgot – nothing is actually written yet!) online or hold discussions on C-SPAN?
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Thank you Lisa!
One of our local churches is renovating a building now for use as a free clinic. We have others that are already established.
Certainly their effect will be limited, but with one iota of the willingness of these folks, Washington could start offering real solutions!
But hey, they don’t need to live in the real world! That is until the voters give them that privilege!
There is that nagging problem of who will “man” these clinics.
Look who is in our hospitals, all foreign doctors. Our own doctors no longer go to hospitals. I remember years ago med schools started limiting the number of students they would take. Fewer doctors, more specialists, rationing already.
Now that we are on Medicare, we find our own specialists we have had for years, telling us to go to our family doctor for “quicker service”. We know that they aren’t getting paid enough when we see what Medicare is willing to pay them.
Right now my husband has some kind of growth on the inside of his eardrum, but his family doctor is being told that the earliest they can get an appointment with an ENT person is in late Oct. They have called several.
Well, I’m not one to agree with Charles Krauthammer on ANYTHING; but I sort of like his clear ideas about how to address address health care reform, as posted in the other thread.
California’s Real Death Panels: Insurers Deny 21% of Claims
PacifiCare’s Denials 40%, Cigna’s 33% in First Half of 2009
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/09/02-7
===
Pfizer Agrees Record Fraud Fine
By BBC
US drugmaker Pfizer has agreed to pay $2.3bn (£1.4bn) in the largest healthcare fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice. – “The size and seriousness of this resolution, including the huge criminal fine, reflect the seriousness and scope of Pfizer’s crimes,” said Mike Loucks, acting US attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23416.htm
thank you for point this out; every time i hear the “socialism” alarmists talking about what horrors would occur under “government run” health care, i always think, so that would be different from the present system how? all those horrors are already occurring.
there are a few differences..you can change private insurers, you can petition private insurers, you can elect to not have insurance, you can make choices about your doctors, the IRS is not involved in your medical care, bureaucrats are not deciding if you are worthy of care…i could go on and on.
look at john stossel’s youtube about healthcare in canada…i loved the part about 4 citizens in a town being chosen by lottery every month to get a doctor, any doctor…because doctors are not accepting new patients.
and the number they use…47 million uninsured..is bogus. 10 million are illegals, 20 million are people who make more than 50k but choose not to have insurance, 10 million could get medicaid. that leaves around 7 million…7 out of 300.
just wait until the younger set discover that they have no choice…they must get and pay for insurance. just wait until the middle class is squeezed for every dollar, because we know that this thing is unsustainable.
i cant wait until 2010 and 2012 when we vote these assholes out of office.
There is a link on Truthdig to an article called:
The poster on Trughdig, Bill Boyarski says this:
Good read all the way through, Lisa.
I sure agree about stopping dynasties. They are unhealthy for us. Biden will be attamepting the same thing for his son. The guy sitting in his place now is just keeping the seat warm.
Good update, Lisa. I just heard the Attorney General of MA will be throwing her hat in for Kennedy’s seat. Martha Coakly. So maybe the Kennedy fingers will be pried from the Senate.
The Levi Johnson story just makes me ill. Doesn’t this kid have any parents to sit on his scrawny butt? It’s obvious that the media is exploiting this kid’s trash mouth. I’m not a Palin supporter but this sort of thing is beyond the pale. The adults pushing this sort of thing should be whipped. I don’t care how much money they’re offering him. It’s a disgrace.
And healthcare reform? It’s just another mess to add to the mountain of messes we’re all facing. And I don’t see any willingness for a reasoned and thoughful plan to come out of this WH or Congress. We’re going to end up with a Frankenstein monster, something that will be universally hated by everyone. I think someone needs to brand the words:
Do No Harm
across the President’s forehead. Or better yet, program the message into TOTUS.
A disaster!
The Levi Johnson story just makes me ill. Doesn’t this kid have any parents to sit on his scrawny butt?
Yep. His mother has some issues of her own. Which were laid at Sarah’s feet as though he were hers.
Levi’s 15 minutes? He owes me for the time I will never get back. What a punk.
I agree. Poor boy is starting to make K-Fed look like Plato. It’s his ignorance of how he’s being used that’s so pathetic. Once he figures out that he’s a one trick pony and won’t be generating a film career from his mini-fame, he’ll fade away.
That’s why I say: blame the adults involved in this mess, MWC.
Yes, Levi Johnson has free will but he’s a kid in my mind [which probably shows my age]. Seventeen to eighteen? I remember my own kids at this age. You’re still not fully hatched at 17-18 [not in this culture]. You’re simply not working on a full set of cylinders.
But the parents? The media scum who want to whip this up? They’re the ones who deserve the stocks, a public humiliation in the public square.
I agree. btw. Levi Johnson will fade away into nothingness after the media glow has faded.
Levi is too stupid and/or naive to know that. And the money? It will go as quickly as the fame.
Perfect Martha; the perfect elite comparison.Hollywood meets entitlementville; Darwin award nominee at the very least.
The only thing he has to sell right now is contempt for his child’s grandparents. That is going to fade really fast. Maybe instead of criticizing the grandparents of his child, he might finish his GED and try being a father. Nowhere but in Hollywood could a high school dropout become an oracle.
I’m od’d on Kennedy fatigue.
If you’re in NYC, please join the health protest tomorrow:
Single Payer Action will hold a protest at the Columbus Circle Whole Foods store Friday September 4, 2009 from 12 noon to 1 p.m.
Where: Whole Foods Market, Columbus Circle, 10 Columbus Circle, New York, New York 10019
Hope you can attend.
For more information, contact Josh Starcher, Phone: 718.909.6343 e-mail: joshmee_@hotmail.com
Do you support Obama’s legislation?
The only reason I’d go to NY Whole Foods would be to support the BUYcott.
There is no denying that Kennedy was probably the most powerful member of the Senate, and that translates to benefits for his constituents.
The voters will probably be manipulated by his former allies at the state level, so if another Kennedy runs, it may be a done deal.
If both your brothers get their brains blown out on national TV and ‘investigations’ are carried out to protect the sorry SOB’s like Hoover that were running much of the security apparatus at the time, maybe you can pass judgement on a the Kennedy klan….
Get a life. Lots of water under the bridge … oh … and should we mention? Please. Move on … dot no org.
Ultimately, the derangement lies with the people of Massachusetts. If they want the Kennedy family to be their state pseudo royalty, then they certainly can do that. Start a regular cult and worship their graven images for all I care. Sell flowers and pass out handbooks while you are at it. It still is a free country after all. Whatever they like up there in taxachusetts, they should have it the way they want. The thing is, most of the rest of the nation doesn’t share that same sentiment. What needs to be done is to insure that the process is not corrupt. But, good luck with that.
Might as well institute Prime Nocte in Massachusetts. The peasants in Massachusetts can let the elite enrich their gene pool. What a bunch of sheep. Are there no freedom loving “braveheart” type people left up there?
Back in the 70’s, when I lived in Mass., I remember my father being enraged at the cliche Kennedy campaign slogan “I’m for the little guy”. What upset my dad so much was that he was raised in a country where no men should be considered little, all men can make an important mark on the world, and rugged individualism is what made this country the greatest in the world. Also, these so-called “little guys”, hold the fate of the politician in their hands with their vote, and it is an insultingly arrogant posture of elitists like Kennedy to assume that they have a lifelong lock on a seat based upon the reflexive support of the little guy, whether it is true or not.
I also remember my father being very upset at JFK’s assassination, because he knew that a martyr had just been made out of a below average President. And had Kennedy lived, his huge mistakes would have also lived on, and would have been used by his opponent, so it is doubtful that he would have been re-elected. Also upsetting was that Johnson, one of the worst Presidents ever, assumed the top spot, and was elected more out of sympathy for JFK, than for his Presidential demeanor.
There are true “little guys” out there, but I envision them to be the type that eschew work, expect handouts, and generally feel entitled to the good life that they will never contribute any personal effort to achieve. So, if elitist politicians like T. Kennedy are for THESE little guys, it is one more reason to be against THOSE politicians.
Yes–when the aristocratic elite “big people” explicitly run on a platform of helping the “little people,” it reeks of noblesse oblige. It seems patronizing.
The phony benevolence of Teddy’s career is nauseating. But not quite as nauseating as a miserable twerp like Levi profitting from abyssmal behavior and lousy lifestyle choices. Of course, there would be little profit for him if an always growing morally fetid public didn’t gobble up such manure.
I’m glad you brought up the concept of noblesse oblige. Docelder cited prime nocte. Both concepts were spawned in an environment steeped in class stratification, favored bloodlines, and the destructive idea that a human’s lot in life is determined at birth.
With the creation of this country, a giant leap was taken regarding how men perceived their roles in this universe. In a country built by strong individuals from ALL backgrounds, class lines became blurred to the point where people began to realize that exceptional contributions came from men of all walks of life. A child born in this country had a clean slate, and his potential should not be limited by the petty prejudices of other men. “All men are created equal.”
The Kennedys and their ilk have slowly brought back feudal notions, and they’ve actively and shamelessly promoted themselves as superior to the rest of us, and as such, they’ve set up their own little Kingdom. Likening their world to Camelot is far more disturbing than it is admireable.
The Revolution, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were all parts of an orchestrated effort to eradicate the inequities of the feudal system. Let other countries have their Kings, Queens, Princes, and other silly pseudo dieties, but let’s not let a bunch of power hungry elitists coronate themselves in this country.
The Kennedys are fading, but a new group of aristocratic wanna-be’s have swept into DC from the Chicago fiefdom under a Karl Marx banner. They must be challenged and faught on all fronts, unless you want “some men are more equal than others”.
Kennedys have a “right” to the Senate seat? It’s time to unseat a Kennedy from the Senate.
Well, they thought Caroline was a shoo in for NY too. Look how well that turned out.
Hmmmm I have no problem with a Kennedy holding down a senate seat in Massachusetts. I wonder what Kathy Kennedy-Townsend is doing? I’ve rather admired a wealthy family that associates itself with public service, rather than just wallowing in wealth.(Remember Neil Bush?) Fat Ted could have easily withdrawn from public life after Chappaquiddick to drink and chase women to his heart’s content out of the public eye. Its up to the people of Mass to decide if they’re tired of them, but they’ll probably stick with the brand.
Levi’s just a mixed up kid out for a buck. I hope he gets himself down a productive path.
Re: health care: you state “most of us will pay more and we’ll still have people not getting care”
Who exactly is ‘most’ of us?, and who won’t get care? A federally mandated requirement that everyone have health insurance will drive down costs, and expanding Medicare coverage as an option to all will further press the private insurers to reduce their admin costs: which I believe they would do. We just have to get through their lobbyist army.
“Fat Ted” should have withdrawn from public life after Chappaquiddick and went to a monastery or something(btw he did keep chasing women long after the murder)
Levi is cashing in – what’s new–his mother who was arrested for drug possession months ago probably needs the money and you know the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
I hope that utopian vision of government healthcare works out for you I really do but I’ve worked with Medicaid and Medicare and VA patients and their government insurance for 10 years and well,just read Dante’s inferno and you’ll get an idea of what it’s really like.
this plan intends to wipe out private insurers. as far as ‘driving down costs’..as i recall, that was the same bullshit we heard about hmo’s..how did that work out for you?
Hi Jillie
HMO’s have a profit incentive, which is why they deny care/procedures. Other countries have the ‘public option’ and then other private insurance, and that looks like the best model for covering everyone, giving those who want better coverage what they want, and holding down costs. But the lobbyists are spending big money on a corrupt congress so it may or may not happen. I hope it does.
Football coach Barry Switzer said “Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.” I’ve heard variations of this applied to GWB. Well, Levi wound up on 3rd bass through irresponsibility and dumb luck (or misfortune), and now he thinks he’s entitled to walk on home, strutting all the way in his underpants while the crowd cheers. What an inane young fool.
Barry Switzer-Now HIM I like. If only Stoops was half as good a coach as Barry.
Yeah Ferd–nothing wrong with Levi that a few years in Barry’s football camps wouldn’t cure . . .
Barry was such taskmaster AND motivator, he even had that petulant weasel Troy Aickman toeing the line. Levi would be toast.
Ferd, don’t get me going. I went to OU when Switzer was there. Those were the days and those days will never be repeated.
I was born and raised about 10 miles from the campus on the south canadian river. Switzer still has a home in Norman and is beloved. But you are right, those days are gone, although Bob Stoops has brought Barry back into the fold after some years of exile.
I grew up on a ranch about 30 miles South of OU. As a student there, one of the perks was the season tickets. Switzer invented swagger, there will never be another like him. I remember going to games occasionally as a small kid when Chuck Fairbanks was coach. It was a lot of fun watching those 77-0 games. They weren’t even close, but that was a lot of the fun as a kid.
It sure was fun. I went to college in Nebraska and used to love watching my Husker friends squirm around Thanksgiving. Barry almost always covered the spread, too, so I would have some extra spending money come Sunday. I like Stoops but the swagger you speak of really isn’t there anymore. Such a pity, too.
What bothers me the most is the sense of entitlement. Kathleen Townsend Kennedy has shown that she doesn’t think the public owes her anything. In fact the Kennedy clan calls her “clean Kathleen” because she has led a life free of scandal. I’d like to see her run for that seat.
I hope young Levi grows up soon. He’s being used to demonize the Palin family as if they raised him and he has no family of his own.
Health care? What’s that? Obama supporters say on the one hand there is no bill yet we should support the bill Obama wants to pass. Talk about double-think and double-speak.
It’s the Narcissist Shuffle!And if you argue with them on the other hand be careful, they might bite a finger off!
How soon we forget all the Hoopla that surrounded Levi Johnton while he was courting a pregnant Bristol Palin. Has everyone forgotten the story behind Levi and his own family’s notoriously tarnished background. Levi the young dropout, who is uncompromisingly looking for his more than 15 minutes of fame on the coat tails of his baby’s grandmother. Can anyone see this as anything but obvious retaliation and apparent need for personal recognizable fame and money.
It is such a shame that Levi does not realize the damage that this will ultimately cause his own biological son. I have to truly wonder if Levi has considered the consequences this might cause as his son grows older. Has Levi stopped to consider the consequences of anyone other than his own financial gain and personal fame.
I will have to say that for all the controversy surrounding her Palin has done a fairly decent job.
In looking through the internet it seems that at least Palin has not resorted to slanderous and destructive characterization speeches about Levi. She has rebutted several of his comments, sometimes in a typical protective mother style. It appears that Palin has veered away from the slanderous vindictive statements Levi has resorted to obtain personal financial fame.
look folks, the glow has worn off the kennedy name. do we remember caroline’s claim to the senate seat in ny? yes we do. and now here comes another wannabe. yawn, things just aren’t the same as they used to be. at least john and robert got out their shook hands and fought for what they wanted versus sitting there expecting it to be handed to them.
Coming from a country that has a monarchy, every single Kennedy member has a right to run for office if they want. This is a free country and the constituents of Mass. have nothing to explain to the rest of the country. Politician is a job, and a family of politicians is no different then if a family produces different generations of doctors, lawyers, or journalists. No difference for the Clintons, no difference for the Bushes.
I agree with those who feel compassion for Levi, he is being used.
As for the health care issue, I simply cannot separate truth from fiction in the debate, but I agree with the bottom line: in the world’s largest economy some how 40-50,000,000 cannot continue uninsured.
Yeah and I could use the same argument for the selection of Dubya and the selection of That One. What the voters of Massachusetts did was give that man a fiefdom. I rather doubt the framers of the Constitution expected anyone to use the Senate or the House as a means to put on airs or assume the status of ersatz royalty. And my indignation is not limited to Kennedy or the Democrats. They are hired help and not rulers, though judging from THEIR attitudes, you’d think it was the other way around.
“I rather doubt the framers of the Constitution expected anyone to use the Senate or the House as a means to put on airs or assume the status of ersatz royalty.”
I really don’t know what the framers of the Constitution intended, but reading American history the founders were career politicians themselves.
Personally, I don’t see them with airs of royalty (high or low). Fact is that in any campaign a politician can lose his job. Some people like to switch doctors and lawyers, others like to grow old with them.
Many of the founders were not just career politicians when they wrote the Constitution. They rejected the idea of nobility. They surely would allow any citizen to run today; however, I don’t think they could foresee the need to have unlimited access to vast amounts of money to win office.
Unlimited access to vast amounts of money from the day one is born also makes a person totally unable to understand really what it takes to survive on a limited salary. It makes the person unable to really undertand the average citizen’s relationship with money. Sort of the “let them eat cake” mentality or a rich man.
I would prefer the citizens of Mass. do finally will the Senate seat with a person who may not have access to the already vested powers that be but by someone who could really understand what most citizens feel about issues he or she will be discussing and devising policy about. The seat should not be handed to someone simply based on his or her last name. Electing a nephew or a son of a previous Senator is not the same as staying with the same doctor until one dies.
It really is time for new bloodlines in government across the board.
What part of “Single Payer delivers better care for less money” don’t these people understand?
Hi, Thanks for article. Everytime like to read you.
Tania
One of my biggest problems with the Levy Johnson phenom is that nobody ever mentions his responsibility of not taking precautions while having sexual relations. Did these kids not have any safe-sex education? Nobody asks. I thought Liberals and especially the gay community should have brought all that up. Aren’t we trying to tamp down on STDs and unwanted pregnancies?
well abstinence was taught in the Palin househould so it was just as much the daughter’s responsibility to NOT get pregnant. Perhaps that whole abstinence approach does not work. Where would he have bought condoms in a small town – everyone knew who he was.
To anyone who still thinks that giving everyone health coverage will, in and of itself, improve their lives dramatically I have this to say:
My family includes three physicians. They are all overworked due to the present doctor:patient ratio. They are also all in agreement that, if told they will earn less while caring for more patients, they will simply cut back on their hours.
Until there are enough doctors and nurses to adequately care for all the millions of additonal patients, there will be no better care. In fact it will deteriorate for everyone. If you think you wait a long time for an appointment now, what do you expect when you are sitting in a waiting room with twice as many patients? If you think it’s hard to get an appointment now, wait until doctors decrease their hours.
That One is trying to fit everyone into a rowboat with a leaky hull and then shove us all out to sea without oars. Until the boat is seaworthy we’re better off staying at the dock.
Not sure that this is true:), but thanks for a post.
The Kennedy’s don’t own that seat. We still live in the United States of America, therefore it is the seat of the PEOPLE!
god i hope no more kennedys im so sick of them