Barbara O'Brien
- Location
- New York, USA
- Birthday
- October 01
- Bio
- Barbara O'Brien blogs at Mahablog, Buddhism.About.com and the Mesothelioma and Asbestos Awareness Center.
MY RECENT POSTS
- From Birthers to Wimpers
May 04, 2011 12:27PM - RedState Video Shows Mob
Chasing Lauren Valle
October 27, 2010 06:42PM - On Health Care, Progressives
Are Fighting the Wrong Fight
December 17, 2009 03:49PM - The System Is Broken
December 15, 2009 09:07AM - Knowledge vs. Ignorance (and
Ignorance Is Winning)
December 09, 2009 02:07PM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “"Movements" suggest
moving, and moving suggests
direction,
and
directio…”
May 07, 2012 12:30PM - “Chelle
James,
"I, happen to
be, a "right of center"
conservative. I…”
May 04, 2011 08:20PM - “Although I'm no
fashionista I generally enjoy
Project Runway
for the
creativity t…”
October 29, 2010 04:08PM - “"Just because it's
legal, doesn't make it a great
idea. At
this point in
tim…”
August 31, 2010 11:00PM - “"I do not believe there
is any way around the
cementing of
such a name at
th…”
August 31, 2010 10:35PM
Barbara O'Brien's Links
The Truth About Health Care and Tort Reform, Part I
Preface: As the fight for health care reform heats up this year, we’re going to be hearing a lot about “tort reform.” Just as “tax cuts” are the Right’s one-size-fits-all answer to all economic problems, “tort reform” is the Right’s favorite magic… Read full post »
The Devolution of Conservatism
If you want to know how the American Right came to its current pitiful state, consider: Bill Kristol will be awarded a $250,000 Bradley Prize from the the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
Yeah, that Bill Kristol.
Eric Alterman and Joan Walsh are both appropriately snarky. They both compile sampler… Read full post »
Newt Gingrich Selling Snake Oil in Pennsylvania
Newt Gingrich recently published an op ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer in which he touted the bounteous effects of tort reform. Tort reform “can jump-start the economy and create new jobs,” Gingrich says. “States that have enacted tort-reform measures have significantly improved ac
… Read full post »During the eight long years of the Bush Administration, Washington bureaucracies were filled with political hires more interested in serving an agenda than in serving the people. The change in administration didn’t make these ideological worker bees disappear, and the results continue to vex u
… Read full post »European v. U.S. Economies: Who's Sorry Now?
Joe Conason has written some good articles here at Salon lately, but Conason’s most recent article actually made me cry.
… Read full post »Like most of their continental neighbors, the nations of the north [i.e., north Europe, esp. Scandinavia] provide free or highly subsidized, high-quality child care that beg
Redistribute This
Just when you thought Andy Sullivan was waking up to reality, he writes something like this:
… Read full post »The new cultural divide will not be on guns, gays and God. It will be between the makers and the takers, the producers of wealth and the recipients of redistribution. And it will be
Corporate and financial institutions that once seemed as solid as Mount Everest have turned out to be sand castles. Are we seeing the Twilight of the God-Tycoons? Or just a temporary eclipse?
Either way, are the shifting fortunes of corporate America an opportunity for unions to make a comeback? And… Read full post »
Say No to "Freedom Tower"
Last night I was bummed out about Chinese government propaganda about Tibet. You may know that tomorrow is Serf Liberation Day in Tibet, an observance of the “glorious liberation” of the Tibetan people by Chairman Mao. I understand that tomorrow it will be 50 years since the last free Tib… Read full post »
Dr. Tiller Update
Here’s an update on Dr. George Tiller, who is on trial for violating Kansas abortion law. A reporter for television station KAKE, Cayle Thompson, is live blogging the trial. From the blog –
… Read full post »Monnat asks why so few doctors perform abortions now. Tiller says it’s
The Coming Fight Over the Employee Free Choice Act
War is about to break out in Washington DC over the Employee Free Choice Act. The EFCA promises to make it easier for workers to unionize. Naturally, business interests are going to stop at nothing to kill EFCA.
Labor unions have played an important role in improving workplace safety. Unions… Read full post »
The Press Conference
Asbestos and the Smithsonian
A long-time employee of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, says that he is being exposed to asbestos on the job. The Smithsonian says the amount of asbestos is too small to be a safety hazard. But the employee has been diagnosed with asbestosis, a chronic conditi… Read full post »
Monsters Without Hearts
For years anti-reproductive rights goons have been trying to take out Dr. George Tiller. His Kansas clinic was bombed in 1985. A “pro-life” fanatic shot him in both arms in 1993. Patients trying to enter his clinic are viciously harassed.
Now the state of Kansas is trying to convict
… Read full post »So What’s Wrong With Being Sweden?
Kevin G. Hall writes for McClatchy Newspapers: If the plan doesn’t work, the next step might be nationalizing some banks, as some high-profile analysts have advocated, including former Treasury Secretary James Baker, pointing to Sweden’s successful exercise in the early 1990s. Geithner re… Read full post »
Stripping Citizens’ Rights in Oklahoma
Oklahoma state legislators are considering legislation that could profoundly impact people with asbestos-related diseases. On March 5 the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a “tort reform” bill, HR 1603. If made into law, the 204-page bill would change procedures and requirements fo… Read full post »
This week Republicans in Congress stood up for the right of incompetent Wall Street executives to be overpaid and undertaxed. You might GOP legislators were just making fools of themselves and can be ignored. But out of the AIG limelight the GOP was moving on other fronts with faux populist
… Read full post »
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