CNNMoney.com covers Dividends and Elinor Ostrom on the Commons

Good job CNNMoney.com for totally being on it.
The article "Fight global warming, get $1,100 a year" covers Maria Cantwell's CLEAR Act. A bit too much air time to the traders who are like, "But I want the money." But otherwise, it's the best article they've ever done.
Here's the link:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/23/news/economy/cap_and_dividend/

Plus it includes a great interview with Elinor Ostrom, the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Economics. Hooray for Elinor! She's great.

Climate Scoreboard

More cool climate widgets.

What remains broken about the health care system: Fee-for-service, malpractice, lack of competition

Here's a brief health care bill analysis, excerpted from the Votemaster, a website I recommend for insider political info at http://www.electoral-vote.com/.

"When all is said and done, we may have a bill, but it really doesn't reform what everyone agrees is a broken system. What it does is have the government buy poor and semipoor people insurance within the framework of the current system. The fee-for-service paradigm, which encourages doctors to do unnecessary procedures thus driving costs (and their income) up, is still fully intact. The malpractice situation, which drives doctors to practice defensive medicine by ordering all kinds of useless tests to cover their tushes in the event of a subsequent lawsuit remains the same. The fundamental lack of competition between insurance companies, most of whom have something close to a regional monopoly does not change. In short, while 30 million people will get health insurance as a result of this bill, the factors driving health-care costs ever upward will not be broken."

My own editorial is simple: expand Medicare to all U.S. citizens.

Cap and Share (Copenhagen is Over)

Cap and Share (Copenhagen is Over)
Sung to the tune of “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono
- - - - -
So this was Copenhagen
And what have you done
Another COP over
A new decade just begun
And so this was Copenhagen
I hope you had fun
The protests and speeches
But nothing got done

We face a scary future
Starting with the New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
But I have some fears

And so this was Copenhagen
The UN is not strong
The rich watch the poor drown
The world is so wrong

And so glaciers melting
Refugees and drought
Hurricanes and diseases
Makes me want to shout

A very scary future
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this was Copenhagen
And what have we done
Another COP over
And a new decade just begun

And so this was Copenhagen
I hope you had fun
Next time Cap emissions
and give Shares to everyone

A very scary future
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

Cap and Share it
If you want it
Cap and Share
Now...

Story of Cap & Giveaway

This video is about 10 minutes, by the Story of Stuff folks.

The Story of Cap & Trade from Story of Stuff Project on Vimeo.

Grist has a counterargument here.

I agree with the Story people that giveaways are bad, offsets are mostly a sham, and there's potential for Enron-type shenanigans. But I see why David Roberts of Grist is worried that overly broad critiques of cap and trade may sway the political outcome so much taht we'll end up with nothing, which is Exxon's divide and conquer strategy.

In the end, c'mon Obama and the Democratic majority. Do something, how about Cap and Dividend, Contraction & Convergence, or something. With Obama's 30,000 more troops being sent to slaughter, I'm at a personal all-time Obama-era low in hope for change we can believe in, just in time for Nopenhagen.

Sacrificing 30,000 troops for Lieberman's health care vote

Everyone knows the war in Afghanistan is pointless. But Lieberman is so bloodthirsty, that he probably extracted the additional 30,000 troops in exchange for his vote on health care. I can see why Obama may have taken the deal. 30 thousand American lives in exchange for health care for 30 million Americans.

But why waste the time and money? Would it be cheaper to just fly the troops to Connecticut, maybe line them up in front of Lieberman's district offices or his house, and shoot them dead now, rather than wait for them to trickle in 5 a day? Maybe this would appeal to Lieberman's budget hawk tendencies.

Oh well, thank you to the brave soldiers who are being sacrificed so that the rest of us can have health care.