WSLC Reports Today -- September 4, 2009

More than 3,000 people came together for a rally Thursday to send Washington state's Congressional delegation elected officials back to Washington, D.C., to finish the job of fixing our health insurance system. (As far as we can tell, the event was completely ignored by the commercial media, which hasn't tended to cover any public demonstrations of support for national health care reform unless they involve screaming, disruptive counterprotesters.)

► At HorsesAss.org -- If a tree falls in the forest, and the Seattle Times isn't there to hear it fall... -- Since our paper of record didn’t bother to report on it, none of this actually happened: 3,000 people of all ages, races and walks of life didn’t crowd into Westlake Park to rally in support of health care reform. A congressman didn’t join business, labor and civic leaders in encouraging the crowd to make their support known. And a well-organized effort by counter-protesters couldn’t muster up much more than a bullhorn and a handful of signs. None of this happened yesterday because no ex-marine angrily yelled down a congressman and nobody got the tip of their finger bitten off and nothing apparently is going to get the media to move from the well-entrenched meme that support for reform is steadily slipping as the public turns against Obama and the Democratic Congress… not even a show of force by the public itself.

► At Huffington Post -- Paging a different President Obama (column)

The nation needs to see a different President Barack Obama next Wednesday when he addresses a joint session of Congress. Here's one thing he could say: "I'm not going to chase after the crazies on the right anymore. I cannot do business with these people, try as I may. I reach out and they accuse me of being a socialist who wants to pull the plug on grandma."

He could bolster this argument with nearly endless examples of the extreme, vitriolic and outright balmy things leading Republicans have been saying about him and his plan lately.

He needs to explain precisely what the public option is and is not -- how it is not a government takeover of health care or even a government-run health care program, but rather a government-run insurance option that would provide an alternative to the private sector, solely for those individuals or small businesses who either don't have insurance now or want to find a better deal. And if he decides to sacrifice the public option, he needs to explain both why he is doing that, and how, in its absence, there will be any accountability at all for the insurance industry.

Obama doesn't have to get angry. All he has to do is level with us, tell us exactly where he stands, and propose a clear, detailed way out of this mess.

► At Politico -- Pelosi: No public option, no bill -- As the White House signals that it is willing to move forward on a health reform plan without a public option, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a strong message: not so fast. In her strongest statement yet, Pelosi said that any bill "without a strong public option will not pass the House. ... Any real change requires the inclusion of a strong public option to promote competition and bring down costs. If a vigorous public option is not included, it would be a major victory for the health insurance industry.”

► In today's Bellingham Herald -- Public option shouldn't be feared (letter) -- We will be able to buy in to a public plan that provides the same care but is affordable because it does not need to fund CEO salaries or millions in advertising or $1.5 million a day in lobbying costs to scare you in to thinking a public option is bad. They wouldn't spend the money if they didn't think it would work.

► At AFL-CIO Now -- Insurance companies run death panels when they deny coverage -- Data from the California Nurses Association finds that more than 20% of medical claims for insured patients, even when recommended by their doctors, are "rejected by California’s largest private insurers, amounting to very real death panels in practice daily in the nation’s biggest state."

► In today's Olympian -- Town hall disruptions part of GOP's assault on Obama (guest column) -- Now Rep. Brian Baird is receiving death threats. Thanks Rush Limbaugh. Thanks Sean Hannity. Thanks Glenn Beck. And thanks to the loyal listeners of those conservative talk shows. The GOP leadership, with help from the media, is manipulating and exploiting their base for one reason and one reason only: to score political points against President Obama.

► In the NY Times -- No health insurance? Page Dr. Firefighter -- Among the hidden costs of the health-care crisis is the burden that fire departments nationwide are facing as firefighters, much like emergency-room doctors, are increasingly serving as primary-care providers.

► In today's Boston Globe -- Labor ramps up bid for EFCA -- With all the fighting over health care, labor's top legislative priority has faded into the background. But they plan to use Labor Day to try to reignite momentum for a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize unions.

► In the American Prospect -- What Max Baucus could learn from the labor movement -- The AFL-CIO still supports the president, pointing out that more has been done for workers in the past six months than in the previous eight years. But with their two top priorities, health-care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act, still outstanding and perhaps in peril, labor's running out of patience and getting tough with uncooperative Democrats.

► At AFL-CIO Now -- Solis vows to work with Obama on EFCA -- The Labor Secretary pledges to work with President Obama “to make the strongest case possible for the Employee Free Choice Act. ... I believe workers have the right to fairness and balance in the workplace and in order to rebuild the middle class, we need to level the playing field for all workers."

► In the US News & World Report -- Trumka slams McGovern over EFCA opposition -- "You know poor George got paid to do an ad. Now he ran as an antiwar candidate, and there have been three or four wars since he left the playing field that he had nothing to say about. And then he comes back on the playing field to make war against the workers. We found that very ironic."

► In today's Spokesman-Review -- Union easing on anti-Fred Meyer ads -- The UFCW will stop advising consumers to shop at competing stores while a Fred Meyer complaint against other negative union publicity proceeds through arbitration. Meanwhile, negotiations will continue on the union’s central complaint: Fred Meyer's policy of dismissing workers for a single error handling money.

► In today's Spokesman-Review -- Hospital owner's dispute with union to go before judge -- Almost a year of failed bargaining between Community Health Systems Inc. and its 1,100 unionized employees will be addressed in a hearing next month by an administrative law judge. SEIU 1199 NW claims that Deaconess Medical Center and Valley Hospital and Medical Center have not bargained in good faith and have engaged in union-busting activities.

► In today's Seattle Times -- Judge rules Kent teachers' strike illegal -- About 1,300 striking Kent School District teachers have put off until Monday evening their decision on whether to obey a judge's order that they return to the classroom Tuesday. The teachers planned to rally at 11 a.m. today in front of the district office on Southeast 256th Street and said they would continue picketing over the weekend. (Predictably, the commercial media piles on with editorials in The Seattle Times and The News Tribune in opposition to the strike.)

► At SeattleTimes.com -- Primary rivals endorse Dow Constantine for King County Executive -- State Rep. Ross Hunter, State Sen. Fred Jarrett and County Council member Larry Phillips are all backing the labor-endorsed candidate over Susan Hutchison, a Republican.

► In today's Bellingham Herald -- Larsen spokeswoman hit by bus in D.C. -- Amanda Mahnke, 30, communications director for Rep. Larsen was was seriously injured but is in stable condition. (E-mail Amanda get-well wishes -- and thank her for her excellent work on Larsen's behalf.)

► At AFL-CIO Now -- Slow wage growth puts damper on Labor Day -- This Labor Day, many American workers will be watching their pennies as much as they watch the annual parades. This year, working people across the board are being hit with an unprecedented array of economic problems, ranging from a lack of jobs to reduced wages for those who have jobs.

► At AFL-CIO Now -- Unemployment reaches 26-year high of 9.7% -- If underemployed workers or those who want a job but have given up looking are counted, the broader U.S. unemployment rate stands at 16.8%. That means more than 25 million Americans need jobs or full-time work but cannot find it. Worse yet, there now are 5 million long-term unemployed workers.

► In the USA Today -- 1.2 million to lose unemployment benefits by year's end -- The most unfortunate of America's jobless are the ones whose benefits are drying up -- in some cases after a record 18 months of government support. The expiration of benefits is placing extra strain on an economy that is just starting to recover from the worst downturn in a generation.

► In the NY Times Magazine -- How did economists get it so wrong? (Paul Krugman column) -- Few economists saw our current crisis coming, but this predictive failure was the least of the field’s problems. More important was the profession’s blindness to the very possibility of catastrophic failures in a market economy. A romanticized and sanitized vision of the economy led most economists to ignore all the things that can go wrong. They turned a blind eye to the limitations of human rationality that often lead to bubbles and busts; to the problems of institutions that run amok; to the imperfections of markets that can cause the economy’s operating system to undergo sudden, unpredictable crashes; and to the dangers created when regulators don’t believe in regulation.

► In the USA Today -- Labor looks to younger workers for renewal -- The AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka points to labor's growing diversity and to frequent polls that show more young people are looking to the labor movement to help solve their problems. "I think we have more credibility than corporate leaders right now, or corporate CEOs, or Wall Street types," he said.