The myth of American exceptionalism
By Richard Cohen,
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,” W.E.B. Du Bois wrote in 1903 — and I will not quibble. But the problem of the 21st century is the problem of culture, not just the infamous “culture of poverty” but what I would call the culture of smugness. The emblem of this culture is the term “American exceptionalism.” It has been adopted by the right to mean that America, alone among the nations, is beloved of God. Maybe so, but on some days it’s hard to tell.http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-myth-of-american-exceptionalism/2011/05/09/AF2rm0bG_print.html
GOP majorities poised to reform Maine health insurance
Democrats still hope to achieve a bipartisan alternative that limits the impact on older residents.
AUGUSTA — Republicans plan to use their majorities in the Maine House and Senate today to advance a bill that would inject free-market reforms into Maine's health insurance system.
FOLLOW THE BILL'S PROGRESS
Read L.D.1333 and learn details about it by clicking here.
Read L.D.1333 and learn details about it by clicking here.
It would be the first time in this session that Republicans have relied solely on their majorities to adopt major legislation.
Democrats, Republicans brace for divisive insurance debate
Posted May 09, 2011, at 6:01 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Democratic lawmakers repeated calls Monday for a more bipartisan approach to overhauling Maine’s health insurance market, warning that a Republican measure could drive up costs for older Mainers as well as residents and businesses in rural areas.
Republicans, meanwhile, showed no signs of backing off their plan to seek House and potentially Senate approval on Tuesday for a sweeping bill they insist lowers costs by increasing competition and providing Mainers more flexibility in purchasing insurance.
Lawmakers are gearing up for a contentious debate and, in all likelihood, party-line votes on Tuesday on an insurance overhaul bill that has produced the legislative session’s first major partisan fracture — among lawmakers, at least.
Financial ties bind medical societies to drug and device makers
Posted May 06, 2011, at 10:58 a.m.
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TweetFrom sponsored workshops to logo-ed coffee sleeves, drug companies and manufacturers of medical devices spend plenty to market their products at medical conventions, Pro Publicareports in an in-depth report today.
EDITORIAL
Do Reform Right
Just a month ago a group of Republican senators was praised for calling for more respect and less personal denigration in Augusta. Next week, they and their colleagues in the Senate will have a chance to put those sentiments to the test as they consider a rewrite of state insurance regulations that were hastily passed by the House.
“There can, will and should be those occasions when our honestly held positions lead us to disagree and to vigorously debate the issues of the day,” the senators wrote in a column printed last month in several Maine newspapers. “It is how we manage that conflict that matters. And ‘how’ you do something is often as important as ‘what’ you do.”
Writing the column was a courageous act that earned the senators much-deserved accolades. Now they can turn those ideals into action.
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