While Republicans are threatening to shut down the government to repeal Obamacare, most Americans don’t go along with this idea. A United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll shows that there remains considerable skepticism about the law, but there is not widespread support for repeal:
Given the choice to either repeal the law, wait and see how it takes effect, or add money to aid its implementation, only 36 percent of adults picked outright repeal. More than half chose to either wait and see (30 percent) or provide more money (27 percent).
It is also important to keep in mind that there is considerable misunderstanding about the law, largely due to misinformation spread by the right wing noise machine. Polls have shown considerable support for the elements of the Affordable Care Act, even among many Republican voters, even in polls showing overall disapproval for the law when asked about it by name. Even many Republicans realize that once people experience all the benefits of Obamacare, there will be no turning back.
The religious version of the Get Out Of Jail Free card is indulgences to reduce one’s time spent in purgatory. In the middle ages some from the church would sell this for large sums of money. The Vatican is now trying to be more modern:
In its latest attempt to keep up with the times the Vatican has married one of its oldest traditions to the world of social media by offering “indulgences” to followers of Pope Francis’ tweets.
The church’s granted indulgences reduce the time Catholics believe they will have to spend in purgatory after they have confessed and been absolved of their sins.
The Vatican isn’t stopping with Twitter. They plan to use other social media such as having a Facebook page and using Pinterest. How much time off from purgatory does one get for being Pope Francis’ Facebook friend? Are their rewards for posting pictures of the Pope on Pinterest?
There was lots of news on the Marvel Cinematic Universe out of San Diego Comic Con–video of panel above. This includes the name of the next Avengers movie, Age of Ultron, and a bald Karen Gillan (head shaved for Guardians of the Galaxy).
Co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo were interviewed, explaining how Captain America: The Winter Soldier will bridge the two Avengers movies. Among other news is the report of star Chris Evans kissing Scarlett Johansson.
The rumors of a combined Batman and Superman movie have been confirmed.
Matt Smith walked on the floor at Comic Con disguised at Bart Simpson (video above).
Steven Moffat says “we’re likely never going to see that final date night on Darillium with the Doctor and River Song, the one where he cries because he knows she’s going to die/get digitized on a library planet.”
The reason: Moffat’s too prude to put the Doctor and River in a room alone together. That said he might change his mind.
”I always felt that there were certain things between the Doctor and River that we should never see. So, I don’t know. He sort of said his goodbye in ‘The Name of the Doctor.’ There’s always the possibility, because it’s always out of sequence and you can do anything you like with that. It’s a tough one. I remember I wrote some extra scenes for the DVDs and all that we had available were Alex (actress Alex TK] and Matt, so I had to write scenes for the Doctor and River alone in the T.A.R.D.I.S. and I go, ‘Dear God, that’s the situation I’m always tring to avoid for obvious reasons.’ What does that woman do to him the moment the door is shut? What were they doing that night in Durillion. There are somet things surely the Time Lord must keep to himself.
“The implication is that she had met many more Doctors than just the two of them, so it’s always possible. But I quite liked the good bye in “The Name of the Doctor” and I think there should always be stuff that we never saw, and I don’t just mean that as a laugh.”
The above preview of the remainder of this season of True Blood was shown. There has been talk for a while that a major character would die this season and there does appear to be a funeral in these clips. Cast secrets revealed in these videos. The show has been renewed for another season. While the show has had its problems (including too many characters and story lines), I do see hope for improvement:
Executive Producer, Brian Buckner wants to bring the show back to its roots. While he acknowledges True Blood has a large cast, he wants to condense the number of stories they are telling and “really come home.” And as for bringing in new creatures, right now he thinks no. He believes the show is about vampires, humans and the town. And wants to bring that back.
The big news on Person of Interest is that, as I had been rooting for, Amy Acker will become a regular next season. Cast interviews here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpHDvJN2Zlg
Despite all its flaws, Revolution keeps me curious enough to keep watching. A trailer for the second season is above. The cast and crew revealed spoilers regarding the cliff hanger at the end of the first season. From Tracy Spiradakos (Charlie):
“I can tell you that the bombs do drop, so there’s an aftermath to dealing with that.” Holy moly! Randall completed his mission in destroying Atlanta and Philadelphia, apparently, and the destruction of those cities will completely change the feel of the show. The militias will be broken up, the show that was once all about being on the road will now settle into a particular spot near Texas, characters will be more consistent, and the stories will have some room to breathe since people won’t be as busy running from Point A to Point B. Additionally, even though the power went on in the finale, there will be a time-jump of about three months, and you can expect that it will be shut off again pretty soon.”
More spoilers from this, and other reports: The power is off permanently and the Tower is no longer functional. The Patriots supporting the old United States government represent a serious threat which forces Miles and Monroe to work together.
Dan Harmon interviewed about season 5 of Community in the video above. News includes the departure of Donald Glover.
News on the final season of How I Met Your Mother posted here. More news here including comments from the kids.
Kristen Bell suggests that Veronica Mars might continue after the upcoming movie, possibly on Netflix as a way to get around contractual restrictions on appearing in two television shows:
CNN: Is this film finally going to give you a sense of closure on “Veronica Mars”?
Bell: No. This could be my whole life. And by the way, what a lucky life it would be if it were. There’s no formula for it, because it just has never been done before. Except — and I’m just throwing it out there — “Star Trek” did it. They did a TV show and then nine movies. Who knows? Why can’t we make a couple films? Or continue to produce content of “Veronica Mars”? It gets tricky because television contracts legally only allow you to do one episode of a different show. They purchase you. I am now the face of “House of Lies.” So the only way I would be able to reprise Veronica Mars (on TV) is in movie form.
CNN: What about if it were on Netflix?
Bell: There are some loopholes that we are already investigating.
Earlier news from San Diego Comic Con was posted here.
I have always been on the look out for actions from the Republicans which I can support, but such posts have become increasingly difficult over the past several years as Republicans have moved to the far right. Today I did find an example of a Republican sponsored measure in Congress which, from at least what I’ve read so far, appears worthy of support. (I must add this qualifier as I’ve been burnt at times in initially supporting a Republican measure only to find upon review of the entire bill that it contained other unpalatable portions. Support for this certainly does not mean agreement with other positions of the Republicans involved). Ted Poe (R-Texas) has introduced the Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2013, with Tom Coburn introducing the same act in the Senate. The key provision discussed in a report from The Hill is to eliminate the conversion from ICD-9 to ICD-10 diagnostic codes.
This is something which the American Medical Association has been pushing for, and which I have supported. The issue here isn’t which set of codes is better. Despite some opponents who ridicule the entire change based upon cherry-picking examples, there is no doubt that ICD-10 is a better system. The question is whether it is worth the high cost involved in making such a transition. In an era in which we are making so many compromises in health care for cost containment, sticking with an older coding system is an easy choice to make.
Besides greatly increasing costs for every health care facility, conversion from ICD-9 to ICD-10 is just one more government-mandated action which takes up more physician time. The Affordable Care Act (which has nothing to do with the changes in diagnostic codes) will result in large numbers of people seeking primary care doctors in 2014. I have already had to reduce the number of patients I see a day and limit accepting new patients due to the increase in time-consuming requirements, with even more on the horizon. We need to move in the opposite direction and reduce such demands on physician time as much as possible to enable us to see more patients a day so that more people will be able to find a primary care physician.
Regardless of the other positions of the sponsors (and assuming there isn’t anything deleterious hidden in the bill), this is a sensible measure to both prevent unnecessary increases in health care costs and improve access to care.
There’s a lot of news coming out of San Diego Comic Con. Here’s some reports on panels held so far, with more to come.
The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. panel is above. They also showed the pilot at ComicCon. A description of the pilot can be read here. Cobie Smulder will be reprising her role as Maria Hill in the pilot, and will have further appearances throughout the season.
The unofficial gag order surrounding the details of ABC/Marvel’s new drama, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., finally lifted at San Diego Comic-Con. With the unveiling of the pilot episode and the first press tour at the Con, we have a better sense of what the show will revolve around, aside from the mysterious return of assumed dead Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg).
According to executive producers Jeff Bell and Jeph Loeb, the series will focus on the humanity and smaller scale heroics dished out daily in the S.H.I.E.L.D trenches.
“To me, the movies have always been about people,” Bell explains. “There are all these giant monsters and heroes, but there have always been really interesting humans. Nick Fury is just a guy.”
Loeb adds, “Out tagline is “not all heroes are super” and that’s really important to us. It’s not just a tagline but it talks about the human condition in a way that is really important.”
Bell continues, “Jeph has a thing that I really like, although we can’t say [mutant] on our show because that’s not part of our world, but he says every person has a mutant gift and your job in your life is to figure out what your mutant gift is and how best to use it. I think that’s really cool.”
The embodiment of that everyday heroism is Coulson, a character that has become beloved to audiences.
Why? “Easy,” says Bell. “Clark Gregg. He showed up in the first Iron Man with a couple of lines and people watching said he was interesting. Along the way, he got in a little bit more. In The Avengers they made him a fan. He liked the cards and S.H.I.E.L.D. history. He was the audience surrogate in the movies. You could be this guy who shows up and does his job around these superheroes and is taken for granted. The way Clark presents the lines, people love it, so he is our way into the world.
They dove right into last season’s cliffhanger: How did he survive? They aren’t telling, but they did know how it worked before they filmed it, so they aren’t just flying by the seat of their pants. It is a rational answer, not black magic. Depsite reports that Andrew Scott was back on set to film scenes for the third season, they swear Moriarty is actually dead. “What, did they fake suicide at each other? Were you faking? I was faking, too!” That’s not going to happen. As for speculation that he can’t be dead because they didn’t show the back off his head come off–sorry to say they just aren’t allowed to show that level of violence on BBC1.
Moffatt knows people are excited to learn how Sherlock managed it, but he doesn’t think it’s that interesting. That’s just an answer. But when John Watson realizes that Sherlock is alive, when they come face to face again? “That moment is electrifying.” And it’s funny. Moffatt calls it “the showstopper of the season.”
Moffatt always gives hints about what Sherlock Holmes stories the next season will hit, and for Season 3, he’s said, “Rat, Wedding, and Bow.” The first episode is called “The Empty Hearse” and is very slightly based on “The Adventures of the Empty House.” It is mostly an exploration of the affect of Sherlock’s “death” and reappearance on the people who loved him. The writers realized that there would be a lot of fallout from the events of last season, but they couldn’t spend all of this season talking about last season, so it sounds like they’re going to deal with it in this episode.
Episode 2 is called “The Sign of Three,” and seems to focus on Watson’s wedding, and you guys? They showed us a clip, and it was amazing! They asked us not to even tell anyone about it, but eff that noise! We’re at Watson’s wedding reception, and Sherlock is beginning his toast. Yeah, amazing. He begins awkwardly (of course), “John… John Watson…” and explains that when Watson asked him to be his best man, he was confused. Then it flashes back, to Watson walking in on Sherlock appleying a blowtorch to a disembodied eyeball, which he promptly dips in his cup of tea. Watson says that they need to talk about the best man, and Sherlock starts going on and on about who he thinks the best man is. Watson interrupts and says he means the best man at his wedding. Sherlock starts talking about one of Watson’s friends, Watson says not him, then another, Watson says that he isn’t his best friend, and says that at his wedding he wants the two people who are closest to him and mean the most to him by his side, and tells Sherlock that it’s him. Sherlock’s jaw drops. Cut back to the wedding, and Sherlock is explaining his reaction, how he told him how he was touched and honored… cut back to Sherlock still standing there, speechless. He knew it would be an important and difficult task… cut to Sherlock, still standing there, speechless. Sherlock says he then realized he hadn’t said anything out loud. Sherlock accepts, and promptly drinks the eyeball tea.
There wasn’t much information on the third episode but it was subsequently revealed that the title will be The Last Vow.
There were reports that the cast of The Big Bang Theory wouldn’t be present at SDCC due to other commitments but Johnny Galecki made a surprise appearance, posing as a fan in costume waiting to ask a question and Melissa Rauch hosted the panel. Steven Hawking had the recorded message above.
The Hannibal DVD and Blu-ray will be released September 24 (same day as the pilot of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs), including a gag real (video above) and an unaired episode. No specific news on the unaired episode, but I want to see it. Screen Rant has this news from the panel:
HitFix kept a comprehensive live blog of last night’s Hannibal panel at SDCC, which featured show creator Bryan Fuller, director David Slade, producer Martha De Laurentiis and stars Hugh Dancy and Aaron Abrams. The team were pretty brave going up against an audience of fans after the rage-inducing season finale that left poor Will Graham behind bars, Hannibal Lecter smiling at him from the other side, and a whole lot of people throwing objects at their televisions. If you think that Bryan Fuller was enjoying Will’s pain, you’re absolutely right:
“Will knows something no one else knows, and it’s a great place to put a character. One of the things I was most excited about in Season 2 was seeing Will Graham hit rock bottom.”
Given the fact that Will spent most of season one hallucinating, perspiring, or doing both simultaneously, it will be interesting to see what happens when he really hits rock bottom. Apparently he will be “scrappy” and “feisty,” though, so that’s definitely something to look forward to. Season two will begin with a two-parter that will serve as “a new pilot for what the season can be” now that the old dynamics are gone and Will is in jail, and the third episode, according to Fuller, “will be a trial.” That sounds ominous.
Video of the full Hannibal panel follows:
The Dexter cast made their final appearance before the show ends and, not surprisingly, there were no hints as to how the show ends.
The Federal Express truck pulled up with my copy of the Blu-ray of the first season on Orphan Black. I haven’t seen any of it, but the reviews I’ve read this week have sounded fantastic. I’m avoiding the details to limit spoilers, but here’s a report on news of the second season of the show. More here and here. Video of the panel above. (I’ll come back and watch after I finish the first season).
DC has its greatest success in movie adaptations with Superman and Batman. It will be necessary to reboot Batman once again for him to appear in the Justice League of America and in further solo films. It now appears that Batman might return in a joint movie with Superman. As for the last reboot of Batman, a panel even considered the question of whether Bruce Wayne was crazy for dating Catwoman. The Flash is the next DC character to get a solo film.
The Marvel universe is divided in the movies, with Sony holding the screen rights to Spider-Man. Information on plans for this series here and here.
Sneak peak at the Veronica Mars movie above. Those of us who donated through Kickstarter to make this movie possible are acknowledged in the clip. More on the movie here.
“According to a new study, inactivity can kill you. You can die from doing nothing. Believe me. These findings scare the hell out of the Congress.” –Jay Leno
The right wing noise machine is a massive con outfit. They spread false facts in order to get massive numbers of Americans to vote against their interests, and the interest of the nation. They don’t stop at using their influence on gullible viewers, listeners, and readers to influence views on public policy. Anyone who is on any conservative mailing lists knows how often they also use the trust they have obtained from their followers to profit financially. Obviously this includes sales of politically-related books and paraphernalia, but also includes numerous get rich schemes. See Media Matters and this post by Steve Benen for one example.
In an interview on Fox, Rand Paul shows he actually believes that it is only the filibuster which is keeping Obama from appointing Al Sharpton as attorney general or appointing Rachel Maddow to the Supreme Court. Video above and excerpt below. (Hat tip to Raw Story).
Rand Paul: “I think the leverage of using the filibuster to get information and to make the President obey the law, I think it is a very important tool and our Founding Fathers put it in there for precisely this reason.”
Eric Bolling: “For that reason, to call attention to what they’re trying to do, especially if you’re in the minority you an do that and, frankly, if you didn’t have a filibuster, what would stop President Obama from appointing say Al Sharpton as attorney general or Rachel Maddow on the Supreme Court.”
Rand Paul: “Right. If you were to get an extremist like that, someone with an extreme point of view, the majority here could pass it with 51 votes, but with the filibuster then it would take 60 votes, so you’re less likely to get someone with those kinds of extreme views to be nominated and approved by the Senate.”
Beyond again demonstrating that right wingers have little understanding of the Constitution they pretend to defend, with the filibuster not being in the Constitution, it is absurd to think that Obama would be making these appointments if not for being afraid that they would be stopped by the filibuster.
With legislation as vast as the Affordable Care Act there are bound to be winners and losers. This is worsened by the refusal of Congressional Republicans to participate responsibly in the legislative process, as under normal circumstances problems would be adjusted with legislation subsequent to initial passage. Instead House Republicans are planning yet another futile attempt to derail Obamacare.
Groups who benefit the most from Obamacare are those who in the past lost their insurance coverage when they became ill, those who purchase (or who are unable to afford) coverage in the individual market, and those who are unable to obtain coverage due to having pre-existing medical conditions. While many people receive coverage through employers, it has been much harder for those who must purchase their own coverage on the individual market to obtain affordable health insurance. There is good news out of New York for such people:
Individuals buying health insurance on their own will see their premiums tumble next year in New York State as changes under the federal health care law take effect, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Wednesday.
State insurance regulators say they have approved rates for 2014 that are at least 50 percent lower on average than those currently available in New York. Beginning in October, individuals in New York City who now pay $1,000 a month or more for coverage will be able to shop for health insurance for as little as $308 monthly. With federal subsidies, the cost will be even lower.
Supporters of the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, credited the drop in rates to the online purchasing exchanges the law created, which they say are spurring competition among insurers that are anticipating an influx of new customers. The law requires that an exchange be started in every state.
“Health insurance has suddenly become affordable in New York,” said Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president for health initiatives with the Community Service Society of New York. “It’s not bargain-basement prices, but we’re going from Bergdorf’s to Filene’s here.”
“The extraordinary decline in New York’s insurance rates for individual consumers demonstrates the profound promise of the Affordable Care Act,” she added.
Administration officials, long confronted by Republicans and other critics of President Obama’s signature law, were quick to add New York to the list of states that appear to be successfully carrying out the law and setting up exchanges.
“We’re seeing in New York what we’ve seen in other states like California and Oregon — that competition and transparency in the marketplaces are leading to affordable and new choices for families,” said Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services.
The trend is becoming clear. Those who live in states where the state government is working to make the Affordable Care Act work will benefit. Those who voted for Republican state governments will suffer due to the actions of those they elected. As New York has rates higher than typical in other states, those who live outside of New York probably will not see decreases in their premiums, but not of this magnitude.
Small businesses also benefit, even if not as much as individuals in New York: “The rates for small businesses, which are considerably lower than for individuals, will not fall as precipitously. But small businesses will be eligible for tax credits, and the exchanges will make it easier for them to select a plan. Roughly 15,000 plans are available today to small businesses, and choosing among them is particularly challenging.”
While Republicans are spreading scare stories about small business, the Affordable Care Act is actually beneficial for small businesses in two ways. By offering lower rates and tax credits, small businesses will no longer be at a severe disadvantage in hiring workers as when competing with larger employers who can more easily provide health care coverage. Secondly, by making insurance coverage portable, it will be easier for people to leave large companies to either start their own business or work or other small businesses.
