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Friday, January 29, 2010

Why the health insurance companies love Obama

Let’s face it, Obama’s heart was never with health care reform. He has invested approximately zero of his political capital in creating a new health care insurance system. Zero. Nada. Zilch. For the past year, platitudes have been the only words to escape his lips while he vocally supports not a single specific program.

Democratic Presidents, ex-officio leaders of the Democratic Party, are meant to push specific programs. When Obama was first elected he had tremendous political capital and grassroots support. Over the last year he has frittered away all that momentum. Who can get behind the health care bill of President Platitude? There is no bill. Over the past week Obama has mentioned his health care program on numerous occasions. But there is no such program. He stands for nothing. Obama can speak endlessly about generalities. Perhaps he missed his calling. Perhaps he should be penning greeting cards. “Hope!”

Now who benefits from all this? Obama’s opponent in the Democratic primary was Hillary Clinton. If anyone scared the health insurance industry more than Senator Clinton, please let me know. What the health insurance industry needed was a Democratic candidate who could mouth all the right platitudes but who had no particular desire to upset the health insurance industry as it exists today.

All I know is, that after a year, President Platitude has accomplished nothing as far as reforming the health insurance industry is concerned. The insurance companies couldn’t have asked for anything more.
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

From the Circus History Message Board


a novel history of the first American circus

and a great American portrait

now available in the United States

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(for Breschard/Ricketts Gilbert Stuart posts, click the "Gilbert Stuart's Circus Rider" link on the upper right hand corner of this page)


27 Jan 2010 - Among the earliest of photographic portraits of circus people are several images of animal presenter Jacob Driesbach. A long-time collector that owned one of them saw fit to bestow an identification of Isaac A. Van Amburgh upon it, having no knowledge of the actual sitter other than his general notoriety. There is no evidence at hand to confirm that Van Amburgh ever sat for a photographer.
The late Stuart Thayer had descriptions of both Driesbach and Van Amburgh. He even found a newspaper reference for the session when and where Driesbach was photographed. Thayer advanced a strong case for his Driesbach identification. Despite overwhelming evidence, others interested in photographic materials refused to accept his findings for fear of alienating the collector.

Thus, the earliest prominent portrait of an American circus owner, as well as some of the earliest photographic portraits of a circus performer are both challenged in their identification. Even with a sound argument at hand, it is often impossible to alter an entrenched mentality until a generational change takes place. Truth falls victim to allegiance, for a variety of reasons, especially in the public eye. Good luck with your establishment of the Breschard identity for the Gilbert Stuart portrait. Fred Dahlinger 
http://www.circushistory.org/Query.htm#3227

Fred Dahlinger is an extremely well respected circus historian.

Generational change does not necessarily need move at a glacial pace.