great taste, less american?

Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) critiques President Obama's choice of a Bud Light in his recent "beer summit" (hopefully) ending the Henry Louis Gates-racial profiling controversy, arguing that Budweiser, now owned by a Belgian company, is no longer an "American beer," and that the President should've had a Massachusetts-based Sam Adams instead. Sam Adams is the largest American-owned beer company.

But shouldn't the real complaint be not who owns the company, but the fact that Sam Adams has a richer, more full-bodied flavor than Bud Light? Even if the President is worried about his slim physique, I can attest that a Sam Adams Light is much more flavorful than a Bud Light.

Slow news day, so they all claim... meanwhile, California is falling into the ocean.

healthy families (schip) to cut 900,000 california children

Haven't covered much of the California economic disaster here, but more bad news today (h/t Calitics): the Sacramento Bee estimates that the Gubernator's cuts to Healthy Families, California's SCHIP program, will result in up to $194 million in cuts; Calitics estimates this will mean 900,000 children losing their health care coverage. There is already a waiting list of 22,000 California children for Healthy Families, since enrollment was frozen earlier this month as initial budget cuts hit the program.

Children will lose their Healthy Families coverage according to their date of enrollment, without consideration of how needy they are.

SCHIP has arguably been the most successful public insurance program since the advent of Medicare, and the expansion of SCHIP earlier this year was one of the Obama Administration's earliest and most significant victories. It's a testament to the broken system that California is currently operating under that those services most needed at a time when more than a tenth of the state is unemployed and more and more people lose their health insurance every day that even the politically perfect home run of insuring children can't hold up against Republican obstructionism and an undemocratic (small "d") budget and revenue system.

A small glimmer of hope that the First 5 program may step in and help reduce some of the cuts, having given Healthy Families almost $17 million last year and helping to insure $65,000 children. Unfortunately, the program can only cover infants to 5-year-olds, by law.

nat'l unemployment at 9.7%; 8 ca metro areas 15%+

The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics made it official today: June 2009 national unemployment was 9.7%. California's June rate was 11.6%, a large increase over the June 2008 rate of 7.0%.

In total, there were eight California metropolitan areas with unemployment rates higher than 15%:

1. El Centro: 27.5%
2. Yuba City: 18.0%
3. Merced: 17.6%
4. Modesto: 16.6%
5. Stockton: 15.5%
6. Hanford-Corcoran: 15.3%
6. Redding: 15.3%
8. Fresno: 15.2%

Note that the official unemployment number is for non-farm jobs, so the true impact on the many Central Valley metropolitan areas hardest hit isn't completely clear from these numbers alone.

The major metropolitan areas did slightly better than the state as a whole, though still not great. The Los Angeles metro region without Orange County had an unemployment rate of 11.4%, and Orange County had a rate of 9.2%. San Francisco and neighboring counties to the south had a rate of 9.2%, while East Bay counties had a rate of 11.1%.

benefits of the house health reform bill, district-by-district

House Energy and Commerce Chair Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has produced, through his committee, a breakdown of how the House health care reform bill would benefit every single Congressional District in the country. It's really quite a fantastic effort, and something that advocates and the Administration should learn from as they try to push reform forward. What many Americans are wondering right now is how this health care bill is going to actually impact them personally, and all they're getting is a lot of rhetoric from both sides; these sorts of concrete snapshots will bolster pro-reform messages.

judy chu (d-ca) first chinese american woman elected to congress

In Tuesday's special election, Judy Chu became the first Chinese American woman elected to the U.S. Congress. She will represent California's 32nd, in the largely Latino and Asian American suburbs of Los Angeles. The special election was to replace Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and Chu will undoubtedly continue Solis's legacy of strong dedication to the diverse community.

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus issued a press release, in part below:

Today, executive board members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus issued the following statements enthusiastically welcoming California State Board of Equalization member Judy Chu to Congress. Chu is the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress, and the twelfth Asian American and Pacific Islander to serve our nation in the 111th Congress.

Rep. Mike Honda, CAPAC Chair: “I offer my heartfelt congratulations to my dear friend, Judy Chu. Judy has been a strong advocate on behalf of America’s working families and communities, and has proven herself as a leader who can build broad-based coalitions. She brings strong expertise from her tenure on the California Board of Equalization that will be critical as we fight to preserve American jobs and strengthen our economy. Congress will gain much from what Judy has to offer. With pride, I look forward to inviting her to join our ranks as a member of Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.”

Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, CAPAC Vice Chair: “It is with great pleasure that I congratulate Dr. Judy Chu on her successful election into Congress. Congresswoman Chu’s diverse background, as a professor, Mayor and State Assembly Member of Monterey Park, and as a member of the California State Board of Equalization, will bring a truly unique viewpoint to the important issues currently facing Congress. With over twenty years serving areas of the California 32nd District, Congresswoman Chu will represent them well in Congress. I look forward to working with her on finding solutions to the many issues and pressing problems afflicting not only our Asian and Pacific American community but all Americans.”

President Obama also called Representative-elect Chu yesterday to congratulate her on her victory:

The President called Representative-elect Judy Chu to congratulate her on her victory in last night's special election in California. The President told her that he is looking forward to working with her in Congress, especially when it comes to reforming our health care system and lowering health care costs for all Americans. The President also congratulated her on being the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress and told her that he admired the way she ran her campaign.

To view a picture of the President calling Congresswoman-elect Judy Chu from the Oval Office today to congratulate her on her victory in the special election to represent California's 32nd Congressional District, click HERE.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

happy bastille day

July 14th is Bastille Day, or "Fête Nationale," the French national holiday celebrating the storming of the armory/prison fortress Bastille and a symbolic beginning of popular uprising of the French Revolution.

From my rough understanding, the storming of the Bastille has the sort of place in the French national consciousness that the Boston Tea Party does for us, albeit with more intrigue and drama. Because that's how the French do.

so much better than dr. sanjay gupta

After the disaster that was the nomination of CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General (who, it was reported in the end, turned down the job in part because it didn't pay as much as being a TV personality), President Obama made his pick today: a primary care physician who has lived the social determinants of health, both professionally and personally. Dr. Regina Benjamin is the sort of doctor dedicated to her patients and who recognizes that the larger issues we face in improving our national health system extend far beyond just insurance reform and into public health and wellness. From USA Today:

President Obama turned to the Deep South for the next surgeon general, choosing a rural Alabama family physician who made headlines with fierce determination to rebuild her nonprofit medical clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Dr. Regina Benjamin is known along Alabama's impoverished Gulf Coast as a country doctor who makes house calls and doesn't turn away patients who can't pay — even as she's had to find the money to rebuild a clinic repeatedly destroyed by hurricanes and once even fire.

"For all the tremendous obstacles that she has overcome, Regina Benjamin also represents what's best about health care in America, doctors and nurses who give and care and sacrifice for the sake of their patients," Obama said Monday in introducing his choice for a job known as America's doctor.

[...]

Benjamin called the job "a physician's dream," and pledged to be a voice for patients in need — and to fight the preventable diseases that claim too many lives each year, including nearly her entire family.

Her father died with diabetes and high blood pressure, her only brother of HIV, her mother of lung cancer "because as a young girl, she wanted to smoke just like her twin brother could" — an uncle now on oxygen as a result, she noted.

"I cannot change my family's past. I can be a voice in the movement to improve our nation's health care and our nation's health," Benjamin said. "I want to be sure that no one falls through the cracks as we improve our health care system."

[...]

Pushed by the need in her own shrimping community of Bayou La Batre, Ala., and its diverse patient mix — white, black and, increasingly immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos — Benjamin, 51, has emerged as a national leader in the call to improve health disparities. She became the first black woman and the first doctor under age 40 elected to the American Medical Association's board of trustees, and in 2002 became the first black woman to head a state medical society.

She's gotten good early reviews from the American Public Health Association, an important endorsement given that the Surgeon General is the operational head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, within the Department of Health and Human Services. Best of luck to her with the confirmation hearings, though I imagine she won't need luck given her history of determination and her impressive experience.

interview with john cho

Great interview with John Cho (Star Trek, Harold and Kumar) in Asia Pacific Arts ("The Game-Changer") (h/t angry asian man). My favorite excerpt, which speaks to why Cho has been so successful at transforming the industry for APIA actors:

Right, right, right. I've heard it all. It's funny. It's almost perverse how much I've thought about my Asian American audience, and my whole career, every job -- every audition -- that I've ever been offered, I think about how it will serve the community or not. If people will appreciate it or find it offensive, and it's almost the single factor by which I take jobs or not. Because as soon as I started, I realized it was so important to people. From my experiences as a boy, I realized that those images meant something to me. Mostly, it's not grandiose to where I thought I could affect positive change. I was really just trying to avoid doing damage to the Asian American psyche. I just figured, I don't need to contribute to that. But it's funny, as much as I've thought about Asian America, I've had to ignore them as well, after I make my decision, because you can interpret it any way you want it. Earlier, we talked about how I felt like I was battling a stereotype that Asians weren't funny and can't do comedy and couldn't make the jokes. We're always the butt of jokes, and we're never the funny guy. And I was in Korea a few weeks ago at a junket and one of the journalists asked me, "Why is it that Asians are always the funny people?" And I thought, "well, this is really strange." Whatever it is, it's like statistics. Sports statistics, you can see the pattern you want to see. You can tell the story you want to tell based on these numbers. So, I've heard that. Harold and Kumar, I believe, is largely a positive portrayal and there are people who don't appreciate it. What can you do?

sen. al franken (d-mn)!

Al Franken was sworn in this morning as the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He joins Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in representing the Land of 10,000 Lakes (also the North Star State and the Gopher State).

Here's then candidate Franken from early in his campaign, on Letterman. Good stuff.