Groningen, NL is kind of an American news dead zone. We get CNN, but it’s CNN International, which in fact talks about everywhere in the world that is not America. I haven’t been following all my usual blogs, because I’m in Dutch class 7 hours a day. (I can now order coffee in Dutch! I think. I have not actually attempted it outside of the classroom, and shopkeepers tend to switch to English when I attempt Dutch, which leads me to believe that my accent is probably terrible. I will report back when I have actually successfully conversed with someone in Dutch.)
So this afternoon I caught up on the American news, and thought I would share the links for anyone feeling as under a rock as I was:
WebMD Launches Guide to Obamacare via ThinkProgress
This article summarizes the general confusion that apparently exists around the implementation of Obamacare, and links to some very helpful websites explaining it. The WebMD one has a feature where you tell it what state you’re in and it explains the conditions of the health care exchanges that are being set up, which was very cool, since before that I had only the vaguest idea of what a health care exchange was.
The Politics Behind Obama’s New Job Plan via ThinkProgress
Disappointingly, this article does not actually explain what the job plan is – I keep reading headlines about it, but haven’t seen the details yet. However, it included this intriguing line:
Even if Republicans do not cooperate in the short run, as seems probable, there is much to be gained by fighting for what a key constituency really wants and forcing your opponents to put themselves on the opposite side.
Shouldn’t fighting for what key constituencies really want be politicians primary tasks? Like, isn’t this obviously a good thing? I guess they mean “even if nothing comes of it and attention is diverted from issues where agreement might actually be reached,” but still, I was struck by how weird American politics is that fighting for what key constituencies want is considered noteworthy and deserving of extensive commentary.
Keystone Light: The Keystone XL Alternative You’ve Never Heard of Is Probably Going to Be Built via Mother Jones
When I left home Keystone Pipeline adverts were playing on the TV about every five minutes, and it was incredibly annoying. Now, apparently the pipeline has hit yet another snag in the approval process, but a different company is coming in with a proposal that is equally terrible, with a bonus record of previous pipeline oil spill.
Congress told of NSA surveillance reach years ago via MSNBC
The revelation at the extent of NSA spying on Americans is incredibly creepy and unsettling, in part because it seems like no one really knew that all this information was being collected and stored. This article points out that Congress did know, for years, and technically exercised oversight that could have limited the program – they just chose not too. Now that the information has been leaked, Congress is facing pressure, and so might actually do some of that oversight that is part of its job. It makes for an interesting conundrum – theoretically, the program could be constitutional and secret if Congress was willing to oversee it without public pressure, but Congress doesn’t really do much of anything without public pressure.