Late Morning Open Thread

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

There are a lot of interesting things going on that should be mentioned, but that I couldn't quite generate whole posts out of - so here they are for your Friday reading pleasure.

• Karen Bass will become the Speaker on May 15, meaning she will play a central role in the upcoming budget negotiations this summer. I'm guessing she won't be as frequent a guest in Arnold's smoking tent as was her predecessor.
• Civil Rights groups have come out swinging against the redistricting reform plan - MALDEF, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, and the William C. Velazquez Institute held a news conference to explain their belief that redistricting reform will produce many fewer elected officials of color and weaken the voting rights of those communities. It's especially ironic that these criticisms are made against the backdrop of Fabian N??ez getting ready to hand off power to Karen Bass - redistricting reform is low enough on the state's list of priorities, and if it is going to reduce the representation of California's communities of color, it needs to not be passed.
• The Department of Managed Care is going to reexamine thousands of "rescissions" of health insurance made by insurers AFTER the patients got sick. When 90 of these rescissions done by Blue Cross were sampled by the agency, all 90 were found to be flawed. While this process holds out some hope of recovery of costs and insurance by those victimized by this practice, it also simply reinforces the point that health insurers have no place in the delivery of health care in our state and in our country.
• Neither Ronald Reagan nor his Vice-President George H.W. Bush wore a flag lapel pin. Noted America-hater Abraham Lincoln never wore one either and one does not appear on that paragon of sedition George Washington.

  So if you think ABC was out of line in making flag pins an issue at Wednesday's debate, our own David Dayen is organizing a protest at ABC in Burbank, alongside the Courage Campaign (note: I work for the Courage Campaign) this afternoon at 4pm. Wish I were there with you all!

Feel free to add any of your own stories or insights in the comments.