Was Coakley an Insurance Company Puppet?

Who knows how these things are done: some fat cats get together in their no longer smoke-filled room and pick people to run for office? They've never invited me to participate. But if you follow the Roman adage "qui bono?" (who benefits?), it's clear that some folks who are powerful get the best government money can buy.

That brings me back to Martha Coakley, the would-be senator (D-Kennedy) who lost what looked like a shoo-in election just weeks ago. Who benefited from that?

Her defeat means that insurance companies can continue to make gazillions off you and me, since what is left of health care legislation no longer merits the name "reform." By some accounts they'll now make more money and squeeze us even harder.

So why couldn't Coakley have been put up to run with the full knowledge that she would shoot herself in the foot worse than Creigh Deeds? There was no one available to run for the crucial senate seat who had enough common sense to know that it's cold in Massachusetts or to hire people who can spell the state's name?

If you believe that, I have a very nice bridge for you. It crosses the East River.

Coakley -- Change You're Forced to Put Up With

How did it come to this in exactly one year? Last January 20 I was freezing my butt off trying to find my way to the area of the presidential inauguration to which I had tickets. Everything was so hopeful. Today the guys in the black hats have won their obstructionist spot: they have nothing to offer, so they block.

Frankly, the Democratic politicians deserve what they got. President Obama proved to be a wimp, Senate Majority Leader Reid proved to be nothing of the sort, House Speaker Pelosi proved she couldn't politick her way out of a paper bag.

It was a new era of change we could believe in, of hope, of peace. Instead we got endless war, derailed health care reform, same old same old. Martha Coakley proved to be a worse candidate than Virginia's Creigh Deeds, which I didn't believe possible!

So now, Fast Eddie's seat goes to the 41st Republican senator, the one who can shut the whole thing down. Let's all close the store and go fishin'.

Earthquakes and Coups

The U.S. press has always dealt with countries south of the Rio Grande whenever generals march into palaces or Mother Nature throws a temper tantrum. Never mind the ongoing social and economic dramas in between.

This is how we find ourselves hearing about Haiti's "unpreparedness," as if it were New Orleans or some part of Ohio, and not the most wretched, poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, the first self-governing majority black country in the new World, and the one most abused, occupied and exploited by the United States.

The earthquake is natural, but the ensuing human disaster is man-made.

But you won't hear the U.S. mass media delve into the root causes of misery. After all, Haiti vanished from the front pages and television bulletins since the mid-1990s, as it will vanish once again in a few weeks, the minute U.S. readers and viewers get "compassion fatigue" and turn to another channel or turn the page.

Don't believe me? Recall another Latin American country whose name starts with an H. In 1998 Americans were aghast at the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in this country, but the nation vanished from the U.S. radar screen until in 2009 an elected president was overthrown.

Give up? Honduras.

Had Honduran poverty been eliminated in 1999? Were all the proceeds of the aid evenly distributed according to need, or did the lion's share of any money go to the top?

It doesn't matter. U.S. news consumers couldn't have cared less, so why should editors, reporters and TV twinkies.