Archive for July, 2009

Bill Moyers: Israeli Commandos on U.S. Soil during Katrina

Bill Moyers: Israeli Commandos on U.S. Soil during Katrina

Go to time=32:38 on the link below from Bill Moyers Journal “Examining Blackwater” with Jeremy Scahill. Then go back and listen to the whole program about the mercenary contractor Blackwater – now called ‘Xe’. I don’t want my tax dollars going to mercenaries – do you? Private armies – paid for with U.S. tax dollars? I don’t want Israelis on U.S. soil carrying weapons many Americans are not allowed to have. This whole thing stinks. Meanwhile we Americans are supposed to consider surrendering our arms to those who promise to keep us “safe”. Think about it.

THEY GET AUTOMATIC WEAPONS while YOU ARE ENCOURAGED INTO DISARMAMENT!

Try moving the slider to a little past the halfway point if you don’t have timing diplayed on your player:

Click here for audio program “Examining Blackwater”

Now fast forward to the below Wayne Madsen interview specifically the 5:20 mark – talk about a slap in the face to U.S. personnel ! Why are there non-US personnel with privileges not afforded to …say…YOU or ME?

via American’s Journey: Bill Moyers: Israeli Commandos on U.S. Soil during Katrina.

The Democrats Abandon the Environment

The Democrats Abandon the Environment

by Shamus Cooke

“As a banker, I also welcome the fact that the ‘cap-and-trade’ system is becoming the dominant methodology for [carbon dioxide] control.”Simon Linnett, Executive Vice Chairman of Rothschild Bank.

Can the looming environmental catastrophe be solved by environmentalists working side by side with Wall Street Bankers? Such a question doesn’t deserve a serious answer. The Democrats, however, are attempting to address the issue of global warming by developing a “partnership” between those who love the earth, and those who love only profits.

Such a marriage must surely end in divorce. But the Obama administration is enjoying maximum political gain from the blissful honeymoon period, while in reality the honest environmentalists have already left in disgust, even those previously committed to supporting the Democrats: Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen, etc. They rightfully feel betrayed and point to the Democrats’ “Cap-and-Trade” environmental bill as proof the same bill that Obama and the media claim to be a “historic” step forward.

Cap-and-Trade is itself an absurdity of logic, for it assumes that the economic mechanisms responsible for the destruction of the environment, capitalism, should be the centerpiece of any potential solution. Any solution to global warming that isn’t market-based (capitalistic) has been explicitly rejected by the two-party system.

But this immediately presents a new problem: how to create a “profitable market” out of pollution reduction? Such a question can only expect blank stares in return, but the titans of Wall Street are well known for sleight of hand tricks that conjure up billions.

via The Democrats Abandon the Environment.

The privately owned Federal Reserve runs our Country

The privately owned Federal Reserve runs our Country

Unemployment on the rise

by Bob Chapman

Last week the Dow fell 1.6%; S&P fell 1.9%; the Russell 2000 fell 3.3% and the Nasdaq slipped 1.8%; cyclicals fell 3.6%; transports 1.5%; consumers 1.6%; utilities 1.4%; banks 2.3% and broker/dealers 2.8%. High tech fell 1.8%; semis 1.8%; Internets 2.1% and biotechs 2.7%. Gold bullion fell $19.50 and the HUI gold index fell 8.4%.

Two-year T-bill rates fell 10 bps to 0.82% and the 10’s fell 21 bps to 3.30%. Ten-year German bunds fell 8 bps to 3.26%.

Freddie Mac pegged the 30-year fixed rate mortgage off 12 bps at 5.20%. The 15’s fell 8 bps to 4.6% and the 1-year ARMs fell 12 bps to 4.82%.

Fed credit declined $9.5 billion to $1.977 trillion, off $269 billion ytd and up 123% yoy. Fed foreign holdings of Treasury and Agency debt jumped $20.5 billion to a record $2.787 trillion. Custody holdings for foreign central banks rose 20.7% ytd, and were up 18.6% yoy.

M2 narrow money supply fell $36 billion having expanded 9.1% yoy. Total money market fund assets rose $4.4 billion to $3.668 trillion.

This past week the dollar index, the USDX, was unchanged at 80.26.

During the week of the G-8 meeting the US pushed the dollar up. They attempted the same with the stock market unsuccessfully and successfully drove bond yields down and bond values up. They also smashed commodities, especially oil and pressured gold and silver lower. The problem is they cannot continue. They do not have the power to do so. Those suppressed markets will reverse and rise.

The dollar was on the verge of breaking below 79 on the USDX, so the ECB announced they would pour $613 billion into 1-year deposits. This was to encourage bank lending in the eurozone, which gained by only 1.8% in the first half of the year. The US banks had a similar experience.

One thing is for certain and that is that low interest rates encourage carrying long gold and silver positions. That is true for commodities as well, which in the second quarter rose. Oil gained 45%; copper 28% and wheat 20%. Gold and silver were not allowed those gains by our government. While holding interest rates at 1% the ECB now has M3 increasing at a paltry 3.7%. In our mind there is no question that the eurozone is about to slip into severe depression. The 16 economies are being strangled to death.

via The privately owned Federal Reserve runs our Country.

Urgent: Single Payer on the Table in Energy and Commerce on Today

Urgent: Single Payer on the Table in Energy and Commerce on Today

Today, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) will introduce, in the Energy and Commerce Committee, an amendment that abolishes private insurance and creates a national single-payer system that would cover everyone. This amendment would substitute Rep. John Conyers’ (D-MI) single-payer bill, HR 676, for the current Tri-Committee Health Reform Bill.

If your representative is a member of the Energy & Commerce Committee, please call and ask him or her to support Rep. Weiner’s single payer amendment.

Energy & Commerce Committee members can be found at:

http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=catego…

The Congressional Switchboard can be reached, toll free at 800-473-6711 or 202-224-3121.

If your representative is not a member of the Committee, please call Committee Chair Henry Waxman at 202-225-3976 and ask him to support Weiner’s single payer amendment.

HR 676 would institute a single payer health care system by expanding a greatly improved Medicare system to everyone residing in the U. S.

via Urgent: Single Payer on the Table in Energy and Commerce on Today | ProsperityAgenda.US.

Healthcare Is “Not a Right” and Obama’s Plan Will Cost Way Beyond 1T Ron Paul Says:

OPS: This is why the libertarian troll will never get anywhere.

Healthcare Is “Not a Right” and Obama’s Plan Will Cost Way Beyond $1T, Ron Paul Says

Healthcare legislation is quickly picking up momentum in Washington. Three separate committees in the House of Representatives are hard at work hammering out details of a bill. Votes are planned today in the Education and Labor and Ways and Means committees on a plan that majority House Democrats presented this week. The legislation seeks to provide coverage to nearly all Americans by subsidizing the poor and penalizing individuals and employers who don’t purchase health insurance.

Meanwhile, the Senate Health committee on Wednesday approved its own version of a bill. Their plan sets up a government-run insurance system to compete with private insurers, and like the House, requires many employers to provide insurance for their workers or face penalties and requires individuals to purchase their own insurance.

Each proposal carries an estimated price tag of about $1 Trillion over the next decade. And that figure will probably balloon says Rep. Ron Paul. “They’ve never been right on projections of medical programs,” referring to his colleagues in Congress, “they’re always off by 100%, 200%. It always costs a lot more.”

via Healthcare Is “Not a Right” and Obama’s Plan Will Cost Way Beyond 1T Ron Paul Says: Tech Ticker, Yahoo! Finance.

Secessionist Gov. Rick Perry now seeking federal stimulus funds.

Secessionist Gov. Rick Perry now seeking federal stimulus funds.

In March, Texas Gov. Rick Perry rejected $555 million in federal stimulus money that would have expanded unemployment benefits for Texans. Perry argued at the time that accepting the stimulus dollars would force the state to expand eligibility to include thousands of low-wage workers — including part-time employees like single mothers, college students and senior citizens — which Perry bemoaned would burden tax payers with “higher taxes and expanded obligations.” When explaining the decision, Perry told Fox News, “this was pretty simple for us.” But now Perry is reversing his decision. Texas has asked the federal government for a $170 million loan to ensure the state is able to continue paying out unemployment benefits:

via Think Progress » Secessionist Gov. Rick Perry now seeking federal stimulus funds..

Right-Wing Escalates Fear-Mongering Rhetoric: Warns Americans Will Die If Health Care Reform Passes

OPS: Fear and Lies – It’s all they have to work with

Right-Wing Escalates Fear-Mongering Rhetoric: Warns Americans Will Die If Health Care Reform Passes

Yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed a health reform plan that includes a public option. Meanwhile, on the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rolled out “a bill worth fighting for.” Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra predicted that Congress will soon pass a comprehensive health reform bill.

Fearing that health reform is getting closer to passage, the right-wing is escalating its rhetoric by issuing dire warnings of its consequences. Interviewed by the Washington Times, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) was asked if “government-run health care” will “end up killing more people than it saves?” Coburn responded, “Absolutely.”

via Think Progress » Right-Wing Escalates Fear-Mongering Rhetoric: Warns Americans Will Die If Health Care Reform Passes.

Conservative Education ‘Experts’ Want Less Lincoln And More Jesus In Texas Textbooks

Conservative Education ‘Experts’ Want Less Lincoln And More Jesus In Texas Textbooks

texaswebThe Dallas Morning News reported last week that conservative “experts” advising the state of Texas on school curriculum are arguing that the state’s social studies and history textbooks are giving “too much attention” to some of U.S. history’s most prominent civil rights leaders. David Barton, one of the so-called “experts,” claimed Hispanic labor leader César Chávez “lacks the stature, impact and overall contributions of so many others.” A colleague on the panel agreed, also singling out Thurgood Marshall for exclusion:

“To have César Chávez listed next to Ben Franklin” – as in the current standards – “is ludicrous,” wrote evangelical minister Peter Marshall, one of six experts advising the state as it develops new curriculum standards for social studies classes and textbooks. [...]

Marshall also questioned whether Thurgood Marshall, who argued the landmark case that resulted in school desegregation and was the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice, should be presented to Texas students as an important historical figure. He wrote that the late justice is “not a strong enough example” of such a figure.

via Think Progress » Conservative Education ‘Experts’ Want Less Lincoln And More Jesus In Texas Textbooks.

CPC’s Whip Count on Public Option

CPC’s Whip Count on Public Option

I’ve seen the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s most recent whip list for healthcare reform, and it’s–to say the least–very encouraging. It’s also a testament to the longterm efforts of nyceve and the netroots community to keep healthcare reform alive as an issue for the past several years. As of last week, a total of 50 CPC members vow to vote against any bill that did not meet their criteria for a public option.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus calls for a robust public option that must:

• Enact concurrently with other significant expansions of coverage and must not be conditioned on private industry actions.
• Consist of one entity, operated by the federal government, which sets policies and bears the risk for paying medical claims to keep administrative costs low and provide a higher standard of care.
• Be available to all individuals and employers across the nation without limitation
• Allow patients to have access to their choice of doctors and other providers that meet defined participation standards, similar to the traditional Medicare model, promote the medical home model, and eliminate lifetime caps on benefits.
• Have the ability to structure the provider rates to promote quality care, primary care, prevention, chronic care management, and good public health.
• Utilize the existing infrastructure of successful public programs like Medicare in order to maintain transparency and consumer protections for administering processes including payment systems, claims and appeals.
• Establish or negotiate rates with pharmaceutical companies, durable medical equipment providers, and other providers to achieve the lowest prices for consumers.
• Receive a level of subsidy and support that is no less than that received by private plans.
• Ensure premiums must be priced at the lowest levels possible, not tied to the rates of private insurance plans.

In conclusion, the public plan, like all other qualified plans, must redress historical disparities in underrepresented communities. It must provide a standard package of comprehensive benefits including dental, vision, mental health and prescription drug coverage with no pre-existing condition exclusions. It must limit cost-sharing so that there are no barriers to care, and incorporate up-to-date best practice models to improve quality and lower costs. All plans, including the public plan, must include coverage for evidence-based preventive health services at minimal or no co-pay. All plans, including the public plan, should be at least as transparent as traditional Medicare

NOTE: The LIST of Dems follows…..

via Daily Kos: State of the Nation.

LEAKED: More Than Fifty House Progressives Privately Commit To Oppose Weak Health Care Bill

LEAKED: More Than Fifty House Progressives Privately Commit To Oppose Weak Health Care Bill

Progressive Democrats are taking a hard stand on health care reform, with a majority committing to oppose any health care reform package that doesn’t include a robust public option. On Wednesday, they got an inadvertent assist by an anonymous leak of their “whip list.”

A whip list, which is generally tightly guarded, is used by congressional leaders to keep track of the private pledges made by members before a vote. The list is kept private to encourage frank answers from members so that leadership can gather accurate intelligence.

The whip list was obtained by Joan McCarter, a DailyKos contributing editor. It names fifty members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) who have firmly pledged to oppose any bill that doesn’t meet the group’s standards. Without those fifty votes, Democrats would be unable to pass the reform effort without Republican support. (Once Judy Chu is sworn in, there will be 256 Democrats, and one “closet Democrat”; 218 are needed for passage, leaving Democrats 12 votes short.)

Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) is in charge of keeping the whip count for the CPC. Watson spokeswoman Dorinda White confirmed that the list is accurate but slightly out of date and that more members have since confirmed that they’ll oppose the bill if it isn’t firm enough.

The CPC laid out its requirements in a June statement, demanding a strong public health care option that is available immediately. See the statement here.

via LEAKED: More Than Fifty House Progressives Privately Commit To Oppose Weak Health Care Bill.

Time to Pay our Climate Debt

Time to Pay our Climate Debt

Climate Change & Environment

Since industrialised countries are most responsible for global warming, they owe poorer countries a ‘climate debt’. Rich countries need to pay off that debt by helping poorer countries adapt to climate change and by sharing the world’s atmospheric space more fairly, says Nick Dearden.

Last week’s G8 meeting presents a worrying model of how climate talks will play out in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit in December. While rich countries fail to grasp the scale of the solution required to deal with climate change, larger developing countries are blamed for a lack of ambition.

While the very richest can’t agree on meaningful, let alone ambitious, targets for reducing their own emissions, one of Ed Milliband’s key challenges for the year is to get developing countries to “move away from business as usual”.

The hypocrisy springs from an inability or unwillingness to grasp the nature of the environmental problem. Meanwhile, countries like Bolivia are proposing real solutions, and ones which terrify Western leaders: you can’t, they believe, deal with climate change unless you accept that rich countries are in significant debt to the poorest and embrace the concept of redistribution.

Their argument is simple and based on a premise which isn’t disputed. The rich world has gobbled up far more than its fair share of the earth’s atmosphere in order to develop. In essence, industrialised countries colonised the atmosphere, in the same way they did other resources.

Those rich countries now owe poorer countries a two-fold ‘climate debt’: first for over-using the Earth’s capacity to absorb greenhouse gases and thereby denying atmospheric space to those who need it most. Second for the destruction that those emissions are causing.

via Time to Pay our Climate Debt – STWR – Share The World’s Resources.

Goldman’s Coup: Matt Taibbi, Mike Lux, and Robert Johnson

YouTube – GRITtv: Matt Taibbi & Michael Lux: Goldman’s Coup.

Max Max Keiser – Goldman Sachs is the US Treasury!

YouTube – Max Keiser takes offense to Goldman Sachs story (pt1 of 2).

Jesse Ventura: They Spent 100 Million Dollars Investigating Clinton But Only 4 Million On 9/11!

11 min interview covers many issues. The 9-11 mention comes at about 7:40

YouTube – Jesse Ventura: They Spent 100 Million Dollars Investigating Clinton But Only 4 Million On 9/11!.

JPMorgan quarterly profits jump 36%

JPMorgan quarterly profits jump 36%

JPMorgan reported record revenues in the second quarter on Thursday as soaring investment banking fees drove profits in spite of swelling loan losses.

The US bank’s earnings beat analysts’ most bullish expectations, jumping 36 per cent and producing net income of $2.7bn, or 28 cents a share, compared with $2bn, or 53 cents, in the same quarter the prior year.

Revenues climbed by 41 per cent in the quarter to a record $27.7bn. This was driven by $7.3bn from JPMorgan’s investment banking division, which saw fees grow 29 per cent. Retail banking revenues climbed 44 per cent to $970m on higher deposit-related fees and balances and gains from its acquisition of Washington Mutual.

via FT.com / Companies / Financials – JPMorgan quarterly profits jump 36%.

China GDP growth accelerates to 7.9%

China GDP growth accelerates to 7.9%

Beijing is in reach of its 2009 growth target of 8 per cent after its economy accelerated significantly in the second quarter on the back of increased government spending and a surge in bank lending.

The economy expanded by 7.9 per cent in the three months to the end of June over the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Thursday, with investment, industrial production and retail sales all contributing to higher output.

via FT.com / China / Economy & Trade – China GDP growth accelerates to 7.9%.

Paris’ Bike Rental Program Celebrates Second Birthday (VIDEO)

Paris’ Bike Rental Program Celebrates Second Birthday (VIDEO

Paris’ public bicycle rental program, celebrates its second birthday today. Velib or “bike freedom” distributes 20,000 bicycles across Paris at 1800 locations. Riders can access the bikes through a variety of payment methods: a one-day card for 1 euro, a weekly card for 5 euros, or an annual card for 29 euros. Over the past two years, Velib has been used over fifty-three million times. The 22.5 kilogram bikes are equipped with three-speed settings, a locking system, and powered by an LED light.

There are currently four times as many Velib locations as Metro stations making it the newest and greenest form of public transportation in Paris. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe initiated the program to decrease Paris’ pollution and to deter Parisians from relying on cars and taxis. 120,000 trips are taken daily for commutes around the city. The bikes even come equipped with a basket to transport ones daily purchases around the city, so skip the plastic bags and hop on an eco-friendly Velib!

via Paris’ Bike Rental Program Celebrates Second Birthday (VIDEO).

Consumption: The Root Cause of Climate Change

Consumption: The Root Cause of Climate Change

The environmental and social crisis that threatens us requires deeper solutions than new technology alone can provide

Technology is part of the solution to climate change. But only part. Techno-fixes like some of those in the Guardian’s Manchester Reportdrastic reductions in our consumption. That means radical economic and social transformation. Merely swapping technologies fails to address the root causes of climate change. simply cannot deliver the carbon cuts science demands of us without being accompanied by

We need to choose the solutions that are the cheapest, the swiftest, the most effective and least likely to incur dire side effects. On all counts, there’s a simple answer – stop burning the stuff in the first place. Consume less.

There is a certain level of resources we need to survive, and beyond that there is a level we need in order to have lives that are comfortable and meaningful. It is far below what we presently consume. Americans consume twice as much oil as Europeans. Are they twice as happy? Are Europeans half as free?

via Consumption: The Root Cause of Climate Change | CommonDreams.org.

Obama Administration Approves Logging In Largest U.S. Rain Forest

bama Administration Approves First Roadless Logging Contract In Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

This week, the Obama administration approved the sale of timber in a roadless national forest in Alaska. The Tongass National Forest is a 17 million acre temperate rain forest in southeast Alaska, which is home to both endangered species and native Alaskan tribes. It is the largest temperate rain forest in the United States.

From The Juneau Empire:

Orion North timber sale is the first such awarded since Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced in May he would personally review all timber sales in roadless areas of national forests in the next year.[....]

Tongass environmental activists had been hoping Vilsack’s announcement would translate to a temporary moratorium on timber road-building in roadless areas, including Orion North and three other timber sales on the Tongass. President Obama supported the roadless rule in his campaign.

via Obama Administration Approves First Roadless Logging Contract In Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

White House ABC News: No to Single Payer Obama Doc

White House ABC News: No to Single Payer Obama Doc  « Single Payer Action

David Scheiner is a family doctor based in Chicago.

For 22 years — until 2007 — he was Barack Obama’s doctor.

On Wednesday June 24, ABC News held an hour long health care forum at the White House featuring an interview with President Obama — with questions from a live audience.

ABC News producers thought it would be great to surprise Obama by flying in his former doctor from Chicago.

Dr. David Scheiner could ask his former patient a question or two.

ABC News producer Annie Allen set everything up with Dr. Scheiner.

Dr. Scheiner was excited.

He canceled about 40 patient visits — two days worth.

It cost his practice about $5,000.

On the Sunday before the event, Dr. Scheiner talked with Annie Allen and everything was a go.

via White House ABC News: No to Single Payer Obama Doc « Single Payer Action.

Foreclosures Rise 15 Percent In First Half Of 2009

Foreclosures Rise 15 Percent In First Half Of 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of U.S. households on the verge of losing their homes soared by nearly 15 percent in the first half of the year as more people lost their jobs and were unable to pay their monthly mortgage bills.

he mushrooming foreclosure crisis affected more than 1.5 million homes in the first six months of the year, according to a report released Thursday by foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc.

The data show that, despite the Obama administration’s plan to encourage the lending industry to prevent foreclosures by handing out $50 billion in subsidies, the nation’s housing woes continue to spread. Experts don’t expect foreclosures to peak until the middle of next year.

Foreclosure filings rose more than 33 percent in June compared with the same month last year and were up nearly 5 percent from May, RealtyTrac said.

via Foreclosures Rise 15 Percent In First Half Of 2009.

Honduras coup leader ready to quit

Honduras coup leader ready to quit

Honduran interim President Roberto Micheletti sets conditions for his departure following weeks of political turmoil in the Central American state.

Micheletti said he would only step down so long as the deposed president Manuel Zelaya refrains from reclaiming power.

Micheletti expressed willingness to leave “at some point that decision is needed to bring peace and tranquility to the country, but without the return, and I stress this, of former President Zelaya.”

He went on to accuse ‘unspecified’ rioters of scheming to stage an armed uprising in the capital Tegucigalpa in a concerted attempt to topple the interim government.

His comments came after the ousted Zelaya had urged Hondurans to stand up to Micheletti’s administration in a national insurrection.

via Honduras coup leader ready to quit.

Is Obama Continuing the Bush/Cheney Assassination Program?

Is Obama Continuing the Bush/Cheney Assassination Program?

Congress is outraged that Cheney concealed a CIA program to assassinate al Qaeda leaders, but they should also be investigating why Obama is continuing—and expanding—U.S. assassinations.

By Jeremy Scahill

In June, CIA Director Leon Panetta allegedly informed members of the House Intelligence Committee of the existence of a secret Bush era program implemented in the days after 9-11 that, until last month, had been hidden from lawmakers. The concealment of the plan, Panetta alleged, happened at the orders of then-Vice President Dick Cheney.

Now, The New York Times is reporting that this secret program that had “been hidden from lawmakers” by Cheney was a plan “to dispatch small teams overseas to kill senior Qaeda terrorists.” The Wall Street Journal, which originally reported on the plan, reported that the paramilitary teams were to implement a “2001 presidential legal pronouncement, known as a finding, which authorized the CIA to pursue such efforts.”

The plan, the Times says, never was carried out because “Officials at the spy agency over the years ran into myriad logistical, legal and diplomatic obstacles.” Instead, the Bush administration “sought an alternative to killing terror suspects with missiles fired from drone aircraft or seizing them overseas and imprisoning them in secret C.I.A. jails.”

via RebelReports – Is Obama Continuing the Bush/Cheney Assassination Program?.

Ex-Powell aide suggests CIA assassination program was actually active

Ex-Powell aide suggests CIA assassination program was actually active

The secret CIA program allegedly aimed at assassinating suspected terrorists abroad has raised the eyebrows of at least one former senior Bush Administration official who hints that the program may have actually gone into effect, despite the denials of the agency and congressional staff who have been briefed.

The aide, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, was chief of staff to Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell. He says he heard “echoes” of the program from US ambassadors abroad, who informed him that clandestine military teams were being dispatched to their countries.

“We, very early on, after 9/11, at the State Department, learned from our ambassadors in the field that there were teams being dispatched to their cities, to their countries, and these teams were clandestine and essentially aimed at capturing al Qaeda leaders or al Qaeda affiliates and interrogating them,” Wilkerson told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Tuesday. “So the fact that it might have gravitated over to the CIA or the CIA might have joined in, which is something that happens a lot these days with Delta Force and other special operators is no surprise to me.

via Raw Story » Ex-Powell aide suggests CIA assassination program was actually active.

Calif tax officials: Legal pot would rake in $1.4B

Calif tax officials: Legal pot would rake in $1.4B

California tax officials have found that a state bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol would generate nearly $1.4 billion in revenue.

via Calif tax officials: Legal pot would rake in $1.4B.

Healthcare: Change the Debate Support a Real Public Option

Healthcare: Change the Debate Support a Real Public Option

by DennisKucinich

Dear Kos – The time is now to push the healthcare debate towards a single-payer solution. We have the support of over 85 members of Congress, millions of Americans and countless physicians.

I hope you will consider calling your member of Congress today.

Thank you for all you do!

Sincerely,

Dennis

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Healthcare: Change the Debate

Support a Real Public Option

Dear Friends,

In mid-May, in an effort to reach consensus, President Obama secured a deal with the health insurance companies to trim 1.5% of their costs each year for ten years saving a total of $2 trillion dollars, which would be reprogrammed into healthcare. Just two days after the announcement at the White House the insurance companies reneged on the deal which was designed to protect and increase their revenue at least 35%

The insurance companies reneged on the deal because they refuse any restraint on increasing premiums, copays and deductibles – core to their profits. No wonder a recent USA Today poll found that only four percent of Americans trust insurance companies. This is within the margin of error, which means it is possible that NO ONE TRUSTS insurance companies.

Then why does Congress trust the insurance companies? Yesterday HR 3200 “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act,” a 1000 page bill was delivered to members. The title of the bill raises a question: “Affordable” for whom?.

Of $2.4 trillion spent annually for health care in America, fully $800 billion goes for the activities of the for-profit insurer-based system. This means one of every three health care dollars is siphoned off for corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, marketing and the cost of paper work, (which can be anywhere between 15 – 35% in the private sector as compared to Medicare, the single payer plan which has only 3% administrative costs).

via Daily Kos: Healthcare: Change the Debate Support a Real Public Option.

BofA operating under secret sanctions

U.S. Regulators to BofA: Obey or Else   - WSJ.com

via U.S. Regulators to BofA: Obey or Else – WSJ.com.

Labor takes on Chamber of Commerce

Labor takes on Chamber of Commerce

Labor groups, with the aid of other progressive organizations, are taking on their arch-nemesis – the mighty U.S. Chamber of Commerce – head-on on a number of issues.

Labor groups, with the aid of other progressive organizations, are taking on their arch-nemesis – the mighty U.S. Chamber of Commerce – head-on on a number of issues, according to Politico.

The new offensive is designed to help blunt the public relations machine of the Chamber of Commerce, nation’s largest business advocacy organization, and gain support for the White House and congressional Democrat’s agenda.

“We want to point out who the Chamber is. It’s a small group of people who fund campaigns against working families,” Anna Burger, an SEIU officer and chairwoman of labor’s Change to Win coalition, told Politico. “This isn’t business against workers. This is the Chamber of Commerce against workers.”

The groups are highlighting progressive legislation the Chamber has invested millions of dollars to defeat over the years, including expansion of the state children’s health insurance program (SCHIP), the Family and Medical Leave Act, amending the Civil Rights Act to protect pregnant women from discrimination in the workplace, increasing the minimum wage and the implementation of occupational safety rules and regulations.

via Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.

Inflation Concerns on the Rise

Inflation Concerns on the Rise

With the government spending trillions of dollars to stimulate the economy and pull the nation out of recession, many have begin to express legitimate concerns about inflation.

With the government spending trillions of dollars to stimulate the economy and pull the nation out of recession, many have begin to express legitimate concerns about inflation. Tim Iacono, proprietor of the Web site The Mess That Greenspan Made, says that Americans should be very worried about the possibility of inflation.

According to Iacono, most of the money that central banks have put forward to rescue economies is currently untouched in the form of bank reserves. Once banks are more willing to extend that money in the form of loans and consumers are willing to take those loans, the money supply will inflate rather quickly. This could happen as soon as the U.S. begins to make its way out of recession.

“If we do manage to pull ourselves up out of this mess, we’ll see the highest inflation in generations as policymakers will be loathe to repeat the mistakes that led to the 1937 recession, following the Great Depression,” Iacono writes.

Most Americans will be unaware of the inflation problem, according to Iacono. That is due to the fact that the government finagles its Consumer Price Index in such a way that it does not truly reflect the rate of inflation.

via Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.

Shanghaied by Chinese

Shanghaied by Chinese

If the charges against the employees of Australia’s Rio Tinto Group prove to be false, then the arrests become little more than kidnapping and ransom.

On July 5, four employees of Australia’s Rio Tinto Group were arrested and taken into state custody by the Chinese Ministry of State Security. The arrests came one month after a proposed $19.5 billion Chinese investment in the company was scrapped.

The deal would have been China’s largest such investment, and it could have made them a controlling market actor for natural resources. It would have combined the state-owned Aluminum Corporation of China – also know as Chinalco – with the Anglo-Australian firm. Rio Tinto instead opted for a deal with BHP Hilton.

According to The New York Times, citing state sources, in the Chinese government, one Australian executive – Stern Hu – and three Chinese employees are being charged with what amounts to spying and economic espionage. Hu is believed to be the highest ranking Western executive ever accused of spying in China.

via Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.

Big Paydays Back on Wall St… Again

Big Paydays Back on Wall St… Again

On the same day that it announced record quarterly profits despite the economy being in the worst shape since the Great Depression, Goldman Sachs announced that it had set aside over $10 billion to compensate employees.

Big paydays are back on Wall Street. On the same day that it announced record quarterly profits despite the economy being in the worst shape since the Great Depression, the company also announced that it had set aside over $10 billion to compensate employees.

On Tuesday the company disclosed a quarterly profits of $3.4 billion. It also said that it had set aside $11.4 billion for employee compensation and benefits. That is up 33 percent from the same period the previous year.

At that rate, the average Goldman employee is set to receive roughly $777,000 by year’s end – up 50 percent from last years take. Last year, the company’s employees saw their compensation packages cut by 40 percent after receiving record-setting compensation packages in 2007.

via Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.

- Labor Backs Health Reform Bills Moving Through Congress

Labor Backs Health Reform Bills Moving Through Congress – Political Affairs Magazine

To cheers from leaders of the labor movement, a public option as part of health reform cleared a major legislative hurdle, July 15, with passage of the Quality, Affordable Health Coverage for All Americans Act in the Senate HELP Committee.

The bill would expand health care coverage for tens of millions of Americans who currently lack insurance and will provide tens of millions more with more choices about which health plan suits them best.

A recent study published by the Department of Health and Human Services showed that many parts of the country are dominated by just one or two health insurance companies, forcing limits on choices and little market control over the cost of premiums and other medical expenses.

In addition, according to a recent report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, insurance companies typically refuse to provide coverage to people because of what they determine to be “preexisting conditions” or medical needs that may limit insurance company profits from a particular individual. Usually, such decisions are made by insurance company bureaucrats rather than doctors or other medical experts.

The aim of the public option, as President Obama has repeatedly argued, is to provide Americans with more choices about their insurer and about who their doctor will be. In addition, those choices will be made more affordable.

via Political Affairs Magazine – Labor Backs Health Reform Bills Moving Through Congress.

Obama goes to bat for Bush wiretap program

Obama goes to bat for Bush wiretap program

President Obama is adamant about maintaining the secrecy of a wiretapping program authorized by George W. Bush, an administration lawyer told a federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday.

via Obama goes to bat for Bush wiretap program.

Everything That Happens in Afghanistan Is Based on Lies or Illusions

Everything That Happens in Afghanistan Is Based on Lies or Illusions

A Film That Captures Some Edgy, Fearful Truths

By Ann Jones

Kabul, July 2009 — I’ve come back to the Afghan capital again, after an absence of two years, to find it ruined in a new way. Not by bombs this time, but by security.

The heart of the city is now hidden behind piles of Hescos — giant, grey sandbags produced somewhere in Great Britain. They’re stacked against the walls of government buildings, U.N. agencies, embassies, NGO offices, and army camps (of which there are a lot) — and they only seem to grow and multiply. A friend called just the other day from a U.N. building, distressed that the view from her office window was vanishing behind yet another row of Hescos. Urban life as Kabulis knew it in this once graceful city has been lost to the security needs of strangers.

The creation of Hescostan in the middle of Kabul is both an effect of, and a cause of, war: an effect because it seems to arise in response to devious enemy tactics that are still relatively new to Afghanistan, such as the use of roadside bombs (IEDs) and suicide bombers (though there has actually been no attack in Kabul for six months now); a cause because it is so clearly a projection, an externalization of the fears of men out of their depth. It is a paradox of such “force protection” that the more you have, the more you feel you need. What’s called security generates fear. Now comes a documentary that projects that fear onto the screen.

via Tomgram: Ann Jones, Creating Hescostan in Kabul.

Inflation and the Dollar’s Crash

Inflation and the Dollar’s Crash

The money supply is being inflated in order to keep the Federal Reserve in business and Americans in a constant state of debt.   “Every single dollar in your wallet is [debt] owed to somebody by somebody.”

Conspiracy theories abound about the Federal Reserve’s true role in our nation’s economy and government, but, according to the above video, the central bank‘s main role is to keep Americans in a “perpetual state of debt.”

Because only 3 percent of America’s money supply is in actual paper currency, money is simply created out of a debt deposit and loan creation cycle, the narrator claims.

“For every deposit that ever occurs in the banking system, about nine times that amount can be created out of thin air,” according to the narrator.

Over time, this eventually leads to inflation as more and more money is added to the pool regardless of supply and demand for goods and services.

“The new money essentially steals value from the existing money supply,” the narrator says. “For the total pool of money is being increased irrespective of goods and services.”

According to the video, the value of the dollar has actually decreased 96 percent in the 94 years since the creation of the central bank.

via Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.

Kyl Wants To Cut Off Stimulus Funding That Arizona Governor Is Already Spending

Kyl Wants To Cut Off Stimulus Funding That Arizona Governor Is Already Spending

On ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos this past Sunday, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) argued that the $787 billion stimulus package “hasn’t helped yet. … What I proposed is, after you complete the contracts that are already committed, the things that are in the pipeline, stop it.” Watch it:

via Think Progress » Kyl Wants To Cut Off Stimulus Funding That Arizona Governor Is Already Spending.

Meghan McCain: ‘Joe the Plumber — you can quote me — is a dumbass.’

Meghan McCain: ‘Joe the Plumber — you can quote me — is a dumbass.’

The day before the White House Correspondents dinner, Jamie Kirchick interviewed Meghan McCain for Out, largely focusing on her outspoken support of gay rights. During the interview, McCain took a crack at a man her father made famous during last year’s presidential campaign, Joe the Plumber:

Yet even as the balance begins to shift, the old guard is still yapping in the foreground. Shortly before McCain sat for this interview, Samuel Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, gave an interview to Christianity Today in which he complained about “queers” and declared, “I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children.” Unprompted, McCain rails against the man her father’s presidential campaign touted as an American everyman and made a showpiece in the weeks before the election. “Joe the Plumber — you can quote me — is a dumbass. He should stick to plumbing.”

via Think Progress » Meghan McCain: ‘Joe the Plumber — you can quote me — is a dumbass.’.

Fox News Debunks Its Own Attack On President Obama’s ‘Czars’

Fox News Debunks Its Own Attack On President Obama’s ‘Czars’

Yesterday, Fox News breathlessly introduced “All the President’s Czars,” citing a list from Taxpayers for Common Sense of “more than 30 czars” that “do not need to be confirmed by the Senate like Cabinet secretaries do.”

Fox’s Jane Skinner asked “where the oversight is” and “if it is really actually constitutional.” But Fox correspondent Wendell Goler demolished the “czar” attack in the segment, explaining that the existence of Presidential advisers like these “go back as far as FDR, and maybe further,” that “there is no constitutional issue,” and that many of these “czars” are “confirmed by the Senate.” He reminds Skinner that the Bush administration officials were famously unaccountable:

The one complaint from critics is that they can’t compel some of the czars to come to Capitol Hill and testify. That’s a relatively small number. In fact, it would include people like the national security adviser. When she was national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice declined a Senate invitation, a Senate subpoena to come and testify about the evidence of Iraq’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. But frankly, few czars would decline an invitation. And others are actually, like the drug czar, are confirmed by the Senate, and would have to testify if they were invited, Jane.

Watch it:

via Think Progress » Fox News Debunks Its Own Attack On President Obama’s ‘Czars’.

AIG and Goldman Get Bailouts and Second Chances, But If You’re Poor You’re on Your Own

AIG and Goldman Get Bailouts and Second Chances, But If You’re Poor You’re on Your Own

By Chris Hedges,

If you defraud banks and customers of billions, you get taxpayer money. But if you are poor like Tearyan Brown of Trenton, N.J., you are in trouble.

Tearyan Brown became a father when he was 16. He did what a lot of inner-city kids desperate to make money do. He sold drugs. He was arrested and sent to jail three years later for dealing marijuana and PCP on the streets of Trenton, N.J., mostly to white kids driving in from the suburbs. It was a job which saw him robbed at gunpoint and stabbed in the chest. But it made him about $1,400 a week.

Brown, when he got out after three and a half years, was done with street life. He got a job as a security guard and then as a fork lift operator. He eventually made about $30,000 a year. He shepherded his son through high school, then college and a master’s degree. His boy, now 24, is a high school teacher in Texas. Brown would not leave the streets of Trenton but his son would. It made him proud. It gave him hope.

via AIG and Goldman Get Bailouts and Second Chances, But If You’re Poor You’re on Your Own | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | AlterNet.

The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger

The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger

via YouTube – GRITtv: Sasha Abramsky: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger.

One a Day is Good for You–Apples and Orgasms!

Video at link

One a Day is Good for You–Apples and Orgasms!

The British National Health Service emphasizes the importance of safe sex and education.

The new leaflet from British National Health Service geared for school age kids boldly states:

An orgasm a day keeps the doctor away…Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and veg a day and 30 minutes’ physical activity three times a week. What about sex or masturbation twice a week?

Steve Slack, director of the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health at NHS Sheffield, one of the pamphlet’s co-authors,:

believes that as long as teenagers are fully informed about sex and are making their decisions free of peer pressure and as part of a caring relationship, they have as much right as an adult to a good sex life.

via One a Day is Good for You–Apples and Orgasms! | Video | AlterNet.

The Democrats’ Selective Amnesia on Assassination: Clinton Did It and Obama Does It Too

The Democrats’ Selective Amnesia on Assassination: Clinton Did It and Obama Does It Too

While the focus is on Dick Cheney’s role, the U.S. has long had a bi-partisan assassination program.

By Jeremy Scahill

Members of Congress have expressed outrage over the “secret” CIA assassination program that former vice president Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress. But this program—and the media descriptions of it—sounds a lot like the assassination policy implemented by President Bill Clinton, particularly during his second term in office.

Partisan politics often require selective amnesia. Over the past decade, we have seen this amnesia take hold when it comes to many of President Bush’s most vile policies. And we are now seeing a pretty severe case overtake several leading Democrats. It makes for good speechifying to act as though all criminality began with Bush and—particularly these days—Cheney, but that is extreme intellectual dishonesty. The fact is that many of Bush’s worst policies (now being highlighted by leading Democrats) were based in some form or another in a Clinton-initiated policy or were supported by the Democrats in Congress with their votes. To name a few: the USA PATRIOT Act, the invasion of Iraq, the attack against Afghanistan, the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program, the widespread use of mercenaries and other private contractors in US war zones and warrant-less wire-tapping.

via RebelReports – The Democrats’ Selective Amnesia on Assassination: Clinton Did It and Obama Does It Too.

Demanding an End to Fed Secrecy, Sen. Bernie Sanders Questions Bonuses at Goldman Sachs and Other Big Banks

Demanding an End to Fed Secrecy, Sen. Bernie Sanders Questions Bonuses at Goldman Sachs and Other Big Banks

Stepping up a campaign for Federal Reserve accountability, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) today questioned whether some of more than $2.2 trillion in secret subsidies went to Goldman Sachs and other bailed-out banks now planning to shower executives with huge bonuses.

Sanders voiced his concern in a letter to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and during remarks at an Economic Policy Institute conference.

Goldman Sachs yesterday reported that its profits surged on second-quarter income of $3.44 billion. The turnaround came less than a year after reckless investments by Goldman and other Wall Street firms triggered a worldwide recession and drove many rivals out of business.

via Demanding an End to Fed Secrecy, Sen. Bernie Sanders Questions Bonuses at Goldman Sachs and Other Big Banks | BuzzFlash.org.

‘Coal Country’: Can You Make a Balanced Documentary on the Explosive Topic of America’s Most Toxic Fuel? One Filmmaker Found Out

‘Coal Country’: Can You Make a Balanced Documentary on the Explosive Topic of America’s Most Toxic Fuel? One Filmmaker Found Out

A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW  by Meg White

Phylis Geller — the writer, producer and director of the new documentary film Coal Country — sees her latest work as something of an attempt at conflict resolution. But when the mere definition of neutrality is at stake, COAL COUNTRYit’s hard to appear evenhanded.

Such is the case with coal in West Virginia. Geller says “the topic is in the air” after a flurry of lawsuits, demonstrations, conflicts and lobbying surrounding the coal-producing region in Appalachia. “Then there’s this film that purports to be fair, but if it doesn’t just support your side, you don’t think it’s fair.”

She’s no stranger to the area. Geller and the film’s executive producer (and native Appalachian) Mari-Lynn Evans also collaborated to create the three-part television series Appalachia. But Geller called the film’s premier in West Virginia “an event unlike any other.”

via ‘Coal Country’: Can You Make a Balanced Documentary on the Explosive Topic of America’s Most Toxic Fuel? One Filmmaker Found Out | BuzzFlash.org.

ATOMIC NIGHTMARE

NPP Kruemmel: metal splinters seem to have entered reactor core

ATOMIC NIGHTMARE

Krümmel Accident Puts Question Mark over Germany’s Nuclear Future

By SPIEGEL Staff

The recent accident at the Krümmel nuclear power plant in northern Germany was more serious than was previously known. Anglea Merkel’s Christian Democrats are now finding themselves on the defensive with their plans to extend the life of German nuclear reactors.

Ernst Michael Züfle should never sit down at a poker table, at least not when real money is at stake. When asked last Thursday about damage to the reactor of the Krümmel nuclear power plant, Züfle, the head of the nuclear division of Swedish energy company Vattenfall, swallowed audibly, nervously rolled his pen between his fingers and avoided making eye contact.

via ccokzsblog: NPP Kruemmel: metal splinters seem to have entered reactor core.

CIT says 300,000 shops may be unable to restock for Christmas.

US refusal to bail out lender CIT leaves retailers in jeopardy  – |  | guardian.co.uk

Treasury says bailout has to stop somewhere

The Obama administration has refused to rescue one of America’s leading lenders to small and medium-sized businesses, CIT, raising the prospect of bankruptcy which could imperil thousands of shops’ ability to stock their shelves for Christmas.

Negotiations over a government bail-out of CIT broke down last night, leaving the future of the New York-based finance company hanging in the balance. Although a little-known name to the public, CIT has lent more than $60bn (£37bn) to shops, restaurants and manufacturers, many feeling the pain of the recession.

Trading in CIT’s shares was suspended on Wall Street yesterday afternoon. Shortly afterwards, the company issued a terse statement saying it had been advised that “there is no appreciable likelihood of additional government support being provided over the near term”.

Financial regulators had been in round-the-clock talks as the US treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation weighed up whether CIT was sufficiently “systemically important” to prop up with public money.

via CIT says 300,000 shops may be unable to restock for Christmas. Treasury says bailout has to stop somewhere | Business | guardian.co.uk.

Private contractors replacing troops in Iraq, Afghanistan

OPS: Using mercenaries is shortsighted and stupid

Private contractors replacing troops in Iraq, Afghanistan

If you thought the end of American intervention in foreign wars was nearing, think again. President Obama has been replacing soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan with private contractors—some 250,000 are currently deployed overseas—including Black Water (operating under another alias.)

Contractors are not subject to the same guidelines as our soldiers, and thus, have not been held accountable for the misdeeds they have afflicted upon civilian populations in the past.

This story has largely flown under the radar of the mainstream media, but will surely induce outrage at some uncertain point in the future.

via Private contractors replacing troops in Iraq, Afghanistan.

Health Care Reform Series: A history of health in the U.S.

Health Care Reform Series: A history of health in the U.S. – Part 1

This is the first part of a multi-layered series that will examine health care reform in the United States. A history of health care will serve to put the current crisis in context relative to challenges the country has faced when attempting to reform health care previously.

The next section will discuss the current debate over how best to address the nations skyrocketing health care costs. The following section will compare the single-payer and public options, which seem to be causing a rift among progressives who fear that reform will be watered-down in attempts to reach a bipartisan agreement.

Another section will explore the industries that have wielded the most influence in our health care system, serving to frame the debate between those who support universal care; and their critics, who believe government bureaucrats are unable to effectively manage such a system. The final section will offer concluding remarks, lessons, and further questions—particularly philosophical in nature—to determine what path should be taken going forward.

via Health Care Reform Series: A history of health in the U.S. – Part 1.

Health Care Reform Series: The Public Option

Health Care Reform Series: The Public Option

In the previous article of this series, I explored proposals in the Affordable Health Choices Act (AHCA) as introduced by congressional democrats. This article will explore the public option, which has not yet been defined by the AHCA, though Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, last week encouraged members to move ahead on drafting the language.

Read: A history of health in the U.S.

Read: Distortions in the public debate on health care

Read: The Patients’ Choice Act

Read: The Affordable Health Choices Act

There is little chance that anything crafted by democrats is going to meet the requirements of the Republican Party—save the possibility of Maine’s two senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, neither of which appears to be on board just yet.

via Health Care Reform Series: The Public Option.

Health Care Reform Series: The Affordable Health Choices Act

Health Care Reform Series: The Affordable Health Choices Act

This series began by exploring the history of health care reform in the U.S., and discussed some fictitious arguments that have been forwarded in the current debate over reform, as well as plans offered by opponent’s to universal health care. This article will discuss the Affordable Health Choices Act (AHCA), also known as the Kennedy Plan, which includes democratic proposals currently undergoing the scrutiny of the legislative process.

Read: A history of health in the U.S.

Read: Distortions in the public debate on health care

Read: The Patients’ Choice Act

For the first time since Bill Clinton was president, there is some optimism that Washington will finally address the issue of health care. President Obama has requested that Congress have a bill ready for his signature by the fall. He has largely left the craftsmanship of the legislation up to lawmakers, but has indicated his desire to reach three primary goals:

via Health Care Reform Series: The Affordable Health Choices Act.

Health Care Reform Series: The Patients’ Choice Act

Health Care Reform Series: The Patients’ Choice Act

The last article in this series discussed the varying distortions that have been used to drive the public debate on health care reform. This part will analyze the Republican Party’s approach to solving the problem, paying particular attention to the Patients’ Choice Act.

Read: A history of health care in the U.S.

Read: Distortions in the public debate on health care

In response to rising sentiment for a public option, republicans have responded with a plan of their own, which claims to provide all the benefits of a universal health care system through the free market. Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC), along with Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) have introduced the Patients’ Choice Act (PCA).

The PCA abandons some of the key principles long supported by the GOP, and indeed, embraces many tenants long endorsed by democrats. However, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, it is high in rhetoric, low in detail, abundant in vagaries, and leaves open the question of exactly how the market-based plan may achieve its lofty goals.

via Health Care Reform Series: The Patients’ Choice Act.

Cheney Sweating Bullets

OPS:  The problem is that a rabid dog is more dangerous when cornered. All of Cheney’s prep work about new terrorist attacks should be a concern. Dick is not the kind of guy to just sit around and HOPE that happens. Better start monitoring him with a microscope

Cheney Sweating Bullets

By RAY McGOVERN

So far the summer has been mild in the Washington, D.C., area. But for former Vice President Dick Cheney the temperature is well over 100 degrees. He is sweating profusely, and it is becoming increasingly clear why.

Cheney has broken openly with former President George W. Bush on one issue of transcendent importance — to Cheney. For whatever reason, Bush decided not to hand out blanket pardons before they both rode off into the sunset.

Cheney has complained bitterly that his former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, should have been pardoned, rather than simply having his jail sentence “commuted.” The former Vice President told the press that Bush left Libby “sort of hanging in the wind” by refusing to issue Libby a pardon before Bush left office. Libby had been convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice, and lying to federal agents investigating the leak of a former CIA operations officer’s identity.

“I believe firmly that Scooter was unjustly accused and prosecuted and deserved a pardon, and the President disagreed with that,” Cheney said. He would disclose no details of his efforts to lobby Bush on Libby’s behalf, saying they would be “best left to history.”

It is getting close to history time. You do not need to be a cracker-jack analyst to understand that Cheney is feeling betrayed — that he is thinking not of Libby, but of himself, and fearing that, if our system of justice works, he could be in for some serious, uncommuted jail time.

His situation has grown pathetic. Aside from the man himself, it has fallen almost solely to faithful daughter Liz to defend her dad and to start a political backfire to keep him out of prison. She is to be admired for her faithfulness. In the process, though, she has unwittingly given much away.

via Ray McGovern: Cheney Sweating Bullets.

Details of Some AIG Sales Kept From Public

Details of Some AIG Sales Kept From Public  - On The Hill:

AIG has sold a dozen of its subsidiaries since April as part of its effort to repay the $85 billion it owes the American taxpayer.

That should be good news, right?

Well, actually, we don’t know for sure, because the company is not disclosing what it got for nearly half the companies that have been sold.

AIG has made public the financial terms of seven of the transactions, including the sale of its iconic building in Tokyo for $1.2 billion and six insurance subsidiaries for a combined total of more $5 billion.

But for five other transactions, the company is keeping the numbers a secret.

via On The Hill: Details of Some AIG Sales Kept From Public.

The Army denies that combat stress causes homicide

The Army denies that combat stress causes homicide – | Salon News

An Army report seems to confirm a Salon investigation linking battle stress to murder. But the Army begs to differ

Editor’s note: Read excerpts from the Army’s report on homicides at Fort Carson here or download the full study here. Read Salon’s Coming Home series about preventable deaths at Fort Carson here.

FORT CARSON, Colo. — The harsh combat in Iraq, including potential war crimes that were witnessed by soldiers, contributed to a series of brutal murders by soldiers based at this Army post near Colorado Springs after they returned home, according to a hard-hitting Army study released Wednesday. Many of the findings in the study, which was announced by senior Army brass at a press conference on the post, mirror those in Salon’s Coming Home series, which identified a pattern of preventable homicides and suicides at Fort Carson among soldiers who served in Iraq with combat stress and failed to receive proper medical treatment.

According to the report, “Survey data from this investigation suggest a possible association between increasing levels of combat exposure and risk for negative behavioral outcomes.” The study also says that “combat intensity/exposure . . . may have increased the risk for violent behaviors” and that its “findings are consistent with recent research on combat exposure and subsequent behavior outcomes among Soldiers.”

via The Army denies that combat stress causes homicide | Salon News.

Chuck Todd’s arguments against investigations

Chuck Todd’s arguments against investigations

(updated below – Update II – Update III)

- Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

NBC’s Chuck Todd — who, remember, is billed as a reporter covering the White House, not a pundit expressing opinions — was on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Tuesday discussing reports that Eric Holder is likely to appoint a prosecutor to investigate Bush torture crimes. Needless to say, everyone agreed without question that investigations were a ridiculous distraction from what really matters and would be terribly unfair. This, along with Mika Brzezinski and Pat Buchanan, is what Todd argued after he was asked about the Holder story and the Cheney/CIA story (video is below):

Todd: Look, let’s take all of these stories in one big thing: really, the only important thing — the most important thing — the President has to focus on is getting the public’s trust on the economy, and pushing health care. Cheney, the CIA, and in some respects Sotomayor are cable catnip –

Brzezinski: Yep.

Todd: It’s news catnip – but they’re sort of clouding the two most important issues t

via Chuck Todd’s arguments against investigations – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Harley net tumbles 91 pct as bike sales slide

OPS:  Harley needs to get creative and start making real all weather alternative transportation rather than just expensive toys

UPDATE 2-Harley net tumbles 91 pct as bike sales slide  | Reuters

(Updates with estimates, details on charges; changes dateline from NEW YORK)

• * Q2 shr $0.08 vs $0.95
• * Q2 net revenue $1.15 bln vs $1.57 bln
• * Lowering shipments, cutting workforce

CHICAGO, July 16 (Reuters) – U.S. motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson Inc said on Thursday that its profit fell sharply in most recent quarter as the ugly economic environment soured consumer spending and sent bike sales sliding.

The company also slashed its 2009 shipment forecast, announced plans to accelerate plant consolidation and said it would cut another 1,000 jobs — moves it said would add another $40 million in one-time restructuring charges.

Harley-Davidson reported a second-quarter profit of $19.8 million, or 8 cents a share, down 91 percent from the $222.8 million, or 95 cents a share, it booked a year before.

Retail sales of new Harleys skidded 30.1 percent and revenue fell to $1.15 billion from $1.57 billion. Analysts were expecting $1.14 billion.

via UPDATE 2-Harley net tumbles 91 pct as bike sales slide | Industries | Consumer Goods & Retail | Reuters.

Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities

Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities

IT’S NOT OIL: No one in the area can recall seeing anything like it before.

Something big and strange is floating through the Chukchi Sea between Wainwright and Barrow.

Hunters from Wainwright first started noticing the stuff sometime probably early last week. It’s thick and dark and “gooey” and is drifting for miles in the cold Arctic waters, according to Gordon Brower with the North Slope Borough’s Planning and Community Services Department.

Brower and other borough officials, joined by the U.S. Coast Guard, flew out to Wainwright to investigate. The agencies found “globs” of the stuff floating miles offshore Friday and collected samples for testing.

Later, Brower said, the North Slope team in a borough helicopter spotted a long strand of the stuff and followed it for about 15 miles, shooting video from the air.

The next day the floating substance arrived offshore from Barrow, about 90 miles east of Wainwright, and borough officials went out in boats, collected more samples and sent them off for testing too.

via Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities: Arctic Alaska | adn.com.

The health-care bill is shaping up as historic as Medicare

The health-care bill is shaping up as historic as Medicare

THE FIFTH COLUMNIST by P.M. Carpenter

“It’s clear he has to have this,” Sen. Jay Rockefeller said a couple days ago of President Obama and health-care reform. And if that was arguably clear, then, it’s incontestably blinding, now.

A fierce urgency? Kid’s stuff. This, Obama knows, is either do, or die.

In just the last week or two we’ve witnessed the president’s shifting stances: from a reserved, legislative distance to European shoutouts and chief-of-staff slapdowns; from New York Times reports of Democratic lawmakers “[coming] under fire” from a mountingly impatient White House to Washington Post stories about “Lyndon B. Johnson-style lobbying” in which Obama assures those lawmakers that he’s willing to “stake his political capital on this year’s top agenda item.”

For the Post’s health-care correspondent, Ceci Connolly, the Johnson comparison has morphed into a durable narrative, a reassuring frame, a tale of presidential management that’s recognizable to students of political history:

“Just as Johnson gave legendary lawmaker Wilbur Mills latitude to craft the Medicare bill,” Connolly has written, “Obama has asked Congress to write the health-care revamp legislation. And just as Johnson was known for his powers of personal persuasion, Obama … has assiduously cultivated and cajoled lawmakers.”

via The health-care bill is shaping up as historic as Medicare | BuzzFlash.org.

Call for Fed Transparency Grows Louder

Call for Fed Transparency Grows Louder  | CommonDreams.org

To conspiracy theorists, the Federal Reserve is a dangerous, shadowy and unaccountable organisation – like the Central Intelligence Agency but without the black helicopters.

For more than 200 years, central bank critics have railed about an alleged lack of transparency, a threat to the fabric of the US by un­elected moneymen.

via Call for Fed Transparency Grows Louder | CommonDreams.org.

Revisit Carter’s Energy Speech

Revisit Carter’s Energy Speech   | CommonDreams.org 

Thirty years ago, on July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter went on national television to give a jolting speech. Billed as an address about the “energy crisis” — the recent cutoff of Iranian fuel that generated long and angry gas lines at home — it wound up lashing out at the American way of life. Carter decried Americans’ “self-indulgence and consumption” as well as their “fragmentation and self-interest.” This was a “crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will,” he asserted.

Today, we should listen to his words again, especially as debates about climate change legislation turn tough and confrontational in the Senate.

Carter, who thought of himself as a moral leader and not just a politician, believed Americans couldn’t solve the energy crisis if they didn’t move beyond their own self-interest and embrace a common good. He called on Americans to unify themselves around a sense of shared purpose, as they did during a war. “Every act of energy conservation is more than just common sense — I tell you it is an act of patriotism.”

Since then, Carter’s speech has been widely condemned for laying the blame for his own failures on the backs of ordinary citizens. Far from it. For a speech that sounded as if it castigated the American way of life, it won Carter huge amounts of support. Immediately after the speech, Carter’s poll numbers shot up, something that rarely happened during his presidency. He got more letters than he ever had before, almost all of them positive. Citizens pledged they would ride a bike to work or cut down on unnecessary trips. The counterintuitive happened: The president criticized his fellow citizens but gained their support.

via Revisit Carter’s Energy Speech | CommonDreams.org.

Was Carter Right?

OPS:  YES – without question, Carter was right.

Was Carter Right?  | CommonDreams.org

Was it the greatest speech of his presidency or political suicide?

Three decades on, the answer may well be both.

Thirty years ago Wednesday, President Jimmy Carter delivered a speech – “The Crisis of Confidence” – that became one of the most pilloried in modern American history.

It was an address in which he looked critically at himself and his own failures but also warned Americans in dire, near-apocalyptic terms about the potential consequences of theirs.

via Was Carter Right? | CommonDreams.org.

Los Angeles Accused of Criminalizing Homelessness

Los Angeles Accused of Criminalizing Homelessness    – CommonDreams.org-

LOS ANGELES – Two major advocacy groups for the homeless on Tuesday ranked Los Angeles as the “meanest” city in the United States, citing a Skid Row police crackdown they say has criminalized poverty and homelessness there.

L.A.’s so-called Safer City Initiative was singled out in the groups’ report as the most egregious example of policies and practices nationwide that essentially punish people for failing to have a roof over their heads.

Others include making it illegal to sleep, sit or store personal belongings on sidewalks and other public spaces; prohibitions against panhandling or begging; and selective enforcement of petty offenses like jaywalking and loitering.

Such measures are widespread in the face of a deep economic recession and foreclosure crisis that have increased homelessness over the past two years, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless.

via Los Angeles Accused of Criminalizing Homelessness | CommonDreams.org.

Top Dems Promise Blue Dogs Won’t Keep Public Option Out Of Health Reform

Top Dems Promise Blue Dogs Won’t Keep Public Option Out Of Health Reform

Conservative Democrats won’t keep a public option from being part of the healthcare reform plan that will come out of the House of Representatives, top House Democrats promise.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and other top House Democrats yesterday officially introduced their House health reform plan, known as America’s Affordable Health Choices Act.

The 52-member Blue Dog coalition of conservative House Democrats long have been wary of a public option to provide Americans a government-run alternative to private insurance if they want it. President Obama, who has made enactment of healthcare reform a top priority of his this year, strongly endorses inclusion of a public option. Opinion polls indicate Americans broadly support inclusion of a public option.

via On The Hill: Top Dems Promise Blue Dogs Won’t Keep Public Option Out Of Health Reform.

Author on book exploring 9/11 failures dares Patrick Fitzgerald to sue him for libel

Author on book exploring 9/11 failures dares Patrick Fitzgerald to sue him for libel

Author: “Mr. Fitzgerald, in your threat to sue for libel, please, either put up or shut up”

Seven weeks ago Patrick Fitzgerald, the most intimidating Federal prosecutor in America, sent my publisher (HarperCollins) and me a letter threatening to sue us for libel if Triple Cross, a book I wrote critical of his anti-terrorism track record, was published.

Yesterday marked the four week anniversary of the book’s publication date, and although it’s been out for a month, we’re still waiting for his summons and complaint.

It was the fourth threat letter that Fitzgerald had sent since October 2007, and the man who’d succeeded in getting New York Times reporter Judith Miller jailed for 85 days in the CIA leak probe was growing impatient.

“To put it plain and simple,” Fitzgerald wrote, “if in fact you publish the book this month and it defames me or casts me in a false light, HarperCollins will be sued.”

You could almost hear Fitzgerald holding his breath and stamping his feet, astonished that we had not rolled over after he issued the following demand in his first letter 20 months earlier:

via Raw Story » Author on book exploring 9/11 failures dares Patrick Fitzgerald to sue him for libel.

Drug Rescues Memory Lost To Alzheimer’s Disease

Drug Rescues Memory Lost To Alzheimer’s Disease

A drug similar to one used in clinical trials for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis has been found to rescue memory in mice exhibiting Alzheimer’s symptoms.

The discovery by UC Irvine scientists offers hope that a new treatment may be on the horizon for people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, the leading cause of elderly dementia afflicting more than 5 million people in the U.S. and for which no cure exists.

The drug, called PMX205, prevented inflamed immune cells from gathering in brain regions with Alzheimer’s lesions called amyloid plaques. Cell inflammation in these areas accelerates neuron damage, exacerbating the disease.

via Drug Rescues Memory Lost To Alzheimer’s Disease.

Food Drought in the City

An Outer Borough Drought

This story was done through a partnership between The Huffington Post’s Eyes and Ears citizen journalism program and Gotham Gazette. Gotham Gazette reporter Courtney Gross wrote the piece using stories from New Yorkers gathered through The Huffington Post and Gotham Gazette. Sign up here to join Huffington Post’s citizen journalism team covering New York to be part of more of these stories.

Fruit stands are Manhattan’s new hot dog vendor, minus the mustard and ketchup.

Their street corner takeover has sparked some New Yorkers, like Upper East Sider Jamie Kayam, to carp that their neighborhood is oversaturated with apples, bananas and overly ripe white cherries.

“In NYC, buying fruits and vegetables has never been easier!” Kayam wrote in an e-mail to Gotham Gazette and The Huffington Post. “When recently discussing life in the city with some friends, a key complaint that came up was that there are too many fruit stands in Manhattan!”

Across the river, Kayam’s plight might be a blessing.

via An Outer Borough Drought (Gotham Gazette, July 2009).

DNC targeting centrist Dems in health ads

DNC targeting centrist Dems in health ads – TheHill.com -

Reflecting the troubles President Obama will have wrangling his own party into line, a wing of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is launching a new television advertisement targeting nine of its own senators on healthcare.

The advertisement, funded by Organizing for America (OFA), will urge senators to back a major healthcare overhaul by spotlighting five Americans affected by high costs.

via TheHill.com – DNC targeting centrist Dems in health ads.

Howard Dean On Republican Efforts To Kill Health Reform

YouTube – Howard Dean On Republican Efforts To Kill Health Reform.

Keith Olbermann: GOP Senator Brownback’s “Mermantics”

YouTube – Keith Olbermann: GOP Senator Brownback’s “Mermantics”.

Dennis Kucinich: 60% of Bankruptcies Are Becuase Of Hospital Bills! 80% of Them Are Insured!

YouTube – Dennis Kucinich: 60% of Bankruptcies Are Becuase Of Hospital Bills! 80% of Them Are Insured!.

Naomi Wolf: ‘Obama can lock any US citizen up without trial’

YouTube – Naomi Wolf: ‘Obama can lock any US citizen up without trial’.

Key Obama advisers indicate openness to pushing health care reform through with just Democratic votes.

OPS: They will get ripped by the Reich anyway – might as well go the the REAL THING – Single Payer

Key Obama advisers indicate openness to pushing health care reform through with just Democratic votes.

Bloomberg’s Ed Chen reports that two of Obama’s top advisers — Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod – “may rely only on Democrats to push health-care legislation through the U.S. Congress if Republican resistance doesn’t eventually give way.” For months, the White House has underscored its interest in achieving bipartisan health care reform. But as conservatives remained wedded to an obstructionist agenda, the White House is now conceding that it may have to rely on Democratic votes to pass reform:

“Ultimately, this is not about a process, it’s about results,” David Axelrod, Obama’s senior political strategist, said during an interview yesterday in his White House office. “If we’re going to get this thing done, obviously time is a- wasting.” […]

“We’d like to do it with the votes of members of both parties,” Axelrod said. “But the worst result would be to not get health-care reform done.” […]

via Think Progress » Key Obama advisers indicate openness to pushing health care reform through with just Democratic votes..

Majority of Eastern Germans Feel Life Better under Communism

Majority of Eastern Germans Feel Life Better under Communism

Glorification of the German Democratic Republic is on the rise two decades after the Berlin Wall fell. Young people and the better off are among those rebuffing criticism of East Germany as an “illegitimate state.” In a new poll, more than half of former eastern Germans defend the GDR.

The life of Birger, a native of the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania in northeastern Germany, could read as an all-German success story. The Berlin Wall came down when he was 10. After graduating from high school, he studied economics and business administration in Hamburg, lived in India and South Africa, and eventually got a job with a company in the western German city of Duisburg. Today Birger, 30, is planning a sailing trip in the Mediterranean. He isn’t using his real name for this story, because he doesn’t want it to be associated with the former East Germany, which he sees as “a label with negative connotations.

via Homesick for a Dictatorship: Majority of Eastern Germans Feel Life Better under Communism – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News – International.

Gas industry’s own fracking studies don’t support industry claims

The Weekly Carboholic: Gas industry’s own fracking studies don’t support industry claims

• Gas industry’s own fracking studies don’t support industry claims
• Can concentrating photovoltaic compete with solar thermal and standard photovoltaic?
• Wind turbines may affect weather
• Geoengineering doesn’t help acidification
• New study on the PETM raises questions, but no answers
• New climate idea might break US-China emissions stalemate

“Fracking” is the slang term used for hydraulic fracturing, a process by which the gas industry injects a slurry of unknown composition into a gas well in order to break up the rock and release the natural gas contained within. At present, the EPA exempts fracking from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), but Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado has introduced legislation into the House (H.R.2766) to force the EPA to regulate fracking. In response, the gas industry has pushed back with studies that purport to show that regulation is both unnecessary and costly.

A new article by ProPublica, an “independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest,” shows that the exact same studies being used by industry to oppose fracking actually counter the industry’s own arguments.

via Scholars and Rogues » The Weekly Carboholic: Gas industry’s own fracking studies don’t support industry claims.

Why Silk Soy Milk’s Parent Company Is Throwing American Farmers and Consumers Under the Bus

OPS;  Vote with your $$

Why Silk Soy Milk’s Parent Company Is Throwing American Farmers and Consumers Under the Bus

Since Dean Foods acquired Silk it has ditched support of domestic organic farms

Even as demand for organic food continues to explode, organic farmers in America are getting thrown under the beet cart they helped build.

The Chinese are taking over market share, especially of vegetables and agricultural commodities like soy, thanks to several American-based multinational food corporations that have hijacked the organic bandwagon they only recently jumped onto.

When megacorporation Dean Foods acquired Silk soy milk the prospects looked good for American organic soy farmers. Silk had always been committed to supporting domestic organic farmers, and with the new might of Dean Foods behind it, Silk would likely grow. Silk did grow, but it also dropped its commitment to domestic soy.

via Why Silk Soy Milk’s Parent Company Is Throwing American Farmers and Consumers Under the Bus | Environment | AlterNet.

Labor Delegation Persuades John Murtha To Co-Sponsor HR 676

Labor Delegation Persuades John Murtha To Co-Sponsor HR 676

After meeting with western Pennsylvania labor leaders on June 29, Representative John Murtha agreed to sign on as a co-sponsor of HR 676, national single payer health care legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI). Eighty-five House members, in addition to Conyers, now have their names on HR 676.

Murtha, who has represented Pennsylvania’s 12th CD since 1974, is the eighth most senior member of the House of Representatives, and chairs the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

Those who met with Murtha came from the Greater Westmoreland County Labor Council in Greensburg and the Johnstown Regional Central Labor Council. The group included Ed Grystar, Harriet Ellenberger and Rosemary Trump, all Executive Board members of the Westmoreland Council, and Terry Havener of the Johnstown Council. Also in the delegation was Father Bernard Survil,
a Catholic priest active in labor affairs.

via Labor Delegation Persuades John Murtha To Co-Sponsor HR 676 – Healthcare-NOW!.

Eliot Spitzer On Goldman Sachs

Eliot Spitzer On Goldman Sachs   - True/Slant

Matt Taibbi

The anti-Goldman sentiment keeps on growing: next up is Bloomberg’s interview with former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in which he chimes in with his views of Taibbi’s Goldman Sachs article and Goldman’s money making prowess (”because it is a conspiracy does not mean it is wrong”). In a impressively coherent presentation, the former Governor also talks about bankrupt states and the lack of regulation (his family life disclosure may be fast forwarded). Must watch.

via Eliot Spitzer On Matt Taibbi and Goldman Sachs | zero hedge.

Thanks to Tyler Durden for the heads-up on this one. Spitzer, all jokes aside, makes me mourn his lost career a little here. Even beyond the fact that he sticks up for my Goldman piece a little, his explanation for the underlying issues surrounding Wall Street in general is crystal clear and gets right to the heart of why in particular Goldman’s astonishing profit numbers today are an outrage. We made a political decision in the middle of an economic crisis to use the state as a crutch to prop up exactly one sector of the economy, and we chose exactly the wrong people — Spitzer’s note here about how we confuse the economy with the financial services sector is dead-on, and his point about how Goldman’s profits today are directly related to its low cost of capital, thanks to all the post-bailout state backing for lending.

via Matt Taibbi – Taibblog – Eliot Spitzer On Goldman Sachs – True/Slant.

Disappearance of Privacy Board From White House Web Site Raises Questions

Disappearance of Privacy Board From White House Web Site Raises Questions

The White House has erased all mention of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board from its Web site. The removal, which was done wth no public notice, has underlined questions about the Obama administration’s commitment to the board, which was created on the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission to oversee the federal government’s actions on civil liberties and privacy.

ProPublica’s ChangeTracker, which monitors changes to WhiteHouse.gov, detected the deletion on the page that lists the entities encompassed within the Executive Office of the President. (Here’s the page in question, before and after the change.)

The board has always existed in a kind of bureaucratic purgatory. In December 2004, Congress passed a law on intelligence reform that created the board. However, President Bush waited six months before nominating anyone to sit on the board, and it wasn’t until March 2006 that the board first met. A year later, one of the board’s members, Lanny Davis, a former Clinton official, resigned, saying other members saw the board as “wholly part of the White House staff and political structure, rather than an independent oversight entity.”

via On The Hill: Disappearance of Privacy Board From White House Web Site Raises Questions.

Blue Dogs Beware!

Blue Dogs Beware!

While 22 of the more conservative New Dems and Blue Dog coalitions in the House have broken ranks with their leaderships’ position against a public option:

A band of 22 New Democrat and Blue Dog lawmakers say they support a “robust” government-run health plan, boosting chances of moving healthcare reform with a public insurance plan through the House.

Democratic centrists remain the biggest obstacle to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) ability to pass a healthcare bill with a public plan, and many conservative Democrats oppose a public option as unfair to private insurers.

Single Payer may have found a couple of more open windows despite your attempts to slam the door on real healthcare reform. From Healthcare-NOW! we have an action alert based on the news that Single Payer will be introduced into one of the many committees that has juridiction over healthcare reform:

Healthcare-NOW! has received confirmation that, in a display of Congressional leadership, Congressman Anthony Weiner [NY 14], will introduce a single-payer amendment similar to HR 676 to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s portion of the tri-committee healthcare legislation

via Blue Dogs Beware! | ePluribus Media.

Four Voices in the Senate for Healthcare Justice

Four Voices in the Senate for Healthcare Justice   | CommonDreams.org

There were no reports in the media Tuesday about the four United States Senators who voted for a bit of sanity today in the midst of the complexity of the race to reform healthcare in the United States. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio all voted to allow individual states the right to pass and implement publicly funded, privately delivered single payer healthcare programs, if they should choose to do so.

But the other Senators on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee didn’t want to support the amendment to the health reform legislation. Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico was perhaps the most vocal in his opposition to the state single payer enabling amendment as he argued that he felt those Americans happy with their coverage through private or some of the public plans would not want to face a change to a single payer system.

Sen. Sanders offered clarification that answered the concern, but Sen. Bingaman did not budge. That made me mildly sad, though didn’t surprise me. Many people in New Mexico have been working on a state healthcare reform bill that would allow citizens of the state to pool together to “self insure” in their single payer system. It is an innovative and interesting answer to a crisis that looms as large in Santa Fe and Albuquerque as it does anywhere else in the nation.

via Four Voices in the Senate for Healthcare Justice | CommonDreams.org.

French Nortel workers secure talks after blow-up threat

French Nortel workers secure talks after blow-up threat

PARIS, July 15 (Reuters) – Workers at the French arm of telecommunications manufacturer Nortel (NT.TO) have forced management into talks over layoff terms by threatening to blow up their factory, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Workers had placed gas cylinders that turned out to be empty in front of the plant in the Yvelines area near Paris after provisional management cancelled a planned meeting on Monday.

A total of 480 jobs are set to be axed at the plant following bankruptcy proceedings.

“Unions have agreed to remove the gas cylinders placed around the site after their demand was met,” the local prefect’s chief of cabinet said.

In the second threat by French workers to blow up a factory in a week, Le Parisien newspaper said the workers had threatened to stage an explosion as early as Wednesday if their demands were not met.

No immediate comment was available from Toronto-based Nortel, once the largest North American telecommunications equipment manufacturer but which filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States in January.

via UPDATE 1-French Nortel workers secure talks after blow-up threat | Markets | Markets News | Reuters.

Major newspapers disappear Sessions’ alleged history of racial insensitivity

Major newspapers disappear Sessions’ alleged history of racial insensitivity    | Media Matters for America

SUMMARY: On July 14, five major newspapers reported on Jeff Sessions’ opening statement at the confirmation hearing of Judge Sonia Sotoamyor without noting that, in 1986, Sessions’ nomination as a U.S. district court judge was rejected following allegations that Sessions had a history of making racially charged comments.

On July 14, the nation’s five major newspapers reported Sen. Jeff Sessions’ (R-AL) opening statement at the confirmation hearing of Judge Sonia Sotoamyor without reporting in that day’s print editions that, in 1986, the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Sessions’ nomination as a U.S. district court judge following testimony that reportedly included allegations that Sessions had a history of making racially charged comments. In addition, as noted by the Associated Press, Sessions’ “nomination originally drew fire from civil rights groups because of his [1985] prosecution … of three west Alabama civil rights activists on vote fraud charges. The three were acquitted by a federal court jury, prompting civil rights leaders to charge that the prosecution was an attempt to intimidate black voters.”

Media Matters reviewed the coverage in the July 14 print editions of The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal.

In a June 6, 1986, report about the Judiciary Committee’s rejection of Sessions’ nomination, the AP described the allegations:

via Major newspapers disappear Sessions’ alleged history of racial insensitivity | Media Matters for America.

Illnesses Afflict Homes With a Criminal Past

Illnesses Afflict Homes With a Criminal Past  - NYTimes.com

WINCHESTER, Tenn. — The spacious home where the newly wed Rhonda and Jason Holt began their family in 2005 was plagued by mysterious illnesses. The Holts’ three babies were ghostlike and listless, with breathing problems that called for respirators, repeated trips to the emergency room and, for the middle child, Anna, the heaviest dose of steroids a toddler can take.

Ms. Holt, a nurse, developed migraines. She and her husband, a factory worker, had kidney ailments.

It was not until February, more than five years after they moved in, that the couple discovered the root of their troubles: their house, across the road from a cornfield in this town some 70 miles south of Nashville, was contaminated with high levels of methamphetamine left by the previous occupant, who had been dragged from the attic by the police.

The Holts’ next realization was almost as devastating: it was up to them to spend the $30,000 or more that cleanup would require.

With meth lab seizures on the rise nationally for the first time since 2003, similar cases are playing out in several states, drawing attention to the problem of meth contamination, which can permeate drywall, carpets, insulation and air ducts, causing respiratory ailments and other health problems.

via Illnesses Afflict Homes With a Criminal Past – NYTimes.com.

Chicago water: In public reports, city silent over sex hormones and painkillers found in treated drinking water

Chicago water: In public reports, city silent over sex hormones and painkillers found in treated drinking water  -- chicagotribune.com

Pharmaceutical chemicals aren’t on list of substances in water that require public notice

By Michael Hawthorne | Tribune reporter

Annual water quality reports mailed to Chicagoans this month didn’t say a word about sex hormones, painkillers or anti-cholesterol drugs, even though city officials found traces of pharmaceuticals and other unregulated substances in treated Lake Michigan water during the past year.

Like other cities, Chicago must notify the public if its drinking water contains certain regulated contaminants, including lead, pesticides and harmful bacteria.

But pharmaceutical chemicals, which have been detected in drinking water across the country, are not on that list. So Mayor Richard Daley is technically correct in stating that the “pure, fresh drinking water” pumped to 7 million people in Chicago and the suburbs “meets or exceeds all regulatory standards.”

Drinking water standards haven’t been updated for years, in part because little is known about how pharmaceutical concoctions might affect public health. But researchers and regulators are concerned about the potential effects of long-term exposure to these substances, which are designed to have an impact at low doses.

via Chicago water: In public reports, city silent over sex hormones and painkillers found in treated drinking water — chicagotribune.com.

Pesticides and preservatives causing Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other ailments

Pesticides and preservatives causing Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other ailments

Many chemicals we commonly use are suspected of generating this increase in brain proteins, including pesticides, fertilizers and food preservatives. A new study found that a chemical ingredient that has been used as a food preservative contributes to several diseases.

Death Fries

Time and again, the chemicals we use in agriculture, food preparation and medicine have proven that there is a price to pay for convenience. The convenience of pest and weed free crops, the convenience of bug free homes and the price for our current modern living is higher than many us imagine, even in our worse nightmares.

The heartache of living with an Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or cancer patient, the pain of seeing your loved one’s mind shrink so much in cognitive ability that they no longer remember spouses, children, kin or acquaintances is spreading. Just recently a member of the federal bench announced her resignation because of early onset Alzheimer’s.

Judge Karen Williams, chief judge of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has announced her retirement. Judge Williams says she has early-onset Alzheimer’s, which has effectively ended her judicial career. According to legal circles, she had been mentioned as a possible candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court.

In her resignation letter, Judge Williams wrote:
It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I announce today I am stepping down from the bench. My doctors have diagnosed me in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. And although no one knows how quickly the disease will progress, I want to leave the court while I still have my faculties and know that I have made all my decisions with a sound mind. (The State. 7-10-09)

via Pesticides and preservatives causing Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other ailments : Indybay.

Is Another Fix In Place on the Siegelman Case?

Is Another Fix In Place on the Siegelman Case?

Word in Alabama political circles is that a fix might be in–again–on the case of former Governor Don Siegelman.

What kind of fix is it this time? Word is that Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, Alabama’s two Republican U.S. senators, have struck a deal with the Obama administration that would allow Bush-appointed prosecutor Leura Canary to remain in control of the Siegelman case.

Is this for real? Alabama Rep. John Rogers (D-Birmingham) reportedly spoke openly about the deal at a civil-rights breakfast on Sunday and asked those present to contact Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Siegelman is taking it seriously; he sent an e-mail to supporters, urging them to contact Emanuel and demand that Canary be removed from office.

How important could this be? Consider Siegelman’s own words:

First, we have to get Rahm Emanuel’s attention because he will be the most important adviser to President Obama in this regard, and second, we need to get the National Democratic Party involved immediately.

via Legal Schnauzer: Is Another Fix In Place on the Siegelman Case?.

‘Government Sachs’ Strikes Gold … Again

‘Government Sachs’ Strikes Gold … Again

By Robert Scheer

Connect the dots: Goldman Sachs made $3.44 billion in profit this past quarter, while the U.S deficit topped $1 trillion for the first time in the nation’s history and appeared to be headed toward doubling that figure before the budget year is out. Since most of the increase in the federal deficit is due to bailing out the banks and salvaging the greater economy they helped destroy, why is the top investment bank doing so well?

Well, because that was the plan, as devised by Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Remember that Lehman Brothers, Goldman’s competitor, was allowed to go bankrupt. The Paulson crowd wouldn’t let Lehman change its status to that of a bank holding company and thus qualify for federal funds; soon afterward, Goldman was granted just such a deal, worth a quick $10 billion. Much is now made of Goldman paying back part of its bailout money, but forgotten is the $12.9 billion that Goldman got as its cut of the $180 billion AIG payoff. That is money that will not be paid back.

Goldman is considered a very smart bank because it was early in reducing its exposure to the mortgage derivatives that in large part caused the meltdown. However, it had done much to expand the market and continued to sell suspect derivatives to unwary buyers as sound investments, even as Goldman divested. The firm still holds $1.85 billion in real estate and lost $499 million in the previous quarter on bad loans, but made up for it by playing the vulture role and issuing high-interest debt to governments and companies made desperate by the recession that the financial gimmicks of the banks brought on in the first place.

via Truthdig – Reports – ‘Government Sachs’ Strikes Gold … Again.

Health Insurance Whistle-Blower Knows Where the Bodies Are Buried

Health Insurance Whistle-Blower Knows Where the Bodies Are Buried

By Amy Goodman

Wendell Potter is the health insurance industry’s worst nightmare. He’s a whistle-blower. Potter, the former chief spokesperson for insurance giant CIGNA, recently testified before Congress, “I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick—all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.”

Potter was deeply involved in CIGNA and industrywide strategies for maintaining their profitable grip on U.S. health care. He told me: “The thing they fear most is a single-payer plan. They fear even the public insurance option being proposed; they’ll pull out all the stops they can to defeat that to try to scare people into thinking that embracing a public health insurance option would lead down the slippery slope toward socialism … putting a government bureaucrat between you and your doctor. They’ve used those talking points for years, and they’ve always worked.”

In 2007, CIGNA denied a California teenager, Nataline Sarkisyan, coverage for a liver transplant. Her family went to the media. The California Nurses Association joined in. Under mounting pressure, CIGNA finally granted coverage for the procedure. But it was too late. Two hours later, Nataline died.

via Truthdig – Reports – Health Insurance Whistle-Blower Knows Where the Bodies Are Buried.

Demolition access to the WTC Towers – Part 1

Demolition access to the World Trade Center towers: Part one – tenants

Note: The author is indebted to a few particularly useful sources of information and inspiration, including Russ Baker’s book “Family of Secrets”, the websites nndb.com, sourcewatch.org and secinfo.com, and Richard Gage.

On occasion, the public has been asked by George W. Bush to refrain from considering certain conspiracy theories. Bush has made such requests when people were looking into crimes in which he might be culpable. For example, when in 1994 Bush’s former company Harken Energy was linked to the fraudulent Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) through several investors, Bush’s spokeswoman, Karen Hughes, shut down the inquiry by telling the Associated Press — “We have no response to silly conspiracy theories.” On another occasion, Bush said in a televised speech — “Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th.”

But paradoxically, we have also been asked to believe Bush’s own outrageous conspiracy theory about 9/11, one that has proven to be false in many ways. One important way to see the false nature of Bush’s conspiracy theory is to note the fact that the World Trade Center buildings could only have fallen as they did through the use of explosives. A number of independent scientific studies have pointed out this fact ^{[1, 2, 3, 4]}, but it was Bush’s own scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), through their inability to provide a convincing defense of the official line, who ultimately proved that explosives were necessary.^{[2, 5, 6, 7]}

This leads us to ask the obvious question — Who could have placed explosives in the World Trade Center towers? To answer that question, we should first consider who had access to the buildings, specifically the areas of the buildings that would be relevant to a demolition operation. We should also consider the time periods of interest. Those who had access at the necessary times should be further considered in terms of their ability to obtain the necessary explosive technologies and expertise, their ability to be secretive, and the possibility that they could have benefited from the destruction of the WTC buildings or from the resulting War on Terror. But one thing is certain, unless it was done by one person acting alone, it must have been a conspiracy.

The Twin Towers and WTC 7, all highly secure buildings, were most readily accessed by tenants, security and building management staff, and construction-related contractors.

via Scoop: Kevin R. Ryan: Demolition access to the WTC Towers.

All Interstate Bank Barriers Coming Down

OPS: This leads the way to one or two banks to control everything

All Interstate Bank Barriers Coming Down

“Look for a bounty of new competitors in your region if the Obama Administration succeeds in its proposal to eliminate all barriers to interstate branching,”FinCriAdvisor tells bankers.

I have nothing against artificial barriers coming down, but what is going on here is the removal of barriers to allow very specific players to expand across state barriers.

The Riegle-Neal Act of 1994 authorized mergers across state lines, but not interstate expansions. Now, the interstate expansion barrier is likely to come down, and you can be sure money center banks and private equity are ready.

The elimination of barriers to expansion over state borders will force small banks to fall into the hands of private equity and the like. FCA again:

via EconomicPolicyJournal.com: All Interstate Bank Barriers Coming Down.

Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies

Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies – FOX

It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology — and a 20th-century horror movie.

A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.

Robotic Technology Inc.’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — that’s right, “EATR” — “can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable,” reads the company’s Web site.

That “biomass” and “other organically-based energy sources” wouldn’t necessarily be limited to plant material — animal and human corpses contain plenty of energy, and they’d be plentiful in a war zone.

EATR will be powered by the Waste Heat Engine developed by Cyclone Power Technology of Pompano Beach, Fla., which uses an “external combustion chamber” burning up fuel to heat up water in a closed loop, generating electricity.

via Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies – Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News – FOXNews.com.

The End of “Nice” Health Care Reform

The End of “Nice” Health Care Reform

By DAVE LINDORFF

Of course I could be wrong. Congress could turn around and pass some cockamamie scheme to kick the issue of health care reform down the road, offering some kind of minimal insurance coverage to a few million more people, and cracking down on this or that particularly egregious health provider rip-off, and then staging a “mission accomplished” photo op.

But real health care reform of the kind that Democratic candidates were promising during last year’s presidential campaign is dead, killed by the timidity of the promiser-in-chief, President Barack Obama (and by the massive corruption of the Democrats in Congress, who hav e accepted the tainted coin of the health care industry).

Obama could have come to the American people as a newly elected leader and addressed us as adults, saying: “Look, we know what needs to be done. Plenty of countries in Canada, Europe and elsewhere have figured it out already. They set up the government as the single payer to health providers—doctors and hospitals, etc.—and the government bargains and sets the prices those private providers of health care can charge. Of course that means you’ll all pay higher taxes to finance such a plan, but the record of all those countries shows that you’ll be saving money over all, because you won’t be paying for health insurance, your employer won’t be paying for health insurance, you won’t be paying co-pays and deductibles, and you won’t be getting gouged for drugs or hospital stays or doctors’ bills. You won’t be paying state taxes for Medicaid either, nor will your insurance and local property taxes have to subsidize the hospital care of indigents. On balance, you’ll all be saving money, and you’ll never have to worry about disease or injury bankrupting you. Nor will employers be able to hold you hostage any longer. The reality is that the countries that have a single-payer plan are spending half of what we spend per capita for health care, they have no uninsured citizens, and their health overall, as measured by such things as longevity, infant mortality, etc., is better than ours.”

via Dave Lindorff: The End of “Nice” Health Care Reform.

Worker Action in Not-So “Center-Right” America:

Paul Street points out that American is NOT a center-right nation, as we continue to assume. No, the Democratic Party and Obama do NOT have to cater to the right, and we DO NOT HAVE TO LET THEM!!!! The political-corporate-media establishment is (arguably) center-right. They don’t represent us. We do. As soon as we wake up. “I’ve never been comfortable with many pundits’ tendency to describe the United States as a “center-right nation.”[1] This description is appropriate when it comes to the United States’ business class, its dominant corporate media, its two reigning political parties (both firmly dedicated to the combined and interrelated imperatives of empire, inequality, and thought-control. Incorporated) and its political class more broadly. … If dominant media is your concept of “the United States,” then, yes, we are most definitely a “center right nation.” In the real-life workplaces and communities of the country beneath and beyond the official representations in legislatures and on the business-run airwaves, however, things are rather different and more hopeful.

Worker Action in Not-So “Center-Right” America:

I’ve never been comfortable with many pundits’ tendency to describe the United States as a “center-right nation.”[1] This description is appropriate when it comes to the United States’ business class, its dominant corporate media, its two reigning political parties (both firmly dedicated to the combined and interrelated imperatives of empire, inequality, and thought-control. Incorporated) and its political class more broadly. “Center-right” may accurately reflect how many millions of Americans identify themselves on the limited ideological menu offered to them by MSNBC exit pollsters. But it doesn’t fit very well with the interesting facts that:

*Twice as many Americans back more government services and spending (even if this means a tax increase) as the number who support fewer services and reduced spending (National Elections Survey, 2004).

*64 percent of Americans would pay higher taxes to guarantee health care for all U.S. citizens (CNN Opinion Research Poll, May 2007).

*69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide health coverage to all U.S. citizens (Gallup Poll, 2006).

*80 percent of Americans support a government-mandated increase in the minimum wage (Associated Press/AOL Poll, December 2006).

*71 percent of Americans think that taxes on corporations are too low ( Gallup Poll, April 2007).

*66 percent of Americans think taxes on upper-income people are too low(Gallup Poll, April 2007).

*59 percent of Americans are favorable toward unions, with just 29 percent unfavorable ( Gallup Poll, 2006).

*52 percent of Americans generally side with unions in labor disputes.  Just 34 percent side with management (Gallup Poll, 2006).

via ZNet – Worker Action.

Science Job Market In Birmingham

Science Job Market In Birmingham

The Republican plan for slowing stimulus fund distribution in hopes of retaking the White House in 2012 has wrecked havoc in science jobs with the reduction of university funding in Alabama. Reliable dat indicates same for other “Republican” states.

Yesterday the University of Alabama in Birmingham announced plans to consolidate their schools into a smaller group due to the economy.

I am not looking for a job in the sciences but I did a little hunting and found some interesting things.

Birmingham as a whole has risen in terms of the number of jobs available per thousand people.
There are 28 jobs available per thousand people in Birmingham according to
http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends.jsp

Birmingham moved up two spots to number 41 of 50 since the first quarter of 2009.

I used Alabama JobLink direct, the state run job bank at https://joblink.alabama.gov/ada/, as a check. Their data shows a decrease in jobs available and number of resume resident on the site which correlates well with what Indeed shows.

Date                  Jobs        Resumes
07/07/2009        5007      134720
07/10/2009        4986      134005
07/11/2009        5024      133960
07/14/2009        4978      132903

I went a step further and looked at jobs available for myself, if I was looking.

via Science Job Market In Birmingham.

CNN’s journalism on the Cheney story

CNN’s journalism on the Cheney story

- Glenn Greenwald

This CNN article requires little commentary; it is so extreme that simply describing it conveys most of what needs to be said about it. Here’s the headline:

That’s really all there is to the entire “news story”: two anonymous “former intelligence officials” claim — based on assertions CNN repeats but does not investigate — that Dick Cheney, the CIA, and the Bush administration did absolutely nothing wrong. Hiding behind the anonymity CNN ludicrously granted them, these two “former officials” make one Cheney-defending argument after the next; CNN writes it all down faithfully; and then uncritically publishes it all as a “news story.” Remember never to accuse them of being “stenographers” because that is unfair and offensive. Here is what this news article “reports”:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is getting a “bum rap” over reports that he ordered the CIA to withhold information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress, two former U.S. intelligence officials told CNN Monday.

via CNN’s journalism on the Cheney story – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Plans To Criminalize Generic Meds Could Hurt Poor

Plans To Criminalize Generic Meds Could Hurt Poor

Press release for immediate release: Wednesday, July 15 2009.

Secret Plans To Criminalize Generic Medicines Could Hurt Poor Countries And People

International agency Oxfam fears that companies producing affordable generic medicines could be subject to criminal prosecutions and have their medicines seized on orders from big drug companies under plans being drawn up by a closed group of mainly rich countries.

Negotiators working towards a new Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) are meeting in Morocco over the next two days to draw up multilateral enforcement rules for intellectual property, including new rules for patents and trademarks that are likely to make it harder for generic companies to provide cheaper medicines.

via Scoop: Plans To Criminalize Generic Meds Could Hurt Poor.

Goldman’s Back, and Why We Should Be Worried

Goldman’s Back, and Why We Should Be Worried

Robert Reich

Should we breath a sigh of relief that Goldman Sachs has posted record earnings as revenue from trading and stock underwriting reached all-time highs (second quarter net income was $3.44 billion) — less than a year after the firm took $10 billion directly from taxpayers and $13 billion indirectly through AIG?

In some ways, yes. That Goldman is back signals that the worst of Wall Street’s recent meltdown is over. And at least New York City’s economy will again benefit from the trickle-down effects of the multi-million dollar bonuses of Goldman’s executives and traders.

But in another respect, Goldman’s resurgence should send shivers down the backs of every hardworking American who has lost a large chunk of retirement savings in this economic debacle, as well as the millions who have lost their jobs. Why? Because Goldman’s high-risk business model hasn’t changed one bit from what it was before the implosion of Wall Street. Goldman is still wagering its capital and fueling giant bets with lots of borrowed money. While its rivals have pared back risks, Goldman has increased them. And its renewed success at this old game will only encourage other big banks to go back into it.

“Our model really never changed, we’ve said very consistently that our business model remained the same,” Goldman’s chief financial officer tells Bloomberg News. Value-at-risk — a statistical measure of how much the firm’s trading operations could lose in a day — rose to an average of $245 million in the second quarter from $240 million in the first quarter. In the second quarter of 2008, VaR averaged $184 million.

via Robert Reich’s Blog: Goldman’s Back, and Why We Should Be Worried.

Des Moines pledges to move against homeless camps

OPS:  Better come up with a workable plan. There will be a lot more of this, all over the country,  before it’s over.

Des Moines pledges to move against homeless camps  – | The Des Moines Register

Des Moines city leaders say they intend to fight the spread of homeless camps amid reports that more have popped up along the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers.

Officials worry that a failure to enforce city regulations and improve outreach efforts toward the homeless could lead to more problems with safety, health and sanitation.

“If we don’t do something to address this now, some of those problems are going to be more and more common,” Assistant City Manager Chris Johansen said.

via Des Moines pledges to move against homeless camps | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register.

Liz Cheney is No Innocent Bystander. She Was Dick’s Mole in the State Department on the Middle East.

Liz Cheney is No Innocent Bystander. She Was Dick’s Mole in the State Department on the Middle East.

BUZZFLASH EDITOR’S BLOG  By Mark Karlin

It’s all supposed to be very touching, a loving daughter defending her father against slanderous, defaming partisan accusations.

Now that Dick Cheney has once again retreated to an “undisclosed location,” his only ubiquitous vocal defender appears to be one of his daughters, Liz, who has herself indicated that she is interested in a political future.

But Liz Cheney may have more than paternalistic protectiveness in her heart, because Liz was part of her father’s foreign policy operation when he was vice-president.

Indeed, Liz Cheney served two stints in the State Department while Dick was up to his illegal and largely still unknown secretive actions. And she wasn’t stationed at the Iceland desk. She had responsibilities directly related to “diplomacy” in the Middle East.

In 2002, Liz was appointed to the “vacant” position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern [Middle-Eastern] Affairs. In 2005, after taking time off from the State Department to work on her father’s re-election, she was named Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State For Near Eastern Affairs. In 2006, Liz became the head of the State Department Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group.

via Liz Cheney is No Innocent Bystander. She Was Dick’s Mole in the State Department on the Middle East. | BuzzFlash.org.

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