Archive for October, 2009
Sinking with Mr. Rangel
Editorial – - NYTimes.com
It is time for Democrats in Congress — who once justifiably complained about the corruption of the Republican majority — to demonstrate to Americans that someone in that august body has ethical standards.
Instead, House Democrats have again shielded Representative Charles Rangel from his serial ethical messes and ducked their responsibility to force him from the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, maintaining her tunnel vision on behalf of a powerful colleague, led the majority to defeat the Republicans’ latest call to depose the New York lawmaker. She does the nation no favor.
Two of her Democrats broke ranks and voted against Mr. Rangel, but far more need to face up to the obvious: the chairman’s gavel weighs increasingly like a millstone as new disclosures surface about Mr. Rangel’s ethical gaffes and official misdeeds.
Full Story: Editorial – Sinking with Mr. Rangel – NYTimes.com.
Derivatives Bill’s Loophole May Exempt Most Firms, Gensler Says
(Bloomberg) — Legislation by Representative Barney Frank to tighten derivatives regulation contains an exemption that may let most financial firms escape new collateral and disclosure rules, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said.
The provision is among several loopholes in the draft legislation, officials of the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission said in testimony yesterday before the House Financial Services Committee headed by Frank.
The Massachusetts Democrat said he would “sharpen” his plan, intended to rein in the $592 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market. The committee has scheduled votes on it beginning Oct. 14. Frank predicted the legislation would pass the House by November and be signed into law by December.
Full Story: Derivatives Bill’s Loophole May Exempt Most Firms, Gensler Says – Bloomberg.com.
Big Brother FBI
Data-Mining Programs Resurrect “Total Information Awareness”
Like a vampire rising from it’s grave each night to feed on the privacy rights of Americans, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is moving forward with programs that drain the life blood from our constitutional liberties.
From the wholesale use of informants and provocateurs to stifle political dissent, to Wi-Fi hacking and viral computer spyware to follow our every move, the FBI has turned massive data-mining of personal information into a growth industry. In the process they are building the surveillance state long been dreamed of by American securocrats.
A chilling new report by investigative journalist Ryan Singel provides startling details of how the FBI’s National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) is quietly morphing into the Total Information Awareness (TIA) system of convicted Iran-Contra felon, Admiral John M. Poindexter. According to documents obtained by Wired:
A fast-growing FBI data-mining system billed as a tool for hunting terrorists is being used in hacker and domestic criminal investigations, and now contains tens of thousands of records from private corporate databases, including car-rental companies, large hotel chains and at least one national department store. (Ryan Singel, “FBI’s Data-Mining System Sifts Airline, Hotel, Car-Rental Records,” Wired, September 23, 2009)
Among the latest revelations of out-of-control secret state spookery, Wired disclosed that personal details on customers have been provided to the Bureau by the Wyndham Worldwide hotel chain “which includes Ramada Inn, Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson and Hawthorn Suites.” Additional records were obtained from the Avis rental car company and Sears department stores.
Full Story: Big Brother FBI.
Senate Democrats Agree To Extend Jobless Benefits
Senate Democrats said Thursday they have reached a deal to extend unemployment insurance benefits to the nearly 2 million jobless workers across the country who are in danger of running out of assistance by the end of the year.
The agreement would give an additional 14 weeks of benefits to jobless workers in all 50 states. Workers in states with an unemployment rate at 8.5 percent or above would receive six weeks on top of that.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried to bring the measure to a quick vote on the Senate floor, but Republicans objected, saying they needed more time to study the proposal and its costs and possibly offer amendments.
The House last month approved legislation that gives 13 weeks of extended benefits, but only in those 27 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that have une
Full Story: Senate Democrats Agree To Extend Jobless Benefits.
CIGNA Employee Flips Off Mother Of Dead Girl Denied Transplant
A CIGNA employee gave the finger — literally — to a woman whose daughter died after the insurance giant refused to cover her liver transplant.
Hilda and Krikor Sarkisyan went to CIGNA’s Philadelphia headquarters, along with supporters from the California Nurses Association, to confront the CEO Edward Hanway over the death of her 17-year-old child.
In 2007, Nataline Sarkisyan was denied a liver transplant by the company, on the grounds that the operation was “too experimental” to be covered. Nine days later it changed its mind, in response to protests outside its office. It was too late: Nataline died hours later.
“CIGNA killed my daughter,” Nataline’s mother Hilda told security. “I want an apology.” Sarkisyan was not able to speak to Hanway; a communications specialist talked to her instead. After their conversation, employees heckled the group from a balcony; one man gave them the finger. CIGNA called the police and had the family and their friends escorted from the building.
Full Story: CIGNA Employee Flips Off Mother Of Dead Girl Denied Transplant.
Coburn Wants To Dump Political Science Funding Since Americans Can Just ‘Turn To CNN, Fox News, MSNBC’
Tom Coburn Yesterday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) introduced an amendment that would bar the National Science Foundation (NSF) from “wasting federal research funding on political science.” Coburn argues that these political sciences issues “have little, if anything, to do with science.” From his amendment:
The largest award over the last 10 years under the political science program has been $5.4 million for the University of Michigan for the “American National Election Studies” grant. The grant is to “inform explanations of election outcomes.” The University of Michigan may have some interesting theories about recent elections, but Americans who have an interest in electoral politics can turn to CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, the print media, and a seemingly endless number of political commentators on the internet who pour over this data and provide a myriad of viewpoints to answer the same questions.
Coburn adds, “Theories on political behavior are best left to CNN, pollsters, pundits, historians, candidates, political parties, and the voters, rather than being funded out of taxpayers’ wallets.” His argument is like saying that schools should just have students watch Jim Cramer on CNBC instead of teaching economics.
OPS: Someone needs to make the Republicans answer the question:
Exactly how stupid do you want American to become?
What’s your goal?
Police stop more than 1 million people on street
A teenager trying to get into his apartment after school is confronted by police. A man leaving his workplace chooses a different route back home to avoid officers who roam a particular street.
These and hundreds of thousands of other Americans in big cities have been stopped on the street by police using a law-enforcement practice called stop-and-frisk that alarms civil libertarians but is credited by authorities with helping reduce crime.
Police in major U.S. cities stop and question more than a million people each year — a sharply higher number than just a few years ago. Most are black and Hispanic men. Many are frisked, and nearly all are innocent of any crime, according to figures gathered by The Associated Press.
And the numbers are rising at the same time crime rates are dropping.
Full Story: Police stop more than 1 million people on street – Yahoo! News.
Jeb Bush: Stop Blaming My Brother for Driving the Country Off a Cliff
Jebby is a little miffed that people keep holding W. responsible for totally wrecking the country.
Asked about House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer blaming the former President Bush for the nation’s fiscal outlook, Jeb Bush said:
“I was on the plane yesterday coming up to Washington and I heard someone complain that their child’s acne was because of George Bush. Of course last week the Olympics didn’t come to Chicago, that was my brother’s fault. And at some point people are going to have to put on their big-boy pants and assume responsibility for the great challenges and opportunities our country has…”
Damn straight.
Act like a Bush, Democrats. Man up, take responsibility!
President Bush on Friday put responsibility squarely on the CIA for his erroneous claim that Iraq tried to acquire nuclear material from Africa, prompting the director of intelligence to publicly accept full blame for the miscue.
“I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by the intelligence services,” Bush told reporters in Uganda.
Don’t blame others for stuff that happens on your watch.
Nobody organized this country or the international community to fight the terrorist threat that was upon us until 9/11. … We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al-Qaida.
Full Story: Firedoglake » Jeb Bush: Stop Blaming My Brother for Driving the Country Off a Cliff.
How American-Grown Marijuana Is Hurting the Drug Cartels
Steve Fainaru and William Booth report:
Almost all of the marijuana consumed in the multibillion-dollar U.S. market once came from Mexico or Colombia. Now as much as half is produced domestically, often by small-scale operators who painstakingly tend greenhouses and indoor gardens to produce the more potent, and expensive, product that consumers now demand, according to authorities and marijuana dealers on both sides of the border. The shifting economics of the marijuana trade have broad implications for Mexico’s war against the drug cartels, suggesting that market forces, as much as law enforcement, can extract a heavy price from criminal organizations that have used the spectacular profits generated by pot sales to fuel the violence and corruption that plague the Mexican state.
Now imagine the blow to the Mexican drug cartels if prohibition were lifted. But we couldn’t do that, could we?
Full Story: The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan.
Meet The Senators Who Voted Against The Franken Amendment
Sub title should be: Senators that SUPPORT Rape
I think that all homo sapiens can understand how the mere thought of an organization that receives government money through contract mechanisms being tangentially involved in setting up a fake tax shelter for a fake pimp and his fake prostitution ring of fake prostitutes can justifiably lead to lawmakers going absolutely cross-eyed with white-hot, impotent rage. But what happens when a similarly taxpayer-endowed contractor attempts to cover up employee-on-employee gang rape by locking up the victim in a shipping container without food and water and threatening her with reprisals if she report the incident? Somehow, it doesn’t engender the same level of anger!
Credit new Senator Al Franken however, for introducing an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill that would punish contractors if they “restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” You’d think that this would be a no-brainer, actually, but that didn’t stop Jeff Sessions from labeling Franken’s effort a “political attack directed at Halliburton.” Franken, of course, pointed out that his amendment would apply broadly, to all contractors, because otherwise, ‘twould be a bill of attainder, right? Right?
Franken’s amendment ended up passing, 68-30. Here’s a list of the Senators who showed broad support for Roman Polanski by voting against it:
Full Story: Meet The Senators Who Voted Against The Franken Amendment.
HMO stocks sink after report boosts reform bill
WellPoint down 7 pct; Aetna, UnitedHealth 4.5 pct * Senate Finance bill seen cutting budget deficit (Recasts; adds analyst comments, byline; updates shares)
NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Shares of large health insurers slumped on Thursday as a budget report issued on a key U.S. Senate healthcare reform bill fueled investor worries that a health overhaul would gain approval.
Nonpartisan budget analysts said late on Wednesday that a Senate Finance Committee health plan would cost $829 billion and cut the budget deficit by $81 billion over 10 years. The bill would meet President Barack Obama’s desire for a healthcare plan that does not increase the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office. [ID:nN07496071]
Full Story: UPDATE 1-HMO stocks sink after report boosts reform bill | Stocks | Reuters.
OPS; Poor babies. Just tears your heart out – don’t it..
Ammiano to Schwarzenegger: “Kiss my gay ass”
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown is lambasting what he calls “highly inappropriate” behavior by San Francisco Democrats Wednesday who greeted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with a hostile reception during a surprise drop-in at a San Francisco Democratic Party fund-raiser.
But outspoken State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco, who shouted “You lie!” to Schwarzenneger during the event at the Fairmont Hotel — and didn’t deny reports he walked out with a quip of “kiss my gay ass” — said the GOP governor’s “cheap publicity stunt” earned a very appropriate show of political theater, San Francisco-style.
Check out the video here:
Full Story: SFGate: Politics Blog : Ammiano to Schwarzenegger: “Kiss my gay ass”.
Senate Democrats reach deal on extending benefits
Senate Democrats have reached a deal to extend unemployment insurance benefits to workers in every state who are in danger of seeing their benefits run dry in the coming weeks.
The agreement would give an additional 14 weeks of benefits to jobless workers in all 50 states. Workers in states with an unemployment rate at 8.5 percent or above would receive six weeks on top of that.
The House last month approved legislation that gives 13 weeks of extended benefits, but only in those 27 states that have unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent.
Full Story: The Associated Press: Senate Democrats reach deal on extending benefits.
Supreme Court Barely Touches On Religion in Argument Over Cross
A Supreme Court argument on Wednesday about the fate of a cross in a remote part of the Mojave National Preserve in southeastern California largely avoided the most interesting question in the case: whether the First Amendment’s ban on government establishment of religion is violated by the display of a cross as a war memorial.
The cross in the desert was erected in the 1930s by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to honor fallen service members. Ten years ago, Frank Buono, a retired employee of the National Park Service, objected to the cross, saying it violated the establishment clause.
In the intervening decade, Congress and the courts have engaged in a legal tug of war. Congress passed measures forbidding removal of the cross, designating it as a national memorial and, finally, ordering the land under the cross to be transferred to private hands. Federal courts in California have insisted that the cross may not be displayed.
At Wednesday’s argument, only Justice Antonin Scalia appeared inclined to reach the establishment clause question.
Full Story: Supreme Court Barely Touches On Religion in Argument Over Cross – NYTimes.com.
Schumer: Opt-Out Public Option Gaining Steam
We’re chasing the ball on a new idea (is it a trial balloon? is it the magic answer?) to pass a health care bill with a public option that states–likely small, and conservative states–could choose not to participate in.
As I reported last night, the idea comes from Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), and is being pushed by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)–a man with no shortage of clout on the Hill. Appearing on MSNBC a few moments ago, Schumer said the idea’s gaining traction.
“That’s one of the things being very seriously considered,” Schumer said. “I’m not going to — we have a range of things we’re considering. Senator Carper and I met for quite a while last night and made progress and talked to a large number of members last night, yesterday. And I am optimistic that there will be some kind of public option in the bill the president signs. I’m very optimistic.”
Full Story: Schumer: Opt-Out Public Option Gaining Steam | TPMDC.
House Votes to Expand Definition of Hate Crimes – NYTimes.com
The House voted by a wide margin on Thursday to expand the definition of violent federal hate crimes to cover those committed because of a victim’s gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
Democrats and advocates hailed the 281-to-146 vote, which put the measure on the brink of becoming law, as the culmination of a long push to curb violent expressions of bias like the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student.
“Left unchecked, crimes of this kind threaten to ruin the very fabric of America,” said Representative Susan Davis, Democrat of California.
The hate-crimes measure was approved as part of a broad $681 billion Pentagon policy measure, a strategy that infuriated House Republicans who accused Democrats of employing a form of legislative blackmail.
Full Story: House Votes to Expand Definition of Hate Crimes – NYTimes.com.
Beneath the hype: Is Iran close to nukes?
Retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern speaks on disinformation, Iran, and “faith-based intelligence”
Full Story: YouTube – Beneath the hype: Is Iran close to nukes?.
Alan Grayson Systemic risk Tansfer of wealth from taxpayer – Video
Representative Alan Grayson, attempts to get some answers.
- What is being done to address systemic risk?
- There is a massive transfer of wealth from the taxpayer, to banks, who have behaved abysmally.
- Wall Street Socialism (that is a good way to put it) Just as a thought.
One of those being questioned, makes a very important point that has been generally overlooked. The statement is made, that for the economy to recover, these Financial Institutions, have to be looked after and preserved. What he is actually saying, is that the economy has been refashioned around finance, a virtual Ponzi (pyramid) scheme. The reality should be, that the manufacturing sector, should be looked after, to make the economy recover. The financial sector, which produces nothing but debt, has been used to hijack the wealth, of the nation. Former U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson, has been attributed with this powerful quote, I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. It is now at a point, whereby these International Banks, are dangerous to the liberty of the entire planet.
Full Story: YouTube – Alan Grayson Systemic risk Tansfer of wealth from taxpayer.
Environmentalists fear climate deal
– TheHill.com - Environmentalists are growing concerned that Congress may be willing to risk the coasts in order to save the planet.
Some expressed fears this week that Democrats may give in on offshore drilling in order to increase the prospects for a contentious climate change bill designed to curb the threat of global warming.
Climate negotiators said this week that they are open to discussing an expansion of domestic drilling opportunities and providing new support for nuclear power to get more Republican support for the cap-and-trade climate bill.
Without some Republicans on board, it is unlikely Senate Democrats will be able to reach the 60-vote threshold they’ll need to advance the bill.
Full Story: Environmentalists fear climate deal – TheHill.com.
God and Suicide Prevention in the Military
A few weeks ago I mentioned a powerpoint presentation by a military chaplain that advocated creationism as a means of keeping soldiers from committing suicide, but I couldn’t make it public yet. Now my friend Chris Rodda, who discovered the powerpoint on the web, has published about it at DailyKos so you can see the details.
As Chris notes, this presentation was given at a mandatory meeting to more than 1000 soldiers and sent out as an email to 5000 more. Capt. Christian Biscotti says that the solution to suicide in the military it to convince soldiers that evolution is false and that they were created specially by God. Much of it is based on Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life.
The powerpoint continues much ignorant blather about Darwin, evolution and humanism. It’s the usual litany of “evolution leads to communism” arguments you’ve seen a thousand times. In the third slide included in the post, you can see Biscotti compare America and the Soviet Union and he actually lists Darwin as a leader of the Soviet Union! Here it is:
Full Story: God and Suicide Prevention in the Military : Dispatches from the Culture Wars.
Democrats Disgruntled as Obama Fails to Deliver
Since before taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama has been no stranger to being in the crosshairs of Republican pundits who have accused him of everything from bring a “secret communist” to a tax-and-spend liberal who would oversee huge expansions in the federal government.
But a growing voice of criticism here in Washington is Democrats who feel the president has failed to deliver on a large number of the campaign promises he made during the run-up to the November election.
This sentiment of disappointment and frustration with Obama’s lack of progress on his agenda – topped by his seeming inability to build a consensus in his own party on healthcare reform, concern that he may be in the process of committing the U.S. to an unwinnable war in Afghanistan, and inaction on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and repealing the ban on gays in the military – was put on striking display on Saturday night when NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) led off with a satirical skit portraying Obama listing his two major accomplishments since taking office as “Jack and Squat”.
Full Story: POLITICS-US: Democrats Disgruntled as Obama Fails to Deliver.
Let Congress Go Without Insurance
– NYTimes.com - Let me offer a modest proposal: If Congress fails to pass comprehensive health reform this year, its members should surrender health insurance in proportion with the American population that is uninsured.
It may be that the lulling effect of having very fine health insurance leaves members of Congress insensitive to the dysfunction of our existing insurance system. So what better way to attune our leaders to the needs of their constituents than to put them in the same position?
About 15 percent of Americans have no health insurance, according to the Census Bureau. Another 8 percent are underinsured, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy research group. So I propose that if health reform fails this year, 15 percent of members of Congress, along with their families, randomly lose all health insurance and another 8 percent receive inadequate coverage.
Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Let Congress Go Without Insurance – NYTimes.com.
A Death Every 12 Minutes: The Price of Not Having Medicare for All
Americans are dying at a faster rate — 1 every 12 minutes, 5 an hour, 120 a day, 45,000 a year — not from war or natural disaster, but from lack of health insurance.
That’s the stunning finding of a study published today in the American Journal of Public Health by leading researchers at Harvard Medical School. The report, “Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults,” reveals that the uninsured have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those with private insurance, resulting in 45,000 preventable deaths annually.
These are our friends and neighbors, our fellow Americans who can’t afford or otherwise get private health insurance. Increasingly, this group includes nearly all lower-income and a growing majority of middle-class Americans.
The Institute of Medicine estimated in 2002 that more than 18,000 Americans between the ages of 19 and 64 were dying each year as a result of being uninsured. The new number is two and a half times that figure.
Full Story: A Death Every 12 Minutes: The Price of Not Having Medicare for All – Healthcare-NOW!.
Senate Committee Passes Patriot Act Reauthorization Bill
Bill Does Not Go Far Enough to Protect Americans’ Privacy, Says ACLU
WASHINGTON – October 8 – The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the USA PATRIOT Act Extension Act of 2009 today, a bill which falls far short of restoring the necessary civil liberties protections lacking in the original Patriot Act. The bill, passed by the committee after two sessions of debate, makes only minor changes to the disastrous Patriot Act and was further watered down by amendments adopted during markup. The American Civil Liberties Union had endorsed the JUSTICE Act, an alternative bill that would heavily reform not only the Patriot Act but other overly broad surveillance laws.
Amendments that were offered but failed by voice vote included an amendment by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) to curb the abuse of the overly broad National Security Letter (NSL) statute and another offered by Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) to allow the “lone wolf” provision to expire (the never-used provision that targets individuals who are not connected to terrorist groups). An amendment also failed that would make it more difficult for recipients to challenge the gag order that comes with receiving an NSL.
However, there were two amendments included in the final bill – both offered by Senator Feingold – that are victories for privacy: The Department of Justice would be ordered to discard any illegally obtained information received in response to an NSL and the government must notify suspects of “sneak and peek” searches within seven days instead of the thirty days currently outlined in the statute. “Sneak and peek” searches allow the government to search a home without notifying the resident immediately.
The following can be attributed to Michael Macleod-Ball, Acting Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:
“We are disappointed that further changes were not made to ensure Americans’ civil liberties would be adequately protected by this Patriot Act legislation. This truly was a missed opportunity for the Senate Judiciary Committee to right the wrongs of the Patriot Act and stand up for Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights. The meager improvements made during this markup will certainly be overshadowed by allowing so many horrible amendments to be added to an already weak bill. Congress cannot continue to make this mistake with the Patriot Act again and again. We urge the Senate to adopt amendments on the floor that will bring this bill in line with the Constitution.”
To learn more about the ACLU’s work on the Patriot Act, go to: www.reformthepatriotact.org
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The ACLU conserves America’s original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Full Story: Senate Committee Passes Patriot Act Reauthorization Bill | CommonDreams.org.
A historian’s account of Democrats and Bush-era war crimes
– Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
The American Propsect’s Adam Serwer notes that, yesterday, Sen. Joe Lieberman successfully inserted into the Homeland Security appropriations bill an amendment — supported by the Obama White House — to provide an exemption from the Freedom of Information Act’s mandates by authorizing the Defense Secretary to suppress long-concealed photographs of detainee abuse. Two courts had ruled — unanimously — that the American people have the right to see these photographs under FOIA, a 40-year-old law championed by the Democrats in the LBJ era and long considered a crowning jewel in their legislative achievements. But this Lieberman amendment, which is now likely to pass, undermines all of that and — as EBay founder Pierre Omidyar put it today — its central purpose is to “legalize suppression” of evidence of American war crimes.
What made those detainee photographs so important from the start is that they depict brutal abuse well outside of the Abu Ghraib facility and thus reveal to Americans — and the world — that America’s torture was not, as they’ve been constantly told, limited to rogue sadists at Abu Ghraib and the waterboarding of three bad guys. Instead, our torture regime was systematic, pervasive, brutal, fatal, and — becuase it was the by-product of conscious policies set at the highest levels of government — common across America’s “War on Terror” detention regime. These photographs would have documented those vital facts; combated the false denials from torture apologists; fueled the momentum for accountability; and revealed, in graphic and unavoidable terms, what was truly done by America’s government. But a Democratic-led Congress, at the urging of a Democratic President, is now taking extraordinary steps — including a new law which has no purpose other than to suppress evidence of America’s war crimes — to ensure that this evidence never sees the light of day.
Full Story: A historian’s account of Democrats and Bush-era war crimes – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.
Health bill would reduce US budget deficit: experts
President Barack Obama’s plan to overhaul the US health care system got a boost Wednesday when congressional budget experts said it would reduce the country’s ballooning budget deficit.
According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the health care reform plan currently before the Senate Finance Committee would reduce the budget deficit by 81 billion dollars over 10 years at a total cost of 829 billion dollars.
That finding was in line with Obama’s pledge that his health reform push will not increase budget deficits by “one dime.”
The legislation that would extend health insurance to the around 46 million people who currently lack coverage in the United States would also likely lead to “continued reductions in federal budget deficits,” the CBO added.
Full Story: The Raw Story | Health bill would reduce US budget deficit: experts.
Gang of 100 Phishers Charged in U.S., Egypt
A gang of more than 100 alleged phishers has been charged in the U.S. and Egypt in connection with a global scheme to steal bank credentials of victims and siphon money from their accounts.
A total of 53 defendants (.pdf) ranging in ages 18 to 44 are charged in a thick indictment (.pdf) unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles. An additional person is being charged at the state level, and another 47 alleged co-conspirators have been charged in Egypt.
The indictment is the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year investigation, dubbed Operation Phish Phry.
Full Story: Gang of 100 Phishers Charged in U.S., Egypt | Threat Level | Wired.com.
Is the GOP faltering in its battle against health care reform?
As news reports come in of one Republican after another suggesting that a government-run public option for health care may not be so bad after all, evidence is beginning to mount that the GOP may be conceding defeat in the health care battle — or at least preparing itself to make major concessions.
Prominent conservative blogger Erick Erickson raised the alarm on his RedState blog on Wednesday that at least some congressional Republicans may be ready to throw in the towel, and even vote for a compromise that could include a public option.
“I am told quite reliably that in a meeting today on Capitol Hill, Republican Senators began to rapidly move toward concessions on health care because they are afraid they cannot hold their members,” Erickson wrote. “Some Republicans are now thinking of supporting a government program.”
Full Story: Is the GOP faltering in its battle against health care reform? | Raw Story.
Maddow: Democrats may revoke leadership of anyone who filibusters healthcare | Raw Story
On MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show Wednesday night, Maddow broke an exclusive story on the battle for health care reform, and declared, “This is cracking heads time in the Democratic Party.”
“We can report exclusively tonight, that two major power brokers on the left have told MSNBC that they are encouraging a Senate strategy now, in which the leadership would revoke chairmanships and other leadership positions from any Democrat who sides with a Republican filibuster to block a vote on health reform,” Maddow said.
Not revealing the names of her sources, she continued, “Regardless of how individual senators would vote ultimately on the bill, committee chairmen or subcommittee chairmen who allowed Republicans to force a 60-vote requirement for passing health care…under this type of strategy would be in danger of losing their chairmanships.”
Full Story: Maddow: Democrats may revoke leadership of anyone who filibusters healthcare | Raw Story.
OPS: It’s about damned time!
Teacher labeled terrorist, child abuser after students sing for healthcare on CNN
An unknown person who has previously attacked the Wikipedia pages of U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy and John Travolta’s deceased son has now vandalized the page of an educator after his students performed a song and dance routine advocating health care reform on CNN.
Middle-school students at Atlanta’s Ron Clark Academy reworked Miley Cyrus’ popular hit “Party in the U.S.A” to address the need for health care reform.
“So we throw our hands up for health care reform: make your choice today…Yeaahhh…It’s a problem in the U.S.A,” the kids sang as they rocked out on a CNN set Wednesday, lamenting skyrocketing health care deductibles and people being denied insurance.
Full Story: Teacher labeled terrorist, child abuser after students sing for healthcare on CNN | Raw Story.
Gun-promoting pastor quits to become full-time advocate
A Kentucky pastor who believes that guns belong in houses of worship has quit his Assemblies of God ministry to work for the International Security Coalition of Clergy, which he co-founded with a New York rabbi.
Ken Pagano gained national attention last June when he invited his congregation to bring their guns to church and “celebrate our rights as Americans” in an “open carry celebration” the week before the Fourth of July.
“God and guns are not contradictory,” Pagano explains. “They are part of our heritage. I’m not ashamed of it and will gladly promote it.”
Pagano’s actions were condemned at the time by other religious leaders, including Arkansas pastor John Phillips, who was shot in 1986 while conducting a service. “A church is designated as a safe haven, it’s a place of worship,” said Phillips. “It is unconscionable to me to think that a church would be a place that you would even want to bring a weapon.”
Full Story: Gun-promoting pastor quits to become full-time advocate | Raw Story.
Chamber to Apple: You don’t understand our ’21st century approach to climate change.’
Tom Donohue] U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue, who last year called for further “scientific inquiry” into climate science because of a “cooling trend,” today rebuked Apple for leaving his organization. Apple — recognized as the most innovative company in the world — had criticized the Chamber for not having a “more progressive stance” on climate change, saying, “We strongly object to the Chamber’s comments opposing the EPA’s efforts to limit greenhouse gases.” In an angry letter, Donohue argued they did not understand the Chamber’s “21st century approach to climate change“:
I am sorry to learn of Apple’s resignation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It is unfortunate that your company didn’t take the time to understand the Chamber’s position on climate and forfeited the opportunity to advance a 21st century approach to climate change.
Full Story: Think Progress » Chamber to Apple: You don’t understand our ’21st century approach to climate change.’.
O’Reilly: Fox News Doesn’t Report Stories That Will ‘Hurt Anybody’
Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) criticized the partisan political environment, saying, “Can you imagine writing the Constitution today?” Graham asked, speculating that Fox News host Bill O’Reilly would complain of “Ben Franklin giving in on something.” Last night on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly playfully confronted Graham about the accusation and attempted to defend the integrity of his network. O’Reilly said that unlike the New York Times, Fox News doesn’t break stories that hurt people:
O’REILLY: And I think you raise a very interesting point in what you said. And you said — I’m glad you mentioned me because that got attention And then people to think about this. We don’t break stories that are going to interfere with President Obama or President Bush or whoever’s in office if we feel that the story is going to hurt anybody, our military, our policymakers. We’ll hold it back. Okay? We’re not The New York Times. We’re not trying to do that.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » O’Reilly: Fox News Doesn’t Report Stories That Will ‘Hurt Anybody’.
REPORT: ‘We Will Overthrow The Government’ — Calls For Violence Repeatedly Stoked By Conservative Voices
Last week, the right-wing media outlet Newsmax — which receives 4 million unique monthly visitors and 130,000 print subscribers — published a column by conservative author John Perry arguing that a military coup could “resolve” the “radical left…Obama problem.” After being widely criticized, Newsmax retracted the column. However, the column appears to have encouraged an already angry group of anti-Obama radicals who have been plotting violence against the government.
While discussing the Newsmax column on his XM Sirius radio show last week, Michelangelo Signorile heard from a caller, “Jim from Oklahoma,” who explained that the idea of a coup is already being planned by a group of at least 200 people:
Pulling our government down, pulling our President out, and putting him back where he should be [...] [using] the right to bear arms, it’s in the Constitution. [...] We need a coup, there needs to be a coup and if the United States military won’t do it, we’ll do it.
Jim confirmed that he was “dead serious.” Although he was coy about specific details, Jim said that he was motivated by homophobia and an interest in bringing back slavery. A second caller confessed that her own mother has been scheming against the government because she has been captivated by racist thoughts and a belief that “Jesus is coming to overthrow Barack Obama.” She pleaded for people to recognize the extremist threat against Obama. Watch it:
Aluminum bottle manufacturer admits bottles leach BPA
Gaiam admits that bottles previously labeled “BPA-free” leach BPA at nearly 20 times SIGG’s levels.
Full Story: Aluminum bottle manufacturer admits bottles leach BPA | MNN – Mother Nature Network.
Americans cutting back on health care to save money
Many Americans have been putting off doctors’ visits, forgoing medical tests and taking expired medications to save money over the past year, according to a new poll by Consumers Union.
The survey by the nonpartisan organization found that 51 percent of Americans have “faced difficult health care choices in the past year.”
Despite overwhelming concern about how to pay for health care, however, there’s still no clear public or political consensus on how to overhaul the system.
Full Story: Americans cutting back on health care to save money | McClatchy.
Stocks to Rise, Senate Stalls on Jobless Lifeline
Stocks were expected to jump at the opening bell, and futures movement seems to indicate that each of the indices will rise by several points.
Markets yesterday closed with mixed results. The Dow lost 5.67 points (0.06 percent); while the NASDAQ and S&P each gained points. The NASDAQ finished up 6.76 points (0.32 percent) followed closely by the S&P which was up 2.86 points (0.27 percent).
Stocks were expected to jump at the opening bell, and futures movement seems to indicate that each of the indices will rise by several points. Comparing U.S. projections with investment markets in Europe and Asia, Wall Street could be in store for a strong day of trading. In the first hour, all three composites were pushing gains of nearly 1 percent.
With stock markets on the rise and commodities like gold and oil, not all is well in the economy. The deep recession is still taking its toll on employees. Last month 400,000 Americans who had been surviving on federal unemployment rolls saw their coverage end after the Senate, which had promised to come to their rescue, stalled over squabbles regarding who should qualify for coverage.
Full Story: Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Outsourcing America
These days we export only our money and import finished products.
Cheap-labor nations have always existed and the United States has never in the past had had any trouble competing with them. When American corporations decide to outsource they are often admitting that they are no longer competitive. In the past our corporations were so productive (thanks to much better machines and more advanced production know-how) that they did not have to worry about foreign competition. They did their serious manufacturing at home because cheap wages alone were not much of a benefit in the sort of highly-capital intensive production they were mainly engaged in.
As so-called “globalization” began, these capital-intensive processes were the first to go (because corporations preferred to source their most advanced components and materials from their Japanese or German competitors rather than make the large investment needed to go to the next stage of their industry’s production technology). The confluence of American policies encouraging outsourcing, importing, and deincentivizing American capital investment and research (e.g. through long depreciation schedules) has provided the catalyst for transfer of entire industries overseas.
Full Story: Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Senate Climate Bill Revealed: A Quick Guide
Here’s a first look at its pros and cons, how it’s different from the climate bill that passed the House, and what to expect next.
The Senate climate bill, called the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, just made its debut today. There are still pieces deliberately left out of the bill that will be subject to Senate debate, and of course, time will need to be taken to properly analyze the 800-page bill (hey, at least it’s shorter than Waxman-Markey’s 1300-pager). But here’s a first look–a rundown of its pros and cons, how it’s different from the climate bill that passed the House, and what to expect next.
Obama has already lauded Senators Boxer and Kerry, the bill’s authors, saying it will spur innovation in the energy sector and lead to greater energy independence.
Deeper Emissions Cuts
Matt noted that the emissions reduction target were a little steeper (20% by 2020 instead of 17%, and 83% by 2050 instead of 80%). According to Kerry himself, these cuts will come from heavy industry, and leave agriculture untouched, at least for now. He writes in a piece for Politico today:
7,500 facilities covered in 2012 — mostly power plants, industrial facilities and petroleum and petrochemical operations — account for nearly three-quarters of America’s carbon emissions. Farmers and nearly all small business are exempt. More than 98 percent of all American businesses fall below the threshold.
Full Story: Senate Climate Bill Revealed: A Quick Guide | Environment | AlterNet.
End the War in Afghanistan
The Nation - Within a matter of months a majority of Americans have shifted from supporting to opposing the Afghanistan war as we approach the eighth anniversary of the start of the conflict. According to recent polls, a solid 57 percent of Americans now object to the military effort.
At the same time, Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s request for additional troops to prosecute the war is being studied by the White House, which will soon make a decision that could define the Obama presidency, as The Nation’s editorial laying out the case against escalation, notes.
Meanwhile, just like the administration, antiwar activists are reallocating their attention from Iraq towards Afghanistan, determined to preempt McChrystal’s proposed troop surge. A broad coalition of groups is co-ordinating protests and demonstrations for the coming weeks, hoping to emulate the successes of the Vietnam protests in ways that the anti-Iraq war movement never managed. There will be vigils, rallies, memorials, teach-ins, film festivals, demonstrations, direct action and marches. The activities will range from a few individuals to events where many thousands of people are expected to turn up.
Full Story: End the War in Afghanistan.
End the War
The Nation - Eight Years Is Long Enough: What You Can Do to End the War in Afghanistan. Antiwar activists are reallocating their attention from Iraq towards Afghanistan, organizing protests and demonstrations for the coming weeks.
(Click here to skip to a guide to antiwar protest activities this week.)
The 9th year of the war in Afghanistan begins today with fears that it could be even more deadly than the previous eight–despite public opinion polls showing a majority of Americans opposing the conflict.
Popular opposition to escalation is fueling a spate of national protests today and for the rest of this week calling for an exit plan and imploring President Obama and leaders in Congress to reject a request from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of troops in Afghanistan, for as many as 40,000 new troops to bolster the app. 68,000 US soldiers currently serving in the region.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, joined by 21 lawmakers, presented an alternative direction with the recent introduction of H.R. 3699 in Congress — a bill that prohibits funding for any increase in the number of members of the US Armed Forces in Afghanistan.
Full Story: End the War.
Everything Is Bright and Sunny Again, Unless You Have to Work for a Living
By Dean Baker,
So far we’ve seen economic recovery for the few, while the many live in continued pain.
We all know that the economy is now recovering. The stock market is up by more than 50 percent from its March lows and Alan Greenspan, the former Maestro, is now projecting a 3.0 percent growth rate for the third quarter. Banks are again reporting strong profits and the Wall Street bankers are getting bonuses that are approaching their housing bubble peaks.
Everything is bright and sunny again, unless you have to work for a living. The news here is less good. The economy lost more than 260,000 jobs in September, with the unemployment rate reaching 9.8 percent. The 10.3 percent unemployment rate for adult men is the highest rate since the Great Depression. And real wages are headed downward.
Even worse, the unemployment rate is virtually certain to keep rising in the months ahead. While job loss in manufacturing has slowed, construction is continuing to shed jobs at a rapid rate. Most of this job loss now stems from the collapse of the bubble in nonresidential construction. The retail sector is laying off workers at a rapid pace as consumers cut back spending in response to the loss of $8 trillion in housing bubble wealth. And state and local governments are now laying off teachers, firefighters, and other workers in response to the huge deficits created by the recession and the collapse of the loss of
“Death Bonds”: Wall Street’s Shocking New Plan To Reap Billions Off Dying Americans
- By Mark Ames - Now we know why America’s oligarchs are fighting to keep the rest of us stuck in the world’s worst health care system: the more we die, the more billions Wall Street will earn. A recent article in The New York Times exposed how Wall Street is licking its lips over a new scheme to make hundreds of billions in profits by creating financial instruments that will profit off of millions of terminally-ill Americans’ agony, desperation, and death. The only thing standing in the way of this massive new Wall Street scheme is the kind of health care reform that might allow Americans to live longer lives. Yep, this is what we spent trillions of dollars bailing out Wall Street for: so that they can kill us for profit.
It sounds like something out of an old sci-fi flick like War of the Worlds, with America’s billionaires as the brutal aliens harvesting our humanoid blood and tissue to fertilize their country club golf courses. Yet it makes logical sense: Wall Street has nowhere else to turn for its fat profits. Our banking class has already destroyed everything else in this country that had any value, from America’s industrial base to the American Dream itself, its housing market–whatever Wall Street could securitize, leverage, flip or restructure, they destroyed for good. There’s nothing left to strip and pawn — except for our lives.
Yes, it’s sick as hell, so vile and evil that it almost defies understanding. But I’ll try: see, if I was a gambling man, I’d wager that the thing that gave our banker billionaires the idea to turn our deaths into “death bonds” was the way they so effortlessly looted trillions of taxpayer bailout dollars from us, so quickly, and with so little resistance. That puts bad ideas into bad people’s heads. You and I, if we were the ones who got those trillions in our time of need (rather than having it stolen from us in our time of need), we might have a real sentimental epiphany, like, “Gee, the American taxpayers saved me from ruin! I promise from now on to change my ways and do whatever I can to repay these kind Americans!”
Full Story: “Death Bonds”: Wall Street’s Shocking New Plan To Reap Billions Off Dying Americans – By Mark Ames – The eXiled.
Max Blumenthal : A ‘Shattered’ Republican Party? : NPR Audio
In his new book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party, investigative reporter Max Blumenthal theorizes that a culture of “personal crisis” has transformed the Grand Old Party — and threatened its future.
A documentary filmmaker and blogger, Blumenthal has written for The Nation, The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast.
Listen to the Story
Full Story: A ‘Shattered’ Republican Party? : NPR.
The Story of My ‘Socialist Kidney’
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared on Salon. It has been edited and updated to reflect data from a new U.S. Renal Data Systems report released after the original version appeared.
In the wake of the Senate Finance Committee votes last week against including a public insurance option in health-care reform legislation, it remains to be seen whether any kind of robust public option will ever become a reality in the U.S. I wonder, though, if more of my fellow citizens had ever seen a public option, or “socialized medicine” up close, as I have, whether all Americans wouldn’t be clamoring for the exact same health security I enjoy today.
Last November, a doctor told me I’d inherited from my father a rare form of cystic kidney disease and that I was already in renal failure. Beyond the total devastation I felt upon hearing this news, and despite having health insurance, my greatest fear in those first, foggy days was one that haunts millions of Americans. I was more terrified of being dropped or denied treatment, over some miniscule technicality, than I was of facing the disease. I quickly learned, however, that my diagnosis qualified me for a little-known, existing “public option,” or government health insurance plan. The same program had saved my father’s life, but I was surprised to learn it still existed, despite numerous legislative changes through the decades.
Full Story: The Story of My ‘Socialist Kidney’ | Health and Wellness | AlterNet.
Barack Obama and the ‘Unipolar Moment’
Noam Chomsky -- In These Times
The present nuclear standoff with Iran summons the Cold War’s horrors—and hypocrisies.
Every powerful state relies on specialists whose task is to show that what the strong do is noble and just and, if the weak suffer, it is their fault.
In the West, these specialists are called “intellectuals” and, with marginal exceptions, they fulfill their task with skill and self-righteousness, however outlandish the claims, in this practice that traces back to the origins of recorded history.
With just that much background, let us turn to the so-called unipolar moment. Symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, the collapse of the Soviet Union putatively left a unipolar world, with the United States as the sole global superpower and not merely the primary superpower, as it was before.
Within months, the George H. W. Bush administration outlined Washington’s new course: Everything will stay much the same, but with new pretexts.
We still need a huge military system, but for a new reason: the “technological sophistication” of Third World powers. We have to maintain the “defense industrial base” — a euphemism for state-supported high-tech industry.
Full Story: Barack Obama and the ‘Unipolar Moment’ — In These Times.
Boxer-Kerry Climate Bill Greenwashes Nuclear Power
Greenpeace - Bowing to pressure from the pro-nuclear lobby, Senators Boxer and Kerry have included nuclear power into their bill to address climate change. In their proposed legislation, the Senators claim that “nuclear energy is the largest provider of clean, low-carbon, electricity….” Funny we’ve heard that before. In fact, the bill’s nuclear section reads like it was lifted off the Nuclear Energy Institute’s (NEI) website, despite its lack of veracity.
Over a decade ago, environmentalists challenged the nuclear industry’s propaganda that they were clean and green. As a result, the Better Business Bureau’s ( BBB ) National Advertising Division found that the Nuclear Energy Institute’s ads falsely claimed that nuclear reactors make power without polluting the air and water or damaging the environment. The BBB said that, “The nuclear industry should stop calling itself ‘environmentally clean’ and should stop saying it makes power ‘without polluting the environment.’” The director of the division said such claims were “unsupportable.” The bureau agreed with environmentalists that nuclear fuel is made using electricity from coal plants and that nuclear waste poses a threat to the public health and safety.
Full Story: Boxer-Kerry Climate Bill Greenwashes Nuclear Power – Greenpeace USA Blog.
City Gets FRESH With Grocery Incentives
NEW YORK CITY-To the developer, owner or grocery chain looking for a potentially recession-proof and, perhaps, highly profitable investment opportunity, consider this: New York City, the most densely populated city in the United States, is experiencing a shortage of grocery stores and supermarkets, particularly in lower-income areas where lack of access to fresh produce contributes to higher rates of diabetes and obesity. Hoping to impact health outcomes by encouraging greater private investment in supermarket-challenged areas, the Bloomberg administration is proposing the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health program, or FRESH.
Through enticing zoning initiatives, the proposed action, set to be voted on by the City Council sometime this year, seeks to “facilitate the development of stores that sell a full range of food products,” with an emphasis on perishable items that are fresh.
“Part of what the incentives are meant to do is attract the attention of the business community to the opportunities they’ve been missing out on,” Ben Thomases, New York City’s first ever food policy coordinator, tells GlobeSt.com. He and representatives from other city agencies spearheading the proposal believe that “landlords, developers and supermarket operators haven’t quite put together that the growth of population in these communities, and the lack of high quality supermarkets, is a lucrative opportunity.”
Full Story: City Gets FRESH With Grocery Incentives.
Institutional Racism Ignored
More feelings than facts in coverage of inequality
After a tour of the country last year, a United Nations special rapporteur (4/28/09) urged Washington to do more to address “the depth of racism [that] still permeates all dimensions of life of American society.” Not “questions of race,” not “past racism,” not “personal biases”—but present-day, institutional racism, as expressed in, for example, “racial bias in conviction rates and length of sentences of both juvenile and criminal courts,” “direct discriminatory practices in housing…as well as in mortgage lending,” and in the educational system, “racial bias in the type of disciplinary action given to white or minority students.”
Restrained and conciliatory in tone, the report nevertheless went leagues beyond most corporate news reporting simply by recognizing racism as a demonstrable reality—not uncomplicated (laws and policies may have racially disparate impacts though non-discriminatory on their face; there is overlap with issues of class) but not reducible, either, to matters of personal sentiment or individual interactions.
Full Story: Institutional Racism Ignored.
Progressive Face-Off: Native American Tribes and Environmentalists at Impasse Over Coal
GREEN IS GOOD by Margaret SmithD
With a population of 6,946 people, the Hopi Tribe in northeastern Arizona has always been known as a relatively peaceful group. Short for Hopituh Photo of Navajo Generating Station in Page, AZShi-nu-mu, their name literally translates to “The Peaceful People” or “Peaceful Little Ones” in English, and the Hopi culture is deeply rooted in religion, with ethics based in peace and goodwill.
Don’t think that means they’re afraid to stand up for themselves, though.
In a unanimous vote, on Monday of last week the Hopi Tribal Council approved a resolution stating that environmentalists have worked to deprive their tribe of markets for its coal resources and the revenue that industry brings to provide jobs, sustain governmental solutions and secure the survival of the Hopi tradition and culture.
The resolution states that environmentalists “have manufactured and spread misinformation concerning the water and energy resources of the Hopi Tribe in an effort to instill unfounded fears into the hearts and minds of the Hopi public.”
Full Story: Progressive Face-Off: Native American Tribes and Environmentalists at Impasse Over Coal | BuzzFlash.org.
Mad Men 2.0
David Sirota, -- In These Times
America is experiencing a PR revolution that promotes outraged denial over fact-based persuasion.
A trusted, seemingly impartial voice—on no less honorable a network than PBS—testified to the objectivity of corporate media. It was advertising at its most subversive and mendacious.
It’s difficult to know exactly why AMC’s Mad Men has become such a hit, but it is a safe bet that its popularity is not merely a product of the television show’s smooth writing, superb acting and retro-cool clothing. What has taken the program from Law & Order-watchable to Sopranos-style phenomenal is its exploration of advertising and public relations—the psychological manipulations that we’re immersed in but rarely talk about.
In Mad Men’s early 1960s, the dark art of selling and spinning were being perfected and modernized. Before television, advertising was largely based on the repetition of anodyne fact—the theory being that if you simply hard-sell a product’s virtues, ingredients and effects, that product will eventually fly off the shelves. In the television age, as Americans became more media literate and thus cynical, vendors began using ad firms to sophisticate their pitches with subtlety and insinuation. Getting to watch that mercurial process via Sterling Cooper (the fictional ad agency in the show) is a voyeur’s delight—like being allowed to watch David Copperfield construct his elaborate magic tricks.
Full Story: Mad Men 2.0 — In These Times.
Mom: Health insurance denied over condition she doesn’t have
Like a lot of self-employed people, Valerie Scaglione and her husband, Michael, who run two businesses from their home outside Auburn, find themselves in a significant health insurance crunch.
Monthly premiums for Blue Cross coverage for them and their three daughters have soared over the years to almost $2,000, Scaglione says.
She estimates that in the past six years, the family has spent more than $140,000 on premiums and co-payments.
Sharp debate at high court over cross on US land
As the Supreme Court weighed a dispute over a religious symbol on public land Wednesday, Justice Antonin Scalia was having difficulty understanding how some people might feel excluded by a cross that was put up as a memorial to soldiers killed in World War I.
“It’s erected as a war memorial. I assume it is erected in honor of all of the war dead,” Scalia said of the cross that the Veterans of Foreign Wars built 75 years ago atop an outcropping in the Mojave National Preserve. “What would you have them erect?…Some conglomerate of a cross, a Star of David, and you know, a Muslim half moon and star?”
Peter Eliasberg, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer arguing the case, explained that the cross is the predominant symbol of Christianity and commonly used at Christian grave sites, not that the devoutly Catholic Scalia needed to be told that.
“I have been in Jewish cemeteries,” Eliasberg continued. “There is never a cross on a tombstone of a Jew.”
There was mild laughter in the packed courtroom, but not from Scalia.
“I don’t think you can leap from that to the conclusion that the only war dead that that cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that’s an outrageous conclusion,” Scalia said, clearly irritated by the exchange.
Full Story: The Associated Press: Sharp debate at high court over cross on US land.
New Oklahoma abortion law being challenged
Feminists For Choice » – As if women didn’t have enough threats to their right to choose in this country, Oklahoma is doing its part to make sure women slowly but surely are demonized and criminalized for their right to choose to have an abortion.
If you live in Oklahoma, i officially extend my condolences.
H.B 1595 is a new provision on Oklahoma abortion laws that now requires, among other restrictions and requirements, an official record and reporting system of all abortions occuring within the state. This report will be available for anyone in the world to view, as it will be made public on a website as of March 1st. The Dept of Health, who among others has supported these new provisions, has declared that since the name and “personal information” will not be reported, there is no cause for concern or protest in regards to privacy issues. However, in reviewing the actual text of the law, the first 8 questions that will be asked and reported could easily be used to identify any member of a smaller community.
- Date of abortion
- County in which abortion performed
- Age of mother
- Marital status of mother (married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married)
- Race of mother
- Years of education of mother (specify highest year completed)
- State or foreign country of residence of mother
- Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother
Live Births
Miscarriages
Induced Abortions
Full Story: Feminists For Choice » New Oklahoma abortion law being challenged.
Key Senators Say Dem Leadership Entertaining Idea Of Weak Public Option
In recent days, Senate Democratic leadership, and even the White House have been sounding a bit more bullish on the public option than they had in recent weeks. Majority Leader Harry Reid even went so far as to say that ‘some kind’ of public option will be in the Senate bill at the end of the day. But just how great a range of ideas is under discussion at this point?
In a press conference this morning with other Democratic senators, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) — member of the Senate Finance Committee and a supporter of a robust public option — says it’s a “broad definition.”
“The states are one way to go,” she said
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who also sits on Finance and supports a public option as enthusiastically as Stabenow does, added, “There are state options that are devised in such a way that only a region of the state is included, in which case that’s not really a significant public option.”
Full Story: Key Senators Say Dem Leadership Entertaining Idea Of Weak Public Option | TPMDC.
Comcast v. FCC: A Brief Overview, and Why You Should Care
Yesterday, a group of law professors and public interest organizations (listed below) filed briefs in Comcast v. FCC in the DC Circuit court—a case with potentially enormous implications for the future of the open Internet. The briefs are available here and here.
For those unfamiliar with the case, here’s a very brief summary: In 2007, Comcast got caught interfering with applications on the Internet (specifically, it blocked its users’ uploads using peer-to-peer applications like BitTorrent). After initially denying any blocking—and then after several months of consumer complaints, terrible press coverage, and an FCC investigation with several public hearings—Comcast finally came clean and promised to stop.
In 2008, the FCC concluded that Comcast’s actions were illegal, violating federal policy set out in the Communications Act, and ordered the company to demonstrate that it had (as promised) discontinued these practices. Comcast then sued in the DC Circuit, arguing that the FCC’s Order was both procedurally defective and beyond the FCC’s jurisdictional authority.
Full Story: Obsidian Wings: Comcast v. FCC: A Brief Overview, and Why You Should Care.
Garrison Keillor: I was so wrong
Even people who oppose regulation and don’t mind manufacturing hamburger contaminated by E. coli deserve healthcare
By Garrison Keillor
OK, it was wrong of me to say last week that we should deny healthcare to Republicans except for aspirin and hand sanitizer, and thank you to the many readers who kindly took me to task. It was so wrong. And I withdraw the idea that death panels should circulate through red states searching for the obese and slow afoot, the wheezy and limpy, spray-painting orange stripes on their ankles, marking them for future harvest. That was very, very bad.
Republicans have the same right to quality healthcare as anyone else, and you can quote me on that. Even people who are crazed stark raving berserk by the thought of a president with three vowels in his last name deserve to be treated with kindness and dignity, and shot with tranquilizer darts by game wardens and wrapped in quilts and taken to refuge.
What has come along to change my mind? Fall, magnificent fall, in all its grandeur, when the maples are blazing with glory, like young romantic poets dying as they are writing their best stuff. John Keats died at 25, Shelley at 29. Stephen Crane was 28. Franz Schubert was 31, and Mozart was just a young married guy with a couple of little boys, neither of whom did much in their lives. One of them had musical talent but was crushed by the burden of his father’s fame. (Great men probably shouldn’t have children, so keep that in mind if you are young and wildly brilliant: Use a condom.)
Full Story: I was so wrong | Salon.
Collapse of Saturn deal is latest hit to GM recovery hopes
For General Motors, the road out of bankruptcy isn’t proving to be as smooth as its quick trip through it.
In the past week, the company’s plans to sell its Saturn brand to auto retailer Penske Auto Group fell through, forcing GM to start winding down a network of about 350 dealerships.
But that’s not the only post-bankruptcy problem for GM. Its plans to sell Hummer to a Chinese industrial company missed a target date of closing by Sept. 30.
GM is also trying to close a deal to sell two-thirds of GM’s European Opel brand to a joint venture between Canadian auto parts maker Magna International (MGA) and Russian automaker GAZ Group. Despite ongoing losses at Opel, the decision to sell that stake was a difficult one for GM. Many experts are concerned that the Opel sale will weaken GM by limiting its global reach.
Full Story: Collapse of Saturn deal is latest hit to GM recovery hopes – Oct. 6, 2009.
Lewis Black: Two-party system ‘a bowl of sh*t looking in the mirror’
Comedian Lewis Black’s first concert film, set to open this week, is unsparing in its criticism of both political parties.
In a clip played by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, Black says, “Our two-party system is a bowl of shit looking in the mirror at itself. … Basically, the last eight years, I feel, the Republicans stood around farting and the Democrats went, ‘Ooh, let me smell it.’”
“It’s a pungent truth,” Olbermann commented to Black. “I think it probably has never been more obvious than currently during this health care debate.”
“It’s just unbelievable,” Black agreed. “How did we end up in a position with people defending health insurance companies?”
Full Story: Lewis Black: Two-party system ‘a bowl of sh*t looking in the mirror’ | Raw Story.
National Review’s Derbyshire Says Women’s Suffrage Is ‘Bad For Conservatism’ And Therefore ‘Bad For Society’
Last month, radio host Alan Colmes asked National Review columnist John Derbyshire about a chapter in his new book, called “The Case Against Women’s Suffrage.” After Colmes repeatedly pressed him about his views on womens’ suffrage, Derbyshire admitted that while he thinks women should be allowed to vote, we’d “probably” be a “better country” if they didn’t
Yesterday, radio host Thom Hartmann probed Derbyshire about the suffrage issue, and Derbyshire re-affirmed his view that “of course” he believes women should have the right to vote. But, he explained, they shouldn’t exercise that right because it is “bad for conservatism” and therefore “bad for society”:
HARTMANN: Do you believe that women should be allowed to vote?
DERBYSHIRE: Yeah, of course I do.
HARTMANN: Why then is the title called “The Case Against Female Suffrage”?
DERBYSHIRE: Because it is a case against female suffrage. [...]
Obama’s Secret Jobs Plan
The dollar plunges! How scared should we be? Economist Simon Johnson says not as much as you think—it’s part of Obama’s plan to restart the manufacturing sector and win the midterm elections.
The dollar’s value plunged Tuesday, while gold simultaneously hit a record high ($1,045 per ounce). You might think this would worry the administration and send the Treasury secretary to the microphones in an attempt to head off further collapse in the currency. Do the darkest days of the Carter administration loom again, with inflation and unemployment both rising, apparently without limit?
Far from it—the last few weeks of dollar depreciation is an amazing stroke of luck for the Obama administration, admittedly facilitated by their adroit maneuvering in the corridors of high international finance. If it lasts—and they need some more luck—this could save the midterm elections for the Democrats.
Japan, France, Germany, and Italy all worry about a weak dollar. The U.S. officials, at the highest stakes poker table in the world, faced them down.
The near-term causes of the latest round of dollar decline are obvious. Australia’s central bank raised interest rates slightly on Tuesday. By itself, this would not be an exciting development, but it comes fast on the heels of the G-20 Pittsburgh summit in which all participants (including Australia) seemed to imply that “tightening monetary policy” (i.e., raising rates) was some way off.
Full Story: Obama’s Secret Jobs Plan – Page 1 – The Daily Beast.
Rep. Louie Gohmert: Hate crimes bill will lead to Nazism, legalization of necrophilia, pedophilia, and bestiality.
Led by Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) last night, lawmakers convened for a special session of floor speeches urging a repeal of Don’t Act Don’t Tell. Rather than participate positively in the discussion, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) took to the floor to deliver a hate-filled response. Gohmert fired off a litany of attacks, calling the DADT 
repeal “perverse…social experimentation” and that soldiers are being “held hostage by a sociological attack.” His rant included a bizarre argument that the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill would lead to a legalization of necrophilia, pedophilia, and bestiality. Later in the speech, after reading lengthy passages from the Bible against homosexuality, Gohmert said that taking away “moral teaching in America” would create a situation similar to that of Germany in the “1920’s and 1930’s” when a “little guy with a mustache” took over:
GOHMERT: If you’re oriented toward animals, bestiality, then, you know, that’s not something that can be used, held against you or any bias be held against you for that. Which means you’d have to strike any laws against bestiality, if you’re oriented toward corpses, toward children, you know, there are all kinds of perversions, [...] pedophiles or necrophiliacs or what most would say is perverse sexual orientations but the trouble is, we made amendments to eliminate pedophiles from being included in the definition. [...] But people have always been willing to give up their liberties, their freedoms in order to gain economic stability. It happened in 1920 and 1930’s. Germany gave up their liberties to gain economic stability and they got a little guy with a mustache, who was the ultimate hate monger. And this is scary stuff we’re doing here when we take away what has traditionally been an important aspect of moral teaching in America.
Watch it:
OPS: Apparently Republicans a scared to death of any legislation on
necrophilia, pedophilia, and bestiality
Franken Wins Bipartisan Support For Legislation Reining In KBR’s Treatment Of Rape
In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad. She was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and “warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she’d be out of a job.” (Jones was not an isolated case.) Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” Speaking on the Senate floor yesterday, Franken said:
The constitution gives everybody the right to due process of law … And today, defense contractors are using fine print in their contracts do deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court. … The victims of rape and discrimination deserve their day in court [and] Congress plainly has the constitutional power to make that happen.
Watch Franken’s speech:
Full Story: Think Progress » Franken Wins Bipartisan Support For Legislation Reining In KBR’s Treatment Of Rape.
Rep. Ryan admits GOP was negligent on health care for 12 years: ‘We should have fixed this under our watch.’
Rep. Ryan admits GOP was negligent on health care for 12 years: ‘We should have fixed this under our watch.’
In an CNBC debate with Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) today, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) railed against a government takeover of health care until CNBC host John Harwood interjected and asked him, “Congressman, do you not agree that the private market is failing the American patient right now?” Paul agreed that we “do not have a market system working in health care today,” and said, “Let’s fix health care, let’s fix insurance, let’s make sure the uninsured get insured, let’s make sure we have a fix for people with pre-existing conditions.” Frank then interjected and called Ryan out:
FRANK: I just want to ask Paul one question. … When did you figure that out? Because apparently for the 12 years that the Republicans were in control — eight of which had a Republican president — that hadn’t occurred to you. So I’m glad you now understand that. Can you tell me at what moment the revelation occurred?
RYAN: First of all, I introduced on this subject about six years ago.
FRANK: You had control of the Congress. Why didn’t the Republican Congress fix it?
RYAN: I will have a moment of bipartisan agreement. We should have fixed this under our watch and I’m frustrated we didn’t.
Watch it:
OPS: Yeah, they would have “Fixed it” all right
Keith Olbermann To Deliver Hour-Long “Special Comment” On Health Care
Wednesday’s “Countdown” was devoted entirely to “Health Care Reform: The Fight Against Death.” According to a network release, it will focus on “the need for and meaning of health care reform in the United States” and Olbermann will “propose group action by patients, and how patients can reclaim the debate over health care reform.”
Olbermann has, thus far, delivered two “Special Comments” related to health care reform: one, on August 3, slamming members of congress for being in the pocket of the health care lobby; and another on August 10, calling Sarah Palin’s “death panel” claims “dangerously irresponsible.”
Part 1| Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment On Health Care Reform
Part 2| Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment On Health Care Reform
Part 3| Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment On Health Care Reform
Sack the general; stop the war
The United States is currently faced with the astonishing spectacle of a uniformed military officer, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, lobbying publicly for the option he favors on an issue that is in front of President Barack Obama to decide.
The civilian president is still commander-in-chief of America’s armed forces, a point that Mr. Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, stressed correctly in his various flag-draped presentations. The United States isn’t Guinea.
Anyone who has ever watched the U.S. military in action on Capitol Hill, acting in coordination with the various lobbyists who represent defense contractors and others who profit from U.S. military enterprises, knows the degree to which the Pentagon is proficient at getting its way inside both the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government.
Full Story: Sack the general; stop the war.
Poll: Wide Majority of Hondurans Oppose Coup d’Etat, Want Zelaya Back
Finally, hard and reliable data – by a legally certified Honduran polling company – provides a clear measurement of how the Honduran people view the June 28 coup d’etat, its “president” Roberto Micheletti, President Manuel Zelaya and the national civil resistance.
The polling data – which we make public for the first time here – shows that Hondurans widely (by a margin of 3 to 1) oppose the coup, oppose coup “president” Micheletti by a margin of 3 to 1 and favor the reinstatement of their elected President Manuel Zelaya by a clear majority of 3 to 2.
On February 9 of this year, the Gaceta Oficial of the government of Honduras published the Supreme Electoral Tribunal’s certification of a Tegucigalpa polling company, COIMER & OP (Consultants in Investigation of Markets and Public Opinion), as a legally authorized pollster for the November 29 elections. The Tribunal inspected the company’s polling methodology, its offices, its staff, gave it the stamp of approval and the green light to survey the Honduran electorate.
Full Story: The Field: Poll: Wide Majority of Hondurans Oppose Coup d’Etat, Want Zelaya Back.
Religious group sued for allegedly inciting harm through prayers – On Deadline – USATODAY.com
Q1X00062_9 The newspaper says the suit could test the limits of free speech and prayer.
Read and listen to one of those prayers above or click here.
Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said he wants Gordon Klingenschmitt, a former U.S. Navy chaplain, to “stop asking Jesus to plunder my fields … seize my assets, kill me and my family then wipe away our descendants for 10 generations.”
Full Story: Religious group sued for allegedly inciting harm through prayers – On Deadline – USATODAY.com.
The War on Language
Chris Hedges
There is a scene in “Othello” when the Moor is so consumed by jealousy and rage that he loses the eloquence and poetry that make him the most articulate man in Venice. He turns to the audience, shortly before he murders Desdemona, and sputters, “Goats and monkeys!” Othello fell prey to wild self-delusion and unchecked rage, and his words became captive to hollow clichés. The debasement of language, which Shakespeare understood was a prelude to violence, is the curse of modernity. We have stopped communicating, even with ourselves. And the consequences will be as extreme as in the Shakespearean tragedy.
Those who seek to dominate our behavior first seek to dominate our speech. They seek to obscure meaning. They make war on language. And the English- and Arabic-speaking worlds are each beset with a similar assault on language. The graffiti on the mud walls of Gaza that calls for holy war or the crude rants of Islamic militants are expressed in a simplified, impoverished form of Arabic. This is not the classical language of 1,500 years of science, poetry and philosophy. It is an argot of clichés, distorted Quranic verses and slogans. This Arabic is no more comprehensible to the literate in the Arab world than the carnival barking that pollutes our airwaves is comprehensible to our literate classes. The reduction of popular discourse to banalities, exacerbated by the elite’s retreat into obscure, specialized jargon, creates internal walls that thwart real communication. This breakdown in language makes reflection and debate impossible. It transforms foreign cultures, which we lack the capacity to investigate, into reversed images of ourselves. If we represent virtue, progress and justice, as our clichés constantly assure us, then the Arabs, or the Iranians, or anyone else we deem hostile, represent evil, backwardness and injustice. An impoverished language solidifies a binary world and renders us children with weapons.
Full Story: Truthdig – Reports – The War on Language.
The Constitution and the Cross
Editorial - - NYTimes.com
When the Supreme Court takes up a religion case, it often prompts overheated charges: There is a war against Christianity under way; or civil liberties groups are trying to turn this into a secular nation. The court is scheduled to hear arguments on Wednesday in a case that raises none of these issues — even though Americans may well be treated to another round of scare stories.
The narrow question is whether a large cross that has been placed on federal land violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment, the founders’ direction that there must be a wall of separation between church and state. The court should rule that it does.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars erected a cross in 1934 in San Bernardino County, Calif. — in what is now the Mojave National Preserve — to honor America’s war dead. Since then, the cross has been replaced several times, most recently around 1998. Its religious significance is clear, but the National Park Service has not allowed other religions to add symbols. In 1999, the park service denied a request by an individual to place a Buddhist memorial in the area. The cross has also been the site of Easter sunrise services for more than 70 years.
Full Story: Editorial – The Constitution and the Cross – NYTimes.com.
Kucinich: This how a Democrat SHOULD act.
Because he actually acts like one.
- Voted YES on keeping moratorium on drilling for oil offshore.
- Voted YES on investigating Bush impeachment for lying about Iraq.
- Voted YES on redeploying US troops out of Iraq starting in 90 days.
- Voted NO on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date.
- Voted NO on authorizing military force in Iraq.
- Voted NO on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy.
- Voted YES on raising CAFE standards; incentives for alternative fuels.
- Voted YES on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR.
- Voted YES on starting implementation of Kyoto Protocol.
- Voted YES on assisting workers who lose jobs due to globalization.
- Voted YES on requiring lobbyist disclosure of bundled donations.
- Voted YES on protecting whistleblowers from employer recrimination.
- Voted YES on giving mental health full equity with physical health.
- Voted NO on denying non-emergency treatment for lack of Medicare co-pay.
- Voted NO on limiting medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000 damages.
- Voted YES on allowing reimportation of prescription drugs.
- Voted YES on paying for AMT relief by closing offshore business loopholes.
- Voted YES on providing tax relief and simplification.
- Voted NO on making the Bush tax cuts permanent.
- Voted NO on Tax cut package of $958 B over 10 years.
- Voted NO on allowing electronic surveillance without a warrant.
- Voted NO on continuing intelligence gathering without civil oversight.
- Voted NO on continuing military recruitment on college campuses.
- Voted NO on building a fence along the Mexican border.
- Voted YES on establishing “network neutrality” (non-tiered Internet).
- Voted YES on restricting employer interference in union organizing.
- Voted YES on increasing minimum wage to $7.25.
- Voted YES on strengthening the Social Security Lockbox
- Voted NO on treating religious organizations equally for tax breaks.
- Voted YES on $84 million in grants for Black and Hispanic colleges.
- Voted YES on allowing stockholder voting on executive compensation: To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation.
- Kucinich co-sponsored re-introducing the Equal Rights Amendment
- Kucinich co-sponsored reinforcing anti-discrimination and equal-pay requirements
- Kucinich co-sponsored for emergency contraception for rape victims
- Kucinich co-sponsored ensuring access to and funding for contraception
- Kucinich co-sponsored a Constitutional Amendment: Constitutional Amendment for equal rights by gender.
- Kucinich co-sponsored reinforcing anti-discrimination and equal-pay requirements
- Kucinich co-sponsored requiring Code of Conduct for US corporations abroad
- Kucinich co-sponsored a bill limiting capital punishmentKucinich co-sponsored the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act
- Kucinich co-sponsored the Innocence Protection Act: To reduce the risk that innocent persons may be executed.
- Kucinich co-sponsored allowing rehabilitated drug convicts get student loans
- Kucinich co-sponsored the National Improvement in Mathematics and Science Teaching Act: To improve the quality and scope of science and mathematics education.
- Kucinich co-sponsored for health impact assessments for environmental health
- Kucinich co-sponsored strengthening prohibitions against animal fighting
- Kucinich co-sponsored a bill weakening the requirements on voluntary prayer
- Kucinich co-sponsored establishing greenhouse gas tradeable allowances
- Kucinich co-sponsored prohibiting commercial logging on Federal public lands
- Kucinich co-sponsored allowing Americans to travel to Cuba
- Kucinich co-sponsored acknowledging the Armenian Genocide of the early 1900s
- Kucinich co-sponsored the Birth Defects Prevention Act
- Kucinich co-sponsored the MX Missile Stand-Down Act: To take the 50 Peacekeeper (MX) missiles off of high-alert status.
- Kucinich co-sponsored the Landmine Elimination and Victim Assistance Act
- Kucinich co-sponsored requiring text on TV for visually-impaired viewers
- Kucinich co-sponsored overturning FCC approval of media consolidation
- Kucinich co-sponsored requiring full disclosure of outsourced employees
- Kucinich co-sponsored allowing an Air Traffic Controller’s Union
- Kucinich co-sponsored extending unemployment compensation during recession
- Kucinich co-sponsored changing Social Security disproportionately affect women
- Kucinich sponsored impeaching Dick Cheney for lying about Iraq
- Kucinich co-sponsored providing benefits to domestic partners of Federal employees
- Kucinich co-sponsored recognizing Juneteenth as historical end of slavery
Full Story: Clearly, Kucinich is an embarrassment to the Democratic Party. – Democratic Underground.
OPS: The original title of this post was unfortunate and misleading. We corrected the problem
NY Post Fires Editor Critical Of Racist Obama-Stimulus Cartoon
A New York Post editor who spoke out against a controversial cartoon the paper ran comparing the author of the president’s stimulus package to a dead chimpanzee has been fired from her job, the paper confirmed.
Sandra Guzman was quietly dismissed from her position as associate editor last week for reasons that are being hotly debated by personnel inside the company. An official statement from the New York Post, provided to the Huffington Post, said that her job was terminated once the paper ended the section she was editing.
“Sandra is no longer with The Post because the monthly in-paper insert, Tempo, of which she was the editor, has been discontinued.”
Full Story: NY Post Fires Editor Critical Of Racist Obama-Stimulus Cartoon.
Nature Makes Us Nicer People, New Study Says
Don’t disregard those wall calendars showing far-off nature scenes quite yet. It just might make you a more caring, community-oriented, and generous person. A new study by the University of Rochester found that after looking at nature scenes, people feel closer to their community, are willing to give more money to a charitable cause, and care more about social outcomes than they are after looking at man-made scenes. The reason, the researchers state, it communing with nature helps people also commune with their basic values.
The University of Rochester reports what we all have been savvy to for awhile now, that seeing naturescapes helps reduces stress, and even having a window in a hospital room helps people recover more quickly. “While the salubrious effects of nature are well documented… this study shows that the benefits extend to a person’s values and actions. Exposure to natural as opposed to man-made environments leads people to value community and close relationships and to be more generous with money, find [Richard] Ryan and his team of researchers at the University of Rochester.
From experiments including 370 participants, the results show that after viewing urban settings or natural settings, people exposed to natural settings rated close relationships and community higher than they had before seeing the scenes, whereas after viewing urban settings, people placed more value on wealth and fame. Additionally, those who viewed nature scenes were more likely to give higher amounts of money to a good cause.
Full Story: Nature Makes Us Nicer People, New Study Says : TreeHugger.
Barbara Boxer Tackles Toxic School Drinking Water
A California senator called on the head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to disclose how the agency plans to address the widespread problem of toxic drinking water in the nation’s schools.
Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer wrote the agency in response to an Associated Press investigation showing water supplies at thousands of schools have been found to contain unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxics.
Contaminants have surfaced at public and private schools in all 50 states, and in small towns and inner cities alike over the last decade. But the AP found the problem has gone largely unmonitored by the federal government, even as the number of water safety violations has multiplied.
Boxer, who chairs the Senate committee that oversees the EPA, said she took action out of “deep concern” that polluted water supplies could be harming school children as their young bodies are developing.
Full Story: Barbara Boxer Tackles Toxic School Drinking Water.
Google’s PowerMeter Partners With The Energy Detective For First Gadget
Google’s energy monitoring dashboard, PowerMeter, moved onto the scene back in February. In May, they announced their first set of utility partners who were to take on the dashboard as something to offer to the utilities’ customers. However, anyone who wanted to use PowerMeter had to be a customer of a utility that offered it because the utility is what aggregated the energy use data. That’s why in April, Google mentioned they wanted to bring on a smart meter-like device that would allow anyone the ability to monitor their energy use with PowerMeter. Yesterday, the company unveiled their first device partnership partnership with an old TreeHugger favorite, TED. So the exciting part? You (if you’re in North America) could start using PowerMeter today!
The device of choice is the TED 5000. It’s super simple to install, and runs between $200 and $300, depending on what package you purchase. PowerMeter, however, is free to use and accessable from anywhere you can hop on the web, including your phone. So the cost of getting started is reasonable and considering that just by knowing your energy use, you’re likely to reduce it by about 15% without even thinking about it, the device will start paying its keep upon installation. And if you already have a TED device, you just need a free firmware upgrade.
Full Story: Google’s PowerMeter Partners With The Energy Detective For First Gadget : TreeHugger.
UN’s forest protection scheme at risk from organised crime, experts warn | Environment | The Guardian
International police, politicians and conservationists warn that the UN’s programme to cut carbon emissions by paying poor countries to preserve their forests is ‘open to wide abuse’
A revolutionary UN scheme to cut carbon emissions by paying poorer countries to preserve their forests is a recipe for corruption and will be hijacked by organised crime without safeguards, a Guardian investigation has found.
The UN, the World Bank, the UK and individuals including Prince Charles have strongly backed UN plans to expand the global carbon market to allow countries to trade the carbon stored in forests.
If, as expected, this is agreed at crucial UN climate change talks taking place in Bangkok this week and concluding in Copenhagen in December, up to $30bn a year could be transferred from rich countries to the owners of endangered forests.
Full Story: UN’s forest protection scheme at risk from organised crime, experts warn | Environment | The Guardian.
Support Builds for a Tax Credit for Creating Jobs
The idea of a tax credit for companies that create new jobs, something the federal government has not tried since the 1970s, is gaining support among economists and Washington officials grappling with the highest unemployment in a generation.
The proposal has some bipartisan appeal among politicians eager both to help their unemployed constituents and to encourage small-business development. Legislators on Capitol Hill and President Obama’s economic team have been quietly researching the policy for several weeks.
“There is a lot of traction for this kind of idea,” said Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican whip. “If the White House will take the lead on this, I’m fairly positive it would be welcomed in a bipartisan fashion.”
In addition to the economists working on the proposal, some heavyweights support the concept, including the Nobel laureate Edmund S. Phelps, Dani Rodrik of Harvard and former Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich.
Full Story: Support Builds for a Tax Credit for Creating Jobs – NYTimes.com.
OPS: OK Let’s complete the circle….
Tax penalties for companies cutting jobs.
Triple if those jobs end up outside of our borders
Senate loosens ban on offshore companies with federal contracts
Chamber Of Commerce gets what it wants
- TheHill.com - A spending bill moving through the Senate would limit a ban on federal contracts for companies that put most of their operations outside the U.S. for tax purposes.
Language in the Senate financial services and general government appropriations bill would loosen a prohibition first instituted in the 2002 Homeland Security Act.
The ban applies to so-called “inverted” companies and is meant to ease trade tension in the wake of “Buy American” provisions in the $787 billion stimulus package that prohibited funds from going to foreign companies.
The Senate bill alters the ban by adding language that states the ban “shall not apply to the extent that it is inconsistent with United States obligations under an international agreement.”
Full Story: Senate loosens ban on offshore companies with federal contracts – TheHill.com.
9 National Parks In Danger (PHOTOS)
In light of Ken Burns’ documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea and a recent report that lists “National Parks in Peril,” we’re featuring 9 parks that are in danger of destruction, mainly due to climate change. Increased snow melt, heavy rainfall and land development are all culprits threatening these gems. Check out these awe-inspiring photographs of national parks and vote on the most beautiful — and the park most in need of saving.
Full Story: 9 National Parks In Danger (PHOTOS).
A Solution For Diabetes: A Plant-Based Diet
I’ve been researching the most common and devastating diseases Americans are dealing with, with the aim of finding a common thread running throughout both cause and reversal. As it is now, one out of every two of us will get cancer or heart disease, and one out of every three children born after the year 2000 will be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. These are devastating diseases, certainly to those who are burdened by them, but also to a health care system that is struggling to keep up.
The extraordinary doctors and nutritional scientists I’ve talked with seem to be saying – and saying fervently – the same thing: a diet high in animal protein is disastrous to our health, while a plant-based (vegan) diet prevents disease and is restorative to our health. And they say this with peer-reviewed (the gold standard of studies) science to back them up. Even the very conservative ADA (American Dietetic Association) says: “Vegetarian diets are often associated with a number of health advantages, including lower blood cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure levels, and lower risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index (BMI) and lower overall cancer rates.”
Diabetes does not just mean you take a pill or injection every day. It means you can lose a decade of life. And you while you inch toward that uncomfortable end, you deal with an increased risk of heart attack, blindness, amputation, and loss of kidney function. It’s a very serious disease. The good news is that diabetes can be halted and reversed in a very short time through some diet modifications.
Full Story: Kathy Freston: A Solution For Diabetes: A Plant-Based Diet.
Health Care and the ‘Predator State’
Thomas Frank:
It is corporate power, not the government, that we need to worry about.
In June 2008, I used this space to call on then-Sen. Barack Obama to add economist James K. Galbraith’s book, “The Predator State,” to his reading list. As an account of the capture of government by private interests, I thought it would make a far more useful guide to contemporary political economy than the market-glorifying texts that were still in fashion in those days.
I don’t know if Mr. Obama ever took my advice.
But Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley apparently did. During a debate last week over two Democratic proposals for a health-care bill featuring a “public option”—a government-run alternative to private health insurance—the senator announced he opposed the idea because, as he put it, “Government is not a fair competitor. . . . It’s a predator.”
The word “predator” seems to have become something of a Republican talking point. Mr. Grassley’s colleague from South Dakota, John Thune, went on the record in July to warn that, when government goes into business, it “becomes not a competitor but a predator.”
Have these two august men of the right secretly become fans of Mr. Galbraith, one of our leading liberal economists?
Full Story: Thomas Frank: Health Care and the ‘Predator State’ – WSJ.com.
Senate Passes Amendment To Prevent KBR and Halliburton From Getting Away With Raping Employees (Literally)
Today the Senate “debated” the Department of Defense appropriations bill passed by the House (H.R. 3326) for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010. Republicans added frivolous amendments all day, that were defeated one after the other. The amendment du jour, however, came from Al Franken D-MN.
And what a doozy it is! S. Amend. 2566 simply prohibits “the use of funds for any Federal contract with Halliburton Company, KBR, Inc., any of their subsidiaries or affiliates, or any other contracting party if such contractor or a subcontractor at any tier under such contract requires that employees or independent contractors sign mandatory arbitration clauses regarding certain claims.” The “certain claims” have to do with sexual assault.
I might have phrased it differently myself — like “prohibits any member of the executive team and Board of Directors of Halliburton and KBR from ever getting out of prison for any reason whatsoever” or something like that. But my amendment probably wouldn’t have gotten many votes, unlike Franken’s which passed 68-30, every Democrat being joined by 9 Republicans. (Does anyone know if LeMieux has to call Charlie Crist and get his OK before he votes?
OPS: Now it takes an act of Congress to prevent Corporations from covering up crimes?
Gay Marriage D.C.: Same-Sex Marriage Bill In Washington Seems Unstoppable
A bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry in the nation’s capital was introduced Tuesday, a measure that even opponents acknowledged seems almost unstoppable.
The bill was nearly certain to pass the D.C. city council, but whether it becomes law is more complicated because Congress gets an opportunity to review D.C. legislation before it takes effect. Still, even challengers in Congress acknowledged the bill was likely to become law.
The city began in July recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. Congress had a chance to act on that legislation but didn’t.
U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah who said he would work to defeat the new bill, anticipates that will happen again with the proposal. A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she believed it was a matter for D.C. to decide.
Full Story: Gay Marriage D.C.: Same-Sex Marriage Bill In Washington Seems Unstoppable.
Michael Moore, Sean Hannity Talk Mortgage Crisis
During an interview with Sean Hannity, Michael Moore laments the mortgage fraud that’s been caused by banks and lenders, and suggesting Hannity is blaming victims of the mortgage crisis for not knowing any better, Moore says it’s “like asking a woman how short was your shirt after you’ve been raped.”
Full Story: YouTube – Michael Moore, Sean Hannity Talk Mortgage Crisis.
Stewart Pummels Obama For Not Repealing ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ (VIDEO)
Comedians have made no bones about their frustration with President Obama of late. Bill Maher, referring to the health care debate, pleaded with the president to
“stand up for the 70% of Americans who aren’t crazy.” SNL ran a skit Saturday saying Obama has done “nothing, nada” since taking office. And Jon Stewart has taken on the president for not staying on message, and failing to get a public option passed.
Stewart continued on this trend tonight, taking on Obama and his administration for not repealing “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” despite many promises to do so on the campaign trail. The president and his team have said he still plans to do so, but that he has too much on his plate. Stewart’s response? “It’s f**king chow time, brother.”
WATCH:
Full Story: Stewart Pummels Obama For Not Repealing ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ (VIDEO).
More US schools shun sale of ‘junk food’
“The school environment is a key setting for influencing children’s food choices and eating habits,” said Howell Wechsler, director of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, in hailing a trend toward healthier food in US schools.
“By ensuring that only healthy food options are available, schools can model healthy eating behaviors, help improve students’ diets, and help young people establish lifelong healthy eating habits,” he said.
The CDC report, “Availability of Less Nutritious Snack Foods and Beverages in Secondary Schools,” found that among 34 states surveyed, 63 percent of schools now refrain from selling soda or fruit drinks that are not 100 percent juice. That was up from 38 percent the previous year.
Full Story: AFP: More US schools shun sale of ‘junk food’.
Medical Malpractice Insurers’ Profits Higher Than Nearly All Fortune 500 Companies
The American Association for Justice — the trial lawyers’ lobby group — has just released an astounding statistic: medical malpractice insurance companies’ average profits are higher than those of 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies.
As the nation remains mired in a debate over health care reform and how to keep down the costs of expanding coverage, AAJ is trying to point out that Republicans claims that medical malpractice lawsuits are one of the big cost drivers is completely misleading. In fact, though malpractice claims and so-called “defensive medicine” does account for a small percentage of unnecessary costs, medical errors and the astronomical profits of malpractice insurers appear to be a bigger part of the problem.
AAJ’s report released today finds that the average profit of medical malpractice insurance companies is higher than 99 percent of all Fortune 500 companies and 35 times higher than the Fortune 500 average for the same time period; and malpractice insurers have seen their profit margins range from 5.9 percent to 74.8 percent, with an average of 31.2 percent. The report also finds that malpractice insurers have publicly overestimated their losses and underestimated their profits in an attempt to suggest the insurance business and medical practice in general faces a crisis that must be resolved by so-called “tort reform” — i.e., making it harder for patients to sue and to collect damages for their injuries.
Full Story: Medical Malpractice Insurers’ Profits Higher Than Nearly All Fortune 500 Companies « The Washington Independent.
Labor, faith and community groups target United Health; six arrested in protest
More than 100 people demonstrated and six were arrested at the headquarters of the nation’s largest private insurance company, UnitedHealth Group.
Labor, faith and community organizations working together in the Health Care for America Now coalition organized Monday’s protest, the third local action in two weeks against the practices of the giant health insurer.
Six of the demonstrators were arrested after they sat down to block the doors of the UnitedHealth Group offices and refused to leave.
“We’re here today to stop UnitedHealth Group from continuing its business practice of denying health coverage and insurance claims as the primary means of turning a profit,” said Julie Schnell, president of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and one of those arrested.
Full Story: Welcome to Workday Minnesota, your leading source for labor news!.
Fed Frets About Commercial Real Estate
With Banks Slow to Take Losses, Fears of a Residential-Bust Repeat; ‘More Pain Likely Lies Ahead’
Banks in the U.S. “are slow” to take losses on their commercial real-estate loans being battered by slumping property values and rental payments, according to a Federal Reserve presentation to banking regulators last month.
The remarks suggest that banking regulators are girding for a rerun of the housing-related losses now slamming thousands of banks that failed to set aside enough capital during the boom to cushion themselves when the bubble burst. “Banks will be slow to recognize the severity of the loss — just as they were in residential,” according to the Fed presentation, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
A Fed official confirmed the authenticity of the document, prepared by an Atlanta Fed real-estate expert who is part of the central bank’s Rapid Response program to spread information about emerging problem areas to federal and state banking examiners throughout the U.S.
While the Sept. 29 presentation by K.C. Conway doesn’t represent the central bank’s formal opinion, worries about the banking industry’s commercial real-estate exposure have been building inside the Fed for months. “More pain likely lies ahead for this sector and for those banks with heavy commercial real estate exposures,” New York Fed President Bill Dudley said in a speech Monday.
Full Story: Fed Frets About Commercial Real Estate – WSJ.com.
8 years in, Obama: We won’t leave Afghanistan
President Barack Obama is gathering his national security team for another strategy session on Afghanistan eight years after the war started and as a new poll shows public support declining.
Obama, who inherited the war when he took office last January, is examining how to proceed with a worsening combat situation that has claimed nearly 800 U.S. lives and sapped American patience. Launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to defeat the Taliban and rid al-Qaida of a home base, the war has lasted longer than ever envisioned.
House and Senate leaders of both parties emerged Tuesday from a nearly 90-minute conversation with Obama with praise for his candor and interest in listening. But politically speaking, all sides appeared to exit where they entered, with Republicans pushing Obama to follow his military commanders and Democrats saying he should not be rushed.
Public support for the war now stands at 40 percent, down from 44 percent in July, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. A total of 69 percent of self-described Republicans in the poll favor sending more troops, while 57 percent of self-described Democrats oppose it.
Full Story: 8 years in, Obama weighs Afghanistan options – Yahoo! News.
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Republicans Don't Care about Voter Fraud....owa Republicans are trying to dismiss claims that the vote count in Tuesday's Iowa Caucus was wrong. An Iowa voter told a local TV station yesterday that he noticed a 20-vote discrepancy in the count - and that Rick Santorum was the real winner of the Caucuses. Republican Party officials, though, are sticking to their first count - showing Mitt Romney as the winner by 8-votes - and there will be no recount.The Republican Party has launched a war on voters around the nation this year with strict new laws that will disenfranchise over 5 million Americans. They claim these laws are necessary to combat so-called voter fraud. Yet in Iowa - where there are no such laws - and where a very, very close and questionable election was just held - Republicans don't seem to care at all about getting it right.Clearly - the war on voters isn't about making sure the people's voices are represented accurately - it's about making sure poor people, young people, and minorities who tend to vote for Democrats - can't vote at all.-Thom(Who do you think won? Tell us here.) -
LEGALIZE Democracy
" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
MOVE to AMEND
a project of the CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE Democracy
Help end Corporate personhood
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The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
