Archive for October, 2009
Donor Strike for Public Option
After months of debate, an overwhelming majority of Americans support a “robust public option” similar to Medicare.
And thanks to the heroic efforts of progressive activists, we have almost enough votes in the Senate and House to pass it.
The Democratic majorities in the Senate (60/40) and the House (258/177) are large enough to pass a “public option” even with no Republican support. But a handful of conservative “Democrats” are blocking the will of the Democratic majority.
These conservative “Democrats” refuse to listen to the Democratic voters who elected them. That means it’s up to our Democratic leaders – Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and President Obama – to persuade them.
We will not accept a weak public option or worse, a “trigger.” We want a robust public option (based on Medicare rates, not negotiated rates) that is nation-wide (with no state opt-outs), administered by Medicare (not a for-profit insurance company) and available immediately.
That is why we are joining together in a Democratic donor strike against the DNC, DSCC, and DCCC until the Democratic Congress passes – and President Obama signs – healthcare reform with a robust public option. Until then, we will only donate to individual Democrats who will truly fight for us.
Petition
To: Gov. Tim Kaine, Chair, Democratic National Committee (DNC)
Sen. Bob Menendez, Chair, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Chair, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)
I write to inform you that I am joining the Democratic Donor Strike against the DNC, DSCC and DCCC, which will last until the Democratic Congress passes – and President Obama signs – healthcare reform with a robust public option:
* based on Medicare rates, not negotiated rates
* nation-wide, with no state opt-outs
* administered by Medicare, not a for-profit insurance company
* available immediately
Until then, I will only support individual Democrats who support single-payer Medicare for All (the 88 sponsors of HR 676), or (at a minimum) pledge to vote against a bill without a strong public option. I will also support challengers who support Healthcare Not Warfare.
We elected solid Democratic majorities in Congress and a Democratic President to fulfill Democratic promises of progressive change. We did not elect Republican Senator Olympia Snowe to break those promises.
And if a small number of corporate-funded Democrats in the Senate and House stand in the way, it is the job of our leaders – Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and President Obama – to persuade those Democrats to stand with the party that elected them. Even “fiscally conservative” Democrats have absolutely no excuse for voting against a robust public option, because CBO says it will save $110 billion.
So if I receive a fundraising email from the DNC, DSCC or DCCC, I will reply with a link to this petition. If I receive a fundraising call, I will tell the caller about this petition. If I receive a fundraising letter, I will return the envelope with a link to this petition:
http://www.democrats.com/donor-strike-for-public-option
We desperately need real health reform, starting with a robust public option. Until you deliver on your promises of change, I will reserve my contributions for individual Democrats who will truly fight for what we all believe.
Sincerely,
Full Story: Donor Strike for Public Option | Democrats.com.
The French Do It Better for Half the Price
James Ridgeway, Mother Jones
Here’s a very simple run down on the French health care system, often thought to be the best of them all.
Anyone trying to follow the latest battles in the health care debate will by now find their heads swimming with claims and counter claims, unintelligble lingo, political doubletalk, and mind boggling statistics. It all serves to distract us from the simplest way to assess various potential health care systems, which is by looking at countries that already have them.
But here, too, politics enters the equation. Conservatives like to produce dire warnings based on the British NHS, which does have a fair amount of rationing. (They don’t mention that 73 percent of Brits nonetheless said they had confidence in their health care system, as compared with 56 percent of Americans, according to a Gallup poll last year.) These same conservatives avoid looking at the very best national health systems, which manage to deliver superior care at dramatically lower cost.
Here’s a very simple run down on the French health care system, often thought to be the best of them all. Much of this information comes from an interview published recently in the New York Times with Victor G. Rodwin, a professor of health policy and management at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service and an expert on international health care systems.
Full Story: The French Do It Better for Half the Price | Mother Jones.
Bank failures top 100, only part of industry woes – Yahoo! News
The cascade of bank failures this year surpassed 100 on Friday, the most in nearly two decades. And the trouble in the banking system from bad loans and the recession goes even deeper than the number suggests.
Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other banks remain open even though they are as weak as many that have been shuttered. Regulators are seizing banks slowly and selectively — partly to avoid inciting panic and partly because buyers for bad banks are hard to find.
Going slow buys time. An economic recovery could save some banks that would otherwise go under. But if the recovery is slow and smaller banks’ finances get even worse, it could wind up costing even more.
Full Story: Bank failures top 100, only part of industry woes – Yahoo! News.
Michael Savage says Glenn Beck does a ‘reasonably good job copying people who are brighter than him.’
Michael Savage says Glenn Beck does a ‘reasonably good job copying people who are brighter than him.’
On his radio show yesterday, Michael Savage took issue with the Obama administration’s accusations of partisanship against Fox News, calling the entire controversy a “kabuki play” generated for ratings and a bid for News Corporation (Fox News’ parent company) to expand business. Savage also took aim at Glenn Beck, saying Beck might soon be muzzled with a “bit in his mouth” by his bosses at Fox News. Savage proceeded to call Beck a dim-witted con artist:
SAVAGE: Within 90 days, he has got a bit in his mouth and he’s moving on to something else. [...] I’m not impressed by him. I’ve seen the act before. I’m not for him or against him, he does a reasonably good job copying people who are brighter than him who have done their work before him and taking as many ideas from as many people as he can without giving anyone credit. I get that. There’s nothing new about that either. But, my prediction is he’s got a bit put in his mouth very very fast and or he’s going to be fired.
Listen here:
OPS: One sick nazi to another – there is no joy in Mudville tonight
LAPD’s iWatch Terrorism Ad: Important Or Incredibly Creepy? (VIDEO)
Via “The Live Feed” comes this striking ad from the Los Angeles Police Department, explaining their new city-wide anti-terrorism iWatch program.
The iWatch program encourages people to report suspicious activity that may be terrorism-related to the police. The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed concern that iWatch will lead to “racial or religious profiling.”
“I watch my street, I watch my city, I watch my community, I watch my America,” say a group of Angelenos. “I watch, I report, I keep us safe.”
Watch the ad:
Full Story: LAPD’s iWatch Terrorism Ad: Important Or Incredibly Creepy? (VIDEO).
OPS: Creepy. This has more to do with Police State paranoia tactics than Terrorism.
Chamber Of Commerce Strong-Arms Service Provider Into Shutting Down Spoof Site
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce demanded that the company providing Internet service for the Yes Men shut down their site on Tuesday, claiming the spoof troupe’s fake version of the Chamber’s site constituted copyright infringement.
“The Website infringes the Chamber of Commerce’s copyrights by directly copying the images, logos, design, and layout of the Chamber of Commerce’s copyright-protected official website,” said the letter from the Chamber’s lawyers, who threaten “legal liability” for the service provider, Hurricane Electric.
The mockup of the Chamber’s site was part of the Yes Men’s epic hoax, which included a phony press conference at the National Press Club, where a fraudulent Chamber spokesman announced that the superlative lobbying organization had reversed its controversial stance on climate change.
Full Story: Chamber Of Commerce Strong-Arms Service Provider Into Shutting Down Spoof Site.
Largest solar panel plant in US rises in Fla.
Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future of Florida’s renewable energy plans begin: Acres of open land filled with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business.
For nearly a year, construction workers and engineers in this sleepy Florida town of citrus trees and cattle farms have been building the nation’s largest solar panel energy plant. Testing will soon be complete, and the facility will begin directly converting sunlight into energy, giving Florida a momentary spot in the solar energy limelight.
The Desoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center will power a small fraction of Florida Power & Light’s 4-million plus customer base; nevertheless, at 25 megawatts, it will generate nearly twice as much energy as the second-largest photovoltaic facility in the U.S.
The White House said President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the facility Tuesday, when it officially goes online and begins producing power for the electric grid.
Full Story: Largest solar panel plant in US rises in Fla. – Yahoo! News.
Obama vs. FOX
“FOX News is “trawling for assassins”
President Obama is getting criticism for going after Fox News. I fault the White House too: for not going far enough. The real issue is not Fox’s right wing “bias.” The real issue is that FOX News seems to be trawling for assassins. Here’s the letter White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs should write. Or maybe it should come from the head of United States Secret Service.
Dear Rupert Murdoch, since you are responsible for what is on Fox News I have a question for you: Do you ever wonder how you’ll be remembered by Americans and the world (not to mention your children) if someone takes a shot at President Obama, and when asked why they did it, quotes the misinformation spouted by Fox News as their “reason?”
You have dozens of far right and dangerous and/or crazy seeming commentators working for you but let’s just talk about one as an example of the rest. What of Glenn Beck?
Does the name Father Charles Coughlin ring a bell? Do you want to be remembered as the facilitator of today’s version of that deranged radio personality and hater who hounded President Roosevelt? What if a Coughlin devotee had assassinated Roosevelt? Instead of just being a nasty footnote to American history, Coughlin would be remembered as another John Wilkes Booth. What if Coughlin had had someone with money and virtually unlimited influence backing him and amplifying his remarks? How would we feel about his backer?
Glenn Beck is a second rate, not terribly bright Coughlin-type demagogue with rather dimwitted followers. And you are the paymaster making his silliness dangerous by giving him a voice that would otherwise be heard only by those who happened to hear him barking at the moon on some lonely street corner.
Full Story: Obama vs. FOX | AfterDowningStreet.org.
Showdown In Chicago VS. Wall St. Banksters
Be in Chicago, IL October 25th-27th for the “Showdown In Chicago”. Regular American people VS. the ABA, American Backers Association who are holding their convention.
Full Story: YouTube – Showdown In Chicago VS. Wall St. Banksters.
Georgia Republicans Send Political Mailer Disguised As ‘Official’ Census Survey
Georgia Republicans Send Political Mailer Disguised As ‘Official’ Census Survey
11 Alive, a local Georgia news station, reports today that the Georgia Republican Party is sending out a political mailer disguised to look like an official U.S. Census survey. The news station learned of the scam when a voter called the station saying she was “upset” that Georgia Republicans would send out such a mailer, given that many Georgians, especially senior citizens, will not realize that it’s a political ploy and not an actual Census survey:
“I got real upset ’cause I think a lot of people would just automatically fill it out,” [Anne Wilson of Smyrna] told us in a Thursday TV interview, “It’s their civic duty; by law they have to fill out the census. Turns out I and many others across the country have received the same survey letter which is titled the “2009 Congressional District Census”.
The outside of the envelope is stamped “Do Not Destroy, Official Document”. The survey lists a specific congressional district and includes an individual “Census Tracking Code”, with the request, “Please Respond by: November 16, 2009″. [...]
“I could see a lot of my neighbors that are older who would get something like this in the mail and fill it out,” she adds, “all the information, every little section, and send in money.”
The Georgia GOP also sent the mailer to the 8th Congressional District Chair for the Democratic Party of Georgia, who promptly snapped a picture, which his wife placed on her blog:
Full Story: Think Progress » Georgia Republicans Send Political Mailer Disguised As ‘Official’ Census Survey.
Pawlenty Says He Would Lead A Campaign To Opt Out Of The Public Option In Minnesota
Pawlenty Says He Would Lead A Campaign To Opt Out Of The Public Option In Minnesota
Reports surfaced today that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is considering a proposal to include the public option that would allow states to “opt-out” of the program.
Today on ABC’s Top Line, co-host David Chalian asked Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) if he would “opt-out” of the public option for his state if the measure passed. Pawlenty dodged: “Well, I don’t know if we would opt out but I personally would like to opt out because I don’t like government run health care.” But Chalian persisted, and ultimately, Pawlenty said that he would oppose the public option for Minnesota:
CHALIAN: But you would lead a charge in your state to opt out if that was an option available?
PAWLENTY: I think so because I don’t like government run health care.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » Pawlenty Says He Would Lead A Campaign To Opt Out Of The Public Option In Minnesota.
OPS – But then Timmy isn’t planning on running again for Gov.
Hydropower industry braces for glacier-free future
Standing on the glacier at the source of the Rhone river, glaciologist Andreas Bauder poses next to a 3-meter high pole sticking out of the ice, and gestures above his head.
“This is about the melt of one month,” he says, as fellow scientists drill into the ice. “I’m about two meters tall.”
From the Himalayas to the Andes, faster-melting glaciers spell short-term opportunities — and long-term risks — for hydroelectric power and the engineering and construction industries it drives.
Full Story: Hydropower industry braces for glacier-free future | Green Business | Reuters.
Ten Key Values of the Green Party
1. GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY
Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect their lives and not be subject to the will of another. Therefore, we will work to increase public participation at every level of government and to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We will also work to create new types of political organizations which expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.
2. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment. We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at large, barriers such as racism and class oppression, sexism and homophobia, ageism and disability, which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.
3. ECOLOGICAL WISDOM
Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society which utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end we must practice agriculture which replenishes the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.
4. NON-VIOLENCE
It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society’s current patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize, and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, without being naive about the intentions of other governments. We recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in helpless situations. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace.
5. DECENTRALIZATION
Centralization of wealth and power contributes to social and economic injustice, environmental destruction, and militarization. Therefore, we support a restructuring of social, political and economic institutions away from a system which is controlled by and mostly benefits the powerful few, to a democratic, less bureaucratic system. Decision-making should, as much as possible, remain at the individual and local level, while assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens.
6. COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE
We recognize it is essential to create a vibrant and sustainable economic system, one that can create jobs and provide a decent standard of living for all people while maintaining a healthy ecological balance. A successful economic system will offer meaningful work with dignity, while paying a “living wage” which reflects the real value of a person’s work.
Local communities must look to economic development that assures protection of the environment and workers’ rights; broad citizen participation in planning; and enhancement of our “quality of life.” We support independently owned and operated companies which are socially responsible, as well as co-operatives and public enterprises that distribute resources and control to more people through democratic participation.
7. FEMINISM AND GENDER EQUITY
We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics of domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed with moral conscience. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcome we want.
8. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY
We believe it is important to value cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, and to promote the development of respectful relationships across these lines.
We believe that the many diverse elements of society should be reflected in our organizations and decision-making bodies, and we support the leadership of people who have been traditionally closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms than our own and the preservation of biodiversity.
9. PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY
We encourage individuals to act to improve their personal well-being and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social harmony. We seek to join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet.
10. FUTURE FOCUS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing of or “unmaking” all waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counterbalance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions.
Ten Key Values from other state and local Greens.
There is no authoritative version of the Ten Key Values of the Greens. The Ten Key Values are guiding principles that are adapted and defined to fit each state and local chapter.
Full Story: Green Party of the United States.
‘We have broken speed of light’
A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light – an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time.
According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second.
However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory.
The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons – energetic packets of light – travelled “instantaneously” between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.
Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences.
For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving.
Full Story: ‘We have broken speed of light’ – Telegraph.
New US bill on too big to fail fix seen Monday
* Tougher draft bill on resolution authority seen Monday
* Frank — exploring optional federal charter for insurers
* Optional charter not seen for property and casualty (Adds Frank comments on bank regulation, Feinberg’s pay rulings, byline)
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) – The Obama administration plans to unveil on Monday a new plan for dealing with troubled financial giants, said a senior U.S. lawmaker, who also mentioned potentially big changes for the insurance industry.
Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a chief architect of the financial regulation overhaul, declined on Friday to give details on the administration’s new bill, which would give the government the power to dismantle large financial companies that get into crises.
Full Story: UPDATE 2-New US bill on too big to fail fix seen Monday | Deals | Regulatory News | Reuters.
To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates
Shopping for oatmeal, Helena Bergstrom, 37, admitted that she was flummoxed by the label on the blue box reading, “Climate declared: .87 kg CO2 per kg of product.”
“Right now, I don’t know what this means,” said Ms. Bergstrom, a pharmaceutical company employee.
But if a new experiment here succeeds, she and millions of other Swedes will soon find out. New labels listing the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production of foods, from whole wheat pasta to fast food burgers, are appearing on some grocery items and restaurant menus around the country.
People who live to eat might dismiss this as silly. But changing one’s diet can be as effective in reducing emissions of climate-changing gases as changing the car one drives or doing away with the clothes dryer, scientific experts say.
Full Story: By Degrees – To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates – NYTimes.com.
Americans for Stable Quality Care
A Message from the Coalition.
Welcome to the Americans for Stable Quality Care coalition. As a diverse group, together we represent millions of doctors, nurses, technicians, manufacturers, hospitals, drug companies and health care consumers across the U.S. who share the common belief that all Americans deserve access to stable quality health care. Join us in our campaign to make the dream of health reform a sure thing.
“As the political debate about how to pay for and pass health reform grows louder and more contentious, we shouldn’t lose sight of the reason we’re even having this conversation: We have a huge, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve the lives of all Americans, insured and uninsured alike.”HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, The Washington Post, August 4, 2009
Full Story: Americans for Stable Quality Care.
Ambulances start charging extra for obese patients
The memory still bothers Ken Keller: A panicked ambulance crew had a critically ill patient, but the man weighed more than 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) and could not fit inside the vehicle. And the stretcher wasn’t sturdy enough to hold him.
The crew offered an idea to Keller, who was then an investigator with the Kansas Board of Emergency Medical Services. Could they use a forklift to load the man — bed and all — onto a flatbed truck? Keller agreed: There was no other choice.
“I’m sure it was terribly embarrassing to be in his own bed, riding on the back of a flatbed with straps tying him down, going to the hospital, and then have a forklift at the hospital unload him,” Keller said.
Full Story: Maryland Daily Record.
Noam Chomsky – When Elites Fail, and What We Should Do About It,
Noam Chomsky, world-renowned linguist and dissident author, delivers the keynote address at the ECONVERGENCE CONFERENCE in Portland, Oregon, on October 2, 2009.
Full Story: YouTube – Noam Chomsky – When Elites Fail, and What We Should Do About It, Oct. 2, 2009.
GAO: West Point should cancel jobs outsourcing
A U.S. Military Academy decision to outsource public works jobs was flawed and should be canceled, the Government Accountability Office said.
In an Oct. 20 ruling published today, GAO ruled the Army erred in comparing federal employee and contractor bids when it decided in March to outsource 394 Defense Department civilian jobs to Ginn Group Inc. of Peachtree City, Ga.
The Army accepted revisions to the Ginn proposal without confirming those revisions were achievable, GAO said. Because Ginn’s health care and retirement benefits cost less than federal employee benefits, the Army, as required by law, raised Ginn’s rates to federal levels. To account for the increase, Ginn lowered the rates it would charge the government for other benefits without showing those savings were attainable, GAO said. In addition, Ginn failed to prove claims that it would perform the work for 10 percent less than federal employe
Full Story: GAO: West Point should cancel jobs outsourcing – Army News, news from Iraq, – Army Times.
AARP’s Tradition of Betrayal
Founded in 1958 for aged 50 and older Americans, AARP call itself “a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization (dedicated to) improv(ing) the quality of their lives,” even though from inception it sold insurance to earn royalties – now to its 40 million members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands while claiming a mandate to:
– deliver “value to members through information, advocacy and service;”
– work “tirelessly to fulfill its vision: a society in which everyone ages with dignity and purpose, and in which AARP helps people fulfill their goals and dreams;” and
– speak “with one voice – united by a common motto: ‘To serve, not be served.”
Today it’s branches include:
– AARP Foundation focusing on “education….service, (and) legal advocacy efforts;”
– AARP Services, providing “marketplace access to services that people need and want” related to “health and financial products, travel and leisure offerings, and life event services;”
Full Story: SteveLendmanBlog: AARP’s Tradition of Betrayal.
Europeans Form Renewable Energy Agency
A consortium of European governments is developing the world’s first International Renewable Energy Agency.
The agency, known as IRENA, will serve as a global cheerleader for clean energy. It plans to offer technical, financial, and policy advice for governments worldwide, according to a joint announcement from Germany, Spain, and Denmark – the project’s leaders.
Renewable energy is on the rise worldwide as governments attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create domestic energy sources. Despite a variety of international organizations that are helping with the clean energy transition, IRENA’s leaders said no single agency addresses the local, national, and international needs of both developed and developing nations.
Full Story: Europeans Form Renewable Energy Agency | Worldwatch Institute.
Without Insurance, Man’s Defibrillator Battery Ran Out — Now His Sister Wants Everyone To Know
In 2003, William Koehler of Pittsburgh, Pa. lost his job as an electronics technician. He lost his health insurance, too, but he’d been lucky enough to have the defibrillator battery in his heart changed just the previous year. No insurer would cover him except for one company which refused to cover anything related to his arrhythmia, says his sister.
He survived as long as his battery did, dying on March 7, 2009 at 57. His sister, Georgeanne Koehler, has become an activist, telling the story about how her brother died to anyone who will listen. On Thursday, she traveled to Washington, D.C. from Pittsburgh to join a protest outside a conference for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a lobbying group for the insurance industry.
“I blame insurance companies, I blame his doctor, and I blame politicians,” Koehler said to a gaggle or reporters asking about her brother’s death after the protest.
Full Story: Without Insurance, Man’s Defibrillator Battery Ran Out — Now His Sister Wants Everyone To Know.
White House’s Fox News Boycott Attempt Prompts Network Revolt
The White House attempted to block Fox News from a round of interviews with “pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg Thursday, but the Washington bureau chiefs of the five TV networks included in the White House pool refused to interview Feinberg unless Fox News was included.
Fox News says that the White House “failed in its attempt to manipulate other news networks into isolating and excluding Fox News.”
The attempt to shut Fox News out was the latest move in the administration’s ongoing battle against the cable news channel, which several senior administration officials have claimed is not a legitimate news organization.
The decision by the network bureau chiefs to stand with Fox News is one of the first instances of the mainstream media defending Fox News against the White House’s claims.
“I’m really cheered by the other members saying “No, if Fox can’t be part of it, we won’t be part of it,’” Baltimore Sun TV critic (and regular Fox News detractor) David Zurawik said Thursday.
Full Story: White House’s Fox News Boycott Attempt Prompts Network Revolt.
Crunch Time: Pelosi Puts Dem Reps On Record On Public Option
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ramped up the pressure on wavering Democrats Friday morning, calling on them to state in front of their colleagues where they stand on a “robust” public health insurance option.
Robust has become a code word on the Hill that means a public option tied to Medicare rates; it is the preferred policy of progressives.
At a closed door meeting of the Democratic caucus, Pelosi ordered the party roll to be called. Reporters outside the room could hear names being called out loudly.
The question they faced, according to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.): If the health care bill has a robust public option, will you vote for it on the House floor?
Full Story: Crunch Time: Pelosi Puts Dem Reps On Record On Public Option.
Seething Dems Hit Back At Report That Public Option Is Dead In House
Democratic lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are adamantly pushing back against reports that she does not have the necessary votes to pass a robust public option and is poised to abandon the provision.
“Speculation that a final decision has been made about the public option are not accurate,” read a statement issued by the Speaker’s deputy communications director
Nadeam Elshami. “We continue to work with all the members of the caucus to build consensus.”
“It’s not true. No decisions have been made,” said Kristie Greco, spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)
Full Story: Seething Dems Hit Back At Report That Public Option Is Dead In House.
Poll: 82 Percent Say Recession Is Not Over
From the public’s perspective, the rumors of economic recovery are greatly exaggerated.
The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll put it this way: “Many economists say that using the standards they apply, the recession probably is over. Thinking about your own experience of economic conditions, would you say that from your point of view the recession is over, or not over?”
Result: Not over, 82 percent.
Click here for PDF with charts and questionnaire.
That marks more than the disconnect between definitions of recession; it also points to the land mines that pockmark the political landscape, threatening potential woe to President Obama in particular and incumbent office-holders in general. Claims of a recovery that few people feel are fraught with the taint of disconnect.
Full Story: Economic Recovery: ABC News-Washington Post Poll – ABC News.
Rich Germans demand higher taxes
A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes.
The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany’s economic recovery.
Germany could raise 100bn euros (£91bn) if the richest people paid a 5% wealth tax for two years, they say.
The petition has 44 signatories so far, and will be presented to newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The group say the financial crisis is leading to an increase in unemployment, poverty and social inequality.
Full Story: BBC NEWS | Europe | Rich Germans demand higher taxes.
Conservative Democrats signal they won’t block public option
Support for including some version of a public option in the Senate’s version of a healthcare overhaul appears to be solider than initially believed.
In a series of comments that have received little attention, conservative Democratic senators — even those who’ve publicly said they oppose a public option — say they are unlikely to join a Republican filibuster to block it. Under Senate rules, Democrats would need to convince 60 members to support the ability to vote on healthcare legislation with the public option (cloture), and then just 51 to pass it.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) told a reporter earlier this week that she wouldn’t join Republicans in voting against cloture.
Full Story: Conservative Democrats signal they won’t block public option | Raw Story.
OPS: Well that’s damned White of ‘em. “Lead, Follow or get out of the way”.
Guess they chose to get out of the way – or be crushed in the next election
Retired General calls Cheney ‘incompetent war fighter’
A retired General who served more than 30 years in the U.S. Army and helped train Iraq’s military between 2003 and 2004 called former Vice President Dick Cheney an “incompetent war fighter.”
National Security Network Senior Adviser and Retired General Paul Eaton made the comments after Cheney criticized Obama in a Wednesday night speech for “dithering” about whether to substantially increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Obama has been under pressure from his top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to add as many as 40,000 to 60,000 U.S. troops on the ground.
“The record is clear: Dick Cheney and the Bush administration were incompetent war fighters,” Eaton said in a statement released Thursday. “They ignored Afghanistan for 7 years with a crude approach to counter-insurgency warfare best illustrated by: 1. Deny it. 2. Ignore it. 3. Bomb it. While our intelligence agencies called the region the greatest threat to America, the Bush White House under-resourced our military efforts, shifted attention to Iraq, and failed to bring to justice the masterminds of September 11.”
Full Story: Retired General calls Cheney ‘incompetent war fighter’ | Raw Story.
Blocking Escalation of War Not Good Enough
David Swanson
Why is it that every time we elect “peace” candidates we defund the peace movement, stop calling for an end to wars, and limit our demands exclusively to opposing war escalations?
In 2006 we voted into Congress the candidates who looked most likely to end the war in Iraq. We congratulated ourselves on a job well done. Then we mildly urged them not to escalate the war they’d been elected to end, and they escalated it anyway.
In 2008 we voted into Congress and the White House the candidates who looked most likely to end the war in Iraq. Candidate Obama promised to pull out two brigades per month for sixteen months. Here we are in month 10 and that withdrawal has yet to begin. And what in the name of all that is true, good, and free-of-hope are we doing about it? Not a god damned thing.
Full Story: OpEdNews – Article: Blocking Escalation of War Not Good Enough.
The Rising Waters of Inflation
Despite the common perception that the US Federal Reserve has deftly guided this country through the rising waters of inflation, two specific factors are responsible for low inflation.
Despite the common perception that the US Federal Reserve has deftly guided this country through the rising waters of inflation, in reality, two specific factors are principally responsible for low inflation in recent years: (1) declining import prices; (2) declining labor costs at home due to pressures from low import prices. Neither of these factors can be expected to control inflation forever. In reality they have merely postponed an inevitable outbreak of inflation. Interest rate and money supply management will not be enough to compensate for the structural imbalances and massive debts that have been accumulated.
By shifting our consumption from domestic to foreign-produced goods, we have shifted wealth-producing industries abroad and dropped our savings rate from double digits to negative digits. So-called globalization and “free trade” have taken our labor force with its world-leading standard of living and pitted it against the bottom of the world in terms of labor rates and standards of living. There is no way our labor force can compete with this. If these trends continue, the massive wealth transfer that is now taking place will dramatically erode the standard of living of our labor force. Already real wages have stopped growing, and we will eventually face severe inflation as our dollar falls on foreign exchange markets and foreign suppliers take advantage of the collapse of our manufacturing base.
Full Story: Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Markets Continue Heading South
Overnight futures indicate that markets will likely open lower and remain somewhat depressed throughout the morning.
Markets headed south again yesterday on Wall Street. The Dow led all losses dropping 0.92 percent (92.12 points), to be followed by the S&P which lost 0.89 percent (9.66 points), and the NASDAQ which fell 0.59 percent (12.74 points). Consecutive days of losses have left the Dow Jones Industrial Average roughly 50 points short of the fabled 10,000 mark.
Overnight futures indicate that markets will likely open lower and remain somewhat depressed throughout the morning. The U.S. may likely follow the path of Asian and European markets which all lost considerably during their trading sessions.
According to analysts with CNNMoney.com, the drop off from Tuesday’s closing high is due in large part to critical analysis of corporate earnings reports. In the past a record-setting quarterly profit from a major bank would lead to a market surge.
Full Story: Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Rep. Weiner Identifies 55 Republicans On Medicare Who ‘Steadfastly Oppose’ The Public Option
Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-NY) office today released an internal study showing that 151 members of Congress “currently receive government-funded; government-administered single-payer health care — Medicare.” Of those 151 members, 55 are Republicans who also happen to be “steadfastly opposed [to] other Americans getting the public option, like the one they have chosen.” Included on Weiner’s list are anti-public option crusaders Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), and Rep. Peter King (R-NY).
This morning on C-Span, Weiner explained the idea behind the project:
WEINER: It’s more another way of looking at this debate, this discussion about the public option, to put it in focus. We went, just out of curiosity, looked at how many members of Congress get the public option. And I know a lot of people have said, “Well under the new bill, how many of you members of Congress would choose the public option?”
Full Story: Think Progress » Rep. Weiner Identifies 55 Republicans On Medicare Who ‘Steadfastly Oppose’ The Public Option.
Media Matters: Fox News’ attacks on the Obama White House ‘have been occurring since January 20.’
Soon after White House communications director Anita Dunn called out Fox News for being the “communications arm of the Republican Party,” Fox News senior vice president Michael Clemente said that “[i]t’s astounding the White House cannot distinguish between news and opinion programming.” But a subsequent Media Matters item demonstrated just how much Fox’s “news” mirrors its right-wing opinion. Now, a new Media Matters video documents the fact that Fox News “declared ‘war’ on the White House long before Dunn’s comments.” Watch it:
video at link
UPDATE: A top Fox News official offers this nonsensical defense of the network:
Michael Clemente, senior vice president for news and editorial programming at Fox, said the White House was conflating the network’s commentary with its news coverage. That, Mr. Clemente said, “would be like Fox News blaming the White House senior staff for the Washington Redskins’ losing record.” “I think we’re doing the job we’re supposed to be doing,” he said, “and we do it as well as anyone.”
Full Story: Think Progress » Media Matters: Fox News’ attacks on the Obama White House ‘have been occurring since January 20.’.
Is the Military Ignoring Its Heroin Problem in the Ranks?
Occupy the world’s largest heroin producer in Afghanistan and it’s no wonder the methadone clinics are overpacked — but the military is mum on the subject.
The U.S. military has known about the problem of drug use in its ranks since the Vietnam War, when contemporaneous accounts suggested up to 15 percent of enlisted men tried or became addicted to opiates. But, for the first time since then, the military has soldiers in combat in a producer-country: Afghanistan, which produces more than 90 percent of the world’s heroin despite decades of eradication efforts.
For many soldiers bored or traumatized, the access to cheap, strong heroin is likely to be a powerful lure and, in fact, reports going back to 2006 show that heroin can be easily–and cheaply–obtained mere steps off Bagram Air Base. Shaun McCanna, reporting for Salon in 2007, was able to arrange to receive heroin worth hundreds of dollars in the U.S. for $30 in the Bagram Bazaar multiple times.
Full Story: Is the Military Ignoring Its Heroin Problem in the Ranks? | DrugReporter | AlterNet.
Is Our Healthcare System Too Broken to Fix?
Sometimes all it takes is a few minutes with a researcher to find out that you’re spending too much time watching congressional testimony.
While politicians strive to make this healthcare reform debate about the always sympathetic middle class, as well as about what people who already have private insurance will gain, it seems they’re failing to mention a growing segment of the population: uninsured, low-income families.
Thus, it was refreshing and depressing at the same time to hear Laura Lein — dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work and co-author of Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low Wage Work — address some of the unheard issues in the healthcare debate. The talk was sponsored by Women Employed, a national organization advocating for women’s economic advancement founded here in Chicago in 1973.
Now that it’s abundantly clear that we’re not getting a single-payer system out of the current healthcare reform initiative, questions must be addressed regarding who will be eligible for subsidized healthcare, and how they’ll prove that eligibility. Simply looking at the many problems Lein’s research has identified with eligibility requirements, it appears that we have a long and difficult road ahead of us in implementing healthcare reform (if we get it).
Confused About All the Climate Talk and the Copenhagen Summit? Here’s the Skinny: Five Things You Should Know
The who, what, where, when and why about COP 15, which strangely means: the “Council of Parties.”
There’s a lot of buzz about COP15, the big climate-change meeting coming up — what exactly is all the hype about, and why should you care? Here’s a simple breakdown.
1. What the heck is it?
COP15 is the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, the highest body of the United Nations Climate Change Convention, and it will take place this year Dec. 7-18. There will be 192 countries participating and a whole bunch of nongovernmental organizations, as well. The event will be in Copenhagen and is hosted by the Danish government. COP14 was in Poland last year.
One of the most well-known COP meetings was COP3 in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, which resulted in the Kyoto Protocol, a document now signed by over 180 countries and put into action in February 2005. The protocol set binding emissions targets for greenhouse gases (GHG) for 37 industrialized countries and the European Union, committing them to reducing their GHG emissions an average of 5 percent against 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.
The Chinese Disconnect
Senior monetary officials usually talk in code. So when Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, spoke recently about Asia, international imbalances and the financial crisis, he didn’t specifically criticize China’s outrageous currency policy.
But he didn’t have to: everyone got the subtext. China’s bad behavior is posing a growing threat to the rest of the world economy. The only question now is what the world — and, in particular, the United States — will do about it.
Some background: The value of China’s currency, unlike, say, the value of the British pound, isn’t determined by supply and demand. Instead, Chinese authorities enforced that target by buying or selling their currency in the foreign exchange market — a policy made possible by restrictions on the ability of private investors to move their money either into or out of the country.
Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – The Chinese Disconnect – NYTimes.com.
#3 Mike5000: There’s an obvious solution: We could do with the dollar what China does with the yuan – control the currency and control the exchange rate. But that would undermine the prophets of globalisation. Better by far that America suffer in perpetuity rather than the prophets of globalisation be exposed as third rate BS artists
FCC Proposes Rules of the Road for the Internet
The Federal Communications Commission moved forward today on proposed Net Neutrality rules that would prevent Internet service providers from intentionally blocking or slowing web traffic.
In a notice of proposed rulemaking, the FCC invited public comment on six principles intended to “preserve and promote an open Internet.”
“Given the potentially huge consequences of having the open Internet diminished through inaction, the time is now to move forward with consideration of fair and reasonable rules of the road,” said Chairman Julius Genachowski in a statement. “Indeed, it would be a serious failure of responsibility not to consider such rules, for that would be gambling with the most important technological innovation of our time.”
Telecom companies have strongly opposed new FCC regulations, claiming government intervention is unwarranted and would hurt investment.
Full Story: The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times : FCC Proposes Rules of the Road for the Internet.
Conservatives roar; Republicans tremble
Many top Republicans are growing worried that the party’s chances for reversing its electoral routs of 2006 and 2008 are being wounded by the flamboyant rhetoric and angry tone of conservative activists and media personalities, according to interviews with GOP officials and operatives.
Congressional leaders talk in private of being boxed in by commentators such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh — figures who are wildly popular with the conservative base but wildly controversial among other parts of the electorate, and who have proven records of making life miserable for senators and House members critical of their views or influence.
Some of the leading 2012 candidates are described by operatives as grappling with the same tension. The challenge is to tap into the richest source of energy in the party — the disgust of grass-roots conservative activists with President Barack Obama and their hunger for a full-throated attack on his agenda — without coming off to the broader public as cranky and extreme.
Full Story: Conservatives roar; Republicans tremble – Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen – POLITICO.com.
OPS: Now that these degenerates are no longer useful to them the trick for Conservative elite will be how to make it look like the Democrats stifled Limbaugh, Beck and the others rather than themselves
DNA Profiling: You May Be Next
Since its discovery a quarter century ago, the DNA fingerprint has been hailed as a pivotal tool in solving crimes and exonerating those wrongly convicted.
But as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, the question of how DNA evidence is being used and how samples are being extracted, have come under fire from civil rights activists and many criminal justice experts.
Proposition 69, passed in 2004, made California one of now 21 states that require DNA sampling for some arrestees. This voter-approved initiative mandated that this extend to all felony arrestees by Jan. 1, 2009—and the legal backlash has already begun.
Earlier this month the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) filed a lawsuit against the state of California charging that the statute on DNA collection violates search and seizure laws under the Fourth Amendment, and due process under the 14th Amendment.
Full Story: DNA Profiling: You May Be Next – Mission Loc@l — San Francisco Mission District’s News, Food, Art and Events.
Nazi looted art found at future site of Bush presidential library
Two valuable works of art looted by the Nazis during World War II have been discovered at Southern Methodist University (SMU), which is the future home of the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
The pair of paintings on display at SMU’s Meadows Museum rendered by Spanish artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo of Seville’s Patron Saints Justa and Rufina, estimated to be worth more than $10 million, are believed to have been stolen from the Rothschild family in Paris in 1941.
The Monuments Men Foundation (MMF), an organization that raises awareness of efforts made to preserve cultural items looted and damaged by the Nazi regime, made the announcement in a press release. MMF said the paintings were previously identified as stolen when they were located in Germany and Austria at the end of World War II.
Full Story: Nazi looted art found at future site of Bush presidential library – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.
OPS: From Prescott’s private collection?
McCain introduces bill to block Net neutrality
Republican strategy is to paint Net neutrality as government ‘control’ of Internet
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced a bill in the Senate on Thursday that would effectively allow Internet service providers to slow down or block Internet content or applications of their choosing.
The move came the same day as the federal government decided to move forward on an official Net neutrality policy that would prevent ISPs from making those types of decisions.
The FCC’s new rules would prevent ISPs, for example, from blocking or slowing bandwidth-hogging Web traffic such as streaming video or other applications that put a strain on their networks or from charging different rates to users.
Full Story: McCain introduces bill to block Net neutrality | Raw Story.
GOP senators who voted against anti-rape law refuse to explain why
Not one of the 30 Republican senators who voted against Sen. Al Franken’s anti-rape amendment agreed to explain their rationale when MSNBC came calling, news host Rachel Maddow told her audience Wednesday evening.
Jamie Leigh Jones, the woman whose alleged gang rape at the hands of co-workers at defense contractor KBR was the inspiration for the amendment, appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show Thursday night to laud its passing in the Senate earlier this month. The amendment prohibits the government from contracting with companies that refuse to allow employees to pursue rape allegations in court.
As Jones explained to Maddow, that was the case with KBR — then a subsidiary of Halliburton — when the company responded to Jones’ allegations of rape by locking her in a shipping container and refusing to give her access to medical treatment or contact with the outside world.
“I cannot even understand the reasoning as to why anyone would vote against” the Franken amendment, Jones told Maddow. “I’m thrilled it’s gotten as far as it has gotten.”
Full Story: GOP senators who voted against anti-rape law refuse to explain why | Raw Story.
Banks Allowed To HANDPICK Who Regulates Them
GOP Sen. Shelby: Reorganize The Fed
The directors of the Federal Reserve regional banks are selected by the very banks that the Fed is supposed to regulate. It’s a bizarre entanglement of interests that helps explain the poor state of regulatory affairs on Wall Street.
And it’s something that Richard Shelby — the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee — wants to change.
“It’s an obvious conflict of interest. It reaches back to the 1913 act” that created the Fed, Shelby told HuffPost. “It’s basically a case where the banks are choosing or having a big voice in choosing their regulator. It’s unheard of. That is not widely known to the American people. It will be.”
It’s the kind of situation, Shelby said, that doesn’t withstand public scrutiny. “It’s something I’m very interested in changing, and I think the more it is illuminated, when people see what it is, they will see because it goes right back to the failure of the Federal Reserve to be a first-class regulator, and the role they played in the debacle,” he said.
Full Story: GOP Sen. Shelby: Reorganize The Fed.
Consumer Financial Protection Act Passed By House Committee
The proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency took another step forward Thursday in the House, moving out of the Financial Services Committee — albeit a bit weaker — on its way toward the floor.
CFPA, which would be the first federal regulatory agency devoted solely to consumer financial protection, passed the committee 39 to 29. All but one of the assembled committee Republicans and two Democrats voted against the consumer protection bill, despite a series of compromises that included exemptions for favored industries and limits on tougher state regulation.
During the four days worth of amendments considered by the committee, Republicans consistently decried the proposed independent consumer watchdog, echoing bank lobbyists, as a threat to the overall “safety and soundness” of the financial services industry. Those complaints were undercut — and the bill given a boost — when top banks announced huge bonus payouts during the markup.
Full Story: Consumer Financial Protection Act Passed By House Committee.
Hate Crimes Bill Approved By Congress, Extends Protection To Gays
Physical attacks on people based on their sexual orientation will join the list of federal hate crimes in a major expansion of the civil rights-era law Congress approved Thursday and sent to President Barack Obama.
A priority of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., that had been on the congressional agenda for a decade, the measure expands current law to include crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The measure is named for Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student murdered 11 years ago.
To assure its passage after years of frustrated efforts, Democratic supporters attached the measure to a must-pass $680 billion defense policy bill the Senate approved 68-29. The House passed the defense bill earlier this month.
Many Republicans, normally staunch supporters of defense bills, voted against the bill because of the hate crimes provision. All the no votes were Republicans except for Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who supported the hate crimes provision but opposes what he says is the open-ended military commitment in Afghanistan.
Full Story: Hate Crimes Bill Approved By Congress, Extends Protection To Gays.
Steep Decline In Americans’ Belief In Global Warming
Americans seem to be cooling toward global warming.
Just 57 percent think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years, a new poll says. And the share of people who believe pollution caused by humans is causing temperatures to rise has also taken a dip, even as the U.S. and world forums gear up for possible action against climate change.
In a poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released Thursday, the number of people saying there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth has gotten warmer over the past few decades is down from 71 percent in April of last year and from 77 percent when Pew started asking the question in 2006. The number of people who see the situation as a serious problem also has declined.
The steepest drop has occurred during the past year, as Congress and the Obama administration have taken steps to control heat-trapping emissions for the first time and international negotiations for a new treaty to slow global warming have been under way. At the same time, there has been mounting scientific evidence of climate change – from melting ice caps to the world’s oceans hitting the highest monthly recorded temperatures this summer.
Full Story: Steep Decline In Americans’ Belief In Global Warming.
Gibbs Responds to Cheney: He ‘Seems To Have Forgotten His Role In The Last Seven Years Of Afghanistan’
Last night in a speech to the Center for Security Policy, Vice President Cheney attacked President Obama for “dithering” on whether to add more troops to Afghanistan. “[T]he success of our mission in Afghanistan is not only essential, it is entirely achievable with enough troops and enough political courage,” said Cheney.
As ThinkProgress has pointed out, in 2008, the Bush administration rejected the request for 30,000 more troops from Gen. David D. McKiernan, then the top U.S. commander in Kabul. “There was a saying when I got there: If you’re in Iraq and you need something, you ask for it,” McKiernan said in an interview after he was fired. “If you’re in Afghanistan and you need it, you figure out how to do without it.”
In today’s White House press briefing, Gibbs referenced McKiernan’s troop request to hit back on the emptiness of Cheney’s accusations:
GARRETT: So that was a specific reference to McKiernan’s request that said that specific troop request was not taken seriously.
GIBBS: It wasn’t — Whether it was taken seriously or not, it wasn’t filled. I assume since it wasn’t filled, it was not taken seriously. Maybe they filled unserious ones and didn’t fill serious ones. That’s a fabulous question for the Vice President, who seems to have forgotten his role in the last seven years of Afghanistan.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) humbles Hudson Institute dilettante over health care bankruptcies
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) humbles Hudson Institute dilettante over health care bankruptcies
This during a senate Judiciary sub-committee hearing on bankruptcies driven by catastrophic medical expenses
Full Story: YouTube – Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) humbles Hudson Institute dilettante over health care bankruptcies.
Why Wall Street Reform is Stuck in Reverse
Robert Reich
At a conference in London, a Goldman Sachs international adviser, Brian Griffiths, praised inequality. As his company was putting aside $16.7 billion for compensation and benefits in the first nine months of 2009, up 46 percent from a year earlier, Griffiths told us not to worry. “We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all,” he said.
Eight months ago it looked as if Wall Street was in store for strong financial regulation — oversight of derivative trading, pay linked to long-term performance, much higher capital requirements, an end to conflicts of interest (i.e. credit rating agencies being paid by the very companies whose securities they’re rating), and even resurrection of the Glass-Steagall Act separating commercial from investment banking.
Today, Congress is struggling to produce the tiniest shards of regulation that would at least give the appearance of doing something to rein in the Street.
Full Story: Robert Reich’s Blog: Why Wall Street Reform is Stuck in Reverse.
How the Nation’s Only State-Owned Bank Became the Envy of Wall Street
The Bank of North Dakota is the only state-owned bank in America—what Republicans might call an idiosyncratic bastion of socialism. It also earned a record profit last year even as its private-sector corollaries lost billions. To be sure, it owes some of its unusual success to North Dakota’s well-insulated economy, which is heavy on agricultural staples and light on housing speculation. But that hasn’t stopped out-of-state politicos from beating a path to chilly Bismarck in search of advice. Could opening state-owned banks across America get us out of the financial crisis? It certainly might help, says Ellen Brown, author of the book, Web of Debt, who writes that the Bank of North Dakota, with its $4 billion under management, has avoided the credit freeze by “creating its own credit, leading the nation in establishing state economic sovereignty.” Mother Jones spoke with the Bank of North Dakota’s president, Eric Hardmeyer.
Mother Jones: How was the bank formed?
Full Story: How the Nation’s Only State-Owned Bank Became the Envy of Wall Street | Mother Jones.
House Targets Insurers on Antitrust, Public Option
The House prepared to attack health insurers on two fronts, with Democrats seeking to pass the strongest form of a U.S. government-run insurance plan and a panel voting to strip the industry’s antitrust exemption.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that a measure banning insurers from engaging in price fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation will be added to broader legislation overhauling the health-care system. The House Judiciary Committee voted 20-9 yesterday to approve the measure.
At the same time, Democratic leaders said they can win passage for a government program to compete with private insurers and drive down costs, one of the most contentious issues dividing Democrats and Republicans.
Full Story: House Targets Insurers on Antitrust, Public Option (Update1) – Bloomberg.com.
After Twitter shuts down GOP accounts impersonating Dems, party complains of ‘free speech’ infringements.
After Twitter shuts down GOP accounts impersonating Dems, party complains of ‘free speech’ infringements.
fail-whale Twitter has shut down 33 fake accounts created by Connecticut Republicans meant to impersonate Democratic state representatives. According to the Hartford Advocate, the GOP scheme was designed “to send out posts under the Democrats’ names mocking the liberal tax-and-spend bastards.” Twitter strictly forbids impersonation “intended to mislead, confuse or deceive others” on its site. However, the state GOP chairman is now complaining that Republicans’ “free speech” rights are being violated:
“That’s unfortunate,” was state Republican Chairman Chris Healy’s response when told of Twitter, Inc.’s decision. “I’m not quite sure what the issue is, other than that the Democrats were successful in stopping free speech.”
OPS: After FOX won it’s case for the ability to LIE in ‘news’ broadcasts, Republican think they have a right to lie anytime anywhere.
The Republicans are so morally retarded that they sanctimoniously defend their right to lie and engage in identity theft.
Liberals Open Fire on Harry Reid
Liberal Advocacy Groups Say Majority Leader Will Lose His Reelection Bid if There’s No Public Option in Health Care Bill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is feeling the heat from his liberal colleagues to include a government-run health insurance plan, or “public option,” in the Senate health care bill.
Now, as Reid and other negotiators move closer to unveiling their health care plan, liberal advocacy groups are ratcheting up the pressure, saying they will run Reid out of Washington if he does not bring a public option to the Senate floor. With a tough re-election bid ahead of Reid next year, the liberal “Netroots” could potentially make good on their threat. Coming from a purple state, that puts Reid between a rock and a hard place — and has some local progressive activists at least somewhat worried.
One television ad pressuring Reid to support the public option is already out: The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) is running a spot for at least five days in Las Vegas called “Is Harry Reid Strong Enough?” Full Story: Liberals Open Fire on Harry Reid – CBS News.
Delta CEO blasts labor board
Delta Air Lines Inc. CEO Richard Anderson blasted the labor board that oversees airline union elections Thursday claiming they were injecting politics into the voting process at the world’s largest carrier.
During the Atlanta-based airline’s third-quarter conference call, Anderson criticized the National Mediation Board for delaying votes on union representation among certain Delta work groups, including flight attendants.
Union votes at Delta (NYSE: DAL), which was largely non-union when it merged last year with heavily unionized Northwest Airlines, are caught up in a bid by the AFL-CIO and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA to change the way union votes are conducted for companies, like airlines, subject to the Railway Labor Act of 1926.
Full Story: Delta CEO blasts labor board – Atlanta Business Chronicle:.
Grayson v. Broun on the Constitution
This is Rep. Alan Grayson and Rep. Paul Broun discussing a bill to deny funds to one specific named organization in a Science and Technology markup. Such a bill is known as ‘a bill of attainder’.
Full Story: YouTube – Grayson v. Broun on the Constitution.
Utah’s 4-day workweek brings some dividends
Closing Utah state offices on Fridays has delivered an unexpected bonus: a big saving on overtime pay.
New calculations show Utah saved $4.1 million in the first year of a government experiment with a four-day workweek.
State employees were eager to leave after the longer workday, and weren’t inclined to work an extra hour or two.
“They’re getting what they need to get done in 10 hours and going home,” said Angie Welling, spokeswoman for Gov. Gary Herbert.
“The state envisioned some energy savings, but that overtime number was not anticipated,” she said Wednesday.
Utah was the first state in the country to shut down most of its services on Fridays. Other states took notice. Hawaii tried a limited four-day week last fall, when a similar program was under way in Washington state. Lawmakers in at least two other states — West Virginia and Virginia — have also looked into adopting a four-day workweek.
Full Story: Utah’s 4-day workweek brings some dividends – Yahoo! News.
Fed proposes to police bank pay for 1st time
Trying to curb excessive risk taking which led to the financial crisis
The Federal Reserve for the first time would police banks’ pay policies to ensure they don’t encourage employees to take reckless gambles like those that contributed to the financial crisis, according to a proposal unveiled Thursday.
Unlike a Treasury plan to slash pay at certain companies that were bailed out with large sums of taxpayer money, the Fed proposal would cover thousands of banks, including many that never received a bailout.
The Fed would not actually set compensation. Instead, the central bank would review — and could veto — pay policies that could cause too much risk-taking by executives, traders or loan officers.
Full Story: Fed proposes to police bank pay for 1st time – U.S. business- msnbc.com.
OPS: More power for the Fed is not a good thing for our economy or Democracy
Ratigan Rants How Banks Reamed You Made Simple Will You Rise Up
Morning Meeting delivers. This genre of news comedy is incredibly rare and difficult to execute, live satire. Ratigan, Eliot Spitzer and comedian Sherrod Small play a game of credit rating theater. There is extreme truth in this little bit of comedic fiction, including the fact that absolutely nothing has changed. Pass this one to a friend. This clip is phenomenal.
Full Story: YouTube – Ratigan Rants How Banks Reamed You Made Simple Will You Rise Up.
Study Finds McCain Voters Lost Testosterone After Presidential Election
Young men who voted for John McCain lost more than a presidential election last November. A study says their testosterone level plummeted.
As polls closed on election night, researchers at Duke University and the University of Michigan had 183 men and women chew gum and spit into test tubes and analyzed their hormones.
Full Story: Study Finds McCain Voters Lost Testosterone After Presidential Election.
Grayson: Fox News Is “The Enemy Of America” (VIDEO)
Appearing on The Ed Show Wednesday night, outspoken Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson slammed both Fox News and the GOP, saying that “Fox News and their Republican collaborators are the enemy of America.”
When it comes to health care, education, even peace, Grayson insisted that the GOP and Fox News are on the wrong side of the issues. They are the enemies of “anything good for this country,” he said.
Grayson also seemed to agree with the White House’s recent effort to publicly confront the news network. “What you do with a bully is you confront the bully and the bully backs down,” Grayson told Ed Schultz. 99 percent of all Americans, he added, “have the good sense to ignore them.”
Full Story: Grayson: Fox News Is “The Enemy Of America” (VIDEO).
Junk Food Turns Rats Into Addicts
Junk food elicits addictive behavior in rats similar to the behaviors of rats addicted to heroin, a new study finds. Pleasure centers in the brains of rats addicted to high-fat, high-calorie diets became less responsive as the binging wore on, making the rats consume more and more food. The results, presented October 20 at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting, may help explain the changes in the brain that lead people to overeat.
Click here to find out more!
“This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neurobiological underpinnings,” says study coauthor Paul Johnson of the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla.
To see how junk food affects the brain’s natural reward system—the network of nerve cells that release feel-good chemicals—Johnson started at the grocery store. He loaded up on typical Western fare, including Ho Hos, sausage, pound cake, bacon and cheesecake. Johnson fed rats either a standard diet of high-nutrient, low-calorie chow, or unlimited amounts of the palatable junk food. Rats that ate the junk food soon developed compulsive eating habits and became obese. “They’re taking in twice the amount of calories as the control rats,” says Johnson’s coauthor Paul Kenny, also of Scripps.
Full Story: Junk Food Turns Rats Into Addicts – US News and World Report.
Is the Housing Market About to Get Even Uglier?
Despite some tentative signs of recovery, the U.S. housing market remains vulnerable to further price drops—especially in areas where large numbers of mortgages are headed toward foreclosure over the next few years.
The Wall Street Journal’s quarterly survey of housing-market data in 28 major metro areas shows sharp drops in the number of homes listed for sale across the country. But the potential supply of homes is far larger because banks are likely to acquire significant numbers of foreclosed homes in some areas, notably Las Vegas, Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix, Miami and other parts of Florida, and Sacramento, Calif., over the next few years.
Sales of those homes may depress prices further. By contrast, metro areas with relatively low foreclosure and mortgage-delinquency rates include Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Raleigh, N.C., and Portland, Ore., making them less vulnerable.
Full Story: Is the Housing Market About to Get Even Uglier? – WSJ.com.
Windows 7 Review: Everything You Need To Know About Microsoft’s Vista Upgrade
Windows 7 is out! But should we really be excited? Will the new Microsoft upgrade really be a step-up from the nightmare that was Vista?
We’ve got a complete review roundup below, with everything you need to know to decide for yourself whether to go Windows 7 or not.
Windows 7′s biggest improvement, critics agree, is that it stays out of your face: there are new options for organizing your desktop, files, and windows; fewer non-essential applications, and fewer annoying alerts that get in your way.
Gizmodo writes,
Windows 7 is the biggest step forward in usability since Windows 95. In fact, over half of what makes it better than Vista boils down to user interface improvements and enhancements, not so much actual new features.
Full Story: Windows 7 Review: Everything You Need To Know About Microsoft’s Vista Upgrade (PHOTOS, ROUNDUP).
Michigan Can’t Afford School Bus Safety Inspections, May Stop Service
State budget cuts have led Michigan to lay off all of its state school bus inspectors, which means that as soon as Nov. 2 schools that can’t pay for the inspections themselves may stop their bus services, reports Ron French of the Detroit News. The inspection program, which costs the state $1.4 million a year, is being eliminated in order to battle a $2.8 billion deficit. It is illegal to operate school buses without yearly inspections.
Nathan Rowen, director of transportation for the Lansing School District, expressed concern that his district would be unable to bus its roughly 4,500 students to and from school. “I could have the fleet out of business if they haven’t corrected [the law] yet,” he said, according to Scott Davis of the Lansing State Journal.
State Rep. Richard LeBlanc (D-Westland) suggested that the law be amended to make the safety inspections voluntary: “It’s not a good thing, but it’s a budget reality.” The inspector lay-offs, said LeBlanc, “really [do] point to the economic distress we’re in…[T]he money simply is not there.”
Full Story: Michigan Can’t Afford School Bus Safety Inspections, May Stop Service.
Franken’s Anti-Rape Amendment May Be Stripped By Senior Dem, Sources Say
Democrats FOR Rape
An amendment that would prevent the government from working with contractors who denied victims of assault the right to bring their case to court is in danger of being watered down or stripped entirely from a larger defense appropriations bill.
Multiple sources have told the Huffington Post that Sen. Dan Inouye, a longtime Democrat from Hawaii, is considering removing or altering the provision, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and passed by the Senate several weeks ago.
Inouye’s office, sources say, has been lobbied by defense contractors adamant that the language of the Franken amendment would leave them overly exposed to lawsuits and at constant risk of having contracts dry up. The Senate is considering taking out a provision known as the Title VII claim, which (if removed) would allow victims of assault or rape to bring suit against the individual perpetrator but not the contractor who employed him or her.
Full Story: Franken’s Anti-Rape Amendment May Be Stripped By Senior Dem, Sources Say.
Informant In Galleon Insider Trading Scandal REVEALED
The name of the informant who tipped off authorities to one of the largest insider trading cases in history has surfaced.
According to The New York Times, Roomy Khan, a former employee of the Galleon Group hedge fund, ratted out her former boss, Raj Rajaratnam, after authorities learned of illegal trades Khan was making.
Here’s the NYT on Khan:
She taped conversations with him and told prosecutors that she had provided inside information about Google and other stocks. She has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud and is working with law enforcement in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence, according to the criminal complaint.
Ms. Khan, who was identified by people close to the case, has a legal past that may present a hurdle for federal prosecutors. In a lawsuit settled last month, a housekeeper for Ms. Khan and her husband, Sakhawat, said they had violated minimum wage laws by paying her about $250 a week for 80 to 90 hours of work. The lawsuit was settled after a judge said the Khans had fabricated evidence.
Full Story: Roomy Khan: Informant In Galleon Insider Trading Scandal REVEALED.
Keith Olbermann Helps Raise $1.2 Million For Free Health Care Clinics
Because of an appeal during his special comment on health care, Keith Olbermann has helped raise $1.2 million for free health care clinics, resulting in new health fairs in Little Rock, Kansas City and New Orleans.
“I propose tonight one act with two purposes,” Olbermann said then. “I propose we, all of us, embrace the selfless individuals at the National Association of Free Clinics. You know them, they conducted the mass health care free clinic in Houston that served 1,500 people. I want a mass health care free clinic every week in the principle cities of the states of the six senators key to defeating a filibuster against health care reform in the Senate.”
Olbermann said he wanted “Sens. Lincoln and Pryor to see what health care poverty is really like in Little Rock….Sen. Baucus to see it in Butte….Sen. Ben Nelson to see it in Lincoln….Sen. Landrieu to see it in Baton Rouge…Sen. Reid to see it in Las Vegas.”
Full Story: Keith Olbermann Helps Raise $1.2 Million For Free Health Care Clinics.
Key Senate Dems May Rebuff Obama On Health Care
The Democrats’ control of a hefty majority in the Senate – plus the House – would suggest that President Barack Obama is within reach of overhauling the nation’s health care system this fall.
But the numbers mask a more complicated reality: Obama and Democratic leaders have modest leverage over several pivotal Senate Democrats who are more concerned about their next election or feel they have little to lose by opposing their party’s hierarchy.
One is still smarting from being forced to abandon next year’s election. Another had to leave the Democratic Party to stay in office. And some are from states that Obama lost badly last year.
These factors will limit the president’s ability to play his strongest card – an appeal for party loyalty and Democratic achievement – in trying to muster the 60 votes his allies will need this fall to overcome a Republican filibuster in the 100-member Senate.
Full Story: Key Senate Dems May Rebuff Obama On Health Care.
Thune Offers Weak And Hypocritical Argument For Voting Against Franken’s Anti-Rape Amendment
Earlier this month, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill to withhold defense contracts from companies which “restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” The amendment stemmed from a incident where Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her co-workers, then 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 prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration. (Jones was not an isolated case.)
Although Franken’s amendment passed, it was opposed by 30 Republican Senators and by lobbyists of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Blogger-activist Mike Stark interviewed several of the GOP Senators who voted against the amendment, including Sen. John Thune (R-SD). Thune explained his vote by arguing that he was simply defending the sanctity of using binding arbitration to settle disputes between labor and management:
Full Story: Think Progress » Thune Offers Weak And Hypocritical Argument For Voting Against Franken’s Anti-Rape Amendment.
Pickens says U.S. firms ‘entitled’ to Iraqi oil
Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens told Congress on Wednesday that U.S. energy companies are “entitled” to some of Iraq’s crude because of the large number of American troops that lost their lives fighting in the country and the U.S. taxpayer money spent in Iraq.
Boone, speaking to the newly formed Congressional Natural Gas Caucus, complained that the Iraqi government has awarded contracts to foreign companies, particularly Chinese firms, to develop Iraq’s vast reserves while American companies have mostly been shut out.
“They’re opening them (oil fields) up to other companies all over the world … We’re entitled to it,” Pickens said of Iraq’s oil. “Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars.”
Full Story: Pickens says U.S. firms ‘entitled’ to Iraqi oil | Markets | Reuters.
What “controlling the media” really means
Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com
The same media whining over criticisms of Fox was happy to be bullied and controlled by the Bush administration.
Hypocrisy is far too common a feature of our political culture to comprehensively chronicle, particularly when there is a change of party control and each side starts doing exactly that to which they spent the last several years vociferously objecting; see here for a vivid example of that dynamic, from a new Pew poll released today:
The belief that the press should keep political leaders from doing things that should not be done often depends on who those political leaders are, or more specifically, which party controls the White House. Currently, in the midst of the Obama administration, two-thirds of Republicans (65%) support the so-called “watchdog role” for the press, compared with 55% of Democrats. But last year, while Bush was still in office, only 44% of Republicans felt it was good that press criticism keeps political leaders honest, and Democrats were much more pro watchdog (71% supported press criticism). This partisan pattern has existed since the question was first asked by Pew Research in 1985.
With hypocrisy that pervasive, who could ever hope to take note of all of it? Still, the complaints from America’s Right — and especially former Bush officials — that the Obama administration is attempting to ”control the media,” all because the White House criticizes Fox News, is in a class of hypocrisy all by itself. That those petulant complaints are being amplified by a virtually unanimous press corps — “it’s Nixonian!” is their leading group-think cliché — makes it all the more intolerable.
Full Story: Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.
Six Reasons Why America Must Get Out of the WTO Now
The WTO is Against American Interests; Violating our Sovereign Rights and Constitution.
1. The WTO will have the same status as the UN, IMF, and World Bank.
Article VIII of the Agreement (p.5) states the WTO “shall have legal personality and shall be accorded by each of its members such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the exercise of its functions.” The existing GATT organization will disappear.
2. Under WTO, Congress agrees to change US laws to meet WTO obligations.
Article XVI (P. 10) states: “Each Member shall ensure the conformity of its laws, regulations, and administrative procedures with its obligations as provided in the annexed Agreements.”
Full Story: Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
U.S. Joins Ranks of Failed States
Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury
The U.S. has every characteristic of a failed state.
The U.S. government’s current operating budget is dependent on foreign financing and money creation.
Costs are out of control, and priorities are skewed in the interest of rich organized interest groups at the expense of the vast majority of citizens. For example, war at all cost — which enriches the armaments industry, the officer corps and the financial firms that handle the war’s financing — takes precedence over the needs of American citizens. There is no money to provide the uninsured with health care, but Pentagon officials have told the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House that every gallon of gasoline delivered to U.S. troops in Afghanistan costs American taxpayers $400.
“It is a number that we were not aware of, and it is worrisome,” said Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the subcommittee.
Full Story: Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Take Action on Oct. 24: Join One of the Largest Global Protests in the Fight Against Climate Change
On Oct. 24, tens of thousands of people will be in the streets and on mountains, rivers and glaciers around the world demanding action to reduce CO2 emissions.
What started out a couple of years ago as a idea promoted by author/climate-change activist Bill McKibben and a few students at Vermont’s Middlebury College has morphed into the biggest environmental, and possibly the most extensive worldwide protest, ever.
On Oct. 24, tens of thousands of people will be in the streets and on mountains, rivers and glaciers around the world demanding action to reduce CO2 emissions to 350 parts per million (ppm).
Full Story: Take Action on Oct. 24: Join One of the Largest Global Protests in the Fight Against Climate Change
Zooming In on the Year’s Biggest Hoax
Robert Scheer
Who are these people? I am not referring to the pathetic parents of “Balloon Boy,” whose fake drama I have been unable to escape while on the treadmill this week, thanks to my gym’s insistence on tuning its flat-screen TVs to Wolf Blitzer’s nonstop self-parody.
The Colorado incident was significant only in the tawdriness of those who perpetrated the made-for-TV scam and their allies in the mindless media who covered this sham “reality” so relentlessly. But even so, it was enough to push aside most consideration of the true hoax reported last week with far less fervor: the obscene rewards that Wall Street bankers bestowed upon themselves for ripping off our economy.
The people I want to know more about are the superrich who expect to be rewarded for their failures, like the folks at Goldman Sachs who will receive $16.71 billion in bonuses—an average of $530,000 per employee—this year after their company did as much as any to bring the world economy to the brink of disaster.
Full Story: Truthdig – Reports – Zooming In on the Year’s Biggest Hoax.
A Corporate Monster v. “The Vermonster”
Jim Hightower
Where are those lawsuit abuse groups when you really need them?
Chance are that you’ve seen ads, letters-to-the-editor, op-ed pieces and other materials put out by outfits with such civic-sounding names on Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. By whatever name, the message is always the same, usually delivered in a sort of urgent, basso profundo voice saying something like this: “Bloodsucking lawyers are constantly filing frivolous lawsuits against beleaguered corporations. Stop these lawyers and their loser clients — demand that your lawmakers cut them off from the courthouse.”
Hmmmm. Stop consumers from bullying big business — now there’s an improbable populist cause if I ever heard one! Who are these “citizens” who’ve formed such noisy lawsuit abuse groups?
Well, they’re just neighbors, we’re told by the groups. Yeah, assuming you have a neighbor named Philip Morris. In the mid-’90s, this tobacco giant was still fighting off class-action lawsuits from hundreds of thousands of Americans who’d been addicted to, sickened and killed by the corporation’s murderous products. Unable to win in court, Philip Morris and its corporate allies secretly launched a nationwide campaign to rig the rules of judicial access in their favor. Philip Morris itself put up $16 million in 1995 to hire a PR firm to create faux “grassroots” fronts in every state under the banner of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.
Full Story: A Corporate Monster v. “The Vermonster” by Jim Hightower on Creators.com – A Syndicate Of Talent.
Congressman Grayson Wins Another Round
John Nichols, The Nation
Florida Congressman Alan Grayson keeps provoking congressional Republicans and their media allies with fact-based challenges to the lies being used to block health-care reform.
The insurance-industry stooges keep taking the bait.
And the truth about the high cost of delaying needed changes in America’s health-care delivery system keeps getting the attention it deserves.
Why is Grayson so effective?
Because, unlike too many other Democrats and mainstream Republicans, he refuses to be intimidated by the bullying tactics employed by the GOP’s “Party of ‘No’” caucus” and its accomplices.
No matter how desperately Republican in Congress and their amen corner in the media may try to the censor the dissident Democrat, Grayson is reminding America about the trail of dead left by insurance-company greed and political neglect.
Full Story: Congressman Grayson Wins Another Round.
Rape Victim’s Choice: Risk AIDS or Health Insurance?
Christina Turner feared that she might have been sexually assaulted after two men slipped her a knockout drug. She thought she was taking proper precautions when her doctor prescribed a month’s worth of anti-AIDS medicine.
Only later did she learn that she had made herself all but uninsurable.
Turner had let the men buy her drinks at a bar in Fort Lauderdale. The next thing she knew, she said, she was lying on a roadside with cuts and bruises that indicated she had been raped. She never developed an HIV infection. But months later, when she lost her health insurance and sought new coverage, she ran into a problem.
Turner, 45, who used to be a health insurance underwriter herself, said the insurance companies examined her health records. Even after she explained the assault, the insurers would not sell her a policy because the HIV medication raised too many health questions. They told her they might reconsider in three or more years if she could prove that she was still AIDS-free.
Full Story: Rape Victim’s Choice: Risk AIDS or Health Insurance?.
Derivatives Bill Amended To Let Big Banks Keep Some Contracts Secret
The House Agriculture Committee approved legislation Wednesday beefing up regulation of the kind of opaque derivatives many blame for causing the financial crisis, but while proponents celebrate, critics say the bill exempts some transactions involving the very institutions — big banks — most responsible for the collapse.
Over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives — essentially privately-negotiated derivatives contracts — aren’t traded on exchanges nor do they pass through clearinghouses. These contracts, which can act either as insurance (to transfer risk) or as a simple bet (like what many say brought down AIG), have been blamed for accelerating what was a credit crisis into a full-blown financial crisis and subsequent recession. They brought down the likes of AIG and the Wall Street investment houses Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.
There’s been a big push by Democrats in Congress, reform advocates and the Obama administration to bring federal regulation to these deals. At the very least, advocates wants these contracts to go through clearinghouses or be traded on exchanges in order to make their terms public.
Full Story: Derivatives Bill Amended To Let Big Banks Keep Some Contracts Secret.
15 Things Every American Can Do Right Now”
Michael Moore’s Action Plan:
Friends,
It’s the #1 question I’m constantly asked after people see my movie: “OK — so NOW what can I DO?!”
You want something to do? Well, you’ve come to the right place! ‘Cause I got 15 things you and I can do right now to fight back and try to fix this very broken system.
Here they are:
FIVE THINGS WE DEMAND THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS DO IMMEDIATELY:
1. Declare a moratorium on all home evictions. Not one more family should be thrown out of their home. The banks must adjust their monthly mortgage payments to be in line with what people’s homes are now truly worth — and what they can afford. Also, it must be stated by law: If you lose your job, you cannot be tossed out of your home.
2. Congress must join the civilized world and expand Medicare For All Americans. A single, nonprofit source must run a universal health care system that covers everyone. Medical bills are now the #1 cause of bankruptcies and evictions in this country. Medicare For All will end this misery. The bill to make this happen is called H.R. 3200. You must call AND write your members of Congress and demand its passage, no compromises allowed.
3. Demand publicly-funded elections and a prohibition on elected officials leaving office and becoming lobbyists. Yes, those very members of Congress who solicit and receive millions of dollars from wealthy interests must vote to remove ALL money from our electoral and legislative process. Tell your members of Congress they must support campaign finance bill H.R.1826.
Full Story: “Michael Moore’s Action Plan: 15 Things Every American Can Do Right Now” | MichaelMoore.com.
Watchdogs Call GOP Amendment To Consumer Bill A ‘Direct Conflict of Interest’
Two Washington watchdog groups are calling out a California Republican House member for his amendment to consumer protection legislation as a “direct conflict of interest.”
Rep. John Campbell, whose official congressional website touts his work in the auto industry for more than 25 years, introduced an amendment to the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009 that would exclude car dealerships from oversight as outlined in the bill — including six tenants that paid Campbell between $600,000 and $6 million last year in rent, according to the organizations, which cite the congressman’s personal financial disclosure forms.
The relationship with the auto dealing industry goes even deeper, say the organizations, which are Common Cause and Public Campaign. Campbell has taken more than $170,000 in campaign contributions from auto dealers during his congressional career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Full Story: On The Hill: Watchdogs Call GOP Amendment To Consumer Bill A ‘Direct Conflict of Interest’.
Obamacare Targets Entitlements
Meeting with the Washington Post’s editorial staff on January 16, President-elect Obama pledged to reform entitlements saying the process would begin straightaway by convening a “fiscal responsibility summit” before delivering his first budget to Congress.
“What we have done is kicked this can down the road. We are now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick it any further,” he said. “We have to signal seriousness in this by making sure some of the hard decisions are made under my watch, not someone else’s.”
Key, he said, is reigning in entitlement costs by making “very difficult choices and….sacrifice(s)….Social Security, we can solve. The big problem is Medicare (and, of course, Medicaid covering 60 million in 2005), which (are) unsustainable.”
In a major April 14 Georgetown University speech, he again highlighted the problem saying cutting health care costs and “restoring fiscal discipline” are two of the top “pillars” of his agenda.
Full Story: SteveLendmanBlog: Obamacare Targets Entitlements.
BF Comment kevin3g:
#1 This policy of fiscal discipline will not extend to the military apparatus or the bank bailouts, of course. The future of the republic depends entirely on limiting health care delivery to kids, and letting old people slip into destitution. Military suppliers and Wall Street MUST have their tribute, even at the expense of everyone else. When you’re selling your jewelery on ebay to pay for cancer treatments (someone told me she’s literally doing this) you can take comfort in the soaring stock market. Hey, the economy is in recovery even if YOU don’t have a job or life saving chemo, and that’s what counts.
Swine Flu Cases Overestimated?
If you’ve been diagnosed “probable” or “presumed” 2009 H1N1 or “swine flu” in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn’t have H1N1 flu.
In fact, you probably didn’t have flu at all. That’s according to state-by-state test results obtained in a three-month-long CBS News investigation.
The ramifications of this finding are important. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Britain’s National Health Service, once you have H1N1 flu, you’re immune from future outbreaks of the same virus. Those who think they’ve had H1N1 flu — but haven’t — might mistakenly presume they’re immune. As a result, they might skip taking a vaccine that could help them, and expose themselves to others with H1N1 flu under the mistaken belief they won’t catch it. Parents might not keep sick children home from school, mistakenly believing they’ve already had H1N1 flu.
Full Story: Swine Flu Cases Overestimated? – CBS News.
Ford workers oppose UAW demand for concessions
The UAW, which granted Ford $500 million in concessions last March, has returned to demand that 41,000 workers accept additional givebacks in line with those the UAW imposed on workers at General Motors and Chrysler.
Forty percent of Ford workers opposed the contract revisions in March, with several locals in Michigan and Ohio rejecting it outright. This was particularly significant because of the non-stop threats by company officials, the White House and the media that rejection of the contract could lead to the collapse of Ford, resulting in tens of thousands of layoffs, and the sabotage of the government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler.
Full Story: All Over the Board: Ford workers oppose UAW demand for concessions.
Our Choice: Control Carbon or Be Cooked
I never much liked the idea of arms control. During the Cold War, we managed our nuclear arsenals rather than reduced them. We treated our nukes like huge, dangerous animals. We restricted their movements but gave them ample care and feeding. Until recently, getting rid of the animals altogether wasn’t part of the political agenda. After all, our leaders believed that these beasts were useful. They scared away the covetous neighbors.
We have a similar approach to our production of carbon emissions, which are quickly raising the temperature of our planetary home. We get excited about a few new windmills, the latest type of electric car, or a more energy-efficient refrigerator. But this is just tinkering around the edges. Our leaders are willing to control our fossil fuel economy but not to embark on a serious program to disarm it. After all, we believe that our huge, carbon-belching beasts—the coal-fired plants, the SUVs—are useful. They keep our economies strong.
But as long as we maintain our carbon control approach we will be, literally, cooked.
The latest sobering study, from the United Nations Environment Program, argues that even if the international community enacts every climate policy proposed at this point, global temperatures will rise 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century. That’s nearly twice the temperature hike that scientists predict will spell irreversible climate chaos.
Full Story: Our Choice: Control Carbon or Be Cooked | CommonDreams.org.
US Health Insurers Up the Ante
By Robert Parry
The chutzpah shown by the U.S. health insurance industry in taking aim at the weakest reform bill in Congress – the one approved by the Senate Finance Committee – reflects the insurers’ sense that they have beaten back other proposals that might have represented significant threats.
Not only was a national single-payer approach never allowed on the table – since it would have been the death knell for the private industry – but even the most “robust” public-option bills contain major concessions to the insurers, including sharp limits on who could qualify for a government-run program and delays on when the new program might take effect.
Perhaps the most striking passage in the House Ways and Means Committee’s 1,018-page bill – regarded as one of the most liberal – is the definition of “Y1,” year one when an insurance “exchange” with a public option would become available to individuals and small businesses
Full Story: Consortiumnews.com.
The 350 Movement :: Day of Action on October 24
From Mt. Everest to the Maldives, people worldwide are turning an arcane number into a movement for a stable climate. Bill McKibben asks: Will you join
Let’s say you occasionally despair for the future of the planet. In that case, the place you need to be this week is the website for 350.org.
Every few minutes, something new arrives at our headquarters, where young people hunched over laptops do their best to keep up with the pace. News that activists in Afghanistan—Afghanistan—have organized a rally for our big day of action on October 24. They’ll assemble on a hillside 20 kilometers from Kabul to write a huge message in the sand: “Let Us Live: 350.”
Or news that there’s all of a sudden a 350 website in Farsi to help organize the rallies taking shape across Iran. Or maybe a short story exactly 350 words long from the great writer Barry Lopez. Or the news flash that the World Council of Churches has endorsed the 350 target, and is urging its 650 million members to ring their bells 350 times on October 24. Or…
Full Story: Bill McKibben :: The 350 Movement :: Day of Action on October 24.
Pentagon used psychological operation on US public, documents show
Figure in Bush propaganda operation remains Pentagon spokesman
In Part I of this series, Raw Story revealed that Bryan Whitman, the current deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations, was an active senior participant in a Bush administration covert Pentagon program that used retired military analysts to generate positive wartime news coverage.
A months-long review of documents and interviews with Pentagon personnel has revealed that the Bush Administration’s military analyst program — aimed at selling the Iraq war to the American people — operated through a secretive collaboration between the Defense Department’s press and community relations offices.
Raw Story has also uncovered evidence that directly ties the activities undertaken in the military analyst program to an official US military document’s definition of psychological operations — propaganda that is only supposed to be directed toward foreign audiences.
Full Story: Pentagon used psychological operation on US public, documents show | Raw Story.
New Shockwaves From Courts and Accounting Board
Judges Start Nixing Foreclosures
The Next Financial Crisis Hits Wall Street, as Judges Start Nixing Foreclosures
The financial tsunami unleashed by Wall Street’s esurient alchemy of spinning toxic home mortgages into triple-A bonds, a process known as securitization, has set off its second round of financial tremors.
After leaving mortgage investors, bank shareholders, and pension fiduciaries awash in losses and a large chunk of Wall Street feeding at the public trough, the full threat of this vast securitization machine and its unseen masters who push the levers behind a tightly drawn curtain is playing out in courtrooms across America.
Three plain talking judges, in state courts in Massachusetts and Kansas, and a Federal Court in Ohio, have drilled down to the “straw man” aspect of securitization. The judges’ decisions have raised serious questions as to the legality of hundreds of thousands of foreclosures that have transpired as well as the legal standing of the subsequent purchasers of those homes, who are more and more frequently the Wall Street banks themselves.
Adding to the chaos, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has made rule changes that will force hundreds of billions of dollars of these securitizations back onto the Wall Street banks balance sheets, necessitating the need to raise capital just as the unseemly courtroom dramas are playing out.
Full Story: Pam Martens: Judges Start Nixing Foreclosures.
Finland becomes the first country to make broadband a legal right
Finland, the place that I’ve been calling home since July 2007, has just become the first country in the world to make broadband a legal right. Here is what YLE (think of them like the Finnish BBC) had to say on the subject:
Starting next July, every person in Finland will have the right to a one-megabit broadband connection, says the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Finland is the world’s first country to create laws guaranteeing broadband access.
The government had already decided to make a 100 Mb broadband connection a legal right by the end of 2015. On Wednesday, the Ministry announced the new goal as an intermediary step.
Some variation will be allowed, if connectivity can be arranged through mobile phone networks.
Everyone has a right to broadband. That’s just … awesome. While America is still fucking around trying to actually define the term broadband, and while France is rolling out a law that kicks you off the internet after downloading just a few mp3 files, Finland of all places makes broadband something you never have to worry about for the rest of your life.
[Via: @ylenews]
Update: This story was picked up by TechCrunch and while scrolling through the comments in disgust at how much people hate socialism, a useful nugget of information was left by David Bauer. He said: “Switzerland has introduced broadband access to everyone back in 2007″, so I did some research and it turns out that in September of 2006, not 2007, the Swiss Office of Communications declared that universal access to broadband will become a legal right starting January 1, 2008. Broadband, as defined by the Swiss, is 600 kbps down and 100 kbps up. Sorry Finland, but you’re not the first.
Full Story: Finland becomes the first country to make broadband a legal right.
Setback for US crackdown on oil speculation
Commodity regulator raises doubts over reforms
US plans for an aggressive crackdown on energy speculation are in danger of unravelling, with leaders at the US commodity regulator raising doubts about proposed reforms.
Two of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s five commissioners have voiced worries that proposals to cap investors’ holdings in oil and commodities futures could drive trading from US exchanges.
Full Story: FT.com / Commodities – Setback for US crackdown on oil speculation.
Dollar drops through $1.50 against euro
US currency at weakest level in 14 months
The dollar fell through $1.50 against the euro for the first time in 14 months on Wednesday as optimism over the prospects for global growth continued to weigh on the US currency.
The dollar dropped to a low of $1.5017 against the euro in afternoon trading in London, its weakest level since August 11 2008.
Full Story: FT.com / Currencies – Dollar drops through $1.50 against euro.
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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. 
