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Saturday, August 22, 2009

2.DeMint And Bachmann Call On States To Collectively Fight ObamaCare If Passed

Here's another fun detail from last night's Americans For Prosperity teletown hall, which featured Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Both politicians said that if a health care bill passes, it should be actively fought and resisted through a collective effort of conservative governors.
A caller asked DeMint what the states could do in order to stop unconstitutional action by the federal government on health care. DeMint replied, "I think the key to pushing back against the federal government is some governors and state legislators who champion individual freedom."
DeMint said he would love to see states go to court to invoke the Tenth Amendment: "If we had some states come together and say the only way to save this country is to push back." He also added: "I think you'll see some states say no more, we're not going down with the federal government."
A few minutes later, Bachmann commented on this possibility as well, noting that the efforts of some Republican governors to reject stimulus money failed in large part because they were too isolated from one another. A collective action, on the other hand, would stand a much greater chance of success.
"We'd have to see some fairly revolutionary action taken by the these states, and it's question of whether these governors would do that," said Bachmann. She added that she doesn't want to see it actually come to that -- the key is for conservatives to organize now and stop a government takeover of health care from occurring in the first place. LinkHere

Charlie Crist: I Asked God To Keep Hurricanes Away From Florida

Unfrikingbelievable
Are You There, God? It's Me, Charlie
Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) is really taking his appeals to the state's religious right to a new level, in his campaign for Senate.
Town Hall reports that Crist was speaking to a group of real estate agents, and credited prayer notes in the Western Wall in Jerusalem with preventing his state from being hit by hurricanes during his time as governor.
Crist told of how he visited the Wall in 2007, and placed a note saying: "Dear God, please protect our Florida from storms and other difficulties. Charlie."
"Time goes on -- May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December -- no hurricanes," Crist said. "Thank God."
Crist has also had other people place notes in the Wall in 2008 and 2009.
Crist made it clear that's he's not personally taking credit for Florida having been spared from hurricanes. "I give that to God," Crist said. "But it's nice." LinkHere

Exclusive: Karl Rove had inside information about probe

Lawyer declines to say how he found out accuser didn’t talk to Justice Department
Karl Rove’s latest attempt to proclaim his innocence and demand apologies from those who have accused him of being behind the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman may backfire if it turns out that Rove was improperly receiving inside information after leaving his position as Deputy White House Chief of Staff.
“For more than two years,” Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal, “House Judiciary Committee Democrats and the New York Times editorial board have argued that I personally arranged for Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to be prosecuted in 2004 for corruption and ordered the removal of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006 for failing to investigate Democrats. The Washington Post editorial board also echoed this last charge. The Times and the Post have published a combined 18 editorials on these issues, which were also catnip to House Judiciary Committee Democrats.”
Rove then goes on to attack Dana Jill Simpson, an Alabama Republican lawyer turned whistleblower who has linked him to the Siegelman prosecution. In doing so, however, he raises serious questions of impropriety by revealing that he has received confidential information from both the House Judiciary Committee and the Department of Justice. LinkHere

Report Reveals Harrowing New Details About US Treatment Of Detainees

Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions
A long-awaited report on post-9/11 interrogation tactics will reveal harrowing new details about treatment of suspected terrorists.
A long-suppressed report by the Central Intelligence Agency's inspector general to be released next week reveals that CIA interrogators staged mock executions as part of the agency's post-9/11 program to detain and question terror suspects, NEWSWEEK has learned. LinkHere

Friday, August 21, 2009

"Outrageous and Disgusting".

Freed Lockerbie bomber returns to cheering crowds in Libya, outraging victims' relatives
Source: Newser
Obama warned Libya not to give him a hero's welcome.
Despite the warning, thousands of young men were on hand at a Tripoli airport where al-Megrahi's plane touched down. Some threw flower petals as he stepped from the plane. He wore a a dark suit and a burgundy tie and appeared visibly tired.
He was accompanied by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, who was dressed in a traditional white robe and golden embroidered vest. The son pledged last year to bring al-Megrahi home and raised his hand victoriously to the crowd as he exited the plane. They then sped off in a convoy of white sedans.
...
Al-Megrahi's release disgusted many victims' relatives.
"You get that lump in your throat and you feel like you're going to throw up," said Norma Maslowski, of Haddonfield, New Jersey, whose 30-year-old daughter, Diane, died in the attack.
"This isn't about compassionate release. This is part of give-Gadhafi-what-he-wants-so-we-can-have-the-oil," said Susan Cohen, of Cape May Court House, New Jersey. Her 20-year-old daughter, Theodora, was killed.
.....
Gadhafi engineered a rapprochement with his former critics following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He renounced terrorism, dismantled Libya's secret nuclear program, accepted his government's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the victims' families.
Western energy companies _ including Britain's BP PLC _ have moved into Libya in an effort to tap the country's vast oil and gas wealth. LinkHere

Lockerbie Bomber's Release Linked To Trade Deal With Britain, Claims Qaddafi's Son
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif, claimed the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, was linked to trade deals between Britain and Libya.
Saif al Islam Gaddafi said that Megrahi’s return was a “victory” for all Libyans.
He made the claims in a television interview for Libyan television recorded as he accompanied Megrahi on the flight back from Scotland to Libya on Thursday.
The claims were vehemently denied by the UK government.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “There is no deal. All decisions relating to Megrahi’s case have been exclusively for Scottish ministers, the Crown Office in Scotland and the Scottish judicial authorities.
“No deal has been made between the UK government and Libya in relation to Megrahi and any commercial interests in the country.”
The claims came as Megrahi said he would produce evidence proving his innocence before he dies.
In an interview with The Times, Megrahi said: My message to the British and Scottish communities is that I will put out the evidence and ask them to be the jury.” He refused to elaborate, or speculate about who was responisble for the deaths.
The comments came after President Obama condemned the welcome Megrahi received in Libya as 'highly objectionable'.
Mr Obama's chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, earlier denounced the scenes in the Libyan capital Tripoli when returned home as "outrageous and disgusting". LinkHere

4 soldiers charged with maltreatment of subordinates in Iraq

A Page out of the Bush Administrations Reign
Source: CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Four U.S. soldiers have been charged with cruelty and maltreatment of four subordinates in Iraq after a suicide investigation brought to light alleged wrongdoing, the military said Friday.
There is no confirmed evidence that the suicide — involving a fifth subordinate in the unit — was a result of any mistreatment, said Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, a spokesman for Multi-National Division-South, who added the military is still looking into that possibility.
Charges were preferred Wednesday against three sergeants and a specialist with the 13th Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Bliss, Texas, accusing them of engaging in “verbal abuse, physical punishment and ridicule of subordinates,” according to Olson. He described the physical punishment as falling into the category of “undue calisthenics.”
“Accusations of cruelty and maltreatment are taken very seriously, and we will investigate this isolated incident thoroughly,” said Brig. Gen. David Elicerio, deputy commanding general for Multi-National Division-South.
LinkHere
Mass Therapy for Depressed Soldiers
Worried about the high rates of depression and suicide, the Army is planning therapy for its 1.1 million soldiers. For many years I have been developing an approach for teaching college students (and my own therapy as well) that may fit the Army's problem exactly. I propose two basic causes of depression: Hidden emotions, and no secure bond with another person. These ideas lead to a practical self/other therapy for depression that might be effective for the Army. LinkHere
US Army Reduces Soldiers' Sentences For Iraqi Murders
FRANKFURT — The U.S. Army said Friday it had reduced the sentences of three soldiers convicted of murder in the execution-style slayings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees.
Master Sgt. John Hatley, sentenced to life in prison in April, will instead receive 40 years, the military told the Associated Press.
He will still receive a dishonorable discharge and be reduced to the rank of private.
Sgt. Michael Leahy and Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Mayo – sentenced respectively to life in prison in February and 35 years in March – had their sentences reduced to 20 years, the military said. They will also receive bad conduct discharges instead of dishonorable discharges.
The sentence reductions came after a standard review of the cases, the Army said.
The soldiers were all with the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division while in Iraq. The unit is now part of the Germany-based 172nd Infantry Brigade.
According to court proceedings over the last year, the four Iraqis were taken into custody in spring 2007 after an exchange of fire with Hatley's unit.
The Iraqis were taken to the unit's base although there wasn't enough evidence to hold them for attacking the unit. Later that night patrol members took the Iraqis to a remote area and shot them, dumping the bodies in a canal.
LinkHere
As vets await checks, VA workers get $24M bonuses
Source: Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Outside the Veterans Affairs Department, severely wounded veterans have faced financial hardship waiting for their first disability payment. Inside, money has been flowing in the form of $24 million in bonuses.
In scathing reports this week, the VA's inspector general said thousands of technology office employees at the VA received the bonuses over a two-year period, some under questionable circumstances. It also detailed abuses ranging from nepotism to an inappropriate relationship between two VA employees.
The inspector general accused one recently retired VA official of acting "as if she was given a blank checkbook" as awards and bonuses were distributed to employees of the Office of Information and Technology in 2007 and 2008. In some cases the justification for the bonuses was inadequate or questionable, the IG said.
The official, Jennifer S. Duncan, also engaged in nepotism and got $60,000 in bonuses herself, the IG said. In addition, managers improperly authorized college tuition payments for VA employees, some of whom were Duncan's family members and friends. That cost taxpayers nearly $140,000.
Separately, a technology office employee became involved in an "inappropriate personal relationship" with a high-level VA official. The technology office employee flew 22 times from Florida to Washington, where the VA official lived. That travel cost $37,000.
The details on the alleged improprieties were in two IG reports issued this week. VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said the agency was extremely concerned about the IG's findings and would pursue a thorough review.
"VA does not condone misconduct by its employees and will take the appropriate correction action for those who violate VA policy," Roberts said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
On Friday, Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said if the allegations are found to be true, individuals involved should lose their jobs, and legal action should be taken. LinkHere

Dem Rep: Obama Violating Law By Not Investigating Bush


Even as the issue of torture appears likely to burst back onto the public agenda next week -- thanks to the much anticipated release of an internal CIA report -- one of the most progressive voices in Congress is arguing that the Obama White House has a legal obligation to investigate the Bush torture legacy.
New York Congressman Jerry Nadler, a senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told the Huffington Post that he believed that President Obama would be breaking the law if he decided to oppose launching investigation into the authorization of torture.
"If they follow the law they have no choice," Nadler said in an interview this past weekend.
The logic, for Nadler, is straightforward. As a signatory of the convention against torture, and as a result of the anti-torture act of 1996, the United States government is obligated to investigate accusations of torture when they occur in its jurisdiction.
The alternative, Nadler said, "would be violating the law. They would be not upholding the law; they would be violating it."
Nadler said that a special prosecutor should handle the task, because some of the likely subjects of such an investigation worked in the Justice Department. "There is an inherent conflict interest," said Nadler," which is why you must appoint a special prosecutor. But, again, you have no choice because that's the law." LinkHere

Are we talking Political Interests or Public Interest on Health Care

Shelby says: defeating Obama on healthcare in GOP's political interest
Whatever Happened To WE THE PEOPLE????
It would be in the GOP's interest to see President Obama suffer politically by defeating the healthcare reform bill the president has pushed, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) acknowledged Thursday.
Shelby, during an appearance of Fox News Radio, concurred with host Brian Kilmeade's suggestion that it would open up opportunities for Republicans on issues to let Obama "go down with the healthcare ship."
"I think it's always in our interest to let anybody go down when we think they're philosophically wrong, and I believe he's totally wrong on this healthcare," Shelby said.
Democrats had pounced on suggestions by Republican lawmakers that defeating the bill would be to their political benefit. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) was most notably castigated for saying that defeating healthcare would be Obama's "Waterloo."
LinkHere
GOP Senators Call For NEW 75-80 VOTE SUPERFILIBUSTER Standard On Health Reform
In your friking dreams Hatch, You lost Hatch .... get over it.!!!!!
Source: Think Progress
Speaking on Fox News last night, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) claimed that health care reform should not happen because it doesn’t enjoy “bipartisan” support, adding that a bill cannot be bipartisan unless it garners “somewhere between 75 and 80 votes.”
Hatch is hardly the only conservative senator to float a 75-80 vote supermajority requirement for health reform. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is currently blocking attempts to fix the health care system, told the Washington Post that “e ought to be focusing on getting 80 votes.” Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) demanded “a bill that 75 or 80 senators can support.”
Hatch, Grassley, and Enzi all sang a very different tune when they were in the majority, however:
– Tax Cuts For The Rich: In May 2001, the Senate passed President Bush’s budget-breaking $1.35 trillion tax cuts with only 58 votes. Nevertheless, Hatch announced that he was “extremely proud of this bipartisan bill.” Grassley praised the tax cuts as “built upon bipartisanship,” and Enzi praised the Senate for passing the bill in a “bipartisan fashion.”
– Subsidies For Drug Companies: In November 2003, the Senate passed a prescription drug plan for seniors that was strongly backed by lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry with only 54 votes. Nevertheless, Grassley released a statement praising himself as the “lead Senate architect of the bipartisan legislation” creating this plan.
– Nuclear Option: Four years ago, when Senate Democrats filibustered seven of President Bush’s 205 nominees to the federal bench, conservatives deemed the filibuster unconstitutional and invented a tactic known as the “nuclear option” to ram the blocked nominees through the Senate. Hatch and Grassley were on the vanguard of the movement to block any attempt to require judges to be confirmed by a supermajority. Hatch described the filibuster as “unconstitutional,” and Grassley described judicial filibusters as “an abuse of our function under the Constitution.”
Now that conservatives make up only a tiny majority of the Senate, however, they’ve decided that even the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold isn’t a strong enough barrier to block much-needed reform. Instead, Hatch, Grassley, and Enzi now want to impose a 75-80 vote superfilibuster standard that will effectively kill any health care plan they don’t personally approve of.
LinkHere
Olympia Snowe reverses herself on co ops & admits public option not on the table
By John Amato Friday Aug 21, 2009 11:03amOlympia Snowe admitted to Andrea Mitchell that the Senate Finance Committee is not even considering a public option in their bill and never had it on the table. She said that the skyrocketing costs of health care are paramount to their bill which is why they are ogling co opts.
Mitchell: So bottom lines, Nancy Pelosi says that they will not produce anything that does not include a public option. Do you see any way that the gang of six will come out of the Finance Committee with a public option?
Snowe: No, I don't. We have not had the public option on the table. It's been co ops and addressing affordability and availability and plans through the exchange and those are the challenges we're wrestling with to insure that there are basic plans to offer Americans.
You can count on the gang of six of working on problems that don't include real solutions. This is a reversal on what she said to Andrea back in June when she said co ops were worthless.

Thousands From Canada And Europe Praise Their National Health Care On Global Message Board
Don't Forget Australia in there!!!!!!!!


Comment from one of your own dual citizen. Right On Dual Citizen!!!!!!!
I now live in Australia and a huge reason I love this country so much is that it is much more humane than the America I left 20 years ago.
Yesterday, global online advocacy network Avaaz.org attempted to inject a dose of reality into the heated debate over health care reform by launching an interactive database of user-submitted health care stories from Canada, the UK, and other countries with national health care systems. In a marked departure from the outrage, truth-distortion and detraction at recent town hall debates, contributors to the Avaaz message board have sounded surprisingly levelheaded.
LinkHere

Jon Stewart Interviews Originator Of "Death Panel" Lies

Betsy McCaughey Pt. 1
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 1
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Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorHealthcare Protests
Part 3
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 2
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Death Panel Myth Creator Betsy Mccaughey Resigns
Source: Washington Independent
Betsy McCaughey — an outspoken proponent of the myth that Democrats’ health care reform proposals will lead to the creation of “death panels,” as well as a former lieutenant governor of New York and adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute — has stepped down from her position as a director of Cantel Medical Corp., which bills itself as a “leading provider of infection prevention and control products in the healthcare market.”
From a press release:
CANTEL MEDICAL CORP. (NYSE: CMN – News) announced that on August 20, 2009 it received a letter of resignation from Ms. Elizabeth McCaughey as a director of the Company. Ms. McCaughey, who had served as a director since 2005, stated that she was resigning to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest during the national debate over healthcare reform.
McCaughey found herself the subject of widespread ridicule after an appearance on “The Daily Show” Thursday, during which host Jon Stewart aggressively challenged her positions on health care reform.
LinkHere
Hudson Institute "donors" list
Ag Processing Inc
American Crop Protection Association
American Cyanamid
Archer Daniels Midland
Cargill
Ciba-Geigy
ConAgra Foods
Conrad Black
CropLife International
DowElanco
DuPont
Eli Lilly and Company
Exxon Mobil
Fannie Mae
General Electric Fund
Heinz
IBM
Lilly Endowment
McDonald's
Merck
Microsoft
Monsanto
National Agricultural Chemical Association
Nichols-Dezenhall Communications Management Group
Novartis
PayPal
PhRMA
PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Procter & Gamble
Sunkist Growers
Syngenta Crop Protection
United Agri Products
Westfield Corporation

The Lion's Roar:

Ted Kennedy Moves to Save Healthcare
Ignore what you read in the papers, watch on cable television, or are force-fed by many of the pundits who don't know what is really happening. Here is the story: If Ted Kennedy votes on cloture, there is a high probability the Democrats have 60 votes. If Kennedy cannot vote, but resigns and is replaced by a new Democrat from Massachusetts, the Democrats probably have 60 votes.
Today the greatest senator who ever served performed one of the most valiant acts in the history of the Senate by asking Massachusetts to pass a law giving the governor the power to appoint his successor. This noble move will electrify and rally healthcare supporters across the nation and provide a gigantic booster shot to advocates of the public option.care
Virtually none of the pundits have gotten this right. There are two distinct issues: first, the fate of the public option, and second, the fate of the Democratic and Republican parties based on how they handle healthcare and other issues.
======
Now Ted Kennedy, the poker player with a mastery of Congress and the fighter for healthcare for the people, has made the master move at the perfect moment.
God bless this good and great man and senator. He has called everybody's bluff. He is putting the big card on the table.
Let the Republicans brag about their 62 percent negative rating on healthcare.
Let the Democratic capitulationists try to capitulate.
Let the president tell us where he stands.
The master has made his move, and it is a whole new ballgame. Now the fight begins in earnest.
Republicans (MA) balk at Kennedy proposal to change succession law
Source: Boston.com (Boston Globe)
Republicans balk at Kennedy proposal
Massachusetts Republicans spoke out today against a proposal by US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer, under which Kennedy's Senate seat would be filled by an appointment by Democratic Governor Deval Patrick until a special election could be held.
House Minority Leader Brad Jones of Reading said the proposal was based not on "what's best for the whole Commonwealth but based on what's best for one political party."
"The hypocrisy is astounding. If we had a Republican governor right now, would we be getting that same letter?" he said.
“Everybody feels for Senator Kennedy, but the laws shouldn’t be created to benefit particular individuals, it should be principled,” said Senate minority leader Richard Tisei of Wakefield.
LinkHere

Why the Right's Propaganda Works

As much as the Left criticizes Obama and the Democrats for bungling health-care reform and showing a lack of courage on a range of other issues "" all valid points "" the larger problem can be traced back to the Left's historic miscalculation on media. LinkHere

Why Holder and Obama have not fired the Bush Appointed, Rove-Vetted DOJ Attorneys

It's an unprecedented outrage. There are scores of attorneys-- partisan, engaging in serial prosecutorial misconduct, like the cases of Gov. Don Siegelman and Cyril Wecht, and these Bush-appointees are still on the job, doing damage to the US, to justice and innocent victims.
LinkHere
DOJ Prosecutorial Injustice & Misconduct-- We Need to Be Outraged
The Department of Justice was hijacked and used as a political weapon by a group of rogue prosecutors under the direction of Karl Rove in a manner never seen in this country.
LinkHere
Karl Rove's Non-Denials About the Siegelman Case Segue Into Lies in the Wall Street Journal
Karl Rove can't help himself. The more he talks the more he suggests that he's guilty as sin. His throw-crap-against-the-wall-and-hope-it-sticks piece in The Wall Street Journal constitutes his latest non-denial about corrupt dealings with the Justice Department.
Rove gives himself away in his nonsensical lies regarding the inquiry into the prosecution of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman.

David Fiderer: Dirty Little Secrets About Juror Contacts in the Don Siegelman Trial

Leopold Rove, Miers Expected to Testify Before Congress

Jason Leopold, Truthout: "Back in March, when House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers announced that he and his staff had reached an agreement to have Karl Rove and ex-White House counsel Harriet Miers testify privately about their roles in the firings of nine US attorneys, he said his panel also reserved the right to haul the former Bush administration officials before Congress to testify publicly about the matter. Conyers now intends to take advantage of that prearranged agreement and is expected to call Rove and Miers to testify before his panel sometime in the fall, according to several Congressional sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity." LinkHere

Right on USCitizenShareHolder

Pelosi: I Can't Pass Bill Without Public Option
USCitizenShareHolder
DONATE THE VOTE: -PART 1-
Over 75 percent of the United States’ citizens want Healthcare Reform to include the CHOICE of a Public Option; however, a great number of our representatives are not listening (Congress and Senate or Republicans or Democrats.) The US citizens signaled that they wanted a change by the way they voted and donated during the last campaign and election. We need to signal that again “Hey, we really wanted change.” Well, we cannot exactly vote again before the healthcare reform comes to a vote; but, we can donate to the re-election of any and all Representatives who’ve said in plain English, "I will only vote for healthcare reform that CONTAINS a choice of a PUBLIC OPTION. So, whether or not they are up for re-election in 2010, we need to start donating to all Representatives who support a choice of a PUBLIC OPTION. We also need withhold donations to those who oppose the choice of a PUBLIC OPTION. We all know that times are hard right now; but, think how hard they are going to get in the future if we continue to let the Health Insurance Giants manipulate the system so that they alone control if we will get healthcare or not.

DONATE THE VOTE: -PART 2-
Spend a little now to let the Representatives know how you feel about healthcare reform; or spend a large amount later for you healthcare insurance (if you can get it,) your out-of-pocket expenses, your co-pays, your fight to make your insurance company pay your claims, and your fight to keep from filling bankruptcy due to medical bills. What we do now will decide how we live later. Isn’t it ironic how the Healthcare Insurance Industry is using the money that you have paid in premiums to them to prevent you from having access to affordable healthcare? This is not just a matter of keeping the Insurance Industry honest. They will not be honest because they are a cut-throat business. Just look what a decrease in regulation on Wall Street did too the economy--Not just the US economy, but the World’s economy. Greedy insurance executives will never have the US Citizen’s best interest at heart. Greed has and always will win out. It did on Wall Street and the same will continue to happen in the Insurance Industry. Don’t have our future be a repeat of our past. Because, it’s not just about the economy anymore, it is about whether we are giving the opportunity to access and utilize modern day healthcare in order to live. It is a matter of life and death.
DONATE THE VOTE.

D.C. delegate calls for ban on guns near Obama

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) called on the Homeland Security Department and the U.S. Secret Service on Wednesday to provide tighter restrictions on citizens carrying weapons, openly or concealed, while in the vicinity of President Barack Obama.
Norton, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, made the request after numerous news reports have shown groups of people brandishing firearms while outside of events held by Obama over the past several weeks.
“It is clear that if the Secret Service can temporarily clear all aircraft from air space when the president is in the vicinity, the agency has the authority to clear guns on the ground that are even closer to the President,” Norton said.
But the Secret Service says that Obama was never in danger when a group of about a dozen protesters brandished their firearms outside the Phoenix convention center earlier this week where he was speaking.
One man carried an AR-15 assault rifle, but Arizona law allows people to carry unconcealed guns and police made no arrests.
“This doesn’t change what already exists for Secret Service,” said Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley of Norton’s request.
“Whenever the Secret Service travels somewhere in the country, we are able to determine what the security parameters will be for any particular site and anything within those parameters fall under federal law as far as being able to control what happens there.”
“So even if the state law says that you can have a gun as long as it’s not concealed, it doesn’t mean that you can bring a gun into a protected site.” LinkHere

Norton has been battling with gun rights supporters for years because of the District’s former ban on handguns, which was struck down by the Supreme Court last year. More recently, a bill to grant the District a representational vote in Congress has stalled in the House because of an amendment that would make it easier to own a gun in D.C.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Iran Lifts Ban, Allows UN Inspectors Access To Nuclear Reactor

VIENNA — Iran has lifted a yearlong ban and allowed U.N. inspectors to visit a nearly completed nuclear reactor as well as granting greater monitoring rights at another atomic site, diplomats said Thursday.
International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors visited the nearly finished Arak heavy water reactor last week, the diplomats told The Associated Press. Separately, they said Iran agreed last week to IAEA requests to expand its monitoring of the Natanz uranium enrichment site, which produces material for nuclear fuel that can be further enriched to provide fissile material for warheads.
The diplomats demanded anonymity because their information was confidential. LinkHere

Maddow's "Pizza Parable" Demonstrates Futility Of "Bipartisan" Health Care Reform




Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy


The Maddow Bump? "Meet The Press" Draws Most Viewers Since April On Her Debut Appearance
"Meet The Press" Draws Most Viewers Since April On Maddow's Debut Appearance
"Meet the Press" had its highest total viewer delivery since April this past Sunday, averaging 3,359,000 total viewers for David Gregory's most convincing victory in months.
ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" — which was guest-hosted by Jake tapper while Stephanopoulos was on vacation — averaged 2,470,000 total viewers for a distant second place, while CBS' "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer averaged 2,447,000 total viewers and FOX's "FOX News Sunday" averaged 1,207,000 total viewers.
Sunday's "Meet the Press" featured Rachel Maddow's debut on the show; she appeared with former House Majority Leader Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) for an in-depth look at the health care debate.
LinkHere

Man it is that easy to distort the figures, NBC fast and loose with the dialogue, and the figures

New Poll: 77 Percent Support "Choice" Of Public Option
More than three out of every four Americans feel it is important to have a "choice" between a government-run health care insurance option and private coverage, according to a public opinion poll released on Thursday.
LinkHere

When The President Is Black, The Guns Come Out

Leave The Guns At Home
This is not about the politics of populism. It's about the politics of the jackboot. It's not about an opposition that has every right to free expression. It's about an angry minority engaging in intimidation backed by the threat of violence.

Try a thought experiment: What would conservatives have said if a group of loud, scruffy leftists had brought guns to the public events of Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush?
How would our friends on the right have reacted to someone at a Reagan or a Bush speech carrying a sign that read: "It is time to water the tree of liberty"? That would be a reference to Thomas Jefferson's declaration that the tree "must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Pardon me, but I don't think conservatives would have spoken out in defense of the right of every American Marxist to bear arms or to shed the blood of tyrants.
In fact, the Bush folks didn't like any dissent at all. Recall the 2004 incident in which a distraught mother whose son was killed in Iraq was arrested for protesting at a rally in New Jersey for first lady Laura Bush. The detained woman wasn't even armed. Maybe if she had been carrying, the gun lobby would have defended her.
The Obama White House purports to be open to the idea of guns outside the president's appearances. "There are laws that govern firearms that are done state or locally," Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said on Tuesday. "Those laws don't change when the president comes to your state or locality."
Gibbs made you think of the old line about the liberal who is so open-minded he can't even take his own side in an argument.
What needs to be addressed is not the legal question but the message that the gun-toters are sending.
This is not about the politics of populism. It's about the politics of the jackboot. It's not about an opposition that has every right to free expression. It's about an angry minority engaging in intimidation backed by the threat of violence.
There is a philosophical issue here that gets buried under the fear that so many politicians and media-types have of seeming to be out of touch with the so-called American heartland.
The simple fact is that an armed citizenry is not the basis for our freedoms. Our freedoms rest on a moral consensus, enshrined in law, that in a democratic republic we work out our differences through reasoned, and sometimes raucous, argument. Free elections and open debate are not rooted in violence or the threat of violence. They are precisely the alternative to violence, and guns have no place in them.
On the contrary, violence and the threat of violence have always been used by those who wanted to bypass democratic procedures and the rule of law. Lynching was the act of those who refused to let the legal system do its work. Guns were used on election days in the Deep South during and after Reconstruction to intimidate black voters and take control of state governments. LinkHere

Ridge: I Was Pressured To Raise Terror Alert To Help Bush Win Re-Election

In a new book, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge reveals new details on politicization under President Bush, reports US News & World Report's Paul Bedard. Among other things, Ridge admits that he was pressured to raise the terror alert to help Bush win re-election in 2004.
Ridge was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings; was "blindsided" by the FBI in morning Oval Office meetings because the agency withheld critical information from him; found his urgings to block Michael Brown from being named head of the emergency agency blamed for the Hurricane Katrina disaster ignored; and was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush's re-election, something he saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over.
Dave Weigel, writing for the Washington Independent, notes that in the past, Ridge has denied manipulating security information for political reasons. In 2004, for example, he said, "We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security." LinkHere

Barney Frank's Town Hall Snaps

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Florida man pleads guilty to threat to kill Obama

Source: Reuters
"A Florida man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to threatening to kill President Barack Obama in an e-mail that said "the blood of Obama will run down the streets" of the U.S. capital, a federal prosecutor said.
Nathan Wine, 21, admitted to a judge in Tampa, Florida, that he had sent the threatening e-mail to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command on Nov. 5, the day after Obama won the U.S. presidential election, U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton said in a news release.
Wine, who faces up to five years in prison, acknowledged he meant the e-mail as a death threat, according to court documents that did not reveal a motive.
Wine said in the poorly spelled note that he would "not mind going behind bars for being a trigger man on this tyrent." LinkHere

1.5 Million More Fell Below Poverty Line In 2008

WASHINGTON — The ranks of poor and uninsured Americans are likely increasing – with more than 38.8 million believed to be in poverty.
Rebecca Blank, the Commerce Department's undersecretary of economic affairs, spoke to The Associated Press in advance of next month's closely watched release of 2008 census data. Noting the figures are not yet final, Blank said the numbers likely will show a "statistically significant" increase in the poverty rate, to at least 12.7 percent. That would represent a jump of more than 1.5 million poor people compared with the previous year.
"There's no question that 2008 economically was a much worse year than 2007," she said Wednesday. "The question is how much and how bad."
The number of uninsured is also expected to increase notably due largely to rising unemployment and the erosion of private coverage paid for by employers and individuals, but Blank declined to say by how much. In 2007, the number of uninsured fell by more than 1 million mostly because government programs such as Medicaid for the poor picked up the slack.
The census figures, set to be released Sept. 10, could have important ramifications as Congress returns from its August recess to debate health care reform, its cost and the ways to pay for it. Republicans also have traditionally pointed to the intractable poverty rate as a sign that government programs for the poor do not work, a claim likely to be repeated often in light of the federal stimulus package. LinkHere

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

House mistakenly auctioned by bank

Woman and family booted without warning, belongings bashed, tossed in street.
"This came out of nowhere," Ramirez said. "The bank took the house from right under my feet."
The man who bought the house told Ramirez he paid $87,000 for it, which shocked Ramirez, who bought the house for $260,000.
What's worse is her husband, daughter and grand children were also kicked out by Homestead and Miami-Dade police officers, said Martha Taylor, who witnessed the unexpected eviction.
"I have never seen anything like it," Taylor said. "They literally threw all her stuff on the front lawn. I didn't sleep that night and it wasn't even my house."
Ramirez and her family had three hours to get out of the house, police ordered. They had to stash their belongings at multiple locations and shacked up with a friend for the night as cops chained the doors of their home. With Taylor's help, Ramirez appeared before a judge two days later to explain what happened.
"I had all my stuff scattered everywhere," she said. "They did this in front all my neighbors. It was so embarassing."
A mistake in the Miami-Dade Clerk's Office appears to be behind the mishap, which landed Ramirez homeless for more than 24 hours.
The sale was eventually reversed by a Miami-Dade judge, allowing Ramirez to return to her old digs. Ramirez said she wants to sue for the damage to her furniture.
Ramirez has lived in the house for three years and recently refinanced the home with the bank.
"This shouldn't be happening, you know, because we did the right thing," she said. "We went step by step. LinkHere

Bogged Down By Special Interest, Health Care Reform Becomes a Political Tool Instead of a People's Right

Dr. Erika Schwartz, 08.19.2009
Medical Director of Cinergy Health
Do not allow America to continue being manipulated by special interest groups and help the people of America understand that they must control their own fate.
LinkHere
Pollster Behind Controversial Public Option Poll Has Long Ties To Insurance Industry
The Republican half of the bipartisan team of pollsters behind a new, controversial poll on health care has longstanding ties to the health insurance industry that critics say biased the results.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday, authored by Republican pollster Bill McInturff and Democratic pollster Peter Hart, showed a majority of respondents opposing a public option for insurance coverage. McInturff is one of the most respected pollsters in Washington, and his work is often treated as straightforward and honest. But the pollsters' decision to alter the language of their August survey has raised the eyebrows of industry observers.
Instead of asking whether people should be given a choice between a public and private plan -- as NBC/WSJ had done in its June 2009 survey -- the pollsters dropped the word "choice" in their July and August polls. In its place they asked whether people favored or opposed creating a public plan to compete with private insurers. Whereas two months ago, 76 percent of respondents said they felt it was either extremely or quite important to have a public option, in August that number was down to 43 percent.
"I think it's a very big deal to drop the word," said Wendell Potter, a former vice president at the insurance giant CIGNA. "This has been a strategy the industry has had for many years. They ask questions in many ways, knowing the way they are asking the questions will skew the result. Dropping the word choice is very important. It plays into some of the fears some of the people have been hearing lately, that the government would leave them without an option." LinkHere
NBC Changing Public Option Poll Question After Staggering Drop In Support

Critics who called out the NBC poll for excising the word "choice" from its question about a public option for health insurance will be happier by next month's survey, which will ask the question both with and without that key element.
Supporters of the public option were upset by Tuesday's survey which, after the language change, found support for a government-run alternative to private insurance down a staggering 33 percent, to 43 percent, in just two months.
NBC's White House correspondent Chuck Todd told the Huffington Post on Wednesday afternoon that pollsters Bill McInturff and Peter Hart will ask respondents two questions regarding the public plan for their September study.
The first: "Would you favor or oppose creating a public health care plan administered by the federal government that would compete directly with private health insurance companies?"
The second: "In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance?"
The inclusion of both questions should provide an interesting window into how slight changes in messaging can (or don't) drastically alter the health care debate. The latter question, which emphasizes the idea of having something publicly run, was asked in an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll in June with 76 percent of respondents saying they felt it was either extremely or quite important to have a public option. The former question was asked in July and August, with 46 and 43 percent of respondents respectively saying they favored a public option.
Todd's decision to put both questions in the mix also should placate a host of progressive health care proponents who were critical of the NBC pollsters.
On Wednesday, Todd defended the decision to drop "choice" from the survey, calling the word a "trigger" that sent a certain "message" to respondents. And while he argued that the revised way of asking the question was "very neutral" he admitted that the idea of putting both options side by side was "something we wanted to test." LinkHere

Max Baucus: "YouTubes" Coming From Out-Of-State To Harass Me

Max Baucus is a conservative Democrat from Montana who arguably holds the fate of health care reform in his hands. Another fun fact about Max Baucus is that he's accepted so goddamn much money from corporate health care interests this year that lobbyist cash is now permanently imprinted on his genome.
But now we have discovered something new about Baucus: THE INTERNET, IT SCURRS HIM!
" There were a couple of people in the crowd "with YouTubes," Mr. Baucus added (meaning cameras), and he posited that the agitators were paid and probably from out of state. ("I could just sense it," he said.)
If he's that afraid of the people with "YouTubes," just wait until he finds out about the people with Twitter! (Or, you know, the ones with assault weapons!)
Anyway, meet Max Baucus, who will play a large part in determining whether you get to see a doctor, ever. LinkHere

"The truth must come out."

Pot calling the kettle black
Ensign: I'm Still Better Than Bill Clinton
Ensign: I Did Nothing "Legally Wrong"
FERNLEY, Nev. — Nevada U.S. Sen. John Ensign told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his affair with a friend's wife was different from former President Bill Clinton's affair in the White House because Clinton committed a felony when he lied about it to a grand jury.
"I haven't done anything legally wrong," the Nevada Republican said.
"President Clinton stood right before the American people and he lied to the American people," Ensign said. "You remember that famous day he lied to the American people, plus the fact I thought he committed perjury. That's why I voted for the articles of impeachment."
Ensign made the remarks before being introduced to a standing ovation from about 100 people at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in rural Fernley, about 40 miles east of Reno.
Ensign opened his speech by acknowledging what called a "distraction."
"I think it would be inappropriate to start any other way than to say I'm sorry," he said. "I've said I'm sorry. I can't say I'm sorry enough. I made a big mistake in my life and I apologize once again to all of you."
The luncheon was Ensign's first public appearance in his home state since acknowledging in June that he had an extramarital affair with former campaign aide Cynthia Hampton.
Ensign resigned as head of the Republican Policy Committee after admitting to the affair with Hampton from December 2007 to August 2008. Hampton's husband, Doug, was Ensign's administrative assistant in his Washington, D.C., Senate office and the families were friends.
Ensign's attorney has also said that Ensign's parents paid the woman and her family $96,000 after learning about the affair.
Ensign once called on President Bill Clinton to resign after his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky erupted in 1998, declaring: "The truth must come out." LinkHere

Pro-Public Option Fundraiser Nets $100k In 24 Hours

A fundraiser launched by progressive bloggers as part of an increasingly aggressive response to White House backsliding on health care reform has out-raised any such effort in the past.
Donations in support of Democrats who back a public insurance option as part of health care reform have topped $100,000 from more than 1,500 donors in 24 hours and counting.
The most successful effort to date had been organized around the online community's opposition to retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that collaborated with the Bush administration to spy on Americans. The issue galvanized liberals, but community only raised about $350,000 over the course of a month, said Howie Klein, Blue America PAC's founder and treasurer.
"I've never seen anything like this before," said Klein. "This is the biggest one."
The effort is being driven by FireDogLake.com and backed by blogs across the country. It was launched in reaction to the White House signaling over the weekend that it was backing off the public option as key to health care reform. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday that a public option was "not essential"; Obama himself called it a "sliver" of the total reform effort; spokesman Bill Burton, on Tuesday, called it "just a piece" of the overhaul. LinkHere
Standing up for Public Option

It's that easy Senators, dump them on their uneducated asses, show them up for the mindless fools they are!!!!!!

Barney Frank Confronts Woman At Town Hall Comparing Obama To Hitler
At a Barney Frank town hall meeting in Dartmouth, MA, a constituent asks, "Why are you supporting this Nazi policy?"
Frank responds: "On what planet do you spend most of your time?" He then calls her approach "vile, contemptible nonsense." He closes by saying: "Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table."



LISTEN: Rush Limbaugh Makes Gay Joke About Barney Frank
Rush Limbaugh Makes Gay Joke About Barney Frank: "He Spends Most Of His Time Living Around Uranus"

This from the drug addled brain of the mouthpiece of the GOP Party

This Is Reform?

By Bob Herbert
August 18, 2009 "New York Times" --- It’s never a contest when the interests of big business are pitted against the public interest. So if we manage to get health care “reform” this time around it will be the kind of reform that benefits the very people who have given us a failed system, and thus made reform so necessary.
Forget about a crackdown on price-gouging drug companies and predatory insurance firms. That’s not happening. With the public pretty well confused about what is going on, we’re headed — at best — toward changes that will result in a lot more people getting covered, but that will not control exploding health care costs and will leave industry leaders feeling like they’ve hit the jackpot.
The hope of a government-run insurance option is all but gone. So there will be no effective alternative for consumers in the market for health coverage, which means no competitive pressure for private insurers to rein in premiums and other charges. (Forget about the nonprofit cooperatives. That’s like sending peewee footballers up against the Super Bowl champs.)
Insurance companies are delighted with the way “reform” is unfolding. Think of it: The government is planning to require most uninsured Americans to buy health coverage. Millions of young and healthy individuals will be herded into the industry’s welcoming arms. This is the population the insurers drool over.
This additional business — a gold mine — will more than offset the cost of important new regulations that, among other things, will prevent insurers from denying coverage to applicants with pre-existing conditions or imposing lifetime limits on benefits. Poor people will either be funneled into Medicaid, which will have its eligibility ceiling raised, or will receive a government subsidy to help with the purchase of private insurance.
If the oldest and sickest are on Medicare, and the poorest are on Medicaid, and the young and the healthy are required to purchase private insurance without the option of a competing government-run plan — well, that’s reform the insurance companies can believe in. LinkHere

UQ expert's invention scores a clean coal coup

We got the brains President Obama if you need them, got a spare Billion Mr Gore,
that's our University, plus I worked there for 10 years.

A UNIVERSITY of Queensland scientist said yesterday he had successfully tested technology that delivers twice the power from coal while minimising greenhouse gas emissions.
The exciting breakthrough, which could provide a billion-dollar windfall for the state, may revolutionise the way the world uses coal, a university spokesman said.
Professor John Zhu, of the school of chemical engineering, created a series of direct carbon fuel cells (DCFC) in which burning coal generates highly energy-efficient electricity.
''The very high-energy efficiency of the new technology will effectively halve the amount of coal required to create electricity,'' he said.
''When applied, it will provide industry with very significant cost and energy savings, which could then be passed on to the consumer. In addition to saving cost and energy, the direct carbon fuel cells will also provide clean power.''
Dr Zhu, 41, a father of three girls, said he worked in a ''hot and dirty'' steel factory in Hubei provence in central China while studying engineering.
''I have always wanted to do something for a cleaner environment. Now I'm feeling very positive,'' he said.
Dr Zhu, the son of a primary school teacher, said traditional power stations, which burnt coal to heat water to make steam to power turbines, were outmoded. He said his process used a coal and air mix to produce electrons inside special carbon fuel cells.
He said scientists in California were working on a similar process, but he believed he and his team at the university had beaten them to the punch.
He said he expected the fuel cells would enable the byproduct of coal-fired power - the harmful greenhouse gas carbon dioxide - to be trapped and stored easily and safely.
''One of the major challenges for coal-fired power is reducing its impact on the environment by developing ways to separate carbon dioxide from other gases produced in the power generation process, and ensuring it is not released into the atmosphere,'' he said.
''The DCFC produces pure carbon dioxide as a byproduct, making it much easier to manage."
He said the next stage in the development would involve consulting with the energy sector and securing industry and government funding to ''scale up'' the fuel cell technology. This could take 10 years.
Professor Graham Schaffer, dean of the university's Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, said the new fuel cell technology was one of a number of clean energy technologies being developed at the university.
''Partnerships with industry and government have enabled our researchers to make significant progress towards these new technologies,'' he said. LinkHere

Australia signs $50 billion gas deal with China

AUSTRALIA has cemented its biggest ever trade deal, a $50 billion contract to supply liquefied natural gas to China, in what the Federal Government calls a win for everyone that will create jobs, help drag the economy back to health and still be good for the environment.
Resources minister Martin Ferguson has been gushing in praise for the deal, describing it as a win-win that would effectively be another "major economic stimulus" package.
In summary, the deal is being billed as providing thousands of new jobs, billions of dollars in tax revenue and a leg-up to switching to cleaner energy. The project behind it has not yet received final green approval, but that is now seen as a formality.
The Opposition is keen to claim credit too. Coalition frontbencher Joe Hockey welcomed the deal, but said the "platform" for it was laid back in the Howard years.
'Win-win'
The resources coup shows that Australia and China are maintaining a "business as usual'' approach to economic relations - despite the diplomatic rift caused by the jailing of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu.
The export deal - announced last night in Beijing - will also raise hopes the Australian economy is well on the road to recovery, spurred on by a new wave of exports to resource-hungry Asian countries, the Herald Sun reports.
Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson hailed the trade deal, which will see resources giant ExxonMobil supply gas from the $50 billion Gorgon field in Western Australia.
The Australian reported that the deal will pump $40 billion into Australia's tax coffers over the next few decades.
Mr Ferguson flew to Beijing to sign the deal, which he said would create 6000 Australian jobs and help lead the nation's recovery from the global financial crisis.
He also said that the deal would provide crucial help to the environment and Australia's response to climate change. "LNG is ... clean energy," he said on ABC Radio. LinkHere

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