On Christmas Eve, the Senate capitulated to the likes of Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson and passed a deeply problematic health care bill. Now, as the House and Senate bills are being merged, it's up to the progressive members of the House to keep fighting for real health care reform.Sign the Petition!Negotiations about the final, merged bill have already begun behind closed doors. There is a lot of pressure for members of the House to accept the Senate bill with all of its flaws. But rank-and-file members of Congress need to speak out now and keep fighting to make the bill better.
Can you tell members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to keep fighting to: 1) hold insurance companies accountable, 2) make sure insurance is affordable and 3) protect reproductive choice?
Whatever final bill that goes to President Obama's desk should:
- Hold insurance companies accountable. We need to revoke their anti-trust exemption and force them to compete with a real public option.
- Make sure insurance is affordable. We cannot wait until 2013 to start insurance market reforms and subsidies and we must ensure nobody will be forced to buy insurance with premiums, co-pays or deductibles they can't afford.
- Protect reproductive choice.
We must not impose new restrictions on whether or how insurance companies can cover reproductive services.There is clearly a multitude of views among progressives about the best strategy to pursue, but it's clear that we won't get a better bill unless we fight for a better bill. You can bet that the insurance industry, Big Pharma, and other corporate stakeholders in the health care fight are not sitting on their hands. We shouldn't either.
So tell House progressives: Keep fighting. Any health care bill that goes to President Obama's desk should 1) hold insurance companies accountable, 2) make sure insurance is affordable and 3) protect reproductive choice.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Keep fighting for real health reform
Monday, January 04, 2010
I thought when a vice president became an EX vice president
A half-dozen former senior Bush officials involved in counterterrorism told me before the Christmas Day incident that for the most part, they were comfortable with Obama's policies, although they were reluctant to say so on the record. Some worried they would draw the ire of Cheney's circle if they did....Wow. All that warrantless wiretapping of Congress still gives Cheney power. Blackmail is quite handy even after you've had to give up your own private hit squad.
....one of the things that's most annoying about the most recent instance of Politico's Mike Allen taking dictation from former Vice President Dick Cheney is that Cheney is in no way attempting to influence counterterror policy or make the nation more secure. That can't be done by following his advice, which is to use the word "war" more often.
Rather, what Cheney is clearly trying to do is influence the politics, so any reporter worth his salt should be able to simply listen to Cheney and accurately report that the former vice president has been reduced to demagoguery. It's really just stupid to pretend that there's some great policy debate unfolding between the current White House and the previous White House.
dem⋅a⋅gogue
/ˈdɛməˌgɒg, -ˌgɔg/ [dem-uh-gog, -gawg]So... old warmongers don't just fade away, they spew lies, bile and contempt from their secret secure super duper undisclosed locations.
–noun
1. a person, esp. an orator or political leader, who gains power and popularity by arousing the emotions, passions, and prejudices of the people.
2. (in ancient times) a leader of the people.
–verb (used with object)
3. to treat or manipulate (a political issue) in the manner of a demagogue; obscure or distort with emotionalism, prejudice, etc.
–verb (used without object)
4. to speak or act like a demagogue.
Remember this article posted in June '09:
Cheney probably thought he wasn't being that obvious:Poor torture-loving guy.... It must be so hard to have been president and then be reduced to snarling from the forests of Wyoming...
But I'm sure he has his 'I-told-you-so' speech already written and locked in one of his man-sized safes...WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA director Leon Panetta says it's almost as if former vice president Dick Cheney would like to see another attack on the United States to prove he is right in criticizing President Barack Obama for abandoning the "harsh interrogation" of terrorism suspects.
"I think he smells some blood in the water on the national security issue," Panetta said in an interview published in The New Yorker magazine's June 22 issue.
"It's almost, a little bit, gallows politics. When you read behind it, it's almost as if he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point."
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Battles over religious items continue
The Canadian government says it will not act upon a request by the Jordanian government that it seize the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls, now on their last day of display at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.Discovered in 1947 by Bedouin tribesmen in caves bordering Israel and Jordan, the 100,000 fragments of ancient religious parchment and papyrus manuscripts have been a source of conflict between Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians — who all claim ownership.
Jordan formally asked Canada to seize the 16 scrolls, which have been on display at the ROM since last June. Jan. 3 is the last day the scrolls will be exhibited.
Blog sprinkles
- Tengrain shows that newspapers began to tank only AFTER the Telecommunications Act of 1996. A rather notable fact....
- Number 12 of the 25 Censored stories: Mysterious Death of Mike Connell—Karl Rove’s Election Thief.
- Amazing series of photos from this last year.
- Palindrome: Harass Sarah.
- Because Obama decided to stop the Eternal War on a Noun, we're letting the terrorists win!! Even though he's done more against terrorism in this last year than in the two terms of Pinky and the Brain.
...this is probably a good time to review the Media/Political Establishment's Rules for Understanding the Political Implications of Terrorism (or MPERUPIT):
* If terrorists successfully attack during a Democratic president's first year in office (first attack on World Trade Center), it's the Democrats' fault, and the attack is good news for Republicans.
* If terrorists unsuccessfully attack during a Democratic president's second term, it's the Democrats' fault the terrorists even tried, and the attack is good news for Republicans.
* If terrorists successfully attack during a Republican president's first year in office (9/11), it's the Democrats' fault, and the attack is good news for Republicans.
* If terrorists unsuccessfully attack during a Republican president's second term, it's only because the Republican is "taking the fight to the enemy," and the attack is good news for Republicans.
* If terrorists unsuccessfully attack during a Democratic president's first year in office, it's the Democrats' fault the terrorists even tried, and the attack is good news for Republicans.
If you don't have the handy dandy MPERUPIT list readily available, remember this shortcut: bad news is good for Republicans; good news is good for Republicans; Democrats are to blame for Republican failures; and Republicans deserve credit for Democratic successes.
As long as you filter all terrorism-related news through this convenient prism, domestic coverage of current events will always make sense, even when it doesn't.
- Apparently a good site to keep track of Yemen.
(if you want the words)
No amount of effort will buff this out, Georgie.
Now outside of government, members of the George W. Bush administration are desperate to polish their turbulent legacy. However, a history of "Operation Enduring Freedom" being prepared by the Army would seem to contradict their version of the war on Afghanistan.Contrary to repeated claims that the Iraq war did not deprive Afghan forces of necessary resources, the Army's history shows that the Bush administration "hamstrung" forces in the country, according to The New York Times.
"A Different Kind of War," to be published later this year, was written by seven historians at the Army's Combat Studies Institute. It is the first report of its kind, giving an official stamp on events which transpired between October 2001 and September 2005. The Times obtained the 400-page manuscript and posted it online.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Now this is something we can use!
...Churchill’s oft-quoted distinction between socialism and liberalism: “Socialism seeks to pull down wealth. Liberalism seeks to raise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests—Liberalism would preserve private interests in the only way in which they can be safely and justly preserved, namely by reconciling them with public right. Socialism would kill enterprise; Liberalism would rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference.”
20 of the best
Friday, January 01, 2010
Fear the heavy hand of the TSA!
The Transportation Security Administration has discovered a major new threat, and is targeting it with all methods at its disposal. No, not terrorists. The agency is going after two bloggers, Steve Frischling and Chris Elliott, for exposing its whopper of a policy document, issued Christmas Day in the wake of that day's failed terrorist attack.And now...
[snip]
The subpoenas served on the two bloggers threaten them with "fines under Title 18, United States Code, imprisonment for not more than one year, or both" if they don't turn over all information they have about the source that leaked Security Directive 1544-09-06.
Both men insist they got the document from an anonymous source, and have no idea of the individual's identity. And the government may have a hard time tracking down that source, given that the "secret" document was circulated to thousands of airlines, airports and security personnel around the world.
The security directive required, among other things, a "thorough pat-down" at boarding gates of all passengers flying into the U.S, from oveseas and an inspection of "100 percent of all passenger accessible property."
The new year is starting off pretty well for bloggers Chris Elliott and Steve Frischling, who had been targeted by the Transportation Security Administration after they posted the TSA's bizarre Christmas Day Security Directive. Elliott reports that the agency has withdrawn its subpoena against him, and that Frischling, whose laptop was confiscated, is getting a new computer courtesy of Uncle Sam.
Ouch...
But look at the judge who arrived at this painful decision:BAGHDAD – Iraqis seeking justice for 17 people shot dead at a Baghdad intersection responded with bitterness and outrage Friday at a U.S. judge's decision to throw out a case against a Blackwater security team accused in the killings.
The Iraqi government vowed to pursue the case, which became a source of contention between the U.S. and the Iraqi government. Many Iraqis also held up the judge's decision as proof of what they'd long believed: U.S. security contractors were above the law.
"There is no justice," said Bura Sadoun Ismael, who was wounded by two bullets and shrapnel during the shooting. "I expected the American court would side with the Blackwater security guards who committed a massacre in Nisoor Square."
What happened on Nisoor Square on Sept. 16, 2007, raised Iraqi concerns about their sovereignty because Iraqi officials were powerless to do anything to the Blackwater employees who had immunity from local prosecution. The shootings also highlighted the degree to which the U.S. relied on private contractors during the Iraq conflict.
Ricardo M. UrbinaFollowing the letter of the law makes us protect bad guys and idiots along with good guys and smart people.... And we should not have it any other way.
Notable cases
[edit] Guantanamo Bay detainees
Urbina presided over a number of habeas corpus petitions submitted on behalf of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.[3] In October 2008, he ordered the release of a small group of Uighur detainees from Guantanamo into the United States because they are no longer regarded as enemy combatants.[4]
[edit] Saeed Hatim v. Barack Obama
On December 16, 2009 Urbina ordered Guantanamo captive "Saeed Hatim" to be released.[5] According to Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald Urbina's release order was sealed, and it "brought the so-called habeas corpus scorecard to 32 losses and nine victories by the Pentagon of detainee challenges from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba." Dean Boyd, a Department of Justice spokesman, told Rosenberg the Government was reviewing its options in how to react to the ruling.
[edit] Blackwater Baghdad shootings prosecution
A month before five Blackwater security guards implicated in the September, 2007, Nisour Square, Baghdad, shooting incident were to go on trial before Judge Urbina, on New year's Eve, in a 90-page ruling on December 31, 2009, Judge Urbina did not address the substance of the case but said prosecutors had misused statements made by the defendants under promise of immunity. DOJ spokesman Boyd said the government was considering its options. The immunity issue was a problem that lawyers for the government anticipated as long as a year ago when they briefed Congress on the matter. Judge Urbina dismissed the indictment of the five men who pleaded not guilty to voluntary manslaughter and firearms violations: Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard, Donald Ball and Nicholas Slatten.[6]
Dozens of Iraqis, including the estates of some of the victims allegedly killed by Blackwater employees, filed a separate lawsuit last year alleging that Blackwater employees engaged in indiscriminate killings and beatings. The civil case is still before a Virginia court. Blackwater contractors had been hired to guard US diplomats in Iraq. The guards said insurgents ambushed them in a traffic circle. Prosecutors said the men unleashed an unprovoked attack on civilians using machine guns and grenades. The shooting led to the unraveling of the North Carolina-based company, which since has replaced its management and changed its name to Xe Services.
Update: Iraq is going to sue the Blackwater guards involved in the massacre.
