Monthly Archives: June 2009

How Pharma and Insurance Intend to Kill the Public Option, And What Obama and the Rest of Us Must Do

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Commondreams:

by Robert Reich

I’ved poked around Washington today, talking with friends on the Hill who confirm the worst: Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill.

You know why, of course. They don’t want a public option that would compete with private insurers and use its bargaining power to negotiate better rates with drug companies. They argue that would be unfair. Unfair? Unfair to give more people better health care at lower cost? To Pharma and Insurance, “unfair” is anything that undermines their profits.

So they’re pulling out all the stops — pushing Democrats and a handful of so-called “moderate” Republicans who say they’re in favor of a public option to support legislation that would include it in name only. One of their proposals is to break up the public option into small pieces under multiple regional third-party administrators that would have little or no bargaining leverage. A second is to give the public option to the states where Big Pharma and Big Insurance can easily buy off legislators and officials, as they’ve been doing for years. A third is bind the public plan to the same rules private insurers have already wangled, thereby making it impossible for the public plan to put competitive pressure on the insurers.

Max Baucus, Chair of Senate Finance (now exactly why does the Senate Finance Committee have so much say over health care?) hasn’t shown his cards but staffers tell me he’s more than happy to sign on to any one of these. But Baucus is waiting for more support from his colleagues, and none of the three proposals has emerged as the leading candidate for those who want to kill the public option without showing they’re killing it. Meanwhile, Ted Kennedy and his staff are still pushing for a full public option, but with Kennedy ailing, he might not be able to round up the votes. (Kennedy’s health committee released a draft of a bill today, which contains the full public option.)

Enter Olympia Snowe. Her move is important, not because she’s Republican (the Senate needs only 51 votes to pass this) but because she’s well-respected and considered non-partisan, and therefore offers some cover to Democrats who may need it. Last night Snowe hosted a private meeting between members and staffers about a new proposal Pharma and Insurance are floating, and apparently she’s already gained the tentative support of several Democrats (including Ron Wyden and Thomas Carper). Under Snowe’s proposal, the public option would kick in years from now, but it would be triggered only if insurance companies fail to bring down healthcare costs and expand coverage in he meantime.

What’s the catch? … Read the rest of this article to find out.

There’s an indepth article worth reading over at TheDailyKos today called:
THE FACTS ABOUT THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY

Thom Hartmann on Obama

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The Real News Network

Hartmann: Will Obama behave like Roosevelt or will he create a moment of opportunity for the right?

Paul Jay of The Real News Network interviews Progressive radio talk show host Thom Hartmann while at the conference of America’s Future Now, getting his thoughts on what and how President Obama has been doing since he came to office, on a range of issues, and what Progressives can do now.

The interview with Hartmann is in two parts.

Hartmann is author of the excellent book “Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It“. Excellent reading.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Continue reading →

Of Bailouts, Buyouts and Bankruptcy

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Why the big push to bailout the banking industry? the automobile industry?

One word:  PENSIONS

Pension funds are invested in stocks. Bankrupcy wipes out those stocks, leaving pension funds unfunded. If it’s a private fund, retirees will suddenly stop getting their checks.  If it’s a public fund, taxpayers will have to make up the difference.

Mainstream media, even non-mainstream media, has not reported on this, but it’s out there, the unheard, unseen elephant in the room. To my knowledge, this is the first report that mentions this looming economic disaster:

SUPREME COURT ASKED TO BLOCK CHRYSLER SALE TO FIAT

The Indiana State Police Pension Fund, the Indiana Teacher’s Retirement Fund and the state’s Major Moves Construction Fund claim the deal unfairly favors the interests of Chrysler’s unsecured stakeholders ahead of those of secured debtholders such as the funds.

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Sunday Open Thread – Japan Defeated at Midway

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Flagship of Vice-Admiral Nagumo - the Akagi

Flagship of Vice-Admiral Nagumo - the Akagi (It sank)

On June 7th 1942. the Battle of Midway ended as the United States soundly defeated an armada from the previously invincible Japanese navy.

A thousand miles northwest of Honolulu, the strategic island of Midway was a target for Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s Japanese fleet. Yamamoto planned a surprise assault, but U.S. naval intelligence had decoded Japanese messages and the United States was prepared for the attack.

An outnumbered squadron of American fighter aircraft deflected Japanese aircraft attacking Midway, and two U.S. attack fleets overwhelmed the Japanese armada, destroying all four of Yamamoto’s aircraft carriers, which marked the end of Japanese naval supremacy in the Pacific. The loss of ships, naval personnel and aviators set back the Japanese naval war effort by over a year.

Only a single US Navy capital ship, the carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5), suffered serious damage and ultimately sank. The USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-10, then under construction) was renamed, the USS Yorktown in her honor.

Ths is an open thread. Please offer comments here on any subject or in any following threads as appropiate.

Imagine

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McCain and Palin won the 2008 election…

The entire $700 billion bank bailout is handed out, no strings attached, and disappears, with banks still failing and billions more going to FDIC insured accounts. Wall Street continues its melt down. Pension plans become underfunded and retirees no longer receive their pensions.

The hands-off approach to the auto industry causes an immediate collapse; millions are out of work in a matter of days. The McCain policy of no government regulation of businesses leads to a cascading market collapse. Six months into McCain’s presidency, the Dow has plummeted to around 4,000, and is heading lower.

Israel is given the green light to bomb Iran, and it does, touching off a regional conflagration. McCain abandons Afghanistan and sends everything into Iraq/Iran. War Spending is still off-budget, still borrowed funding.

China stops buying American debt, and McCain is forced to run the government by printing money. Inflation soon hits double digits, and unemployment is around 30% – not counting those who have given up finding jobs, and who have timed out of receiving unemployment checks.

On the bright side, the Estate Tax is permanently repealed. The wealthiest 1% immediately transfers $10 trillion dollars out of the United States into off-shore accounts. Oil Company’s profits soar, as does the price of gasoline.

The Army’s microwave and plasma weapons prove successful at quelling riots, and several thousand traitors have been rounded up and placed into camps. Enhanced interrogation techniques lead to the arrest of thousands more.

Abortion is outlawed, as is same-gender unions of any sort. Corporate taxes are reduced to zero. Weapons restrictions are removed, but the price of guns puts them out of reach for all but the upper 2%, which now have small armies to protect themselves.

As the 2012 election approaches, the Republican base awaits the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ and their imminent Rapture.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has captured Pakistan’s nukes…

On the road again…

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Sarah Palin’s at it again.

Fear—fear—fear.. Give ‘em the red meat.. Work ‘em up into a lather..

From a speech she gave in Anchorage, she suggests Obama is trying to impose big government as a tool of control:

“We need to be aware of the creation of a fearful population, and fearful lawmakers, being led to believe that big government is the answer, to bail out the private sector, because then government gets to get in there and control it,” she says. “And mark my words, this is going to be next, I fear, bail out next debt-ridden states. Then government gets to get in there and control the people.”

Honey, the creation of a fearful population began in 2001. Where were you then?

Sarah Palin is absolutely positioning herself already for a run in 2012. Bizarre..

If you need the visual..

A tour of the frothing at the mouth, head-spinning, spittle-flecked wingnut hate machine

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I’ve noticed something lately.  Racism, fear, and hate are running rampant in this country.

Well, not just lately, it’s been bubbling under the surface for years — it just seems much worse and “in your face.”  I would pinpoint the escalation at or about the time of the nomination of Barack Hussein Obama for the office of President of the United States.  Little by little, insinuations and fear-mongering became the order of the day for some people.  “He’s a Muslim!”  “He’s not an American!”  He’s a Socialist!!”  Cue the scary music!

Recently, President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to take the place of Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court.  Judge Sotomayor has a typical American “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” story — the kind we all love so well — and she’s totally qualified for a seat on the Supreme Court, having more experience than anyone currently sitting on that Court.  But who cares about all that!?  Apparently, she’s really a super-scary racist white-hating Mexican who wants to take away our guns! Eeeekkk!!!!

How about a little walk on the darker side of wingnuttia?  Come on, I’ll hold your hand…just make sure you hold mine, ok?

Hal Turner, a white supremacist and anti-Semite internet radio talker/blogger, has been arrested for inciting violence against two Connecticut lawmakers, because they want to pass a bill changing how the Catholic Church operates in that state.  Turner posted this on his blog:

“It is our intent to foment direct action against these individuals personally,” the blog stated. “These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die.”

He also promised to list the home addresses of the Connecticut lawmakers.  I’m thinking jail is a great place for Mr Turner right now.

Next, we have Rob Williams and Arnie States of the KRXQ radio station in Sacramento, California.  These organisms (I hesitate to called them men — or human) went on a sickening rampage against gender dysphoric CHILDREN, calling them “freaks” and “idiots.”  States even made the claim that if his own son put on a pair of high-heeled shoes, he would beat him with the shoes and mentally degrade him.  Here’s a sample:

“I’m not open-minded once I look into sumpin’” one of the two men grunted at the beginning of the segment, their voices interchangeable. “I have every right to call you a freak and judge you on that. It makes me sick. ‘Mommy, I’m a girl trapped in a boy’s body,’” he simpered, mimicking an effeminate little boy. “I want to wear a dwess.”

It’s not good enough to shred adults they deem “effeminate” or “girly,” these two creepazoids are so inadequate that they have to go after children.

Are you still with me?  Ok, let’s descend a bit further into this pit of horrors…

Continue reading →

Saturday Open Thread – DDay, June 6th, 1944

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The invasion was coded under several names which were collectively grouped under a master plan, Operation Overlord. One note, this was the first successful cross channel invasion since Hastings in 1066 – 878 years earlier. It also was the greatest single day of  battle in the history of mankind. Including army, naval, air and supply forces; more then half a million combatants were fighting on the Allied side.

The Axis forces at the beachhead numbered about a hundred twenty thousand – most discards from the Eastern Front. Armored German units had been moved north on false intelligence. 

The German navy at the front was powerless due to damage and fuel rationing dictated by Hitler (to about 1/3 of the Kriegsmarine’s normal allocation), who had doubts about the surface fleet.

German forces were also weakened because a false alert of an immanent invasion during the previous lunar cycle fostered inattention on the actual invasion day. 

Further ensuring an Allied victory was a disabling injury of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel by Allied aircraft during the spring of 1944. Until then, he had commanded the Atlantic Wall, Germany’s prime defensive line against a cross-channel invasion. He was Germany’s utmost strategist in both offense and defense.

The initial phase – Operation Neptune, was intended to place about 1 million troops on the beachfront including armor, infantry, support units and two temporary harbors. This groundwork occupied the first eight weeks of the plan. The allied side used about 7000 vessels, about 1200 of them, warships. The French Resistance was also enlisted to sabotage German supply lines and guard posts.

James Earl Rudder, President of  Texas A&M University while I was there, was  key in establishing the Omaha beachhead. Aggies rule!

Following Operation Neptune was Operation Cobra, the breakout from the beachfront, which started on July 24th, 1944. We’ll stop here.

On a personal note, my Mom gave birth to triplets on this very day. I was three at the time.

This is an open thread and as usual, you are welcome to comment here on any subject. Feel more than welcome to comment in any of the threads below as well.

Religious White Christians Can’t Be Terrorists, Part 2

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This is a continuation of 5th Estate’s blog post entitled, “Religious White Christians Can’t Be Terrorists.”  You can read the entire post at his blog, The 5th Estate 2009.

It seems I wasn’t the only one to notice the disparity of Dr. Tiller’s murderer being charged only with murder, whilst Private William Long’s murderer is being charged with murder, attempted murder and 16 counts of “terroristic” acts’.

On the cross-post over at The Zoo, houseofroberts commented “5th, I’ve heard three different talk show hosts use this same comparison on their shows, SINCE you posted yours.”

Last night (June 3), Rachel Maddow spent a significant portion of her show addressing the exact same issues I’d already written about, the day before her show.

Coincidence? …..Definitely! In a nation of 200 million-plus mass-communication-connected adults unique observations on a national story are going to be very hard to come-by!

But Rachel Maddow drilled a little deeper than I did.

She asked a former FBI counter-terrorism agent how it was that Private Long’s murderer under an active FBI ‘watch’ for a year, Muhammad/Bledsoe had acquired an “arsenal” of weapons.

She also asked how Dr Tiller’s murderer, Scott Roeder, had complete freedom of movement when the FBI had been provided with multiple positive witness and security videotape identification of Shroeder violating federal FACE statutes multiple times and particularly just a few days before Dr Tiller’s murder?

The former FBI agent responded with a statement of fact–for whatever reason, the ‘system’ failed–a disappointing analysis but fair-enough on its face; nothing is perfect.

…

Radio-host Hal Turner — accused of hosting a website that incited Connecticut Catholics to “take up arms” and singling out two Connecticut lawmakers and a state ethics official — was taken into custody in New Jersey late today after state Capitol police obtained an arrest warrant for him.

SO, New Jersey State police (NOT the FBI) arrested a known racist (and pal of Sean Hannity, incidentally), Hal Turner, of simply inciting violence against officials of another state!.

What does this have to do with Shroeder, Muhammad, politically- and religiously-motivated murder and the responses of secular and egalitarian legal authorities?

Welllll….

Hal Turner has multi-year history of inciting violence.
Scott Shroeder has a multi-year history of being incited to violence.  Muhammad/Bledsoe has about one year (by the FBI’s reckoning) of being incited to violence

Hal Turner was just arrested for simply inciting violence, by local police, even though to the best of anyone’s knowledge no-one has acted on his incitements (interestingly he’s also apparently been an FBI informant precisely because of his connections with extremists).

Scott Roeder had a public record of violent intent and was an active participant in aggressive demonstrations promoted by “pro-life” anti-abortion organizations that have a record for inciting violence and praising violence against its “spiritual/intellectual”and political enemies.  From their extremist ranks, extreme ‘Christian soldiers’ have sprung who have terrorized and murdered for the anti-abortion cause–which is to render abortion in any form, illegal.  (Except natural abortion of course, otherwise known as miscarriage. When God Himself kills babies it’s perfectly okay, even though godless sinners may have the capacity to prevent miscarriages through the application of secular, sinful, medical science.)

Scott Roeder, even though he was known to the FBI and to Wichita locals, even though he had publicly expressed violent tendencies and participated in threatening actions towards a specific individual, even though he had been proven to have violated anti -terror FEDERAL law multiple times, was NEVER arrested for his actions, let alone his own incitement or his propensity for being incited by others.

And those organizations that incited Roeder, and continue to incite others to violence, were likewise allowed to continue and remain untouched by federal and local authorities.

Muhammad/Bledsoe, a newly-minted ‘terrorist’ with no local support whatsoever faces the maximum punitive weight that Federal authorities can bring to bear against him.  Roeder, on the other hand is faced with the minimum sanctions available.

And yet Hal Turner who hasn’t killed anyone or personally threatened to kill anyone or even engaged in any targeted property damage has been arrested by local authorities for verbally threatening ‘across state lines’ ( that’s the only way I can express it).

Anyone CAN be arrested for verbal threats–it happens all the time, and when such official action is taken it usually results in a misdemeanor charge.

So why, if Hal Turner can be arrested by local police on one instance of ‘verbal’ (communicated) threats (supported by a record of threatening verbiage) wasn’t Scott Roeder with a record of aggressive behavior and proof of violation of federal law also arrested by either local or Federal law enforcement?

And why wasn’t Muhammad/Bledsoe (under investigation for a year apparently) hauled-in for simple questioning at least, as the FBI is authorized to do? Did the FBI need him to actually commit a criminal act before charging him with anything?
Compare Muhammad/Bledsoe’s case to that of any other ‘domestic terror plot’ the FBI has supposedly thwarted in the past 8 years. The ONE time a domestic MUSLIM ‘terrorist’ actually kills someone symbolic of US hegemony, and the FBI has to LET SOMEONE GET MURDERED before they DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT?!!!

Read the rest of this post here.