Monthly Archives: May 2009

Bill Maher: New Rules 5/29/09

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Bill hits on greed and healthcare (or lack of..) in America. 

Bill Maher:

“Really… What is the healthcare system in America but insurance companies making money by fucking people out of coverage, even if it kills them – which it does – at least 20,000 a year.

And now Congress has taken the single payer option off the table. Why? Because competition from the government might make corporations sad…

We can’t have that.

Healthcare is the biggest industry we’ve got. We NEED sick people, and the food companies are doing their part to help!…”

Even If It Wasn’t Torture, It Was Still a Crime

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Article VI, Clause 2 of the US Constitution says:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. 

Article VI, Clause 3 says:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. 

There are those on the right who insist that the US should never be bound by International Treaty, but they would be wrong. When we sign a treaty and ratify it in our Senate, it becomes “the supreme Law of the Land.” To fail to follow it would be to fail to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment makes it a crime to torture people or to treat prisoners cruelly or inhumanely. The United States signed this treaty on April 18, 1988. The United States finally got around to ratifying this treaty on October 21, 1994. This means that this treaty was the Law of the Land on January 20, 2001, when the Bush Administration came into office.

On August 6, 2002, Continue reading →

Bill Moyers Journal on Healthcare Reform

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This episode of the Bill Moyers Journal was broadcast May 22, 2009.

Bill Moyers speaks with Donna Smith, who works as a community organizer and legislative advocate for the California Nurses Association, whose 85 thousand members across the country were early champions for a single-payer program.

Bill Moyers then speaks with Public Citizen’s Dr. Sidney Wolfe and Physicians for a National Health Program’s Dr. David Himmelstein on the political and logistical feasibility of health care reform.

The question is “Why isn’t a single-payer plan even an option on the the table?” 

(The answer of course is MONEY and PROFITS – as in “DON’T TOUCH our profits thank you very much!”…)

Part 1:

Part 2: 

Part 3:

Transcript.

May 29th Open Thread – This is Rush Hour?

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An oxymoron if there ever was one. George Carlin got it right when he mused: “Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?”

It’s Friday, and the weekend is but a night away.

Savor your workday through its final moments. You can always look forward to Monday when the cycle repeats.

In the meantime, your can comment here and in the threads that follow.