"No funds authorized or appropriated under this Mark may be used to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion, except in the case where a woman suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, or unless the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest."
...Moore hits a home run by demonstrating how politicians are bought off by the big players in the industry, especially Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage broker. He interviews an assistant to CEO Angelo Mozilo, who administered the “Friends of Angelo” program. This was a way of allowing elected officials to get discounted mortgages, including Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat with populist pretensions. As was the case with “Sicko”, there has been a major PR effort on behalf of the capitalist class trying to undermine Moore’s reporting. If you Google “Mozilo” and “Michael Moore”, you will find thousands of articles emanating from the same source that try to clear Dodd’s name as well as discredit Moore’s other claims. This one from Yahoo news is typical:THE FACTS: Dodd has acknowledged that he participated in a VIP program at Countrywide, refinancing loans on two homes in 2003. One was a 30-year adjustable rate loan for $506,000 with an interest rate of 4.25 percent and a fee of 0.45 percent. He also got a 30-year adjustable rate mortgage for $275,042 with an interest rate of 4.5 percent and a fee of 0.73 percent.One has to chuckle about the idea of a Senate Select Committee on Ethics clearing Dodd and Kent Conrad, another pig at Mozilo’s trough. It reminds me of how when the New York Police Department “investigates” an incident of police brutality, the malefactor is always cleared as well. The best tribunal for Dodd and company is the nation’s movie theaters where there are no special interests, except a desire to see bad guys nailed by the famous radical movie director.
Both interest rates and fees were within industry norms for that time, according to data provided to the AP by Bankrate.com.
Last month, the Senate’s Select Committee on Ethics cleared Dodd and Kent Conrad of North Dakota of getting special treatment on the mortgages. But the bipartisan panel also said the senators should have “exercised more vigilance” in their dealings with Countrywide to avoid the appearance of sweetheart deals.
“Pittsburgh is what a police state looks like!”
I have been to dozens of protests, large and small, since my son was killed in Iraq, but I have never seen anything like today and the only term I can use is: Profound Overkill. There were easily two cops/soldiers for every one of us protesters"or maybe even 3 to 1.
About two thousand of us gathered in Arsenal Park in Pittsburgh to try and march downtown. We were all peaceful and had no weapons. We had only traveled a few blocks when cops dressed like they were in full combat with heavily armed opponents stopped us and blocked our way with a new weapon called “LRAD:” A new “crowd control” device. LRAD stands for: “Long Range Acoustical Device.” I was, unfortunately near it when the cops turned it on. It's painful.
The group dispersed and went in many different directions. Some of us got to a corner a few blocks up from where we were initially stopped and I am not kidding, at least 500 cops were stopped in formation at this intersection with their gas masks on and nightsticks at the ready to crack the head of anyone who actually tried to peacefully cross their lines"unarmed, of course.
I spoke to dozens of cops today and tried to explain to them that we peaceful protesters are only trying to exercise our 1st Amendment rights and the cops should be protecting us, members of their own class, and not suppressing our freedoms and actually physically hurting us.
There was absolutely no reason for the over-reaction of the police state to the protesters today. Do not believe the news propaganda that says the protesters were the cause of the violence, it was the cops. The thugs even dropped tear gas from helicopters. We're like ants trying to struggle against anteaters.
Seeing the National Guard troops, fresh from Iraq, broke my heart the hardest. I also talked to dozens of them, none had ever heard of posse commitatus, and asked them if my son, their brother, died in Iraq so they could steal the rights of his mother. Most of them wouldn't even look at me. The cops and soldiers should be ashamed of themselves for allowing their selves to be used as tools of the Robber Class “elites.”
“Just following orders” is not a defense.
The G20 will announce tomorrow that they will become the new “permanent council” for international economic cooperation. Who the hell do they think they are? Who voted for this? Who gives them the authority to have this power over our well-being and our very lives?
We do, that's who.
We allow the Robber Class complete, destructive control over our lives by not taking to the streets and outnumbering the thugs 10 to 1; 100 to 1; 1000 to 1.
There's so few of them and so many of us.
When we will learn?
We crave inspiration, and it’s a bleak life to always be dissecting things. But the main feeling that Obama creates in me is fear, because I see people fooling themselves. If you actually look at his policies, what they reflect is the triumph of the right-wing political paradigm since Reagan, and I think he could set things back dramatically, because for young people who are getting engaged in politics for the first time, for them to be disillusioned is very, very damaging.” Because Klein doesn’t expect much from any politician, she doesn’t spend time wishing Obama were more progressive. “I don’t want to appear too cynical, but when I first saw the ‘Yes We Can’ rock video that Will.I.Am made, my first response was ‘Wow, finally a politician is making ads that are as good as Nike’s,’ ” she says. “The ‘Yes We Can’ slogan means whatever you want it to mean. It’s very ‘Just Do It.’ When you hear it, you catch yourself thinking, Yeah! We’re gonna end torture and shut down Guantánamo and get out of Iraq! And then you think, Wait a minute, is he really saying that? He’s not really saying that, is he? He’s saying we’re going to send more troops to Afghanistan. He’s telling regular people what they want to hear, and then in the back rooms he’s making deals and signing on to the status quo. But if people don’t like where Obama is they should move the center.” To this end, Klein has been taking every opportunity to call for the nationalization of the oil companies. “It’s the job of the left to move the center,” she says. “Get out there and say some crazy stuff! And then, suddenly, it’ll seem more reasonable for politicians to take riskier positions.”“Get out there and say some crazy stuff"? Yes, yes, I can!
They're a bloodthirsty lot. Crazed by war,as recently as 1738 they crossed their borders to seize Kandahar and Delhi. We may be next on their list.Prior to the 20th century, classical liberalism was the dominant political philosophy in the United States. It was the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson and the signers of the Declaration of Independence and it permeates the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and many other documents produced by the people who created the American system of government. Many of the emancipationists who opposed slavery were essentially classical liberals, as were the suffragettes, who fought for equal rights for women.Full Article
Classical Liberals, like myself, stress such ideas as voluntary association, incentives, and self-interest. We believe that people are bound by their own decisions, agreements, contracts, and so on. Therefore, people may do unpleasant jobs, for instance, because they pay. They may, of course, do things as well for non-financial reasons. It is important to note that we stress that our way of doing things combines a way to get things done with a high degree of individual freedom. We assume that people recognize the rights of others and some uncontracted obligations toward others, as well.Thanks to Will, who provided me with a political philosophy that begins to approach my perspectives—and maybe yours...
[...]
Classical Liberals emphasize the importance of individual freedoms of various kinds. We see these as moral rights. There is, however, a great deal of room for disputes about the scope and character of these rights, as in government by consent. We do argue about these rights, which can enliven any gathering of Classical Liberals. We do agree, however, that any government that does exist exists to safeguard or protect the individual rights of its citizens, that is, that is the proper role of government even though we realize that some actual governments don't do that. So we might say that this ought or should be the role of any "legitimate" government.
[...]
We also expect that if people's rights are safeguarded and protected, human interaction will generate well-being or happiness for each individual. This is achieved through voluntary market transactions, voluntary mutual aid and charity and, in very limited ways, possibly through government action. We believe that individuals are the best judges of their own interests and that government should be limited in scope and function by what citizens will consent to and by individual rights. So we tend to favor a self-limiting Democratic Republic with a written constitution that guarantees protection of individual rights against a simple majority rule.
Virtually all Classical Liberals agree with the ideal of the rule of law, rather than the rule of men. And the law should be general in character, publicly available, not retrospective, not arbitrary and capricious, but objective and based on a rational foundation. Government should act only on the basis of the law, and not on mere whim or circumstance
Furthermore, the state should be broadly neutral regarding people's concerns, such as with religion for example. While we all agree that law and order in any society is important and it is the government's job to see to this matter through protecting the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, there is some disagreement among Classical Liberals over the matters of national defense and "public goods" such as mail services and other things that people need but that are not provided or are underprovided by the free market.
Major restaurant chains like Denny's, Burger King, Wendy's, Quiznos, Hardee's and Carl's Jr. have already started using some cage-free eggs, but IHOP refuses to follow their lead.The whole measures are courtesy of Compassion over Killing, which does not advocate better cages for chickens but instead calls on companies like Dunkin' Donuts "to stop using eggs and dairy in its donuts."Consumers Demand Improvement
IHOP's refusal to begin moving away from battery cage eggs is inconsistent with its customers' opposition to this animal cruelty. In November 2008, in IHOP's home state of California, nearly two-thirds of voters passed the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which bans battery cages throughout the state (with a phase-out).
IHOP is violating the will of the people with its archaic policy.
"Given consumers' overwhelming opposition to battery cage cruelty and the growing corporate movement away from supporting this particular abuse, there's simply no reason for IHOP to continue clinging to battery cages," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "It's time for IHOP to follow the lead of its competitors and start switching to cage-free eggs."
Compassion Over Killing is asking you to contact Dunkin' Donuts to urge the company to stop using eggs and dairy in its donuts as well as offer vegan menu items.Do you support half measures or whole measures? Or no measures? Do you support animal cruelty with your diet?
Dunkin' Donuts is the world's largest coffee and baked goods chain serving more than 3 million customers daily. There are an estimated 6,400 stores in the U.S. alone, offering more than 52 varieties of donuts--and every single donut served contains both egg and dairy products from animals forced to endure miserable conditions on today's massive and mechanized factory farms.
In case you're not up to speed, over 98% of all meat, dairy, and eggs produced in the US comes from factory farms. The conditions in these places are truly horrendous. Animals are crammed in spaces so tight they can't turn around. They literally go insane, lying around all day and night in their own feces. They never see sunlight, have their beaks, horns and genitals cut off (without anesthetic) and are horribly abused by stressed and desensitized farm workers. We kill 10 billion animals for "food" a year in this country, that's over 27 million animals a day. Most of those animals are birds, and all poultry (chickens, turkeys, ducks, and rabbits... yes, rabbits are considered poultry under the law) are excluded from the barely enforced Humane Slaughter Act.
Now, before you start at me with some "humane meat" "happy meat" bullshit please take note that all animals, whether they are raised in the nastiest of factory farms or grass-fed, free-range, blah blah blah, are all sent to the same slaughterhouses. That's right, your organic steer is being sent to the same hell as a downer cow and will meet the same ghastly end. If you are a "humane meat" consumer, please take a moment and meditate on the whole concept of humane killing... bloody, fearful, struggling, screaming, despairing humane killing. It's never pretty and it certainly isn't "humane."
[...]
And if we say we care about cruelty to animals then it's time we start caring about all animals. Yes, dogs and cats are companion animals but in terms of suffering our canine and feline friends feel the same as a pig, cow, chicken, lamb, or turkey. To pick and choose species in terms of whose pain we care about is incredibly hypocritical and inconsistent. Sorry, but if you're eating veal parmigiana or turkey sandwiches, you don't really care about animals. You may care about dogs and cats but you certainly don't care about birds and baby cows.
So, who's the real extremist? The person who tries to stop unnecessary suffering by cutting out animal products, or the person who says, "I like the way that tastes, so a sentient being needs suffer and die?"
[...]
All animals deserve to be free from unnecessary pain, fear, and suffering at the hands of humans. How can anything less claim to be humane? Do I want more people to go vegan, is that why I talk and write about it? Of course, but it has nothing to do with me or some group that I belong to. It has to do with the animals who suffer everyday so that we can eat them, wear them, and do whatever we want to them simply because we can.
The U.S. always turns in a spectacular performance on poverty indicators, and this version is no exception: not only do we have one of the highest poverty rates in the OECD [...], our poor also tend to be quite poor. The average poor household in the U.S. has an income 38% below the poverty line (and poverty is defined here, as it often is in international comparisons, as an income less than half the national household median, with appropriate adjustments made for household size). The average for the OECD is 10 points lower, 28%. It’s in the low 20s in the Scandinavian countries, and in the mid-20s in France and Canada.Our elites think this is all hunky-dory because America is a place where the poor have the opportunity to become billionaires (and, hey, if they don't take advantage of that opportunity, they belong at the bottom). Witness George Will praising his Club the Poor for Growth pal Marco Rubio:
[...]
It’s depressing to look too closely at the U.S. health indicators. It’s pretty well known that our headline health figures, like life expectancy and infant mortality, are among the rich world’s worst, and the OECD confirms that impression. Of the 30 countries for which the OECD reports data, the U.S. comes in 24th in life expectancy, with poorer countries behind it. And of the same 30 countries, the U.S.has the sixth-highest incidence of low birthweight among newborns, and the third-highest level of infant mortality; again, it’s mostly poor countries like Mexico and Turkey that have more painful figures.
A Catholic and father of four, Rubio, whose parents fled Cuba in 1959, says, "It is hard to be apolitical when you are raised by exiles." He worries that his children's generation "will be the first to inherit a diminished country." His preventive medicine includes limited government, tax reform, spending restraint, and removal of all impediments to the entrepreneurship that makes America a place "where poor people can put billionaires out of business."Look on the bright side: the more poverty we create, the greater will be the chance that a few of the impoverished will climb out of poverty to become the Horatio Algers that George Will can deign to admire.
NPR decided to not use the term "torture" to describe techniques such as water-boarding but instead uses "harsh interrogation tactics," Duffy told me.Does anyone think that NPR gives listeners "all perspectives"? Do they provide socialistic or anarchistic or communistic perspectives on our government? NPR is about an inch to the left of right-wing radio and Fox News. It represents the interests of the well-heeled, the complacent, and the successful. Those people don't want to hear about torture.I recognize that it's frustrating for some listeners to have NPR not use the word torture to describe certain practices that seem barbaric. But the role of a news organization is not to choose sides in this or any debate. People have different definitions of torture and different feelings about what constitutes torture. NPR's job is to give listeners all perspectives, and present the news as detailed as possible and put it in context.
"I understand the desire to 'call a spade a spade,' but it is not for journalists to start labeling specific practices torture," said Duffy. "That's what the debate is about -- what constitutes torture?"
Despite the commonness of such claims, little evidence has ever been presented for a left bias at NPR , and FAIR’s latest study gives it no support. Looking at partisan sources—including government officials, party officials, campaign workers and consultants—Republicans outnumbered Democrats by more than 3 to 2 (61 percent to 38 percent). A majority of Republican sources when the GOP controls the White House and Congress may not be surprising, but Republicans held a similar though slightly smaller edge (57 percent to 42 percent) in 1993, when Clinton was president and Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.
Partisans from outside the two major parties were almost nowhere to be seen, with the exception of four Libertarian Party representatives who appeared in a single story (Morning Edition , 6/26/03).
So far the man whose campaign told us that we were the ones to make those changes we’d been waiting for has made very little in the way of substantial change. Certainly the tone is different, and it’s pleasing to see the President appear as the adult in a group of squabbling politicians. It’s even possible that Obama will have the guts to make a popular decision and reduce the commitment to Afghanistan now that Gen. McChrystal has supposedly projected a need for half a million troops to stabilize that country."Certainly the tone is different...." Is a high-toned Obama war preferable to a high-spirited Bush war? Have not both presidents behaved high-handedly?
[...]
When Obama says that “Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow”, he knows that his statement is, as Scott Ritter says, “technically and legally wrong.” In fact Iran has followed its commitments to the letter. The United States, on the other hand, has consistently and blatantly violated its stated commitments in the NPT, as have the other nuclear nations. No one’s fooled any longer about the real purpose of the NPT: to restrict the number of nations who can act as they choose without fear of retaliation. No one’s fooled, that is, except for American citizens, whose religion of paranoia waxes in strength as the empire wanes. “I have described the triumph of barbarism and religion”, Gibbon wrote, and history folds back on itself.
The Berkeley protest was one of many held across California in an unprecedented day of action directed at university authorities and state governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger as he attempts to curb the state's multibillion-dollar budget crisis. Faculty, students and unions from the University of California's 10 campuses including its two most prestigious, UCLA and Berkeley, joined forces in what was the biggest student protest for more than a generation.The scale of the protests has come as a shock to state authorities. What began as a marginal dispute in the summer between university faculty and their management over cuts in salaries has in recent weeks escalated into a statewide walkout by students and faculty as well as a day of strike action by campus technical workers against layoffs and diminished terms and conditions.
[...]
In a move that will reignite debates around racial inequities in education one group demonstrating labelled the proposed hike in fees as "twisted and racist", saying it would mean more low-income and ethnic minority students would be unable to afford a college education. They also criticised proposals to increase the proportion of out-of-state students - who pay markedly higher fees - to 26% alleging it would further reduce the opportunities for young people from low-income groups or ethnic minorities living in California to secure a university place.
In a swipe clearly directed at the governor's office one provocative leaflet read: "Annually the state pays $49,000 per prison inmate and less than $14,000 per UC student. If the state can lock us up, it can invest in our education for one-third of the cost."
Globally billions, if not trillions, of dollars are lost to tax cheats every year. As a group of the world’s leading industrial nations, G20, meets in Pittsburgh this week Lesley Curwen examines what they intend to do to stop the cheating.It turns out that it is not just the Swiss who have been servicing the super-clandestine international rich man's clubs. It turns out that it's clearly both the U.K. and our own
The leaders are putting their faith in international agreements called TIEAs, formal commitments made between two countries in which they promise to share tax information with each other. The idea is that, if enough countries sign up, it will stop tax evaders from slipping their money secretly from one country to the next.
Critics say that these TIEAs are laughably weak. Until very recently relatively few countries signed up to them; many countries signed up but then didn’t implement them; others deliberately don’t collect enough information to be able to offer a partner any meaningful information.
Plans are afoot to change all this, say defenders of the system. From next March serious sanctions will apply to countries which harbour tax cheats.
Yet critics believe the system could be strengthened still more if the political will was there to force change through. They say that the reason change is slow to come is that leading G20 countries themselves are making too much money out of tax evasion to really want to stop it.
U.S.A. who turn a blind eye as far as tax cheats from other countries.To the occupiers of UCSC,Background here:We fellow workers and students from New York City stand in solidarity with those at UC Santa Cruz who have occupied their university against the cuts and austerity measures forced on them by capital and its bureaucrats.
Public services are some of the first gains to be rescinded when capital desperately thrashes out in an effort to valorize itself. As workers have been crowded out of their jobs, and as the failure of various financial machinations to alleviate this crisis has become clear, more have been heading back to school. They have been burying their heads under even more debt with the hope of riding out the job scarcity and making themselves more attractive to employers.
As California’s universities reduce their enrollment by tens of thousands and simultaneously increase student fees and tuition, they are giving us a clear message: there is no escape from this turbulence.
So lets meet it head on.
SANTA CRUZ - A day after a large rally against tuition hikes and pay cuts, several dozen UC Santa Cruz students and workers remained barricaded in the Graduate Student Commons on Friday in an effort to continue Thursday's walkout and strike.More:
Protesters took over the second floor of the Commons building at 5 p.m. Thursday after marching from the site of a demonstration and picket line formed by a union representing about 150 UCSC employees. Banners saying "Raise Hell, Not Costs" and "We Are the Crisis" were hung over the balcony of the Commons area, where participants later playing loud music and hosting a dance party.
Participants are calling the move a peaceful "occupation." They say no student who has requested access to the space - which is ordinarily used for studying or socializing - has been denied.
"I'd like to see this as the beginning of an anti-cutbacks movement," said a UCSC employee who declined to give his name. "This is the first salvo."
Demonstrators are demanding the university's president and governing body stop cutting employee pay and increasing student fees to cover an $813 million loss in state funding -- which amounts to more than 20 percent of the $3.3 billion Sacramento gives UC annually. UC's total budget is $19.6 billion, with about $4 billion in reserves.
Protesters say the university should draw down the savings and take from medical center profits to reduce the toll on students and employees. Enrollment was trimmed by nearly 7 percent at UCSC this fall amid employee furloughs and layoffs.
"There have been so many hikes in tuition and at the same time they are cutting our resources," said Elizabeth Jarasunas of Los Angeles, a junior philosophy major who said she supports the Commons demonstration. "We end up paying more for a less-quality education."
She and freshman Edward Loseman, a molecular biology major from the Dominican Republic, said they have not gone inside the occupied area but hope the event galvanizes students around fighting budget cuts.
"It's about time we stop playing by their rules," Loseman said.
Obama and his base have craftily deflected blame for the crisis on the System to greedy individuals or reckless corporations, yet the Bush/Obama team transferred some 2 trillion dollars from the public treasury to save the System itself that creates the crisis. The propping up of this corporation and that company has everything to do with saving private businesses by saving the money people, i.e., stockholders and lenders. Banks and financial institutions could have been socialized so that only capitalists become bankrupt and are expropriated, while workers take over the control of the enterprises. But then the capitalist system would become redundant. So it is not a bailout but a heist and shifting of public funds to private coffers. The stockholders have had their investments guaranteed by the public. Corporate stocks are boosted at the expense of the public treasury. It is not that some businesses are too big to fail. Chrysler was left to go bankrupt. Why not the others? Because then the workers would be given incentive to take them over. With this theft the elites will remain in control. While over 2 million Americans lost jobs since the beginning of the year and retirement pensions dissipated, values of homes sinking further, children going hungry and 40-odd million without healthcare, Wall Street is rebounding to making obscene profits as “workers at the largest financial institutions are on track to earn as much money this year as they did before the financial crisis began, because of the stronger start of the year for bank profits”[11] The elites’ attempts, like the G20 meeting in London, at global cooperation to strengthen the market economy proves that the System is irrational, and their efforts will not solve the inherent contradictions of the market economy, but is an attempt to blanket the market in rationalizations with the intention to not only hide from the people the real issues, but will also recommence the peoples’ dream in the market as the only road to the good life for which one-third of humans live in murderous poverty. The market economy is based on the concentration of economic power by ever growing ownership of productive forces, whether they are material goods or hedge funds, into fewer and fewer hands. Its claims to rationality in its theory, doctrines and neoliberal ideology, as exemplified by Greenspan and Friedman, are philosophic wizardry in an attempt to hide the market economy’s irrationalism: cycles of economic crisis, wars, worker alienation, poverty, destruction of the environment, misery, etc. The grandest mystification is linking the market economy and representative “democracy”. Democratic capitalism is an oxymoron.
In today's New York Times, the grizzled warrior David Brooks performs a chest-beating war dance over Afghanistan of the type he and his tough guy comrades perfected in the run-up to the Iraq War. It's filled with self-glorifying "war-is-hell" neocon platitudes that make the speaker feel tough and strong. No more hiding like cowards in our bases. It's time to send "small groups of American men and women [] outside the wire in dangerous places." Chomping on a cigar in his war room, he roars: "all out or all in." The central question: will we "surrender the place to the Taliban?," etc. etc.
Needless to say, Brooks was writing all the same things in late 2002 and early 2003 about Iraq. When I went back to read some of that this morning, I was -- as always -- struck by how extreme and noxious it all was: the snide, hubristic superiority combined with absolute wrongness about everything. What people like David Brooks were saying back then was so severe -- so severely wrong, pompous, blind, warmongering and, as it turns out, destructive -- that no matter how many times one reviews the record of the leading opinon-makers of that era, one will never be inured to how poisonous they are.
The Obama administration has decided not to seek new legislation from Congress authorizing the indefinite detention of about 50 terrorism suspects being held without charges at at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, officials said Wednesday.War, the Patriot Act, excusing torture, indefinite detention, renditions... we've got a whole lot of Bush Redux.
Instead, the administration will continue to hold the detainees without bringing them to trial based on the power it says it has under the Congressional resolution passed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, authorizing the president to use force against forces of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
In concluding that it does not need specific permission from Congress to hold detainees without charges, the Obama administration is adopting one of the arguments advanced by the Bush administration in years of debates about detention policies.
Learning is a low priority Thursday on UC campuses across the state as tens of thousands of students and employees skip class and hit the quads with a political purpose.A strike and walkout was called at all ten of the California campuses in protest of how the university's Board of Regents has responded to the state's budget mess.
Picket lines started forming before sunrise on many campus construction sites.
The protests peak is scheduled for high noon. That's when thousands are expected to participate in an effort to let school officials and lawmakers alike know students and staff are mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore.
Organizers say the board is using the state budget crisis to create a false crisis on campus, leaving students and staff feeling the pain.
"It's the layoffs. It's the furloughs. It's the fee hikes. It's the lack of transparency. It's the lack of shared governance," Tanya Smith, president of the Berkeley chapter University Professional and Technical Employees-Communication Workers of America union Local 9119, said.
Back in July, the Board of Regents approved furlough plan, which cuts wages. That has employees in a huff.
The students are mad because fees could be going up by another $2,500 over the next year.
The Blue Dogs and Waxman negotiated a deal to water down the public option but still include it in a final bill. Mike Ross came back from recess and said he could not support a public option whatsoever. At that point, the deal ended. And Ross, secure with his payoff from a pharmacy chain from a couple years back, has nobody to blame but himself.
This puts the House bill in the best negotiating position for the inevitable conference committee. Obviously the public option is a compromise in itself, but further grinding it into nothing would have made it nearly impossible to defend its inclusion in conference. Pelosi is determined to have the House be an equal player in this debate, and that starts by her passing the best bill possible from her chamber.
In other good news, the single-payer bill, HR 676, will finally get a score from the Congressional Budget Office. This score could be an excellent tool for advocates down the road, and it's sad that it's taken this long for such a score to be calculated.
Sep 22, 2009
If Congress Attacks the Mighty Oak of Contractor Misconduct, It Shouldn't Just Settle for an ACORN
Last week, the House and Senate voted to prohibit the federal government from awarding contracts and grants to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a national network of community-based organizations that advocate for low-income families. Congress rushed to cut off all federal funding to ACORN days after several ACORN employees were caught on camera giving advice to a couple posing as a prostitute and a pimp on ways to evade the law.
The House’s bill is called the “Defund ACORN Act”. The bill specifically targets ACORN, but it also applies to “any organization” or its employees who are charged with violating federal or state election, campaign finance or lobbying disclosure laws or filing a fraudulent form with any federal or state regulatory agency.
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) is particularly interested in the fraud provision. Recognizing that there are probably worse offenders than ACORN in this area, Grayson is looking for help in coming up with a list of organizations that have committed fraud against the government or employed someone who did. Rep. Grayson will put his list in the Congressional Record as part of a legislative history that judges and lawyers can use to interpret the law.
POGO’s Federal Contractor Misconduct Database is a great place to start. At last count, it includes 87 instances of government contract fraud – federal and state – involving 43 contractors. You might want to focus on Lockheed Martin, which has 11 government contract fraud instances, or Northrop Grumman with 9 contract fraud instances including this $325 million False Claims Act settlement from earlier this year.
Bear in mind that, since 1994, ACORN has reportedly received a total of $53 million in federal funds, or an average of roughly $3.5 million per year. In contrast, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman respectively received over $35 billion and $18 billion in federal contracts last year. (Their totals since 2000 are $266 billion for Lockheed and $125 billion for Northrop.)
The Teabagger Socialist-Free Purity Pledge
I, ________________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:
I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.
I will complain about the destruction of my 2nd Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.
I will foreswear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls. Also.
I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life.
I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:
Social Security
Medicare/Medicaid
State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
Police, Fire, and Emergency Services
US Postal Service
Roads and Highways
Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)
The US Railway System
Public Subways and Metro Systems
Public Bus and Lightrail Systems
Rest Areas on Highways
Sidewalks
All Government-Funded Local/State Projects (e.g., see Iowa 2009 federal senate appropriations--http://grassley.senate.gov/issues/upload/Master-Approps-73109.pdf)
Public Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)
Public and State Universities and Colleges
Public Primary and Secondary Schools
Sesame Street
Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children
Public Museums
Libraries
Public Parks and Beaches
State and National Parks
Public Zoos
Unemployment Insurance
Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services
Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)
Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)
Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)
Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking
Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs From Government Subsidies
If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forego my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care
I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist locations, including but not limited to:
Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History
The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments
The government-operated Statue of Liberty
The Grand Canyon
The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials
The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery
All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC
I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forego their government salary and government-provided healthcare.
I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United States of America.
I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell, and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist army.
I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees.
Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.
Upon reaching age 65, I will forego Medicare and pay for my own private health insurance until I die.
SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF ____________ IN THE YEAR______________.
___________________________
___________________________
Signed Printed Name/Town and State
The Merced Police Department's Internal Affairs Division is investigating whether an officer twice used a Taser on an unarmed, wheelchair-bound man with no legs. [source]
After Iraq, here is what His Bloodlust says now:There is a mounting body of evidence of a global alliance directed against the United States, running from Moscow to Tehran, Damascus and Caracas. United by hatred of America, funded by oil and narcotics revenues (including our own), and unanimous in their contempt for free societies, the leaders of Russia, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Bolivia publicly declare their intentions and demonstrate their resolve.Thus, the strategic importance of Afghanistan becomes clear to all!
Secretive flights from Tehran to Damascus and thence to Caracas arrive at a special area in the central airport, where men disembark, are not checked by immigration authorities, and are given Venezuelan passports. Containers are unloaded and do not pass through customs. Similar secrecy attends the return flights. Neighboring countries believe that many of the men are officials of Hezbollah, who then fan out across the region (and perhaps across our southern border) to recruit foot soldiers for their expanding terror bases, and we know, thanks to a paramilitary operation by the Colombians at the beginning of the summer, that Chavez’ regime provided Swedish anti-tank missiles to the Colombian terrorist group FARC. We also know, thanks to years of hard work by the DEA and South American partners, that Venezuela is a major transshipment port for cocaine and other narcotics. The drugs are sent to Africa, and then to Europe, and finally into the United States.
Mr. Emanuel, I’m writing to you because I am angry. I am angry because certain conservative Democratic members of Congress, many of whom you recruited, are doing their level best to make this health care reform a non-entity. I am angry that you seem to think the goal of all of this is to “keep the insurance companies honest” and encourage “competition”–- the health care system in this country does not operate in some classical Adam Smith mythical free market. I can no more diagnose myself than a seventeen year old could negotiate the terms of their hospital stay while slipping in and out of consciousness or a cardiologist should diagnose their own heart attack and haggle with the ER while the event is occurring. The goal is to reform health care. A passage of a health care bill means nothing to me, if the status quo, in which I can’t actually get access to the health care I need, remains.You seem to think that people like me who aren’t millionaires that can write thousand dollar checks at fundraisers should sit down, shut up, and not exert any pressure on people we helped elect because it makes your multi-millionaire friends who could pay the Sultan of Brunei out-of-pocket rates rich. Progressive groups should not sit down and shut up any more than civil rights protesters in the ‘60s should have sat down and shut up because the United States happened to be embroiled in the Vietnam War, or women’s rights groups should have shut up during World War I, or gay rights groups should shut up because there’s a recession. You seem to think they should just whisper in a tiny corner while everyone else is shouting at the top of their lungs from a loud speaker and they should not even dare even to raise their voice. Pardon me sir, I’m not going to sit down and shut up.
The left is the most dangerous force in American politics today. The entire resources of the lobbying industry and of centrist Democratic interests are required to keep it in check, not just during legislative season, but during elections, when the DCCC and the DSCC do their very best to make sure that progressives don’t win primaries, and when they do, that they’re starved of resources.I agree but I would also say that I don't identify with Democrats and don't care about "belonging" to any party. I care about seeing my liberal, progressive, increasingly anarchistic values come to life in the larger society. Where people are helped when they need it and the influence of powerful people is held in check by laws that benefit the majority. Where politicians act on behalf of ordinary Americans, not power. May we continue to scare the shit out of the centrist capitulators and Republican sympathizers in the Democratic party.So time to spine up. If you’re a left wing Democrat, you belong to the scariest force in American politics. The crazy right will have some good cycles yet to come, mainly due to Democratic establishment incompetence and preference for mushy middle candidates but demographics are against them. Don’t write Republicans off yet, but they are failing. You—the left—is the rising force, and everyone in the center and the right, is doing everything they can to keep you down.
Don’t let them, and don’t believe lies about how you’re some tiny minority whom the American people don’t agree with.
BaucusCare destroys meaningful reform and maintains private insurance industry dominance. You know what that means. Certain death for thousands of Americans. That's legislative terrorism.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care...This is significantly more than previous numbers I've been quoting. 3,750 every month. More than were killed on 9/11 -- every month. Where's the tearful singing on the steps of the Capitol? Where's the swift action from Congress? Where's the public outrage and the melodramatic celebrity television specials?
I always believed that president Obama was just a different color corrupt politician who was subservient to the two-party plutocracy. His so-called reform efforts and ludicrous federal deficit spending should disappoint all his non-delusional supporters.
For health reform the only genuine and sensible reform legislation should have been not much more than a single sentence mandating that every American has a right to full Medicare coverage. Period. End of story. True reform. True universal health insurance.
Let the health insurance industry sell their garbage to those choosing it over Medicare and as supplemental insurance, as is done today, to cover what Medicare does not. The one major reason why the US spends more of its wealth on health care than any other nation, but with lousy results for the population as a whole is that so many Americans and their employers buy costly private health insurance. Some things essential for human survival require government programs, like police and fire protection. The overwhelming opinion of those in Medicare is very positive. In fact it is far more positive than those using private health insurance.
But the health insurance industry and others have successfully corrupted Congress and brainwashed much of the population to fear true reforms. Sure, Congress will pass some legislation that Obama will sign and they all will claim victory. But the nation will not get true reforms and health care spending will continue to rise and bankrupt the nation.
Now we are also learning slowly that the financial sector that tanked our economy by pursuing enormously risky but profitable business practices and then was bailed out by the government has not learned any lessons. Banks and all kinds of financial companies are still pursuing risky businesses, still overpaying their top executives and still screwing consumers. Congress is unlikely to pass really tough regulations to put a halt to all the awful practices by financial companies. Why? Because Congress has been corrupted by money from this financial sector.
Make no mistake: Corporate corruption is a true bipartisan effort, perhaps the most bipartisan enterprise.
Obama is no more of a real reformer than any Republican. That so many on the far right think he is a socialist is laughable. He is nothing more than a defender of the corporate-owned two-party plutocracy. To see anything else is pure delusion. The US is being flushed away. A populist Second American Revolution is the only way to save the nation. It will not come from the efforts of anyone that is a Democrat or Republican.
Wake up America! Voting for Democrats or Republicans just perpetuates this corrupt system. They fiddled while Rome burned; we borrow while America sinks.
As previously documented, Goldman Sachs itself has a virtual lock on the top Treasury positions no matter which party is in power. The vaunted bipartisan "Baucus plan" was literally written by a Baucus aide who just left her position as Vice President of Wellpoint to write the health care reform plan for the Senate -- a revelation which barely caused a ripple. And the Supreme Court is on the verge of striking down the few limits on corporate involvement in our politics, a ruling which may (or may not be) constitutionally defensible but which will flood American politics with so much corporate money that it will give new meaning to the term "oligarchy."So with this massive pillaging of America's economic security and the control of American government by its richest and most powerful factions growing by the day, to whom is America's intense economic anxiety being directed? To a non-profit group that devotes itself to providing minute benefits to people who live under America's poverty line, and which is so powerless in Washington that virtually the entire U.S. Senate just voted to cut off its funding at the first sign of real controversy -- could anyone imagine that happening to a key player in the banking or defense industry?
