Posts with the tag congress

Checks and Balances - Afghan War Strategy

"Voice for Humanity" — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:13:14 EST

By Padmini Arhant

In my earlier post, World Peace – Part 1, I mentioned about the military might prevalent in the economic and political aspects governing the domestic and the international societies. Although, it’s not a revelation that the military industrial complex (MIC) authority spreads beyond the realm of providing national security, it’s imperative to study the extent of the institutional power.

Besides the limited constitutional role by the military to defend the nation upon real and potential attack, the unconstitutional engagements are expansive and encroaching on the general society.

Often, it’s the "potential" more than the ‘real’ threats or attacks that are the premise for the prolonged military operation proved extremely lucrative in the prolific conventional and nuclear arms race.

Remaining facts detailed @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Afghanistan – The Military Industrial Complex (MIC) Indefinite Mission

"Voice for Humanity" — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:46:17 EST

By Padmini Arhant

The White House and the Congress members are back at work after a refreshing break from the ‘Thanksgiving’ holiday that allows the average and the privileged citizens to celebrate the family moments together. Not all are able to participate in the long held tradition due to the ceaseless demands of the high commanders, the real authority in the system disguised as democracy.

Military Industrial Complex (MIC) troops expansion policy is having a nuclear impact on the nucleus of the Army, the brave men and women in harm’s way as evidenced in the following reports:

From 1st Sgt. Gonzalo Lassally said of soldiers from Able Troop, 3-71 Cavalry Squadron:

“They become your family and being able to eat together like this, to break bread together is a highlight.”

“We’re thankful for all still being here. We’ve been lucky,

From Padmini Arhant: For the kind attention of,

President Barack Obama, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator Diane Feinstein and the united Republican members of Congress endorsing the enormous troop buildup,

Would you, perhaps consider either matching or exceeding the incredible sacrifice by the honorable Sgt. Gonzalo Lassally in the following manner?

As per the above report, “1st Sgt. Gonzalo Lassally, a father of three from Deltona, Fla., has spent four ‘Thanksgivings, three Christmases and “quite a few birthdays” away from home.”

More realities presented @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Voice for Humanity" — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:29:42 EST

By Padmini Arhant

A special day to thank the people for their love, compassion and actions that positively impact the recipient’s life. In this respect, the nation is thankful to the brave men and women in harm’s way for their sacrifices in many different ways, most importantly their precious life. Within the community, there are many benevolent individuals dedicating their time and resources for others’ welfare. They deserve acknowledgment by the members. Then the family unit, where the relationship is strengthened with genuine care, affection and understanding for each other unconditionally recognized in a subtle or profound manner.

Rest available @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Congressman Greyson (D-FL-8th) Calls for Lowering Cloture from 60 to 55 Votes. Sign On.

Buck Bradberry — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:25:50 EST

Stop Senate Stalling!

Why should launching wars and cutting taxes for the rich require only 50 votes while saving lives requires 60?

Join me in calling for an end to this unfair system. Tell Majority Leader Reid to modify the rules of the Senate to require only 55 votes to invoke cloture instead of 60. Fill out the form below to sign the petition today!

PRIVATE DANCERS

Progressive Observer — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:12:28 EST

The problem is the United States Congress is paid too much and is very explicitly a highest bidder whorehouse.

Faced in a time of wars and uncertainty with skyrocketing oil prices breaking businesses, and personal and state budgets as the cost of everything that had to be heated, cooled or moved went skyward would a congress made up of individuals making seventy-four thousand dollars a year instead of $174,000 have responded with ideological indulgence or swift and brutal legislative vengeance?

Confronted with the realization war contractors were stealing billions of tax dollars in cost-plus contracts and other schemes would a congress that made $50,000 a year, minus various taxes, have sighed at the regrettable cost of doing business or went personally to the pentagon each holding a calculator in one hand and a baseball bat in the other?

The American public has been bamboozled into insulating congress from the American experience. To the aristocrat senator and representative strutting around Washington D.C. the economy is a theoretical construct.

Selling legislation is now very straightforward. Rare is the politician who does send out an email saying I have to fight for your rights, now send me money. Why debate at all? Just leave a few versions of legislation on line and whichever group can raise enough money to buy their relief wins. Government by ebay.

Equating political donations with free speech has institutionalized the right of the wealthy to determine public policy in the United States. And after a career living on the public dole kickbacks of “consulting” or lobbying jobs and painless positions on Board of corporations politicians have proven useful to is common place.

And so we come to the latest vote in the tragic comedy that healthcare reform has become, another Saturday vote. This one just to allow the Senate to continue the never-ending debate about voting on the eventual bill. Not kidding. And the elephant in the room is still the bribes paid to conservative politicians to block anything that will reduce the obscene profits of private insurers and drug pushers; the endless advertised threats to raise prices if the public, represented by congress, dares to challenge them. Literal threats of course because if you are priced out of the care you need you will suffer or die.

What the new law should do is break the power of private insurers as they would any dangerous racket, deny drug companies of any “ever-greening” patent rights, outlaw outrages like dumping people when they get sick and provide real public health insurance that is available on day one to any American who wants it to create real competition, not provide a fig leaf for cherry-picking and higher prices. You have to call congress again Monday; it’s your two Senators this time, if that is what you want.

And ask them to raise the question of election finance reform soon including political advertising so congress can start running the country rather than servicing a few wealthy patrons and Americans no longer have to pay for representation by the hour.

Senate Vote on Health Care Bill

"Voice for Humanity" — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:25:51 EST

By Padmini Arhant

The Senate health care bill is currently under scrutiny requiring 60 procedural votes to qualify for the Senate voting process. At present, the democrats have 58 votes in favor with two independents unclear and the remaining Republican votes unanimously opposed to the bill. I’ve confidence in the (I) U.S. Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders with his support to alleviate the suffering of millions in Vermont and across the nation.

While the Democrats laying out the facts and figures, the Republican lawmakers are meticulously scanning for flaws in their defense to block the anxiously awaited health care legislation.

Senate version of the health care bill proposes $848 billion allowing coverage for 31 million uninsured Americans with a CBO (Congressional Budget Office) assessment confirming an impressive $130 billion cost savings otherwise a massive federal deficit reduction over a decade.

Remaining article continued @http://www,padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Response to Vice President Al Gore and DCCC Chairman Rep. Chris Van Hollen

"Voice for Humanity" — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:53:09 EST

By Padmini Arhant

Dear Mr. Vice President and Rep. Van Hollen,

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your request. However, the required information sent on priority basis should be available prior to the deadline.

Enclosed please find the contribution and the survey completed with specific targets vital for immediate economic recovery and national progress.

I appreciate your kind remarks and the invitation to participate in the legislative affairs. I pledge my support to defend the policies benefiting the people of the United States of America as well as the global citizens.

Furthermore, I consider it’s really important for the incumbent and the prospective legislators to make a firm commitment to serve the people electing them to office and not become the proxies for the special interests. I reiterate the fact that despite millions of dollars in investments towards any political campaigns, the ultimate power lies with the electorate in a democracy.

Remaining content available @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Vice President Al Gore - Communiqué

"Voice for Humanity" — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:23:41 EST

By Padmini Arhant

Health Care Reform - A priority for the victims of the status quo.

Please be sure to watch the videos.

Full Content available @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Middle Tennessee Healthcare Reform Roll Call

Benjamin Vos, Nashville — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:25:53 EST

Are you committed to supporting the President's plan for healthcare reform?

President Obama has called for Congress to deliver on comprehensive healthcare reform that provides security and stability for the insured, help for the uninsured, and reins in the costs of healthcare for families, businesses, and government.

This requires a mutual commitment - all of us must pull together in order to accomplish this goal.

The status quo is unsustainable and morally unacceptable. We spend 16% of our gross domestic product on healthcare in this country - $2.4 trillion per year - and insurance premiums have more than doubled since 1998. Wages have remained flat while healthcare costs have increased, leaving families with less money in their paychecks. 45,000 Americans die each year because they don't have access to insurance, and a million more American families go bankrupt each year because of medical bills.

These issues don't discriminate. Rich and poor, labor and management, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, male, female, straight, gay - all of us are impacted by the drag of healthcare costs on our economy.

Will you join the President in supporting reform? Please tell your Senators and Representatives to pass reform this fall. We can't wait another day.

Post a comment to show your support, and share your ideas.

Election Lesson: It's right -- not Right -- to be Democrats.

Douglas from South Gate, CA — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:46:15 EST

Given the mixed results in this off-off-year election -- Republicans win governorships in traditionally Democratic New Jersey as well as in traditionally Republican Virginia; Democrats win House seats in a traditionally Republican New York district as well as in a traditionally Democratic California district -- there is more spin being spun by pundits on the Left and the Right than by Kobe Bryant goin' to the hoop. So what's the real deal?

Glenn Greenwald on State Secrets, Healthcare and Media..

Chinni — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:14:36 EST

Leading Political, Legal Blogger Glenn Greenwald on Afghanistan, State Secrets, Healthcare and the Media

GLENN GREENWALD: ....I think the real question, though, is, the White House claims in public now that the President favors a public option. There have been lots of reports that, in private, they’ve been working against a public option, urging the senators not to include it in the package, that their deals with the healthcare industry is that there would be no public option. So, now one can only speculate about what the reality is, but I think now the question is, you know, they’ve proven in the past that they’re willing to apply heavy pressure tactics on members of Congress. They applied all kinds of threats against House progressives who didn’t want to vote for the war supplemental bill to force them to do so and support the President.

AMY GOODMAN: How?

GLENN GREENWALD: Well, according to Lynn Woolsey, who is the chair of the House Progressive Caucus, Rahm Emanuel and other White House political officials were calling House freshmen and saying, “If you don’t vote for the war supplemental bill,” that included the IMF money that the President had promised and the war in Afghanistan and Iraq funding, “you will never hear from us again,” meaning you will have to run for reelection without any support from the President or the Democratic Party infrastructure, which is an enormous threat to make for any member of Congress.

So, you know, and the Republicans found a way, in 2004, when Arlen Specter had threatened, as Senate Judiciary Committee chair, to block the President’s Supreme Court nominees, if they thought—if he thought they were going to overturn Roe v. Wade, to humiliate him by saying, “You will not have this chairmanship unless you vow in advance to allow these nominations to go forward.” So parties can apply all sorts of pressure on members of Congress who are being recalcitrant, if they’re actually serious about doing so.

And so, now the question is, will they apply that kind of pressure to Joe Lieberman and prove that they—that this talk about the President favoring a public option isn’t just lip service to placate the progressive base? Or will they use the senatorial courtesy to say, well, look, there’s nothing we can do about Joe Lieberman, just like they did during the Bush years when it came time to oppose the war in Iraq and other issues?

JUAN GONZALEZ: And speaking of that lip service to placate the progressive base, you’ve also shown a light on the debate among the progressive publications over this issue of how serious the Obama administration is about the public option, in the battles between Daily Kos, on the one hand, and the Huffington Post and The Nation. Could you talk about how this is affecting the progressive media?

GLENN GREENWALD: Well, I think one of the most significant issues of the Obama administration has been what role progressives—the progressive infrastructure has played in applying pressure on the Obama administration. One of the very first things that the Obama administration did—and Rahm Emanuel has specialized in trying to control and silence the left; I mean, that’s how he built his power base—in the House of Representatives was, they created these weekly meetings called Unity ’09 and Common Purpose, where members of all of the allegedly progressive groups devoted to progressive causes meet every week on Tuesday, often with members of the White House communications team, including oftentimes Rahm Emanuel, and they coordinate their messaging. So, instead of being devoted to, for example, pressuring the administration on issues relating to labor or to choice or to gay issues or to war, instead they’re coordinating their messaging to insure that their real allegiance is to serve the interest and the agenda of the Obama administration. And it’s really enabled the Obama administration to annex large aspects of the progressive infrastructure and to remove what ought to be an important pressure point.

I think they’ve done the same with lots of progressive pundits, who aren’t necessarily attending these meetings, but who have voluntarily ceded their role in the progressive world and in progressive opinion making and activism. And you see this conflict more and more, I think. For example, the Huffington Post had an article critical of the Obama administration, reporting, for example, that they were working behind the scenes, in contrast to what Obama was saying, to sabotage the public option. And you saw in various places, on Daily Kos and others, suddenly declarations that the Huffington Post was suspect, and they were right wing, and they were the enemy, because anyone who reflects negatively on Obama has to be discredited. And I think you see that conflict, and I hope it will continue to grow, because it’s healthier than having progressives devote themselves to cheerleading for the President.

AMY GOODMAN: But explain why they’re against the public option, the Obama administration. The Obama administration, who—well, Obama was for single payer for years, and we have all the video that we keep playing of him endorsing it.

GLENN GREENWALD: Well, one of the interesting—most interesting aspects of what has happened here—and I think it illustrates the point I was just making—is, when Obama was running for president, he not only vowed, in general, to have the most transparent administration ever, talked about how secrecy was the toxin of Washington, but specifically with regard to the healthcare debate, he said the problem has always been in the past, that all the stakeholders get in the meetings, and they get accommodated, and nobody knows what’s actually happening, because it’s all done in secret. And he vowed that healthcare negotiations that he’s involved in, not only wouldn’t they be conducted in secret, they would be put on C-SPAN. Instead, as it turned out, the White House, early on in this process, beginning in March and April, were meeting with pharmaceutical and healthcare industry representatives and reaching secret deals with them to insure that they would not sabotage the healthcare plan.

And they made two deals, one with the pharmaceutical industry, not to negotiate for bulk prices, to pay full prices, even though they’re going to be the largest purchaser of pharmaceutical products; and one with the healthcare industry, not to have a public option to compete with what it was that they would be able to charge. So, essentially, they would force and mandate healthy, young Americans to buy the products of the insurance company without providing a public option to keep costs low. It was a huge gift to the healthcare industry. And I think one reason was they were afraid that the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry would advertise against the program. But I think the more important concern is, right now, most healthcare money and pharmaceutical money goes to the Democrats—it went to the Obama campaign, it went to help Democrats take over control of the Congress—and they want that to continue. They don’t want that money to go to Republican coffers to take over the Congress in 2010. And so, one of their principal priorities was to make sure that whatever happened was not a threat to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. And that’s why, I think, that early on they bargained the public option away.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And yet, there was no big furor among—in the progressive circles, as there was, for instance, when Dick Cheney had all his private meetings to develop energy policy at the beginning of the Bush administration, over the failure of Obama to come through with his promise of a more open and public process on healthcare reform.

GLENN GREENWALD: Right. And, in fact, one of the principal controversies of the Bush-Cheney administration prior to 9/11, as you just alluded to, was the fact that they refused to disclose the energy executives with whom they were meeting to formulate energy policy. And they invoked all kinds of claims about how White House visitor logs were not part of presidential records. They were outside of the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, and therefore not disclosable or obtainable. And that created a huge furor among progressives that this was a horribly secret administration.

And yet, when it came time to obtain those lists from the Obama White House of the healthcare executives with whom they were meeting, they originally invoked that same theory and said, “We’re not going to disclose it.” And eventually they disclosed part of it. But I think you’re right. This is a case where there was a specific promise to have these healthcare negotiations out in the open; there was an exact opposite of that occurring, and very little furor.

Contact Sens. Snowe and Collins Today

Kevin Agnese — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:05:51 EDT

On October 20th over 340,000 Americans called their member of Congress in
support of President Obama's plan for health insurance reform.

This type of grassroots action is unprecedented. It's a testament to the
tremendous amount of support that reform has across the country.

As Congress inches closer to voting on reform we must continue to reach out
to Senators Snowe and Collins to remind them that we support the president's
call for reform.

You can contact Sen. Snowe today, toll-free, by dialing 1-800-432-1599. Sen.
Collins can be reached at (202) 224-2523.

You may also write a personal letter in support of reform.

Senator Snowe's mailing address is: 154 Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510.

Senator Collins' address is: 413 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington,
DC 20510.

You can also follow the link below to contact our members of Congress.

http://my.barackobama.com/timetodeliver

Click For Obama

Click For Obama — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:24:53 EDT

Click For Obama is asking all Obama supporters to help us raise funds by clicking on our website sponsors. Just click, visit the site, and click out. We can raise $100,000 dollars for the month of November 09.

Times are tough and money is tight, but if you Click For Obama we can generate funds without having to pay one penny.

Click here then click around the sites links. Tell your friends and make this link viral.

Thank you,

Click For Obama Team

The Insurance Companies' "License to Kill": ERISA

Douglas from South Gate, CA — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:32:58 EDT

Imagine if you will a nightmarish situation in which you or a loved one get ill; and even though you are covered by an employer-based health insurance plan, a treatment that will prevent a lifetime disability or even save your life is withheld by the plan, because they call the treatment "experimental" or "medically unnecessary" -- even though your doctors say otherwise!

Now compound the terror that scenario dredges up, from within your most deep-seated instincts of self-preservation, with the prospect of your not being able to sue the health plan for making such a devastating decision. In other words, there would be no downside to the plan for their denial of even life-saving care (other than the public relations mess stirred up by all-too-infrequent articles like this); in fact, there would, of course, be a great financial incentive to simply deny your care, your life be damned.

The fact is, health insurance companies administering employer-based health plans -- the very private insurance plans covering most Americans, even under the health reform bills being considered by Congress -- have that "license to kill": It is contained in Section 514 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, ERISA -- little known to most Americans but very profitably exploited by health insurance companies, costing many people their life savings or even their lives (and shifting the costs of caring for those injured and abandoned by their plans onto state Medicaid rolls).

Our first announcement

Worship from Aiea, HI — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:36:38 EDT

How do you post a blog?

Health Care Legislation

"Voice for Humanity" — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:20:20 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

The Congress is engaged in the Medicare payments to doctors as part of the broader aspect of the health care legislation. Despite the opposition’s insinuations against the government run successful Medicare program, it’s imperative for the lawmakers to sustain the viability of the Medicare and the Medicaid by honoring the providers’ legitimate request for payments increase that would substantially reduce the health care costs currently incurred by the taxpayers through payments to private insurers.

As stated earlier, the conservative and the moderate Democrats’ unwillingness to support the public option is contributing to the stalemate in the health care legislation. Even though, the recent Washington Post/ABC Poll confirmed that an impressive 57 percent of the American population is overwhelmingly in favor of the ‘public option’ plan, some Democratic legislators’ reluctance to join the majority on this issue is disappointing and deserve a valid explanation for their position that is detrimental to the national interest.

Remaining content available@www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Watch Out for Muslim Interns!

Sasha — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:45 EDT

It's not just interns, people. Muslims like myself plan to infiltrate every branch of the government through lawful means. We wish to be--brace yourselves--politically active. Rep. Paul Broun (GA) stated the following regarding CAIR (Council on Islamic-American Relations): "If an organization that is connected to or supports terrorists is running influence operations or planting spies in key national security-related congressional offices, I think this needs to be made known."

Funny that no one really cares that Muslims are denigrated in this manner. Should Muslims just accept the fact they are not only illegally wiretapped, but also subject to hate speech in Congress?

Let me speak on behalf of the 99.9% of all Muslims world-wide, when I say

We hate terrorism; we hate the people that were responsible for 9/11
We hate the Taliban; out relatives are the ones who were subject to attacks with
acid and the demasculinization of Pashtun men
We are not happy about what extremists are doing in Pakistan, and particularly
troubled by the treat to it's stability
Have you asked your cardiologist, cardio-vascular surgeon, ER doctor, orthopedic surgeon, or pulmonologist whether they are Muslim or not. Would it be ok if they were?
If your doctor is Muslim, have you asked him/her whether he/she is a terrorist? If not,
is it because they're great at what they do, and you trust your health in their hands, while
at home you call all Muslims terrorists? Do you see the irony?
Do you understand that there are 1 billion Muslims in the world and if even 2 percent were
terrorists, then 20,000,000 people would be trying to enact acts of violence. Does that sound about right to you? (This is equal to 5 million less than the entire population of Saudi Arabia, and nearly exactly equal to the population of Australia).
I do not know any terrorists, hang out with any terrorists or have any affiliation to any terrorists. So, why was the manager of my local gym transferred when he stood up for me after I complained that I overheard people referring to me as a "bomber" a "terrorist" someone who should be kept away from "big planes"?

Is my religion a good indicator of my propensity to wreak violence on this country? Was the Unabomber Muslim? The man who shot rounds at the Holocaust Museum this year? Don't think so. So why am I a danger if I were to work on Capitol Hill? Like I wouldn't have to go through a background check more extensive than a former KGB agent? I'm a bit tired of being demonized and somehow seeing this type of talk approved by the entire country. Why don't we stop acting like this is the 3rd grade playground and realize we're all Americans. Before you even ask, yes, I was born in Hershey, PA. Why would I have permission to post on here if I were "a problem?" In fact doesn't it mean I was on a campaign committee for the current President? Think about this and your silence when you hear people say things like the Congressman about Muslims.

2010 Elections - Response to President Bill Clinton

"Voice for Humanity" — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:13:03 EDT

From: PADMINI ARHANT
WWW.PADMINIARHANT.COM

Hon. President Bill Clinton.
New York

Dear Mr. President,

Thank you for your letter. It’s truly an honor to receive your request.

I share your thoughts and concerns about the 2010 elections outcome. Needless to say, that you have experience with the opposition majority during your presidency and the challenges you faced in the legislative process with the “Government Shut Down” led by the former speaker Newt Gingrich and the republican allies.

Although, I agree that the Senators competing for their first term or re-election require the grassroots/base support, the general public perception from the health care debate is - the conservative and the moderate democrats forget their promise to the electorate that initially support them to get where they are now.

Rest of the content available @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Health Care Bill – Senate Finance Committee and the Republican Vote

"Voice for Humanity" — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:03:17 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

The decision by the Maine Senator, Olympia Snowe to get on board in the health care reform is a welcome change and provides hope for the bipartisanship even with a singular vote now.

It would have been a cause for celebration if the bill did not marginalize the purpose of this health care reform i.e. the public option that is no longer an option but a necessity for millions of people and small businesses worst hit in the national crisis.

The misplaced objective of this bill from the start has been to impress the ‘so-called’ fiscal conservatives squandering the national wealth on warfare resulting in massive casualties while being miserly on matter related to saving life.

Remaining content @ http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Report: Public Option as Best Cost Control

Douglas from South Gate, CA — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:13:07 EDT

In order to assist other progressive activists in moving health care reform -- including a public option -- forward, I have prepared a report entitled Healthy, Wealthy, & Wise: The Public Option as the Best Insurance of Health Care Coverage and Cost Control. As indicated by its Executive Summary (below), this report includes comprehensive (searchable) content, commentary, and hyperlinked references. You may download it in Microsoft Word format here ...

http://douglasdrenkow.com/docs/healthy.doc

If you have trouble downloading the file, I can e-mail it to you as an attachment (less than 1 MB in size).

I hope that by virtue of its thorough and comprehensive examination of the medical, economic, and political dimensions of our health care problems and proposed solutions, the information in this report will lead any reasonable person to conclude that of all the plans being considered by Congress with significant public support as well as any realistic chance of being passed, the public option is the best means of insuring health care coverage and cost control.

SOS - Save the Arctic

"Voice for Humanity" — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:42:38 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

Mother Nature has never been more vulnerable than now with the human power in industries and government targeting every available land on planet earth for profits. With the active space exploration for possible inhabitation on Mars and the Moon, earth’s natural resources depleted to the ultimate under the guise of ‘Clean Energy Act,’ by the yet another indomitable force in the corporate world, the ‘Energy Cartel.’

Should they trail behind in the Herculean contest of crushing democracy and the people it represents?

‘Profit’ revered more than the “Prophet” spares none in its sinister cannibalism revealed in the legislative matters concerning health, housing, finance, wars and even the planet they exist. It is no longer the Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ with a subtle hope for efforts to survive if not thrive in the sharks-infested waters.

Please follow the rest @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Afghan War, the Additional Troops Request and the Election - Analysis

"Voice for Humanity" — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:28:10 EDT

Analysis: By Padmini Arhant

From the earlier data, it is conclusive that since the inception of the Afghan war, the constant flow of funding and the troops surge has remained the routine build up in the ill-conceived ‘so-called’ war on terror. The long fought war in the past eight years and previously against the Soviets should provide the U.S. defense a concise idea about the Afghan terrains, terrorists’ hideouts and other relevant operational tactics by the Talibans and the Al-Qaida forces.

Please follow link http://www.padminiarhant.com for the rest of the article.

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Health Care Bill from the Senate Finance Committee

"Voice for Humanity" — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:19:37 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

According to the latest report from the Associated Press:

Health care bill advances without bipartisan deal -

“After months of bipartisan negotiations, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, told associates during the day he intends to unveil a detailed outline of legislation on Wednesday and convene the panel next week to vote on it.

Baucus’ proposal is certain to shun the liberals’ call for the government to sell insurance, and rely instead on co-ops to offer coverage in competition with private industry. His approach includes a requirement for individuals to buy insurance, with financial penalties for those who don’t. Rather than a mandate for larger businesses to provide coverage for employees, they would be required to defray the cost of any government subsidies their employees would qualify for.”

For Analysis and the remaining report, please refer to:

http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Playing Politics

Dave R — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:19:41 EDT

The politicians who reject healthcare reform simply want President Obama to fail so they can take the Congress and White House back. Sounds like a play book for disaster. The difference this time is the American people want reform more than all the politicians and insurance industry combined. If we do nothing our kids will not be able to afford the rationed, dwindling and costly private coverage. The easy solution will be to join the Armed Forces or work for the Government as a Civil servant. It is honorable to join the Armed Forces or Civil service for the right reason and not just for health insurance benefits. That is the future the naysayers are laying out for our kids. I have been working with civil servants for years and benefits are the number one reason they stay on the job. I also work closely with retired military and the number one objection to reform is that it will reduce Tricare benefits. The naysayers to reform need a reality check.

Why We Shouldn't Fear the Public Option

Skye Wallin — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:56:22 EDT

People often forget, either due to distractions, blinding cynicism or a lack of education, how unique this country really is. The United States of America is a nation forged and grounded in a rich tradition of protest and persistent refusal to accept the status quo. In many ways this tradition has been in hibernation--recent decades will never be known as the years of particularly impressive citizen participation in government and policy. Indeed, the American people have become increasingly apathetic and stupid, but I believe that the spirit has remained alive--in fact, I predict that the drive to change our most negative aspects of society is building momentum; isn't it obvious?

Take the town halls on health care, for instance. Though CNN, FOX and MSNBC only cover the crazies, there is some remarkable dialogue going on--and not just by the supporters of health care. When it comes to the Public Option, there is a genuine philosophical debate to be had. Remember that the whole point of the American Revolution was to establish independence from an abusive and invasive government that taxed excessively and unfairly. We have come a long way since then, and have perhaps gone full-circle in many ways. I share many Libertarian concerns of the expansion of the U.S. government, excessive spending and the limitations placed upon civil liberties; not to mention our often tyrannical foreign policies. Indeed, the United States became the very empire its citizens died to defeat. People think I'm a big gov liberal, but the fact of the matter is that the federal government IS WAY TOO BIG! The War on Drugs is a fiscal and societal disaster, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are squandering our treasure. The IRS ought to be torn down and replaced with a simpler tax code, and the Patriot Act ought to make every single American extremely wary of what leaders know about our personal lives. Not to mention the militarization of government that has seeped into the media and saturated our culture.

So when people say to me: "I just don't believe the federal government should expand! It's already too massive" I agree! The problem is that in this modern world, there are modern problems that require state intervention. Spying on Americans is not one of these exceptions. Drug abuse isn't either. Nor is Saddam Hussein or Ho Chi Minh! But to the people who believe the Public Option is some kind of government takeover and the onset of communism: should we not fight to end the excessive federal policies that actually hurtpeople? The War on Drugs fuels a culture of crime in the inner-cities. At least a million Iraqi citizens are dead because of the current conflict--not to mention the 4,339 dead American soldiers. But now you oppose a public health plan? A plan that will help your fellow citizens get the care they need? A report by the Institute of Medicine suggests that as many as 22,000 American citizens die annually due to the lack of an insurance policy--one that either could not be afforded or was cut by employers!

And let us not forget that the Public Option is an OPTION! While the true Left wing of this USA would really like a single-payer system, it is simply not going to happen with this legislation. Big Insurance is the most powerful lobby in Washington, and certainly has great influence on the bill--in other words, the argument that people will be forced to take the government plan is bullshit. The truth of the matter is that most people will keep their private plans; plans, by the way, made more consumer-friendly due to other reforms that will be in the final legislation (including the preexisting condition issue and the ability to choose your own doctors).

Though this is an expansion of government services, I want to tell you how the Public Plan is actually more economical and sustainable than the current system. You see, being private enterprise, Big Insurance seeks to charge as much as possible while providing as little as possible. I have no problem with capitalism (I am a Capitalist), but this is the reality of the basic operations of a firm. While this is perfectly acceptable in most sectors, health care is an entirely different beast. Since 2000, insurance premiums have nearly doubled! In 2007, the U.S. spent about $2.2 trillion on health care,* which comes out to approximately 16.2% of GDP--nearly twice the amount of the rest of the developed world! ** If you aren't worried yet, then you have read these numbers: by 2025, costs are expected to rise 25%; by 2082, 49% ! *** Oh, and did you realize that every GM vehicle is $1,525 more expensive because of employer-based health care coverage? Insurance is by far GM's biggest expenditure--even more than steel! ****

And the numbers go on and on. This is the financial argument, and it is all tied to the Big Insurance practice of driving up costs for higher profit margins, and making up for their clunky and inefficient administrative costs. Medicare costs are skyrocketing because they are subsidizing these inflating premiums, and this must be replaced. The Public Option must establish a much simpler and transparent system that injects competition into this stale and unsustainable market. It is fiscally sensical and it is moral.

But just any Public Option will not do. Next week I will tackle the question of "what must a Public Option look like in order to drive competition and cut costs?"

Absorb it, discuss it, and hopefully support it. Leave your comments below.

*Office of the Actuary, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Health Expenditure Data for 2007. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, available at: http://www.cms. hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/02_NationalHealthAccountsHistorical.asp#TopOfPage

**Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD Health Data 2008.

***P.R. Orszag, Growth in Health Care Costs: Statement Before the Committee on the Budget, United States Senate, (Washington, DC: Congressional Budget Office, Jan 31 2008), available at http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=8948

****R. Wagoner, Testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, December 5, 2008.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/05/gm-health-care-reform/
my blog: http://www.theskyewire.com

Denison University 2011

*Office of the Actuary, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Health Expenditure Data for 2007. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, available at: http://www.cms. hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/02_NationalHealthAccountsHistorical.asp#TopOfPage **Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD Health Data 2008. ***P.R. Orszag, Growth in Health Care Costs: Statement Before the Committee on the Budget, United States Senate, (Washington, DC: Congressional Budget Office, Jan 31 2008), available at http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=8948 ****R. Wagoner, Testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, December 5, 2008. http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/05/gm-health-care-reform/

Media in the States of Centrist Senators - Research Report for Action

Douglas from South Gate, CA — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:58:39 EDT

In the wake of President Barack Obama's stirring and historic speech this week to a joint session of Congress, I have prepared a research paper to aid those who want to help the health care reform effort by grassroots action; namely, contacting the media in the states (or commonwealths) of those "centrist" Democratic and Republican senators whose votes will most likely be decisive, given the partisan divide on the issue in the Senate and the large Democratic majority in the House in favor of reform.

The report, entitled Media in the States of Centrist Senators, is in Microsoft Word format -- with active hyperlinks within the text -- and it is downloadable (and printable) from here:

http://douglasdrenkow.com/docs/centristsmedia.doc

If you have trouble downloading the file, I can e-mail it to you as an attachment (less than 1 MB in size).

Do You Speak Matriarch? 2 Films By Women about Women

Madama Ambi — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:47:29 EDT

Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg, film about the life and work of Gertrude Berg, who spoke Matriarch to a nation before the advent of I Love Lucy.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell, film about the women's peace movement in Liberia, led by Leymah Gbowee, who remembered her mother-tongue and used it.

This morning, during my usual twirl around the femisphere, I got news of Mark Dorlester's HuffingtonPost piece about the 31st article of the Iraqi Constitution. Says Dorlester, the George W. Bush administration hammered universal health care, single payer, into the Iraqi Constitution. Yes, he says, American government was assertive in placing universal single-payer health care into Iraq's new democracy, while here in the U.S.A. the idea of such a system has pushed the alarm buttons of right-wingers with rifles, young women comparing Obama to Hitler, older women wanting their country back, older people up in arms about death panels, and if you've tuned into the asylum only one time in the last month, you took the temperature of blowhards whipping up a firestorm. It's hard to put out a fire in a group brain if you don't have leaders with integrity.

On my way to the fact-check, I realized I had already entered matriarchal mode, fired up and fearless about calling out the bullshit. Somebody needs to do some 'splainin here! Tonight is the big deal speech President Obama is giving on his vision for health care reform and already I'm under-impressed. I'm not holding Barack Obama alone responsible for the lies and the bullshit and powerful people making themselves rich at the expense of nameless, faceless sick people like those Wendell Potter met at a "health fair" he stumbled upon. He got shocked into shame-with-his-name on it. Deserved shame. Shame. Shame. Good for Mr. Potter that he owned up and that he's speaking out. But what will the President do tonight? What can he do?

This is where he needs to call in Molly Goldberg to teach him to put his hands on his hips (maybe that's the problem? he ain't got none?) and stand his ground, aiming a double-beam taser gun of motherly "What the hell were you thinking? Were you thinking? Do you even have a thought process?" President Obama and Congress need to tag along behind General Leymah Gwobee, who led a women's peace movement in Liberia. They need to apprentice themselves to a woman drawing on ancient mother-right, down in the veins of necessity, down deep in the geo-sphere of universal human resources.

Why do we not see more women with hands on their wide hips, planted in the paths of tyrants, liars, thieves and war criminals? Go see Pray the Devil Back to Hell and you will understand why not. Women in too many parts of this world are running for cover every day, every day from out-of-control warlords and warlord-wanna-be's who have scorched the earth so massively a mother can't give her child the illusion of a meal. She has nothing. She cowers in her shack or her tent in terror of being raped or worse. And yes, there is worse in Liberia. No road is safe. No one is safe. Children are conscripted into war at young ages; the air is violent.

Why did Gertrude Berg (aka Molly Goldberg in her TV show), empress of a media empire, mother-figure to a nation, disappear from TV, film, and the American mantle of desperately loved stars keeping it together for everybody? When you watch Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg, you'll learn that it was the Lucy-wife who knocked the Molly-mother off the mantle. Unless you grew up in the 1950's watching I Love Lucy every day, you may not remember the scene (scenes?) of Ricky turning Lucy over his knee, administering a fatherly spanking. Lucy off the set was known to be a brilliant comedian, a tough negotiator and a creative genius, but Lucy in the show was uncorked, ungrounded, childish as well as childlike, impulsive, compulsive, and if she wasn't on the trail looking for trouble, was just too much the space-cadet to size up a stampede.

It's comedy, right? Somebody's got to play the fool, and that was Lucy's gift. Sure, sure, sure. Just go see Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg (it's in theatres now, and the New York Times gives it a star, so go!), and tell me if you can even imagine Mr. Goldberg turning Molly tush-side up and whacking her a few "bad girls" while Molly flutters her legs, bleating like a goat sold at market. Don't get me wrong--if consenting adults want to spank each other (do it in private, huh?...it's great that you're cool with your bondage thing, but I don't want to parade down Castro Street next to whole contingents of people getting spanked and whipped...I mean, you know, I didn't consent to that violence, so keep it to yourself...), I don't care as long as it's safe. NU?

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a powerful film, but I was disappointed not to see the one scene I was waiting for, the moment when Leymah (that's General Gwobee to you), can only convey the force of her outrage and her uncontainable fury by standing on the tracks to stop the train. We learn by her narration, after-the-fact, that she broke through the madness when she warned the soldiers and bureaucrats ringing her, that she was ready to take it on Liberia-style. She would show them the inversion of morality they'd caused. Leymah, herself, in her naked body, was ready to render visible the shame, the sorrow and the pity, created by war-crazed soldiers and insurgents.

In Liberia, it's a shaman's curse for a mother to remove her clothes in repudiation of men who deserve the lashing of her mother-scorn. She calls down a power that is understood and that holds up the earth. When she announces her intention to rip off her dress, warning them of the imminent, inevitable ripping she is powerless to prevent--by her own hand stripping off her dress, shoulders back, holding her brazen pelvis out for war-boys and war-men to behold--the curtain of shame drops. It's over. Nobody doubts that she will do it. Nobody doubts that a curse will ensue. Nobody shrugs off the meaning of mother-shame. Nobody misunderstands that tone of voice. Nobody can escape the flashback to complete dependence on his mother and the memory of owing her your life.

The appropriate use of shame, incarnated in the universal mother who gives life and protects life, began a women's peace movement, led by General Leymah Gwobee of Liberia. There was much more to the successful waging of peace--many other tactics, many other brave women. Without the standoff between the lost war-boys and the protectress of life, what was at stake could not have been made visible. General Leymah called on her mother-tongue.

Go see these two films and, if you can arrange it, see them back-to-back. You will see two very different, equally inspiring women, one rich, one poor, one Jewish-American, one Liberian, one white, one black. I see them side-by-side, glorious glints of a lost language.

Personal Tragedies Show Need for Health Care Reform: Video of "Congressional Send-Off Rally" in L.A.

Douglas from South Gate, CA — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:14:50 EDT

CLICK HERE FOR SUMMARIES & AN INDEX TO THE CLIPS.

On Thursday, September 3, Organizing for America, the Democratic National Committee group calling upon the 13 million Americans who supported Barack Obama for president, and Health Care for America NOW!, the national grassroots advocacy group, organized "Congressional Send-Off Rallies" nationwide, including in historic "Cornfield Park," in downtown Los Angeles, where reporting for OpEdNews, I videotaped the event. I have edited and posted video clips at YouTube (Click on the link above or in the bullet points below to view the clips).

Healthcare Reform Now!

Med Pro grl CO 2009 — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:20:20 EDT

Give me bankruptcy or give me death?

The Status Quo- Insurance Scam.

I work in the medical field and healthcare reform is a great idea. It's about time.

I've sat by powerless, while many people have died in my care waiting for insurance companies to authorize non-formulary medications or treatments. Most people are healthy and don't realize how small the list of authorized formulary items is, until it's too late. Bankruptcy or Death is not what Americans should have to choose between. Health Security should be a right.

Even greedy self-loathing hypocrites whom don't like being GUARANTEED protection will someday need more than they can afford, so then, its illness or bankruptcy or DEATH for themselves or a loved one. Anyone who has tried calling an insurance company knows the truth. There is almost no regulation and mostly people just dance in circles with the insurance companies until it is too late. Time is on the insurance companies’ side. For them, time is money and for us or our families it may be a matter of health or death.

Cuba hattitude

Unknown user — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:36:44 EDT

Les Américains qui ont de la famille proche sur l'ile de Cuba ont maintenant l'autorisation de les rejoindre, si elle fait partie de la famille proche, merci la diplomatie!

L''île communiste les accueillent quand ils le souhaitent et autant de temps qu'ils le veulent, une brèche dans l'embargo en plus?

En attendant, Barack Obama s'adressera au Congrès mercredi sur sa réforme de l'assurance-maladie, il a du boulot, car le système cubain est bien plus performant et juste pour les citoyens lambdas, mais aussi pour les plus provilégiés, en effet tous les frères Kennedy sont morts, tous les frères Castro sont vivants. C'est bien la preuve que le système de santé cubain est meilleur que le système de santé américain.

Espérons que la black hattitude de notre cher président Obama change tout!

The Time to Act has Come, Reaffirm Your Commitment

Skye Wallin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:29:23 EDT

My friends, I apologize for taking an extended summer break, but now the wheels are turning once again, and I must say that never before have I felt this necessity to write for cause. We elected the progressive candidate, though not without a healthy degree of skepticism by many (including myself), and the calling for responsible and energetic citizenship has never been greater. For in the words of the President:

What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

For those who voted Obama/Biden on election day, this calling is especially directed towards you! The President is powerless to create fundamental change without his foot-soldiers, and right now you are failing. And so am I.
But today we reaffirm our commitment to transform this country into what it ought to be. When this country decisively elected Barack Obama, he was given a mandate to bring about progressive reform, and now we must help him. Right now, the most powerful lobby in Washington is fighting the fight of its life to destroy any kind of true reform of its corrupt system. The right-wing and conservative Dems have taken the stand that change mustn't come to American health care, and they have effectively waged a crusade of fear and lies against the President's plan--against the President's promise.

If this country wishes to survive, her citizens must become informed on the topics and fight for truth. Indeed, this health care battle is a test: can the people who voted for something transformational actually make it happen? Do we have it in us to bring down the congressmen and women who have prostituted themselves out to the insurance giants? I believe we do; because nothing is stronger than a nation of motivated and optimistic citizens. And right now I want to reaffirm my commitment to this country's potential--that I will do all in my power to be a part of the grassroots of change. Because I voted for it. Because it is my responsibility to walk the walk.

And now I ask my readers--my fellow citizens--will you join me in this commitment to fight for reform by pressuring your reluctant representatives to support President Obama's agenda? Will you fight the myths with your colleagues, classmates and family? If so, I hope that you will leave a declaration of support for this cause below in the comments section. Tell others what you believe in and how hard you are willing to fight. And after your declaration, you must act on it. You must make the calls, attend the town halls and go door-to-door. It is this movement that determined the election, and now it must live on to determine our future. There really are better things on the horizon--indeed, they are within our grasp!

In the coming days and weeks, I will be rolling out a series of articles on the healthcare debate. My hope is to lay out the arguments and contextualize the controversy. Because if you know the facts, you will realize that Obama really is on the right side of things. And after we pass healthcare--with the public option included--it is on to the next fight.

Till next time.

Nation Bids Farewell to the Hon. Senator Edward M. Kennedy

"Voice for Humanity" — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 11:14:08 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

The moment has arrived for the nation to acknowledge the final departure of their tireless and long serving representative, Senator Ted Kennedy, the youngest son of America’s beloved family.

Senator Kennedy, the brave survivor of many family tragedies was a true warrior in various aspects. The Senator zealously battled for the large segments of the society on significant issues and health care was the top priority among them. Senator Kennedy delivered the health care speech with sincere emotion and great concern for the neglected groups in our society.

Please refer to http://www.padminiarhant.com for the remaining content.

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Teddy's Health Care - Hope in a Letter

Cindy from Gresham, OR — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:35:27 EDT

Members of Congress,

Senator Kennedy would never have compromised on the government run public option. His integrity would never have allowed him to trade our health and financial stability in exchange for repubican votes.

Let's be clear. The Insurance Industry will protect their profit margin, and the profits to come, at all costs. Republicans need money in order to take back congress and win the presidency. They need the public option to fail.

Sen. Enzi told his constituents he wasn't negotiating: " It's not where I get them to compromise, it's what I get them to leave out." Sen. Grassley tells his constituents that the bill would allow the government to “pull the plug on grandma” and ignores the call for an armed march on Washington, at his town hall meeting.

The republicans are out for blood, and it will be this way until Obama is defeated. Stop the "bipartisanship:" It only works if both parties are honestly working together. The republicans are not, and they will not. They are literally out to destroy Obama, and the Blue Dogs are cooperating.

Because of profit driven Insurance we pay between $3-6000 more per person than any other industrialized country, we don't have universal coverage and we are rated 37th as a nation for our Health Care (just above Costa Rica). Free Market means the Insurance Industry pits patient care against profit margin. The less treatment you provide, the more money you make. The more people you refuse to cover because of pre-existing conditions, the larger the profit margin.

The top 10 rated countries have universal coverage, require non-profit health care whether it's public or private sector, and have sustainable % of GDP. Singapore, rated 6th, has the lowest % of GDP because it requires public health care to compete with private.

Republicans argue that “Europeans” have higher unemployment; in the “double digits,” and their % of GDP is growing faster. This is patently false: the top 10 rated countries for health care have unemployment rates equal to, or less than ours. They spend between 3.6% and 11% of GDP on healthcare.

It’s staggering to hear republicans even try to make that argument when we don’t have universal coverage, we have higher unemployment rates and we’re spending 17+% of GDP on healthcare. If we had universal coverage under our for-profit model, it would skyrocket the % of GDP spent, financially cripple our citizens, and bankrupt the nation.

The Insurance Industry launched a full force attack against the public option. Why do you think that they are fine with the co-ops, or privately run public option, but adamantly opposed to a government run public option? It's because it would cut into their profit margin. Stocks for the Insurance Industry soared at the idea the White House might be willing to substitute co-ops or privately a operated public option, because neither are viable competitors.

Republicans are also pushing for “Romney Care” as a bipartisan option. If you read Kay Klazar article in the Globe: "Bay State health insurance premiums highest in country," it shows how insane that idea is.

Then there are loud cries for Tort Reform, and how much that will save. It will not save anything, it benefits Insurance companies and doctors at the expense of the patient. This helps doctors pay less for malpractice insurance, which are ridiculously high, but it also spares them from high consequences in cases of egregious malpractice. The worst part of Tort reform helps the Insurance Industry's profits. If a health insurance company is sued for refusal of treatment, or tests requested by a doctor for their patient, they will literally have zero consequences. Suggested is a limit of $250,000 per patient. Patients lose, doctors and the Insurance Industry win.

Republicans want competition across state lines? It sounds great in theory. The problem is it becomes "a rush to the bottom." Insurance Companies will move to states with the least regulations. You buy insurance thinking you’re covered, as your state requires, but it's not required in the state where the insurance company is located. Patients get less coverage, often outrageous out of pocket expenses, but pay for the same premiums, this increases the profits for insurance companies.

The Blue Dogs are insisting on Co-ops. This was tried from 1930's -1940's and failed; funding was cut off. They do not affect Insurance Industry pricing (GAO study done March 2000). Co-ops that become actual competition (e.g. blue cross/blue shield) are bought up and run by the Insurance Industry to keep prices steady. They remain non-profit but do not affect % of GDP or price to the consumer. Nothing prevents the Insurance Industry from buying up, buying out, or even starting co-ops to prevent real competition (e.g. blue cross/blue shield). They can claim co-ops "work" without decreasing their profit margin or "triggering" a public option.

The republicans are comparing a government run public option to Medicare. They state the obvious, that Medicare is going bankrupt. Medicare is going bankrupt because it is used to hold money paid in over decades, then at 65 when seniors need the most expensive care, we pay the bills. A government run public option is absolutely nothing like this. The services would be the same, but it is exactly like a non-profit private insurance without the advertising, exorbitant salaries, and billions to lobby congress.

Now President Obama and the Insurance Industry, along with the Blue Dogs, are talking about a private run public option. So they can say we have a “public option.” This is not anymore viable than a co-op. It would succeed as private insurance, but would be like any other non-proft Insurance. It would have the same financial outcome: no price reduction, increased profits for the Insurance Industry, and national bankruptcy. Non-profits run by the private Industry are not really “non-profit.” All “profits” are used for expenditures, advertising, lobbying, outrageous salaries, etc. and written off. They do not lower prices because that would affect the profit margin for the entire industry.

Pitting Profits against Patients is economically unsound, unethical and a conflict of interest. When you think about this, it is outright ghastly. We are paying billions for Insurance Industry advertising, exorbitant salaries and billions more for them to lobby against us to increase their profits and remove competition. Without a non-profit government run public option, prices will not be lowered; it would accelerate the increase in % of GDP spent on health care. This will force tax increases to an unsustainable level, heavily subsidize profits for the Insurance Industry, bankrupt our country and the Democrats will be blamed.

Are you more concerned about elections/re-election than your constituents’ health and well-being? Are you really going to continue your complicity in lying, dis/misinformation, and deceiving the public for political gain? The fact that 45-53% believe all these lies is your responsibility and it is unconscionable. Are you actually willing to vote against a government run public option at the expense of your constituents’ health, financial stability and our nations solvency?

Colleagues who lie, or constituents who believe and propogate those lies, must never be allowed to dominate. If you are truly concerned about your constituents and our nations solvency, then you will vote for real reform, even if it means losing your job.

Remembering the Service of the Honorable. Senator Edward M. Kennedy

"Voice for Humanity" — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:50:07 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

The passing away of Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the longest serving public officials in the United States Senate has created a vacuum in the battlefield for humanitarian cause. Senator Kennedy’s representation on many issues remembered nationwide. Among them, the Senator’s relentless effort to bring equality and justice to the poor and underprivileged in the hallmark healthcare, education and immigration was commendable. There is more reason to pass the public option health care reform as a tribute to the deceased Senator.

Senator Kennedy fought for millions in not only his constituency but also the entire nation with passion and power. The Senator extended his service beyond shorelines in ways to resolve the international conflict such as the Northern Ireland peace process. Senator Kennedy was committed and dedicated in helping citizens of stars and stripes achieve their American dream.

The national recognition of Senator Kennedy as ‘The Lion of the Senate’ personified in the Senator’s role in every legislative matter of great value and importance to all people regardless of socio-economic status.

Senator Ted Kennedy lived up to the reputation of the Kennedy legacy in national service. As a true patriot, the Senator deeply cared and carried out the legislative duties and responsibilities diligently and frequently in a bipartisan manner, a monumental achievement in contemporary politics.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy will be truly missed by the nation, while his service commemorated now and in the future as the member of the iconic Kennedy family and the esteemed United States Senate.

No words can possibly heal the moment of sorrow except time.

Time is the best healer and trusting in the brighter tomorrow ease the pain experienced during the natural events in life.

I convey my heartfelt condolences to the Kennedy family, friends and the entire nation.

Thank you.
Padmini Arhant

P.S. Due to technical difficulty at the personal end, the delay occurred in posting the message earlier on. Please accept my apologies for the time lapse.

Health Care Resolution - Clarification

"Voice for Humanity" — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:15:25 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

Ever since the health care debate started, the main objective among the visible opponents has been to fictionalize the various contents of the bill. The health care bill principles – costs, quality and affordability extensively discussed per blogpost ‘Health Care Reform’ July 11, 2009 on this website.

Several testimonials by citizens from all walks of life through various mediums confirmed the urgency for health care reform. The partisan politics continues to disparage the millions of people deprived of proper health care during the public discourse.

A sensitive national matter turned into a controversial subject by the special interests’ agents. The health care bill described as voluminous, inadequate and far-fetched in reference to the government plan or public option. On the other hand, the noise amazingly disappeared with the White House statement on the possible elimination of the government plan from the competition.

Hence, the overview of the health care funding and the actual role of government plan in the health care legislation vital for true perspective.

How is the government health care funded?

Answers @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Video Clips of Schiff Town Hall: Democracy Will Not Be Silenced

Douglas from South Gate, CA — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:41:24 EDT

CLICK HERE for links to the video clips I have posted at YouTube.

"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us." -- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

Try though they may, over a thousand well-organized, very vocal opponents of health care reform failed to drown out over a thousand well-organized, very vocal supporters in the boisterous outdoor "town hall" meeting courageously hosted by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena) August 11 in the Alhambra, California, Civic Center. Featuring a panel of health care professionals committed to reform, heroically moderated by local TV medical editor Dr. Bruce Hensel, and covered by the local to national news media, the meeting, though tempestuous, came off as scheduled, unlike recent U.S. town halls effectively shut down by opponents. And most importantly, myths propagated by the leaders of the opposition -- misleading their legions of followers -- were debunked; much information verifiable if you "read the bill" -- as the opponents kept shouting, even though an unbiased reading of H.R.3200 proves their claims untrue -- was presented to an audience estimated by police at 3,000.

Intelligence Report on Town Hall (Hell) activities: New details leaked re Right Wing Plans

Varun from Berkeley, CA — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:22:28 EDT

Guns at rallies, Attacks, Using the N word, calling Obama a Nazi, chanting Nazi slogans and even attempting to attack elected officials as they try to moderate the Health Care town halls, it seems the press is moving very slowly to understand who the FEW, the Minority, screamers, racists and right wing nut job, home grown terrorists really are.

Just reported: the SEIU obtained a Tea Party startegy via a Right Wing mobilization conf call.

The summary: Just destroy Obama's plan at any cost....No reasons....just be the party of NO

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/seius-notes-on-a-tea-party-strategy-conference-call/

Three Critical Weeks - phone or visit

Bill of Downingtown — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:38:21 EDT

The next three weeks, beginning August 10, are critical. Both houses of Congress are on summer recess, but you can reach members through their DC offices and their home district offices. Since they claim they will use the recess period to listen to constituents back home, let’s take them up on that offer.

You can bet the opponents of change are doing the same. On August 2, at Senator Specter’s Health Care Town Meeting at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, I got a first-hand view of how a small group of loud, booing opponents of health care change can really affect a meeting. That same dynamic can happen over time in the office of a member of Congress.

We have the numbers of organized people; now we need to put those numbers to work. Do not allow a member to think that most of his/her constituents don’t care about health care change.

You can phone, email, write an old-fashioned letter, fax, or—possibly most effective—go to visit.

No matter what medium you use, be sure your representatives know that you strongly support the Presidents three principles of health care reform:

Reduce costs

Guarantee choice of doctor and plan

Ensure quality care for all

OFA in West Chester, PA - phonebanking and canvassing

Bill of Downingtown — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:25:45 EDT

On Sunday, August 9, in West Chester, PA, OFA will do a phone bank and canvass for the President's health care reform principles.

Undoubtedly you have been following the national debate (and the politics). You know the opponents of change are hard at work. We have the numbers of people on our side. We need to do our own hard work to translate those numbers into real pressure on individual members of Congress. We do that through phone banking, canvassing, and tabling.

Please join me and the rest of Chester County OFA in West Chester on Sunday. I’ll probably be canvassing (unless we have rains like last Sunday’s). But others will phone bank. Your choice.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/search_simple?source=topnav

Congress Out For Summer Session

Ms. Mary — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:58:43 EDT

With Congress back in their local community, it is time for OFA to step the battle to win healthcare reform. August 8th will leave Congress a ghost town with many members being on vacation. But we must still continue the fight and when Cogress comebacks, we will be waiting. Continue to make phone calls, continue to write, and continue to canvass but do not stop. Health Care Reform will pass this year. We got him elected President, certainly we can win Congress:) We're ( The Grassroot Movement) just to much. Sincerely, Ms. Mary, OFA-Charlotte.

Revolt against Health Care Reform Politics

"Voice for Humanity" — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:23:16 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

Here we go again! To quote the former Republican President Ronald Reagan revered by the political faction on the right, the obstructionists rise against health care reform under the guise of ‘fiscal governance’ with the stagecraft artists as citizens screaming and ranting over the health care policy for all.

Should anyone be surprised about the sources responsible for the spectacle at the town hall meetings?

When the propagandists can’t think for themselves, they often lavishly steal ideas from others and misuse the Gandhian principle of non-violence and peaceful protest discussed earlier for their own diabolical means, despite the action being detrimental to national progress.

Surely, Gandhi will be turning in his grave on the abuse of his noble wisdom…at the narcissistic profiteers in the health care industry using the selective media muscle power drive insanity to no point of return.

Out of sight, out of mind and the opposition goes ballistic to stampede the health care legislation.

The noise and raucous in the public arena instigated by the agents of warfare against welfare of the people in a democracy are leaving no stones unturned for their vile personal agenda i.e. dominate and deploy the destructive forces in health care matter directly related to economic and employment recovery.

Don't miss the remaining content @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

P.S. Time to replace the conservative propaganda machine with collective progressive action.

Phone banking--ask our supporters to call Congress

Bill of Downingtown — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:41:01 EDT

On Sunday, August 2, OFA will do a phone bank for the President's health care reform principles in West Chester, PA.

This is the time for all of us to put pressure on the Congress. In addition to gaining declarations of support for health care reform, we must prevail upon the people that we call to phone and/or email their members of Congress with a strong message of support for the President's health care reform principles.

When phone banking, be ready to provide the phone numbers for your US Senators and all locally-based Congresspersons.

The final step for any person that we reach through phone banking is for him or her to report the results of their own calls to Congress. You can give the following instructions:

Cash, Clunkers, Congress!

Andr�a- (You've called him everything else- now call him Mr. President!) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:20:47 EDT

Well well well, did anyone see how quickly the House of Representatives moved to throw more money into the "Cash for Clunkers" program? As stated before in my previous entry, the government incentive program which allows folks to trade in gas guzzling, CO2 emitting hoopties for newer eco friendly models, has proven to be too successful. The National Dealers Association revealed that the pace of the car sales would far exceed the original $1billion that was allocated to the program.

In amazingly fast action, the House of Representatives voted to give the program another $2billion. This money is being pulled from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Somehow the money will have to be replaced. We don't know how that is going to happen, but keep that pot on the back burner.

I wonder if the Senate will approve this additional $2billion. Democratic Senator Clair McCaskill from Missouri is not too fond of using this money for the program. She believes that subsidizing auto purchases for a long period of time is not necessarily a good thing. I understand her point, but I also remember that us taxpayers had to subsidize AIG and the rest of that ilk because the companies were so greedy and lazy as to let crappy toxic assets clog their portfolios.

Shouldn't the average American get a little jolt too? Besides, the more cars purchased maybe the more ordered from plants. The more ordered from plants, the more part suppliers utilized, which in theory could lead to job creation. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but who knows.

Bring on the Clunkers!

Congress and budgeting - use the experts

Michelle from Butler, PA — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:47:02 EDT

Today irritation: Congress approves military projects and government spending NOT requested by the users of the end product. Presidential helicopters not wanted, planes not needed, unsuccessful projects allowed to continue running over both their budget and time estimates - not by small amounts, but by years and millions of dollars.

My experience with both personal and business budgeting - Being the expert in my field, I create the wish list of expenses, my possible sources of income and reconcile the 2 by removing expenses that cannot be paid for. Congress has taken the wish list of government that was created by experts, added projects Congress wants without regard to the experts' wishes and removed/denied $ for budget items that truly help individuals, and Congress created expenses that have no intrinsic value or result for the American people. Since when did Congress develop knowledge and planning abilities beyond those of the experts we have running our very specialized areas of our government?? Who does Congress represent? Certainly not me or any Americans I know.

The result of Congress wanting these things:

- MY tax dollars are spent on products that when complete will go into some unused equipment storage facility

- MY tax dollars cannot pay for direct help to individual Americans like healthcare and infrastructure

- THEY receive huge lobbyist money for choosing with the side of businesses instead of individuals (it would be cheaper to pay the salaries of those you fear might lose their jobs than to also pay business profit and use materials to create products no one wants!)

-THEY continue to have a job, get paid well, have their healthcare provided and line their pockets with money from businesses

Government support and bailout should be to the individuals of our country. When they are directly given the $ to save their mortgage, pay for their healthcare and put their lives in the best order possible, then businesses will receive that money through normal operational channels, as they should. Businesses and government should always be at the mercy of the desires and needs of individual Americans - let people speak their mind with their money, how they spend it, save it, and get the best return for it in both services and goods.

Obama, please be stronger and believe in your ability to fight through the confrontation to disallow these unethical and immoral practices that have moved individual Americans to the back burner so that businesses, politicians, and the wealthy can reap many benefits at the expense of the true fiber of America - individual people who work hard, have a generous heart within their community, struggle to make financial ends meet, experience constant stress about their jobs and the ability of their families to survive, and foresee a future as gloomy as today. REAL CHANGE PLEASE!!!!!

"The votes just aren't there"?

Bill of Downingtown — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:28:47 EDT

We need large-scale health care reform and a vigorous bill to get us there. Nibbling around the edges will not do.

To any member of Congress who says, “The votes just aren’t there” for a strong reform bill, we need to note that “The votes just won’t be there” in the next primary or general election if you do not take leadership on getting a strong bill through.

The forces of "do nothing on health care" are hard at work. Now we need to bypass all the posturing and wordplay and make it plain enough that even a member of Congress can understand: we want real health care reform that includes every American.

Verdict on the Health Care Legislation

"Voice for Humanity" — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:43:12 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

The health care legislation vigorously contested by the opponents of the economic recovery and the unemployment deterrence. Sometimes, it’s easier to deal with the ‘devil’ you know than the ‘devil’ you don’t. The existing health care crisis contributed by the health care and insurance conglomerate’s profit raking strategy fits in with the metaphor.

When the people strive to make it to the top of the slippery slope titled the sensible health care legislation their harnesses are either tampered with or forcibly pulled off by the groups posing as the ‘rescue guards,’ i.e. the representatives in the House and the Senate obligatory to their financiers – the special interests.

In the interim, the ‘so-called’ bipartisanship in the Senate with some prominent legislators and selective House members from both sides of the aisles holding substantial investments in the health care stocks are focused on safeguarding their investments with assurances to the health industry – ‘your wish shall be my command.’

The House and the Senate version presented thus far is directly contradictory to the populist requirement and the President’s initial plan. The shameful tactic in the twentieth century - apart from paralyzing the health care reform, it’s also instrumental for the status quo and they are indicated in the article below.

Deal with 'Blue Dogs' sets up health care vote - Associated Press – 07/29/09

“The House changes, which drew immediate opposition from liberals in the chamber, would reduce the federal subsidies designed to help lower-income families afford insurance, exempt additional businesses from a requirement to offer insurance to their workers and change the terms of a government insurance option.

More problematic from the Democrats' point of view is a tentative agreement to omit a provision in which the government would sell insurance in competition with private industry. In its place, the group is expected to recommend non-profit cooperatives that could operate at the state, regional or even national level.

Nor is any bipartisan recommendation likely to include a requirement for large businesses to offer insurance to their workers. Instead, they would have a choice between offering coverage or paying a portion of any government subsidy that non-insured employees would receive."

What is wrong with the classic ‘pro-industry’ proposal to appease the health care enterprise at every insured and uninsured American taxpayer’s peril?

Firstly, the House bill to reduce the federal subsidies designed to help lower-income families afford insurance, instead of demanding the health care system comprising the AMA, health care providers accepting Medicare and Medicaid, Pharmaceuticals, the hospital industry…and the insurance industry mark-down the preposterous profit margins hidden in the superficially inflated costs driving the economy and every citizen to bankruptcy.

If there is any resistance from the groups in this regard, then taxing the expensive insurance coverage ensuring the tax liability on the industry rather than the end-consumer is absolutely necessary. If it was already agreed to by all negotiators then the measure combined with higher taxes on capital expenditures by the industry should adequately cover the increase in federal subsidies to the economically disadvantaged.

The health industry in their defense might argue that the supply and demand market forces drive the costs in a free market system. In this context, the commonly unknown fact being, the health industry unlike other industries are uniquely advantaged to thrive throughout with excessive demand arising from the myriad of sources causing illnesses to a vast population of which an alarming proportion fall in the ‘unhealthy’ category.

In the absence of robust competition from a government provided affordable health care, the industry giants have the expansive field wide open to themselves with a huge demand as the catalyst for the exorbitant profits in products and services. In addition, the major market-share by the big players lay overcast of monopoly for others to compete effectively with the price factor, notwithstanding the industry protocol on limited choice and coverage of care at disproportionate costs.

The non-profit cooperatives have been recently involved in financial mismanagement as reported in California and severely lack in efficiency, ultimately benefiting the current private care system by default. Therefore, it’s not surprising for the industry groups to lobby for the non-profit cooperatives against the government run program.

The bill doesn’t end there. Ice cream is more delicious when served with toppings.

With respect to the businesses and large corporations exempt from the insurance coverage requirement to their workers and employees, it’s yet another ‘dessert’ moment for the legislators playing gracious hosts to the corporate musketeers.

Obviously, the lawmakers more appropriately the lawbreakers are falling head over heels in their romance with the corporate sponsors by relieving them from the fundamental responsibility to care for their workers and employees with health insurance while leaving the underemployed American workforce to fend for themselves in the profit manifested exclusive private health club.

As for the Blue Dogs, a misnomer to the species iconic for their unflinching loyalty, unequivocally clarify that ‘conservatism’ motto regardless of political factions is to delay, defeat and derail national progress. Clearly, the democratic electorate will be able to overcome the obstacle by replacing the obstructionists with the supportive ones in the 2010 elections.

To summarize, the health care casserole prepared by the House and the Senate in the Congress is palatable to the industry as the primary patrons and the caterer of the special menu. The remaining large starving population having peeked at the menu items forced to fake satisfaction from the aroma of the dish, although meant for the populist but served to win over the mighty health care industrialists.

Seriously, if this health care legislation meant to be a ‘reform’, then the bill must include the public option plan, increased federal subsidies, free health care for the most impoverished and a nondiscretionary business/Corporate health insurance for all workers and employees.

Failing that, it would be a band-aid treatment for a widespread chronic ailment in the industry gorging profits at every opportunity and the ‘so-called’ solution will be a cyclical nightmare for the nation attempting its way out of the quick sand economy.

The proposal funded through compromise from the industry with costs reduction equalizing profit contraction proportionate to market sustainability and tax increases suggested in the earlier House Bill itemized per extraordinary income category is the ideal gateway to true 'reform.'

Otherwise, under the present deal the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ not found in Iraq would appropriately apply to the millions dependent on the democratic majority controlling all three branches of the government to do the right by the people.

Because the welfare of the people is paramount for the success of corporations in a capitalist or any other economic systems as people are the consumers and workers alias human capital in the economy. Politically, irrespective of the massive corporate investment earned from the sweat and blood of the workforce, there will be no power without the people’s vote in a democracy.

Again, the health care reform will be truly meaningful and purposeful when the recommended changes addressing the plight of the people are reflected in the lifetime legislative matter.

It’s time for every American to stand up for their rights and claim the authentic universal health coverage favoring them and not the profit oriented health care industry.

Please call your local representatives and the Senators to oblige to your needs and not the special interests. Only you can make it happen this time.

Power is powerless against the will of the people in politics and economics.

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Real health care reform !

z0rr0 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:44:27 EDT

Mr. President

Congress and the Administration are busy tweaking the existing system, and calling it reform. They are crowing about 47 million uninsured as evidence of a crisis, when a huge number of them are prime of life people who do not need health care. Republicans are attacking costs, increased taxes proposed by Democrats, while claiming that the for profit insurance system is great, begging the question if they’ve woken up from the Bush years yet. All of it is in a crisis mode – must be reformed this summer. Or what? I think we’ll just have another summer next year.

Now I do have some ideas for real health care reform. It starts with the simple premise of a single payer. I don’t care if it is the Social Security Administration or Halliburton. Stop wasting billions on multiple billings, useless accountants, claim processors, rate negotiators, and of course, CBO, GAO and untold other studies. The Government should simply open it up for bids. Companies could partner, agencies and companies could partner, agencies and agencies could partner. I would not care. Just two basic criteria: single payer, meaning single book-keeping, and lowest operating bid. Health insurance is not brain surgery – it is just moving money from the left hand to the right hand. So the winner should do it cheaply. That would take care of my health insurance claim processing reform.

Now for actual health care reform? Well we are in a pickle, one that neither Democrats, Republicans, AMA or BCBS want to admit. The baby boomers are going to clog the are demographics arteries. The number of Americans over the age 64 will double for the next 40 years, and these old codgers consume 6 times the health care that a young person does. Our infrastructure, you know the one with Indian immigrant doctors, Philipino immigrant nurses, and hundreds of closed hospitals, cannot serve their numbers. So we will have metered health care. The rich will go to through the side doors while the rest of America will queue up at the front desk. Inevitable. How can Congress ignore this? Perhaps because most will be dead and gone by the time it becomes obvious.

The way to get out of the pickle is to resort to the great American ideal of self determination and self reliance. My suggestion is that every American be endowed with a voucher of $1,000,000, for life time health care. Each time they go to a doctor, the single payer will pay the doc, and reduce the balance of the voucher. Once a person runs out, they are on their own. If they live right, maybe the voucher can last a long time. If they live smart, they won’t rush to the doctor for every sprain and strain, much less for Viagra. If at the end of life, they only have enough for a hospice, rather than the inhuman cruelty of being kept alive on tubes for months, who is to judge which represents better quality of care. How do I suppose to pay for this. Well, the startup cost is minimal. Even old people only average $8-10,000 in annual costs. That’s the only part of the voucher that has to be covered initially. The full million is like life insurance – you pay, perhaps into Medicaid (what a novel idea) to build up the “future value” of you endowment. The younger you are when you start, the lower your monthly payments. I think it is doable.

Now to complete my tour de reform, I would allow the unused balance of a voucher to be transferred to heirs, as part of the estate. I know, it sounds odd, but it really makes sense. The genetics will ensure that in the long run, the healthiest of the breed will end up getting the best of care.

Sorry folks, but when one is looking to reform reform, one has to strain the gene pool to achieve real savings in health care.

Judge Sotomayor’s Confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee

"Voice for Humanity" — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:33:33 EDT

By Padmini Arhant
Supreme Court Justice Confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee

Heartfelt congratulations! to judge Sonia Sotomayor on her confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the highest court in the land.

Surviving a grueling confirmation hearing qualifies for a ceremonial victory. Judge Sotomayor exhibited perfection in the process that requires patience, knowledge, and skills to address issues and concerns set forth by the committee...

Continued @ http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

The "bottom lines" on health care reform

Douglas from South Gate, CA — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:18:53 EDT

In yesterday's NYTimes online there was an excellent summary of what the various aspects of health care reform would mean to everyone: The "bottom line" on the proposed legislation. As we apparently head into a summer of continuing intense debate over this issue -- as the Senate will apparently recess without passing a bill -- we will undoubtedly be bombarded with misinformation from the Right (I've already received dozens or hundreds of "facts" about how "Obama will ration health care" or "the Democrats will take away your insurance or doctor").

Just as we used truth, facts, and reason to get Obama into office and majorities into Congress, we can use the same "ammunition" in defense of and to advance this vital legislation in the tough weeks and months ahead. And the Right is probably right about one thing: If they do stop meaningful health care reform, it will deal a terrible blow to the new administration and the other important work we have to do (as in energy and the environment, education, civil rights, etc.).

So if you haven't yet read this great article, please do. Intelligence and reason are on trial. We've seen how ignorance can ruin the country. We need to convince everyday people, rightfully concerned, that given the circumstances as they are (certainly not as we would like them to be), we've got the best solutions and that we just cannot afford the status quo any longer. And we cannot forget how many lives are truly on the line.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/opinion/26sun1.html?emc=eta1

Our united states government officials will pass

K Smith — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:12:43 EDT

Our united states government officials will pass

I give no one a pass. I don’t care the color of your skin or the position you may have, you will NEVER receive a pass or any excuses for your actions from me. NEVER! Not now, not ever!

President Barack Obama made a statement about Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Mr. Gates’ arrest. I’ve heard some say that Obama was in error when he said the cops acted "stupidity." I’ve heard from both Blacks and whites that Obama should have declined to answer the question. Me? What do I say? I say he answered the question and now so what? I don’t care! So what? Everyone says many things that maybe they not ought to have said, but they’re still living; it’s life. I don’t care, because it’s not an important issue that I wish to address right now.. I care that Barack Obama reminded america that there is still a problem with race in THIS country. Just because he’s the president of a white country, does not mean that it doesn’t exist. Have we already forgotten the 60 or so Black kids that were booted in Philadelphia? If you’ve have forgotten, here’s a quick reminder:

The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers’ first visit to the pool suggested otherwise. "When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately." The next day the club told the camp director that the camp’s membership was being suspended and their money would be refunded. "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Pool-Boots-Kids-Who-Might-Change-the-Complexion.html

That was just 14 days ago! What about the cases we don’t hear about? Racism is alive. It’s ongoing and it has not ended with a Black man as president of these united states.

Nevertheless, racism is not the issue at this time. It’s going to be here, but what about healthcare? Will we, The People of the united states of america continue to be forced to pay high medical premiums? Will congress go on vacation before they tackle and succeed in healthcare reform? The american people need a recess! A recess from increasing medical bills? A recess from increasing water and electricity bills! A recess from increasing food prices – namely dairy products! Recesses from seeking jobs that aren’t there! The american People need a break!

Oh, but the President of the united states, congress, senators and all present and past government officials don’t have these worries. Oops, I meant a break from these problems.

The president said it is not about him as he and everyone in congress already have affordable healthcare. And I’ve said it more than once – in fact, I’ve lost count how many times I’ve said it, but I’ll say it again: when it’s not their problem, it’s not a problem.

ALL of our government officials receive lifetime benefits, so what’s the big deal? ALL americans should have become government officials so we too could have lifetime benefits?

The president said he is working with congress and other finance committees to find money to help with the nations’ problems? Well, what about the $4,000,000,000 we spend on secret service to protect former presidents? What about SOME of that money? Aren’t they already receiving lifetime benefits? Why couldn’t they use some of that money for The People? Why don’t the former presidents pay for protection themselves?

Seems like a waste to me. On the other hand, perhaps I’m missing the point. Didn’t they – former presidents – agree to live the life of a regular ol’ average Joe? Well, the average Joe isn’t receiving special protection. Yes we have our local police department, but even here in Denver, Colorado, they are scarce. Money is tight all over, but we The People are surviving with local police protection. Protect the last president, but the rest of them should be on their own; like the average everyday american. (This should go for ALL presidents. When Obama is no longer president, then George W. Bush will no longer receive it.)

In the mean time, I will not excuse Barack Obama, the senate, congress, or any of our government officials from staying in the fight; fighting for The People. I voted for them to work for ME, and I REFUSE to grant them a vacation. Please! I can’t remember the last time I took a vacation. I wish I would! If I did, I would be sitting and living with the other unfortunate people who were forced into foreclosure.

While both my spouse and I continue to pay increasing medical premiums, our elected officials are taking a vacation?

Who is upset by this?

While we, my spouse and I as well as too many other american fret over our bills, our elected officials receive lifetime benefits without a care in the world? As if this is some type of game? …to pussyfoot around? Healthcare isn’t the only problem our elected officials have on the table, but it is currently one of my main concerns. (I have much more.)

I know I do not speak for all americans, but I will continue to show respect for all americans who are severely effected by this economy. I will continue to use lower case "a" when typing "american" and lower case when typing "the united states." (I will not use a capital "A" until america works for ALL americans.)

Until our elected officials actually PROVE that they are working for The People, then I will continue to wave my flag upside down!

NO! It is not a display of disrespect for my country. Not hardly. It is in respect and deep concern for The People.

Until The american People have the means of saving themselves, my flag will remain in its current position.

Obama said he used to pray several times a day, but now prays all the time, well, thank you, Mr. President. Keep praying, as we will be doing the same. And please remember the victims and survivors of hurricane Katrina, those in Afghanistan, Iraq, our wounded soldiers, families of the many casualties of all wars, hostage victim Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, as well as the soldiers who risk their lives while battling in was but return home maimed, and mentally and emotionally disabled but if they "look" and/or "appear" physically able, get sent back to places such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Please do not forget victims such as Troy Davis, Gary Graham aka Shaka Sankofa, Jamie and Gladys Scott and their families, Tina, and all the other people who are trying to hold on to their jobs while needlessly suffering with chronic and terminal illness. Please remember all of us who are disabled, who live on the street, our senior citizens and everyone who is forced to live paycheck to paycheck.

Democrats Tell President To Suck It Up Regarding Health Care Reform Before Vacation

Larry Gordon — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:58:46 EDT

Democrats have told President Barack Obama that they are going on vacation and health care reform can wait until they get back. How dare they. Health Care Reform is so important to the American people and to the health of the economy, and these arrogant politicians, who are solely in Congress because the Aemrican people voted them in, have told the President of the United States to suck it up.

The Republican party has already made its bed, and I hope they lie in it for a long, long time. However, Democratic Congressmen and Democratic Congresswomen who act like spoiled prima donas need a reality call of the severest order. If Congress goes on vacation BEFORE acting on Health Care Reform, I sincerely hope the American people make this vacation a regretful one for them.

What Democrats needs to realize is that the Amerian people are fed up, yes, fed up with bad government. If I had my way, I would take away all Congressional perks and insurance and make the members of Congress use what the American people use. I can guarantee you that there would be some of the best, well-read policies enacted to ever come out of Washington under any administration. Hmmm. Maybe the American people need to show Congress who is boss.

Why Health Care Reform Must Not Fail?

"Voice for Humanity" — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:27:57 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

People vs. Special Interests and GOP

The opponents to health care reform – the conglomerate with legislators as spokespersons and the conservative media specifically a network dedicated to the hampering of national progress in every respect deserve scrutiny and appropriate response.

It’s no surprise to witness the ‘grandstanding’ against the President by the opposition retaliating to the brutal defeat in the ’06, ’08 and inevitably the 2010 elections.

Last week, Republican Senator Jim DeMint made it pretty clear why the opponents of health care reform are fighting so hard.

As he told a special interest attack group...

Continued @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

"MYTH"

James — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:21:22 EDT

Joseph Campbell was interviewed years ago by Bill Moyers. The product of that interview became known ad the Power of Myth. Mythology is vitally important to the success strategy of the entire human species. We a deep need to believe in things in order to fully apply the magnificent intellect were have been given. Any living organism can respond or react to stimuli. It takes belief to fully engage the intellect, and then change the very environment within which we live. Lately there have been studies which have elevated the status of other animals who inhabit this earth. From apes to elephants and dolphins, among larger mammals, and even among birds. These other animals are toolmakers and users, like us, but within certain limits. They are social and capable of self-awareness (in narrow testing) and communication. But only one animal reshapes the environment around it. And that is us. We have homes, cars, computers, heat, air-conditioning and space craft. We have tools so complex that only some of us understand what they do. We have specialties and study. We have books and electronics of such complexity that it takes years of schooling just to read or come to terms with them.

And all of this is because of belief. We believe we can do it. We believe that we are the pre-eminent species on earth, and so we are. We believe we are the pre-eminent species among the universe, and so we are (so far). We believe that things will get better, and so we get out of bed every morning and attempt to make that so. We dream from believing, and then come to believe from our dreaming. There is nothing like us and there never has been, that we know of. And, more amazingly, we are even capable of dreaming and believing that there might be greater creatures than we are. We can dream and believe that anything might be. We have the power of myth as an integral part of over very being. The power of myth is the spine of every culture existing on this planet, and none of those cultures, or the myths, are the same.

But the power of myth causes us great problems, as well as it allows us great advances. For example; we come to believe things that are not true. That is okay if a culture is believing in a supreme being of mysterious origin. But it is not okay if that same culture is believing what it is being told about something as seemingly simple as profits. Yes, profits. When you make something and then sell it, after you have subtracted the costs of manufacture and sales, then you have money leftover, if you properly charged a good price for the product. That leftover amount is called profit. What has profit got to do with myth? We just had two of our huge remaining banks declare multi-billion dollar profits, following a lengthy period of giant losses and government bailouts. Where is the myth? Part of the financial problems we are experiencing today is because of these kinds of mis-stated (lied about) profits! The bank managers and financial house gurus figured out that they could ask for a big chunk of any enormous profits they made for investors over the past twenty years. Then they sat down with their mythically responding accounting firms and lied about how great the profits were. They inflated everything, then gook great gobs of the mythical profits as their own. Their fair share, so to speak. Mythically speaking.

Now, here we are again. There simply is no way in this current market to make huge profits. But, they have gotten together again anyway, waited a little bit, and simply created new numbers to demonstrate mythical profits. The bonuses will flow again across the Madison Avenue conduits. The liars and mythologists will cream great gobs of non-existent profits and take them offshore, or convert them into Bentleys, hundred foot yachts, G-4 private jets and opulent residences. Once again. A few months from now, or a few years from now, more bail-outs will have to be made. After all, we cannot allow these big banks to go down. The damage to our mythical financial structure would be too great. Or so the same rotten and powerful thieves mythically claim.

This is where the power of myth hurts us. And this is where television will not allow itself to be used to help us. Television (remember, Marrow, Cronkite, et al) has been emasculated. It cannot penetrate, will not penetrate, this area of mythology and reveal to the world what is going on. And so I curse the damn thing, as I watch it, because I too have nothing else.

I am also still hurting over the loss of mythology that has doomed our space program to a tattered broken future. We are unlikely to go back to the moon or on to Mars. Our children will watch Chinese astronauts or Indian spacemen make those trips. And I hurt deep down over this loss. The power of myth is such a many edged sword. Will this comatose and sleeping culture arise from it's collective couch, put down the Miller Lite, set aside the glass of wine, and rise back into consciousness? Will the sword of the power of myth once again be wielded by this brash collection of made-up men and women to swing outward toward the universe in great expressive thrusts? I don't know. I do know that we cannot allow the finances of this country to be used only for the self-enrichment of a very few. We must get our act together. If we do not then that couch, and that tankard of beer, or that glass of wine, is all we will have, that and the bland nothingness of a thousand blaring channels of droolingly stupid 'reality' television to guide us on into a meaningless death.

Cry, this beloved country! Stand up! Look around! Do something! Anything! Throw these bastards in Congress out. Make Obama lead us to a better future. You deserve it. Our ancestors paid for it. I deserve it. I want it. Do you? Well, just how bad?

http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com

http://www.themastodons.com

http://www.from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com

To Our Health, Universally

Standing Firm — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:16:47 EDT

We as a nation, at this moment in time, face severe circumstances. Systems vital to the stability and continous growth of the nation, such as education, health care, social and political policies are rapidly deteriorating. This deterioration stems not from the lack of human capital, no this decaying process has been generated by collective members of our U.S. Congress, who are determined to place negative, illogical road blocks in the way of progress.

One must question the motives of individuals who without good, sound reason, have vowed to oppose progress that with hard work and commitment can ensure an inclusive healthy, educated nation as a whole. More importantly it has the potential to ensure a nation of healthy, educated human beings.

Reason based on logic reveals, at this time the nation needs healthy citizens. Given that millions of individuals are currently unemployed, new ideas must be explored, training for new occupations must be developed, implementation of new work standards and policies must be constructed to meet the new 21st century way of work. How can this be accomplished if the majority of our nations citizens are in bad health? This nation is not self maintained, it can not repair nor rebuild itself, it was build by hardworking members of society, by the way of forced labor without pay. So is it logical to believe that, the most powerful nation in the world has the power to rebuilt itself.

Reason based on logic reveals, not only must citizens be healthy, but they must also be well educated. How can a nation hold pride in having the finest educational institutions in the world, but refuse to have highly education individuals that understand their purpose for teaching, is to prepare all children, to become future productive citizens of the nation. These are just some of the issues that are of vital importance to the U.S. This nation must faced racial ideologies, "just for us" social and policial policies, the negative effects of it's ethnic imaging, the list continues. But for now let's focus on the most pressing issues of health care and education, maybe by correcting these social inaccuracy the remainding social barriers won't be as difficult to face and destroy.

Obama's Current Health Care Proposal Doomed for Failure

Stephen — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:37:14 EDT

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but President Obama's health care reform as he and Democrats in the House have put forth will do little to reform health care in the U.S. Adding the costs of caring for an additional 50M Americans in a failing economy, with a historic budget deficit, and a market system that is flawed at its core would be a mistake of historic propostion. As a health care consultant and scientist with over 30 years experience in health care, I will explain why.

The primary authority by which the federal government should act to assure the availability of health care lies in public health and safety, and to this end, if our system is to be a free market system, then government must act to assure that consumers are able to freely participate and obtain quality and economically responsive care and options. Allowing politicians and scientists to oversee the government health institutions such as NIH, FDA, and Medicare, and leave them to go and work for the very companies they regulate, diminishes our free markets, competition, care options, and compromises safety and efficacy of the products they serve to approve for use in the U.S.

The predicament that Obama and Congress faces here is that government, by way of its many overseeing agencies has become the "enabler" of so many of the flawed practices and runaway costs we face today. Nearly every health care product and service sold in the U.S. today has a 300% to 2000% markup, and government led controls determine in large part the care and such we are permitted to receive. These compromises further extend to prestigious (non-profit) U.S. universities, non-profit organizations, and philanthropists who enjoy tax free benefits and unbridled opportunities in medical research, new product launches, and wealth at the expense of American tax dollars. If a university or entity is to be given tax exempt status, it should act first in the interests of the public good, not in quest of royalities on intellectual property.

I speak to the above having undertaked extensive scientific effort, advocacy, public policy, criminaql investigations, and law following a 1992 brain injury, where I was termed a pioneer and visionary, yet was "prohibited from receiving NIH and other tax dollars to pay the research and development cost of "solutions" and new treatments I put forward - for which industry and universities were unwilling to undertake. In acting in this manner - they failed to meet the greater public health need. There interests were purely motivated by capitalism and profit. I am working on a book covering my extraordinary efforts and experiences of undergoing 7 brain shunt surgeries over a 17 year period, incorrectly treated most all of those years.

The current manner in which care and options are often restricted in the U.S. also raises Constitutional issues of freedom and liberties to chose the course of care we are most comfortable with. The federal goverment and its contracting partners must do a better job in making more alternative care and treatment available and reimbursable thru insurance. Currently, wellness prevention, Eastern medicine, and care alternatives are not well reimbursed in the U.S.

In my expert view, the areas below is where Obama and the Democrats in Congress must start with reform. Once underway, and when the economy picks up, they can introduce coverage for the 50M uninsured Americans. In the interim, they could draft funding for low cost medi-gap policies for people out of work. My proposal will go a long way towards reducing costs, improving health and treatment outcomes, and spurring new consumer health opportunities. As you can see from my proposal, it's all about "free market control" and who has it: the marketplace or industry? Below, are a number of recommendations to reduce costs, improve care:

* Reverse the Medicare prescription drug clause on negotiating drug prices

** Pass legislation restricting and requiring full disclosure of payments made to physicians from medical manufacturers.

*** Pass legislation restricting re-employment of NIH, FDA, and similar agency scientist by medical companies.

**** Reform the qualifications and health activities by which non-profit entities act and do business, including, a new source of funding so organizations can undertake patient education and advocacy without the funding and control of industry as seen today

Then, form a sub-agency of NIH to enact the following:

1. Introduce new and immediate standards for electronic medical records (EMR), including, wireless consumer care and technology tools - these will strengthen the patient/physician relationship

2. Set standards and deadlines for the availability of new consumer patient monitoring tools

3. Set standards and a timetable requiring every American to become proficient in health education

4. Set weight and obesity limits on premium and low cost health policies, with financial incentives and options for those who maintain A-level practices and wellness prevention

5. Introduce standards for improved reimbursement of "alternatives care" treatments in illness and disease

6. Establish fiscal caps on end of life care, and offer incentives on alternative care

The above should be a centerpiece to any health care reform. I have not touched on family planning and funding of abortion, nor whether employer-based health benefits should be taxed. I will save these for later.

I regret to say that Obama and the Democrats are trying to tackle the most challenging policy and social issue in America, much more than illegal immigration or defense. Yet, understanding this, I believe will help in shaping policy on the other. If they move carefully and wisely, they may just succeed at health care reform.

Stephen

What's In It For Me?

Larry Gordon — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:02:15 EDT

Listening to CNN this morning, the reporter said "What's In It For Me?" seems to be the main question being asked about health care reform. Sounds greedy, selfish, and obscene, doesn't it? Can't we as Americans do better than that? Hasn't this attitude put us in the sinking boat we are in? I only hope that President Obama can patch this boat before we all become shark bait, and I don't mean those big fish that swim in the sea.

Today, I also heard a Canadian, yes, a Canadian, doing an ad for www.patientsunitednow.com who alleges that American health care reform will be a copy of the Canadian version that seems to leave Canadians out in the cold. I object to two things about this group: (1) The group used a Canadian to interfer in American life and politics, and (2) EVERYTHING President Obama wants for American health care has little to do with the Canadian version. Patientsunitednow,com reeks of misinformation, if not flat out lies. This group should be called to account.

I sincerely hope that Republicans will be voted out of office for 50 years or so. Everything I have seen indicates that they care about their party, but hang the American people and anything that does not benefit the Republican party. It must not be forgotten that the Republican party is to blame for eights years of incompetence, greed, and self interest. Why should the American people give them credibility? They don't dseserve it.

One thing for sure: Congress had better pass strong health care reform that benefits the American people, especially those Americans who lose their insurance or do not have it to begin with. It has to be accessible and affordable for all. If health care reform is written off or degraded, those members of Congress can be sure their seats will be taken from them in future elections, and those members who harm the American people will be chided and degraded by the American people. Enough of nothing. Other countries with less do better than our Congress. It's time our Congress got its act together. It's time our Congress started to really work for the American people.

Who pays for health care?

Douglas from South Gate, CA — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:56:01 EDT

The Democratically controlled House of Representatives has just put forth their version of a health care bill -- doing away with exclusions for pre-existing conditions, protecting free choice of physicians by patients, and presenting a public option in "healthy competition" with the private plans (which shudder to think how they'll manage to compete against government-run health plans, whose administrative costs are, as in Medicare and Veterans programs, just a fraction of those of for-profit plans). And in keeping with President Obama's call that the program must be paid for, revenue-neutral, the Democrats are proposing to cover most of the cost with a tax surcharge on the wealthiest Americans -- families making over a half million a year, about the richest one percent of all American households (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/health/policy/15health.html?th&emc=th).

Remember, the cost of doing nothing is even greater: The current system is broken, delivering worse health outcomes for much more money per capitata than in any other industrialized nation; and according to best estimates, the average family of four can expect to pay $1800 more a year, year after year, to the health insurance companies, if our current, historic efforts at health care reform fail.

Republicans, of course, and some "centrist" Democrats are balking at taxing the rich to pay for health care for all; they are considering alternative plans. Well, if the richest won't be paying the most, guess who will be, however it's legislatively packaged.

Coming into this current economic crisis, we've had the greatest inequality in the distribution of our nation's wealth at any time since the years leading into the Great Depression. That's no coincidence: As long as the lion's share of the economic activity of our country (some 70% of the GDP) is spending by households, particularly middle class households, then the more that the wealth of our nation is concentrated at the top, the poorer our economy at large will be. It's not only unfair but also unwise to keep the middle class, let alone those at the bottom, from getting their fair share of the fruits of their labors.

Likewise, it's not only fair but also wise to tax the most those who profit the most in our economy, in order to pay for the health care system that benefits all of us: A nation cannot be fully productive if its laborers are not as healthy as they can and should be; and even "Harry and Louise," the fictitious middle-class couple from those insurance company-sponsored commercials that helped sink the Clintons' efforts to reform health care, better be concerned about health care for all -- because one day they, too, might become too sick to work or might otherwise lose their jobs and then lose their health care insurance, even if they can afford to pay the rising premiums and deductibles today.

Congratulations and thanks to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and all the House Democrats for making the "healthy choice." Now it's up to the Senate to follow suit, with of course more input and influence from smaller, typically more conservative states. Just don't let anyone forget that the costs of doing nothing are becoming increasingly unbearable; and the fairer the costs are distributed, the better for our economy as a whole.

From Plato to Obama

Emilijan from Brooklyn, NY — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:35:56 EDT

The United States is unique among developed nations in defining its raison d’être ideologically. It has been American fate as a nation not to have ideologies but to be one. American liberalism of the eighteenth century was essentially the rebellion against the monarchical and aristocratic state – against hereditary privilege, against restrictions on bargains. Its Lockean spirit was essentially anarchistic. It was the anti-state. Fighting against a centralized monarchical state the founding fathers distrusted a strong unified government. The first American Constitution – the Articles of Confederation – did not even provide for a federal executive. Authority was placed in Congress, which had limits on its power. The United States of America may be said to be the only country in the world, which was founded in explicit opposition to Machiavellian principles – to the power of the Prince.

Health Care Reform

"Voice for Humanity" — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:02:27 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

The U.S. Senate is reviewing the components of the much-required health care reform bill. Obviously, the free market profiteers represented by the Insurance industry, hospitals, healthcare providers, Pharmaceutical companies and the entire enterprise strongly lobbying against the public option involving federal health care. Simultaneously, a tentative agreement by the hospitals and health care providers to reduce Medicare and Medicaid costs by $155 billion over a decade has been subject to immense speculation.

The opposition minority along with the cynics and the skeptics are vigorously contesting the legislation on the pretext – ‘tax’ and ‘fiscal responsibility’, an all time favorite issue...

More Details and Visuals @http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

Video - Health Care Reform 101

Fireside Production — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:02:51 EDT

Please check out our newest Fireside Feature, Health Care Reform 101... answers to questions on single payer, the public option, Canadian care and more. We hope you'll watch, share, comment and rate!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKDaFE5flb4

Healthcare Matters kICK oFF

RFLTV for Obama — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:12:11 EDT

We had lots of participation in our Health Care Matters Day Kick off on June 6, 2009 in San Dimas, CA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTA86CDHhcI

Keep current on where your legislators stand on healthcare reform

No longer active — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:08:48 EDT

Here is a great resource for keeping up to date on where your legislators stand on the healthcare debate raging in Washington. Keep a vigilant eye, and keep in touch with them to let them know you support real and immediate reform of our healthcare system!

http://standwithdrdean.com/where_congress_stands

The President's Plan for Financial Regulatory Reform: "A careful balance"

Samuel from Heath, MA — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:48:16 EDT

Today President Obama announced the details of a proposed plan to reform the financial regulatory system, the culmination of a months-long process that included the President, his economic team, experienced regulators, and leaders in Congress. In his remarks, the President explained:
It is an indisputable fact that one of the most significant contributors to our economic downturn was a unraveling of major financial institutions and the lack of adequate regulatory structures to prevent abuse and excess. A culture of irresponsibility took root from Wall Street to Washington to Main Street. And a regulatory regime basically crafted in the wake of a 20th century economic crisis -- the Great Depression -- was overwhelmed by the speed, scope, and sophistication of a 21st century global economy.
...Now, we all know the result: the bursting of a debt-based bubble; the failure of several of the world's largest financial institutions; the sudden decline in available credit; the deterioration of the economy; the unprecedented intervention of the federal government to stabilize the financial markets and prevent a wider collapse; and most importantly, the terrible pain in the lives of ordinary Americans. And there are retirees who've lost much of their life savings, families devastated by job losses, small businesses forced to shut their doors.Millions of Americans who've worked hard and behaved responsibly have seen their life dreams eroded by the irresponsibility of others and by the failure of their government to provide adequate oversight. Our entire economy has been undermined by that failure.So the question is, what do we do now? We did not choose how this crisis began, but we do have a choice in the legacy this crisis leaves behind. So today, my administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the financial regulatory system, a transformation on a scale not seen since the reforms that followed the Great Depression....In these efforts, we seek a careful balance. I've always been a strong believer in the power of the free market. It has been and will remain the engine of America's progress -- the source of prosperity that's unrivaled in history. I believe that jobs are best created not by government, but by businesses and entrepreneurs who are willing to take a risk on a good idea. I believe that our role is not to disparage wealth, but to expand its reach; not to stifle the market, but to strengthen its ability to unleash the creativity and innovation that still make this nation the envy of the world.That's our goal -- to restore markets in which we reward hard work and responsibility and innovation, not recklessness and greed; in which honest, vigorous competition is the system -- in the system is prized, and those who game the system are thwarted.
Some of the specifics outlined by the President in his proposal today included:
• Providing clear accountability in financial oversight and supervision. Financial institutions that are critical to market functioning should be subject to strong oversight. No financial firm that poses a significant risk to the financial system should be unregulated or regulated only weakly. • Establishing comprehensive supervision of financial markets. Our major financial markets must be strong enough to withstand both system-wide stress and the failure of one or more large institutions.
• Protecting consumers and investors from financial abuse. To rebuild trust in our markets, we need strong and consistent regulation and supervision of consumer financial services and investment markets. We should base this oversight not on speculation or abstract models, but on actual data about how people make financial decisions. We must promote transparency, simplicity, fairness, accountability, and access.
• Providing the government with the tools it needs to manage financial crises. We need to be sure the government has the tools it needs to manage crises, if and when they arise, so that we are not left with untenable choices between bailouts and financial collapse.

To Prosecute Torture Or Not...

Leo — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:33:45 EDT

For me it's coming down to what we are preserving- or attempting to preserve- I think the bad far outweighs the good here- and I believe that if Obama sidesteps this it will be his downfall.

President Obama will forever be linked to the Bush Torture Coverup and our great victory over the establishment will be torn down.

"It's a trap are you blind?" (Hamish) ~Braveheart

106 Billion, did you say BILLION??!!

Maria — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:51:26 EDT

Has everyone in Washington lost their mind, I wonder? I would not approve 106 Million for war efforts let alone making that billions. Who are they trying to kid? It is time to seriously get these guys under control and give them a serious dose of reality!

We all read of the mismangement of the other war money and they expect us to trust them with more? I do not think so!

Obama, please stand up and say no to this insanity! Until they can account for every penny of where the other money went they should not be allowed to get any more. If I am reading the news right it will take 80 billion to last June-Sept of this year. Where on earth does the money go?

Forget the war profiteers/arms dealers and remember Americans!

Maria

Health Care Rally & Town Hall in Washington, DC

signsSansSignifieds — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:56:05 EDT

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Join thousands of Americans at the largest health care rally in history!

Limited FREE buses

Meet at 5:30 AM at Union Square; leave at 6 AM

Back at 9:30 PM

RSVP to Naomi.Rothwell2@gmail.com

www.healthcare09.org

MyBo link: http://tinyurl.com/lwappy

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/m8bv64

SENATOR KENNEDYS HEALTHCARE PETITION...

karenbenzer — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:46:24 EDT

I've seen our health care system up close over the past year.

I'm fortunate to have the finest medical care in the world. But I've seen far too many people unable to obtain the care they need because they can't afford it.

That's wrong. It's got to change, and it's about to change.

We're fighting for legislation in Congress to fix our broken health care system. Under President Obama's leadership, Republicans and Democrats are working together to write a bill that will guarantee good care at long last to everyone who needs it.

But we'll need strong nationwide support to produce the 60 Senate votes that will probably be required to avoid a filibuster and actually pass the bill. I need your support. Please sign our petition for quality, affordable health care for every American:

http://www.democraticmajority.com/healthcare

Our legislation includes five major provisions:
We give Americans better choices for health insurance. We follow a simple principle: If you like the coverage you have now, you can keep it. If you don't like your current coverage, our bill offers new and more affordable options. We'll negotiate with insurance companies to keep costs low, make it illegal for companies to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions, and give Americans the option to enroll in a public insurance program.

We reduce the cost of health care. We'll crack down on fraud and abuse, and we'll reduce red tape to keep costs down. We also make sure doctors use the most effective therapies to treat illnesses, so patients aren't paying extra for treatments that don't work.

We put new emphasis on prevention. The best way to treat a disease is to prevent it from ever striking, or to catch it at an early stage. By giving every American access to affordable health care, we'll enable millions of people to be screened for diabetes, heart disease, cancer and depression.

We bring more help to the elderly and the disabled. We make it easier for these Americans to live independently. We help pay for home upgrades such as wheelchair ramps, and for regular home care to enable people to live in their own homes, not nursing homes.

Finally, we develop a better health workforce, delivering modern and responsive care. We invest in doctors, nurses, and other health professionals to meet the needs of patients more effectively for years to come.
These changes won't be easy to enact -- but we can't afford to wait, and we can't afford to fail.

Show your support for health reform that will benefit all our citizens, reduce the financial burdens on our nation's people and businesses, and put our health care industry on a strong and sustainable basis for the future:

http://www.democraticmajority.com/healthcare

I'll be working hard to pass this bill in the weeks ahead, and I hope you'll be there with me.

Thank you so much for the very real difference you can make in achieving this great goal we share.

Sincerely,

Senator Edward M. Kennedy

Bipartisan Objections to a Bad Bailouts

Jason M. Christos — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:59:57 EDT

Bipartisan Objections to a Bad Bailouts posted by John Nichols on 06/03/2009 @ 5:38pm

Thirty-six members of the U.S. House -- Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives -- recently wrote to President Obama asking him to stop the White House Auto Task Force from taking actions that are harmful to American autoworkers, auto dealers and the states and communities impacted by plant and dealership closings.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, organized the effort with Ohio Republican Steven LaTourette in response to the administration's approach to the Chrysler bankruptcy and bailout.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/440720/bipartisan_objections_to_a_bad_gm_deal

Universal Health Care

"Voice for Humanity" — Sun, 24 May 2009 04:27:49 EDT

By Padmini Arhant

Health Care is not an individual matter. It’s a national crisis as clearly expressed in President Barack Obama’s message.

“American families are watching their premiums rise four times faster than their wages. Spiraling health care costs are shackling America’s businesses, curtailing job growth and slowing the economy at the worst possible time. This has got to change.”

President Obama’s Health Care Policy aimed at three core principles — it must reduce costs, guarantee choice, and ensure quality care for every American.”

The combined forces of the Health Care industry represented by the Insurance, Pharmaceuticals, Biotech, Academic institutions...

Please refer to http://www.padminiarhant.com

Thank you.

Padmini Arhant

CIA - Central Intelligence Agency

Khaidji — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:03:29 EDT

Recently there was a statement that suggested that the CIA lied to the Congress of the United States of America. This has met with much discussion and even appeals for Nancy Pelosi having been the person accusing the CIA, to resign. Maybe I’m mistake but is this, the same CIA that operates under a cloak of deception. That has employees who lie to their families about actual being an agent. Isn’t it also the CIA that supplied information to the last administration into a pointless war?

CIA-Central Intelligence Agency

Can’t Include All the Constant Inappropriate Alibis

Everybody knows the Agency is built on deception and lies

Nancy didn’t know her husband of 10 years

To be Collaborating In Assignations, not like what he appears

Ronald Comes Into Airports and with the greatest of ease

Arranges to pass through without examination for disease

Like a Conceal Identity Arranged this special pass

I Can’t Imagine Allowing some Contaminations In, Alas

No one should have the kind of clout

To keep Compromising It All as they travel about

Effectively transferring disease like the Swine Flu

Let this epidemic become pandemic by the stupidity they do

Like my friend who Covertly Indulges Adultery

Incorporates his Creative Inventive Aliases for infidelity

Government’s Clandestine Indecent Actions in guise of work

Evil man calling himself patriotic but I call him a jerk

Night and day he goes about in his double life

Cold Ignorant Asinine fool who lies to his wife

Every one working there or at least the majority

Are working in a Corrupted Intolerant Agency

Government people trained to deceive with lovers glances

Every one of them Coming Into Acute circumstances

Never Could I Agree to a job that requires such deceptions

Change I Accepted and now most Countries Imagine Americans

You Can Install A more truthful Central Intelligence Agency

Diet Don't: Popcorn’s deadly butter-vapor diacetyl

NonGMOTalk — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:57:03 EDT

Jmacphoto

A decade after safety concerns were first raised by experts, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducted public hearings on Diacetyl – a chemical widely used to flavor microwave popcorn. The public comment period ended on April 21st.

Recent studies show laboratory mice made to inhale diacetyl vapors for just three months developed lymphocytic bronchiolitis.

Popcorn producers are not required to label Diacetyl separately, and may list it under a general heading on labels as a flavoring ingredient.

Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy Director David Michaels says: “This is an example of a potentially toxic substance receiving GRAS (generally recognized as safe) designation without undergoing adequate testing. It’s also an example of how our key public health agencies rely on chemical manufacturers themselves to provide critical health effects data. Whether food additives, pesticides, or industrial chemicals, the public's health and safety should not rely solely on industry affirmations.”

OSHA Closes Hearing For Diacetyl Rulemaking
OSHA intends the term ``diacetyl and food flavorings containing diacetyl'' to encompass other constituents of food flavorings containing diacetyl. In addition to information on diacetyl, OSHA seeks information on acetoin, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, furfural, and other compounds present in food flavorings that may cause or contribute to flavoring-related lung disease. OSHA is also interested in and seeks information about diacetyl present in substances other than food flavorings (e.g., naturally occurring diacetyl or diacetyl in fragrances) as well as substitutes used in place of diacetyl (e.g., diacetyl trimer). The information received in response to this document will assist the Agency in developing a proposed standard addressing occupational exposure to diacetyl and food flavorings containing diacetyl. The Comment period ended April 21, 2009. http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-1125.htm

Despite lawsuit verdicts in the millions, finding in favor of microwave popcorn factory workers and against Diacetyl, neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Consumer Product Safety Commission have investigated.

In 2000, OSHA conducted several studies that confirmed the link between occupational exposure the artificial butter flavoring Diacetyl and lung diseases.

In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Diacetyl investigation findings were distributed privately to the popcorn industry.

In 2006, two labor unions petitioned the OSHA to issue an emergency temporary standard on Diacetyl to protect workers in the food and flavorings industries. More than 42 scientists and public health experts signed a letter supporting the petition.

In 2007, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WT) Chair HELP Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, wrote to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, and CDC Director Julie Gerberding. They also wrote to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke, asking for an Emergency Temporary Standard to protect workers from Diacetyl – an action supported by unions and manufacturers. No action has been taken.

In 2008, by a vote of 260 to 154, the US House of Representatives has passed H.R. 2693, the Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act. The vote demonstrates the widespread recognition that OSHA failed to protect workers and Congress needed to act. To date, the Senate has not acted.

California

In 2008, our State Senate passed SB 456: Diacetyl Toxic Substance Ban, a bill that bans diacetyl, a vapor used in the production of microwave popcorn, pancake syrup, cakes, candies, frozen foods, and other products that has been associated to lung illness. The bill currently sits in the Health Committee.

Similarly, scientists and consumer groups point to a much larger health problem posed by unlabeled genetically modified organisms, also permitted by the FDA to enter the food supply under the GRAS designation several years ago.

The OSHA contact for this Emergency Temporary Standard rulemaking (numbered RIN 1218-AC33) is Dorothy Dougherty, director of the Directorate of Standards and Guidance (202-693-1950, dougherty.dorothy@dol.gov).

Reader Note: Andrew Schneider, a two-time Pulitzer prize winning journalist broke this story several years ago. I recommend reading his reports for additional information.

US Representative Dennnis Moore Comments on Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights

Dale — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:20:59 EDT

As I have stated in my previous post, this bill does not go far enough to be fair to consumers and undo the predatory lending practices and bullying by credit card companies.

Like Father – Like Daughter

Tom Awtry — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:22:05 EDT

I to would like to see Donald Rumsfelt, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and George Tenet face charges, but first I want to see how our current administration handles this black mark on our country’s history, without outside interference. Basically, whose going to align themselves on whose side.

Think about it for a moment – Here’s Dick Cheney with every opportunity he can get a hold of, to voice his displeasure with any and all of Obama’s policies with the media; what other former Vice Presidents has done that? Not a one!

Now his daughter is getting into the act:

Liz Cheney Defends Father ‘Dick Cheney’ Torture Legacy/Policies

So Why, easy, to confuse along with attempting to defuse the issue at hand, his own personal involvement with authorizing torture.

Rice, Cheney Approved Waterboarding
Associated Press

The Director of Central Intelligence in the spring of 2003 sought a reaffirmation of the legality of the interrogation methods. Cheney, Rice, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and White House counsel Alberto Gonzales were among those at a meeting where it was decided that the policies would continue. Rumsfeld and Powell weren’t.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

Europe Back Off and Stay Out

Tom Awtry — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:07:43 EDT

Nuremberg Trials

America, as all countries today, is undergoing a vast amount of change; however there exists a hopefully small number of individuals within our country who in essence mistakenly subscribe to the notion “the Bush doctrine on terror” was correct and righteous, which includes the use of torture to obtain supposed Intel information.

I believe our President is taking the right steps, as he promised during his campaign to “right the wrongs” of our country’s past eight years of injustice regarding our treatment of combative detainees. First by releasing the Bush Administration’s memos condoning torture (listed here and here also here), which he followed up by insuring his release would not produce a witch hunt (as some want) by traveling to CIA’s Headquarters and assuring employees individual prosecution would not be presumed and finally, most importantly turned the entire matter over to our Justice Department and directly to Eric Holder, the Attorney General.

On this past Wednesday (22 Apr 09) an article in the Washington Post, authored by Craig Whitlock, of Washington Post’s Foreign Service Department and entitled: “European Nations May Investigate Bush Officials Over Prisoner Treatment” confirms my beliefs by the following excerpt:

On Tuesday, Obama for the first time raised the possibility of creating a bipartisan commission to examine the Bush administration’s handling of terrorism suspects. He also said he would leave it up to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to determine whether to prosecute senior officials who approved waterboarding and other tactics.

This was further confirmed in a statement published by the American Civil Liberties Union, entitled: “Attorney General Holder Says He Will “Follow The Law” And Investigate Torture” where the following excerpt stated:

Attorney General Eric Holder said today that the Justice Department will “follow the law wherever it takes us” in investigating the U.S. officials behind the CIA torture policies under the Bush administration.

Europe, you have every obligation and right to legally pursue whatever action you feel is appropriate, but please let our present administration do what they can to correct these past “wrongs”; in our way of first and let America reestablish itself under the “Rule of Law”.

A.G. Holder: Investigate Torture

The people who authorized Bush’s torture program shouldn’t get off scot-free. It’s time for Attorney General Holder to appoint an independent special prosecutor.

Update 23 Apr 09:

Clinton Questions Cheney’s Credibility: “I Don’t Consider Him A Particularly Reliable Source Of Information”
Huffington Post | Nicholas Graham

The sensitive topic of the release of the torture memos came to the forefront when Republican Rep. Dana Rohrbacker asked Clinton if she agreed with Dick Cheney’s request that documents ostensibly showing the efficacy of the torture programs should be declassified. Clinton ultimately replied that she believes “we ought to get to the bottom of this entire matter” and that it “is in the best interest of our country” to do so, but not before she took a shot at Cheney’s credibility, saying “I don’t consider him to be a particularly reliable source of information.”

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

A Lot of Talk Finally Some Action

Tom Awtry — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:04:28 EDT

Call Centers - India

During the Presidential campaign we heard numerous politicians expounding on their concepts on ways to retrain our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and fellow Americans workers who saw their jobs outsourced overseas.

Finally we have one brave Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania with a workable plan to introduce a new law that aims to pay community colleges nationwide $1,000 per student to retrain laid-off workers, which Casey says would come from existing funds already allocated to job retraining in the department’s budget.

In an article authored by Anne Fisher of TIME, entitled: “Tuition Help for the Unemployed Gains Traction” the following excerpts regarding Senator Casey’s pending bill:

His inspiration for the bill: Pennsylvania’s community colleges, 10 of which have enrolled 1,062 unemployed workers in free training programs this semester, at a total cost to the schools of $741,788. “They shouldn’t have to foot the bill alone,” Casey says. “My bill will encourage other community colleges across the U.S. to do the same thing.” Senate Democrats are working to build bipartisan support for the bill and expect to move it forward in the coming months. (See TIME’s special report on paying for college.)
A few states already have a head start. California, whose 11.2% March unemployment rate is the state’s highest since 1941, is rushing to funnel $415 million in federal stimulus money to 49 job-retraining centers. Most of the training will be designed to qualify people for jobs in infrastructure construction, health care and green industries like waste recycling and wind-farm technology. In Texas, legislators will vote next month on a final version of a 2010-11 budget, already passed by the state senate, that boosts spending on higher education by $1.5 billion. That figure includes $500 million in federal stimulus funding for workforce retraining and a $134 million state-funded increase in financial aid for students.
Michigan, whose 12.6% jobless rate is the highest in the U.S., with still more auto-plant closings coming soon, launched its “No Worker Left Behind” program in August 2007. So far the state has footed the bill — up to $10,000 per displaced worker — for 61,434 unemployed Michiganders to learn the math, technology and science skills they need to embark on new careers at companies like Hemlock Semiconductor, Dow Chemical and Dow Corning, which are investing and hiring there. Also in demand: the program’s newly trained nursing assistants, physical therapists and health-care technicians.

Hopefully Senator Casey’s proposed legislation will quickly be approved, in congress, since it won’t be long before our long awaited veterans will finally be returning home and will be in direr need of employment.

The following video concerning outsourcing is a revolutionary twist on outsourcing. American workers have themselves gotten into the act of sending their jobs overseas. For example; there are tasks, such as proof reading that could be accomplished overseas as well as it could be done in the office back in the states, thus allowing more time, useful energy and increased productivity to be devoted to other, more important tasks. Give the video a watch it’s interesting.

More American Workers Outsourcing Own Jobs Overseas

The following video concerning outsourcing is a revolutionary twist on outsourcing. American workers have themselves gotten into the act of sending their jobs overseas. For example; there are tasks, such as proof reading that could be accomplished overseas as well as it could be done in the office back in the states, thus allowing more time, useful energy and increased productivity to be devoted to other, more important tasks. Give the video a watch it’s interesting.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

Bars of the Helpless

Tom Awtry — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:55:11 EDT

It’s become a depressingly predictable event. Every few months, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), a branch of the US Department of Justice, releases new figures showing that the US prison and jail population has grown yet again and has reached a new all-time high. The latest statistics, released last week, show that as of June 30, 2008, more than 2.3 million people were behind bars in this country — an increase of almost 20 percent just since 2000. This gives the United States an incarceration rate of 762 per 100,000 residents - the highest rate in the world, dwarfing those of other democracies like Great Britain (152 per 100,000), Canada (116), and Japan (63).

The aforementioned is quoted from an article appearing within the Huffington Post, entitled: “Prison Nation” and authored by David C. Fathi. This ever increasing prison population demands immediate action as to “why” our country is producing so many incarcerated individuals within our society and “how” can prevent this increasing trend of penalized peoples.

Mr. Fathi’s article also sites:

Of course incarceration doesn’t affect everyone equally. Black men in the United States are 6.6 times more likely than white men to be incarcerated. More than 10 percent of all black males ages 25 to 39 were in prison or jail as of June 30, 2008. And a 2006 BJS study showed that prisons and jails have become the new asylums, with more than half of all prisoners suffering from mental health problems like major depression and psychotic disorders.
It wasn’t always like this. For much of the 20th century, the US incarceration rate remained fairly stable. It began to climb sharply in the late 1970s, as a result of policy changes like mandatory minimum sentencing and the widespread abolition of parole. In the 1980s and 1990s, the “war on drugs” and “three strikes” laws fueled further growth. More people were going to prison, and staying there for longer periods of time. By 2004, the incarcerated population was six times what it had been in 1972.
Contrary to popular belief, the growing prison population has little or nothing to do with an increase in crime. In fact, crime rates fell steadily between 1991 and 2006, eventually reaching levels not seen since the 1960s. Yet the incarceration rate increased by more than 50 percent in that same period. It’s clear, then, that political choice, not crime, has given the United States its massive prison and jail population.

As you can read, our past political environment seems to account for these numbers and hopefully will begin to decrease once attention is directed by our President to these alarming statistics.

Our dysfunctional criminal justice system has been a long time in the making, and no one should have any illusions that it will be fixed overnight. But a National Criminal Justice Commission would be an important first step toward ending our shameful status as the world’s leading prison nation.

The following video presents Janet Reno, former Attorney General in the Clinton Administration presenting her views on concerns within our present day legal system.

Janet Reno: Improving the Legal System

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

Ignoring Diversity in Corporate Restructuring will Reduce future Political Fundraising in Black Community

Randi Payton — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:19:16 EDT

Ignoring Diversity in Corporate Restructuring Will Reduce Future Political Fundraising Support from the Black Community

Randi Payton

rpayton@onwheelsinc.com

President Barack Obama may be doing a good job of repairing the nation’s economy but behind the scenes his strongest political base is eroding due to major setbacks in corporate diversity. African Americans reached into their pocketbooks to make unprecedented contributions to Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign last year. However, if the current trend of cutting diversity efforts continues, African Americans will not have the resources to financially support the president’s bid for a second term. When there’s the no work, there’s no money.

Thousands of African American small businesses, automotive dealers and suppliers, minority –owned media outlets and their employees are feeling the brunt of the recession. Businesses cannot get loans, corporations are laying off employees at an alarming rate and domestic automakers, the second largest employer of African Americans outside of the federal government, don’t see diversity as a priority during this economic crisis.

Minority car dealers and minority automotive suppliers who had the funds to support President Obama’s first run for the presidency will almost disappear because of the current economic crisis. Automakers have been corporate leaders in diversity for at least a generation. But diversity is not being considered in the restructuring plans of the domestic automotive industry.

Automakers that championed diversity and encouraged their ad agencies to support it, but did not require those same agencies to practice it, are now dropping diversity advertising and marketing altogether or making significant cuts. Corporations are too concerned with their survival to focus on diversity advertising and marketing which should be an essential part of restructuring. However, it has been looked at as affirmative action instead of a need to reach more than 30 percent of American consumers.

Minority dealers and suppliers who represented a huge financial support base for President Obama during his presidential campaign cannot get financing to operate their businesses and they have lost the support of larger companies that cannot get credit themselves. Not only has progress on this front ceased but all these businesses are closing at an alarming rate.

Small minority businesses experienced huge growth; their owners who often used equity in their homes to finance their start-ups can no longer do so and SBA and VA backed financing is frozen. The banks simply will not loan, although the Obama Administration has pumped money into them to free up the secondary finance markets. Banks either don’t have the cash or they are using the federal money to generate interest payments and to repay the government to escape federal oversight. But small minority-owned businesses have been left out of this equation.

African American employees, who were making inroads into upper management positions when diversity was a corporate priority, are now the first to be cut during tough times. Their input was never really valued; even those who have proven track records of success.

One 30-year senior executive at General Motors told me that this is the worse time that she has ever seen for diversity. Progress in that area is quietly being set-back. President Obama needs to appoint a diversity czar to protect the interests of minority consumers.

Other black politicians as well as President Obama should also be worried because they all need financially healthy voters to support their political campaigns. The ultra conservatives have yet another trick up their sleeve to destroy the economic base of minority consumers. They have one goal in mind – force the domestic automakers into bankruptcy and destroy the unions and the middle class. The current trend is having a devastating impact on African American middle class workers and it would make it difficult for all African American office seekers and incumbents, not just the president, to get future financial support from the black community.

Randi Payton is the CEO & President of On Wheels Media, which publishes African Americans On Wheels, Latinos On Wheels and the www.onwheelsinc.com web site. On Wheels will launch DECISIVE magazines and web hub summer of 2009, a consumer media to help consumer in multicultural market make decision on products and services. Get free digital copies of On Wheels magazines at www.onwheelsinc.com

Going Beyond the Limits Surveillance

Tom Awtry — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:21:21 EDT

Admittedly before 911 we were open to terrorists and we’ve paid dearly for our lacks and arrogant mistakes in many ways; loss of life of those involved in the twin towers attack, individual freedoms, increased taxes, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and international embarrassment on the Bush’s administration policies regarding torture to name a few.

However, we keep reading and hearing, for the past five years, how we’re “winning” the “War on Terror”, and reading an article such as this posted in the New York Times, entitled “N.S.A.’s Intercepts Exceed Limits Set by Congress”, authored by Eric Lichtblau and James Risen is disturbing to me.

I was taught and agree with the fact; we live in a country governed by the “Rule of Law”, which to me implies our laws were authored for one sole purpose and to prosecute those who break this intended law. Not to use the congressional passed legislation to uncover personal information concerning individuals for storage in a National Database and used for unknown purposes.

Here are a few excerpts from the Post article which I feel are significant:

The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.
Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional.
The Justice Department, in response to inquiries from The New York Times, acknowledged in a statement on Wednesday night that there had been problems with the N.S.A. surveillance operation, but said they had been resolved.
The questions may not be settled yet. Intelligence officials say they are still examining the scope of the N.S.A. practices, and Congressional investigators say they hope to determine if any violations of Americans’ privacy occurred. It is not clear to what extent the agency may have actively listened in on conversations or read e-mail messages of Americans without proper court authority, rather than simply obtained access to them
After a contentious three-year debate that was set off by the disclosure in 2005 of the program of wiretapping without warrants that President George W. Bush approved after the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress gave the N.S.A. broad new authority to collect, without court-approved warrants, vast streams of international phone and e-mail traffic as it passed through American telecommunications gateways. The targets of the eavesdropping had to be “reasonably believed” to be outside the United States. Under the new legislation, however, the N.S.A. still needed court approval to monitor the purely domestic communications of Americans who came under suspicion.
One official said that led the agency to inadvertently “target” groups of Americans and collect their domestic communications without proper court authority. Officials are still trying to determine how many violations may have occurred.
Notified of the problems by the N.S.A., officials with both the House and Senate intelligence committees said they had concerns that the agency had ignored civil liberties safeguards built into last year’s wiretapping law. “We have received notice of a serious issue involving the N.S.A., and we’ve begun inquiries into it,” a Congressional staff member said.
And in one previously undisclosed episode, the N.S.A. tried to wiretap a member of Congress without a warrant, an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Following is a video I produced during President Obama’s Presidential campaign, which I feel outlines the problems associated with the FISA legislation:

Senators Obama, Clinton, McCain - The Patriot Act

As one can surmise it is my personal feelings that in the coming November election we will be voting for Senators Obama, Clinton or McCain to be our next President. Also, it is my sincere hope that this newly elected president will restore many of the personal liberties, we as citizens of America have given up over the past eight years.

One example of surrendering our liberty, and for me the most important, is our Patriot Act. If I resided or visited a country outside the United States, and this country was on our country’s “watch” list, as being hostile to America; then I would fully support our current Patriot Act, has authored. But, me visiting a “friendly” country, to our nation and electronically communicating to my family, friends or work from this country, then I deem this an uncalled and unjustified surveillance an invasion of my privacy.

Over the past six months I have attempted to follow all the candidates closely through their web sites, televised debates (via the Internet wire services) and YouTube; but really do not have a clear understanding of their feelings on this issue. I am not expecting any direct response from any of these three aforementioned candidates, but would like clarification stated within their respective web sites’.

The video, produced by the ACLU and distributed by iTV presents our two governmental agencies that facilitate the usage of the Patriot Act and how it is implemented to monitor our electronic communications.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

The Democratic Party is Finally Back

Tom Awtry — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:41:08 EDT

In a Huffington Post article by Thomas B. Edsall, entitled “Permanent Democratic Majority: New Study Says Yes”, Mr. Edsall points out two areas of growth in the Democratic Party:

The increasing numbers of black and Hispanic voters
A decisive shift away from the Republican Party by the suburban and well-educated constituencies that once formed the backbone of the GOP

As quoted from the article:

In a March, 2009 51-page paper [PDF] “New Progressive America: Twenty Years of Demographic, Geographic, and Attitudinal Changes Across the Country Herald a New Progressive Majority,” Ruy Teixeira makes a strong case that “progressive arguments are in the ascendancy,” that demographic and geographic “trends should take America down a very different road than has been traveled in the last eight years. A new progressive America is on the rise.”
To further buttress his case, Teixeira has put together “a very cool interactive map that includes 7 levels of exit poll demographics and county-level vote shifts going back to 1988.”

The only slightly negative point in the report was stated: “The only circumstances that could bring back the Republicans is Obama’s failure to stem the recession.”

“Obama does have to succeed, and so far, he’s pretty much on the right track, and the Republicans are definitely not. That suggests to me that he and the Democrats will be able to solidify their majority in 2010 and 2012,” Judis said. “But again, I don’t fully understand what is going on in the world, and events could defy demography.”

Again a quote from the report:

Perhaps the strongest evidence in support of the Teixeira-Judis-Abramowitz thesis is, however, the current inability of the Republican Party to respond to market pressures. Defeat has, ironically, diminished the GOP’s capacity to respond to loss. As the elected leadership gets smaller, the strength of the most dogmatically rigid and least elastic faction has grown. On issues running the gamut from immigration to the economy, this dominant faction has yet to demonstrate “a wonderful corrective” in reaction to losing. Instead, they have retreated further inside an ideological shell that began to show cracks — Bush I in ‘92, Dole in ‘96, and Bush v. Gore — well over a decade ago.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

Terrorizing the Terrorists

Don — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:34:58 EDT

How do you deter an enemy who is willing to kill himself in order to kill you? You strike at something more important to him than his own life. Defining that will be easy for me. The next question is can America be as ruthless as our enemies?

The time has come to end the fruitless and unsustainable effort to search and destroy every cave in Afghanistan and bomb every campground in bordering Pakistan. It’s counterproductive anyway.

What will put the fear of America into terrorist masterminds and those who would follow their orders is simple and radical revenge. Masterminds have families: Cousins, brothers and fathers. Eliminate them. All at once, or one at a time, it works just as well. The ones who survive an initial “hunt” will go into hiding. Having some adult male relatives killed and the rest hiding out in caves will demoralize masterminds and their loved ones. You cannot work and support your women like that. You can’t make more baby masterminds that way. You cannot continue the blood line. The women and children will pressure them to stop their plotting and bombing.

People want to leave a familial legacy, and they can’t do that under those circumstances over the long term.

Should America do that? Yes. Do we have the “intestinal fortitude” and sustainable motivation? I don’t think so. But we should, and it shouldn’t take another terrorist attack to get us there.

For the last seven years the CIA has been kidnapping people from other nations and torturing them. Why not just go in there and quietly shoot them to death?

Frankly, by not killing women or children the way those terrorists routinely do, we can even claim the moral high ground.

The Blinds of Justice are Lifting

Tom Awtry — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:27:18 EDT

A couple of months ago (February 2nd to be precise), I authored a posting entitled, “John Yoo A Tough Decision to Defend for the President” regarding the redemption of America’s justice system in wake of all the miscarriages of justice which occurred during the Bush Administration and in particular those pertaining to John Yoo. Yoo was Bush’s lead legal adviser authoring legal memos concerning the treatment, incarceration and trial (hearings) proceedings of Iraqi and Afghan detainees.

Following up on my past posting I’ve learned others share equally in my interest of Mr. Yoo’s all encompassing ability of embarrassing our country in the eyes of the international community. In an article posted within Hoffington Post, Mr. Martin Garbus, a Trial lawyer, authored an article entitled: “The Times May Be Changing” where he states some of the following excerpts:

Now six years after Iraq started, nearly one hundred days into the new presidency, more and more information is coming out about the involvement of the Bush people in Iraq-related criminal acts. The legal memos and the statements of tortured detainees are only the beginning of what will soon be a flood of information.

The legal machinery is starting to build, case by case, a rejection of Bush’s legal theories.
Today’s decision from Federal Judge John Bates of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia that those detained in Afghanistan will have access to American courts builds on the recent cases that allow Guantanamo detainees access to the federal court. Judge Bates rejected both the Bush administration’s view and the recently articulated view of President Barack Obama that habeas corpus is not available to imprisoned non-Afghans who are arrested beyond Afghanistan.

We are seeing a pattern in the Washington federal courts. The judges are not shying away from tacking tough issues. The concept that a man sitting in Baghram has a right he can enforce in an American court seemed impossible a few years ago. The constant rat-a-tat of the media, with pictures of the tortured prisoners clearly influences judges along with the rest of the population. Judges respond also when the president too set a higher standard.

Attorney General Eric Holder is the one who must start the criminal process against Cheney, Gonzales, Yoo and the others. He does not shy away from difficult choices, given backing that lets him know he is not alone. He can, and has, taken positions that are ahead of Obama.

Attorney General Holder’s decision today is easier than it was yesterday, and as more and more stories of brutalized prisoners come out, it will get even easier, especially with our President’s recent executive order of allowing wider windows to be opened to the public through the “Freedom of Information Act.

Judge Bates, and the judges before him, including the Supreme Court, have rejected the rationale of Bush’s Attorney General and supporting lawyers that gave the President “unitary powers.”

The public should let Eric Holder and the president know they support criminal prosecution of the Bush people. This may be accomplished by contacting the Department of Justice here.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

Audit the Federal Reserve (HR 1207) Update: 50 Co-Sponsors!

Jason M. Christos — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:14:43 EDT

Audit the Federal Reserve (HR 1207) Update: 50 Co-Sponsors!

April 1st, 2009 8:10 pm | by Shelly Roche | from http://libertymaven.com/2009/04/01/audit-the-federal-reserve-hr-1207-update-50-co-sponsors/5120/

UPDATE: There are now 55 co-sponsors!

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video to watch visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZISrZOFuyA

A little background:
In 1950 the law was changed to exempt the Federal Reserve from any auditing procedures. Essentially, the Fed can use our tax dollars however they wish, without any obligation whatsoever to disclose what they’re doing. HR 1207 seeks to repeal that portion of the code, so when we ask questions, they HAVE to answer.

Why is this important?
As just one example, the Fed is refusing to give a public accounting of the trillions in recent taxpayer backed loans. Just look at the 700 billion in TARP funds that Congress appropriated and the Fed refused to talk about — we now know a portion of it ended up going to bonuses for the AIG execs.

We deserve to know how our tax dollars are being spent, and allowing the Federal Reserve to remain out of control and shrouded in secrecy clearly allows for abuse.

The good news is that this bill is actually gaining momentum - we’re up to 50 co-sponsors as of today (4/1), which is pretty phenomenal. The American people are starting to demand more oversight and push for transparency, and that’s exactly what we need to get things turned around.

The bad news is that some very powerful special interests really don’t want this to happen, so we’re up against a pretty major hurdle.

So, what can you do to help?
Sign this petition to urge your congressman to co-sponsor the bill.

Find out if your reps are on the list.

Please spread the word about this game-changing bill!

Is the AIG Bill an Assault on the U.S. Constitution?

Jason M. Christos — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:55:12 EDT

Is the AIG Bill an Assault on the U.S. Constitution? April 2, 2009 | From theTrumpet.comLeaders are exploiting public dissatisfaction to remodel the Constitution and advance their radical agenda. Brad Macdonald

Frustration boiled over recently when Americans discovered that emaciated insurance company aig paid out $165 million in bonuses to its executives. The uproar from the American public was understandable. The bonus money, which came via a $180 billion federal government bailout, came from their wallets.

Many in Washington saw the outrage as an opportunity...more

An Inside Man at AIG - Maybe

Tom Awtry — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:06:28 EDT

I guess I’m not giving up on AIG until someone is behind bars or there’s some dare good answers to questions of “Who took our money and what was it used for?”

Right now I should be authoring postings on the G20 and how our President is fairing with the European leaders who feel we should report to them on all matters American; but I still hung-up on AIG and how any corporation felt it was above the law and dictated its terms and conditions to us the taxpayers.

Today the Wall Street Jounrnal published this online article, informing its readers there was an auditor that was installed as the result of a settlement that deferred prosecution of AIG for allegedly helping financial institutions fudge their books. Deferring prosecution was the Bush administration’s preference when it came to enforcing financial regulations.

For me the issue is “Why didn’t this come to light earlier”, this could have solved many a questions, time and especially money. So, is there some darkness unknown to the Obama administration, because I’m sure had this administration learned of this auditor’s existence sooner, appropriate action would have been rendered, by bring this auditor into the shinning daylight of our gloomy economic burdens we’re facing.

Below is the article from the Wall Street Journal, authored by Ryan Grim and entitled: “Congress Wants AIG Mole’s Documents”.

Members of Congress are pushing for access to confidential reports filed over the past several years by a government-appointed auditor who has been sitting in on AIG deliberations.
The auditor, whose presence was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was installed as the result of a settlement that deferred prosecution of AIG for allegedly helping financial institutions fudge their books. Deferring prosecution was the Bush administration’s preference when it came to enforcing financial regulations.
“Whatever rationale there may have been for confidentiality doesn’t appear to apply anymore,” Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) told the Huffington Post. “If the idea was that having a government appointed lawyer sitting in the board room would make sure that AIG went forth and sinned no more, it obviously didn’t work out that way.”
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has requested documents.
Other Democrats in Congress are also requesting the documents, aides say, including Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).
“That would be some real interesting reading, if we got everything from that mole,” said Cummings, who’s been chasing AIG since the initial government seizure. “We get so much incomplete information from AIG and maybe this is a way to connect all the dots.”
The government should be able to abrogate whatever settlement it entered into, members of Congress argue, because it now represents both sides of the agreement. “We now own AIG. We are by far the majority stock holder. If there is a reason still for not making public what he saw and heard, I’d like to hear it,” said Miller.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) agreed. “While there might be legal constraints that typically prevent at least some information from being disclosed outside the government, these extraordinary circumstances call for greater transparency. After all, AIG is now more than 80 percent owned by American taxpayers,” she said.
“It was a deal between the corporation and the government,” Miller said. “It was obviously intended to protect the corporation. We can waive that now since we own it. If you’re 79.9 percent stockholders and you say you want to waive confidentiality, you waive confidentiality.”

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

The Intent of the Law or Misuse of it

Tom Awtry — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:52:02 EDT

I guess I could be wrong! I’ve always voted for candidates based on bills they have either authored or supported by their vote, and this, with me, has been true at the local state and federal levels of our government.

Now I see there are other things I should have considered besides the “Intent” of the bill introduced by the person I want in office or that person’s beliefs.

As I understand it, Lawmakers in at least eight U.S. states want recipients of food assistance, unemployment benefits or welfare to submit to random drug testing. For me this is a travesty of government, which could lead to serious repercussions. This effort comes as more Americans turn to these safety nets to ride out the recession. Poverty and civil liberties advocates fear the strategy could backfire, discouraging some people from seeking financial aid and making already desperate situations worse. Please consider reviewing this online news release by CBS News entitled: “States Consider Drug Tests For Needy”. Subtitled: “Recipients Of Food Stamps, Unemployment Benefits And Welfare Targeted By Plans In 8 States”.

We enact laws to “aid” and “protect” us for specifically defined reasons, when these laws are not used for this purpose, in my opinion we are violating the “Rule of Law”, which our country is based upon.

Suppose in my extreme example: a person is transporting a registered firearm “illegally” (in actuality basically a law bidding citizen with no criminal record) in there vehicle; and while transporting the firearm this person comes to the aid of rescuing another individual from a pending life or death situation, hence saving the person’s life! Should this “Good Samaritan” be charged with the crime of transporting a firearm illegally?

For me, to long, I have witnessed the miscarriage of justice within our country in regards to applying laws authored to service one purposed and used in another to establish the “Law of Rule” as opposed to the “Rule of Law”. Our former Bush administration is an additional example, with to many examples to site within one posting.

So, lets not deny those who need financial assistance at this troubling time in our economy when they need it the most. Especially when you consider we could be hurting innocent family members within a family more so than the person under question. Denying an individual these needed benefits could also lead this person to a more serious crime and with one in every one-hundred Americans serving prison time; our penal system is already heavily over crowded.

The following video is a prime example of the importance the Rule of Law as it applies to our American society and basically what separates our nation from developing and undeveloped nations.

Public Service, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law

Sen. Ted Kennedy delivers the keynote address at the 2006 Conference on Public Service & the Law at the University of Virginia Law School. Founded by law students seven years ago, the conference brings together students, citizens, and attorneys to discuss current public interest legal issues. A graduate UVA’s law school, Mr. Kennedy discusses ‘Public Service, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law’.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

My Support of President Obama's 2010 Budget Proposal...

Michael from Van Nuys, CA — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:59:52 EDT

As a citizen who is once again trying to get involved in his country, I took some time to contact my Congressional leaders via e-mail. I encourage anyone who finds this blog to do likewise, as both Conservatives and Moderates of both parties are going to push back on this proposal. I live in a much more liberal district, so I feel I am preaching to the choir here, and I encourage supporters in more conservative states and districts to do likewise.

Below is a copy of my letter:

Dear [Congressperson]:

I am writing to urge you to support President Obama's 2010 Budget Proposal. While the legislative process will make numerous changes and revisions before going to a vote, here is a list of requirements I want you to maintain in this legislation:

1. A commitment to health care reform to lower health care costs and provide health insurance to the many uninsured citizens in our nation. While this issue is expensive, a lack of action will make it even more expensive with each passing year. The time for action is now.

2. A commitment to research and develop new green, renewable, and alternative energy. We are a nation of leaders, and this is not an issue we can follow other nations on. Instead of impoting foreign oil, we need to be exporting clean energy to the rest of world for both our financial and environmental benefits.

3. A commitment to stopping global climate change. Carbon emissions are a necessary evil in many industries, but with a cap and trade policy, we can keep these emissions under control, as well as provide incentives to prevent future pollution.

4. A commitment to raising our education standards. Every dollar spent on education will fuel our other commitments by creating an incresingly skilled work force with the ability to enact increased research and innovation. We can hope to stop global climate change, diseases and cancer, and develop alternative energy sources.

5. A commitment to extend President Obama's middle class tax cuts beyond the 2 years allotted in the Stimulus Package.

If we are willing to provide for these commitments in the 2010 Budget, we are laying a foundation for not only a recovery from the current recession, but building a broad and firm foundation for future growth and prosperity in our great nation. The greatest economic fault of the Bush administration was not spending too much, but rather that they spent unwisely on ventures (aka Wars) that have nothing to show for it. President Obama's spending will produce bridges, roads, energy development and innovation, as well as save citizens on health care to enable them to contribute to the economy by spending in other ways.

We are in the midst of a great opportunity to steer our nation's path away from global distrust and apathy and towards a bright and shining new prosperity that we all believed in as young Americans. I thank you in advance for your support of President Obama's 2010 Budget Proposal.

Best regards,

Michael J. Piekutowski
Proud American

What is it Money or Power

Tom Awtry — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:25:14 EDT

Do you find yourself asking this question: How is it that so many ostensibly smart people in the financial world made such terrible choices for so long?

I find myself supporting of our President’s administration when it comes to our country’s economy; however, we must find the answer to this question “Is it “Money or Power”, which drives our banking industry, stock exchanges and multinational businesses, before an absolute cure can be prescribed to the nation’s economic burdens.

I feel we, as a country, we have admitted to our own mistakes to the international community and should they accept our dilemma or not; we must insure both to ourselves and the world this will occur again, if we want to reestablish the country as an economic leader.

An author, Tony Schwartz, writing for the Hoffington Post, offered his views on how we, as a society, must change from a “Me” group of people, to a “Us” society. In other words, for the last thirty years we have been strictly subscribed to the principles of a “Me only” generation of individuals. Mr. Schwartz’s article is entitled: “How Self-Interest Destroyed The Economy” and bares some reading and careful though on our behalf.

Here is an except from his article:

As for Wall Street more broadly, the bubble that finally burst had many enablers: regulatory agencies that failed to play the oversight role they were assigned; politicians from both parties who oversaw the deregulation of the financial markets; ratings agencies who colluded with the banks that paid them by giving unduly high credit ratings to their toxically risky bonds; and the rest of us, millions of investors and borrowers who poured money into markets as if they could only rise, and took out mortgages in order to buy homes we knew we couldn’t afford.

We wanted what we wanted, and we didn’t think much beyond that. Bankers and their agents were happy to give us what we wanted in order to get what they wanted, and they didn’t think much beyond that.

Far too many of us conspired to get as much as we could while the getting was good, never stopping to consider that if everyone keeps trying to get more - leveraging their bets and running up debt to do so — there will eventually be a day of reckoning.

Again another video, which to me, sways us to believe “every things going to be OK, if Wall Street Manages it own self.” The sad part this is our national media; not presenting the News, instead opinionating what we watch and perhaps for some of us trust in.

CNBC Needs to Change

CNBC should publicly declare a drastic change of direction, committing to responsible journalism in an effort to hold Wall Street accountable in the future. As a first step, it should bring new economic voices on the air with a focus on those who were right about this crisis in the first place.

The stakes are too high for CNBC to continue acting as the unofficial mouthpiece of Wall Street. This is not a game. Together we can bring about the much-needed change we seek. That is why it is so important that you sign this petition today and then encourage your friends, family and co-workers to do the same.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

One Vote – One Campaign Contribution

Tom Awtry — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:07:54 EDT

There was plenty of outrage on Capitol Hill last week over the executive bonuses paid out by AIG after getting federal bailout money. But another money trail could make us voters just as angry: the campaign dollars to members of Congress from banks and firms that have received billions via the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

That’s right!

While a few big firms, such as Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase, have curtailed their campaign giving, others are quietly doling out cash to select members of Congress, particularly those who serve on committees that oversee TARP. In recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, the political action committee for Bank of America (which got $15 billion in bailout money) sent out $24,500 in the first two months of 2009, including $1,500 to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and another $15,000 to members of the House and Senate banking panels. Citigroup ($25 billion) dished out $29,620, including $2,500 to House GOPWhip Eric Cantor, who also got $10,000 from UBS which, while not a TARP recipient, got $5 billion in bailout funds as an AIG “counterparty.” “This certainly appears to be a case of TARP funds being recycled into campaign contributions,” says Brett Kappell, a D.C. lawyer who tracks donations. (A spokesman for Cantor did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Hoyer said it’s his “policy to accept legal contributions.”)

Think about this for a moment (that’s all you should need) here elected officials receiving campaign contributions from the same guys in essence they’re investigating. I haven’t looked up the word “kick backs” in the dictionary, but this sure sound’s like a synonym for the word.

The article from Michael Isikoff and Dina Fine Maron appeared in Newsweek and is entitled: “Follow the Bailout Cash”, which is very aptly titled.

Below a video of Fox News, interviewing Eric Cantor, House GOP Whip, videoed on January 15, 09, so could the real questions that need to be asked is when did congressman Cantor receive his campaign contribution, how did he vote on Troubled Asset Relief Program and how much of a fight did he put up before his vote?

TARP Trouble - Eric Cantor on Fox News

House, Senate to vote on release of $350 billion in bailout bucks.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

Europe is Invading Our Stimulus Package

Tom Awtry — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:05:11 EDT

In a post last week I sited excerpts from an article regarding how China is shopping for American businesses at bargain prices within a time piece entitled “Things go Better with Coke”. Well it seems I was a bit far sighted, since I see in the Washington Post today the European countries are coming to the States too.

Not necessarily for business “buy outs”, but instead to start lobbying activities for our $787 billion dollar Economic Stimulus Recovery package. Foreign nations and companies are stepping up their lobbying efforts in Washington and in state capitals, hoping to gain vital business in hard times. Hundreds of foreign-owned companies, many of them with significant operations in the United States, are selling their expertise in clean energy, high-speed transit and other technologies that undergird key aspects of President Obama’s stimulus efforts.

The following is an excerpt from the Post article, entitled: “Foreign Firms May Cash In on Stimulus Act With Expertise U.S. Companies Lack”, authored by Dan Eggen.

Telecoms such as Alcatel-Lucent of France, for example, and its New Jersey-based research arm, Bell Labs, are eligible to seek part of $7.2 billion in stimulus money set aside for upgrading broadband networks. Most global companies specializing in the transit and high-speed rail projects envisioned under the stimulus act are based in other countries — Canada’s Bombardier and France’s Alstom, for example. Transurban Group of Australia, which is helping develop high-speed toll lanes along the Capital Beltway, is a world leader in developing toll roads.

Sanyo North America, an arm of the Japanese technology giant, has already broken ground on a new solar-panel plant in Oregon and is readying strategies to tap into stimulus-related business, according to company officials. The firm recently registered as a lobbying organization in Washington for the first time since 2001, Senate records show.

I’m not for our government to establish policies of “protectionism”, but as we all know when there’s money to be had and lobbyists are involved, congressional votes are many times purchased at the tax payer’s expense, in this case “jobs”.

Earnestly it’s our civil duty to become politically involved, perhaps more so than we ever have before, to insure our politicians subscribe to a stick code of ethics and we vote our choice by moral character instead of political party in the election two years from now.

Here could be the type of jobs other countries are perhaps attempting to take from us:

Made In America

Hear the story of Troy Galloway, an American whose job and neighborhood have been revitalized by wind turbine manufacturing.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

AIG Bonuses, people are missing the point.

Jason M. Christos — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:23:21 EDT

Congressman on "American Morning"

On Friday, A Congressman appeared on CNN's "American Morning" to discuss the AIG bonus controversy.This fiasco is shredding the constitutuion. This is so distracting the real problem is the FED.

WATCH VIDEO HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MshgrVIJF28

GM Doesn’t Quite Get the Picture

Tom Awtry — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:05:16 EDT

The 2010 Chevrolet Camaro LT

Here’s the GM execs in front of congress on two different occasions that I can recall, begging for our tax payer money to keep them a float. Both occasions forecasting gloom and doom should they not receive assistance along with promising to use the money to invest in “greener automobiles”.

So out today is this article by TIME online praising the re-introduction of the Chevrolet Camaro, the “Stud” car of the future. GM claims to have 20,000 orders for the car from foreign countries, but you have to ask yourself will these orders “hold valid” or be “canceled” because of the global economy troubles. Basically when did GM receive these orders?

Topping GM offering off is the car will actually be assembled at a GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario, outside of Toronto; this I’m sure will help the Detroit high unemployment rate “decrease”!

The new Camaro is powered by either by an old school, 426-hp V8 or an up-to-date direct-injection V6 engine that produces 29 miles per gallon and 304 HP in one package. What so “green” about those figures for gas mileage?

And here’s the part I like most about TIME’s article:

Making it through the next couple of months will require more financial engineering than mechanical, and that process moved along this week, too. The U.S. Treasury Department’s decision to release $5 billion in federal loans to automotive suppliers suggests that the Obama administration is likely to approve billions in loans for GM and Chrysler. The Administration’s automotive task force appears to have ruled out forcing GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. That’s one reason GM has pushed back the date of the company’s annual meeting unit August from June. Once it gets final approval of $21.6 billion in new federal loans, the company can have a future to talk about. GM isn’t planning anything fancy for the meeting — it will be held in Detroit to save travel costs. “The board felt they would be in a better position to give some perspective on the progress we’re making on our restructuring,” says GM spokeswoman Julie Gibson of the delayed meeting. “We’ve got a lot going on right now.”

What are these Fortune 100 companies taking us for, complete suckers? GM begged for our help in congress, slimed the Unions down by requesting member concessions, closed how many plants, cut how many employees and forced how many employees into early retirement. In deed and truly, I feel sorry for all in the car industry, but if they fail to listen to what our new administration wants in return for lending them money, let the GM executives join the AIG folks in the unemployment lines.

The TIME article may be mournfully reviewed here.

Following along with my argument against our tax dollars being used for foolishness by GM is this video when the “Big Three” appeared before the House requesting bailout funds:

We Are Very Much Between A Rock And A Hard Place

On November 19,2008, the House Financial Services Committee held a legislative hearing on extending the Department of Treasurys Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to the U.S. auto industry. The draft legislation will extend the recently passed TARP program to help the financial stability of the American car industry. Testifying in the second panel were Mr. G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, General Motors Corporation, Mr. Robert Nardelli, Chief Executive Officer, Chrysler, LLC., Mr. Alan Mulally, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ford Motor Company, and Mr. Ron Gettelfinger, President, United Auto Workers.

For the full archived hearing video or to read prepared testimony, visit: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearin…

Rep. Watt: “We are in much the same position that we were with the original bailout. We are very much between a rock and a hard place and the hard place is coming from the public out there who has a great resistance to bailing out anybody else, as they did in the original bailout.”

Our American Society’s Shameless Crime

Tom Awtry — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:48:19 EDT

Today it was disclosed 1 in 50 children, in America, live in a homeless family!

There’s “No” easy solution to this problem; children cannot be taken away from there parents and we as fellow citizens cannot easily provide homes for these families. So what’s the solution?

As I see there is no short term fix; homelessness as a whole as been avoided for almost the past thirty years by us, the American people, and at all levels of government providing only token service at best to take care (soup kitchens, old clothing and limited, space available shelter) of the homeless, but “not” to solve the problem(s) of what creates homelessness.

However, as I do see it, there is a long term solution, which complements, but extends our recently passed Stimulus Package in congress last month. After World War II our federal government provided funding for a number of nation wide housing projects to accommodate lower income family’s homes to temporally live in; until America’s economy recovered from the war effort and industry could re-gear to produce consumer related goods. A side benefit of this aforementioned program was creating jobs for returning veterans from the European and Pacific theaters of action, which it successfully accomplished.

Today, the housing industry is suffering, thus the lack of “new housing starts”, placing many of our skilled tradesmen out of work (perhaps even homeless); so the question begs to be asked “why couldn’t an extension sum of money be included in the existing Stimulus Package for Federally Funded Housing?”

By now it should be intuitively obvious I’m more or less a Democratic, “left leaning” liberal, which to some means I believe in and support unlimited “welfare assistance”, which is not the case at all. This “government housing”, I’m suggesting, must have enforceable, stick limitations for the tenants caring to reside in these proposed dwellings, suggested are a few:

Employable skills of the bread earners in the family
Employable skills available within the community
Available and meaningful vocational training within the community
Age of children within the family
Length of necessary stay by a family
Incentives for tenants to relocate to permanent, affordable housing

I’m sure there are additional limitations and conditions to consider, before commencing on such an extreme and expensive program, both these are what comes to mind, which are important to me. In other words, stated simply, this is not another endless free ride for those who are content to exist on welfare or produce offspring to gain free to low cost housing for life.

I’m not going to invoke a session of preaching within this posting, but experience should have taught us that these homeless kids, growing up on our city streets have one alternative to turn to, which is “gangs, hence crime”; causing an ever worsening condition for our society. With 1 out of 100 Americans serving prison time, I certainly don’t feel my tax payer dollars should be spent on additional confinement facilities or the expansion of existing prisons.

Below is the article which promoted this posting appearing in TIME and entitled: “Report Says 1 in 50 U.S. Kids Are Homeless”, authored by Steven Gray.

Homeless

Report Says 1 in 50 U.S. Kids Are Homeless
By Steven Gray / Chicago Tuesday, Mar. 10, 2009

Even before the financial and home foreclosure crisis hit full stride, the number of homeless children in America had reached an alarming level. The National Center on Family Homelessness released a report today that estimates that one in every 50 American children was homeless between 2005 and 2006. That totals roughly 1.5 million kids. While the center provided no previous statistic to compare against that figure, a study conducted with different measures published in 2000 put the total at 1.35 million children living in homelessness each year. The numbers are likely to get worse as the economy continues to decline. “We know the numbers are going to skyrocket,” says Ellen Bassuk, president of the Newton, Mass.-based Center and an associate professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School.

Indeed, a quick survey of the country provides lots of evidence to support those fears. Chicago public school officials report the number of its 405,000 students deemed homeless soared to 11,143 last month from 9,182 in February 2006. School officials in Hillsborough County, Fla., which includes Tampa, have so far counted some 1,700 homeless students — and expect the figure to eclipse last year’s 2,020. Meanwhile, the surge in homeless families has overwhelmed Massachusetts’ shelters, forcing state officials to book motel rooms for the displaced. In January, some 4,600 homeless children were reported in the state’s shelters and motels, up from 3,411 from roughly one year earlier. (See one family’s struggle against homelessness.)

According to the new report, the states with the highest number of homeless children in the period studied were Texas (337,105), California (292,624), Louisiana (204,053), Georgia (58,397) and Florida (49,886). The states reporting the smallest populations of homeless children: Wyoming (169), Rhode Island (797), Vermont (1,174), North Dakota (1,181), and South Dakota (1,545). However, the report also ranks the states according to parameters that go beyond their share of homeless children, factoring in, among other things, incidence of such health conditions as asthma and tooth decay. With that framework, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island and North Dakota were rated among states that dealt best with the problem overall. At the bottom of the list: Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana.

Families with children comprise roughly one-third of the nation’s homeless population. Poverty continues to be a core reason for the crisis, though the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina combined to swell the numbers in Louisiana, Texas and Georgia. Since the 1980s, single mothers have accounted for an increasing share of the homeless population, partly because of increased divorced rates, gender and wage disparities, and the shrinking supply of affordable housing. Officials believe that the current home foreclosure crisis will be adding a new demographic to these statistics: middle-class blacks and Latinos. “It’s families that were living pretty independently, doing pretty well. And, through just one event, it was, like, a domino effect — if one part of the puzzle breaks off, then everything breaks off,” says Michael Levine, who coordinates social work programs for Hillsborough, Fla.’s 206,000-student school system. (See Cleveland’s woes amid the current foreclosure crisis.)

The nation’s states and cities are awaiting an infusion of $1.5 billion from President Obama’s stimulus package devoted to homelessness prevention programs. Those programs will provide short-term rental and mortgage assistance, as well as security deposits and utility bills. A decade ago, the Department of Housing and Urban Development spent barely $1 billion on all of its homeless programs each year.

Still, measuring homelessness is tricky, partly because of varying definitions of what constitutes homelessness. It is especially difficult to gauge homelessness among children, since many teenagers are reluctant to identify themselves as such, and evade formal counts by living independently on the streets or in vacant apartments with friends. This is compounded by the scarcity of housing options for children over age 12, particularly boys, who are typically barred from entering shelters with their mothers. So any gauge merely offers a glimpse at the problem’s severity. The report’s researchers based their analysis on a broad definition of homelessness that included, for instance, children living in shelters, on the streets, or with other relatives, a practice known as “doubling up.” The findings are no less startling: Roughly three-quarters of homeless children are of elementary school age, and 42% are below age six.

The consequences of homelessness are profound. Homeless children are twice as likely as other children to be “retained,” or held back, one academic year, or to be suspended or, ultimately, to drop out of school altogether. School districts across the country report a growing share of students who are “highly mobile” — who move multiple times within a school year. With each move, experts say, such students are at risk of falling some six months behind, or more, in their studies. Roughly one-quarter of homeless children have witnessed violence. It isn’t surprising, then, that nearly half of such children suffer from anxiety and depression.

It’s the narrative that Trisha Parker, 19, is hoping to avoid for her infant son. Parker can’t live with her mother, who receives federal housing assistance, and neither can she live with her grandmother in the Chicago suburbs much longer. Parker says she completed training to be a medical technician, but couldn’t find work in the field. She was recently hired as a security guard, earning $11 an hour. But that’s hardly enough to afford even a $600 a month studio apartment. Larger units are beyond her reach. “They want the first and last month’s security deposit” which is, she figures, about $2,000, maybe $2,500. “It really is a lot.”

Complementing this story is a YouTube video regarding a program in Massachusetts, Horizons for Homeless Children, which is a good example of what can be done for the less fortunate children in today’s America.

Horizons for Homeless Children Programs

This is a 3.5 minute piece that features Massachusetts-based Horizons for Homeless Children and the programs/services it offers to homeless children and families. For more information, visit www.horizonsforhomelesschildren.org.

Special thanks to all involved in the production of this video, including Redtree Productions, Jay Williams, Richard Klug, Soundtrack Boston, Alex Lasarenko at Tonal Sound and Mary Richardson. Thanks also to all of the children, families, volunteers and HHC staff who helped share the story.

Update 13 Mar 09:

A Tent City Near You? Tell Us About It
Arthur Delaney
Huffington Post

There are reports of tent cities popping up across the country as unemployment rises in a worsening economy. The biggest and highest-profile shantytown is in Sacramento, where hundreds of newly-homeless tent residents are cooking soup in old coffee cans.

We want to know where else this is happening.

HuffPost readers: Is there a tent city near you? Have you noticed a newly-formed community of people living together in improvised housing in a public space? Email us! Send any information you’ve got (or pictures) to submissions+homeless@huffingtonpost.com.

Sacramento’s KCRA reported this week that city officials plan to shut the tent city down:

Sacramento’s ‘Tent City’ To Be Closed

Campers in a large tent city at the north end of downtown Sacramento will be told to leave the property with their belongings within a few weeks, assistant city manager Cassandra Jennings said Wednesday.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

What’s the True Picture of our Economy

Tom Awtry — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:52:34 EDT

As the title implies there as been in America’s past administrations and both current and past legislative branches where this has been or is true; coinciding with this, many times the figures are correct but how they’re presented is the same as a lie, so what’s the true story about our currently proposed administration’s domestic budget for FY 2010?

Again in stating my blogs, “I’m not an economist,” but do believe this White House blog posting by Peter Orszag is both true and in understandable layman English when we compare the administration’s intended 2010 budget request with past requests which were passed by congress.

Director Orszag’s blog is entitled: “Funding for Domestic Programs in the Budget” and posted today. In essence he rendered an apples-to-apples approach to comparing budgets past and present budgets and arrives at the conclusion of today’s funding increase in the President’s budget amounts to only a 3.2 percent increase.

So, what dose this me to me? Well there’s a lot of chatter coming from Capitol Hill about this proposed budget request for 2010, but when this request is compared to Bush’s prior request, it’s only a “small amount more. The major difference being its coming at a difficult time in America’s economic burdens.

The video discusses President Obama’s with Peter Orszag in an understanding light.

Peter Orszag on budget

02-26-09 Rachel Maddow discusses the budget with Peter Orszag

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

Things Go Better With Coke

Tom Awtry — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:32:02 EDT

The posting I’m authoring is more-or-less a follow on to a previous post listed here, regarding our international trade and American business interests on foreign soils.

A keyword flooding around, and which has resurfaced in these past few economic stricken times is “Protectionism”, where I have read this word a few times in our American based online news articles, but have seen it almost daily in foreign based web publications. In essence these foreign based governments via their media services have directed warnings to America not to establish policies locking out their countries goods and services in America.

Fair enough, these countries are worried, such as we ours, about their country’s unemployment and perhaps trade imbalances; and need assurances from the US that we won’t adopt trade barriers or policies, which could further hamper their economic recovery efforts.

It’s when these countries enact policies against us, which is beginning to presently happen, is when I become disturbed and disgruntled. Today, an article appeared within TIME, entitled: “China Says ‘Keep Out’ to Coca-Cola”, which I feel is an outstanding example of a country who has developed a huge imbalance of trade with us, a country to whom we owe one trillion dollars to (as pointed out in my previous aforementioned posting above) and according to some Washington folks (legislative branch) have understood it to mean a threat in some ways.

Consider taking a read of the TIME article and see what your feelings are over the frustration of letting the Chinese shop in America, picking up our small and middles sized businesses at a bargain, and not allowing us to invest within their country.

Again another video, but perhaps a neutral view on China’s business dealings with America, as presented by Bloomberg’s.

US Trade Deficit Narrows: US Trade Deficit With China; China’s Role In The World Economy

Analysis by Fred Bergsten of Peterson Institute for International Economics; Analysis by Carl Weinberg of High Frequency Economics

Taxing the Greedy Class

Fred & Annick from Weaverville, NC — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:10:40 EDT

Congress can do something about those AIG and Merrill Lynch bonuses, while at the same time raising some of the funds we badly need for President Obama's public works, education and health programs. It's quite simple and long overdue: introduce a new 100% tax bracket on all annual income exceeding $1,000,000.

We have a minimum wage; we need a maximum permitted income. Let's tax the greedy class. Surely no one should need more than $1,000,000 a year in income to lead a good life. If they do, they are the ones who should now be forced to sacrifice to help those less fortunate than themselves.

America for Sale

Tom Awtry — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:24:21 EDT

Thomas Jefferson Monument

This is troubling to me that we owe, as I understand it, over one trillion dollars to China, which could work against us someday in the future.

No, I don’t believe we’ll have to place the Lincoln or Jefferson Monuments up for sale, but there could be other ramifications should we be in debt so heavily and trusting that Economical Recovery Package “not” fail.

However, my father once told me “if you have to borrow money, watch you borrow from” (of course we all know that’s very true), meaning in essence “don’t let them use your indebtedness against you”.

This was the case in the Truman Administration when Great Britain owed us a sum of money after World War II and we used the threat of increased interest payments against them in order expedite a problem in the Middle East.

I would hate to see the Chinese use the same kind of threat(s) against us to forsake a friendly nation we currently support or perhaps share some our technology, which someday could be used to harm Americans or our businesses.

Currently it appears, according to a TIME Online article entitled: “Will the U.S. Sell Assets As the British Government Did?” that According to The Times of London, “The government is pressing ahead with plans to sell a string of state-owned organizations as part of a privatization drive to add £35 billion to the dwindling public purse.” Among the treasures being sold are the Royal Mint and the national mapping agency.

Please don’t take this posting as doubting President Obama’s Stimulus Package and his plans for revving our troubled economy, but my major concerns are the “nay” sayers we have in existing in our legislative branch of government; who are quick to condemn, slow to react and most importantly fail to provide workable solutions to our country’s burdens.

Here’s another video example we have to also contend with, and that’s our small and middle sized businesses being forced into being put up “for sale”, such as what happened last July when oil prices were high and the Middle East went shopping in America.

US firms up for sale to foreign investors - 29 July 08

The falling dollar means foreign investors are buying thousands of American firms, but at the same time American companies are going to countries such as Mexico in search of cheap labour and lower prices. Al Jazeera’s Sherine

Update 17 March 09:

China seeks technical assets abroad
from UPI Asia Online by By Cong Cao

This columnist predicted that China may take advantage of the global financial crisis to acquire valuable but deeply discounted assets globally. Indeed, China has acquired overseas natural resources, and now is ready to shop overseas for small- and medium-sized enterprises, especially high-tech ones.

Update 18 March 09:

Since the time I’ve blogged this posting a release from the White House came out 12 hours later, which relates to my concerns:

Message to the Congress from the President concerning exports to China
from White House.gov Press Office Feed

In accordance with the provisions of section 1512 of the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law 105-261), I hereby certify to the Congress that the export of fine grain graphite to be used for solar cell applications and for the fabrication of components used in electronic and semiconductor fabrication, and two dual-motor, dual-shaft mixers to be used to produce carbon fiber and epoxy prepregs for the commercial airline industry is not detrimental to the U.S. space launch industry, and that the material and equipment, including any indirect technical benefit that could be derived from these exports, will not measurably improve the missile or space launch capabilities of the People’s Republic of China.

Additional postings regarding this topic and other may be found here:

The GOP doesn’t Give-up Turf Easily

Tom Awtry — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:38:07 EDT

Not to my knowledge dose any of our elected officials have me on their private contact list, nor have I requested such a privilege be extended to me; however, I do follow our country’s online political news very carefully and I don’t recall either President Obama or our Attorney General, Eric Holder mentioning candidates for Federal Judgeship. I could be wrong?

So, this bring to my mind; why would the Republican members in our Senate ever bring up the issue of rejecting our President’s selections for Federal Judges, “other” than those chosen by the Bush Administration. What a bunch of spoilt children!

I think these boys and girls should devote more of their concentration on solving the ever increasing and pressing problem of the economy than concerns that may happen on the horizon.

My foundation for this argument and posting comes from an article posted on Politico stating the following:

Federal Judges

Republicans warn Obama on judges
By MANU RAJU | 3/2/09 6:56 PM EST

President Barack Obama should fill vacant spots on the federal bench with former President Bush’s judicial nominees to help avoid another huge fight over the judiciary, all 41 Senate Republicans said Monday.

In a letter to the White House, the Republican senators said Obama would “change the tone in Washington” if he were to renominate Bush nominees like Peter Keisler, Glen Conrad and Paul Diamond. And they requested that Obama respect the Senate’s constitutional role in reviewing judicial nominees by seeking their consultation about potential nominees from their respective states.

“Regretfully, if we are not consulted on, and approve of, a nominee from our states, the Republican Conference will be unable to support moving forward on that nominee,” the letter warns. “And we will act to preserve this principle and the rights of our colleagues if it is not.”

In other words, Republicans are threatening a filibuster of judges if they’re not happy.

The letter is an opening salvo in what could be a partisan battle in the Obama years. Democrats regularly complained that Bush nominated conservative judges without consulting them, then the Republican-controlled Senate ran roughshod over them even if the nominees lacked support from homestate senators. Obama’s lawyer Gregory Craig has begun his outreach with senators about potential nominees, and several Republicans have warned Obama that the quickest way to squander bipartisan goodwill is to nominate far-left judges.

To complement the aforementioned posting the following YouTube video, which brings back many a memories regarding how bitter bipartisan fighting can become when Senators were in disagreement over the confirmation of Judge Leslie Southwick.

Judge Leslie Southwick

The Real Abominations Against God and Jesus

Don — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:04:47 EDT

The fact that Americans vote in favoring of paying our farmers to produce LESS milk in order to keep the gallon price of milk HIGHER than a gallon of gasoline while millions of American babies' parents can't afford milk is an abomination against God.People who, in the name of Jesus, vote to DENY medicine and treatment for babies in nations where it is otherwise not available suffering from AIDS because adults delivering help condone use of condoms to staunch the spread of AIDS are committing an abomination against God.People who vote against public sponsored healthcare for babies and children who cannot otherwise obtain it are committing an abomination against God.People who allow others to go hungry, homeless and sick, thus disobeying Jesus AND God himself, find the energy to rail against adults who behind closed doors have sex with other consenting adults are committing an abomination against God. They spend money, cast votes and change constitutions to deny those people rights to get divorced like 50% of the self-righteous people do every day.People who blatantly ignore the commands of Jesus and stated in all the gospels to care for the sick, the hungry and the homeless, and “judge not lest you be judged” while trumpeting an obscure sentence fragment from the Old Testament taken out of context while calling themselves Christians are an abomination against God and Jesus. Theirs is the greatest of blasphemy imaginable.When the mere idea that a person would not CHOOSE to be reviled, persecuted, fired from the military, and in some cases savagely beaten to death -- in other words, be gay -- is met by 'conservative Republicans' with such rabid, savage hostility, then one could reasonably believe that their position and their associated rage is intended merely as a distraction from their own actions which are immoral, inhumane and even criminal (refer to first five paragraphs).

Could our Country Go Belly-Up

Tom Awtry — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:36:13 EDT

A thought that had never really crossed my mind was: Could the United Sates go broke!

Yes, I guess it could in the international community’s eyes, which is an alarming possibility. I know this is a negative thought to contemplate when President Obama’s Stimulus Package is just beginning to work (see here and here) and we have two straight days of gains on Wall Street, but really who would have ever thought we would be in the economic troubles we are experiencing today.

In an article by TIME online the author presents this possibility, but this same article doesn’t really explore the events that could lead-up and cause our “kiss of death” of financial bankruptcy. Think about it for a moment!

Should we suffer through another conflict, such as what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, or even worse a full on war with a supper power this could really drain the money reserves our country has nest-egged away. Also, what about an issue we seem to avoid talking about and only rendering token understanding, which is, Global Warming. Suppose the world starts going into a free-fall mode of heating up? Again, our cash reserves would have to come to the rescue.

OK, enough gloom and doom, but I think we had better start watching and voicing our opinions to our politicians, letting them know the days gone by of spend, spend, spend or coming to an end and want to starting seeing where our money is going and for what!

Here’s the article I was referring to in TIME, entitled: “Betting the U.S. Government Won’t Pay Its Debts”

America Going Belly-Up

Betting the U.S. Government Won’t Pay Its Debts
Douglas A. McIntyre
By 24/7 Wall St. Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2009

It is one thing when someone can’t make a mortgage payment or a company cannot cover the interest on capital it borrowed to build a new factory. In a recession, those kinds of events are commonplace. It probably never crosses the mind of the average citizen that the ability of the U.S. government to borrow money for deficits, bailouts, mortgage-assistance programs, and refurbishing the monuments in Washington is not limitless. The term infinite may apply to the cosmos but it does not apply to the debt carried by the U.S. Treasury.

MarketWatch pointed out that the spreads on credit-default swaps for U.S. government debt jumped to 97 basis points Tuesday, nearly seven times higher than a year ago and 60% higher than at the end of last year, to a level roughly in line with those of France, according to data supplied by Markit. Those swaps are gambles that America will renege on its financial obligations. Being on par with France is even more humiliating than if we were compared to Cameroon which had a GDP of only $44 billion last year, less than Bernie Madoff took from his clients.

While it may be hard to imagine, what the market’s response means is that the economic crisis is so serious now that it is believed that the United States Treasury may not have the capacity to keep a net under all of the faltering bits and pieces of the financial and credit systems. Traders are sending a message and have decided not to be subtle about it. America is spreading itself too thin. It has taken on obligations to assist many of its largest financial institutions, aid hundreds of thousands of homeowners, create jobs through an economic stimulus package, and give a large portion of the working population tax cuts. Wealthy citizens and corporations will be required to pay more to offset these obligations. This income will only make a difference if these sources have more to pay. A deep recession can be a great leveler.

As economic data for the first quarter begins to come out in April and then second quarter information is released in July, it will become clear whether the idea that the Treasury can borrow enough money to right our national economic ship is plausible. There is absolutely no reason to believe that if GDP contraction hits 10% for a quarter or two and then unemployment increases to double digits that the government will be able to solve what the free market system cannot.

The most alarming information that the federal government should give up before it gets deeper into debt comes from experts who join business TV news show hosts. Simply stated, they argue that the economy got itself into this mess and it will have to get itself out. This idea destroys the belief that the government has the power to protect the financial interests of its own people and companies. It is a philosophy that will create despair in almost all quarters because it is based on the idea that we are on our own in this economic fight for survival. Our government cannot intercede for us.

If the U.S. government starts to have even a modest amount of trouble raising money, the concept of its citizens becoming self-sufficient will take on an entirely new meaning.

Complementing the TIME article is a YouTube video, which is more or less a tough-in-cheek comical view of how one Newscaster feels about our Federal Reserve (worth a careful watch).

Fat Glenn Shows Us Why America is Going BROKE!

Glenn puts on a great show as he shows us why our money is going in the dumper.

I have the small amount of precious metals and food storage I can afford and I hope you do too.

Here is a little info on the Federal Reserve Bank

The Federal Reserve Bank is NOT actually part of the Federal government. It is no more Federal than Federal Express, or Federated Department Stores. It is a private corporation with a legislated monopoly on currency and credit that is allowed to BUY its paper currency for nothing more than the cost of the paper, the ink and the labor from the Bureau of Printing & Engraving (U.S. Treasury). Originally this added up to about 2.3 cents per note, or $230 of cost to buy one million dollars (10,000 100 dollar bills). Today the cost is apparently still about the same.

The Federal Reserve Bank has never paid a dime in income tax and has never been audited, and a percentage of this private bank is owned (or controlled) by foreigners (or their corporate shells)!!

Can you buy your money for $230 per million ?

What happened to equal opportunity ?

“The Federal Reserve Banks are privately owned, locally controlled corporations”
[Lewis vs. U.S., 680 F.2d 1239, 1241](1982)

“As we have advised, the Federal Reserve is currently paying the Bureau approximately $23 for each 1,000 notes printed. This does include the cost of printing, paper, ink, labor, etc. Therefore, 10,000 notes of any denomination, including the $100 note would cost the Federal Reserve $230. In addition, the Federal Reserve must secure a pledge of collateral equal to the face value of the notes.”
- William H. Ferkler (Manager Public Affairs, Dept. of Treasury, Bureau of Engraving & Printing, Wash. D.C.

“It is well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
- Henry Ford, Founder of the Ford Motor Co.

Why are private unelected individuals controlling the American currency system ? Vrtually running the country, the stock market, the banks, the lending rates, nearly everything ? Where is any of this in the Constitution?

Do you really believe they are representing We the People with their policies?

If you do, you aren’t thinking clearly!

Why are private unelected individuals controlling the American currency system ? Vrtually running the country, the stock market, the banks, the lending rates, nearly everything ? Where is any of this in the Constitution?

Do you really believe they are representing We the People with their policies?

If you do, you aren’t thinking clearly!

“AS GOES THE FATE OF THE CURRENCY, SO GOES THE FATE OF THE NATION !”

As this posting eludes to: Our nation is in serious economical trouble, but it’s good hear President Obama is pulling the plug on reckless spending by attempting to put a stop on needless earmarks, as can be seen in his remarks, which I have partially posted.

Remarks by the President on Earmark Reform
from White House.gov Press Office Feed

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I ran for President pledging to change the way business is done in Washington and build a government that works for the people by opening it up to the people. And that means restoring responsibility and transparency and accountability to actions that the government takes. And working with the Congress over my first 50 days in office, we’ve made important progress toward that end.

Working together, we passed an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that’s already putting people back to work doing the work that America needs done. We did it without the customary Congressional earmarks — the practice by which individual legislators insert projects of their choosing. We’re implementing the Recovery Act with an unprecedented level of aggressive oversight and transparency, including a website — recovery.gov — that allows every American to see how their tax dollars are spent and report on cases where the system is breaking down.

We Know our Money is Gone – But No One Knows Why or Where

Tom Awtry — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:05:45 EDT

What and “all” we Americans and the international community basically understands is the United State’s economy is in trouble; and for some unknown and unexplainable reason the folks that “we think” lost our money while destroying our economy, are still in charge for some foolish reason; of which, we are still relying on these same institutional folks to restore the broken system they corrupted to their advantage.

Simply stated, for me, this is like requesting Al Capone to assist us in revising our Internal Revenue Service’s tax codes or Bernard Madoff’s given time off for good behavior for his bring to light the troubles of our SEC regulation policies?.

Also, for some reason I receive the impression that we as “ordinary people” are not capable of understanding the problem; hence the words of “complex issues” as presented and used by our Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner, along with “reinvestment needs time to settle”, as spoken by Hank Paulson our former Treasury Secretary. So, the question comes to mind, “are we this uneducated” or could it be “our saviors in the government unable to understand the magnitude of the problem?”

We are definitely afraid of the words “Socialism” and “Nationalize” when it comes to AIG, Citicorp, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch because this possibly means too many of us, bigger government, which in turn, means higher taxes, which is not wanted or needed. Perhaps the simple answer lies within who is trying to solve the economic problem within our government.

So, as an individual, perhaps of limited intelligence, for not being able to totally grasp and understand the complexity of the economic problem; I wonder if Eric Holder of our Justice Department could perhaps help the CEOs of the aforementioned institutions to educate the American public and myself, as to “why” we are in these troubling times, “where” did our money go and “how” do we recover our country’s economic strength.

Placing these CEOs on the “hot seat” I’m sure will simplify their complex possible solutions to our problem while educating us all as to how the “old boys club” really as operated for the past thirty years.

What brought this posting to being comes from a lady I have a deep amount of admiration for; Ms. Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post in an article entitled: “Tim Geithner, CNBC, and the Second Coming of Known Unknowns”, which was posted on her website, March the 9th of this year, and which follows:

Tim Geithner

Tim Geithner, CNBC, and the Second Coming of Known Unknowns
Arianna Huffington
Huffington Post March 9, 2009 | 02:38 PM (EST)

A formerly famous and now mostly forgotten poet of nonsense verse once said: “There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns….there are also unknown unknowns.”

That was, of course, Donald Rumsfeld, but it doesn’t sound too different from your average briefing/Congressional testimony/interview by Timothy Geithner. Besides being awash in toxic paper, credit default swaps, and collateralized debt obligations, we seem to be drowning in unknowns. Only, I get the sense that there are fewer unknowns than we’re being told.

While we’re rewarding the risk-taking shareholders of various zombie banks — not to mention the mysterious, unconfirmed counterparties to AIG’s serial recklessness — how about rewarding the taxpayers, if not with an actual return on our bailout investment then at least with information about what exactly is being done with our money? It’s time to call in all the unknowns.

Instead, we’re greeted with a wall of manufactured complexity by the people whose job it is to make known unknowns into known knowns. There is nothing complex about the way CEOs like John Thain, Ed Liddy, Lloyd Blankfein, John Mack, Vikram Pandit, and Ken Lewis turned bailout billions into Wall Street bonus money — and no justification for keeping taxpayers in the dark about the giveaways (Vanity Fair’s Michael Shnayerson breaks down the jaw-dropping and blood-boiling numbers).

Which brings us to the holy temple of unknown unknowns — CNBC. The financial channel’s Erin Burnett (Street Signs, Squawk on the Street) was on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night, suddenly seeing all kinds of complexity, nuance, and ambiguity in what can be known and not known about the economic crisis. Does the government know more than they’re telling us, asked Bill.

“I don’t think they know,” said Burnett. “I don’t think anybody knows.”

And: “I don’t even know that the CEOs themselves know.”

And: “Tim Geithner may know more than most, but no, he doesn’t know.”

And as for whether the financial geniuses at CNBC should have known something:

“It’s easy to say [there's] a bubble, but you don’t know when it’s gonna burst. And I think that the question of timing and magnitude, nobody got. That wasn’t just a CNBC pundit thing, that was any expert out there.” I guess she missed experts like Roubini and Taleb.

And I certainly don’t remember that kind of circumspection in the run up to the meltdown. For a look at what the CNBC sages thought they knew, and how wrong they were, there is, of course, Jon Stewart’s already legendary evisceration.

As Stewart shows, the essential truth of what went on is really quite simple. Using complexity as a cover for accountability has a long historical track record of ending in disaster.

“The most dangerous thing in any economic crisis is denial,” writes MIT professor Simon Johnson, a former official at the IMF, where he specialized in dealing with banking crises around the world. He’s become one of the leaders of the camp arguing that the administration needs to admit the scope of the banking problem and deal with it sooner (wildly expensive) rather than later (insanely and unsustainably expensive). While “the degree of denial in the United States has fallen dramatically,” Johnson writes, “there is one major aspect of denial still remaining: the scale and nature of our banking difficulties.”

(Johnson, by the way, is doing his part to get rid of unknowns at his blog Baseline Scenario, which includes a terrific primer on the financial crisis.)

Johnson’s insights mirror those of Paul Krugman, who writes that “officials still aren’t willing to face the facts. They don’t want to face up to the dire state of major financial institutions because it’s very hard to rescue an essentially insolvent bank without, at least temporarily, taking it over.” Not coming clean and doing what needs to be done, adds Krugman, “could result in an economy that sputters along, not for months or years, but for a decade or more.”

Speaking of nationalization, CNBC’s Burnett told Maher, “Nobody wants it on the left, nobody wants it on the right” — even as calls for it continue to come from both the left and the right, demonstrating once again how obsolete that way of looking at the world is becoming. America’s Business Channel, indeed.

The list of knowable knowns that we still don’t know about includes the final destination of the taxpayer money the government keeps funneling to AIG. The Wall Street Journal reports that around $50 billion of the $173 billion in bailout funds given to the insurance behemoth has gone to pay off financial institutions that had insured their wildly irresponsible credit default swaps with AIG.

So who, exactly, has our money — and why don’t we know? AIG CEO Ed Liddy prefers not to say. Same with the Fed, which refused a congressional request for the names of AIG’s derivative counterparties. According to unnamed sources, the list includes Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch/Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank.

It’s worth noting that, thanks to the industry-written 2005 Bankruptcy Bill, derivatives claims are not stayed in bankruptcy — so the financial institutions that gambled and lost would nevertheless be the first ones paid off. Isn’t gaming the system fun?

The stimulus package — and the media’s coverage of it — has also been a hotbed of known unknowns. Or, if you prefer, unreported knowns.

According to a Media Matters study of 59 network news broadcasts about the stimulus in the three weeks prior to the vote, only three mentioned concerns that the package was inadequate — even though many economists believed it was not big enough to do the job. Another known known treated like an unknown when we most needed to know. And now, of course, we’re already getting reports that the bill was, indeed, too small.

I’m not saying that everything about this crisis is knowable — far from it. But there are a number of very simple truths that are being hidden behind a smokescreen of complexity and unknowability.

It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in economics to know that you can’t have CEOs whose companies have received billions in bailout funds going to court and threatening to sue employees to keep the public from knowing which executives pocketed millions in bonuses — and you can’t have them pretending that no bailout money was used to pay said bonuses.

You can’t have insolvent banks pretending that the problem is one of liquidity, and then using taxpayer money to protect their balance sheets instead of lending money to credit-worthy businesses and consumers.

And, ultimately, you can’t allow the same people who were part of the problem to be part of the solution. There is absolutely no way on earth that the same flawed thinking that got us into this mess will ever get us out of it. We need to clean house, taking the steering wheel away from the executives and the compliant boards that steered us over the economic cliff. They didn’t get it then; they still don’t get it now (see handing out bonuses, hosting spa retreats, redecorating, and throwing lavish parties while America teeters on the verge of economic collapse).

That is something we all know that we know — even Tim Geithner and the experts at CNBC.

Complementing my posting regarding “Tim Geithner” and his explaining of where the Obama Administration stands on the economy and their expectations:

Charlie Rose -Timothy Geithner, U.S. Treasury Secretary

Timothy Geithner, U.S. Treasury Secretary

Additional information on Rose’s interview with Timothy Geithner may be found on Huffington Post here:

Charlie Rose Interviews Timothy Geithner: “Capitalism Will Be Different”

Update 11 March 09:

Bernanke’s Vision for Change
from Wash Post - World News by Annys Shin and Lori Montgomery

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday laid out his most comprehensive vision yet for how to overhaul the rules governing the nation’s financial system, and advocated changing accounting methods that he said have exacerbated the financial crisis.