Anyone who thinks they have all the Answers before they've even heard the Question - is Dangerously Deluded! Real Truth Requires Vigilance, Perseverance and Courage, regardless of Party and who wields Power. Left, Right, Center, Corporations, Government, Unions, Criminals or the Indifferent.
This weekend the History Channel debuted an amazing special on America Crumbling Infrastructure.
Much of America's interstate highways system, dams, bridges and electrical grid were built over 50 years ago, and intended to last - just 50 years. As a result this infrastructure is rapidly beginning to deteriorate, rust, corrode, and fall apart. And even after the Levee failure of Katrina, the collapse of the I-35 bridge, the Great NorthEast Blackout, we remain blissfully and dangerously unaware of just how much risk we're living with on a daily basis.
THE HISTORY CHANNEL: America’s infrastructure is collapsing. Tens of thousands of bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. A third of the nation’s highways are in poor or mediocre shape. Massively leaking water and sewage systems are creating health hazards and contaminating rivers and streams. Weakened and under-maintained levees and dams tower over communities and schools. And the power grid is increasingly maxed out, disrupting millions of lives and putting entire cities in the dark. The Crumbling of America explores these problems using expert interviews, on location shooting and computer generated animation to illustrate the kinds of infrastructure disasters that could be just around the bend.
The worst situation discussed in the special is the water seepage into the Wolf Creek Dam in Tenneesee. The Dam was originally built using limestone, but the porous qualities of that stone we're completely understood at the time, as a result the dam has been seeping water for decades - water which would weaken it's base by turning it into a soft slurry and undermining it's base. The Army Corp of Engineers has a project to help this problem by building an underground wall to block the water which is scheduled to be completed in 2012, because a previously built underground wall has failed to do exactly the same thing.
If this new wall also fails, and seepage succeeds in undermining the dam base, it could eventually collapse and release millions of gallons of water into the Tennesse Valley about 100 miles upstream from Nashville. Moving at about 40 feet per second, this wave would destroy everything in it's path and within about 5-6 hours Nashville would be under 20 feet of water.
It would be like 1000 Katrina's all at once.
Fortunately there is an effort in place to prevent this worst case scenario, just as the I-35 bridge has been rebuilt into a smart bridge with a estimated life-span of 100 years, but this is just one problem among literally thousands of problems. Sagging power lines are creating shorts and overloading systems. Improperly sealed roadways are cracking due to water collection which has begun to rust their rebar re-enforcement. Sewage and Water systems are failing.
The recent massive deadly gas main explosion in Northern California are just symptoms of a much larger problem where more and more of core services on which all of us depend are falling apart right under our feet.
Over the decades what had been issues of national focus, have slowly begun to be fall on the backs of state and local governments that don't have the funding or resources to address the problem. As a result the kind of tragedies we've seen so far, may only be the tip of a very large and very dangerous iceberg.
The History Channel Special will re-air in one week on Tuesday October 6th at 10:00 Am and 4:00 PM.
Things are not looking good. Democrats continue to refuse to press any advantage they might have on any issue - like tax cuts for the Rich - even when they're enormously popular. They DON'T SAY THE TRUTH!
For example Health Care has begun to kick in, but Dems won't take credit for it because they feel they'll get hit upside the head with stuff like this...
But all they have to do - is FIGHT BACK.
Right now ElectionProjection.com says the Democrats are likely to retain control of the Senate by 1 Seat, but lose the House by 3 giving Republicans a 220 to 215 majority.
This despite the fact that the so-called "Pledge To America" that the GOP House just released contains seven items that are already included in the Health Care Bill and are now part of the law. Via Thinkprogress
Affordable Care Act
GOP’s ‘Pledge To America’
Insurance Across State Lines
Allows for the creation of State Health Insurance Compacts – permits states to enter into agreements to allow for the sale of insurance across state lines. (SEC. 1333; p. 100-101)
“We will allow individuals to buy health care coverage outside of the state in which they live. ” (p. 15)
High-Risk Insurance Pools
The states and the federal government have already established high-risk insurance pools to provide temporary coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions until 2014. (SEC. 1101; p. 30-33)
“We will expand state high-‐risk pools, reinsurance programs and reduce the cost of coverage” (p. 15)
Pre-Existing Conditions
Children cannot be denied coverage starting today, but beginning in 204, insurers must accept everyone who applies. (SEC. 2702-2705; p. 46-51)
“We will make it illegal for an insurance company to deny coverage to someone with prior coverage on the basis of a pre-‐existing condition.” (p. 15)
Lifetime and Annual Caps
A health insurer cannot impose lifetime limits and will be prohibited from placing annual limits on plans beginning in 2014. (SEC. 2711; p. 14)
“[E]liminate annual and lifetime spending caps” (p.15)
Recissions
A health insurance issuer cannot rescind a policy except for in cases of fraud. (SEC. 2712; p. 14)
“[P]revent insurers from dropping your coverage just because you get sick.” (p.15)
State Innovation
States can receive waives from certain requirements if they can cover the uninsured and lower health costs in a more innovative manner. (SEC. 1332; p. 98-100)
“We will incentivize states to develop innovative programs that lower premiums and reduce the number of uninsured Americans.” (p.15)
Conscience Protections
The law does not affect existing conscience protections or discriminate “on the basis of the willingness or refusal to provide, pay for, cover, or refer for abortion or to provide or participate in training to provide abortion.” (SEC. 1303; p. 67)
“We will also enact into law conscience protections for health care providers, including doctors, nurses, and hospitals.” (p.15)
So not only are the Dems for Covering Children with Pre-existing Conditions - the Republicans are For it Too - or at least they say they are on paper. Yet in the clip Amy Holmes argues that...
Holmes: Some Insurers are already dropping their coverage of sick kids because of Obamacare...
And on this she is correct, some Insurers now refuse to offer "Child-Only" policies. It's not that they dropped coverage just for sick kids, they're dropping it for ALL KIDS so they don't have to cover the ones who are sick. Still, few people who report on this seems to also report that parents with group and family plans now have to accept children at least until those children are 26 years-old, no matter whether their already sick or not. Although you can't get children individual coverage - you can add them to your coverage.
Also this coverage gap created by greedy, heartless health insurance companies would now make nearly all of those children eligible for SCHIP which has been greatly expanded, and State-based High-Risk Poll Insurance which are already coming online at fairly affordable rates. So far enrollment rates for these pools has been low, but then that might be because NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THEM!
On balance, the two laws’ health care and revenue provisions are estimated to reduce the projected deficit in 2020 by $28 billion, and the education provisions of the Reconciliation Act are estimated to reduce the projected deficit in 2020 by $2 billion. [...]
Finally, you asked what the net deficit impact would be if certain provisions of PPACA and the Reconciliation Act that were estimated to generate net savings were eliminated—specifically, those which were originally estimated to generate a net reduction in mandatory outlays of $455 billion over the 2010–2019 period. The estimate of $455 billion mentioned in your letter represents the net effects of many provisions. Some of those provisions generated savings for Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and some generated costs. If those provisions were repealed, CBO estimates that there would be an increase in deficits similar to its original estimate of $455 billion in net savings over that period.
Repealing Obamacare would cost Tax Payers almost a Half $Billion, But Democrats don't say it.
Amy comes back again with this gem...
Holmes: What is the morality of passing legislation that is now keeping business from hiring new employees?
First of all, Obama always said "If you like your current insurance - you can keep it and it won't change". He never intended to drastically change the existing Employee-based system, only to add minor fixes - such as the pre-existing condition ban - and to gradually create some alternatives to it for those who can't even get or afford insurance. Plus the ridiculous rate increases the insurance companies have been piling on the backs of business aren't anything new. Remember just last year when Anthem Blue Cross tried to raise their rates by 39 percent in California? Ultimately a rate hike was approved by State Regulators, but for less than half that amount.
Insurance companies have been blaming their rate increases on "Obamacare" requirements but that is simply bogus, and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has begun to call them out for it.
It has come to my attention that several insurance carriers have sent out letters to their enrollees falsely blaming premium increases for 2011 on the (Health Care Bill)
...
According to our analysis and some academic and industry experts, any potential premium impact from consumer protections and increased quality improvements should be minimal. We estimate that the effect will be no more than one or two percent.
...
Already my department has provided 46 states with information to strengthen the review and transparency of proposed premiums. Later this fall we will issue a regulation requiring state or federal review of all unreasonable rate increases.
State regulators already have the power to restrict and reduce these rate hikes by requiring that insurers justify them, HHS is moving to help strengthen their hand in this area to continue to prevent consumer gouging. Also even prior to the Exchanges coming online in 2014, insurers that gouge customers NOW, can be barred from participating in the exchanges and lose access to 32 Million additional customers and $Billions in government subsidies.
But Democrats Don't Talk About it.
Also millions of small businesses (those with less that 50 employees) already have access to a 35% tax credit for their health insurance which can directly offset even the highest proposed cost increase.
Small businesses will receive $40 billion in new tax credits to help cover the cost of health coverage for their employees. The tax credit is designed to both support those small businesses that provide coverage today as well as new businesses who decide to provide coverage. Effective immediately, the tax credit is worth up to 35 percent of the premiums a business pays to cover its workers and in 2014, the value of the credit will increase to 50 percent. An estimated 4 million small businesses will be eligible to receive these tax credits.
But Democrats don't talk about it.
Instead they swallow the line that this is all somehow "Obama's Fault".
Notice how quiet Seth McFarland is during this entire exchange, and finally when he does speak he only mentions one thing - The Public Option.
Once we lost the Public Option - Obama essentially lost his Democratic Base, those who frankly really wanted either Single-Payer, or at least making all health insurers into Non-Profits in order to limit the kind of price gouging and coverage restrictions, all done to increase profits, that we've seen for over a decade.
No, we didn't get the Public Option - however, what we did get is just as good. As a replacement for the PO, a Non-Profit Option will be offered by the Office of Personnel Management. The only real difference between the Public Option and this one, is that instead of being run by Federal employees directly, it's run by a Federal Contractor - but the Director of OPM would have broad control and oversight of that contractor. This is the Directors Authority over that Non-Profit Agency.
SEC 1332 (3) NON-PROFIT ENTITIES.—In entering into contracts under paragraph (1), the Director shall ensure that at least one contract is entered into with a non-profit entity. (4) ADMINISTRATION.—The Director shall implement this subsection in a manner similar to the manner in which the Director implements the contracting provisions with respect to carriers under the Federal employees health benefit program under chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, including (through negotiating with each multi-state plan)— (A) a medical loss ratio; (B) a profit margin; (C) the premiums to be charged; and (D) such other terms and conditions of coverage as are in the interests of enrollees in such plans. (5) AUTHORITY TO PROTECT CONSUMERS.—The Director may prohibit the offering of any multi-State health plan that does not meet the terms and conditions defined by the Director with respect to the elements described in subparagraphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (4).
(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A health insurance issuer shall be eligible to enter into a contract under subsection (a)(1) if such issuer— (1) agrees to offer a multi-State qualified health plan that meets the requirements of subsection (c) in each Exchange in each State;
Over and above the new 85% medical loss ration which allows only 15% overhead and profit for any insurer who wishes to participate in the exchange, this option can be negotiated by the OPM Director to an even higher MLR. The Director can set their premium rates and their profit margin, which being by definition "Non-Profit" could essentially be Zero. Current Pseudo Non-Profits like Anthem/Blue Shield are not likely to qualify.
The CBO analysis of costs of operating this option when contrasted with the Public Option were essentially nil, and with other changes includes actually saved about $2 Billion more than it had previously.
This estimate incorporates the effects of the manager’s amendment, which would make a number of changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as originally proposed. The changes with the largest budgetary effects include: expanding eligibility for a small business tax credit; increasing penalties on certain uninsured people; replacing a "public plan" that would be run by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with "multi-state" plans that would be offered under contract with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM); deleting provisions that would increase payment rates for physicians under Medicare; and increasing the payroll tax on higher-income individuals and families. Of the total deficit reduction of $132 billion projected to result from the legislation, the manager’s amendment accounts for about $2 billion, and the act as originally proposed accounts for the remaining $130 billion.
The Public Option wasn't simply deleted, it was Replaced by something that from a deficit and premium controlling standpoint - is just as effective!
But Democrats don't say it.
Lastly as of now... Preventive Care is Free. Insurers are prohibited from charging co-pays or deductibles for mammograms or other cancer screenings.
Effective for health plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2010
All new plans must cover certain preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies without charging a deductible, co-pay or coinsurance.
But Democrats don't say it.
Maher: I don't know how Democrats can keep losing the argument about sick kids, they lost that one this week. They can't even mention health care because it "doesn't poll well". Well maybe if you'd mention it - IT WOULD POLL WELL! Maybe if you brag about what you did for people, it wouldn't poll badly...
This admittedly received the biggest applause of the segment, and it should have - because he's dead right.
It's not guaranteed, but maybe if Democrats DID mention that much of "The Pledge" is simply trying to steal their thunder by laying claim to things the Democrats already did without any Republican support, and maybe if they mentioned that ridiculous rate hikes of 32% can be blocked, and that even if insurers refuse to offer child-only policies - they still have to let now kids on their parents policies, and maybe if they mentioned that there are now state run low-cost high-risk insurance pools for people with pre-existing conditions or who have simply been without coverage for six months, that repealing "Obamacare" would add almost half a $billion to the deficit, that millions of small businesses now have a 35% tax credit for health insurance that will increase to 50% in 2014, that HHS is cracking down on price gouging by insurers and can block them from the Exchanges in 2014 if they gouge now, that Preventive Care is now FREE, and that although we didn't get the "Public Option" we got something that does the same exact thing just as well, if we simply bothered to mention some of this - at least once in a while - we might keep control of both the Senate and the House.
I understand we didn't get everything we might have hoped for, and that there are still loopholes in the law that these private insurers are trying to squirm and slither through. That's always going to be the case.
Yeah, but maybe if Democrats - not just those in Washington - but all of us talked about this stuff more, while admitting things aren't perfect, we might start seeing better polling numbers, and possibly electoral prospects in November.
Maybe... but one thing is certain, if we don't start pushing back on all these memes, distortions and out-and-out lies - and I mean agressively - we can pretty much guarantee what's going to happen in less than 40 days.
Right now all we need to do is keep two or three seats in the House. That could be Alan Grayson's seat (since he's currently trailing). That's all we need to keep Grayson and one or two more... his seat is worth a bit of laryngitis isn't it?
The man who should be the first pick to replace the departing Larry Summers has just publish his latest piece analyzing the new GOP "Pledge to -AIG- America" and his prognosis is not - how do you say - good.
On Thursday, House Republicans released their “Pledge to America,” supposedly outlining their policy agenda. In essence, what they say is, “Deficits are a terrible thing. Let’s make them much bigger.” The document repeatedly condemns federal debt — 16 times, by my count. But the main substantive policy proposal is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which independent estimates say would add about $3.7 trillion to the debt over the next decade — about $700 billion more than the Obama administration’s tax proposals.
So the GOP want's to cut spending, but what exactly do they propose to actually cut? Well just about everything except for "common-sense exceptions for seniors, veterans, and our troops." But what do they list specifically?
On TARP and "unspent" Stimulus funds - which they claim would save a whopping - $16 Billion. Let than 1/2 of 1 percent of the Tax Cuts they want to make permanent.
Oh and by the way, 40% of the Stimulus were tax cuts and tax credits that haven't been "spent" because people have filed to take advantage of them - which means the GOP would be raising their taxes.
Krugman Continued...
Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math. As he points out, the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: “No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.”
The “pledge,” then, is nonsense.
In order to keep the tax cuts that GOP wants, we'd have to effectively dismantle nearly the entire rest of the Government except for Defense, Repeal Healthcare, Defund the Department of Energy, Education and of course NASA then - as we well know - they would then attempt to convert Medicaid to a Health Stamps Voucher program, put Social Security on the Stock Market and then privatize the VA as many of their members included the Paul Ryan "Roadmap" has outlined.
That "Roadmap" and this "Pledge" are to take this country over a financial cliff at full speed.
(The Pledge) is a significant boost for them, but it is not a homerun.
I'm think it's not even a sacrifice fly ball.
Club for Growth
In a blog post yesterday, Andrew Roth trashed Republicans as drafting a "weak" agenda, "silent" on earmarks and a balanced budget amendment, two core principles of fiscal conservatism. (And the earmarks thing is a little strange, given that the GOP already swore off them this year.)
"The Pledge has no teeth," Roth wrote. "Voters have no reliable assurances that House Republicans will behave appropriately."
Which is a rather ironic response since we now know that the author of the pledge, Bill Wild, is a former Club for Growth alumni.
Then there's Eric Erickson of Redstate
It is dreck -- dreck with some stuff I like, but like Brussels sprouts in butter. I like the butter, not the Brussels sprouts. Overall, this grand illusion of an agenda that will never happen is best spoken of today and then never again as if it did not happen. It is best forgotten.
Ouch.
And Neal Boortz...
"Up until right now, the focus was on the absolute disaster that is Democratic rule in Washington. Now, all of a sudden, the focus is on the Republican party," Boortz said. "Where's the word "tax reform" in this document? It's not there. Where's the phrase 'corporate income tax.' It's not there. Where is the Department of Education? It's not there."
This almost makes me believe that the GOP leadership is not nearly as confident as they pretend to be, and may have taken the wrong page from the Obama play book. The "Split-The-Baby" page, an approach that is relatively bland and "safe" which leaves no one on either side of the political divide feeling satisfied, and consequently pisses off everyone equally.
Congrats GOP, if this is your grand playbook your just about to enter the political Dog House - hope you enjoy the Beggin' Strips because that's about all you're likely to be eating for the next two years after you Fail to take over Congress.
Think progress is now reporting that efforts supported by the GOP, the Tea party and funded by the Koch Brothers to Illegally Steal the Wisconsin election using the technique known as Caging.
Documents and audio recordings released yesterday by One Wisconsin Now document an apparent plot by the Wisconsin Republican Party, Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (aka Fight Back Wisconsin), and various other tea party groups to suppress votes from minorities and students in this year’s elections using a well-documented — and illegal— practice known as “voter caging.”
Voter Caging became better known after it was used in the 2004 Election in Florida by RNC staffers such as Tim Griffin, to block the votes of African Americans serving in Iraq without them even knowing it.
Tim was later rewarded by becoming and assistant to Karl Rove, and after that he was awarded a post as a U.S. Attorney in the midst of the rather mysterious round of firings that occurred late in the Bush Administration - especially when some of those Attorneys refused to pursue bogus voter fraud cases against organizations such as ACORN. Tim is now running for Congress in Arkansas - and winning by double digits.
This is what Caging is...
Caging has also been used as a form of voter suppression. A political party challenges the validity of a voter's registration; for the voter's ballot to be counted, the voter must prove that their registration is valid.
Voters targeted by caging are often the most vulnerable: those who are unfamiliar with their rights under the law, and those who cannot spare the time, effort, and expense of proving that their registration is valid. Ultimately, caging works by dissuading a voter from casting a ballot, or by ensuring that they cast a provisional ballot, which is less likely to be counted.
With one type of caging, a political party sends registered mail to addresses of registered voters. If the mail is returned as undeliverable - because, for example, the voter refuses to sign for it, the voter isn't present for delivery, or the voter is homeless - the party uses that fact to challenge the registration, arguing that because the voter could not be reached at the address, the registration is fraudulent. It is this use of direct mail caging techniques to target voters which probably resulted in the application of the name to the political tactic.
There's nothing wrong in theory with removing invalid registrations - just how do you send mail to Mickey Mouse? - but that isn't the real point of purpose for cagings, it's about targeting specific minority groups and blocking their votes thereby changing the outcome of the election - which is a direct violation of the Voting Rights Act.
So now, today, ginned up by paranoid fantasies of fraudulent ACORN Voters, in Wisconsin this Crime is being repeated yet again...
Audio recordings of the tea party meeting where the alleged voter suppression plot was discussed include numerous references by presenters to supposed instances of minorities and college students voting illegally. Tim Dake, a prominent tea partier in the state who belongs to Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty, cited an anecdote about busloads of out-of-state voters voting multiple times in previous elections, then went on to discuss “the racial thing”:
“So, the problem is now you see elections being stolen and we have to get these guys fired up about it, which is not happening. The other thing is you run into the racial thing. You have people screaming, ‘Oh, you’re denying the minorities their right to vote.” No, we’re denying their right to vote multiple times.’”
“No, we’re not even denying the minorities anything, we’re denying fraud,” added an unidentified attendee of the meeting.
Yeah, ok - you're not a bigot, you've just got that rope in your hand while openly plotting to commit a Federal Crime, so that you can catch some runaway Wisconsin steers?
If you have "busloads" of out of state voters coming in the proper thing to do would be to alert the FBI, not try and take matters into your own hands like a vigilante squad, or try to randomly block people - who happen to have ethnic sounding surnames - from being able to vote.
The danger of this is particularly high in Wisconsin since Senator Russ Feingold - the only U.S. Senator to vote against the Patriot Act - happens to be in the fight of his political career.
Feingold won his first term with 53% of the vote in 1992, defeating incumbent two-term Republican Sen. Bob Kasten. He was then re-elected with a bare 51% in 1998, then expanded that margin to 55% in 2004. But now he's trailing in the polls against Republican businessman Ron Johnson -- the TPM Poll Average gives Johnson a healthy lead of 51.6%-44.8%. In addition, Public Policy Polling (D) will have another survey out today, showing Feingold down by double-digits as a result of a "massive" enthusiasm gap between Republican and Democratic voters.
Although current numbers from sites such as Election Projection.com (50 Dem Senate, 219 Dem House) and Electoral Vote.com (51 Dem Senate, 225 Dem House) show the Democrats retaining control of both the House and Senate by a slim margin the combination of low enthusiasm and voter suppression this November could severely darken that sunny outlook for Democrats, particular for Feingold - who is frankly someone we can't afford to lose.
One of the almost completely unreported negative consequences of the American misadventure in Iraq, and current handover of control to Iraqi Forces, is exactly how that nation's sadly dysfunctional government has been handling the tens of thousands of suspected insurgents, al Qeada wannabes and political dissidents that we've delivered on their doorstep as the U.S. gradually slide out through the side door.
And the prognosis is not pleasant as detailed in a new Amnesty International Report - "New Iraq, Same Old Abuses".
MALCOLM SMART (Amnesty International) : Well, I think part of the problem is really a problem of impunity. This has been going on for all too long, and there’s a culture of abuse that has taken root. It was certainly there during the days of Saddam Hussein, but what we wanted to see from 2003 was a turning of the page, and that hasn’t happened. So we see secret prisons, people being tortured and ill-treated, being forced to make confessions. And the courts, although routinely detainees claim that they were made to sign false confessions, the courts are really not investigating those and coming to grips with them. And the perpetrators are not being held to account. They’re not being identified. On a number of occasions, the government has reacted by saying it will appoint inquiries after secret prisons have been disclosed and their locations have been found and prisoners in them have been found to be in a very severely ill-treated position. But the outcomes of those investigations have not been made known.
AMY GOODMAN: Deaths in custody?
MALCOLM SMART: Likewise with deaths in custody. We have in our report details of several cases where deaths are alleged to have occurred as a result of torture or ill treatment. Now, the standard practice of any authority in that situation, required by national law and required by international law, is to carry out an independent investigation. What were the causes, what was the circumstances, of the death? Now, this hasn’t happened. And again, we’re calling attention to the need for the government to show the political will to take measures against the torturers.
AMY GOODMAN: Malcolm, there were 10,000 prisoners, in your Amnesty report, transferred from US custody in Iraq to Iraqi custody—US basically transferring prisoners to a system that tortures them, unclear what happened to them in US custody.
MALCOLM SMART: Well, part of the problem with the situation has been that the US forces have been detaining people. And, of course, we know from the days of Abu Ghraib and so on, their record has not been a good one. It’s been improved in recent times, but at least—so there was some control over the prisons exercised by the US.
Since the beginning of 2009, under what’s called the Status of Forces Agreement, the two governments agreed to transfer custody of the prisons and prisoners to the Iraqi forces. Now, many of those detainees held by the US forces had been held without charge or trial for years without any means to challenge their detention. We’ve not made the claim that all those people are innocent of crimes. If they are accused of crimes, they should be held to account in accordance with international fair trial standards. But many detainees say they’ve been arrested for reasons that they don’t know, on the basis of information from secret informants who themselves may have been tortured or brutalized and named names of people. So, there’s not been an independent process. And here, we saw this Status of Forces Agreement at the end of 2008 making the way for the transfer, with no human rights safeguards written into that, although, quite clearly, US forces know that the record of Iraqi forces is a very grim one.
Now, President Bush started this mess when he tossed the Army Field Manual in the trash heap and pried open pandora's box for military and consultant abuses to begin, but now as more and more prisoners have been leaving U.S. custody and movin into Iraqi custody exactly what rules and management is being maintained to protect the rights of the accused in this country remains unclear, and not likely to improve in the near future, just like the lack of consistent electricity or sewage handling through many of the cities.
As of now the U.S. has only about 200 in it's custody.
Here's video an interview with the wife and mother of two Iraqi victims who describes the torture her husband has endured, including suffocation, electro-shock and a threat to sign a confession of his "crimes" or else be forced to rape his 13 year-old own grandson.
This is an ongoing human rights catastrophe of our own making, and again - as we continue to give up power and place responsibility for this in the hands of an Iraqi Government that has been completely unable to function or form some type of governing coalition - the odds of correcting this remain slim.
Why was it that we deposed and executed Saddam again exactly?
Just when you thought there weren't any Rational Republicans left in the world, Gen. Colin Powell shows up and makes a series of points I haven't seen anyone make in defense of Obama. Not even Democrats.
Apparently the completely and total party purge, will have to wait.
MR. GREGORY: You described him as a transformational figure, to have the potential. Has he lived up to that or do you find yourself disappointed?
GEN. POWELL: I think he has--is a transformational figure. Some people don't like what he's done in transformation, and it's caused him some difficulty. But the fact of the matter is, he did put together a health care reform. It's not perfect, and I think it'll have to be fixed over time, and a lot of people are not happy with that health care reform, but he did it. We still have millions of our fellow citizens who have no insurance, especially children. And so I think he has done transformational work with respect to education, and I think he should get credit for that. But in other aspects, I think he has to focus on now governing, not worrying about the daily, the daily campaign problem or reacting to everything that comes across the cable news channel. I think he needs to sort of get above all of that. Yes, Mr. President, they will kick you like a dog, treat you like a dog, but hey, that's the nature of our system. America's a great country, and this is the way we do our politics.
Powell's defense of the Health Care Bill as Transformative, if imperfect, is something I haven't even seen Congressional Democrats saying on the campaign trail.
Probably because they can essentially expect to get this kind of response from the Left.
Believe it or not Conservative (Paid) Pundit Armstrong Williams actually defends Obama and the Health Care Bill from Jane Hamsher.
I'm sure that even watching this will bring up a lot of anger over the long lost Public Option... but I have to tell everyone This Has to STOP! It's good to see a Democrat get Mad, now if they could just direct some of that anger - AT REPUBLICANS - that would be swell, mm kay?
I don't care what NYCEve says, there ARE price controls in the Health Care Bill, in fact those controls are why Newt Gingrich accused HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of "Soviet Tyranny" because she began pushing back on the bogus claim that current insurance premiums are rising because of "Obamacare".
I discussed this issue in my rec'd diary yesterday on O'Donnell and Gingrich.
Sebelius: It has come to my attention that several insurance carriers have sent out letters to their enrollees falsely blaming premium increases for 2011 on the (Health Care Bill)
...
According to our analysis and some academic and industry experts, any potential premium impact from consumer protections and increased quality improvements should be minimal. We estimate that the effect will be no more than one or two percent.
...
Already my department has provided 46 states with information to strengthen the review and transparency of proposed premiums. Later this fall we will issue a regulation requiring state or federal review of all unreasonable rate increases.
Insurance providers who jack up their rates, the way we saw Anthem Blue Cross in California attempt to raise rates 39% even before Health Reform Passed, can be barred from access to the customers available in the Exchanges and denied Hundreds of $Millions in Grants and subsidies.
They have the freedom to charge what they want to charge, but not to expect customers to be forced to pay them for it.
As a point of fact Jane, Obama didn't say the Public Option was the "Bedrock" of his plan - he said that was the Exchange which would allow the public to the same type of Health Insurance that Federal Employees have was.
The plans you are discussing embody my core belief that Americans should have better choices for health insurance, building on the principle that if they like the coverage they have now, they can keep it, while seeing their costs lowered as our reforms take hold. But for those who don't have such options, I agree that we should create a health insurance exchange -- a market where Americans can one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and prices, and choose the plan that's best for them, in the same way that Members of Congress and their families can.
The Exchange was his Holy Grail, not the Public Option.
What we actually received in the final Health Care Bill included a Replacement for the Public Option, which scored better under the CBO (a $1.5 Trillion improvement over 20 years) and gives the head of the Office of Personnel Management the ability to specifically negotiate the premiums, medical loss ratio, and profit margins of a National/Multi-State Non-Profit Health Care Option to be made available through the Exchanges in 2014.
All-in-all those provisions are far better, and potentially far more cost effective, than each state managing it's own "Public Option" to be made available in their individual Exchanges.
Democrats need to start speaking like Powell and Williams have, they need to start getting Behind the good things that Obama has done and arguing that we need to KEEP going rather than let the howling crazies on the right, pied pipered by Palin and Gingrich take control of Congress and our national agenda.
In the wake of the HBO show "Real Time with Bill Maher" showing this clip of Mad Mad Tea Partier Christine O'Donnell's revelations about "Dabbling with witchcraft" - O'Donnell has proceeded to cancel her scheduled appearances both Face the Nation and Fox News Sunday.
Since Friday the News of O'Donnell's outburst on Politically Incorrect has been bouncing back and forth around the internet like a piece of Flubber in a Shake-N-Bake bag. I first saw it on thinkprogress Friday night, and by midday Saturday it was being tweeted by ABC News.
Yet compared to some of the other ridiculous whoppers she put out there, I don't think this is particularly bad. What she actually describes isn't any "dabbling" on her part, only that she dated someone who had a Satanic Altar. What it really reveals is that she's too tragically soup brain stupid not realize that sitting on an altar, that you don't even know is an altar, doesn't make you a "Satanist" any more than wearing a ton of patchouli makes you a Wiccan.
But then there's a lot of things she doesn't seem to know, and the number one thing is that none of the ridiculous statements coming from people like her or Jan Brewer, Rand Paul or Sharron Angle seem to be really doing them any damage - so why should any of it hurt her any either?
Besides the fact he thinks Businesses have the "Right" to discriminate against anyone they wish - Rand Paul still leads Jack Conway by 8 points. Jan Brewer is on the hunt for a head-less horseman, and can't tell between the Mexico and Arizona borders, but she's still ahead of challenger Terry Goddard by 22 Points. Sharron (2nd Amendment Remedies/we've Spoiled people with Unemployment Insurance that they Paid for) Angle is still within 0.4 points of Harry Reid.
And it's not like these are the only people making frankly nutty statements these days. Newt Gingrich had a big fat two-fer yesterday at the Values Voters Forum.
First he claimed that we need to outlaw judges ruling on the basis Of Sharia Law!
"We should have a federal law that says sharia law cannot be recognized by any court in the United States," Gingrich said to a standing ovation from the audience. The law will let judges know, Gingrich said, that "no judge will remain in office that tried to use sharia law."
Seeing as the constitution already says this, he might have a slight problem implementing that law.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
And
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
The only way to remove a judge, except by election, is by impeachment for Treason, Bribery or High Crimes yet at the same time "There shall be no religious test" for any officer in the United States, which includes judges.
So exactly how do you "remove them" for judging using "Sharia Law" - which they can't really do anyway since it has no Constitution or legal basis - when you can't require or ban any particular religious faith or belief on their part? "No test" means No Test, Newt.
And even if you could get over these two hurdles, wouldn't such a law also be usable to ban the use of Levitican Law in the court room, which would severely undermine both the right-wings long standing efforts at anti-abortion and anti-gay measures?
Would most attorneys have to be banned from the court for wearing mixed fiber suits?
The second crazy thing from Gingrich was his accusation yesterday that Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius has engaged in "Soviet Tyranny, arguing that her entire office should be defunded. What exactly did she do to enact this kind of outrage?
She sent a letter to the Health Insurance Companies asking - not demanding - asking them to stop gouging consumers and trying to blame Obama for it.
GINGRICH: When Secretary Sebelius said the other day she would punish insurance companies that told the truth about the cost of Obamacare, she was behaving exactly in the spirit of the Soviet tyranny. And if she’s going to represent left-wing thought police about Obamacare, she should be forced to resign by the new Congress.
This idea that we the people have to tolerate some bureaucrat being paid with our taxes to dictate free speech to us should end in January by the Republican Congress zeroing out her office and explaining that they would be glad to pay for it when someone is there who recognizes the rights of the American people.
Sebelius was not "dictating speech", she was a) calling Bullshit on insurance industry lies - and b) rightfully using the power of her office as granted by Congress. This is what she said.
It has come to my attention that several insurance carriers have sent out letters to their enrollees falsely blaming premium increases for 2011 on the (Health Care Bill)
...
According to our analysis and some academic and industry experts, any potential premium impact from consumer protections and increased quality improvements should be minimal. We estimate that the effect will be no more than one or two percent.
...
Already my department has provided 46 states with information to strengthen the review and transparency of proposed premiums. Later this fall we will issue a regulation requiring state or federal review of all unreasonable rate increases.
The point here, which almost everyone has missed, is that the PPACA allows for exactly such a regulation, and also authorizes the states to find that as punishment for unreasonably raising current premium rates insurances carriers can be bared from Hundreds of $Millions in Grants and also barred from access to the Health Insurance Exchanges and their 32 Million additional Customers in 2014.
That's the Law.
But when he's not spouting his paranoid "Cordoba Victory Mosque" tirades, Gingrich is claiming it's "Soviet Tyranny" for Federal Government to ask state regulators to do their job and Protect Consumers from getting ripped off? I suppose he thinks yanking salmonella laced poultry off the market is "Tyranny" too?
With Crazy like this regularly emanating from the curled lips of long-time GOP stalwarts like Gingrich - not just brand new fringies like Angle and Paul - exactly what is it that Christine O'Donnell really has to worry about from wee little Chris Wallace?
Unless, there's a TAPE of her - particular a Self-Sex tape (Like the one from former Miss California Carrie The Uber-Christian Champion of "Opposite Sex" Prejean) - or maybe pictures of her on the blood soaked altar of Beelzebub that might be a little too much for her flock of fundie followers to "tra la la" away with eyes closed and fingers in the their ears.
Sometimes the full-on bat-guano crazy is so thick, even a steak knife won't cut it.
Vyan
Update (H.t comments) O'Donnell on politicians who Run from the Media like scared mice (with Human Brains!!)
O'Donnell: Obama is so liberal that he isolates most Americans and he'l never be able to stand the scrutiny of a general election.
Well, that prediction didn't turn out so well did it? Plus in his clip she claims that when there were questions about Hillary Clinton and John McCain "they came out with a press conference and addressed them right away" - when the ironic truth is that two years later Sarah Palin hasn't given a Press Conference and answered questions from a gaggle of the "Lamestream Media" - YET!
This isn't really a question of "smart" - it's a question of being able to function in rational society without being pathologically deluded. Y'wanna know why people like this is popular with their Lipton Tea Bag Crowd? After years of indoctrination and programming by the Fox Disinformation Network and Wingnut Televangelists, they're tragically deluded too. She's one of THEM, one of the Sheeple who automatically believes anything negative about a Democrat and Damn Filthy "Liberal" they hear.
The latest Census Numbers are the 43.6 Million Americans are Living in Poverty, and that over 50 Million now do not have Health Care.
Ed: If we want to keep the progressive agenda alive, we have to maintain our Majorities in the House and the Senate!
He also talks to Ben Jealous about the continue signs of Bigotry and Racism in the Party.
Ben: What I can't understand is why they can't be more outspoken about the racists in their ranks. Why they won't push them out. Look, you can have a party that's based on small government and tax policy, that's great. Let's have that debate, but if you want to let people to stir up the pot and pour gasoline on the flame, that's a problem. I rarely say good things about Glenn Beck, but it was a good move for him to say "Leave your signs at home"
That's true, but then again Glenn is overall a negative influence, particularly on issues of inciting violence - while at the same time claiming the violence will come "From the left".
Ben: We have friends at the ACLU and Tides Foundation who are shaken up as we speak because a man was on his way to shoot up both those locations. He ended up getting caught by the CHP, wearing body armor after a shootout, and they talked to him and asked what he was doing. "Why did you target the Tides Foundation" - Because he'd heard about it on Glenn Beck
Well, I'm not sure he actually said that - he said he wanted to start a "Revolution".
Williams, an anti-government zealot on parole for bank robbery, had hoped to "start a revolution" with the bloodshed at the ACLU and the Tides Foundation in San Francisco, authorities said.
But the fingerprints of his planned attack only lead to one place... Glenn Beck.
According to our searches, since Beck’s show premiered on January 19, 2009, Tides has been mentioned on 31 editions of Fox News programs, 29 of which were editions of Beck’s show (the other two were on Sean Hannity’s program). In most of those references, Beck attacked Tides, often weaving the organization into his conspiracy theories. Two of those Beck mentions occurred during the week before Williams’ shootout.
…
By contrast, since January 19, 2009, according to our Nexis search, Tides was not mentioned on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, or PBS. Not once. This search is not perfect — Nexis does not include, for example, MSNBC’s daytime coverage. But the contrast with Beck’s coverage is stark.
And just what was it former Florida GOP Chair said again?
“In the year since I issued a prepared statement regarding President Obama speaking to the nation’s school children, I have learned a great deal about the party I so deeply loved and served,” Greer’s Monday statement said. “Unfortunately, I found that many within the GOP have racist views and I apologize to the President for my opposition to his speech last year and my efforts to placate the extremists who dominate our Party today. My children and I look forward to the President’s speech.”
Greer declined to name names, but said, “I had to discipline state members who promoted racists [sic] comments.” “It is not my belief that the Republican Party as a whole or even a majority of Republicans have racist views,” Greer elaborated on Tuesday. “I just believe there are some in the party that don’t think minority outreach should be a priority, that moving in that direction doesn’t help the party because it encourages more minorities to vote,” he explained. Greer added that as chairman, he had “to keep certain segments of the party happy,” and that he worries “there is no place for moderates in the Republican Party” today.
A year ago this guy was sounding just like the rest of them, claiming that Obama was trying to indoctrinate our children into his socialist agenda, but now - that's he's under indictment - he has a different tune.
The problem is that what he's saying ring completely true. The extremist are running the table in the GOP. All the hard-core Birchers and 700 Clubsters have had the fear of God put into them by the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama and their having one great big freak out session over it. These people aren't new, they've been around forever, they're just getting LOUDER and much more intolerant.
If we can move the needles enough to win just one of the above races in the House, and one in the Senate (not counting Boxer since she's leading, for the moment) - we keep control of BOTH!
