Health Care Briefs
- NYT (in the form of Paul Krugman) catches up to previous reporting by PSACOT (to the effect that President Obama's failure to take proper action with respect to the Treasury Department controlling big banks and the Justice Department (or special prosecutor) investigating and prosecuting torture and other crimes undercut Obama's message, popularity, and support among those who worked tirelessly for him without pay and voted for him.
- Fear Grows Like A Weed in The Middle Of Rahm Emanuel's Message Void
- Is Max Baucus the New Phil Gramm?
"Breaking Baucus: "I Want A Public Option" - Rebutting Healthcare Conventional Wisdom
Remarkable what Firedoglake and the First Amendment can do so far: 60 Members of Congress Say "No Public Plan, No Conference" - Blue Dogs Bite, Unions Bite Back
- Dean Challenges Obama to Deliver Reform
- If Obama Discards Public Option, What's Left of Reform?
- Rahm: If This All Goes South, Baucus Owns It
- Good experts dedicated to their patients:
- Not Making the Sale
- The Public Option's Last Stand, and the Public's
- House Progressive: White House Could Lose 100 Votes If He Scraps Public Option
- Is Nancy-Ann DeParle really the best choice out of 300,000,000+ Americans to direct Pres. Obama's efforts to reform the health care system?
Obama health czar directed firms in trouble
"Named by Obama in March as director of the White House Office of Health Reform, making $158,000 a year, DeParle is the point person in pushing for the administration's plans for changing health care and the ways Americans pay for it — changes in which her former companies have a great deal at stake. Critics see DeParle’s re-emergence as a classic case of Washington "revolving door" syndrome, despite Obama’s suggestions that he would shut that door."
Note that some of the companies are dealing with legal issues - The Cult and the Protests
- Why markets can’t cure healthcare
- Frank to Woman Comparing Obama to Hitler: What Planet Are You From?. Meanwhile, Limbaugh Cheers On Woman With Obama-As-Hitler Sign At Barney Frank Event. Given Dick Armey's position on Meet The Press on 8/16/09, how long will we have to wait for Armey to tell Limbaugh he's wrong?
- Woman Who Shouted 'Heil Hitler' Says She's Against Reform
- More Presidential Clarity Needed
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Afghan Briefs
- From Robert Greenwald
Rethink Afghanistan (Part 6): Security - Majority in Post-ABC Poll Say Afghan War Not Worth Fighting. Few Express Confidence in Lasting Results From Thursday's Election
- Pentagon Worries Led to Command Change
Article makes clear Afghanistan is not about a military threat but about gladhanding Washington politicians and the so-called elites who sold their country down the river by pushing it into an unnecessary, unprovoked, illegal, and unconstitutional peacetime attack on a foreign nation. key quote from McKiernan: The war in Afghanistan, he said, "will not be decided by any one leader -- military or civilian -- from any one nation." - U.S. Gen. Urges Release Of Bagram's Detainees
- A Friedman unit is 6 months [the unit is named after Thomas Friedman (allegedly an opinionated columnist for The New York Times but who may in fact function as a stenographer (as opposed to a columnist with his own opinions) for those who still think going into Iraq many years ago was a good idea) who for many years whenever asked said victory in Iraq (or at least a turning point or the light at the end of the tunnel) was 6 months away]. The current projection for Afghanistan from Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen is 2or 3 Friedman units until the U.S. Armed Forces have to start turning things around:
U.S. Military Says Its Force in Afghanistan Is Insufficient - Ridge says Bush Administration pushed to raise terror alert for re-election
"Ridge was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings; was "blindsided" by the FBI in morning Oval Office meetings because the agency withheld critical information from him; found his urgings to block Michael Brown from being named head of the emergency agency blamed for the Hurricane Katrina disaster ignored; and was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush's re-election, something he saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over." - Notorious Afghan warlord returns to help Karzai
Afghan drug trade thrives with help, and neglect, of officials
Returned Afghan general throws weight behind Karzai
Dick Cheney's kind of guy. - Sad but true cartoon
- The Afghan pipe dream
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Briefs
- First, in the Washington Post, It's Time to Legalize Drugs, by experienced police officers Peter Moskos and Stanford "Neill" Franklin. Now this: Mexico decriminalizes small-scale drug possession
- C.I.A. Sought Blackwater's Help in Plan to Kill
Jihadists.
Contrary to what the spokesperson suggests in paragraph 10,
what reasonable confidence can Director Panetta or anyone else have that
he "knew" anything about what actually happened?
Blackwater: CIA Assassins?
Comment on Scahill on Blackwater
CIA's Blackwater Circular Firing Squad
"What did Cheney order CIA not to tell Congress about in 2002?"
"I wonder whether they didn't attack Panetta so aggressively because this is still going on in some pocket of the government."
PSACOT wonders a) whether the sun rises in the east and b) whether the Pope is Catholic
More Blackwater news - Iglesias: "I Feel One Hundred Percent Vindicated"
- Rove Op-Ed Reveals He Had Inside Information About Probe
- Democrats remember there is, in fact, a First Amendment: Christie Getting Hit Hard By Media, Dem Attacks. And The $46,000 Question: What Are The Terms Of Chris Christie's Loan to NJ's First AUSA? Also, Below-Market Loan Gift to a Prosecutor in His Office and Christie Failed to Disclose Loan to Federal Prosecutor and Christie Taking Heat Over Undisclosed Loan To Former Employee In U.S. Attorney's Office and More on the dubious Chris Christie
Typical Watergate style Republican stonewall (tends to happen when a Democrat gets elected President and neglects to replace every United States Attorney (with someone not pre-approved by Karl Rove) as his employers effectively ordered him to do last November):
Christie's AUSAs Still Won't Respond To Corzine's FOIA Requests - Rahm and The Torture Investigation
As Valerie Jarrett said, put enough pressure on Obama and us to make us act properly. Ok, how about: Fire Rahm and start a torture investigation or we'll run someone else for President in 2012 - Interesting: Did Alito or Roberts, or both, uphold their oath and the Constitution rather than joining Scalomas (Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas)(according to some observers one justice casting two votes) Troy Davis Gets A New Hearing
- Leading the charge to have corporations stop supporting racist commentary by Glenn Beck
- Former agent: Gun-toters creating ‘atmosphere of danger’ for Obama and Gun Rights Advocate: An Entire Armed Audience At A Presidential Event Would Be 'Fine'
- Washington Post breaks its own rules on using anonymous sources: Pay-2-Play Connolly's Sources Are Mystified
- Judge orders release of Yemeni from Guantánamo
- FBI trained white supremacist to incite others: lawyer
- Milwaukee mayor says attack got 'ugly' quickly and press conference
- My Bad! Woman's House Mistakenly Auctioned by Bank
- Stiglitz appears to agree with PRC position Stiglitz Calls for New Global Reserve System
- Let's See Who Else Owes Howard Dean an Apology Today
- The Anti-Bush or Bush Lite?
Question: How's that working out for us?
Answer: Not well. - By all means let's cut the banks even more breaks and even less regulation than the almost non-existent amount of regulation provided by Geithner and Bernanke
Analyst Bove sees 150-200 more U.S. bank failures - Yes those Republicans sure are fiscally conservative. They really watch out for taxpayers dollars.They care about caring for the veterans and protecting the nation too as long as they can steal as much public money as they wish.
VA workers given millions in bonuses as vets await checks