No, We're Not a Broken People | Let's Try Democracy

No, We're Not a Broken People | Let's Try Democracy

7 Great Websites for Information on Healthcare Reform

By Mary Ward, Guest Contributer

If you’re like most people, you’ve been interested in following the healthcare debate as it happens. But, if you’re busy like most people, you may find it difficult to keep up with this ever changing debate. Following are some great resources for keeping up with the healthcare debate – and they’re all online.

1. Twitter – Twitter’s not just a site for keeping up with your friends, it’s also a great way to keep up with the news. There are 25 different feeds on Twitter that provide updates on healthcare reform as they happen. Some of them are admittedly a bit biased, but some are also dedicated to simply delivering developments.


2. Senate Health Education and Pension Committee – This is a link to the committee that started it all! This committee formerly chaired by Senator Ted Kennedy keeps track of the bill as it progresses. On this site you can see the bill as authored as well as changes to it as it moves through the process. This is one of the few places where you can read the bill in its entirety with no commentary.


3. White House Office of Management and Budget – Peter Orszag is the chief of the Office of Management and Budget at the White House, and he posts a regular blog, which is lately often about healthcare reform. This is a great place for the White House take on things. New happenings are generally commented on frequently.


4. The Treatment – This is a blog, but it is written by Jonathan Cohn, the author of “Sick- the Untold Story of America’s Health Care Crisis – and the People Who Pay the Price”. Cohn is extremely knowledgeable and works hard to write a fair and informative blog.


5. Side By Side Comparison of Major Healthcare Proposals – Authored by the Kaiser Family Foundation, this site does a good job of comparing various major healthcare reform proposals. It takes a lot of the work out of the comparison for the consumer.


6. Covering Health – A website for journalists who report on healthcare, this site keeps very up to date on happenings regarding the healthcare debate. Since journalists use this website to assist them in their reporting on healthcare, you can count on it to be up to date and factual.


7. Healthcare Reform 2009 – This is the website for the New England Journal of Medicine. Most of the site requires membership, but anyone can access their extensive coverage on healthcare reform. This site offers commentary from several different points of view, and most of their commentators are experts in a particular area of healthcare.

There’s plenty of coverage out there right now on healthcare reform. Regardless of your opinion on the subject, you can find someone who’ll report exactly what you believe. But, if you want to know what’s really happening, these websites should give you plenty of information that is fairly reported and balanced. Sometimes, in any debate, the hardest information to come by is the factual information.

Mary Ward is a freelance writer and likes writing about medical education topics, such as how to research and choose among online X-ray tech schools, how to apply for online college grants, and more.

Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009

From Project Censored:

#1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation
# 2 Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA
# 3 InfraGard: The FBI Deputizes Business
# 4 ILEA: Is the US Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America?
# 5 Seizing War Protesters’ Assets
# 6 The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
# 7 Guest Workers Inc.: Fraud and Human Trafficking
# 8 Executive Orders Can Be Changed Secretly
#9 Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Testify
# 10 APA Complicit in CIA Torture
# 11 El Salvador’s Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror
# 12 Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind
# 13 Tracking Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq
# 14 Mainstreaming Nuclear Waste
# 15 Worldwide Slavery
# 16 Annual Survey on Trade Union Rights
# 17 UN’s Empty Declaration of Indigenous Rights
# 18 Cruelty and Death in Juvenile Detention Centers
# 19 Indigenous Herders and Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction
# 20 Marijuana Arrests Set New Record
# 21 NATO Considers “First Strike” Nuclear Option
# 22 CARE Rejects US Food Aid
# 23 FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs
# 24 Japan Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror
# 25 Bush’s Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer

Deborah Orr: A Tribute to the Propaganda Box

Sean Madden (inoodle.com) tackles one of my all time pet peeves: our mindless addiction to the overwhelmingly mindless Boob Tube. It's an interesting piece worth checking out here in its entirety.

Looking at Today's Financial Crisis Through a Historical Lens

This is a MUST READ:

BANKERS MANIFESTO 1917/1934 - iReport.com

It's difficult to read the documents linked above and not join the ranks of the "conspiracy nuts" of the world. One cannot help but draw parallels to our current financial crisis and come to logical conspiratorial conclusions.

Am I wrong?

Doctor's Orders?

Republicans claim that the new law says the government will tell physicians what procedures can and can't be performed. It doesn't.

read more | digg story

Did Obama pay for Hamas-affiliated terrorists to emigrate to the United States?

More lies circulating from the Wingnuts: FactCheck.org sets the record straight.

High Noon: Geithner v. The American Oligarchs

Bill Moyers interviews former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), MIT Sloan School of Management professor and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Simon Johnson examines President Obama's plan for economic recovery.

Broadcast February 13, 2009







For further information, see Simon Johnson's website: The Baseline Scenario

SOURCE: Information Clearing House - ICH

Petition Attorney General Eric Holder to Appoint a Special Prosecuter

Formal Petition to Attorney General-Designate Eric Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in War Crimes.

Sponsored by Docudharma.com and Democrats.com.

Blacklisting Progressives: The Untold Story Beneath the Daschle Headlines

THIS IS A MUST READ:

David Sirota (Open Left) reports:

"Amid the swirling headlines about Tom Daschle withdrawing his nomination for Health and Human Service Secretary is a very dark, very foreboding story that tells us a lot more about what to expect from the Obama administration than a single nomination fight. It is a story that every single voter who supported Barack Obama because of his progressive economic platform should know about - and worry about...."

Putting Torture Behind Us

"Rather than lose forever the chance to grow from our missteps," Nicholas Kristof (NYT) has a interesting "proposal for confronting Guantánamo without distracting from the work on the economic crisis."

Photo Credit: Nicholas D. Kristof. (Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)

Feingold: Give Appointment Powers to the People

Senator to Push For Constitutional Amendment

John Nichols (The Capital Times) reports:

"Following New York Governor David Paterson's controversial selection of Kirsten Gillibrand to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy created by the resignation of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and with the impeachment trial of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich for abuses of office allegedly including the bartering off of the vacant Senate seat of President Barack Obama, Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold wants to require that Senate vacancies be filled by the voters rather than individual governors...."

Continue Reading.

The People vs. Dick Cheney

Karen Greenberg answers the question:

"Will Obama bring the Bushies to account? Will Congress? Some local DA? A judge in Europe? Anyone...?"

Illustration: Roberto Parada (Mother Jones)

Who Will Throw the Book at the Bushies?

In a companion piece to "The People vs. Dick Cheney," Jonathan Schwarz reports:

"If Congress won't, these folks might...."

Obama, Pakistan, terrorism | Salon

Obama, Pakistan, terrorism | Juan Cole | Salon:

"The president-elect wants to work with the Pakistani government to "stamp out" terror. It's not nearly that simple." Continue reading.

Photo Credit: Juan Cole. The Vineyard of the Saker: Amy Goodman interviews Professor Juan Cole on Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Kurdistan

Technorati tags: Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Obama, Foreign Policy, Juan Cole

Vote to Hold the Bush Administration Accountable

UPDATE

An open letter to Barack Obama

Dear President-Elect Obama:

While I understand your desire to put the mistakes and failures of the Bush administration behind us and to focus on the future with a positive agenda of change, I believe it is absolutely necessary to the credibility of your promise of change that you investigate the abuses of the Bush administration and hold accountable anyone who has abused his or her power of office or participated in criminal acts.

Without holding government responsible for past abuses, there is nothing to preclude those same abuses from recurring. When you take the oath of office on January 20th, you will swear to uphold the Constitution. You cannot do so while allowing those who have disgraced it to fail to pay consequences for their actions.

Those who voted for you are passionately hopeful that you will live up to your campaign rhetoric and act boldly to do what is right for our country--no matter the political cost. We are facing unprecedented problems domestically and internationally. We need bold actions, truth, and real solutions.

I implore you to do what is necessary to restore the faith of Americans in our country's leadership by upholding your duties to protect the Constitution.

Thank you.

EVERYONE PLEASE VOTE TO APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTER BY CLICKING ON THE BADGE ABOVE.

Related:

• Arianna Huffington: Memo to Obama: Moving Forward Doesn't Mean You Can't Also Look Back


• Paul Krugman | Forgive and Forget? | NYTimes.com:

  "...[A]bout Mr. Obama: while it’s probably in his short-term political interests to forgive and forget, next week he’s going to swear to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s not a conditional oath to be honored only when it’s convenient...."

• Forcing Obama’s Hand on Torture Prosecutions | The Opinionator Blog | NYTimes.com:

  "...The former chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and general counsel for the Department of the Army has spoken. Her clear words have been picked up around the world. And that takes the prospects of accountability and criminal investigation onto another level. For the Obama administration, the door to the do-nothing option is now closed. That is why today may come to be seen as the turning point."

• Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Holder Can't Prosecute Bush Abuses Too Many Democrats Aided and Abetted Them


• Obama Has to Hold Bush Accountable for the Laws He Broke | Elizabeth Holtzman, The Nation | AlterNet:

  "Obama cannot let former Bush administration officials get away with breaking the law without violating his own oath of office...."

Technorati tags: War crimes, Prosecute, Special Prosecuter, Bush, Cheney, Bush Administration, torture, Justice, Geneva Convention, Paul Krugman

Exclusive: Cheney’s admissions to the CIA leak prosecutor and FBI

Murray Waas reports:

"Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a still-highly confidential FBI report, admitted to federal investigators that he rewrote talking points for the press in July 2003 that made it much more likely that the role of then-covert CIA-officer Valerie Plame in sending her husband on a CIA-sponsored mission to Africa would come to light.

Cheney conceded during his interview with federal investigators that in drawing attention to Plame’s role in arranging her husband’s Africa trip reporters might also unmask her role as CIA officer...."

Continue reading.

Technorati tags: Murray Waas, CIA Leak Case, Plamegate, Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson, Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby

If They Won't Impeach, Mail Your Sneaks

If Congress won't impeach him, the least we can do is send him our shoes.

Please visit progressive.org and Shoe Bush Away!

Technorati tags: The Progressive, shoes, Bush, protest, shoe Bush away, activism

Two Cheers for Rod Blagojevich

Frank Rich | NYTimes.com:

"ROD BLAGOJEVICH is the perfect holiday treat for a country fighting off depression. He gift-wraps the ugliness of corruption in the mirthful garb of farce. From a safe distance outside Illinois, it’s hard not to laugh at the “culture of Chicago,” where even the president-elect’s Senate seat is just another commodity to be bought and sold.

But the entertainment is escapist only up to a point. What went down in the Land of Lincoln is just the reductio ad absurdum of an American era where both entitlement and corruption have been the calling cards of power. Blagojevich’s alleged crimes pale next to the larger scandals of Washington and Wall Street. Yet those who promoted and condoned the twin national catastrophes of reckless war in Iraq and reckless gambling in our markets have largely escaped the accountability that now seems to await the Chicago punk nabbed by the United States attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald...." Continue Reading.

Photo Credit: Frank Rich. (Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)

Technorati tags: Rod Blagojevich, Frank Rich, New York Times, Frauds, Corruption, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Politics, Government, United States, op ed

������� It’s not about them…it’s about us

�������Why We Must Prosecute Bush And His Administration For War Crimes : Information Clearing House : Mike Ferner:

"...We are complicit in the horrors of this administration. We can claim neither ignorance nor innocence. We are complicit by the very fact that we are citizens of the United States, more so because we paid for the war, and even more so for this reason. Listen to a village sheik I met in Iraq describe it better than I ever could...."

More on this subject from Glen Greenwald:

� Senate report links Bush to detainee homicides; media yawns�������������
: Information Clearing House : Glen Greenwald:

" ...The culpability which the Report assigns for these war crimes is vast in scope and unambiguous....

[...]

...Instead, TV pundits were consumed with righteous anger over the petty, titillating, sleazy Rod Blagojevich scandal, competing with one another over who could spew the most derision and scorn for this pitiful, lowly, broken individual and his brazen though relatively inconsequential crimes...."

And then there is this:

��������������� Cheney Admits Authorizing Detainee's Torture : Information Clearing House:

"Monday, outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney made a startling statement on a nation-wide, televised broadcast.

When asked by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl whether he approved of interrogation tactics used against a so-called "high value prisoner" at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison, Mr. Cheney, in a break from his history of being press-shy, admitted to giving official sanctioning of torture...."

Video is from ABC's World News, broadcast Dec. 15, 2008.

Technorati tags: Torture, War Crimes, Cheney, Bush, Bush administration, Glen Greenwald, Mike Ferner, video, youtube

Foreign Policy: The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2008

This is a MUST READ. Be sure to check out #6: "Greenhouse Gas Comes from Solar Panels."

What you don't know can hurt you.

Technorati tags: Foreign Policy, top ten, stories, missed, solar panels, solar energy

A Quiet Windfall For U.S. Banks

Amit R. Paley, Washington Post, reports:

With Attention on Bailout Debate, Treasury Made Change to Tax Policy

"The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention.

But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion.

The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several days, as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill. When they found out, some legislators were furious. Some congressional staff members have privately concluded that the notice was illegal. But they have worried that saying so publicly could unravel several recent bank mergers made possible by the change and send the economy into an even deeper tailspin...."

Technorati tags: Washington Post, Amit R. Paley, Corporate Taxes, Congress, Bailout, U.S. Economy, Banks, Windfall, Treasury Dept., news

Obama Plans Guantanamo Close, US Trials

MATT APUZZO AND LARA JAKES JORDAN (AP) report:

"President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice...."

Technorati tags: Barack Obama, Gitmo, Guantanamo, Justice, Politics, news

It Still Felt Good the Morning After

Frank Rich | NYTimes.com:

"ON the morning after a black man won the White House, America’s tears of catharsis gave way to unadulterated joy.

Our nation was still in the same ditch it had been the day before, but the atmosphere was giddy. We felt good not only because we had breached a racial barrier as old as the Republic. Dawn also brought the realization that we were at last emerging from an abusive relationship with our country’s 21st-century leaders. The festive scenes of liberation that Dick Cheney had once imagined for Iraq were finally taking place — in cities all over America...."

Continue reading.

Photo Credit: Frank Rich. (Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)

Other Reactions To Election and Obama's Victory:

• Nicholas D. Kristof | Obama and the War on Brains | NYTimes.com


• Tears to Remember | Judith Warner | NYTimes.com


• Thomas Friedman | Show Me the Money | NYTimes.com


• Al Gore | The Climate for Change | NYTimes.com


• The World's View of Obama's Win | TIME

Technorati tags: 2008 Presidential Election, Frank Rich, New York Times, Politics, Barack Obama, Bush, Voting, Voters, commentary

Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions

Stem Cell, Climate Rules Among Targets of President-Elect's Team

Washington Post:

"Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team...."

Congratulations, America

I have never been more proud of my country than I am tonight.
Congratulations to President Barack Obama.
And congratulations to America for reclaiming her soul.

The man for the moment: Hillary Clinton makes the case for Barack Obama

Hillary Clinton writes:

"On Tuesday, New Yorkers and Americans have a big decision to make. Do we continue to pursue the policies of the past eight years or do we chart a new course? I believe we can and we must chart a new course led by President Barack Obama...."

Continue Reading.

Photo Credit: (UPI Photo/Matthew Healey)

Technorati tags: Endorsements, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, 2008 Election, Politics

SIGN OF THE TIMES

Huffington Post reports:

After Obama signs were taken down in Placitas, New Mexico, Gary Priester, a graphic designer, and a neighbor, went to work putting them back up.

People went down the main highway through Placitas, New Mexico where I live and removed the Obama signs. I had a neighbor who has a large format printer print some signs which I put in place of the missing signs that read OBAMA SIGN REMOVED BY REPUBLICANS - (OBAMA LOGO) YOU CAN STEAL OUR SIGNS - BUT YOU WON'T STEAL THE ELECTION.

Technorati tags: Politics, Political Signs, stealing signs, stolen signs, Obama, Republicans, 2008 Election

How McCain Could Win

ABSOLUTELY MUST READ BEFORE YOU VOTE:

Greg Palast offers a sobering dose of reality about this election:

It's November 5 and the nation is in shock. Media blame it on the "Bradley effect": Americans supposedly turned into Klansmen inside the voting booth, and Barack Obama turned up with 6 million votes less than calculated from the exit polls. Florida came in for McCain and so did Indiana. Colorado, despite the Democrats' Rocky Mountain high after the Denver convention, stayed surprisingly Red. New Mexico, a state where Anglos are a minority, went McCain by 300 votes, as did Virginia.

That's the nightmare. Here's the cold reality....

Continue Reading.

Photo Credit: Indymedia.org

ALSO MUST READ:

• MotherJones Blog: How to Protect Your Vote


• t r u t h o u t | Is the Election About to Be Stolen in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Elsewhere?

Technorati tags: truthout, Greg Palast, Vote fraud, caging, voter suppression, steal election, exit polls, purge voters, provisional ballots, GOP, voter verification, Help America Vote Act

The Coming McCain Military Draft

Juan Cole (Informed Comment):

"...McCain is not about the military status quo. He is ambitious for further conflicts. The current US military is too small to handle yet another front, and to maintain, as McCain insists they must, the current ones.

My friends, there is only one way for McCain to make good on his hawkish foreign policy and his virtual pledge of more wars.

McCain will need to institute a draft for young American men (and, given the times, maybe for women as well).

If you are in your late teens and early twenties, or if you are a parent of a person that age, and you have strong views on a renewed draft, it should come into your decision about whether to vote on Tuesday and for whom."

Technorati tags: Juan Cole, Informed Comment, John McCain, draft, military, foreign policy, wars, 2008 campaign

�The Evidence Establishes, Without Question, That Republican Rule is Dangerous

MUST READ:

John Dean:

�Why It Is High Time to Fix This Situation, for the Good of the Nation

"Occasionally, during the past eight years of writing this column, I have addressed the remarkably dangerous manner in which Republican Party officials rule the nation when they control one or more of the three branches of the federal government. Over the same period, I've also made this argument, even more directly and loudly, in three books on the subject.

In this column, I will be more pointed on this subject than I have ever been, while also repeating a few key facts that I have raised earlier -- because Election Day 2008 now provides the only clear remedy for the ills of Republican rule...."

�Continue Reading.

Original Article (findlaw.com)

Technorati tags: ohn Dean, Republican Party, Abuse of Power, Conservatives, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, 2008 Election, President, Republican Rule

Arizona Star Endorses Barack Obama for president

Barack Obama for president | www.azstarnet.com �:

"We see America the way Barack Obama sees America.
Our future requires a steady, intelligent and, as former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, a 'transformational' leader to guide us into a new era. Obama brings deep intellectual curiosity, equanimity and discipline...."

Technorati tags: Arizona, Arizona Star, Tucson, Endorsement, Barack Obama, 2008 Presidential Election, news

Should McCain Have Been Expelled From the Senate?

MUST READ:

Sahil Mahtani, The New Republic, reports (via t r u t h o u t):

"��Should he have been expelled from the Senate? Exclusive evidence reveals the Keating Five story you've never heard...."

Read all about it here.

Photo credit: In this November 20, 1990 file photo, Senator John McCain, R-Arizona (left) sits with his attorney during a Senate Ethics Committee hearing on the Keating Five Savings and Loan Scandal. Carefully timed leaks during the investigation successfully deflected the blame from McCain to his other Senate colleagues. Evidence continues to surface that points to John McCain as the possible source of those leaks. (Photo: John Duricka / AP)

Technorati tags: John McCain, Keating Five, The New Republic, Ethics, Abuse of Power, Sahil Mahtani

Ron Reagan: Making It Official: I Endorse Barack Obama

Ron Reagan: Making It Official: I Endorse Barack Obama:

"I assumed most people already knew that I had supported Obama. Anyone who has spent five minutes listening to my program would have known that. But if it helped to make it official, I'm happy to make it so...."

Photo Credit: nndb.com

Technorati tags: Air America, Barack Obama, Campaign 2008, Obama, Reagan Obama, Ron Reagan, Ron Reagan Barack Obama, Ron Reagan Endorses Barack Obama, Ron Reagan Obama, The Ron Reagan Show, Politics News

Obama Camp Video Warns Against GOP Voter Suppression (VIDEO)

The Obama campaign has put a video on voter suppression called "Making it Count: How to Protect Your Vote & Spot Dirty Tricks."

Watch:



Trouble viewing this video? Click Here.

Technorati tags: Barack Obama, Obama Campaign, Obama Video, Video, Voter Suppression, Voter Suppression Video, Politics News

Original Mavericks To McCain: "You're No Maverick"

Brave New Films talks to the actual original Mavericks, who aren't too fond of John McCain using their name:



Trouble viewing this video? Click Here.

Fontaine Maverick, great-great-granddaughter of Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870) explains the origin of the expression -- and why it shouldn't apply to the Republican candidate:

Samuel Maverick was a Texas cattleman, land baron and politician, so influential that he was one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Fiercely independent and equally liberal. Sam became well known for what he didn't do, however. It seems, according to Fontaine, that he had taken some cattle in lieu of a debt he was owed. He let them roam on an island off of Texas, and for whatever reason, didn't brand them. So, any unbranded cattle became known as Maverick's. Now, this more than likely wasn't an act of revolt. No one knows for sure, but Maverick really wasn't much of a cattleman. He was also shrewd, later on in life if cattle weren't branded, he would often claim them.

Sam was also very spirited and free minded. It was because of this that in 1867 the term Maverick was first cited as being used to describe someone with an independent streak, someone not branded.

...

"Mavericks believe everybody has a right to be in America so long as they obey the law," Fontaine told me. "Grandfather Maury was no coward. He chased the Klan right out of San Antonio once, stood up to the mob... Maury was burned in effigy in San Antonio, for his defense of members of the Communist Party's right to assemble, for his defense of the Hispanic community, support for those who didn't have a voice. "

...

"My brother called me from California last week during the VP debate and told me if they said the world Maverick one more time, he was going to shoot the TV. Of course, he doesn't have a gun, but, you get the point. My mother was just quoted in the New York Times about how we feel McCain is branded, Palin is branded, they are Republicans, and true Mavericks carry no brand. It's driving our family crazy, upsetting us and the legacy of my family, and we really with the campaign would stop misusing the word and the phrase.

"John McCain on a few occasions has shown that he can go against his party, but how hard is that when his party has been wrong on so many things as we now see," she continued. "But he has a brand. And Palin, I'm not sure she even knows the history of the word of or my family, but one thing is clear to all of my family, she truly is not a Maverick."

Thanks to Huffington Post.

Technorati tags: John McCain, Maverick, Original Maverick, video, Brave New Films, Politics, Youtube, Republican Party, Original Mavericks, 2008 Campaign

Palin Prank Call: Incompetence Caught on Tape

The AP reports that a Quebec comedy duo, posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, have successfully prank called Sarah Palin:

"Sarah Palin has unwittingly taken a prank call from a Canadian comedian posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and told him she may make a good president in eight years.
The Republican vice presidential nominee discussed politics, the perils of hunting with Vice President Dick Cheney, and Sarkozy's "beautiful wife," in the telephone call released Saturday...."

Original Post: HERE.

Technorati tags: Palin Prank, Palin Prank Call, Palin Pranked, Palin Punked, Palin Sarkozy, Politics, youtube, video

Reversal of Fortune

Joseph E. Stiglitz explains how John McCain's policies would be disastrous for the country:

Joseph E. Stiglitz, Vanity Fair (via Truthout):

"Describing how ideology, special-interest pressure, populist politics, and sheer incompetence have left the US economy on life support, the author puts forth a clear, commonsense plan to reverse the Bush-era follies and regain America's economic sanity...."

Bush: A Last Push To Deregulate

While Americans are distracted by the Presidential Election, the Bush Cabal continues to push America even further down their path of destruction....

R. Jeffrey Smith (washingtonpost.com):

"The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.

The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo...."

Technorati tags: Bush, deregulation, environment, industry

The McCain-Palin Camp's Final Act of Intellectual Dishonesty?

CQ Politics | David Corn:

"I've listened to Sarah Palin several times in the past few days. (It's my job--what I get the big bucks to do.) And as she whips up the crowds that come to her rallies, her biggest argument against Barack Obama is that he WILL RAISE YOUR TAXES. Did you get that? Oh, you missed the nuance. HE WILL RAISE YOUR TAXES. And her case is built on two facts. But they are not facts--or not full facts. And though these attacks have been debunked repeatedly by mainstream media factcheckers, Palin and John McCain keep using them. Call me naive, but I still find it surprising that they believe they can get away with such serial misrepresenting (or lying). So for the last time--I hope--let's look at these two claims...." Continue reading.

Photo credit: A Barack Obama ad quotes press remarks about John McCain's campaign. Democrats have added a ''Count the Lies'' Web page. (YouTube.com) The Boston Globe

Technorati tags: taxes, tax cuts, Obama, McCain, Palin, Factcheck, lies, distortions, economy, 2008 Campaign

The President: America's Role Model

Before you vote, ask yourself what kind of role model you want for your children and for America's children?

John McCain and Sarah Palin, who appeal to our basest instincts, offering more of the division, hatred, and win-by-any-means-politics we've seen for far too many years?

Or Barack Obama and Joe Biden who inspire us to be better people, to take responsibility for ourselves and for one another, and to aspire to our higher selves?

Ask yourself what lessons your children are learning from the astounding lack of truthfulness and ethics displayed by the McCain campaign?

What would your child think if they picked up the phone and heard one of John McCain's hateful robo calls?

What will you say to your children when they point to John McCain's lies and distortions as reason enough for them to lie to you?

Is that the kind of moral behavior you want to instill in your children?

Think, people, before you vote.

What kind of world do you want for your children?

Zinn: Vote for Obama but direct action needed

Howard Zinn says real change will come when people take direct action to stop house foreclosures

The Real News Network:

Howard Zinn says real change will come when people take direct action to stop house foreclosures

Howard Zinn says vote against McCain, vote for Obama. Even though Obama does not represent any fundamental change, he creates an opening for a possibility of change. Obama will not fulfill that potential for change, unless he is enveloped by a social movement, which is angry enough, powerful enough, insistent enough, that he fills his abstract phrases about change with some content. We need direct action, because only that kind of indignation is going to have some affect on the people in Washington.

Bio

Howard Zinn is an American historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and playwright. He is best known as author of the best-seller 'A People's History of the United States'. Zinn has been active in the Civil Rights and the anti-war movements in the United States. Zinn was raised in a working-class family in Brooklyn, and flew bombing missions for the United States in World War II, an experience he now points to in shaping his opposition to war. In 1956, he became a professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, a school for black women, where he soon became involved in the Civil rights movement, which he participated in as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNCC and chronicled, in his book SNCC The New Abolitionists. Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd and mentored a young student named Alice Walker. When he was fired in 1963 for insubordination related to his protest work, he moved to Boston University, where he became a leading critic of the Vietnam War.

Technorati tags: Howard Zinn, Barack Obama, 2008 Election, President, Endorsement, Politics

Chomsky: In swing states vote Obama

People should vote against McCain and for Obama - but without illusions

Chomsky says while it's true that the two parties are essentially like factions of one party - the party of business - the differences do matter to ordinary people. If you are living in a swing state, there is nothing wrong with picking the lesser of two evils.

The Real News Network:

Noam Chomsky: Current crisis demonstrates anti-democratic nature of financial system

In part two of their interview, Paul Jay asks Prof. Noam Chomsky to weigh-in on the dominant subject of the day, the economic crisis. While Prof. Chomsky agrees that the current crisis is a very serious one that will have broad implications for the broader society, he points out that the foreseeable Medicare-induced economic crisis will "dwarf" the current one in magnitude. Furthermore, Prof. Chomsky develops his contention that democracy is hindered by unrestrained free markets. While on the other hand, state-restricted markets are democratic by design in that they allow people take control--through their government--of financial institutions to force them to include externalities and risks to the broader population in their decision-making. These factors are such that profit-seeking enterprises will not accommodate them when left to their own volition, given that free markets do not put a price on these externalities.

Bio:

Noam Chomsky has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. His works include: Aspects of the Theory of Syntax; Cartesian Linguistics; Sound Pattern of English (with Morris Halle); Language and Mind; American Power and the New Mandarins; At War with Asia; For Reasons of State; Peace in the Middle East?; Reflections on Language; The Political Economy of Human Rights, Vol. I and II (with E.S. Herman); Rules and Representations; Lectures on Government and Binding; Towards a New Cold War; Radical Priorities; Fateful Triangle; Knowledge of Language; Turning the Tide; Pirates and Emperors; On Power and Ideology; Language and Problems of Knowledge; The Culture of Terrorism; Manufacturing Consent (with E.S. Herman); Necessary Illusions; Deterring Democracy; Year 501; Rethinking Camelot: JFK, the Vietnam War and US Political Culture; Letters from Lexington; World Orders, Old and New; The Minimalist Program; Powers and Prospects; The Common Good; Profit Over People; The New Military Humanism; New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind; Rogue States; A New Generation Draws the Line; 9-11; and Understanding Power.

Technorati tags: 2008 Election, President, Barack Obama, Noam Chomsky, John McCain, Economy, economic crisis, endorsement, video, Real News Network

In "The End of America," Naomi Wolf Unveils 10 Point Wake Up Call

THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY MUST READ, MUST SEE.

"Watch. Think. Get Motivated."

And VOTE FOR OBAMA.

Watch The End of America

Eugene Hernandez writes:

"This film came together as an urgent message," explained author Naomi Wolf this weekend at the Hamptons International Film Festival. Published last fall, her book The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, was swiftly adapted for the screen by filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg ("The Devil Came on Horseback," "The Trials of Darryl Hunt") and a version was completed just in time for a Hamptons fest screening on Friday and a SnagFilms online debut this week.
"I wrote this book because I could no longer ignore the echoes between events in the past and forces at work today," Wolf begins in her acclaimed book. Like the work, "The End of America" lays out a ten-point blueprint for what Wolf calls, "closing societies." Introducing the new documentary on Friday, Wolf explained that she studied history and found alarming links that shaped her narrative. Exploring the history of emerging dictatorships in Germany, Italy, Argentina, the Czech Republic and China, Wolf predicted a bleak future for the United States in the wake of rights restrictions imposed in the wake of 9/11.... Continue reading.

Watch The End of America

Related:

• FEMA sources confirm coming Martial Law, says Wayne Madsen | Daily Newscaster

  "Wayne Madsen a Washington based investigative journalist, author, columnist and former U.S. Naval Officer reported on April 3rd, 2008 the existence of a document called the “C & R” document is being passed around among senior members of Congress and their staff...."

• SWAT teams on standby if McCain wins U.S. Election

  "US police fear riots could break out if John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, wins the election next month...."

Technorati tags: The End of America, Naomi Wolf, Closed Society, United States, Constitution, Bush, coups, film, activism

Antidotes to Complacency: Four Reasons to Not Take the Election for Granted

Paul Loeb warns:

"It's tempting to begin taking the likelihood of Obama's victory just a bit for granted. The polls look good. McCain and Palin are flailing, and Ted Stevens is headed for jail. The Republicans have started their blame game.

But it's dangerous to assume that the election is over, or to settle for a narrow margin. Here are four reasons to keep doing all we can to keep working (and get our procrastinating friends to finally donate and volunteer) so we can create broadest possible mandate for Obama and his Democratic allies...."

Technorati tags: Voting, Obama, Paul Loeb, Election, Volunteer, donate, Democratic Party, vote fraud, voter suppression, october surprise

How McCain Turned His Back on the Vietnamese Man Who Saved His Life

John McCain never tires of declaring himself a war hero. After reading this article, ask yourself, is this the way a "hero" behaves? Read all about it:

"Forty-one years after McCain was shot down in Vietnam, the man who saved his life has died in obscurity.

[...]

As I stood on the floor of the Xcel Energy Center, some 50 yards from John McCain as he accepted his party's presidential nomination, the projector flashed that same black-and-white photo image I had seen in Vietnam of McCain being dragged to the shore of Truc Bach Lake. Moments later, to my surprise, I heard McCain say: " … I was beginning to learn the limits of my selfish independence. Those men saved my life." But McCain wasn't talking about the Vietnamese people who pulled him from that lake, people whose homes he had just bombed. He was talking about his fellow American POWs. Had McCain truly erased from his memory a touching reunion that took place just over a dozen years before?

I could only think about how different the narrative would be had McCain said: "I was beginning to learn the limits of my selfish independence. Those (Vietnamese civilians) saved my life (because they understood the humanity in all of us that transcends government and country)."

Technorati tags: John McCain, Hero, Vietnam, 2008 Presidential Campaign, Norman Stockwell, AlterNet

What's Your Obama Tax Cut?

Get the facts before you vote:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden will cut taxes for 95% of working families, and provide at least three times as much tax relief for middle class families as John McCain and Sarah Palin. The Obama/Biden plan provides $1,000 of tax relief for workers and new tax benefits to help families pay for college, childcare and save for retirement.

To find out your Obama tax cut click on the link: Obama-Biden Tax Calculator

ALSO SEE:

• Your Salary in 2016 -- The Big Difference Between a McCain or Obama Administration | AlterNet:

  "Middle-class families will earn about $13,000 more in eight years if Obama wins and $5,000 if McCain wins...."

Technorati tags: Barack Obama, Taxes, Tax Calculator, Tax Policy, Election, 2008, Economy, Economic policy

A License to Kill

More lies. More character assassination. More swift-boat tactics from a supremely desperate, ethically-challenged John McCain campaign:










FactCheck.org:

A new anti-Obama group runs a bunk-filled ad implying he'd give a driver's license to Mohammed Atta.

Summary

An upstart group calling itself the "National Republican Trust PAC" mixes a pile of false claims and the image of 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta to create one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign.

• The spot falsely claims Obama has a "plan" to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. In fact, Obama has said quite specifically, "I am not proposing that that's what we do."


• The ad implies such licenses would enable terrorist attacks. In fact, Atta wouldn't have needed one to carry out his attacks.


• It claims that Obama's health care plan will apply to illegal immigrants. But Obama has stated quite clearly that his plan "does not" cover illegal immigrants.


• The ad falsely claims that Obama's plan "gives illegals Social Security benefits," which is also flatly untrue.

More Here.

The Vet Who Did Not Vet

A Dr. Seuss style telling of the McCain and Palin tale.



Trouble viewing this video? CLICK HERE

Will John McCain's Health Care Plan Leave YOU out?

Find out. Click here to find out how many people in your state would lose their health insurance under John McCain's health care plan.

McCain Undermines Employer Insurance

An estimated 165 million U.S. residents under the age of 65 currently receive health insurance coverage through their employer. A linchpin of this system is the tax exclusion that allows insurance premiums paid for by employers to be not considered taxable income for employees. John McCain’s plan for health care reform would end this exclusion. EPI’s report concludes that as many as 27 million Americans nationwide could lose their employer health benefits as a result. (Learn more about why Senator McCain’s plan would have such a devastating effect on hard-working families across the country.)