The shame of how we treat ourselves

German Shepard dogs barking

The cops with mirror sunglasses firing their weapons

To turn back those teeming, desperate people crossing the Gretna Bridge

From the drowned American city called New Orleans

This is the legacy that heralds the new American Century

The seasons pass and longing turns to bitterness

But those who have come to replace them

Ready to raze and replace the old homes in the Ninth Ward

With the shiny and new high rise condominiums for their upper class tastes

The New Orleans diaspora

Read this to act now.  Ask Rep. DeGette and Senator Salazar what are they doing to give New Orleans residents the right to return.

Caught this off CO Confidential: 

Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's Colorado organization is planning anti-war rallies next Tuesday, Oct. 2 with events in Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

The "Rallies to Turn the Page in Iraq" recognize a 2002 speech that Obama gave to warn that military action against Iraq could lead to "a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences." 

Ten days later, on October 11, 2002, the US Senate voted to give the President authorization to go to war in Iraq.

No doubt, there will be more protests planned in Colorado to mark that 5th anniversary date.

Call TODAY! 

From Firedoglake:

 Time to hit the phones again, gang. And hit them hard.

Hans Von Spakovsky — yes, the same one that Jane flagged back in 2005 – is up for a vote on Wednesday in the Senate Rules Committee for an appointment to the FEC (Federal Election Commission). Adam Lambert at ePluribusMedia has a three-part series on Mr. Von Spakovsky and why he is utterly wrong for America. And in this DKos diary, Adam covers a potential backroom deal with Reid and Schumer on allowing the Von Spakovsky nomination through…sense my disgust. Maha covers a McClatchey piece and some other background on Von Spakovsky’s minority voter suppression activities. BradBlog has even more on the voter suppression nastiness. ThinkProgress has a letter from six former DOJ employees imploring the Rules Committee to vote “NO” on this nomination, for all our sakes.

And Digby has a run-down on Spakovsky, the Rules committee, the politics in play…and the best headline of the bunch. And if that isn’t enough, Working Assets has even more on the odious Mr. Von Spakovsky.

Here’s the Rules Committee membership list, direct dial numbers, and some toll free ones as well:

Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) (202) 224-3841
Chairman

Robert Bennett (R-UT) (202) 224-5444
Ranking Member

Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) (202) 224-3954
Ted Stevens (R-AK) (202) 224-3004
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) (202) 224-3934
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (202) 224-2541
Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT) (202) 224-2823
Thad Cochran (R-MS) (202) 224-5054
Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) (202) 224-6542
Trent Lott (R-MS) (202) 224-6253
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) (202) 224-2152
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) (202) 224-5922
E. Benjamin Nelson (D-NE) (202) 224-6551
C. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) (202) 224-3521
Harry Reid (D-NV) (202) 224-3542
Patty Murray (D-WA) (202) 224-2621
Lamar Alexander (R-TN) (202) 224-4944
Chuck Hagel (R-NE) (202) 224-4224
Mark L. Pryor (D-AR) (202) 224-2353

Toll-free numbers to the switchboard (via katymine):

1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 459 - 1887
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437

You can see why I want you to hit the phones, can’t you? Please, for the love of all that is the rule of law and the Constitution, call these people today. I beg you. No, Hans Von Spakovsky. Just…NO.

PS — Per perris’ request, if everyone could please be sure to call Harry Reid’s office on this one, I’d appreciate it. Thanks!
Posted in Oversight, Justice Department, Random Wingnuttery, Congress, GOP Ethics, Citizen action, legal

Is this delusional or what?  Alan Greenspan should never have been at the controls of the FED for so long:

AMY GOODMAN: Well, they are talking about, in one day, for example, the East Rutherford operation center of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 100 Orchard Street in East Rutherford, a tractor-trailer truck pulling up, and though accustomed to receiving and shipping large quantities of cash, the vault had never before processed a single order of this magnitude: $2.4 billion in $100 bills. But ultimately, again, $9 billion of $12 billion gone missing in Iraq.

ALAN GREENSPAN: I am not familiar with any such evidence. And it was certainly not brought to my attention. I, frankly, find it very unlikely that those orders of magnitude were involved in any of the numbers that we were dealing with. You have to make certain that -- there’s been a lot of confusion about losses, and people have used the dinar, the basic currency unit of Iraq, and assumed they were American dollars. And, of course, that gives you a highly distorted view. There’s been, I’ve seen, several reports fairly recently in which that sort of mistake was being made. But what I can tell you is that no such numbers of any order of magnitude of the type you are discussing came to the attention of the Federal Reserve.

Read the rest here.
 

He should be investigated for policies that have endangered the economic security of the United States.

Those policies include a lack of oversight in the mortage industry which now threaten an economic recession for the world. 

Is this faked or truth?

September 25, 2007

Nader Preparing for Another Run?

The "Ralph Nader Democratic Caucus Campaign Draft Committee" is seeking campaign workers in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to advertisements placed on Craigslist.

Source.

 (h/t to AmericaBlog.com)

Senate passes resolution that condemns MoveOn.org.

Why would Sen. Salazar vote for this resolution?

Read the rest here. 

Many people who are of voting age have only cell phones. Will political candidates get smart?  Is Hilliary, Barack, Edwards to Ritter, Salazar, DeGette to Romanoff, Barnes-Gelt, or Ken Gordon and the Democratic campaign managers listening?

From New Democratic Network blog:

"A new study released this week found that young people are more likely to vote by 4.2 percentage points if they receive a text message reminding them to show up to the polls.



The survey found that most of the recipients, and especially Hispanics, found the message helpful — unlike their reaction e-mail. But here’s the result that could be the most compelling to the campaigns: Each additional vote generated by the text message cost an average $1.56.



Compare that to some phone calls, which, for the same level of effectiveness, cost about $20 a vote. Door-to-door canvassing, which can increase young voter turnout by 7-to-9 percent, comes in at around $30 a vote.



'Text messaging can be another tool in the toolbox,' said Sujatha Jahagirdar, the project director for Student Public Interest Research Group’s Young Voters Project, one of the groups involved in the study."

Finally! Chris Dodd and Obama...now Salazar too!

From Talkingpointsmemo.com:

Woah, this is interesting. Colorado Senator Ken Salazar -- who's taken a bunch of heat for backing toothless Iraq War measures -- is now flirting with the ultimate: Cutting off funding for the war. From the Denver Post:

Washington -- Congress should look at cutting off funding for the Iraq War if Senate efforts to change the role of U.S. troops in the battlefield fail, Sen. Ken Salazar said Monday.

Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, previously has not supported Congress using its ability to stop war payments in order to force President Bush to change direction..."If it could be done then I think we ought to take a look at it," Salazar said.

The 208 Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform is scheduled to make its final recommendations to the legislature by the end of January. The Lewin Group just completed its evaluation of four diverse proposals selected by the 208 Commission. Now the Commission is working on its own 5th Proposal.

There is one more opportunity for the public to weigh in on health care reform - see the schedule of October congressional district meetings below, and mark your calendars. Below the schedule are suggested topics the Commission is requesting comment on.

View a 1-page summary of the Lewin Group report of administrative savings with the Colorado Health Services Single Payer proposal; and a brief 1-page summary by the Lewin Group of its evaluation of 4 Colorado health care reform proposals.  Only 1 of the 4 health care reform proposals evaluated by the Lewin Group was shown to insure everyone AND save money - the Colorado Health Services Single Payer Insurance.

5th Proposal -- The Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform is writing their own 5th Proposal, also to be evaluated by Lewin. They are considering a 2-track system of public-private insurance with an individual mandate to purchase private insurance and a tax penalty for failure to do so - similar to the Massachusetts model. (See below: Massachusetts Health Care - Universal in Name Only)

Unfortunately, without strictly regulating private insurances, the experience in Massachusetts with an Individual Mandate is that even the most "affordable" private insurance premium is unaffordable for many - $660/month per family and $330/month per individual. These "affordable" policies tend to be high-deductible, high-copay stripped-down policies that do not provide adequate health or financial protection. Massachusetts Health Care - Universal in Name Only.

Read about Minnesota's disappointing experience trying to legislate not-for-profit private insurances - how the insurers use creative bookkeeping and have taken control of the regulatory process. Minnesota's experience trying to legislate insurance reform.

It is important to let the 208 Commission and our legislators know that we want real systemic reform, not incremental reform that merely continues shifting costs without addressing a major cause of inflationary health costs - the high administrative costs of commercial insurers, who guarantee shareholder profits by insuring the healthy and excluding everyone else as a 'pre-existing condition.' Over 30% of our health care dollars go to wasteful administrative costs of private insurances - 20% administration, marketing and profit-taking, and another 12% administrative costs imposed by insurances on providers and hospitals. The CHS Single Payer Proposal calls for limiting overhead costs to 5%. Medicare has an overhead cost of 1.8%.

Read about different views of reform, and participate in The Bell Policy Center Health Care Blog: www.thebell.org/blog/208 . 

Public Hearings -- Mark Your Calendars! Below are some dates and locations of the public hearings to be held by the 208 Commission each congressional district in the state. Updated info at www.colorado.gov/208commission

• Thursday, October 4 Boulder - TBD 5-8pm
• Friday, October 5 Colo. Springs -TBD 5-8pm
• Friday, October 5 Lamar - Lamar Community Building 5-8pm Saturday, October 6 Denver - Auraria Campus 2-5pm
• Saturday, October 6 Parker - Parker Town Hall 9-12noon
• Saturday, October 6 Pueblo - Pueblo Convention Center 9-12noon
• Saturday, October 6 Canon City-Skyline School/Commons  5-8pm
• Wednesday, October 10 Durango - Durango Rec Center 5-8pm Thursday, October 11 Greeley - UNC Lindau Auditorium 5-8pm
• Thursday, October 11 Grand Junction - City Hall Auditorium 5-8pm Friday, October 12 Silverthorne -Library Blue River Room 5-8pm
• Friday, October 12 Fort Collins - Lincoln Center Mini Theater 5-8pm Saturday, October 13 Craig - Craig Memorial Hosp.  1-4pm
• Saturday, October 13 Brighton - Adams County Courthouse 1-4pm

Questions the general public is asked to address when testifying before the Commission: 1. What should the role of the following, if any, in providing or assuring access to health care? a. Individuals b. Employers c. Providers & ancillary services d. Government e. Insurers (Health Plans)

2. Please discuss anything that you think we should pay particular attention to in the five proposals or anything that you think is missing from the conversation that would make a difference to you as we move forward with recommendations for health care reform.

What will be done with the testimony heard? An oral summary of the testimony received will be presented to the full Commission when it meets on Oct. 18-19, 2007.Written testimony will be distributed to all Commissioners. Testimony from these meetings - along with that received at similar community hearings in March and May, and all testimony provided at Commission meetings - will be incorporated in the Commission's final report to the legislature.

Link to article

I received this email off the ccjp discussion list and this is snip is really why the Democratic Congress has such an abysmal rating with the general public:

"They’re the ones who have to know that their people care, that they [want to] bring our troops home. They swear they don’t. They swear that they’ll lose their elections if they do the right thing.”

 This is from The Politico.

 Why is this so?  I believe that it has to do with two factors: a). The inside the beltway Democratic consultants and b). The echo chamber of mass media that amplifies conventional, "serious" thinkers like O'Hanlon, David Brookes, and Thomas Friedman with respect to the occupation in Iraq.

A few reports have come out by the media on what kinds of honest reactions that people have when Congressional representatives hold townhall meetings. Which is the direct opposite of what the "serious" Iraqi occupation cheerleaders are telling themselves and inside the DC beltway politicians.

Americans want out now.  There is no abandonment by the American people but only by Mr. Bush who will not listen to reason or to the facts that the American military is being turned into a force that will not be able to defend America for any other threat.

Is this what the Congress wants?  It is time for Congress to place our nation's safety above "getting elected next year" and ignore the puppets of the failed occupation. 

"As a voter and a Democratic party member, who has been a delegate to county and state conventions, I firmly believe that it is in the best interest of the party that it's leaders adhere to the principals and ideals in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. As of now I have sorely tested to remain a Democratic party member because of the leadership failure by Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid on these vital constitutional issues.

Rather than cave in to these illegal actions by Mr. Bush by giving retroactive legal protection it by Congress. Is time for a full investigation into the extent and duration of criminal activity that Mr. Bush has instigated and condoned for the last six years.

Once the voters of America are aware of the extent to which Mr. Bush has spied on Americans for political purposes then he and his cohorts should face justice through our judicial system. Failure to do so will result in a diminished democracy for all. Not to mention a severe backlash against the Democratic party which was given a charge by the voters but so far has done very little on these substantive constitutional issues based upon the rule of law."

 People are fed up with the Democrats for not showing the fortitude to stand up to a the Bush-thug.

 We voted for the Democrats to stand up to the Bush-thug who spits on the Constitution and Bill of Rights in every word and action by this administration.

As MoveOn.org has sent out an inquiry to see if their members will support primary challenges to Bush Dog Democrats (Matt Stoller's term for Dems who support Bush and the occupation in Iraq) I signed up immediately.

There two ways to make the Democrats pay attention:

1). Withhold money to their campaigns and national organizations.

2). Field effective candidates with efficient political campaign organizations who support RFK's demand: "It is our responsibility to let these men live.... It is indecent if they die because of the empty vanity of their country. RFK, Vietnam War speech, Calif, 3-24-68" 

"Zogby Poll: 51% of Americans Want Congress to Probe Bush/Cheney Regarding 9/11 Attacks; Over 30% Seek Immediate Impeachment

67% also fault 9/11 Commission for not investigating anomalous collapse of World Trade Center 7

Kansas City, MO (Zogby International) September 6, 2007 - As America nears the sixth anniversary of the world-churning events of September 11, 2001, a new Zogby International poll finds a majority of Americans still await a Congressional investigation of President Bush' and Vice President Cheney's actions before, during and after the 9/11 attacks. Over 30% also believe Bush and/or Cheney should be immediately impeached by the House of Representatives.

The 911truth.org–sponsored poll also found that over two-thirds of Americans say the 9/11 Commission should have investigated the still unexplained collapse of the 47-story World Trade Center Building 7 at 5:20 p.m. on September 11, 2001."