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Thursday News Roundup
House Votes to Boost Watchdogs' Power
Government watchdogs would gain more autonomy and protection from political retribution under legislation the House passed Wednesday. The White House threatened a veto, saying the measure infringes on presidential authority over inspectors general.
The bill is the latest proposal where the Bush administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress have clashed over executive branch versus congressional authority. Other disputes have involved who should set policy on secret surveillance, the treatment of suspected terrorists and military operations in Iraq.
The inspector general legislation passed 404-11, well above the level needed for the House to override a veto. The full Senate has not yet taken up the issue.
FEC Nominee Von Spakovsky, Other Three Advance Without Recommendation
A Senate panel sent four nominees to the Federal Election Commission to the floor Wednesday without recommendation, as one contentious appointee threatened to derail the bunch.
Rules and Administration Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she could not support the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky. He has served on the commission as a recess appointee since Jan. 4, 2006, but has been harshly criticized for his earlier work at the Justice Department by career lawyers and civil rights groups.
“I don’t feel that this is an unbiased individual that we would confirm to go on the FEC,” Feinstein said.
Republicans, however, noted that commission nominees routinely move in pairs because the agency has three members from each party. The goal is to enable senators to accept partisan adversaries.
Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — When the Justice Department publicly declared torture “abhorrent” in a legal opinion in December 2004, the Bush administration appeared to have abandoned its assertion of nearly unlimited presidential authority to order brutal interrogations.
But soon after Alberto R. Gonzales’s arrival as attorney general in February 2005, the Justice Department issued another opinion, this one in secret. It was a very different document, according to officials briefed on it, an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency.
The new opinion, the officials said, for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures.
Jobless claims jump by largest amount in 4 months
WASHINGTON — The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits shot up last week by the biggest amount in four months.
The Labor Department reported a total of 317,000 applications for unemployment benefits last week, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week. It was the biggest gain since jobless claims rose by 18,000 during the week of May 9.
The rise was bigger than analysts had been expecting and could be a further sign that the labor market is slowing under the impact of the worst slump in housing in 16 years and a severe credit crunch that roiled global markets in August.
Labor Department analysts said that the two-day auto strike involving General Motors Corp. did not appear to have a significant impact on the claims figures last week, according to preliminary information from the states.
Bush Vetoes Child Health Bill Privately
WEST HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa., Oct. 3 — President Bush on Wednesday made good on his promise to veto a bill that would have expanded government health insurance for children, but then said he was open to compromising with Congress by spending more money on the program than his budget has proposed.
"I do want Republicans and Democrats to come together to support a bill that focuses on the poor children,” Mr. Bush told a group of business people at a town-hall-style meeting here in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
He added, “And if they need a little more money to help us meet the objective of getting help for poorer children, I’m more than willing to sit down with the leaders and find a way to do so.”
But Mr. Bush did not make a specific offer, and his plan, to spend $5 billion more on the program over the next five years, falls far short of the $35 billion expansion that passed with bipartisan support in Congress.
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Our Democrats are up to something again about the FISA stuff. ACLU and Open Left have some into about a bill being snuck tomorrow. I am getting very tired of this.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1553
Open Left and ACLU have written about this before. Our Democrats really do need to hear from us. What do they think they are doing?
FISA train wreck on the way...Open Left talks with ACLU.
isn't the end of the world around here somewhere? i was sure i put it on the desk, but now i can't find it when i really need it....oh. i'm sorry that was the latest edition of the end of the democratic party that i misplaced. sorry, my bad...
Sam:
"So unless Bush has a death wish ...for his OWN comfort and luxaries.."
Bush's mental/emotional/spiritual illness demand that he bite off his nose to spite his face. Alcoholics, BTW, have strong death wishes and don't care who they take down with them.
He will escape to Paraguay if necessary.
It would be wise of us to greatly fear his insanity and then stop him.
If the dems screw up FISA...
We need a two party system since what we have has morphed.
I think Reid and Pelosi feel overwhelmed by the sheer horror of what they know and we still don't. It has rendered them useless and desperate and frightened. I still think this regime has used threats against congress to beat them into submission.
Do you know where your children are?
Far fetched? Maybe, but how else can you explain the utter lack of positive action for our country. And Pelosi stubbornly sticks to her no impeachment meme.
And then there's the article about AIPAC Huron posted earlier today.
Our foreign policy has been outsourced to the Israeli gov't. IMO . Lieberman & Co is our president, or so it seems.
Broken army? Where exactly is Iraq getting the money to buy weapons from China? U.S?
Iraqis to Pay China $100 Million for Weapons
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/100407S.shtml
Robin Wright and Ann Scott Tyson for The Washington Post report that "Iraq has ordered $100 million worth of light military equipment from China for its police force, contending that the United States was unable to provide the materiel and is too slow to deliver arms shipments."
Mark your calendars, everyone!
Bill Moyers Journal
t r u t h o u t | Programming Note
Airdate: Friday, October 5, 2007, at 9 p.m. EDT on PBS.
(Check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/about/airdates.html.)
Bill Moyers Journal reports on the politically powerful group Christians United for Israel, whose leader, Pastor John Hagee, advocates for a preemptive strike against Iran.
As leader of the politically powerful group Christians United for Israel (CUFI), Pastor John Hagee wants to bring millions of Christians together to support Israel. But some say his message is dangerous: "It is time for America to ... consider a military preemptive strike against Iran to prevent a nuclear holocaust in Israel and a nuclear attack in America." Bill Moyers Journal reports on CUFI and then gets theological and political context from Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun, a Jewish journal of politics, culture and spirituality, and Dr. Timothy P. Weber, an evangelical Christian, historian and the author of "On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel's Best Friend." Also on the program, a year after a tragic shooting, Bill Moyers looks at what the Amish can teach us about healing.
2 trillion barrels; fact or hoax.
http://www.grandinite.com/2006/05/04/fact-or-hoax-2-trillion-barrels-of-oil-in-colorado/
Our Democrats are up to something again about the FISA stuff.
Your Democrats indeed! No longer mine.
The Democratic Party Flag.........
2 trillion barrels; fact or hoax
I don't care. Leave it there. Clean the air. Go wind and solar.
It just seems like Bush and the Republican MINORITY are in big trouble for failing to cover these American children with healthcare while they throw 190 BILLION dollars down the toilet in Iraq....one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Iraqi tells U.S. lawmakers of unchecked corruption By Susan Cornwell
Thu Oct 4, 5:51 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Widespread corruption in Iraq stretches into the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, an Iraqi investigating judge told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday, and an American official said U.S. efforts to combat the problem are inadequate.
Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, who was named by the United States in 2004 to head the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, said his agency estimated corruption had cost the Iraqi government up to $18 billion.
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How can a government that is so enveloped in corruption, as is Iraq, be successful?
What a foreign policy disaster.....
It just seems like Bush and the Republican MINORITY are in big trouble for failing to cover these American children with healthcare while they throw 190 BILLION dollars down the toilet in Iraq....
You'd think so, wouldn't you? But have you seen or heard any Democratic PR offensive like the ones Repos do for even their smallest projects?
There's a GREAT report up at HEP by Linda*in*SFNM!!! Don't miss it!
BIG NEWS FROM ALACHUA!
Watson drops police title
http://www.gainesville.com/artic.../NEWS/ 710040314
By JEFF ADELSON
Sun staff writer
Alachua City Manager Clovis Watson has retroactively resigned his position as the city's "police commissioner" after a warning from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that holding both offices violated state law.
An "affidavit of separation" filed with FDLE officially places the end of Watson's police career in 2002, when he was appointed city manager. But the resignation, seen as a small victory by a group who sued the city over Watson's two titles, leaves questions about police actions taken by Watson during the past five years.
Watson said this week the resignation was designed to take care of an issue that officials had not realized needed to be addressed.
"If this was something we knew we had to fill out we would have filled it out accordingly," Watson said. "It's something that does not happen all the time, its the first time in the history of this community that we've had to address this issue."
In letters to FDLE, Watson's attorney argued that his position as police commissioner was an "ex-officio" role. Watson also said this week the "ex-officio" position "carries no duties and ex-officio police commissioner does not mean sworn officer."
But Watson has been involved in at least two arrests in recent years, one of which was accompanied by a news release from his office naming Watson as the arresting officer.
According to the letters, officials believed his ex-officio status did not put him in violation of a constitutional provision preventing one person from holding two offices in the same government.
Watson's listing as a "full-time police officer" in state law enforcement records, however, prompted FDLE to demand he resign or face investigation by the state Ethics Commission.
The Alachua Police Department notified FDLE of Watson's resignation with a letter sent Sept. 7, though the resignation was not made public until last week.
With Watson's resignation, FDLE considers the situation resolved, said Kristen Perezluha, a spokeswoman for the department.
"It sounds like it was just a misunderstanding and they got it straightened out," Perezluha said.
The ruling was greeted warmly by Charlie Grapski, one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit over Watson's two titles.
"To the extent that it's evidence that what we've been arguing all along is true, I think it's a positive advance," Grapski said. "At the same time, the fact that the city has kept it secret and done nothing to remedy the past wrongs is a bit of a problem."
Grapski was arrested by Watson last year after Watson claimed Grapski had recorded him without his permission. That case was dismissed by a judge though Grapski is now facing other, unrelated, charges in Alachua after he was accused of striking three police officers. Watson was not involved in that arrest.
This week Robert Rush, Watson's attorney, said he was not aware of any arrests made by his client after Watson became city manager. After the report of Grapski's arrest during the recording incident, which includes an account written by Watson as well his signature indicating he was an officer on the scene, was described to Rush, the attorney said that Watson was on the scene and could have been involved as a citizen.
But Michael Seigel, a professor at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law and former U.S. attorney, said claims of ex-officio status could be problematic. This could open the door to challenges to cases involving Watson - though it is unlikely they would succeed - or civil suits, Seigel said.
"If I represented any individual who was arrested or whose home or office was searched by this official I'd definitely be looking over the paperwork and seeing if there's a way to challenge it," Seigel said.
Jeff Adelson can be reached at 352-374-5095 or adelsoj@gvillesun.com
Friend of Alachua | Homepage | 10.04.07 - 9:27 pm
Oh, sorry, HERE'S the clickable link to the ALACHUA story!
Sitka
Fri, 10/05/07
12:31 am
You'd think so, wouldn't you? But have you seen or heard any Democratic PR offensive like the ones Repos do for even their smallest projects?
------
I do like that the veto-override votes will occur in two weeks.
I do hope that some of these MINORITY Republicans will see the electoral danger that they risk for failing to support expanding healthcare coverage to American children while they, themselves, support throwing 190 BILLION down the toilet in Iraq....one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
12.LZ XRAY
How can a government that is so enveloped in corruption, as is Iraq, be successful?
===================
It was a government of, by, and for, the Neocons (with an election, to make it "democratic")
What a foreign policy disaster.....
Hi Folks,
Just a drop in. I attended a poetry reading in Loveland tonight. The room in the Loveland Museum was filled. Albert Einstein's grandson was there, Oswald Le Winter. He read some of his poetry, very strong anti-war poetry. His book published by Howling Dog Press is "More Atoms of Memory".
Then Michael Annis, publisher and poet of Howling Dog Press read from his anthology, "The Cost of Freedom" with writers, artists, photographers across the country. The poem he read was entitled. "Peace Nuns" about the three elderly Colorado nuns who picked the lock on the gate where the missile silo was, and then took hammers and pounded on one and spilled their own blood. At least one was in her 80s. The judge sentenced them to prison. This line struck me, "each person must act alone,/bringing peace signs in blood/ to beget a red rosary..."
It's a wonderful book, recommended in blurbs by Noam Chomsky, Ramsey Clark, Ralph Nader, Harry Belafonte, Eric Galatas of Free Speech Television, and Kevin Zeese of Democracy Rising.
There was a poem about a recipe satirizing Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfield, etc. There was a poem about dinosaurs as ourselves with the middle class trying to emulate the upper class, and the smallest dinosaurs starving, and eventually we all die off from fatness and flatulence.
All in all about 25 poets read, and the variety, subject, and individual styles were excellent. When I talked to Michael Annis, the publisher, he remarked that we just all have to keep on trying, keep on opposing this insanity that is America now. His book, he said, was from ordinary Americans against the war and the captialistic greed, cruelty, and power mongering of the Bush Administration and its cronies.
I have hope. The Loveland reading didn't feel elitist the way some university communities do: there was an earthy quality and democractic feel to the readings. It really felt like ordinary people had come together to give their best to community.
9.Sitka
I don't care. Leave it there. Clean the air. Go wind and solar.
===============
No can do. China's got the corner on strategic metal and semiconductors, for disposable toys and consumer electronics to sell in big boxes.
Our manufacturing base is gutted. We'll never fight a world war in this condition.
I do like that the veto-override votes will occur in two weeks.
The Repos will stick with bush in the end, at least eongh of them to sustain his veto.
That way they can tell normal people that they voted for children's health care, and their humanity-hating base that they were with Bush.
21.Sitka
Excuses, excuses.
==================
We can go solar and wind, but not at the Manhattan project speed we would need to replace oil overnight, not with no manufacturing base like we had in the 1970s.
Excuses......
This country can do it if it chooses to. Instead, we make excuses involving relative pittances in terms of public investment in clean energy.
I'm old enough to remember when America had a can do spirit. But I can't remember when the can't do spirit took over.
24.Sitka
This country can do it if it chooses to. Instead, we make excuses involving relative pittances in terms of public investment in clean energy
==================
Sitka, you need energy to make things, semiconductors use a tremendous amount of energy. plants that convert water to hydrogen take years to build and take lots of steel, concrete and manufactured goods to build.
We're not talking about mother earth news telling us how to live out in the boonies with solar, we are talking about a paradigm shift in our energy infrastructure. You cannot simply stop oil, and start that. You cannot do it over night behind the energy eight ball - unless you want ration automobiles and TVs.
You can sing your song of make do, but try building something besides a rector set. You have no idea.
26. Those were the days - we really are that old. Believe it or not.
that's not me - it must be you
I am not saying we cannot START alternative energy. We should have started 20 or 30 years ago. But we are not going to just suddenly stop using oil, and start using alternatives, overnight on a crisis. It is an evolution that takes years to do once you get started. That's my point.
We can do, but my mother and father needed to apply for a federal permit to buy a kitchen gas range during WWII. We would have to stop every other industry and focus everything on energy production. that's the kind of "can do" that we would need to convert like that in just a few years.
Nothin' like that good ole American can't do spirit.
Pour another half trillion into Iraq and go shopping.
31.Sitka
Nothin' like that good ole American can't do spirit.
Pour another half trillion into Iraq and go shopping
==============
I agree it would have been better spent
BTW it is closer to $2 Trillion at present, with legacy costs and interest on the debt, etc., according to Paul Solman of PBS.
Making green energy seem too complicated to be achieved is the oli companies' last desperate ace in the hole.
What I can't understand is why anyone would help them do it.
CA Draft Gore clippings:
http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/22470...
33.Sitka
Making green energy seem too complicated
===============
I don't thinks it is all that complicated insofar as we have the fundamental technology, but it is a huge undertaking to do replace oil and gas in any substantial way. You need time and money to do it. It won't be like switching your central heat from oil to gas.
To do it on a massive scale, an infrastructure needs to be built, and you don't build an infrastructure on the fly, unless you suspend the entire free market, like we did in WWII, otherwise it is at least a 20-30 year project.
Just something light for a change.
Miaaow and my shadow (or how babies and kittens are so alike)
The wonderful pictures that show babies and kittens are more alike than we think
And this not so light.
Fears of second Sangatte after police win right to smash squat The prospect of an official welcome centre for refugees trying to get to Britain came closer yesterday as French police were given permission to break up a makeshift camp. Officers were expected to enforce the eviction order today in Cherbourg...
Fred: Blackwater is not a terrorist group. Terrorists are, among other things, idealogues willing to die for their cause. Blackwater fighters are paid mercenaries. You can't discuss issues with misconceptions and/or misunderstandings of terminology, imo.
Ivo Daalder didn't specifically address the use of mercenaries as part of US policy but it's a very safe bet that he opposes such use.
re. Israel....no, they do not seek regional domination nor is there any data to support that notion.
Ivo Daalder was suggesting ways to deal with Iran OTHER than bombing them. He strongly suggests diplomatic engagement.
If you get a chance, flip to the previous thread and re-readread the piece again.
a bit more from Ivo Daalder:
America’s third challenge will be the same one we have faced since 9/11: stopping jihadist terrorism. The invasion of Iraq has reinvigorated a jihadist threat that was in shambles after the Afghanistan war. Al Qaeda’s recruiting efforts could not have received a bigger boost. At the same time, Iraq is now a training school and testing ground for jihadists. The lessons they learned, such as how to effectively deploy road-side bombs, have already migrated beyond Iraq, as battle-tested jihadists head home to help spread their knowledge and hatred to others.
Containing and ultimately defeating the jihadist threat will require a mix of strategies. Notwithstanding the Iraq debacle, Washington will occasionally need to use military force to take out jihadi cells training in the mountains of Afghanistan or the wilds of Somalia. But because the next jihadist plot could come just as easily from a neighborhood in Hamburg or Harrisburg, it will be more important for Washington to improve other counterterrorism efforts. In spite (or because) of massive bureaucratic reorganizations, the quality of U.S. intelligence and homeland security efforts remains deeply inadequate. We can and must do much better.
Ivo:
The flip side to trying to stop jihadists is to decrease the number of young Muslims who want to join their fight in the first place. That will require taking active steps to diminish the intense anger many Muslims and most Arabs feel toward the United States. The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq will help, but it will not be enough; minimizing the suffering of Iraqis will also be important. Washington must avoid the appearance of abandoning Iraqis to their fate. To that end, and as painful as it might be in the context of America’s ongoing immigration debate, Washington must do much more to help the millions of Iraqis who have been displaced or become refugees as a result of this misbegotten war.
But the most important step toward diminishing Muslim and Arab anger will be to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process. Although the chances that Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be solved any time soon are slim at best, taking Palestinian grievances seriously and pushing both sides to take risks for peace is crucial. It counters the jihadist narrative about America’s pernicious role in the Middle East and can turn the public relations tide in favor of the United States. As long as Osama bin Laden can credibly claim that Washington is indifferent to Palestinian suffering, he will have purchase on the Muslim imagination.
and a conclusion from Ivo Daalder:
Ultimately, America’s ability to successfully manage the fallout from Iraq, contain Iran, and defeat the jihadist threat will greatly influence its ability to repair the damage that has been done to its claims of global leadership.
But that broader effort will also require far-reaching changes in how Washington operates in the world. A go-it-alone foreign policy will not work. The Bush revolution has made much of the world deeply suspicious of American claims to global leadership.
The importance of the elections of pro-American leaders, such as Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, for America’s ability to regain the trust it has lost overseas is easily overstated; the publics in many allied countries remain deeply skeptical about American motives and values.
Unless the United States can demonstrate that it too is willing to abide by the rule of law and work with others on shared global challenges, even friendly leaders will find it difficult to follow Washington’s lead. If that happens, the ultimate costs of the Iraq war will be far more devastating and long-lasting than we currently anticipate.
All in all, a very thoughtful piece from Ivo Daalder, imo.
NIght, folks.
I'll bet the police killed her and are CTAs.
".....At 2:49 pm, Phoenix Police received got a radio call about a woman who was "loud and disturbing." Within minutes, officers were struggling to subdue her.
She was arrested at 2:53 p.m. One officer used a knee to her back.
"She was screaming 'You're hurting me!'" recalled another witness. "The handcuffs are too tight on me!'"
Some speculate that could have been Gotbaum's fatal moment.
"When a person is lying prone and someone is lying on the back of the person, the person can't breathe," said former NYPD Captain Edward Mamet.
That's known as compressional asphyxia. Her attorney says the police could have killed Gotbaum right then and there.
"The witnesses that saw her just before she went into the holding tank say she was completely listless and unconscious," said Manning.
But according to police: "No one got hurt. The officers picked Ms. Gotbaum up on her feet and two officers then began to escort her to a holding area."
Police say Gotbaum then refused to allow them to search her. They chained her, handcuffed, to a bench. And then they left her alone.
According to police: "Officers felt due to their experience and the actions that had taken place Ms. Gotbaum was not a threat to others or to herself."
But they were wrong. At 3:29 p.m., Gotbaum was discovered dead. Police say she strangled herself with her chain. Her lawyer isn't so sure.
"It's pretty clear that somehow, some way, somebody used that chain around her neck," said Manning.
Police say they didn't know anything about her history of drinking or mental illness, and that they handled the case by the book.
Good monring, everybody
Yesterday afternoon I had one of the weirdest experiences of my life.
Will need to change browser to report after I check mail on this one.
Edwards visit today so not much time to blog.
they had better issue the fuel rationing coupons before they strike Iran because farmers do need to finish the harvest
pin the (flag) tail on the donkey game being played by the MSM:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/589618,CST-EDT-edit05new.article
Obama stuck in no-pin zone He should put Stars and Stripes back on his lapel October 5, 2007Oh for Pete's sake, Sen. Obama, pin the darn American flag to your chest and tell people you're as patriotic as anyone. You don't even have to feel like you're "faking" it.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is going to catch a world of hurt for his comments to an Iowa TV station on Wednesday. When asked why he doesn't wear an American flag on his lapel, the Democratic presidential candidate gave an answer that was right in one way but wrong, wrong, wrong in so many others.
...
''The truth is that right after 9/11 I had a pin,'' Obama said. ''Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security.
''I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism.''
Later, his staff said, "We all revere the flag, but Sen. Obama believes that being a patriot is about more than a symbol."
...
Obama has worked hard to stake out a centrist position, but his polarizing comments make him sound like a hardened leftist. In Illinois, we're proud that one of our own is making a bid for the White House. We even moved our presidential primary to give him a boost, and then in one unscripted moment, he undermines his whole campaign.
Stuck behind Hillary Clinton, Obama's national popularity rating among Democrats is bobbing at 20 percent. His campaign can suffer no more gaffes. If this pin flap doesn't deflate Obama's bid, he'll have to think before he speaks next time.
Good morning, BFA!
*******
It's nice to be back on the blog ... and also to be back here on the Other Side of The Pond where I can actually get some real information from the TV media.
*******
Just a few comments after skimming through the threads that I've missed over the past several days:
1) Glad to see that some of you caught Lawrence Wright's appearance on last Sunday's Face the Nation. I had the privilege of seeing his one-man show at the Kennedy Center last week and bought his book immediately as a result: *The Looming Tower: Al Queda and the Road to 9/11.* The only problem is that I have had about as much time to read as I have had to blog. After returning here, I had guests from my home town in MT for a couple days; they had just been in Italy for a couple weeks. After putting them on the train for Paris, it was back to the boxes so that I will finally be able to quit living out of them. Linda: I'm with you in spirit! If I ever get unpacked, it'll be a miracle.
2) I appreciated the great poetry from Pat, Phil & free spirit (the last thanks to puddle). I also loved seeing the words to *I Am Woman,* Paine. Love that song! You, a Hillary Boy ... whoodda thunk ... LOL? mprov: ♥
3) On Clarence Thomas: he was truly the most unqualified SC nominee: the first nominee ever who did not rate an approval from the ABA, which shows just how bad he was from the legal perspective. And both Thankful and cC have it exactly right; the hearings should have focused on that fact and on the inadequate responses he gave to to legal questions, rather than moving into "he said, she said" territory. That was dumb. He has indeed been Scalia's "boy" ever since his confirmation. I personally am glad that Anita Hill is not taking his slander sitting down. To name such a person to replace the truly great Thurgood Marshall, whom I had the privilege of seeing in action on the bench, was a supreme insult to all blacks in the USA.
4) Sympathies to donna in evanston that her namesake produced a *bobby* ... LOL.
5) Loved the picture, sea. How perky and agile you look! Anni (waves from la Suisse).
6) Seeing Phil called *boorish and pompous* nearly floored me and the endlessly repeated justifications for those appellations were not at all persuasive, IMO. What I did see was projection on the part of the writer. Based on Phil's writings here, which are all that I have to go by, Phil is one of the most modest, fair and open-minded persons that I have seen here. He, and those like him, are why I return to this blog time and time again. For shame!
7) dog soldier: you are truly an amazing person. Thank you for all that you have sacrificed for our country and for being the very good human being that you are.
*********
Now: boxes calling again. If I can, I'll be back on the "day" threads, even though it's already afternoon here.
I guess the recent surge in Iraq is coupled with a surge against any Americans who don't fly the flag, don't have a flag decal on their vehicle and don't wear a flag pin lapel.
If that's the litmus test for being an American citizen (and I'm a U.S. military veteran, Air Force), then my flagless clothing, flag-deprived car and no fluttering flag attached to my house, must mean I'm unpatriotic too.
All I can say to the weak, gossip-level, largely non-investigative type level of news we have now in America, is what a said state of affairs the media has descended too. If Edward Murrow were alive today, he would be pained and disappointed to see what the media in America has come too.
So, here's what happened. One of our gung-ho for Dodd members announced that there'd be a "sold out" event featuring Naomi Judd at the Rochester Opera House and that maybe it would be a good idea to hand our flyers and hold signs to get the attention of the five or eight hundred the Oper House could accommodate. A little later we discovered that Naomi would not be singing, but rather delivering a "lecture" on behalf of the American Liver Foundation, one of several health related organizations she's joined after her brush with life-threatening hepatitis C.
Having got a little lost on the back-streets of Rochester, a largely blue-collar city, we were a little late getting to the Opera House in city hall and the stream of attendees had already slowed to a trickle. People at the entrance said that "no" the tickets were free and we were welcome to go on in to the hall, which turned out to be less than half full. So, clutching the fancy folders with the logo of the local hospital that they handed out, we took our seats as some fellow in a grey suit was giving a lengthy introduction of Naomi Judd.
He was standing at a podium in front of a bank of potted plants and a longish table with a white cloth that looked a lot like an altar or a coffin. Ms. Judd, when she took the portable mic and started wandering about the stage, made it clear that she wasn't going to do as expected. Though what that was wasn't clear either. She started telling some of her "story," which the audience was supposed to know already from the mini-series on TV and she complemented the audience for having gotten off their duffs and come out to participate in the ultimate "reality show." Then she told a few jokes, shared some gossip about other stars, including Dianne Sawyer and Oprah and Dolly Parton and, for all intents and purposes did provide an "entertainment" in a old venue, a real life version of TV, complete with commercials.
Because, when you come right down to it, what reminded me of nothing so much as a tent revival I attended at the age of ten in California, was basically a promotional effort for the local hospital, whose newly acquired "star" performers in cardiology, hailing from Japan and California and far away India, were being introduced to the community--a function Naomi Judd was qualified to perform not only because she'd almost died and been saved by modern medicine, but because she'd been trained as a nurse and hobnobbed with a lot of medical experts.
While there was a strong similarity in Naomi's presentation with a John Edwards' stump speech (some of our group actually noted that HIS recitation of the "son of a mill-worker" speech had gotten pretty stale) about health care and prevention, I suspect that's because the structure of such speeches follows a familiary format whose roots can be found in the religious revival circuit and the snake-oil salesman's spiel. Which may well account for why Edwards isn't making as much headway among northern audiences as you'd think.
Thinking about it later, I realized that what we had been privileged to witness was "consumer driven health care" on the ground. That is, what we've got is an industry that's morphing from concentrating on the task at hand (curing diseased and mending broken bodies) to one that's promoting health care as a social good, regardless of whether the patients are actually sick. That is, people are being taught to want something, whether or not they actually need it. "Consumer driven health care" isn't so much focused on "letting" the users make decisions (which they are not actually competent to make), as "driving" consumers into the health care market, much as they are driven to buy a new car.
Since I personally haven't consumed any health care in twenty-five years, I have to admit to being somewhat agnostic. Though, even as I was taking my mom and then my daughter to various medical venues, it's become increasingly obvious that our health care industry is subsuming a lot of activity that has little or nothing to do with getting people well--everything from public transport to subsidized meals.
So, it was a bit startling, but not really surprising when, at the end of the program, as we were trying to hand out flyers on Dodd's health care proposals, one was most emphatically refused with the assertion that "we've had enough socialism." There's obviously a growing perception, which the health care industry is actively promoting, that health care stripped down to the essentials that are needed to cure disease and improve longevity is sort of like a utilitarian vehicle, a car without any of the creature comforts people have gotten used to paying more for. Or, maybe even a bus.
So, we've obviously got a huge selling job to do getting the "fat" out of the health care system and making necessary care available to everyone. But, the bus might actually hold a clue. Because people who are used to the "independence" of driving themselves in their own cars and consider "public transportation" to be a socialist invention, are actually quite happy to be transported in health-care provider supplied vehicles that come with a driver and take them where they want to go when they need to be there. In other words, the health care industry has set up a system of public transport that's being widely accepted by people who are otherwise antagonistic towards "socialism." Which suggests that what's being defined as "socialism" is the imposition of arbitrary rules, timetables and regulations--exactly the characteristics that people are coming to resent about the insurance industry driven health care system. And, if that's the case, that should be pretty easy to address with a program that "get's you what you want, when and where you need it." We could call it the "four dubyas to health."
* rdorgan
Fri, 10/05/07
7:12 am
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The only flag I fly is the Union Jack Austin Powers boxers..............had a friend from NZ visit us a few years back, they thought it was kind of silly all the flags people flew here......................I agree, personally...............I guess some peopel need to remond themsleves they are Americans............
Obama is very mature on that statement................
50.
Mike -
Thanks for the response.
Yeah, I have a flag mount attached to the side of my house and it's been empty since I bought the house three years ago.
Both the neighbors on each side of me have U.S. flags fluttering.
It doesn't seem to matter to them that I'm flagless.
That's what being neighborly is all about.
(oh and when the holidays come around, I don't fly those seasonal turkey, easter byunny flags either)
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By Annilow on Oct 4, 2007 11:01 PM EDTDibs!!! Howard Dean is first!!!!