Category: Legislation

In Your Face, Barack Obama

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It appears that the Graham Lieberman photo suppression amendment, , which would have suppressed all torture photos from the time of the Bush administration, and only from the time of the Bush administration, has been dropped from the Iraq/Afghanistan supplemental in conference committee.

The liberal members of Congress made it clear that they would not vote for any bill containing this provision, and the conference committee has dropped it.

Background here.

Those people who contacted their Congressmen, including me, are to be commended for killing this abomination.

Liberals in Congress Doing the Right Thing

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When you have something spearheaded by the repugnant Joseph Lieberman that has to do with national security, you can be sure that it will be a bad thing.

The same goes for self-hating closet case Lindsay Graham.

When you get the two of them together, the stench is such that it, to quote the late Edwin Newman, it positively buggers the mind, which is why we have the, “Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act of 2009,” which would specifically, “photograph taken between September 11, 2001 and January 22, 2009 relating to the treatment of individuals engaged, captured, or detained after September 11, 2001, by the Armed Forces of the United States in operations outside of the United States.”

The only way that this bill could be more repugnant would be if the Obama administration were supporting this, since Obama and His Evil Minions™ have determined that there is no sort of perversion conducted by either the military or the other state security apparatus during the reign of Bush and His Evil Minions™ against the law, international treaty obligations, common human decency, the Constitution of the United States of America, or the founding principles of this republic that they will not support and try to suppress.

Oh, wait, Obama and His Evil Minions™ are supporting this bill, and it’s not a stand alone bill, it’s an amendment to the “must pass” supplemental budget for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thankfully, there is still a functional liberal wing of the Democrat Party in the house of representatives, and because this bill contains additional funding for the IMF, the Republicans won’t vote for it, and now Barney Frank, along with about 10 other liberal members of Congress, out of 39 needed to kill the bill, have publicly stated that they will vote against any bill that contains such a provision.

Call your Congressman, and tell him to do the right thing.

Obama Comes Out for Public Plan

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This is significant, because he explicitly states that a public

Here is his letter Senators Kennedy and Baucus:

TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT TO SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY AND SENATOR MAX BAUCUS

June 2, 2009

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy
The Honorable Max Baucus
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Kennedy and Senator Baucus:

The meeting that we held today was very productive and I want to commend you for your leadership — and the hard work your Committees are doing on health care reform, one of the most urgent and important challenges confronting us as a Nation.

In 2009, health care reform is not a luxury. It’s a necessity we cannot defer. Soaring health care costs make our current course unsustainable. It is unsustainable for our families, whose spiraling premiums and out-of-pocket expenses are pushing them into bankruptcy and forcing them to go without the checkups and prescriptions they need. It is unsustainable for businesses, forcing more and more of them to choose between keeping their doors open or covering their workers. And the ever-increasing cost of Medicare and Medicaid are among the main drivers of enormous budget deficits that are threatening our economic future.

In short, the status quo is broken, and pouring money into a broken system only perpetuates its inefficiencies. Doing nothing would only put our entire health care system at risk. Without meaningful reform, one fifth of our economy is projected to be tied up in our health care system in 10 years; millions more Americans are expected to go without insurance; and outside of what they are receiving for health care, workers are projected to see their take-home pay actually fall over time.

We simply cannot afford to postpone health care reform any longer. This recognition has led an unprecedented coalition to emerge on behalf of reform — hospitals, physicians, and health insurers, labor and business, Democrats and Republicans. These groups, adversaries in past efforts, are now standing as partners on the same side of this debate.

At this historic juncture, we share the goal of quality, affordable health care for all Americans. But I want to stress that reform cannot mean focusing on expanded coverage alone. Indeed, without a serious, sustained effort to reduce the growth rate of health care costs, affordable health care coverage will remain out of reach. So we must attack the root causes of the inflation in health care. That means promoting the best practices, not simply the most expensive. We should ask why places like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and other institutions can offer the highest quality care at costs well below the national norm. We need to learn from their successes and replicate those best practices across our country. That’s how we can achieve reform that preserves and strengthens what’s best about our health care system, while fixing what is broken.

The plans you are discussing embody my core belief that Americans should have better choices for health insurance, building on the principle that if they like the coverage they have now, they can keep it, while seeing their costs lowered as our reforms take hold. But for those who don’t have such options, I agree that we should create a health insurance exchange — a market where Americans can one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and prices, and choose the plan that’s best for them, in the same way that Members of Congress and their families can. None of these plans should deny coverage on the basis of a preexisting condition, and all of these plans should include an affordable basic benefit package that includes prevention, and protection against catastrophic costs. I strongly believe that Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans. This will give them a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance companies honest.

I understand the Committees are moving towards a principle of shared responsibility — making every American responsible for having health insurance coverage, and asking that employers share in the cost. I share the goal of ending lapses and gaps in coverage that make us less healthy and drive up everyone’s costs, and I am open to your ideas on shared responsibility. But I believe if we are going to make people responsible for owning health insurance, we must make health care affordable. If we do end up with a system where people are responsible for their own insurance, we need to provide a hardship waiver to exempt Americans who cannot afford it. In addition, while I believe that employers have a responsibility to support health insurance for their employees, small businesses face a number of special challenges in affording health benefits and should be exempted.

Health care reform must not add to our deficits over the next 10 years — it must be at least deficit neutral and put America on a path to reducing its deficit over time. To fulfill this promise, I have set aside $635 billion in a health reserve fund as a down payment on reform. This reserve fund includes a number of proposals to cut spending by $309 billion over 10 years –reducing overpayments to Medicare Advantage private insurers; strengthening Medicare and Medicaid payment accuracy by cutting waste, fraud and abuse; improving care for Medicare patients after hospitalizations; and encouraging physicians to form “accountable care organizations” to improve the quality of care for Medicare patients. The reserve fund also includes a proposal to limit the tax rate at which high-income taxpayers can take itemized deductions to 28 percent, which, together with other steps to close loopholes, would raise $326 billion over 10 years.

I am committed to working with the Congress to fully offset the cost of health care reform by reducing Medicare and Medicaid spending by another $200 to $300 billion over the next 10 years, and by enacting appropriate proposals to generate additional revenues. These savings will come not only by adopting new technologies and addressing the vastly different costs of care, but from going after the key drivers of skyrocketing health care costs, including unmanaged chronic diseases, duplicated tests, and unnecessary hospital readmissions.

To identify and achieve additional savings, I am also open to your ideas about giving special consideration to the recommendations of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), a commission created by a Republican Congress. Under this approach, MedPAC’s recommendations on cost reductions would be adopted unless opposed by a joint resolution of the Congress. This is similar to a process that has been used effectively by a commission charged with closing military bases, and could be a valuable tool to help achieve health care reform in a fiscally responsible way.
These are some of the issues I look forward to discussing with you in greater detail in the weeks and months ahead. But this year, we must do more than discuss. We must act. The American people and America’s future demand it.

I know that you have reached out to Republican colleagues, as I have, and that you have worked hard to reach a bipartisan consensus about many of these issues. I remain hopeful that many Republicans will join us in enacting this historic legislation that will lower health care costs for families, businesses, and governments, and improve the lives of millions of Americans. So, I appreciate your efforts, and look forward to working with you so that the Congress can complete health care reform by October.

Sincerely,

BARACK OBAMA

# # #

(emphasis mine)

Governor Mark Sanford (R) Gets Served

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Both figuratively and literally, as the South Carolina Supreme Court just voted 5-0 to order the governor to apply for stimulus money, and served him a writ of mandamus, which is basically an order, so if he doesn’t, they can throw his ass in jail.

He had refused to spend the money on education, and the legislature overruled him, but Sanford, continued to maintain that only he had the authority to request the money.

Basically, this is about a Presidential run in 2012, and he is appealing to the ever shrinking Republican Party base.

Trying Not to be Reelected

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David Paterson just vetoed a pension protection bill for police and fire fighters, indicating that the profoundly unpopular governor actually believes that Andrew Cuomo’s statement that he, “has no plans,” to challenge him in the primary actually means something, so he’s heading hard right to have a better position against Giuliani in the general.

“Has no plans,” and he’s decided to piss off the police and fire unions, and go full Neanderthal, just as he did when he was finally strong armed into raising taxes on the wealthiest people in New York.

It’s a great way to lose a primary in New York state, particularly when nature abhors a vacuum, which means that there almost certainly be a mainstream challenger to Paterson if Cuomo sticks to his statement and does not run.

My guess here is that Cuomo is giving the accidental governor enough rope to hang himself here.

Wanker of the Day

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Senator Wyden who is leading the charge to strip the public option out of health care, because he has set his heart on, “Finding a legislative solution that can win at least 70 votes in the Senate.”

Dude, if you come up with a solution that works, it condemns the Republicans to at least 40 years in the wilderness, so the only thing that they will support will be something that doesn’t work.

Both ideologically and tactically, it is against their interests to pass comprehensive health care reform.

The stimulus package passed with 3 Republican votes in the entire congress, Social Security passed without a single Republican vote, and you think that somehow getting 12 Republicans to vote you way is going to happen with any proposal with real merit.

You sir, are an idiot.

Talk About the Odd Couple

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By which I mean Representative Ron Paul, Libertarian icon, and Senator Bernie Sanders, socialist are have both submitted bills calling for a full audit of the books of the Federal Reserve System, both the board, and the 12 regional banks.

I think that their motivations are different, Paul has long opposed the Fed because it sees it as an unwarranted intrusion by the government into the market, and Sanders sees it as being a tool of the big banks, but knowing what the Fed is doing would be a good thing, for everyone but Federal Reserve members.

Note that there is a general bipartisan consensus towards opening up the fed, as evidenced by the Senate’s passage of a bankruptcy reform bill with an amendment that expands oversight of the Federal Reserve.

I think that it’s clear that the role of the Fed in the current crisis shows that its role should be significantly restricted. I understand why there needs to be an institution which is insulated from political winds to manages monetary policy, but in their roles of bank regulator and bank rescuer, this “insulation”, is a level of opaqueness that does not serve society.

Another Day, Another Obama Backdown on a Campaign Promise

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So now Barack Obama is saying that they just don’t have the votes to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA):

President Barack Obama said there aren’t enough votes in the Senate to pass “card-check” legislation sought by labor unions and only a revamped measure would have a chance getting through Congress.

“There may be areas of compromise to get this bill done,” Obama said today a town hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque.

Suck it up man!

You are the President of the United States of America! Your job is to find the votes for this.

He thinks that by not pushing this, he’ll get cooperation from the ‘Phants healthcare or his other initiatives. He’s wrong.

And, BTW, I am sick and tired of all these people claiming that he’s playing some sort of ten dimensional chess, he’s not.

He figures that labor has no where else to go, so he will not work for them.

Credit Card Reform May Relax Rules for Retailers

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Specifically, the bill in the Senate is likely to contain regulations that would relax the regulations on retailers for charging to use credit and debit cards:

The law allows merchants to charge less for using cash, but card companies’ contracts with retailers can make it difficult. Merchants say they’re required to post two prices on every product if they want to charge more for credit card use, and that the credit card price be more prominent. Retailers can face penalties if they don’t.

The legislation would allow discounts for debit cards and ban retaliation against retailers who charge less for transactions that don’t involve credit cards. [merchants and credit-card costs]

“The extra charges the establishment has to pay for the use of a credit card are kind of hidden inflaters in the cost of the product,” said Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.), who is pushing the measure with Sen. Christopher Bond (R., Mo.).

Needless to say, the banks and other credit card issuers are aggressively lobbying against this.

EU Parliament Votes for Sanity

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A number of copyright numnuts, in particular Nicholas Sarkozy, want the law to require ISPs to take down an account on an accusation from a license holder, but the Euro Parliament passed language saying that any take-down has to be in court:

But a battle has exploded in the last few weeks over a parliamentary amendment that aimed to prevent countries from passing legislation similar to France’s ‘three-strikes’ bill that would cut off internet access if users are repeatedly caught downloading music, films and other content without permission of the copyright holder.

…

France, wanting to save what has become a flagship piece of legislation for President Nicholas Sarkozy, whose wife is a pop star, lobbied other member states heavily on the issue.

…

Catherine Trautmann, the deputy responsible for shepherding the legislation through the parliament, said she was confident that the wording in the compromise meant that a court order was required before access could be cut.

French culture minister Christine Albanel meanwhile believed that the compromise meant that websurfers who had their internet access cut had a right to judicial appeal – but only after the deed had been done.

The deal unravelled on Wednesday morning however, when the full sitting of the parliament supported a late amendment 407 to 57, with 171 abstentions, re-inserting stronger language requiring governments to obtain a court ruling before access can be cut.

…

(emphasis mine)

I guess Sarko is big on this because he just knows that record distributors and movie studios are such honest and empathic people that they would never abuse this power.

This will probably push the bill into the next session, which promises to have even more consumer advocates.

Two snaps up.

I Didn’t Expect a Bloody Irish Inquisition!

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The right to blaspheme is a basic human right. Or it should be in a modern democracy.

If your God can’t take me calling him a pig felcher, then he ain’t much of a God.

Of course, Ireland, notwithstanding its economic success until recently, is still very much a 3rd world nation, so the Irish Minister of Justice, Dermot Asshole Ahern, has decided to ignore the European Convention on Human Rights, and put forward a bill to make it crime, punishable by a fine of up to €100,000 to, utter or write anything “grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion; and he or she intends, by the publication of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage”.

There is no institution that needs the air let out of it than organized religion, and the right of people to do this should not be abridged.

The Big Banks Own the Senate

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And they do their master’s bidding and kill a cram down amendment, which would allowed bankruptcy judges to adjust mortgage principal for primary homes much in the same way they do for vacation homes and commercial property.

15 Democrats, including newly minted Dem Arlen Specter, voted for banks, and against American families.

The house passed a bill with cramdown, and Pelosi has been insistent that it be included, and conference reports, and this will now go to a conference committee as the bills are different, are not filabusterable.

Here’s hoping that ordinary people win.