Progressives (incl Howard) are first!

John wrote "I would guess that ‘your’ Canadian is fairly well-to-do, and chafing at the indignity of not being able to jump the queue ahead of the great unwashed. Of course, he/she can always cross the border an pay for expedited care here in the US."

I don’t know about any chafing from any indignity, but your suspicions are largely correct.

If people find themselves in a position like yours, where they have the same guaranteed basic health care coverage, and have additional benefits available to them for whatever reason, because it’s affordable for them or a perquisite of theirs, that’s probably the best solution we can hope for. We know from Canada’s experience, as well as the Oregon system and Medicare, that state funded coverage has to come with certain restrictions and conditions on the care available. The problem does not lend itself to a simple solution, because ethical and philosophical considerations are as involved as economics.

By the way, my Canadian friend is a Windsor resident whose contempt for Bush easily rivals yours. You two would get along famously.

The best way to avoid conflict with Iran is to leave the poor buggers alone! 

state funded coverage has to come with certain restrictions and conditions on the care available.

That's absolutely true, but infinitely preferable to leaving nearly a sixth of our population outside the system.

Oh I forgot, according to Bushputz, all they have to do is turn up at an emergency room!

Cornyn's amendment proclaims that the general "deserves the full support of the Senate." The MoveOn advertisement, Cornyn's legislation states, not only "impugns the honor and integrity of General Petraeus," but "all the members of the United State Armed forces."

I hope the Dems have the guts to oppose this travesty.

Oh I forgot, according to Bushputz, all they have to do is turn up at an emergency room!  

not so fast with the emergency room. my husbands insurance used to have no copay for the emergency room.

NOW THERE IS A $250 COPAY. THANKS CIGNA.

CORNYN IS A BUSH WHORE.

AND HARRY PULL THIS APPROPRIATIONS BILL NOW.

Congress raises the money through laws, Congress has the right to specify how money is spent. It is the role given it by the Constitution which all members of the government have sworn to, and the Executive is to faithfully carry out the laws.

Congress has given away almost unlimited power to the Unitary Executive and if they cave on money issues too there is nothing left.

I was a Crossing Guard in middle school and could stop a car just by holding up that right palm with the white glove on it, but wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it had a driver ignored me but take the license plate number.

Congress isn't even bothering to take down Bush's plate number.

John wrote "Oh I forgot, according to Bushputz, all they have to do is turn up at an emergency room!"

That's old fashioned advice from a bygone era.  Republican presidential aspirants today recommend that Americans buy their own insurance with the money they save through tax cuts, or avoid getting sick.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, will introduce a sense of the Senate resolution Thursday criticizing MoveOn.org's recent advertisement in the New York Times.

Divide and conquer politics. Will DCDems stick with their own base or the GOP? History indicates the latter.

Congress isn't even bothering to take down Bush's plate number.

It's hard not to come to the conclusion that they want to go along with Bush while making a token appearance they don't.

Whatever happened to all those "fighting Democrats" we heard about prior to the last election? Have they been overwhelmed by passive Democrats?

just a drive by to post this.

.....vrooom......BEEP BEEP......vroooom

Dear fellow Al Gore supporters,
When Al Gore made his acceptance speech at the Oscars, he stated that we had the technology; all we needed was the will to act ... and that was a renewable resource. This inspired Bob North to create the Will 2 Act. Bob North is the Southeast Regional Director of AlGore.org, and founder of Help EARTH thru Art, a new environmental group. The goal of the Will 2 Act is simple - to preserve and protect our planet for future generations. We are all aware that the best way to do that is to get Al Gore elected. We believe that Al Gore has already decided what he's going to do. However, we would like to send him an enormous stack of signed Live Earth Pledges with the following message:
We get it !!! We understand the gravity of global warming and the impending doom we face if we fail to face this crisis now ! We are making a lifelong commitment to 'chill out' and to stop global warming . We will continue to encourage friends and family to make this commitment. Now please....... help save our planet by saving our country! Commit to run in 2008 !!

On Saturday, September 29, the Troops Out Now Coalition will bring numerous groups together to march on Capitol Hill in protest of the Iraqi War, and to support the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. The Will 2 Act will have tables and possibly a tent at the rally. We'll have buttons and bumper stickers to distribute. We need people to collect signatures for the pledges, carr banners, etc. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet thousands of progressive individuals and to point out that while our candidates bicker about hypothetical situations, Al Gore is communicating with the world on how we can stop global warming. Imagine what he can do for world peace.......
Proceeds from this rally will help to finance our first endeavor, The Living Earth Oasis Project, which will finance the re-greening of scarred lands left by slash burning and the clear cutting of rainforests. The Living Earth Oasis Project was inspired by Al Gore.

For bus information to D.C., go to http://www.troopsoutnow.org
For more information, or to volunteer, please contact me @ JYNX92307 (at) aol.com

Hope to see you in D.C. Thanks,
Celie Horne

Why don't Democrats introduce their own sense of the Senate resolutions and perhaps even more legislation like the SHIP bill? Maybe they can't get things passed and signed, but they can at least show where they claim to stand and expose the GOP for all its ugliness.

Yesterday's votes on habeus corpus and troop leave were a good start, but they've got to keep it up day by day. They've got a long way to go to repair their damaged reputation with the people who have voted for them.

How embarrassing........ 

The latest Zogby poll shows that only 11 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. This is contrasted with Bush's underwhelming 29% approval rating.

Sitka wrote "Whatever happened to all those ‘fighting Democrats’ we heard about prior to the last election?"

You may enjoy learning more about Eric Massa, the Democrat seeking to unseat Bush tool  Randy Kuhl in the 29th Congressional District in New York. This guy, a retired Naval Commander and previous DFA-Lister, has repeatedly and fearlessly called out demure Democrats publicly and, if elected, promises to add another 10 votes against what he describes as this nation’s worst foreign policy blunder of all time by pressing his colleagues to put some integrity into their roll calls.

I think volney has come here before to champion his cause. He hates PAC’s and corporate PAC money, which he regards as bribes. People will love him for his refreshing candor.

Printable version

The greenback dropped below the psychologically-key $1.40 level against the euro, deepening recent losses.

Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar reached one-to-one parity with the US currency for the first time in 31 years.

I remember hearing about Eric Massa. Good for him and us! But I was thinking of the "fighting" Dems who got elected to Congress last year.

US Caused More Deaths in Iraq Than Saddam, Says Anti-War Tribunal
ISTANBUL - The World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI), a grouping of NGOs, intellectuals and writers opposed to the war in Iraq, on Friday accused the United States of causing more deaths in Iraq than ousted president Saddam Hussein.
“With two wars and 13 years of criminal sanctions, the United States have been responsible for more deaths in Iraq than Saddam Hussein,” Larry Everest, a journalist, told hundreds of anti-war activists gathered in Istanbul.
Founded in 2003, the WTI is modelled on the 1960s Russell Tribunal, created by the British philosopher Bertrand Russell to denounce the war in Vietnam. It has held about 20 sessions so far in different locations around the world
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007...

the Canadian dollar reached one-to-one parity with the US currency for the first time in 31 years.

Let's see.....that would have been during the presidency of.....JIMMY CARTER! 

Bush has the job approval numbers to match him as well. 

Let's see.....that would have been during the presidency of.....JIMMY CARTER!

Opps.....GERALD FORD.....sorry about that, Jimmy.

The Canadian dollar will probably pass 1.10 Bernankebucks by thanksgiving!

Lots of Canadians crossing the Bluewater bridge to shop.

from the previous thread

49.

Annilow
Thu, 09/20/07
9:00 am


http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php...

---

Thank you Annilow for posting this link.

is there something wrong with the blog? can't load utube stuff.

the Vikings --

-- from 750 to 1050 AD, left Scandanavian lands looking for better riches and lands --

-- well fast-forward a 1000 years later to 2007and if they were still around, the Vikings might want to do a 180 and return home:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070920/lf_afp/environmentsocialcountries_070920151835

Can't beat quality of life in Scandinavia, says world ranking

26 minutes ago

PARIS (AFP) - Nordic countries take the greatest care of their environment and their people, according to a ranking published on Thursday by the publication Reader's Digest.

Finland comes top of the 141-nation list, followed by Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and then Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and Australia.

At the bottom of the list is Ethiopia, preceded by Niger, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Chad.

The United States comes in 23rd, China 84th and India 104th.

The ranking combines environmental factors, such as air and water quality, respect for biodiversity and greenhouse-gas emissions, as well as social factors, such as gross domestic product, access to education, unemployment rate and life expectancy.

The statistical basis is the UN's Human Development Index and the Environmental Sustainability Index drawn up by Yale and Columbia universities and the World Economic Forum.

...

The Senate just turned down the "Sense of the Senate" supporting soldiers and condemning any attacks on any of them, a Boxer ammendment. Now they are working on trouncing Move On. The US Senate is wasting this time, a free speech issue, while they claim that IMPEACHMENT TAKES TOO MUCH TIME.
They have time also for the 84 pieces of legislation that the Repugs have locked up.

Who sets the schedule in the Senate? How does this stuff get to a vote. Can't our glorious leader Harry the humble stop this?

Boxer's phone was tied up. Guess I'll try Harry.

13. Sitka, we have plenty of fighting Democrats. They're fighting each other!

Just called Harry. Guess what? I asked how this piece of junk ever got to a vote, and she didn't know. I told her I thought it was disgusting and then unloaded how I really felt about what they were doing. She seemed strangely upbeat about it as though she were going to enjoy passing along my message.

treacly --

-- it's in the news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070917/lf_nm/arctic_russia_permafrost_environment_feat_dc;_ylt=As2YuTc9mqf4kRlO9.fhpFT2_sEF

Mammoth dung, prehistoric goo may speed warming

By Dmitry Solovyov Sun Sep 16, 8:48 PM ET

DUVANNY YAR, Russia (Reuters) - Sergei Zimov bends down, picks up a handful of treacly mud and holds it up to his nose. It smells like a cow pat, but he knows better.

...

This is more than just another symptom of global warming.

For millennia, layers of animal waste and other organic matter left behind by the creatures that used to roam the Arctic tundra have been sealed inside the frozen permafrost. Now climate change is thawing the permafrost and lifting this prehistoric ooze from suspended animation.

But Zimov, a scientist who for almost 30 years has studied climate change in Russia's Arctic, believes that as this organic matter becomes exposed to the air it will accelerate global warming faster than even some of the most pessimistic forecasts.

"This will lead to a type of global warming which will be impossible to stop," he said.

...

28.

This is outrageous, the Sense of the Senate bill going down by an almost strictly partison vote, yet Dems are voting against Move-On!

Free speech just went down in the Senate bigtime.

AARP-PIMPING FOR BIG INSURANCE AND BIG PHARMA

http://www.counterpunch.org/mokhiber09202007.html

I gave up on these clowns after the Medicare D scam

AARP President Bill Novelli is a company man.

No, the company is not AARP.

Novelli doesn't give a damn about AARP or its 38 million members.

If he did, he wouldn't be selling down them down river by opposing a single payer system that would benefit not just AARP members, but everyone in the country.

Novelli doesn't give a damn about the health of the nation.

What he cares about are the health insurance companies.

Novelli a founder of the giant Porter Novelli corporate public relations firm jumped to AARP in 2000.

But he never shed his corporate skin.

Case in point?

On Thursday night, AARP will host a debate in Iowa on the issue of health care.

Republicans and Democrats running for President will attend.

Of all of the Democrats and Republicans in the race, guess who is the only one who would put the Novelli's buddies in the health insurance industry out of business?

Guess who is the only candidate among the Democrats and Republicans who would create a Canadian-style single payer, everybody in, nobody out, no deductibles, no co-pays, no in-network, no out-of-network, streamlined system that would save billions of dollars in administrative costs, deliver a higher quality health care system, and cover everyone?

Yes.

And guess who was not invited to confront Novelli's corporate brotherhood of profit and death?

You guessed it.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

Drive by -- I was at school this morning and saw the Gainesville (FL) Sun which is about the most widely read paper around here and there was a full page bold headline about the tasering incident. I should have picked one up but I was in another mode at the moment. Anyway, here's a link to their online page for probably more than you wanted to know about the incident -- just to get a 'local' view (I haven't read any yet). bbl

http://www.gainesville.com/

Send Move-On a nice contribution as I am -- save free speech from those who are sworn to support the U.S. Constitution!

More..................

Kucinich would put out of business Novelli's corporate support system including United Healthcare and Aetna.

Earlier this year, both these health care industry giants signed a contract with AARP that will net AARP a cool $4.4 billion over seven years.

Kucinich said that AARP sponsorship of the Presidential forum "is like having Haliburton or Blackwater sponsor a Presidential forum on doing away with no-bid government contracts to private contractors or an oil company sponsoring a forum on reducing the world's dependence on oil."

"Millions of trusting AARP members have bought Medicare-supplemental and prescription drug insurance plans from AARP, believing that they were getting a good deal," Kucinich said. "It turns out, however, that AARP is taking a $4 billion cut by steering its members to profiteering private insurance companies trying to capitalize on fear and confusion."

"The fact that Senators Clinton, Obama, and former Senator Edwards are pushing plans to keep the for-profit private insurers in business and in control may explain why they are willing to participate in this fake and tainted debate," Kucinich said.

Kucinich also questioned the decision by Iowa Public Television to televise the Presidential forum and simulcast it to other PBS stations in other states.

"Profit-driven and politics-driven media conglomerates are controlling what we see on TV and what we hear on the radio. Public broadcasting should represent a higher, more ethical standard. In this case, public broadcasting will shamefully promote private interests."

We're all getting old.

But we don't have to all join AARP.

If your not a member yet, don't join.

If you are a member, call Novelli and tell him to take a hike.

Then sign on with any Presidential candidate who supports single payer.

Go Dennis!

Screw the DLC Lawn Jockeys!

Copy and paste of interest (to David Walker fans):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070920/ap_o...


GAO analysts decide to join union
1 hour, 29 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Analysts at Congress' watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office, voted early Thursday to join a union and have it negotiate with management.
snip...
Some analysts have complained about the decision by Comptroller General David Walker, head of the GAO, to move the agency away from the federal personnel structure and give more weight to market salary rates and job performance when determining pay. The change meant some employees did not receive a raise for 2007.
snip...
"GAO management will bargain in good faith," said Walker, who noted that 74 percent of eligible workers voted in the election.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rallied Thursday, tacking on more than 2% to top $745 an ounce in New York as the dollar's fall to a new all-time low against the euro helped lift the precious metal's prices to levels not seen since 1980. The Federal Reserve made an aggressive half-point rate cut on Tuesday, fueling inflation concerns and contributing to the dollar's decline. See full story.

Gold tops $745 as dollar hits new low vs. euro

link to MarketWatch story

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/gold-futures-top-745-dollar/story.aspx?guid=%7BB2941BF8%2DA81F%2D470D%2DACFD%2DB97890BEC6E4%7D&siteid=moren%20

Susan --- you're welcome.
Phil -- Canadian $ same as US -- wow!!!
Joan -- I sent moveon $25 on Friday and emailed Nelson/Martinez against the silly condemnation
It's time to fire all of Congress -- and I have emails from Leahy and somebody else how they 'will not back down' GIVE ME A BREAK -- they are totally without cajones up there or they are answering to someone AIPAC? besides the people.

Back to work!
bbl

New thread.  Arshad takes over for Tom as DFA Executive Director.

Hi folks,

 AARP is an insurance company!  Thanks Huron John, for the additional information.  Scum suckers all!  Insurance people got together about 15 years ago and created the faux advocacy group to promote insurance.  The sleazy 10 percent discounts, the hype, the magazine, all bamboozled Americans into believing that they were a group that looked out for senior citizens.  Of course, they knew that 70 million baby boomers would be retiring someday, and what a bonanza.

I have to laugh ruefully when I see AARP recommending various insurance companies on MSNBC around Keith Olbermann time, because they are all owned or connected to AARP.

Frankly, the CHIP bill to add children to publicly funded health care isn't the real issue.  The real issue is single payer health care for everyone and regulation of these insurance companies, pharamceutical companies, and HMOs.  To add families that make $60,000. a year to CHIPs is just going to outrage the upper classes, and the Democrats will sustain the frame of tax, spend, and entitlements.

 Frankly, anyone who buys AARP insurance (and doesn't have to out of necessity), subscribes to AARP is supporting the corporate scamming of America.  It's like buying at Walmart's.  Some of us have to occasionally, but if we don't and do it anyway, we are supporting the very things we say that harm American workers, local businesses, and the environment.

Righteous, who me?