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What a week. We've already seen Blue Dogs take women to the back of the bus (or was it the alley?) with Stupak's impressively Stupid Amendment. Now we're hearing that those who supposedly worry about "too much spending" when it comes to health care--you know, the meatloaf-brains who rejected the public option, which would create competition and actually bring down costs--are now blathering on about embracing "tort reform."
Because you'd really want to take away the rights of victims in a democracy to lower the health care costs by...wait for it...wait for it... ".5%" (according to the CBO).
All you really need to know is that Blue Dogs/GOPers (is there any difference?) are those in favor of this counterproductive course of action, yet if you do indeed need more, watch the heart wrenching videos recounting the tragic results of medical malpractice. To learn more about the 98,000 lives lost due to medical error each year--or 268 every day--go to 98,000 reasons, a website set up by the American Association for Justice. Once there send a message to your Senator: Remind them you won't have your rights further stripped away so they can scarf down more caviar with their contributors at Big Insurance.
On November 3rd, there will be a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot in Ohio. This is no ordinary ballot initiative. Its very existence and marketing has been bought and paid for --to the tune of millions--by national and international agri-business corporations, such as Pioneer Hi-Bred International (owned by DuPont, a "developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics"--healthy!--and grantee of 100K to the effort),the National Pork Producers Council (113K), and the United Egg Producers (200K!).
Now why, you ask, would these Big Agra players get involved in a state issue, and to support a campaign that is for touchy feely things like "food safety" and "local control?" I'm not sure, but it might be that this corruption of Ohio's Constitution will provide "food safety" much like George W. Bush provided "healthy forests," "clear skies" and a "mission accomplished." In other words--and I know this will shock you--they're lying. And they're lying with millions of dollars they've acquired, by being, like their "products," pigs at a trough.
So what is Issue 2, what will it do, and why should you care about it if you're not a resident of the Buckeye State? It's simple: Issue 2 was put on the ballot overnight by state legislators bought off by Big Agri-Business and their mouthpiece here, the Ohio Farm Bureau. Why? So that they can corrupt Ohio's Constitution to give the Governor the power to appoint a board of unaccountable agri-business cronies to make decisions in smoke-filled rooms about all farming practices in Ohio.
I know what you're thinking. Unaccountable, corporate-influenced governing has worked out so well with TARP money and preemptive war, we might as well try it with farm policy.
With Issue 2's passage, those only interested in their bottom line can (and you can bet will) stuff millions more animals into smaller and smaller crates together, increasing the likelhood of H1N1 and E. Coli outbreaks and mutations and their capacity for animal cruelty. They can ignore the waste caused by big factory farms that contaminates the water we drink. They can allow workers to be exploited and placed in situations that endanger their health, while putting family farms--held for generations--out of business.
And why should you care if this passes in Ohio? For all the reasons above, but also...because you're next. This amendment was a reaction to successful efforts to rein in their greedy, dangerous and abusive practices in California (Prop 2), Arizona and Florida, among others. If they can use the camouflage of bought off Democratic and Republican Establishments, millions of dollars in lies, and an off-year low-turnout election to enshrine their corporate malpractice into state constitutions, they can fly under the radar while endangering our health, undermining the people's right to petition (another amendment would be needed to overturn it if passed, as the new board's decisions would supersede ballot initiatives, legislative decisions and opinions by the State Department of Agriculture) and spiking their profits.
How can you help? Well, we only have 10% of their budget. But we have the grassroots energy. We have you.
So please join our Facebook group. Tweet this. Blog it. Call and email everyone you know in Ohio. And be prepared when this garbage dressed up as a gift inevitably makes its way to your state.
(Watch this video for more on this - the 1st minute and then from 5:22 on)
Full Disclosure: I am proud to be a consultant in the effort to beat back Issue 2 in Ohio
Health care costs are exploding. A robust public option would create competition that would lower costs, and increase access to life-saving medicine.
But wait! I have an idea! Let's eliminate the public option, and for good measure, take away the rights of the victims of medical malpractice by passing "tort reform." Even though, it um, doesn't work. You know, if by work, you mean lower health-care costs and do anything to help regular people afford health insurance.
But if you've been trained by "Permanent Majority" Rove, and your real purpose is to 1) Keep your corporate slop-providers happy 2) Punish a group that often gives donations to Democrats (lawyers) and 3) Pretend you actually care a whit about people who don't get Yacht Shoe Weekly, then bingo! You have your made up issue.
The American Association for Justice announced today it is launching what it called the first phase of a nationwide ad campaign "to educate lawmakers about the epidemic of preventable medical errors and how tort law changes won't lower costs or cover the uninsured."
The ads, running in Washington publications and on online news sites, say the estimated 98,000 deaths from preventable medical errors is "like two 737s crashing every day for a whole year."
But the ad concludes:"Would we blame the passengers or the airlines?"
Well, we know who Republicans and Blue Dogs would blame. The passengers. The pilots. The unions. Gay Marriage. Stem-cell research. But never the big corporations who make the planes.
Thankfully, we know better.
Disclosure: I'm damn spankin' proud to be working with the American Association for Justice to protect patients' rights.
So last week the Thune Amendment was thankfully defeated. A group I work with, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, took on the task of defeating this insane legislation, which only had a chance of passing due to the extremism of the NRA/Birther crowd and the ever-present cowardice of the usual Blue Dog Democrats.
I guess they weren't busy enough trying to destroy health care reform or climate-change legislation, so overriding state laws trying to prevent criminals from enjoying the right to concealed carry seemed like a good idea.
Thankfully, the NRA lost a gun battle for the first time in five years, but no thanks to squeamish Blue-Dog Democrats. Take Colorado Democratic Senators Udall and Bennet, for example. They waited to the end to vote, as if calculating which way to go right up until the last possible moment, and then voted with the gun nuts. Interestingly, two Republicans from generally pro-gun states, Senators George Voinovich of Ohio and Dick Lugar of Indiana, didn't feel a need to cave to the Bonkers Wing of the GOP. Nor did some other Democrats from pro-gun states, like Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Bill Nelson of Florida and Sherrod Brown of Ohio.
In response, a Columbine dad, who suffered what is the nightmare scenario for all of us with children in school, decided to remind these two men about what is and is not leadership in today's Denver Post. It says everything that needs to be said on this issue, as well as a host of others the Blue Dogs continue to practice duck & cover.
Sadly, the biggest threat to rational legislating right now is not from Republicans, who are and should be irrelevant, but from Blue Dogs. These people need to be taught not to fear their big contributors, but We The People.
(**As I stated in the piece, I am working with Mayors Against Illegal Guns.)
As I was pleased to note last night in an update, pressure from the Netroots was instrumental in getting Sens. McCaskill (D-MO) and Specter (D-PA) to come out against the Thune Amendment, an assault on federalism, personal security and the proposition that Dems might actually stand up for something.
The vote is at noon. Keep your calls coming, as we are on the cusp of wining this one and saving countless lives, not to mention shutting down a key element of the right-wing machine in DC: The NRA.
There goes the steadfast and dripping-with-integrity GOP and Blue Dog Dems once again. Tomorrow at noon, we get the ThuneAmendment--as in John Thune from South Dakota--which assaults both the federalism they cherish in rhetoric and the common sense we cherish post-Enlightenment. The Thune Amendment would make it so a concealed-carry permit handed out in any state would be good in any state that has concealed carry.
So Texas will determine you gun laws. Next up, Utah decides who you can marry, Mississippi decides whether or not you have the death penalty and Kansas decides where church stops and state begins. And to the denizens of those fine states who are progressive, please take no offense, you know I am with you in spirit. I am talking state politics here (I live in Ohio, and wouldn't want to export our gun laws to my state of birth, New York). And this means that if your state is one of 31 that requires some form of gun-safety course before you get to carry a concealed weapon, forget about that. If your state is one of 35 who think that misdemeanors, such as, oh, having previously carried a concealed gun illegally, should prevent you from getting a permit, too bad. If your state thinks habitual alcohol abusers perhaps shouldn't be afforded this right, as 31 states do, so sorry Charlie.
On record against Mr. Thune's legislative loophole are mayors of all stripes, more than 450 of them, or those for whom gun violence is up close and personal, and they are appalled at this Washington GOP power grab. But hey, torture, Gitmo and proposed amendments to ban abortion and gay marriage don't quite live up to the "state's rights" mantra now either, do they...
States and localities should have the right to make their own gun laws. My son should have the right to go into a school where AKs are not present. And a group of wavering Senators need to hear how you feel about this usurping of our rights. Call, be polite, and say hi to these folks. Remind them that you don't want Texas' gun laws...
Two notes: First, the vote is at noon Wednesday (as in tomorrow), so call early and often (and be nice!). Second, full disclosure, I have been hired to work with Mayors Against Illegal Guns (mayorsagainstillegalguns.org) on this effot, and couldn't be happier or more passionate about it.
Update: Keep the calls coming tomorrow morning to weak-kneed Dems and "moderate" Republicans. McCaskill and Specter have already caved.
To paraphrase the great Yogi Berra, we may be in for deja vu all over again. Or to put it in as succinct a manner as possible, what do you get when you add a Republican hack sitting on the Franklin County (Ohio) Board of Elections, a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals that has shown itself to be in the business of trying to suppress votes and an Ohio Supreme Court that is made up of seven Republicans and has as many Democrats as Ted Nugent has brain cells?
Yeah, you already know the answer. You get a seat that should be in the hands of progressive champion Mary Jo Kilroy, so she can help pass universal health care, raise the minimum wage and protect workers' rights, and you give it to a bank lobbyist named Steve Stivers, who was handpicked to run for Congress by a student of the George Hamilton school of self-tanning and Republican House Leader, John Boehner.
The left-wing Verso Books has just released "The Decline of Black Politics: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama," by civil rights activist Kevin Alexander Gray. The conservative Regnery Publishing just announced two books for August: David Freddoso's "The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate," and Thomas Blood's "The Clinton Collapse: How Bill Clinton Lost Hillary Her 'Sure Thing' Nomination (And Might Even Make Obama Lose Too)."
"We intend to put him under the microscope, and we think readers will be very interested to learn what we uncover," says Marji Ross, president and publisher of Regnery, which in 2004 released "Unfit for Command," the best-selling attack against Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry.
Yes, we knew it would happen, but the Swift Boaters are officially back. Well, at least their publisher is. If you remember what they did to Kerry, you can easily imagine the traitor or foreign agent Obama will be when the Swift Boaters are done. The Obama people and progressives everywhere had better be ready.
A cheery guy, that Phil Gramm. According to Newsweek, he brought his zest for life into his work as a banking industry lobbyist, and no, we're not just talking about the subprime mess and tax evasion he and UBS pioneered. From Newsweek, via Progress Ohio:
McCain's campaign is already distancing itself from some of Gramm's other work for UBS: his involvement in attempts to sell financial products known as "death bonds," which BusinessWeek described last summer as one of "the most macabre investment scheme[s] ever devised by Wall Street." Not long after joining UBS, the Houston Chronicle reported, Gramm helped lobby Texas officials, including Gov. Rick Perry, to sign on to a UBS proposal in which revenue would be generated for a state teachers' retirement fund by selling bonds, whose proceeds would in turn be used to buy annuities and life-insurance policies on retired teachers. UBS would advance money to the retirement fund, then repay itself, compensate bondholders and pocket profits when insurance companies paid off on retirees who died. According to a banking-industry source, who asked for anonymity when discussing a sensitive matter, Gramm was involved in efforts to pitch similar UBS products to other financial institutions.
Gramm's office declined NEWSWEEK's request for comment. A source familiar with the bank's current business, who also asked for anonymity, said UBS no longer markets the kind of plan that Gramm was allegedly trying to sell to Texas. Hazelbaker said that McCain, who has been critical of the financial industry's performance in the subprime market, disapproves of death bonds and "supports increased accountability, transparency and capital backing in our financial markets as a solution to these problems." Death bonds, she continued, "move markets away [from]—not toward—these goals."
It's good to know McCain disapproves of just about every type of business in which his economic advisor engaged.
And hey, I remember Jill Hazelbaker! That chipper young lady and hearty sock puppet called me a "trash journalist." Which of course is only slightly preferable to "death bond salesman" or economic advisor to Team McCain (oops, redundant).
Just perhaps, and I am spitballing here, this kind of cynical attempt to cash in off of the exploitation of legislative loopholes and their fellow countrymen, is why-- as my friend David Sirota puts in his new barnburner of a book "The Uprising,"-- there is a populist revolt brewing around the country (see the 82% who think we are headed in the wrong direction).
Hi folks, sorry to be a bother, but just wanted to invite you intrepid C&Lers who live in the DC area to join me Friday night at a book event for The Real McCain at the AFL-CIO. Below are all the details, and I look forward to meeting you!
Join author/blogger Cliff Schecter in a book discussion about
A new website (firethelobbyists.com) has been created by the pro-campaign finance reform organization Campaign Money Watch, to convince Senator McCain to fire three lobbyists in the top levels of his organization that have lobbied for ruthless dictators. You may recall that over the past two days, two McCain aides have resigned because of their willingness to do public relations work for the Burmese Junta.
Ahh, working for the public good. It must feel so refreshing.
Of course, turn over any stone in The McCain Campaign, and one can only guess what might come crawling out. It turns out that they have even more friends in low places. I contacted David Donnelly, Director of Campaign Money Watch, for a comment. He explained what his group is trying to accomplish:
John McCain ought to immediately fire three lobbyists — Charlie Black, Tom Loeffler, and Peter Madigan -- whose lobbying for brutal dictators and foreign governments is every bit as bad as the two lobbyists who left his campaign over the weekend. Frankly, McCain’s campaign is turning out to be an effort of, by, and for these types of Washington influence peddlers. His credentials as a reformer are gone.
Pretty strong words. Yet, if you read what this triad of McCain lobbyists have been up to, perhaps not strong enough. It ain't pretty:
Charlie Black, McCain’s senior counsel and spokesman, began his lobbying career by representing numerous dictators and repressive regimes
Roger Hickey has a great post at ourfuture.org on the "dangerous fraud" that is John McCain's healthcare plan. As I point out ad nauseam in The Real McCain, McCain's positions are not simply fraudulent. The "straight-talker" rarely limits himself to simple dishonesty.
First, read the email The McCain Campaign sent out yesterday on this issue:
I was heartened when George Stephanopoulos--for all the heat he has taken over the ABC debate--asked John McCaina question on This Week this past Sunday that I have been waiting to hear the media ask the "straight-talker" for a long time now. To paraphrase, Stephanopoulos wondered why if government health care has been good enough for McCain to receive his entire life, it is not good enough for the rest of us?
That's right, John McCain, the son of an Admiral, has had his healthcare taken care of by the government for the last seven decades at taxpayer expense. Yet, when asked this question, he was only able to muster a lame joke in response recounting the years he was being taken care of in a different country (where else but the Hanoi Hilton--which McCain wields like Giuliani did 9/11). In fact, McCain doesn't even feel compelled to explain why he voted against the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), so that countless children would lose the very government health care on which he has relied upon long enough that diapers have become bookends.
This wasn't the first time I heard this question. It was brought up to me when I was speaking to a real straight-talking vet, Paul Hackett, for my book The Real McCain. But it was the first time the media brought it up, that I am aware of. And it shouldn't be the last.
As for the rest of us, just remember this the next time McCain throws out some bogus charge about elitism at any Democrat, while lounging at one of his wife's 8 homes. Or goes on a Barneys bender.
Many have already pored over the ins and outs of a Democratic debate tailor-made for "Enquiring minds" earlier this week on ABC. Well guess who just happens to be coming to dinner...or This Week, this weekend?
Why none other than John McCain!
So in the spirit of seeing how all the candidates deal with "scandal," or just being queried about everyone they have associated with since that 6th grade teacher who crossed the street against a red light (do you denounce her Senator Obama? Denounce and reject her!?! Or perhaps just reject?), here are some questions that John McCain should be asked on your show this weekend, Mr. Stephanopoulos (sorry, old habit from when I had you as a professor at Columbia).
First a great list I came across, and then a few of my own I found in my research for my book The Real McCain. This list is from Perrspectives, a fantastic compilation, in my always humble opinion:
...or perhaps it could be called the McCain mantra. Just ask him what the difference is between Sunni and Shiite, and watch the blank stare and mental scrambling begin.
When I sat down to write my book on McCain, I spoke with many figures who one could fairly say know a bit about this arena. This list included three-decade Hill Staffer Winslow Wheeler (worked for Sens Pete Domenici and Nancy Kassebaum, among others), who fought for years to reform military spending, and Iraq War vet and Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Paul Rieckhoff.
Both are political independents, and Wheeler was a longtime Republican (forced out of his job by McCain, when he opposed him). Yet, what they had to say about McCain in my book, The Real McCain, should tell you all you need to know about the danger a McCain presidency presents.
Rieckhoff when talking about McCain's Iraq policy, had this to say:
It's half-assed, it's not going to work, he's being inconsistent in supporting it, and yet still seems to support it for political reasons.
Ouch. So not so much "straight-talk" from McCain on Iraq. We knew that. But hearing a nonpartisan military expert, and one who fights for veterans every day say this, well you can guess how truly bad Mr. McCain must be.
Wheeler's quote was even more foreboding:
It's frightening to think of a man with his temperament with all the things a president has at his fingertips--the IRS, CIA, FBI...
Wheeler is no conspiracy theorist. He now resides at the Center for Defense Information. Not exactly a countercultural outfit. As George H.W. Bush would say, message: Be afraid, be very afraid...
NOTE: Just a short pitch to pick up a copy of The Real McCain. Only $10! You'll make the birds sing, me smile and you'll help push the message out into the media about McCain, so people get to know The Real McCain. Already the response from progressives has been overwhelming, and has led to coverage at US News & World Report, Fox (who asked McCain questions directly from my book), Vanity Fair and Glamour, to name a few. But let's keep the momentum going, so when we finally choose a nominee, the battle will be already joined...
