On Wednesday, President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on health care. Later this year he will decide whether to deploy additional troops to the war in Afghanistan, in addition to the 69,000 troops already deployed. The struggle for health care and the struggle to end warfare are inextricably linked. The cost for substantive (though imperfect) health care reform as envisioned in the House of Representatives approach (with the public option) is projected to average $100 billion per year for the next 10 years. The cost to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are projected to cost anywhere from $55 to $100 billion a year. Make a few modest reductions to the baseline military budget and the difference is paid.
The choice is clear: healthcare or warfare; the Common Good or Common Destruction.
Keep reading: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/08-1
Oh, and in case you thought we were leaving Iraq ....
Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to withdraw US troops from Iraq, the US is planning to award contracts to protect US installations at a cost to taxpayers that could near $1 billion.
In fact, the Multi-National Force-Iraq just awarded $485 million in contracts just last week, while Congress enjoyed its summer recess. Five firms will handle private security deals to provide security for US bases. It's a neat rhetorical loophole that will allow US officials to say that the country has withdrawn from Iraq, while its contractors remain.
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/us-replacing-iraq-troops-with-private-contractors/
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via USA Today
She should tell the superintendent, right? That's what I would do! Oh wait.
....but Superintendent Janet Meeks, who is a member of the church and witnessed the baptisms, said she thinks the trip was proper because attendance was not required, and another coach paid for the gas.
Meeks said parents weren't given permission slips to sign but knew the event would include a church service, if not specifically a baptism. She said eight or nine players came forward and were baptized.
Can we please go back to separating church and state? At least within county lines?
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Mayor of Glenn Beck's hometown to present him with key to city during 'Closeted Neonazi Loon Glenn Beck Day.' Winner of the Biggest KKK Hat contest to be awarded tomorrow.
The mayor's office was besieged by so many phone calls Wednesday that his assistant rerouted them to a different city office, which promptly set up a site derogatory to the mayor's office on FaceBook.
"We've gotten phone calls from people who are very upset. People are threatening not to shop here, things like that," said Kristen Whitener, director of Mount Vernon's Chamber of Commerce. "I think it's unfortunate that some of the phone calls we're getting from people are being negative to Mount Vernon because of it. I hope they would understand that one decision by one person doesn't reflect everybody.
"I hope that it won't put us in a negative light," she said.
Fun fact: when Mayor Bud Norris asked the City Council members if they wanted tickets to the event, "six of the seven declined."
They'll probably end up getting their windows broken.
moar funny pictures
Obama would a fool, a fool, for not taking advice from the man who, in 2008, was named one of 10 worst congressmen by Esquire Magazine, which described the competition as "staggering." [7]
Yes, you heard him, the African American named Barack Hussein Obama better stay in line and know his place:
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) said today that, because of angry town hallers and the like, President Obama should show "humility" when he speaks to Congress Wednesday night. [...]So Obama better be on his best behavior, or.... what? They'll pull out their guns? They won't vote for him in 2012? They'll yell louder? Sound more racist, if that's even possible? Look even stupider and more backward than usual?
The implication here is that Chambliss's side -- the one that opposes much of the Democrats' reform plan, especially a public option -- is winning, and that the president had better be humble.
No, those cretins are not winning. They are the very definition of losers, and they better damn well show a little humility.
Rep. Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican whose name has been mentioned as a potential GOP presidential candidate (and who is not sure if he believes in evolution), led the witch-hunt to force the resignation of White House Green Jobs advisor, Van Jones, over comments Jones made years ago and a 9/11 "truth" petition Jones signed which he said he did not read in its entirety. Jones apologized for some of his comments, which were made before he took his job with the Obama administration and said the petition "certainly does not reflect my views now or ever."
Late Saturday, Jones resigned. "On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," Jones said in a statement released Sunday. "They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide." (For a very good analysis of this story, read this).
On Friday, Pence, who describes himself as "Christian, Conservative, Republican, in that order," said Jones's "extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate." Beyond the obvious here (the hate-filled rhetoric we see every day from racist, right-wing wackos, including those in public office), it is an interesting comment considering that Pence is an extremist right-wing evangelical Christian who has taken thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince. Prince has also donated to Pence's Political Action Committee "Principles Exalt a Nation." In December 2007, three months after Blackwater operatives gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square, Pence and his Republican Study Committee, which serves "the purpose of advancing a conservative social and economic agenda in the House of Representatives," organized a gathering to welcome Prince to Washington. "Not only has Mr. Prince personally been targeted by partisan warfare repeatedly over the past months, but the use of contracting throughout the government has been under attack by this Congress," Pence's committee's statement said.
Should Pence resign for cavorting with and accepting campaign cash from a man who allegedly "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," in the words of a former employee? Oh, right. Those are apparently positive attributes in Pence's view.
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Study: Bush tax cuts cost twice as mich as healthcare reform
Citizens for Tax Justice points out that we only hear all this crying and moaning about the deficit when it's something for regular working people, and not a powerful lobby. And of course, the Republican'ts are right out there in front of the Hypocrisy Parade:
And yet, many of the lawmakers who argue that the health care reform legislation is "too costly" are the same lawmakers who supported the Bush tax cuts.
Their own voting record demonstrates that health care reform is not a matter of costs, but a matter of priorities.
It's difficult to see how the Bush tax cuts could provide us with two and a half times the benefits of health care reform. In 2010, when all the Bush tax cuts are finally phased in, a staggering 52.5 percent of the benefits will go to the richest 5 percent of taxpayers.
President Bush and his supporters argued that these high-income tax cuts would benefit everybody because they would unleash investment that would spark widespread economic prosperity. There seems to be no evidence of this, particularly given the collapse of the economy at the end of the Bush years.
The tax legislation enacted under President George W. Bush from 2001 through 2006 will cost $2.48
trillion over the 2001-2010 period.This includes the revenue loss of $2.11 trillion that results directly from the Bush tax cuts as well as the $379 billion in additional interest payments on the national debt that we must make since the tax cuts were deficit-financed.
[...] Over the upcoming decade (2010-2019), the costs of the health care proposals approved by three committees in the U.S. House of Representatives are projected to be around $1 trillion. (One committee trimmed the costs of its health care bill below that amount, but an official estimate of the cost reductions was not available at the time of this writing.)
The chairmen of the three House committees have explicitly stated that their goal is a final bill that is deficit-neutral in the decade following enactment.
It's unclear if they have accomplished this yet, since the Congressional Budget Office has not yet issued final cost estimates of the bills, and the legislation is likely to change before the full House votes on a final bill. But President Obama and Democratic leaders have also committed to ensuring that health care reform will not increase the budget deficit.
Under the House bills, roughly half of the costs would be offset with savings in our existing health care programs, while the other half would be offset with a surcharge on the incomes of wealthy taxpayers.
In contrast, President Bush and his allies in Congress never even attempted to replace the revenue lost as a result of their enormous tax cuts. The Bush tax cuts were deficit-financed, which increased the national debt and resulted in greater interest payments on that debt, as already explained.
These figures make clear that costs cannot be the real concern of lawmakers who oppose the House health care legislation and yet supported the Bush tax cuts. Their position seems to be that showering benefits on the wealthiest five percent of taxpayers and leaving the bill for future generations is preferable to making health care available for all at a much lower cost and paying that cost up front. That demonstrates a different set of priorities than most Americans have, but it doesn't demonstrate much concern about costs.
At a time where patriotism has changed from "You're either with us or against us or you're with the terrorists" to advocacy of secession (and secessionists running for Vice President) and publicly wishing for the president's death, I suppose that part of being a "real American" means giving up your citizenship so you don't have to pay taxes.
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Do kids have to have tumors growing on the outside of their skulls before parents start paying attention to the research?
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Marcy's crunching the numbers:
Here are some ways to think of Max Tax:
Maximum amount a family of four making $67,000 would have to pay for health care, per year: $20,610 (31% of income)
Total amount that family of four would pay in fine if they did not get health care insurance: $3,800
Total amount a corporation with more than 50 employees would pay in fine if it did not offer health insurance: $400 per employee
Total amount a corporation can pay for health care plans without paying 35% tax: $8000 individual, $21,000 family.
Fun fact: Special interests received a copy of Baucus plan before the White House did.
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Great American Sean Hannity on Obama's czars "...by the way, we got rid of one, and my job starting tomorrow night is to get rid of every other one. I promise you that!"
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Former first lady shows some class:
Laura Bush got off the sauce long enough to defend President Obama's decision to address the nation's school children, telling CNN Monday that it is "really important for everyone to respect the President of the United States."Even rotund hobgoblin Newt Gingrich found some time between porking mistresses to Twitter his approval:
"I think that there is a place for the President of the United States to talk to school children and encourage school children, and I think there are a lot of people that should do the same," she said in an interview. "And that is encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dream that they have."
Just read President Obamas speech to students.white House posted it. it is a good speech and will be good for students to hearFollowing with
Remember that Presidents Reagan and Bush with also talked to students nationwide. As long as it is non political and pro education it is good'Until Rush Limbaugh tells me otherwise', he left unsaid.
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Think corporate ownership of congress critters is bad now, with campaign finance restrictions that still allow health insurers to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaign chests of repug-fellating cowards like Ben Chandler?
Wait until next year, when corporations will be legally able to outright purchase legislators with millions, tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars in unlimited corporate contributions to political campaigns.
http://theygaveusarepublic.com/diary/3520/brought-to-you-by-our-generous-sponsors
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