Citizens alert (12/10/09): Proposed US health care legislation will continue our spending double per capitacompared to better systems in advanced countries. Comparisons with advanced countries—all covering ALL their citizens—show us that we are over-spending at least $4,000/person/yr to insurance/drug/hospital cartels ($100 Billion/mo.). These bills continue our highest health care per capita expense to businesses and the self-employed. Thus, there is a potential FREE $1.2 Trillion/yr. stimulus to our economy if we just become as efficient as peer nations. Understand? Therefore, if proposed legislation is not remedied for efficiency it will stand as proof of complete failure of our government due to “corporate donations.”
The problem is much larger than health care. Pentagon spending would only be "normal" if we had 3 Billion citizens! Together, health care and "defense" overspending (ignoring equally bloated budgets of Homeland Defense and Intelligence for the moment) exceeds SSA and Medicare underfunding. The problem is Politicians—elected mostly with corporate 'donations'—and Lobbyists—highly-paid mostly by corporations—are ruining our country. This notice will remain until corporate dominance ends.
SOURCE: Public Broadcasting System & ABC News | TIMELESS?
Kill Bill: Death to Obamacare! At that point we can start seriously demanding that the Congress and the President act to bring us real health reform in the way that really works: expanding Medicare to cover everyone.
...this exchange system and its supposed beneficial competition doesn’t mean lower costs. It just adds mind boggling confusion over what policies to pick.
Can Capitalism defeat the Mafia, or are they the same?
Repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 antitrust exemption for the health insurance industry is a first step toward bringing at least some competition in that industry.
Ignoring calls from numerous critics, the New York Times refuses to own up to mistakes in the paper's coverage of the now-famous right-wing videotapes attacking the community organizing group ACORN.
SOURCE: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) | 03.11.10
Sorry, Rove, Bush Did Lie About Iraq Karl Rove says he should have battled critics who accused George W. Bush of lying about Iraq, but Bush did lie.
by Robert Parry | 03.05.10
The Woeful Washington Post The Washington Post is now a neocon bastion that distorts the capital's debate with bias and misinformation.
by Robert Parry | 03.03.10
It's Snow News Even when there isn't any snow, local TV news gives us a five-minute weather report on the Evening News. Excluding commercials, teasers, and mindless promotion, that's more than one-fourth of the news budget.
by Walter Brasch | 03.03.10
The NYT Veers Neocon The New York Times has joined the ranks of U.S. newspapers carrying the neoconservative banner.
Bob Somerby's Daily Howler Somerby is undoubtedly America's best mainstream media critic, holding both "conservatives" and "liberals" to account for unprofessional journalism. Usually updated by noon.
by Bob Somerby | TIMELESS
Legal Matters
America's Supremes: Court Over Constitution The Court's pro-corporate ruling means the public is more than ever left out, because influence depends on the ability to buy it. The electoral process is further corrupted, and the notion of free, fair, and open elections is fanciful, absurd, and the reason many voters opt out.
Peace Process Hypocrisy: Stillborn from Inception America holds the trump cards, its position consistently one-sided under Republican and Democrat administrations, and, rhetoric aside, for decades has rejected an equitable, sustainable peace.
Like Health Care Cartels, Cable and Telephone Cartels collude to maximize profits instead of updating their networks
Today, we are paying more for not only slower broadband Internet and wireless systems but also for less meaningful choice than any advanced country in the world.
by David Rosen and Bruce Kushnick | 03.14.10
Palestinian Dispossession in East Jerusalem Palestinians have endured decades of occupied belligerency and the systematic theft of their land, the international community failing to fulfill its obligations under Article 1 to the four Geneva Conventions. For over six decades, Israel has remained unaccountable.
Debate to end expensive 10-year military occupation isn't newsworthy
Such is the way of our imperial system. Our ruling class does not want the citizenry to know there are any alternatives to the grand bipartisan consensus on the true aims of government: servicing the needs of Militarism and Money. And so what cannot be ignored entirely is buried on back pages.
by Chris Floyd | 03.12.10
Slick Barry and the $100-Billion Medicaid/Medicare Fraud Claim The $100 billion “fraud” figure comes from a study done annually by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and that study makes it clear that it is not looking at fraud, but at errors involving problems like illegible signatures on doctors’ orders, or lost paperwork.
Israeli Settlement Expansions Continue Israel is criminally liable for repeatedly violating fundamental international laws it's sworn to uphold but has yet to be held accountable. For certain, however, what can't go on forever, won't, but it's up to grassroots pressure to assure it.
by Stephen Lendman | 03.12.10
US Politics, Policy & Culture
Power Rangers: Policing the System With the "Fightin' Progressives" Isn't it odd that these discrediting blasts from "the left" undermining Kucinich come just as his resolution for a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan is about to come up for debate on the House floor? Well, no, it's actually not odd at all; it is entirely predictable.
by Chris Floyd | 03.11.10
Thinking About Countings The 2010 U.S. Census zeros in on Hispanics and seeks to learn which Latin American (or South American) country was the source of their origin.
by Fred Cederholm | 03.09.10
Unnatural Acts: Breaking the Fever of Militarism We do have the capacity to resist the patterns of domination and obedience, to seek out new ways of seeing the world, of communing with others, of being better humans. This seems, to me, a worthwhile thing to be getting on with during our painfully brief time on the earth.
Comments expanding upon a recent radio interview of the author by Scott Horton.
The plain fact is that America's military empire is unsustainable. It is going to be diminished, degraded and finally lost, one way or another, at some point or another. The only question is whether Americans want to control that process themselves -- to dismantle their empire carefully, responsibly, and beneficially.
[Rasmussen's poll analysis] concludes that the gap between the American population and the politicians who rule them “may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th century.”
by Paul Craig Roberts | 02.24.10
Thinking About Sadie Every dog has its day and last Tuesday night saw “the best of show” at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show at Madison Square Garden in New York going to Sadie, a four year old Scottish terrier.
Note the naked profit motive underlying the build-up the military and security forces of the American-implanted Afghan government. As in Iraq, the aim is not so much "nation building" as "market building": setting up yet another conduit to pass American taxpayer money directly to weapons dealers.
by Chris Floyd | 02.18.10
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“High Crimes?” (Worthy of impeachment hearings or International Criminal Court prosecution)
Brutalizing Palestinian Children Short of fundamental change, Palestinian men, women and children will continue to be victimized by state-sponsored terrorism, a condition no longer to be tolerated by nations claiming they're civilized.
by Stephen Lendman | 03.11.10
The Russell Tribunal on Palestine: Barcelona Session The Russell Tribunal on Palestine found Israel in violation of breaching virtually all international humanitarian laws as well as ones covering the rules of war and occupation.
by Stephen Lendman | 03.08.10
Targeting Israeli Apartheid Launched in Toronto in 2005, Israeli Apartheid Week is an annual series of university lectures, rallies, multimedia events, cultural performances, films, and demonstrations held in cities worldwide to educate people about the destructiveness of Israeli apartheid.
Like George Bush, Obama plans permanent war and more military spending than all other nations combined at a time America has no enemies. He promised change and betrayed us. Grassroots activism must stop this madness.
by Stephen Lendman | 03.01.10
Global Sweatshop Wage Slavery The National Labor Committee calls the world "a desperate place for the poor." Global trade rules don't protect them. They struggle to keep jobs they know will harm or kill them because of no choice. How else can they support their families.
American Genocides: is Haiti Next? We waged war against Native Americans, African-Americans, ordinary Americans, the poor, disadvantaged and women. Since inception, we committed "genocide," according to Zinn: "brutally and purposefully....by our rulers in the name of progress, (who then buried ugly truths) in a mass of other facts, as radioactive wastes are buried."
by Stephen Lendman | 02.22.10
Israeli Abusive Administrative Detentions Detentions based on secret evidence without trial or meaningful judicial review are "the most extreme measure that an occupying state may use against residents of the occupied territory." Used indiscriminately subjects hundreds of Palestinians to injustice.
by Stephen Lendman | 02.18.10
MK-ULTRA: The CIA's Mind Control Program Conducting human mind control experiments are clearly illegal and unethical. They're more sophisticated than ever today, and claims that MK-ULTRA experiments were halted in the 1970s were false. Renamed they continue...
by Stephen Lendman | 02.16.10
Economics & Business
Non/Mis/Malfeasance
The Business of Water: Privatizing An Essential Resource Corporate control must be prevented, and global water justice efforts must take the lead. Various initiatives globally are making headway. "Momentum is growing everywhere for a right whose time has come," but it won't arrive easily up against powerful opposition.
The latest federal budget opens the American public to yet more pain, while shielding the military and the rest of the national security establishment from the same.
If the 2011 budget and its projections proceed as planned, many Americans will be hungrier and still jobless in a harsher, meaner world. Budgetary savings achieved by cutting aid for the poorest Americans will be spent on wars, weapons, and “security” needs.
by Jo Comerford | 03.02.10
Thinking About Fees Fees are charges made by agencies of the state to fluff their cash flow. New ones spring up like fungi in the night.
This transformation signals the complete capture of American democracy by an oligarchy of special interests.
Social Security, formerly an untouchable "third rail of politics," is now "unsustainable," while the real unsustainables--a pre-1929 unregulated financial system and open-ended multi-trillion dollar Global War Against Terror--are the new untouchables.
by Paul Craig Roberts | 02.22.10
Selling Out America to Wall Street Expect a deepening global depression; protracted economic, political, social, and institutional upheaval; mass unemployment, poverty, homelessless, and hunger; and severe repression to curb public anger. Blame it on decades of political influence buying yielding unprecedented returns for the privileged.
Cuts in Bloated Spending on "Defense" and "Intelligence" are Off The Table
The commission’s slant is evident from the choice of its two co-chairs: former Wyoming Republican senator Alan Simpson, a long-time foe of entitlements, and Erskine Bowles, the middle-right former Clinton chief of staff.
As long as Muslims hate and fear one another more than they hate their conquerers, they will remain a vanquished people.
by Paul Craig Roberts | 03.03.10
Funding Israeli Militarism, Belligerence and Occupation The "special relationship" remains fixed under Obama, what he affirmed at the June 2008 AIPAC meeting that he's "a true friend of Israel," felt he was "among friends," stressed that "the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable today, tomorrow and forever," and, in fact, "as president, I will work with you to ensure that this bond is strengthened."
by Stephen Lendman | 03.02.10
Iran Captures a 'Good' Terrorist The leader of the violent Jundallah group has fallen into Iranian hands and claims links to U.S. intelligence.
Immense sums of money would be saved if all nations stopped spying.... How many diseases could be overcome? How many hungry people fed, how many illiterates taught to read and write?
While bank bailouts fatten Wall Street, states continue to battle the credit crisis. In the search for innovative solutions, some political candidates are proposing that states generate their own credit by setting up their own banks.
For over 90 years, North Dakota has demonstrated the success of the public banking model. Other credit-choked states are finally taking notice and devising their own variations on the theme.
Who benefits from this war? What does the "winner" get?
The challenge now is for the US peace movement to throw off its narcoleptic embrace of the Democratic Party and of President Obama, to take heart from the Dutch people, and to demand that the US too end its useless and expensive war making around the globe.
Threat of Mutually Assured Destruction as Deterrent always worked before. Why Not Now?
Now the Bush-Obama administration has inserted its own man at the top of IAEA -- and suddenly the Agency has reversed years of a cautious, evidence-based approach in favor of, yes, palm-reading about what Iran might eventually do someday.
