Can No Drama Obama Stare Down A Confederacy of Dunces? by Robert S. Becker + Network: Mad as Hell

By Robert S. Becker
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.beyondchron.org
rbecker@cal.net
Sept. 16, 2009

Moderate voters are baffled, liberals are protesting, and progressives are despairing, “Obama’s a puny reform-change agent, hardly a good liberal, and no antidote to enduring Bush-Cheney crimes. The raving right can’t stand him, the activist left is up in arms, and the mushy center isn’t holding.” Yikes.

After my own bellyaching, I understand these outbursts, quipping this pragmatic, “devout non-ideologue” is tarnishing both pragmatism and devout non-ideology. How can “pragmatism,” work when devoutly allergic to risk-taking and inclined to “let’s make a deal” giveaways? Forget kinship with FDR or LBJ: here’s another naïve outsider Washington bullies pick on like the famed 90 lb. weakling. Without more chutzpah, Obama risks Clinton’s fate, set up as bulls-eye for every redneck pipsqueak brandishing his popgun? Obama’s vacant “yes, we can” call to now evokes for many Kris Kristofferson’s acerbic lyrics, “freedom’s just another name for nothing left to lose.” Could Professor David Michael Green possibly be right, “Eight months into it, it now seems pretty clear that the Obama Administration is finished”? So soon?

The Dick Cheney Defense by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on Buzzflash.com
September 16, 2009

So Dick Cheney is going around the country justifying torture, (without any proof whatsoever, and anyway in terms of the law, that argument is irrelevant) saying how many hundreds of thousands of lives it saved, that the U.S. is, or at least was when he (ooops, he means Bush) was in power, really a nation with a Unitary Executive that can over-ride domestic law, the Constitution, and international law whenever the President thinks that that is justified for “reasons of national security.” (Sorry Dick, but if you would only read Article II, which defines the Executive Branch, you would know that such a doctrine is not even distantly implied in it, but that’s another story.) Furthermore, he charges that the bringing of any charges against folks who, for example, actually engaged in torture, even of the type not approved specifically by himself, is just pure politics.

The Private Mandate Sausage Machine by Dennis Kucinich

by Dennis Kucinich
kucinich.us
Tuesday, 15 September 2009

Dear Friends,

It is said one should not ask how sausage or laws are made. Are you concerned about a public option? Let me share with you some insight about health care legislation which may not be good for your health.

A lesson in politics. The Kucinich Prediction: Here’s what’s going to happen …

1. House will make a big deal about keeping/putting a public option in HR3200 because it competes with insurance companies and will keep insurance rates low.
2. The White House will refer to the President’s speech last week where he spoke favorably of the public option.

Wendell Potter: An Absolute Gift To The Insurance Industry

Dandelion Salad

Think Progress
Sept 15, 2009

On the eve of the Senate Finance Committee’s release of its much anticipated health care plan, Wendell Potter — the insurance industry whistle blower and former communications director of health insurance giant Cigna — called the Baucus framework “an absolute gift to the industry.” “And if that is what we see in the legislation, [America’s Health Insurance Plans chief] Karen Ignagni will surely get a huge bonus,” Potter said at a briefing for reporters.

Is Bagram Obama’s New Secret Prison? by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
15 Sept. 2009

On Monday, one day after the New York Times and the Washington Post reported that the Obama administration was planning to introduce tribunals for the prisoners held in the US prison at Bagram airbase, Afghanistan, the reason for the specifically-timed leaks that led to the publication of the stories became clear.

The government was hoping that offering tribunals to evaluate the prisoners’ status would perform a useful PR function, making the administration appear to be granting important rights to the 600 or so prisoners held in Bagram, and distracting attention from the real reason for its purported generosity: a 76-page brief to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (PDF), submitted yesterday, in which the government attempted to claim that “Habeas rights under the United States Constitution do not extend to enemy aliens detained in the active war zone at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.”

UN inquiry finds Israel guilty of Gaza war crimes

Warning

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

AlJazeeraEnglish
September 15, 2009

A United Nations report on Israel’s war on Gaza says war crimes were committed by both sides in the conflict.

But most of the criticism was directed at Israel’s conduct. Richard Goldstone, the judge leading the investigation, said Israel had used excessive force and deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians.

On behalf of the UN’s Human Rights Council, the investigators collected evidence, testimonies and even satellite imagery to get an idea of whether Israel or Palestinian factions were in breach of international humanitarian law.

Al Jazeera’s Sherine Tadros reports from Gaza City.

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Reframing the Health Care Debate by Jason Bryer

Republished with permission from the author; thanks Jason.

by Jason Bryer
Jason Bryer –  Sept 9, 2009
Sept 15, 2009

Over the past few weeks as the debate over a national health care option has moved from the halls of Congress to the water cooler I have found myself engaging in several discussions with those opposed to a national health care option. There are several problems with how this debate is going. First, in typical republican style, those who oppose national health care have attempted to boil the debate down to simple talking points and rhetoric. Any attempt to point out that such a complex topic as this is inherently nuanced and requires complex analysis is dismissed outright since in my opinion many Americans don’t seem to have the attention span to fully understand the topic. This is exemplified in a recent interview of Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele by Steve Inskeep on NPR[i]. Inskeep’s assertion that Steele’s position is nuanced is forcefully rejected. If we can get beyond the talking points and rhetoric and treat this debate with the careful thought it deserves, I believe that the weak foundation of those opposed to national health care will crumble. This essay attempts to provide a logical foundation and reason for my support of a national health care option. The first portion of the essay will define four key philosophies that help provide a context for the debate. I will then describe how I think this debate should be reframed. Finally, I will provide direct rebuttals to some of the more common criticisms of the health care option.

A Foundation for Debate

“You Have to Learn Lessons from History” by Cindy Sheehan

submitted to Buzzflash:

by Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
Sept. 15, 2009

I was just watching a report on CNN and after the commentator said that support for Afghanistan is rapidly dwindling (58 percent now think it’s not worth fighting), an interview with Obama was shown.

The interviewer asked the president if he was afraid that because war-weary America is growing impatient with the wars, that failing to withdraw and, in fact, sending more troops would look like what Johnson did in Vietnam, and therefore make Obama a “One term president.”

Well, I have been saying that whoever won in 2008 would not do the right thing and would send the USA even farther down the path to ruin (because every president has to follow orders from his masters, the corporations) and be a one term president.

Economics 101 – Michel Chossudovsky on the Banker Bailouts

corbettreport
September 14, 2009

Michel Chossudovsky, the director of the Centre for Research on Globalization, sits down with The Corbett Report to discuss the real meaning of the banker bailouts.

Obama Brings Guantánamo And Rendition To Bagram (And Not The Geneva Conventions) by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
15 Sept. 2009

Following briefings by Obama administration officials (who declined to be identified), both the New York Times and the Washington Post reported yesterday that the government is planning to introduce a new review system for the 600 or so prisoners held at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, which will, for the first time, allow them to call witnesses in their defense.

On paper, this appears to be an improvement on existing conditions at the prison, but a close inspection of the officials’ statement reveals that the proposed plans actually do very little to tackle the Bush administration’s wayward innovations regarding the detention of prisoners in wartime, and, moreover, the officials also provided the shocking news that prisoners are currently being rendered to Bagram from other countries.

The Spectrum of Disobedience – an interview with Howard Zinn By Gabriel Matthew Schivone

Crossposted with permission from Jewish Peace News

Howard Zinn
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad

Jewish Peace News
Sept 14, 2009

This interview with Howard Zinn opens with a discussion of a group of Israeli refusers known as the Sministim (high school seniors).

US Launches Military Strike in Somalia Against al Qaeda Target

By LUIS MARTINEZ, KIRIT RADIA, DANA HUGHES, and JASON RYAN
ABC News
Sept. 14, 2009

A U.S. commando attack in Somalia has killed an al Qaeda operative who is on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists, sources tell ABC News.

The dead terrorist, Saleh Ali Nabhan, is believed to have taken part in the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He is also believed to have orchestrated the 2002 bombing of a resort hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, and a failed missile attack on an Israeli airliner leaving Mombasa airport.

[…]

via u.s. commandos kill qaeda terrorist in somalia – ABC News

h/t: CLG

Late Breaking—Sometimes Broken—News by Rosemary and Walter Brasch

by Rosemary and Walter Brasch
Featured Writers
Dandelion Salad
www.walterbrasch.com
September 14, 2009

WNEP-TV, a large regional station in northeastern Pennsylvania, led its noon news, Friday, Sept. 11, with the announcement that there was finally a compromise on the state budget.

The legislators have been playing politics, stalling, and delaying for more than two months, leaving Pennsylvania the only state without a budget. To the viewer, it seemed that the executive branch and the legislative branch finally figured out that the people’s money needed to be budgeted and used. This would have been great news–except that in the same story, we also learned there were still some details to be worked out.

Gerald Celente: What’s next for America? Revolution!

RussiaToday
September 14, 2009

Gerald Celente – the most trusted name in trends – sits down for an exclusive interview with RT’s Anastasia Churkina to talk about what the future holds for America during and after the Great Recession, gives advice to Obama, and forecasts the unexpected.

Corporate Corruption Killing America by Joel S. Hirschhorn

by Joel S. Hirschhorn
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.foavc.org
Sept. 14, 2009

Anyone smart and strong enough to fight delusional thinking and who pays attention to current events should clearly see that corporate corruption of the US political system is so pervasive and powerful that there will be no genuine reform of both the health care and financial sectors.

I always believed that president Obama was just a different color corrupt politician who was subservient to the two-party plutocracy.  His so-called reform efforts and ludicrous federal deficit spending should disappoint all his non-delusional supporters.

For health reform the only genuine and sensible reform legislation should have been not much more than a single sentence mandating that every American has a right to full Medicare coverage.  Period.  End of story.  True reform.  True universal health insurance.