The House of Representatives just passed HR 3319 for health care reform 220 – 215. 39 Bush Dog DINOs voted to betray America. One lone Republican, Joseph Cao (R-LA) defied the GOP Regime and voted ‘Yea’.
More in the morning. Good night!
You probably already know that the GOP has been blocking the markup of the climate bill in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. A quorum including two or more Republicans is required to vote on amendments to the bill. Only one Republican per day has attended.
Senate Democrats in the Environment and Public Works Committee finally squelched Republican boycotts and passed a version of the climate bill Wednesday morning. Last week, Republican senators refused to show up to committee hearings in an attempt to stall the bill. Brian Beutler of Talking Points Memo notes that EPW has now set “the stage for other panels to amend the legislation.”
To no one’s surprise, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., immediately complained about the legislation on Fox News. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., was the lone Democrat that did not vote, which Inhofe interpreted as a sign that the bill is “dead.”
Chairman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., was much more upbeat and argued that the Republican boycott actually marred their credibility. “The absence of the Republicans during the Environmental Protection Agency’s presentation was a clear message that their criticism of the EPA analysis was not a substantive one,” Boxer said. “We are pleased that despite the Republican boycott, we have been able to move the bill.”
Inhofe also condemned Boxer for passing the bill through the committee unconventionally. Aaron Wiener writes for The Washington Independent that “Without a quorum that included at least two Republicans, the committee was unable to open formal debate on amendments to the bill. But passage requires just a simple majority, and Chairman Boxer and the Democratic leadership chose to forgo amendments in order to move the legislation quickly, given that the end of the GOP boycott was nowhere in sight.” Luckily, now that the bill is moving on to other committees, Inhofe and his Republican EPW colleagues will no longer have much of a say on the bill’s final outcome.
With Copenhagen just a month away, Kate Sheppard argues for Mother Jones that the odds of passing a viable climate bill before the climate summit are very grim. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will run a series of studies after each committee’s climate and energy bills are combined into a single piece of legislation. Even though the bill passed through the EPW committee, other committees, such as the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Finance Committee, and Agriculture Committee, need to weigh in before the bill is reviewed by the EPA and sent for a vote in the full Senate. How will this affect climate talks in Copenhagen? Sheppard writes that, “Without the urgency imposed by the Copenhagen deadline, any little momentum that the climate bill had could disappear very fast.”… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Alternet>
This was an excellent move on Boxer’s part. I only wish she had taken this step sooner. Democrats in the House and Senate need to recognize that the GOP is conduct6ing a war on progress and are disregarding the national well being in favor of their perception of political advantage. There have been too many olive branches already. It’s time cut them out of the process at every opportunity.
Carrie Prejean, darling of the LGBT intolerance set and frequent window dressing on Faux Noise had dropped her lawsuit against Miss California USA. Apparently Carrie was caught with her fingers in the …umm… well, it’s not really the cookie jar, but…
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) Did the legal battle between former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean and pageant organizers suddenly conclude because organizers presented Prejean with a sex tape starring the religiously devout beauty queen?
Celebrity site TMZ says yes and CNN, last night, said a source with knowledge of the settlement confirmed it. Crimesider has no independent verification of the story at this time.
In August, Prejean sued Miss California USA organizers for libel, slander and religious discrimination...
...The pageant countersued Prejean last month, claiming the buxom blonde still owed them $5,200 for the breast implants they helped her buy.
The dueling lawsuits had the making of a showdown at the ok corral in a string bikini but the warring factions abruptly made peace on Tuesday.
A joint statement released yesterday says Prejean and pageant organizers reached a confidential settlement on both legal fronts and both parties "wish each other the best in their future endeavors."
As for that alleged sex tape reportedly starring Prejean, if TMZ had the tape months ago, as the site claims, why didn't they post it online or on air? TMZ Managing Editor Harvey Levin claimed in a Wednesday webcast that the tape, which he said features just Prejean, was too graphic for their taste.
Inserted from <CBS>
Apparently the lawyers for the pageant ambushed Carrie during negotiations at which all parties were present. When they played the tape allegedly depicting auto-eroticism, she objected that it was disgusting. Then the camera panned to her face. OOPS!! That was the end of that lawsuit. It is also probably the end of Carries career assisting the religious right in forcing their piety codes down the throats of those who do not share their view. Carrie was scheduled as the featured speaker at the New Jersey Family Council’s Defenders of the Family award and fund raising event. This group organized to oppose equal protection under the law for LGBT people. Carrie was not present at last night’s event.
Let me make one thing clear. If Carrie Prejean, or anyone else for that matter, wants to make a sex tape, I could care less. That’s her business, not mine. My bone of contention is that she engaged in this behavior at the same time that she presented herself as a paragon of virtue, a holy victim of discrimination over her religious beliefs, all the while trying to impose the conduct demanded in those beliefs on others. I object to her hypocrisy, not her peccadilloes.
It appears that most of the members of the House Financial Services Committee, including nine Democrats and all the Republicans except the one that didn’t show up are more concerned with their big corporate clients than they are with you and I.
Things turned Orwellian in the House Financial Services Committee this week when members — with the backing of the White House — passed an investor protection bill that would make it all too easy for thousands of publicly traded companies to cook their books.
While the bill offers investors important protections — including imposing a fiduciary duty on brokers who give investment advice — an amendment was added to permanently exempt smaller public companies (worth less than $75 million) from a post-Enron auditing requirement. It passed with votes from 28 of the committee’s 29 Republicans (one was absent) and 9 Democrats. All clearly were more interested in pleasing corporate constituents than protecting investors who, last time we checked, are also constituents.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed after the Enron debacle, requires public companies to have independent auditors attest to the effectiveness of their internal controls against financial fraud. During the Bush years, the regulation-averse S.E.C. routinely exempted small public companies from the audit requirement, saying it was unduly burdensome. But research shows that the law has succeeded in reducing errors and fraud — a big plus for investors. And changes made in 2007 have made the audits less onerous for business.
For those reasons, the S.E.C.’s new chairwoman, Mary Schapiro, announced in September that the exemption would end in June. Unfortunately, the White House also appears to be more attuned to the concerns of corporate constituents than to the sensible S.E.C. chief, even though Mr. Obama chose her to run the agency. When the legislation comes up for a full vote in the House, members should strip it of this destructive amendment that only entrenches an antiregulatory policy of the Bush years… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
I much prefer the no nonsense approach put forward by Bernie Sanders (Hat-tip Huffington Post).
That’s a bill that will enjoy my FULL support!
Every time I turn on the TV it seems that there’s another ad shilling a so-called “free” credit report offer. They are just as free as the GOP is compassionate. However, you can get an annual credit report from all three agencies for free.
Ben Stein was axed by the New York Times last year for ethics violations when he appeared in a commercial for a bait and switch credit report scam. The ad claimed that consumers could get a free credit report, but in reality, they had to pay to see the real numbers.
Well, the FTC is now getting into the act and going after similar companies with some catchy commercials intended to emulate those of a popular advertising campaign by a similar bait and switch scam:
AnnualCreditReport.com is the ONLY authorized source to get your free annual credit report under federal law. The Fair Credit Reporting Act guarantees you access to a free credit report from each of the three nationwide reporting agencies — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion — every twelve months. The Federal Trade Commission has received complaints from consumers who thought they were ordering their free annual credit report, but instead paid hidden fees or agreed to unwanted services. Don’t be fooled by TV ads, email offers, or online search results. Go to the authorized source when you request your free report. Read on...
Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>
It can be very difficult to find the real one lost in the sea of scams, so if you didn’t already know where to go, now you do.
Yesterday I felt a little better, so I did a little visiting. Then I reorganized my closet. Too much too soon. 
Today’s Jig Zone puzzle took me 4:11. To do it, Click Here. How did you do?
Here’s your cartoon:
What’s up for the weekend?
I have long claimed that only the poor are stuck with free enterprise, while the rich get all the benefits of socialism. Every once in a while, however, the extremes to which these people consider themselves entitled above the rest of us just boggles the mind!
News that US swine flu vaccines, meant to be prioritized for the nation's most vulnerable, are being distributed to Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs sparked uproar Thursday. The New York Department of Health said Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have applied for supplies of the H1N1 vaccine and are eligible because they are large employers with in-house clinics.
With H1N1 vaccines often scarce and populist anger already raging at Wall Street for last year's financial meltdown, the news triggered furor.
Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer for the largest US health care union, the SEIU, said it was "obscene" that powerful and wealthy private organizations got vaccines when "at-risk Americans are either waiting in line for hours or getting turned away.
"Last time I checked, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not prioritized Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and other Wall Street executives over the rest of America," Burger said.
Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, from Connecticut, declared he was "stunned."
"It is shocking to think that private firms would be prioritized ahead of hospitals when the vaccine supply cannot meet the demand," he wrote in a letter to US Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Alternet>
In my condition, the GOP flu could kill me. I fit the high risk criteria. I cannot get a shot, because my doctor cannot get vaccine. What gives these pigs the right to move to the front of the line? I want a name. I want to know who is responsible for dispensing this vital resource based on net worth instead of actual need? I want that person to join the ranks of the unemployed today!
Then I want those Wall Street pigs regulated until they beg for Vaseline to sooth their back passages. Since their action proves they have no regard for our very lives, they cannot be afforded even the most miniscule leeway with which to enrich themselves at our expense!
The wing-nuttiest of the Tea Bagger Set arrived yesterday in Washington, DC. It was “grass roots” with no outside organization. They just happened to get on the forty busses provided by AFP.
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the corporate front group founded in the 1980s by Koch Industries billionaire David Koch, worked closely with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to orchestrate the anti-health reform rally today. As ThinkProgress reported yesterday, AFP has been encouraging right-wing activists to board their buses — free of charge — to attend the rally. While AFP does not disclose all of its corporate donors, foundations controlled by David and Charles Koch provide millions in yearly funding, and David continues to chair the AFP foundation and preside over AFP’s annual convention.
ThinkProgress found at least a dozen AFP staffers standing at their designated bus drop off point near the Capitol, handing out signs, directions, talking points, petitions, and donuts to protesters. Many of the people who work at AFP are longtime Republican operatives, like Ben Marchi, the AFP Virginia director who previously worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee and for Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX). Victor Zapanta produced this video report of AFP staffers talking about their exploits at the rally today:
AFP STAFFERS: We have 25 buses just from Pennsylvania, New Jersey we probably have 5 or 6 from Maryland.
AFP STAFFERS: We have about 40 buses coming.
Watch it:
David Koch’s AFP has a long history of marshaling “grassroots” support for GOP objectives. In the early 1990s, AFP, then known as Citizens for a Sound Economy, worked secretly with then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) to organize angry crowds following the Clintons as they touted their health reform bill. Industry money from health insurance, telecommunications, oil, and other companies has flowed freely to AFP over the years to help AFP promote an agenda of boosting the rich, stripping consumer safeguards, and maintaining corporate monopolies. Phillip Morris rented out AFP from the Koch family, contributing millions to the organization in exchange for AFP to build opposition to tobacco regulations...
Inserted from <Alternet>
I always find it particularly enlightening when those organizing those they have trained to claim they are “grass roots”, not organized, actually brag about how well they have organized the event. I found most of what I saw and heard in clips of this event highly offensive on many levels. Keith Olbermann, back from the Series, provided an excellent analysis, so I’ll conclude with that.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
When Barack Obama was running for office, he harshly criticized the intrusions into US citizens’ privacy and promised to bring them to an end. If the following is true, he is breaking faith with the American People and needs to be told to deliver the change he promised.
The USA Patriot Act, rushed into law by a panicky U.S. Congress in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, gave the government broad surveillance powers to spy on innocent citizens. But it also stipulated that three of its more controversial provisions should expire next month unless reapproved by lawmakers.
And it appears that reapproval may be about to happen - evidently with a green light from the Barack Obama administration and over strong objections from human rights and civil liberties groups.
Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the USA Patriot Act Extension Act of 2009. The bill makes only minor changes to the original Patriot Act and was further watered down by amendments adopted during the committee's deliberations.
"The Senate Judiciary Committee had the opportunity to pass legislation to rein in a bill that has become a symbol of out-of-control government invasions of your privacy. They failed - approving a bill that does little to curtail the sweeping powers embedded in the Patriot Act," said the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The committee's actions were driven by "short-term and political considerations", Chip Pitts, president of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, told IPS.
The Judiciary Committee ignored "the need for a more sensible long-term, reasoned, rule-of-law approach", he said.
Now, civil libertarians are looking to the House of Representatives, where that body's Judiciary Committee has already begun to consider the measure. Both chambers must produce versions of the legislation, after which differences will be reconciled by a bicameral conference committee.
There are three sections of the law due to expire next month.
The "National Security Letter (NSL)" provision…
The "Material Support" Statute…
The FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Amendments Act of 2008... [emphasis original]
Inserted from <Common Dreams>
This is not what I had in mind when I supported Obama’s candidacy. I am thankful that we have him as President rather that McConJob, but he needs to be accountable to the people who elected him. As this bill moves through the House, I will oppose the extension. To read a detailed explanation of each section, click through to the original article.
I managed to stay caught up on replying to comments yesterday and even visited a few blogs. Today, I’ll see how I feel. It’s touch and go.
Since there will be articles on the Fort Hood incident everywhere, I won’t dedicate an article to it today in order to wait until more is known. In case you have not heard, Maj. Hassan was not killed after all. He is alive and in stable condition. Despite the many rants from the extreme right that this was motivated by Islamo-fascist terrorism, there is no evidence to date to support that. My one thought is that our military is altogether worn out if our troops’ stories are so horrific that a psychiatrist, whose job was counseling thousands of them went off the deep end. But that’s only speculation on my part, a gut feeling. I cannot support that was the basis for his motivation and I make no such claim.
Today’s Jig Zone puzzle took me 6:08. To do it, Click Here. How did you do?
Here’s your cartoon:
TGIF!!
