Kennedy health plan includes long-term care
by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Americans would be able to buy long-term care insurance from the government for $65 a month under a provision tucked into sweeping health care legislation that senators will begin considering next week.The 651-page bill, released Tuesday by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., would revamp the way health insurance works. Insurance companies would face a slew of new government rules, dealing with everything from guaranteed coverage for people with health problems to possible limitations on profits. Taxpayers, employers and individuals would share in the cost of expanding coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans. |
Prejean stripped of Miss California title
by Raw Story
The Miss California USA pageant winner who stoked controversy a few months ago with her views against gay marriage has been stripped of her title -- but not because of her politics, pageant organizers say.Twenty-two-year-old Carrie Prejean got into hot water first over her claim that marriage should be 'between a man and a woman,' and again last month when semi-nude pictures of her appeared on the Internet. |
Cheney still in crosshairs of Senate Intelligence probe
by John Byrne
Former Vice President Dick Cheney isn’t out of the woods yet for his role in briefing Congress on the Bush Administration’s secretive harsh interrogation program.In a carefully worded statement to Mother Jones’ David Corn for an article Wednesday, a spokesman for Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein indicated that the conduct of individuals who briefed Congressmembers on the CIA’s interrogation program is under review. |
Security guard shot dead inside National Holocaust Museum
by Raw Story
Shots were fired inside the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.According to Fox News, at least two people were shot, and one law enforcement official was injured. Authorities are holding one armed suspect in custody.The New York Times later reported that a security guard was fatally wounded in the attack. |
Can The One Have Fun?
by Maureen Dowd
WASHINGTON The fun police are patrolling Pennsylvania Avenue.Given the serious times, the chatter goes, should Barack Obama be allowed to enjoy date night with Michelle in New York, sightseeing in Paris, golf outings in D.C., not to mention doing a promotion for Conan O’Brien and a video cameo for Stephen Colbert’s first comedy show from Iraq? |
A Republican to Save Us
by Robert Scheer
— from TruthDigYou probably don't know much about Sheila Bair, but she is looking out for you, and that is why the big guys on Wall Street and their allies in the Obama administration are out to get her.Bair is the Republican whom President Obama reappointed to head the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., but she is protecting the interest of taxpayers as no Democrat has in this administration, and she needs your support. Huge financial decisions are being made by this government, involving trillions in future obligations of U.S. taxpayers, and Bair has been a rare effective voice for the interests of ordinary folk. |
Put Wars and Banks on PAYGO
by David Swanson
On Tuesday President Obama proposed that any increases in federal spending on anything useful, such as healthcare or retirement security, must be balanced by cuts and savings to something else useful, such as healthcare or retirement security.'The pay-as-you-go rule is very simple,' Obama said. 'Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere.' Except that it's not so simple. Obama would make an exception to allow Bush's tax cuts for millionaires to be extended past their 2010 expiration date, as well as to prevent the alternative-minimum tax from impacting the overclass. Still, the White House insists that everything is very simple: |
Boozing Bankers Celebrate Their Wealth and Triumph
by Brent Budowsky
Yesterday, many banks escaped from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) -- and last night they were celebrating their good fortune at their favorite taverns.Don't miss the lead story in today's New York Times, describing how these bankers were toasting their triumph, confident that happy days are here for them, that their pay will further improve "even if the broader economy does not." |
Manny Miranda's Mission: Build a Movement While Taking on Sonia Sotomayor
by Bill Berkowitz
Manuel Miranda is politically savvy enough not let a perfectly good opportunity slip away. As Miranda began to plot out a strategy for fighting against President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, he was smart enough to avoid the race-baiting, name-calling, and smear tactics used early on by some of his colleagues. In fact, he was reasonably judicious in his language. |
Taking Time Takes Patience: Desperate and Afraid, People Trust Leader
by Ted Rall
WASHINGTON, NORTH AMERICAN PROTECTORATE, GREATER GERMAN REICH--From Honolulu to Portland, Maine, North American citizens of the Greater German Reich gathered on June 6th to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the victory of Axis forces at D-Day, the battle that decided World War II. Fallen heroes of the Wehrmacht and SS were commemorated at solemn ceremonies and Party rallies throughout the Reich, but the day held special meaning in Washington, which until 1945 was the capital of the former United States. |
Obama's Era of Openness Is Closed
by Robert Parry
An 'era' used to last, but not so much anymore. We've already heard GOP Chairman Michael Steele proclaim that 'the era of apologizing for Republican mistakes' was over (when many of us didn't know it had begun), and now it appears that Barack Obama's era of openness has closed, too. |
Ezra Nawi: An Activist in Need
by Naomi Klein /Noam Chomsky /Neve Gordon
Every so often someone comes along who is so brave and so inspiring that you just can't sit by and remain silent when you learn they need your help.We're writing to you today about one of these rare people.His name is Ezra Nawi.You've probably never heard of him, but because you may know our names, now you will know his name. |
Cyberscares About Cyberwars Equal Cybermoney
by Frida Berrigan
As though we don't have enough to be afraid of already, what with armed lunatics mowing down military recruiters and doctors, the H1N1 flu virus, the collapse of bee populations, rising sea levels, failed and flailing states, North Korea being North Korea, al-Qaeda wannabes in New York State with terrorist aspirations, and who knows what else -- now cyberjihadis are evidently poised to steal our online identities, hack into our banks, take over our Flickr and Facebook acccounts, and create havoc on the World Wide Web. |
U.S. War Privatization Results in Billions Lost in Fraud, Waste and Abuse--Report
by Jeremy Scahill
Half of the personnel the US has working on its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are private contractors. A new report reveals how much of a rip-off this system has been to US taxpayers.At a hearing in Washington today, the federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan is releasing a 111-page report that represents its “initial investigations of the nation’s heavy reliance on contractors.” According to a release on the hearing: |
Afghan Woman Knows Why US Policy is Failing
by John Nichols
OSLO -- The debate about the Obama administration's plan to surge more than 20,000 additional troops into Afghanistan has been so vapid that you will still hear suggestions that this approach is necessary to protect the people -- particularly the women -- of Afghanistan from oppression. |
Health Professionals Tell Congress They Want Single-Payer
by Jeff Muskus
At a long-awaited House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, health-care professionals made it clear that they believe a single-payer system to be the best and perhaps only workable option for health care reform.'Single-payer is the only reform that can control health care costs,' said Walter Tsou, a University of Pennsylvania professor and an adviser to Physicians for a National Health Program. The last 50 years of government policy have protected insurance industry profits at the expense of taxpayers, doctors and hospitals, he said. |
Pentagon riddled with conflicts of interest
by Richard Lardner
Pentagon employees have received millions of dollars in free travel and lodging from foreign countries, trade groups and companies with an interest in shaping policies or doing business with the U.S. military.Defense officials say the arrangement is legal, saves taxpayers money and is carefully monitored to ensure there are no conflicts of interest. But government watchdogs say it allows donors to subtly exert influence for a small investment compared with the potential gain. |
RI Senate overwhelmingly backs medical marijuana stores
by Stephen C. Webster
Whether the Republican Governor of Rhode Island likes it or not, medical marijuana patients in his state will likely soon be able to purchase their medicine from retail shops that specialize in cannabis and cannabis-infused medicinal products.Tuesday night, the Rhode Island State Senate approved the legislation by a vote of 30 - 2. Rhode Island has already approved medical marijuana and has licensed about 680 patients, according to local news station WPRI, but never actually legalized the plant’s sale. |
