Presumably, there has not been a popular revolt to derail the Obama Administration's determination to not only get the money we loaned to the banks back, but to assert as a general principle that IT'S OUR MONEY, backed by the full faith and credit of we, the American people, and, since it's ours, ours to do with as we please--no reason to beg for crumbs from the bankers' tables. It's taken a while, but the ABC "It's your money" frame has finally taken hold. The Administration's decision to forgive the loans associated with hurricane damage is another example of getting the money flowing where we want it.

Why did Representatives Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter vote in support of H Res. 867 (Roll Call 838) which “calls on the President and Secretary of State to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the `Report on the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’ (known as the Goldstone Report?”

The vote was 344 in support and 36 opposed.

What did the report say? In part, it recommended that both Israel and Hamas investigate alleged war crimes and take appropriate action or other countries or the International Criminal Court could do so.

Judge Goldstone wrote to the H. Res 867’s main sponsors to correct the many factual errors in the resolution. Congress had the opportunity, but refused, to invite Judge Goldstone to talk with them and answer their questions before the vote.

Why is Congress afraid of hearing the truth?

In the Bill Moyers interview of Oct. 23, Judge Goldstone talked about his experience with investigating abuses in his home country of South Africa, in Bosnia, Rwanda, and other trouble spots. He said:

Researchers from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee analyzed data reported by the insurers to the California Department of Managed Care. From 2002 through June 30, 2009, the six insurers rejected 45.7 million claims -- 22 percent of all claims.

For the first half of 2009, as the national debate over healthcare reform was escalating, the rejection rates are even more striking.

Claims denial rates by leading California insurers, first six months of 2009:

******* PacifiCare -- 39.6 percent

******* Cigna -- 32.7 percent

******* HealthNet -- 30 percent

******* Kaiser Permanente -- 28.3 percent

******* Blue Cross -- 27.9 percent

******* Aetna -- 6.4 percent

-snip

For 2 hours last night (7/13), selectmen & woman, citizens and police of Salem tried to defame a member of the town selectmen commission. Selectman Patrick Hargreaves(sp?) was volunteering to help a disabled resident install a ramp at the citizens' home on the selectman's own time and with community involvement.

As the project was ending a policeman came along and harassed the volunteers. What type of P.R. is this for my fine town when a good deed is punished?

I would like a state-wide investigation into this issue and the chief of Salem Police as well as the board of selectmen held accountable for legal fees incurred by selectman Hargeaves as well as a sincere apology issued.

Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo is the prototype for United States mega bases that have subsequently been built in Iraq.

SOURCE:National Journal

For Immediate Release May 21, 2009

REMARKS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT TO TROOPS AT CAMP BONDSTEEL/MULTI-NATIONAL TASK FORCE-EAST Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo

SOURCE:Recovery.gov
April 28, 2009

What GAO Found

About 90 percent of the estimated $49 billion in Recovery Act funding to be provided to states and localities in FY2009 will be through health, transportation and education programs. Within these categories, the three largest programs are increased Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) grant awards, funds for highway infrastructure investment, and the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF). The funding notifications for Recovery Act funds for the 16 selected states and the District of Columbia (the District) have been approximately $24.2 billion for Medicaid FMAP on April 3, $26.7 billion for highways on March 2, and $32.6 billion for SFSF on April 2.

The report is in a portable document file (pdf) and, consequently, difficult to copy and paste. However, the highlights of the GAO report are only two pages and well worth reading here.

SOURCE:Foundation for Change

One Hundred Days and What Have We Got?

April 29, 2009

The Obama Administration has released a map/scorecard to highlight the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in each of the fifty states.

SOURCE:Global Security

VP to Lead U.S. Nonproliferation Efforts

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The job of leading the push for the Obama administration's nuclear nonproliferation program will fall to Vice President Joseph Biden, the Boston Globe reported today.

The tasks at hand including promoting security of nuclear material across the globe and pushing ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty through the U.S. Senate.

SOURCE:BBC News

Tens of thousands of supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr have rallied against the US presence in Iraq, six years after Saddam Hussein's fall.

Protesters in Baghdad's Firdos Square carried pictures of the cleric and chanted slogans denouncing what they called the occupation of Iraq.

Six years ago, US troops reached the square and helped Iraqis pull down a statue of their former leader there.

SOURCE:Star Telegram

At emotional hearing, relatives finally hear man's name cleared

By AMAN BATHEJA

AUSTIN — Twenty-two years ago, Ruby Session listened in disbelief as a Lubbock jury convicted her son, Timothy Cole, of rape. She promised herself that one day she would make sure this injustice was corrected.

Representative government, as Republicans will be quick to tell you, means that individuals are selected, presumably because of their expertise and qualifications, to direct local, state or national affairs on behalf of a public, most of whom are too busy with other matters.

I've got no problem with that. What I have a problem with is the apparent failure, on the part of political parties and other interest groups (like the Durham Taxpayers' Association) to insure that the candidates they promote are actually competent to provide such direction to the permanent cadre of public employees.

CONCORD, N.H. — The NH Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy today announced its support for HB 648, a bill that would protect seriously ill patients from arrest if their doctors recommend marijuana. The group also announced the launch of NHCompassion.org, a new Web site featuring New Hampshire patients, which will serve as a home base for the effort to pass medical marijuana legislation.

"HB 648 simply acknowledges the obvious fact that some seriously ill New Hampshire patients benefit from their medicinal use of marijuana," observed Matt Simon, the organization's executive director. "There is no moral justification for continuing a policy that criminalizes patients for trying to relieve their suffering."

Simon said he's optimistic about the bill’s chances, and noted that New Hampshire voters support medical marijuana reform by a wider margin than they supported most successful candidates in the 2008 election.

Simon cited a poll conducted last April by Mason-Dixon Research, which found that of New Hampshire voters, 71 percent supported "changing the law in New Hampshire to allow seriously and terminally ill patients to use and grow medical marijuana for personal use if their doctors recommend it." Only 21 percent of voters said they opposed the reform, with 8 percent undecided. Details on the poll are available at nhcompassion.org.

22,000 acres of prime conservation land that the oil/gas industry wants to exploit.

SOURCE: Salt Lake Tribune

Impostor disrupts lands bid

By Patty Henetz

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 12/20/2008 07:11:02 AM MST

He didn't pour sugar into a bulldozer's gas tank. He didn't spike a tree or set a billboard on fire. But wielding only a bidder's paddle, a University of Utah student just as surely monkey-wrenched a federal oil- and gas-lease sale Friday, ensuring that thousands of acres near two southern Utah national parks won't be opened to drilling anytime soon.

Tim DeChristopher, 27, faces possible federal charges after winning bids totaling about $1.8 million on more than 10 lease parcels that he admits he has neither the intention nor the money to buy -- and he's not sorry.

Every now and then it seems advisable to check in on our United States Air Force, currently being directed by Michael B. Donley in his second tour as Secretary, having been approved by the Senate on October 2, 2008 after the prior Secretary was canned by Robert Gates.

No doubt, Secretary Donley is not responsible for the continuing turmoil nor the persistent aspirations to grandeur.

Air Force Seeks More Air Space Over Eastern Nevada

Posted: Dec 22, 2008 01:07 PM

Environmental groups are opposing an Air Force proposal to extend a supersonic operations area by 1.6 million acres in eastern Nevada....

Opponents say operations would jump from about 400 flights per year to as many as 9,500....

Tanscript below:

SOURCE: Boston Globe

By Kay Lazar

Globe Staff / December 19, 2008

A new government ranking system for nursing homes nationwide shows that Massachusetts has fewer top-notch rated facilities, and more ranked below average, than New England neighbors Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine.

The ratings, unveiled yesterday by the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, rates nursing homes on a star system - from one to five stars, with five stars the best - based on state health inspections, staffing, various quality-of-care measures, and a final score for overall quality.

Welcome to Algiers, Louisiana, a place where, in the best of times, people are particular about who walks by their house. In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, they got to do something about it. The Nation reports.