Daily Topics "Anything Goes Friday" Feb 5 2010
By Louise
You can NOW! Watch Thom on the Dish Network channel 9415 at 2pm ET – Talk TV
So long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we'll be called a democracy. -- Roger Nash Baldwin (1884-1981 -founder, ACLU)
"Anything Goes Friday"
"Brunch With Bernie" US Senator Bernie Sanders www.sanders.senate.gov
Comments
#2
@DDay: Wow! You got Hmong in Norway? I bet there's a story behind that!
#3
Tom's point about an hour ago about messaging is simply getting lost. I am mad as hell about the state of this country, and mad as hell at Obama for running a terrific campaign and having an absolutely terrible first year. If Obama will simply commit at least one statffer to listen to Thom H. everyday, and watch Rachel Maddow for one hour in the evening, and report directly to Obama the contents of the shows, then perhaps there's hope for the country.
#4
chuckle8,
Maybe next week, then. One more non-change:
Deepening Debt Crisis: The Bernanke Reappointment: Be Afraid, Very Afraid
by Prof Michael Hudson
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17346
Happy weekend!
#5
@John Farbstein: Because I already know that its the system, not the candidate, I was prepared for Obama being unable to change much, especially the basics. However, I didn't think at this point I would consider him just another war criminal.
#6
@Charles & rewinn -
The point you are arguing is essentially moot - The rules for this Congress have already been established. I'm pretty sure that Congress (both houses) votes on rules changes at the beginning of each 2-year session, and those rules have traditionally remained in place until the next Congress conveves. Is this a requirement? I certainly don't know, but it is how it's always been done. Probably not a good reason to continue with it, but how often do we get representatives who can think outside the box?
The blame, therefore, falls squarely on the shoulders of those who actually BELIEVED in "The Legend of the Democrat Supermajority".
#7
@mstaggerlee - Tradition is like a fiddler on the roof.
#8
So Chuckle8, we could have the cloture vote let each senator have as many votes as there are representatives from his or her state. I kind of like it.
#9
#10
Why are there so many lies?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Government-Labor-Statistic-by-Dave-Lind...
#11
I am tired of continuous old fashion alley muggings!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Bail-out-Could-Cost-Taxpay-by-earl-ofar...
#12
Love the poor and your life will be filled with sunlight and you will not fear the hor of death. - St. Vincent DePaul, the first social worker!
#13
to add to your republican't great depression we should also use the the term republican't national debt
#14
has any one read the republican't s heath care bill.
if I understand it right it spends 175 billion with out paying for it.
it lowers the cost by telling the states to do so.
and then ties there hands by allowing company to sell across state lines and use the companies home location as the laws to go by.
i an working this into a leaflet to distribute.
we must help the low info voter get the next election right.
#15
@Zero G
You have done so much more than me, I am ashamed of my suggestion to you.
However, what are we going to do?
#16
@chuckle8,
For myself, I call many congresscritters, mostly democrats, and tell them how I feel. And right now, I'm emphasizing that continuing to balloon military budgets, turning a blind eye to trture and continuing to fund illegal wars and occupations is going to cause me to not vote for them.
I'm very explicit, too. I very politely say that I'm not at all angry with the person on the phone, that this isn't my language, but that I'd be a "f'n retard" to call this change. I've been Rahm Emmanuel'd too many times. Then I thank them politely for their time, and reiterate that I'm not personally angry at them.
That's just my current tack. I don't have any answers, I don't think democracy is at all compatible with our current national security state.
#17
It astonished me to hear an American lawyer, much less a Harvard lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, say in a national press interview that a terror suspect is "not likely to provide information unless we use certain extreme measures," and that we should not let "low-level people" torture suspects.
Mr. Dershowitz was a criminal defense lawyer. Intelligence interrogation is not his field, to put it mildly. But what his rawest first-year law student would repeat back to him, is that the testimony of any witness, obtained under duress, is inadmissible in evidence as being unreliable. "Duress," a type of coercion, means using a threat to make someone do or say something.
The most extreme form of duress is torture. It's a kind of psychological kidnapping. Water-boarding is that kind of duress. You don't need to debate whether it looks better in a nice new suit ("enhanced interrogation techniques") because the point is the same: Anyone put under enough pressure, will do or say what you want in order to stop the pain. Whether it's true or false is irrelevant--it's just what your victim thinks you want them to say. In other words, statements obtained through coercion are inherently unreliable.
So what is actually being proposed, is to create unreliable intelligence. A prisoner guesses that his waterboarder expects him to name an Al Quaida cell in Afghanistan. So he names some people he knows. The torture stops. The U.S. Air Force bombs a few houses to bits and tells CNN the U.S. has killed another 15 "suspected" Al Quaida operatives, while a young mother, her parents, kids, brothers and cousins are blown to bits.
Congratulations, Mr. Dershowitz. If my law school had been Harvard, I'd be demanding my money back.
#18
President Obam has requested that we all write letters to the editor to help him get health care reform passed. Here's the link where you can easily send your letter out to many Newspapers. If you keep it under 250 words, it's more likely to be published.
There are plenty of statistics there to help you compose your letter.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/speakout/finishthejob?source=20100205_ms_...
Here's my goofy letter, just so you know I did it, too:
We all know heath care costs are going up and for those of us living without health insurance, not passing reform may cost us our lives. We are all tired of this debate, and we're nearly to the point where we'd like the discussion to just plain go away. But we can't give up. We have to fight hard when it's hardest to fight-- near the finish line.
If we don't act and push congress into passing real health care reform, you may be paying more for health care coverage than you do for your home in a few years. More families will be forced into bankruptcy, and all of your children will have to live at home with you until they retire, if they want to be able to afford health care.
If we don't pass reform, health care will cost our nation $5 trillion by 2019. That would be more than $16,000 per person. Can you imagine how many of your neighbors will have to give up health care if this happens? Are you ready for this kind of debt?
If you would rather our nation spend our money on schools, fire and police protection, increasing your salaries, and creating new jobs than lining the pockets of insurance executives, please call your senators and demand that they pass real health care reform or you will send THEM to the unemployment line.
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By webmaster
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