Call Sen. Wyden's office & ask him to quit drinking the $300 bottles of wine with Paul Ryan...
By louisehartmann
One day after Oregon's Democratic Senator Ron Wyden teamed up with Republican Congressman Paul Ryan to end Medicare as we know it - the Democratic backlash is underway. Several Democratic Members of Congress - and the President - have rejected the Wyden-Ryan plan, which turns Medicare into a public option - giving senior citizens a voucher to buy private health insurance instead of Medicare.
The President's Press Secretary Jay Carney called the plan "radical," although Republican Presidential candidates are praising the plan. That's when you know it is a really bad idea.
Time to call Senator Wyden's office - and ask him to quit drinking the $300 bottles of wine with Paul Ryan and his billionaire buddies. We can't afford it.
Comments
#2
NDAA Set To Become Law: The Terror Is Nearer Than Ever
David Seaman
American Democracy: 1776-2011.
It turns out that destroying the American democratic republic was easy to accomplish, historians will write someday. Simply get the three major cable news networks to blather on about useless bull**** for a few days, while legislators meet in secret behind closed doors to rush through the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA), and its evil twin sister, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which is a clever name for an Internet censorship bill straight out of an Orwellian nightmare.
Sure, some independent media web sites and Jon Stewart warned us about this. Ron Paul & Son warned us about this. Amnesty International and the ACLU have been screaming from the rooftops, crying bloody murder. But the American people let it happen, because the vast majority of us simply didn't find out in time.
And now President Obama's advisers are saying he is withdrawing his veto threat against NDAA, so it will become law.
As will SOPA, since it is becoming ever more apparent that our "elected officials" in Congress are not satisfied with their 9% approval rating. They want a 0% approval rating.
I have no idea why Congress is pushing through anti-American legislation that is not only incompetent, but openly belligerent.
I have no idea why an American media blackout on NDAA is still in effect -- Anderson Cooper, Chris Matthews, Bill O'Reilly and the other broadcast "journalists" have been disgustingly silent on what is undoubtedly the most important news story of the past decade. The single most important news story since September 11th, 2001.
Combined, NDAA and SOPA simply destroy American democracy. That isn't hype. That isn't exaggeration. Within a few days, your freedom of speech will be gone -- post something controversial online, and the government can legally "disappear" it.
Annoy the government too much, or criticize Congress' infinite wisdom and mercy, and you may find yourself in military prison for the remainder of your life, without access to a trial or attorney. Even if you're an American citizen on US soil.
This is a brave new world. Watch what you say. Be mindful of who you associate with. You may criticize your government within the privacy of your own home, amongst close family or friends, but do not post negative comments online. Do not assemble. Do not protest. Do not agitate. Do not give "comfort" to the "enemy."
This is a sad day for all of us. All of our military spending, all of our fortresses and moats, and it turns out democracy was attacked from within, the historians will write someday. We didn't even see it coming.
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#3
Re: Where did all the jobs go?
It used to be touted as to how many jobs small business were responsible for. With the death of small business (due to unenforcement of monopoly laws among other things), is it any wonder that the jobs have disapeared?
The banks used to be local, the hospital used to be local, the doctor's office was local, the list goes on and on. All have been bought up by for profit, mega corporations.
#4
The court system of the UK seems to be a bit convoluted, and the Supreme Court was created in 2005 and started operating in 2009. There's a chart on the right of this Wikipedia page; however, it includes only courts with some jurisdiction over England and Wales, so it doesn't show whatever separate courts Scotland and Northern Ireland have.
#5
You asked us to tell you the result of calling Wyden. I went to his site and found that the local phone number on it is out of date and belongs to some poor beleaguered private party. So you will have to call him in DC. I emailed and asked him if he had lost his mind or whether instead he was working to undercut his own party and lobbying for a cabinet position with the Republicans.
#6
With the death of small business (due to unenforcement of monopoly laws among other things),
What unenforced monopoly laws are you refering to? Use your vote to control these things "don't shop there" or even better buy some of these local business yourself. These legal entities are buying and doing business because the lawmakers allow them to. They are not doing anything wrong or illegal. Stop complaining about legal activities "get a life"
#7
The Breakdown: Are Antitrust Laws a Thing of the Past?Christopher Hayes April 1, 2011 http://www.thenation.com/article/159629/transcript-breakdown-are-antitrust-laws-thing-past
#8
Police State..banned episode
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dys3xE2Bnk
#9
what do you make of this?:
Following the Obama administration's withdrawal of its veto threat Wednesday, the National Defense Authorization Act passed both houses of Congress easily and is now headed to the president's desk.
So what exactly does the bill do? It says that the president has to hold a foreign Al Qaeda suspect captured on US soil in military detention—except it leaves enough procedural loopholes that someone like convicted underwear bomber and Nigerian citizen Umar Abdulmutallab could actually go from capture to trial without ever being held by the military. It does not, contrary to what many media outlets have reported, authorize the president to indefinitely detain without trial an American citizen suspected of terrorism who is captured in the US. A last minute compromise amendment adopted in the Senate, whose language was retained in the final bill, leaves it up to the courts to decide if the president has that power, should a future president try to exercise it. But if a future president does try to assert the authority to detain an American citizen without charge or trial, it won't be based on the authority in this bill.
So it's simply not true, as the Guardian wrote yesterday, that the bill "allows the military to indefinitely detain without trial American terrorism suspects arrested on US soil who could then be shipped to Guantánamo Bay." When the New York Times editorial page writes that the bill would "strip the F.B.I., federal prosecutors and federal courts of all or most of their power to arrest and prosecute terrorists and hand it off to the military," or that the "legislation could also give future presidents the authority to throw American citizens into prison for life without charges or a trial," they're simply wrong.
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/12/defense-bill-passed-so-what-does-it-do-ndaa
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