Krugman: Health Care Horror Stories
In this morning's New York Times, Paul Krugman tells the stories of just a few of the 27,000 uninsured or underinsured Americans each year whose deaths could be prevented by adequate access to health care. He refutes President Bush's ludicrous claim a few months ago that people do have access to health care in this country, "After all, you just go to an emergency room."
Mr. Krugman goes on to mention the media's recent inquiries into the accuracy of statements by Sen. Clinton on the campaign trail, where she told one of the emergency room horror stories recounted in the article. Although I believe that Sen. Obama has the better health care plan between our two Democratic candidates, I think what is important to keep in mind is that we are finally restarting a national conversation about the need for universal health care. Candidates are talking about it, journalists are writing about it, and my Congressional colleagues and I will continue to keep pushing for it.
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Bush/GOP, and Marie Antoinette
Both just as ignorant (and uncaring) about the suffering of the people they govern.
Nyceve has some thoughts about Mr. Krugman’s article, and about the very real economic and health disasters facing uninsured Americans: One Toothache Away from Foreclosure:
“Please click this link for another heartbreaking and disgusting video of another American family without access to healthcare and facing foreclosure....Here is an American family living in Colorado facing bankruptcy and the loss of their home due to a medical crisis.”
“The Brigham's live in Colorado, I hope they will be able to join thousands of other sick Americans at the Democratic Convention.…You can be assured that most of those inside the convention hall have access to healthcare, while those outside don't…”
But, hey—Bush, McCain & the GOP have a plan:If American’s can’t find jobs that will cover their medical expenses, they can Join the Military, travel to Iraq & have paid healthcare & even education benefits for them and their families, right?
Except that, McCain, Bush, & the Pentagon don’t want too many benefits to go to those GI’s, should they decide that they’d like to actually take advantage of the education benefits, get an education and a job that does offer healthcare benefits:
So, “Support the Troops” McCain, Bush & GOP’ers areafraid that giving the troops the benefits that they’ve sacrificed so much for would free them from having to be shackled to the military because it’s they only job they can get that would provide healthcare benefits for their families…
Mr. Chairman: Where are the Democrats? Why aren’t they shouting from the rooftops about the Marie Antoninette attitude of the GOP’ers, including McCain, who is frighteningly gaining in the polls.
Do the Democrats want to continue to focus on their un-civil campaign war against each other,lose in November, and doom this nation to 4 to 8 more years of the dark ages policies of the GOP?
Now, More Horror Stories: TORTURE, the 8th Amendment...
And Congressional responsibility to uphold the Constitution and US treaties: Administration that has run amok of the law:
So, What Say You, Mr. Chairman? Mr. Marshall’s summary of the ABC News & AP reports should provide the Judiciary Committee support staff with more than enough documentation to begin oversight hearings—Well? Isn’t it time?
No, it’s not as safe a topic to stir up public indignation as the healthcare crisis, but it’s something that Congress has the duty, the ethical and moral responsibility, and the current Constitutional tools to deal with now.
People have and are suffering and dying on your watch--you have the power to challenge it, and to hold the lawbreakers accountable—and refusal to act, sadly, becomes complicity in the crimes. Maybe members of Congress can try to explain their complicity or refusal to take action politically, but they can never explain it ethically or morally. I don't think the victims or their families would buy the political argument. I know that I, as a voter, don't buy it.
Torture Program: “Goes Right to President’s Desk”
More thoughts on the Torture Memo signed by Bush and Law Professor Johnathan Turley’s comments on this:
Mr. Chairman? Do you care enough?
...
Thanks for that video, Max 1
IANAL, BUT (Constitutional) Law Professor Turley is, and he agrees that the "Principles Committee" and their boss have violated the Constitution. Perhaps the Judiciary Committee and the Speaker of the House should consult with him for his expertise on the matter(s) of Bush (et al) v. the Constitution. I'm certain he's much more of an expert than John "Torture Memo" Yoo ever was.
Horror Story Continued: Let’s not Forget Co-President Cheney
Cheney, Others OK’d Harsh Interrogation Techniques (translation: “Torture”)
I’ll second that call: Congress, I call on you to investigate.
Did anyone listen to Nader today?
He basically said, shame on the Congress for not doing its duty. He spent a good hour emphasizing that if Congressmen obeyed their sworn duty, Both Bush and Cheney would have been impeached and removed. Is half of that too much to ask?
I Did Hear Nader & He Was Eloquent
and correct in his comments re: The failure of Congress to do it's Constitutionally mandated duty to provide oversight.
(& I'm not particularly a Nader fan, but he was spot on in his assessment of Congress).
Judiciary Committee to Explore Admin. Approval of Torture
Mr. Chairman, I saw this news release today, while writing an essay on another blog: Judiciary Committee to Explore Administration Approval of Torture Techniques
(see website link above for the abovementioned links to individual letters)
Mr. Chairman, I was glad to see that you are fully aware of the situation and have proposed action, in the form of a May 6 Hearing. I would urge that you follow through on this hearing—however, IMHO, nothing short of Impeachment Hearings will get to the bottom of all the lies and cover-ups. I doubt that anything short of Impeachment Hearings will make those involved in conspiring to violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution as well as the Geneva Conventions appear in front of Congress to testify about their lawbreaking. The proposed May 6th hearings are a good start, but as you well know, with their history of stonewalling, ignoring subpoenas, and “memory loss” under questioning—members of the Bush administration have been less than cooperative WRT Congressional oversight. Please don’t hesitate to inform them that this time their refusal to cooperate WILL lead to Impeachment proceedings.
Nice to hear that they are at least going to go through
the motions of checking into it. Lets hope they REALLY follow through and don't let Bush get by with his tricks of not responding.
I'm also hoping the Judiciary committee will get on with the business of impeachment. Its necessary to preserving our Constitution.
Horror: Can A President Legally Order Children Sodomized?
Mr. Chairman, Can Presidents Legally Order Children Sodomized? The President shamelessly admits that, regarding "enhanced interrogation techniques", he was "Aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved." The questions that IMHO he must answer is: Was he aware exactly what he was approving--were there "techniques" which he specifically excluded from these "harsh techniques"? If so, what was excluded? What did he do to prevent excesses?
This diary by Troutfishing describes some of the horrendous acts that US/US contracted
torturersinterrogators utilized in “questioning” human beings, and raises questions that we all are asking of those of you in Congress:As a reminder, here are some of the horrors that the President and his “senior advisors” unleashed, and that Congress allowed to go unpunished:
Mr. Chairman, in your May 6 hearings this is one question that I request you put to bush, co-president cheney and all the “senior advisors” who authorized
torture“harsh interrogation techniques":- “What safeguards were put in place to monitor and limit the “harsh interrogation techniques” to ensure that the “Harsh techniques” didn’t morph into torture or sexual abuse? (We know the answer is that no safeguards were in place—but any “senior official” who didn’t want abuses to take place would know that if there were no safeguards, there WOULD BE ABUSES)
- When you found out that these abuses had taken place, why didn’t you punish ALL those responsible, including any “senior members” who authorized/ knew of the abuses but allowed them to continue? (We know that no real investigations were done, because “those responsible” went high up in the government.)
Evil comes in many forms, sometimes even behind the smiling professional faces of a nation’s leaders. Which is more evil—those who commit evil acts, or those who look the other way when they could prevent or stop the evil and punish those responsible?
Cast your vote, and don't forget Johnny-Boy and Nance.
I received the following e-mail this morning. It asks us to vote for the biggest Bush enabler in Congress.
As far as I'm concerned the tandem of Pelosi/Conyers deserves the nod.
Perverts, pedophiles, and corrupt monsters exist, it is the reason why impeachment was such an integral part of our nations Constitution.
Bush is the rapist, and Conyers/Pelosi are the cops who decided to return the raped child to his rapist.
Vote today, and don't forget Johnny-Boy and Nance. After all, without them, Bush would be preparing his impeachment defense instead of preparing to kill more brown people in Iran.
But you'll have to check "other", and write them in, as I did. It appears that Americans United for Change doesn't realise that this is a bi-partisan issue.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mark,
George Bush has a lot of people to thank.
Over the past seven years he's achieved many massive failures -- but he couldn't have done it alone.
The President was able to enact his harmful policies thanks to his stubborn pack of yes-men and yes-women in Congress. These enablers have put blind loyalty to George Bush ahead of what's best for the American people.
Americans United for Change wants to know who you think has been the worst Bush-backer in Congress. Your responses will help us plan our efforts over the next few months, as we work to raise awareness about the failures of George Bush's presidency.
Cast your vote right now:
http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/BushBackers
From the moment he took office, President Bush has had a bloc of Congress ready and willing to support whatever disastrous policies he wanted, from tax cuts for the wealthy to an energy plan full of oil industry handouts to the tragic war in Iraq.
As Rep. Rahm Emanuel said back in 2005,
By blindly following ... President Bush, these members of Congress are complicit in the flawed stewardship of this nation.
Republicans in Congress are putting their rubber-stamp approach to politics ahead of the priorities of the people they represent. Meanwhile, the American people are crying out for relief.
Since the leadership change in Congress in 2006, Bush's backers have switched from rubber-stamping his policies to blocking any attempts to reverse them. They've stood in the way of dozens of crucial bipartisan bills, like those ending the ban on federal funding for stem cell research, providing health insurance to millions of needy children, and bringing our troops home from Iraq.
Check out our list of the worst offenders, and then vote for who you think is Bush's biggest enabler:
http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/BushBackers
President Bush has already cemented a legacy of incompetence and deceit that will carry on for years.
Now his backers in Congress must also receive their fair share of the blame. They've helped lead our country a long way down the wrong path -- but now many of them will try to distance themselves from George Bush and play down their role in his administration's failures.
Over the next several months, it's crucial that we tell the real story to the American people and make sure they know about Bush's cronies in Congress. Help us get that message out:
http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/BushBackers
Thank you,
Jeremy Funk
Americans United for Change
Surprise surprise, NOT!
Oh where have I heard this story before?
Oh yeah, it was in 1992 when John Conyers wrote another report and SWL.
Sound familiar? Gee, I guess the perps got away and I suspect they will again.
Great going Nancy, JC.
ACLU Calls for Independent Prosecutor to Investigate Torture
The ACLU has said that it is time for the hypocrisy to end and for accountability to begin. ACLU Calls for Independent Counsel to Investigate Administration’s Approval of Torture and Abuse
Mr Chairman: “…Possible violations by the Bush administration of laws including the War Crimes Act, the Federal Anti-Torture Act, and federal assault laws”… ? Sir, there is no possible justification for Congress to refuse to take the necessary and only appropriate action.
ON YOUR WATCH!
This is YOUR America...
Listen in during this installment of Books of Our Time as Dean Lawrence R. Velvel interviews Charlie Savage. Savage is a national reporter for the Boston Globe and recently won a Pulitzer prize for his articles about signing statements that were used by George W. Bush to negate legislation and extend presidential power.
In this interview Savage will be discussing his new work, “Take Over – The Return of the Imperial Presidency in This inversion of American Democracy”. This interview is the first of two parts.
Savage describes in extraordinary detail Vice President Dick Cheney’s actions on 9-11, the expansion of presidential war authority and war powers, and the high levels of executive involvement in illegal wiretaps and torture. 10/04/07
US standing in the world has receded as America's human rights record has been dealt blows by a failure to observe the rule of law and scandals like Abu Ghraib and the military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba. The US must repair its record and standing in the world.
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I M P E A C H
or R E S I G N!!!
The Lord has Heard Our Prayer?
The War Prayer...
War Crimes - The Timeline
Sometime soon after September 11, 2001:
1. The President of the United States authorized the top people in his administration to discuss ways to torment, torture, and nearly kill prisoners of war in violation of Geneva conventions, international law and domestic law. (See here).
February 7, 2002:
2.The President of the United States signed a memo indicating that Geneva Conventions - in violations of international and domestic law - no longer applied to Gitmo prisoners. (See here).
Spring of 2002:
3. The Vice President of the United States (Dick Cheney), then-National Security Adviser (Condoleezza Rice), then-Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld), then-Secretary of State (Colin Powell), then-Director of the CIA (George Tenet), and then-US Attorney General (John Ashcroft) met with the President's authority to discuss methods torment, torture, and nearly- kill prisoners of war in violation of Geneva conventions, international law and domestic law. (See here).
4. Torture, torment and near-killing of prisoners of war begins as official policy at Gitmo (various groups including military Joint Task Force 170 appear to be involved), in violation of Geneva conventions, international law and domestic law. (See here).
August 1, 2002:
5. Lawyers Jay Bybee , John Yoo and David Addington issue the infamous memo defining physical pain as "must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." (See here).
Just to note: despite the Bybee memo being addressed entirely to CIA activities and "outside the United States," (so not applicable to military activities on US military bases), the memo was issued in any case AFTER Bush had suspended Geneva conventions at Gitmo and AFTER torture techniques were already employed. So even if this document were any form of cover (I am no attorney, but it everyone I talked with agrees it was not), it was still issued AFTER these activities had begun.
September 25, 2002:
6. Senior lawyers to the President (Gonzales) and Vice President (David Addington) of the United States traveled to Gitmo to observe first hand the torment, torture, and near-killing of prisoners of war in violation of Geneva conventions, international law and domestic law, which they had described in a second Yoo-Bybee memo (still secret) to begin with. (See here).
'“They wanted to know what we were doing to get to this guy,” Dunlavey told me, “and Addington was interested in how we were managing it.” I asked what they had to say. “They brought ideas with them which had been given from sources in D.C.,” Dunlavey said. “They came down to observe and talk.” Throughout this whole period, Dunlavey went on, Rumsfeld was “directly and regularly involved.”'
Just to note: the "sources" from DC are likely the principles from the Spring meeting.
November 2002:
7. Major General Geoffrey Miller becomes the torture tzar of Gitmo , from where only a few weeks after his transfer, he writes up recommendations to torment, torture, and nearly-kill prisoners of war in violation of Geneva conventions, international law and domestic law. His boss, Donald Rumsfeld, is the recipient of the recommendations. (See here).
Just to note: what I think likely happened. The principles (Rice, Cheney, etc.,) did not want to get their hands dirty or in any way be associated with the torture program. They laundered the orders seemingly through "military recommendations," so that if it was ever found out, a few "bad apples" and maybe one big-bad-apple tree (Miller) would be held accountable. But we now know that Addington visited Gitmo for a demonstration, so Miller could not have been operating solo and off the reservation. I think his recommendation served the purpose of making it seem like the torture methods came from the field, instead of where they really came from - the White House.
--------March 2003, Iraq War Begins--------
August 2003
8. Miller is sent by Rumsfeld to "GITMO-tize" the notorious prison at Abu Ghraib via torment, torture, and near-killing of prisoners of war in violation of Geneva conventions, international law and domestic law (See here).
October 2003 - onward
9. According to the Taguba Report (authored by Major General Antonio Taguba in his investigation of the Abu Ghraib crimes):
That between October and December 2003, at the Abu Ghraib Confinement Facility (BCCF), numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees. This systemic and illegal abuse of detainees was intentionally perpetrated by several members of the military police guard force (372nd Military Police Company, 320th Military Police Battalion, 800th MP Brigade), in Tier (section) 1-A of the Abu Ghraib Prison (BCCF).
Just to note: the crimes at Abu Ghraib begin with the arrival of Miller, on orders of Rumsfeld. Gitmo appears to have been a testing facility for what would later emerge all over the world in various prisons. The torture at Gitmo is itself the direct result of Bush suspending Geneva conventions in his February 2002 memo and the subsequent creation of the policy to torment, torture, and near-killing of prisoners of war in violation of Geneva conventions, international law and domestic law by the principles (Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc.).
Without getting into a very detailed timeline it is already obvious that Bush is directly responsible for the activities at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, which were and are illegal under the Geneva conventions, international law, and domestic law. No amount of "we did it to protect America" crap is going to wipe away the crimes committed by this administration against countless human beings from all over the world.
The irony of course is that shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Bush said the following:
"These terrorists...we have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies." (Bush, 9/20/01).
Nuremberg_poster The problem with this is rather obvious. Whereas the 9/11 terrorists were absolutely a group of murderers, they were not remotely Nazi-like in their approach. No, the irony is that by formalizing a system in which human beings are tormented, tortured, and nearly-killed (and likely killed too in the process) in secret prisons (and not so secret facilities) all over the world, Bush and his regime are in fact the very thing he has defined above: "They [are] heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century."
This is in fact obvious by simple math, because nearly one million Iraqis dead, thousands of US soldiers killed, tens of thousands of US soldiers wounded severely, and countless thousands of men woman and children detained, tortured and god-knows how many killed, is a far bigger number of victims than the roughly 3k people who died on September 11.
When Bush describes the makeup of such "murderous ideologies" he is actually describing himself and his administration: "By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism."
A simple review of the US policy of "reshaping the Middle East" in comparison to a group of extremists without the backing of a state military-intelligence-financial machine makes it rather clear who is following in the path of "fascism and Nazism." Namely, the Bush administration is who "abandoned every value except the will to power."
But the latter of course, is much better illustrated in other chapters of the Bush legacy and other crimes of the Bush administration, that I will later explore. Surely the suspension of the Bill of Rights, massive corporate corruption married to the administration's political interests and carried out by a compliant and corrupt mechanism of domestic law enforcement is precisely the type of "totalitarianism" Bush is describing, is it not?
LARISA ALEXANDROVNA
here
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You can lead a republican to the truth, but you can't make him think it...
Good article in Rolling Stone...Investigating Bush
take note, Congressman Conyers.
click here
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You can lead a republican to the truth, but you can't make him think it...
If there's one reason to vote for Obama...
it's this one...
When asked whether an Obama administration would seek to prosecute officials of a former Bush administration on the revelations that they greenlighted torture, or for other potential crimes that took place in the White House.
Obama: "What I would want to do is to have my Justice Department and my Attorney General immediately review the information that's already there and to find out are there inquiries that need to be pursued. I can't prejudge that because we don't have access to all the material right now. I think that you are right, if crimes have been committed, they should be investigated. You're also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve.
So this is an area where I would want to exercise judgment -- I would want to find out directly from my Attorney General -- having pursued, having looked at what's out there right now -- are there possibilities of genuine crimes as opposed to really bad policies. And I think it's important-- one of the things we've got to figure out in our political culture generally is distinguishing betyween really dumb policies and policies that rise to the level of criminal activity. You know, I often get questions about impeachment at town hall meetings and I've said that is not something I think would be fruitful to pursue because I think that impeachment is something that should be reserved for exceptional circumstances. Now, if I found out that there were high officials who knowingly, consciously broke existing laws, engaged in coverups of those crimes with knowledge forefront, then I think a basic principle of our Constitution is nobody above the law -- and I think that's roughly how I would look at it."
click here
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You can lead a republican to the truth, but you can't make him think it...
Accountability--It's what the Constitution is all about
I'll be watching closely on May 6: Judiciary Committee to Explore Administration Approval of Torture Techniques. I'll be watching to see how seriously the Chairman, the Speaker, and members of the Committee and the House take the fact that these acts were committed in our name, and to see how seriously they take their duty to uphold the Constitution.
Imagine the pain of torture, Congressman...
done in the name of freedom...
Died hanging from wrists and gagged, with over 25 rib fractures
Circumstances of Death: Iraqi detainee died while in U.S. custody.
Authorization for Autopsy: Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, lAW 10 USC 1471
Identification: Identification by accompanying paperwork and wristband, both of which include his name and a detainee number, 3ACR1582
CAUSE OF DEATH: Blunt Force. Injuries and Asphyxia
MANNER OF DEATH: Homicide
FINAL AUTOPSY DIAGNOSES:
I. Multiple Blunt Force Injuries
A. Cutaneous abrasions and contusions of the scalp, torso, and extremities
B. Deep contusions of the chest wall musculature and abdominal wall
C. Multiple, bilateral, displaced and comminuted rib fractures, with lacerations of the pleura.
D. Bilateral lung contusions
E. Bilateral hemothoraces
F. Hemorrhage into the mesentery of the small and large bowel
G. Hemorrhage into the left sternohyoid muscle with associated fractures of the thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone
II. History of Asphyxia, Secondary to Occlusion of the Oral Airway
III. Pleural and Pulmonary Adhesions
IV. Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease
A. Hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart (2.0-centimeters)
B. Cardiomegaly (450-grams)
V. Enlarged, Nodular Prostate Gland
VI. Toxicology is negative for ethanol, drugs of abuse, select therapeutic
medications, and cyanide
OPINION
This 47-year-old White male, , died of blunt force injuries and asphyxia. The autopsy disclosed multiple blunt force injuries,including deep contusions of the chest wall, numerous displaced rib fractures, lung contusions, and hemorrhage into the mesentery of the small and large intestine. An examination of the neck structures revealed hemorrhage into the strap muscles and fractures of the thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone. According to the investigative report provided by U.S. Army CID, the decedent was shackled to the top of a doorframe with a gag in his mouth at the time he lost consciousness and became pulseless.
The severe blunt force injuries, the hanging position, and the obstruction of the oral cavity with a gag contributed to this individual's death. The manner of death is homicide."
click here
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You can lead a republican to the truth, but you can't make him think it...