Jack & Jill Politics

Instead of Health reform kicking in 2013 looks like some will be implemented in 2010.
BEGINS TO CLOSE THE MEDICARE PART D DONUT HOLE — Reduces the donut hole by $500 and institutes a 50% discount on brand-name drugs, effective January 1, 2010.
IMMEDIATE HELP FOR THE UNINSURED UNTIL EXCHANGE IS AVAILABLE (INTERIM HIGH-RISK POOL) — Creates a temporary insurance program until the Exchange is available for individuals who have been uninsured for several months or have been denied a policy because of pre-existing conditions.
BANS LIFETIME LIMITS ON COVERAGE—Prohibits health insurance companies from placing lifetime caps on coverage.
ENDS RESCISSIONS—Prohibits insurers from nullifying or rescinding a patient’s policy when they file a claim for benefits, except in the case of fraud.
EXTENDS COVERAGE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE UP TO 27TH BIRTHDAY THROUGH PARENTS’ INSURANCE— Requires health plans to allow young people through age 26 to remain on their parents’ insurance policy, at the parents’ choice.
ELIMINATES COST-SHARING FOR PREVENTIVE SERVICES IN MEDICARE—Eliminates co-payments for preventive services and exempts preventive services from deductibles under the Medicare program.
IMPROVES HELP FOR LOW-INCOME MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES—Improves the low-income protection programs in Medicare to assure more individuals are able to access this vital help.
PROVIDES NEW CONSUMER PROTECTIONS IN MEDICARE ADVANTAGE— Prohibits Medicare Advantage plans from charging enrollees higher cost-sharing for services in their private plan than what is charged in traditional Medicare.
IMMEDIATE SUNSHINE ON PRICE GOUGING—Discourages excessive price increases by insurance companies through review and disclosure of insurance rate increases.
CONTINUITY FOR DISPLACED WORKERS—Allows Americans to keep their COBRA coverage until the Exchange is in place and they can access affordable coverage.
CREATES NEW, VOLUNTARY, PUBLIC LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE PROGRAM—Creates a long-term care insurance program to be financed by voluntary payroll deductions to provide benefits to adults who become functionally disabled.
HELP FOR EARLY RETIREES—Creates a $10 billon fund to finance a temporary reinsurance program to help offset the costs of expensive health claims for employers that provide health benefits for retirees age 55-64.
COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS—Increases funding for Community Health Centers to allow for a doubling of the number of patients seen by the centers over the next 5 years.
INCREASING NUMBER OF PRIMARY CARE DOCTORS — Provides new investment in training programs to increase the number of primary care doctors, nurses, and public health professionals.

Thanks for this

AFTERNOON OPEN THREAD IS UP

Why No One Talks Back to Cathy Hughes
The empress of black radio is using public airwaves to personally attack her enemies in Congress in the name of black progress. Who's going to put her in check?
http://www.theroot.com/views/why-no-one-talks-b...

She's standing up for our right to listen to music about being successful with the money the cars and the clothes, throwing it the bag, watching you on the video phone and playing Russian roulette.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Blue Cross asks customers to help defeat health care reform, after sending them an 11% premium increase - oops
by John Aravosis (DC) on 10/29/2009 09:50:00 AM

Blue Cross Blue Shield in North Carolina thought it might be nifty to spend a lot of money writing its customers and asking them to lobby Democratic Senator Kay Hagen to oppose the health care reform bill. Only problem? Blue Cross had just raised their customers' rates by 11%. People lost it.

First, they learned their rates will rise by an average of 11 percent next year.

Next, they opened a slick flier from the insurer urging them to send an enclosed pre-printed, postage-paid note to Sen. Kay Hagan denouncing what the company says is unfair competition that would be imposed by a government-backed insurance plan. The so-called public option is likely to be considered by Congress in the health-care overhaul debate.

"No matter what you call it, if the federal government intervenes in the private health insurance market, it's a slippery slope to a single-payer system," the BCBS flier read. "Who wants that?"

Plenty of people, it turns out.

Indignant Blue Cross customers have rebelled against the insurer's message, complaining that their premium dollars have funded such a campaign.

They've hit the Internet in a flurry of e-mails to friends and neighbors throughout the state. They've called Hagan's office to voice support for a public option. They've marked through the Blue Cross message on their postcards to instead vouch support, then dropped them in the mail -- in at least one case taped to a brick -- to be paid on Blue Cross' dime. Or dimes.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/blue-cross-a...

"Blue Cross asks customers to help defeat health care reform, after sending them an 11% premium increase"

lol

Quick, name the most recent movies you saw. Here at RaceWire, the unrepentant nerds that some of us are, we’ve eagerly skipped an afternoon of work to watch Harry Potter, awaited the release of Star Trek: The First Generation, deconstructed the five most unintentionally racist movies about racism (yup, Driving Miss Daisy is up there), and pondered Disney’s racist and sexist princess problem.

Did we miss the color in Harry Potter? Were there multiracial students at Hogwarts that we didn’t catch on screen because we blinked? Turns out, not. Last Friday, the Screen Actors Guild confirmed some of our longstanding suspicions: Hollywood is getting whiter. SAG looked at casting reports from 2007-2008 and found that the number of people of color hired for film and television roles declined in that period. The number of people of color on screen dropped to 27.5% of total roles cast in 2008.

The numbers confirm the whiting out of Hollywood, across all racialized groups. Blacks were the largest nonwhite group cast, according to SAG, but also lost the most roles in 2008, dropping from 14.8% to 13.3%. Latino roles decreased slightly, losing most in the lead role category. A Latino starred in 7.2% of features in 2007. Only 3.4% were the main characters in 2008. American Indians, despite their romance with the silver screen, had the fewest jobs, at 0.3% in both years.

Whiting Out Hollywood: Fewer People of Color Hired for Film and TV

Roy DeCarava, an art photographer whose pictures of everyday life in Harlem helped clarify the African American experience for a wider audience, has died. He was 89.

He died Tuesday in New York City, his daughter Wendy DeCarava said. The cause was not given.

DeCarava (pronounced Dee-cuh-RAH-vah) photographed Harlem during the 1940s, '50s and '60s with an insider's view of the subway stations, restaurants, apartments and especially the people who lived in the predominantly African American neighborhood.

He also was well known for his candid shots of jazz musicians -- many of them taken in smoky clubs using only available light. Shadow and darkness became hallmarks of DeCarava's style.

Roy DeCarava dies at 89; art photographer depicted the African American experience

Early Word on the House Bill
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just released the health care reform bill she will introduce on the floor, in hopes of a final vote in the next week to ten days. You can read the text here. And while it will take a while to wade through all of the details--and uncover the inevitable surprises--we already have a pretty good idea of the basics, based on published reports and several House sources.

Like the bills that passed three House committees in the summer, this one will cover more people--and provide them with more protection--than the emerging counterpart in the Senate.

It will also include a stronger public insurance option, but one that is not as strong as it could be. In particular, the public plan will have to negotiate payment rates with providers in just the way private insurers do. This is in lieu of tying the plan's rates to Medicare. Although Pelosi and her allies tried, they were ultimately unable to round up the votes for that strong a measure.

(Note that, as in the Senate, the public option would be available only to individuals without access to employer-sponsored insurance. If you want to do something about that, though, you'll have to talk to Ron Wyden.)

For all of the talk about a public plan, the primary imperative for architects of the House plan was to change the bottom line. The original House bill paid for itself over the course of ten years, but in a way that began generating deficits in year eleven. It also included an adjustment to physician fees--what's come to be known as the "doc fix"--worth some $240 billion over ten years, that lacked financing of its own and pushed the bill's entire price tag to well over $1 trillion.

The new bill no longer includes the doc fix as part of the reform package per se. The House, like the Senate, will handle that as a separate piece of legislation. And after a furious back-and-forth with the Congressional Budget Office that extended into Wednesday evening, House lawmakers managed to assemble their proposals in a way that should, by CBO's estimation, reduce deficits (albeit quite modestly) over the long term.

In terms of cost, that should really be the takeaway point: That it pays for itself and, in the long run, actually starts to reduce federal deficits. But something tells me the media is going to get hung up on something else.

The cost of the coverage expansions--that is, the subsidies to help people buy private insurance plus the expansions of Medicaid for the poor--come in at just under $900 billion under ten years. But the cost of other improvements, including a boost in Medicaid reimbursement of primary care and prescription drug assistance for seniors, brings the total outlays closer to $1 trillion.

President Obama, of course, has said that the reform should cost around $900 billion. As such, there's bound to be a lot of complaining that the House went "over" Obama's threshold.

I'm not sure that's entirely true. It's perfectly reasonable to interpret Obama's $900 billion target--which he proposed in his September address to Congress-- as describing the cost of expanding coverage alone.

But, really, who cares? The issue here is whether the House produced a fiscally sound bill that puts health insurance within reach of most Americans while starting to reform the system. And, based on everything we're hearing, it does.

To be sure, the bill could be better still. It doesn't include the tax on high-benefit plans, which--although unpopular with unions and their allies--remains a smart way to finance coverage expansions and bring down overall health costs simultaneously. Indeed, if there's a weakness in the bill, it's likely that it still doesn't "bend the curve" as much as the Senate counterpart will.

But that really has to be placed in context of the bill's other elements, which are superior. Among the proposals on the table, it looks like the House version provides the most people with affordable access to medical care. It also pays for itself.

Barring surprises, again, the proper response shouldn't be criticism. It should be congratulation.

Update: The congratulations are already rolling in. Here's Ron Pollack, president of FamiliesUSA and longtime crusader for universal health care: "The House health insurance reform bill sets the gold standard for legislation that deserves to be adopted this year
http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-treatment/early-wor...

Does anyone understand the practical effect of the gov't having to negotiate piecemeal?

We was never going to get true health reform.To many Senators and congressmen are getting paid to keep the status quo.But this is a good first step.Remember Social Security and Medicare took years to evolve.Now when peoples premiums keep going up they will demand more options.We won this battle lets not lose the war because everything we wanted is not in the bill.

I keep hearing that this is a good first step, but I've yet to figure out what this first step means. When we were talking about tying the plan's rate to Medicare rates, I got that. Now, that the proposal is a one-on-one negotiation with providers, I'd like an understanding of what that means for the insured. I don't know if we've won or lost anything if I don't have a clear understanding of what it actually means for the avg. person.

The first thing that is going to happen is that as the reforms take place health insurance is going to become more expensive. It isn't a matter of the companies profits but the fact the rates are based on having lifetime caps, the ability to kick people out who are sick whether they reached their lifetime limit or not, upping the age of children on their parents health insurance(nice to have parents in the upper and uppermiddle class) with these additons and changes prices will go up.
Two, I think many employers are going to drop insurance for their employees as soon as they can. I can't see the City of Philadlephia nor GM continuing to pay when they have an out. the unions, council and everyone else can hold their breathe till they turn blue. They are going to die because the money can be used elsewhere. We just do not need five thousand health plans to do the same thing.
Three, negotiations will turn into a farce. This will happen because only the very best corporations(it will also matter where you are in the corporation too. If you degut chickens for Perdue you are taken care of like an sales executive VP) will have healthplans and they pay well to doctors, hospitals.
four, three is a good thing. It means reimbursement rates will become the issue and that will drive all plans toward standardization. This will really be the oganizers dream.

Thanks, Rob. Without the the plan being tied to Medicare rates, the ability of the gov't to compete seems undermined and certainly can't bring much pressure to bear with respect to bringing costs down.

New From AOFBlog: When “Give A Brotha A Chance” Goes Wrong http://bit.ly/4qz8Ep

Rachel Maddow talks to Glenn Greenwald about Joe Lieberman's threat to filibuster the health care bill if it contains a public option, Evan Bayh quickly following suit and the financial gain being made by both men and their spouses for doing so.

Maddow: Sen. Lieberman has made it very clear that he plans to oppose health reform that includes a public option. He’ll filibuster it in fact which would be historic. What do you think is motivating him?

Greenwald: Well I think you have to look first of all at a Research 2000 Daily KOS poll that was taken last month that shows that a margin of 68 to 21% of Connecticut voters, the people who he’s essentially representing, favor a public option. That’s a 47 point margin which is almost impossible to find on almost any other issue. So when you ask why he’s doing this, it’s clearly not because the people he’s supposed to be representing favor it.

I think clearly what it’s about is primarily that fact that the industry that he’s serving by doing this—by preventing competition with the public option—is an industry from which he receives very substantial benefits. He’s drowning in campaign contributions from the insurance industry, the health care industry, the pharmaceutical industry—more than $2.5 million.

In early 2005 his wife was hired by a large P.R. firm, Hill & Knowlton, in the pharmaceutical division, which at the time was representing the health care giant Glaxo in major legislation before the Senate. And several months later Joe Lieberman was on the floor of the Senate offering legislation that would directly steer huge amounts of incentives to that company in order to develop vaccines.

So I think what you’re seeing here is the kind of legalized corruption, legalized bribery that runs the United States Senate; only in this case it’s particularly sleazy and transparent because Lieberman is ready to gut the major initiative of the Democratic Party.

Maddow: In doing so, using a procedural tactic that he’s in part made his name by opposing is the thing that’s so dramatic. Sen. Lieberman of course—he made this big announcement yesterday—today Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana followed suit saying that he reserves the right now not only to filibuster the final vote, but even to filibuster earlier than that any debate on a bill that he’s not happy with. Sen. Bayh—we had thought that other conservative Democrats might follow Lieberman’s lead here, he sort of threw the door open and now presumably Bayh and maybe even others will follow. Can you say anything about what may be motivating Bayh.

Greenwald: Well, let’s look at Sen. Bayh. His wife sits on the Board of Directors of WellPoint, one of the largest health insurance companies in the nation. They own by their own disclosures between $500,000 and a million dollars just of WellPoint stock alone. And as I think you reported yesterday when Sen. Lieberman threatened to filibuster to the public option as one would expect the value of the stock of the health care industries and the health care companies skyrocketed—which directly benefited, personally benefited the finances of the Bayh family.

Lieberman and Bayh Enriching Themselves and Their Spouses with Opposition to Health Reform

"So I think what you’re seeing here is the kind of legalized corruption, legalized bribery that runs the United States Senate; only in this case it’s particularly sleazy and transparent...."

If I am a primary opponent that is my first, middle and final ad.

JUSTICES WILL SCRUTINIZE LIFE SENTENCES FOR YOUTHS

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

Most of this madness is unchecked zealous prosecutors, cheap political tough on crime points during campaigns, and transferring juveniles to adult court to save money. Recent hearings on juvenile boot camps and the likes demonstrate the lack of concern for our youth who come into contact with the criminal justice system. Repeated contact with cj produces societal menaces like Charlie Manson.

LOL

Liveblog: House Unveils Healthcare Reform Bill
by mcjoan
Share this on Twitter - Liveblog: House Unveils Healthcare Reform Bill Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 07:35:02 AM PDT
The robust public option apparently hasn't survived the drama that played out on the other side of the Hill this week, with a handful of moderates emboldened to act like moderates and water it down. The basics:

Members of the House Democratic leadership team offered these details of their bill, to be unveiled on Thursday. It would provide coverage to 35 million or 36 million people. The 10-year cost of expanding coverage would be less than the $900 billion ceiling suggested by President Obama. The cost would be offset by new taxes and by cutbacks in Medicare, so the bill would not increase the federal budget deficit in the next 10 years or in the decade after that.

The new bill, like an earlier version, retains a surtax on high-income people, but increases the thresholds. The tax would hit married couples with adjusted gross incomes exceeding $1 million a year and individuals over $500,000 — just three-tenths of 1 percent of all households, Democrats said....

The new House bill would expand Medicaid to cover childless adults, parents and others with incomes less than 150 percent of the poverty level, or $33,075 for a family of four. This goes beyond the earlier House bill and a companion measure in the Senate, which would extend Medicaid to people with incomes less than 133 percent of the poverty level ($29,327 for a family of four).

This change saves money. It is less expensive for the federal government to cover low-income people under Medicaid than to provide them with subsidies to buy private insurance.

Taxing the wealthy instead of so-called "Cadillac" health plans, often those plans negotiated by labor that trade off high wages for good coverage, is a key improvement in the House bill as opposed to the Senate bill, as is the Medicaid expansion More details as they come.

It's not clear, however, that progressives will be onboard:

"We were laughed at in August. Who would have thought that the Senate bill would have a public option?" said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Woolsey was noncommittal about whether progressives would accept the negotiated rates. "This is not walkaway time and it is not acceptance time," Woolsey said.

Members of the progressive caucus, along with lawmakers from the black and Hispanic caucuses, were scheduled to meet with Obama at the White House on Thursday, she said.

We don't yet know what the floor situation will be, what amendments if any will be allowed.

You can watch the announcement streamed on C-SPAN.

Update 1: No real news here. Closing the donut hole is good.

Update 2: Covering 96% of Americans is higher than the SFC version of the bill. We haven't seen yet where the combined Senate bill will be as details are being held until the CBO scores.

Update 3: The tea-bagger protest is pretty weak tea.

Update 4: The Ed and Labor Committee has a clearing house page for all things related to this bill, with more being added throughout the day, I'm told.

Update 5: The "real people" stories start. A nice touch.

Update 6: The bill text is here [pdf].
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/29/79...

The Eternal Urgency of War Hawks
"I have lost this battle because my force was too small... The Government has not sustained this army... If I save this army now, I tell you plainly I owe no thanks to you or to any other persons in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army."

Those desperate words were written by General George B. McClellan in a telegram to Secretary of War Stanton in June 1862, after McClellan had decided to retreat before the Confederate Army during the Seven Days Battles outside Richmond. McClellan believed his 120,000 men were facing an army of 200,000 Confederates, rather than the actual 85,000 in Lee's army, and blamed the government for not reinforcing him.

I find it impossible to read all the current "woe is us" reporting on Afghanistan without thinking of the dashing young general who went into a state of panic when his constant calls for more troops went unheeded and his wildly overblown estimates of the enemy forces failed to impress the administration
Read More
http://open.salon.com/blog/norwonk/2009/10/27/t...

this is going to get more whack by the minute. I'm going to be the only one defending Obama's foreign and military policies and denouncing the domestice ones and many are going to be on the other side

Do you have an opinion about the whole article? it is pretty much what President Obama is tryng to develope.

Remember the first change in tactics was to go into the countryside to expand the areas in which elections could be held. Now that the elections have taken place new tactics are necessary to suppress the Taliban and AQ.

When we first attack the Taliban I was living in Chicago and was arguing in a tavern that while I understand we will rue the day when we go into that hellhole.During the elections I sided with going in strong with the President position.That may have not been consistent but I felt a unified position would be the best course to take.I know,giving the history of Afghanistan we will never have a western style government.It is tribal, it is religious and that combination do not mix.I am at a point of saying WTF we cant win and we cant lose.Pakistan is playing their geopolitical games,India who knows what their game is.Iran,Russia,China and Saudi Arabia all want their 2 cents in.I have no idea and no one else has one either.

"There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security forces and police. It adds up to a 12-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn't led to anything close to victory."

Do you know anything about the battle of Stalingrad in WWII? It isn't a question of numbers it is how well they do it. Most of the Europeans don't fight-one reason we need to just bring everyone home from Europe period. the afghanistan Army is an army with guns only and th esmae for the police. Many of the US troops are for training purposes.
Read a book on counter insurgency please.

"Read a book on counter insurgency please."

What does counter insurgency have to do with protecting a gas pipeline?

You are changing the subject. if you believe the battle in afghansitan is about a gas pipeline from former states that made up the Soviet Union say so and we can discuss it. if you believe the battles in Afganistan are about stability in South Asia say so and we can discuss it.
Jumping around trying to find an issue instead of answering a question about what you wrote is childish. I don't fight childen, even well read ones

No changes here. My posts above and others consistently give focus and opposition to argument for troop surge and the real reason why there is a U.S. presence in Afghan.

You posted an article about 12 to 1 numercal advantage and no victory. You have never made a case that we are in Afghanistan for a pipline.

JJP pipeline posts.
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2009/10/tues...

http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2009/10/thur...

OK
The first article is about the Taliban in 1997. The US had recognized the Taliban as the leaders of the country. It was four years after the first World Trade Center bombing.
You are making a leap to we are there to defend a pipeline that isn't even built.

From article:
"[T]he Taleban movement in Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan."

More info, Pipeline Politics

None of my posts suggests the qualifier "built". Most are about posturing to "build" the pipeline.

Labor Leader Trumka To Testify Against "Reform" Bill Deemed "TARP on Steroids"
After leading the dramatic three day Showdown in Chicago at the American Bankers Association (ABA) Convention in Chicago, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will head to the House Financial Service Committee today to testify against proposed reform legislation that actually gives the banks more power. In a twist of irony, he literally sit down the table from American Bankers Association Ed Yingling as he testifies against the banksters.

After weakening current law on derivatives., the committee has once again weakened law in the banker's favor. The drafted legislation concerning banks "too big to fail" which would actually lead to more bailouts over the long run.
Read More
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009104428/...

If It's Thursday...
Posted by Zandar
Special GDP edition, numbers are in and the GDP for Q3 was 3.5% growth. Definitely an improvement and CNBC is already trumpeting the end of the recession. The reason it doesn't feel like the end of the recession is that many of us are still in one.
In a separate report, the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits dipped by 1,000 last week, while the number collecting long-term aid fell to the lowest reading in seven months as the job market steadied.
Initial claims for state unemployment insurance declined, though the number was higher than expected, to a seasonally adjusted 530,000 in the week ended Oct. 24, the Labor Department said. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims to fall to 521,000 last week from 531,000.

Get that? Half a million plus jobless claims this week is good news because the job market has steadied. Companies have all the excuses in the world to cut benefits and employees and reap profits.


Who here thinks America is going on a hiring binge now that the recession is "over"?


Didn't think so. Welcome to the new normal.

http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2009/10/if-its-th...

A jobless recovery is "normal" have been feed to public since 1993.

Among the five cases of intelligence operation cover up currently being investigated by the US House Intelligence Committee is the 2001 shoot down of a small plane in Peru, resulting in the death of a Baptist missionary from Michigan and her 7-month-old daughter. The CIA inspector general has already concluded that the CIA improperly concealed information about the incident.

Intelligence Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky, who is leading the investigation, says she hasn't ruled out referrals to the Justice Department for criminal prosecutions if evidence surfaces that intelligence officials broke the law. On the other hand, she hasn't guaranteed that the true story will ever be released, since the Committee's report of its investigation will be classified.

So, what happened in Peru, and why? At first, of course, the CIA employed its usual tactics: denial and deflection of blame. The goal was not to reveal the real reason for the operation, most likely either a pretext or a diversion.
...

If you doubt that the US would condone such an operation or cover it up, consider this: In 1967, Israel torpedoed the USS Liberty, a large floating listening post, as it was eavesdropping on the Arab-Israeli war off the Sinai Peninsula. Hundreds of US sailors were wounded and killed, probably because Israel feared that its massacre of Egyptian prisoners at El Arish might be overheard. How did the Pentagon respond? By imposing a total news ban, and covering up the facts for decades.

But the most crucial wrinkle in the Peruvian shoot down was the involvement of a private military company, DynCorp, which was active in Colombia and Bolivia under large contracts with various US agencies. The day after the incident, ABC news reported that, according to "senior administration officials," the crew of the surveillance plane that first identified the doomed aircraft "was hired by the CIA from DynCorp." Within two days, however, all references to DynCorp were removed from ABC's Website. A week later, the New York Post claimed the crew actually worked for Aviation Development Corp., allegedly a CIA proprietary company.

Whatever the truth, State Department officials refused to talk on the record about DynCorp's activities in South America. Yet, according to DynCorp's State Department contract, the firm had received at least $600 million over the previous few years for training, drug interdiction, search and rescue (which included combat), air transport of equipment and people, and reconnaissance in the region. And that was only what they put on paper. It also operated government aircraft and provided all manner of personnel, particularly for Plan Colombia.

The Peru Shoot Down: The CIA, DynCorp, and Why the Truth May Not Come Out

NSA Supercenters to Store Americans' Private Data Permanently
The National Security Agency is building huge new storage facilities to store the unconstitutionally gained data on the American people's telephone calls and Internet traffic permanently, including new buildings in suburban Salt Lake City, Utah, and San Antonio, Texas.

The NSA has been keeping permanent records of all American's telephone call habits and Internet traffic since shortly after September 11, 2001, according to major news reports, without the constitutionally required warrants from a court.
Read More
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/...

"[E]conomically challenged communities are welcoming the multibillion dollar construction work to create the facilities. Freedom can be traded for temporary prosperity..."

Whats funny is the so called patriots rail against loss of freedom when it comes to health care but warrantless searches,the bill rights being use as toilet paper all you hear is crickets.

any photo with pbo with kids makes my miserable day in london

a photo of obama and kids makes my day.not a gd one in grey london

Its President Obama and guess what,no one gives a rats ass what makes your day.

Goldman Sachs has defended the use of controversial techniques including 'dark pools,' short-selling and flash trading, in a firm rebuttal of recent negative Congressional and media comments about some of the trading practices it uses.

In a document handed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the investment bank asserts that such practices, some of which the SEC is looking to restrict, actually benefit investors by increasing competition and reducing costs.

The bank also argued that their use helped to add liquidity to the markets, saying that: "The investing community (especially retail) has benefited from the evolving market structure and industry competition."

Goldman Sachs defends controversial trading practices

---

Dark pools are for behemoths, not the small guy. Small business meme is same as "what about the children" addon, in previous years, to activist rallying cry. "[T]he United States is not the nation of small businesses that it is regularly dressed up to be for electoral campaign speeches and editorials."

Satchel Paige vs. Babe Ruth
Integrating Major League Baseball retroactively with Strat-o-Matic cards.

http://www.slate.com/id/2233848/

Are you a big baseball fan? I've a piece of trivia for you courtesy of NPR. What major social change occured the last time the Phillies met the Yankees in the World Series? JJP readers will be interested in this one.
I'll put the answer up tomorrow under your morning jam.

Okay they met in 1950 so lets step into the wayback machine
Okay Converse came out
Truman approve the hydrogen bomb
Ho Chi Minh begins offensive against French troops in Indo China
11 men rob Brink's office in Boston of $1.2M cash and $1.5M securities
NFL rule changes open way for 2-platoon system (offense and defense)
This might be a winner Sam Jethroe is 1st black to play for Boston Braves
Gwendolyn Brooks, is 1st Black awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry
U.S. Supreme Court undermines legal foundations of segregation
Althea Gibson becomes 1st black competetor in national tennis competition
1st black lead (Ethel Waters) on TV (Beulah)
I cant wait for the answer

The war on the middle class and unions continues
Boeing picks South Carolina for Dreamliner assembly line
The irresistible attraction of lower wages, a big state incentive and a non-union environment lured The Boeing Co. to announce this afternoon that it will build a second 787 Dreamliner production line in South Carolina
Read More
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/77941.html

It's awful to think about, but when Boeing has a few of those Dreamliners drop out of the sky because of faulty and shoddy workmanship by glorified auto mechanics, they'll be in Canada in no time.

I pass the Boeing plant that started it all every morning. Right now, along with all the other stuff South Carolina has been unleashing, I would not mind if it disappeared.

this was the bottom line for those bottom feeders

In addition to the non-union environment, Boeing will find wages substantially lower in South Carolina where assembly line workers make $14 an hour versus $26 in the Puget Sound area.

Obama Visits To Dover Air Force Base To Honor Fallen Soldiers
President Obama traveled to Dover Air Force Base early Thursday morning, where he met with family members and paid his respects as the bodies of 18 Americans killed this week in Afghanistan were returned to the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/us/30obama.ht...

As soon as I read it and saw the pictures my cynic side had to wonder how quickly the haters will spin this one into an anti Obama rant, even though one family gave permission for photos to be taken.

"On a clear fall morning, Mr. Obama boarded the back of the gray plane at 3:40 a.m., standing watch as Air Force Chaplain, Maj. Richard S. Bach, offered a brief prayer over the cases containing the remains of the 15 soldiers and three federal agents.

The family of Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin, 29, of Terre Haute, Ind., agreed to have the transfer of his remains photographed early Thursday morning. The other families chose not to, officials said, under a new Pentagon policy that lifted an 18-year ban on media covering the return of U.S. service members killed in action if families provide permission.

As the Commander-in-chief stood on the darkened tarmac and saluted, the flag-draped case was unloaded from the cargo plane in what the military calls a “dignified transfer,” as six soldiers in white gloves and camouflage fatigues carried the remains in precision. Mr. Obama and uniformed officers stood at attention as the case was placed in a white mortuary van parked nearby."

never EVER should have started the practice of banning pictures of the fallen coming back home.

NEVER.

we, as a larger community, NEED to see those pictures.

This is the one I meant to send....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjnTpdMFYx0

reposting video

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/10...

wow...some of those comments left at ABC just makes you shake your head.

I know....the 24/7 haters.

I bet 99% of them never sacrificed for the country they say they love.Just like the majority of their heroes.

We need to see the true pictures of war.Men crying for their mothers,limbs missing from children,brain matter on the uniforms,the cries of the wounded at Walter Reed.Everything that is associated with the cost. So the next time we will think twice before sending our children off to war.

here is the video - very touching and sad, my heart goes out to all the families

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&source=hp&q=P...

President Barack Obama made a near-midnight trip late Wednesday to Dover Air Force Base, where the bodies of 18 U.S. personnel who died Monday in Afghanistan were flown home.

The fallen consist of 7 U.S. Army soldiers and 3 Drug Enforcement Agency agents killed when their MH-47 Chinook crashed at Darreh-ye-bum, and 8 U.S. soldiers killed when their STRYKER personnel vehicle was struck by an IED blast in the Arghandab River Valley. Both incidents occurred on October 26, the military said. The deaths contributed to the deadliest month for the U.S. in Afghanistan. Remains were to carried by a team of military personnel from the fallen member's respective service to the Air Force Mortuary Operations Center facility.

The official party was to include POTUS, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, U.S. Army Assistant Judge Advocate Maj Gen Daniel Wright, U.S. Army Special Forces Commander Brig. Gen. Michael Repass, and Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center Col. Robert Edmondson, who will serve as the Dignified Transfer Host Officer.

Pool report: Obama Goes To Dover AFB Late Wed

My heart is so heavy for those lost, the entire Fort Lewis community (which was my "home" just a few months ago, I am still connected there emotionally). My own dear husband is deployed with the 5-2 ID STRYKER Brigade. I am praying and hoping that our leaders make the proper choices, I pray for the resilience and mental health of those in combat and for those returning home, and I hope we as a nation, especially those not directly connected to this war, will take the time to honor a veteran, his/her family, and realize that outside all the punditry, many of our fellow Americans, albeit a small percentage, are sacrificing SO MUCH each day on behalf of a country they love and respect.


AN article and photo gallery of the President's visit to Dover AFB
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/...

An article detailing Fort Lewis's huge losses
http://www.thenewstribune.com/topstories/story/...

A deputy assistant attorney general who said he was on his lunch break when an officer found him with a stripper and sex toys in his sport utility vehicle has been fired, his boss said Wednesday.

Roland Corning, 66, a former state legislator, was in a secluded part of a downtown cemetery when an officer spotted him...

Corning gave [Officer] Wines a badge showing he worked for the state Attorney General's Office. Wines, whose wife also works there, called her to make sure Corning was telling the truth.

SC state attorney caught with stripper

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Public office = frathouse or brothel 101?

SC? Again?

I blame Gov. Sanford.

Let me guess,He was a family values anti-sex redumblican

As much as some republicans are hypocrites. This is a man thing dj. It's about men not being able to control their innate desires. I don't know too many men who wouldn't want to be in the back seat with a 18 year old stripper. But like Chris Rock says,"You just don't do it." Stories like this are are always going to happen. Sex is a powerful thing. Why would a 66 year old man who obviously had a successful career throw it all in the garbage for some Platnium Plus 18 year old stripper. Logically, it doesn't make sense but it's quite obvious he wasn't thinking with the head that has the ability to think logically.

note:I've been to a few Platnium Plus clubs in my day and I could see how a weak man could lose his mind. But Guns was in there just filling the cigarette machines. SMH

"But Guns was in there just filling the cigarette machines."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.

*wink, wink*

It's a hypocrite thing. The main ones wagging their fingers at everyone else's sexual behavior are usually the ones getting caught with their pants down (literally).

John Edwards wagged his finger at Bill Clinton, yet to find out years later that he cheated on his sick wife with a horse and has an OOW baby.

Mark Sanford wagged his finger at Bill Clinton, yet he's taking hikes on the Appalachian Trail with his Argentine honey.

Strom Thurmond screamed about segregation = good yet we find out he was supporting his black daughter all her life.

Sarah Palin screams about abstinence only until marriage, yet we calculate her marriage date and her son's birth date and conclude his conception date was before marriage.

If you make a career out of wagging your finger at other people's behavior and telling the world to hire you because your behavior is beyond reproach, you better make sure your behavior is indeed beyond reproach.

What you point out has always been the crux of the issue.

As much as some republicans are hypocrites. This is a man thing dj. It's about men not being able to control their innate desires.

Except that Republican men make a career out of telling us how they're more moral and responsible because they can control those "innate desires".

I agree put yourself on a pedestal and prepare for the spotlight.

This is the best part of the whole story.

He then searched the SUV, where he found a Viagra pill and several sex toys, items Corning said he always kept with him, "just in case," according to the report

Just in case!!!!! Riiiiiiiight.

LMAO, what is he, a Boy Scout?

At least this time, action was swift. Within 2 hours, Corning was "former state attorney". Now, if only the state legislature or any responsible party just stop "dithering" with the Gov.

this whole thread is cracking me up

The Rev. Bernice King is among two candidates being considered to head the civil rights organization co-founded by her father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference will choose a new president Thursday in Atlanta. If elected, Bernice King would be the first woman to head the group in its 52-year history.

Civil rights group co-founded by Martin Luther King Jr. could choose daughter as new leader

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Don't know if Rev. Bernice King 's bid to lead SCLC is too late to repair its fractured state.

Bernice King? Seriously?

For someone who has spent more time in courts fighting with siblings over her daddy's estate AND marching with Eddie Long against gay marriage, she seems like a horrible choice to walk in the footsteps of Joseph Lowery.

Her obsession with money more than activism should remove her from consideration.

With SCLC, I view Bernice King's bid as being more about political family dynasties as seem elsewhere throughout the U.S.

when President Obama asked Democrats, liberals and progressives to forgive Joe Lieberman for his condescension, lies and treachery, we reluctantly said okay. Joe Lieberman sits as the chairman of the powerful Homeland security committee. He is now gone on TV, he has never met a camera he doesn't like, and threatened to filibuster the healthcare bill by voting with Republicans. Notice how Republicans have gone silent. They are allowing Democrats to implode without their help. My disdain for Joe Lieberman only grows.

Check out my blog if you have an opportunity. Thanks.

Check out what Lieberman said about healthcare reform during his 2006 campaign:

http://www.dailykos.com/tv/w/002298/

Is Lieberman's vote really worth it? If the Democratic Caucus and WH choose to lay with a snake why are they surprised when he bites? I blame this more on the President and the Democratic leadership because this is not first time Joe pulled this garbage. That's Joe being Joe. I'm not going to blame Joe for being what he is. That's like marrying a prostitute and finding her in bed with another guy. I'm mean HEEEEEELOOOOOOO!!! IT'S JOE LIEBERMAN FOR CHRIST's SAKE(pun intended for the informed among us). I know the logic Obama was using because he felt like they needed his vote but at what cost?

Actually it is worth it whatever the cost. Without Lieberman, you'd have to find the vote from somewhere else on every issue because once you alienated him, he wouldn't vote with the dems on any other issue. Take DADT, Lieberman has been a staunch supporter of its repeal for years. Without him, which republican would give you the 60th vote?

Yes Lieberman is a dog, so every once in a while he's going to bite. He has no principles, which means his vote can gotten for the right carrot or since he is a dog, the right piece of red meat.

"Actually it is worth it whatever the cost."

I disagree. First off you are assuming that they won't get ANY Republicans on other bills. The Repubs have to agree on a filibuster as well. Immigration, DADT are lot less divisive than HC reform. They will be able to pick off a few Republicans on those issues.(McCain,Snowe,Grahm)
If Lieberman doesn't go with them on HC I don't see the point on having him in the caucus. This is the hallmark issue and he is still acting the fool.

As they say in prison, anybody can get got. Lieberman can act like a Republican if he wants to, but somebody will eventually run against him and beat him. At that point, he'll be ass-out of Congress altogether; he will NOT win another seat as a Republican, and voters in Connecticut will be hard pressed to elect a Republican to the Senate.

It's not a sure thing that the Dems had 60 votes anyway, so Lieberman's vote probably doesn't mean all that much. So I agree with you, Guns.

But I'm not so sure that the President didn't already "warn" Lieberman about future public displays of disloyal grandstanding. And I'm sure that there were other private chats with him by other Dems.

Their best bet now is to finish up with health care; let Lieberman act the fool that he promises to be; and then ostracize him until he leaves the party.

Rhode Island residents will vote next year whether to shorten the state's longest-in-the-nation formal name because of its association with slavery, state lawmakers decided Wednesday.

Officially, Rhode Island is called "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," which some African-Americans say conjures painful images of slavery in a coastal state whose captains once grew wealthy off the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Critics including Gov. Don Carcieri argue the state's unwieldy name merely shows how several settlements - including Providence - merged into one colony and is unrelated to slavery.

After years of debate, House lawmakers decided Wednesday to approve a November 2010 referendum allowing voters to decide whether to delete "Providence Plantations" from the name by changing the state constitution. The state Senate approved the measure earlier this year.

R.I. will vote on trimming name to cut slavery tie

Good Morning Your Thursday jam.Enjoy
Love Committee - Where Will It End - Mixed By - Walter Gibbons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5NCAd7j56E

thanks dj

oh my! disco with a message. you made me smile this morning. . .