Michael Moore Challenges Obama on Healthcare

Michael Moore addresses press on Barack Obama and Blue Dog Democrats' approach to health care reform at Public Citizen headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009. It is time for Obama to separate himself from the middle-of-the-road stance he has taken in his attempt to achieve bi-partisanship. The hell with bi-partisanship. When George Bush decided to ram his corporate welfare program down the throats of the American people, he did it without bi-partisanship. He used RECONCILIATION. Time for payback -- the situation is desperate. America needs you to step up!

This is the complete speech - a 30 minute address. For those in a hurry or with limited attention spans, you can watch a short version here: MICHAEL MOORE TO OBAMA.

You are one of us. You come from us. It is not the time to desert us. This is not the time to be the representative of the private health insurance industry,” said Moore. “We need you to stand up. Stand up. Be bold. Be brave. Be strong. We’ve got your back. And we want universal health care for every single American and we want it controlled in a single payer system, like the Medicare and the V.A., and all the other ‘socialized medicine’ that we have in this country.”

Amen, brother

Mr. Obama, you frequently like to quote Abraham Lincoln. Here is a great Lincoln quote from a letter he wrote to one of his generals in the South after the Civil War:

‘I am President of the United States. I have full overall power and never forget it, because I will exercise it’.









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This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Debunking Another Birther Wingnut

Paul Hollrah

Now that the Zsa Zsa Gabor of the Birther movement, Orly Taitz, has been exposed as an incompetent "attorney" who has suborned perjury by encouraging her "witnesses" to make up stories about murder and more to influence a Federal judge, the birther movement is split.

It is our pleasure to debunk another wingnut, Paul Hollrah, a contributing editor for FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS, and a Senior Fellow at the Lincoln Heritage Institute.

Mr. Hollrah has authored an article entitled, ONE SIMPLE QUESTION ABOUT OBAMA, on the despicable website run by Obama hater Jeff Rense at rense.com. Hollrah is convinced that Obama is not a "natural born citizen" and here is his hilarious argument:

The American people not only deserve to have answers to these questions, they must have answers. It makes the debate over Obama's citizenship a rather short and simple one.

Q: Did he travel to Pakistan in 1981, at age 20?
A : Yes, by his own admission.

Q: What passport did he travel under?
A: There are only three possibilities:
1) He traveled with a U.S. Passport,
2) He traveled with a British passport, or
3) He traveled with an Indonesia passport.

Q: Is it possible that Obama traveled with a U.S. Passport in 1981?
A: No. It is not possible. Pakistan was on the U.S. State Department's "no travel" list in 1981.

Conclusion:

When Obama went to Pakistan in 1981 he was traveling either with a British passport or an Indonesian passport.

If he were traveling with a British=2 0passport that would provide proof he was born in Kenya on August 4, 1961, not in Hawaii as he claims.
And if he were traveling with an Indonesian passport that would tend to prove he relinquished whatever previous citizenship he held, British or American, prior to being adopted by his Indonesian step-father in 1967.

Whatever the truth of the matter, the American people need to know how he managed to become a "natural born" American citizen between 1981 and 2008.

These birthers are truly amazing. The one thing they will never consider is FACTS. One right wing nut made up the lie about Americans being banned from travel to Pakistan in 1981 and the rest have run with it to their hearts' content. NEVER MIND THAT AMERICANS WERE FULLY ABLE TO TRAVEL TO PAKISTAN IN 1981. They take a piece of misinformation that fits their argument and make it their own. Who cares about facts?

What is the Lincoln Heritage Institute? You can figure that out by simply reading one paragraph of their "open letter" to the Democratic Party. Here it is:

"Whereas the Democratic party has used racist demagoguery to deceive African Americans about the history of the Republican Party that:

(a) started as the anti-slavery party in 1854,

(b) fought to free African Americans from slavery,

(c) designed Reconstruction, a ten-year period of unprecedented political power for African Americans,

(d) passed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution granting African Americans freedom, citizenship, and the right to vote,

(e) passed the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875 granting African Americans protection from the Black Codes and prohibiting racial discrimination in public accommodations,

(f) passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 granting African Americans protection from the Jim Crow laws,

(g) established Affirmative Action programs to help African Americans proper with Republican President Richard Nixon's 1969 Philadelphia Plan that set the first goals and timetables and his 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act that made Affirmative Action Programs the law of our nation, and

(h) never sponsored or launched a program, passed laws, or engaged in practices that resulted in the death of millions of African Americans,"

This is an organization that quite frankly HATES the Democratic Party and will do anything to uproot it. So, you now know the motives behind a new article written by Mr. Hollrah as a representative of this organization in which he says Mr. Obama must resign. His reason? In his own words: "it is only necessary to establish the facts surrounding Obama’s travel to Indonesia and Pakistan in the summer of 1981."

It's obvious that established facts mean nothing when your goal is to destroy someone. Let's take the possibilities Hollah describes. The "Indonesian passport". Obama could not have traveled under an Indonesian passport because he was NEVER adopted by his stepfather and nobody has ever shown a shred of evidence that he was. Obama's stepfather had no authority over Obama as a child at the time because he was not the biological father and there has been no evidence as to prove that Obama was adopted by his indonesian father -- period.

Furthermore in Indonesia during that time children of foreign indonesian marriages, especially mixed marriages had to reside in Indonesia for 5 years or had to be 5 years of age to be able to gain citizenship and to be legally adopted by his indonesian step father. Because he only came to indonesia at 6 years and left at 10 years none of this applied.

In addition Obama would have had to give up his US natural born citizenship to become an Indonesian and then to officially, in the eyes of the law, attend school. He could not give up his citizenship as he was too young. What was written on the school documents were not legal in the eyes of indonesia or US law. Soetoro had no legal right to proclaim Obama anything and probably broke the law to get Obama into school. END OF THAT POSSIBLE SCENARIO.

Next scenario: Obama traveled under a British passport due to his birth in Kenya.

IMPOSSIBLE. His mother was never in Kenya. There is no proof that she was ever there. Even the Kenya government was unable to find any evidence that she was, and to try to say she was given the circumstances at the time is downright ridiculous. Once again, his mother was living in Hawaii in 1961 with her parents. Her "husband" (actually her marriage to Obama Sr. was probably illegal since he was already married with a couple of children) was in Kenya in 1960, but not again until 1965. So in order for us to believe Obama was born in Kenya, we would have to believe that a pregnant 18-year-old white girl from Kansas, left the comfort of her parents' home when she was 8 months pregnant to travel to war-torn Kenya which was still suffering from the ravages of the Mau Mau uprising WITHOUT HER HUSBAND, just to give birth and then travel back to Hawaii to quickly report his birth to the Honolulu Advertiser to meet the definition of Natural Born Citizen so that some day he could be eligible to run for President. Even the most dedicated stoner wouldn't believe this one. Obama-haters on the other hand orgasmically swoon at the "possibility".

HOLLAH'S CONCLUSION IN HIS OWN WORDS:
"Conclusion: When Obama went to Pakistan in 1981 he was traveling either with a British passport or an Indonesian passport. If he was traveling with a British passport that would provide proof that he was born in Kenya on August 4, 1961, not in Hawaii as he claims." (DISPROVEN)

And if he was traveling with an Indonesian passport that would tend to prove that he relinquished whatever previous citizenship he held, British or American, prior to being adopted by his Indonesian step-father in 1967.(DISPROVEN)

"Whatever the truth of the matter, the American people need to know how he managed to become a “natural born” American citizen between 1981 and 2008. Given the destructive nature of his plans for America, as illustrated by his speech before Congress and the disastrous spending plan he has presented to Congress, the sooner we learn the truth of all this, the better. Is he a “natural born” citizen, or isn’t he? It seems pretty clear from the available evidence that he is not. If that proves to be the case he should minimize the damage to the country and follow the Nixon example; he should simply resign from office so that we can begin to clean up the mess he leaves behind."

HOLLAH MISREPRESENTS THE FACTS AND IS PROVEN WRONG!

Hollah continues: "So it is well established that Obama did travel to Indonesia and Pakistan in 1981. What is not established, and what is critically important, is what passport he used during that trip. There are only three possibilities: Obama could have traveled under a U.S. passport… a passport first issued when he and his mother moved from Hawaii to Indonesia in 1967; he could have traveled under an Indonesian passport, issued following his adoption by his Indonesian stepfather; and it is conceivable that, if he was, in fact, born in Kenya in 1961, he could still have been a British subject, traveling with a British passport. So which is it?" WE HAVE DISPROVEN THE INDONESIAN OR BRITISH (KENYAN) PASSPORT THEORY. LET'S MOVE ON:

"Unfortunately for Obama, in the present circumstance, Pakistan was under martial law in 1981 and certain undesirables… Christians, Jews, and Americans… were prohibited from entering the country. Pakistan was on the U.S. State Department’s “no travel” list..."

This is where Hollah's whole theory goes where it belongs . . . right down the toilet. This clown apparently read on some right-wing blog about this so-called fact that Americans were banned from travel to Pakistan in 1981. AMERICANS WERE NOT BANNED FROM TRAVEL TO PAKISTAN IN 1981. Instead of joining the ranks of the egotistical jerks who repeatedly bring this false claim against Obama he could have easily researched this subject as THE CANDID BLOGGER has done. Here are the facts:

I found this article in a 1981 edition of the New York Times. Read it an weap, Mr. Hollah, and take this information with you back to the other Obama-haters who should be sanctioned at the very least. For your enjoyment:

The U.S. State Department Travel Advisory to Pakistan in 1981 confirms the newspaper account:

NO. 81-33A

Travel Advisory

Passport Services/Bureau of Consular Affa[irs]
Department of State/Wahington. D.C. 205__

AUGUST 17, 1981

TRAVEL TO PAKISTAN

BEFORE TRAVELING TO PAKISTAN, AMERICAN CITIZENS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE FOLLO[WING] UPDATED VISA REQUIREMENTS: 30 DAY VISAS ARE AVAILABLE AT PAKISTANI AIRPORTS [FOR] TOURISTS ONLY. AS THESE VISAS ARE RARELY EXTENDED BEYOND THE 30 DAY TIME PER[IOD,] TOURISTS PLANNING TO STAY LONGER SHOULD SECURE VISAS BEFORE COMING TO PAKIS[TAN.] ANY TRAVELER COMING INTO PAKISTAN OVERLAND FROM INDIA MUST REPEAT MUST HA[VE A] VALID VISA, AS 30 DAY VISAS ARE NOT REPEAT NOT ISSUED AT THE OVERLAND BOR[DER] CROSSING POINT AT WAGHA.

ANY NON-OFFICIAL AMERICAN WHO IS IN PAKISTAN FOR MORE THAN 30 DAYS MUST REGIS[TER] WITH THE GOVERNMENT’S FOREIGNER REGISTRATION OFFICE. EXIT PERMITS ARE REQUI[RED] FOR THOSE WHO HAVE STAYED LONGER THAN 30 DAYS BEFORE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO LE[AVE T]HE COUNTRY. ALL AMERICANS TRAVELING TO PAKISTAN ON OFFICIAL BUSINESS OR [FOR] PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A VISA BEFORE ARRIVAL, AND, AS [THE] GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN’S CLEARANCE PROCESS IS OFTEN QUITE LENGTHY, WE WOULD URGE TH[OSE] COMING TO APPLY AT THE NEAREST PAKISTANI EMBASSY OR CONSULATE AS FAR IN ADVA[NCE] OF THEIR SCHEDULED ARRIVAL AS POSSIBLE.

THIS SUPERSEDED REQUIREMENTS SET FORTH IN DEPARTMENT PUBLICATION M-264, ["VISA] REQUIREMENTS OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.["]

EXPIRATION DATE: INDEFINITE.

The whole Indonesian passport idea is impossible anyway because of the Indonesian law prohibiting dual citizenship. Indonesian Naturalization Law.

CASE CLOSED.









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Michael Moore Takes on Wolf Blitzer Again

Michael Moore appeared on CNN Thursday evening with Wolf Blitzer to discuss his new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story. This is Moore’s first interview with Blitzer since his film Sicko was released, and as Moore puts it, they had a ‘YouTube moment.’ Moore slammed Blitzer and CNN for mistatements about universal health care and his film Sicko during that interview in 2007 when Blitzer attempted to debunk facts presented in the film with ‘facts’ from CNN’s medical expert, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Moore debunked Gupta’s facts in detail on his own web site, and later went head to head with the doctor on the Larry King Show.

Well, they had another YouTube moment last night.






source: RAW STORY









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This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Michael Moore Exposes Capitalism

Enjoy the trailer from Michael Moore's new movie, CAPITALISM, A LOVE STORY, a blockbuster examination of capitalism and how it serves the wealthy. As usual, Moore attacks a painful subject with humor, sarcasm and above all, TRUTH. Here is the trailer:












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This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Protecting Insurance Company Profits

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

This video is a depiction of the beliefs of the Republican Party -- the party of "NO".











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All Rights Reserved

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Landmark Decision Promises Massive Relief for Homeowners...

and trouble for Banks!

A landmark ruling in a recent Kansas Supreme Court case may have given millions of distressed homeowners the legal wedge they need to avoid foreclosure. In Landmark National Bank v. Kesler, 2009 Kan. LEXIS 834, the Kansas Supreme Court held that a nominee company called MERS has no right or standing to bring an action for foreclosure. MERS is an acronym for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a private company that registers mortgages electronically and tracks changes in ownership. The significance of the holding is that if MERS has no standing to foreclose, then nobody has standing to foreclose – on 60 million mortgages. That is the number of American mortgages currently reported to be held by MERS. Over half of all new U.S. residential mortgage loans are registered with MERS and recorded in its name. Holdings of the Kansas Supreme Court are not binding on the rest of the country, but they are dicta of which other courts take note; and the reasoning behind the decision is sound.

Eliminating the “Straw Man” Shielding Lenders and Investors from Liability

The development of “electronic” mortgages managed by MERS went hand in hand with the “securitization” of mortgage loans – chopping them into pieces and selling them off to investors. In the heyday of mortgage securitizations, before investors got wise to their risks, lenders would slice up loans, bundle them into “financial products” called “collateralized debt obligations” (CDOs), ostensibly insure them against default by wrapping them in derivatives called “credit default swaps,” and sell them to pension funds, municipal funds, foreign investment funds, and so forth. There were many secured parties, and the pieces kept changing hands; but MERS supposedly kept track of all these changes electronically. MERS would register and record mortgage loans in its name, and it would bring foreclosure actions in its name. MERS not only facilitated the rapid turnover of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, but it has served as a sort of “corporate shield” that protects investors from claims by borrowers concerning predatory lending practices.

FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE: Ellen Brown, September 19th, 2009










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CNN Anchor to FOX NEWS: You Lie!

When Fox News ran a full-page ad in the Washington Post — as well as in two newspapers owned by Fox’s parent company — claiming that it had been the only network to cover the 9.12 tea party rally in Washington, DC, it was more than one CNN anchor was willing to take.

“I usually don’t suffer fools gladly,” CNN’s Rick Sanchez began. “Especially when it comes to the fools who perpetuate falsehoods. Well, today thousands of you flipped through the pages of the Washington Post, only to come up a lie so bold and so upsetting that frankly I’m just not going to sit here in silence and allow my craft or my news operation to be unfairly maligned.”

Over a large photo of the rally, the ad asks, “How Did ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN Miss This Story?”

“Enough is enough,” Sanchez went on, sounding as though he had been taking lessons in righteous indignation from Keith Olbermann. “And yes, I’m talking to you, Fox News. You, who claim to be fair and balanced. At what, I wonder? … They are saying we did not cover this story. They are using a lie to try and divide people into camps. … That’s an offense to myself and my colleagues, who risked their lives in Iran and Afghanistan and around the world to bring the news.”

Sanchez then backed up his charges against Fox with clips of several different CNN reporters covering various aspects of the rally and even played a clip of Fox’s Bill O’Reilly saying smugly, “CNN, as we mentioned, covered the anti-Obama protests, of course.”

“Here’s the fact,” Sanchez summed up. “We do cover the news, and we did extensively cover this event. We didn’t promote the event. That’s not what real news organizations are supposed to do. … ‘Cover’ is kind of like a ‘fair and balanced’ way of doing things. You get it? You might want to look into that.”



source: RAW STORY










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45,000 American Deaths Linked to No Health Insurance

Think a Public Health option is not necessary? THINK AGAIN!

(CNN) -- A freelance cameraman's appendix ruptured and by the time he was admitted to surgery, it was too late. A self-employed mother of two is found dead in bed from undiagnosed heart disease. A 26-year-old aspiring fashion designer collapsed in her bathroom after feeling unusually fatigued for days.

What all three of these people have in common is that they experienced symptoms, but didn't seek care because they were uninsured and they worried about the hospital expense, according to their families. All three died.

Research released this week in the American Journal of Public Health estimates that 45,000 deaths per year in the United States are associated with the lack of health insurance. If a person is uninsured, "it means you're at mortal risk," said one of the authors, Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The researchers examined government health surveys from more than 9,000 people aged 17 to 64, taken from 1986-1994, and then followed up through 2000. They determined that the uninsured have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those with private health insurance as a result of being unable to obtain necessary medical care. The researchers then extrapolated the results to census data from 2005 and calculated there were 44,789 deaths associated with lack of health insurance.

source: CNN












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This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Shocker! O'Reilly Supports Public Option

An astute Daily Kos observer caught an exchange between Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and a guest, in which O'Reilly appears to endorse the so-called public option -- a government-run competitor to private insurance companies, whose prospects in the Senate appear grim.




source: RAW STORY












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Poll Finds 63% of U.S. Doctors Favor Public Option

Most US doctors approve of a "public option" to supplement private health care insurance in the United States, as proposed by President Barack Obama, a poll showed Monday.

A total of 62.9 percent of physicians who participated in the survey by the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) said they favored a public option, or government insurance plan, against 27.3 percent backing a private system alone.

Another 9.6 percent favored a completely government-owned health care coverage system.

"It's clear that the majority of US physicians support both public and private options to expand coverage," NEJM said, noting that between 52 and 69 percent of Americans favor a supplemental public option.

The journal described physicians as "critical stakeholders" in health care reform.

Obama has vowed to pass legislation by the end of the year that would spread coverage to America's 47 million uninsured by making insurance obligatory and affordable for all.

But he has faced strong criticism, especially from Republicans, who have jumped on the 900-billion-dollar price tag and stoked fears that a mooted public option would lead to a federal takeover of health care -- anathema to many Americans who abhor the idea of big government.

The NEJM poll found that 58.3 percent of physicians favor expanding Medicare, the public health insurance plan for seniors over 65 years old, to people aged 55 and over.

source: RAW STORY











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Obama Addresses Seniors on Healthcare

How The President's Plan for Health Reform Will Benefit Seniors

"I want to speak directly to seniors for a moment, because Medicare is another issue that's been subjected to demagoguery and distortion during the course of this debate.

More than four decades ago, this nation stood up for the principle that after a lifetime of hard work, our seniors should not be left to struggle with a pile of medical bills in their later years. That's how Medicare was born. And it remains a sacred trust that must be passed down from one generation to the next. And that is why not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan.

The only thing this plan would eliminate is the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud, as well as unwarranted subsidies in Medicare that go to insurance companies -- subsidies that do everything to pad their profits but don't improve the care of seniors. And we will also create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts charged with identifying more waste in the years ahead.

Now, these steps will ensure that you -- America's seniors -- get the benefits you've been promised. They will ensure that Medicare is there for future generations. And we can use some of the savings to fill the gap in coverage that forces too many seniors to pay thousands of dollars a year out of their own pockets for prescription drugs. That's what this plan will do for you. So don't pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut, especially since some of the same folks who are spreading these tall tales have fought against Medicare in the past and just this year supported a budget that would essentially have turned Medicare into a privatized voucher program. That will not happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare."

— President Barack Obama










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The Truth About the Public Option

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich explains what a public option for healthcare coverage really means for working people.

Pass it on to everyone you know.

We can't let the insurance companies decide who gets care and who doesn't.

Check out: SICK FOR PROFIT.COM for more details about the campaign.












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A Republican Disgrace

NO RESPECT FOR THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OR SANCTITY OF CONGRESS

The South Carolina Republican congressman that interrupted President Barack Obama by shouting “You lie!” says that the outburst wasn’t premeditated. “I will tell you this. It was spontaneous,” said Wilson.



Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Wilson did not seem to be full of remorse. “Well, I, last night, heard from the [Republican] leadership that they wanted me to contact the White House and state that might statements were inappropriate. I did it. I’m very grateful that the White House in talking with them — they indicated that they appreciated the call and that we need to have a civil discussion about the health care issues. And I certainly agree with that,” explained Wilson.

Wilson continued to assert that health care reform would cover illegal immigrants. “Congressional resource services has indicated that, indeed, the bills that are before Congress would include illegal aliens and I think this is wrong,” he said.

Time’s Michael Scherer fact checked the president’s speech:

The President’s seemingly simple statement, that “the reforms I am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally,” is not hard to check. In the Senate Finance Committee working framework for a health plan, which Obama’s speech seemed most to mimic, there is the line: “No illegal immigrants will benefit from the health care tax credits.” Similarly, the major health care reform bill to pass out of committee in the House, H.R. 3200, contains a Section 246, which is called, “NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.”

On the night after Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "You Lie" at President Obama during an address to Congress, Keith Olbermann devotes a "Special Comment" to the Congressman, and mocked his apology.

"You embarrassed your district, you embarrassed your nation... and you were wrong!"

Olbermann said "Wrong-Way Wilson" "made himself look like an uninformed eight-year-old screaming at an adult."

He also comments on how "stupid" certain Republican talking heads have made the party look. "The tiem has come to rise up and take this country back, to again make it safe for people who actually completed the seventh grade."














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All Rights Reserved

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Obama Delivers on Healthcare

During a special full-length primetime broadcast, President Barack Obama addressed the U.S. Congress in order to tackle concerns over the ongoing legislation and debates over health care reform.











Copyright @ 1998-2009
All Rights Reserved

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Obama's Inspirational Speech to America's Children

Here are prepared remarks that President Obama is to deliver at noon ET Tuesday at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. This is the speech that the right wingnuts have insisted their children not have to hear in fear that President Obama is trying to indoctrinate their children.  Fear, racism, hatred, bigotry -- call it what you will.  I call it disrespect for the office of the Presidency.  Read for yourself:

Source: The White House

Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today. I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility. I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class.

Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class.

Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment.

You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free.

You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork. I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community.

Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn.

Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time.

If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation.

Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you.

So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.









Copyright @ 1998-2009
All Rights Reserved

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

A Canadian Message to America About Healthcare

Canadian Doctors for Medicare hosted a celebration of Medicare in Canada. The speakers included Roy Romanow, former Saskatchewan Premiere and Commissioner on Health Care in Canada. They tell Americans that Canadian universal health care works and encourage Americans to implement a single payer universal health care system. The video also features Dr. Steven Lewis a health policy and research consultant, Dr. Danielle Martin, Dr. Ryan Meili and Dr. Robert Woolard representing the Canadian Doctors for Medicare and Linda Silas President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.













Copyright @ 1998-2009
All Rights Reserved

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.