October 29, 2009

Let Them Filibuster Healthcare

I don't think it's too wonkish to raise the issue of the Senate filibuster process is it? Everyone should know that the United States Senate was designed by the founding fathers as a firewall between the unwashed masses and the new elite that kicked out the old elite... call it democracy.

One of the ways that firewall works is that, before a bill can be voted on by the entire US Sentate, a procedural vote is conducted to allow the bill to be considered by the full Senate. In the past, it worked somewhat in reverse... Any senator, or group of senators, could stop legislation via a process called the filibuster and sixty senators could overcome the filibuster with a vote to that end.

HOWEVER, in the past, a filibuster process required those trying to stop the legislation to physically stand at the Senate floor podium and argue their case... non-stop. No other Senate business could be conducted on the floor while the filibustering senator(s) held the podium. The filibuster represented a battle of wills, with the obstructionists facing the potential wrath of the public for preventing popular legislation from advancing.

Rarely do we see the traditional form of a filibuster these days. Instead, the Senate usually just tests the water with a vote of 60 or more. If they can't reach the magic number of 60, the legislation doesn't move forward, and is either modified to appease any hold-out senators, or is simply stopped. Hence, by effectively requiring a "super majority" on every vote, 60 of 100, the Senate keeps the "unruly masses," We the People, from having the laws we want.

It's time for the Democratic Party get a backbone and forced the Republicans into the glare of the public light by forcing them to undertake a traditional filibuster on the healthcare legislation. Maybe the filibuster cannot be broken, but we won't know if we don't try. Let the filibuster process go on for a day or two and see what happens. Maybe the public sentiment would ratchet up. It would surely be a media event... an educational moment. Maybe the public pressure would rise after a couple days, giving the Democratic leadership the support to let the filibuster continue for several days, a week, or more.

I think it's time. If you agree, you're not alone:

The People's Voice
, October 29, 2009

Urging the Democrats to bring the legislation to the floor for debate without the proceedural 60-vote super majority, and forcing the Republicans to filibuster, The People's Voice blog says:

The Republicans are griping that the discussions regarding the content of the bill have not been open and transparent as promised by Candidate Obama... Now it is time for the "transparecy" for which they pine.
Debate it on the floor of the Senate.

A contributor to Daily Kos, KWolfman, also expresses this view:

Honestly, who cares if Joe Lieberman sides with the Republicans here? Who cares if the GOP + One tries to filibuster real health care reform with a strong public option? Why is it so important to avoid a filibuster scenario?

Let the Senate leader Harry Reid know you want to Let them Filibuster.

For Your Convenience:
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October 25, 2009

American Exceptionalism and Torture

Those familiar with GDAE Podcast know that recent Episodes, 18, 19 & 20, have dealt with the topic of American Exceptionalism. The notion is described in the upcoming GDAE Podcast Episode 21 as follows:

... ingrained in almost all Americans is the belief that OUR democracy, the FIRST, is genius in its creation, unsurpassable, a break with all of human history. American leadership is therefore a gift to the world, unassailable. We can do no wrong because America is a beacon of truth, justice and... well, you get the idea.

The Episode 21 segment on "Echoes of American Exceptionalism" features Thomas A. Bass on American Exceptionalism and Torture. Here's an excerpt.

Torture produces an avalanche of disinformation. The Iraq war proves this handily. The war ranks among the most significant intelligence failures in American history. Everything the United States thought it knew about Iraq before the invasion was wrong. The supposed intelligence from "Curveball" in Germany and al-Libi in Egypt was nothing but red herrings and Al Qaeda disinformation.

The United States suffers from a kind of imperial amnesia, which presumes that U.S. power -- no matter how it projects itself in the world -- is always just and right. The strutting Bush in his flight suit and snarling Cheney were also channeling the myth of the American frontier and the redemptive value of violence. In this case, one employs torture not as a necessary evil, but as a social good -- a kind of refining fire, an apocalyptic strategy for separating believers from apostates.

Torture also separates Western from non-Western people, who tend to be red-, yellow-, brown-, or black-skinned. Targets of torture are reduced to the status of "other," and racial stereotypes further reduce them to being "inferior." Torture in this case is used to confirm what skin color and race have already implied about somebody's disloyalty to Western values. The treacherous redskin in his feathered headdress has been replaced by the new symbology of keffiyehs and hihabs.

As we shake ourselves awake from this terror-filled dream, it is time to remember America's long history of torture. The country may have been founded on witch trials, but torture is illegal.

Not to mention immoral and degrades any future hope that the United States can achieve true exceptionalism.

Sources:

Huffington Post, Torture ... Fifty Years of U.S. Practice, May 11, 2009, Thomas A. Bass.

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October 24, 2009

"Banks" Humf!




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October 22, 2009

Will new executive pay limits cause a brain drain?

I hope so.

The group think on Wall Street has to be broken up, just like the too-big-to fail corporations. The car companies will be fine... plenty of smart people would love the challenge of taking a legitimate shot to turn one of those auto companies around.

The AP article takes a little different view than mine.

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October 18, 2009

GDAE Podcast - Episode 21

Episode 21 Afghanistan

  • Afghanistan Escalation in the Balance: Voices of Rickback Bookboch, Stephen Walt, General Petraeus, WakeUp AM, Obama, Richard Engel.
  • MUSIC: Dana Lyons' "Cows with Guns".
  • Prosecute Bush: Guantanamo Detainee Attorney Michael Rapkin calls for Bush & Cheney prosecutions for torture.
  • Afghanistan II: Rory Stewart on US Poised to Drive off Cliff in Afghanistan
  • The Answer: How we know "We are All One"


Play GDAE Podcast Episode 21.

Previous Episodes & 60-Sec Promo:

GDAE Podcast 60-Second Promo

GDAE Podcast Episode 20 October 9, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 19 September 27, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 18 September 16, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 17 August 31, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 16 July 30, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 15 June 17, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 14 June 10, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 13 May 22, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 12May 5, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 11 April 24, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 10 April 9, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 9March 28, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 8 March 15, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 7 March 1, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 6 February 17, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 5 February 6, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 4 January 24, 2009

Sources:

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October 17, 2009

Everybody In... Nobody Out


Single-payer healthcare, Medicare for all, is still the message. We're not stopping until we see the light of a rational, efficient, effective universal healthcare system.

A psychiatrist at a recent rally of "Mad as Hell Doctors" said she has identified an anxiety disorder that almost all of her patients have, which isn't documented in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. She has given the disorder a name, it's an acronym PIISD (pronounced "Pissed"), which stands for Private Insurance Induced Stress Disorder.

For Your Convenience:

Sources:

Thanks to GLH Blog.

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October 9, 2009

GDAE Podcast - Episode 20

Human Exceptionalism II

  • "Human Exceptionalism" with Rickback Bookbock: An extension of Episode 19 (Book "Ishmael") & Episode 18 (American Exceptionalism).
  • MUSIC: Stephen Stills on guitar.
  • Wall Street insider: Jim Finkle's new perspective on mortgage backed bonds, asset managers vs investment bankers, and Wall Street culture.
  • Prosecute Bush: Conference on prosecution of Bush at Massachusetts School of Law at Andover hosted by Dean Lawrence Velvel, with views of Vincent Bugliosi and Christopher Pyle.

Play GDAE Podcast Episode 20 from this page.

Previous Episodes & 60-Sec Promo:

GDAE Podcast 60-Second Promo

GDAE Podcast Episode 19 September 27, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 18 September 16, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 17 August 31, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 16 July 30, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 15 June 17, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 14 June 10, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 13 May 22, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 12May 5, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 11 April 24, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 10 April 9, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 9March 28, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 8 March 15, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 7 March 1, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 6 February 17, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 5 February 6, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 4 January 24, 2009

Sources:

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October 6, 2009

Follow-up on Arrested Korean Blogger

Remember the the Korean blogger arrested in January of this year for accurately predicting the fall of Lehman Brothers and the fall of the won?

What happened to the blogger Park Dae-Sung?

The 31-year-old Park, better known as his pen name "Minerva,'' was arrested early this year on charges of circulating false rumors in cyberspace but was exonerated in April. The prosecutors appealed the court decision, though.... The lawsuit is likely to continue for several years.

MORE from the Korea Times, September 28, 2009.


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October 5, 2009

October 4, 2009

"No" to Escalation in Afghanistan

With Obama teetering on whether or not to escalate the war into a quagmire, now is the time to voice your opinion and urge friends to do the same.

Contact the White House.

For Your Convenience:

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