Friday, August 1, 2008
The Nightowl Newswrap
Rumor has it that the Hilton's aren't the only ones pissed off. Britney may be considering legal action for the unauthorized use of her image in the McCain "Celebrity" ad.
Speaking of that stupid ad... The McCain campaign is busy scrubbing their website for all past references to McSame as a "political celebrity" but they weren't quite quick enough for the folks at Crooks and Liars, who snagged a screen shot.
Would you like to see Wesley Clark as Obama's running mate? If so, click the link and sign the petition.
Unemployment rate climbs to 5.7% as 51,000 jobs vanished last month. So far in 2008, nearly 500,000 jobs have been lost.
Since we can't have a firing squad, put them in the general population and tell everyone why they are there A fourteen year old disabled girl is dead because everyone failed her - her parents, the rest of her family, family friends, even the social service system. Everyone let her down and as a result, she died a horrible death. May they all burn in hell.
“Well,it’s about time.” That was the words of a Polk County, IA judge when four defendants, charged with trespassing for attempting to make a citizens arrest on Karl Rove during an appearance in Des Moines last Friday, made their preliminary appearances before him yesterday. A jury trial has been set for August 20.
Another bank closure Federal regulators in Florida closed First Priority Bank today. It is the eighth bank closure this year.
Charges coming against CitiBank NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has announced charges are imminent for the alleged fraudulent marketing and sale of troubled auction-rate securities to everyday investors. Cuomo's office alleges that the nation's largest bank "has repeatedly and persistently committed fraud by material misrepresentations and omissions" in the underwriting, distribution and sale of auction rate securities, touting them as safe, cash-equivalent investments.
GM reported a staggering $15.5 billion dollar second quarter loss as car sales decline, plants close and the trucks and sport utility vehicles sitting on dealers lots lose value without moving a mile.
About that bit of political theater today...Boehner should get hammered with it back in his district. Two days ago, he strongarmed 13 republicans into changing their votes on a piece of legislation that would have granted actual relief at the pump for his constituents so it wouldn't pass, because he wanted to have the opportunity to orchestrate todays stunt. That's right, Ohio - he purposefully kept relief legislation from passing so he could stage todays installment of the theater of the absurd.
Crap like this is why we haven't set foot in a Walmart in years The company is scared shitless that a President Obama, coupled with expanded majorities in both the House and the Senate will put an end to the days that they can keep a boot on the necks of their employees and keep unions out of their stores. In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized. In the past they have met the union threat by closing departments, and even whole stores.
Rep. Kucinich introduces legislation that would bar U.S. oil companies from doing business in Iraq “Iraq needs oil revenue now more than ever as they try to rebuild their country,” Kucinich said Thursday, unveiling the Oil for Iraq Liberation Act. "The invasion of Iraq was about oil, but it didn’t result in more oil or cheaper gas," Kucinich said on the House Floor. "It resulted in war profiteering by oil companies who benefited by keeping Iraqi oil off the market."
Quote of the Day
Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post today:
~BG
The latest bit of snarling, mean-spirited nonsense to come out of the McCain camp was the accusation, leveled by campaign manager Rick Davis, that Obama had "played the race card." He did so, apparently, by being black.No comment necessary.
~BG
Shortsighted, stupid...and cruel
Some of the best people I know are Nurses and Social Workers who deliver end of life care to Hospice patients. By their good works they allow patients to be at home, in the warm embrace of their families and friends and to meet their inevitable deaths with dignity.
I've seen the inevitable end come, in hospitals, homes and residential hospice centers. The work these actual Angels of Mercy do is largely unnoticed, except for by those who benefit as a result.
And now that work is threatened, by the "compassionate conservatism" of the bu$h presidency.
Today the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) announced that reimbursement rates to Hospice programs and providers will be slashed. The cuts are to take effect October 1st, and they will hurt the most vulnerable and least able to fight back...the terminally ill. (Approximately 80% of Hospice patients are Medicare recipients.)
In issuing this rule, the CMS under the bu$h administration is taking a shot at decency itself.
"The government's reason for its decision that would effectively cut rates -- the need to save money -- simply isn't true," noted Jonathan Keyserling, executive director of the Alliance for Care at the End of Life. "Research has shown that hospice saves the Medicare system money, is highly rated by family members of hospice patients, and enables the patient to die at home in most cases," says Keyserling. "This rule defies logic, and will have a direct, negative impact on care at the bedside."
According to a study conducted by Duke University in 2007, the amount saved by delivering end of life care in Hospice settings saves Medicare an average of $2,300 per patient, for a total savings of about $2 billion a year. Last year, the number of patients that received Hospice care exceeded 1.3 million, and that number is expected to rise as the baby-boom generation ages.
Polling routinely finds that nine out of ten Americans, if faced with a terminal illness, would want to remain in their homes and receive Hospice care. More than 80% of Hospice care is delivered in the patients home, and patient satisfaction approaches 100% as has been revealed in study after study.
Historically, Congress has rejected requests to reduce the level of hospice reimbursement, realizing the harmful impact such cuts would have on care at the bedside. "And this time is no different," says Keyserling. "Congress should intervene to stop the Administration's cut to hospice care, before the rule goes into effect."
Sentiment on Capitol Hill remains tilted in favor of Hospice, and a bicameral and bipartisan group of more than 90 members of Congress has sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt in opposition to the proposed rule. "It is in our nation's fiscal and moral interest that high-quality hospice care remains an option for all who need these unique services and support," said Keyserling.
There is one thing that is certain...nothing is sacred to these people. It is almost as if they are determined, in the waning days of this administration, to attempt the most outlandish and mean-spirited things they can dream up, just because they have a little bit of power left, and although it is waning, they are determined to use it as a cudgel to hurt someone, anyone, no matter how weak, defenseless and undeserving the people hurt.
These people can't be run out of town fast enough, and cleaning up after them will take at least a decade.
I've seen the inevitable end come, in hospitals, homes and residential hospice centers. The work these actual Angels of Mercy do is largely unnoticed, except for by those who benefit as a result.
And now that work is threatened, by the "compassionate conservatism" of the bu$h presidency.
Today the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) announced that reimbursement rates to Hospice programs and providers will be slashed. The cuts are to take effect October 1st, and they will hurt the most vulnerable and least able to fight back...the terminally ill. (Approximately 80% of Hospice patients are Medicare recipients.)
In issuing this rule, the CMS under the bu$h administration is taking a shot at decency itself.
"The government's reason for its decision that would effectively cut rates -- the need to save money -- simply isn't true," noted Jonathan Keyserling, executive director of the Alliance for Care at the End of Life. "Research has shown that hospice saves the Medicare system money, is highly rated by family members of hospice patients, and enables the patient to die at home in most cases," says Keyserling. "This rule defies logic, and will have a direct, negative impact on care at the bedside."
According to a study conducted by Duke University in 2007, the amount saved by delivering end of life care in Hospice settings saves Medicare an average of $2,300 per patient, for a total savings of about $2 billion a year. Last year, the number of patients that received Hospice care exceeded 1.3 million, and that number is expected to rise as the baby-boom generation ages.
Polling routinely finds that nine out of ten Americans, if faced with a terminal illness, would want to remain in their homes and receive Hospice care. More than 80% of Hospice care is delivered in the patients home, and patient satisfaction approaches 100% as has been revealed in study after study.
Historically, Congress has rejected requests to reduce the level of hospice reimbursement, realizing the harmful impact such cuts would have on care at the bedside. "And this time is no different," says Keyserling. "Congress should intervene to stop the Administration's cut to hospice care, before the rule goes into effect."
Sentiment on Capitol Hill remains tilted in favor of Hospice, and a bicameral and bipartisan group of more than 90 members of Congress has sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt in opposition to the proposed rule. "It is in our nation's fiscal and moral interest that high-quality hospice care remains an option for all who need these unique services and support," said Keyserling.
There is one thing that is certain...nothing is sacred to these people. It is almost as if they are determined, in the waning days of this administration, to attempt the most outlandish and mean-spirited things they can dream up, just because they have a little bit of power left, and although it is waning, they are determined to use it as a cudgel to hurt someone, anyone, no matter how weak, defenseless and undeserving the people hurt.
These people can't be run out of town fast enough, and cleaning up after them will take at least a decade.
Adjournment Means What to House Republicans?
The only thing more pathetic than House Democrats are House Republicans. This is the kind of thing that only a shameless idiot would do. It's August. Go home. Go on vacation. At least when you people aren't in session, you're not making things worse. Better Democrats, please. And different ones in charge.
Yawn. Now, go back to your district and wait for your beating in the fall.
--WS
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House and turned off the lights and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.
Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House, arguing that Pelosi's refusal to schedule a vote allowing offshore drilling is hurting the American economy. They have refused to leave the floor after the adjournment motion passed at 11:23 a.m., and they are busy bashing Pelosi and her fellow Democrats for leaving town for the August recess.
At one point, the lights went off in the House and the microphones were turned off in the chamber, meaning Republicans were talking in the dark. But as Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz..) was speaking, the lights went back on and the microphones were turned on shortly afterward.
But C-SPAN, which has no control over the cameras in the chamber, has stopped broadcasting the House floor, meaning no one was witnessing this except the assembled Republicans, their aides, and one Democrat, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has now left.
Yawn. Now, go back to your district and wait for your beating in the fall.
--WS
Friday morning quick hits
It doesn't matter because it isn't veto-proof, Nancy Sweet Jesus, Nancy Pelosi annoys the holy fuck out of me. Over at The Gavel they have a post crowing about the House passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, claiming that the House lets American women know our work is valued. What the fuck ever. Der Shrubbenfuhrer has promised a veto and Mitch McConnell and his gang of obstructionist assholes in the Senate won't let it go anywhere anyway, so what the fuck? It's like declaring victory because you won the coin toss at the start of the game.
It isn't just AT&T that is spying on you Slowly but certainly, the intelligence gathering apparatus of the U.S. government is being turned on the citizens the agencies are supposed to protect. That is the warning coming from the ACLU after the administration updated Executive Order 12333. Sounds par for the course for these assholes, and something else to throw on the pile for Obama to roll back come January.
The doe-eyed sycophants in the press call it a "paper gap" but we just call it what it is...a total lack of ideas or plans. The McCain campaign is not producing white papers and policy proposals, instead opting for nebulous terms and vague assurances that amount to "trust me, I was a POW" and because there is a Media Mancrush™ he isn't being called on it.
Apparently, the Wall Street Journal has merged with The Onion Today they have a 1400 word(!!!) feature article querrying the deep and searching question...is Obama too fit to be president?
Bridges in Minnesota Are Still Crumbling, and Pawlenty Has Done Nothing About It
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty answers to one constituency--the people who give him cash. Everyone else can just go jump off a bridge.
I think that number of 45,000 is completely inflated--a good number of Republicans are already planning on staying away. Coupled with the infighting from the Ron Paul supporters that is sure to embarrass them, and the growing popularity of Bob Barr's candidacy, look for reduced attendance in St. Paul. Pawlenty runs public policy in the State of Minnesota like any decent Republican--fuck the people, reward the donors, and put on a smiling face in front of the cameras. This is the future of the Republican Party--find smiling people who have no shame, no remorse, no conscience and hope to God they can skate by on their good looks while everything goes to hell around them.
Don't look for anyone to point out that the crumbling infrastructure in Minnesota continues unabated by anything the Pawlenty administration has been doing. Dead Americans in the rubble never concern these people. Bridges keep crumbling, the shit gets piled higher, and one would think the Republicans would put on a better show of trying to appear concerned. Apparently not.
--WS
It’s a year today since the Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people, but don’t expect Gov. Tim Pawlenty to showcase the reconstruction.
Indeed, with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul just a month away and Pawlenty reported to be high on John McCain’s running mate list, Republicans want to drive attention away from the infrastructure disaster that spotlighted the nation’s crumbling bridges and from the criticism the governor faced for what some critics said was a slow response.
The governor’s staff reports there are no plans to hold any events near the site of the bridge collapse, about 10 miles from the convention hall. And GOP convention planners have organized hundreds of buses to ease the congestion expected when some 45,000 conventioneers, guests and media commute to the hall.
I think that number of 45,000 is completely inflated--a good number of Republicans are already planning on staying away. Coupled with the infighting from the Ron Paul supporters that is sure to embarrass them, and the growing popularity of Bob Barr's candidacy, look for reduced attendance in St. Paul. Pawlenty runs public policy in the State of Minnesota like any decent Republican--fuck the people, reward the donors, and put on a smiling face in front of the cameras. This is the future of the Republican Party--find smiling people who have no shame, no remorse, no conscience and hope to God they can skate by on their good looks while everything goes to hell around them.
Don't look for anyone to point out that the crumbling infrastructure in Minnesota continues unabated by anything the Pawlenty administration has been doing. Dead Americans in the rubble never concern these people. Bridges keep crumbling, the shit gets piled higher, and one would think the Republicans would put on a better show of trying to appear concerned. Apparently not.
--WS
The Enquirer Story Crumbles
So far, still no pictures from the National Enquirer reporters who claim that John Edwards was caught visiting his supposed mistress and her child. And, oh by the way, their story keeps crumbling.
It sure would have been a gotcha moment if Edwards' name had been on that document. And while it certainly doesn't exonerate him, it doesn't do anything to bolster the claims and the smears against him, either. Like we said early on when this non-story broke, show us the documents. Show us the proof. So far, nothing. No photos. No video. No documents. Just smears and bullshit, and obsessed wingnuts coming out of the woodwork to speculate about someone's sex life because their own problems dwarf anything they can deal with.
In this day and age, politicians are always going to let you down in one way or another. John Edwards has been smeared by a third rate tabloid that has been given way to much credibility and way too much exposure. Does that mean he's innocent? No, of course not. I don't care what he did or who he did it with because Edwards doesn't go around telling people how to live their lives, he goes around telling people why we need economic justice in this country. That message is still dangerous to people who prefer the status quo and would love to see him smeared, and his message diluted and withdrawn from the public discourse. Whatever happened here is between him and his wife, and it doesn't change the fact that he's right.
Hopefully, this will end the story, and we can go back to ignoring the tabloid trash.
--WS
The birth certificate of a child whom a tabloid newspaper claims was fathered by former Democratic senator John Edwards of North Carolina doesn't identify the child's father.
The document, obtained through a routine records request, shows that Frances Quinn Hunter was born last Feb. 27 to Rielle Hunter, a videographer who worked on Edwards' presidential campaign last year.
But the space for the name of the father is blank, although the child was born more than two months after Hunter identified Andrew Young, Edwards' campaign finance director, as the father of her then unborn child. Young claimed paternity in a statement from his lawyer that was posted on the political blog mydd.com.
It sure would have been a gotcha moment if Edwards' name had been on that document. And while it certainly doesn't exonerate him, it doesn't do anything to bolster the claims and the smears against him, either. Like we said early on when this non-story broke, show us the documents. Show us the proof. So far, nothing. No photos. No video. No documents. Just smears and bullshit, and obsessed wingnuts coming out of the woodwork to speculate about someone's sex life because their own problems dwarf anything they can deal with.
In this day and age, politicians are always going to let you down in one way or another. John Edwards has been smeared by a third rate tabloid that has been given way to much credibility and way too much exposure. Does that mean he's innocent? No, of course not. I don't care what he did or who he did it with because Edwards doesn't go around telling people how to live their lives, he goes around telling people why we need economic justice in this country. That message is still dangerous to people who prefer the status quo and would love to see him smeared, and his message diluted and withdrawn from the public discourse. Whatever happened here is between him and his wife, and it doesn't change the fact that he's right.
Hopefully, this will end the story, and we can go back to ignoring the tabloid trash.
--WS
Top scientist kills himself as Feds close in...
Updating, and pushing this story down below the fold: we are following the suicide of the man that the Federal government was preparing charges against in connection to the 2001 Anthrax attacks. The case of what happened has long been shrouded in mystery and in deception. Here's an invaluable little piece of insight from Glenn Greenwald:
Panic, confusion, and just plain old laziness and incompetence have dogged this story from the beginning. Someone was trying to spin this story and manipulate it to calm public fears. Has it now been solved? Or is this just the beginning of a new chapter?
Continuing our post, below:
Incredible...this story broke overnight and we're just now getting more details.
We're going to get as much of this out as possible--this is a huge development that underscores how a failed investigation can put Americans at risk. We do not know exactly how the investigation moved from Steven Hatfill to Bruce Ivins, but the fact that it has taken nearly seven years to get to this point leaves many more questions than it does answers.
More updates when we get them.
--WS
During the last week of October, 2001, ABC News, led by Brian Ross, continuously trumpeted the claim as their top news story that government tests conducted on the anthrax -- tests conducted at Ft. Detrick -- revealed that the anthrax sent to Daschele contained the chemical additive known as bentonite. ABC News, including Peter Jennings, repeatedly claimed that the presence of bentonite in the anthrax was compelling evidence that Iraq was responsible for the attacks, since -- as ABC variously claimed -- bentonite "is a trademark of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's biological weapons program" and "only one country, Iraq, has used bentonite to produce biological weapons."
ABC News' claim -- which they said came at first from "three well-placed but separate sources," followed by "four well-placed and separate sources" -- was completely false from the beginning. There never was any bentonite detected in the anthrax (a fact ABC News acknowledged for the first time in 2007 only as a result of my badgering them about this issue). It's critical to note that it isn't the case that preliminary tests really did detect bentonite and then subsequent tests found there was none. No tests ever found or even suggested the presence bentonite. The claim was just concocted from the start. It just never happened.
That means that ABC News' "four well-placed and separate sources" fed them information that was completely false -- false information that created a very significant link in the public mind between the anthrax attacks and Saddam Hussein. And look where -- according to Brian Ross' report on October 28, 2001 -- these tests were conducted:And despite continued White House denials, four well-placed and separate sources have told ABC News that initial tests on the anthrax by the US Army at Fort Detrick, Maryland, have detected trace amounts of the chemical additives bentonite and silica.
Two days earlier, Ross went on ABC News' World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and, as the lead story, breathlessly reported:The discovery of bentonite came in an urgent series of tests conducted at Fort Detrick, Maryland, and elsewhere.
Panic, confusion, and just plain old laziness and incompetence have dogged this story from the beginning. Someone was trying to spin this story and manipulate it to calm public fears. Has it now been solved? Or is this just the beginning of a new chapter?
Continuing our post, below:
Incredible...this story broke overnight and we're just now getting more details.
A top U.S. biodefense researcher apparently committed suicide just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailings that traumatized the nation in 2001, according to a published report.
Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Maryland, had been told about the impending prosecution, the Los Angeles Times reported for Friday editions. The laboratory has been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax mailings, which killed five people in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland. The Times, quoting an unidentified colleague, said the scientist had taken a massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine.
We're going to get as much of this out as possible--this is a huge development that underscores how a failed investigation can put Americans at risk. We do not know exactly how the investigation moved from Steven Hatfill to Bruce Ivins, but the fact that it has taken nearly seven years to get to this point leaves many more questions than it does answers.
Federal investigators moved away from Hatfill -- for years the only publicly identified "person of interest" -- and ultimately concluded that Ivins was the culprit after FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III changed leadership of the investigation in late 2006.
The FBI's new top investigators -- Vincent B. Lisi and Edward W. Montooth -- instructed agents to reexamine leads or potential suspects that may have received insufficient attention. Moreover, significant progress was made in analyzing genetic properties of the anthrax powder recovered from letters addressed to two senators.
The renewed efforts led the FBI back to USAMRIID, where agents first questioned scientists in December 2001, a few weeks after the fatal mailings.
By spring of this year, FBI agents were still contacting Ivins' present and former colleagues. At USAMRIID and elsewhere, scientists acquainted with Ivins were asked to sign confidentiality agreements in order to prevent leaks of new investigative details.
Ivins, employed as a civilian at Ft. Detrick, earlier had attracted the attention of Army officials because of anthrax contaminations that Ivins failed to report for five months. In sworn oral and written statements to an Army investigator, Ivins said that he had erred by keeping the episodes secret -- from December 2001 to late April 2002. He said he had swabbed and bleached more than 20 areas that he suspected were contaminated by a sloppy lab technician.
"In retrospect, although my concern for biosafety was honest and my desire to refrain from crying 'Wolf!' . . . was sincere, I should have notified my supervisor ahead of time of my worries about a possible breach in biocontainment," Ivins told the Army. "I thought that quietly and diligently cleaning the dirty desk area would both eliminate any possible [anthrax] contamination as well as prevent unintended anxiety at the institute."
The Army chose not to discipline Ivins regarding his failure to report the contamination. Officials said that penalizing Ivins might discourage other employees from voluntarily reporting accidental spills of "hot" agents.
But Ivins' recollections should have raised serious questions about his veracity and his intentions, according to some of those familiar with the investigation.
More updates when we get them.
--WS
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