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POPSWill GOP Call to Repeal Health Care Bill? Repealing the health care bill, however, would take more than winning back a few congressional seats. Just as the Republican minority in the Senate has stalled the current health care debate, a Democratic minority could do the same to any repeal measure unless Republicans were able to pull together at least a 60-vote majority. The GOP would also have to overcome the strong majority Democrats now have in the House. Even if they were to win both chambers back, President Obama could veto any repeal measure at least through 2012. "Anyone who thinks they'll be able to repeal ObamaCare is kidding themselves," Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, told the Washington Independent. "If they want to stop it, they need to stop it now."
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POPSTragedy on a bicycle built for two More: I first saw this story on the Tucson Bike Lawyer blog with a link to the original news story . More in depth blogging on this incident and the failed vulnerable road user bill by San Antonio local Veronica Flores . The obituary with more details about the couple is posted here . A trust fund has been set up for 7 year old Kylie Bruehler and donations can be sent to Kylie Bruehler Benefit Fund, c/o 24165 IH-10 West, Ste. 217-270, San Antonio, Texas 78257-1160.
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POPSU.N. on Israeli War Crimes
The Goldstone Report now has been approved overwhelmingly by the UN General Assembly. The report calls for Israel to investigate it's war crime accusations...and for the Palestinians to investiage theirs -- and says the slow starvation of over a million and half people in the Gaza Strip should stop. Now, it seems it goes to the Security Council. Which means, if things go as usual, the USA will veto it and it will end there. The USA has does similar actions at the UN for decades, protecting Israel, no matter what. The USA House of Congress has even gone on record, this week, opposing this war crimes report. Israel yesterday seized a ship with weapons and said they come from Iran and this was a war crime...also pointing out that Russia, the USA, China, etc. are all guility of war crimes. The conclusion appears to be that war is a war crime. Everybody's guilty. And let's just forget it. ...um, except when talking about the Nazi's of WWII or the Bosnian Serbs curre
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POPSVenezuela Exerts It's Right To Make Own Policies The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela stresses that the relationship between Venezuela and Iran is longstanding, peaceful and of no threat to the national security of the U.S. or of any other country. It is not that the relationship between Venezuela and Iran poses a real threat to the United States; it is instead that some in Washington cannot move beyond viewing Latin America as part of its “backyard.” Contrary to the opinions of these policymakers, Venezuela’s foreign policy is made in Caracas – not in Washington. At the end of his opening statement today Rep.Engel called for a reengagement of U. S. foreign policy with Latin America. We applaud his efforts, but they should be based on mutual respect. We reject the notion that Washington should have veto power over the decision of Latin American countries to engage with the rest of the world.
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POPSEmergency! Congress Debates Burying the Goldstone Report! "TELL CONGRESS TO RESPECT US AND INTERNATIONAL LAW!" "What message are we sending to the rest of the world when we grant Israel complete impunity? This legislation has very important implications beyond the war crimes committed in Gaza. Israel has responded to the report by demanding the Western powers rewrite international and US law, warning that acceptance of the Goldstone report will mean that the US’ military campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan will be subject to similar scrutiny. (Judge Goldstone has drawn a distinction – stating that his report finds that Israel deliberately targeted civilians). This legislation also ignores serious allegations that Israel has violated the US Arms Export Control Act."
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POPSWhy does Joe Lieberman oppose healthcare reform? Ask his wife
But her stint at Hill & Knowlton was merely one episode in a professional lifetime devoted to the corporate health sector. For most of the past three decades, Hadassah Lieberman has been employed by either pharmaceutical companies or the lobbying firms that represent them -- starting with nearly a decade in the "public affairs department" at Hoffman-LaRoche from 1972-81, followed by stints at Pfizer, where she spent four years as "director of policy, planning and communications," and APCO Associates, a major lobbying firm where she served as a "senior associate" in its large healthcare division before retiring in 1998. She went back to work when she joined H&K, an outfit that became notorious for its billion-dollar defense of the tobacco industry. Not long after her contract began, Sen. Lieberman introduced legislation vastly extending patent protection for pharmaceutical companies -- notably including GlaxoSmithKline, a top client of his wife's firm.
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POPSSchwarzenegger Veto Letter: Message Schwarzenegger Veto Letter: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger claims he didn't mean to spell out a certain four-letter-word in his veto letter to the California State Assembly. You can see the letter for yourself HERE (look closely down the left margin). ... schwarzenegger veto letter, schwarzenegger, schwarzenegger veto, schwarzenegger veto message, schwarzenegger letter, schnitt show
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POPSWhy did Obama get the Nobel Peace Prize? It's because Europeans love him. Not "Europeans" because people in Eastern Europeans and Russians do not love him. The Brits are not so sure. But Western Europeans do love him. Friedman explains why:
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POPSPres. Andrew Jackson Warned against the Fed, a Private Central Bank This was his Veto letter for a private central Bank bill sent to him (under the guise of patriotism) on July 4th, 1832. The Fed, in principle, is precisely what he opposed, and his historic letter tells why. This is relevant because Congress is considering passing a bill to audit the Fed here and you can watch live Fri. Sept. 25th
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POPSGadhafi Gets His Tent, plus The warmongers and hatemongers want distractions and smear. While one of the most extraordinary and exciting speech I have ever heard took place, I see more stories about failed efforts to stop Gadhafi from setting up a tent. This clip, for example, spent half it's time on that tent non-issue and falsefly claimed it was successful. But no, Gadhafi got to put up his tent, made his speech and despite all the poor translation, smears of it being "rambling," confused, outrageous, etc. -- he got his points across and apparently the web is abuzz about it. The headline of this clip for example, said the speech at the UN "confused," -- but that was not true. It made several clear points. -- especial the very clear point that five nations always having veto power over Security Council resolutions was unfair. D'uh. Other proposed UN charter reforms were suggested. Also talk about the terrorism of nations with nukes, imperialism, colonialism evils, etc. - all valid. & so
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POPSKhadafy Speaks at U.N. The horrid translation on live TV are hard to believe. The following summary can't be any worse: 1. You folks in the General Assembly might as well be speaking at Hyde Park. 2. The veto power of five nations on the Security Council is unfair. 3. Continents and long recognized regional unions should have a permanent seat on the Security Council (like the African Union, EU, etc.) 4. General Assembly should be real power, not just Security Council. 5. No more Mickey Mouse 6. 65 wars since UN founded. 7. Nuclear power's do war/ terrorism too, killing millions. And they are pirates of resources. 8. Obama good ideas but could just be an shinning exception in the dark. 9. Cruel Colonialism of Africa ripped off $7.77 Trillion. Pay us back. 10. UN should Investigate Iraq War and many assassinations that favored imperialism. 11. Arabs didn't do the Holocaust. It was done by Europeans. 12. We're friends of Jews, but stop the aggression that poisons the worl
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POPSWill Obama Sign A Bill Denying Federal Funds For ACORN? Let’s not forget his campaign gave over $800,000 to an ACORN front group. There’s enough there there we can question whether Obama would sign a bill denying this group funds or veto it. Given the swiftness of the Census Bureau, the House and the Senate to respond to the scandal, I don’t see how Obama could survive politically by vetoing a bill that denied federal funds to ACORN. For Obama to balk at refusing federal funds for ACORN would give that much more fuel for the Tea Party movement, and force Democrats to run away from him… and with 2010 already looking to be a bad year for the Democrats, Obama would be wise to not give his critics more fodder. I, for one, don’t believe he’d veto a bill denying ACORN federal funding… but then again, he’s disappointed me enough times that it is easier to assume he won’t do the right thing. Posted 09-18-2009 6:20 PM by Matt Margolis
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POPSMarch on Washington Regardless, the timing of last night’s hastily arranged speech before a joint session of Congress was weird. Such special sessions are themselves weird, exceedingly rare forums usually reserved for dramatic effect, like when Presidents declare war. The glaring exception, it seems, was Bill Clinton’s ill-fated, pen-wagging veto threat to Congress if they failed to pass his (Hillary’s) health care plan. So why did Obama do it? Why now? According to USA Today before his speech, “the ever more noisy opposition to his health care objectives has had one result: It prompted Obama’s decision to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday in an effort to regain momentum on the issue.” So the President wants to have another argument with the voters. He already has ridiculed publicly citizens who have the audacity to disagree, like the lady who asked him to keep government out of her Medicare. (Maybe she was referring to his proposed $500 billion . . .
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POPSThe far right says Obama is bad for our kids Wrong. I never imagined the outbreak of right-wing crazy that Obama's gesture would provoke, and this time it's hard not to see racism behind the hysteria. The message is "Obama's coming for our children!" the standard cry against scary boogeymen in every culture. I mean, really, what besides Obama's race could make him so scary to these people? That he's a Marxist socialist fascist Nazi? I'd argue that the only reason those extreme epithets have taken hold goes back to reason No. 1: Our first black president is provoking some outsize and irrational reactions. Especially since, as has now been well-documented, President George H.W. Bush addressed American students in 1991, and Ronald Reagan did so via C-SPAN in 1988. (Bush talked mainly about the importance of education, while Reagan hailed the benefits of low taxes and the line-item veto.) President George W. Bush appealed to "the children of the country" to back the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, to no public crit
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POPSF-35 Squabble Could Kill Hate Bill Perfect, we need to get behind this and use it destroy the Totalitarian hate crimes bill, which is something even Bush would have shied away from. "The best way to assist veto of the defense/hate bill combination is to revive grassroots protest of the hate bill. We must convince Obama and Democrats in Congress that Americans hate the hate bill. They must know that Obama’s signature will result in even more town hall-style outrage against Democrats–and certain revenge in midterm elections next year Here’s how you can help
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POPSControl-freaks: It Must Be in Their Genes At the heart of Obama's action plan to deal with every problem is the principle of government control over individual action. Consider the first problem: the economy. Obama's first action was to infuse failing financial institutions with borrowed money, with government strings attached. In exchange for the money, government gained veto power over the management of private corporations. Had the people in power not been infected with the "control" gene, financial institutions that had made bad business decisions would have paid the consequences, and the self-correcting free-market financial system would, ultimately, have been stronger. But alas, the poisoned tentacles of government now permeate the financial system.
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POPSThe Power Vertical Biden said "Russia has to make some very difficult, calculated decisions" and that Washington "vastly" underestimates its hand vis-à-vis the Kremlin: The reality is the Russians are where they are. They have a shrinking population base, they have a withering economy, they have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years, they're in a situation where the world is changing before them and they're clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable. Biden went on to say that the Russian leaders "aren't absolute average-intellect ideologues who are clinging to something nobody believes in. They're pretty pragmatic in the end."
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POPS"On Her Majesty's Space Service" more (at source): "We need to get the next generation excited about the idea of missions to Mars, as one of the people who might go from this country is probably a teenager today," he said. "We should keep a focus of the areas that we are good at – building satellites, space science, building probes etc – but also consider the probability of a British person going to Mars."
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POPSSenate Kills F22 Funding--What about the Russians? No more F22s for a while. We'll have to wait until the Russians and Chinese finish developing their own fighters with capabilities like the F22. The F35 isn't in the same game as the F22, it is a cross between a Harrier and an F16
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