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Anti-Immigrant Teabaggers Get Punked! – The Young Turks

www.TheYoungTurks.com

Puppets in Congress

This article appeared in print on November 17, 2009, on page A32 of the New York edition of the NY Times.

For a depressing example of how members of Congress can be spoon-fed the views and even the exact words of high-powered lobbying firms, consider remarks inserted into the Congressional Record after the debate and vote on health care reform in the House.

As Robert Pear reported in The Times on Sunday, statements inserted into the official record by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by lobbyists working for Genentech, a large biotechnology company that expects to prosper under some of the provisions in the reform legislation. The company estimates that 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats picked up some of its talking points.

The comforting news is that none of the ghostwritten material sought to change the contents of the bill, which was not open to much revision during the debate. Rather, the statements were inserted into the Congressional Record as revisions and extensions of briefer remarks made by legislators on the House floor. Still, there they are in the official record for historians to read, or perhaps a judge trying to determine the lawmakers’ intent in passing this bill.

The apparent goal was to show that, even though there were sharp divisions between the parties on the overall reform bill (only one Republican voted for it), there was bipartisan support for provisions relating to drugs produced by the biotechnology industry. One provision, for example, would allow generic competition to expensive biological drugs but only after the original manufacturer had enjoyed 12 years of exclusive use, a generous period by anyone’s standards.

An e-mail message from one top lobbyist urged his colleagues to conduct “aggressive outreach” to Congressional staff members to secure as many supportive statements from their bosses “as humanly possible.” Sure enough, Republicans who denounced the overall bill, said in their industry-fed statements that the biological drug provisions struck “the appropriate balance.”

It is disturbing that the industry was able to so easily shape the official record to its liking. It is even more disturbing that so many members of Congress were willing to parrot the industry talking points.

This article appeared in print on November 17, 2009, on page A32 of the New York edition of the NY Times.

MORE —> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/opinion/17tue3.html

Women, not sure what to do with your body?

Health Care Debate

Americans For Stable Quality Care – House

JUST WATCH THE VIDEO

Every Generation There Are Moments That Make It Clear Why They’re Republicans & We’re Democrats

Rep. Anthony Weiner on CSPAN – November 7, 2009

Rethink Afghanistan

Rethink Afghanistan
Too many critical questions surround the war in Afghanistan that only public debate and Congressional oversight hearings can answer ………
www.rethinkafghanistan.com
Click link above to check out the video.

Grayson (FL-D) takes Broun (GA-R) to task

Alan Grayson (FL-D) takes Paul Broun (GA-R) to task on the Bill of Attainder clause and how the Republican Party is wasting valuable resource and time in congress to attack one select group. Basically, if Acorn has done something wrong (illegal) take them to court and do not do “trial by legislation”.

Link to article on it over at Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/22/grayson-grills-broun-constitution/

Link to full transcript over at Daily Kos

Senator Bill Nelson Opposes “Opt Out” Plan but Supports Republican “Trigger”

Check out who came out to speak about health care insurance reform? Senator Nelson avoided town hall meetings during the recent recess to discuss the matter with his constituents. The last time I heard from Nelson was an morning email news release supporting the Baucus version of the bill and by the afternoon the press was reporting how the majority of the democratic members of congress were strongly criticizing the bill. How embarrassing that was for Nelson? He finally gets the courage to make a public statement about his position on health care insurance reform and he gets his ass handed to him by his own party and the press. Now look at what angle he is taking. He opposes the “opt-out” plan but supports a “trigger” plan offered by a Republican Senator,  Olympia Snowe? Once again he finds a way to look like he is splitting the difference but all he is doing here is taking a weak position on  the issue to appease the health care insurance industry and once again NOT represent his constituents that voted him in to office to represent them and their interests!!!! The “trigger’ option only “kicks the can down the road” and delays the needed reform to later and allows the for-profit health insurance industry more time to rape people of their money. Maybe Mr. Nelson should leave congress and become a lobbyist for the health insurance industry and let some one take his seat in the US Senate that will represent the people of Florida.

Check out the whole story by David Dayen on FireDogLake

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/12/bill-nelson-says-no-to-the-public-option-opt-out/

Video clip is from FireDogLake
http://www.youtube.com/user/firedoglake

Rachel Maddow on Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize

I know  this is a bit old (i.e. – last Friday) but I thought it has a good historical perspective on Nobel Peace Prize