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These Fox News Clips Show It For What It Isn’t: News

by on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 12:58 am EDT in Politics

Watch these clips of Fox News programming (beginning from Obama’s inauguration), and then tell us with a straight face that Fox News is a real news network:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDR47EKTrCQ[/youtube]

It can’t be done.

Pelosi To Fellow Democrats: “Come Out Of Hiding On The Public Option!”

by on Friday, October 23, 2009 at 3:17 pm EDT in Healthcare, Politics

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry ReidThis is the kind of leadership those on the Left have been craving for.  According to Huffington Post Nancy Pelosi called together a closed door meeting at the Democratic caucus, and she is pressuring the Representatives to ‘stand up and be counted’ on a robust public option:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ramped up the pressure on wavering Democrats Friday morning, calling on them to state in front of their colleagues where they stand on a “robust” public health insurance option.

Robust has become a code word on the Hill that means a public option tied to Medicare rates; it is the preferred policy of progressives.

At a closed door meeting of the Democratic caucus, Pelosi ordered the party roll to be called. Reporters outside the room could hear names being called out loudly.

The question they faced, according to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.): If the health care bill has a robust public option, will you vote for it on the House floor?

I’m in awe!  Why hasn’t Sen. Harry Reid displayed this kind of leadership over in the Senate?!

The ONLY WAY the Republicans in the Senate can squash health care reform is by getting ONE Democrat to join them in stopping an up or down vote.  The Republicans can’t do it alone — they need ONE DEMOCRAT to become the ‘Benedict Arnold’ of health care reform — and Harry Reid seems more interested in providing this or that Democrat cover, than exposing them to the American public for what they are.

I’ve had my differences with some of Speaker Pelosi’s past positions (i.e. providing cover for Bush Administration illegalities), but I have earned a great deal of respect for her, as of late.  By the way, it’s worth noting that when Pelosi called the closed door meeting, several Democratic Congressional members literally fled the room, terrified of exposure:

Some members left the meeting in an apparent attempt to avoid the roll call. Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kansas), a key swing vote, left before the roll was called and told Huffington Post he has yet to be surveyed. Asked if he’d back the robust public option, he demurred. “I’m gonna wait and see,” he said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), exiting the meeting, told reporters that the survey would continue throughout the day.

Democrats should start taking note of these Senators and Congressmen who evade their responsibilities to the American people.  They are desperate to keep their true intentions on health care reform from being made public.  We need to target each and every one of them during the next elections.  It’s time the American people focused on rewarding ONLY the ones who put OUR interests first, and punishing the ones who legislate counter to our best interests — regardless of their party.  A Democrat or Independent (i.e. Joe Lieberman) who legislates like a Republican, should be targeted like a Republican.

MoveOn.org is now gathering votes from its members on the following question:  “Should MoveOn refuse to support the re-election of any senator who helps block an up-or-down vote on a health care reform bill with a public option?” PLEASE, Go here and vote ‘YES’ to MoveOn’s question.  Trust me, this will give these ‘wavering’ Senators something significant to consider as they position themselves on probably the most important issue now facing our country.

UPDATE:

Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake has just revealed from sources at Huffington Post that Harry Reid is busy at work pulling a fast one over on the American people:

“[Reid] is just one or two Senate votes shy of having a filibuster-proof majority in favor of a public option for health insurance coverage with a provision allowing states to opt-out.”

“One or two votes shy?” That means Reid is allowing members of the Democratic caucus to threaten a filibuster behind closed doors, which dictates what will be in the bill he brings to the floor, but he won’t tell the public. It’s the “silent filibuster” that I guess you don’t need to know about, because you’re not a member of the exclusive club who decides whether you get affordable health care while Wellpoint gets a bailout.

Reid is essentially taking the very opposite approach of what Nancy Pelosi just did, today.  While Pelosi is forcing Dems in Congress to go on the public record — thereby exposing their positions in favor of, or against, the public option, Reid is providing cover for the Blue Dog Health Insurance pawns in the Senate — allowing them to destroy real health care reform behind closed doors.

It appears MoveOn needs to add Harry Reid to that running list …

UPDATE II:

Here’s a new video by Who Runs Gov that lists the different Blue Dog Democrats, some of whom will likely be standing with the Republicans and voting to deny Americans real health care reform :

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vcyb3IKOqg[/youtube]


Watch: Paul Weller Covers Sister Sledge’s “Thinking of You”

by on Friday, October 23, 2009 at 1:37 pm EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

Probably no artist has left as big a mark on my adolescent years as Paul Weller.  From huge Jam fan / Style Council fan — to playing in bands heavily influenced by his writing.  There’s probably millions of those who share similar stories as mine across the Atlantic, but over here in America, I’d guess there’s maybe a baker’s dozen of us — tops.

He didn’t seem to feel compelled to make the effort over here.  Very few tours — and as a result he was generally relegated to alternative radio stations and his vinyl got stocked mostly just in the big urban areas.

As a college student studying abroad, I was fortunate enough to see him perform twice in London as The Paul Weller Movement (this was the period in 1991 after the Style Council split, when he’d released the ‘Into Tomorrow’ EP on his own indie label — Freedom High Records).  Fabulous shows: one in a small venue off of Portobello Road (Morrissey was rumored in the tabloids that week to have been in the audience, but I didn’t see him — and seriously — who’s going to miss seeing Morrissey wallowing around  🙂 ), and at Brixton Academy — a show which I believe is or was available on DVD in the UK.

I saw him play again when I was living in New York City — probably in 1992 or 1993.  Any fond memories of your own seeing Paul Weller live in one of his various incarnations?  Please share …

Anyways, here’s an amazing cover of a Nile Rodgers song (Sister Sledge/Chic) that Paul did on his 2004 album Studio 150.  The single is entitled, “Thinking of You”.  If you have a pulse, you will love this. 

ENJOY!:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHjCWVEd7C4[/youtube]

 

If you’d like to download “Thinking of You,” you can find the single here: Paul Weller - Hit Parade Box Set (4 Volume Set) - Thinking of You

Note: It appears Paul didn’t bother to make his excellent Studio 150 — an album of covers — available for download on iTunes.  Paul, Paul, Paul … technology has finally made it easy for you to get your music to Americans — unlike in the old vinyl days when I’d have to make pilgrimages to find your stuff.  Get with the program already … 

U.S. Efforts To Undermine Goldstone Report Diminishes Its Own Standing In World

by on Friday, October 23, 2009 at 10:51 am EDT in Middle East, Politics, World

Richard Goldstone, a Jewish South African and a champion for human rights, gave a speech in 2000 at Jerusalem’s Yakar in Israel where he revealed that his motivations for bringing war criminals to justice stemmed from the lessons he’d learned of the Holocaust: Goldstone said the Holocaust has shaped legal protocol on war, adding that […]

Great Dance Track – “Don’t Take it Personal” by Wahoo

by on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 6:08 pm EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

There’s a lot of great music falling by the wayside these days.  Here’s a cool dance track that — okay, I’m gonna venture out onto this limb, here — is virtually unknown in America.  Apparently, it’s gotten a bit of play in dance clubs around Europe.  Gilles Peterson — master Brit DJ / music purveyor […]

Nancy Pelosi: The Lone Democratic Leader Fighting For Health Care Reform

by on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 2:08 pm EDT in Healthcare, Politics

New estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showed a healthcare overhaul drafted by Democrats would reduce the U.S. budget deficit over 10 years and cost less than $900 billion.  Reuters reports that: [Pelosi] asked CBO to provide estimates on three versions of the [public] option — one based on reimbursement rates paid to healthcare […]

Watch: Fox ‘News’ People Push The Same Lies As Fox Commentators

by on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 6:09 pm EDT in Politics

The Fox News Channel’s core line of defense against White House assertions that they are not a ‘news’ organization, but propagandists, can be summed up by Bill O’Reilly’s Oct. 13 — O’Reilly Factor ‘Talking Points’: First of all, there is no question that Fox News is tougher on the Obama administration than the other TV […]

Watch: Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros “Tony Adams”

by on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 10:56 am EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

In the name of disclosure, I’ll just say that The Clash are one of my all-time favorite bands. I sense that quite a few out there have shied away from Joe Strummer’s post-Clash efforts.  For those of you who loved The Clash, but haven’t yet delved into this part of Strummer’s career, a word to […]

White House Repeats Message: Fox News Is ‘Propaganda Masquerading as News’

by on Monday, October 19, 2009 at 8:40 am EDT in Politics

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the serious threat a well-funded and popular propaganda organization — masquerading as a ‘news’ channel — posed to our country’s democracy.   Well, it appears the White House is now on the same page: Last week White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told Time Magazine: “[Fox News] […]

David Byrne and Brian Eno “Strange Overtones” Live in Paris

by on Monday, October 19, 2009 at 12:11 am EDT in Arts & Entertainment, Music

Here’s a song for fellow Roxy Music and Talking Heads fans.  Over a year ago, when I first learned Byrne and Eno were releasing an album together, I googled their site, Everything That Happens.   I was both shocked and delighted to learn they were giving away the album’s first single, “Strange Overtones,” as a […]