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Sharyn's blog


Granny D Responds to Supreme Court sticky icon

 

January 21, 2010 statement from Doris “Granny D” Haddock in response to the Supreme Court’s decision today to overturn campaign finance limits:

           Ten years ago, I walked from California to Washington, D.C. to help gather support for campaign finance reform. I used the novelty of my age (I was 90), to garner attention to the fact that our democracy, for which so many people have given their lives, is being subverted to the needs of wealthy interests, and that we must do something about it. I talked to thousands of people and gave hundreds of speeches and interviews, and, in every section of the nation, I was deeply moved by how heartsick Americans are by the current state of our politics.

            Well, we got some reform bills passed, but things seem worse now than ever. Our good government reform groups are trying to staunch the flow of special-interest money into our political campaigns, but they are mostly whistling in a wind that has become a gale force of corrupting cash. Conditions are so bad that people now assume that nothing useful can pass Congress due to the vote-buying power of powerful financial interests. The health care reform debacle is but the most recent example.

Short Multiple Choice sticky icon

 

Who made these statements today?

"Instead of back room deals, we're talking about transparency."

"I just went to the gym, I had a nice workout."

 

A)  Hillary Clinton

B)  Martha Coakley

C)  Barack Obama

D)  Scott Brown

 

find correct answer in following link:

  http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/22273287/detail.html 




 

Open Thread: Hillary Effect sticky icon

 

cited for increase in female ambassadors to and from U.S. (from Washington Post):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/10/AR2010011002731.html?hpid=topnews
 

quick quote:  

"More than half of new recruits for the U.S. Foreign Service and 30 percent of the chiefs of mission are now women, according to the State Department. That is a seismic shift............"

 

 

"Who are these people?" sticky icon

 

I just finished reading Battle for America 2008 by Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson.  (anyone else read this yet?)   The authors briefly touch upon The Obama's campaign questionable caucus strategies and the campaign's pressure/influence on the DNC vis a vis primary voting rules.

On Iowa Caucus:  "Tom and Christie Vilsack were arriving at the Ward One precinct caucus in Van Allen Elementary School in Mt. Pleasant.  'Who are these people?' Vilsack thought, 'I've never seen these people before.'  The population of Mt. Pleasant is about 9,000.  Vilsack's wife is a native and Vilsack himself has lived there most of his adult life.  For him to walk into a caucus and not recognize scores of people was unnerving."

Illegal Arms Trade sticky icon

The civilized world is attempting to address the huge problem of the illegal weapons market (with strong support from Sec. of State Hillary Clinton).    The Guardian reported a couple weeks ago:

One of the great tragedies of our times is the uncontrolled spread of weapons, often from illegal markets, sometimes in violation of international embargoes. Up to a thousand people a day – mostly women and children – are killed by such arms, most of them in the world's poorest countries. ...

One crucial step will be to negotiate a worldwide arms trade treaty. Britain and France have been working closely since 2006 to promote the idea of such a treaty in the United Nations, which would join up the current patchwork of national and regional systems for regulating arms exports. It is the gaps in these systems and their lack of consistency and coherence that have allowed illegal arms markets to spring up.

A Woman Among Warlords: sticky icon

Afghanistan’s Bravest Woman Speaks Out:    

Open Thread: Diversion? sticky icon

 

With all that's going on now:  Fort Hood, Unemployment, Health Care Reform, and Wall Street Shennanigans, take a look at Huff Post's front page headline.

They're playing the freaking race card again! -- putting Glen Beck's comments from last July front and center (because a right-wing guy recently said he agreed with Beck).  Aren't there more important things worthy of headline status? Honestly.  (and I thought I'd seen some improvement at Huff recently -- maybe they figured they took a couple steps forward, so they're due for a step back?)

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ 

Pelosi Update sticky icon

 

and the Speaker likely validated vis a vis CIA lies:

The CIA may have misled Congress at least five times since 2001, two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday.

“There have been…examples where the committee actually has been lied to."

… “We’re in the process of reviewing several instances where the executive branch may have violated the [notification] requirements that are in the National Security Act.”

One of the instances being closely examined by the two Democrats is the September 2002 briefing on enhanced interrogation techniques that became the basis for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) claim that the CIA lied to her. Findings on this point could bolster Pelosi’s case.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/65027-pelosi-claim-that-cia-lied-validated-by-intel-panel 
 

 

Quick Post: Chicago Showdown sticky icon

Check out these photos.

I especially like "Bankers get rich; We lose our pension." and "Jail 'em; Don't bail 'em"   These big showdowns seem to go down in Chicago!  Remember that one back in the 60s (Dem Party Convention)?

 

"The American Bankers Association's annual convention in Chicago has become the scene for a series of major protests, which are set to continue through Tuesday."
 
 

Home Health Care on the Block sticky icon

-- the cutting block, that is.

Here in New Hampshire the counties are being hit pretty hard by the so-called stimulus package.  Not only are the cooperative extension offices in danger of closing due to lack of funding ( http://www.lancasterfarming.com/node/1779 ), but home health care services are also up on the block.  I asked my Cheshire County Administrator what's going on with the HHC programs now at risk of being shut down, and then asked "What about the new stimlus money on its way soon?"  He replied that HHC is funded in no small part through Medicare programs, and the stimulus bill actually is significantly cutting Medicare funding.

How is HHC doing in your state?

Obama, Geithner and Summers continue to bailout the Wall Street tycoons, but are cutting Medicare. So there you go.  (That portion of the bailout allocated to the tycoons would have been more appropriately directed to replace the retirement money all those people lost because of the tycoons' incompetence and, more precisely, greed.) 

But I'm digressing now from Home Health Care.  So that's all I have to say for now.

 

 

Globalization of Tax Evasion sticky icon

The whole story linked below is probably more than you want to get into, but after hearing the House of Commons on cspan last night piling on the Prime Minister for appointing some guy linked with tax evasion to a bank-oversight position, I googled to learn more.  Here's an excerpt.  It seems Moreno was appointed before the tax evasion thing was known, so maybe the PM shouldn't be blamed (except for poor vetting?).  The plus is Moreno is leaving his job -- being forced out for a link to a trust accused of tax evasion.  If only our Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner, would follow suit.   Why should he be the only one in the "civilized" world it seems to keep his position?   All other evaders, or evaders with links thereof, have to go.

New Hampshire Women Make Herstory sticky icon

 

House Joint Resolution 3:

This house joint resolution recognizes the historic milestone represented by the New Hampshire senate being the first legislative body in the United States with women as the majority of its members:

http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2009/HJR0003.html 

p.s. and don't forget it was New Hampshire who gave Hillary Clinton her historic primary win:  the first woman to win a major presidential primary in U.S. history.  New Hampshire voters rock!

 

National Call-in Day for Real Health Care Reform sticky icon

Today, Thursday, 02/12/2009, is a National Call-in Day to express support for National Health Insurance legislation (HR 676).    Take a minute to call Congress and the President. 

On my own homefront, the state of New Hampshire is pushing the U.S. Congress and the president to nationalize health care.   See below for a copy of the state resolution (HCR 2) recently sent on to D.C. 

Here are the numbers for you to call today (be sure to specify HR 676 in your message):

Congressional switchboard: 202-225-3121

President's office:    

  Comments: 202-456-1111
  Switchboard: 202-456-1414

  email:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ 
...........................................................

Bits and Pieces sticky icon

on Obama, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Howard Dean: