Just got this update via Twitter from Matt Yglesias:

Horrible. RT @brianbeutler Kucinich confirms he’s willing to be the deciding vote “against” #hcr http://tpm.ly/….

Really? Really, Dennis Kucinich?

You’re willing to be the deciding vote against healthcare reform?

Come on, people. Enough’s enough.

As NPR reported this morning, we’ve almost forgotten what’s in the Senate bill because of focus on the politics.

Since the Senate passed its version of a health overhaul on Christmas Eve, most of the debate has focused on the politics of the effort. By now, many people have forgotten — if they ever knew — what the bill would actually do.

So here’s a short refresher.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Senate-passed bill would expand coverage to roughly 30 million of the 46 million people in the U.S. who lack health insurance. Most of the remaining uninsured would be undocumented immigrants, who would be ineligible for benefits under the bill.

As President Obama said on September 9, 2009,

We know we must reform this system. The question is how.

There are those on the left who believe that the only way to fix the system is through a single-payer system like Canada’s, where we would severely restrict the private insurance market and have the government provide coverage for everyone. On the right, there are those who argue that we should end the employer-based system and leave individuals to buy health insurance on their own.

I have to say that there are arguments to be made for both approaches. But either one would represent a radical shift that would disrupt the health care most people currently have. Since health care represents one-sixth of our economy, I believe it makes more sense to build on what works and fix what doesn’t, rather than try to build an entirely new system from scratch. And that is precisely what those of you in Congress have tried to do over the past several months.

Now, look, Dennis Kucinich. I am a single payer advocate. I fought for it. I think we need to fundamentally change our system so that it puts patients ahead of profits. I do not believe that any value is added to our healthcare system by having insurance companies that exist to make a profit.

However, I’m also a pragmatist and I recognize that each day we wait, the system gets worse.

And so, I am willing to support an incremental approach if it means that 31 million more Americans get health insurance. I’m willing to support an approach that will cut $500 billion of wasteful spending from our Medicare system. I’m willing to do what it takes to make sure that competition works for consumers, not corporations.

The time for games is over. If you vote against health care reform, I will support your opponent.

Another Late Update 9:58 AM CST: I’m a family systems therapist by training and experience. One of the things we all need to learn is this: The people who have the least to lose have the most power in any negotiations process. I think that explains Kucinich, Stupak, Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman, and the entire GOP. Taking the default “I’m willing to kill the bill” position gives power to the minority, who can hold the other negotiators hostage by their willingness to walk away from the table. All of us need to keep this in mind as we advocate for change, and when we go to the ballot box. Don’t elect terrorists like Rand Paul, Jim Bunning, and Jim Demint. It’s not just about their stand on the policy issues. It’s about the willingness they have to sabotage the entire political process.

(Comment by Paul Evans: The power trip might explain Stupak, Lieberman and Nelson, but it’s fairly obvious that Kucinich is, although wrongheaded, opposing the health care bill for the right reasons. Poor reasoning, but the right reasons. See below.)

See Obama Health Care Push: Back To His Grasssroots, The Huffington Post, March 8, 2010, by Julie Pace and David Espo, excerpt quoted verbatim:

GLENSIDE, Pa. — Stirring memories of his campaign for the White House, President Barack Obama made a spirited, shirt-sleeved appeal for passage of long-stalled health care changes Monday as Democratic congressional leaders worked behind the scenes on legislation they hope can quickly gain passage.

“Let’s seize reform. It’s within our grasp,” the president implored his audience at Arcadia University, the first outside-the-Beltway appearance since he vowed last week to do everything in his power to push his health care plan into law.

The president’s pitch was part denunciation of insurance companies – “they continue to ration care on the basis of who’s sick and who’s healthy,” he said – and part criticism of his Republican critics. “You had 10 years. What happened? What were you doing?” he taunted members of a party that held the White House for eight years and control of Congress for a dozen.

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Little Known Fact #3 — Don’t people realize exactly what IS in the health care reform bill??? For example, it pushes back the date at which Medicare becomes insolvent TEN YEARS if it passes?? Little stuff like that? Then, too, you might consider 2010, Senator Kucinich. If you want the Democratic Party dead in the elections, then just go ahead and block the health care bill.

Government attempts to keep torture case secret –Holding case taken by former Guantánamo detainees behind closed doors would set ‘very dangerous precedent’, says lawyer 08 Mar 2010 The government will attempt today to have a case about torture heard entirely behind closed doors in a move that some lawyers say would extend secrecy to a new area of hearings, overriding ancient principles of English law.

This morning a case will come before three appeal judges in London in which seven men are seeking damages against the government for mistreatment during what they say was their “extraordinary rendition” and torture facilitated by the British security services.

Alleged torture victims facing ’secret and one-sided justice’ –Legal experts have warned the judgment threatens British principles of justice and have branded it a ‘constitutional outrage’. 08 Mar 2010 British intelligence services must be stopped from using secret evidence against former Guantanamo Bay detainees, the Appeal Court heard today. Alleged torture victims seeking to sue the Government over Britain’s complicity in their unlawful imprisonment are facing ’secret and one-sided’ justice, their lawyer claimed. Six former detainees are hoping to win damages from the Government over allegations that Britain knew about their ill-treatment. Their lawyers have begun a challenge at the Court of Appeal against a ruling which would allow the security services and the Government to withhold evidence from the men during the civil case.

Commentary by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: They said Obama was “soft on terrorism”: exCuse me, is anybody listening here? Do you think they might be trying for a conviction, here??? Republicans, are you really that stupid, or are you just lying about how tough Obama in fact IS on terrorism and trying desperately to score some big political points. McCain tried that on Obama in the campaign, too. (The fact is, the United States has decided to do basically the same thing Great Britain is doing here: secret trials with military tribunals. Right, and the Patriot Act renewal, too. The surge in Afghanistan, do you think that might be evidence Obama is going to always do the right thing, even if the left doesn’t like it? Oh, I know you’re going to try to claim credit for that, the incredible force of your protests at the still possible trials in New York, the force of your incredible patriotism, I know.) You Could try actually reading the news…. Oh, you do that? Well then you are a bunch of lying demagogues, who don’t really care about the facts of the matter at all. What’s Actually going on is that Obama is so tough on secrecy, the Patriot Act renewal, terrorism, the surge in Afghanistan, etc., that he has managed to alienate the whole left wing of the Democratic Party, isn’t that the case? Go away Republicans, you are annoying Obama and nobody’s impressed. Seriously, grow up!

UPDATE: See Experts Urge Keeping Two Options for Terror Trials, The New York Times, March 8, 2010, by Charlie Savage and Scott Shane.

(Reuters) – Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said on Sunday that relations with the United States had been “seriously disrupted,” after a rise in friction between the two big powers.

“The responsibility does not lie with China,” said Yang, speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the annual session of China’s parliament.

Beijing and Washington have recently gone through a rough patch, with quarrels in January and February over Chinese Internet censorship, trade disputes, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, and President Barack Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.

The United States “must respect China’s core interests” on Taiwan and Tibet, Yang added. “I believe the United States understands very well China’s core interests and major concerns.

“China has always attached importance to its relationship with the United States,” he said. “Resolutely adhering to one’s principled stance is not the same thing as being hardline.”

But the two big trade partners appear to want to lower the temperature of the disputes as they also grapple with how to deal with how to deal with Iran and North Korea.

Beijing has not yet acted on its threat to sanction U.S. companies involved in the arms sales to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as part of its territory.

Last weekend, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he wanted trade friction with the United States to ease.

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Ever since Newsweek came out with the magazine cover article announcing the 21st century as belonging to China, I’m sure the U.S. has been keeping a wary eye on their erstwhile rival. Let’s hope we can make the 21st century a partnership, as it should be with a nation so rich in population, culture and economic strength. Perhaps we had better take their wishes a little more into consideration, logically.

Visit Reuters, for the latest and best in breaking news.

See Obama to nominate retired Army general for TSA: source, Reuters, March 7, 2010, by Reporting by Chris Buckley; (Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Bill Tarrant):

BAGHDAD — Defying a sustained barrage of mortars and rockets in Baghdad and other cities, Iraqis went to the polls in strength on Sunday to choose a new Parliament meant to outlast the American military presence here.

“Iraqis are not afraid of bombs anymore,” said Maliq Bedawi, 45, defiantly waving his finger, stained with purple ink, to indicate he had voted, as he stood near the rubble of an apartment building in Baghdad hit by a huge rocket in the deadliest attack of the day.

Insurgents here vowed to disrupt the election, and the concerted wave of attacks — as many as 100 thunderous blasts in the capital alone starting just before the polls opened — did frighten voters away, but only initially.

The shrugging response of voters could signal a fundamental weakening of the insurgency’s potency. At least 38 people were killed in Baghdad. But by day’s end, turnout was higher than expected, and certainly higher than in the last parliamentary election in 2005, marred by a similar level of violence.

Official results are not expected for at least a few days.

Sunnis who largely boycotted previous elections voted in force, and an intense competition for Shiite votes drove up participation in Baghdad and the south, election observers said.

After seven years of a war whose rationale is deeply disputed in the United States, the Obama administration viewed the vote as a test of Iraq’s stability, a last milestone before the final withdrawal of American troops.

Read the full story, here.

Iraq Election, a New Beginning

*****

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