Schakowsky: Want to cut the deficit? Get with our new public option:

The Raw Story, July 25, 2010, by Sahil Kapur:

LAS VEGAS – Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said Saturday that serious deficit hawks ought to get behind a new “robust” public option bill that she and more than a hundred other members introduced days ago.

In an interview with Raw Story at the Netroots Nation conference, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) predicted that a new “focus on deficit reduction” and rising public distrust of the insurance industry would generate stronger support for it among members of Congress.

“We’ve seen the cost [savings], and we’ve seen the behavior of the insurance companies,” she said. “I think that really puts a new atmosphere on the prospects for a new public option.”

Unveiled last Thursday by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Schakowsky, and more than 120 co-sponsors, the measure would give consumers a choice between private and public health insurance plans in the new law’s exchanges. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that it would cut the deficit by $68 billion between 2014 an 2020.

See Grijalva: Deficit hawks against public option are ‘hypocrites,’ ‘phonies’, The Raw Story, July 25, 2010, by Sahil Kapur, excerpt quoted verbatim:

LAS VEGAS – Progressive caucus co-chair Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) on Saturday issued an ultimatum to opponents of a public option who invoke deficit concerns: get behind this program, or you’re hypocrites.

In an exclusive interview with Raw Story at Netroots Nation, a large conference for progressive activists and media, Grijalva lamented how “one of the most important mechanisms [to cut the deficit] was left out of the [health reform] bill.”

Fear of Freedom, N.Y. Times Editorial, July 25, 2010, by N.Y. Times:

The Obama administration should not deliver Guantánamo prisoners to governments that have a record of torture and lawlessness, like Algeria.

“Rubicon”: Eerie portrait of “Top Secret America”, Salon, July 24, 2010, by Heather Havrilesky: AMC’s stylish drama about a powerful intelligence contractor isn’t pure fantasy, according to the Washington Post.

Please Give: Help Charities Working in the Gulf, American Express and Takepart.

How Charlie Rangel Can Survive, Salon, July 23, 2010, by Steve Kornacki.

We’re Not Winning. It’s Not Worth It, Newsweek, July 18, 2010, by Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, excerpt quoted verbatim:

GOP chairman Michael Steele was blasted by fellow Republicans recently for describing Afghanistan as “a war of Obama’s choosing,” and suggesting that the United States would fail there as had many other outside powers. Some critics berated Steele for his pessimism, others for getting his facts wrong, given that President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan soon after 9/11. But Steele’s critics are the ones who are wrong: the RNC chair was more correct than not on the substance of his statement, if not the politics.

The war being waged by the United States in Afghanistan today is fundamentally different and more ambitious than anything carried out by the Bush administration. Afghanistan is very much Barack Obama’s war of choice, a point that the president underscored recently by picking Gen. David Petraeus to lead an intensified counterinsurgency effort there. After nearly nine years of war, however, continued or increased U.S. involvement in Afghanistan isn’t likely to yield lasting improvements that would be commensurate in any way with the investment of American blood and treasure. It is time to scale down our ambitions there and both reduce and redirect what we do.

Thrown to the Wolves, The New York Times, Editorial, July 23, 2010, by Bob Herbert, excerpt quoted verbatim:

The Shirley Sherrod story tells us so much about ourselves, and none of it is pretty. The most obvious and shameful fact is that the Obama administration, which runs from race issues the way thoroughbreds bolt from the starting gate, did not offer this woman anything resembling fair or respectful treatment before firing and publicly humiliating her.

Moving with the swiftness of fanatics on a hanging jury, big shots in the administration and Bill O’Reilly of Fox News came to exactly the same conclusion: Shirley Sherrod had to go — immediately! No time for facts. No time for justice.

Comment: I have see other editorials to the effect that, given that Ms. Sherrod ultimately got some kind of justice in the affair and was reinstated to a position in the Agriculture Dept., that overall the whole drama represents a victory in the battle for fair race relation. Admittedly the initial response was, as Herbert suggests, all wrong. ~ Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans.

Watch CNN Anchors Call For Crackdown on Bloggers, CNN YouTube video — 5:51 All about anonymous bloggers and the case of Shirley Sherrod’s smear.

Addicted to Bush, The New York Times, Editorial, July 22, 2010, by Paul Krugman, excerpt quoted verbatim:

For a couple of years, it was the love that dared not speak his name. In 2008, Republican candidates hardly ever mentioned the president still sitting in the White House. After the election, the G.O.P. did its best to shout down all talk about how we got into the mess we’re in, insisting that we needed to look forward, not back. And many in the news media played along, acting as if it was somehow uncouth for Democrats even to mention the Bush era and its legacy.

The truth, however, is that the only problem Republicans ever had with George W. Bush was his low approval rating. They always loved his policies and his governing style — and they want them back. In recent weeks, G.O.P. leaders have come out for a complete return to the Bush agenda, including tax breaks for the rich and financial deregulation. They’ve even resurrected the plan to cut future Social Security benefits.

Also see the latest Krugman column: Chocolate and Copper, The New York Times, July 25, 2010, by Paul Krugman.

We’re Counting on YOU! Please share Evans Liberal Politics with friends! While we enjoy a certain level of popularity on the web, in order for us to keep bringing you the latest in liberal news and politics, we really need you to SHARE Evans Liberal Politics with your friends and contacts. Please help us out — we bring you the latest in liberal and progressive news and politics just to share the truth and promote liberalism. Can you help us today?

Shameful: Pentagon workers tied to child porn, Boston.com, July 23, 2010, by Brian Bender, with video, excerpt quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators have identified several dozen Pentagon officials and contractors with high-level security clearances who allegedly purchased and downloaded child pornography, including an undisclosed number who used their government computers to obtain the illegal material, according to investigative reports.

The investigations have included employees of the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — which deal with some of the most sensitive work in intelligence and defense — among other organizations within the Defense Department.

Also see First year stands out for Sotomayor on Supreme Court, Boston.com, July 25, 2010, by Robert Barnes, excerpt quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON — Several partygoers were on their way into the Supreme Court one Saturday evening in May to toast retiring Justice John Paul Stevens when they ran into Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She was not heading to the festivities, but coming from her chambers, where she had put in a weekend shift.

She looked neither tired nor overwhelmed by her new responsibilities, one of the partygoers noticed. “She was beaming.’’

In some ways, Sotomayor’s just-finished first term on the court was like those of many who have come before her: She worked constantly, turned down interview requests and most speaking engagements, wrote unglamorous and largely noncontroversial opinions, and was ideologically true to the president who appointed her. She voted with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg more than any other colleague on the court.

In the news: Three Spaniards file charges over Israel flotilla raid, BBC News, July 23, 2010, by BBC, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Two Spanish activists and a journalist arrested in a raid by Israel on a Gaza-bound flotilla are filing charges against Israel’s prime minister.

The three accuse Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, six cabinet ministers and the navy commander of illegal detention, torture and deportation.

The UN has meanwhile named a team of experts to investigate the raid.

Listen to the Latest: World News Update from AlJazeera English. All the latest news from around the world.

*****

To make a Word or .pdf document of an article, or share or email it, simply load the individual article by clicking the dark blue title at the very top, or use the icons beneath the article.

We’re Counting on You!
Tell Your Friends About Evans Liberal Politics!

Listen to 150 Rock and Pop Hits!

#1 Rated by Google