Mooncat over at Leftinalabama has put together a good synopsis of McCain's 'non-solutions' to providing equitable and adequate health care for all Americans. Y'all go check it out.
In an exclusive to PB readers, I reveal McCain's current plan ^o^ here and now, with a h/t to Liz:
A young man joined the National Guard because he couldn't get a job with a good healthcare plan for him and his wife. He ended up having to serve 15 months in Iraq.
CNN has a story today titled "Clinton, Obama Take on Big Oil" It's good to see the kids playing nicely for a change. Like their playground counterparts, they have reached an accord by finding a common enemy.
So, who's the enemy? Big Oil, and its tax subsidies. (drumroll, please). The rising gas prices we are experiencing in this county are fueling what many say is a recession-to-be, and what others say is a 'recession-that-is, only-nobody-acknowledges-it. The writing is on the wall, anyway, for anyone to read. We don't want to read it, because we don't have a ready solution at hand. We don't even have a ten-year solution at hand.
Only Big Oil isn't really the enemy. That's right. That's what I said. Big Oil is just a corporate shark. It is what it is, and the real stupidity has come from the American People, via Congress, all these years. It's been a regular feeding frenzy as of late, with politicians feeding the sharks, and sharks feeding the politicians. Problem is, everybody else starves when this gets out of control.
So, when is a shark not a shark? So far, the answer has been, "When we pretend it isn't, and feed it a little". As anyone with a grain of sense can see, that's a collossally stupid answer. If that answer were viable, we wouldn't have people exploring the Great Barrier Reef in steel cages, now would we?
Congress is full of people who have to get reelected every few years, and they get elected by people who Don't Like Bad News. Short term, those tax subsidies have been good value for money. Almost all industrialized nations subsidize their energy prices in order to keep their economy stable. In other words, we take collective action to protect ourselves from a 'free' market at the national level. No one wants a national economy at the mercy of anything as volatile as a futures market. While Europeans pay almost ten dollars a gallon, we are crying out when it rises above three.
I think the Democrats have the right idea. Stop calling the shark a teddy bear! Let it be a shark. It's a necessary part of the food chain. The sane approach is to start letting other fish breed, like Green Energy fish. Start feeding them. Start using some of the petro dollars to fund something positive, for a change. We are technologically stuck in the late 19th century as we enter the 21st due to a fondness for short term, bandaid solutions to problems which will require our best minds to work overtime well into the rest of this century.
So far, the Republican solution to every problem is to feed the sharks some more. Collectively, America is now missing a leg as a result of following that philosophy. Let's turn this thing around while we've got one left.. Let's elect Democrats in 2008.
This is a detailed proposal for a workable, universal plan being backed by the AFL-CIO, and sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute.
Health care for AmericaA proposal for guaranteed, affordable health care for all Americans building on Medicare and employment-based insurance by Jacob S. Hacker
The latest AFL-CIO newsletter is pushing this agenda in the health care forum. It's actually very similar in concept to Romney's plan, which was implemented in Massachusetts a few years back with the blessings of Ted Kennedy. Under Romney's plan, people are required to produce 'proof of insurance' within a mandated time frame, or be subject to increasing tax penalties. The Mass. plan is capped at $200/ per month for individual coverage.
It's also very similar to Hillary's health care plan, which includes mandated coverage as well. Obama's plan follows the same line, but without forcing anyone to purchase the coverage.
Basically, the idea is to keep status quo for people who have good coverage, and to keep the Insurance Lobby happy and unopposed, while bringing in a lower-cost option for the currently uninsured. It hits everyone a little bit. Small businesses, who may not offer any coverage at all, will be forced to contribute about 6% payroll tax to the'America' plan. Large businesses, who currently get away without contributing anything as long as they classify an employee as 'part time', will also have to contribute based on a percentage of those employees' earnings. To my mind, that's a good move. The main reason people are now working two and three jobs is because of large corporate employers who decided that 2 people working 20 hours a week is much cheaper than one person working 40. A plan like this would 'disincentivize' that little ploy.
While it seems a good compromise in a lot of respects, I also find it a little scary, especially the 'mandated coverage' aspect and its enforcement proposals. Those in favor of a mandate say that we can't get the best rates without everyone doing their bit, and those against make the excellent point that the private premium would put such a plan out of reach for the very people it's designed to help.
To my mind, it's all part and parcel of the 'service economy'. The person (like a doctor, a nurse, or a chemist) who has actual knowledge, and a marketable skill, gets eaten alive by the eight middlemen who are basically making a living by marketing his skill, and adding on a profit for themselves. He slips lower and lower down the food chain, as the money boys reduce him to utter dependence on their 'system', which system the Federal Government is bravely tring to 'buck' by forcing the entire population to pay them ransom for health care...sigh..
It's like letting the pilot fish to steer the shark.
Still, it's a start.
With the headline: Photo of Bill Clinton and Rev. Wright Surfaces
There is now a blog devoted to Trinity Church of Christ, where this photo probably originated, and another of the Rev. Wright in the O.R. at Bethesda Naval Hospital during the surgery of President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Check it out. The Truth About Trinity.
On reading the various comments about the Rev. Wright's statements, it occurred to me that he wasn't saying anything vastly different from what a lot of us are saying: that is, America's arrogant treatment of certain other countries has led to a lot of hatred.
Many of us do not approve of the NeoCon dream of Global Empire, which is to be achieved by shoving the American Corporate Agenda forcibly down the throat of any nation or culture that might have the temerity to want to manage its own resources, form of government,and people. It's...well...it's unamerican ^o^
Now the Rev was obviously on a tear that particular Sunday, and couched his opinion in very strong terms. Many might say, "ill-advisedly strong". Cussing in the pulpit is not your standard Sunday fare.
But really, I think the remarks strike terror into people not because of their import, but because of the color of the man who uttered them. The fact that the Rev. is black causes people to read something MORE into his statements, which they subconsciously translate as,
"The black people are going to murder us all in our beds!" "The black people hate America!"
All this, because a black preacher read the riot act to a congregation regarding a Neocon agenda which many people here, black and white, have characterized as loathsome and undemocratic. Yes, he was undiplomatic in his choice of words. He told it like he saw it, and boy, was he pissed. ^o^ Be honest: if a white pastor said the same exact thing, would there be this big a stir? There would be a stir, no doubt, but would it really be the water cooler fare of the day?
Now I have one question to ask all of you churchgoers out there:
Can you honestly say that your Pastor, Priest, Rabbi, Mullah, Guru etc., actually dictates your day to day actions? You might think you'd be better off if they did, but seriously, do you do and think everything they tell you to, or do you take their thoughts on board, and go home to lunch?
just sayin'...
We are proud to present: The Bird Cage. A secure male chastity device made entirely from stainless steel. Note the welded construction. This unit is built to last.
Frequently Asked Questions QUESTION: Is it unnoticeable enough to wear continuously in an office environment? A:I don't think it is noticeable.QUESTION: Does the padlock cause a problem as far as sitting, like pinching, etc.? Does the lock look and feel sturdy and reliable enough to be used in this manner? A:The padlock is a standard small padlock. You can use any type of padlock you want, as long as the hasp is of the same diameter. Walmart carries a little "luggage" combination padlock with re-settable numbers, and we sometimes use this. But the one supplied is a good quality lock with a real key, not like the little fake locks riveted together you normally get from other suppliers. I have not had a problem with the lock pinching.
A polygraph (commonly referred to as a lie detector) is an instrument that measures and records several physiological responses such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions, on the basis that false answers will produce distinctive measurements. The polygraph measures physiological changes caused by the sympathetic nervous system during questioning. Within the Federal Government a polygraph examination is also referred to as a psychophysiological detection of deception (PDD) examination. Several other technologies are also used in the field of lie detection, but the polygraph is the most famous.--wiki
Disclaimer: all devices mentioned here are actual products. I did not invent them, I just Googled them ^0^
Spitzer and his antics have been the top story today, but the one with perhaps more far-reaching implications is that of Adm. 'Fox' Fallon's resignation. As Barnett's now-famous Esquire article leads with the statement, " If, in the dying light of the Bush administration, we go to war with Iran, it'll all come down to one man. If we do not go to war with Iran, it'll come down to the same man." it's easy to see why his resignation has provoked such consternation.
``Congress needs to determine immediately whether Admiral Fallon's resignation is another example of truth tellers being forced to the sidelines in the Bush administration,'' said Senator John Kerry, ``His departure must not clear the way for a rush to war with Iran.''
NPR and the AP are emphasizing the statement in which Adm. Fallon cited the article in Esquire magazine as the catalyst for his resignation. While not the only reason, 'the public perception of differences with the Administration' has seemingly led him to believe that his mission there was compromised. At least, that's the official Washington line at the moment.
AP:WASHINGTON March 12, 2008, 01:36 am ET · The Navy admiral in charge of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan announced Tuesday that he is resigning over press reports portraying him as opposed to President Bush's Iran policy.
...Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Pentagon news conference that he accepted Fallon's request to resign and retire from the Navy, agreeing that the Iran issue had become a distraction. But Gates said repeatedly that he believed talk of Fallon opposing Bush on Iran was mistaken.
The Esquire article seems to have been written with a crystal ball nearby. Several prophecies were made in the article, all of which were dead accurate. Why then should the article in question be presumed inaccurate? Here are a few quotes predictions it made:
...But still, well-placed observers now say that it will come as no surprise if Fallon is relieved of his command before his time is up next spring
[Fallon on Musharraf]
As for Washington's notion that Benazir Bhutto's return to the country would fix all that, Fallon is pessimistic. He slowly shakes his head. "Better forget that."
The author of the Esquire article is Thomas P.M. Barnett
From 1998 through 2004, Barnett was a Senior Strategic Researcher and Professor in the Warfare Analysis & Research Department, Center for Naval Warfare Studies, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.
At the Naval War College, Barnett served as Director of the New Rule Sets Project an effort designed to explore how the spread of globalization alters the basic "rules of the road" in the international security environment, with special reference to how these changes redefine the U.S. Military's historic role as "security enabler" of America's commercial network ties with the world.
On his personal weblog, Barnett has only this to say about the Admiral's resignation:
I don't have any comment on it.
I reported the story as I found it, because I thought it was crucial for readers to understand this officer and his thinking within the context of his incredibly important and high-profile position.
As readers of my blog know, I have expressed a lot of admiration for the admiral over the years. In my 18 years of working for and with military commands, I have met few with the same capacity for strategic vision. I wish him well on whatever he chooses to do next.
But lest we start thinking that Admiral Fallon is some sort of peacenik, let's remember another of his quotes about Iran when asked about the looming threat of nuclear proliferation, "These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them.".
There IS a Marlboro Man, after all: Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) of Montana. Montana Governor Urges REAL ID Rebellion In a letter (pdf) to the governors of 17 states, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer asked them to band together to reject the REAL ID national identification system. "Today, I am asking you to join with me in resisting the DHS coercion to comply with the provisions of REAL ID," Gov. Schweitzer wrote. "I would like us to speak with one, unified voice and demand the Congress step in and fix this mess." On January 11, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff released the agency's final regulations for REAL ID. The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from state governments, members of Congress, civil liberties advocates, and security experts (pdf). EPIC has called the scheme "a real danger to security and civil rights." See EPIC's National ID Cards and REAL ID Act page. (Jan. 21)
Here's the list of honor. I salute the following states: their governors, legislatures, and people. Uncle Sam would be proud of you.
Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington state.
hmmmm. I'm sure nobody here has ever been a little late paying the phone bill, but evidently the FBI has a problem. The phone companies have disconnected some of their wiretaps.
FBI Assistant Director Jim Miller has a good line. I think I'll use it next time I need to postpone a payment:
the FBI "will not tolerate financial mismanagement"
has a nice ring, don't you think? If the phone company calls me up, I'll shout "What!?!?!!? This is INTOLERABLE!. We will not tolerate financial mismanagement!
"It sounds as though the telecoms believe it when the FBI says the warrant is in the mail, but not when they say the check is in the mail," said German, a former FBI agent.
Perhaps this is one reason the FBI resorted to NSLs instead. Hey, there's no judicial oversight, you get all the info you need, and scare the poo out of anyone at will. A real bargain at 41 cents.
Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI, testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the FBI abused the National Security Letters.
Inspector General Glenn A. Fine reported a year ago that the FBI used such letters -- which are not subject to a court's review -- to improperly obtain telephone logs, banking records and other personal records of thousands of Americans from 2003 to 2005. An internal FBI audit also found that the bureau potentially violated laws or agency rules more than 1,000 times in such cases.
What's a Security Letter?
A National Security Letter (NSL) is a form of administrative subpoena used by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and reportedly by other U.S. Government Agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense. It is a demand letter issued to a particular entity or organization to turn over various record and data pertaining to individuals. They require no probable cause or judicial oversight. They also contain a gag order, preventing the recipient of the letter from disclosing that the letter was ever issued. --wiki
Why all the sudden publicity about NSL? Is it 'over'? I don't think so. Congress had a chance to do something, but they somehow missed that opportunity. The FBI wants to set up an office to internally police it. You gotta laugh. Everybody in Government wants to police themselves.
"Just trust us!", they say.
I say, " Forget it, Jack."
As the sign says, " In God We Trust -all others pay cash" (and get warrants).
Please support HR 5353, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act.
The bill is co-sponsored by Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet , and Chip Pickering (R-MS).
Section 12 Paragraph 1 sums it up pretty well:
`(1) to maintain the freedom to use for lawful purposes broadband telecommunications networks, including the Internet, without unreasonable interference from or discrimination by network operators, as has been the policy and history of the Internet and the basis of user expectations since its inception;
If you want to maintain free and open access to the internet, the time to act is now. Comcast is already using a technique perfected by the Red Chinese to slow down and drop applications it doesn't want to support on its network. China is famous for having the most severely repressive internet censorship in the world.
The results of our tests have agreed with AP's. Comcast is forging TCP RST packets which cause connections to drop (a technique also used by Internet censorship systems in China). These packets cause software at both ends to believe, mistakenly, that the software on the other side doesn't want to continue communicating.
...Much of it focused on cable operator Comcast's Internet filtering activities. Comcast has admitted that it delays certain kinds of traffic traveling across its networks. And multiple tests run separately by the Associated Press and the Electronic Frontier Foundation confirm that Comcast is using a traffic forging technique to delay the activities of certain kinds of applications running across its networks. The EFF has said that this kind of behavior is discriminatory because the technique only focuses on file-sharing applications...
Visit SaveTheInternet now to sign a petition supporting Net Neutrality and to contact your Congressman.
The Chinese now share in Project Echelon, a mass spying program conducted by the NSA, and now that they have AT&T fully onboard, the prospect of a Chinese-style censorship regime is completely realistic. Let's not forget Room 641-A ^o^
Room 641A is an alleged intercept facility operated by AT&T for the U.S. National Security Agency, beginning in 2003. Room 641A is located in the SBC Communications building at 611 Folsom Street, San Francisco, three floors of which were occupied by AT&T before SBC purchased AT&T and changed its name to AT&T. The room was referred to in internal AT&T documents as the SG3 [Study Group 3] Secure Room. It is fed by fiber optic lines from beam splitters installed in fiber optic trunks carrying Internet backbone traffic and, therefore, presumably has access to all Internet traffic that passes through the building.
--Wiki
Another major project is identified as P415. This enhancement is intended to allow NSA to track civilian communications well into the 21st century. This project involves the traditional members of UKUSA as well as Germany, Japan, and the People's Republic of China.
Please support HR 5353, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act.
The bill is co-sponsored by Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet , and Chip Pickering (R-MS).
Section 12 Paragraph 1 sums it up pretty well:
`(1) to maintain the freedom to use for lawful purposes broadband telecommunications networks, including the Internet, without unreasonable interference from or discrimination by network operators, as has been the policy and history of the Internet and the basis of user expectations since its inception;
If you want to maintain free and open access to the internet, the time to act is now. Comcast is already using a technique perfected by the Red Chinese to slow down and drop applications it doesn't want to support on its network. China is famous for having the most severely repressive internet censorship in the world.
The results of our tests have agreed with AP's. Comcast is forging TCP RST packets which cause connections to drop (a technique also used by Internet censorship systems in China). These packets cause software at both ends to believe, mistakenly, that the software on the other side doesn't want to continue communicating.
...Much of it focused on cable operator Comcast's Internet filtering activities. Comcast has admitted that it delays certain kinds of traffic traveling across its networks. And multiple tests run separately by the Associated Press and the Electronic Frontier Foundation confirm that Comcast is using a traffic forging technique to delay the activities of certain kinds of applications running across its networks. The EFF has said that this kind of behavior is discriminatory because the technique only focuses on file-sharing applications...
Visit SaveTheInternet now to sign a petition supporting Net Neutrality and to contact your Congressman.
The Chinese now share in Project Echelon, a mass spying program conducted by the NSA, and now that they have AT&T fully onboard, the prospect of a Chinese-style censorship regime is completely realistic. Let's not forget Room 641-A ^o^
Room 641A is an alleged intercept facility operated by AT&T for the U.S. National Security Agency, beginning in 2003. Room 641A is located in the SBC Communications building at 611 Folsom Street, San Francisco, three floors of which were occupied by AT&T before SBC purchased AT&T and changed its name to AT&T. The room was referred to in internal AT&T documents as the SG3 [Study Group 3] Secure Room. It is fed by fiber optic lines from beam splitters installed in fiber optic trunks carrying Internet backbone traffic and, therefore, presumably has access to all Internet traffic that passes through the building.
--Wiki
Another major project is identified as P415. This enhancement is intended to allow NSA to track civilian communications well into the 21st century. This project involves the traditional members of UKUSA as well as Germany, Japan, and the People's Republic of China.
CBS aired its long-awaited feature on the prosecution and imprisonment of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman this evening at 7:00. In a stunning move of censorship, the transmission was blocked across the northern third of Alabama by CBS affiliate WHNT, which is owned by interests of the Bass Family.
--Scott Horton, "CBS: More Prosecutorial Misconduct in Siegelman Case" Harper's
What's next? A Gulag in Mobile Bay?
Scott Horton, a lawyer-journalist who blogs for Harper's, has been covering not only the Siegelman affair, but the complicit Alabama Media, who have received heavy fire for their aggressively partisan coverage of this and any other politically-oriented story. The same company owns almost every major daily in the state - Birmingham News, Mobile Press-Register, Huntsville Times, and Montgomery Journal.
The dailies, incensed at the national exposure, are firing back at Horton now, to the extent that one Dan Curry, a staffer for the Mobile paper, has been given a leave of absence to write a BOOK about how unfair it is to have anyone suggest that allowing a US Attorney to plant stories in their paper is in any way a partisan act. I'll wait for the miniseries, myself. ^o^
If there IS a miniseries, it will undoubtedly have more luck being broadcast than 60 Minutes did. It's Alabama, after all.
Would you like to deliver your opinion to WHNT? Call 256-533-1919
Okay, the Natalie Portman line is hilarious.Photo: maxim.com
For some reason, Ann Coulter's comment that Jews should be "perfected" has really gotten the Internet going (as opposed to her comments that 9/11 widows are “self-obsessed” and "enjoying" their husbands' deaths, or that John Edwards is a "faggot," yadda yadda yadda). Coulter said the quote to Donny Deutsch (a Jew) on his show, The Big Idea, last week. But like you, the Internet sometimes comes up with its best responses several days after a slight is delivered...
from the Daily Intelligencer
This is a Patriot Act you can support for a change. Some very fine Senate Democrats, namely Barack Obama, Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Dick Durbin (D-IL), have sponsored this legislation, which 'incentivizes decency' for transnational American corporations. There is currently a version in both houses, and the House version ( H. R. 3319, The Patriot Corporations Act) has these interesting
REQUIREMENTS- A corporation meets the requirements of this subparagraph, with respect to any taxable year, if such corporation --
produces in the United States at least 90 percent of the goods and services sold by such corporation during such taxable year,
does not provide compensation to any management personnel of such corporation at a level of compensation which exceeds 10,000 percent of the level of compensation of the full-time employee of such corporation with the lowest level of compensation during such taxable year,
conducts at least 50 percent of the research and development conducted by such corporationduring such taxable year (determined on the basis of cost) in the United States,
has contributed at least 5 percent of wages paid by the corporation during the taxable year to a portable pension fund for the benefit of employees of the corporation ,
has paid at least 70 percent of the cost of a standardized health insurance plan for the benefit of employees of the corporation during such taxable year,
has maintained at all times during such taxable year neutrality in employee organizing drives and has in effect a policy to that effect,
provides full differential salary and insurance benefits for all National Guard and Reserve employees who are called to active duty,
has not been (at any time during such taxable year) in violation of appropriate Federal regulations including those related to the environment, workplace safety, labor relations, and consumer protections, as determined by the Secretary, and
has not been in violation of any other regulations specified by the Secretary.
The two bills are currently in committee, but I for one am hopeful of seeing some form of protection for American workers emerge for a vote once we have a Democrat in the White House.
House Sponsors:
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
, Phil Hare (D-IL), Betty Sutton (D-OH), Nancy Boyda (D-KS), Jerry Mcnerney (D-CA), Steven Kagan (D-WI), Keith Ellison (D-FL), Tim Ryan (D-OH), Dale Kildee (D-MI), Hilda Solis (D-CA), Michael Michaud (D-ME), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL), and Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
In its latest major invasion of our privacy on the behalf of corporate data-miners, the Administration has decided that tax preparers can sell or give your tax returns to anyone. No restrictions on use. No restrictions, period.
Be very careful indeed what you sign or initial this year, or you could well find all your personal details published on the internet (or worse), complete with SSN.
Think Progress has the story.
The new proposal allows the tax preparers –- from your local accountant to giants such as H&R Block –- to get your signature and then give or sell the full tax return to data brokers, to your boss, to anyone. And there are absolutely no restrictions about what recipients do with the returns. The rule lets recipients post the full return to the Internet if they want.
I found this to be one of the strongest and most persuasive arguments in favor of Obama that I've heard. As a casualty of the Kucinich campaign, I didn't have a lot of passion about either of the two candidates left standing, despite the fact that Dennis endorsed Obama. Frankly, I didn't see enough difference in their policies to get hugely excited.
This video definitely impacted my thinking, precisely because the speaker addresses that same perception in a novel way. I'm sharing it here in case there are others like me who lost their guy early on, and are still undecided. More grist for the mill, so to speak.
A hat tip to Redeye, one of our bloggers at LeftinAlabama.com for sharing it with me.
Globalization And Democracy: Some Basics By Michael Parenti 05/27/07 "ICH" ---
-- The goal of the transnational corporation is to become truly transnational, poised above the sovereign power of any particular nation, while being served by the sovereign powers of all nations. Cyril Siewert, chief financial officer of Colgate Palmolive Company, could have been speaking for all transnationals when he remarked, “The United States doesn’t have an automatic call on our [corporation’s] resources. There is no mindset that puts this country first.”[i]
Came across this article last night, and it was so well written I wanted to share it with our group here. Not long, and very much worth the time.
The FISA travesty, to my mind at least, is part and parcel of a much bigger and more ominous picture - globalization. Coopting Industry into the most sensitive inner workings of our government seems to show yet again that our Government has ABDICATED its responsibility to the People in favor of privatization, or in other words, a 'bloodless coup' of epic proportions has been taking place right under our noses for many years. It's time to rise up and draw the line in the sand. (Before there's a 'No Trespassing' sign on the sand)
The FBI definition of white collar crime is this:
"those illegal acts which are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and which are not dependent upon the application or threat of physical force or violence"
The Telecoms, by this definition, are guilty as charged! The Administration, which persuaded them to commit such an egregious violation, is the prime conspirator. Two thirds of Congress, the FBI, the NSA, and the Executive are all working overtime to protect Ma Bell...who is working overtime for US?
I am making a proposal here to have a nationwide 'Telecom Strike'. After the sad, sad support the FISA Bill got in the Senate, I feel the only voice left is that of the people themselves.
If we have ONE day where all computers shut down, all phones cease, even ATM and credit transactions stop - we can effectively look AT&T in the eye and say,
"Up yours, Jack".
NO MORE SPYING
No MORE IMMUNITY FOR CRIMINAL ACTS.
This retroactive immunity ploy effectively gives ANY Executive the power to do ANYTHING he likes in the future - because then he can grant all his henchmen 'immunity' after the fact. Please sign the petition at Firedoglake.
It isn't over. We are pushing members of the House to stand firm against telecom immunity -- please take a little time to sign the petition here. Have you called your Representative today?