REGARDING a Nuclear Solution to Afghanistan

Responding

Those who would resort to nuclear weapons to resolve international problems, basically establish the standard, and thereby open the door to similar "simple" solutions by others. We are not the only nuclear power in the world. Or hadn't you noticed.

One cannot negotiate with the irrational, however by using rational thinking you can certainly out maneuver them.

We made the jihadis what they are, we armed and trained them to fight our battles. We continue to invest in the Middle East because our energy agenda is hostage to the oil companies.

If we spent the money on energy development we spend on arming and "protecting" our OIL INTERESTS in the Middle East. We could have long ago had viable alternatives to Middle East oil.

During the 1967 war, our president tried to urge us to cut our dependence on oil reserves in Western Asia.

Nuclear War will not resolve our ENERGY RESOURCE PROBLEMS - nor will it accomplish anything more that kill many times the 3,000 innocents who died on 9/11.

Despite the fact that you cannot reason with fabulists who worship SKY CREATURES. There is nothing to be gained by murdering thousands of innocents in a nuclear attack. It's worse than irrelevant, it's abhorrent and casual genocide and must be understood as such.

original L2E

Mr. President - about that new direction

... in Afghani-Pakistan

We elected you because we felt as a community organizer you would bring fresh perspective on "rebuilding and RETHINKING" our middle eastern policies. Turning away from mercenaries and black sites and chasing a thousand Taliban with 50,000 more young women and men.

You said Iraq was a mistake and the problem was Afghanistan and Pakistan. We do not believe the road to improved lives for Afghanistani women and children is paved by bombs and the blood of American soldiers. Pakistan also needs help - they don't need more war profiteers and more munitions. Are you preparing us for extending BUSH/CHENEY policies?

We don't need more war, we need jobs and help - to keep our homes and educate our children. That's where we need your attention and where we need you to place American resources.

Be the leader we know you have been, do not be the war-profiteer's errand boy.
All that blood and destruction will win you no allies. And it will betray those who supported you!

RW Spisak Jr.
Miami for Peace

Let me try to explain this one last time

Abortions are undertaken reluctantly, by women and families for a range of reasons.

I would guess since this topic is of so much interest to you; you have adopted many unwanted children from facilities for abused and neglected children.

And I would guess you are an active supporter of sexual education funding and outreach
because you want to prevent any needless pain and suffering among the unborn.

And I suppose you are anti-war, and opposed to capital punishment since only god should take a life.

But then again, you might be one more of those who oppose abortion, and birth control information, who also oppose nutrition and funding for headstart and after-school programs because you want to wave a moral flag of superiority but once they're born - it's not your problem?

I had at one point hoped you had some passing acquaintance with the teachings of Jesus
who time and time again urged his followers not to judge others... Twould seem not.

TO ANSWER YOUR PSEUDO QUESTION

Who is healed when a child who cannot be welcomed into this world? Whether abortion is due for health, family necessity or simply because not every fertillzation need be born - And if your argument is that every act of love or lust must be by a throw of the dice and your religious principles, be brought full term to birth - I say this Mr. Fulton: Your religious values, as important as they are to you - are not the same as the laws of this country's government.

This country was founded on the principle that we can both live our lives by our own religious principles. You need not live your life according to my god's precepts - [if I have any] And I and this society, need not live by yours.

Maybe you're aware of the separation of church and state, maybe your not. The Supreme Court and freedom loving Americans are aware. CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW... look it up, if your unfamiliar.

RW Spisak

"We CHOSE, to go NAKED.*"

Say Yes, to a Robust Public Option

We must dismantle the deadly practice of health care rationing by the private insurance companies answerable to no one. Dollars should not determine whether children and families should suffer and die when treatment options are available. I have worked as a technical and creative professional for over 20 years. The majority of small businesses who have employed me and other technical professionals like me, offer no insurance. My wife and I both suffer from conditions that stem from a life joyously and fully led.

The Medical Insurance industry uses the term "pre-existing conditions" to deny coverage or services, or simply refuse to honor contractual obligations. When last my wife and I priced even a minimum medical catastrophic coverage, the monthly fees were nearly double a mortgage obtained during the real estate bubble. Three mortgages are not in our budget - so as the gentlemen from the Health Insurance Lobbying Wing of the House would have it -
"We CHOSE, to go NAKED.*"


MORE

MO - Bologna

Mo was known on the colorful Miami-Dade County Commission as the guy with a scheme. In fact a scheme a minute! - The stranger the better. Assassinated live on the telee by perenial rival madmad [death by dueling press-release] - Joltin Joe Corrollo.

The challenge when speaking to Mo was to somehow scrape him off his latest scheme to talk about the actual world - No matter who he was speaking to his one simple message was PANDER-PANDER-PANDER.

If he hopes to win Hispanic dems simply because of his heritage and thus cynically split the party - his misunderstanding of Florida's democratic party is even MORE GIGANTIC than his ego. Get out of his way folks - he's heading off a cliff at true Guinness Record speed. more

Notes from Dem. Convention

Notes from Dem. Convention for People Power Hour Interview
by RW Spisak

It was a hot time for all the delegates in Orlando but nobody had a hotter time than the Pseudo Senator The SEMI-DEMI Nelson - who was dinged, dogged, darned, button-holed, berated and boinked by PUBLIC -OPTION Advocates

The opening ceremonies were interrupted when Nelson was greeted with 5 minutes of HEALTH CARE NOW! Health Care Now! Health Care Now!

Regarding the News about the Presidents Nobel prize - I heard a range of opinions, from “a nice hopeful gesture by our European friends more hope than fact based”

Another delegate said – “he’s the right man at the right time for the troubles of this world”

There was an actual debate between two candidates for Florida Attorney General -
both well qualified & regarded (Aronberg and Gelber] partisan signage greeted a good size Sunday audience.

Aronberg was focused and addressed specific agenda items in the Attorney General’s office

Regarding the Jobless Economy - this was characterized by one delegate as a BANKERS RECOVERY

Another delegate offered that he was impressed by Gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink and Senatorial candidate Kendrick Meek - who had a large contingent of Supporters trailing wherever he went.

Another delegate, George Mauer of Monroe County described the Baucus’ and Finance Committees' - In$urance Indu$try Profit Protect Bill. Just passed from committee as the biggest boondogle since the TARP Money was bundled STAT over a weekend –
BILLION$ and No Que$tion$ to WALL $TREET, under the previous PRE-CHANGE administration.

Offering taxpayers nothing but a $3,000 penalty as OUR REWARD for organizing for healthcare reform that was replaced in the darkness of the Senates heart, by a CARE PACKAGE for the In$urance & Pharmaceutical$ Industrie$

Regarding the famous FABU-LOST Floridian Ab$entee $enator Nel$on the $EMI-DEMI crat – where’s the leadership - Nelson has said recently all our hopes should be pinned on republican Sen. Snow... He’s seen leadership before, and he knows where to find her?

Mitchell Stewart gave a speech on achieving health care for Americans , which received mixed reactions from delegates. Everyone of whom, characterized it as carefully crafted . How carefully Stewart, chose his words. How articulate. He is reported to have said, "We'’re working to achieve RADICAL REFORM, - then he paused and said... I should really say, we want SIGNIFICANT REFORM.


solidarity & peace

RW Spisak

Liberman rejects Health Care Reform... Who'd have guessed?

Joe opposes HC Reform?

Asked by radio host Don Imus today what aspects of the Senate Finance Committee’s health care bill he supported, Lieberman struck a negative tone, saying, “I’m concerned that there’s a danger that we’re trying to do too much”: 

"LIEBERMAN: I’ve been saying for a couple of months now that I’m concerned, that I’m concerned that there’s a danger that we’re trying to do too much here and the president is trying to do two good things. But doing them at once in the middle of a recession may be hard to pull off. ... IMUS: Do you support the Baucus bill? LIEBERMAN: Not, not, no. I mean, not the way it is now.

ORIG Alternet Story

Who could imagine, Ol Joe would be standing in the wings, ready to throw a wrench into our sweet perfection of a HEALTH CARE BILL [not].

Its just good to know that our favorite arsenic delinquent, whose only a dem, when he needs a harff-arsed disguise, but if you need a democrat... don't asked him. Tell us Harry [solid as a dry Reid] Senate Dem leader, this guy is rewarded with Democratic leadership WHY???

Joe [Benedict Arnold] Liberman - why don't you just slime your way over home to the republican muckhole where your teeny tiny heart flops.

We don't need you, and besides your repulsican stench distracts, such solid DEM-PUBLICANS like Harry Reid and Bill [what did I say] Nelson who brings his own special sauce of silent absentee advocacy to the good people of FLORIDA - whether we like it or not!
Oh, do pay attention dear voter, do pay attention!

solidarity & peace
Rick Spisak
www.AveryVoice.com
www.deadpeasants.BZ

Senator Nelson asked "Would it disrupt?"

Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.) asked Rockefeller if he could respond to a charge that "his proposal would disrupt the market."

Yes, $enator Nelson, the NON-STOP greed fest would be disrupted. 

Yes $enator Nelson- the bloody feasting on the wallets and the entrails will be ... "DISRUPTED!"

Disruption would occur to a system where well gowned gem bedecked and mink-trimmed executives, would chuckle as they waltz passed dying patients, locked outside the hospital doors. Delay could teach them a new step!

Yes, $enator we hope to disrupt a FREE MARKET PROCESS that snickers at families who can't afford mortgages they sure can't afford health insurance that costs even more than mortgages - they call it "going naked" - like it was a fashion choice - We DO hope to DISRUPT THAT.

$enator Nelson we also hope to disupt your CUSHY HEALTH INSURANCE POLICY TOO since you have clearly aligned yourself with the forces of GREED AND MALICE? Let's see, how dare we even consider any disruption of an INDUSTRY that bankrupts thousands of Americans every day?

DISRUPT? $enator, the greed heads who relished slavery are with you - the Goons that ran poorhouses and child-labor factories are solid behind you. Just like the Insurance Executives who drafted the finance committee legislation, and bankroll ghoul$ like you and $enator Baucus.

They're with you on the GOOD $HIP GREED but that little trip will be disrupted too - enjoy your $ENATORIAL LIFE$TYLE as you lie through your teeth to working Floridians.

You and Baucus, may just find the MARKET for health Insurance $HILLS DISRUPTED TOO!

You and Baucus and Lieberman can hang a shingle out together. You can either represent Floridans, or you will find your "$enatorial Market" disrupted too!

Healthcare Reform Analysis sent by a concerned Activist

As a physician, when it comes to health-care reform, I vacillate between disbelief and despondence. [Imagine, a physician, who can't believe that real reform is possible - CC4FHR]

I am not against reform. In fact, I believe it is long overdue. However, simply bringing 50 million more people into a broken system is a fundamentally flawed plan. [Less inclusive is better? Easier? - CC4FHR]

Real reform is much more than rearranging the health insurance industry. Real reform needs to address eight key areas:

1. Duplication of services. In medicine, the drive to be the best means you can't be left behind. So if a hospital down the street purchases the latest MRI scanner, your hospital had better do the same (and, if possible, leap frog over to an even better model). [This reform must be accomplished within Medicine, it is not an argument in opposition to a Public Option - CC4FHR]

So why not have hospitals and clinics and doctors all work together and purchase one piece of equipment between them and use it really efficiently? Because, under the current rules, cooperation is illegal! So instead, individual physician groups and hospitals are forced to duplicate services to remain competitive, which perversely can drive costs up. [Medicine needn't rely on National Health Policy improvements to clean up it's own backyard. It is misdirection at best to say, that unless we force reform on the Doctor/Hospital Racket, reform doesn't matter - CC4FHR]

2. Lack of price transparency. What physicians and hospitals charge has no relationship to what they collect. And formulas for how physicians are paid vary from contract to contract and from insurance company to insurance company. Some insurers pay secretly-agreed-to amounts for specific services regardless of what the provider charges. [Medicine needn't rely on National Health Policy improvements to clean up it's own backyard. Isn't there an oath taken by practitioners - first DO NO HARM - Physicians, heal thyselves - CC4FHR]

Providers can't selectively charge different prices to different entities (including their family members) without jeopardizing contractual reimbursement agreements. And they can't discuss what they are actually reimbursed without running afoul of their contracts. So uninsured patients are particularly vulnerable in this situation. They face staggering bills not because the cost of the care was so high, but because they have been ensnared in a secretive billing system that has no connection to reality. [ Secret Billing Schemes, sounds like the pure hand of the marketplace to me! Physicians, heal thyselves take two - CC4FHR]

3. Bureaucracy of care. The amount of documentation, form processing, service coding and data entry required in the background of a patient-physician interaction is vast, complex and overly burdensome. Every insurance carrier demands its own forms, has its own processes, and its own rules, requiring multiple individuals to be employed to handle this bureaucratic nightmare.
[ If some of the medical profession opposes care, because they haven't cleaned up their own house? Part of the solution or part of the problem ? Physicians, heal thyselves take three - CC4FHR]

Just like medical records would benefit from the standardization afforded by electronic health records, service documentation and billing should be uniform across insurers and providers.
[ Must doctors and hospitals rely on the SPINE of public debate, to improve the corruptive and malfunctioning system Insurance Companies, use to obfuscate and delay healthcare payments? Are they completely incapable of opposing these insurance industry policies without public pressure? Physicians, heal thyselves take four - CC4FHR]

4. Constant shadow of malpractice. The threat of malpractice is an ever-present looming shadow in every patient interaction, coloring physician behavior in very subtle but real ways. Perhaps the conclusion on the X-ray report is not as definitive as it could be. Perhaps just one extra lab test is ordered just in case, or an additional specialist opinion is obtained. Multiply this across billions of yearly patient interactions within our health care system, and you're talking real money.

Medicine is fundamentally an imperfect science. For patients, there are no financial disincentives to pursuing legal action and for casting as wide a net as possible. For physicians, the incentives for avoiding malpractice are vast. Until this imbalance is addressed, unnecessary costs will continue to creep into the health care system one patient interaction at a time. [Italics added ED.]

[ Part of the Healthcare access reform should address the impact access to both a peer review component of healthcare practice as well as some system of public oversight of medical practice. Physicians, should be active participant in developing a functioning oversight process that doesn't add to healthcare costs but still provides a robust oversight of physicians treatment quality - Physicians heal thyselves take five - CC4FHR]

5. Personal responsibility vacuum. The vast majority of diseases are in part (if not in whole) related to our lifestyle choices. Certain behaviors simply need to be singled out as contributing to health-care costs and taxed appropriately -- either by increased insurance premiums or direct taxes on the products themselves (such as a heavy levy on tobacco products). And if hospitals are not to be paid for medical errors (which I agree with completely), why should insurance companies cover head injury care for a motorcycle rider who refuses to wear a helmet?

[Should every person, who might be damaged, by a life style choice, like playing sports, or driving a vehicle for a living, or doing construction work, to mention a few "lifestyle choices" be ineligible for care? The poor, who often through educational failures, as well as limited exposure to healthier diets, be condemned for diet driven maladies? Healthcare for all, means, healthcare for all. Or, for example to respond to this criticism, we should ban all sports, since maladies, from torn shoulders, to paralysis are the frequent results of the "lifestyle choices" like golf, skiing and football. Healthcare for all means Healthcare for all. - CC4FHR]

6. Lack of a unique universal patient identifier. Before the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) came along, patient records could be married across systems using an individual's Social Security number. As privacy advocates insisted that tying the Social Security number to health information opened significant privacy holes, patients began to refuse to provide this number during health-care encounters, eliminating the one link that could have kept their data together. Without one number that is uniquely tied to one individual regardless of their location, health status, or insurance carrier, the EHR will be nothing more than a fancy (and expensive) way to handle paperwork. [Unique patient identifiers, should be part of overall Healthcare reform. Healthcare for all, means Healthcare for every American - CC4FHR]

7. Irresponsible government subsidies. The U.S. government has helped create an incredibly perverse food system where it often costs less money to purchase fast food than to purchase fresh produce. So long as our diets are nutritionally vapid, the chance that we will become a healthier nation (regardless of how much money is spent on medicines and procedures) is remote. Ultimately, health-care costs can only be impacted if our lifestyles change. Our government subsidizes a lifestyle based on sitting and driving, all while eating a corn-based diet loaded with chemicals.

This goes far beyond “prevention” in the traditional sense. It's not about detecting disease early. It's about creating an environment where overall disease incidence is reduced.
[Physicians and scientists alike must speak up to address food quality policy and improving access to a better and healthier diet. Part of an overall, improvement in American Science Policy and Food Quality Oversight would be a superb addition to the dialog on improving Americans overall health - CC4FHR]

8. Rationing of care. Unlimited access to all care for everyone is simply not financially feasible. Although it may be logical to stop offering kidney dialysis to patients over age 85, the perspective changes when the patient is your mother who has lived well on dialysis for the past five years. Offering an experimental tissue transplant that has a 5 percent chance of success seems insane, until your child's life is on the line. [Healthcare for all, must mean simply healthcare for all. We have found money, and resources, for WAR after WAR it should represent a signature re prioritizing Americans resources from a continuous WAR ECONOMY, to an economy, that places a larger emphasis on Healthcare for all - CC4FHR]

Ultimately health care is an intensely personal experience, and emotion wins over logic every time. Not openly acknowledging that no plan can offer everything to everyone without regard to resource availability or costs is disingenuous. [Healthcare access to all - CC4FHR]

What the Congress seems to want to pass is the “idea” of coverage without dealing with the personal implications. The public deserves to know what they will be paying for and what services they will be entitled to. [Healthcare reform in a political arena like Congress, involves a process of dialog and compromise access to all We can't know the end product until the completion of a journey. A criticism, that suggests we can't support reform unless the final product is understood, misunderstands the legislative process. - CC4FHR]

So what should Congress and the administration do to truly reform health care and reduce health care costs?

1. Allow cooperative business models between care providers. [Don't wait -CC4FHR]

2. Decriminalize open discussions of charges and reimbursements.

3. Standardize documentation and billing processes. - [Physicians needn't wait on national reform CC4FHR]

4. Pass meaningful tort reform.

5. Subsidize optimal nutrition, not food lobbies. - [Federal regulation and science have returned CC4FHR]

6. Tax behaviors and products that contribute to disease. [Football and race car driving will never be the same - CC4FHR]

7. Implement a unique patient identifier system. [Necessary - CC4FHR]

8. Clearly define the boundaries of services and insurance coverage. [Healthcare for all - CC4FHR]

So instead of trying to pass something -- anything -- before the end of the year and take credit for “reform,” Congress and the president should first address the true issues contributing to health-care costs and pursue the tough work needed to make real changes that won't ultimately break the bank. And honestly and comprehensively educate the public about each proposed change and the entire impact it will have. [Healthcare for all it will not come quickly or easily - CC4FHR]

Force-fitting 50 million people into a broken mess is absolutely not the best first step. Our current system broke slowly over decades. “Fixing” it in a matter of weeks is unrealistic and doomed to failure. [Healthcare for all - making healthcare available isnot forcing anything - leaving things as is, means locking many Americans OUT of what healthcare is available - CC4FHR]

Dr. Elizabeth Klodas is a practicing cardiologist in Minneapolis and a part-time Eagle County resident. She is the editor-in-chief of the American College of Cardiology's cardiosmart.org web site and on the advisory team of Vita Prospera based in Edwards.

Isn't it JUST SUPER!

..."we must constantly remind ourselves and each other of U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas's vision: "Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."

Its not the Bush Administration that continues to spy on us. Its not the Cheney Administration and John Yoo, now explaining why there will be no retreat from the insults to Habeas Corpus. Preventive detention isn't rolling off the lips of John Ashcroft or Alberto Gonzalez anymore.

"Since fatuously declaring his to be a "change" administration, President Barack Obama has quickly donned the blood-spattered mantle of state secrecy and executive privilege worn by the Bush regime." The Intelligence Daily

The retrograders at Justice, and the nEOBu$hians in the Obama administration didn't even read the memo about preventive detention being UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Its so much better having our rights trampled by a democratic regime. So much different.

Barack Obama will be in charge of the biggest domestic and international spying operation in history. Its prime engine is the National Security Agency (NSA)-located and guarded at Fort Meade, Maryland, about 10 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. A brief glimpse of its ever-expanding capacity was provided on October 26 by The Baltimore Sun's national security correspondent, David Wood: "The NSA's colossal Cray supercomputer, code-named the 'Black Widow,' scans millions of domestic and international phone calls and e-mails every hour.... TruthOut

So much better, so reassuring to know that the Constitutional Professor at 1600 has no more respect for your Bill of Rights than that Texan who enjoyed CHOPPING BRUSH SO MUCH!

Luckily, we have Congress to protect us!

solidarity & peace

Rick Spisak
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again,” Thomas Paine

COMMENT BY "X"
BY NAME WITHHELD for Privacy Sake (should any shreds exist)

In fairness, we DID know this about him, that he would do this. This is an excellent piece. Thank you SO MUCH for sending it on ... I believe he is as much or more of a nazi than bush. It was kinda evident with that rollout of the obama fellows. Each one of them that I had communication with was an unmitigated ASSHOLE. I am seriously now contemplating leaving this country. To go where? To look at different faces. That would be good enough. I'm really really REALLY disillusioned. This healthcare bullshit is just another coverup.. instead of DEATH CAMPS they're just taking people out with false diagnoses and toxic meds. Diabetes and cancer are INDUSTRIES along with countless new fake diseases EVERY DAY and now this sonofabitch and his senate and congress want to sign us up for MANDATORY SANCTIONABLE IF WE REFUSE HEALTH CARE>

In a word or two: FUCK THEM.

And, thank you for listening.

Take care.

I'm probably going to forward your email around.
Happy 4th.


PART II
By RW Spisak

I will confess, I never quite liked KoolAid.

While, my initial judgment on (b.o.) was that anybody who rose so meteorically
was certainly some Very Important Patriotic Machine's cat's paw

My more pragmatic assessment was that anything even the "famous potted plant" of the IRAN CONTRA HEARINGS so long ago, was preferable to the McCain-Palin ticket, I will admit to harboring some glimmer of "hope" that a CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR, was going to be somewhat more "sensitive" to subtle nuances of the BILL OF RIGHTS, little inconsequential things like you know, say, HABEAS CORPUS, or UNREASONABLE SEARCH and SEIZURE, or you know... FREEDOM OF SPEECH. [it's the little things, you know]

It's the little things, so nearly completely abandoned by the shills in CONGRESS, I DID, I admit it, HARBOR SOME TINY CRUMBS OF HOPE! (as brother jackson [the reverend, not the now sainted child molester] is fond of intoning - KEEP... HOPE... ALIVE...)

But as I explained yesterday to an ORGANIZING FOR AMERICA (proselytizer) who accused me of being a [gasp] A KNOWN SINGLE PAYER ADVOCATE -

I explained, one of the virtues of being a progressive. Is that, while it can be exciting running with the vanguard of history, We do have the special pleasure, granted those who are perennially ahead of the POP-ular Wisdom.

We knew Nixxon was shredding the Constitution and manipulating elections, America did eventually become aware. We guessed that Reagan's illegal war, on the poor in Central America was a bad idea, and that Saint Raygun's policies of providing Missile Equipment to the same IRANIANS who held American hostages was a bad Idea, America came around, and while everyone was proclaiming our recent COWBOY president, a real down home HERO American, who was everyday, pertectin 'murca with torture and secret prisons... America eventually sussed that out too. We progressives got the joke, just alittle ahead of the MOB!

So I can only hope that they will eventually become aware that NO ONE WILL STAND UP TO TYRANNY - until they demand, that the BILL of Rights again becomes a bulwark of our Liberty.

Depending on the paid agents of CORPO-LOBBY-LAND presently filling seats in Congress, the sons and daughters of LOBBYISTS are not safeguarding our Constitution from the agents, of Tyranny.

They represent them, and their license to steal your sons and daughters.

These are indeed, the times that try our souls.
May providence and our own mutual self interest be with us.

solidarity & peace
Rick
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again,” Thomas Paine


COMMENT BY "X"
BY NAME WITHHELD for Privacy Sake (should any shreds exist)

...it is disheartening.


COMMENT BY "X"
BY NAME WITHHELD for Privacy Sake (should any shreds exist)

Dear Rick

Thank you for writing this and last night's peice -- my discontent has been smoldering and my patience being tried as I try to make sense out of what is really happening. Asking myself, 'Am I too impatient?', ' Am I not seeing the big picture?' I am so disappointed (Pollyanna is my middle name) and I want so badly for this not to be so. I could throw up!

NAME WITHHELD

Ginning Up a little Change

From a story reported on Truth Out

Essay by RW Spisak Jr.
for AveryVoice.com

..."For example, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Florida Republican, bought Citigroup stock valued between $1,001 and $15,000 on Oct. 2, the day before the House passed the financial rescue bill and President George W. Bush signed it into law, records show. She opposed the bill.

Eleven days later, she bought $1,001 to $15,000 worth of Bank of America stock. It was on the same day that then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told leading banks that he expected them to accept billions in bailout money to prevent a financial meltdown.

Brown-Waite, who has since left the committee to join the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, and her spokeswoman would not comment for this article. The precise value of her investments is not publicly known because financial disclosure reports provide only broad ranges, although some members include detailed brokerage reports..."

The original article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer further states that "The transactions may not have been illegal or against congressional rules, but securities attorneys and congressional watchdog groups say they raise flags about the appearance of conflicts of interest."

How can you face your constituents and tell them you are carefully weighing banking policy or TAX POLICY when it seems that you took time away from overseeing the largest credit and banking crisis since The Great Depression to line your pockets?

Will you be using the same "ME FIRST" logic as you work to develop National Tax Policy?

I'm sure that your constituents would be surprised to know ..."Many details about the massive financial bailout last fall were widely known outside Capitol Hill. Yet members of the Financial Services Committee were privy to closed-door discussions, staff briefings and political horse-trading decisions between political parties, Congress and the White House. Banks lobbied Congress and the administration heavily.

Banks that received bailout money spent $77 million on lobbying and $37 million on federal campaign contributions last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The center found that the banks spending the heaviest got the biggest rescue packages...."

I'm sure your constituents are proud as peacocks about your dedication to making a BUCK. Happy for you, just knowing you could take advantage of your inside knowledge of the banking and securities changes, rushed through by the Bush Administration. I know, I sleep better knowing the Congresspersons of your caliber (small bore) can even now find time out of the hectic pace of the oversight of MELT DOWN of the American Credit System, to feather your own, nest. You set a high bar. Maybe there are even more in your FUTURE!

Sleep well, Now I just hope your temporary seat on the Taxation Committee, leaves time for you to still make a little on the side!
Drop her a note, let her know just how you feel!
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite,
Florida Republican 5th District

WASHINGTON, DC OFFICE
414 Cannon House Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20515
Phone (202) 225-1002

BROOKSVILLE OFFICE
16224 Spring HIll Dr Brooksville,
FL 34604
Phone (352) 799-8354

Richard W. Spisak Jr.
www.AveryVoice.com

Do my eyes deceive me?

Florida's Senator Bob Graham on the Colbert Report May 20th 2009.

Did I just see Bob Graham defend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the Colbert Report? Very Nearly, Well Almost, just about.

Colbert's segment May 20th focused on the RIGHTWING's "PELOSI FRONT". They've been "Thumping the BIG-MEDIA DRUMS" for more than a week now trying to stir up dust about the discrepancies between the CIA's version of who told what to whom, during the 2002 Congressional briefings on TORTURE. * & **

It is profoundly wished in the crusty dank regions where conservatives hatch their nefarious plans that by attacking Pelosi they draw attention to her and create enough free floating confusion about what the Cheney-Rumsfeld-Yoo administration meant when they said "We do not Torture."

We just have that new stuff in the Improved Market-Tested Mumbo-Jumbo Box, we like to call it - ENHANCED interrogation.

When during a recent press conference Speaker Pelosi was asked was she calling the CIA liars?, the always plain-spoken Pelosi stated without mincing words "she was mislead." Pelosi, has stated she was not informed about the TORTURE ("E.I."), and this has led to a spattering of faux-news, sketch comedy segments with special appearances by Uncle Newtie G., and back from his 8 year tour of Secret Undisclosed Locations disgraced former VP Cheney and by special arrangement with the Obama Administration, a guest slot featuring Leon [no honest I really am a dem] Panetta (currently mayor of spooktown) who defended the CIA, by stating that it is not their business to deceive??? [REALLY?]

He continued to lie by saying they were comprehensive and forthcoming in all their briefings. [Who writes that stuff?]
What else would you expect from Cheney era spooks, but full-disclosure RIGHT?

Senator Bob, Chair of the Intelligence Committee at the time (in 2002) said, [while meticulously never mentioning that Pelosi woman] quoted from his notoriously thorough diary, stating flatly his daily logs "do not reflect three of the four meetings that the CIA claimed".

According to Senator Bob, chair of the Intelligence Committee at the time, it just didn't happen. He went on to say the one meeting that did occur roughly when the CIA reported that it did, the attendance was such that it couldn't have included high level security briefings because there were people in attendance who could not have been present at such briefings. [BOB TALKS OUTTA SCHOOL?] (He has a book to promote!***)

When Colbert asked "if a Senator found out about water-boarding what would he do? Write it down?" "No" Graham replied, "he would try to engage the MEDIA!" - you, dear readers are the media!

IT wasn't CORPO-FAUX-NEWS he was talking about!

solidarity & peace
RW Spisak

* [Cheney Yoo-Speak ] "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques"
(with the all new improved market tested language)

** [The Rest of the World - Prosecutable WAR CRIMES]

*** America - The Owners Manual by Senator Bob Graham

Supplemental
"“I do not have any recollection of being briefed on waterboarding or other forms of extraordinary interrogation techniques, or Abu Zubaydah being subjected to them,” Graham told me by phone moments ago, in a reference to the terror suspect who had been repeatedly waterboarded the month before.

Graham is the only other Dem aside from Pelosi to get briefed in 2002, so they are both in effect asserting that no Dem was briefed on the use of EITs that year. The date of the next briefing was in February 2003.

Graham claimed he would have remembered if he’d been told about the use of torture. “Something as unexpected and dramatic as that would be the kind of thing that you would normally expect to recall even years later,” he said. " [greg sargant's blog]

WATCH THE CLIP

RE Experience

by RW Spisak

It is a rare thing, for Americans to elect a person who has been president before, unless it's for a second term. President Obama will have to wait a few years, for that election. This in fact addresses your concern about our current president's lack of presidential experience.

While it's true, he hasn't say, run an oil company, or even a baseball team... as did our former business school educated president. [Who spent us into this hole, by cutting taxes, (his all-purpose cure) while pretending that the costs of Iraq, and Afghanistan didn't need to be accounted for in the actual budget.] Our current president who having achieved a very high quality legal education, proceeded, not to cash in on Greed St, but instead went to work in a community to improve the lot of unemployed steel workers. [That's experience, unfortunately for many Americans we need, right about now!]

That might not compare to the gilded son of a CIA chief, Senator, and President, but it seems like he cared about investing his life in helping others. He didn't dodge a war, or even National Guard service, like the "former governor" who served before him.

You evidently may not recall, the blame shuffling of the Bush administration during the post 9/11 hearings when they pointedly discussed their perception of the shortcomings of President Clinton's several responses to earlier attacks on the towers, and the USS Cole, some of us do.

But you also inadvertently forget that in the period just before former President Bush took one of his many ranch vacations, he received a briefing that specifically HIGHLIGHTED Bin Ladin's immanent plans to attack this country from the air, using the exact techniques that had been planned for just months earlier at a European defense summit, where an attack from the air by hijacked planes, was prepared against. Like you Ms. Rice's memory needed refreshing, because her widely reported disingenuous initial comments were, "WE HAD NO IDEA of that sort of impending attack".

I guess there are times, when a compromised memory can be of some small service.

Orignial L2E entitled: Obama's Poor Record

Government in the Sunshine it's NOT!

It's time for a Virtual March on Tallahassee!
by RW Spisak Jr.

Government in the Moonshine (by the light of a New Moon) Government lit by a nightlight - out of the Sunlight is how they like to run the people's business in Tally. They purposely exempted themselves, so that they and their colleagues the lobbyists, can meet under the tables, behind closed doors, inside the pockets of wealthy corporate interests, and only emerge blinking into the sunlight after the deals are done. And after those same wealthy pockets have been carefully re-feathered with the peoples tax-money!

Another hand out to the insurance industry, no problem! All the lobbyists thought it was a great idea. No pesky reporters needed, nor need any time be made for public testimony. On the other hand there is time for the DRILLING LOBBY! Offshore oil drilling pipes up onto the former white sand, no problem. The tankers, drilling platforms and storage tanks will look good alongside the bikinis. If these knowledgeable ladies and gentlemen suggest that overnight the lost tourist dollars will be replaced by environmentally friendly DRILLERS no problem, we heard no facts that might contradict. They all nodded in unison, like windup dolls. If their friends the lobbyists, propose that drilling and pipelines will fit well alongside the former tourist friendly beaches, no one testified otherwise. They didn't have time for that kind of testimony?

If they decide to gut voter rights and open the pipeline to unregulated outside political money with no oversight? It's strictly the lobbyists business not any business of the public. After all two secret minutes of scheduled public comment is more than enough? All the lobbyists agreed.

Floridians, we need a VIRTUAL MARCH on the secret business conducted in the Tallahassee backrooms.

During a budget crisis the only talks are informal, by the light of the black cat and the darkside of the moon? No SUNSHINE HERE, the Legislature exempted themselves from SUNSHINE!.

Send them your eyes, WE ARE WATCHING! Send them your ears, WE ARE LISTENING to their foolishness. Send them your hands, which will be casting votes to oppose ONE PARTY MISRULE in Tallahassee. Send them your feet, WE ARE WALKING AWAY from secret sweetheart deals, where the good old boys and girls from UPSTATE, write checks to their lobbyist buds, with lucrative tax-money padded jobs with maybe an private aircraft hanger on the side. They've been thinking it's strictly their business, not yours! Let's show them how wrong they are!

It's time for a virtual MARCH ON TALLAHASSEE. There's budget money for corporate give-aways but no money for teachers, cops and higher education, but a walkaway guananteed bonus for the retiring legislator? OOPS thanks for the strong stench of a wake up call kiddies! You may have been brewing something sweet for many years, but finally even down state we can smell that sweetheart deal you brewed.

Its time for a VIRTUAL MARCH ON TALLAHASSEE.

They have counted on the distance, and the cost and the poverty of the electors to isolate them from oversight. They and their lobbyist golfing pals have been running amuck for far too long. You've stayed to long at the fair boys and girls, and the nasty brew you've been cooking for way too long has finally caught up with you. Too much overreaching has gotten you way way out on a limb, there kiddies, and the people have caught on.

Its time for a VIRTUAL MARCH ON TALLY - RALLY THE TROOPS! RALLY IN TALLY -CALL THEM, MAIL THEM, FAX THEM, TELL THEM THE GOOD OLD DAYS FOR THE GOOD OLD BOYS ARE OVER, TIMES UP!
Government by the light of the Dark side of the MOON is SO OVER!


Its time for a VIRTUAL MARCH ON TALLAHASSEE.

Florida Senate
Jeff Atwater President of the Senate
(850) 487-5100
FAX (561) 625-5103

Florida House
Speaker Larry Cretul
(850) 488-1157
Fax: (850) 488-9707

MORE REPUBLICAN VOTING REGISTRATION SHENANIGANS

"TALLAHASSEE — A House council hurriedly passed a sweeping rewrite of Florida election laws Friday, shutting down public comment after just two minutes and prompting an uproar from opponents."


Part 1

Well, well, shutting down public comments, after two whole minutes of debate??? REPUBLICANS, once again looking for "fraud" in all the wrong places...
Just another attempt to manufacture a republican controlled electoral system.

We've seen again and again across America, State House Republicans invent new "helpful" voting rules. Over and over inventing fresh constraints limiting democratic processes. Pretending to see fraud, where there has been none, inventing new ID requirements. Devising "protections" against non-existent election fraud. See the pattern?

It would seem that unless REPUBLICANS can purge the rolls, and restrict participation, they don't think it's FAIR?

They have through recent manipulations already made it so difficult that non-partisan organizations like the LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS can no longer to assist in enrolling voters. That's what they call PROGRESS???

Why is it that reducing participation, and creating new restrictive voting rules, are priorities for republican lawmakers. Can you decipher it?
They don't think you can.

Its' really not that hard to figure out. Republicans would be happier, if most Americans just didn't vote. The smaller the electorate, the easier for the RADICAL Republican Minority to manipulate the levers of government.

Are they really interested in protecting us from non-existent fraud, or from a competitive elections. They are convinced you don't care!

Part 2
There has been no fraud found in ANY of the states, in which republican legislators have recently found the need to create new voter eligibility restrictions.

Florida has had reasonable ID restrictions for years, this state has never allowed any old home made ID. Once again we find REPUBLICANS trying to railroad new restrictions on ID requirements and tightening the rules under which voter registrations are collected, all to solve a non-existent problems. Or is it to scratch an unspeakable itch.

Finally increasing the distance to 100 feet, for voter information and assistance is also unnecessary. Removing lawyers who can assist with voters questions, that is manipulation, not intended in anyway to assist voters. Evidently gerrymandering alone has been inadequate to their purpose.

Support Redistricting Reform - there will be a petition drive headed your way on the next few weeks.

More from the No Geneva Protections Crowd

The reason the rules of warfare exist is not merely to protect nation states, or soldiers under formal military arms. Non-state actors have long been a part of warfare. The armed citizens who confronted the military on Boston Commons, were not state actors. General Washington insisted that even Hessian mercenaries, thought guilty of extreme brutality in battle were to be treated with respect, and not harmed, when held as prisoners. General Washington was a civilized soldier, which is more than can be said of America's last commander in chief.

The purpose of the civilizing laws of war, is an attempt however limited, to extend basic human rights and dignity to all under arms. These rules represent an important part of the compact of civilization and the rule of law. Laws to make war even slightly more humane however partial, remain an important step in the right direction. The banning of the use of poisonous gas after World War I (originally marketed to reluctant participants, as the War to End All Wars.)
That there are those who act outside civilized law is a reality. We Americans, must act according to the highest standard of humanity, not sink to the level of any lawless group, religious or not.

Regarding the discredited Bush policies, again and again, evidence has been brought to light revealing that torture policies, emanated directly from meetings in the White House. Former President of the Senate and Vice President, Richard Cheney took personal credit for those policies on more than one occasion. Decisions reached by the Bush Cheney administration, in the White House guided the official torture policies, not the actions (as Rumsfeld's Defense Department tried to suggest) of out of control random actors. Despite President Bushes repeated denials of torture. What was the Bush regimes definition of torture? They had an opinion from their attorney Mr. Yoo.

[Mr. Yoo's 40-page, January 9, 2002, memo advised the Defense Department that neither the Geneva Convention nor the War Crimes Act applied to the treatment of Al Qaeda or Taliban fighters captured in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan, he said, was a "failed state" and so not a party to the Geneva Convention, which protects prisoners of war from "physical or mental torture or any other form of coercion" to secure information, as well as from humiliating or degrading treatment. Members of the Taliban militia were not POW's but simply illegal combatants, he said.]

National Guardsmen from West Virginia did not bring leashes, and dog collars from home. The policies used in Guantanamo, were specifically imported to prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere. "Black Sites" and Extraordinary Rendition are not the policies of a civilized nation. They do not represent the American tradition of "rule of law".

The duplicity of the Bush Administration that simultaneously proclaimed that they did not torture, based on their own spinning of the definitions of "Torture" have been discredited again and again. History will reveal, that the destroyed CIA tapes of "enhanced interrogation" are not the only evidence of the inhumane policies of the Bush Administration.

We are a nation of laws, and Bush's signing statements notwithstanding the law has survived the misdeeds of the Bush Administration. We are wiser for it. Support the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Rule of Law!

solidarity & peace
Rick Spisak

Signs of Intelligent Life Fleetingly Glimpsed in Florida Legislature

(Florida Republican Leadership promises investigation)

Florida Sen. Dan Webster, Republican, of Winter Garden proposed a Bill, that had it been passed, would have REQUIRED doctors to perform an ultrasound whenever a woman requests an abortion. The bill would also have REQUIRED the doctor present and explain the results, unless she affirmatively REFUSES and then SIGNS a document attesting to her REFUSAL.

Part of the overall Conservative holistic agenda to reduce government interference in businesses which could then freely focus on the reproductive tracts of Female Floridians, who might not be aware, of the actual meaning of pregnancy. Poor Dears!

Senator Dan Webster, the bills thoughtful sponsor opined, ''If good medical practice dictates screening, what does no screening mean?'' Webster asked. ``Fill in the blank. It's bad medical practice.'' One of the bill's opponents saw it quite differently. Sen. Nan Rich, a Weston Democrat was reported to have said, ``This is an anguishing, heart-wrenching decision for women. And I would suggest that they do not take it lightly. And I would suggest that they do not need the state to tell them what information they need.'' Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, a Miami Republican offered this pithy rejoinder...``God forbid.''...
[Ed. If not the Florida Legislature]

Florida Law, already careful to protects the frivolous females of our brave Peninsular State by insisting Ultrasound be performed on any silly woman requesting an abortion in the second and third Trimester. God, must have been blinking, when this proud measure fell in a heartless tie vote.

Richard W. Spisak Jr.
Progressive Democrat

Jon Stewart attacks Wall Street

I have been a political activist and organizer since the days when we opposed American Apartheidt and the War on the People of Viet Nam.

I am a regular viewer of the Daily Show, I get more news from Mr. Stewart's Program, and despite my regular viewership of Washington Week in Review, Face the Nation, and This Week, The Matthews Show and assiduous listening to NPR's quality news. Often watching the Daily Show, I find myself shaking my head hearing more straight facts from Stewart's "Comedy Show", than in much of the canned press release, pre-chewed propaganda laced spam on the "official" mainstream news programming. It's been years since I have been able to sit through more than a few minutes of the evening news shows of the networks.

But the saddest comment I can report, I heard on a Diane Rheim show's Friday journalist panel, when a writer for one of the main stream news outlets tried to explain why there's better reporting on the Daily Show - "Well they can do news Stories that the New York Times or the Washington Post or the LA Times cannot manage. The Daily Show has resources.... [sad isn't it]

There was a silence among the panelists after the comment, because it was both brutally honest, and obviously wrong. Yet that unchallenged silly explanation offered a comment that went to the heart of the issue. The Daily Shows advantage is not one of tangible resources... but a resource of INTESTINAL FORTITUDE and Integrity, a capacity to speak plainly about the Emperor's Non-Existent Wardrobe.

Jon's team, hasn't yet drunk the Koolaid of Official BIG-TIME journalism, they are not insiders, and as a mere "Comedy" News Show - they can plainly speak the truth and in the stark light of bitter BLACK IRONY and amid the gasps from the BIG News Desks they are simply a refreshing breeze of candor for a TRUTH hungry American Ear.

Thanks Jon & Thanks to you and your researchers - the Cramer/CNBC/SEC roast we watched had more truth than CNN can summon in a decade of 24/7 broadcasting.

RW Spisak
www.AveryVoice.com

Yes, Some of us, still oppose the occupation of Afghanistan

Yes, Some of us, still oppose the occupation of Afghanistan.

The CIA funded and trained both the Mujahadeen and the Taliban, just like we trained our former friends Osama & Sadam. We liked them, we supported them, and we paid them, when they were pulling our sled against the Russians in Afghanistan.

And if you knew a little history - you'd know that we worked to destabilize the elected government that the Soviets came in to prop up in Afghanistan.

So the Peace Community is largely still opposed to the occupation of Afghanistan because it does nothing for the Afghanis and only serves International Oil interests. Karzai was with Shell before he was hand - picked for the current slot.

Watch the Moving PIPELINES kiddies it's the distraction game all over again.

And, in case you are actually interested, which I doubt - ask a peace activist why we're not in the streets right now, the answer is two fold -

There is a big International Peace action coming up... and We've got such a better president now, than the War Criminal and Privateer who tortured un charged victims, and enriched his WAR-Biz Buddies.

Yes, we do oppose the Surge in Afghanistan... Nice of You to Ask!

Additional Historic Info on Afghanistan

Tom Hayden on Afghanistan

Senator Martinez says - the Guv don't get it!

Senator Martinez

You commented that the stimulus plan does not address Florida's housing economy. Should we expect that your the next speech will outline your plan?

I know I was surprised since you expressed such dis-satisfaction with current bi-partisan approach why we haven't heard any suggestions from you to assist in the Floridian Housing Economy.

You say this is a concern, sir, when should we expect your suggestions?

Obviously you have a SECRET PLAN, to solve the Housing Trouble...

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? ... The RAPTURE ? Things aren't serious enough yet for you to weigh in with anything more than a "NYET?"

Senator, Where's you better plan to address the complex issue of the over-building, hyper-investment driven, massive unemployment destroying "FLORIDA'S housing economy"

Senator, it's only an economy, if money is exchanging hands rather than simply passively evaporating value ... surrounded by the unemployed homeless???

Senator, can we get some hint? of your better plan? Or are you just sniffing some of that Partisan Pixie Dust???

George Bush, protected us ?

George Bush, protected us from the Constitution. George Bush, Dick Cheney and lil Donny Rumsfeld protected us from International Law.

George Bush protected us, from Donny's pal Sadam. He even kept the kiddies spell bound in their seats, holding his book"My Pet Goat" upside down while the guy he'd been warned repeatedly about allegedly sent some planes into some buildings.

George Bush protected us, if you're a WAR PROFITEER. George Bush and Dick Cheney protected you, if your an Energy Oligopoly with incredible obscene Oil Profits!. George Bush and Dick Cheney protected you if you are among those who profited by milking every penny of value our of the housing and credit market and then reaped a whirlwind of UNCHECKED WINDFALL TAX PAYER DOLLARS.

George Bush and Dick Cheney protected you if you are a Mining Company or are interested in clear cutting forests or are a major polluter. If you clear cut mountain tops, you've been very very well protected.

If you are anyone else? You are a member of the newly impoverished former middle class. Your job has been downsized and your life style has been outsourced and your future is a life time of debt-burdened penitence.

And, need I mention that the USURIOUS CREDIT CARD RATES, will insure that your children's children will be paying for the debt that George Bush left stinking on the futures door step. So if George Bush protected you - you probably don't work for a living. Congratulations.

President Obama

I am very proud that you have changed our country's course on many International Policies. Especially I appreciate your prompt initiative to end TORTURE, too long a blot on our country, and your equally welcome announcement that you will follow through on your campaign promise to close Guantanamo, that horrendous insult to HUMAN RIGHTS.

I feel, I must remind you of two other important promises of your administration. One that you would not turn your back on science, as the previous administration had, one more reason why the decision to remove funding for family planning is a bad one.

The second and not unrelated promise is your administration's commitment to solving America's health care emergency.

Yes the economy has been driven into a ditch, and those BONUS BURDENED BANKERS will suffer. Americans in increasing numbers are not only unemployed and increasingly homeless, but they are without any medical care whatsoever.

President Obama, the auto industry, the farmers, manufacturers and the GOLD PLATED BONUS ENCRUSTED credit and investment community needs help lest their interior decorators go without. Sir the Americans even those few fortunate enough to still have any kind of job, are without insurance, without healthcare and the emergency rooms are already overwhelmed. The hospitals upon whom this unfunded mandate falls, on are increasingly incapable of providing even minimum timely care.

DO NOT abandon American Health care needs. Do not, push it off, it is the ultimate component of the American Economy, is the American worker. Every American, white collar, blue collar and the shirtless need access to real Healthcare. Long waits in emergency rooms are no longer common, they are epidemic.

President Obama you sat at a desk face to face with unemployed Americans when you worked as a COMMUNITY ACTIVIST. How long must they wait? America cannot afford to fund bankers, while working Americans go without National, Single Payer healthcare.

We must not be postponed, you must not abandon the sons and daughters of this great country to the bureaucrats in the Insurance Industry, who earn their daily bread by denying healthcare to Americans.

In what world does it make sense, that if you have had a previous healthcare problem, that you are automatically precluded from help with ongoing medical problems. "Pre-Existing Condition is a reason not to help?"

A dedicated Obama Campaign Worker
and lifelong democrat.


Richard W. Spisak Jr.
Florida