Taking Off The Gloves (Telling the truth!)

[SpiritMan]

Let the real dialog begin without fear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsx_GMj4k08

[SpiritMan]

It's time to respond to the insanity and stop being enablers!

[SpiritMan]

Recipe for Fascism

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_recipe_for_fascism_20101108/

[SpiritMan]

The Center Right and The Hard Right, The American two Party system!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/opinion/12krugman.html?_r=2

[SpiritMan]

They Said They Would Push Me "Off a Cliff" ...a letter from Michael Moore

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Friends,

Yesterday, on the TV and radio show "Democracy Now" hosted by Amy Goodman, the former Vice President of CIGNA, one of the nation's largest health insurance companies, revealed that CIGNA met with the other big health insurers to hatch a plan to "push" yours truly "off a cliff."

The interview contains new revelations about just how frightened the health industry was that "Sicko" might ignite a public wave of support for "socialized medicine." So the large health insurance companies came together over a common cause: Stop the American people from going to see "Sicko" -- and the way to do that was to cause some form of harm to me (either personally, professionally or...physically?).

Take a look at this stunning section of the interview with Wendell Potter:

WENDELL POTTER [former executive, CIGNA]: ...We were concerned that the movie ["Sicko"] would be as successful as "Fahrenheit 9/11" had been. And we knew that if it were, it really would change public opinion about our health care system in ways that would be harmful to the profits of health insurers. So, it was very important for this [attack] campaign to succeed. At one point during a strategy meeting, one of the people from [the insurance companies' public relations firm] APCO said that if our efforts, our initial efforts, were not successful, then we'd have to move to an element of the campaign to push Michael Moore off a cliff. And not meaning to do that literally, but to—

AMY GOODMAN: Are you sure?

WENDELL POTTER: Well, I'm not sure. To tell you the truth, when I started doing what I'm doing [as a whistleblower], I was concerned about my own health and well-being, maybe just from paranoia. But these companies play to win. And we're talking about some big bucks at stake here—billions and billions and billions of dollars.

AMY GOODMAN: So what were they talking about when they said, "If this doesn't work, we're going to push him off the cliff"?

WENDELL POTTER: Well, it would be just an incredibly intense PR effort, if necessary, to spend more premium dollars to defame Michael Moore, to discredit him even more as a filmmaker.

AMY GOODMAN: So, were you doing research on him?

WENDELL POTTER: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: You were going—personally?

WENDELL POTTER: Well, I was a part of the effort. I didn't—that was part of the reason for hiring APCO and to work with a trade association, is that it relieved me of the responsibility of doing that kind of work. You paid for it to be done by people who were experts in doing that kind of research.

AMY GOODMAN: But they were doing an investigation into him personally?

WENDELL POTTER: Well, absolutely. We knew as much about him probably as he knows about himself.

AMY GOODMAN: About his wife, about his kid, about—

WENDELL POTTER: Oh, yeah. You know, it's important to know everything that you might be able to use in some kind of a campaign against someone, to discredit them professionally and often personally.

AMY GOODMAN: And did you use that?

WENDELL POTTER: You use it if necessary.

The interview goes on as Potter reveals how his front group was able to get its talking points and smears into stories in the New York Times and CNN. It is a chilling look inside how easy it is to manipulate our mainstream media -- and just how worried the health insurance companies were that the American people might demand a true universal health care system.

In particular, Potter talks about how they may have succeeded in influencing CNN to run a factually untrue story about "Sicko" by its reporter, Sanjay Gupta (which led to my infamous encounter with Wolf Blitzer and later, an apology from CNN for getting their facts wrong).

Potter believes his work to defame "Sicko" succeeded, as the film didn't end up posting "Fahrenheit 9/11" grosses. To be clear, "Sicko" went on to become the 3rd largest grossing documentary of all time at that point. And as the release of "Sicko" in June of 2007 was the first time since the defeat of Hillary Clinton's healthcare bill in 1994 that the issue of health insurance was brought to the forefront of the national media, I believe it helped to reignite the issue during the 2008 election year by exposing millions of Americans to the truth about the health insurance industry. More than one person on Capitol Hill will admit that "Sicko" was a big help in rallying public support for the compromise bill that eventually passed earlier this year. But I agree, their smear campaign was effective and did create the dent they were hoping for -- single payer and the public option never even made it into the real discussion on the floor of Congress.

(There was really only one reason "Sicko" didn't sell as many tickets as "Fahrenheit" and that was because of a felony that was committed -- a felony that I will discuss for the first time on this site in the coming weeks or months ahead. Stay tuned.)

Please read or watch the entire interview with Wendell Potter. It's a fascinating peek behind the curtain of how corporate America really runs this country. And how if any of us get in their way, then those people must be stopped. It begs the question: Seeing how there's more of us than there are of them, how long will we let their takeover of our democracy continue?

God Bless the Ruling Class,
Michael Moore

[SpiritMan]

From my friend John, a former hospital administrator:

Please be sure to read the last line, if you read nothing else. This is Wall Street on the move. They are already dictating the practice of medicine in this country. Unfortunately, their dictates have more to do with the bottom line than they do with the practice of good medicine. Cost containment, as understood by Wall Street, has only one purpose, to increase profits. I have no problem with reasonable profits, but gouging the public is not reasonable. Millions are made each year on the backs of sick people, the elderly and the poor. My feeling is we should put a cap on profits when they are being made at the risk of our health. You must remember, the men who want to limit your benefits, have the best and most expensive health care policies offered at prices not much higher than you are paying for your Medicare. This true not only in the corporate world that is very good at taking care of its own, but also in the highest echelons of government service where the taxpayer foots the bill. Greed is driving healthcare, not sound medical judgment. Pay attention, your life may depend on the outcome.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/us/politics/18berwick.html

My comment: The following shows the true intent of the new majority in the House of Representatives!

“Repealing the new law would cause Medicare to go broke in just six years,” Mr. Baucus said. “Repealing the new law would increase the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. Repealing the law would put insurance company bureaucrats back in charge of health care.”

[SpiritMan]

Foreign Press Says What America’s Won’t: Sarah Palin is a Traitor

http://www.politicususa.com/en/foreign-sarah-palin-traitor

[SpiritMan]

TRUTH is the enemy now!

Julian Assange and Pfc Bradley Manning have done a huge public service by making hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. government documents available on Wikileaks -- and, predictably, no one is grateful. Manning, a former army intelligence analyst in Iraq, faces up to 52 years in prison. He is currently being held in solitary confinement at a military base in Quantico, Virginia, where he is not allowed to see his parents or other outside visitors.

Assange, the organizing brain of Wikileaks, enjoys a higher degree of freedom living as a hunted man in England under the close surveillance of domestic and foreign intelligence agencies -- but probably not for long. Not since President Richard Nixon directed his minions to go after Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg and New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan - "a vicious antiwar type," an enraged Nixon called him on the Watergate tapes -- has a working journalist and his source been subjected to the kind of official intimidation and threats that have been directed at Assange and Manning by high-ranking members of the Obama Administration.

Published reports suggest that a joint Justice Department-Pentagon team of investigators is exploring the possibility of charging Assange under the Espionage Act, which could lead to decades in jail. "This is not saber-rattling," said Attorney General Eric Holder, commenting on the possibility that Assange will be prosecuted by the government. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the Wikileaks disclosures "an attack on the international community" that endangered innocent people. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested in somewhat Orwellian fashion that "such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government."

It is dispiriting and upsetting for anyone who cares about the American tradition of a free press to see Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton and Robert Gibbs turn into H.R. Haldeman, John Erlichman and John Dean. We can only pray that we won't soon be hit with secret White House tapes of Obama drinking scotch and slurring his words while calling Assange bad names.The truly scandalous and shocking response to the Wikileaks documents has been that of other journalists, who make the Obama Administration sound like the ACLU.

Unwilling to let the Democrats adopt Nixon's anti-democratic, press-hating legacy as their own, Republican Congressman Peter King asserted that the publication of classified diplomatic cables is "worse even than a physical attack on Americans" and that Wikileaks should be officially designed as a terrorist organization. Mike Huckabee followed such blather to its logical conclusion by suggesting that Bradley Manning should be executed.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/12/the-shameful-attacks-on-julian-assange/67440/

[SpiritMan]

Tax Cut Deal A Hidden Threat To Social Security

WASHINGTON - The tax cut deal that President Obama struck with congressional Republicans contains a provision that could ultimately be the undoing of Social Security, say Senate Democrats and backers of the old-age and disability program.

Obama, as part of the Democratic package, secured a roughly 30 percent cut in the payroll tax, from 6.2 to 4.2 percent. Allowing it to expire in a year will mean that workers will see a nearly 50 percent jump in payroll taxes as the rate reverts back -- an event that will surely be described as a tax hike. The cut is estimated to cost $120 billion per year.

Democrats have never allowed the rate to be cut, even temporarily, in the history of the program, because payroll taxes feed the Social Security trust fund and create the political base of support for the program, said Nancy Altman, author of "The Battle For Social Security", a history of the program, and head of the advocacy group Social Security Works. Republicans have won a long-sought victory, even as President Obama hails it as a win for his party.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/08/tax-cut-deal-a-hidden-thr_n_793983.html

[SpiritMan]

Arianna: Tax Cut Deal A 'Complete Capitulation,' Not A 'Compromise' (VIDEO)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-tv/arianna-tax-cut-deal_b_793910.html

[SpiritMan]

There's this old joke about the French Revolution. A group of prisoners is lined up before the guillotine. One by one, their heads are lopped off. Then, the next man is put in place. The lever is pulled, but the blade stops just inches above his neck. This must be a sign of divine intervention, the judge in charge declares, and the man is freed.

The same thing happens to the next prisoner and the next and the next. Finally, as the very last man is prepared for execution, he looks up at the mechanism and exclaims, "Wait! I think I see your problem!"

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you President Barack Obama, providing needless aid and comfort to those who would do him wrong, handing over his own head without a fight, afflicted with a curious syndrome we men of science have decided to call Premature Capitulation...

...Mr. President, up to now at least, progressives have been the loyal opposition. You're wasting ammo on the wrong guys. Stand up, aim in the right direction and fight. Because if you think the tax breaks will lead to further logrolling or concessions from Congressional Republicans you're wrong. Now that they've gotten what they want, for the next two years of your term they will not yield much of anything else. Their nihilistic, scorched earth brand of politics leaves nothing behind but ash.

http://www.truth-out.org/the-heartbreak-premature-capitulation65781

[SpiritMan]

While Whacking Critics, Obama Gets Facts Wrong

WASHINGTON -- While arguing at Tuesday's press conference that his progressive critics are being sanctimonious and overly pure, President Obama flatly misstated the history of the Social Security program and disregarded the central intent of the public health insurance option.

Both concerns were raised Wednesday by economics blogger and former Clinton Treasury official Brad DeLong.

At the press conference (see the transcript), Obama defended his controversial decision to give in to Republican demands for a massive tax cut for the rich on the grounds that "in order to get stuff done, we're going to compromise."

His prime example: "This is why FDR, when he started Social Security, it only affected widows and orphans. You did not qualify. And yet now it is something that really helps a lot of people."

As it happens, Obama said the same thing in October, in an interview with Comedy Central's Jon Stewart: "When Social Security was passed, it applied to widows and orphans and it was a very restricted program, and over time that structure that was built ended up developing into the most important social safety net that we have in our country." That did not go unnoticed in the blogosphere, either.

Obama's overall point -- that Social Security wasn't born fully grown -- was exactly right. But his facts were exactly wrong. The Social Security Act, as first signed into law by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1935, paid retirement benefits to the primary worker -- and not to their widows and orphans. It wasn't until a 1939 change that the law added benefits for survivors and for the retiree's spouse and children.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/08/while-whacking-left-obama_n_794061.html

[SpiritMan]

House Dems To Biden: 'One Year Of Unemployment Benefits For Two Years Of Tax Breaks For The Rich?'

Democrats in the House of Representatives complained to Vice President Joe Biden for two hours Wednesday evening about the White House's deal with Republicans to preserve expiring tax cuts in exchange for extended jobless aid and a payroll tax holiday.

"One year of unemployment benefits for two years of tax breaks for the rich? What kind of deal is that?" said Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), describing the gripes of "plenty of people" during a meeting between Biden and House Democrats.

The White House struck the deal with congressional Republicans on Monday to preserve Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits programs for 13 months in exchange for a two-year extension of tax cuts for people earning more than $200,000 a year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/08/house-dems-biden-tax-cut-deal_n_794150.html

[SpiritMan]

Obama's tax-cut deal upsets many major donors

Some say they will withhold funds for the next election. Even if they come around before the campaign kicks into gear, the initial backlash could hurt early Democratic efforts to counter GOP-allied groups.

Reporting from Washington — President Obama's advisors are confident that liberals dismayed by his agreement to extend tax breaks for the wealthy will forgive him by the time the 2012 election kicks into gear.

"I do not plan to support Obama and his reelection effort," said Utah-based hedge fund manager Art Lipson, who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party and its allies in recent elections. He views the tax-cut compromise as a giveaway to Republicans that will increase the deficit.

"He's got many great qualities, but he is not a fighter," Lipson said of the president. "I've met with many donors and the level of disappointment is extreme."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dem-donors-20101210,0,49525.story

[SpiritMan]

Here's my hero:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/10/bernie-sanders-filibuster_n_795087.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=236514,b=facebook