An Immoral Philosophy

An Immoral Philosophy

When a child is enrolled in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (Schip), the positive results can be dramatic. For example, after asthmatic children are enrolled in Schip, the frequency of their attacks declines on average by 60 percent, and their likelihood of being hospitalized for the condition declines more than 70 percent.

Regular care, in other words, makes a big difference. That's why Congressional Democrats, with support from many Republicans, are trying to expand Schip, which already provides essential medical care to millions of children, to cover millions of additional children who would otherwise lack health insurance.

But President Bush says that access to care is no problem - "After all, you just go to an emergency room" - and, with the support of the Republican Congressional leadership, he's declared that he'll veto any Schip expansion on "philosophical" grounds.

It must be about philosophy, because it surely isn't about cost. One of the plans Mr. Bush opposes, the one approved by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the Senate Finance Committee, would cost less over the next five years than we'll spend in Iraq in the next four months. And it would be fully paid for by an increase in tobacco taxes.

The House plan, which would cover more children, is more expensive, but it offsets Schip costs by reducing subsidies to Medicare Advantage - a privatization scheme that pays insurance companies to provide coverage, and costs taxpayers 12 percent more per beneficiary than traditional Medicare.

Disgraced Pastor Ted Haggard Can't Pray Away the Gay

Disgraced Pastor Ted Haggard Can't Pray Away the Gay

James Harris: [Mike Jones] is the author of the new book I Had to Say Something -- the book outlining and detailing his relationship with Ted Haggard. Since his new book was published, Ted Haggard, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a 30,000-member organization, has stepped down. And this book has caused an incredible stir. Mike, usually I would start off a discussion of your book by saying clearly you were in this for the money. But you lost your escort capacity. You were fired from your fitness consultancy. Why did you do it?

Mike Jones: Yes, when I exposed Ted Haggard, I exposed myself. There's no doubt about it. I also had death threats, and I risked being arrested, also. But you know, this man was such a hypocrite. This was a man who talked to Bush once a week. This was a man who actively campaigned against gay marriage. And he could not even abide by his own marriage vows. This is so strong for me, and it hurt me so deeply, that I simply reached the point where I had to say something.

Josh Scheer: What about in recent news where he said he has been cured of being a homosexual, he's reformed. Do you believe that, since you spent three years with him?

Jones: Well, first of all, the word cured is disgusting. It's not a disease or a sickness. Listen, this man I had seen for approximately three years ... this man is in denial. It's part of the problem with the evangelical church, it's part of the problem with the Catholic Church. They put such guilt and shame on being a gay man that you end up with someone like Ted Haggard who has to sneak around. And that's the sad situation about all of this.

Conservatives continue to be haunted by credibility and moral relativity problems

Conservatives continue to be haunted by credibility and moral relativity problems

Bill O'Reilly bans commenter, so much for fair and balanced

Bill O'Reilly Banned Me

Since I gave completely accurate information when registering and I never made a post, uncivil or otherwise, I can only assume that I committed the unpardonable sin of exposing hate speech on his website. Which of course, according to Bill-O himself, means hate speech that O'Reilly agrees with and endorses. He's angry that we're not going to let this purveyor of hate hide his beliefs behind closed doors anymore.

And it's funny that Bill O'Reilly, who said he controls what's on his website, only chooses to act against those who show what exactly it is that he endorses. Because the hateful calls for violence and bigotry that I posted about earlier are still on his website.

Bush on delusional rampage, thinks he's the Emperor of America

A New Bush "Executive Privilege" Theory

So now we have a President that virtually says that he is above the law because he is the law because he hires the lawyers and they work for him. What chutzpah! If this is allowed to stand, then Congress could use its "inherent contempt powers allowing either body to hold its own trials and even jail those found in defiance of Congress. According to the Post this was "widely used during the 19th century, the power has not been invoked since 1934 and Democratic lawmakers have not displayed an appetite for reviving the practice."

It's about time that Congress started using it again. The old saying that "drastic times call for drastic measures" could not be as appropriate as they are now. These indeed are drastic times. The American people would have no problem with Congress using drastic measures. In fact they have been calling for Congress to do just that for months now.

College Republicans - Meet the Next Generation of GOP Hypocrites

College Republican Convention: Meet the Next Generation of GOP Hypocrites

In conversations with at least twenty College Republicans about the war in Iraq, I listened as they lip-synched discredited cant about "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here." Many of the young GOP cadres I met described the so-called "war on terror" as nothing less than the cause of their time.

Yet when I asked these College Republicans why they were not participating in this historic cause, they immediately went into contortions. Asthma. Bad knees from playing catcher in high school. "Medical reasons." "It's not for me." These were some of the excuses College Republicans offered for why they could not fight them "over there."

Meet the Pentagon's New Spin Unit: Bush Administration hacks court bloggers, talk radio

Meet the Pentagon's New Spin Unit: Bush Administration hacks court bloggers, talk radio

This project seeks to bypass the traditional media and work directly with talk radio and bloggers, mostly those with a heavily conservative tilt. The unit, which one source says was originally called "Surrogates Operation" but was later rechristened "Communications Outreach," also reportedly provides talking points and briefings to retired military officials who now support the administration in appearances as media pundits.

There Are Very Few Causes Worth Dying For - Iraq Is Not One of Them

There Are Very Few Causes Worth Dying For - Iraq Is Not One of Them

Like being shot by a sniper on the western front at 10.59am on November 11, 1918, to die now as a British soldier in Iraq is its own special category of tragedy. What has he died for? Is Iraq a safer and more secure place? Is the rest of the world, including Britain, likewise? Is the Middle East more democratic, more optimistic of its future? But adjust these lofty aims: is the price of oil lower? The answer is not just that these things have stayed much the same; it is in all cases the incendiary opposite. Worse than all this futility, worse even than the bogus prospectus for the invasion that took him there in the first place, the dead soldier will know in the last days of his life that only a small number of his fellow citizens want him and his comrades to be there, and that his government, with what on the hottest Basra day must seem like glacial slowness, is trying to get him out.

Bush's View of Iraq Delusional and Dangerous

Bush's View of Iraq Delusional and Dangerous

Reading the White House's report, released Thursday, on whether President Bush's January 2007 "surge" of 30,000 troops is working, you'd never know that a real-life, flesh-and-blood war is being waged in Iraq, with hundreds of people maimed and killed every day. You'd never know that May 2007 was the most violent month in that violent war in nearly three years, with 6,039 attacks on US and Iraqi government forces, 1,348 IEDs exploded under their vehicles, 286 "complex ambushes" involving roadside bombs and coordinated teams of attackers, 102 car bombs, 126 American soldiers killed and 652 wounded.

The report doesn't mention that Gen. David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, warned this week that the resistance in Iraq is preparing a Tet-style offensive, like the one launched in January 1968 by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam. The insurgents, Petraeus said, intend to "pull off a variety of sensational attacks and grab the headlines to create a 'mini-Tet.'"

Instead, in bland, bureaucratic language–its title is Initial Benchmark Assessment Report–the White House has substituted spin for substance: "We have carefully examined all the facts and circumstances with respect to each of the 18 benchmarks and asked the following question: As measured from a January 2007 baseline, do we assess that present trend data demonstrates a positive trajectory, which is tracking toward satisfactory accomplishment in the near term?"

The report says some progress is being made on its stated goals; for others, not so much, or none at all. But in reality, none–zero, zilch, nada–have been met. Last January, when the President announced the escalation by adding at least 30,000 US troops to the occupation force, he justified it by declaring that within six months it would show results, stabilizing the Iraqi capital and creating space for political reconciliation, security and economic progress. But things are demonstrably worse: Violence is up, and the Iraqi government is falling apart.

Bush's assertion of privilege is wildly misplaced—and could lead to another Watergate

Bush's assertion of privilege is wildly misplaced—and could lead to another Watergate

Justice requires the appearance of justice. To command public confidence, the Justice Department—yes, like Caesar's wife—must be above suspicion. But suspicion has arisen that the White House intended to manipulate U.S. attorneys in some instances to harass Democrats with contrived voting fraud prosecutions or otherwise. The committees' interest in exposing misuse of the president's power to appoint and remove executive officials is compelling. As Justice Louis Brandies observed, sunshine is the best disinfectant.

Bush Justice Is A National Disgrace

Bush Justice Is A National Disgrace

As a longtime attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, I can honestly say that I have never been as ashamed of the department and government that I serve as I am at this time.

The public record now plainly demonstrates that both the DOJ and the government as a whole have been thoroughly politicized in a manner that is inappropriate, unethical and indeed unlawful. The unconscionable commutation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's sentence, the misuse of warrantless investigative powers under the Patriot Act and the deplorable treatment of U.S. attorneys all point to an unmistakable pattern of abuse.

In the course of its tenure since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration has turned the entire government (and the DOJ in particular) into a veritable Augean stable on issues such as civil rights, civil liberties, international law and basic human rights, as well as criminal prosecution and federal employment and contracting practices. It has systematically undermined the rule of law in the name of fighting terrorism, and it has sought to insulate its actions from legislative or judicial scrutiny and accountability by invoking national security at every turn, engaging in persistent fearmongering, routinely impugning the integrity and/or patriotism of its critics, and protecting its own lawbreakers. This is neither normal government conduct nor "politics as usual," but a national disgrace of a magnitude unseen since the days of Watergate - which, in fact, I believe it eclipses.

Censuring Bush for Commuting a Traitor's Jail Sentence

Censuring Bush for Commuting a Traitor's Jail Sentence

When Congress returns from the 4th of July recess, I will file a Congressional resolution censuring President George W. Bush for his egregious and politically motivated commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence.

I strongly believe that presidential intervention in this case is an unconscionable abuse of authority by George W. Bush. This is a case of a man lying to protect the President from the consequences of an Administration that chose petty political retribution over national security. And these lies are not about some trivial personal issue. These are lies that sent America to war on false pretenses.

Scooter Libby was charged by a special prosecutor appointed by George W. Bush. Libby was found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice by a jury and was appropriately sentenced by a federal judge, also appointed by President Bush. The conviction and sentencing weren't a grave miscarriage of justice by an out-of-control liberal judiciary that had it in for the Bush Administration. The sentence was appropriate for someone who committed the serious crime of perjury to cover up lies made by this administration, lies that go to the heart of President Bush's decision to send American troops to Iraq without justification.

Just another obstruction of justice

Just another obstruction of justice

Yesterday, George Bush attempted to prevent that chain of events from continuing any further. He commuted Scooter Libby's 30-month sentence. Rather than serving time in jail, Libby will remain free, with a fine and probation as the only remaining punishments for lying and obstructing a criminal investigation. But the real effect of Bush's actions is to prevent Libby from revealing the truth about Bush's - and vice president Cheney's - own actions in the leak. By commuting Libby's sentence, Bush protected himself and his vice president from potential criminal exposure for their actions in the CIA Leak. As such, Libby's commutation is nothing short of another obstruction of justice.

Commute these sentences, Mr. President

More of this article at the link, Commute these sentences, Mr. President

Weldon Angelos — 55 years for minor marijuana and gun charges, causing the George W. Bush-appointed judge Paul Cassell, previously best known for pressing the courts to overturn the Miranda decision, to call the mandatory sentence in this case "unjust, cruel, and even irrational."

Anthea Harris — 15 years when members of her husband's drug ring received sentence reductions to testify against her, although she had not been directly involved in the business.

A compassionate conservative should also use the pardon power to head off the DEA's war against doctors who help patients alleviate pain. He could start by pardoning Dr. Ronald McIver, sentenced to 30 years for prescribing Oxycontin and other drugs to patients in severe pain.