The plot against Social Security failed: President Bush’s attempt to privatize the system crashed and burned when the public realized what he was up to. But the plot against Medicare is faring better: the stealth privatization embedded in the Medicare Modernization Act, which Congress literally passed in the dead of night back in 2003, is proceeding apace.
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Category Archives: Issues
The Plot Against Medicare
E-mail may be lost, including Rove’s
Some online emails, possible related to the U.S. attorney firings may have been sent through private email accounts. Official Government emails are for public record, and should not be sent through private accounts.
Filed under National
House panel issues first supoena over firings
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 11, 2007; Page A01
The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena yesterday to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, demanding that the Justice Department turn over hundreds of pages of new or uncensored records related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year.
The subpoena is the first served in connection with the dismissals, and it escalates the legal confrontation between Democrats and the Bush administration, which has resisted demands for more documents and for public testimony from White House aides. The order comes just a week before the embattled attorney general is scheduled to testify in the Senate, a hearing widely considered crucial to his attempt to keep his job.
Filed under National
Defining the Mission
This is a quote from Democratic chairman Howard Dean: “Our object was not to get you into power because you are Democrats-our object was to get you into power so you actually do something” Dean said. Dean stated: “We want change. It wasn’t about the Democratic Party. It was about the country.”
Senate goes on record for troop withdrawal date
By a vote of 48-50 the Senate rejected a Republican effort to strip from the Military Spending Bill any reference to a American troop withdrawal date. As usual Senator Allard voted for striking the language and Senator Salazar voted for the withdrawal date. Another vote of interest was Senator Lieberman, who vote for removal of the language.
House passes Iraq Funding Bill with date certain
The House of Represititives passes on Thursday a bill that set a date for the removal of combat troops from Iraq. It was part of a supplemental funding bill for the war in Iraq and Afganistan. Part of the bill states that the combat troops must be withdrawn by the end of 2008.
Message from ken Gordon
Some Republicans have been upset that we are proposing to debate the war. Some say that it is not a state issue. I disagree for several reasons. First, at the beginning of the war, the Republicans ran several resolutions supporting the President’s conduct of the war. We do resolutions to express the view of the General Assembly on numerous national issues.
Second, the war has had a huge fiscal impact on Colorado. The Federal government is proposing to cut funds that had previously been designated for Colorado in numerous areas. These include work-force development, five million dollars for incarcerating people held for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, funds for disaster relief for farmers on the eastern plains, funds for homeland security, and Medicaid. Current costs of the Iraq War exceed $500,000,000,000. This is why other programs are being cut
Finally, Americans soldiers and Iraqi civilians are dying. Over a hundred of the soldiers have ties to Colorado. To argue that we shouldn’t be debating the resolution, because the Iraq war somehow doesn’t affect Colorado, seems like a pretty hard case to make.”
Filed under General, Legislature
Iraq War Hearings Schedule
From Joe Biden’s office, here’s the tentative schedule for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearings on Iraq:
(hat tip to BobGeiger.com !)
Filed under National
