Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Pro-Life Supporters Should be Thinking Twice about Voting for Romney

by Nomad


The handlers of Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee in this year's election, have always had a serious conundrum when it came to the topic of abortion. While running for governor in 1994, his pro-choice stand was about as unequivocal as any liberal politician can be. Only he wasn't liberal. It was a transparent strategy to rob his opponent Edward Kennedy of his left wing support. (Romney is nothing if not ambitious.)

During the debate with Kennedy, Romney got up-close and personal with the audience, revealing how a relative had died as a result of a backstreet abortion. Kennedy’s reaction was bemusement with a touch of amusement. He replied that Romney’s position kept changing. Was he pro-choice or was his pro-life and finally labeled Romney “the multiple-choice candidate.”

Romney, clearly irked, demanded a chance to respond. This topic was one, he said, that he would never be changing his position on. This was rock solid. He was without any question and forever pro-choice.
Then, a funny thing happened on the way to the White House. He became pro-life.
Just like that. 

Spinning it like a potter’s wheel, Romney fobbed the contradiction off as an “evolving” opinion. (A concept most of the conservatives apparently don't put much faith in.)
With the cowardly mainstream media in tow in this presidential election, the Republican conservative elite somehow managed to deflect and to distract. The pro-life faction of the conservative right wing were assured that all was in order; that despite his heart-felt statements back in 1994, he was really (no, REALLY!) against abortion. This Romney is not the same as THAT Romney.

Stericycle- Money over Principle?
Then there came the Stericycle problem.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

The Shameful Truth behind Gov. Jindal's Rejection of Health Care Reforms

Bobby JindalBy Nomad
When it comes to Obamacare, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's position is clear. He will have no part in it. However, his decision will come at a great cost to the welfare of the people of his state. Louisiana, more than most states, will benefit from affordable health care. 

The Quality of Care
Following the Supreme Court's decision, ruling that the Affordable Care Act was, after all, constitutional, all across the land one could hear the sound of the frying of the tiny shriveled brains of right wing conservatives. (It was no doubt made worse by those marvelous screw-ups from Fox and CNN.) 
Yet it was the reaction from Governor Bobby Jindal from Louisiana seemed the most insincere.
Immediately following the announcement of the court's decision, a flustered Jindal surely must have tweeted his fingers raw. He tweets:
Today’s decision is a blow to our freedoms.
He didn't even use all of his 144 characters to explain how our freedoms had precisely been blown. He left that to our imaginations. And later:
The Court should have protected our constitutional freedoms, but remember it was the President that forced this law on us.
As one blog writer noted, how the president forced the law on the American public was by passing it in Congress by majorities. That sly fox. 
However the most galling tweet of the day happened to be this one:
Americans oppose it because it will decrease the quality of care, raise taxes, cut Medicare, and break the bank. All of this is still true.
As we shall soon see, this tweet is, by far, the most obscene.


Saturday, June 30, 2012

The Long Con Continues: Eric Cantor and Mitt Romney’s Shameful Lies about the Vote to Repeal

by Nomad
Following the news that the Supreme Court had declared the health care reforms, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Republican congressman from Virginia, announced that the House Republicans would vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act on July 11. According to CBS report:
Cantor said that the continued debate over the health care law is "all about this election and whether this law is going to go forward or not... Mitt Romney will be the one that will, frankly, get the health care that most people want back on track."
Attempting to transform what would normally be considered a humiliating defeat into campaign rhetoric for the Republican challenger is an understandable, even bold, maneuver but it does sound strangely detached from reality. Obamacare was actually based on the plan that Romney as governor enacted in Massachusetts. This puts him in the rather idiotic position of calling for a repeal of a healthcare plan he once supported and hailed as his victory when he was governor.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Mainstream Media Misreports Supreme Court ACA Decision

by Nomad
Finally, Americans got some good news today. (At least, Obama did.)
Against expectations, the Supreme Court ruled that the individual mandate- a key component of the Affordable Care Act- is after all constitutional. It was really a 50-50 call because with the recent decisions by the court, even the most preposterous result was quite possible.
Of course if you were a devoted viewer of CNN and Fox News, you might have never known what the Supreme Court ruled. Here are screen shots (courtesy of ThinkProgress) of what those so-called news organization reported.


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Apple Stores: More Discrimination. Not So Thinly Disguised

Apple Stores in Georgia Won’t Sell iPads to People Speaking Farsi
WSB-TV in Alpharetta, Georgia has interviews with two people who were denied iPads and iPhones at two different Apple Stores after employees learned they were from Iran.

Sahar Sabet, 19 and a U.S. citizen, says it all started when an employee asked her what language she was speaking with her uncle.

“When we said ‘Farsi, I’m from Iran,’ he said, ‘I just can’t sell this to you. Our countries have bad relations,’” Sabet said.

“I would say if you’re trying to buy an iPhone, don’t tell them anything about Iran. That would be your best bet,” Zack Jafarzadeh, who had a similar experience at a nearby Apple Store told WSB-TV.

On Tuesday, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on Apple to change its policy after learning about WSB-TV’s report.

“Apple must revise its policies to ensure that customers do not face discriminatory treatment based on their religion, ethnicity or national origin,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “If the actions of these Apple employees reflected company policy, that policy must be changed and all employees retrained.”
Clearly this policy was intended for international export and not domestic individual sales. Whether it was a failure to explain the company policy effectively to its store managers or whether store managers simply took it upon themselves to interpret the policy in this way is unclear. Inter-company memos will no doubt show what went wrong.

Monday, June 25, 2012

The Health Care Reform Debate: Shame of a Superpower

by Nomad
It’s often asked how people can vote against their own best interests. As a social phenomena, this strange, pathetic quirk of democracy is being played out before our eyes in the healthcare debate. 
For a nation that once prided itself in being a leader among nations, with a system of governance to be admired and imitated, the whole thing has been one embarrassment after another.

First the good news.
According to provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, health insurers that covered large groups were required to spend at least 85 cents out of every dollar on medical care or “activities that improve health care quality.”

This provision became effective last year and its implementation is now producing real results. Insurers who spend more than allowed on expenses other than patient care will be required to compensate policy holders. Meaning, policyholders can expect to see a rebate check in the mail before August 1 2012. 


Saturday, June 23, 2012

When the Supreme Court Struck Back at Roosevelt 2/2

English: NRA (National Recovery Administration...
NRA (National Recovery Administration) member: We Do Our Part (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
by Nomad
In the PART ONE, we examined the attempts by Franklin Roosevelt to develop a series of far-reaching social programs to get the American economy back on its feet. One of his many programs was the National Recovery Act, which attempted to restart and reform the industrial sector. Roosevelt sought to standardize manufacturing and labor by drafting a uniform code for all industries. It was a bold initiative.

The Case of Sick Chicken
Under the blanket codes of National Recovery Act (NRA), Brooklyn-based Schechter Poultry was found in violation of the industry codes for the poultry industry. The sixty charges against the retailer were later to be reduced to eighteen, and among those eighteen charges were "the sale to a butcher of an unfit chicken" and the sale of two un-inspected chickens.

The poultry industry in the 1930s had long been corrupted by gangsters and the Schetchers had struggled hard to evade “the rackets.” When the NRA was introduced, Joe Schechter joined in and displayed the blue eagle in his window. He had little interest in following the codes and it wasn’t long before inspectors found him out.