People & Power reveals the story behind the unprecedented political protests in Egypt. Over the course of a remarkable fortnight, People&Power has been filming exclusively behind the scenes with a core group of young activists.
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B-Us-ted. GossipCop.com reports that Us Weekly just did something extraordinarily dumb (bolds, italics, and link are in original): Whoops! Us Weekly Publishes Sarah Palin/Christina Aguilera Spoof as Fact
Continue reading …Lawrence O’Donnell in Heated Debate About Obama’s Religion Asks Congressman ‘How Do We Know You’re Not A Muslim?’
February 10, 2011 No Comment
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Wednesday had a very heated discussion with Congressman Steve King (R-Ia.) about Barack Obama's religious upbringing. At one point, the “Last Word” host actually asked his guest, “How do we know you are not a Muslim?” (video follows with transcript and commentary): LAWRENCE O’DONNELL, HOST: Congressman, I just want to go back to the tape we just showed. I am not sure you had good enough audio to hear every word of it, but you lived it. You were in a constituents meeting, and one of your constituents said, you know, he doesn't have American experience. You said, he, this is what you said about the President of the United States. “He doesn't have an American experience. He does not have an American experience,” and the constituent then said to you, “He didn't grow up in America.” Congressman, where did Barack Obama grow up? REPRESENTATIVE STEVE KING (R-IOWA): Well, by his own reports, he spent a lot of his early formative years in Indonesia. O’DONNELL: How many? Congressman, how many years? KING: I would guest five or six years in Indonesia, perhaps longer. O’DONNELL: Then where did he live? KING: Pardon me? O’DONNELL: Then where did he live? KING: Then he moved to Hawaii, which is in America, which is going to be your next point. O’DONNELL: Okay, so my question to you is you know more than your constituents about a lot of things, an awful lot of things, and you know more than your constituents about Barack Obama. Why didn't you say he grew up in Hawaii? Why couldn't you bring yourself to say that in Iowa? KING: Well, it would have been a contradiction of the facts. He has, really, very formative years, from age about five on to nine or ten. O’DONNELL: Did he grew up in Hawaii, Congressman? Are you denying that he grew up in Hawaii? KING: Part of his upbringing was Hawaii, it certainly was. It certainly was. I don't think there's any question, part of his upbringing was in Hawaii. O’DONNELL: Now, do you have any doubt whether he is a Christian? KING: You know, I think that is up to the President, but I will tell you that I would not, I would not present him as anything other than that. It’s his religion. That's what he said. In fact, when he gave a speech in Cairo last year… O’DONNELL: Do you believe he’s a Christian? Do you believe he’s a Christian, Congressman? KING: …he said he was a Christian. I take him at his word. O’DONNELL: Are you a Christian? KING: Yes, sir. O’DONNELL: Should I take you at your word or should I maybe suspect you're a Muslim? Do you have a Christian ID you can show me and prove to me you're a Christian? KING: I think God’s going to ask you not to judge as I am not judging President Obama’s religion O’DONNELL: Do you have a Christian ID? KING: No one has a Christian ID. O’DONNELL: Catholics get birth certificates, get baptismal certificates in fact. There are some religions that do issue certificates of certain kinds. Do you have any? This should give readers an idea that O'Donnell wasn't even listening to King's answers, for if he had been, the discussion would have been over: KING: I don't think I do. I’ve got a certificate of baptism, so that would be a start. So, O'Donnell said, “Catholics get birth certificates, get baptismal certificates,” and King replied, “I’ve got a certificate of baptism.” But that wasn't good enough for O'Donnell: O’DONNELL: How do we know, how do we know you are not a Muslim? Well, he just told the host he had a certificate of baptism which the host previously said was proof of one's religion. As you can see, there was no answer King could have given that would have satisfied his interrogator. Despite this, the folks at MSNBC must have been proud of O'Donnell's behavior for the video of this entire segment was posted at “The Last Word Blog” with the headline “Is Rep. Steve King a Muslim?” I kid you not: And this is what the folks at MSNBC consider journalism. Here's the video of the entire segment if you can stand it:
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enlarge “I said WHAT??” Click here to view this media I suppose it should come as no surprise to anyone the adage “Leopards don’t change their spots” has nothing to do with politics. However, in the case of Ronald Reagan, it would seem (at least in the eyes of his fervent supporters and those entrusted with re-writing history) he was never anything but the personification of Conservatism and hardline Right Wing ideology. Well, no. There was that blip in the radar during the FDR and Truman years where Ronald Reagan was a big New Deal supporter as is evidenced by this campaign address on behalf of Truman’s re-election bid in 1948 as well as the election of then-Mayor Hubert Humphrey to the Senate in Minnesota. Ronald Reagan: “The profits of corporations have doubled, while workers wages have only increased by one quarter. In other words, profits have gone up four times as much as wages. And the small increase the workers did receive was more than eaten up by rising prices which have also bored into their savings. For example, here’s an Associated Press dispatch I read the other day about Smith L. Carpenter, a carpenter in Union Springs New York. Seems that Mister Carpenter retired some years ago thinking he had enough money saved so that he could live out his last years without having to worry. But he didn’t figure on this Republican inflation which ate up all his savings. And so he’s gone back to work. The reason this is news; is Mister Carpenter is ninety-one years old. Now take as a contrast the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey which reported a net profit of two hundred and ten million dollars, after taxes, for the first half of 1948. An increase of 70% in one year.” The rest, as they say, is history.
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Mona Eltahawy, an award-winning writer and an international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues, spoke to Al Jazeera, live from New York, on the latest developments in Egypt.
Continue reading …Egypt Foreign Minister Gheit: Mubarak Feels He is an "Indispensable President"
February 10, 2011 No Comment
enlarge Credit: Al Jazeera English Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit gave PBS a lengthy interview today. In addition to the usual jargon, he revealed Egyptian Hosni Mubarak’s true beliefs about his role in Egypt, his legacy, and how he feels about US pressure for him to step down. On stepping down as President: AHMED ABOUL GHEIT: The president is an honest person who takes the wellbeing and the stability of the country. He believes strongly in stability – stability that would ensure development and progress. MARGARET WARNER: Has he even considered stepping down as the demonstrators are demanding? AHMED ABOUL GHEIT: He believes and he publicly said so: He believes that if he steps down or relinquishes his authority or nominates somebody else then first that is unconstitutional but second, he thinks that it would entail chaos and it would entail violence and it would entail also opportunities for those who would wish to act in a manner to threaten the state, the stability of the country and society. He has a constitutional responsibility to defend the Constitution and to defend the national security of Egypt. MARGARET WARNER: Does he feel that he’s indispensable then? AHMED ABOUL GHEIT: As a president, not as a person. As a president. On government responsibility for the Tahrir Square thuggery and chaos: MARGARET WARNER: So what explains that day, this was just last week, with camels and horses and thugs going into Tahrir Square into what had really been a peaceful demonstration? You don’t hold the government responsible for what happened that day? AHMED ABOUL GHEIT: I do not think the government was responsible for that, because, as I was telling you, my office overlooks the Nile. I saw them coming, in hundreds and then in thousands and I felt they should be stopped. But we didn’t have enough forces to stop them from coming into the square. And the president yesterday established a commission to investigate particularly that incident. MARGARET WARNER: Meanwhile, if you go back to the reality in the streets, the reality in the streets is you’ve got hundreds of thousands in Tahrir Square, demanding that Mubarak must go now. AHMED ABOUL GHEIT: And then chaos. MARGARET WARNER: And then chaos? AHMED ABOUL GHEIT: Absolutely. Then chaos. Chaos. A thinly veiled suggestion that “order” is to be had only with Hosni Mubarak’s guidance, and that democracy is nothing more than…chaos. But of course, that chaos is caused by one side, and that side is the government. They’ve utilized third world terror tactics by releasing prisoners, paying thugs and releasing police in plain clothes to mingle among the protesters and stir trouble. Running protesters down, gunning protesters down. That’s chaos. The protesters themselves are busy standing for a democratic Egypt, cleaning Tahrir Square and even constructing bathrooms. They are not the creators of chaos; the regime does that quite effectively. But what you see in this interview is a government in its last gasps of relevance, threatening martial law while thumping their chests and decrying “chaos”. Here’s CNN reporter Ben Wedeman’s translation of Egyptian GovernmentSpeak, as laid out on Twitter last night in case you want a translation:
Continue reading …The United States is now warning the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, to make the reforms Egyptians are calling for. The Obama administration is becoming increasingly blunt in their messages to Mubarak, but insist they are not looking to influence events in Egypt. On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama spoke to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah about the crisis. He stressed the importance of a meaningful and lasting transition of power in Egypt. Al Jazeera’s White House correspondent Patty Culhane reports from Washington.
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Egypt’s uprising is being closely watched in Iran. Ali Larijani, the Iranian parliament speaker, blames the US and Israel for bringing instability to the region. He explained his reasons for doing so to Al Jazeera’s Nick Clark.
Continue reading …GOP Rep. Cassidy: Medicaid Patients Have Worse Outcomes Than Those With No Insurance
February 10, 2011 No CommentClick here to view this media GOP LA Rep. Bill Cassidy can’t explain why, but made the claim on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal that those on Medicaid have worse outcomes than those with no insurance at all. BRAWNER: You talked a lot about Medicaid reform. You think that the system is broken. Why? CASSIDY: Oh my gosh. The goals of health care reform are to provide access to quality care at an affordable cost; Medicaid’s a black hole for that. It does not provide access because it pays so poorly, specialists for example, but despite paying so poorly it’s bankrupting the states, so there’s a high cost and studies show that the care it does provide is below quality. And so it is the antithisis of where we want to be with reform. BRAWNER: You said the quality of care is below average. Why? CASSIDY: Well that is not, it’s documented, but the reasons why are not entirely understood. But there’s a recent report that showed that those on Medicaid have worse outcomes than patients with commercial insurance, patients who are on Medicare, the federal program. Remember Medicaid for your viewers who may not know this is a combined federal/state program that insures, so to speak, the low income folks. And it’s actually worse than the uninsured. So Medicaid, Medicaid patients in some cases have worse outcomes than patients who have no insurance whatsoever. Now, why that is is not understood, but what is known is there is a problem with the quality of the patients on Medicaid – the quality of health care for the patients on Medicaid receive. Here’s more from Think Progress — GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy Says Being On Medicaid Is ‘Actually Worse’ Than Having No Insurance : During a long rant against government-subsidized health insurance today on C-Span’s Washington Journal, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) claimed that being uninsured is better than being on Medicaid — the federal government program that provides health care for low-income Americans. Cassidy didn’t offer any specific examples of how Medicaid patients have worse outcomes than those who are uninsured. But it’s important to note that the uninsured population has a lot of young people who don’t consume health care, while the Medicaid population generally has more risk factors and is in need of coverage. Families USA has pointed out that Medicaid “ is cost-effective ” when compared to private health insurance. And there’s the obvious financial benefit of having government subsidized insurance versus private insurance, let alone no insurance at all: Federal law limits how much people in Medicaid can be charged for their health care. For low-income people, this prevents costs from being a barrier to obtaining needed health care. Low-income adults with private health insurance pay more than six times as much on out-of-pocket costs than do low-income adults with Medicaid. Go read the rest but this is the type of stuff that just makes my head hurt. It would have been nice if C-SPAN host Greta Wodele Brawner had asked him just who did this supposed “study” he was touting.
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Barack Obama, the US president, is gearing up to send Congress his budget request for 2012. The Obama administration is wrestling with record budget deficits and a limping economy. And on Wednesday, the head of the US Federal Reserve warned that current job growth is not good enough for a sustained recovery. Al Jazeera’s John Terrett reports.
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