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Occupy Is Not Dead
June 28, 2012
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Posted by Bob Lord As the 2012 election cycle heats up, it's easy to forget about Occupy. As firmly as I believe that Occupy has a better chance of saving this once great country of ours than does the Democratic Party, I've been caught up in electoral politics myself. It's hard not to be. But … Read more
‘June swoon’ for whom?
June 28, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Remember all the way back to the start of the month with the weak jobs numbers for May? The media villagers and Beltway bloviators all started their meme about the "June swoon" President Obama was about to suffer from adverse Supreme Court decisions and poor economic news.
The "conventional wisdom" (sic) of the Beltway media is never right.
President Obama has won two decisive victories in the U.S. Supreme Court this week, one upholding the Affordable Care Act and the other striking down much of SB 1070 and leaving what remains to a future constitutional challenge the Court intimated it will be difficult for SB 1070 to survive.
President Obama also won a major legal victory in the D.C. Court of Appeals which unanimously upheld the first-ever regulations aimed at reducing the gases blamed for global warming, handing down perhaps the most significant decision on the issue since a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gases could be controlled as air pollutants. Court upholds EPA's global-warming rules.
These are major defeats for Tea-Publicans opposed to immigrants, health care, and environmental regulation to address climate change. They are now on the defensive.
Willard "Mittens" Romney got caught flat-footed with President Obama's policy for DREAM Act-Lite; he still has not articulated a coherent policy position. Mittens' previous support for SB 1070 as "a model for the nation" suffered a fatal blow from the SCOTUS opinion. Again, he does not have a coherent policy. The media villagers have noticed the ineptitude of his campaign and his unwillingness to take a postion on any issue.
Now that ‘Obamacare’ is Constitutional, the next step is Medicare for all
June 28, 2012
by Pamela Powers Hannley Whew…I feel as if we, as a country, have dodged a huge bullet today. As predicted yesterday by former Treasury Secretary Robert Reich, the Chief Justice John Roberts crossed party lines and sided with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to uphold the constutionality of the … Read more
SCOTUS Watch: Victory! The Affordable Care Act upheld by SCOTUS
June 28, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I first want to begin by noting that I had a bank of television sets on this morning tuned into the various networks. At 7:08 a.m. (AZ Time), the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision on the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare"). FAUX News Fraudcasting and TeaNN (formerly CNN) immediately announced that the Court had ruled "Obamacare" unconstitutional, reading from their prepared GOPropaganda talking points.
The exact opposite was true. In a 5-4 decision, SCOTUS upheld the Affordable Care Act in its entirety under Congress' taxing authority. We need to begin a serious discussion in this country about illegitimate news organizations that engage in unlawful propaganda on behalf of the GOP and the conservative movement. Facts are facts, propaganda to create an "alternate reality" of lies is unconscionable and should be impermissible.
Today's decision in favor of the Affordable Care Act is a striking victory and a vindication of President Obama and congresional Democrats. the "unconstitutional" argument from the right has been rejected by SCOTUS.
Here is a quick recap of the opinions announced today. Amy Howe from SCOTUSblog summarizes the cases, followed by a link to today's opinions. The remaining merits cases as of June 23: In Plain English:
The health care cases:
Argued March 26-28, 2012
Plain English Issue: (1) Whether Congress has the power under the Constitution to require virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty; and (2) whether the Anti-Injunction Act, which prohibits taxpayers from filing a lawsuit to challenge a tax until the tax goes into effect and they are required to pay it, prohibits a challenge to the Act’s provision requiring virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty until after the provision goes into effect in 2014.
Plain English Issue: (1) Whether Congress can require states to choose between complying with provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or losing federal funding for the Medicaid program; and (2) whether, if the Court concludes that the provision of the Act requiring virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty is unconstitutional, the rest of the Act can remain in effect or must also be invalidated.
Plain English Issue: (1) Whether Congress can require states to choose between complying with provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or losing federal funding for the Medicaid program; and (2) whether, if the Court concludes that the provision of the Act requiring virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty is unconstitutional, the rest of the Act can remain in effect or must also be invalidated.
In a 5-4 Decision, conservative Chief Justice John Roberts joined the Court's liberals to uphold the Affordable Care Act in its entirety under Congress' power to tax, including the much maligned by the right "individual mandate." From the beginning of the Robert's majority opinion: "We do not consider whether the Act embodies sound policies. That judgment is entrusted to the Nation's elected leaders. We ask only whether Congress has the power under the Constitution to enact the challenged provisions."
For all of those who second-guessed the Solicitor General's defense of ACA under Congress' taxing authority, the tax defense of the mandate was the decisive argument. "Our precedent demonstrates that Congress had the power to impose the exaction in Section 5000A under the taxing power, and that Section 5000A need not be read to do more than impose a tax. This is sufficient to sustain it." A majority of the Court accepted the Administration's backup argument that, as Justice Roberts put it, "the mandate can be regarded as establishing a condition — not owning health insurance — that triggers a tax — the required payment to IRS."
CNN, FOX declare “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN!”
June 28, 2012
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by David Safier TPM has a wonderful, short video showing both CNN and FOX declaring the Supreme Court shot down the individual mandate. Quick, someone superimpose Obama's face on Truman's and have the headline read "Health Care Mandate Struck Down!" instead of "Dewey Defeats Truman." Here's the video. Jaw-dropping. Hysterical. GRAPHIC UPDATE: Hat tip to … Read more
The real scandal is Darrell ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Issa and an NRA conspiracy theory
June 28, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Katherine Eban, the investigative reporter for Fortune whose six-month Fortune investigation reveals that "the public case alleging that Voth and his colleagues walked guns is replete with distortions, errors, partial truths, and even some outright lies," The truth about the Fast and Furious scandal, was a guest on the Rachel Maddow Show on Wednesday night. (Video below the fold).
The other must read article regarding today's contempt vote and AG Holder is from Salon's Steve Kornacki, who points out that it's really the NRA versus Eric Holder. Jonathan Alter, another investigative journalist, was a guest on the Ed Show on Wednesday night. Alter picked up where I left off yesterday comparing Darrell "Grand Theft Auto" Issa to a modern-day out-of-control Joe McCarthy, and wondering who will be the next Joseph Welch who shames this congressman abusing the powers of his office on a political witch hunt in pursuit of a wild-eyed NRA conspiracy theory. (Video below the fold).
One thing we know for certain is that there are no Edward R. Murrow journalists among the editors of the Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star. On Sunday, both The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star published editorial opinions shamelessly waving the bloody shirt of Border Agent Brian Terry, decrying documents held secret by the Department of Justice, and President Obama's assertion of executive privilege after the House Oversight Committee took the extraordinary step of recommending an order of contempt for Attorney General Eric Holder.
These provacateurs of manufactured scandal irresponsibly engaged in wild speculation, playing their role in the echo chamber of the mighty Wurlitzer of the right-wing noise machine. Now that Issa's witch hunt has been exposed as a fraud, the editors of the Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star owe their readers a retraction and an apology — and I would argue the firing of the editors responsible for writing the opinions.
The contemptible Darrell ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Issa admits to a witch hunt
June 27, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Talking Points Memo today reports that the contemptible Darrell '"Grand Theft Auto" Issa admitted to a witch hunt in committee hearings today. Fast And Furious: Issa No Longer Suspicious Holder Knew Of Gunwalking:
A day ahead of a vote to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) said his committee is no longer even strongly suspicious that highest ranking law enforcement officer in the country knew that guns “walked” during the botched ATF operation known as Fast and Furious.
“During the inception and the participation through the death of Brian Terry, we have no evidence nor do we currently have strong suspicion” that Holder knew of the tactics, Issa said during testimony before the House Rules Committee on Wednesday.
“We have just the opposite, have a number of people, including Lanny Breuer, who should have known who’s responsibility was to know, that as part of our ongoing responsibility to figure out who was responsible,” Issa continued.
Issa also said he had no specific knowledge that the White House knew of the gunwalking tactics and said the committee wasn’t looking to the president.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), ranking member of the Oversight Committee, butted in as Issa was being questioned by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO).
“We are now about to find in contempt the attorney general of the United States of America after you just heard that,” Cummings said.
Former foreign lobbyist Jeff Flake has a South Africa apartheid problem
June 27, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The National Journal published a story earlier this week About Jeff Flake's Lobbying Ties to South Africa:
Arizona Senate candidate and GOP Rep. Jeff Flake was pressed over the weekend about his past work as a lobbyist for a Namibian uranium mine during an appearance on a local TV interview program, including whether any of his lobbying work ever supported South Africa during apartheid.
Flake, whose work in the influence industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s was detailed by the National Journal in April, adamantly denied that he had ever, in the interviewer's words, "either for an employer or on your own, either indirectly or directly" supported the regime in South Africa.
"Absolutely not," Flake said firmly.
But one of the companies Flake worked for in the 1980s did have ties to the ruling powers of South Africa. Federal records show that Flake worked at Smoak, Shipley & Henry, a law firm that had represented the South African-controlled regime in Namibia during apartheid.
Flake worked for a group called the Namibia News Bureau, run out of the Smoak, Shipley & Henry offices. Anti-apartheid groups had criticized Smoak and Shipley in the 1980s.
There is no evidence that Flake ever supported apartheid and in the television interview he called it "offensive" and an "awful system."
"Namibia was the victim of South Africa's oppression," he said. Flake lived in Namibia in 1989 as the head of a nonprofit dedicated to helping bring democracy to the nation and transition it away from apartheid rule.
"For anybody to suggest that I in any way countenanced what the South Africans were doing or the policy of apartheid is offensive," he said, saying the charge "baffles" him.
But Democrats pounced on Flake's denial, calling it "misleading" and posting a video of the interview online. (Video below the fold).
