The President gave a compelling prime time Press Conference last week mostly about Health Care Reform -- the most pressing Issue of our time, and what was the lead story for the next several days?

The merits of Public Option competition?

The plight of 14,000 citizens losing their Health Insurance each day?

No, the lead story was the President's take on the arrest of his friend -- on the emotionally charged "wedge issue" of Racial Profiling. A worthy discussion, no doubt --

But what about the issues of Health Care Reform?  What about that Debate?

Of course the Media has been failing to have a Real Health Care Debate for some time now ...

ABC Censors Obama's Longtime Doctor, Dr. Scheiner
Link to Video clip

We the Lobbyists of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Profit, establish Pay-to-Play, ignore domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Media, promote the general lack of Welfare, and secure the Extractions of Payments to ourselves and our Clients, do now usurp and re-establish this Constitution for the United Elites of America.

As you may have learned last week from LA Times reporting, and from Congressional Hearings, that Insurance companies routinely try to drop your Insurance policy, if you happen to get one of their "Hot List" illnesses.

Getting any of these illnesses, can Trigger the Insurance Company's "Cancellation Police", into action.

Denial Specialists scour your medical history, and cross-check that against your application, looking for any reason to Cancel, or rescind, your Insurance policy, thus saving the Insurance Company untold thousands in future payments for your expected Care. Denial Specialists, of course, earn bonuses for each Policy they cancel. What a system!

Those 4 illnesses (out of the 1000+ such Triggers) previously disclosed are:

breast cancer, high blood pressure, lymphoma and pregnancy

Well thanks to the tough questioning of the Oversight and Investigations Sub Committee, at least 2 more Triggering Illnesses have been disclosed, as indicated in the video and transcript of the Hearing:

The 2 other newly disclosed "Drop List" illnesses, include:

ovarian cancer, and brain cancer

Hardball - Chris Matthews  May 19, 2009
Debating the Emission-Cap Bill - Clip

with Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, CA
playing the role of Talking Point Parrot -- Squawk!

This faux science appeal by Rohrabacher has little to do with real science, and everything to do with stalling and denial.

Chris Matthews smartly poked holes in Rohrabacher science-y ducking and weaving -- equated it, the stanch Denial by Tobacco Executives, when confronted with overwhelming scientific evidence linking Cancer to Cigarettes.

Still, Rohrabacher kept hiding behind the "supposed" Global Warming occurring on Mars -- apparently this "Talking Point" is their new "last retreat".

Dana just kept asking, someone explain to me "Why we see Temperatures Rising on Mars, when there are NO People there?"

So being the science geek, that I am,
I decided to look into the evidence, to try to separate out the facts from the spin ...

Broadcast: 11/08/2002

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
INSIDERS

BARRIE CASSIDY: Do you think he's wrong on the Iraq issue?

PETER COSTELLO: What happened over the weekend, Alexander Downer said the Iraqi envoy in Australia criticised the Australian Government and Mr Crean sided with the Iraqi envoy.

BARRIE CASSIDY: But that's not what he said. What the Labor Party has put together is a couple of demands that on the face seems very reasonable. Do you not agree with that, before Australia commits, there ought to be some established link between Al-Qa'ida and Iraq?

PETER COSTELLO: What the Australian Government has said is if there is an engagement in relation to Iraq, and if Australia is asked for a contribution and if it is in our national interest including ending weapons of mass destruction, the Government will consider it very carefully.

(emphasis added)

TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

Hmmmm? Australia, one of the most Willing Ally in terms of Troops for the Iraq War -- seems they wanted more proof of "some established link between Al-Qa'ida and Iraq" ...

Perhaps a few war-related headlines, flew under your Radar, this week in "politics" ...

Secretary Gates Replaces U.S. Commander in Afghanistan  
Stephen Abott - Budget Insight - May 11, 2009

In a press conference today, Defense Secretary Gates announced the replacement of America's top general in Afghanistan. The commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, General McKiernan, is being replaced by Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. McChrystal, former Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), is seen by Secretary Gates as having a more suitable background to the complexities of the war in Afghanistan.

(emphasis added)

Unless you've been living in an "undisclosed location" for the last several months, you've probably heard more than enough, from the Party of Losers. Funny, I don't remember the Dems, getting so much easy air time, as Cheney has, since being cast to the hinterlands, by the American Voters. Worse yet, the Media foils on stage with him, couldn't ask a challenging question, even if, say, there was a "ticking time bomb" on stage, so that they had to get to Truth ...

"Thankfully they Kept Safe for the last 7 years" ... Say What?!

Economic Royalists:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for a second term, delivered at Philadelphia on 27 June 1936, said, "The economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power."

(emphasis added)
http://www.answers.com/topic/economic-royalists

What is Greenwashing?

It's Whitewashing, But With a Green Brush.

Everyone's heard the expression "whitewashing" -- it's defined as "a coordinated attempt to hide unpleasant facts, especially in a political context."

"Greenwashing" is the same premise, but in an environmental context.

It's greenwashing when a company or organization spends more time and money claiming to be "green" through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact. It's whitewashing, but with a green brush.

A classic example might be an energy company that runs an advertising campaign touting a "green" technology they're working on -- but that "green" technology represents only a sliver of the company's otherwise not-so-green business, or may be marketed on the heels of an oil spill or plant explosion.

http://www.greenwashingindex.com/what.php

Turn the page, for a concrete Example of GreenWashing at work ...

Those extra 2 docs that "justify the policies of the past", that Cheney is so interested in, looks like one of them was already released.  

I didn't believe the "A to Z" Confessions of the the "9/11 Mastermind" then. I'm not inclined to believe them now.

But you be the judge.

Obtained: Cheney's Request Form Detailing The Two CIA Torture Docs He Wants
The Plum LineGreg Sargent's blog

Looks like Cheney may be after a doc that supposedly  details what top Al Qaeda official Khalid Muhammad revealed under torture.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/obtained-cheneys-request-detailing-the-two-cia-docs-he-wan ts/

Klalid M. wasn't he the dude, with the frumpy sleepware, and the wild hairdo?

Bush defends interrogation practices: 'We do not torture'
USA TODAY - 11/7/2005

President Bush strongly defended U.S. interrogation practices for detainees held in the war on terrorism Monday, insisting, "We do not torture."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-11-07-bush-terror-suspects_x.htm

Spiegel Online - 11/14/2006
More than a few bad apples

The human rights groups have not just set their sights on Rumsfeld, though. The suit names 11 other high-ranking US officials, including current US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet, and Ricardo Sanchez, the former commander of all US forces in Iraq. They are all accused of either ordering, aiding, or failing to prevent war crimes.

"There crimes are not the work of a few bad apples," said CCR president Michael Ratner. "They were planned and executed at the highest levels of the US government."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,448320,00.html

Perhaps you've heard about the Tale of Two Cities

a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French proletariat under the brutal oppression of the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution

Or maybe you've heard of the theory of the Haves and the Have-Nots

The share of total income going to the top-earning 1 percent of Americans went from 8 percent in 1980 to 16 percent in 2004.
...
One reason: gains in the stock market. Affluent people own more stocks, and executives are often paid in stock or stock options. So when the market does well, their wealth accelerates quickly

Well, Bill Moyers is currently telling the historic Story about the Need for "Two Banking Systems" ...

As astounding as it is, that "torture interrogators" were demanding the link between Saddam and bin Laden -- the question still remains:  WHY???

It's still about oil in Iraq
A centerpiece of the Iraq Study Group's report is its advocacy for securing foreign companies' long-term access to Iraqi oil fields.
By Antonia Juhasz - LATimes - Dec 8, 2006

The report makes visible to everyone the elephant in the room: that we are fighting, killing and dying in a war for oil. It states in plain language that the U.S. government should use every tool at its disposal to ensure that American oil interests and those of its corporations are met.

The U.S. State Department's Oil and Energy Working Group, meeting between December 2002 and April 2003, also said that Iraq "should be opened to international oil companies as quickly as possible after the war." Its preferred method of privatization was a form of oil contract called a production-sharing agreement.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-juhasz8dec08,0,4717508.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

No one LIKES paying Taxes, still we do it, year after year, because most Americans still have a sense of Patriotic Duty.  This instinctive "love of Country" seems to have evaded some however, who often "love their Wealth" more than their Country ...

Experts estimate that Americans now have more than $1 trillion in assets offshore and illegally evade between $40 and $70 billion in U.S. taxes each year through the use of offshore tax schemes. U.S. corporations are estimated to illegally evade another $30 billion in taxes each year through offshore tax dodges. America's working people bear the burden of this $100 billion tax gap.

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) - CLOSING TAX LOOPHOLES

This has been a way of life for the wealthy, for the last 8 years. Fortunately, the IRS has NEW Marching Orders, to go after these Tax Evaders ...

John Boehner dismissed CO2 gas as a pollution concern, by claiming on ABC's This Week, basically, that Cows release it, so what's the problem?

BOEHNER: George, the idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical. Every time we exhale, we exhale carbon dioxide. Every cow in the world, you know, when they do what they do, you've got more carbon dioxide.

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/Story?id=7373578&page=4

Here's the Video Clip where Senator Boehner
says Doing Nothing is the best solution for Climate Change!

Boehner's reasoning is wrong in so many ways, that it would be funny, if his startling lack of Scientific knowledge, weren't so serious for future generations, that the Obstructionists would hope to lead.

First off, it's another Greenhouse Gas, that is produced from the business-end of those Cows, he points to -- METHANE.  

And Methane IS the "Wild Card", in the high-stakes Poker Game, of betting against the consequences of long term Climate Change.

The Kubler-Ross model, first introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book "On Death and Dying", describes, in five discrete stages, a process by which people allegedly deal with grief and tragedy, especially when diagnosed with a terminal illness or catastrophic loss.

    1) Denial:

           "I feel fine."; "This can't be happening, not to me."

    2) Anger:

            "Why me? It's not fair!"; "How can this happen to me?"; "Who is to blame?"

    3) Bargaining:

            "Just let me live to see my children graduate."; "I'll do anything for a few more years."; "I will give my life savings if..."

    4) Depression:

             "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"; ... What's the point?"; "Why go on?"

    5) Acceptance:

            "It's going to be okay."; "I can't fight it, I may as well prepare for it."

an inquisitive, bugged-eyed insect ...

with ...

Sick of hearing about Tea Party Protests -- about Taxes going down?

Here's some "Protest News" that is worth knowing about ...

Oregon sues fund company for college savings losses
AP Executive Morning Briefing - April 14, 2009

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- State officials are seeking $36.2 million in damages from OppenheimerFunds Inc., which managed a fund responsible for steep losses in the Oregon College Savings Plan. Officials said in a statement Monday that risky, "hedge-fund like" investments cost the Oppenheimer Core Bond Fund 36 percent of its value last year -- and 10 percent more so far this year.

(emphasis added)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jXPJmkJdyKGBu_J5HvhnfYCkYAzgD97I65400

Elizabeth Warren was appointed chair of a newly created Congressional Oversight Panel (COP), which is charged with keeping tabs on the $700 billion bailout of the financial sector - including Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

Warren however, has had some "Trouble" getting straight forward answers ... as she explained to the Boston Globe:

Keeping tabs on the bailout
By Elizabeth Warren -- April 12, 2009

Elizabeth Warren: There's a major problem and a minor problem. The minor problem is documentation. I've spent four weeks now looking for someone who can give me the details of the stress test so that we can do an independent evaluation of whether the stress test is any good.

We get: "someone will call [you] right back." Only the call doesn't come.

The major problem is ...

That is a rhetorical Question of course, but it's likely that NOT even "free market", Corporations-first Republicans, would want to return to the days, of dying Lakes, dying Forests, and "emphysema alerts".

The "Cap and Trade" Policies, enforced by the first President Bush' administration, as part of the Clean Air Act -- ACTUALLY WORKED!

The EPA calls it an amazing "Success Story" ...