side note: I don’t know what happened to John McCain. This was a guy who would stand up to his party when he felt necessary….but now we have a guy who do whatever it takes to get into the White House. If you have issues with your health care coverage now…..just wait for McBush to get into office.

By Roger Hickey
OurFuture.org

Today Arizona Sen. John McCain will deliver what his handlers are hyping as a major address on health care. McCain’s plan is a dangerous fraud.

He wants voters to think he is going after health care cost inflation. In reality, he wants to dismantle the employer-provided system that now covers over 60 percent (or about 158 million) of non-elderly Americans, forcing millions of us who now get fairly decent health insurance on the job to instead buy whatever they can find on the individual market controlled by unregulated and predatory insurance companies. And he would drive health care costs upward, not downward.

This is truly amazing: McCain and his handlers knew they had to say something about health care. So they turned to their friends (and financial supporters) in the health care industry and the conservative think tanks. And they have adopted the most extreme right-wing ideological approach, premised on the idea that the big problem in health care is that Americans have too much insurance – in their words, we don’t have enough “skin in the game” – and that only when we have to buy health care with money that comes directly out of our own pockets will consumers force doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to become more efficient.

So that’s the theory. But it is contradicted by the facts. Most of us already pay part of our premiums out of our own pockets, and we increasingly have to shell out for co-pays in order to get to see a doctor. The result—in practice—is that most people, even those with good insurance, now think twice or three times about even getting regular preventive health checkups. Having lots of “skin in the game” has meant that millions of Americans don’t get health care they need—and that’s one of the big problems in U.S. health care driving costs up, not down. (more…)

side note: I don’t have a problem with waiting till all the primaries are finished…..but personally, and this is coming from someone who loves reading and watching everything politics….I’ve actually had to take a few days off from the political shows b/c this is dragging, but it is important for other peoples’ voices to be heard.

By: Amie Parnes and Josephine Hearn
Politico

Capitol Hill insiders say the battle for congressional superdelegates is over, and one Senate supporter of Barack Obama is hinting strongly that he has prevailed over Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While more than 80 Democrats in the House and Senate have yet to state their preferences in the race for the Democratic nomination, sources said Tuesday that most of them have already made up their minds and have told the campaigns where they stand.

“The majority of superdelegates I’ve talked to are committed, but it is a matter of timing,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). “They’re just preferring to make their decision public after the primaries are over. … They would like someone else to act for them before they talk about it in the cold light of day.” (more…)

side note: this man certainly had an effect on my life course. Once you see the other side of weird, what is normal?

Albert Hofmann
Jan 11, 1906 – Apr 29, 2008

Albert Hofmann was born in Baden, Switzerland in 1906. He graduated from the University of Zürich with a degree in chemistry in 1929 and went to work for Sandoz Pharmaceutical in Basel, Switzerland. With the laboratory goal of working towards isolation of the active principles of known medicinal plants, Hofmann worked with Mediterranean squill (Scilla maritima) for several years, before moving on to the study of Claviceps purpurea (ergot) and ergot alkaloids.

Over the next few years, he worked his way through the lysergic acid derivatives, eventually synthesizing LSD-25 for the first time in 1938. After minimal testing, LSD-25 was set aside as he continued with other derivatives. Four years later, on April 16, 1943, he re-synthesized LSD-25 because he felt he might have missed something the first time around. That day, he became the first human to experience the effects of LSD after accidentally ingesting a minute amount. Three days later, on April 19, 1943, he decided to verify his results by intentionally ingesting 250 ug of LSD. This day has become known as “Bicycle Day” as Hofmann experienced an incredible bicycle ride on his way home from the lab.
(more…)

side note: A “reminder”? This has always been the way this administation has dealt with our enemies……why talk to them when you can blow ‘em up? Why does 1/20/09 seem so far away?

By David Morgan
Reuters

Mexico City – The US Navy has temporarily added a second aircraft carrier in the Gulf as a “reminder” to Iran, but this was not an escalation of American forces in the region, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters during a trip to Mexico, Gates flatly denied a suggestion that the presence of two US carriers in the Gulf could be a precursor to military action against Tehran.

“This deployment has been planned for a long time,” Gates said. “I don’t think we’ll have two carriers there for a protracted period of time. So I don’t see it as an escalation. I think it could be seen, though, as a reminder.” (more…)

By Paul Krugman
The New York Times

As the designated political heir of a deeply unpopular president – according to Gallup, President Bush has the highest disapproval rating recorded in 70 years of polling – John McCain should have little hope of winning in November. In fact, however, current polls show him roughly tied with either Democrat.

In part this may reflect the Democrats’ problems. For the most part, however, it probably reflects the perception, eagerly propagated by Mr. McCain’s many admirers in the news media, that he’s very different from Mr. Bush – a responsible guy, a straight talker.

But is this perception at all true? During the 2000 campaign people said much the same thing about Mr. Bush; those of us who looked hard at his policy proposals, especially on taxes, saw the shape of things to come. (more…)

By Elana Schor
The Guardian UK

The lawyer for US vice-president Dick Cheney claimed today that the Congress lacks any authority to examine his behavior on the job.

The exception claimed by Cheney’s counsel came in response to requests from congressional Democrats that David Addington, the vice-president’s chief of staff, testify about his involvement in the approval of interrogation tactics used at Guantanamo Bay.

Ruling out voluntary cooperation by Addington, Cheney lawyer Kathryn Wheelbarger said Cheney’s conduct is “not within the [congressional] committee’s power of inquiry”. (more…)

By Frank Rich, The New York Times.

Democratic infighting might seem bad, but McCain is trying to succeed the most despised president in his own 71-year lifetime.

Its a nightmare. It’s the Bataan Death March. It’s mutually assured Armageddon. “Both of them are already losing the general to John McCain,” declared a Newsweek columnist last month, predicting that the election “may already be over” by the time the Democrats anoint a nominee.

Not so fast. If we’ve learned any new rule in the 2008 campaign, it’s this: Once our news culture sets a story in stone, chances are it will crumble. But first it must be recycled louder and louder 24/7, as if sheer repetition will transmute conventional wisdom into reality.

When the Pennsylvania returns rained down Tuesday night, the narrative became clear fast. The Democrats’ exit polls spelled disaster: Some 25 percent of the primary voters said they would defect to Mr. McCain or not vote at all if Barack Obama were the nominee. How could the party possibly survive this bitter, perhaps race-based civil war?

But as the doomsday alarm grew shrill, few noticed that on this same day in Pennsylvania, 27 percent of Republican primary voters didn’t just tell pollsters they would defect from their party’s standard-bearer; they went to the polls, gas prices be damned, to vote against Mr. McCain. Though ignored by every channel I surfed, there actually was a G.O.P. primary on Tuesday, open only to registered Republicans. And while it was superfluous in determining that party’s nominee, 220,000 Pennsylvania Republicans (out of their total turnout of 807,000) were moved to cast ballots for Mike Huckabee or, more numerously, Ron Paul. That’s more voters than the margin (215,000) that separated Hillary Clinton and Mr. Obama. (more…)

side note: This isn’t the entire video…you can head over to YouTube and see his entire 25 minute roast….but this has some of the best moments.

CrooksandLiars.com

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO
The featured guest of this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner was late-night talk-show host Craig Ferguson, and although his act was less searing than Colbert’s legendary roasting, he did manage to get some good shots in.

side note: Holy Shit! This would create some real havoc in this country! According the US Government, the average American spends 24 minutes driving to work each way. There are a lot of people who won’t be able to afford their trip to work. This may be a good thing in the long run…forcing people to analyze their environmental footprint and doing something about it. But that shock is going to be tough to withstand.

New York Sun
Big New Shock at the Pump Forecast by Two Analysts

Get ready for another economic shock of major proportions — a virtual doubling of prices at the gas pump to as much as $10 a gallon.

That’s the message from a couple of analytical energy industry trackers, both of whom, based on the surging oil prices, see considerably more pain at the pump than most drivers realize.

Gasoline nationally is in an accelerated upswing, having jumped to $3.58 a gallon from $3.50 in just the past week. In some parts of the country, including New York City and the West Coast, gas is already sporting a price tag above $4 a gallon. There was a pray-in at a Chevron station in San Francisco on Friday led by a minister asking God for cheaper gas, and an Arco gas station in San Mateo, Calif., has already raised its price to a sky-high $4.62.

In Manhattan, at a Mobil gas station at York Avenue and East 61st Street, premium gas is now $4.03 a gallon. Two days ago, it was $3.96. Why such a high price? “Blame the people at STOPEC (he meant OPEC) and the oil companies,” an attendant there told me. (more…)

side note: The author is correct that there have been quite a few respected jounalists who have given a timeline of when they expected this administration to take military action against Iran….and it hasn’t happened yet. It is difficult to ignore the increased rhetoric and the fact that the military is extending tours and sending more ships to the region. We all hope this doesn’t happen……it doesn’t matter who actually performs the military operations if they do happen…if it’s Israel or the States.

By Steve Weissman
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

When Senator John McCain serenaded reporters last April with his “Bomb Bomb Iran,” I had to wonder. Was this a taste of his aging flyboy humor? Or was he telling us what to expect should he ever become president? We may never find out. If Vice President Dick Cheney has his way, he will beat McCain to the punch, possibly as soon as late May, after President George W. Bush returns from celebrating the 60th anniversary of Israel’s creation.

The evidence is surprisingly public, though in several bits and pieces that fit together like a jigsaw. I hope that I’m wrong in how I’ve put the puzzle together, but here’s how it looks to me.

On February 25 of this year, Cheney made a surprise visit to the Sultanate of Oman, a longtime military ally just across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran. He had come, an Omani official told The Associated Press, “to discuss regional security issues, including the US standoff with Iran over its nuclear program.”

A little over three weeks later, Cheney returned to Oman as part of a ten-day visit to several countries in the region, including Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. While in Oman, he gave an interview to Martha Raddatz of ABC News. “Can you foresee any point where military action would be taken?” Raddatz asked. Cheney tried to downplay the question, but Raddatz persisted, asking specifically about the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which concluded that Iran had shut down its nuclear arms program five years ago. (more…)

side note: Well, here we go again with Rev. Wright. I hope this doesn’t kill Barack’s bid at the White House. I guess Rev. Wright has the right to say when he thinks…..but if he really wanted change, and he thought Barack could deliver that change……don’t you think he’d keep quiet till after the general election?

In the clip below, Wright addresses questions about his patriotism, his thoughts on Louis Farrakhan, and his relationship with Obama.

side note: It seems every election cycle we hear about election fraud. We know that showing ID’s has been one tool that has been used to suppress voter turnout…mostly of minorities. And now, the conservative Supreme Court has ruled that it’s ok to force people to show ID’s…….another decision by dubya’s court!

By DAVID STOUT
The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday upheld Indiana’s voter-identification law, declaring that a requirement to produce photo identification is not unconstitutional and that the state has a “valid interest” in improving election procedures as well as deterring fraud.

In a 6-to-3 ruling in one of the most eagerly awaited election-law cases in years, the court rejected arguments that Indiana’s law, probably the strictest in the country, imposes unjustified burdens on people who are old, poor or members of minority groups and less likely to have driver’s licenses or other acceptable forms of identification.

The ruling, coming just eight days before the Indiana primary and at the height of a presidential election campaign, upheld rulings by a federal district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which had thrown out challenges to the 2005 law.

Justice John Paul Stevens, who announced the judgment of the court and wrote an opinion in which Chief John G. Roberts Jr. and Anthony M. Kennedy joined, alluded to — and brushed aside — complaints that the law benefits Republicans and works against Democrats, whose ranks are more likely to include poor people or those in minority groups. (more…)

side note: This is especially relevant during the primairies. It’s so easy to get caught up in the bullshit that helps fuel the pundit shows every night. This is such an important job…….

By Joel Achenbach
Washington Post

A simple and deceptively tricky question: What does a president do?

If you had to put together the Help Wanted ad for the position of chief executive, what would you write? Something like: “CEO needed to supervise 3 million employees. Must be at least 35, native-born, willing to work at home. Spectacular public failures likely.”

The presidency is the most famous job in America (with all due respect to Oprah), and probably the hardest. The country is currently trying to fill the position. We have three applicants still in the running. What we don’t tend to do, despite obsessive attention to this contest, is talk much about what the job entails. We talk instead about hot-button issues, the latest gaffe, the new sound bite, the polls, the electoral map. Presidential campaigns glancingly deal with the institution of the presidency while focusing on the more urgent issue of winning. (more…)

side note: This is just getting ridiculous. I still can’t believe most Americans can’t put the fact that there are oil guys in the White House, and oil went from under $10.00 a barrell in 1999 to over $119.00 in under 8 years!

By Fayen Wong
Reuters

Perth – Oil struck a record high at $119.93 a barrel on Monday, extending the previous session’s rally, as a strike closed a major British oil pipeline and as new violence in Nigeria reignited supply fears.

Simmering tensions between the United States and Iran also helped boost oil prices.

US light crude for June delivery rose 88 cents to $119.40 by 2324 GMT, after striking a lifetime high of $119.93 a barrel shortly after electronic trading resumed after the weekend.

London Brent crude rose 66 cents to $117.

“Supply side concerns underpinned the oil price,” David Moore, a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a note to clients. (more…)