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Health Care Reform Passes The House

post from Open Left - Front Page on 07 November 2009 07:09:09 PM. © Open Left - Front Page

Final Update: Health care reform passes the House 220-215. One Republican votes in favor (Joseph[...]

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te-and-vote-open-thread

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Health Care Debate and Vote Open Thread

post from Open Left - Front Page on 07 November 2009 07:09:09 PM. © Open Left - Front Page

The order of voting tonight will be:Stupak amendment (action alerts can be found hereRepublican[...]

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Stupak Amendment Could Likely Be Used By
Insurance Companies To Discriminate Against Low Income Americans

post from Firedoglake on 07 November 2009 07:00:58 PM. © Firedoglake

The Stupak amendment would prevent any private health insurance plan from covering elective abortion, if even one of its customer used even one dollar of affordability tax credits. The problem is that the Stupak amendment will conflict directly with[...]

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-to-by-insurance-companies-to-discriminate-against-low-income-americans/

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Stupak Amendment Could Likely Be Used by
Insurance Companies to Discriminate Against Low Income Americans

post from Firedoglake on 07 November 2009 07:00:58 PM. © Firedoglake

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Rep DeFazio on GOP Plan: If You've Got a Problem,
Call the Mariana Islands Insurance Commissioner

post from Crooks and Liars on 07 November 2009 07:00:07 PM. © Crooks and Liars

DOWNLOADS: (105)
PLAYS: (495)
(h/t Heather at VideoCafe)

Woot! I love it when we get some plain-spoken truth on the House Floor. Such a refreshing change from the Republican lies and fear-mongering.

The Republican record defies their rhetoric. Remember their so-called Prescription Drug Benefit for Seniors passed in the dark of the night? No one read the bill, didn?t know what was in it. Cost 700 billion dollars ?cause that was subsidizing the pharmaceutical and insurance industry. But now, they?re worried about costs. It gave the seniors a donut hole.
Now their concern is not about what they?re stating. It?s about their patrons in the insurance industry. Because this bill has real reforms of the worst abuses of the insurance industry. It takes away their unfair anti-trust immunity, so they can no longer collude to drive up premium prices or restrict coverages. The Republicans would continue the anti-trust exemption. This bill outlaws the unfair pre-existing condition restriction. Republicans would continue that for the insurance industry. This bill would not allow the industry to cancel your policy even though you?ve been paying your premiums when you get sick. It?s called recission. The Republicans allowed that abuse to continue. This bill, on our side, outlaws the small print that limits your lifetime coverage, which bankrupts families every day in America. The Republicans allow it to continue.
And that?s not enough. They?ve opened up a new loophole, their so-called national plan: a company would only be regulated by the laws of the state in which it was based when it sold you a policy. If you live in Oregon, but you bought a policy that was written--and oh, by the way, they expand the definition of state to include the territories in the Mariana Islands?so if you?ve got a problem, call the Mariana Islands Insurance Commissioner. That?s the Republican plan and profits to the insurance industry!

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Supreme Court To Hear Death in Prison for Teens
Cases

post from TalkLeft on 07 November 2009 06:50:00 PM. © TalkLeft

On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear two cases challenging laws imposing life sentences without parole on juveniles who are not convicted of murder.

The cases are both from Florida: The Equal Justice Initiative has an excellent synopsis of Florida v. Sullivan and Sullivan v. Graham in layman's terms.

Both cases ask the Court to address whether the differences between children and adults that led the Court to strike down the death penalty for children also make permanent imprisonment a constitutionally impermissible punishment for a child.

[More...]

Joe Sullivan was 13 at the time of his crime. He is now 33 and in a wheelchair:

Joe Sullivan is one of only two thirteen-year-olds in the country sentenced to life without parole for an offense that did not involve a killing. In 1989, Joe was a mentally disabled thirteen-year-old child living in a home where he was regularly subjected to physical and sexual abuse.

The facts of the crime:

On the day of the crime, two older boys convinced Joe to participate in a burglary. The three boys entered an empty home and one older boy took some money and jewelry before the three left. That afternoon, the elderly homeowner was sexually assaulted in her home. She never saw her attacker.

One of the older boys, who may have been the true assailant, accused Joe of the sexual battery. Both older boys received short sentences in juvenile detention. Thirteen-year-old Joe Sullivan was charged and tried in adult court.

His trial:

Joe was tried by a six-person jury in a one-day proceeding; opening statements began sometime after 9 a.m., and the jury returned its verdict at 4:55 p.m. During trial, the prosecutor and witnesses made repeated, unnecessary reference to the fact that Joe is African American and the victim is white; one witness repeatedly said the perpetrator of the assault was a “colored boy” or “a dark colored boy.”

Biological evidence collected from the victim was not presented at trial and was destroyed before it could be subjected to DNA testing. Joe’s appointed lawyer — who was later disbarred — did not object to a "voice identification" of Joe by the victim (who was blindfolded during the assault) that she had first rehearsed with the prosecutor before repeating it for the jury. Joe was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

His appeal:

Even though Joe was the youngest person in the country sentenced to die in prison for a non-homicide, his lawyer filed a brief on appeal saying there were no issues to challenge in his case.

After being sentenced, at age 14, Joe was sent to an adult prison where he was brutalized and sexually victimized. He has MS and is confined to a wheelchair.

The Graham case is also troubling:

Terrance Graham was sixteen years old when he and a co-defendant tried to rob a store and the co-defendant hit the store manager with a pipe. Terrance was charged with armed burglary and attempted armed robbery. He had no prior criminal record and, in exchange for a guilty plea, was sentenced to three years probation.

At seventeen, Terrance was accused of committing a home invasion robbery with two 20-year-old men. He denied involvement in the crime but admitted that he had violated probation by missing his curfew. No jury trial was held; the trial judge found by a preponderance of the evidence (not beyond a reasonable doubt) that Terrance committed the home invasion robbery and violated his probation. The trial court sentenced Terrance to life in prison with no chance of parole for the original armed burglary charge. (my emphasis)

Check out Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13- and 14-Year-Old Children to Die in Prison by the Equal Justice Initiative and the factsheet, Sentencing Children to Die in Prison.

Of the 73 children sentenced to die in prison nationwide, five were sentenced to die in prison for crimes at age 13 or 14 in which no one was killed. All of these kids are children of color. All of these sentences were imposed in the State of Florida.

Here are the summaries of the Petitioners' and Amicus Briefs in the cases.

There are 2,500 offenders serving life without parole in the U.S. for crimes committed as juveniles. 109 of them were convicted of non-homicide offenses. Of these 109, 77 are in Florida. The number of child offenders serving life w is zero.

Some more stats: The states incarcerating juvenile offenders for life for non-homicide crimes are: FL, LA, IA, CA, NE, SC. 100% of juveniles serving life without parole (death in prison sentences) are non-white.

How pathetic is this?

Nations opposing the 2006 UN General Assembly Resolution calling on all nations to
abolish juvenile LWOP: 1 (United States)

Nations that have not ratified Article 37 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, prohibiting juvenile LWOP sentences: 2 (United States and Somalia)

A life sentence is a sentence to die in prison. That we impose it on juveniles, some as young as 13 and 14, is unacceptable. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will agree.

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How's the House HCR Bill Going to Affect You

post from Daily Kos on 07 November 2009 06:46:04 PM. © Daily Kos

House Leadership has put together this handy interactive tool to help individual see how healthcare reform might help them. It doesn't drill down to specifics like levels of premiums you'll have to pay, etc., but steers you toward the information sheets (all pdfs) that provide more information.

It also provides a nice antidote to all the lies spewing forth from the minority today.

The vote on the House bill is probably happening around 9:30 EST tonight.

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ll-Going-to-Affect-You

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Dallas Justice Revival: Worship AND Work

Education is the great equalizer in our country. Yet it is becoming increasingly clear that more[...]

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http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2009/11/dallas_justice_revival_worship.html

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