Terry McAuliffe to Fundraise for Dem On Public
Option

post from Taylor Marsh on 20 August 2009 06:00:53 PM. © Taylor Marsh

More than three out of every four Americans feel it is important to have a “choice” between a government-run health care insurance option and private coverage, according to a public opinion poll released on Thursday. A new study by SurveyUSA[...]

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http://www.taylormarsh.com/2009/08/20/terry-mcauliffe-to-fundraise-for-dem-on-pub
lic-option/

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Gun-Totin' Crazy and the Secret Service

post from Crooks and Liars on 20 August 2009 06:00:48 PM. © Crooks and Liars

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(h/t CSPANjunkie)

I caught this on Tuesday and it's not shocking. I mean, the Secret Service agent's reaction to the psychos is not shocking. It's sane. Remember sanity?

CNN's Rick Sanchez had on a former Secret Service agent named on his show to talk about the psycho gun-toting teabaggers showing up at presidential events. You would never see this behavior under a Republican president because: A) They like Republicans. B) The Republicans would never allow it. You needed to sign loyalty oaths just to go to Bush/Cheney events.

Joseph Petro explains that this is insane behavior and it's an intimidation tactic by these yahoos, plain and simple.

Digby:

Former USSS officer: If the police have to go out and deal with these foolish gun nuts with exposed weapons in public crowds, they are being taken awy from activity that is much more important and that is to keep our president safe and to kep the public safe.
Rick Sanchez: In all your years as a Secret Service agent have you ever seen anything like this? Ten to twelve people yesterday were walking around this venue where the president was, walking outside, and they were packing. Have you ever seen a situation like that?
USSS: No, I've never seen or heard of anything like that. And I think it's, you know, I think all of us should be concerned about this. What's the next step? Are they going to ride around in pick-up trucks with automatic weapons? it would be like Somalia.
We're a democratic country. And we should be better than this. And what's the point? What's the point of them carrying these things? It's intimidation. Why hsould we tolerate that?
Sanchez: It's free speech and their point is that "we've got a right to come out and show everybody that we're for a constitution that gives us a right to bear arms.
USSS: It's probably also not against the law to bring a can of gas and a match into an event. Is that a good idea? No.
Having exposed weapons at public events, and it's not just presidential events, I would say this at any public event, particularly where people are disagreeing, it's really a formula for disaster.
Why does the picture of a bunch of yahoos driving around in pick-up trucks with automatic weapons not sound all that far fetched to me? And when you add the gasbags shrieking about liberals being the enemy all day long, this doesn't seem so far-fetched either.

People are going to either get hurt or die and the media still will whiff on this because they act like cowards.

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http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/gun-tootin-crazy-and-secret-service

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This Common Story

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 20 August 2009 06:00:00 PM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

Eve (nyceve) Gittelson at Firedoglake has a timely reminder of what the reform fight is really all about.

Susie Madrack at Suburban Guerilla received the following email about a Facebook death announcement. It arrived via an old friend.
My commentary. This is Murder by Spreadsheet writ large.
Late this afternoon I was gobsmacked by a Facebook announcement that a high school friend had died. I tracked down the story, and it is an absolute textbook example of everything that's wrong with our health care system - so knowing that we share a passion for this topic, I'll share it with you.
She was 49 years old and in good health, other than a propensity to develop bronchitis. A couple of weeks ago, after a trip to Disneyland, she came down with a terrible flu. After running a high fever for four days she knew she should see a doctor, but she didn't - no insurance. Her husband, who owns his own business, had cancer a year and a half ago and is not insurable on his own. She originally had insurance through her job, but had been placed on disability after developing carpal tunnel syndrome (she was a transcriber). Eventually she was no longer eligible for insurance through her employer, other than COBRA, which she could in no way afford - her husband's business had been hard hit in the recession.
So. She waits six days before finally dragging herself to an urgent care clinic, but the wait is so long and she feels like shit on a stick so she goes back home. Eventually ends up in ICU with pneumonia, and, as it ends up, tested positive for H1N1. By then the infection had gone too far, her organs started failing, and after a week in the hospital she died this morning, leaving a teenage daughter and a husband who don't know what hit them. As though grieving isn't enough of a burden, imagine the hospital bills they're going to face. This man is certain to lose his business, his home, and anything else he ever had - on top of losing his wife.
It's heartbreaking, completely unnecessary, and absolutely infuriating.
This is the reason we fight. Don't give up, don't get sidetracked, don't be swayed, never forget. This is about people's lives.

Say it again:

This is the reason we fight. Don't give up, don't get sidetracked, don't be swayed, never forget. This is about people's lives.

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common-story

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American flags not welcome at oil Astroturf
rally.

post from Think Progress on 20 August 2009 06:00:00 PM. © Think Progress

At a “grassroots” rally organized by the American Petroleum Institute in Houston on Tuesday, activists bearing American flags were turned away. Oil company employees were bused in to the “Energy Citizens” gathering to hear billionaire Drayton McLane Jr. attack President Barack Obama’s clean energy agenda as an economy-destroying energy tax. However, grassroots tea-party activists told Public Citizen Texas that they and their American flags were refused entry to the company picnic:

They said, “We won’t let you have an American flag either.” They said they won’t let you have this, and then the guy touched this, the American flag.

Watch it:

video details and more

The activists were invited by Dick Armey’s Astroturf organization Freedomworks, one of the participating organizations in the new Energy Citizens coalition. While the tea party patriots were locked out, employees of the oil giants Chevron, Anadarko Energy, Halliburton, ConocoPhillips, and others were “invited to participate” and bused to the event on company time.

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http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/20/freedomworks-no-flags/

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3/4 of Americans Back Choice of a Public Option

post from MyDD on 20 August 2009 05:56:44 PM. © MyDD

NBC News (.pdf) and The Wall Street Journal decided to drop the question from their August polling, so SurveyUSA went ahead and polled Americans on their sentiments towards a public option using the very question NBC and The Journal had previously used[...]

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Ridge: Yep, the Terror Alerts Were Politically
Timed

post from Talking Points Memo on 20 August 2009 05:56:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Another left-wing freak says the Bush administration timed terror alerts to maximize political effect.Only this time it's Tom Ridge saying it, the guy in charge of deciding when to issue terror alerts. Interestingly, Ridge refers to a terror alert[...]

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error_alerts_were_politically_timed.php

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Public Options Like Your Local Library

post from Open Left - Front Page on 20 August 2009 05:55:38 PM. © Open Left - Front Page

Originally posted to DMIBlog by Amy Traub.You might imagine, in the midst of an economic collapse[...]

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ike-your-local-library

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Jay Norris Video Commentary August 20, 2009

Welcome to Jay Norris’ Forex Trend Maps, a recap of the Forex markets daily, posted after 4:30 P.M. (CDT). For more information, please contact Jay at 1-800-971-2154 or at 312-896-3986.Click on the link below to view…

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Don't worry folks, Nancy Grace will get right on
it.

*
If you are from the Philly area I am pretty sure that you have heard about "Tex" the parrot by now. On the other hand, if you are from the Philly area, I am pretty sure that you have never heard of Hassani Campbell. (This is unless, of course, you happen to read Afrospear blogs.) In fact, if you are from damn near anywhere in the country you have probably never heard of Hassani Campbell. Why? Well, Hassani isn't female, and he isn't white, so what do you think?

But let me google Nancy Grace and Hassani Campbell, because I just know that she (Nancy) is all over it. Nancy Grace makes a nice living exploiting those who are missing and sometimes she even brings positive attention to their plight. So I know that Nancy will be giving some coverage of poor Hassani's situation.....nope, just one hit and it's something from her Facebook page.

Now I don't know how this story will play itself out. Sadly, I am guessing that like so many similar stories, it will not have a happy ending. We can only hope for the best. What I do know is that it will not get wall to wall coverage on the news programs like this one; this one; this one; this one; and......ahh what the hell, you get the picture. *Pic courtesy of the Electronic Village blog.

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http://field-negro.blogspot.com/2009/08/dont-worry-folks-nancy-grace-will-get.htm
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Cash for Clunkers Ends Monday Night After
Triggering 700,000 Sales

Cash for Clunkers will, on Monday at 8 PM, have silica liquid injected in its engine and stopped.The U.S. government will shut down its cash-for-clunkers program at 8 p.m. Monday, in a bid to avoid car dealers and shoppers from claiming more than the $3[...]

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http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/20/700000-cars-in-one-month/

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