Obama Pushes Democrat Plan, Chides Republicans to Get Onboard

I’ll believe it when I see it, and this bill calls for mandatory coverage, a public option and big savings down the road, although provisions for small businesses are still controversial.

But at least the administration is moving something on health care, as well as the climate bill. They’re not perfect, but a major step forward…

According to AP. President Barack Obama achieved a milestone Wednesday when a Senate committee approved a plan to revamp the U.S. health care system. The Senate panel’s action, which attracted no Republican votes, came as the president’s campaign organization rolled out television ads to build support for his top domestic priority.

AP: Senate Panel OKs Health Care Plan

Unbridled Greed at Goldman-Sachs

If there is an issue the American people should become informed about, regardless of political party affiliation or philosophy, it is the extent to which the greedy money managers at the nation’s big banks are destroying the middle class “American dream.”

More from Rolling Stone magazine:
The Great American Bubble Machine

In Debt We Trust is the latest film from Danny Schechter, the Emmy-winning former ABC News and CNN producer. This new hard-hitting documentary investigates why so many Americans are being strangled by debt. It is a journalistic confrontation with what former Reagan adviser Kevin Phillips calls “Financialization” — the “powerful emergence of a debt-and-credit industrial complex.” While many Americans may be “maxing out” on credit cards, there is a deeper story: power is shifting into fewer hands. And with frightening consequences.

There is a scene in this film where Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, was to hold a hearing questioning the big bank managers on what went wrong that led to the need for massive government bailouts with taxpayer money. But he only gives each of them four minutes to make an opening statement, does not allow other senators to ask questions, and adjourns the hearing.

If this happened in Europe, or even Iran, the people would be out in the streets protesting en masse. But not in the U.S., where the people here just seem quite willing to take it up the butt…

Read the rest of this entry »

A new report released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wednesday shows one of every five Americans watches birds, and in doing so, birdwatchers contributed $36 billion to the U.S. economy in 2006, the most recent year for which economic data are available.

The report — Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis — shows that total participation in birdwatching is strong at 48 million, and remaining at a steady 20 percent of the U.S. population since 1996.

Participation rates vary, but are generally greater in the northern half of the country. The five top states with the greatest birding participation rates include Montana (40 percent), Maine (39 percent), Vermont (38 percent), Minnesota (33 percent) and Iowa (33 percent).

Read the rest of this entry »