Category: Democratic News

AIG Exec Anastasia Kelly Won’t Work for No $500,000 a Year

Posted on by TL

Anastasia Kelly, AIG’s vice chair, is quitting because of the $500,000 pay cap. She talked with Rep. Dennsi Kucinich at a May 2009 hearing as then AIG CEO Edward Liddy watched. I would have loved to hear what Kucinich had to say to her.

From NPR:

When it became clear that the Obama Administration meant business in terms of slapping pay caps on top execs at financial institutions whose very survival was due to massive taxpayer help, chief executives at financial institutions warned that they would have trouble either attracting or keeping their talent.

They weren’t kidding in the case of Anastasia Kelly at AIG. The AIG vice chair has informed her employer that she’s out of there because of the pay caps.

NPR’s Tim Robbins reported for the network’s newscast, "The company says she is leaving for what it calls "good reason", then states that reason as the pay cap. Kelly will get a reported $3.8-million severance package."

Good riddance to her.

Read more here at NPR.

GOP’s Official Network FOXNEWS.COM Says Health Care Reform Passed Senate ‘Just Barely’

Posted on by TL

From FoxNews.com:

Congress may be gone for several weeks enjoying a winter holiday, but Republicans say they will keep up the pressure on Democrats who succeeded in getting their Senate health insurance overhaul bill passed before Christmas — if just barely.

They have got to be kidding, right? The vote in the U.S. Senate was 60-39. That’s “just barely,” a real squeaker?

Then again, the Republicans were the ones whose budgeting was so incredibly horrible that our National Debt skyrocketed under George W. Bush, and the economy nose-dived into the Great G.O.P. Recession.

Or perhaps Republicans would say the United States “just barely” ended up in recession recently?

Nod to MediaMatters.org for this.

Change Has Come to America: Health Insurance Reform About to Happen

Posted on by TL

All news from Democrats and the White House is positive. It looks like reform of our for-profit health insurance system is about to happen. Is the reform on the table perfect? No. None of the sides are perfectly content with the changes, including Democrats, Blue Dog Democrats, and the Party of No.

But it’s about to happen. I don’t like to make predictions. This time, I’m assured by positive words out of Washington today.

From Yahoo! News:

From the White House to Capitol Hill, Democrats on Tuesday confidently predicted Senate passage of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul after the bill cleared its second 60-vote test and the time was set for a final tally.

Coming to the Senate floor in the middle of the afternoon, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced an agreement to vote on final passage at 8 a.m. Thursday, Christmas Eve. It would mark the 25th consecutive day of Senate debate on health care.

“The finish line is in sight,” Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said at a news conference with other Senate leaders and cheering supporters. “We’re not the first to attempt such reforms but we will be the first to succeed.”

At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs declared: “Health care reform is not a matter of if. Health care reform is now a matter of when.”

Obama said the Senate legislation accomplishes 95 percent of what he wanted on health care. “Every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill,” the president said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Senate Democrats remained behind their compromise bill over steadfast Republican opposition. A motion to shut off debate and move to a vote on a package of changes by Reid passed 60-39.

The final 60-vote hurdle, limiting debate on the bill itself, is expected to be cleared Wednesday afternoon, setting up the Thursday morning-before-Christmas vote on the legislation, which at that point will need only a simple majority to pass.

Do you know what it means if the bill only passes with a simple majority?

It means it passes. It’s done.

The Almighty Left (and I include myself in that call, for all the times I lashed out) needs to stop whining about this bill and thank the President, thank Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, thank Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, thank them all. This will be the largest overhaul of our health care system in several lifetimes.

I was listening to Ed Schultz this afternoon whining about the health care reform bill, calling it a “Republican bill.”

Nonsense, Ed.  That’s just silly.  Stop it all ready.  This bill means reform.  This bill represents what happens when the Left, the Right and the Middle sit down to talk.  Congress is working again.  Congress is learning how to be a deliberative body again.  That in itself is call for celebration.

Think of it: no more exclusions from coverage for pre-existing conditions. That alone is worth our thanks.

Remember, thank President Obama. Those of us on the Left need to remember that governing is different from the poetry of the campaign. Governing is tedious. Governing means compromise. Governing means setting policy. Governing means changing direction slowly sometimes, like an ocean tanker. The geek in me remembers the early episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, when Captain Picard would command, “All stop!” And the helm would reply, “Answering all stop!”

And we would wait for a moment while the Enterprise stopped.

It didn’t happen instantaneously. Nothing that big stops that quickly.

Change has come to America, but America is a big ship. Change, lasting and true change, takes time.

Passage of this bill will be huge. We should all be happy.

ACORN Cleared of Wrongdoing AGAIN

Posted on by TL
ACORN

Tip of the hat to The Brad Blog for this:

Earlier this month, a two-month independent investigation of ACORN, by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, found incidents of mismanagement, but no criminal wrongdoing by ACORN, the favorite whipping boy of Republican scammers such as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Fox “News” and the GOP itself. That investigation also found that the “sting videos” used recently against ACORN were doctored and manipulated.

Of course, readers of The BRAD BLOG know the Republicans’ entire, long, sad, anti-democratic (small “d” and large “d” both) campaign is based on little more than the fact that ACORN registers millions of legal low and middle income voters who tend to vote overwhelmingly Democratic (large “d”) rather than Republican, and the GOP and their democracy-hating proxies will go to any lengths to keep those legal voters from exercising their legal franchise.

And today, once again, ACORN is cleared of wrongdoing vis a vis yet another independent investigation, this one by the Congressional Research Service [PDF], as noted in a press release from U.S. House Judiciary Chair John Conyers this afternoon.

Read the full press release here.

Visit ACORN here.

Withers: Drunken Husband of State Sen. Heather Steans Goes to Gay Bar to Harass Rival

Posted on by TL

You can’t make this stuff up.

From 365Gay.com:

Let’s start this Christmas week with some crazy family mess from Illinois. Jim Madigan, an openly gay Illinois politician, wants to unseat 7th District State Sen. Heather Stearns. No problem there unless you are Stearns’ husband, Leo Smith. Last week the challenger held a fundraiser in a gay bar called The Call. Madigan was minding his business, doing what pols do when they want you to open up your wallet, and who shows up? Leo Smith.

Now don’t go crazy. Smith is not living life on the down low. He spent an hour drinking at the bar, another ten minutes in the bathroom (baby, I don’t even want to know) and then decided to go up to Madigan and tell him about himself.

“I’m not here for your event! I know you think you’re gonna get famous with all your bull***t! But those things are about me.”

The two men went back and forth, talking about everything from ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to gay rights. Smith doesn’t think Madigan has a gay rights record that is worth anything. A strange charge against a guy who was director of Equality Illinois.

Probably not the best move for your wife’s campaign.

"Alcohol – the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems." – Homer Simpson

Obama Will Win: Why and How His Critics from the Left and Right Will be Proven Wrong

Posted on by TL

Wise words from Frank Schaeffer.

I love Crazy for God. I intend to read Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don’t Like Religion (or Atheism).

I like Frank.

From The Brad Blog:

Before he’d served even one year President Obama lost the support of the easily distracted Left and engendered the white hot rage of the hate-filled Right. But some of us, from all walks of life and ideological backgrounds — including this white, straight, 57-year-old, former religious Rightwing agitator, now progressive writer and (given my background as the son of a famous evangelical leader) this unlikely Obama supporter — are sticking with our President. Why? Because he is succeeding.

We faithful Obama supporters still trust our initial impression of him as a great, good and uniquely qualified man to lead us.

Obama’s steady supporters will be proven right. Obama’s critics will be remembered as easily panicked and prematurely discouraged at best and shriveled hate mongers at worst…

Read the rest of the commentary here.

Krugman: Pass the Health Insurance Reform Bill

Posted on by TL

First, do no harm.

That’s Hippocrates. Not Joe Lieberman.

So, to the United States Senate, I say, "Do no harm!" Pass the current bill before you.

From Paul Krugman at the NYTimes:

A message to progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy. Declare that you’re disappointed in and/or disgusted with President Obama. Demand a change in Senate rules that, combined with the Republican strategy of total obstructionism, are in the process of making America ungovernable.

But meanwhile, pass the health care bill.

Yes, the filibuster-imposed need to get votes from “centrist” senators has led to a bill that falls a long way short of ideal. Worse, some of those senators seem motivated largely by a desire to protect the interests of insurance companies — with the possible exception of Mr. Lieberman, who seems motivated by sheer spite.

But let’s all take a deep breath, and consider just how much good this bill would do, if passed — and how much better it would be than anything that seemed possible just a few years ago. With all its flaws, the Senate health bill would be the biggest expansion of the social safety net since Medicare, greatly improving the lives of millions. Getting this bill would be much, much better than watching health care reform fail.

Pass the bill. Make it so. Do it. Do it, now.

Pass the most monumental health insurance reform in the history of the United States of America. Make history.

Do it. Now.

Danny Davis Likes Dorothy Brown for Cook Co. Board President, and So Do I

Posted on by TL

Rep. Danny Davis endorsed Dorothy Brown for Cook County Board President. In desperation, Todd Stroger played the race card, stupidly, I think.

From the Sun-Times:

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) threw his support behind Dorothy Brown in the crowded Democratic primary for Cook County Board president.

Davis noted that a recent poll showed Brown, the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk, leading the pack and he said that factored into his decision.

Davis dropped his own candidacy for board president earlier this year after failing to convince incumbent Todd Stroger to drop out.

Brown, who lost a 2007 bid to unseat Mayor Daley, thanked Davis for his support and said it would help propel her to victory in the four-candidate race.

The Sun-Times says Stroger released the following statement: “Congressman Davis has made a point of expressing his desire to not create or involve himself in any issue that would divide the African-American community. However, this endorsement has the potential to do just that.”

That’s just silly, Todd.

I would like to see Dorothy Brown issue a strong statement condemning patronage jobs. That happens, and I’m all in.

More from the Sun-Times here.

True Health Care Reform: No For-Profit Health Insurance Companies

Posted on by TL

Some health care reform ramblings.

The Republicans are crying about having to read a 2,000 page bill. Locally, Republican Isaac Hayes, challenging Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. for Congress, has lamented Jackson’s support of health care reform. In a strange move, on his campaign blog, Hayes reproduces a press release from Jackson’s Web page where Jackson calls the passage of the House health care reform bill, “A monumental and historic step forward.” The press release is quite inspirational:

“A MONUMENTAL AND HISTORIC STEP FORWARD”

Jackson votes for landmark health care overhaul legislation

Washington, D.C. — Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. voted today in strong support of legislation to overhaul the nation’s health care system — the Affordable Health Care for America Act. He called passage of the bill “a monumental, historic step forward.”

“For nearly 100 years, politicians of all stripes and in both parties have attempted to bring comprehensive reform to our nation’s health care system. Now, a century later, we — at long last — are delivering on the promise of making quality, affordable health care available to all Americans.

“This is change we can believe in, progress we can count on and a right we should all enjoy.

“This landmark bill reinforces the promise of our founding documents. It renews the meaning of our creed and reflects the enduring, eternal truth that We all are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable Rights. We should all have health care.

“In passing this bill, we begin a new era in America. Gone will be the days when citizens go untreated, becoming sicker and sicker because they can’t afford to see the doctor or get medicine. Gone will be the days when they can’t get coverage because of a previous illness or condition. Gone will be the days when Americans are at risk of falling into poverty or going to an early grave because health care was delayed, dropped or denied.”

“We are a better nation than that,” Jackson said.

“We can cure the sick. We can help those in need. We each can pursue our own paths and yet still be our brother’s keeper. That’s at the heart of this reform. That’s at the heart of America.

“This health care reform bill builds on what works and fixes what’s broken. It provides more security and stability to those who have health insurance and expands access to affordable, quality coverage to those who don’t. It does this in a way that allows the American people to see the doctor they want, for the health care they need, in a revamped system that is more efficient, less costly and of higher quality.

“This reform is urgent. It is indisputable. It forms a more perfect Union.”

I would not be quoting my opponent on my Web site, especially when my opponent is as erudite as Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Hayes deserves to lose.

Here’s a start on proper health care reform: Congress must make for-profit health care insurance companies illegal. If you want to sell bowling balls for profit, go for it. If you want to do health insurance for profit, forget it.

That would be a start.