Senate Now Has A Health Care Reform Plan, Corruption Spreads Worldwide, SETTLERS RALLY IN NYC

November 18th, 2009 - by: danny

WHAT WOULD THE MAYANS THINK? MSNBC LAST NIGHT: FLOATING A PALIN-BECK TICKET FOR 2012. Scary, Preposterous or Desirable? You Tell Me.

SENATE TO TAKE UP HEALTH CARE
CORRUPTION PERVASIVE AS CRISIS DEEPENS
HOW TO RESOLVE AFGHAN ISSUES?

Harry Reid Univeils $849 billion health-care bill, says he has the votes

Senate majority leader’s proposal is projected by budget analysts to cut the deficit by $127 billion over the next decade, a senior leadership aide said.

The new bill would cover 94% of the public in some ways and has a Public Option. 3 Dems may oppose it so it is unclear if it can pass–but it has come a long way since the original proposal by Max Baucus. Senator Schumer of New York was very optimistic on Countown Wed night. He says they expect to vote on cloture this Saturday and expect many maneuvers by the GOP to kill it.
As of now they expect to vote what remains up or down on the Monday after Thanksgiving. They may be forced to read the l000 plus page bill aloud if the GOP presses them to do so. There are many unresolved issues as in how to reconcile th House and Senate versions, particularly thier tax provisions.

THE HILL: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has recruited an all-star team of former senators – Vice President Joe Biden, Tom Daschle and Ken Salazar – to push healthcare reform over the finish line.

CORRUPTION PERVASIVE WORLDWIDE

Report: Corruption on the rise worldwide Iraq and Afghanistan, whose recently established democratic governments have the close support of the U.S. government, are among the most corrupt nations on the planet, according to a report by Transparency International. The index of public-sector corruption in 180 nations lists the U.S. as the 19th-least corrupt government, a prize that offers little consolation to supporters looking at the significant cost associated with bolstering the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. The report found corruption has blossomed worldwide as government efforts to fight the financial crisis have slackened.

WATCH VIDEO:

Campaign Blasts Minority Leader Boehner and GOP for Hypocrisy on Gitmo Discharge Petition

Responds with Release of New “Scrooge” Web Video Attacking Gitmo and Bush-Cheney Approved Torture

195 Terrorists Tried, Convicted and Locked Up in Federal Supermax Prisons on US Soil Under Bush/Cheney Administration

The National Campaign to Close Guantanamo fired back today at House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and other Republicans accusing them of hypocrisy for launching a discharge petition to force a vote on the “Keep Terrorists Out of America Act.” The Campaign, led by former Congressman Tom Andrews and including retired Generals, Vote Vets and thousands of volunteers, chastised the Minority Leader for playing partisan politics with America’s national security in an attempt to maneuver for the 2010 elections.

“This is nothing other than a partisan political stunt that counts on two things: that fear will prevail over facts, and that people are unaware that these very same politicians supported the very same policies when a Republican was in the White House,” said Andrews. “This is politics at its worst. It is based on a second type of fear — a politician’s fear of the 30-second attack commercial.”

TODAY IT MUST BE KABUL: Clinton makes unannounced trip to Afghanistan

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton lands in Kabul following visit to China with President Barack Obama.

WP: KABUL — The Afghan minister of mines accepted a roughly $30 million bribe to award the country’s largest development project to a Chinese mining firm, according to a U.S. official who is familiar with military intelligence reports.

ESCALATION UNDERWAY AS WE SPEAK

US quietly expedites aid for Pak military operations: :
Dawn, Pakistan

KARACHI: The United States has quietly rushed millions of dollars worth of military equipment to Pakistani forces in recent months, the NYTimes quoted American and Pakistani officials as saying.

Prior to the Swat operation in the spring, Pakistan’s army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani asked that the US quickly deliver 10 Russian-built Mi-17s. According to the US newspaper, both US President Barack Obama and US army chief Admiral Mike Mullen personally intervened to fulfil his request; four copters were leased in June and the remaining provided to Pakistan under various authorities.

AND NOT JUST THERE
By Rick Rozoff. Global Warfare: U.S. Military Operations in All Major Regions of the World

Not only does one country account for the overwhelming plurality of world military expenditures, but that nation also has troops and bases on all six habitable continents (as well as a 54-year military mission in Antarctica, Operation Deep Freeze) and eleven aircraft carrier strike groups and six navy fleets that roam the world’s oceans and seas at will. It is also expanding a global interceptor missile system on land, on sea, in the air and into space that will leave it invulnerable to retaliation.

CARACUS TO WASHINGTON: HOLA

“In response to recent declarations by the Government of the United States concerning its “interest in promoting stability and dialogue” between Colombia and Venezuela, the Ministry of People’s Power of Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela wants to point out that the installation of military bases in Colombia under the unlimited control of the United States itself represents a situation of instability and regional concern.

The Colombian Government tries to justify the disproportionate deployment of the United States in Colombian territory by citing the bilateral effort in the fight against drug trafficking and terrorism. Those arguments are false and do not respond to the doubts and concerns that the countries of South America have expressed over the bases, which are perceived as threats due to the significance of the installation of equipment for electronic warfare, the possibility of intelligence-gathering operations and the presence of U.S. military personnel and defense contractors.

ISRAEL

Soldiers’ mutiny raises concern in Israel

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced concern on Tuesday over a mutiny by pro-settler soldiers that raised fears of more rebellion in the ranks in any future land-for-peace moves with the Palestinians.

“Our security and existence depend on the Israel Defense Forces,” Netanyahu told reporters. “If you promote disobedience, you will bring about the downfall of the state. There is no place for disobedience.”

In an incident on Monday played down by the military as an aberration and described by some political commentators as a crossing of a red line, a handful of soldiers protested against the partial dismantling of a settler-outpost in the West Bank.

Their action prompted 15 right-wing legislators in the 120-member parliament to propose a bill that would bar the military from forcing troops to remove Jews from settlements in the occupied territory.

WATCH: ISRAELI JOURNALIST GIDEON LEVY ON THE “PEACE PROC

PRESS RELEASE: ISRAELI SETTLER FANATCIS RALLY AT SHEA STADIUM IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, NY, November 19, 2009 — The Hebron Fund announced today their annual fundraiser will go on as planned on Saturday night Nov. 21 to celebrate the right of Jews to live in Hebron. The Hebron Fund is committed to assisting the Jewish residents of Hebron with their humanitarian and civil needs.

“Just as Jews can live anywhere they want in New York, Paris or elsewhere, so too can Jews live anywhere they want in the so-called “West Bank.” We have as our slogan “Let My People Grow!” in protest of racist limitations, led by President Barack Obama on Jewish growth in Hebron and throughout Judea & Samaria. We are committed to continuing to have Jews live everywhere they want,” said Yossi Baumol, Executive Director of The Hebron Fund.

The event is progressing despite a letter of protest sent by anarchist and extreme left wing activists. The NY Mets organization will be honoring their commitment to rent the Caesar’s Club in Citi Field to the Hebron Fund, which will be holding their annual fundraiser.

A NYC extremist organization, Adalah (http://adalahny.org/) has called on Shea Stadium to cancel the event.”

Nov 18
By TINI TRAN (AP) — 3 hours ago
BEIJING – President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he met briefly with a half brother who lives in China and who recently wrote a semi-autobiographical novel about the abusive Kenyan father they share.
Obama, who spent three days in China during his first official tour of Asia, acknowledged the meeting in an interview with CNN. He offered no details. An aide said later that the meeting took place Monday night after Obama arrived in Beijing, the Chinese capital.
The White House had declined to say whether the president and Mark Ndesandjo would meet. And no White House official mentioned the visit until Obama did when asked about it.
“I don’t know him well. I met him for the first time a couple of years ago,” Obama told CNN. “He stopped by with his wife for about five minutes during the trip.”
Describing the meeting as “overwhelming” and “intense,” Ndesandjo told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that he had long anticipated the chance to welcome his famous brother to China.
“I think he came directly off the plane, changed some clothes and then came down and saw us,” Ndesandjo told AP Television News on Wednesday. “And he just gave me a big hug. And it was so intense. I’m still over the moon on it. I am over the moon. And my wife. She is his biggest fan and I think she is still recovering.”
In the CNN interview, Obama said he hadn’t read his brother’s book, “Nairobi to Shenzhen,” in which Ndesandjo says Barack Obama Sr. beat him and his mother. The president also wrote about his father, who had abandoned him as a child, in his best-selling memoir, “Dreams from My Father.”

“It’s no secret that my father was a troubled person,” Obama said. “Anybody who has read my first book, ‘Dreams from My Father,’ knows that, you know, he had an alcoholism problem, that he didn’t treat his families very well. Obviously it’s a sad part of my history and my background but it’s not something I spend a lot of time brooding over.”

Ndesandjo said he bought tickets months ago to fly to from the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, where he has lived since 2002, to Beijing, in hopes of reconnecting with his brother. The two last met in January when Ndesandjo attended Obama’s inauguration as a family guest.

M&G: US “CONSEQUENCES” FOR IRAN

The US says Washington and its partners are working on steps to show Iran the consequences of its decision to snub a nuclear deal with the Wes

The News Dissector