If there were signs of serious progress, that would be one thing, but there's not. It has been in trouble for years and the GOP thought it was hysterical when they shot down the Clinton health care plan in the '90s. After that victory - and what a victory as we now see in the millionth study panning the state of health care in the US - they continued propping up their special interest friends in industry. What continues to jump out in these studies is that the US spends the most money in the world yet receives so little. Gosh, folks, who sees a problem here? Just like the GOP friends in other industries, they're doing just fine while the population gets so little in return.
In a real free market system - which we don't have despite what the GOP says - shouldn't buyers be getting more for their money? And again, McCain thinks a silly tax credit will help? Seriously. Worse still, he wants a similar program for our retirement plans though all with the guidance of Wall Street. Oh to live in the Ivory Tower of nine or ten houses. Meanwhile, WE'RE #42! WE'RE #42!
The United States of America is becoming less united by the day. A 30-year gap now exists in the average life expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous New England. Huge disparities have also opened up in income, health and education depending on where people live in the US, according to a report published yesterday.
The American Human Development Index has applied to the US an aid agency approach to measuring well-being – more familiar to observers of the Third World – with shocking results. The US finds itself ranked 42nd in global life expectancy and 34th in survival of infants to age. Suicide and murder are among the top 15 causes of death and although the US is home to just 5 per cent of the global population it accounts for 24 per cent of the world's prisoners.
Despite an almost cult-like devotion to the belief that unfettered free enterprise is the best way to lift Americans out of poverty, the report points to a rigged system that does little to lessen inequalities.
"The report shows that although America is one of the richest nations in the world, it is woefully behind when it comes to providing opportunity and choices to all Americans to build a better life," the authors said.
Some of its more shocking findings reveal that, in parts of Texas, the percentage of adults who pass through high school has not improved since the 1970s.
Is it really so hard to promote new energy that is good for America and good for the world? The GOP is completely unable to do anything that doesn't prop up their special interests such as Big Oil, Wall Street and Big Pharma. It's always too easy to shift costs to the middle class and give away the farm to the wealthiest, who are already doing pretty well. The Democrats are right, that we need a stronger majority but they're also going to have to start fighting back much more.
But for now, why do the Republicans hate America and promote special interests?
Mitch McConnell should be so proud. His GOP caucus has broken a record for obstruction in the Senate:
The filibuster may be well established in the popular consciousness — think of long-winded senators speechifying for days. But because modern Senate rules allow lawmakers to avoid the spectacle of pontificating by merely threatening the act, filibusters and the efforts to overcome them are being used more frequently, and on more issues, than at any other point in history.
So far in this first year of the 110th Congress, there have been 72 motions to stop filibusters, most on the Iraq war but also on routine issues like reauthorizing Amtrak funding. There were 68 such motions in the full two years of the previous Congress, 53 in 1987-88 and 23 in 1977-78. In 1967-68, there were 5 such votes, one of them on a plan to amend cloture itself, which failed.
For policy making, this is the legislative equivalent of gum on a shoe.
It has produced a numbing cycle of Washington futility: House Democrats pass a bill, but Senate Democrats, facing a filibuster by the Republican minority, fail to get the 60 votes needed to end debate. Little wonder that approval ratings of Congress stink these days.
One solution is a filibuster proof Senate -- 60 Democrats. That's a big goal, but with all the GOP retirements and scandals, McConnell is leading his party towards that possibility.
Republicans DO NOT support the troops. If you need more proof, read Jim Webb's statement about today's Republican filibuster of his troop readiness bill. The vote will occur today at around 11:30 a.m. We're posting Senator Webb's full statement because people need to understand that the GOP Senators -- and Lieberman -- are FILIBUSTERING a bill that actually does support the troops:
“Today the Republicans decided to filibuster an amendment that goes straight to the well-being of our troops. I deeply regret this move, which makes it necessary for the amendment to be passed with a minimum of 60 votes instead of 51.
“I would remind my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle that the American people are watching us closely today. They expect us to finally take the sort of positive action that might stabilize the operational environment in which our troops are being sent again and again.
“Americans are tired of the posturing that is giving Congress such a bad reputation. They are tired of the procedural strategies designed to protect politicians from accountability, and to protect this Administration from judgment. They are looking for concrete actions that will protect the well-being of our men and women in uniform.
“The question on this amendment is not whether you support this war or whether you do not. It is not whether you want to wait until July or September to see where one particular set of benchmarks or summaries might be taking us. The question is this: more than four years into ground operations in Iraq, we owe stability, and a reasonable cycle of deployment, to the men and women who are carrying our nation’s burden. That is the question. And that is the purpose of this amendment.”
