Playing Politics with People's Lives. Another rural Georgia hospital is closing its doors as that state continues to block the Medicaid expansion.
The Lower Oconee Community Hospital does not have enough volume to stay open, yet many of the nearby residents are being refused much need health insurance that would have provided that facility with more patients. This is the fourth rural hospital in Georgia being forced to shut down, which means residents will have to travel about thirty miles if they need hospital care. How Farm Bill's $8.7 Billion Food Stamp Cuts Hurt Working America. Editorial: Coming tsunami of the destitute. Editorial: Coming tsunami of the destitute Americans need saving, now more than ever.
The latest study by the Corporation for Enterprise Development shows that nearly half of us are living paycheck to paycheck, with less than $6,000 in savings for a family of four. Numbers released this year show 34 percent of U.S. workers have no retirement savings of any kind, and, of those who do, the large majority have less than $25,000. A Wells Fargo survey conducted in October reveals that most workers expect to have to either labor into their 80s or never retire, staying on the job until they die. As a nation, we are setting ourselves up for disaster. Obama Signs Farm Bill That Trims Food Stamps. Facebook, Google lead tech industry group demanding government surveillance reform. This article originally appeared on The Next Web A group of the world’s most powerful Internet companies have come together to form the Reform Government Surveillance group, an organization pushing for wide-scale changes to US government surveillance in light of NSA revelations revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple, AOL, LinkedIn, Twitter and Yahoo have formed the alliance to push their shared belief that “it is time for the world’s governments to address the practices and laws regulating government surveillance of individuals and access to their information.” The organization is pledging its support to sweeping new reform proposed by Washington politicians, and its website includes five central principles for change: Limiting governments’ authority to collect users’ informationOversight and accountabilityTransparency about government demandsRespecting the freer flow of informationAvoiding conflict about governments ➤ Reform Government Surveillance. No partisan divide on Obama's Homeland Security nominee.
As general counsel of the Defense Department, Jeh Johnson recommended… (Olivia Douliery / Abaca…) WASHINGTON — As American warplanes dropped bombs on Libya in June 2011, lawmakers accused the Obama administration of usurping Congress and violating the War Powers Resolution.
From his office in the Pentagon's E-Ring, Jeh Johnson, then general counsel at the Defense Department, penned advice to the president: Go to Congress for approval. The president didn't agree, siding with aides who argued that without boots on the ground, the strikes did not constitute "hostilities" under the law, two former government officials familiar with the deliberations recalled. But Johnson's dissent may pay off now: It won him some fans among Republicans in Congress, and they haven't forgotten. On Wednesday, Johnson, President Obama's pick to run the Department of Homeland Security, appears headed for something few high-profile Washington nominees receive these days: a smooth confirmation hearing.
Sen. And Rep. Lone Senator Blocks Renewal of NSA Wiretap Program. The Obama administration wanted a quick, no-questions-asked-or-answered renewal of broad electronic eavesdropping powers that largely legalized the Bush administration’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program.
That’s despite President Barack Obama’s campaign promise to revisit and revise the rules to protect Americans’ rights. Everything seemed to be going to plan after a Senate committee approved the re-authorization in secret last month. The Obameter: Restrict warrantless wiretaps. No oversight included in Patriot Act renewal Updated: Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 | By David G.
Taylor On May 26, 2011 President Barack Obama signed a bill that reauthorized key elements of the Patriot Act. Rights Group Slams Obama Over Warrantless Wiretapping. If you thought the fight over the warrantless wiretapping program that thrived under President Bush was over, think again.
On Monday, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a brief in federal appeals court in an attempt to reopen a years-old case over the surveillance program. CCR's original lawsuit, CCR v. Bush, was filed in 2006. Chicago killings over Memorial Day weekend jolt city officials. Three days.
Ten bodies. Forty-three others injured in shootings. Holder on Targeted Strikes: The Key Passages, with Commentary. Corporate Personhood Worse, Ending It Easier, Than You Think. Revoke Citizenship, Then Gitmoize: The Latest Chapter In The Assault on American Civil Liberties. As if last month’s National Defense Authorization Act that explicitly gave the president authority to indefinitely Gitmoize “enemy combatants” was not bad enough, there is more legislative mischief brewing on Capitol Hill.
The NDAA, as Gene Healy and Jacob Sullum pointed out, left it up to the courts to decide whether American citizens would actually fall under its purview. But a new bill—sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Rep. Charles Dent (R-PA)— called the Enemy Expatriation Act might render that issue moot. ObamaNazi ACTIVATING FEMA CAMPS Across USA.