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Archive for the ‘National Politics’ Category
Senior Bush administration officials sternly cautioned the 9/11 Commission against probing too deeply into the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a document recently obtained by the ACLU.
The notification came in a letter dated January 6, 2004, addressed by Attorney General John Ashcroft, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and CIA Director George J. Tenet. The ACLU described it as a fax sent by David Addington, then-counsel to former vice president Dick Cheney.
In the message, the officials denied the bipartisan commission’s request to question terrorist detainees, informing its two senior-most members that doing so would “cross” a “line” and obstruct the administration’s ability to protect the nation.
“In response to the Commission’s expansive requests for access to secrets, the executive branch has provided such access in full cooperation,” the letter read. “There is, however, a line that the Commission should not cross — the line separating the Commission’s proper inquiry into the September 11, 2001 attacks from interference with the Government’s ability to safeguard the national security, including protection of Americans from future terrorist attacks.”
The 9/11 Commission, officially called the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, was formed by President Bush in November of 2002 “to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks” and to offer recommendations for preventing future attacks.
by Timothy P. Carney, Washington Examiner
As they whip for the health care bill, Democratic leaders pack a mean one-two punch of populist rhetoric and the hefty financial backing of the drug industry.
In the heated yearlong health fight, President Obama has often accused his opponents of willful misrepresentation, even as he and his allies have endlessly repeated the biggest whopper of all — that the bill would rein in the special interests.
The Obama team regularly dismisses opponents as industry lackeys. The Democratic National Committee blasted out e-mails this week warning that “for every member of Congress, there are eight anti-reform lobbyists swarming Capitol Hill” and “Congress is under attack from insurance lobbyists.”
But drug industry lobbyists, according to Politico, spent the weekend “huddled with Democratic staffers” who needed the drug lobby to “sign off” on proposals before moving ahead. Meanwhile, we learn that the drug lobby is buying millions of dollars of ads in 43 districts where a Democratic candidate stands to suffer for supporting the bill. The doctors’ lobby and the hospitals’ lobby are also on board with the Senate bill.
So the battle at this point is not reformers versus industry, as Obama would have you believe. Rather, it is a battle between most of the health care industry and the insurance companies.
(And the insurers are not opposed to the whole package. On the bill’s central planks — limits on price discrimination, outlawing exclusions for pre-existing conditions, a mandate that employers insure their workers and a mandate that everyone hold insurance — insurers are on board. They object mostly that the penalty is too small for violating the individual mandate.)
Pharmaceuticals are a far more entrenched special interest than the insurers.
Of all the single-industry lobbies in Washington, the largest is the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America. PhRMA spent $26.2 million on lobbying last year — that’s nearly three times as much as the insurance lobby, America’s Health Insurance Plans, which spent $8.9 million.
If you include individual companies’ lobbying, pharmaceuticals blow away the competition, beating all other industries by 50 percent, according to data at the Center for Responsive Politics.
Given this Big Pharma clout, it’s unsurprising that the bill Obama’s whipping for — Senate bill — has nearly everything the drug companies wanted: prohibiting reimportation of drugs, preserving Medicare’s overpayment for drugs, lengthy exclusivity for biotech drugs, a mandate that states subsidize drugs under Medicaid, hundreds of billions in subsidies for drugs, and more.
PhRMA chief Billy Tauzin, who was vilified by Obama on the campaign trail, worked out much of this sweetheart deal in a West Wing meeting with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Tauzin visited the White House at least 11 times. He left his imprint so deeply on the current bill that it should probably be called BillyCare rather than ObamaCare.
Recall that pharmaceutical executives and political action committees dug deep trying to save the flailing candidacy of Democrat Martha Coakley in Massachusetts — a race that was explicitly a referendum on health care. She took in more than 10 times as much drug company cash as Republican Scott Brown.
This week, PhRMA, through a front group called Americans for Stable Quality Care, is rolling out millions of dollars in advertisements for the Democrats’ jury-rigged package consisting of the BillyCare bill and some as-yet-undetermined “budget reconciliation” measure. The ads reportedly will target wavering Democrats.
But supporters of BillyCare will continue to attack opponents as shills for insurance companies, demonizing, as Obama puts it, “those who profit from the status quo.”
Let’s look at those profits. Drug makers’ combined profit margin last year was 22.2 percent, compared with insurers’ 4.4 percent. Drug maker Merck’s net income, $12.9 billion, exceeds that of the 10 largest insurers combined.
Pfizer, which netted $8.64 billion last year, gave its CEO, Jeff Kindler, a 12.5 percent salary increase, bringing his compensation to $14.9 million. Pfizer, in a federal filing, attributed the raise partly to Kindler’s work “developing and advancing U.S. and global public policies that serve the overall interests of our Company,” including his “constructive participation in the U.S. legislative process.” Kindler contributed the maximum to Obama’s election, and Obama raised more money from the drug industry than any candidate in history.
On this bill, Republicans side with insurers, and Democrats mostly side with the richer and more powerful drug makers. The difference: Republicans didn’t cut a backroom deal with the insurers. Obama will still play the populist card, even as the drug lobby is his ace in the hole.
In a new attempt to curb terrorism on airplanes and in airports, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced this week that they plan on making full body scanners mandatory. The full body scanners, which produce an image and show any object carried by an individual, are already in use at several airports across the country.
One of the largest concerns regarding flying and traveling for many individuals is the threat of terrorism and suicide bombers. After 911 and various other terrorist attempts, the TSA finally feels that the full body scanners will be a huge deterrent in preventing future attacks.
While 21 airports across the country have already purchased at least one full body scanner, some are concerned that the cost of installing the body scanners will prevent many airports from getting one. The scanners that are approved for use by the TSA will cost anywhere between $130,000 and $170,000. Despite the cost, the TSA has planned on sending more of the machines to airports across the country.
The new body scan process has received other criticism saying that it will drastically delay the boarding and security time. Unless airports receive multiple scanners, security lines are likely to increase in length.
A major pro-Israeli lobby group in the United States has warned Washington against chilly remarks on US-Israeli ties, urging immediate action to ease apparent tensions with Tel Aviv.
Remarks by President Barack Obama’s administration considering the US relationship with Israel are a matter of serious concern, said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in a statement issued on Sunday.
The AIPAC statement further called on the administration “to take immediate steps to defuse the tension with what the group referred to as “the Jewish state.”
Last week, Tel Aviv announced plans to further expand its illegal West Bank settlements by constructing 1,600 more housing units in disputed East Jerusalem (al-Quds), despite repeated condemnations by the international community.
The announcement came at a time when US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting the region in the hope of boosting indirect peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Biden, along with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and senior Obama advisor David Axelrod, slammed the new construction and the timing of the announcement as insulting and destructive to peace efforts.
The criticism alarmed AIPAC, which is considered the most influential pro-Israel pressure group in the United States with noticeable links in Congress. Senior US and Israeli political figures regularly attend its annual conference.
In their statement on Sunday, the group warned against “the escalated rhetoric” and urged Obama to instead focus on Iran’s nuclear program and normalization of ties between Israel and the Arab world.
“The administration should make a conscious effort to move away from public demands and unilateral deadlines directed at Israel,” AIPAC stressed, recalling the “basic, fundamental, and strategic interests” the two share.
Hat Tip: MilitantLibertarian
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