Ah, what fun. Take an afternoon off, and the comment section gains orbital velocity, takes a couple of laps around Saturn and crashes into Titan. Better that than crickets, I suppose.
At the risk of igniting more, I'll say this–to me, it's a simple equation. A large majority of the country wants healthcare reform. That large majority voted in Obama and Democratic majorities in both houses. But the healthcare industry wants to keep its profits intact, so they're ginning up wacky, unbelievably melodramatic conspiracies to bring out the small minority of wingnuts to shut down debate. Perhaps the disproportionate attention on wingnuts will bring enough collateral attention to the actual issue to re-open the policy debate. We've all got opinions, hopefully arrived at by reasonable consideration. Can we bring that to Congress instead of, as a tonwhall protester so eloquently put it, "Sit down! Sit down! Sit down!"?
Anyway. For today's main fun, we move to something of a bombshell nature. I've written before about Sibel Edmonds, a whistleblower who was fired by the FBI. (She worked as a translator.) Former Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the State Secrets privilege to keep her allegations out of sight. Now, in an Ohio lawsuit on related matters brought by Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt, Edmonds has testified under oath and laid out the entirety of her claims. (This time, the Dept. of Justice stayed mum. So good on AG Holder.)
Unfortunately, the primary outlet for news about her at present is the Brad Blog, which, though often an exclusive outlet for well-sourced news, is an off-putting and amateurish mess to navigate. You can visit there for updates, and some (over-long) video is posted below.
It's no easy feat to summarize her claims, because they read like a particularly sordid spy novel plot. Yet her claims have repeatedly been found to hold water–a report from the Dept. of Justice Inspector General concluded: "We believe that many of her allegations were supported, that the FBI did not take them seriously enough, and that her allegations were, in fact, the most significant factor in the FBI's decision to terminate her services."
She claims a large network of treasonous behavior that includes Turkey blackmailing a Democratic congresswoman (with knowledge of a same-sex affair), many counts of bribery of politicians (mostly Republican, but Democrats as well), and Bush's number three State Dept. official alerting "the target of an FBI investigation" about a CIA front (ending, says Brad Blog, with possible loss of life). The story is complicated and not soundbite-friendly, but what a get for an enterprising mainstream news outlet if someone decides to pursue it with old-fashioned investigative reporting. It's definitely one to watch.
Here's more about Edmonds from Vanity Fair, and here's video:
ADDITIONAL: Oh boy, it's a new round of "play a game with my rules or you're chicken!"
In fact, whatever improvement to the status quo you can come up with, I'll be happy to throw in as a good idea to try. And I ain't being facetious, at least about that. Enjoy!
Oh, and it is worth your while to check out Sibel Edmonds. It's hardly a partisan matter.
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE…
Our awesome corporate media in action?:
Yesterday, Tea Party Patriots national coordinator Jenny Beth Martin sent an email, obtained by TPMmuckraker, to a Tea Party google group. Martin told the group: "We have a media request for an event this week that will have lots of energy and lots of anger. This is for CNBC."
FASCINATING:
Here's an abosrbing, deeply interesting look at the healthcare system in The Atlantic Monthly by someone whose quest for information began with the death of his father. Well worth taking the time to read.
Hey Eric–nicely done. I disagree that somehow people don't want "Obama's plan"–it's a work in progress, so it's impossible to make that claim in such a black-and-white way. But as far as more options? Embrace reform wherever possible, and offer more choices and more ways of doing things in a competitive market. Set it all in motion for a while and perhaps we'd end up revealing the best solutions. I would, if I could, say yes to what you're bringing up and yes to a public option. But that kind of problem-solving does not appeal to the healthcare industry as it now exists–that apathetic disinterest is the common enemy for all of us who deal with health insurers. The sooner we do that instead of yelling about things, the sooner we'll make something useful happen.
BARNACLE BILL:
Our e-steamed regular commentator Joe, just after equating things which are not equal, illustrates the machinations of the school of commentary that one sees so often on the Intertoobz, the one designed to make things go boom because it's fun:
"That's one of the funniest things I've never read."
(emphasis mine)
Which is precisely why his presence is so singular.
DEEP THOUGHT: Isn't the military a government-run operation?
DEEPER THOUGHT: Pillars of rhetoric: logos, pathos and ethos.
