Issues calmly debated at northern Calif. health care Town Hall
ALAMEDA, Calif. ― Forty minutes before starting time, the line outside Alameda City Hall already stretched down the steps and across the block. Bright yellow tee-shirts printed with Health Care Reform Now! mingled with signs, Who profits from the status quo? and Public option now! Though most in the crowd clearly supported reform, one placard featured a vampire-toothed Uncle Sam demanding, “I want your money!”
Progressives press Senate Dems to move without GOP
Liberal and progressive strategists are dismissing media reports about the death of the public health care option as overblown speculation during a “slow news” period. The characterization of the reports is being made by many, among them Mike Lux, CEO of Progressive Strategies, who said, “I don’t think anything has changed.”
New Orleans infrastructure still in disrepair
Four years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, New Orleans still lacks adequate basic infrastructure. Striking the city in late August 2005, Katrina left more than three quarters of New Orleans underwater, causing severe damage to public services, roads, and essential utilities.
Over 200 British casualties in Afghanistan
The death of three British soldiers in the southern Helmand province raised the death toll of those troops to 204 on Monday, after their joint invasion with the United States to Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. Those fatal casualties were caused by a dynamite blast against an armored vehicle that was patrolling near the city of Sangin, confirmed the NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) command.
San Francisco hotel workers march for a new citywide pact
SAN FRANCISCO ― As contracts covering some 9,000 hotel workers were expiring Aug. 14, hundreds of workers and community supporters marched down Market St., the city’s main thoroughfare, and past several prime tourist hotels, proclaiming their determination to win a good new agreement with over 60 of the city’s best-known hotels.
As reports of compromise appear, push grows for public option
As President Obama continues his push for comprehensive health care reform and as reports emerge about “compromises” designed to win backing from Senate Blue Dog Democrats and Republicans, Health Care for America Now, a huge national coalition, and some unions have launched a new $650,000 television ad campaign targeting GOP leaders in the House and Senate and Republican members of Congress.
Supreme Court orders new hearing for Troy Davis
In a significant move the Supreme Court today ordered a new hearing in the case of African American death row inmate Troy Davis accused of killing Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989. Davis’s case has been the focus of national campaign by the NAACP, the National Action Network and other civil rights organizations. The court’s action in granting a writ of habeas corpus was the first such judgment since 1925.
Obama admin. assures veterans on health reform
The White House continued to knock down false information about the president's health reform plan by addressing false rumors circulated in the right-wing media that claim reform could force veterans out of the VA health care system.
Big Oil holding 'town halls' on climate bill
Following in the footsteps of the corporate-backed protest movement against health care reform, a group founded and funded by business interests opposed to regulating greenhouse gas pollution is planning a series of rallies to oppose the climate legislation being considered by Congress.
Fox News: Still Unfair and Unbalanced
In addition to some of its major personalities promoting disruptions and even violence at congressional town hall meetings, the guests and commentators invited to appear on its programs seem to overwhelmingly oppose health reform as well.
