Popular Progressive has some information on the Wellstone Mental Healh Parity bill that passed in the bailout bill last week.
The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 is a major step forward to end discrimination in insurance coverage for people with mental illness and substance abuse disorders. The legislation states that insurance plans may not place arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on mental health and addiction coverage as compared to medical/surgical coverage. Millions of individuals and families have been affected by the inability to access equal coverage for mental health and addiction care.
It's about time. This bill first passed in the Senate in 1996, so it's been 12 long years for it to become law.
I've spent 35 years writing about America, its people, and the meaning of the American Promise. The Promise that was handed down to us, right here in this city from our founding fathers, with one instruction: Do your best to make these things real: opportunity, equality, social and economic justice, a fair shake for all of our citizens, the American idea, as a positive influence, around the world for a more just and peaceful existence. These are the things that give our lives hope, shape, and meaning. They are the ties that bind us together and give us faith in our contract with one another.
I've spent most of my creative life measuring the distance between that American promise and American reality. For many Americans, who are today losing their jobs, their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear, who have no healthcare, or who have been abandoned in our inner cities, the distance between that promise and that reality has never been greater or more painful.
I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and in his work. I believe he understands, in his heart, the cost of that distance, in blood and suffering, in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president, he would work to restore that promise to so many of our fellow citizens who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning. After the disastrous administration of the past 8 years, we need someone to lead us in an American reclamation project. In my job, I travel the world, and occasionally play big stadiums, just like Senator Obama. I've continued to find, wherever I go, America remains a repository of people's hopes, possibilities, and desires, and that despite the terrible erosion to our standing around the world, accomplished by our recent administration, we remain, for many, a house of dreams. One thousand George Bushes and one thousand Dick Cheneys will never be able to tear that house down.
The best analysis that I read this morning about the debate came from DemFromCT at Daily Kos...
Joe Biden is the story for me, not Sarah Palin. I was delighted but not surprised with his remarkably strong and empathetic performance. Joe is a strong Democrat, and a proud family man. He's smart, he's experienced, and he can <> be disciplined. If there's a candidate who exceeded realistic expectations, it was Biden who knocked it out of the park and exposed Palin for the attractive, but callow, candidate she really is. His discussion of his injured family was the deal-maker for the audience, a moment Palin handled awkwardly afterwards in her response.
Sarah Palin's expectations were ridiculously low, set by the punditocracy that, as Jon Stewart might say, is hurting this country. Get a grip, folks. No one cares whether Andrea Mitchell thinks Palin reached her (Mitchell's) expectations. They want to know whether Sarah Palin can help the family pay the mortgage and pay the college tuition bill.
Two completely separate conversations go on about Sarah Palin. She's lost thoughtful conservatives and independents, and Democrats were never her audience. Social conservatives and wingers like Pat Buchanan may love her, but who cares? Buchanan, I will remind the media, was a fringe candidate who did very poorly when he ran. Palin's audience may love her but they are a small portion of the electorate and they do not count any more. This is not a base election. It will take a loss for the media to get it.
Last night I wrote that Sarah Palin completely ignored the questions from the moderator. Chris Matthews picked this up as well and was scared by Palin's comment that the VP should have more power.
Not only did she say I'm not going to do any more interviews, it seemed, but she was saying, I'm not going to listen to uh Gwen Ifill tonight. She said I'm not going to uh give the answers the moderator wants to ask for. What an extraordinary statement. I'm not going to play by the rules and when I get elected I want more power in the office than it's had before. Hmm. Not too much humility here.
commoniowan: The debate was a wash. If you came in liking Palin then you thought she did a good job. If you didn't like her then you probably thought she was annoying. She isn't going to swing many independents. Biden did his job by challenging McCain's record and linking him to Bush's policies and laying out Obama's plans.
commoniowan: Palin didn't answer any of the questions. She had her talking points and attacks on Obama and ignored the questions completely.
commoniowan: Biden says that it is all about dignity, respect, and hardwork. We want to bring that back. "It's time for America to get back up together."
commoniowan: Palin wants more chances to talk to Americans, but the media won't let her. We need more fighting in America or we lose our freedom.
commoniowan: Biden says McCain has been no maverick on every issue that matter most to people's lives. Not on health care, education, tax cuts, or war.
commoniowan: Oh yeah, Palin was asked what her achilles heel was. She responds by saying that her and John McCain are perfect for each other.
commoniowan: Wow, Palin's talking about her strengths of being an executive and being part of the heart of America and the CNN dials go nowhere.
commoniowan: To quote my 2nd grade students "Oh snap!" Palin slams Ifill for saying that Palin said she didn't know what the VP even did.
commoniowan: Palin: "John McCain knows how to win a war." That doesn't mean he has to make up for Vietnam by staying in Iraq forever.
commoniowan: Biden: "I never supported John McCain's strategy in Iraq. John McCain's strategy was exactly the same as Dick Cheney's."
commoniowan: Palin: "Wow, man, I am just so much a Washington outsider." CNN voter dials drop.
commoniowan: Biden asked about intervening in Darfur and says we can take a lead if we take a hard stand and stop the genocide.
commoniowan: Biden gets the focus back on McCain by saying he hasn't heard anything about how McCain's plans are any different than George W. Bush's.
commoniowan: Palin talks about being all mavericky and that Biden is just pointing fingers and looking backwards because he isn't a maverick like her and McCain.
commoniowan: Biden brings up that Ahmadinejad doesn't even control the military in Iran and that the clerics do.
commoniowan: Biden: McCain still believes the front on the war on terror is Iraq. He is wrong, it is in Afghanistan.
commoniowan: Palin response " ... (crickets chirping)... then reads rightwing talking points about waving the white flag and surrendering."
commoniowan: Biden: "We will end this war. For John McCain there is no end in sight."
commoniowan: Palin is asked about their plan for the Iraq War and Biden calls her out for not mentioning what their plan is.
commoniowan: Palin agress that she agrees with Biden and Obama on gay marriage and equal rights for same sex couples. I am sure that will ruffle the feathers of some evangelicals.
commoniowan: Palin is asked about equal rights for same sex couples and tries to dodge the question and now I am lost.
commoniowan: Palin calls Joe, Senator O'Biden.
commoniowan: Biden: I think it is man made. "If you don't understand what the cause is, it is virtually impossible to come up with a solution."
commoniowan: Palin: Can't say that man affects climate, but will say what man should do to fix it. Doesn't that mean you think man affects the climate?
commoniowan: Palin says there is a toxic mess on Main St. and it is affecting Wall St. I think she got it backwards.
commoniowan: Palin talks about taking away the tax breaks for oil companies in Alaska. Would she plan on doing that if she were elected vice president?
commoniowan: Palin hasn't promised much of anything because she has been hiding from the media.
commoniowan: Palin dodges the question again and gives her own answer about something else.
commoniowan: Biden calls McCain's health care benefit tax the ultimate bridge to nowhere but the explanation was a little hard to follow .
commoniowan: Biden on McCain's plans to tax health care benefits... "WIth the one hand you giveth, the other hand you taketh."
commoniowan: Palin forgets to mention that McCain plans to tax health care benefits and won't do anything to cover more people.
commoniowan: Palin believes the government is the problem, yet wants to lead the problem. And we wonder why our government can't get anything done when Republicans are in control.
commoniowan: Biden "We have a different value set" and explains why everyone does better when everyone does better and the middle class is strong.
commoniowan: Palin cut property taxes as mayor and left Wasilla millions in debt.
commoniowan: Palin repeats the lie that Obama will raise taxes on those making as little as $42,000. Obama will cut taxes for people making less than $250,000.
commoniowan: Biden brings us back to reality, Obama talked about sub-prime mortgage crisis 2 years ago while McCain has continually pushed deregulation.
commoniowan: Palin: Not Americans fault the economy is hurtin', but it is a chance for us to learn our lessons.
commoniowan: Palin is speaking in talking points and cliches..."team of mavericks", "getting down to business", "hockey moms", "joe six pack".
commoniowan: Palin mentions soccer moms. I didn't know they play soccer in Alaska.
commoniowan: Biden said that a downside is if people make money off the bailout. I think he meant if irresponsible CEOs make money and taxpayers don't.
commoniowan: Ifill asks if the bailout bill debate represents the best of times or if it was the worst of times in Washington DC.
commoniowan: Joe Biden needs to debate John McCain tonight and let Palin get herself in trouble.
Public Policy Polling surveyed four states immediately after the Republican convention and then again three weeks later. In those states, Gov. Sarah Palin's favorability has dropped by a net average of 12 points, and Sen. Barack Obama's standing in the horse race has improved by an average of seven points.
A new KCCI poll done by Research 2000 shows Barack Obama with another large lead in Iowa.
The new poll interviewed 600 Iowans on Monday and Tuesday who regularly vote in elections for opinion on the upcoming presidential election.
The latest KCCI poll shows that if the election were held today, 55 percent of those surveyed would vote for Obama, 39 percent for McCain. The poll has a magin of error of 4 percent.
However, the McCain campaign is seeing things differently...
"We've seen such a variety of polls. Sometimes we're up. Sometimes we're down. I think the bottom line is this is going to be a very close election," said Dave Roederer, McCain's Iowa campaign state chairman.
I think it is safe to say that no other state, besides Obama's home state of Illinois, knows Obama as as well as Iowa.
The poll shows that Iowans believe Obama is qualified to be president. 65% of Iowans think Obama is qualified to be president compared to 63% for McCain. 55% of Iowans think Joe Biden is qualified, while just 37% think Sarah Palin is qualified.
Here's highlight video from John McCain's interview with the Des Moines Register's editorial board that is getting a lot of play around the blogosphere...
David Sirota on the House voting down the bailout plan and what might be coming next...
Those who are surprised by this turn of events just haven't been paying attention to what's going on out in the country - they haven't been paying attention to, for instance, the social survey research showing rising rage against both our corrupt government and Corporate America. During my 3 month book tour, I faced a wave of skepticism from the Establishment media about my thesis. This earthquake on the floor of the U.S. House should end that skepticism once and for all.
Just as I said in the book that it's not clear what is going to come out of the Left-Right grassroots uprising throughout the country, it's not clear what is going to come out of this uprising in Congress. Will Democratic leaders tack to the hard right, load the bill up with corporate tax cuts and pass this bill with only Republican votes? Or will they actually be leaders of the Democratic Party, make this bill a vehicle for the kind of New Deal-style investments and regulations that are necessary to start rebuilding this country, and pass this bill with full Democratic Party support?
From a July 2002 memo from the military's Joint Personnel Recovery Agency...
The unintended consequence of a U.S. policy that provides for the torture of prisoners is that it could be used by our adversaries as justification for the torture of captured U.S. personnel.
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