JPRA's Advice Has Gone Missing
One of the key documents showing the appropriation of DOD's SERE techniques at CIA appears to have gone missing.
CIA's Latest Vaughn Declarations, Working Thread
The CIA has released some new Vaughn Declaration documents in the ACLU's torture FOIA. These documents relate to its communication with the OLC;David Barron declarationWendy Hilton declarationVaughn Index
I'm keeping half an ear on HJC's PATRIOT Act hearing at the moment, then will need to head to the CGI event. So I won't be able to look at them until later.
Bill Clinton on Student Loans and Health Care
Bill Clinton says we need to take the private profit out of student loans. But he doesn't see the importance of doing so with health care.
Torture Is Counterproductive To Interrogation Results!
As Fatster noted, there is a new report out from Pamela Hess of the AP relating the conclusions of a paper, published in the scientific journal Trends in Cognitive Science: Science and Society, by Irish professor and researcher Shane O'Mara, on the deleterious effects of the procedures employed by the Bush Administration torture program:The CIA's harsh interrogation program likely damaged the brain and memory functions of terrorist suspects, diminishing their physical
Travel Week
I'm off to the big city this week. As I previously noted, on Wednesday I will do a Nation event with Dan Rather and Jane Mayer.
The Nation presents a conversation on the future of news, featuring legendary newscaster Dan Rather, investigative reporter and best-selling author Jane Mayer, pioneering blogger Marcy Wheeler, and longtime editor and publisher--now publisher emeritus--of The Nation, Victor Navasky.
Mowhoush and al-Jamadi
A short look at some of the CIA's discussions of the Mowhoush and al-Janabi killings.
Obama (and John Boehner) on Al Punto
Obama on Al Punto.
CIA OIG's Wild Parsing about What Was "Depicted" on the Torture Tapes
Back in January 2008, the CIA's OIG claimed it did not launch its investigation into torture in response to an allegation of wrongdoing. But that's not what the IG Report itself said.
Trash Talk - Spooks And Jukes Edition
Hi there Wheelies and Lugnuts, we have reached the end of another weekend. So now the fun starts! Marcy and I kind of have a lot of the same interests, that is how I came to be here. Today she wrote about the Ambinder Atlantic article on top spooks caterwauling about the lame ass to start with Holder "preliminary review" on the beyond the criminal guidelines, set out by even
Poppy Bush Not Joining Other DCIs Opposing Investigation of W Bush's Torture
Seven DCIs request that Obama interfere in the workings of DOJ to stop the torture investigation. Interestingly, Poppy Bush is not among them.
Al Punto Versus Fox News Sunday
It appears that Obama is appearing on Univision's Sunday show, Al Punto, instead of Fox News Sunday not just because Latinos are a more important demographic than white racists, but because Al Punto is actually a more successful Sunday show.
MaxTax's Medicare Reforms: Would They Really Reform Health Care?
The MaxTax is largely a Medicare bill attached to 39 pages of private health care reform. To show you what I mean by that, here's roughly how many pages MaxTax spends on each topic:
Health care exchange and other means to make private care available to the uninsured: 39 pages (including several on preventing tax dollars from being spent on undocumented workers or abortions)
Extending access to the poor and underserved (including expanding
Dog Day Afternoon: The Militarization Of American Police
The reason I objected so strenuously is that there is a long growing problem in this country with the militarization of, and militancy by, police officers. Courtesy of an opinion piece in the Washington Post we have a pwerful reminder of what this means for citizens.
Pay2Play Ceci: "The Most Influential Players" Love MaxTax
Ceci Connolly says her Pay2Play pals in the health care industry love Max's bill.
CBO on Co-Ops
Ezra has posted the CBO's initial estimates on the costs of MaxTax--some of the assumptions for which seem to pretend that insurance companies will not react in any way to the new rules imposed by MaxTax.
But before I get into what CBO's assumptions, here's what CBO thinks of Baucus' crappy co-op option.
(The proposed co-ops had very little effect on the estimates of total enrollment in the exchanges or federal costs because,
The REAL Worst Policy in the Bill
Ezra continues to claim that the worst employer incentive in MaxTax is the way it fines employers for not covering employees.
Max Baucus's bill retains the noxious "free rider" provision on employers. Rather than a simple employer mandate that forces every employer over a certain size to provide health-care insurance or pay a small fee, the free rider approach penalizes employers $400 for hiring low-income workers who are eligible for subsidies.
Affordable for Individuals Versus Affordable for Wal-Mart Employees
Here's a scary part of MaxTax, if I understand it correctly. MaxTax still screws employees but rewards Wal-Mart as I've laid out in this post and this post. In addition, though, MaxTax imposes much higher standards for affordability on employees who have access to health care through an employer.
MaxTax: Working Thread
Fatster found Max Baucus' health care plan here. Use this thread to post what you find.
I'm about 1/10 of the way through. My favorite detail so far is that the Health Exchanges would take your MaxTax--your mandated payment to shitty insurance companies--as a payroll deduction.
For employed individuals who purchase health insurance through a state exchange, the premium payments would be made through payroll deductions.
WaPo Happy, Two: Lalalalalala! I Can't Hear You!
Marcus Brauchli says there are too many readers complaining about the newspaper getting in the way of his attempts to ignore readers as he guts the paper.
Dennis Blair's Not Going to Touch Bush's "Inaccuracies"
Dennis Blair didn't want to touch the "inaccurate" filings submitted under Bush.
