United States News Digest

Target of White House Bribery Attempt Wants Glass-Steagall Restored

July 18 (EIRNS)—The White House tried to buy off Democratic Party Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff of Colorado with a job offer, but Romanoff is still pushing for the policy that the White House hates—the restoration of Glass-Steagall. During a campaign appearance on July 15, Romanoff told the Canon City Daily Record that he takes no money from Wall Street banks; he considers it a conflict of interest for his Democratic opponent Sen. Michael Bennet to take Wall Street money, and sit on the banking committee that is supposed to regulate the financial industry; and that he would have demanded a restoration of Glass-Steagall.

Asked what he would have done if he were in the Senate instead of Bennet, Romanoff said: "I would have strengthened the bill to separate commercial and investment banking activity. Once upon a time there was a law called the Glass-Steagall Act that used to separate those two kinds of activities. That wall came down in 1999; I would have put it back up. Congress didn't do that either."

Tea Party Flap Covers Up For Real Policy Fight

July 18 (EIRNS)—According to Democratic Party sources close to the Obama White House, the President and his crew of Chicago advisors are totally obsessed with the right-wing propaganda assaults on them, and read every word that comes out, and watch every snipe that appears on Fox TV. "They are so fixated on these right-wing attacks, and particularly on the Tea Party, that they are totally clueless about what is actually going on with the American people. They don't want to realize that it is their policies—the health-care swindle, the bailout, the job losses, and the worse-than-useless financial reforms—that have turned the vast majority of Americans into Obama-haters." It has nothing to do with the so-called Tea Party or with the right wing of the Republican Party. "But you can't tell Obama or his Chicago advisors that."

The source added that this is one more piece of evidence that LaRouche's psychological diagnosis of Obama as "Hitler in the bunker" is right on the mark.

Typical of the media promotion of the Obama White House obsessions, today's Washington Post runs a column by Dana Milbank, promoting the Tea Party, and highlighting the Mason City, Iowa billboard, recently taken down, featuring pictures of Lenin, Hitler, and Obama. This hype is driving Obama and his White House inner circle deeper into the pit, the source observed. "Obama and his top aides think that Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and the Fox News crew are running the country. They are stark-raving paranoid and totally misfocused." Of course, he added, the White House also reads much of what is written or spoken by Lyndon LaRouche, and that also, drives them up the wall.

Nazi Policies of Obama Health-Care Czar Under Fire

July 18 (EIRNS)—All ten Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee headed by Max Baucus (D-N.D.) sent a letter on July 14, a week after Obama's recess appointment of health-care czar Sir Donald Berwick, a knight of the British Empire, demanding hearings on the appointment, even though he already has the job for the next 18 months. According to a report by Fox News, the Republican leadership of the Senate may block any other appointments because of Obama's use of the recess tool (popularly used by Bush and Cheney to appoint neo-con fanatics who could not pass Senate confirmation) in the case of Berwick.

Berwick's support for the Nazi policies of Obama's operatives like E-Z Kill Emanuel and Peter Orszag is recognized by the population, if not by the corrupt members of Congress, who oppose him with vague statements. A July 17 letter to the Chicago Daily Herald says, "Seniors should not be the only ones really frightened [by Berwick's support for rationing], parents with special needs children should also be up in arms over Berwick's recess appointment. Although Dr. Berwick is a pediatrician, he has not seen a patient in years. A defender of Britain's health-care rationing system, Dr. Berwick served as a consultant to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Britain's system uses an end-of-life pathway to death, which many British doctors say leads to premature death (emphasis added). Dr. Berwick has said that 'most people who have serious pain do not need advanced methods. They just need the morphine and counseling that have been around for years.'"

Thousands of Police Layoffs Could Unleash Chaos and Across America

July 16 (EIRNS)—That is the question asked by one Michael Snyder, the editor of a blog called "The Economic Collapse." Snyder, in a column posted last night, reports that a billboard in Stockton, California, is perfectly clear on that question: "Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California. Stop laying off cops." The Stockton Police Officers Association plans to spend $20,000 on 20 more such billboards, because the city is considering a plan to lay off 53 officers to help close a $23 million deficit in its budget. But law enforcement in Stockton has already been slashed. A spokesman for the department told the local Fox-TV affiliate July 14 that "We absolutely do not have any narcotics officers, narcotics sergeants working any kind of investigative narcotics type cases at this time."

The Fox-TV report quotes city residents expressing near panic at the likely consequences of no drug investigations, and the police concur. "Drugs are a breeding ground for many other activities," the spokesman said, "and if these are going more and more unchecked, one would have to speculate that you're going to see a rise across the board in those types of criminal activities."

Obama a Bigger Threat to Social Security Than Bush Was

July 16 (EIRNS)—Obama and his Fiscal Commission are a more serious threat to Social Security than was George W. Bush's attempted privatization of Social Security in 2005, according to Social Security Works, a coalition of liberal and senior groups, reports The Hill. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (popularly known as the "Catfood Commission,") is largely working behind the scenes, whereas Bush's proposal was defeated after a public debate (one in which the LaRouche movement played a leading role).

"The American people wound up rejecting [Bush's plan], but it was democracy at work. He was putting his proposal out there, and the Democrats were solidly against it, as was most of the country," says Nancy Altman, codirector of Social Security Works. "The problem here is ... that if something is done, it will be by stealth." Altman points out that although the commission is holding monthly public meetings, it has divided itself into smaller groups, which talk policy behind closed doors.

Obama Threatens to Dump 300,000 Teachers

July 13 (EIRNS)—With the states facing shutdown crises last month, and stimulus cash running short, a nervous House of Representatives tacked an amendment onto the "must pass" Defense Appropriations Bill, adding $10 billion in aid for education—enough to save 300,000 teachers' jobs. They designated the money to come from Obama's so-called education "reform" program. Keeping teachers in the classrooms and off the unemployment lines would seem to be a beneficial reform, but rather than see funding for his pet "Race to the Top" brainwashing program reallocated, Nero threatened to veto the entire Defense bill. After a defiant House passed it, anyway, with only 15 Democrats defecting to Pelosi/Obama's threats, Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.) told Politico that he thought "[Obama's] veto threat helped us pass the amendment."

Budget-Cutting CMS Pits Hospitals Against Patients

July 12 (EIRNS)—Patients are being hit with unexpected bills, because hospitals are not "admitting" them, even for extended stays, says an article in today's Bloomberg News. Patients under "observation" are accountable for a 20% co-pay; when they are admitted, Medicare takes over 100% of the bill. The hospitals, under pressure from the cost-cutting ghouls at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), are not classifying patients as "admitted," simply saying they are "under observation." Of course, that leaves the hospital to try and collect the 20% from the recovering patient.

Medicare has sent a letter to the American Hospital Association "investigating" why this is happening (your tax dollars at work), but, quite simply, hospitals are afraid of being "challenged" (accused of fraud) by CMS ghouls. Of course, CMS spokeswoman Marilyn Tavenner is crying crocodile tears, saying that this shouldn't be happening.

Observation status is normally limited to a 48-hour period; between 2006 and 2008 its usage doubled.