ThinkFast: January 8, 2009
Anti-American Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday called for “revenge operations” against U.S. forces to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Sadr also “urged that Palestinian flags be raised on mosques, churches and other buildings in Iraq and that all countries shut down Israel’s embassies.” Three rockets fired from Lebanon into Northern Israel today “raised concern […]
Anti-American Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday called for “revenge operations” against U.S. forces to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Sadr also “urged that Palestinian flags be raised on mosques, churches and other buildings in Iraq and that all countries shut down Israel’s embassies.”
Three rockets fired from Lebanon into Northern Israel today “raised concern that they could presage a second front in the conflict that would complicate peace efforts.” The Israeli military, however, dismissed the rockets as “a minor event” while Israeli negotiators arrived in Cairo, Egypt to begin cease-fire negotiations.
In a speech set to be delivered today at George Mason University, President-elect Obama says that the nation’s recession could “linger for years” unless Congress acts to pass a new $800 billion stimulus package. Obama adds that “[a] bad situation could become dramatically worse,” warning of double-digit unemployment and a loss of $1 trillion in economic activity.
A new poll commissioned by the AFL-CIO finds that “73 percent of adults said that they supported the Employee Free Choice Act when read the union’s descriptions of the bill’s three main provisions.” Seventy-eight percent said that they favored legislation to “make it easier for workers to bargain with their employers for better wages, benefits and working conditions.”
President-elect Obama is prepared to scrap Bush’s homeland security office and appoint longtime CIA official John Brennan head of a counter-terrorism unit to be folded into the National Security Council. Brennan would not require Senate confirmation. “The idea of merging the two councils has been recommended by a number of reports, most notably in November by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and by Third Way.” More ?? Less
Debunking the top 10 conservative myths about health care reform.
Today, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is holding confirmation hearings for former senator Tom Daschle, President-elect Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services. In advance of the confirmation, conservatives have been actively filling the nation’s leading newspapers with editorials attacking Daschle and misrepresenting the consequences and implications […]
Today, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is holding confirmation hearings for former senator Tom Daschle, President-elect Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services. In advance of the confirmation, conservatives have been actively filling the nation’s leading newspapers with editorials attacking Daschle and misrepresenting the consequences and implications of expanding access to affordable health care coverage. In a new report released today, the Wonk Room identifies and debunks the right-wing’s most widely-circulated myths about reform:
MYTH: The government will ration care. “The Left’s idea of limiting Medicare spending is to have bureaucrats tell Mom she cannot have the cancer treatment she wants. [Washington Times, 12/28/2008]
REALITY: Progressive proposals will allow Mom and her doctor to choose the best treatment for her cancer. Research into the comparative effectiveness of treatments can identify the procedures that provide the best results at the lowest cost. Currently, at least one-third of medical procedures have questionable benefits, according to the Rand Corporation. [Rand Corporation, 1998]
The Wonk Room will be blogging Daschle’s confirmation hearing that started at 10 am.
