Mir Hossein Mousavi's nephew 'killed' in Tehran clashes
By Martin Fletcher | Times Online

At least eight Iranian protesters were reported to have been shot dead in Tehran today — including a nephew of the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi — during the fiercest protests in the capital since the immediate aftermath of June’s hotly disputed presidential election.

The shootings mean that the confrontation between the so-called Green movement and the regime has entered a dangerous and volatile new stage, with the security forces prepared to use lethal force in an increasingly desperate effort to crush a resurgent and emboldened opposition.

A close aide to Mr Mousavi, the former Prime Minister defeated by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June election, said that his 35-year-old nephew, Ali Mousavi, died in a Tehran hospital after being shot in the chest near Enghelab Square. A reliable opposition website, Parlemannews, also reported his death.

Details of the shootings were sparse, but one of the dead was said to be an elderly man and another a young woman, both killed when the security forces opened fire on the huge crowds of protesters that had gathered in central Tehran for the emotionally charged Shia festival of Ashura. Read more.

Have Americans Traded Freedom For Security?
According to polls, Americans support torture and don't mind that their government spies on them without obtaining warrants from a court.
By Paul Craig Roberts | CounterPunch

Obama's dwindling band of true believers has taken heart that their man has finally delivered on one of his many promises -- the closing of the Guantanamo prison. But the prison is not being closed. It is being moved to Illinois, if the Republicans permit.

In truth, Obama has handed his supporters another defeat. Closing Guantanamo meant ceasing to hold people in violation of our legal principles of habeas corpus and due process and ceasing to torture them in violation of U.S. and international laws.

All Obama would be doing would be moving 100 people, against whom the U.S. government is unable to bring a case, from the prison in Guantanamo to a prison in Thomson, Illinois.

Are the residents of Thomson despondent that the US government has chosen their town as the site on which to continue its blatant violation of U.S. legal principles? No, the residents are happy. It means jobs.

The hapless prisoners had a better chance of obtaining release from Guantanamo. Now the prisoners are up against two U.S. senators, a U.S. representative, a mayor, and a state governor who have a vested interest in the prisoners' permanent detention in order to protect the new prison jobs in the hamlet devastated by unemployment. Read more.

Audit Says State Wasted $92 Million on Medicaid
By Nicholas Confessore | NY Times

New York’s Medicaid system, the state’s largest single expense, lost at least $92 million to improper payments, billing errors and poor recordkeeping during the last five years, according to several audits released Tuesday by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

In one instance, a Medicaid recipient in Poughkeepsie was provided with $300 round-trip daily taxi service to visit her child in a long-term care facility in Albany, which cost the state roughly $196,000 before the authorization was revoked.

One of the three audits revealed that the State Department of Health made at least $53 million in improper payments for nearly 26,000 people who had improperly been assigned two Medicaid identification numbers by local social service agencies, apparently in error. Another found that an incorrect reimbursement rate entered into the Health Department’s claims system had resulted in $20.3 million in improper payments. Read more.

Sign our "we need a hero" petition to top progressive senators:

"We need a hero -- someone who will fight for the will of the American people by declaring they will only vote for a final bill if it has a public option. That would be change we can believe in."

UPDATE: In 24 hours, over 15,000 35,000 signers...and growing.

All we need is one hero.

If just one brave senator says they will block a final bill without a public option, that will force President Obama and Senator Harry Reid to make a choice.

They can either force Joe Lieberman and other corporate Democrats to accept the public option OR they can pass the bill through "reconciliation," a Senate procedure that only needs 51 votes.

One hero can transform a bill that requires millions of Americans to buy junk products from private insurance companies into a bill that creates real reform and competition for consumers.

Please click to sign our petition on the left -- then tell your friends.

Big paydays for Fannie and Freddie bosses
By Chris Isidore | CNN Money

Top executives at mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both of which have been under government control since last year, received millions of dollars in pay in 2009, according to documents filed by the companies Thursday.

The chief executive officers of each company got annual pay packages worth $6 million apiece, while other top execs pulled in at least $2 million.

Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) CEO Michael Williams, who was promoted to CEO on April 21, will receive about $4.2 million in base salary and deferred cash payments for his time in the top job. The filing does not detail how much he was paid for his time as chief operating officer before his promotion, or what he will earn in 2010....

At Freddie (FRE, Fortune 500), its slightly smaller rival, CEO Charles Haldeman will receive about half his $6 million package in 2009 since he was named to the top spot on July 21.

Haldeman, former chairman of Putnam Investment Management, is due to receive $6 million in 2010. Read more.

On Christmas Eve: Massive bailouts to Big Ins/Big Pharma by Senate AND to Freddie/Fannie by WH
By Seafan | Democratic Underground

How long did they think this would go unnoticed? The caliber of this corporate robbery of the public purse is astronomical, unprecedented and facilitated by this administration. There is no looking away from this.

Many of us were unwilling witnesses to the giveaway to Big Health Insurance/Big Pharma, courtesy of the US Senate on Christmas Eve.

But on the same day, the White House announced an unlimited credit line at the disposal of troubled Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Some days are just spectacular for the chosen few, aren't they? Read more.

Nation reporter unmasks extraordinary rendition-like subfields run by ICE
by Lets Breakthrough | Daily Kos

A couple months ago, Jacqueline Stevens, a reporter for the Nation, went on a road trip with Mark Lyttle, a U.S. citizen, born in North Carolina, who had been kidnapped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stripped of his rightful identity documents, rendered stateless, and deported to Mexico, to re-locate the government offices that had temporarily held him.

Using google maps, they punched in 140 Centrewest Court, an address that appeared on a number of the documents issued to Lyttle by ICE in Cary, North Carolina. But when they arrived, Stevens was surprised that the government site was an unmarked building, no sign, no flag, with 15 equally unmarked vans next to an Oxford University Press production plant and a few gated communities.

Wondering how many other clandestine locations existed like this across the country, upon returning to Berkeley, Stevens picked up the phone and began a rigorous investigation of "America's Secret ICE Castles," the findings of which will appear in the January 4th edition of the Nation. First off, she read through, a recent report by Dora Shriro,"Immigration Detention Overview and Recommendations," and discovered that there were 186 "subfields" which were used to primarily hold people for up to 12-16 hours for 84% of all book-ins. But because these secret sites are below the legal radar, it's hard to say how long people are actually held and under what conditions. Read more.

John Perry's recent video admonishes those who are looking the other way, lest they see the reality of what is being done in our names.

One military veteran and activist, Nick Mottern wrote about what happened when he and others visited Holy Family church in New Rochelle, NY. There's been a lively discussion running through my email since then, and now, another activist who participated in raising the banners, if the not the consciences of those in the church added the following insights. It gives a very personal perspective on the importance of each individual speaking out.

It is about time for me too add my 5 cents of input for what it is worth. I am Martha Conte, one of the bannerers. It is not a protest, but a silent vigil. I have written a flyer called "Why the Silence and why some of us want to break it." We hand it out to parishioners who talk to us and I always mail it out to all the people mentioned in the church bulletin as having a function in the church. So far, nobody has answered. I joined the group almost two years ago when I heard about it from my friend Margaret Eberle. The minute I became a U.S. citizen I joined. I couldn't wait. To me not being a citizen was the only reason that didn't want to join; not that I thought it was inappropriate but when you live in a country whose president openly proclaims: "If you are not with us you are with the terrorists!" it made me extremely uncomfortable and that is an understatement. I felt 99% silly for not participating and 1% uneasy, but the uneasy part won. But nothing can stop me now.

I am also a Dutch citizen, product of many generations of atheists, socialists, agnostics and I consider myself to be a Humanist and a citizen of the world. I grew up in Rotterdam a city that was bombed in May 1940. My parents were in their early twenties when the was broke out and during the fifties and sixties when I grew up I listened to many horror stories about life under Nazi occupation. As a child I remember the destruction of the city and my parents describing streets that were no longer there. I never felt at home in Rotterdam, I felt disconnected. I once read a book about German children who grew up in bombed cities and the rootlessness they felt. I felt exactly the same.

I get very angry at the apathy of the American people in the face of this horror that is carried out in our name and with our money. 50 Americans die every day because of lack of health care but when 3000 people (not all Americans) die in a terror attack we spend billions to protect the Homeland (very reminiscent of the German "Die Heimat).

By Medea Benjamim

One year ago, the brutal Israeli 22-day invasion of the Gaza Strip shocked the world, leaving some 1,400 people dead, thousands more wounded, as well as hospitals, schools, prisons, UN facilities, factories, agricultural processing plants and some 20,000 homes damaged or destroyed.

As we mark the one-year anniversary of the invasion, the plight of the
people of Gaza continues unabated:

- Despite pledges of money for reconstruction, Israel refuses to allow
in the machinery necessary to clear the rubble or the materials needed to rebuild--banning cement, gravel, wood, pipes, glass, steel bars, aluminum and tar. Many who were made homeless during the bombing are still living in tents amidst the onset of another cold winter. Desperate, some are reverting to the ancient techniques of building homes made of mud.

CAUTION: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Find out more at Meat.org.

No gain, plenty of pain, on Day One
By Dick Morris | North County Times

Obama's health care bill, the poisoned Kool-Aid making its way through the Senate, will not confer any of its supposed benefits on Americans until 2013. But they will find themselves chafing at its restrictions and paying its taxes immediately after the law takes effect.

This odd juxtaposition of "suffer now, benefit later" is the byproduct of the administration's sleight of hand in specifying 10 years' worth of cuts and taxes in the legislation, but deferring its benefits for the first four years. By comparing six years of spending with 10 years of taxing, it managed to appear deficit-neutral under the rules of the Congressional Budget Office. In fact, the annual revenues fall far short of covering any single year's worth of spending, adding to the deficit for each of the last six years over the next 10 ---- but, viewing the decade as a whole, it appears deficit-neutral.

Yet the political price is hardly neutral. Democrats who misguidedly vote for this monstrosity will face immediate political repercussions.

The harshest of these backlashes will come from the elderly, who will face the rationing immediately.

The first "no" will hit the 10 million elderly who now rely on Medicare Advantage to pay for the care Medicare itself does not cover. In a payoff to AARP, Obama gutted this program in his bill, ending over $100 billion in federal premium subsidies. These 10 million voters will get the grim news that their premiums are going up and their benefits dropping early in 2010. The goal, of course, is to force them to drop Medicare Advantage and sign up, instead, for Medi-gap insurance ---- offered, not coincidentally, by the AARP ---- which provides less coverage at higher cost. Read more.

Why Progressives Never Get the Big Wins
By Seth Cohen | FireDogLake

The recent post on Daily Kos by Jed Lewison, criticizing Jane Hamsher, is a great example of how progressives shoot themselves in the foot and help ensure that our side loses the big battles.

Jane is doing something extremely brilliant here. The people on the "tea party" right are angry – they just are angry about the WRONG things. Jane is directing their anger to the right things – the fact that corporations and industry lobbyists have taken over both parties, and the public gets screwed in the process. What she is doing is incredible, and the Beltway and the current political establishment are right to be nervous.

Unfortunately, as always – we have people on the left like Jed Lewison shooting their own down – just like what has often happened to Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, etc. They have often been criticized for trying to fight harder. This is partly why progressive activism has failed in a big way over the past year.

The first mistake that the Daily Kos community made was endorsing a PERSON (Obama) rather than progressive positions. Now they’re busy trying to defend themselves from the fallout of their mistake. They feel obligated to defend Obama as if he can do no wrong. I think these people need to wake up; Obama has never been a progressive. Right off the bat he voted wrong on FISA before he was even President. He has continued the Bush administration’s atrocities on torture, escalation of war, the financial bailouts on the backs of the American people, and now the healthcare insurance handouts also on the backs of Americans. It’s pathetic that people are so blinded by their love for Obama (just like Bush apologists were for Bush) that they’re willing to sell out what they claim to stand for.

The healthcare bill is not a step forward – it only reaffirms the power of the insurance companies, criminalizes citizens who don’t pay into the system, and also takes several steps backwards in women’s rights. If this is what the Democratic party is all about, I’m not sure I’m a Democrat anymore.

I think Kossacks like Jed and the rest of the Jane Hamsher critics need to decide – are they PROGRESSIVES, or are they simply DEMOCRATS? Are they about progressive ideas that will help move this country forward, or are they about a political party? It appears to me to be the latter. Either that, or they simply like being in an abusive relationship with Obama, Rahm, and team. Read more.

Commentary: It's time to give peace a chance
By Lewis Diuguid | The Kansas City Star | McClatchy

In this season of peace, disappointment fills the peace movement because of President Obama.

People thought he'd be different from the cowboy who had occupied the White House. From the candidate of hope, people expected peace to at long last have a chance.

But signs are grim with the continuation of the war in Iraq, an escalation of the war in Afghanistan and U.S. hegemony. Former Vice President Dick Cheney recently labeled it "American exceptionalism." To Cheney, other people of the world bow to America. Americans bow to no one.

Cheney has criticized Obama for bowing to some heads of state. However, Obama has maintained many of the policies of the previous administration, giving the new president a Bush-lite flavor.

People working for peace have begun switching protest signs against the wars from blasting former President Bush to taking on Obama. It also is disturbing that the Patriot Act remains in force, threatening people's constitutional rights.

Obama has elected not to follow other nations in condemning land mines. The continued manufacture and use of that weaponry will maim and kill thousands of people, many of them children. Read more.

Protesting priest guilty, free, defiant
By Sharon Dunn | Tribune

In the end, a jury had no choice but to convict.

The Rev. Carl Kabat, 76, was photographed at the N-8 missile silo in northeast Weld County. Two-foot bolt cutters were found on the ground. There was a hole in the fence surrounding the facility, and he was waiting inside for his eventual arrest.

Kabat had breached nuclear missile facilities like these for the past two decades, and had 17 convictions behind him in his quest to do his small part to rid the earth of nuclear weapons, which the Catholic Church has deemed a crime against humanity.

But the members of the jury had to look beyond the message. After one hour of deliberations, they convicted him of the two misdemeanor criminal mischief and trespassing charges.

“We understand what he was standing for,” said jury member Ben Salgado, 56, of Windsor, after the verdict. “We just wish he would have chosen a different forum.”

As the jury was dismissed, Kabat applauded them, some walking out with tears in their eyes. One said as she left the courthouse: “It was very emotional.”

The St. Louis priest was immediately sentenced to the time he'd already served behind bars — 137 days — though deputy district attorney David Skarka asked for the maximum of one year for each of the misdemeanors to be served back to back. The county already had shelled out roughly $7,950 to keep him in jail for almost five months, based on a cost of about $58 per day per inmate. Had he been sentenced to Skarka's request, the county would have paid $26,000 more to keep him for a remaining 456 days. Read more.