Kerry says three major oil companies to back Senate climate plan

By GottaLaff

What are those sneaky Big Greasy Ol' Corporations up to now? Oh yeah, profit:

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) expects that a powerful electric utility trade group and three major oil companies will support the climate and energy bill he and two colleagues will unveil Monday, according to a source on a conference call Kerry held for business leaders Thursday evening.

So who are these possible "allies"?

The oil companies that will back the plan are BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell, according to The Washington Post.

Yeah, we trust those oil slicks about as far as we can throw them. What could be spurring them, and possibly others, to cooperate?

It could have something to do with the "$10 billion in support for 'clean coal' technologies and free pollution allowances for refiners to cover motor fuel emissions". Oh, and the investment in nukes. And this:

Sources familiar with the briefing also said the measure would preempt state and regional greenhouse gas rules, which is a key goal for a variety of industry groups but has been strongly attacked by environmentalists and state officials. The bill would also block EPA regulation of greenhouse gases under its current Clean Air Act powers, one source said.

So many compromises, so little time.

U.S. Treasury says it will begin selling Citi shares at a profit

Sounds just like socialism to me, if I was an uneducated yahoo.

NEW YORK —The Treasury Department said Monday it will begin selling the stake it owns in Citigroup Inc., which could result in a profit of more than $8 billion.

The government received 7.7 billion shares of Citigroup in exchange for $25 billion it gave the bank during the 2008 credit crisis. It said it will sell the shares over the course of this year, depending on market conditions.

Like any investor, the government will likely hold on to its shares if prices fall steeply. However, Citi shares have steadily been rising with the broader market in recent months, which means the Treasury Department stands to pocket a hefty profit.

Citi shares rose 8 cents to $4.39 in early trading Monday. The government would make about $8.8 billion in profit on its stake in Citigroup if it sells the stock for $4.39 a share.

Letter to Anthem Blue Cross

By GottaLaff

I got this via an e-mail this morning:

Commissioner Poizner has asked Anthem Blue Cross to wait on those rate increases, some that could be as high as 39 percent, until our actuary can take a look at their books.

Contained in the release is a copy of the letter Commissioner Poizner sent to the WellPoint brass.

I'd seen a piece about this in the L.A. Times, but the actual letter is worth a read:

News: 2010 Press Release

For Release: February 8, 2010

Media Calls Only: 916-492-3566

Insurance Commissioner Poizner Fights for Consumers, Calls for Postponement of Health Insurance Rate Increase for Anthem Patients and Policyholders

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, responding to a dramatic proposed rate hike by WellPoint's California affiliate, Anthem Blue Cross (Anthem), today called on WellPoint executives to postpone the rate increase, allowing the California Department of Insurance proper time for an independent actuarial review of the proposal.

"As a public benefit and to ensure that policyholders are not forced into financial hardship as a result of Anthem's proposed rate increases," said Commissioner Poizner, "I am asking that Anthem agree to postpone those rate increases until the Department's independent actuary completes his review."

Below is the text of the letter:

February 8, 2010

Ms. Angela F. Braly
President and Chief Executive Officer
WellPoint, Inc.
120 Monument Circle
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Mr. Larry C. Glasscock
Chairman of the Board
WellPoint, Inc.
120 Monument Circle
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Re: Anthem Blue Cross Individual Health Insurance Rates in California

Dear Ms. Braly and Mr. Glasscock:

WellPoint's California affiliate, Anthem Blue Cross ("Anthem"), has submitted to the California Department of Insurance ("Department") proposed rate increases of as much as 39 percent for individual health insurance sold in this State. Anthem announced it will implement the increases on March 1 of this year.

As you know, this is a time of unprecedented economic distress for consumers in America. The premium increases Anthem proposes for critically needed individual health insurance could have a devastating financial impact on hundreds of thousands of its policyholders in California. The Department has received numerous complaints from irate Californians describing how Anthem's proposed rate increases would cripple them financially.

At my direction, the Department is retaining an independent actuary to analyze Anthem's proposed rate increases. The actuary will carefully evaluate Anthem's submissions to ensure that Anthem's actuarial assumptions are justified and that Anthem pays out at least 70 cents of each premium dollar received for benefits, as required by California law. If the independent actuary concludes that Anthem's assumptions are unjustified and that Anthem will pay out less than 70 cents of the premium dollar for benefits, I will take immediate action to stop Anthem from charging the increased rates to California consumers.

As a public benefit and to ensure that policyholders are not forced into financial hardship as a result of Anthem's proposed rate increases, I am asking that Anthem agree to postpone those rate increases until the Department's independent actuary completes his review. Specifically, I ask that Anthem postpone implementation of its rate increases until May 1, 2010. If the independent actuary concludes that Anthem's rates are not actuarially justified and do not meet the 70 percent loss ratio requirement, I will take all legal action available to me to stop the rate increase.

Please let me know by February 15, 2010 whether Anthem will agree to protect consumers in California by postponing its individual health insurance rate increases until May 1, as discussed above.

Sincerely,

Steve Poizner

Here's an excerpt from the Times article:

In a rare step, the Obama administration called on California's largest for-profit insurer to justify its rate hikes, saying the increases were alarming at a time when subscribers face skyrocketing healthcare costs.

In a letter to Anthem's president, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius voiced serious concern over the higher premiums, which go into effect March 1 for many of the insurer's estimated 800,000 individual policyholders.

This hike is outrageous. Speaking for myself, we can barely make ends meet because of our gigantic insurance costs. I can't even imagine those who have it even worse than we do. And I shouldn't have to.

Yes, Rushpublics and a few so-called Dems, let's just maintain the status quo, or better yet, cozy up to Big Insurance even more. That'll win you hearts, minds, and votes.

VIDEO- Dear WellPoint: You Suck. No, seriously.

By GottaLaff

Via Brave New Films:

Netting $2.5 billion in profits last year wasn't enough for WellPoint, the nation's largest insurance company.

Now, WellPoint's affiliate, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, is suing the state of Maine for refusing to guarantee it a profit margin in the midst of a painful recession.

Forward this video to a friend in Maine!

http://sickforprofit.com

Who's getting between us and our doctors again? Hint: It's not our big scary government.

H/t: davidgs

Not Joe the Not Plumber makes $10,000 for 8-minute speeches

By GottaLaff

Not Joe, the Rushpublics' idea of a man of the people (and by people, they mean hate-filled, fear mongering, tea tantruming, violent mobbers), is getting rich off of... the people:

Dave Weigel, reporting from the RightOnline conference in Pittsburgh, has a tidbit about just how lucrative it still is to be Joe the Plumber.

But the activists found some unity listening to Joe Wurzelbacher, still a sought-after conservative speaker who can charge as much as $10,000 for eight-minute speeches, 11 months after he argued about tax rates with then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) during a campaign stop in Ohio. He was welcomed, and mobbed for photos, as the first American to get the kind of full-bore smear campaign that was now directed at “Tea Party” activists and Flip camera-wielding conservatives going to town halls to tell congressmen that they were shredding the Constitution. “Let’s try to make this an American movement,” said Wurzelbacher, “not a Republican movement, not a Democrat movement. You guys are empowering Americans again. Don’t forget that.”

That's their guy! Be proud, Rushpublics.

Healthcare insurers get upper hand: "Financial bonanza"

By GottaLaff

And why, again, would we not want a public option, Party of No? Why, again, would we want Big Insurance to profit even more off of our illnesses?

Lashed by liberals and threatened with more government regulation, the insurance industry nevertheless rallied its lobbying and grass-roots resources so successfully in the early stages of the healthcare overhaul deliberations that it is poised to reap a financial windfall.

That noise you hear is the sound of cheering Rushpublics opening their pockets.

The half-dozen leading overhaul proposals circulating in Congress would require all citizens to have health insurance, which would guarantee insurers tens of millions of new customers -- many of whom would get government subsidies to help pay the companies' premiums.

"It's a bonanza," said Robert Laszewski, a health insurance executive for 20 years who now tracks reform legislation as president of the consulting firm Health Policy and Strategy Associates Inc.

Some insurance company leaders continue to profess concern about the unpredictable course of President Obama's massive healthcare initiative, and they vigorously oppose elements of his agenda. But Laszewski said the industry's reaction to early negotiations boiled down to a single word: "Hallelujah!"

The insurers' success so far can be explained in part by their lobbying efforts in the nation's capital and the districts of key lawmakers.

And what is it again that the Rushpublics have been so "concerned" about? That Big Insurance would be shoved aside by Big Government? Really? Seriously?

Please read the whole thing, but I'll leave you with this:

Consumer and labor advocates acknowledged the industry's lobbying success.

In the first half of 2009, the health service and HMO sector spent nearly $35 million lobbying Congress, the White House and federal healthcare offices, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

With more than 900 lobbyists, that sector -- whose top spenders are insurance giants UnitedHealth, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna -- was poised to spend more than in 2008, a record lobbying year.

UnitedHealth spent the most, $2.5 million in the first half of 2009, and hired some of Washington's most prominent political players, including Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader who served as an informal health policy advisor to Obama.

"They have beaten us six ways to Sunday," said Gerald Shea of the AFL-CIO. "Any time we want to make a small change to provide cost relief, they find a way to make it more profitable."

CIA torture for fun and profit?

By GottaLaff

I read about this in Jane Mayer's book, The Dark Side. They're jaw-dropping, all these stories that I've been sharing with you, yet they are true stories. Bad things happen.

Here is one more example of a very bad thing, sadly:

There's an article in today's New York Times about Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, two military retirees and psychologists with no expertise on al-Qaeda, no foreign language skills, no experience in real interrogations, and with no relevant degrees ("...their Ph.D. dissertations were on high blood pressure and family therapy").

Nevertheless, these two seemingly managed to cash in on America's "global war on terror."

With little more than their psychology credentials and "an intimate knowledge of a brutal treatment regimen used decades ago by Chinese Communists," the pair, known as "Doc Mitchell" and "Doc Jessen" built "a thriving business that made millions of dollars selling interrogation and training services to the CIA," per the Times piece.

These two taught what are called the SERE methods, which are only supposed to be used to resist, not inflict, torture.

The article details the torture and interrogation of terror suspect Abu Zubaydah, described at the time as al-Qaeda's No. 3, by Doc Mitchell and Doc Jessen:

[...] [T]he Justice Department completed a formal legal opinion authorizing the SERE methods, and the psychologists turned up the pressure. Over about two weeks, Mr. Zubaydah was confined in a box, slammed into the wall and waterboarded 83 times.

The brutal treatment stopped only after Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Jessen themselves decided that Mr. Zubaydah had no more information to give up. [...]

Torture became quite a lucrative opportunity for the pair. From a 2007 Vanity Fair report:

Meanwhile, business appears to be booming at Mitchell, Jessen & Associates. It has 120 employees and specializes in "understanding, predicting, and improving performance in high-risk and extreme situations," according to a recruitment ad at a recent job fair for people with top security clearances.

The principals of Mitchell, Jessen & Associates are raking in money. According to people familiar with their compensation, they get paid more than $1,000 per day plus expenses, tax free, for their overseas work. It beats military pay. Mitchell has built his dream house in Florida. He also purchased a BMW through one of his companies. "Taxpayers are paying at least half a million dollars a year for these two knuckleheads to do voodoo," says one of the people familiar with their pay arrangements.

The Times piece reports further on Mitchell and Jessen's financial success through torture:

Dr. Mitchell could keep working outside the C.I.A. as well. At the Ritz-Carlton in Maui in October 2003, he was featured at a high-priced seminar for corporations on how to behave if kidnapped. [...]

In 2005, the psychologists formed Mitchell Jessen and Associates, with offices in Spokane and Virginia and five additional shareholders, four of them from the military’s SERE program. [...]

The company’s C.I.A. contracts are classified, but their total was well into the millions of dollars. In 2007 in a suburb of Tampa, Fla., Dr. Mitchell built a house with a swimming pool, now valued at $800,000.

[...]

As Mitchell and Jessen personally oversaw Abu Zubaydah (and perhaps others) being waterboarded 83 times—plus one more for good measure!—be prepared to hear the "But 9/11 changed everything!" line many times over.

Torture for Dollars... It's come to that.

**********************************

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Health Care Watch VIDEO: $ick for profit

By GottaLaff

Find the part in this video where Big Insurance cares about the health and welfare of its policyholders. Oh, you can't? Me neither:



Patient: "If I do not have this, I will die."

Big Insurance: ::crickets::

UnitedHealthcare CEO Stephen Hemsley owns $744,232,068 in unexercised stock options. CIGNA’s Edward Hanway spends his holidays in a $13 million beach house in New Jersey. Meanwhile, regular Americans are routinely denied coverage for the care they need when they need it most.

Welcome to the American health insurance industry. Instead of helping policyholders attain the health security they need for their families, big insurance companies get rich by denying coverage to patients. Now they’re sending lobbyists to Washington, DC to twist the arms of lawmakers to oppose reform of the status quo. Why? Because the status quo pays.

H/t: David Shuster

Network Execs Angry at White House

By GottaLaff

$30 million, $30 schmillion:

Broadcast network executives "are seething behind the scenes that President Obama has cost them about $30 million in cumulative ad revenue this year with his three primetime news conference pre-emptions," according to the Hollywood Reporter.

"Now top network execs quietly are hoping that Fox's well-publicized rejection of the president's April 29 presser will serve as precedent for denying future White House requests for prime airtime."

Why am I being so cavalier? Here's why:

Apparently forgotten: Obama's appearances on 60 Minutes and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno which gave them big ratings boosts.

Then there's that little issue of communicating with the nation. Eventually that pays off for everyone.

H/t: Dr. President