Special prosecutor to investigate torture?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Attorney General Eric Holder has named a federal prosecutor to investigate allegations of torture by the CIA. This coincides with the release of the 2004 Inspector General's report of CIA interrogation tactics including waterboarding, staging mock executions, and threatening suspects with guns, power drills, and the safety of their family members.
Attorney General Eric Holder
It also mentions moving detainees to prisons in countries where torture is practiced. A redacted version of the report was first released after the ACLU sued last year but clearly the details were in the redacted sections.
This is all happening as the President announced a change in intelligence gathering - shifting the responsibility for terrorism interrogations to the FBI and away from the CIA.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has said all along the Inspector General's report would prove that interrogation tactics were successful in obtaining useful information from detainees that prevented additional attacks on the U.S. He says we should be praising the people responsible for conducting these interrogations. Cheney is also raising questions about the Obama Administration's ability to protect Americans.
Nine Republican lawmakers have sent a letter to the Attorney General urging him not to launch a criminal investigation because it would jeopardize "security for all Americans, chill future intelligence activities," and could "leave us more vulnerable to attack."
The point of the investigation is to determine if laws were broken. For most people, when a law is broken there are consequences. The question remains whether the people who authorized all this stuff will ever be held accountable.
Here’s my question to you: Is naming a special prosecutor to investigate torture a good idea?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Is it time for Ted Kennedy to resign?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy should step down because he can no longer do the job he was elected to do. Jeff Jacoby, in a column in the Boston Globe, points out this is through no fault of his own. The 77-year-old Kennedy is battling brain cancer.
The details on his condition have been quiet, but he was too sick to attend the funeral of his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a couple of weeks ago.
Last week, Kennedy sent a letter requesting a change in Massachusetts law that would allow the Democratic Governor to name a successor to fill a senator's uncompleted term. This would lock in two Democratic votes from that state in the Senate should Kennedy be unable to vote himself.
The current state law calls for a special election to fill a vacated seat until the term is up but that could leave the seat unfilled for five months that would likely fall during a crucial vote on health care reform, which has been Kennedy's cause.
In the letter, Senator Kennedy said he wants his state leaders to change the law and permit a temporary appointment in the interest of the citizens of the state. Nice try, Senator.
In 2004, the law calling for a vacancy to be filled by someone appointed by the Governor was changed at the urging of Kennedy and others. At the time there was a Republican Governor and Democratic Senator John Kerry was running for President. The move was aimed at preventing a Republican Governor from appointing a Republican Senator to fill Kerry's seat if he had won.
Now the tables have turned and Kennedy wants the law changed back. Obviously the senator is not too sick to play some very raw politics.
Here’s my question to you: Is it time for Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy to resign?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Time to declare war in Afghanistan a lost cause?
(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
More bad news about the war in Afghanistan. Military commanders say they don't have enough troops and warn that the Taliban is getting stronger and even gaining the upper hand in several parts of country. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, says, "It's serious and it's deteriorating."
Case in point, last week's election, which was only the second in the nation's history. The ballots are still being counted, results are expected tomorrow, but we already know voter turnout was low amid threats of violence. There are reports of voters' fingers being cut off. More than 200 complaints have been filed with The Election Complaints Commission, and one of the candidates is alleging fraud.
History shows a long list of failed foreign incursions into Afghanistan. So the U.S. may be taking a spot behind the Greeks, the British, and the Russians, who have all come before them-and left defeated.
For now, the Obama Administration is waiting for a new report on the situation (due out in two weeks) from the top commander in the region. Regardless of what it says, troop levels by the end of this year are on track to be double the number there at the end of last year.
In March, President Obama ordered an additional 17,000 troops into Afghanistan, but all indications are it's not nearly enough. Meanwhile, public support here at home for a war that is going on eight years is hardly increasing.
Here’s my question to you: Is it time to declare the war in Afghanistan a lost cause and get out?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
How is the American dream changing?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
More good news from our government. Friday the White House said deficits would climb to $9 trillion over the next ten years bringing the total national debt to $20 trillion a decade from now.
The government also announced Social Security recipients will get no cost of living adjustments during the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were put into place in 1975. We can find hundreds of billions of dollars for AIG and Wall Street, but we can't give our senior citizens a small cost of living increase in their social security. When does the revolution start?
We're in the midst of a recession not seen since the great depression. Millions of Americans are out of work, unemployment has soared to 9.4 percent. Millions of good paying jobs have been have been shipped overseas never to return. And the manufacturing base that was once the engine of our economy is on life support. We simply don't make "things" anymore.
We are in debt up to our eyeballs to China and other foreign countries as we increasingly look to them to finance out deficit spending. And through it all have you noticed? There's no talk in Washington of cutting expenses or reducing the size of government.
There are unfunded liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars for Medicare and Social Security; and no plan for how to pay for health care reform. Add in the drain of millions of illegal aliens and the fact that many states are bankrupt. We're in serious trouble here.
Here’s my question to you: How is the American dream changing?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Canadians crossing the border for U.S. health care?
(PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
We are constantly being told what a great health care system other countries like Canada, France and Britain have. But guess what? Some Canadians are crossing the border to Michigan to get health care.
And we're talking about more than just coming over for an appointment, quick lab test or a second opinion. According to an article in the Detroit Free Press, Canadian health agencies are creating formal partnerships with hospitals in Michigan to provide services not quickly available at home through their national health care system.
For example, the Ontario Ministry of Health has agreements with some Detroit hospitals for imaging tests, bariatric, heart and other services that have long waiting lists in Ontario. Rather than paying out of pocket for crossing the border, the bill is paid by the plan, sort of like staying with an in network doctor if you have private insurance in the U.S.
Michael Vujovich of Windsor came to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit where he had an angioplasty done. The bill was $38,000. It was paid in full by the Ministry of Health in Ontario.
Canada sees this approach as better than shelling out money to build additional facilities in Canada to meet the demand for care. Critics of national health care systems like Canada's are quick to point out that the system is not working if they have to send their patients to the U.S.
Here’s my question to you: What does it mean that Canadians are crossing the border for U.S. health care?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Would gov't manipulate public fear of terror for political gain?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Former Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, is taking his turn talking about his time served in George W. Bush's White House. In his new book, "The Test of Our Times," Ridge says he successfully squashed a plan to raise the nation's terror alert level to orange or "high," on the eve of the 2004 election.
Ridge says the push from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft was based on a pre-election message on tape from Osama bin Laden.
Ridge writes that he felt the message alone did not warrant the increased threat level and points out that there was no additional intelligence information indicating an increased likelihood of a terrorist attack. He also says increased security measures were already in place for the election. He writes, "I wondered, is this about security or politics?"
During the 2004 election one in five voters said terrorism was the most important issue to them, according to exit polls.
Ridge was able to help convince a group of other officials that there was no reason to cause what he calls, "undue public alarm" and in the end the threat level was not raised.
He said the incident was one of the major reasons he eventually decided to step down from public service.
Here’s my question to you: Do you think the government would try to manipulate the public's fear of terrorism for political gain?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Health care reform without 'public option'?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
President Obama is still defending his plan for health care reform, and Americans and lawmakers alike seem to have no loss for complaints about what's on the table. That includes the so-called public option.
This would create a government-run insurance program that would create competition for private insurance companies. The idea behind it is that it would force them to bring down costs. It would also provide an affordable option for the 47-million Americans who currently have no insurance.
Americans speaking out at health care town hall meetings have voiced numerous objections to the plan, including privacy issues. Republican Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming says it would be a bureaucratic nightmare. Democratic Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota said earlier this week that the public option is dead because there simply aren't enough votes in the Senate to pass it.
The White House has indicated a willingness to back away from this part of their plan. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that no bill will pass her chamber without a public option.
All of which should make for a very interesting September when the Congress returns from its August recess.
Here’s my question to you: Can health care reform happen without the so-called public option?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Scotland releases Pan Am 103 bomber
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
It was like pulling teeth and then some to get Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi convicted and sent to prison. Families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing were relentless in their pressure on the government to pursue justice.
Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was serving a life sentence for the attack that killed 270 people. Megrahi, who is terminally ill, was released on compassionate grounds to spend his remaining days in Libya.
In the end, justice was done only to be undone. The man responsible for the slaughter of 270 innocent people is now being allowed to return to his native country, Libya, and his family, loved ones and friends, to die in peace from terminal cancer.
It's outrageous. Al Megrahi is a cold-blooded murderer. Libya was a state sponsor of the terrorism that killed these people. Compassion was shown this man when he was given a life sentence and not the death penalty.
Now Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, who probably didn't have any family or friends aboard Pan Am flight 103, decides to turn this animal loose. He should be ashamed of himself. What's the message here? That if you commit murderous acts of terrorism and kill hundreds of innocent people, it's okay? All you have to do is get sick and all is forgiven?
And what about the United States standing by and watching it happen? Where's the condemnation? We said we "deeply regret" the decision. Not enough.
I find it very hard to believe that if Washington felt strongly enough about this man's release they couldn't have done something to prevent it. After all, didn't we just extract two journalists from the grasp of the madman Kim Jung Il in North Korea?
Here’s my question to you: How do you feel about Scotland releasing the Pan Am 103 bomber?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Why are Democrats' and Obama's approval ratings falling?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
As the debate over health care rages on... the American people are increasingly souring on President Obama and the Democrats. A new poll shows the president's approval rating at 51-percent - the lowest of his presidency and down from 61-percent two-months ago.
The Pew poll shows the Democratic Party now has a favorable rating of 49-percent... also down from 59-percent in April and 62-percent in January.
When it comes to the Republican Party - public opinion has remained steady all year at about 40-percent.
Meanwhile it looks like the American people aren't buying into calls for bipartisanship. The poll shows 63-percent of those surveyed say the president and Republicans are not working together on important issues... that's up from 50-percent who felt that way in June.
Although more people blame the Republicans than President Obama for this lack of co-operation, the poll shows a growing number are now faulting the president. 17-percent of Americans say Mr. Obama is to blame... that's up from seven-percent who felt that way in February.
Meanwhile a separate Gallup poll shows the Democratic-led Congress' approval at 31-percent... the lowest reading since February.
With health care eclipsing all else in Washington this summer - it seems as though the president and the Democrats are losing favor with the American people. It will be interesting to see what happens to these numbers if the Democrats decide to "go it alone" like we've been hearing.
Here’s my question to you: Why are the Democrats' and President Obama's approval ratings falling?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
How should U.S. respond to escalating violence in Iraq?
People gather at the scene of a massive explosion outside the foreign ministry in a residential area close to the Green Zone in central Baghdad yesterday. (PHOTO CREDIT: ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The increasing violence in Iraq is raising new questions about the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Insurgents launched six-bombings that struck Baghdad within an hour yesterday - two of them targeting official buildings. The attacks killed at least 100-people and wounded more than 500-others. It was the deadliest day since U.S. troops pulled out of Iraqi cities on June 30.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is blaming Sunni insurgents linked to al Qaeda in Iraq... and the government is making quick moves to crack down on security.
They're adding more checkpoints in Baghdad, tougher vehicle searches and random security stops. Also - they arrested 11 high-ranking security officials from the Iraqi army and police... detaining them for questioning.
The attacks - followed today by a bicycle bomb at a restaurant killing two more people - are a huge blow to the government's attempt to return life to normal. Al-Maliki had just recently ordered the reopening of streets in Baghdad and the removal of concrete blast walls from the capital's main roads.
Meanwhile - there are worries about what these coordinated attacks say about the Iraqis' readiness to keep the country secure... especially heading into the upcoming elections. It's exactly what everyone feared would start happening once the U.S. role in Iraq was reduced.
Pres. Obama has ordered all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by next August... and all remaining troops out by the end of 2011.
Here’s my question to you: How should the U.S. respond to the escalating violence in Iraq?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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