United States News Digest

Murdoch's Daughter and Gore's Partner To Hold Obama Bash in London

April 4 (EIRNS)—A gala party to raise money for Barack Obama's U.S. Presidential campaign is planned for April 28, in the London home of Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of British empire media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The affair will be co-hosted by David Blood, the London (U.S. expatriate) partner of Al Gore in the venture capital fund Generation Investment Management. Rupert Murdoch is a prime supporter of Gore's global warming scam, and the Murdoch family's Sky network enterprise effected a crucial deal, giving Gore's own Current TV network widespread viewership.

Tickets to the Obama event cost between $1,000 and $2,300, the maximum individual donation allowed in a U.S. Presidential primary campaign. The affair is promoted as having a "guest list [which] is a roll call of London's more glamorous U.S. expats."

On April 2, Associated Press reported that Obama said he was committed to appointing Gore to a Cabinet-level position or higher, but it may be Presidency, itself, that Gore is angling for.

Dean: Florida Will Be Seated, But Will They Vote?

April 4 (EIRNS)—Howard "The Screamer" Dean, Democratic National Committee chairman, announced in a press conference with Florida Democratic leaders on April 2, that a delegation from Florida would be seated at the Democratic National Convention, and that he was "optimistic" that a Michigan delegation would be seated, too.

Dean failed, however, to answer the real question: How will the delegates be chosen? Representatives of neither candidate attended the meeting where Dean's announcement was made. Incredibly, Dean announced afterward, "It is our hope that the candidates will join us in this effort, and without them an agreement is not possible." So what does his announcement mean? A "bread and circus" scenario whereby Florida's 210 delegates participate in convention social events and minor issues, but are barred from voting to choose the Democratic candidate, as some media scenarios have floated? Michigan's 156 delegates face the same fate.

Florida's Democrats did everything possible to hold their primary during the DNC's timeframe, but the Republican-controlled state government forced through a primary date too early for the DNC schedule. Florida held an election with a record turnout, in which all the major candidates were on the ballot.

Court Ruling vs. FBI Raid on Congressional Office Stands

April 4 (EIRNS)—The U.S. Supreme Court announced on March 31 that it would not review an Appeals Court ruling that the FBI's conduct during its 18-hour raid on Rep. William Jefferson's (D-La.) Congressional office was unconstitutional.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had ruled that although the May 2006 raid itself was not illegal, the "compelled disclosure of privileged material [of the Legislative branch—ed.] to the Executive during the execution of the search warrant" violated the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution, because the FBI searched the privileged materials without giving Jefferson the opportunity to review them.

This is a key ruling to uphold the U.S. constitutional doctrine of the "separation of powers" of the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches of the Federal government.

Top Gore Money-Man Pops Up in Chicago Rezko Trial

April 3 (EIRNS)—Chicago attorney Joseph Cari is to be a prosecution witness in the ongoing Chicago corruption trial of Barack Obama associate Antoin "Tony" Rezko, new reports say. According to court documents, Cari pled guilty on Sept. 15, 2005, to one count of attempted extortion of a political payoff. Earlier, Cari was one of three finance chairmen of the Democratic National Committee for the Gore Presidential campaign, beginning in January 2000; he was one of 30 Americans who each raised $100,000 or more for Gore. The Chicago Sun Times reported that Cari "raised formidable amounts of soft money." Did he do it through political payoffs like the one to which he later pled guilty?

Clinton Presses Infrastructure Agenda in Pittsburgh

April 2 (EIRNS)—During a speech at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO in Pittsburgh, Sen. Hillary Clinton noted that the United States has lost 3 million manufacturing jobs under the Bush-Cheney Administration. She proposed what she called "an aggressive infrastructure agenda" which would create 3 million new jobs over the next decade. "We're trying to run today's economy on yesterday's infrastructure," she said, pointing out that her "Rebuild America Plan" would create a $10 billion Emergency Fund to identify and repair critical infrastructure problems, including modernizing transportation, and investing in public transit and intercity rail.

National Health Insurance Backed by Most Doctors

April 2 (EIRNS)—In a significant shift, a solid majority of U.S. physicians have finally come around to favoring a national health insurance program, such as the single-payer Medicare-for-All system advocated by Lyndon LaRouche. The question now is, "What will they do to help create the political and economic conditions that will make that a reality?"

The largest survey yet of physicians on health-care financing reform, conducted in 2007, and published in the issue of Annals of Internal Medicine released yesterday, shows a 10% increase in physicians' support for national health insurance, since a similar survey was conducted in 2002. In the 2007 survey, 59% of physicians favored the Medicare-for-All approach, 32% opposed it, and 9% were neutral.

"Across the board, more physicians feel that our fragmented and for-profit insurance system is obstructing good patient care, and a majority now support national insurance as the remedy," said Dr. Ronald T. Ackermann, associate director of the Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research at Indiana University's School of Medicine, who co-authored the study. Currently, an estimated 47 million Americans have no health insurance at all, and another 50 million are said to be "underinsured."

Bloomberg's Congestion Tax Runs into Albany Roadblock

March 31 (EIRNS)—In a special session called to vote on Mayor "Benito Mussolini" Bloomberg's toll tax plan today, the New York City Council voted 30 20 in favor of the nation's first congestion tax plan.

Councilman Lew Fidler (D-Brooklyn), an opposition leader, said his colleagues had set a bad precedent for their cash-strapped constituents. "This is the greatest city in the world, and one of the greatest freedoms is the freedom to move about it freely," Fidler said. "What's next? We're going to charge a user fee to go into Central Park because it's crowded?"

Bloomberg orchestrated a labor rally in favor of the fascist scheme to charge car drivers $8 ($21 for truckers) to drive into Manhattan, hours before the Council vote was taken. Yesterday, in Chinatown, citizens rallied against the plan, arguing that the London precedent has shown the scheme will cost more than its proponents expect. "It started about the equivalent of $8, quickly went up twice that, and since has gone up even higher. It has almost tripled the amount since it was implemented," argued Councilman David Weprin. "Delivery truck expenses will be in the thousands of dollars per year," said Jan Lee, owner of Sinotique, an art and antiques shop. "We'll lose a lot of business to Brooklyn and Queens Chinatowns if the prices creep up."

However, at this time, it appears that the state legislature will not vote up the measure. If the state is to receive $354 million in Federal matching funds for the project, the legislature must approve the measure no later than April 7. Reportedly, Bloomberg is desperately making deals behind the scenes, offering a modified plan in order to win last-minute approval.

Another Reason John 'Hoover' McCain Won't Be Tough To Beat

March 31 (EIRNS)—As former President Bill Clinton stressed to California Democratic Convention delegates yesterday, the Democrats will be able to win in November, if they "let every state's voice be heard" through the end of the primary season.

It only took FDR two months' campaigning to beat the original Herbert Hoover, and the economically clueless John McCain is doing a good Hoover imitation in the midst of an economic crash.

McCain's do-nothing speech, in Los Angeles last week, on the financial collapse, with its "I won't play politics with the mortgage mess," was sniffed out by the March 31 New York Daily News, which discovered that top lobbyists for the subprime mortgage lending industry hold top spots in McCain's campaign. All McCain presented in his March 26 speech, was a request to the mortgage lenders to "help their customers," and a vote of support for the Federal Reserve's massive bailout of the Bear Stearns Wall Street investment house. Now, McCain's spokesman says neither of the two Ameriquest lobbyists had input on his "plan"—the one Hillary Clinton said "reminded me of Herbert Hoover."