From Volume 38, Issue 37 of EIR Online, Published September 23, 2011

United States News Digest

LaRouche: Obama in a Meltdown; He's the Loser of the Century

Sept. 17 (EIRNS)—EIR is getting reports from Democratic Party insiders that there is total pandemonium in the aftermath of last week's special election in Brooklyn, to replace Rep. Anthony Weiner, in which the Republican candidate won by a landslide in a rock solid Democratic district. Add to this the New York Times/CBS News poll, showing that 80% of the American people want a massive investment in infrastructure for job creation—exactly the policy that Obama has rejected and that LaRouche has promoted—and you have all the elements of a total meltdown by the President.

Lyndon LaRouche today put it succinctly: "Obama is the loser of the century, and he is about to plummet down even deeper. The message to Democrats is clear: Wake up. Don't let him bring you down with him, too. He's a loser and the Brooklyn vote makes the point. Add in the recent unanimous endorsement of Glass-Steagall in Texas by the Harris County (Houston) Democratic Party, and you see the picture clear as day."

Two public manifestations of the Democratic revolt, reported this week in The Hill newspaper, serve to underscore LaRouche's point. On Sept. 15, White House officials met with Senate Democrats for an hour and a half to quell dissent over the jobs bill. Democrats have raised several objections to the plan, including how to pay for it. Senators Mark Begich (AK) and Mary Landrieu (LA), for example, objected to the plan to tax the oil and gas industry, and Virginia Sen. Jim Webb objected to plans to increase taxes on ordinary income. While everybody was talking nice afterwards, no one can expect the calm to remain long.

On the same day as the Senate meeting, House Democrats blasted the Obama Administration for ignoring the foreclosure crisis. They had been encouraged by Obama devoting two lines to mortgage relief during his Sept. 8 speech on his jobs plan, but then were angered when their efforts to learn the details were rebuffed. The White House rejected their request for a briefing from FHFA director Ed DeMarco, and got a few staffers, instead, who couldn't answer their questions. "The administration has been AWOL on this issue," charged Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), "and the American people are suffering."

Roemer Wants Glass-Steagall; Attacks Obama's Wall Street Ties

Sept. 16 (EIRNS)—GOP Presidential candidate, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, fully backs Glass-Steagall, and will reinstate that law if he is elected, reported the Conway Daily Sun (New Hampshire) today. Roemer told the paper's editorial board, "Barack Obama signs bank reform, and the next week he goes to Wall Street sponsored by Goldman Sachs and has a fundraiser at $35,000 per ticket.... Obama didn't change a thing. Too big to fail is still the law, and Glass-Steagall is still dead. I worry about this country, guys. [Some banks] broke every banking law in America, and not one person has gone to jail, but hundreds of their underwater mortgage holders have. The rich get rich, and the poor get sent to jail."

Obama's Plans To Cut Medicaid Mean Early Death for Millions

Sept. 14 (EIRNS)—Families USA, in partnership with the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Lung Association, on Sept. 14, issued reports on the four most populous states of the Union—New York, California, Illinois, and Texas—showing that cutting Medicaid could leave hundreds of thousands of people across the country facing life-threatening illnesses on their own. In these four states alone, the report points out, almost 3.9 million people depend on Medicaid. As the economy spins into deep depression, the poverty rate will rise, and the poor's dependence on Medicaid for sheer survival will grow.

"Cuts to Medicaid would pose a specific and dangerous threat to hundreds of thousands of [people] who depend on the program for regular treatment for such medical conditions as cancer, diabetes, chronic lung disease, heart disease, and stroke," the groups said in a joint statement. "Without Medicaid, many of these seriously ill [people] would no longer be able to fill essential prescriptions, keep up with key screenings, or see a doctor if their condition worsens or recurs."

The group, which plans to release such a report for every state of the Union by Oct. 3, pointed out that cuts would also affect individuals who don't directly rely on the program. For example, an increase in the amount of uncompensated care (a likely consequence of a rise in the number of uninsured) would translate into higher premiums for those with health insurance. Lost worker productivity, worse performance in school for sick children who can't get the care they need, and increased medical debt, would all be by-products of cutting Medicaid, and that would be a drag on nation's economy.

"Medicaid is vital to all it covers, but its benefits are particularly clear to people with conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and chronic lung disease who need ongoing medical care," the report says.

"Hard-working Americans with diseases such as cancer can get health coverage through Medicaid after having lost their health insurance because they are too ill to work or run through their savings," said Christopher Hansen, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). "This program is a safety net for American families, and losing access to the program could force them to stop treatment that could save their lives."

"Cuts to Medicaid funding would be harmful to the millions of children, pregnant women, and adults with diabetes who rely on the program to manage their disease and avoid dangerous and costly diabetes complications such as blindness, amputations and kidney dialysis," said Gina Gavlak, vice chair of the National Advocacy Committee, American Diabetes Association.

Veterans for Peace Call for Impeachment of Obama

Sept. 12 (EIRNS)—At its August 2011 national convention, Veterans for Peace passed a resolution calling for Congress to immediately initiate impeachment proceedings against President Obama for war crimes, signaling a wholesale break from this traitor by another "progressive" constituency that once formed Obama's core base of support.

VFP, founded in 1985, and made up of veterans from all wars and duty stations, had sought the impeachment of George W. Bush for his war crimes during his Presidency. Prior to the August convention, VFP members and chapters urging similar action against President Obama for continuing and increasing U.S. involvement in wars and war crimes, could not get the majority to join them.

This time was different. "The resolution sounds the death knell for the view that advocates of Obama's impeachment are no more than right-wing, racist birthers," wrote John Walsh of "Come Home America," an anti-war coalition formed by people of differing ideologies—progressives, conservatives, liberals, etc. Writing on their blog on Sept. 11, Walsh called the VFP resolution "stark testimony that ... the tide is turning against the war criminal Obama even among his most faithful followers."

The resolution passed was modeled on those adopted against Bush, with additions pointing to Obama's continuation and exacerbation of Bush's crimes. It cites, among other things: Obama ordering the U.S. military to go to war in Libya without Congressional consent; the millions of civilian casualties caused as "a direct result of ongoing, illegal acts of war by the United States"; and Obama's obstruction of justice by blocking the investigation of war crimes committed by the previous administration.

"Therefore," the resolution concludes, "Be It Resolved that Veterans For Peace call on the U.S. House of Representatives to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President Barack H. Obama for failure to uphold his sworn oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America from all enemies foreign and domestic, and for his commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, obstruction of justice and the violation of numerous national and international laws, treaties and conventions."

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