This Sounds Like a Problem...

The wife of a senator playing a lead role on a national health care overhaul sits on the boards of four health care companies, one of several examples of lawmakers with ties to the medical industry. Jackie Clegg Dodd, wife of Sen. Chris Dodd, serves on the boards of Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cardiome Pharma Corp., Brookdale Senior Living, and Pear Tree Pharmaceuticals, a financial disclosure report the senator released Friday shows.

Gee, I wonder if Dodd would ever support a single-payer health care option? Unlikely.

I think we ought to eliminate the health care program for all members of the House and Senate at the end of 2009. Then we'd see them work on a health care solution that would work. How about we just take the program in place for Congress and extend it?

Bravo to the Heroes at the ACLU!

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the government Thursday, seeking release of legal memos which authorized torture, authored by Bush administration lawyers. The lawsuit also seeks release of communications between the Bush White House and the Central Intelligence Agency related to the interrogation of terror war prisoners.

The civil rights group said in a Thursday media advisory that the suit was filed following the White House’s failure to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request.

“The information already in the public domain makes clear that the torture policies were devised and developed at the highest levels of the Bush administration, but there are still unanswered questions about precisely what the policies permitted, how they were implemented and who specifically signed off on them,” said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project, in a release. “This lawsuit is an effort to fill some of the gaps in the narrative.”

Two of the documents sought were authored by Bush attorneys John Yoo and Steven Bradbury, who face possible disciplinary action after a Justice Department probe found their legal reasoning to be sloppy and unprofessional.

The civil rights group is publicizing the lawsuit as the official kickoff to their “Accountability for Torture” initiative.

If you are interested, and who wouldn't be, here is the link for more information on the ACLU's "Accountability for Torture" initiative.