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PDA in the Media

Medicare Premiums Up — But Not As Much As Expected

Friday, 28 October 2011 00:00 Written by RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

ConyersMedicareGroup WASHINGTON (AP) — Good news for seniors: The government says Medicare's basic monthly premium will rise less than expected next year, by $3.50 for most.

It could be good, too, for President Barack Obama and Democrats struggling for older Americans' votes in a close election.

At $99.90 per month, the 2012 Part B premium for outpatient care will be about $7 less than projected as recently as May. The additional money that most seniors will pay works out to about 10 percent of the average Social Security cost-of-living increase they'll also be due.

Tea Party, 'Occupy' Movements Share Roots

Monday, 17 October 2011 00:00 Written by Martin Wiskol | OC Register

JimHightowerMimi The Tea Party wasn't crazy about Wall Street's power either. Helping fuel the Tea Party's emergence in 2009 was anger with the hundreds of billions in government-funded corporate bailouts. The now burgeoning Occupy Wall Street movement, which included Irvine demonstrations planned for Friday and Saturday, frames the issue as economic fairness and calls for politicians to climb out of the pocket of big business.

Budgeting for the 99 Percent

Saturday, 15 October 2011 00:00 Written by John Nichols | The Nation

CPC2 America is not broke. But America does have broken priorities.

Americans are waking up to this reality. That’s why they are occupying Wall Street, that’s why they are protesting in Madison, Columbus, Lansing and other state capitals, that’s why thousands marched Saturday in Washington and other cities on behalf of “Jobs and Justice.”

The Antiwar Movement isn’t Dead

Saturday, 09 July 2011 00:00 Written by Medea Benjamn | Salon.com

MakeLoveNotWar Todd Gitlin writes a convincing obituary for an antiwar movement killed by a thousand blows: crushed by Bush’s pigheadedness, dumped in the media’s black hole, rendered invisible by a volunteer army and drones, overshadowed by more urgent financial crises, chastened by the “unpleasantness” of adversaries from Taliban to al-Qaida to Gadhafi. He leaves out some other daggers to the heart of the movement: grass-roots election campaigns that lured away millions of activists; betrayals by the president and groups like MoveOn who used and abused the antiwar sentiment; craven congressional reps who violate the will of their constituents by continuing to fund war; powerful lobbyists for the war industry who wield enormous power in Washington; and the utter exhaustion that sets in after 10 years of standing up to the largest military complex the world has ever seen.