Robert Bennett: In the Ring: The Trials of a Washington Lawyer

Order this book now and enjoy a 20% discount. Robert Bennett has represented Washington power brokers, heads of state, and even a sitting president. Now one of the most well-known Beltway lawyers talks about the law, his life, and the cases he has won.

Publishers Comments:
Robert S. Bennett has been a lawyer for more than forty years. In that time, he’s taken on dozens of high-profile and groundbreaking cases and emerged as the go-to guy for the nation’s elite. Bob Bennett gained international recognition as one of America’s best lawyers for leading the defense of President Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones case. But long before, and ever since, representing a sitting president, he has fought for justice for many famous (and some now infamous) clients. This is his story.

Born in Brooklyn and an amateur boxer in his youth, Bennett has always brought his street fighter’s mentality to the courtroom. His case history is a who’s who of figures who have dominated legal headlines: super lobbyist Tommy Corcoran, former Secretaries of Defense Clark Clifford and Caspar Weinberger, Marge Schott, and, most recently, New York Times reporter Judith Miller and former World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz.

Bennett also served as special counsel to the Senate during the ABSCAM and Keating Five scandals and was a leading member of the National Review Board for the Protection of Children & Young People, created by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in response to the sex abuse allegations.

Taking the reader deep within his most intriguing and difficult cases, “In the Ring” shows how Bennett has argued for what’s right, won for his clients, and effected his share of change on the system. This is an intimate and compelling memoir of one lawyer’s attempt to fight hard and fair.

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Rich Miller posts about Alexi Giannoulias

Check out the Rich Miller’s, The Capitol Fax Blog posting about our friend, Alexi Giannoulias. Called our Governor the anti-Obama. He certainly has a point.

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Single Payer groups need your support

I posted last week about “Single-Payer Health Insurance.” One of the leading groups supporting “single-payer” is the PNHP, which is a group of doctors and health advocates. The website message is:

Physicians for a National Health Program is a non-profit research and education organization of 15,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance.

Another important group is called the California Nurses Association. This dedicated group of nurses is circulating a petition they call “Cheney Care.” The motto is “If he were anyone else, he’d probably be dead by now.”

The petition they are circulating reads simply:

Full Petition Text:

I want genuine healthcare reform that guarantees everyone has healthcare coverage, without prohibitive costs , and an end to insurance company denials of needed medical care.

I support HR 676, an expanded and improved Medicare for All. I want the same access to healthcare that Vice President Cheney and all members of Congress now receive.

Thank you,
Signed by:
[Your name]
[Your address]

“Single-payer” health coverage is important to me, because, I like Vice President Cheney, would be dead now were it not for that fact that I am fortunate enough to have great medical coverage. I have a UFCW-union health insurance policy and am eternally grateful for the coverage. In May of 2003, I had a heart attack. And I not only survived, but I have thrived since that time. Today, I live a normal, healthy life because of my great coverage.

I want others to have the kind of coverage I have, but I know there are millions of Americans with low-coverage or no-coverage. This situation is intolerable. Far too many have inadequate coverage. We need to get involved, whether on the national level with these two fine groups or on the local level supporting the right local candidates. The time for “single-payer” is now. Reading on Walden Bookstore.

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McCain Tied to Lobbyist

I won’t comment on the McCain/lobbyist thing because the stories speak for themselves. I take no joy in these situations. I would rather candidates I support defeat their opponents on issues and on the merits, and not some avoidable scandal. But I know many are interested in the story. If so, check out the New York Times piece and then the follow-up in the Washington Post piece. Reading on Walden Bookstore.

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McCain says Obama is "eloquent but empty call for change"

John McCain calls Barack Obama’s call for change an “eloquent but empty call for change.”

What does John McCain envision for this nation? If not change, then more of the same. I am glad he is “straight talking” us again. As Barack Obama has said on several occasions, “Somewhere along the line the Straight Talk Express lost some wheels,” Mr. Obama said, referring to one of Mr. McCain’s political slogans.

So for all those that are supporting John McCain, let me lend a chant. Can even fit on a bumper sticker. Ready. Time to chant. “No change. More Bush.”

“No change. More Bush.”

Don’t you just love these politicians with strong beliefs and great vision. One hundred more years of Iraq. Don’t really understand the economy, so more of the same. Keep the taxes low for the rich.

Oh yeah. “No change. More Bush.” Talk about empty. Reading on Walden Bookstore.

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Obama picks up key endorsements

Presidential candidate Barack Obama picked up the endorsement of two key newspapers, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin’s largest daily newspaper and the Houston Chronicle, the biggest daily publication in Texas. Momentum continues to carry Barack Obama toward the Democratic Presidential nomination.

By Kim Chipman – Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) — Barack Obama picked up key newspaper endorsements in Wisconsin and Texas today as he and Hillary Clinton compete for delegates in states that may help determine which candidate wins the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin’s largest daily newspaper, said it recommends that voters support Obama in the state’s Feb. 19 primary because “change and experience are crucial to moving this country forward” and the Illinois senator is the “best-equipped to deliver that change.”

The Houston Chronicle, the biggest daily publication in Texas, gave similar reasons for endorsing Obama, 46, over Clinton. He’s “the best-qualified by life experience, skill and temperament to be the standard bearer for his party,” the newspaper said in an editorial today. Texas will hold its primary on March 4.

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James Carville speaks the truth, you just gotta love him

James Carville predicts that if Hillary Clinton does not win Texas or Ohio, she will not be the Democratic Party’s nominee.

(CNN) — He hinted at a similar sentiment earlier this week on CNN, but James Carville – a supporter of Hillary Clinton’s White House run — was decidedly more blunt Wednesday on the impact a loss in Texas or Ohio would have on her presidential bid.

“Make no mistake,” Bill Clinton’s former chief strategist told the Orlando Sentinel. “If she loses either Texas or Ohio, this thing is done.”

Just another ominous sign of the continuing erosion of the Clinton campaign. Reading on Walden Bookstore.

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Chief O’Neill’s Sketchy Recollections of an Eventful Life in Chicago

Order your copy now and enjoy a 20% discount.
Our friend and neighbor, Ellen Skerrett, is one of the editors of a new book.

Publisher Comments
This remarkable memoir of immigration and assimilation provides a rare view of urban life in Chicago in the late 1800s by a newcomer to the city and the Midwest, and the nation as well. Francis O’Neill left Ireland in 1865. After five years traveling the world as a sailor, he and his family settled in Chicago just shortly before the Great Fire of 1871.
As O’Neill looked back on his life, writing in Chicago at the age of 83, he could give first-hand accounts of Pullman strike of 1894, the railway strike of 1903, and the packinghouse strike of 1904.

He could also reflect on the corruption that kept him, in spite of his innovations, extremely high exam scores, and performance, subject to powerful aldermen who prevented his advance as a member of the Chicago Police Department. Despite these obstacles, O’Neill eventually rose to be chief of police–a position from which he could enact much-needed civil service reform. In addition to his professional success, O’Neill is also remembered and beloved for his hobby, preserving traditional Irish music.

O’Neill’s story offers perspective on the inner workings of the police department at the turn of the twentieth century. His memoir also brings to life the challenges involved in succeeding in a new land, providing for his family, and integrating into a new culture. Francis O’Neill serves as a fine documentarian of the Irish immigrant experience in Chicago.

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The time for Single Payer Health Insurance has arrived, says PNHP, a doctors group

The time for adopting “single payer health insurance” has arrived.

If I have one disappointment in the Presidential candidates that remain, it is that none of them are advocates for “single payer.” The only legitimate candidate running for President that was a true advocate of “single payer” was Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D – OH), who represents parts of the Cleveland area. To read more about his health plan, visit his website at www.dennis4President.

One consistent argument against “single payer” is that doctors oppose it. Not true. There is a group called Physicians for a National Health Program.

PNHP defines “single payer” quite simply:

Single-payer national health insurance is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health financing, but delivery of care remains largely private.

Let me repeat an important line in their definition of single payer:

“delivery of care remains largely private.”

It is not the same as national health, as is practiced in Canada and England. Not that there is anything wrong with how they practice in those countries.

Another way to explain “single payer” is “Medicare for All.” PNHP makes some valid arguments related to cost.

The U.S. spends twice as much as other industrialized nations on health care, $7,129 per capita. Yet our system performs poorly in comparison and still leaves 47 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered.

This is because private insurance bureaucracy and paperwork consume one-third (31 percent) of every health care dollar. Streamlining payment through a single nonprofit payer would save more than $350 billion per year, enough to provide comprehensive, high-quality coverage for all Americans.

The savings alone from adopting this plan will be enough to insure all uninsured Americans. It is a travesty that any Americans must live without adequate health coverage. Even worse, too many Americans have to live with “zero” health coverage. We all pay for “inadequate health coverage.”

It is better we get out front on this issue now. It is our obligation to do so. Reading on Walden Bookstore.

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America is "Coming Home" again this November

Two exciting events will happen this coming November. First, the end of the George W. Bush era, our national nightmare. On a more positive note, we will surely elect a candidate that is not George W. Bush. While I totally support Barack Obama, any of the contenders takes us away from this low period in our history. America has lost its way, electing a man that was unfit to be President. And we did it twice.

In a sense, America will be “Coming Home” as Senator George McGovern intoned in his 1972 Democratic acceptance speech. McGovern was one of my favorite all-time Democrats because he is truly a decent, caring man who loves this country. He spoke out against the Vietnam, but that didn’t mean he was weak or necessarily anti-war. He was anti-Vietnam. You see, George McGovern was a World War II hero.

I voted in my first election that year in Winona, Minnesota (attending Winona State College, later was changed to Winona State University). I was 18 then. The Nixon administration had actually gone to court to stop students from voting on campus, citing residency issues. Nixon lost that battle and that has been law ever since.

And I proudly voted for McGovern.

McGovern lost in a landslide to Richard M. Nixon, yet Senator McGovern maintained his dignity and integrity all these many years later.

So much of what he stood for, resonates today. He was painted by Nixon as this wimpy dove, yet the fact was he was quite a war hero (World War II) and never used his war record to his political advantage.

He should have.

In his acceptance speech in 1972, he called for America to “Come Home.” Today, America needs to “Come Home.” In this excerpt about Vietnam, we can apply it to this insane war in Iraq. We could be in Iraq a hundred more years, but we cannot ever win (as Bush defines victory). This excerpt is haunting against the background of the 2006 election where Americans “thought” the message was bring our soldiers home. Many voted for Nixon in 1968 because they “thought” he was bringing the troops home, yet another 20,000 American boys died. How many more must die, before America comes home.

“And this is also a time, not for death, but for life. In 1968 many Americans thought they were voting to bring our sons home from Vietnam in peace, and since then 20,000 of our sons have come home in coffins.” George McGovern, 1972 convention

And then these closing remarks that apply to us today as much as it applied then.

From secrecy and deception in high places; come home, America.

From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation; come home, America.

From the entrenchment of special privileges in tax favoritism; from the waste of idle lands to the joy of useful labor; from the prejudice based on race and sex; from the loneliness of the aging poor and the despair of the neglected sick — come home, America.

Come home to the affirmation that we have a dream. Come home to the conviction that we can move our country forward.

Come home to the belief that we can seek a newer world, and let us be joyful in that homecoming, for this “is your land, this land is my land — from California to New York island, from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters — this land was made for you and me.”

So let us close on this note: May God grant each one of us the wisdom to cherish this good land and to meet the great challenge that beckons us home.

And now is the time to meet that challenge.

Good night, and Godspeed to you all.

George McGovern, 1972 convention

Come home again America. We should be home sometime in November. Reading on Walden Bookstore.

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