Palin Stupidity makes sense!

I'm hoping she fades into the sunset in Alaska. You betcha!

very good...

I particularly like the sound of the ferragamo pumps on the hardwood....

Sarah Barracuda has literally "Gone Fishin"....

Republicans Work To Undermine Affordability Measures In Kennedy Health Bill

During today’s mark-up session of the HELP Committee’s health care proposal, Republicans introduced at least seven amendments designed to lower the subsidies available to Americans who purchase coverage through the Exchange. Sens. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) both argued that Americans above 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) — or $45,775 for a family of 3 — could easily afford health care coverage:

- Enzi 200: To eliminate subsidies for those above 250 percent of poverty
- Enzi 201: To eliminate subsidies for those above 250 percent of poverty
- Enzi 202: To provide for reductions in subsidies
- Enzi 211: To limit subsidies to those below 250 percent of poverty.
- Enzi 251: To limit subsidies to those below 250 percent of poverty
- Gregg 223: To limit subsidies to those below 200 percent of poverty.
- Roberts 203: Limiting Premium and Cost-Sharing credits to people below 200% of FPL

Watch a compilation: at link

In reality, millions of Americans at about 250% FPL are struggling to afford skyrocketing health care costs. A recent study concluded that medical debt contributed to 62 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies in 2007 — and 78 percent of bankruptcy filers had health insurance but “still were overwhelmed by their medical debt.“ One in five Americans had trouble paying their health care bills in 2007 and even moderate levels of out-of-pocket spending — spending that is as low as 5 or 10 percent of family income —created medical bill problems.

Health care reform must end medical debt and medical bankruptcy, but Republican affordability measures are simply insufficient. The question of affordability is two-fold: which income levels do we subsidize and how much subsidies should the eligible families receive. While the cost of living varies widely across the country, on average, a family of three would need at least $37,919 – or about 200% FPL – to afford their basic necessities not including health care costs. So families up to 200% need to be subsidized, but who else?

Well, researchers suggest that families that spend more than 5-9% of their gross income on health care begin confronting affordability problems. As Karen Pollitz points out, “depending on what premiums are charged for qualified health benefit plans” subsidies capped above a certain level “may prove to be insufficient to ensure affordable health care for all Americans.” Congress “might consider instead a rule that no individual or family will have to pay more than 10 percent of income on health insurance premiums….cutting subsidies off entirely at an arbitrary income level can leave families vulnerable,” she says. Families at approximately 500% FPL ($110,250 for a family of four), however, can typically afford the cost of coverage.

Of course, the entire goal of reform is to slow the growth of health care costs and lower premiums for families. In this sense, subsidizing coverage — that is, making sure that every family can afford to access needed services — is a way of saving money in the long haul. After all, the billions we’re spending on subsidies is a small fraction of the $40 trillion we’re projected to spend on health care in the next ten years if we fail to slow the growth of spending.

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/07/09/affordability-amend/

Taibbi on Goldman Sachs PT 1/3
Submitted by SEDER on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 10:06pm.
----
Taibbi Interview part 2 of 3 maybe?
Submitted by cent on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 10:00pm.
that is my guess anyway...
---------------------------
That's why you get paid the big analysis money: You gather information (Taibbi PT 1/3) and expertly extrapolate the future (Taibbi Parts 2 and 3).

The devil, and details
by John Aravosis (DC) on 7/09/2009 08:40:00 PM
One of the problems with this entire health care reform debate is that most of us have no idea what the details are of the various plans that the various Senate and House committees are debating. Nor will we have any idea what the Congress passes, if at all, until a long time after the bill becomes a law. That's one reason why health care reform advocates have been talking about the "public option." Their logic is that at least push for a critical component in the plan, if you can't know all the details of the specific plans the Senators and House members are discussing behind the scenes. Still, this detail, below, is an example of even the "good" plan - the House bill that the health care reform groups support - isn't exactly Sweden.

Under the House bill, a couple with joint income of $75,000, before taxes, would not receive a subsidy. And if they are self-employed, and receive no help from an employer, the premiums that they would be expected to pay could easily run as high as $13,000 a year. After taxes, if they live in a high-tax state, they might take home $65,000 a year—or less. This means that health care premiums would eat 20 percent of their income—or more.

A joint income of $75,000. That means each of you makes $37,500 a year. That's it. And you're cut off from federal assistance with your premium payments. Now, if the premium payments aren't exorbitant, maybe this is okay (but under the analysis above, that's a hell of a lot of money for someone to pay). But I, like you, have no idea if these plans will help me when I'm in my 50s and Blue Cross is charging me well over $1,000 a month for my single person plan (we also have no idea if they'll actually give us real prescription drug coverage, etc.) It's very difficult to support a plan when you have no idea what the plan is, nor what its impact is actually going to be on YOUR coverage.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/07/devil-and-details.html

:)

When Will The Recovery Begin? Never.

The so-called "green shoots" of recovery are turning brown in the scorching summer sun. In fact, the whole debate about when and how a recovery will begin is wrongly framed. On one side are the V-shapers who look back at prior recessions and conclude that the faster an economy drops, the faster it gets back on track. And because this economy fell off a cliff late last fall, they expect it to roar to life early next year. Hence the V shape.

Unfortunately, V-shapers are looking back at the wrong recessions. Focus on those that started with the bursting of a giant speculative bubble and you see slow recoveries. The reason is asset values at bottom are so low that investor confidence returns only gradually.

That's where the more sober U-shapers come in. They predict a more gradual recovery, as investors slowly tiptoe back into the market.

Personally, I don't buy into either camp. In a recession this deep, recovery doesn't depend on investors. It depends on consumers who, after all, are 70 percent of the U.S. economy. And this time consumers got really whacked. Until consumers start spending again, you can forget any recovery, V or U shaped.

Problem is, consumers won't start spending until they have money in their pockets and feel reasonably secure. But they don't have the money, and it's hard to see where it will come from. They can't borrow. Their homes are worth a fraction of what they were before, so say goodbye to home equity loans and refinancings. One out of ten home owners is under water -- owing more on their homes than their homes are worth. Unemployment continues to rise, and number of hours at work continues to drop. Those who can are saving. Those who can't are hunkering down, as they must.

Eventually consumers will replace cars and appliances and other stuff that wears out, but a recovery can't be built on replacements. Don't expect businesses to invest much more without lots of consumers hankering after lots of new stuff. And don't rely on exports. The global economy is contracting.

My prediction, then? Not a V, not a U. But an X. This economy can't get back on track because the track we were on for years -- featuring flat or declining median wages, mounting consumer debt, and widening insecurity, not to mention increasing carbon in the atmosphere -- simply cannot be sustained.

The X marks a brand new track -- a new economy. What will it look like? Nobody knows. All we know is the current economy can't "recover" because it can't go back to where it was before the crash. So instead of asking when the recovery will start, we should be asking when and how the new economy will begin. More on this to come.

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2009/07/when-will-recovery-begin-never.h...

Greetings from RGE Monitor!

The first half of 2009 has ended and we at RGE Monitor are in the process of updating our quarterly Global Economic Outlook. Below you will find a preview of our views on the short-to-medium term prospects for the U.S. economy. The full version of the RGE U.S. economic outlook (available for RGE Premium subscribers) will include analysis on:

* U.S. Consumer Comeback?
* Is the U.S. Housing Sector Stabilizing?
* U.S. Commercial Real Estate the Next Shoe to Drop?
* U.S. Industrial Production and Investment in a Severe Downturn
* U.S. Exports Under Pressure
* U.S. Labor Market Pain Continues
* Fiscal Stimulus Provides Inadequate Stimulus
* Ballooning U.S. Fiscal Deficit Raises Concerns
* Fed Too Soon to Exit Easing Mode, but Time to Talk About It
* Inflation Pressures Not in Sight Quite Yet
* U.S. Treasuries
* U.S. Dollar
* Structural Weaknesses Will Constrain the U.S. Economic Recovery

The RGE Monitor Global Economic Outlook presents analysis on over 70 countries and several global crucial issues. Specifically, in this Q2 update, our analysts cover trade and protectionism, risks of rising fiscal deficits around the world, global imbalances and climate change, among other issues. The RGE Monitor Global Economic Outlook will be available soon to RGE Premium subscribers.

Now back to our U.S. preview.

The United States is in the 20th month of a recession that has been by far the longest and most severe of the post-war period. While comparisons with the Great Depression are frequent and appropriate (especially if we look at the pace of contraction in industrial production), the aggressiveness of policy measures has significantly reduced the probability of a near-depression. Economic activity fell off a cliff in Q4 2008 and Q1 2009, with two consecutive quarters of sharp contraction – by 6.3% and 5.5% respectively – in line with our previous forecasts. The general consensus is that this recession will end sometime in the second half of 2009. While RGE Monitor expects more quarters of negative real GDP growth in 2009, we also expect the pace of contraction of economic activity to slow significantly. We forecast negative real GDP growth in Q2 2009 and Q3 2009, and for real GDP to remain flat in Q4. After the sharp contraction in economic activity in 2009, growth will reenter positive territory only in 2010, and then at a very sluggish rate, well below potential.

Even if economic activity stops contracting by the end of 2009, that might not mark the official end of this recession. Recessions are not measured exclusively by GDP contractions. Unemployment, industrial production, real manufacturing, wholesale retail trade sales and real personal income (less transfer) are all considered when it is time for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) to put dates around recession periods. As reported by the NBER, this recession started in December 2007, and all the above indicators peaked between November 2007 and June 2008. U.S. real GDP will stop contracting at the end of 2009, but it is likely that many of the above indicators will not bottom out (or peak, in the case of unemployment) before mid-2010.

Improvements in real economic activity are present and visible in the reduction of the pace of job losses, in the improvement in indicators of manufacturing activity, in the stabilization of housing starts and in the improvement of financial conditions. However, RGE Monitor does not yet see signs of a strong and sustainable recovery. more...

http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini-monitor/257243/rge_monitor__us_economi...

-Submitted by cent on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 9:46pm.
Yep..."and I'm feeeeelin goood"-

how they rollin? :)

the only thing worse than a bad artist is a bad critic
Submitted by cent on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 10:20pm.
--------
It could have been even worse than a bad critic.

You could have speculated that Taibbi PT 1/3 would be followed by Taibbi PT B.

The House rebuked President Obama for trying to ignore restrictions to international aid payments, voting overwhelmingly for an amendment forcing the administration to abide by its constraints.

House members approved an amendment by a 429-2 vote to have the Obama administration pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require a Treasury Department report on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) activities. The amendment to a 2010 funding bill for the State Department and foreign operations was proposed by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), but it received broad bipartisan support.

The conditions on World Bank and IMF funding were part of the $106 billion war supplemental bill that was passed last month. Obama, in a statement made as he signed the bill, said that he would ignore the conditions.

They would "interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations by directing the Executive to take certain positions in negotiations or discussions with international organizations and foreign governments, or by requiring consultation with the Congress prior to such negotiations or discussions," Obama said in the signing statement.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-overwhelming-rebukes-obama-sig...

Submitted by toniD on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 10:17pm.
The devil, and details
by John Aravosis (DC) on 7/09/2009 08:40:00 PM
One of the problems with this entire health care reform debate is that most of us have no idea what the details are of the various plans that the various Senate and House committees are debating. Nor will we have any idea what the Congress passes, if at all, until a long time after the bill becomes a law...
--------
No shit.

This doesn't seem to bother people as much as it does me.

They wave little flags around and shout "Rah-rah for our plan" but nobody gets their plan passed.

Whatever we get, I ain't gonna like it because it will be a carcass with all of the life squeezed out of it...

...kinda like the goat in a dead goat polo game.

AIG Is Preparing to Pay Millions More in Bonuses

By Brady Dennis and David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 9, 2009; 8:36 PM

American International Group is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after an earlier round of payments four months ago set off a national furor.

The company has been pressing the federal government to bless the payments in hopes of shielding itself from renewed public outrage.

The request puts the administration's new compensation czar on the spot by seeking his opinion about bonuses that were promised long before he took his post.

AIG doesn't actually need the permission of Kenneth R. Feinberg, who President Obama appointed last month to oversee the compensation of top executives at seven firms that have received large federal bailouts. But officials at the troubled insurance giant, whose federal rescue package stands at $180 billion, have been reluctant to move forward without political cover from the government.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR200907...

Would it be weird of me to mention that, at times, this new less people doing work thing, and me doing it for less money thing...I enjoy it.

Sometimes.

Like today....Another co worker also mentioned that we get to do a lot of different things now. I never got to browse the stacks in the past. Now I get to shelf read, I also decided I want to be in charge of shelving the non-fiction books, and that is so fun. I get to have time to be creative and today I redesigned the whole New Arrivals bookcases and restarted the Staff Picks area...

Was a great day...& Strange animal days lately, yesterday the car in front of me hit a squirrel and I got to once again go into a freakish tizzy seeing the flip flopping dying squirrel...then this morning a mouse ran under my bedroom door and Helmut killed it, but I was "lucky" enough to see the ear twitch when I looked under the bed....

So I get to work and outside my car door a SWARM of dragon flies traveled right over my head, for at least three minutes they went by..I got some video of them...they look like UFO's...

I'm watching The Matrix, (which is everywhere and all around us), like Ms_A did last week...

:)

Government scientists said Thursday that the periodic warming of water in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which can affect weather around the world, has returned.

The Pacific had been in what is called a neutral state, but forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say the sea surface temperature climbed to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit above normal along a narrow band in the eastern equatorial Pacific in June.

In addition, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said temperatures in other tropical regions are also above normal, with warmer than usual readings as much as 975 feet below the ocean surface.

In general, El Nino conditions are associated with increased rainfall across the east-central and eastern Pacific and with drier than normal conditions over northern Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h5h2io7PJWv1ryXNekEnHh...

Since the age of 12, upon hearing Ralph Nader on the radio (mid 1960s) speaking about pesticides and processing of our food I took on what would be a lifelong hobby for me – keeping up on what exactly is happening with our food. When I heard Ralph Nader speaking on my nifty little Panasonic clock radio that day it forever changed the way I see government, the FDA, USDA, and a host of others who I had, up until then, naively believed were agencies and people looking out for us, looking out for “our” health and well-being.

I was shocked! I could hardly wrap my young brain around “why” the people who did have control, say so over what happens, and what doesn’t, were not even interested in protecting “us” from things that can make us sick, diseased, and cause us to die prematurely. As children, I believe we need to know that we are being protected in the right ways, not some of this silly type of protection that’s so common today (which oftentimes seems so superficial compared to what should be done).

About a week later, I decided to do a report for English class and walked to my tiny local library (maybe not even 2,000 sq.ft. in size) and began my research to find out if what I heard Ralph Nader say on the radio was true. I was not at all prepared to discover what I did… a LOT of information on farming chemicals that were, even then, well known to cause health problems.
...

http://aromatherapy4u.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/food-inc-a-horror-movie-w...

Honduras' post-coup leader fears arrest or death in Costa Rica: government source

Honduras' post-coup leader fears arrest or death in Costa Rica: government source
2009-07-10 06:08:33

SAN JOSE, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Honduras' post-coup leader Roberto Micheletti was afraid of being arrested or getting killed in Costa Rica, and refused to leave the airport before getting security guarantees when he arrived here on Thursday for mediation talks hosted by President Oscar Arias, Costa Rican government sources said.

A source with the Costa Rican government told Xinhua that the security staff of Micheletti had warned him that he might be in danger of being arrested or suffering a life-threatening attack while leaving the airport.

Micheletti has come to San Jose to meet with President Arias, who is mediating the political crisis in Honduras after a military coup there.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya had called Micheletti a "criminal" that should be arrested.

To soothe Micheletti's fears, Costa Rican Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias, who is President Arias' brother, offered himself to travel in the same car and pledged to reinforce the security measures.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/10/content_11683201.htm

California acted illegally by trying to cut Medi-Cal fees by 10 percent last year for doctors, pharmacists and others who treat 7.1 million poor people, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco was a victory for health professionals and their patients but a blow to the state, which is mired in a $26.3 billion budget deficit. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators have imposed further Medi-Cal reductions this year, which could be thwarted by the ruling.

... In Thursday's 3-0 decision, the court said California had violated a federal law that requires states to set rates at levels that will pay for quality care and lead to equal access to health services for poor people. The federal government pays half the costs of the Medicaid program, which is called Medi-Cal in California.

... "We do not doubt the severity of the fiscal challenge facing the state of California," Judge Milan Smith said in the court ruling. But, he added, "a budget crisis does not excuse ongoing violations of federal law."

... The court also broadened a judge's ruling against the state last year by adding seven weeks of retroactive payments.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/09/BADQ18LOCC.D...

Kurds Lay Claim to Land and Oil, Defying Baghdad
New York Times - ‎32 minutes ago‎
---------
Kurds Get Their Way
Bait News Service - 1 minute ago

To me it seems Congress might be hesitant because they have no clue what it is they are supposed to be voting for...

IMO the only people who can actually explain the differences in the various types of plans in any detail are those who have been guarding against a "non-public option" plan and the the insurance company lobby...

This gives the grassroots and the single payer types in congress a distinct advantage...a(n) historical opportunity to push something through on popular opinion (and bullshit) that the rank and file would usually never go for...

Maybe (probably) this is only wishful blogging, but I see an in for the grassroots to push this much further than we had previously hoped....

I was shelf reading today, as I mentioned, and I saw this book and wondered if you've heard of it...

The Fisherman's Guide to Life: Nine Timeless Principles Based on the Lessons of Fishing

funny.

sation tomorrow, (well someday) - one of my co workers is a total pun-head...

-Kurds Get Their Way
Bait News Service - 1 minute ago-

won't be joining up with Malloy in Seattle on August 10th. Just Hartman, Press and Stephanie.
Too bad.

To my utter dismay, I sent you an e-mail in error earlier today regarding your member of Congress, Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

There are 80 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and only seven of them have taken the pledge to oppose any health care bill without a real public option. Rep. Nadler is one of those proud seven who are standing up for health care for all

-----
I called Nadler's office to apologize after I gave him lip about not supporting a real public plan. got to watch these group E- mailings.

SEC to call for Calif. IOUs treated as securities

The recipients of billions of dollars in IOUs being issued by California soon may have a regulated market where they could sell them.

Some of the nation's largest banks say that, starting Friday, they will no longer accept the IOUs. The banks want to pressure the state to end its budget impasse, but their action could leave many businesses and families with fewer options for getting their money.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is going to recommend that the IOUs, which carry an annual interest rate of 3.75 percent, be regulated by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board as a form of municipal debt. The guidance could come as soon as Thursday, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because the SEC hasn't yet acted.

... A regulated market for the IOUs "makes it even more advantageous" for individuals holding them, who could sell them at a fair price, said (Paul Maco, an attorney at Vinson & Elkins in Washington who was a director of the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities). The price they receive may be discounted in accordance with the market's perception of the risk of the state repaying the notes, but it would be an orderly market price, he said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jHe_YR8ihWWjIRmFF1rKPY...

Turbulence 'downed Fossett plane'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8143540.stm
Page last updated at 00:20 GMT, Friday, 10 July 2009 01:20 UK

Strong winds and downdraughts were the likely cause of the plane crash which killed millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, US safety investigators say.

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbennett

I see the vagueries as opportunity Crank...
Submitted by cent on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 10:50pm.
--------
Okay, listen up. I'm becoming confused.

You stick to writing that everyone and everything everywhere sucks and I'll stick to writing that everyone and everything everywhere doesn't suck as bad as it did a year ago.

When we switch roles, I feel like I've been bamboozled with this old routine...

cent: "Didn't."
Bait: "Did."
cent: "Didn't."
Bait: "Did."
cent: "Did too."
Bait: "Did not."
cent: "Did."
Bait: "Didn't."
cent: "Okay, you're right. Didn't."
Bait: "I knew you'd see it my way eventually."

Weekly world news quiz
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8143138.stm

It's the end of another week... Just how much do you remember about the headlines from the past seven days?

Test your knowledge of world news events in our quiz.

When you've got your result, why not e-mail the quiz to your friends to see how they measure up?
==
You got 3 right!

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbennett

Post it!!!

Sorry about your critter catastrophes...but it is good for their spirit to have a witness who actually witnesses, ya know? there are no accidents kiddo.

"Staff Picks Area"... heh...pondering the opportunities...and the responsibilities...too much power to be trusted to a subversive like myself. ;)

sea u cuz tea. time 2 brew ;

http://s234.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/Druid-666/?action=view&current=m...

*poof*

Friday, July 10, 2009

American International Group is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after an earlier round of payments four months ago set off a national furor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR200907...

nature abhors a vacuum....

these aren't normal people. McNamara, Rice, Cheney, Wolfowitz Kissinger et. al.

What we have here is a team of maniacs. Why aren't we using cattle prods on them? Didn't Bush make that legal?

Submitted by cent on Thu, 07/09/2009 - 11:11pm.
nature abhors a vacuum....
-------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VptOUWC-Itc

Doesn't he advise this president?

http://www.bestcyrano.org/?p=2726

Funny...

The Persians have been playing the Shell game since before the Dutch Royals were invented...

I got three 2.

[Thanks to Sir Real, Emerson Crossjostle for this link]

Yes, I Suck: Self-Help Through Negative Thinking

by John Cloud Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

In the past 50 years, people with mental problems have spent untold millions of hours in therapists' offices, and millions more reading self-help books, trying to turn negative thoughts like "I never do anything right" into positive ones like "I can succeed." For many people — including well-educated, highly trained therapists, for whom "cognitive restructuring" is a central goal — the very definition of psychotherapy is the process of changing self-defeating attitudes into constructive ones.

But was Norman Vincent Peale right? Is there power in positive thinking? A study just published in the journal Psychological Science says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply highlight how unhappy they are.
...

I couldn't find your email reply,so I sent you another at the gmail addy.
Thanks for the reply, sorry for the delay in my follow up!

Greetings, how have things been. I have been caught up in alot of my own bullshit lately.

However, I am just completing a BBQ. Which was very nice.

Please elaborate.....

we must head for the so called European Socialist Nations...

I mean honestly... wtf

fernando37v at gmail.com

send your addy there.

and we know that Latin America South America is leftererer as well...THe US can still catch more bees with venom than with honey, that is so sad about us...

it should be featured. It was just marinated in a herb garlic marinade and charcoal grilled. Fuckin wonderful

They are winning the war of Free Minds

What bullshit?

a military budget 50% of the world yet we only have 5% population be justified?

As the President's advisor on Homeland Security, I am passing along the following message from Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, who are leading the efforts to prepare our Nation for the coming flu season.

Fellow Americans,

This spring we were confronted with an outbreak of a troubling flu virus called 2009-H1N1. As the fall flu season approaches, it is critical that we reinvigorate our preparedness efforts across the country in order to mitigate the effects of this virus on our communities.

Today, we are holding an H1N1 Influenza Preparedness Summit in conjunction with the White House to discuss our Nation's preparedness. We are working together to monitor the spread of 2009-H1N1 and to prepare to initiate a voluntary fall vaccination program against the 2009-H1N1 flu virus, assuming we have a safe vaccine and do not see changes in the virus that would render the vaccine ineffective.

But the most critical steps to mitigating the effects of 2009-H1N1 won't take place in Washington — they will take place in your homes, schools and community businesses.

Taking precautions for this fall's flu season is a responsibility we all share. Visit Flu.gov to make sure you are ready and learn how you can help promote public awareness.

We are making every effort to have a safe and effective vaccine available for distribution as soon as possible, but our current estimate is that it won't be ready before mid-October. This makes individual prevention even more critical. Wash your hands regularly. Take the necessary precautions to stay healthy and if you do get sick, stay home from work or school.

We are doing everything possible to prepare for the fall flu season and encourage all Americans to do the same — this is a shared responsibility and now is the time to prepare. Please visit Flu.gov to learn what steps you can take to prepare and do your part to mitigate the effects of H1N1.

Take Care,
Kathleen, Janet and Arne

*

Students Likely to Get First Flu Shots

School-age children will be a key target population for a pandemic flu vaccine in the fall, and they may get their shots at school in a mass vaccination campaign not seen since the polio epidemics of the 1950s.

The federal government should get about 100 million doses of vaccine by mid-October, if the current production by five companies goes as planned. But enough vaccine for wide use by the 120 million people especially vulnerable to infection with the newly emerged strain of H1N1 influenza virus will not be available until later in the fall.

Those were among the messages administration officials delivered to about 500 state, territorial, city and tribal health officials yesterday at a "flu summit" at the National Institutes of Health's Bethesda campus.

President Obama, speaking by audio link from the Group of Eight summit in L'Aquila, Italy, urged "complete ownership" of preparations for what he termed a "significant outbreak" of H1N1 flu in the next few months.

"We want to make sure that we are not promoting panic, but we are promoting vigilance and preparation," he said. He added that "the most important thing for us to do is to make sure that state and local officials prepare now to implement a vaccination program in the fall."

...

http://mobile.washingtonpost.com/detail.jsp?key=409534&rc=to&p=1&all=1

The bullshit of how free I can be without winding up in the clink or guantanamo or God knows what.

so much larger? Is it a math thing I don't get or what?

"The matrix isn't real."

I sent you 2 emails with my addy, let me know what happens.

How's things going for you, by the way?

I feel like a fuckin Roman

just rough estimation, but I'd say that is about the surface of the planet we "protect"...

Empire.....

Well so we look bigger and Canada looks smaller and S America looks smaller. We have to hold the Continent right?

ability to earn a living...

That's not fair when being a protester alone makes a person subject to arrest....

Off to the vomitorium.

Anyone else remember that old SNL skit? Rude, crude, and utterly delicious.

How R the Catz?

wtf?

:)

“Totally Fucked” by Spring Awakening
~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbennett

duh my bad

Hell now they call protesting low level terrorism

if you get arrested...and that makes it near impossible to find employment....

Can't hear it now..but I like it...

I have been doing my best to take full advantage of it. Allthogh there is always room for improvement eh

who smells like Bono

Saw some derby girls warming up on the other side of my park tonight. I wanted to stop and watch them but thought it might be rude. Plus half of them looked like they would open a big can of whop ass on me.

The other half probably would too but they were CUTE !!! ;)

White House threatens veto over intel disclosure

By Sam Youngman
Posted: 07/08/09 05:18 PM [ET]

The White House said Thursday that if the intelligence authorization bill contains language broadening who the president must inform on covert activities, President Obama would be advised to veto the bill.

Currently, the White House is required by law to inform the "Gang of Eight," the leadership of both Houses and intelligence committees, of covert actions deemed too sensitive to disclose to full committees or legislative bodies.
...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/white-house-threatens-veto-over-inte...

Hey mate Im righta here bloke lol

The guys who smoked the grass after patrols retained some Humanity, cause it just took the Humanity out of you.

maybe not...?

*

trapper...I wonder that too..A night or two at practice, people have just shown up and sit in the stands...that would be ok with me...but sometimes they take pictures and vids and things and that makes me uncomfortable...But we do let anyone come and watch so...Do it next time! Or go to a bout..we're going to one Saturday night and I'm jacked! The Goodnight Inn nearby is having a cheapie Summer sale and so me and some of my team mates are going and staying overnight...omg...I see fun in my future... :)

"You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him.

And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.

And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out.

They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,

I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out.

And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement "

But considering it is a public park, and I do live across the street from it I ought to be able to watch. Just don't want to creep them out or make them uncomfortable.

If I tell them I got a blog bud who does the derby and wanted to see what it's all about maybe it would put them at ease.

I'll let you know how that goes.

with Buffalo wings and Beer and smoking around the side ............ and free brochures

yes.

Cats are really great now, percentage wise anyway, Bob...

:)

trapper on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 12:16am.
Saw some derby girls warming up on the other side ... etc...
"... Plus half of them looked like they would open a big can of whop ass on me." TeeHe
;) >>>

Ima put on a Stephen King audiobook and lay down. Been a long night if you know what I mean.

Farewell all xxxx

It matters...

I'm just a fey little painter in a world full of whop ass derby wanna bees.

I wonder, if I told them "I'm scared, hold me" would that break the ice or get me body slammed?

for the second time

Call me corny I know.. But its a hell of a story

It's the last one of his I actually bought.....

Enjoy.

WTTBF, MP3

I have to work at a branch tomorrow for the first time...I have to make a tic mark every time someone comes in the door...that will be a lesson in observation, I can tell already...

xoxo cent, trapper, Bob, Ms_A, Blog....

Try to count your blessings tomorrow...along with the patrons...;)

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbennett

trapper

http://search.playlist.com/
Songs for the next rethug convention

“Guys and Dolls” by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbennett

;

truly one of the best gifts the ex g friend gave me.
Confessions of an ugly step sister also good, Son of a witch, not so much.
Didn't engross/ engulf me the way Wicked did.

Hacking victims review legal action against Murdoch's News Corp
by Chris in Paris on 7/10/2009 03:41:00 AM
Something tells me the people with deep pockets who had their phones hacked might not sit back quietly. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has to be bracing for expensive lawsuits and rightly so. How much more bad news can his brand take? It's not what it used to be.

Victims of the phone-hacking scandal were last night taking legal advice following the Guardian's revelations over News Group's secret £1m payout.

The football agent Sky Andrew said: "After being told certain individuals have taken legal action, I will take advice."

Speaking from Barcelona, on business, he said he was surprised by the apparent scale of the hacking. He suspected his phone had been tampered with when his pin number no longer worked. "When you are in an industry like mine, you suspect this type of thing could go on, but you don't actually expect it to happen to you."

Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator working for News International, was jailed in 2007 for accessing Andrew's voicemails after a trial that also saw a former royal editor of the News of the World, Clive Goodman, jailed for hacking into the voicemails of royal aides.

But News Group has never publicly admitted any responsibility for Mulcaire's actions, which also saw the hacking of phones belonging to the model Elle Macpherson, the Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, publicist Max Clifford, and the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, Gordon Taylor.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/07/hacking-victims-review-legal-action.h...

Who Would Replace Senator Ensign?

The recent news that Senator John Ensign's parents gave his mistress a “gift” of nearly a $100,000 puts his career in jeopardy. It should not be long before a Senate Ethics Committee, Federal Election Commission, and/or Justice Department investigation is launched.

If Senator Ensign resigns or is forced out of office, who would take his seat? According to Nevada law, an interim senator would be appointed by the governor until the 2010 general election.

This would give the embattled and unbelievably unpopular Jim Gibbons the power to appoint a senator. This should prove to be very interesting to say the least. Picture a Republican version of the Governor Blagojevich/Senator Burris appointment.

The single biggest winner from this scandal could turn out to be Senator Harry Reid. He is up for reelection in 2010 and has weak poll numbers. It is likely that any Nevada Republican hoping to become a senator would prefer to run in the special election instead of challenging the well funded Harry Reid.

The special election could also be a boon to Harry Reid's son, Rory Reid. He is currently the Chairman of the Clark County Commission and laying the ground work for a possible run for Governor in 2010. He might be persuaded to try and join his father in the Senate if there is a special election. At the very least, the special election could have the same benefit for Rory Reid as his father. Republicans thinking about a gubernatorial campaign might choose to run in the special election instead of challenging Rory Reid for the governorship.

http://jwalkerreport.blogspot.com/2009/07/who-would-replace-senator-ensi...

The Stimulus Trap
By PAUL KRUGMAN

As soon as the Obama administration-in-waiting announced its stimulus plan — this was before Inauguration Day — some of us worried that the plan would prove inadequate. And we also worried that it might be hard, as a political matter, to come back for another round.

Unfortunately, those worries have proved justified. The bad employment report for June made it clear that the stimulus was, indeed, too small. But it also damaged the credibility of the administration’s economic stewardship. There’s now a real risk that President Obama will find himself caught in a political-economic trap.

I’ll talk about that trap, and how he can escape it, in a moment. First, however, let me step back and ask how concerned citizens should be reacting to the disappointing economic news. Should we be patient and give the Obama plan time to work? Should we call for bigger, bolder actions? Or should we declare the plan a failure and demand that the administration call the whole thing off?

Before you answer, consider what happens in normal times.

When there’s an ordinary, garden-variety recession, the job of fighting that recession is assigned to the Federal Reserve. The Fed responds by cutting interest rates in an incremental fashion. Reducing rates a bit at a time, it keeps cutting until the economy turns around. At times it pauses to assess the effects of its work; if the economy is still weak, the cutting resumes.

During the last recession, the Fed repeatedly cut rates as the slump deepened — 11 times over the course of 2001. Then, amid early signs of recovery, it paused, giving the rate cuts time to work. When it became clear that the economy still wasn’t growing fast enough to create jobs, more rate cuts followed.

Normally, then, we expect policy makers to respond to bad job numbers with a combination of patience and resolve. They should give existing policies time to work, but they should also consider making those policies stronger.

And that’s what the Obama administration should be doing right now with its fiscal stimulus. (It’s important to remember that the stimulus was necessary because the Fed, having cut rates all the way to zero, has run out of ammunition to fight this slump.) That is, policy makers should stay calm in the face of disappointing early results, recognizing that the plan will take time to deliver its full benefit. But they should also be prepared to add to the stimulus now that it’s clear that the first round wasn’t big enough.

Unfortunately, the politics of fiscal policy are very different from the politics of monetary policy. For the past 30 years, we’ve been told that government spending is bad, and conservative opposition to fiscal stimulus (which might make people think better of government) has been bitter and unrelenting even in the face of the worst slump since the Great Depression. Predictably, then, Republicans — and some Democrats — have treated any bad news as evidence of failure, rather than as a reason to make the policy stronger.

Hence the danger that the Obama administration will find itself caught in a political-economic trap, in which the very weakness of the economy undermines the administration’s ability to respond effectively.

As I said, I was afraid this would happen. But that’s water under the bridge. The question is what the president and his economic team should do now.

It’s perfectly O.K. for the administration to defend what it’s done so far. It’s fine to have Vice President Joseph Biden touring the country, highlighting the many good things the stimulus money is doing.

It’s also reasonable for administration economists to call for patience, and point out, correctly, that the stimulus was never expected to have its full impact this summer, or even this year.

But there’s a difference between defending what you’ve done so far and being defensive. It was disturbing when President Obama walked back Mr. Biden’s admission that the administration “misread” the economy, declaring that “there’s nothing we would have done differently.” There was a whiff of the Bush infallibility complex in that remark, a hint that the current administration might share some of its predecessor’s inability to admit mistakes. And that’s an attitude neither Mr. Obama nor the country can afford.

What Mr. Obama needs to do is level with the American people. He needs to admit that he may not have done enough on the first try. He needs to remind the country that he’s trying to steer the country through a severe economic storm, and that some course adjustments — including, quite possibly, another round of stimulus — may be necessary.

What he needs, in short, is to do for economic policy what he’s already done for race relations and foreign policy — talk to Americans like adults.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/opinion/10krugman.html?_r=1&partner=rs...

AIG Seeks Clearance For More Bonuses
$2.4 Million in Executive Payments Due Next Week

By Brady Dennis and David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 10, 2009

American International Group is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after an earlier round of payments four months ago set off a national furor.

The troubled insurance giant has been pressing the federal government to bless the payments in hopes of shielding itself from renewed public outrage.

The request puts the administration's new compensation czar on the spot by seeking his opinion about bonuses that were promised long before he took his post.

AIG doesn't actually need the permission of Kenneth R. Feinberg, who President Obama appointed last month to oversee the compensation of top executives at seven firms that have received large federal bailouts. But officials at AIG, whose federal rescue package stands at $180 billion, have been reluctant to move forward without political cover from the government.

"Anytime we write a check to anybody" it is highly scrutinized, said an AIG official, who declined to speak on the record because the negotiations with Feinberg are ongoing. "We would want to feel comfortable that the government is comfortable with what we are doing."

The payments coming due next week include $2.4 million in bonuses for about 40 high-ranking executives at AIG, according to administration documents from earlier this year. Though the actual sum may have changed since then, the payments are much smaller than those that caused the upheaval in March.

Still, officials at AIG and within the government see them as a land mine.

Feinberg, who previously managed the government's efforts to compensate the families of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, has the power to determine salaries, bonuses and retirement packages for all executive officers and the 100 most highly paid employees at firms such as Citigroup, Bank of America, General Motors and AIG.

AIG's upcoming payments do not fall under Feinberg's official purview, as they involve bonuses delayed from 2008. Feinberg is charged with shaping only current and future compensation. As a result, some Treasury Department officials believe they are under no obligation to offer an advisory opinion in this case, which could leave AIG officials to decide the matter on their own, according to a person familiar with the talks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR200907...

home again
Submitted by jbenet on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 2:29am.
http://search.playlist.com/
Songs for the next rethug convention

*******
How wicked ! ;)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Was The CIA Hiding Cheney's "Executive Assassination Ring"?

The revelation from seven Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee that they were misled about a critical CIA program has sparked a debate that touches on the most sensitive areas of national security policy. What program, exactly, was being kept secret?

No one is answering the question, citing the sensitivities that come when discussing classified intelligence matters. But in various conversations with sources on and off the Hill, two general theories have emerged. The first is that the CIA was keeping quiet about the use of waterboarding on terrorist suspects. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she was misled by the intelligence agency on that very subject. It's also the story told to the Huffington Post by a source with knowledge of the letter the seven House Democrats penned to CIA chief Leon Panetta, in which they complained about being misled.

But the dates don't line up. In their letter, the lawmakers note that members of Congress were "misled" for "a number of years, from 2001 to this week." Pelosi, however, contended that the CIA lied to her about the use of harsh interrogation techniques during the fall of 2002.

And in a conversation with the Huffington Post, Rep. Anna Eshoo, (D-Calif.), one of the letter's signatories, said that Panetta "stopped the program the day after he was informed." Waterboarding was ended as a practice during the Bush years.

So what are the "significant actions" that these seven lawmakers insist were kept from Congress? Another theory being bandied about concerns an "executive assassination ring" that was allegedly set up and answered to former Vice President Dick Cheney. The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh, building off earlier reporting from the New York Times, dropped news of the possibility that such a ring existed in a March 2009 discussion sponsored by the University of Minnesota.

"It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently," Hersh said. "They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. They did not report to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff or to Mr. [Robert] Gates, the secretary of defense. They reported directly to him. ...

"Congress has no oversight of it," he added. "It's an executive assassination ring essentially, and it's been going on and on and on. Just today in the Times there was a story that its leaders, a three star admiral named [William H.] McRaven, ordered a stop to it because there were so many collateral deaths. Under President Bush's authority, they've been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That's been going on, in the name of all of us."

Asked if this was the basis of her letter to Panetta, Eshoo said she could not discuss what was a "highly classified program." She did, however, note that when Panetta told House Intelligence Committee members what it was that had been kept secret, "the whole committee was stunned, even Republicans." A Republican committee member told Who Runs Gov's Greg Sargent it was something they hadn't heard before.

More...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/09/was-the-cia-hiding-cheney_n_228...

The Congressional Progressive Caucus has fired Bill Goold, its executive director, leaving the House Democrats’ liberal wing without a staff-level chief as they head into a critical legislative fight on health care.

Goold’s termination was effective immediately. The reasons behind the dismissal are not yet clear. “He’s no longer with the caucus,” CPC spokesman Carl Rauscher said. “It’s a personnel matter and we can’t really discuss personnel matters.” He said the search to replace him is already under way.

"Because of the confidentiality that has to be extended to Bill and to the members of the caucus, it's difficult, if not impossible to talk about it," said Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), a co-chairman of the progressives. "The situation could've called for better timing, but the situation was such that something had to be done immediately."

Goold joined the coalition in May 2005 as its first senior-level staffer. He was charged with honing the group’s message and marshaling the clout of its membership, which, now at 77, is the largest in the House.

Goold had a long history in Democratic politics before joining the coalition. He served as an aide to Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and then-Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). He also spent two years as a senior policy adviser at the AFL-CIO.

The Progressives are in the midst of a fight to protect a government-run insurance option in the health care overhaul. The approach has broad support in the House, though fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats are raising serious concerns about it, and it has become a stumbling block in the Senate. Liberals have struggled at times to wield the full force of their numbers, but Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), co-chairwoman of the group, recently made clear that liberals will band together to sink any health care package that does not include a public health insurance option.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/36654-1.html

statement. You never saw Republicans tell George NO!

The House rebuked President Obama for trying to ignore restrictions to international aid payments, voting overwhelmingly for an amendment forcing the administration to abide by its constraints.

House members approved an amendment by a 429-2 vote to have the Obama administration pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require a Treasury Department report on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) activities. The amendment to a 2010 funding bill for the State Department and foreign operations was proposed by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), but it received broad bipartisan support. - The Hill

Jane Hampshire from Townhall is on c-span right now.

She looks mean!

Oversight panel warns of $2B in TARP losses
By Silla Brush
Posted: 07/10/09 12:01 AM [ET]
The government could lose out on more than $2 billion if federal officials continue to undervalue part of the financial bailout package, a government watchdog panel will say on Friday.

The Congressional Oversight Panel, working with a team of Harvard Business School professors, estimated that taxpayers had lost one-third of the value of the very small number of warrants that had already been sold by the Treasury Department.

The panel looked at the 11 banks that so far have repurchased warrants totaling $18.7 million. The panel’s best estimate of the value of those warrants was $28.3 million, meaning that the government sold the warrants at a significant loss to taxpayers, according to a draft of the report.

Warrants were one form of investment required in the bailout package so taxpayers could benefit from banks that returned to health with the aid of government money. The bailout package envisioned that the government would sell the warrants at a profit.

The warrants represented only 15 percent of the total value of the government's investment in the banks at the time of the aid. The warrants came as part of the controversial $700 billion financial bailout package passed by Congress last fall.

The oversight report cautioned that it is very early on in the process, and that the warrants sold so far represent less than one-quarter of one percent of the total value of the warrants. The panel estimated that total as $8.1 billion.

The "liquidity discounts" likely for small banks -- including the 11 that repurchased the warrants so far -- may also be significantly different for bigger banks that issued the vast majority of the warrants.

"If, however, liquidity discounts or any other rationales are accepted as a reason for taking only 66 percent of market value for the full group of warrants Treasury holds, the shortfall to taxpayers could be as much as $2.1 billion," according to the report.

"Banks have bought back only a fraction of on percent of all warrants issued, and the prices paid thus far may not be representative of what is to come."

Between mid-October and late-June, Treasury as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) injected roughly $240 billion in more than 600 banks in return for preferred shares and warrants.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/oversight-panel-warns-of-2b-in-tarp-...

Hoping to bring “cramdown” legislation back onto Congress’ radar, a House Judiciary subpanel met this afternoon to re-examine whether bankruptcy judges should be empowered to alter mortgage loans in order to prevent foreclosures.

Witnesses included the obligatory consumer advocates, a conservative think-tanker and a university professor. But the Treasury Department, although asked to send a representative of its own, declined to do so.

A Democratic aide said the agency was simply too slammed this week with other hearings to meet the request (and the Treasury didn’t respond to requests for comment), but the pattern is getting suspicious.

President Obama campaigned in support of cramdown last year, and endorsed it again in February when he unveiled the administration’s foreclosure mitigation plan. But since then, the White House has done very little to ensure the bill’s success. In April, for example, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was hardly enthusiastic when asked if bankruptcy changes were a vital element of the administration’s plan to stem foreclosures.

More recently, the White House watched in silence as the cramdown bill was obliterated in the Senate, where 12 Democrats voted against it. Some Democrats said later that they interpreted the president’s silence to mean they were free to oppose the measure.

And now here’s the Treasury, in the middle of the continued foreclosure crisis, saying it’s too busy to talk with Congress about ways to keep folks in their homes?

Are we missing something?

http://washingtonindependent.com/50303/treasury-skips-cramdown-hearing

FDL

Very nice...

60th street was being too kind yesterday in describing this bitchy ugly stupid woman interrupting jane hamsher

she was on washington journal this morning (jeez this journal has been degraded lately, what's their business inviting this stupid know-nothing?)

didn't know who she was, because i am behind reading the blog, so i just turned on the tv this morning and this blond curly dumbass shaking her pretty curls around "who's that" i wondered and watched a bit to figure out where she was coming from... how long do you think it took me to figure out she was just your typical republican whore?

cute face, charming smile, and yet so full of shit it's hard to imagine how somebody can be so full of it and not to have it overflow out of her pores... she was talking about the smarts and good political instincts of sara palin, lol

Of Evolution and Idiots

The results are in for the Pew science survey mentioned earlier this week. The headline: Just 32% of Americans believe “that humans and other living things have evolved over time and that evolution is the result of natural processes such as natural selection.” The number among scientists, meanwhile, is 87% (why so low, actually?). There’s a similar gap on climate change, where 84% of scientists say the earth is getting warmer due to human activity, while only 49% of the public believes that.

Though, I guess the climate change folks can feel some pride that more people believe in global warming than in evolution — which seems pretty backward to me.

Some other highlights from the report:

Science Slips as Nation’s Greatest Achievement. Significantly fewer Americans volunteer scientific advances as one of the country’s most important achievements than did so a decade ago (27% today, 47% in May 1999). Then, 18% cited space exploration and the moon landing as the country’s top achievement in the 20th century; now, 12% see it as the greatest achievement in the past 50 years.

Public, Scientists Agree on Government Role in Funding Research. Fully 84% of scientists name government as a top source of research funding in their specialty. Large majorities of the public think that government investments in basic scientific research (73%) and engineering and technology (74%) pay off in the long run, and 60% says that government investment in research is essential for scientific progress.

Politics and Science. Majorities of both the public and the scientists say that it is appropriate for scientists to take part in political debates about issues such as nuclear power and stem cell research. But they differ in their views on many of these issues.  Scientists are much more likely than the public to support the expansion of nuclear power, federal funding of stem cell research and the use of animals in research. One recent political controversy – charges that the Bush administration censored government scientists – was largely invisible to the public, as 54% said they heard nothing about it. On the other hand, most scientists (55%) say they had heard a lot about it, and 77% believe that the charges are true.

Scientists Fault Public, Media. Fully 85% of scientists see the public’s lack of scientific knowledge as a major problem for science, and about three-quarters (76%) say a major problem for science is that news reports fail to distinguish between findings that are well-founded and those that are not.

But Overall, Scientists Are Upbeat about the State of Their Profession. About three-quarters (76%) say this is generally a good time for science and nearly as many (73%) say it is good time for their scientific specialty. Despite the country’s economic problems, 67% say it is a good time to begin a career in their scientific field.

On that top item — nation’s greatest achievements — scientific discoveries lost their top place to “Nothing/Don’t Know.” A pretty grim indicator of the national mood, no? Full report here (PDF).

Link

Blue Dog Democrats hold up health overhaul bill in House

WASHINGTON (AP) — The drive to remake the nation's health care system suffered yet another setback in Congress on Thursday when a pivotal group of House Democrats demanded changes in legislation the leadership was drafting on a fast track.

The emerging bill "lacks a number of elements essential to preserving what works and fixing what is broken," 40 members of the Blue Dog Coalition of Democrats wrote party leaders. To win their support, they said, any legislation would need to be much more aggressive in reining in the growth of health care as well as in addressing a disparity in Medicare payments they said adversely affects rural providers.

A group of the Blue Dog members met into early evening with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and arranged to sit down with committee chairmen on Friday to go over proposed changes. Officials said the public release of the bill, originally set for Friday, would occur no earlier than Monday.

It was the second setback in three days for President Obama's top domestic priority, although it was unclear whether it would amount to anything more than a brief delay for a bill of enormous complexity and controversy.

There was upheaval earlier in the week in the Senate, where the Democratic leadership is intent on scuttling a proposed tax on health care benefits that has long been key to attempts at a bipartisan compromise. At the same time, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and others went out of their way during the day to emphasize eagerness for Republican support.

As an alternative to the benefits tax, Democrats are considering raising taxes on wealthy investors to help pay for health care legislation, along with numerous other options, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The proposal to extend the current 1.45% Medicare payroll tax to capital gains earned by high-income taxpayers would bring in an estimated $100 billion over 10 years.

In the House, Hoyer sought to minimize the day's developments, which occurred as Democrats on one committee were making final decisions on provisions to pay for the legislation.

"Let me make it very clear that everybody in that room thinks we ought to pass health care reform," the Maryland Democrat said.

One conservative Democrat, Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., said he believes no House vote should take place until September. That is well past a midsummer informal deadline set by Pelosi, D-Calif.

"I promised the president that we would have legislation out of the House before we went on an August break," Pelosi said earlier in the day. "That is still my goal."

Despite some success — the nation's hospitals agreed to a cut of $155 billion in projected Medicare and Medicaid payments — progress has been scant and internal differences magnified.

In general, any bill that emerges from Congress is expected to follow Obama's blueprint for reining in health care costs overall while extending coverage to 50 million who lack it.

Another objective is to make sure that insurance companies can no longer deny coverage or raise premiums to unaffordable levels to individuals with pre-existing medical conditions.

But literally hundreds of details are involved in drafting legislation, and gaining a consensus even among Democrats is proving to be remarkably — if predictably — difficult, despite their large majorities in both houses. more...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-07-09-bluedog-health_N.htm?...

Submitted by mire on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 8:36am
the witless asshat - the blond witch
-------

Cspan would have you to believe that its funding is from the generosity of the cable companies. Well, that's only partially true. The cable companies get the money from us. As I have posted before, the major cable companies are not only owned by Republicans, they are major operatives in the party. They have a political pac- that until last year funneled most of the money to the Republican Party. The cspan audience is only 25% Republican. The rest are Democrats and Independents. However, Cspan, with our money, panders to the minority audience.

Cspan's Washington journal is a fascist, right wing cabal. We really need to demand change.

Thousands of Iranian anti-government protesters commemorating an attack on students at Tehran University in 1999 “were attacked with batons and tear gas by security forces” yesterday as they tried to gather “for the first protests in about two weeks.” Demonstrators are also gearing up to protest “the second-term inauguration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which is expected next month.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR200907...

Ireland Makes Blasphemy Illegal

July 9, 2009 by Pastor Mike

Irish atheists are horrified by new legislation making blasphemy illegal, and punishable by a 25,000-Euro fine. Christians of all stripes should be, too.

As part of a revision to defamation legislation, the Dail (Irish Parliament) passed legislation creating a new crime of blasphemy. This attack on free speech, debated for several months in Europe, has gone largely unnoticed in the American press.

The text of the legislation is provided at the end of this post.

How does this impact free speech? Just don’t be rude.

• Atheists can be prosecuted for saying that God is imaginary. That causes outrage.
• Pagans can be prosecuted for saying they left Christianity because God is violent and bloodthirsty, promotes genocide, and permits slavery.
• Christians can be prosecuted for saying that Allah is a moon god, or for drawing a picture of Mohammed, or for saying that Islam is a violent religion which breeds terrorists.
• Jews can be prosecuted for saying Jesus isn’t the Messiah.

Is it really THAT big a deal?

Ireland’s Blasphemy Bill not only criminalizes free speech, it also gives the police the authority to confiscate anything deemed “blasphemous”. They may enter and search any premises, with force if needed, upon “reasonable suspicion” that such materials are present.

• The local Freethinkers society, with its copies of Hitchens’ God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.
• The video store, with copies of The God Who Wasn’t There.
• The history teacher, who uses The Dark Side of Christian History to teach her class.
• The library, with its collection of books deemed blasphemous.
• Even the homeowner who lets the wrong person know he has a copy of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses could find his door broken in by the Thought Police, his bookshelves ransacked, and his books burning in the front yard!

Satirizing religion in any way, shape, or form, if it “causes outrage”, is now a prosecutable offense in Ireland. Saying anything negative about a religion, if it “causes outrage”, can now be prosecuted as a crime. Just like in Muslim countries.

Witness the return of the Dark Ages.

Link

WTF???

Rarely am I ever embarrassed by the Irish part of my ancestry...this is definitely one of those times...

Confidential Pentagon test results reveal that the F-22 requires “more than 30 hours of maintenance for every hour in the skies, pushing its hourly cost of flying to more than $44,000.” Despite such shortcommings and Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s stated desire to end the F-22 program, committees in both houses Congress voted to continue funding the program last month after being lobbied by the manufacturer.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR200907...

CIA Director Leon Panetta “has ordered an internal inquiry into the agency’s handling of a contentious and still highly classified intelligence program that has caused a heated dispute” between the CIA and Congress. The move “appears to be an implicit acknowledgment by the agency that it should have disclosed information about the post-9/11 secret program to Congress much earlier than it did.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/205958

"Democrats in the House over-ride Obama's signing statement.

Operation: Target Signing Statement Abuse

This wasn't just Democrats. It was everyone but TWO congresspeople. That's the really interesting part. The vote was 429-2. He's using the Republicans' innate need to oppose him to help Democrats reverse Bush's abusive practices and policies.

For example, read between the lines in this article on it. This excerpt is especially telling:

"Senior Democrats and Republicans railed against the notion that the president could ignore a law they had passed and he had signed.

(As if the last 8 years didn't just happen. Where were they then??)

"We do this not just on behalf of this institution, but on behalf of this democracy," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). 'There's kind of a unilateralism, an undemocratic, unreachable way about these signing statements.'"

Hell!...It's practically scripted.

I see a distinct pattern of acts like this emerging as routine. This is Obama beginning to shred the credibility of the argument for the unitary executive and helping restoring the Congress as a legitimate check on the Executive Branch.

Along the same lines, I also see it in his recent threat to veto Democratic legislation on more transparency and oversight on the intelligence community, forcing the possibility of an override which, if successful, would root it even deeper in law and make it (hopefully) harder to undo by future presidents.

Not that this strategy isn't without it's inherent possibility for failure, but I think it's a fascinating gamble, because enough Republicans would have to side with Obama with actual votes (not just rhetoric) on the bill, or the override, to fail.

So, the question is: will more Republicans side with Democrats and vote for the initial bill to decrease the power of the Executive Branch (now Obama's Executive Branch) over national security intelligence, or will they side with Obama not once, but twice should an override attempt be made? How will Republicans justify helping Obama in this way given the paranoia of their base?

It's pretty fucking fascinating! :)

"this machine kills fascists"

UN to BAN Free Speech with “Blasphemy” Resolution

We are going backwards...

have you guys ever heard of this herb? It was mentioned in the Koran and it is getting alot of good reports for helping with many cancers.

http://www.sweetsunnah.com/

agree on all points that this is wrong. what is interesting is that is not in the news and the only google hits are individual sites.

...or maybe it is exactly as it appears...Obama disagreed with what he viewed as Congress impinging on the powers of the Executive, and he pushed back...then Congress said "we are sick to death of signing statements, you said you weren't going to use them and we are going to hold you to that.".

Maybe the Republicants aren't "siding with" the Dems...maybe they are siding against Obama....and Bush...and Unitary Executive abuse of power...

I guess we will have to wait for Obama's and Rahm's memoirs to know for sure...

Reid Refuses To Honor Republican Holds On Census Nominee

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office just told TPMDC that the senator will file for cloture on the nomination of Robert Groves, whom President Obama tapped to be director of the Census Bureau on April 2."

Also interesting:

"...Shelby and Vitter have maintained the hold for nearly two months. At least one prominent Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, has spoken out in favor of Obama's nominee. "I do not know who has placed a hold on Mr. Groves' nomination, nor do I understand the rationale for holding him up," she told the Associated Press in June. "I am very eager to get this qualified candidate on the job." Collins is the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which considered Groves' nomination."

"this machine kills fascists"

As the latest crime of CIA is discussed, it is important to note- that none of this would have occurred with a free, responsible press. Operation Mockingbird is a tactic of the CIA whereby propaganda is distributed in the mainstream press. It began in the late 1940's. I ask you Sederville, in the past 50 years, when have you been told the truth about anything?

MOCKINGBIRD
The Subversion Of The Free Press By The CIA

Excerpts:

"You could get a journalist cheaper than a good call girl, for a couple hundred dollars a month." - CIA operative discussing with Philip Graham, editor Washington Post, on the availability and prices of journalists willing to peddle CIA propaganda and cover stories. "Katherine The Great," by Deborah Davis (New York: Sheridan Square Press, 1991)

As terrible as it is to live in a nation where the press in known to be controlled by the government, at least one has the advantage of knowing the bias is present, and to adjust for it. In the United States of America, we are taught from birth that our press is free from such government meddling. This is an insideous lie about the very nature of the news institution in this country. One that allows the government to lie to us while denying the very fact of the lie itself.

The Alex Constantine Article
Tales from the Crypt

The Depraved Spies and Moguls

of the CIA's Operation MOCKINGBIRD

by Alex Constantine

Who Controls the Media?

Soulless corporations do, of course. Corporations with grinning,
double-breasted executives, interlocking directorates, labor squabbles
and flying capital. Dow. General Electric. Coca-Cola. Disney.
Newspapers should have mastheads that mirror the world: The
Westinghouse Evening Scimitar, The Atlantic-Richfield Intelligentser .
It is beginning to dawn on a growing number of armchair ombudsmen that
the public print reports news from a parallel universe - one that has
never heard of politically-motivated assassinations, CIA-Mafia banking
thefts, mind control, death squads or even federal agencies with
secret budgets fattened by cocaine sales - a place overrun by lone
gunmen, where the CIA and Mafia are usually on their best behavior. In
this idyllic land, the most serious infraction an official can commit
__is a the employment of a domestic servant with (shudder) no
residency status.

This unlikely land of enchantment is the creation of MOCKINGBIRD.

It was conceived in the late 1940s, the most frigid period of the cold
war, when the CIA began a systematic infiltration of the corporate
media, a process that often included direct takeover of major news
outlets.

In this period, the American intelligence services competed with
communist activists abroad to influence European labor unions. With or
without the cooperation of local governments, Frank Wisner, an
undercover State Department official assigned to the Foreign Service,
rounded up students abroad to enter the cold war underground of covert
operations on behalf of his Office of Policy Coordination. Philip
Graham, __a graduate of the Army Intelligence School in Harrisburg,
PA, then publisher of the Washington Post., was taken under Wisner's
wing to direct the program code-named Operation MOCKINGBIRD.

"By the early 1950s," writes formerVillage Voice reporter Deborah
Davis in Katharine the Great, "Wisner 'owned' respected members of the
New York Times, Newsweek, CBS and other communications vehicles, plus
stringers, four to six hundred in all, according to a former CIA
analyst." The network was overseen by Allen Dulles, a templar for
German and American corporations who wanted their points of view
represented in the public print. Early MOCKINGBIRD influenced 25
newspapers and wire agencies consenting to act as organs of CIA
propaganda. Many of these were already run by men with reactionary
views, among them William Paley (CBS), C.D. Jackson (Fortune), Henry
Luce (Time) and Arthur Hays Sulzberger (N.Y. Times

con't

http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MOCK/mockingbird.html

Can you believe we are expecting rain again today?

This year we have had the coolest, wetest. June and July in years. And we haven't seen much of the sun either. It's almost worse than winter!!

I don't think this weather helps with my outlook on anything lately. Depressing!

Yeah, I can't wait to read them. I'm sure there will be plenty to write about.

Re: "Maybe the Republicants aren't "siding with" the Dems...maybe they are siding against Obama....and Bush...and Unitary Executive abuse of power..."

Funny that they never sided similarly against Bush WHILE he was in office and after his 160+ signing statements.

They are effectively stating that 160 signing statements were just fine, but 161, well, that's so over the top that the entire House voted it down!

Not buying it. This was an easy one. A real trial balloon.

Remember that it's the conclusion that matters and I don't see Obama kicking up too much dust about it.

"this machine kills fascists"

Pressure Grows on Ensign
Senate leaders generally refused comment on Sen. John Ensign's (R-NV) admission that he paid nearly $100,000 to the family of his mistress but the Las Vegas Sun says GOP support for the embattled senator was dwindling.

One Nevada GOP consultant told Roll Call that the math on the figures released "does not appear to add up and expressed concern that there were additional, still-undisclosed payments. "

Said the consultant: "Watching the money trail is going to be important... The sense is it's still not over."

As for whether Ensign will be forced to resign, "the key players to watch in Nevada Republican circles will be Gov. Jim Gibbons, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and Rep. Dean Heller. A resignation demand from any of those Silver State GOP leaders would indicate that Ensign's support back home is crumbling."

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/07/10/pressure_grows_on_ensign.ht...

Saying Goodbye to Palin
Peggy Noonan says Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation "gives Republicans a new opportunity to see her plain -- to review the bidding, see her strengths, acknowledge her limits, and let go of her drama..."

"She went on the trail a sensation but demonstrated in the ensuing months that she was not ready to go national and in fact never would be. She was hungry, loved politics, had charm and energy, loved walking onto the stage, waving and doing the stump speech. All good. But she was not thoughtful. She was a gifted retail politician who displayed the disadvantages of being born into a point of view (in her case a form of conservatism; elsewhere and in other circumstances, it could have been a form of liberalism) and swallowing it whole: She never learned how the other sides think, or why."

"In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool. She was limited in her ability to explain and defend her positions, and sometimes in knowing them. She couldn't say what she read because she didn't read anything. She was utterly unconcerned by all this and seemed in fact rather proud of it: It was evidence of her authenticity. She experienced criticism as both partisan and cruel because she could see no truth in any of it. She wasn't thoughtful enough to know she wasn't thoughtful enough."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124716984620819351.html

We don't have internet yet up in Reno so I get out of touch because it is too darn hard to do all the reading on my Iphone. I am back in Minden today.

60th this is a very interesting assessment of the signing statement issue. Sure is good to have you back here.

There is no way I can discount the thugs relishing the opportunity to slam Obama here...

Until I see concrete evidence to the contrary, my money is on the obvious.

see toni, the goopers were right, global warming is a hoax :)

"the thugs relishing the opportunity to slam Obama here..."

Like I said: obvious.

They relish it so much, he can count on it.

"this machine kills fascists"

We can also say that the melting of the polar ice is effecting the weather. That in itself would cool off the temps for awhile.

We will pay for it in August and September I think.

Obama checking out girl? Not really. Sarkozy, maybe. Let's go to the videotape.
By
Lynn Sweet
on July 10, 2009 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is a photo making the rounds of President Obama and French President Sarkozy at the G8 meeting that appears--for that frozen moment--to have the men checking out a young lady going past them. ABC's videotapeplays what was happening before and after the still photo was taken. Conclusion: Obama was not looking; Sarkozy maybe.

Video here: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8049121

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/07/obama_checking_out_girl_not_re.h...

Good to be back! :)

Nice to be able to work on a few projects and blog peacefully again instead of stressing about hustling more work!

"this machine kills fascists"

Submitted by toniD on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 10:21am.

Peggy Noonan says Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation "gives Republicans a new opportunity

----------

Peggy Noonan is just as insane as Palin. The only difference is class.

Let's wait and see if he issues any more signing statements to change congressional mandate in the future...

In the mean time, no sale. To me, it simply is what it is; Obama issued a signing statement, Congress overturned it, no more.

Nice theory though...

Delay

Read the House Blue Dogs' letter to Speaker Pelosi and Steny Hoyer which prompted the delay in publicly rolling out of the draft health care reform bill.

--David Kurtz

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/documents/2009/07/blue-dogs-we-cant-sup...

After Pressure From Blue Dogs And Others, House Leaders Delay Unveiling Health Care Bill
By Brian Beutler - July 10, 2009, 9:06AM

Late last night, House leadership decided it would postpone the release of its completed draft of health care reform legislation, after Blue Dog Democrats--and a variety of other concerned members--raised a number of objections to aspects of the proposal.

The bill was originally supposed to be unveiled late last night, but will now be postponed until at least early next week.

Leadership characterizes this as part of the negotiating process--and that's fair enough. The House is still on a much clearer, more united course toward passing legislation than is the Senate. But after weeks of smooth sailing in the lower chamber, this is the first serious speedbump.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/after-pressure-from-blue-dogs...

Lol! Well from one conspiracy theorist to another, I'm happy to be the one pitching the positive ones! :)

Progressive cynicism, in addition to being too much on the paradoxical side, for me, is low hanging fruit these days.

I prefer the climb and the view above the canopy.

"this machine kills fascists"

Black seed
Submitted by taozen on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 9:51am.
--------
The WHISPER of suspicion GROWS...

...into the THUNDER of TERRIFYING TRUTH!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHwztnNrvmM

The Bad Seed - Original Trailer 1956

I just choose not to delude myself and bend over backwards trying to rationalize why a politician would be such a hypocrite...

We did way to much of that with Clinton...

Not this time dude....never again.

SHOW ME DA MONEY!!!

the only way we're going to move these assholes forward is to take away their healthcare and their pensions and all the other taxpayer funded freebies. let them deal with the real world that everyone else deals with. while we're at it, 180k a year is clearly too much money to pay for what they are delivering. the local dogcatcher could do a better job.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor Denied My Appeal and I Spent 16 Years in Prison For a Crime I Didn't Commit

Judge Sotomayor condemned me to serve a life sentence for a murder and rape that I did not commit. That other innocent people could be denied relief based on procedural technicalities is no mere possibility; Take the case of Troy Davis, who faces execution in Georgia despite overwhelming proof of his innocence -- proof that has never been allowed in a court room. Consider, too, the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Alaska V.S. Osbourne, in which the U.S. Supreme Court stated that no prisoner has a constitutional right to access DNA Testing even when such testing could demonstrate innocence. That decision came down to a 5 to 4 vote; if Judge Sotomayor had been on the court, can anybody say with confidence that she would have voted in favor of DNA access?
http://www.alternet.org/rights/141197/judge_sonia_sotomayor_denied_my_ap...

and another positive result...more to come, I'm sure.

Obama shocks by reasserting another Bush policy. Protest materializes. Congress acts. A measure is reconsidered. House committee to vote on lifting needle exchange ban today

End result: Congress strengthened, Republicans forced to side with either Obama or Democrats. Protesters' activism successful, their cause strengthened and platform elevated.

Obama even threw his mantra in there again for good measure:

"We have not removed the ban in our budget proposal because we want to work with Congress and the American public to build support for this change," he said."

Win. Win.

This one will be interesting because I wouldn't think lifting the needle exchange ban would be something Republicans would vote for. Let's see how that full vote turns out! There's your money.

"this machine kills fascists"

GM could use the help. ;)

No Sale!
Submitted by 60th Street on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 10:51am.
Lol! Well from one conspiracy theorist to another, I'm happy to be the one pitching the positive ones! :)
--------
My theory:

cent believes in being in-your-face confrontational.

He is uncomfortable with the idea that his consistent M.O. could be played.

If Obama is manipulating like a grifter, he depends on consistent and unwavering styles to remain consistent and unwavering.

On the other hand, cent recognizes that, if Obama IS a superior player, then cent should continue doing what he is doing (being predictable) because his opinion and action is factored into the plan. We wouldn't want cent to unexpectedly step in front of manipulative sniper fire meant for Senator Inhofe.

Things are really gettin back to normal in Washington D.C. Obama's training demands that he understand limits. The issue is not going to be health care, it's going to be the budget. Time for that boy to attend reality school.

"I believe all these things because freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world."

George W. Bush

People from Mississippi are fat. With an adult obesity rate of 33%, Mississippi has gobbled its way to the "chubbiest state" crown for the fifth year in a row, according to a new joint report by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Alabama, West Virginia and Tennessee aren't far behind, with obesity rates over 30%. In fact, eight of the 10 fattest states are in the South. The region famous for its biscuits, barbecue and pecan pies has been struggling with its weight for years — but then again, so has the rest of the country. Wisconsin loves cheese, New Yorkers scarf pizza, and New Englanders have been known to enjoy a crab cake or two. So why is the South so portly?

For one thing, it's poor. Mississippi is not only the fattest state in the nation, but also the poorest, with 21% of its residents living below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Alabama and West Virginia, the second and third fattest states, are tied for fifth poorest. With a poverty rate of 14%, the South is easily the most impoverished region in the country. "When you're poor, you tend to eat more calorie-dense foods because they're cheaper than fruits and vegetables," explains Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for America. Poor neighborhoods also have fewer grocery stores, even in the rural South. A 2004 study by the University of South Carolina found that most food-shopping options in rural areas fall into the convenience-store category because grocery stores are located too far away. But although poverty puts people at risk for obesity, it doesn't determine their fate. A number of impoverished states — including Montana, Texas and New Mexico — have relatively low levels of obesity. There must be something else.

Maybe it's the culture. Southerners definitely enjoy their fried chicken (not to mention fried steak, fried onions, fried green tomatoes, fried pickles and fried corn bread). Even when their food isn't fried, they like to smother it in gravy. But while nutritionists frequently blame Southerners' large guts on their regional food choices, the accusation is a little unfair. Just as Californians don't actually live on wheat grass and tofu, Southerners don't really sit around eating fried chicken every day. "I've not come across anything that says the diet in the Southeast is worse than the rest of the country," says David Bassett, co-director of the University of Tennessee's Obesity Research Center. "We're definitely in what I like to call the 'Stroke Belt,' " he says, referring to Southeastern states' high percentage of heart disease and hypertension, "but I think that has more to do with Southerners' lack of physical activity rather than the food." More...

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1909406,00.html

Sorry, but it is a problem. And this concerns health care because many have been turned away from insurance companies because of their wright.

WTF???

Rarely am I ever embarrassed by the Irish part of my ancestry...this is definitely one of those times...

Sorry 4 the delay in the answer -
I'm not right on the Lake -bout
1/2 mile from it. My property backs
up to the State Park.

Americans are 19% healthier now than in 1990, according to the United Health Foundation. Fewer people smoke; more are immunized. But before we drink to our health, keep in mind that as a nation, we're also 110% fatter, and 19% more of us have no health insurance. Plus, healthiness varies dramatically by state. In the map below, each state's score is based on assessments of 12 health determinants, such as child poverty, and six outcomes, such as infant mortality. This year--as in 10 past years--Minnesota is No. 1. The question, the authors ask: Now that you know your rank, what will you do about it?

NORTH AND SOUTH DAKOTA Both states have cut the prevalence of infectious disease nearly 75% since 1990. And North Dakota has a very low violent-crime rate: 98 offenses per 100,000 people, compared with, say, South Carolina's 761.

MINNESOTA It's healthy, dontcha know? Minnesotans scored 21% above the U.S. norm, thanks to factors like a high rate of employer-provided health insurance. Still, 1 in 4 are obese, which the state will combat with a child-centric plan.

VERMONT Ben and Jerry's aside, it's the most improved--31% healthier--since 1990. Smoking is down 37%, and child poverty has dropped 28%.

UTAH It has the lowest smoking rate in the U.S.--just 11.5%.

OKLAHOMA The state improved the least since 1990, up a mere 6.4%.

TEXAS It's the worst with health insurance--24% of Texans lack it.

LOUISIANA The state in which 1 in 3 people are obese has always ranked in the bottom two. But there is some progress. This year violent crime is down a healthy 7%.

Also from TIME
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568477,00.html?iid=sph...

Good Morning Sederville! It's a lovely 66°
Submitted by edna ellen poe on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 8:52am.

There r so many beautiful people around the world.

Another SHIT day. Supposed to rain tomorrow 2.
Sunday looks good - so does Monday.
Only time will tell though.

Drew Barrymore being interviewed on "Fresh Aire"
It is a re-run of an earlier interview.

Lawmaker won’t deny secret CIA program was ‘Cheney assassination ring’

Early Friday morning, MSNBC followed up on a theory posted Thursday on the Huffington Post which alleged that a secret CIA program shut down in June by director Leon Panetta could have been related to a purported effort led by Vice President Dick Cheney to assassinate intelligence targets abroad.

This past March, as RAW STORY reported, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the Bush Administration was running an “executive assassination ring” which reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

“It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on,” Hersh stated. “Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us.”

“The revelation from seven Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee that they were misled about a critical CIA program has sparked a debate that touches on the most sensitive areas of national security policy,” Huffington Post’s Sam Stein wondered aloud Thursday. “What program, exactly, was being kept secret?”

Panetta admitted that the CIA had been “concealing significant actions” from Congress since 2001.

Stein wrote that one “theory being bandied about concerns an ‘executive assassination ring’ that was allegedly set up and answered to former Vice President Dick Cheney,” though his article didn’t cite sources for the claim. The reporter spoke to Rep. Anna Eshoo, (D-Calif.), a signatory to the CIA letter, about the theory.

Asked if this was the basis of her letter to Panetta, Eshoo said she could not discuss what was a “highly classified program.” She did, however, note that when Panetta told House Intelligence Committee members what it was that had been kept secret, “the whole committee was stunned, even Republicans.” A Republican committee member told Who Runs Gov’s Greg Sargent it was something they hadn’t heard before.

MSNBC took another shot at asking Eshoo about it on Friday morning.

After correspondent Contessa Brewer summed up the “Cheney assassination ring” backstory, MSNBC anchor Dylan Ratigan remarked, “That’s one of those ‘it’s horrifying and not surprising’ in the same sentence for a lot of folks I know.”

More with video...

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/10/lawmaker-wont-deny-cia-program-wa...

Having a sip, bout to make an all natural lean lean burger w onions...

How is everyone :)

Guess their rioting in Tehran still. any insights?

anyway, It's Friday ya Bitches! So have FUN!

*************

1. The first recipe for beer dates back to ancient Egypt. In fact, an ancient Egyptian prayer known as “The Hymn to Ninkasi” serves as a way of remembering the recipe.

2. Over 35 billion gallons of beer are sold each year. Compare that to around 46 billion gallons of bottled water being produced each year and you realize that we drink nearly as much beer as bottled water.

3. Drinking beer is not the sole cause of a beer belly. Being a lazy loser and doing nothing all day are causes of a beer belly. The term beer belly comes from the notion that beer makes us fat.

4. A labeorphile is a person who collects beer bottles.

5. A meadophile is a person who studies beer bottles.

6. In the late 1800s, brewing interests began to dominate the British parliament. This dominance is sometimes referred to as Beerocracy. The Beerocracy gained its money and power from the ownership of breweries.

7. Beer companies spend close to $1 billion a year on US advertising.

8. The first beer cans were produced in December 1935.

? the html , I forget

your tag should look like this (substituting the regular brackets for angle brackets):

[img src="http://imageurl.com" width="desiredimagewidth" /]

200

300

400

the "/" at the end will constrain the height proportion

"this machine kills fascists"

If you meant "comfortable" with my MO being played, your assessment is dead on, Crank.

Also, if I am wrong on all challenges to Obama's action I disagree with, no harm...OTOH, if 60th's "exceptional benefit of the doubt" approach to judging Obama's actions is completely wrong, disaster.

As is true with most things, I am sure the reality of Obama is somewhere in the middle, and I truly hope 60th is right about him...I am very tempted to follow along and believe, it is easier on the soul, but I will not allow myself to be fooled again.

...

in-your-face confrontational.

Actually, I have been doing my very best to avoid that with individuals on the blog...

I keep drawing fire for calling Obama on his shit, and all I am doing its posting articles, by reputable sources, that have valid disagreements with some of his policies and actions or inactions. I would prefer to keep the discussion about our politicians, but sometimes it ends up with someone making it personal.

I will not let it get personal without trying to put it in check before it gets out of hand. I will not sit and let people take stupid little personal pot shots until it gets bad, builds up and explodes. When someone starts getting vaguely personal, I will usually let the first one pass. The second time gets a yellow card and a friendly objection, after number three the red card comes out and the shit is on. I got no problem throwing down if someone wants a piece of me, once it is on, it is on.

The "in your face" characterization, if it is being applied to my interactive style with others here, I feel is a projection, Crank. Some people seem to have a lot of trouble differentiating a criticism of Obama from a personal attack...that is not my problem...it is theirs...and it isn't that I don't care about how they feel, it just means that in order for me to accommodate them, I have to squelch my dissent, and that is something I will very very rarely do.

The only people who's faces I am in is Government...and that, IMO, is EXACTLY where a responsible citizen should be...especially after the last 10 years.

Forgive the rant.

all i see in the right hand side is the emperor palatine...

Vast majority of scientists say Bush Administration suppressed research findings

A new Pew Research Poll released Thursday found that a vast majority of scientists -- some 77 percent -- say that claims the Bush Administration suppressed research reports that didn't align with Administration's point of view are true.

The survey polled more than 2,500 scientists in collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Vast majority of scientists say Bush Administration suppressed research findings

A new Pew Research Poll released Thursday found that a vast majority of scientists -- some 77 percent -- say that claims the Bush Administration suppressed research reports that didn't align with Administration's point of view are true.

The survey polled more than 2,500 scientists in collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Only nine percent of scientists identified as conservative.

more...

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/07/majority-of-scientists-bush-suppressed-...

sickening also!

Emmett Till casket left to waste at Burr Oak
Cemetery debacle grows worse with discovery of coffin of civil rights icon.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/1660395,CST-NWS-mitch10.article

Now if you want to really talk about bending over backwards to delude one's self, one could posit a scenario where a lower middle class bi-racial kid raised without a father by a soft-spoken academic/humanitarian mother grew up steeped in different cultures, with the sensibilities of both a black and white man and valuing education was accepted into Columbia and Harvard, became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review, graduated magna cum laude, chose community organizing in South Chicago over a law career anywhere, became a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago, Illinois State Senator, successful author, second African American US Senator in history, the first African American POTUS and first black leader of a Western nation, is admired all over the planet by millions who turn out to hear him speak within six months of his first term, decides to throw the magnitude and potential of that historical impact and symbolism (as well as everything he's ever learned, professed and promised) away by deciding that George W. Bush was right about everything and choosing to emulate him instead and battle not only the opposition party, but his own.

I'll just be over here in my hammock selling Buicks. ;)

"this machine kills fascists"

not "everything" 60th...it may seem I disagree with Obama on "everything" he does...but that is not true...only somethings...ironically, my most harsh criticisms of him are based on his actions on Constitutional issues too...that was the ONE thing I was SURE going in we would not have a problem from him on...I am VERY disappointed there...

Please don't make me repost all the FISA and Habeas stuff...

"Emulating Bush" no, not really...it just appears that way sometimes... ;)

down south. Of course the fried food and gravies cause trouble but the southern people drink a huge amount of Dr. Pepper etc...

Blunt: The ‘Government Should Have Never’ Started Medicare And Medicaid

On the conservative Missouri radio station Eagle 93.9 yesterday, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) was asked to describe “the proper role for government” in America’s health care system. “Well, you could certainly argue that government should have never gotten into the health care business,” responded Blunt.

Blunt then listed off Medicaid and Medicare as examples of how government got into “the health care business in a big way”:

HOST MIKE FERGUSON: What is the proper role of government, and what are the potential impacts of the direction that we’re going right now?

BLUNT: Well, you could certainly argue that government should have never have gotten in the health care business, and that might have been the best argument of all, to figure out how people could have had more access to a competitive marketplace.

Government did get into the health care business in a big way in 1965 with Medicare, and later with Medicaid, and government already distorts the marketplace.

Listen here: at link

In a 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 83 percent of respondents called Medicare a very important government program while 74 percent said Medicaid was very important.

Though Blunt argues that “what we should be doing is creating more competition,” his opposition to a public plan undermines more competition. As former Gov. Howard Dean said, “why not keep the insurance companies operating in a more consumer-friendly way and give the people a choice? That’s what competition is all about — it’s giving people choices to do what’s in their best interest.” And as President Obama said recently, if insurance companies do a good job, they have nothing to fear:

Why would it drive private insurance out of business? If — if private — if private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care; if they tell us that they’re offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can’t run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That’s not logical.

And neither is Roy Blunt.

Transcript: At Link

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/10/blunt-medicaid-medicare/

One of the comments on this post and it's so true:

One of the thing that really bugs conservatives is that progressive policies, once instituted, tend to be extremely popular, cf. Social Security, Medicare, and universal health insurance, in those countries that have it. The right has to fight as dirty as they can to keep liberal policies from being enacted, because, once the people have them, they won't allow them to be taken away. Look what happened to Bush II with Social Security.

Republicans Rejoicing with More Americans Jobless? (Brent Budowsky)
@ 6:29 pm

Sure seems to me that certain Republicans appear to be taking unseemly joy as more Americans lose their jobs. The party of Bush and the Party of No is dangerously close to being the party that hopes America fails!

Right here, on The Hill’s Pundits Blog, in recent hours, consider this: One Republican, Cheri Jacobus, looks like she can barely contain her glee as more Americans lose jobs while she yearns for the glory days of yesteryear, when Republicans attacked Bill Clinton over sex. Another, John Feehery, looks like he does math with a calculator about how many jobless elect how many Republicans.

Meanwhile, a third, Ron Christie, appears to be questioning the president’s patriotism when he says, inexplicably and falsely, that the president does not sufficiently proclaim his admiration for those who served during the Cold War. Excuse me? The president pushes more support for veterans than the Bush administration. I suppose when previous attacks on Obama from this source, such as the “Messiah” attack and the Muslim-roots attack, failed, why not try patriotism again?

Perhaps Ron would applaud if the president stood on an aircraft carrier costumed in a “Top Gun” flight suit, right?

It is odd that Republicans yearn for yesteryear, the campaign tactics of Gingrich and Rove and the economic policies of Bush and Cheney, and do so with an almost gleeful joy when bad news happens to good Americans. Imagine if unemployment reaches 10 percent. Will they chant, “Yippie!”? And shout, “Yabadabadoo”? Will they roar, “Hooray, let’s bring back the Bush years”?

Don’t get me wrong. I am critical of certain Obama policies on the economy (in my opinion, more cogently than my Republican friends). And I try to offer concrete solutions. I have warned both parties that if this continues, there could be an anti-incumbent wave in 2010, in which the party that rules, and the Party of No, both lose members.

But would someone point out a solution offered in these Republican hee-haws about higher joblessness? More Bush policies?

Meanwhile, a little advice to my Republican friends: Don’t look so gleeful, so happy, so joyous when bad things happen to good people in the American heartland. Keep it up, and the only glory days Republicans will return to will be more elections like 2006 and 2008.

http://pundits.thehill.com/2009/07/08/republicans-rejoicing-with-more-am...

Infighting Distracts Unions at Crucial Time
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

WASHINGTON — With their allies controlling the White House and Congress, the nation’s labor unions should be making hay. Instead many unions are making war — largely with one another — in the biggest, nastiest surge of labor fratricide in decades.

With some union leaders condemning other leaders as dictators and Darth Vaders, business leaders are smiling. Every million spent by unions to bash one another depletes their coffers for battling corporate America and Republican political candidates.

“The other side doesn’t have to take any shots at us,” said Amy B. Dean, a longtime union leader and an author of a new book on reinvigorating organized labor. “We’re killing ourselves.”

Many union officials acknowledge that the infighting is undercutting two of labor’s biggest objectives: having Congress enact pro-union legislation and organizing millions more workers to reverse labor’s long decline.

“They need a united front when they go to Congress to get pro-union legislation through,” said Charles B. Craver, a labor law professor at George Washington University. “If they miss that opportunity, it will be a very sad day for organized labor because they might not see an opportunity like that again for years.”

For the most part, the battles don’t involve grand philosophical differences, as many labor union disputes have in the past. Instead, they often reflect power struggles, with some unions jockeying to take others’ members at a time when unions are having a hard time gaining members at companies that are not organized.

The Service Employees International Union, union officials say, recently spent millions of dollars in California on organizers and a phone and mail campaign — in one fight to discourage workers from joining a rival health care union, and in another to urge hotel workers to quit their union and join the service employees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/business/09labor.html?_r=1&sq=AFL-CIO&...

sounds like the Hoffa days again!

Submitted by edna ellen poe on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 10:08am.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MOCK/mockingbird.html

My only disagreement with this good post is that Paley wasn't as bad as most of the M$M of that time or that scorpio Kronkite had a lot of moxy

.(Walter K wasn't fat so I guess he didn't drink the moxie.)

====
I wish there was a Kronkite level news presenter on the tv today

Republicans Bash Bill That Would Make TARP Money Available to Homeowners and Neighborhoods — Sound Ideology or Bad PR?

(MarketWatch) Republicans on Thursday lashed out in opposition to legislation that would require more than $6.5 billion of funds from the federal government's bank-bailout package to be used to help troubled homeowners and neighborhoods on Main Street. "We need to restore fiscal discipline," said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, during a hearing of the panel. "Treasury needs flexibility and this won't give it to the agency," he added, MarketWatch reports.

The legislation, introduced by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., would require that some remaining funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program — a key component of Washington's efforts to restore stability to the banking system — be allocated to help expand housing opportunities and assist in mortgage modifications. The legislation before the House is known as the "TARP for Main Street Act of 2009," reports MarketWatch writer Ronald D. Orol.

It seeks to spend $2 billion to prevent foreclosures for borrowers who don't qualify for other mortgage-assistance programs. It also would fund $2 billion to help allow tenants to stay in apartment buildings whose owners can't pay mortgages on the properties. It further allocates $1 billion to a national affordable housing trust fund that would build, rehabilitate and maintain affordable rental housing for low-income households and $1.5 billion to restore abandoned homes. Read the legislation.

The bill would use some funds from dividends TARP recipients pay to Treasury to pay for the neighborhood-stabilization program and the affordable housing trust fund. The rest of the programs would be paid for through some of the remaining TARP funds.

As of June 30, the Treasury has received roughly $6.7 billion in dividend payments from TARP funded financial institutions, according to a Government Accountability Office report on Thursday. The dividend funds have been allocated to pay down the national debt, but the legislation would use some of the revenues from those funds to help neighborhoods and affordable housing.

A group of 32 financial firms, large and small, have paid back roughly $70.1 billion of TARP funds they've received, according to the GAO report. GOP lawmakers said they expected the paybacks to go toward the federal deficit.

However, Frank, the House Financial Services chairman, defended the bill as "an effort to prevent bad situations from getting worse" for struggling homeowners. Frank's bill has four co-sponsors.

snip

GOP lawmakers took strong issue with Frank's legislation. "The program has since morphed into a $700 billion revolving bailout slush fund," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. "We have a debt crisis." Hensarling is also a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel, responsible for scrutinizing the TARP payments.

Reps. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, Hensarling and Bachus said they took issue with how the program would add to the national deficit.

LINK

Obama says
"We want to make sure that we are not promoting panic, but we are promoting vigilance and preparation," he said. He added that "the most important thing for us to do is to make sure that state and local officials prepare now to implement a vaccination program in the fall."

http://mobile.washingtonpost.com/detail.jsp?key=409534&rc=to&p=1&all=1

---
I going to take my own advice and watch and see what good if any this new flu shot will have.
---
lets talk delusion for a moment
07/10/2009 - 1:52pm
60th Street's post on Obama ending up agreeing with the Bush Doctrine does
give me the chills though

Appeals Court: Fundie Pharmicists MUST fill prescriptions
by Wisper
Digg this! Share this on Twitter - Appeals Court: Fundie Pharmicists MUST fill prescriptionsTweet this submit to reddit Share This
Fri Jul 10, 2009 at 11:04:40 AM PDT

Alternative Diary Title: When I want your opinion about Christ Jesus I'll ask for it; in the meantime, FILL MY DAMN PRESCRIPTION!

In a Round One Victory of a number of Right-Wing lawsuits, the 9th Circuit has ruled that pharmicists in Washington CAN NOT withhold service because of personal religious beliefs.

In their own words:

"Any refusal to dispense -- regardless of whether it is motivated by religion, morals, conscience, ethics, discriminatory prejudices, or personal distaste for a patient -- violates the rules," the panel said.

fter Washington State passed a law in 2007 mandating that pharmacies fill all prescriptions, family-owned Ralph's Pharmacies filed a number of law suits to block this law on Constitutional/What about Jesus?!?! grounds.

A lower court had given them an injunction barring the law from going into effect until the case was settled. While there are still several issues left to be decided, today's ruling LIFTS THE INJUNCTION IMMEDIATELY and will force all pharmacists to honor prescriptions of patients.

However, the company and two other pharmacists knowing that the LAW would once again trump their agenda, anticipated getting their ass handed to them losing and got the State to agree not to fine them until the other parts of the case are worked out.

Yet, since the courts ruled unanimously on THIS aspect, the chances of them winning on other Grounds of Wingnuttery are about as slim as Norm Coleman's bid for a Senatorial Comeback.

Score one for Justice today. Thank you 9th Circuit. Congratulations to the people of Washington, both Women and very nervous Men.

UPDATE: Note that while Plan B is clearly the headline grabber in this story because of the pro-life agenda attacking this, the ruling clearly states that ALL PRESCRIPTIONS must be filled. This means that doctors that prescribe lethal doses of sedatives to patients for euthanasia reasons under Washington's new Death with Dignity law, must also be filled over the moral and religious objections of the pharmacists.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/10/752076/-Appeals-Court:-Fundi...

UPDATE II: For the legally curious amongst us, here is the ruling.

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/07/08/07-36039.pdf

No never, TZ...

its about time they drove those snakes out of town.

if its a washington state regulation the sad part is we have to do this another 49 times.

Obama delivers
Kennedy letter to Pope
Obama delivered a letter to the pope from Sen. Ted Kennedy and "asked that the Holy Father pray for...Sen. Kennedy." Obama called Kennedy before lifting off from Italy, notifying him that his letter had been delivered.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/

BOSTON (CN) - The first full-time female FBI agent to be stationed at Guantanamo says she was made to bunk with vermin that gave her a tropical disease and was ostracized because she refused to join in a "spring break" atmosphere in which agents were encouraged to drink, date, and frolic when not interrogating alleged terrorists. She says FBI agents attended parties dressed in "mocking imitation of Arab or Afghan attire" and in orange detainee jumpsuits. And she says she has photos to prove it.

...

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/dennis-kucinich-pummels-doctor

Democratic National Committee

On July 9, Ralph Nader asked the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, for an en banc rehearing in his case against the Democratic National Committee for actions in the 2004 election. The original 3-judge panel had ruled last month that Nader’s case had been filed a few months too late in 2007, and that the Statute of Limitations bars the court from hearing the case.

The main point of the petition for rehearing is that it is impossible to know whether the Statute of Limitations was violated without taking evidence, and no court in this case has ever permitted any evidence-gathering.

http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/07/10/ralph-nader-asks-for-rehearing-i...

I think all the Congress and Cheney types should go first

For many Americans, health cover is key to a job
By Ed Stoddard Ed Stoddard Thu Jul 9, 9:26 am ET

SOUTHLAKE, Texas (Reuters) – Real estate agent Lisa DeWaal serves coffee at a Starbucks outlet for four hours every morning before she goes to the office to start her "day job."

The reason has little to do with the state of the housing market and everything to do with the one big perk that 20 hours a week at the coffee counter provides: affordable health insurance for her and her three children.

While health experts say there are no statistics available, analysts say there are many Americans like DeWaal: people who have taken or stick to a job just for the health insurance.

It is a situation most Europeans, Canadians and others who enjoy national health services would find bewildering if not appalling and is one factor fueling the drive to reform the hugely expensive U.S. healthcare system.

"People will even stick with a job they feel boxed in on because of the healthcare benefits, especially if those benefits cannot be matched elsewhere," said Andrew Sum, a labor economics professor at Northeastern University.

U.S. company healthcare plans are usually subsidized by the employer. They are much more affordable and comprehensive than private plans that can exceed a $1,000 a month for a family, a huge burden for most households.

LOW WAGE BUT HEALTH COVER

As a result, company plans can make even a low-wage job an attractive option.

Starbucks says its most economical plan, available to part- or full-time staff, costs the employee about $25 a month.

Such plans, of course, also have an impact on companies' bottom lines and are part of the rising price tag of U.S. healthcare.

Half Price Books, a privately held retail chain based in Dallas with 2,500 employees nationwide, says over the past few years the costs of providing the same coverage to its workers has risen about 9 percent per year.

Its employees pay nothing for its base plan just to insure themselves and they pay $183 a month to cover a family.

President Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Congress are working on a fundamental restructuring of the healthcare system this year, aiming to sharply reduce the total of 46 million Americans who now have no health insurance.

DeWaal, a realtor for Prudential Texas Properties in the affluent town of Southlake near Dallas, has avoided the ranks of the uninsured -- but she has to sweat for it.

"I probably work 60 hours a week because I'm a full-time realtor ... I get up at around 4 a.m. every week day," said DeWaal, 44, a South African immigrant and widow, who begins her Starbucks shift at 5 o'clock each morning.

DeWaal said her plan, which includes her children, cost her $46 a week or close to $180 a month.

"Health insurance is exactly the reason why I have taken the extra job. It's company health insurance, which is a lot better than a private plan. I would put these extra hours into real estate if I had affordable health insurance," she said.

June data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed about 7.1 million Americans were "multiple job holders," well down from 7.7 million in June 2008 as the job market shrank with the economy. more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090709/ts_nm/us_usa_health_jobs/print

Pharmacists Must fill prerscriptions
Submitted by dan on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 2:48pm.

thats whatI I call these chumps

Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., explains why the group is now demanding significant changes to the legislation.

MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31850422#31850422

If it were Hillary trying to pass this bill, would she be for it?

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/5012

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