Selected News Items For Oct 10 – Oct 16

65 Responses to “Selected News Items For Oct 10 – Oct 16”

1. canary

   October 10, 2009 at 1:39 am

   TIME: The Last Thing Obama Needs Is the Nobel Peace Prize
   By Nancy Gibbs Oct 9 2009

   Inspirational words have brought him a long way – …”join in the work of remaking this nation
   “…block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.”

   By now there are surely more callouses on his lips than his hands.

   He, like every new President, has reckoned with both the power and the danger of words, dangers that are especially great for one who wields them as skillfully as he.

   But even his fans know that none of the dreams have yet come true, and a prize for even dreaming them can feed the illusion that they have.

   At this moment, many Americans are longing for a President who is more bully, less pulpit.

   leaves the rest of us wondering who has our back, has always shown great promise, said the right things, affirmed every time he opens his mouth

   There comes a time when a President needs to take a real risk – and putting his prestige on the line to win the Olympics for his hometown does not remotely count.

   Compare this to Greg Mortenson, nominated for the prize by some members of Congress, whom the bookies gave 20-to-1 odds of winning.

   Son of a missionary, a former Army medic and mountaineer, he has made it his mission to build schools for girls in places where opium dealers and tribal warlords kill people for trying. His Central Asia Institute has built more than 130 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan – a mission which has, along the way, inspired millions of people to view the protection and education of girls as a key to peace and prosperity and progress.

   actions speak for themselves.

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2.....FzdHRoaW5n

   Obama’s noble peace prize is a counterfiet sham.

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2. BillK

   October 10, 2009 at 1:42 am

   The latest blathering from the US’ last Nobel Peace Prize winner, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

   Gore expects new treaty out of climate summit

   By Lee Bergquist

   Madison — Former Vice President Al Gore said Friday he was optimistic that a new treaty will be approved at a United Nations climate summit in December in Copenhagen, and he warned that the consequences of failure would be “catastrophic.”

   Gore played down expectations that world leaders will produce an agreement requiring major cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide that are favored by many environmentalists and himself.

   “I think we will get an agreement that will be weaker than I would like to see,” he told members of the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalists.

   But Gore says public opinion will prompt an accord of some sort.

   He cited passage of climate legislation over the summer by the U.S. House of Representatives and optimism that a comparable bill will pass the Senate.

   The Senate is working on a bill that would cut greenhouse gases by 20% from 1990 levels in 2020 and by 83% in 2050. A House bill passed this summer called for reductions of 17%.

   But even more critical, Gore emphasized, is the growing cultural acceptance, including American corporations, that carbon emissions must be cut.

   “The potential for change can build up without noticeable effect until it reaches a critical mass,” the former vice president said. “I think that we are very close to that tipping point.”

   Gore said energy efficiency will play a key role in the future. The Nobel laureate said that wind, solar and advanced battery technology will be keys to cutting emissions and weaning the U.S. from its dependence on foreign oil.

   U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the ranking minority member of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, shared Gore’s belief that technological innovation will play a critical role in cutting emissions from carbon sources such as oil and coal.

   But he expressed less optimism about Copenhagen, where leaders hope to build on cuts in emissions promised by 37 countries in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan.

   The Kyoto protocol binds 37 industrialized countries – but not the U.S. – to greenhouse gas reductions during 2008 to 2012. As part of the protocol, European countries have established a system of trading emissions credits as they lower their carbon footprint. But developing countries aren’t required to meet specific targets.

   The countries’ agreements to emissions reductions from Kyoto will expire in 2012. …

   http://www.jsonline.com/news/w.....70167.html

   But even more critical, Gore emphasized, is the growing cultural acceptance, including American corporations, that carbon emissions must be cut.

   Or, the brainwashing is working.

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3. BillK

   October 10, 2009 at 1:45 am

   From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

   Members of Milwaukee NAACP call for suspension of branch president

   By Georgia Pabst

   Twenty members of the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP have filed a formal complaint with the national office asking that branch president Jerry Ann Hamilton be suspended over allegations of fiscal mismanagement, nepotism and other violations.

   The complaint asks for a full investigation and hearing by the national office of the NAACP.

   The request, formally an Article X under the bylaws of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, also asks for an audit of the Milwaukee branch’s finances because one has not been done for 10 years. It also asks that Hamilton cease from handling all branch money, and that the credit card she uses and that the branch pays for be suspended.

   It asks NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous to suspend Hamilton “due to the danger of irreparable harm to the Milwaukee Branch NAACP.”

   Hamilton, who has been president of the local branch for 10 years, repeatedly said Thursday that she had no comment on the allegations in the complaint or on whether she had been contacted by the national office. The complaint was sent in August.

   Dorothy Coleman, a former local board member, and Betty Loving and Alfonso Lambert, members of the executive board, are among those who signed the complaint. All three said they had not received any response from the national office.

   Calls and an e-mail to the Washington, D.C., office of the NAACP asking for a response were not returned Thursday.

   A similar complaint against Hamilton was filed with the national office in June, but it was dismissed because it lacked the required 20 signatures and because state president Tom White was not notified, according to a letter by Roger C. Vann, senior vice president for field operations and membership.

   Hamilton has acknowledged in the past that the organization has a deficit.

   The 13-page complaint contends, among other things, that:

   • Restricted and unrestricted funds are co-mingled, and that the executive committee does not have prior approval for expenditures by Hamilton. It also says that the executive committee is not informed about money that comes in or goes out, and that members have not received access to a full accounting of the funds.

   • Hamilton’s family members and close friends are paid without executive committee approval, including her son, daughter, husband, brother-in-law and sister.

   • Hamilton failed to hold an election to fill vacancies of treasurer, assistant treasurer and secretary, and procedures for the 2008 election were not followed. …

   http://www.jsonline.com/news/m.....18132.html

   One wonders if the national organization will bother to respond.

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   • Gila Monster

     October 10, 2009 at 10:17 am

     “One wonders if the national organization will bother to respond.”

     Very doubtful BillK, especially if Mz. Hamilton was a top “bundler” for the “Messiah”.
     Her current transgressions likely don’t qualify her for bus tire fodder, ….well, not yet at least. ;o)
4. Petronius

   October 10, 2009 at 10:17 am

   MarketWatch

   “Gold Will Hit $2,000 an Ounce Within Decade, Says Jim Rogers”

   by Moming Zhou, 8 Oct 2009

   Gold prices, which just reached a new record high above $1,060 an ounce Thursday, will top $2,000 in a decade, according to Jim Rogers, a famed investor known for his bullish calls on commodities.

   Rogers, speaking Thursday at the sidelines in a conference held by ETF Securities in New York, said gold prices will keep rising as a protection against a weaker U.S. dollar.

   The dollar “is a terribly flawed” currency, he said. “Foreign debts are increasing rapidly every year, and I don’t think Washington seems to care.” * * *

   “Thirty years ago [when Jimmy Carter was the president], the last time we had a bull market in commodities, Asia was not in the game,” said Rogers, who moved from New York to Singapore in late 2007. “And now they are all trying to live like we do.” * * *

   Gold futures, meanwhile, made a fresh record high Thursday for the third session in a row. SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest gold exchange-traded fund, ended at $103.64. * * *

   A native of Demopolis, Ala., Rogers co-founded the Quantum Fund in the early 1970s with George Soros.

   http://www.marketwatch.com/sto.....2009-10-08

   Rising gold prices are an indicator of bad things to come.

   Investors are attracted to gold when they see economic troubles looming on the horizon: out-of-control Federal deficits, inflation, decline of the dollar, soaring foreign debt. Gold is considered to be a safe haven not only from monetary crisis, but also when America responds with weakness to foreign threats.

   Those who remember the Carter era have seen it all before. In 1977, during the first year of the Carter Administration, gold prices were at $120 per ounce. By January 1980, in Carter’s third year, gold rose through the roof, to $850 an ounce.

   Now fast forward to the present. The smart money is betting against Obama-dollars. The smart money is heading for the hills.

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5. canary

   October 11, 2009 at 3:01 am

   Obama meeting with selfish gay activists on nearly a daily & weekly basis, too busy to meet with General.

   AP: Obama reaffirms will end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
   By Associated Press Writer Christine Simmons Oct 11 2009

   WASHINGTON – …”I will end ‘don’t ask-don’t tell,’” Obama said to a standing ovation from the crowd of about 3,000 at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights advocacy group.

   Obama said he’s working with Pentagon and congressional leaders on ending the policy.

   Some advocates said they already have heard Obama’s promises — they just want to hear a timeline.

   ..”we’ve been waiting for a while now,” said Jones, national co-chair of a major gay-rights rally expected to draw thousands of gay and lesbian activists to the National Mall on Sunday.

   Obama also called on Congress to repeal the Defense Of Marriage Act,

   “The president and Nobel winner came and paid his respects, but tomorrow many will ask: What’s his plan, what’s his timetable?”

   The Human Rights Campaign, which invited Obama to speak at its dinner Saturday night

   Joe Solmonese, said at the dinner “… the Obama administration has been working with the group on a range of issues
   “on an almost weekly and sometimes daily basis.”

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....FyZWFmZmly

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6. Rusty Shackleford

   October 11, 2009 at 10:34 am

   From the extremely selective reporters at the AP:

   Gay rights advocates march on DC, divided on Obama

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....DMQ–

   By BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press Writer Brett Zongker, Associated Press Writer – 55 mins ago

   WASHINGTON – Thousands of gay and lesbian activists were expected to converge Sunday in a march from the White House to the Capitol, demanding that President Barack Obama keep his promises to push for civil rights protections from the federal government.

   Some participants in the National Equality March woke up energized by Obama’s blunt pledge to end the ban on gays serving openly in the military during a speech to the nation’s largest gay rights group Saturday night. The president also said he would work to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and to give same-sex couples the same civil rights as straight couples.

   “I’m here with you in that fight,” Obama said. He acknowledged some had grown impatient that he wasn’t pushing for changes faster but urged advocates to continue pressing him and Congress to act.

   Obama’s political energies have been focused on two wars, the economic crisis and health care reform, though he pledged “unwavering” commitment even as he wrestled with those problems.

   March organizer Cleve Jones, creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and a protege of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk, said Obama stopped short of explaining when he would make good on his promises.

   The march was scheduled to begin at noon near the White House. Unlike the first march in 1979 and others in 1987, 1993 and 2000 that included celebrity performances and drew as many as 500,000 people, Sunday’s event was driven by grassroots efforts and was expected to be more low-key.

   I’m not sure, but I think the AP has a particular verve and enthusiasm about this, reporting the history, notable points and particulars about it, even citing its “grass-roots” origins and a tentative schedule. Not unlike they did with a certain “tea-party” march that happened just a few weeks ago.

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   • proreason

     October 11, 2009 at 11:23 am

     hmmm.

     Let’s cipher this.

     “Journalism” Hands never get dirty. No need for heavy lifting. Heavy on creativity. Much easier for pretty people to succeed. Syle over substance. Heavy on contempt for the little people. Very “tolerant”, except for the little people who actually have to work.

     I’m just making a wild wild guess here, but I’ll bet the percentage of queers in “journalism” is really high.
7. Rusty Shackleford

   October 11, 2009 at 10:42 am

   Some actual common sense from TIME:

   Why the Nobel Peace Prize Should Go to Nuclear Weapons

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2.....DMQ–

   By David Von Drehle – Sun Oct 11

   President Barack Obama’s Nobel peace surprise was given “primarily for his work on and commitment to nuclear disarmament,” according to Agot Valle, a Norwegian politician who served on the award committee. Valle told the Wall Street Journal that the stewards of the prize wanted to “support” Obama’s goal, as expressed recently at the United Nations, “of a world without nuclear weapons.”

   It’s tough to think of a goal more widely espoused than the dream of an H-bomb-free planet. Ronald Reagan and Jane Fonda, political opposites, came together on this one – in his second term, Reagan stunned his own advisers and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev by suggesting a treaty that would take nuclear arsenals down to “zero.” (See pictures of President Obama’s first eight months of diplomacy.)

   As long as a nukeless world remains wishful thinking and pastoral rhetoric, we’ll be all right. But if the Nobel committee truly cares about peace, they will think a little harder about actually trying to make it a reality. Open a history book and you’ll see what the modern world looks like without nuclear weapons. It is horrible beyond description.

   During the 31 years leading up to the first atomic bomb, the world without nuclear weapons engaged in two global wars resulting in the deaths of an estimated 78 million to 95 million people, uniformed and civilian. The world wars were the hideous expression of what happens when the human tendency toward conflict hooks up with the violent possibilities of the industrial age. The version of this story we are most familiar with today is the Nazi death machinery, and so we are often tempted to think that if Hitler had not happened, we would never have encountered assembly line murder.

   And he sums it up:

   But zero weapons is a terrible idea. As bad as they are, nukes have been instrumental in reversing the long, seemingly inexorable trend in modernity toward deadlier and deadlier conflicts. If the Nobel committee wants someday to honor the force that has done the most over the past 60 years to end industrial-scale war, they will award a peace prize to the bomb.

   Great article but David fails to note the millions who are killed politically, and for no other reason than they don’t fit their leader’s model of a good citizen. From post WWII Russia to China to Vietnam and many places elsewhere, politics has killed significant numbers of people and the threat of a nuclear deterrent doesn’t work in that case.

   However, on a grander scale, Mr. Von Drehle is correct.

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8. Rusty Shackleford

   October 11, 2009 at 10:53 am

   The AP unwittingly sides with Bush:

   Iraqi police: Anbar bombings kill 14, wound dozens

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....ea/ml_iraq

   By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer Sameer N. Yacoub, Associated Press Writer – 3 mins ago

   BAGHDAD – A series of bombings killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more Sunday in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, said police and hospital officials, a worrying sign that violence may be on the rise in this former hotbed of the insurgency.

   The first explosion occurred in a parking lot in Ramadi, when a parked car exploded near the police headquarters for Anbar province and the provincial council building, said a local police official.

   As police and bystanders rushed to the scene, a second car parked in the vicinity blew up, said the police official. According to the official, a third vehicle exploded about an hour later near the gates to the Ramadi hospital.

   Multiple explosions timed to kill rescuers and security forces responding to an earlier bomb were a hallmark of Al-Qaida in Iraq forces during the height of the insurgency.

   One bystander, Musaab Ali Mohammed, said he was buying cigarettes from a shop near the police headquarters when he heard a big explosion and smoke billowing out from the parking lot.

   “I saw police cars and firefighters, and they started to carry out the wounded and dead. … Minutes later, a second explosion took place,” he said, adding that many of the injured in the second blast appeared to be firefighters. “After that, policemen started to fire in the air and called upon civilians to leave, fearing a third blast.”

   The police official said a total of 18 people were killed in the three explosions, while an official at the Ramadi hospital said 14 bodies were brought to the hospital.

   Conflicting death tolls are common in the aftermath of bombings in Iraq.

   Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

   Anbar province was the scene of some of the most intense fighting by U.S. troops during the insurgency.

   Violence tapered off significantly after local tribes decided to ally with U.S. forces, but bombings such as those Sunday are a worrying sign of the insurgency’s resilience in the western province.

   Note that all during the war in Iraq when Bush was president, Bush was responsible for “all the violence” and that it was the result of “American presence” there. Now, it seems there’s a different uptake on that. How strange.

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9. Rusty Shackleford

   October 11, 2009 at 11:01 am

   President Hillary Clinton discusses US policy:

   Clinton: terrorists increasing threat to Pakistan

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....ybw–

   By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer Jill Lawless, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 50 mins ago

   LONDON – An audacious Taliban attack on Pakistan’s army headquarters shows there is a growing terrorist threat to the nuclear-armed U.S. ally, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.

   But Clinton and her British counterpart said there was no risk of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal falling into terrorist hands.

   Clinton said extremists were “increasingly threatening the authority of the state, but we see no evidence that they are going to take over the state.”

   “We have confidence in the Pakistani government and military’s control over nuclear weapons,” she said.

   At a joint news conference, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Pakistan faced a “mortal threat,” but there was no danger of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons being seized by terrorists.

   “I think it’s very important that alarmist talk is not allowed to gather pace,” he said.

   Taliban militants have launched a series of increasingly bold attacks on military and political targets in Pakistan. On Saturday, militants dressed in military fatigues attacked the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, taking dozens of hostages.

   The 22-hour siege ended Sunday when commandos stormed the building. At least 19 people died in the standoff, including three captives and eight of the militants.

   Clinton is on a five-day tour of Europe in which the conflict in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan and the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program have been major topics.

   Miliband said his talks with Clinton in London focused on Afghanistan. Britain has 9,000 troops in the country, but support for the mission has waned in recent months amid rising casualties and allegations of major fraud in August’s Afghan national elections.

   Miliband said the U.S. and Britain had a “shared strategy” that involved building Afghanistan’s civilian and political institutions as well as defeating the Taliban.

   Evidently, Hillary knows something that even the boy king doesn’t. Wonder if she’ll clue him in.

   Clinton also warned Iran that the world “will not wait indefinitely” for it to live up to international obligations regarding its nuclear program.

   Looks again like president Hillary is out and about and speaking for the US. Wonder if barry knows this or if he gave her permission.

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   • proreason

     October 11, 2009 at 11:26 am

     Hillary will never ever give up.

     And there is no way she would be as disastrous for the country as the little king.
10. Rusty Shackleford

    October 11, 2009 at 12:15 pm

    Things that make you say, “hmmmm”

    Wall Street Journal to pass USA Today as top US paper

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20.....1010203701

    Sat Oct 10, 4:36 pm ET

    WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Wall Street Journal said Saturday that it expects to become the largest US newspaper by weekday circulation when the latest figures are released, leapfrogging USA Today.

    According to Editor and Publisher magazine, Audit Bureau of Circulations figures to be published on October 26 will show that USA Today’s circulation fell 17 percent to 1.88 million for the six months ending in September.

    The Journal, with a total circulation of just over two million, said that would make the News Corp.-owned newspaper the largest in the country by weekday circulation

    USA Today would still remain number one in terms of total print circulation because the Journal’s total circulation includes nearly 356,000 subscribers to its website, it said.

    The US newspaper industry has been reeling from a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online.

    The Wall Street Journal is currently the only major US daily to make readers pay for access to all of its content online.

    So…..what you’re saying is…..people would STILL rather pay to read the truth…than get the crap that’s filtered out to society for free? Maybe there’s hope after all.

    And please to note that the WSJ circulation remains unchanged while USA’s circulation dropped. Not a slam against the WSJ by any means, but more of a testimony to the fact that maybe people are tired of being lied to.

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11. Laree

    October 11, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    John McCain weighs in on the tension between Steven Schmidt and Sarah
    Palin, and her new book Going Rogue. This interview with John King of
    CNN.

    http://youhavetobethistalltogo.....lowers.htm

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12. Rusty Shackleford

    October 11, 2009 at 11:56 pm

    Bill Whittle on Pajama TV about American exceptionalism:

    http://www.pjtv.com/video/Afte.....jH-CAM0grs

    Very motivating. Says so many things.

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13. canary

    October 12, 2009 at 1:39 am

    Another misleading headline by Assciated Press putting the blame on Republicans.

    AP:GOP leaders say more time needed for CA water deal
    By Don Thompson, Associated Oct 11 2009

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Republican legislative leaders said there was little hope they could craft a water deal Sunday, despite daylong negotiations that dragged into the night.

    Democratic leaders presented written responses to Republicans’ concerns about their water proposal late Sunday, providing answers that Assembly Minority Leader Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, said had been lacking for weeks.

    Blakeslee called Democrats’ document a “good first step” as leaders wrapped up six consecutive days of water talks amid months of discussions.

    Democratic leaders were more upbeat.

    “We’re making progress,” said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass of Los Angeles.

    “We’re trying to get to the framework” of an agreement, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said late Sunday.

    “No guarantees, but we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”

    …they said it was unclear how their rank-and-file members would react to details from the secret negotiations.

    Passing a water deal that includes a bond needs a two-thirds vote in the Legislature, requiring at least some support from Republicans.

    Schwarzenegger… session to pressure lawmakers to improve California’s deteriorating and inadequate water system. .

    Schwarzenegger … he gauged the day’s progress from the water talks, .

    The governor is pushing for more reservoirs and a controversial canal to improve a water storage and conveyance system mostly built in the 1960s.

    “I’m fighting to rebuild our crumbling water system,” Schwarzenegger said in his weekly radio address Saturday, repeating his upbeat speech from a water rally Friday.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....VhZGVyc3Nh

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14. canary

    October 12, 2009 at 1:56 am

    AFP:US Marines sweep ‘Taliban’ villages for home-made bombs 10/10/09

    KOTALAK, Afghanistan (AFP) – An elderly Afghan woman, her hair dyed red and a black shawl draped over her shoulders, shouts as she aims a gun at US Marines who are arresting her husband as a suspected Taliban insurgent.

    A Marine points his assault rifle at her and is ready to pull the trigger until the woman drops her rusty pistol.

    “It’s to disrupt Taliban forces in the Bhuji Bhast Pass because within about a five-kilometre radius of here we have hit about 30 IEDs in the last five months, and that’s just us,” said Lieutenant Shane Harden, 29

    — the Marines are arresting the elderly woman’s husband and one-armed brother.

    A search of their home turned up 15 bags of ammonium nitrate and 12 bags of sugar, common ingredients for making IEDs, as well as ammunition.

    A thorough search of the village also turns up grenades, Soviet-era rifles, more ammunition and Taliban propaganda.

    “We need good security in our village because the people here don’t agree — some of them like the Taliban… We don’t have ‘elders’, everybody says they’re older and in charge,” he said.

    As the Marines tried to bed down for the night in one village compound, machine-gun and rocket fire from the nearby hills were a constant reminder of the proximity of the enemy.

    http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewe.....ade-bombs/

    Obama won’t let our U.S. shoot a woman who pulls a weapon them, her home full of explosives. She will end up shooting them in back, or do a suicide bombing first chance she gets.

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15. canary

    October 12, 2009 at 2:22 am

    McClatchy Tribue: Officials: Warnings downplayed Intelligence reports say Taliban’s links to al-Qaida closer than during 2001
    By Jonathan S. Landay, John Walcott, Nancy A. Youssef Oct 11 2009

    WASHINGTON — White House officials are minimizing warnings from the intelligence community, the military and State Department

    Recent U.S. intelligence assessments have found that the Taliban and other Pakistan-based groups that are fighting U.S.-led forces have much closer ties to al-Qaida now than they did before Sept. 11, 2001

    McClatchy Newspapers interviewed more than 15 senior and mid-level U.S. intelligence, military and diplomatic officials, all of whom said they concurred… All of them requested anonymity because the assessments are classified and the officials weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

    One phrase that always comes up in the administration’s strategy sessions is “public opinion,” one participant told

    White House officials are neglecting warnings from their own experts about the dangers of a more modest approach.

    ~~”McChrystal and Petraeus are ignoring the problems their (counterinsurgency) approach would face in Afghanistan and here at home,”~~
    said one intelligence official… “We don’t have a reliable partner in Afghanistan or Pakistan;
    doubling the size of the Afghan army is a pipe dream, given the corruption

    The White House, as well as Congress and U.S. military, “have got to level with the American people, and they are not doing it,” said Marvin Weinbaum, a former State Department intelligence analyst now with the Middle East Institute.

    http://www.timesunion.com/ASPS.....nkFrom=RSS

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16. canary

    October 12, 2009 at 2:31 am

    AP: Big Bang lab physicist arrested for suspected al-Qaida link
    By Alexander G. Higgins Oct 11 2009

    GENEVA – A physicist working at the world’s largest atom smasher has been arrested on suspicion of links to al-Qaida, adding to the woes of the

    $10 billion project that ceased operation a year ago – just days after its celebrated start up.

    The scientist, arrested in France, is suspected of involvement with Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb,… The North African group..

    The judicial official said the suspect was one of two brothers arrested

    The physicist, who was affiliated with an outside institute, has been assigned to analysis projects at the laboratory since 2003. He was one of more than 7,000 scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest atom smasher, said the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN.

    “LHCb is an experiment set up to explore what happened after the Big Bang that allowed matter to survive and build the universe we inhabit today,” the organization said on its Web site.

    The Big Bang was a vast explosion that scientists theorize was the beginning of the universe 14 billion years ago.

    The collider started spectacularly in September 2008… But nine days later, a massive electric failure related to a construction fault caused the entire machine to shut down.

    It has been undergoing repairs almost ever since with the bill expected to total about 40 million Swiss francs ($40 million) over the course of several years.
    planning to restart the machine in November for the first time

    The European laboratory has been working for 15 years to build the collider.

    http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Wo.....snewsworld

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17. Rusty Shackleford

    October 12, 2009 at 2:33 am

    POLITICO finally starts to get it:

    Tea partiers turn on GOP leadership

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/politi.....DMQ–

    Alex Isenstadt Alex Isenstadt – Sun Oct 11, 8:00 am ET

    While the energy of the anti-tax and anti-Big Government tea party movement may yet haunt Democrats in 2010, the first order of business appears to be remaking the Republican Party.

    Whether it’s the loose confederation of Washington-oriented groups that have played an organizational role or the state-level activists who are channeling grass-roots anger into action back home, tea party forces are confronting the Republican establishment by backing insurgent conservatives and generating their own candidates — even if it means taking on GOP incumbents.

    “We will be a headache for anyone who believes the Constitution of the United States … isn’t to be protected,” said Dick Armey, chairman of the anti-tax and limited government advocacy group FreedomWorks, which helped plan and promote the tea parties, town hall protests and the September ‘Taxpayer March’ in Washington. “If you can’t take it seriously, we will look for places of other employment for you.”

    “We’re not a partisan organization, and I think many Republicans are disappointed we are not,” added Armey, a former GOP congressman.

    In Florida, where the national party has signaled its preference for centrist Gov. Charlie Crist in the GOP Senate primary, tea party activists are lining up behind former state House Speaker Marco Rubio in reaction to Crist’s public backing for President Barack Obama’s stimulus package.

    “We were very disappointed with Gov. Charlie Crist when he supported the stimulus, the bailout, and he appeared publicly with President Obama,” said Everett Wilkinson, a South Florida-based organizer for Tea Party Patriots. “The opposition comes from Crist’s support for the largest spending plan ever and the environmental policies he’s pushing on the American people.”

    Rubio has already made appearances at Florida tea parties, and protesters have been seen waving signs declaring, “Anybody but Charlie Crist.” He also has Armey’s endorsement, and Armey headlined a Dallas fundraiser for him several weeks ago.

    Wilkinson said that the tax status of his Florida-based group limits what it can do to assist Rubio in the August 2010 primary. But he said the organization would launch an aggressive get-out-the-vote operation and issue a report card grading each candidate appearing on the ballot.

    Tea party activists are also lining up behind challengers to GOP establishment-backed Senate candidates in Colorado and Connecticut. In California, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina — like Crist, another National Republican Senatorial Committee-favored Senate contender — is the target of tea party animus in her primary against conservative state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

    “My impression is that the support among tea partyers for DeVore is high,” said Mark Meckler, a California-based organizer for Tea Party Patriots. “I hear nothing but praise for the guy.”

    Tea party organizers say their resistance to Republican Party-backed primary candidates has much to do with what they perceive as the GOP’s stubborn insistence on embracing candidates who don’t abide by a small government, anti-tax conservative philosophy.

    Of course, we’ve been saying this all along. Of course, the left probably will look at it as an inaccurate assessment.

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    • canary

      October 12, 2009 at 1:58 pm

      Finally, someone gets it.
18. Rusty Shackleford

    October 12, 2009 at 1:04 pm

    Interesting headline from TV Guide:

    Late-Night Comedians Turning on Obama

    http://tv.yahoo.com/saturday-n.....a-20091011

    By Douglas J. Rowe Sun Oct 11, 11:49 AM PDT

    “That’s pretty amazing, winning the Nobel Peace Prize,” Jay Leno said Friday night of President Barack Obama’s latest accolade. “Ironically, his biggest accomplishment as president so far … winning the Nobel Peace Prize.”

    That joke may be indicative of the TV comedy world sharpening its arrows a bit more when the current occupant of the White House is the target, The New York Times reports.

    Most certainly stated with indignation.

    The Times quotes Bob Lichter, who has tracked themes in late-night humor for 21 years, as saying “it will be telling to see how the comedians treat” the president’s winning the peace prize: Is there now a caricature taking hold of a man more celebrated than accomplished?

    Woah! “more celebrated than accomplished”? Now I KNOW I’ve heard that someplace before….

    Lichter, of George Mason University’s Center for Media and Public Affairs, said it was too soon to tell whether the Oct. 3 Saturday Night Live skit suggesting that Obama has accomplished nothing is a “harbinger” or not. “The danger is that Mr. Obama is going to be defined by inaction and not living up to expectations,” he said.

    SNL skit: Obama has done nothing

    SNL this weekend joined in the jokes about Obama not deserving the prize just yet, suggesting that honors like People’s Sexiest Man designation may soon go to children.

    By noting the headline, the implication is that they were “for” Obama all along and now have “turned” on him.

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19. BillK

    October 12, 2009 at 2:52 pm

    Watch the socialist at work demonizing the private sector yet again.

    From Fox News:

    White House Tries to Strike Down Insurance Industry Criticism Ahead of Key Vote

    The White House fired back Monday at the health insurance industry for issuing a study that claims the health care reform bill working its way toward a key vote Tuesday will raise the cost of individual coverage by hundreds of dollars a year.

    Linda Douglass, spokeswoman with the Office of Health Reform, said in a statement that the timing of the study, released just hours before the Senate Finance Committee is set to vote on its bill, raises questions about its legitimacy. She joined other Democratic officials in trying to keep the analysis from gaining traction.

    “This is a self-serving analysis from the insurance industry, one of the major opponents of health insurance reform,” she said. “It comes on the eve of a vote that will reduce the industry’s profits. It is hard to take it seriously.”

    But America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry group that sent its member companies the new study late Sunday, stood by the findings.

    Spokesman Robert Zirkelbach rejected the suggestion that the study was timed for maximum impact, saying it responded to changes made to the bill over the last few weeks and was only finalized over the weekend. He said AHIP still supports health care reform, but wants to see additional changes made, either in the Finance Committee or later in the process.

    “This data is an important part of the health care reform discussion. American people want to know how these provisions are going to impact the cost of health care coverage,” he said.

    The accounting firm study projects the legislation would add $1,700 a year to the cost of family coverage in 2013, when most of the major provisions in the bill would be in effect.

    Premiums for a single person would go up by $600 more than would be the case without the legislation, the PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis concluded in the study commissioned by the insurance group.

    “Several major provisions in the current legislative proposal will cause health care costs to increase far faster and higher than they would under the current system,” Karen Ignagni, the top industry lobbyist in Washington, wrote in a memo to insurance company CEOs.

    The study projected that in 2019, family premiums could be $4,000 higher and individual premiums could be $1,500 higher.

    Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told FOX News that the warnings seem accurate.

    “This tells me exactly what I’ve heard all around town hall meetings through the summer,” he said. “People all around America say, ‘Hey my own insurance is going to end up costing more if this health care plan goes through.’”

    But Democrats moved swiftly to dismiss the study. The Senate Finance Committee is the last of five panels to consider health care reform legislation before the bills move to the floors of the House and Senate. The bill got a boost last week when the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would cover 94 percent of eligible Americans while reducing the federal deficit.

    “It’s a health insurance company hatchet job, plain and simple,” said Scott Mulhauser, spokesman for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., whose 10-year, $829 billion overhaul plan faces the committee vote.

    Mulhauser said the study is “seriously flawed” because it doesn’t take into account provisions in the legislation that would lower the cost of coverage, such as tax credits to help people buy private insurance, protections for current policies and administrative savings from a revamped marketplace.

    But Zirkelbach said the tax credits don’t change the presumption that premiums will go up. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....-overhaul/

    So, in summary:

    Demonize private industry your government is already trying to destroy.

    The Government only wants to help you.

    So what if costs go up – tax credits will fix all.

    Health care quality? Who cares about that?

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20. canary

    October 13, 2009 at 3:27 am

    AP: WASHINGTON – A senior Treasury Department official says the Taliban are in much stronger financial shape than al-Qaida Oct 12 2009

    David Cohen, the department’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing, said Monday the extremist group extorts money from farmers and heroin traffickers…

    ~ The Taliban also demand protection payments from legitimate Afghan businesses, he said.~

    Portions of the Taliban’s illicit proceeds make their way out of the country and into the global financial system, he said.

    http://www.canadaeast.com/rss/article/821662

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21. canary

    October 13, 2009 at 3:34 am

    Breaking News! Obama wins Heisman Trophy after watching college football game.

    Log in to Reply
22. canary

    October 13, 2009 at 4:02 am

    AP: US wants bunker-buster fast, denies Iran is reason
    By AP National Security Writer Anne Gearan Oct 13 2009

    WASHINGTON – The 15-ton behemoth — called the “massive ordnance penetrator,” or MOP — will be the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal and will carry 5,300 pounds of explosives. The bomb is about 10 times more powerful than the weapon it is designed to replace.

    Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently said a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities would probably only buy time.

    The new U.S. bomb would be the culmination of planning begun in the Bush years.

    The MOP could, in theory, take out bunkers such as those Saddam Hussein had begun to construct for weapons programs in Iraq, or flatten the kind of cave and tunnel networks that allowed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to escape U.S. assault in Tora Bora, Afghanistan,

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....50c2J1bmtl

    “Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently said a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities would probably only buy time.”

    buy time from what?

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23. canary

    October 13, 2009 at 4:56 am

    AP IMPACT: Obama’s travels carry a touch of blue
    By Philip Elliott Oct 13 2009

    PITTSBURGH – For President Barack Obama, it’s almost as if the election campaign never ended. Just look at his travel schedule.

    The same states that Obama targeted to win the White House are seeing an awful lot of the president, Vice President Joe Biden and top Cabinet officials….taxpayers are footing the multimillion-dollar tab for the trips, and Obama officials are delivering wheelbarrows of economic stimulus money

    An Associated Press review of administration travel records shows that three of every four official trips Obama and his key lieutenants made in his first seven months in office were to the 28 states Obama won.

    Though insisting that the stimulus legislation include no such “earmarked” congressional projects, Obama, Biden and the Cabinet spent months traveling the country to announce billions of dollars

    Biden in particular has been the bearer of stimulus good news, making nearly two dozen trips to 14 states to tout

    The vice president has made five stimulus trips just to Pennsylvania

    All told, administration officials have been to the Keystone state more than three dozen times since January.

    Obama spoke last month to the nation’s largest labor organization in a packed Pittsburgh ballroom.

    Days before, Biden was at a Labor Day parade there and praised the reliably Democratic union members.

    Obama was back a week later, this time to meet with the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies, whom he had invited to the one-time steel city

    Yes, the White House loves Pittsburgh — and places like it

    In August, for example, Obama went to Elkhart, Ind., to announce $2.4 billion in stimulus grants for production of electric and hybrid cars. Indiana and Michigan — the two states benefiting the most —

    Colorado,… had seen Obama officials 35 times through early August, including Obama’s Feb. 17 trip to Denver to sign the stimulus bill into law.

    Virginia, … has gotten 17 visits.

    The White House defended the travel as necessary to promote the administration’s agenda for the country.

    Earnest said Obama plans to travel this week to Louisiana and Texas,

    Sometimes, the administration’s travel has been political as well as personal.

    Energy Secretary Steven Chu, for example, has made California his top destination
    Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shawn Donovan has made New York and Connecticut his top destinations.

    The AP review of travel costs — some agencies refused to provide costs for security reasons…

    and that doesn’t include any costs for trips by Obama and Biden.

    It also doesn’t include travel costs by the secretaries of Homeland Security, Labor and Justice, whose departments declined to release tallies.
    Nor does it include the cost of security agents who travel everywhere with officials in the presidential line of succession, or the military aides who are always at their sides.

    It does, however, reflect the props needed at events, such as sound equipment, oversized U.S. flags, microphones and room rental.

    _Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood spent $747 to attend a Pullman Porters event in Philadelphia; he took Amtrak for the one-day trip.

    _Commerce Secretary Gary Locke spent $8,013 to address the National Conference of State Legislatures, also in Philadelphia, also a one-day
    trip.

    _Interior Secretary Ken Salazar spent $13,194 to meet with the families of Flight 93, the hijacked United Airlines plane that crashed into a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001; he returned to Washington that night.

    Travel costs, provided voluntarily by the Cabinet agencies at the White House’s urging, depend in large degree on the number of staff who accompany high-level officials.

    For instance, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson took a two-day trip to Tampa, Fla., that cost $10,408, with more than $9,200 attributed to traveling staff. While there, she spoke to the National Association of Black Journalists and announced $95 million in stimulus grants.

    When Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made a two-day trip to New Hampshire in July, taxpayers picked up the $6,742 tab for the secretary, two aides and a dairy expert. Of that total, $4,467 went to staff costs.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....avel/print

    “Colorado,… had seen Obama officials 35 times through early August,”!!!!

    Traveling there and back could be close to 60 days, 2 out of 8 monthes of his presidency in Colorado blue skys.!!!!!!

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    • canary

      October 13, 2009 at 5:01 am

      And MicHello spends more time with Obama since he became President, than when he was a Senator. Course he did write that it was hard on her when he stayed held up in his office for monthes suffering from writers block? Then he finally went to Indonesia for 4 monthes where he didn’t have to worry about the phone ringing. God help us.
24. BillK

    October 13, 2009 at 7:59 am

    From the Los Angeles Times:

    Obesity concerns spur calls to limit new convenience stores in South L.A.

    By Jerry Hirsch

    Links found by researchers between snack foods and obesity in poor communities are prompting new calls for more regulation of convenience stores in South Los Angeles.

    The proposed new regulations under discussion are an outgrowth and expansion of last year’s city restrictions on new fast-food restaurants in a 32-square-mile area of South Los Angeles. The area is home to about 500,000 residents, including those who live in West Adams, Baldwin Hills and Leimert Park.

    Motivated by new data focusing on convenience stores, civic activists and a City Council member favor limiting the development of new convenience stores.

    A study by Santa Monica think tank Rand Corp. published in the research journal Health Affairs last week said calories from snacks were a likely culprit of higher obesity rates in South Los Angeles. The authors also found that South Los Angeles had a dramatically higher concentration of the type of small convenience store that sells caloric snacks than other sections of the city.

    Separately, researchers looking at the shopping patterns of schoolchildren in urban Philadelphia found that more than half the 800 students they surveyed reported that they shopped at a corner store at least once a day, five times a week. Almost a third visited a store both before and after school.

    On average, the students spent about $1 and purchased 356 calories of snack foods and drinks each visit. Chips, candy, sugary beverages and gum were the most frequent purchases, according to a study published online today. It also will appear in the November edition of Pediatrics, a medical journal.

    How to curb such purchases is a top priority for policymakers attempting to reduce the obesity rates in poor communities.

    “We need to look at a moratorium on these convenience stores,” said Lark Galloway-Gilliam, executive director of Community Health Councils Inc., a nonprofit health policy and education organization in South Los Angeles.

    The Los Angeles City Council is set to consider a proposal that would limit the density of these small food stores in South Los Angeles, said Councilwoman Jan Perry, a proponent of regulations adopted last year establishing a moratorium on new openings of fast-food restaurants whose 9th District includes much of South Los Angeles.

    The proposal, part of the developing Southeast Los Angeles Community Plan, would prohibit such small neighborhood markets from being closer than one-half mile from one another unless they sold fresh fruit and vegetables. …

    http://www.latimes.com/busines.....9583.story

    Do you think this really will drive people to “eat healthier?”

    Bzzzz!

    Do you think this will drive those poor residents into poorly maintained cars (which emit more “greenhouse gases” than well-maintained, newer vehicles do) to drive to markets that sell what they want?

    Ding!

    But let’s not worry about unintended consequences when we have private businesses to quash.

    7-11 had this to say:

    “Convenience stores, whether they be a 7-Eleven or other, provide needed products and services to communities, ,b>especially lower income or areas with high crime,” said Margaret Chabris, spokeswoman for Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc., which has 50 stores within the Los Angeles city limits.

    “Sometimes larger supermarkets won’t venture into the tougher neighborhoods, but mom-and-pop stores, locally run convenience stores, will,” she said.

    “They provide food, groceries, paper products, money orders, ATM services and over-the-counter medicine around the clock. ,b>They can also be a safe haven when someone on the street or in the neighborhood is in trouble and needs a place to go or make a phone call.”

    The chain also sells sliced fruit and other healthful snacks in addition to chips and soda, Chabris said.

    But never mind, that’s just the industry talking, just like those nasty health insurers.

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25. BannedbytheTaliban

    October 13, 2009 at 11:22 am

    From an irony proof CNN:

    Once Senate panel votes, another tough battle begins

    From Ted Barrett and Ed Hornick
    CNN

    WASHINGTON (CNN) — Once the Senate Finance Committee votes Tuesday on its health care overhaul plan, the focus will shift to the closed doors of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s ornate Capitol suite.

    So much for Obama’s open and honest government. CNN then goes on to carry the administration’s water for the public option with a bold face lie:

    The primary difference between the Finance Committee bill and the health committee legislation involves a government-run insurance company — the public option.

    The health committee bill provides for a robust public option designed to compete head-on with insurance companies and force them to rein in costs.

    That may be the line for public digestion, but the public option, just like refusal to accept pre-existing conditions, and increasing taxes on insurance plans and companies, is really aimed at regulating insurance companies out of business. In turn, forcing everyone onto the public option, resulting in single payer and socialized medicine. Which has been Barney Frank’s and the Democrat’s plan all along.

    And Obama accuses Fox of being biased.

    http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITI.....index.html

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    • pdsand

      October 13, 2009 at 8:30 pm

      I once saw a very smart person on public TV explaining health insurance barney style some several decades ago. This was either at the beginning of the semi-public outrage against “HMOs”, or the first time I paid any attention to it. It made me really mad at the time because I was a little skull full of mush and didn’t realize how business works, but it really was correct in hindsight.

      The basic point of understanding that I had to learn, live and love was that fact that there is no “pot of money”. People think about insurance as a company that pays for things for you. That assumption is based on the assumption that somewhere on Wall Street or in the headquarters of the insurance company there is a big pot of money that the insurance company will use to pay for your healthcare if you get sick. Well that assumption is entirely incorrect because the company has to use everyone’s premiums to pay for all the care that it has to pay for each year and it has to turn a profit doing so or it will go out of business.
      Once you realize that there is no pot of money you can begin to realize why the insurance company has to do certain things that seem distasteful. Basically if you were to keep a health insurance plan for a lifetime you would have very little healthcare costs as a young person and a staggering amount of costs as you grow older and eventually some disease or another kills you. So using actuarial tables that very smart people have developed the company basically has to charge you premiums that more or less fit with your current and predicted future health costs to basically have you pay enough in over your young and healthy years to cover the expensive later years. That’s why the premiums are so high even for young people with no health concerns.
      Then if you get unexpectedly and expensively sick the insurance company still has no pot of money to cover the increased cost because your premiums were based on being relatively healthy. So facing a new outlook of massive costs to cover cancer or diabetes, the insurance company has to raise your premiums/copays/etc because there is no pot of money to pay for your treatment. You are still always paying for your own healthcare by either the monthly premiums or copays, the insurance company is just helping you finance it over time.
      The dreaded “denial based on pre-existing conditions” is also entirely necessary because your monthly premiums are based upon an actuarial rate determined by your medical history. If you fail to report a prior condition you are screwing up the whole system and now you’re asking the insurance company to dip into the non-existent “pot of money” to pay for care that it could have seen coming and charged premiums accordingly for. Heck, they might have even gotten you a little of the preventative medicine that Obama seems to love so much if you had been up front about your medical history.
      That’s why they have to turn down accepting new policies for people who are already sick as well, because there is no pot of money for them to pay for healthcare out of. If a person’s treatment costs drastically exceed their ability to pay for the treatment themselves or the premiums that would be necessary in order for the insurance company to finance it for the person, they have to turn down the policy or they would go out of business.
      In all of these cases among the so-called reasonable “reforms” that the Democrats are pushing they are basically insisting that insurance companies behave not like a business but like a government entitlement program. They want to invent a “pot of money” in the government that all citizens would be entitled to as a “basic human right” to cover their healthcare costs. Well, this just in, there is still no “pot of money” in the government to pay for people’s healthcare costs out of. The pot of money would be all of our pockets as taxpayers.
      You are absolutely correct, this will not compete with insurance companies, it will try to force them to behave in a way that no business could behave. Basically forcing them out of business. But don’t worry, it’s just a few reasonable reforms that we can all agree upon.
26. BillK

    October 13, 2009 at 6:25 pm

    Once again, we can’t make people show an ID for anything as important as voting.

    To receive medical care, yes, but to vote, never.

    From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    Panel approves election plan; balks at voter ID

    By Patrick Marley

    Madison — Lawmakers approved a five-year election plan Tuesday that will study changing the date of the September primary, permitting absentee ballots to be returned by e-mail, implementing elections that are conducted entirely by mail – but not requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls.

    Republicans on the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee tried to add a study of requiring ID at the polls, but Democrats who control the committee batted back that attempt on a 9-4 vote.

    Republicans have long said requiring ID would cut down on voter fraud, while Democrats contend it would disenfranchise poor and elderly people.

    “It seems to me photo ID . . . should be reviewed as an option,” said Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills). “Many people in Wisconsin think our procedures for voting need to be seriously addressed.”

    But Rep. Pedro Colon (D-Milwaukee) said no one has found organized, widespread voter fraud in Wisconsin. He charged that Republicans wanted only a “select club” to vote in elections.

    When Republicans controlled the Legislature from 2003 to 2005, they passed three bills to require showing photo ID at the polls. Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed all three, and the issue has not made it to his desk since.

    The committee approved the election plan 13-1, with Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) voting against it because of concerns about election costs that could be passed onto local governments. …

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/s.....96112.html

    Yes, Republicans want that small, elite club known as people with legal photo ID to be the only people who vote.

    You know, the photo ID you can’t even cash a Government check without?

    That’s even without addressing the laughability of allowing absentee ballots to be filed via email.

    I can’t wait to see Jon Stewart winning the next Wisconsin election by a margin of 450 million or so.

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27. BillK

    October 13, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    Another tale from the wonderful health care nirvana that is the UK (and soon to be the US), from the Times of London:

    Daughter saves mother, 80, left by doctors to starve

    By Sarah-Kate Templeton

    An 80-year-old grandmother who doctors identified as terminally ill and left to starve to death has recovered after her outraged daughter intervened.

    Hazel Fenton, from East Sussex, is alive nine months after medics ruled she had only days to live, withdrew her antibiotics and denied her artificial feeding. The former school matron had been placed on a controversial care plan intended to ease the last days of dying patients.

    Doctors say Fenton is an example of patients who have been condemned to death on the Liverpool care pathway plan. They argue that while it is suitable for patients who do have only days to live, it is being used more widely in the NHS, denying treatment to elderly patients who are not dying.

    Fenton’s daughter, Christine Ball, who had been looking after her mother before she was admitted to the Conquest hospital in Hastings, East Sussex, on January 11, says she had to fight hospital staff for weeks before her mother was taken off the plan and given artificial feeding.

    Ball, 42, from Robertsbridge, East Sussex, said: “My mother was going to be left to starve and dehydrate to death. It really is a subterfuge for legalised euthanasia of the elderly on the NHS. ”

    Fenton was admitted to hospital suffering from pneumonia. Although Ball acknowledged that her mother was very ill she was astonished when a junior doctor told her she was going to be placed on the plan to “make her more comfortable” in her last days.

    Ball insisted that her mother was not dying but her objections were ignored. A nurse even approached her to say: “What do you want done with your mother’s body?”

    On January 19, Fenton’s 80th birthday, Ball says her mother was feeling better and chatting to her family, but it took another four days to persuade doctors to give her artificial feeding.

    Fenton is now being looked after in a nursing home five minutes from where her daughter lives.

    Peter Hargreaves, a consultant in palliative medicine, is concerned that other patients who could recover are left to die. He said: “As they are spreading out across the country, the training is getting probably more and more diluted.

    A spokesman for East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Patients’ needs are assessed before they are placed on the [plan]. Daily reviews are undertaken by clinicians whenever possible.” …

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t.....869646.ece

    Truly, tales like this must warm the Obama administration’s heart; think of the Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid savings!

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    • caligirl9

      October 15, 2009 at 5:57 pm

      My daughter has many Canadian friends.
      Those Canadian friends can’t understand why the United States would make the mistake of socialized medicine. Health care in their own country is far from satisfactory… the waits are ridiculous. Several are relocating to the U.S. and hope that the U.S. doesn’t go the way of Canada’s health care system.
28. BillK

    October 13, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    Once again, the Obama Administration is giving a raised middle finger to established contract law.

    From a joyous Associated Press:

    Treasury pay czar asks AIG to withhold millions in bonuses for workers whose bets went bad

    By Daniel Wagner

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration’s pay czar has asked American International Group to withhold some of the millions in bonuses promised to its employees.

    Kenneth Feinberg, the special master for executive compensation, “has informally advised AIG not to pay the full $198 million” employees expect to receive, according to a report Tuesday from the special inspector general overseeing the $700 billion financial bailout.

    Feinberg is locked in negotiations with the seven companies that received the most expensive taxpayer bailouts. AIG’s was by far the largest. The government committed more than $180 billion to wind down the New York-based insurance and financial services conglomerate. Treasury now owns about 80 percent of AIG.

    The bonuses will go to employees of AIG’s financial products division. Their bad bets on complex financial derivatives helped sink the company. To secure its bailouts, AIG argued to Treasury that its failure would doom the broader financial system.

    News about the bonuses in February sparked public and congressional backlash. At the time, Treasury officials said there was no legal way to break the contracts guaranteeing bonus payments, but Feinberg’s move appears to undermine those claims.

    The company has asked employees to return some of the money voluntarily.

    The report from special inspector general Neil Barofsky also says Treasury did not fully analyze AIG’s compensation before bailing it out. The government focused instead on compensation for a smaller group of executives.

    It took officials from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York months to untangle AIG’s “staggeringly complex, decentralized” compensation structure, the report says. They eventually discovered 620 bonus programs totaling $455 million, and 13 retention plans allocating $1 billion.

    The company is talking to Feinberg about matters “including future payments to employees of AIG Financial Products,” spokeswoman Christina Pretto said in a statement. Employees have until the end of the year to return voluntarily some of the bonus pay they received in March, she added. …

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....IG_BONUSES

    So, Obama’s unelected, unvetted “pay czar” is telling AIG to break contract law by not paying employees money they are legally entitled to receive, and the company is asking the same employees whose contracts they will be violating to return moneys already paid.

    Or, I’m sure, Congress will come after them, in violation of the United States Constitution on at least two fronts (Bills of Attainder are illegal as are Ex-Post-Facto laws.)

    But as we’ve seen, the Constiution is used for toilet paper in the Obama White House.

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    • pdsand

      October 13, 2009 at 7:55 pm

      are all these bonus recipients “executives” that would fall under the purview of the special master for executive compensation?
29. Rusty Shackleford

    October 13, 2009 at 8:31 pm

    It’s official. Olympia Snowe is a moron.

    Health bill clears hurdle with support from Snowe

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....DMQ–

    By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent David Espo, Ap Special Correspondent – 7 mins ago

    WASHINGTON – Historic legislation to expand U.S. health care and control costs won its first Republican supporter Tuesday and cleared a key Senate hurdle, a double-barreled triumph that propelled President Barack Obama’s signature issue toward votes this fall in both houses of Congress.

    “When history calls, history calls,” said Maine Republican Olympia Snowe, whose declaration of support ended weeks of suspense and provided the only drama of a 14-9 vote in the Senate Finance Committee. With her decision, the 62-year-old lawmaker bucked her own leadership on the most high-profile issue of the year in Congress, and gave the drive to remake health care at least a hint of the bipartisanship that Obama seeks.

    At the White House, Obama called the events “a critical milestone” toward remaking the nation’s health care system. He praised Snowe as well as Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the committee, and declared, “We are going to get this done.”

    There were fresh challenges. Within minutes of the vote, labor unions and large business organizations both demanded changes in the bill, which was an attempt at a middle-of-the-road measure fashioned by the committee under Baucus’ leadership.

    Still, nearly nine months after the president pledged in his Inaugural Address to tackle health care, legislation to expand coverage to millions who lack it has now advanced further than President Bill Clinton’s ill-fated effort more than a decade ago — or any other attempt in more than a generation.

    The next move in the Senate is up to Majority Leader Harry Reid, whose office said the full Senate would begin debate on the issue the week of Oct. 26.

    The idiocy of some people is beyond comprehension.

    And for the record, “Ms” Snowe…Welcome to scapegoat-hood. Both by conservatives and the democrats who will inevitably throw you under the bus.

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    • BillK

      October 13, 2009 at 8:44 pm

      Olympia Snowe has been this way her entire political career.

      Frankly I’m surprised Maine voters don’t just elect a Democrat to fill her seat.

      Update: Her fellow Maine RINO, Susan Collins, has indicated she also will vote for ObamaCare.

      Maine: the face of today’s GOP. (Seriously.)
    • Rusty Shackleford

      October 13, 2009 at 8:45 pm

      Yes she has. I think it’s just grand that this act has made it her triumphant “Homer Moment” (D’OH!)
    • pdsand

      October 13, 2009 at 8:54 pm

      Well, that’s the cover they needed. Now the full senate bill will contain none of the compromises she thought she was voting for, and the conference bill from the house and senate will be full-fledged socialized medicine. But way to really grind out a middle of the road bill from the Senate finance committee.
30. Rusty Shackleford

    October 13, 2009 at 9:04 pm

    Here’s an interesting statement I found while looking for something else.

    When you read it, think of those sound-bites from the stimulus-grab-bag in Detroit this week where an individual can get up to $3500 from the gubbmint:

    BHO quoted in McClatchy:

    “The way we design this stimulus package, this economic recovery plan, is one that changes the way we do business,” said Obama, who hasn’t put a price tag on his plan. “We are not going to simply write a bunch of checks and let them be spent without some very clear criteria as to how this money is going to benefit the overall economy and put people back to work.”

    http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/57279.html

    So, the money that is “forgiven by Obama” as one woman put it…..will she have to fill out a voucher to tell the gubbmint “whut she do wid dat munny”?

    I kind of doubt it.

    But then, it’s all part of the redistribution plan.

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31. Rusty Shackleford

    October 14, 2009 at 12:11 am

    I’m having deja-vu all over again.

    It was the bleak employment prospects in 1979 that led me to the recruiter’s office. I was 18.

    From Reuters:

    Bleak U.S. job market boosts military recruitment

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....DMQ–

    Tue Oct 13, 4:32 pm ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Aided by a bleak job market, the U.S. military met all of its recruitment goals in the past year for the first time since it became an all-volunteer force in 1973, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

    Military services have been stretched thin by conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, giving added weight to recruitment efforts as President Barack Obama considers sending another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year.

    The United States already has 67,000 troops in Afghanistan and about 119,000 in Iraq.

    Pentagon officials said recruitment gains were fueled by the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression and an unemployment rate nearing 10 percent.

    “For the first time since the advent of the all-volunteer force, all of the military components, active and reserve, met their number as well as their quality goals,” said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy.

    The U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force sent a total of about 169,000 active duty recruits to training in the 2009 fiscal year that ended on September 30, beating their 164,000-member goal, the Pentagon said.

    National guard and reserve forces sent about 128,000 recruits to training, beating their goal.

    Carr said rising private sector unemployment was a force behind the increase in military recruitment but was not the only factor that “allowed us to be, for much of the year, in a very favorable position.”

    Curtis Gilroy, a senior Pentagon official, said a 10 percent increase in the national unemployment rate generally translates into a 4 percent to 6 percent “improvement in high-quality Army enlistments.”

    Recruitment does not come cheap. On average, the military spends between $9,000 and $10,000 per recruit, a figure that includes the high cost of advertising and of employing thousands of recruiters across the country, Carr said.

    The Army spends far more, about $22,000 per recruit.

    (Reporting by Adam Entous; Editing by Bill Trott)

    This will not work for Barry, for unlike 1979, the Air Force had plenty of room for me. The US military was huge and (under Reagan a few years later) set to get even larger.

    But Barry hates the military and despises its very charter. Therefore, he will slam the door and micromanage recruitment counts and offer up an “instead” deal, where young men and women can “sign up” for an alternative idea….serving the presidents little brownshirt army. When they sign the contract, they will get food, lodging, even education bennies, provided they attend some lefty loony school and get a degree in “community organizing” or something similar.

    And besides, military member numbers are capped by federal law (Thank you Monsieurs Graham, Rudman and Hollings) which was found unconstitutional and in its re-worked form resulted in the most massive military drawdown since the years after WWII.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.....Budget_Act

    Indeed, I think ol’ nappy-head himself was waiting to hear about this so he can cap military recruitment numbers even more and get all those kids who want to work….to work for HIM.

    Of course, that’s all illegal….but that hasn’t stopped him so far. He’ll say, “Look, I’m offering a chance for young people to make this a better country…instead of going to another country and killing people.”

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32. Rusty Shackleford

    October 14, 2009 at 1:07 am

    The AP reminds us, once again, that everything Bush did was bad:

    Obama EPA releases Bush-era global warming finding

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_.....DMQ–

    By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer Dina Cappiello, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 59 mins ago

    WASHINGTON – A controversial e-mail message buried by the Bush administration because of its conclusions on global warming surfaced Tuesday, nearly two years after it was first sent to the White House and never opened.

    Actually, not so much “controversial” as it is a piece of thread or lint hanging off an unused sock.

    The e-mail and the 28-page document attached to it, released Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency, show that back in December of 2007 the agency concluded that six gases linked to global warming pose dangers to public welfare, and wanted to take steps to regulate their release from automobiles and the burning of gasoline.

    The document specifically cites global warming’s effects on air quality, agriculture, forestry, water resources and coastal areas as endangering public welfare.

    Which, we have also been learning, is based on junk science.

    That finding was rejected by the Bush White House, which strongly opposed using the Clean Air Act to address climate change and stalled on producing a so-called “endangerment finding” that had been ordered by the Supreme Court in 2007.

    As a result, the Dec. 5 e-mail sent by the agency to Susan Dudley, who headed the regulatory division at the Office of Management and Budget was never opened, according to Jason Burnett, the former EPA official that wrote it.

    The Bush administration, and then EPA administrator Stephen Johnson, also refused to release the document, which is labeled “deliberative, do not distribute” to Democratic lawmakers. The White House instead allowed three senators to review it in July 2008, when excerpts were released.

    The Obama administration in April made a similar determination, but also concluded that greenhouse gases endanger public health. The EPA is currently drafting the first greenhouse gas standards for automobiles, and recently signaled it would attempt to reduce climate-altering pollution from refineries, factories and other large industrial sources.

    Which, of course will do nothing more than cost taxpayers a lot of money over time. Which is the plan all along.

    In response, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Republican lawmakers have criticized the EPA’s reasoning and called for a more thorough vetting of the science. An internal review by a dozen federal agencies released in May also raised questions about the EPA’s conclusion, saying the agency could have been more balanced and raising questions about the difficulty in linking global warming to health effects.

    The agency released the e-mail and documents after receiving requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

    Adora Andy, a spokeswoman for EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, said Tuesday that the draft shows the science in 2007 was as clear as it is today.

    (A masterstroke of understatement)

    “The conclusions reached then by the EPA scientists should have been made public and should have been considered,” she said.

    Could it be that the document was based on bad science to begin with, as we are repeatedly finding out lately?

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33. canary

    October 14, 2009 at 3:17 am

    Rusty, this will scare you. This is Rahm Emanuel and Obama interviews and speech that 18-25 will have to do 3 monthes of basic training for the National Guard. Rahm Emanuel has admitted to this in severl interviews.
    What right does Obama who never served in the military, dislikes the military (just as his mother taught him) to tell our citizens what do to.

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

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    • BillK

      October 14, 2009 at 2:31 pm

      In liberal-speak, “draft” becomes “mandatory community service.”

      Same thing.
34. proreason

    October 14, 2009 at 11:57 am

    MOST AWESOME Health Care statements of all time.

    Robert Reich tells the truth about Liberal plans for health care. Via American Thinker, Mr. Reich says what an “honest” Presidential candidate would say in a democracy with educated citizens.

    Key points:
    1. We have the only system that is organized to avoid sick people (note from Proreason: this is a lie. In America sick people live longer than in any other country.)
    2. Young healthly people will have to pay more than today.
    2. We will let old people die. It’s too expensive to keep them alive.
    3. We will squeeze drug companies, which means innovation will die, and longevity will NOT continue to increase.

    Seriously. He said all of that very clearly Sept 27, 2009. Listen to the clip.

    http://www.americanthinker.com.....nesty.html

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35. canary

    October 14, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    ACORN will start recieving funding again after Oct 31, 2009.
    In just 1 year’s time Federal Government presently owns %30 of private business — Oct 14, 2009

    Glenn Beck talks with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (excerpted)

    GLENN: My researchers say it’s never been done before. They are voting on a red line piece of paper, something that is all marked up.

    CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: It not one word of a law has been written yet and these people took a vote on a bill that hasn’t been written. What’s worse is the federal government estimated how much this bill would cost. You can’t estimate how much it’s going to cost if you don’t have words on a sheet of paper telling you this is the actual bill language. One word can make all the difference in the bill, and they don’t have one word written of an actual legislative language.

    CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: … one way the banks could satisfy their requirement under the Community Reinvestment Act is they could partner with ACORN. So a bank could either make a cash donation to ACORN, they could give equipment donations or they could work with ACORN to provide these loans to people who are poor credit risks. One bank that did that was the Citizens Bank of Massachusetts. They put it in a partnership with ACORN. Minnesota Bank, Northeast Bank of Minnesota donated $2,000 to ACORN. New York Bank. We’ll put all of this information up on our website at MicheleBachmann.com.

    Community Reinvestment Act rating, because you have to get a certain score, one way you could satisfy your score, give money to ACORN. Work with ACORN. You work with ACORN, you’re good with us, says the federal government.

    GLENN: Are there banks in other states that have done this?

    CONGRESSWOMAN BACHMANN: Oh, yes, there are.
    Call your senator and tell them, don’t have the government take over healthcare, and would you please defund ACORN? Because this is another lie. ACORN has only been defunded until October 31st.

    When it’s Halloween and kids are out trick or treating.
    The biggest trick is going to be played on the American people. When the clock strikes midnight, Glenn, on October 31st, the spigot turns back on for federal money flowing to ACORN. They were only defunded to this month. It’s a huge CYA move on the part of congress
    That’s why Speaker Pelosi has made me her number one target to defeat next year.

    And in one year’s time… we’ve seen the federal government take over 30% of all private wealth produced in this country. One year ago 100% of private business profits were private. Today 30% of private business profits are owned or controlled by the federal government.

    If the federal government lays claim to the private wealth produced in healthcare, Glenn, that’s another 18%, or 48% of the private wealth. And if they lay claim through cap and trade, what Lindsey Graham is getting on board with, that’s another 8%, or 56% of the private wealth produced in this country..
    So just those two programs, the climate bill and the healthcare reform, which is another 18%, or another 26%?

    http://www.glennbeck.com/conte.....196/31898/

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36. sheehanjihad

    October 14, 2009 at 6:24 pm

    We’re from the government, and we are here to help. Just a little diddy about how the government octopus is strangling the private sector yet again….and on it goes.

    http://healthcare.nationalrevi.....TljOWZlNWQ

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37. caligirl9

    October 15, 2009 at 1:16 am

    So let’s give ‘em another chance to mature from “minor crimes” to “major crimes.” From the LA Times

    Tougher rules on policing illegal immigrants

    Local agencies helping with deportations must keep their focus on major crimes.

    Reporting from Raleigh, N.C. – Luz Maria Diaz knew what happened to illegal immigrants at the Wake County jail. But her teenage daughters didn’t.

    So when the girls were arrested after fighting on their high school campus in September, they freely admitted that they were born in Mexico. Detention officers at the jail checked their immigration status and promptly handed them over to federal authorities.

    Now Diana, 16, and her sister, Yolanda, 18, are battling to stay in the country.

    “I never thought this could happen . . . for a simple fight,” their mother said. “I was in shock.”

    The Wake County Sheriff’s Department is one of eight local law enforcement agencies in North Carolina and 66 across the nation authorized by the federal government to identify illegal immigrants and process them for possible deportation under a program known as 287(g). Virginia is the only other state with more participating agencies. There are four such agreements in California, including one with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

    Immigrant advocates and some lawmakers have been highly critical of the program because of reports of racial profiling and civil rights violations. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has called for an end to the program.

    Responding to concerns, the Obama administration announced in July that participating agencies would be subject to federal supervision and required to focus their efforts primarily on serious and violent criminals. Police agencies must sign new agreements by today. Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials are still in negotiations but expect to continue immigration screening in the jails.

    If police agencies fail to follow the new rules, they risk losing their enforcement authority, said Alonzo Pena, deputy assistant secretary at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    One high-profile participant, Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, who is being investigated by the Department of Justice, said last week that federal authorities are stripping him of his authority to make immigration arrests on the streets.

    Diaz led her daughters across the border more than 10 years ago to seek a better life for them. If her daughters are ordered deported to Mexico, Diaz, 35, said, the whole family — including her U.S.-born son — will go too. She can’t imagine sending her daughters alone to Mexico, a country they don’t really know.

    Yolanda Diaz, who was arrested on a charge of simple assault, said the arrest has dashed her plans of going to college in the United States. Her sister, Diana, arrested on a disorderly conduct charge, said she just wants to graduate from her high school…

    http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....full.story

    Deport ‘em all. They didn’t have the brains to be law-abiding (except for their document problem, that is) so send ‘em back to where they came from. Why is it that a person here on a green card can face deportation for an arrest and an illegal gets a pass?

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38. BillK

    October 15, 2009 at 9:19 am

    This is how the ultra far-left Madison, WI Capital Times sees a state effort to keep jobs in Wisconsin:

    Mercury Marine deal called taxpayer giveaway

    By Mike Ivey

    The deal to keep boat motor maker Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac always smelled a little fishy, so to speak, and a new report from a Milwaukee-based group basically confirms it.

    The corporation pressured workers in Fond du Lac to accept large concessions and got local taxpayers to dole out $53 million in incentives — all the while it hasn’t paid a dime in state income taxes since 2000.

    Jack Norman, Research Director at the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future, released a report this week titled “The Twisted Saga of Mercury Marine.”

    The report provides new information about Mercury Marine and its parent company, Brunswick Corp., which helps explain how the firm basically blackmailed its employees and taxpayers by threatening to leave the state.

    In addition, Norman released previously undisclosed information on Mercury Marine’s tax history in Wisconsin showing it hasn’t paid income tax here since 2000.

    According to the report, the key player was Illinois-based Brunswick Corporation, which took over Mercury Marine in 1961. Brunswick had been in a financial meltdown since CEO Dustan McCoy became head of the firm in December 2005.

    Since then, the report notes, Brunswick has shed 5,300 jobs with those remaining facing pay and benefit cuts. Shareholders have lost 70 percent of their stock value while white-collar managers claim they were betrayed by the company.

    Norman says the only people protected from loss have been the decision-makers at the very top of the Brunswick hierarchy: CEO McCoy collected over $10 million in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and his five senior Board members received an average of $506,000 each during this same time period, the report says. …

    http://host.madison.com/ct/bus.....03286.html

    Let’s see:

    Blame executives. Check.

    Call threatening to move to a more business-favorable area “blackmail.” Check.

    Look upon tax breaks as “stealing” from the state. Check.

    The template works so well, why would the left ever give it up?

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39. canary

    October 15, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    California Physicians Sue To Ease Doctor Shortage
    CMA claims medical board furloughs are delaying physician licensing
    By James Limbach ConsumerAffairs.com October 14, 2009

    The California Medical Association has filed suit in state Superior Court seeking to end furloughs for the staff of the California Medical Board, which CMA says is backlogged with physician license applications and other important administrative work affecting the quality and accessibility of medical care.

    “There is already a physician shortage in California,” said Dr. Dev GnanaDev, CMA president. “Because the Medical Board cannot keep up with current licensing demand, communities lacking access to health care will have to wait even longer to attract new physicians. The consequences of the furloughs and transfer of Medical Board funds to the state’s General Fund harm all Californians.”

    The lawsuit claims the governor’s furlough order is illegal for the Medical Board’s staff because the Medical Board is funded by physician fees. It also challenges the state moving $6 million of the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board into the state’s General Fund.

    Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs.com.....z0U2HvJLPx

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40. Rusty Shackleford

    October 15, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    Interesting trip taken by Obama, but not for the reasons in the headline.

    The AP “reports”:

    Obama defends himself against New Orleans critics

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....ew_orleans

    By EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press Writer – 28 mins ago

    NEW ORLEANS – President Barack Obama defended himself Thursday against complaints from residents of New Orleans and the rest of the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast who feel recovery help has not come soon enough from his administration.

    Making his first stop as president in the region devastated by Hurricane Katrina more than four years ago, Obama appeared at a town hall gathering to hear residents’ concerns in person. One man asked why federal damage reimbursements are coming so slowly and in amounts far less than needed.

    “I expected as much from the Bush administration, but why are we still being nickeled and dimed in our recovery?” the man said.

    Yes, the obligatory blame Bush remark. Must keep that in the public focus. After all, Obama is going to make it all good.

    The president replied that his administration was “working as hard as we can, as quickly as we can.”

    Now, remember, in the Baracktionary, that means, “We will go as slowly as we need to in order to keep you hating republicans as long as I feel is necessary”

    “I know since a lot of these problems have been going on since Katrina, people understandably feel impatient,” Obama said, addressing hundreds of people who won tickets in an Internet lottery to attend.“On the other hand, a lot of these things are not going to be fixed tomorrow.”

    Oops, did I read that right? “people who won tickets in an internet lottery to attend”? That would mean that those who got tickets had to have computers..and if they had computers, had an internet account of some kind..and if they had an internet account of some kind, had money to pay bills. So…they are already in much better state than most of the others who are living in squalor and who would REALLY like to ax da pezzidint some questions. They probably had no idea he was coming to NO.

    And the real reason for stopping off at NO:

    Some residents have criticized Obama for making such a brief visit — he was expected to be in and out of the city in just a few hours to fly to a Democratic Party fundraiser in San Francisco. People in Mississippi, which saw much of its coast pummeled to sticks by Katrina, were miffed that the president was skipping them altogether.

    And, later on in the article:

    The storm killed some 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi — and damage has been estimated at roughly $40 billion. The damage is still starkly visible in New Orleans, in the blighted neighborhoods of creaky houses, boarded-up businesses, structure after structure awaiting demolition and critical recovery work not yet commenced.

    “I promise you this … we will not forget about New Orleans. We are going to keep on working. We will not forget about the Gulf Coast,” Obama said.

    Promises, promises. NO was forgotten the second he sat down in AF Uno and lit up another KOOL Menthol.

    And a real money shot from a fourth grader:

    The White House had scheduled the town hall so Obama could field residents’ concerns. However, of the half-dozen questions he took, only two were directly related to the storm. Others touched on Social Security, health care, climate, education and even, from a fourth-grade boy, the president’s approval ratings. “Why does everyone hate you?” the boy asked.

    Yes, Mr President, why DOES everyone hate you?

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    • canary

      October 15, 2009 at 10:22 pm

      As a candidate, Obama criticized former President George W. Bush’s response to Katrina, when the government showed up late

      “I wish I could write a blank check,” Obama replied, promoting Bordenave to shout back, “Why not?”

      Obama claimed… FEMA is working “around the clock to clear up red tape and to eliminate bureaucracy on backlogs that go back years,” he said.

      Obama said, adding later: “I’m just getting started. I’m not tired.”

      Obama spent fewer than four hours in New Orleans before heading to San Francisco for a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

      The brief visit brought some criticism, but New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin defended the president.

      “People say he’s going to be here a short little time, that’s true,” Nagin said. “Don’t be fooled. This administration is focused on New Orleans.”

      http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....kcw–

      Obama admits he’s just getting started, but still blames Bush. Don’t worry Nagin, were not fooled.
    • Rusty Shackleford

      October 16, 2009 at 12:40 am

      What I’ve been able to discern recently is that the reason for the internet lottery for attendees was twofold. One, to screen those who appeared so there’d be no anti-Obama-ism and two, to screen questions and have ready-made answers to those questions so that he appeared more impromptu without his beloved teleprompter. All carefully scripted, choreographed and rehearsed. Therefore, also the short appearance time. Even the “antagonistic” questions were strategically placed, I’m sure, to increase the dramatic effect.

      His handlers have done him well. By carefully limiting his exposure and keeping him “on script” he looks more in-charge. Hitler was advised similarly…after a few public appearance disasters. However, they can’t plan for all eventualities.

      If history repeats itself, I can only hope that barry becomes a hopeless drug addict, etc. (emphasis on the etc. meaning the ultimate demise in the bunker)
41. canary

    October 15, 2009 at 11:09 pm

    Bloomberg Press: Obama Becomes Target as Afghan Troop Review Continues (Update1)
    By Viola Gienger and Edwin Chen

    Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama’s methodical review of Afghanistan war strategy has made him the target of criticism….

    The president, a former law instructor, poses rigorous questions and encourages robust arguments at the sessions, senior adviser David Axelrod said.

    “This is a ferociously difficult issue, and it bears a lot of thought and reflection and review,” Axelrod said in an interview. “Every assumption needs to be tested.”

    The measured approach holds advantages and risks. Obama’s advisers say it will help convince a war-weary public to support his ultimate decision.

    “It is unfair to our forces in theater to fight a war while the strategy remains in limbo,” Representative Howard “Buck” McKeon of California

    Afghanistan’s ambassador to Washington, Said Jawad, says more forces are necessary now because the U.S. and its allies didn’t commit enough at the start and lost ground. Afghan troops “are dying every day,” he said.

    Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, said an American public that has grown “exhausted from this war” will appreciate Obama’s approach to the “significant decisions that need to be made.”

    “They will have a high degree of confidence that the process that led to those decisions was one that was deliberative, that wasn’t in response to any political pressure, but was made on the merits,” Dunn said

    Frederick Kagan, a military historian at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, disputed that view. He said uncertainty about U.S. policy may undermine backing for Obama’s ultimate decision.

    “From the standpoint of rallying public support, the delay in making a decision has been harmful,” said Kagan, who helped McChrystal prepare his Aug. 30 assessment of the Afghan security situation.

    Obama told reporters this week that he’s leading a “deliberate process,” assessing civilian, agricultural and educational issues in addition to military needs. He said decisions may be weeks away.

    To contact the reporters on this story: Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net; Edwin Chen in Washington at echen32@bloomberg.net.
    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/.....gcoMv2GLbk

    Axel and Dunn have flipped their wigs. Obama just signed a bill for 7.5 billion dollars to Pakistan for innocent civilians. New Orleans might be offended.

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    • proreason

      October 15, 2009 at 11:13 pm

      what an idiot
42. canary

    October 16, 2009 at 4:43 am

    Glenn Beck: exclusive video of Anita Dunn telling high school students that Nao Tse Tung is her hero and mentor she always looks up to. May 2009. Count down to approx 5 minutes on video if you don’t have time to watch from beginning.

    Anita Dunn: The 3rd lesson and tip actually come from two of MY FAVORITE POLITICAL PHILOSPHERS MAO TSE TUNG & Mother Teresa; not often coupled with each other. (high schoolers giggle)

    but, the two people that I TURN TO MOST deliver a simple point which is you’re going to make choices. You’re going to challenge. You’re going to say why not. You’re going to figure out how to do things that have never been done before. But, here’s the deal, they are your choices. They are no one elses.

    In 1947 when MAO TSE TUNG was being challenged within his own party on
    HIS PLAN TO TAKE CHINA OVER, Chiang Kai-Shek and the nationalist Chinese held the cities. They had the Army. They had the Air Force. They had everything on their side

    and people said “How can you win.” “How can you do this.” “How can you do this.”
    “Against all of the odds against you.” and
    MAO TSE TUNG said “You fight your war, and I’ll fight mine”"

    Anita Dunn goes on repeatedly telling the high schoolers to fight the war, take a different path, fight your own way, fight your own war, figure out what’s right for you, fight to be unique, then Anita Dunn straight to giving the Obama’s an example to follow quote:

    “One of the things we see..um..the Obamas, Michelle and Barrack came out of back
    grounds of community orgainizers…”

    http://www.foxnews.com/glennbeck/index.html

    Anita Dunn worships a communist who murdered more people in the 20th century than anyone else. 70,000,000 million Chinese murdered.

    Now her quotes over Obama’s lack of focusing on the war have greater meaning.

    Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, said an American public that has grown “exhausted from this war” will appreciate Obama’s approach to the “significant decisions that need to be made.”

    “They will have a high degree of confidence that the process that led to those decisions was one that was deliberative, that wasn’t in response to any political pressure, but was made on the merits,” Dunn said

    The Washington Post gave Anita Dunn an article on their “Style” front page, ironically with a ninja dressed scary looking guy. I guess Anita is fashionable.

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    • canary

      October 16, 2009 at 5:19 am

      What I’m trying to say is why does the entire Obama clan, CZARs and all who worship communists that kill civilians, all of a sudden worried about Afganistan and Pakistan civilians who blow up our troops and other civilians in mosques.

      General McChrysal who sits behind a desk, should be protecting and standing up for our troops, and tell Obama the heck with rebuilding, educating, barbaric countries. Our priority for our troops should be killing the terrorists only. Our soldiers need to survive, not be trying to make friends with barbarians and civilians that are killing them.
43. BillK

    October 16, 2009 at 8:28 am

    Just kids being kids, right?

    From the Associated Press:

    Mom of Florida Teen Set on Fire Says Ordeal ‘Complete Nightmare’

    MIAMI — The mother of a 15-year-old doused with rubbing alcohol and set on fire called the attack a nightmare on Thursday, but said her son was strong and would pull through despite the burns over much of his body.

    Valerie Brewer told NBC’s “Today” show and ABC’s “Good Morning America” that her son, Michael Brewer, couldn’t talk but was communicating with her by motioning with his hands.

    “It’s a complete nightmare,” she said.

    Michael Brewer was attacked at a Deerfield Beach apartment complex in South Florida on Monday after turning in another teen for trying to steal his father’s bicycle, authorities said.

    The teen was expected to remain hospitalized for several months and is at extremely high risk of infection and organ failure, but he is doing as well as can be expected, his doctor said. Valerie Brewer praised the staff at Jackson Memorial Ryder Trauma Center.

    Dr. Nicholas Namias said the teen suffered burns on his torso and arms and most of his hair, but his face was not badly burned.

    Brewer’s troubles started when one of the teens gave him a video game and expected $40, said Broward County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jim Leljedal. Brewer never paid for the game, which authorities would not identify, so the other teen tried to steal a $500 custom bike that belonged to Brewer’s father, Leljedal said. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,566803,00.html

    Here’s the key; look at the ages of those involved. All under 16, so they’ll spend time in juvenile hall at best then have their records “expunged” for good behavior:

    Five teenagers — 15-year-olds Matthew Bent, Denver Jarvis, Steven Shelton and Jesus Mendez and 13-year-old Jeremy Jarvis — were charged with aggravated battery in the attack. Mendez also was charged with attempted second-degree murder because authorities say he flicked the lighter.

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44. BillK

    October 16, 2009 at 8:32 am

    From an overjoyed Associated Press:

    Baucus: All Senate Dems Will Support Health Bill

    WASHINGTON — When it comes time to vote, every Democrat in the Senate — and perhaps more than one Republican — will support legislation overhauling the nation’s health care system, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee predicted Thursday.

    That assertion by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., was a notable show of confidence coming in the midst of negotiations with Majority Leader Harry Reid and White House officials to finalize legislation that can satisfy liberal Democrats without alienating moderates — and get the 60 votes needed to advance in the 100-seat Senate.

    Baucus told reporters that lawmakers have a moral obligation to repair the health care system to rein in costs and extend coverage to millions of the uninsured.

    “And that is why we are going to pass health care reform legislation this year, and it is why every Democrat will vote for it, and it is why there will be at least one Republican and maybe a couple more who also will vote for it,” Baucus said.

    “Every Democrat will vote for national health care reform,” Baucus emphasized.

    Democrats control 60 Senate votes, but that includes two independents, and leaders have been uncertain of support from a number of moderates who’ve expressed concerns about the price tag of health care legislation and the government’s role in a remade system.

    Baucus’ prediction followed approval by his committee earlier this week of a 10-year, $829 billion bill that makes numerous changes to the health care system along the lines sought by President Barack Obama, but taking a more centrist approach than the other four health care bills approved by House and Senate committees.

    Baucus and Reid met Thursday with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and other officials wrestling to merge the Finance bill with a more liberal version passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

    Reid later held out hope of getting support from more Republicans than just Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who was the lone GOP “yes” vote in the Finance Committee.

    Unanswered is whether Reid will include provisions in the bill to allow the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry. That so-called public plan is supported by liberals, who spoke up in favor of it at a closed-door Senate Democratic caucus meeting Thursday.

    But because of opposition from moderate Senate Democrats, any public plan Reid does include likely would be some type of compromise, such as leaving the decision on a public plan to states or offering public coverage only as a backstop in areas where one insurer has a lock on the market — the approach favored by Snowe.

    Reid said, “We’re going to work very hard … to see what, if anything, we’re going to do” on a government plan.

    “I favor a public option. Everyone knows that,” Reid added.

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., mounted a strong defense of a public plan at a news conference, contending that recent attacks from the health insurance industry should dispel any doubts about the need for it.

    “Our House bill will have a public option,” Pelosi declared. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....rt-health/

    Protests aside, was there ever any serious doubt the Democrats would pass this?

    There never should have been.

    Thank you Olympia Snowe and likely Susan Collins, for providing the media with their vaunted “bipartisanship” in destroying America’s health care system, something for which their Maine constituents will likely reelect them by landslides.

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45. BillK

    October 16, 2009 at 9:00 am

    Yet another “We the Sheeple” story from Atlanta’s Fox station:

    Bank Manager Pulls Gun on Armed Robber

    GRIFFIN, Ga. (MyFOX ATLANTA) – A former bank manager said Thursday that a life or death decision got him fired. The manager said he pulled a gun on a bank robber and fired shots at him, forcing the robber to flee. Police credited the manager’s actions to the arrest of the suspect William Hunt.

    Wesley Hallman said it was common knowledge that he carried a pistol. The former manger said he felt safer with the gun when he opened the bank.

    Hallman said when he saw a would-be robber holding a gun in an employee’s face, he challenged the man with his gun.

    The robber turned, so Hallman said he fired a shot. The robber fired a shot, ran and then fired two more shots

    Hallman said he was called into the bank the next day and fired. …

    http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dp.....ber_100809

    For some reason we are seeing these stories with increased frequency of late.

    I’m sure the bad guys love to know that because of company policy, none of the employees in any of those businesses can fight back.

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46. BillK

    October 16, 2009 at 9:08 am

    Want to get away with a crime in Las Vegas, Dallas or Illinois? Drive fast.

    From the Las Vegas Review Journal:

    THE BIG STORY: Police departments consider speed limits, other driving rules for officers

    By Brian Haynes

    Lights flashing and sirens blaring.

    Speeding past other cars and rushing through intersections.

    Someone needs help. A bad guy needs to be caught.

    Racing to a call as fast as possible has become an accepted part of being a cop.

    But as deadly crashes involving speeding police cars mount, more agencies, including the Metropolitan Police Department, are considering speed limits and other measures to make sure their officers get to their destinations safely.

    “The most danger officers face today is not guns. It’s not violence. It’s speed and intersections. That’s what’s killing America’s finest today,” said Tulsa, Okla., police Capt. Travis Yates, an emergency driving instructor and owner of the policedriving.com Web site. …

    http://www.lvrj.com/news/polic.....55302.html

    But the meat of the article is here:

    As part of the driving policy review, Gillespie’s department has talked to both Dallas and Illinois State police about their new policies.

    Dallas revamped its policy last October after one of its officers struck and killed a 10-year-old boy on a darkened road. The officer, who was responding to a report of a man with a gun, was driving at least 29 mph over the 40 mph speed limit without his car’s lights and sirens on

    The agency’s new policy generally prohibits officers from driving more than 20 mph over the speed limit on major roads and highways, even with lights and sirens on. In school zones and residential neighborhoods, officers must obey the speed limit at all times.

    The Illinois State Police changed its policy in November, one year after one of its troopers crossed the median on an interstate and crashed into an oncoming car, killing two teenage sisters.

    The trooper was traveling 126 mph in his police cruiser on the way to an accident scene that had already been resolved. He was reportedly multitasking, talking on a cell phone and a shoulder radio at the same time.

    The state police’s new policy created a four-tier system for how officers can respond to calls, including how fast they can drive and when they can use lights and sirens. Under the policy, troopers must notify supervisors if they intend to drive more than 20 mph over the speed limit, and supervisors must monitor the incident and intervene if necessary.

    In a news release announcing the changes, Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said he hoped the policy would become a model for other emergency service agencies.

    Note how hilarious the Dallas policy is, given in most metropolitan areas the flow of traffic on Interstates regularly exceeds 20 MPH over the posted speed limit, something that is especially true in Texas.

    So, want to get away from the Dallas PD?

    Just drive 85 on freeways or 45 on residential streets and you can’t be touched.

    (Radio? Do you think they can read your license plate when you’re going 20 MPH faster than them?)

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47. nuthingbettertodo

    October 16, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    Fourth grader to Obama: ‘Why does everyone hate you?’

    http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/u.....p;src=news

    Discuss.

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48. BannedbytheTaliban

    October 16, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    From the BBC:

    Democracy ‘not needed’ in Russia

    A growing number of Russians believe their country does not need democracy, a nationwide survey by one of Russia’s leading polling agencies suggests.

    The poll by the Levada-Centre showed that 57% of those questioned considered that Russia needed democracy – the lowest number since 2006.

    It said 26% believed that democratic governing was not suitable for Russia.

    Nearly 95% of respondents said they had little or no influence on what was happening in the country.

    …And nearly 25% said the Soviet Union had a better political system that the current Russian model (36%) or that in Western countries (15%).

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8311189.stm

    As Steve noted the other day, Aristotle may have been right when he said some people are “natural slaves.”

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49. proreason

    October 16, 2009 at 10:56 pm

    See the entire Beck show (without commercials) on the internet daily after about 7 pm.

    http://www.glennbeckclips.com/

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