Wednesday, March 31, 2010

UN: Afghanistan Is Leading Hashish Producer

UN: Afghanistan Is Leading Hashish Producer

What are we fighting for again in Afghanistan?

Afghanistan is not only the world's largest supplier of opium, it also is the global leader in hashish production, the United Nations said Wednesday.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said it estimates that 10,000 to 24,000 hectares (24,700 to 59,300 acres) of cannabis are grown in Afghanistan every year and that this is used to make an estimated 1,500 to 3,500 tons of hashish annually.

"While other countries have even larger cannabis cultivation, the astonishing yield of the Afghan cannabis crop ... makes Afghanistan the world's biggest producer of hashish," UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa said in a statement.

'RapeLay' video game goes viral amid outrage

'RapeLay' video game goes viral amid outrage

This sickness comes from Japan...not the U.S. Sickness in entertainment is everywhere.

The game begins with a teenage girl on a subway platform. She notices you are looking at her and asks, "Can I help you with something?"

That is when you, the player, can choose your method of assault.

With the click of your mouse, you can grope her and lift her skirt. Then you can follow her aboard the train, assaulting her sister and her mother.

As you continue to play, "friends" join in and in a series of graphic, interactive scenes, you can corner the women, rape them again and again.

The game allows you to even impregnate a girl and urge her to have an abortion. The reason behind your assault, explains the game, is that the teenage girl has accused you of molesting her on the train. The motive is revenge.

Police: NJ teen sold stepsister, 7, for party sex

Police: NJ teen sold stepsister, 7, for party sex

What is going on this country? Where were the parents in all this? What would make these men stupid enough to want to do something like this? And think that they wouldn't be caught. Or did they care? What a sick society we live in.

Police in New Jersey's capital city have arrested a 15-year-old girl they say prostituted herself and her 7-year-old stepsister to have sex with as many as seven men and boys at a weekend party near their home in a crime-plagued neighborhood.

Trenton police Capt. Joseph Juniak said Wednesday that the older girl started by taking money to have sex with several men at the party in a high-rise apartment. The teen then gave some of the money she had collected to the younger girl to let the men start touching her, Juniak said.

Republicans Have the Most Sex Scandals

This article from the Daily Beast documents what many of us suspected: both parties are equally perverted. The point here is that Republicans are hypocritical when it comes to morality. Many of these Republicans caught in sex scandals were fond of talking family and God. They would regularly decry the moral depravity of Democrats, Hollywood, and the Hippies. It turns out they are the most sexual perverted (with the exception of Bill Clinton). How ironic. Liberals are supposed to be more promiscuous. And let's not forget how many Republicans/Conservatives denounced Bill Clinton's adulterous behavior:

With every other issue devolving into partisan finger-pointing, The Daily Beast thought it would use two decades of cold, hard data and rational methodology to answer the question everyone in Washington wants to know: Which party has more problems with sex scandals?

After studying the 58 scandals over the past 20 years involving all politicians or major candidates for city mayor and above—many involved crimes, others just allegations, but all wound up as tabloid fodder—some conclusions can be reached.

• The number sex scandals has increased dramatically over the past few decades, thanks to technology, new press standards and a post-Clinton belief that everything is fair game.

• Republicans have more scandals (32 to 26), but Democrats have bigger ones, based on our methodology (13 out of the top 20).

• Democrats tend to have more problems with harassment, staffers and underage girls; Republicans tend to have more problems with prostitutes, hypocrisy and underage boys.

'Hardball' Transcript: 3-30-10

Read the complete transcript of Chris Matthews' 'Hardball' program for March 30th.

BLACKWELL: Look, no. I am the co-chairman of the RNC`s redistricting committee. My job is to work with John Ryder, the chairman, to make sure that we`re in a position of keeping the pens that will draw the maps of the congressional district in our party`s hands for competitive advantage. Pure and simple. That is a full -- that is a full plate.

You asked me a question as someone that is intricately involved in the party, and I gave you an honest answer. We must make sure that we are not distracted from the business at hand and the charge of the Republican National Committee.

MATTHEWS: Right. Is Michael Steele a distraction?

BLACKWELL: I can tell you what is a distraction -- having to explain these weird expenditures, having to explain that we are not high rollers and high flyers and duplicitous leaders. That is a distraction, and it is Michael`s responsibility to make sure that we do away with those distractions, and we do away with incompetence, and we do away with those who would spend money unwisely. That`s what we need to take a step forward (ph).

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Bob Woodward of the Watergate fame once said, "follow the money." Let`s follow the money. He started with $22 million at the RNC. He has got $9 million now, so that`s down about 10. Big problem. It`s not that just he`s down around 10. He brought in 96 during that period, so he lost $106 million that have gone out the door, have been burned in the last year because it has been spent--

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Chris, Chris --

MATTHEWS: Has it been spent wisely?

BLACKWELL: Chris, let`s go back to what you said just in your last segment. The fact of the matter is, is that success has a thousand fathers. So I`m sure that Michael will take credit for Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, at least part credit. So as a consequence, there has been success.

The RNC is not a bank. We have to spend money in order to win elections. The question is, how are we spending the money? That`s why this is such a distraction. Because, one, there`s no way that you can explain that a stripper club expenditure is help building a grassroot organization in any county in the country.

MATTHEWS: Do you understand the responsibilities as the RNC chairman, is it to make sure -- does he have a fiduciary responsibility? In other words, if somebody writes a check and turns it in and says, I just paid $2,000 to go to the Voyeur Club in L.A. where they have bondage and S&M and all that stuff going on, is it the chairman`s responsibility to have people in place who will see that bill and say, no way in hell should this RNC, should the donors that kick into this party have to pay for that? Is it his responsibility --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MATTHEWS: OK. So it`s Michael Steele`s responsibility to make sure this kind of (inaudible) doesn`t happen.

BLACKWELL: Look, but this --

MATTHEWS: Yes or no?

BLACKWELL: This is nothing -- Chris, can you hear? I said yes.

MATTHEWS: OK.

President Obama to modify drilling ban

Obama sells-out again. Another promise he has broken. Do you still think either party is going to do the right thing?

President Obama to modify drilling ban

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Second Radioactive Substance at Vermont Yankee

Second Radioactive Substance at Vermont Yankee

Test results have confirmed the presence of another, more dangerous, radioactive substance in the soil at Vermont's only nuclear power plant, officials said Tuesday, five days after announcing they had found and stopped tritium leaks at Vermont Yankee.

The state Health Department said Tuesday that cesium-137 was found at the site. The substance has a half-life of 30 years, about 2 1/2 times that of tritium, which was found in early January. A half-life is the time it can be expected to take for a substance to lose half its radioactivity. Unlike tritium, cesium-137 does not occur naturally in the environment; it is a product of nuclear fission.

Both radioactive substances can increase the chances of developing cancer depending on the intensity of exposure.

The presence of trace amounts of cesium-137 was first reported Feb. 24, but Vermont Yankee officials said it was ''consistent with what would be found in soil'' due to atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the 1950s and '60s and the accident at the Chernobyl reactor in the Soviet Union in 1986.

The Health Department statement on Tuesday said the cesium-137 found in the Vermont Yankee soil samples was three to 12 times as high as the background levels attributed to the other causes, meaning it ''appears likely the Cs-137 comes from Vermont Yankee reactor related sources.''

Video: Teens Charged with Bullying over Girl’s Suicide

It is time to deal with the serious problem among the young. Bullying has now spread from the schools to the Internet. The laws, and media attention, to catch up and start treating it as an important issue. Bullying can cause serious psychological damage, including suicide and other forms of violence (i.e.,school shootings):

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Video: Jon Stewart Mocks the Violent Reaction to Health Care Reform

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Health Care Slime Machine
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorHealth Care Reform

Monday, March 29, 2010

RNC spends nearly $2,000 at sex-themed Voyeur nightclub

Boy, what a mistake Michael Steele has been for the Republicans. He was hired just as window dressing, so they couldn't be considered a racist party. But it seems Steele, the Joe Biden of the Republican Party, takes his position a little too seriously. Apparently, the GOP doesn't want to get rid of this clown until after the elections in the Fall. If they removed him it would be an admission of making a mistake. And they stand to look like they hired Steele simply as window-dressing. They obviously didn't think this guy would be such a pr disaster.

In its February financial report filed with the Federal Election Commission, the RNC itemized its disbursements for the month, including:

$53.99 to Staples in Bismarck, N.D., for office supplies.

$123.17 to the Courtyard hotel in Lansing, Mich., for lodging.

$282.01 to Hertz in Dallas for car rental.

$1,946.25 to Voyeur in West Hollywood for, uh, meals.

Meals, huh? And quite a menu they have at Voyeur, according to write-ups in the Los Angeles Times about the new club:

"Impromptu bondage and S&M 'scenes' being played out on an elevated platform by scantily clad performers throughout the night."

Chairs "detailed with the metal hardware and bondage straps of leather fetishists. . . . One with a harness that designer Ted Nemeth calls the Restraint chair."

"One female performer with a horse's bit in her mouth was being strapped to the wall by another."

"The dark, leather-heavy interior is reminiscent of the masked orgy scene" from the movie "Eyes Wide Shut."

"There is also a heavy net suspended above the club's lounge area where performers writhe above the heads of club-goers. Even more provocative scenes are played out in an enclosed glass booth area adjacent to the club's dance floor area."

And Al Gore got in trouble for going to a Buddhist temple?

Now, it's true that Steele promised to reach out to young voters in "urban-suburban hip-hop settings." But for a political organization relying on a base of religious conservatives and family-values types, the Voyeur line item would seem to risk getting Republicans branded "the party of no-no." Tying up the Senate is one thing, but doing party business where women tie one another up is quite different.

Steele's foray into political masochism began when the Daily Caller noticed the Voyeur line item in the FEC report. Writing about the RNC chairman preference for private jets, the story noted: "Once on the ground, FEC filings suggest, Steele travels in style. A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,946.25 at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex."
...full article

Sunday, March 28, 2010

'60 Minutes' Video: The Persecution of Nada Prouty

Last night I watched the The Changeling. It's a movie about how those in power can wrongfully persecute the innocent to save face. Nada Prouty is a patriot who was wrongly persecuted by the U.S. government. She was made a scapegoat for a failed war on terror. You see, this government can't say they are failures. They see terrorists and spies everywhere. Prouty was a victim of a witch hunt. Since it is easier to punish one of our own, especially if they fit the profile. That's what they did with Bruce Ivins. The government couldn't find the Anthrax killers so they persecuted an innocent man until he committed suicide out of desperation. We see the same heavy hand at work in the case of Nada Prouty. She is a another convenient scapegoat for the failures of those who claim to want to protect us.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Transcript: 'Meet the Press' (3-28-10)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Unemployment Rate in Teens at "Crisis:" Expert

What do you think these teens will up doing? You can bet nothing good:

More than 1 million young adults have become so frustrated in their search for a job, that they’ve given up and left the labor force, according to published reports.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, 1.3 million workers ages 16 to 24 left the labor force since the recession hit in December 2007.

That's about 6 percent of them, and it's nearly 3 1/2 times the exodus rate of workers ages 25 to 54, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The unemployment rate for young adults is at a crisis rate according to Dean Baker, a co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a nonpartisan economic and social research center in Washington, D.C.
...full article

Video: 'Face The Nation' (3-28-10)

Senator Jim DeMint trashes the President: He is "mocking" the American people. Also, Michelle Bachman:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Transcript: Sarah Palin, John McCain Interview with Greta Van Susteren

This interview was in Keeping with FOXNews' custom of providing propaganda for the Republicans. Susteren serves them up:

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, you got there fast, Senator, because I just spotted you in the United States Senate not about 12 hours ago, so you move fast. So let's -- let me make the interview go fast, as well. Let me ask you the first question, Senator. If we -- we're 14 months into this new presidency. How would a Senator McCain/President McCain presidency with a Vice President Palin look different from what we're experiencing right now?

MCCAIN: Well, I think dramatically. And this president is governing from the left. It's a -enter right country. We would never own Chrysler, General Motors. We'd have never passed a $787 billion stimulus package. We certainly wouldn't have done this massive 2,730-page health care reform. It'd be just contrasting philosophies. And I'm sorry I was not able to do a better job, perhaps, in drawing that contrast because he was the most liberal senator in the United States Senate.

VAN SUSTEREN: Governor, how do you think that the presidency would look if the two of you had won and not the current administration? What would we be experiencing now?

PALIN: Senator McCain is a man of his word. And I think what we could have counted on and looked forward to was the transparency that John also talked about in the campaign that's so necessary in order to build more faith into our government. Constituents right now are feeling so disenfranchised and disenchanted because of the lack of transparency that the Obama administration has ushered in. John wouldn't have done that.

VAN SUSTEREN: Senator, one of the criticisms you've gotten over the years, and Governor Palin, as well, is from within your own party for reaching across the aisle. We got an enormous issue here in this country with the Democrats versus the Republicans here on Capitol Hill. What is the secret for bipartisanship? Had you -- had you won, would it be a different situation? And how do you know that?

MCCAIN: Well, I know that because I've worked with these people for years. And the fact is that you can have bipartisanship, as long as you don't betray principle. What the Obama administration is seeking is for Republicans to go along with his agenda. And obviously, they decided they didn't need bipartisanship. They just decided to ram things through, like the stimulus package and the omnibus bill and health care on a pure party- line basis.

I would have worked in a bipartisan fashion. You can as long as you preserve principle. Ronald Reagan was able to work with Tip O'Neill, a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, but he always adhered to his principles. And you can compromise on details, but you adhere to your principles.

PALIN: And Greta, this is another case to candidate Obama -- candidate Obama not having a track record at all of bipartisanship, whereas John McCain has that record. I have that record as governor of Alaska being able to reach across party lines and the aisle in order to do what was right for constituents. Candidate Obama didn't have the record. That's coming home to roost today with his lack of bipartisanship that's hurting our country.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, you know, it's sort of interesting -- and Senator, I'll throw this to you because you're the one who's up for reelection -- is that you get so much criticism within your party, or even someone within the Democratic Party when you do reach across the aisle. And yet now you're in sort of the awkward position of trying to -- you know, to get all those votes back for the very -- you know, for doing something that we ultimately want our leaders to do.

MCCAIN: The issue here in Arizona, Greta, is who's going to be most effective for Arizona? We have 40 percent of the homes underwater. We have probably one of the worst economies in the country. We have 17 percent real unemployment. What's on the minds of the voters in Arizona is jobs and jobs and jobs and the economy. That's what they want. That's what I'm working every day for. Of course, they're worried about national security and the men and women who are serving, and they're proud of having so many from Arizona and the military representation we have here. But it's jobs, jobs, jobs and the economy. That's what the people of Arizona want.

PALIN: And Greta, can I chime in on that, too? Just coming from a voter, the position that I'm in today, not holding any kind of elected office but as a voter -- you know what we say about bipartisanship in this atmosphere that we see right now in Washington, D.C.? We don't want our Republican -- our senators and our representatives to hold hands with the Democrats if the Democrats are going to keep growing government. And why - - why engage in bipartisanship there if the Democrats are doing the wrong thing? We want our Republicans to stand tall, stand strong for smaller, smarter government, for those principles that so many independents and those in the Republican Party have believed in all these years. We want them to stick with those principles.
...full show transcript

Transcript: 'This Week' Show (3-28-10)

Complete transcript. Excerpt below:

TAPPER: Good morning. I want to get to the president's big accomplishment in a second, but first, front-page headlines right now about Iran. What can you tell us about the reports that Iran is suspected of preparing to build two nuclear sites, defiantly against international law, and what is the Obama administration prepared to do about it?

JARRETT: Well, what I can tell you is what the president has said consistently, which is that we're going to continue to put pressure on Iran. The fact that the president and Russia are about to sign the START Treaty is a good sign that we're making cooperation and good progress with countries such as Russia. We're going to have a coalition that will really put pressure on Iran and try to stop them from doing what they're trying to do.

TAPPER: You're talking about we're going to have a coalition that will do that. The President Obama set a deadline for President Ahmadinejad of Iran of the end of 2009. We're now about a quarter of the way through 2010, still no major international cooperation putting pressure on Iran. You know a little bit about Iranian culture. Don't you think that this in some ways conveys weakness or the inability to rally international support?

JARRETT: Quite the contrary. In fact, over the last year, what we've seen, when the president came into office, there was a unified Iran. Now we're seeing a lot of divisions within the country, and we're seeing steady progress in terms of a world coalition that will put that pressure on Iran. So no, I think that we have a strong force in the making, and Iran will back down.

TAPPER: When are we going to see sanctions in the United Nations?

JARRETT: Well, we'll see. As I said, we have a START Treaty that's good progress. We have a number of countries, 44 countries coming to the United States at the request of the president to focus on nuclear proliferation, and as we begin to forge those relationships and they strengthen, that will enable us to put the pressure we believe is necessary on Iran.

TAPPER: OK. Turning to the president's big achievement of the last week, health care reform. Let me show you some numbers from today's Washington Post. Indicates that 50 percent of the American people oppose this new law; 46 percent support it. Those can't be numbers that you're happy about for the president's major domestic legislation.

White Men Shun Democrats

This explains why Republicans are using race (thinly disguised) as a political strategy. They believe that by attacking a black President that this will lead the way to the return to political ascendancy:

Millions of white men who voted for Barack Obama are walking away from the Democratic Party, and it appears increasingly likely that they'll take the midterms elections in November with them. Their departure could well lead to a GOP landslide on a scale not seen since 1994.

For more than three decades before the 2008 election, no Democratic president had won a majority of the electorate. In part, that was because of low support -- never more than 38 percent -- among white male voters. Things changed with Obama, who not only won a majority of all people voting, but also pulled in 41 percent of white male voters.

Polling suggests that the shift was not because of Obama but because of the financial meltdown that preceded the election. It was only after the economic collapse that Obama's white male support climbed above the 38 percent ceiling. It was also at that point that Obama first sustained a clear majority among all registered voters, according to the Gallup tracking poll.

It looked for a moment as though Democrats had finally reached the men of Bruce Springsteen's music, bringing them around to the progressive values Springsteen himself has long endorsed. But liberal analysts failed to understand that these new Democrats were still firmly rooted in American moderation.

Pollsters regularly ask voters whether they would rather see a Democrat or Republican win their district. By February, support for Democrats among white people (male and female) was three percentage points lower than in February 1994, the year of the last Republican landslide.

Today, among whites, only 35 percent of men and 43 percent of women say they will back Democrats in the fall election. Women's preferences have remained steady since July 2009. But white men's support for a Democratic Congress has fallen eight percentage points, according to Gallup.

White men have moved away from Obama as well. The same proportion of white women approve of him -- 46 percent, according to Gallup -- as voted for him in 2008. But only 38 percent of white men approve of the President, which means that millions of white men who voted for Obama have now lost faith in him.
...full article

Russia says U.S. Should Eradicate Afghan Opium

The Russians might have a point here. But they shouldn't be pointing fingers given their history in Afghanistan. Here we are fighting in the country that since our arrival has become the biggest poppy (which is the source for opium/heroin) producer, controlling most of the world's market. The heroin created with this crop ends up on the streets of America. How is this possible? I don't believe that our military would deliberately ignore the problem, or are in some kind of unholy alliance to allow the crop to grow without interference. Then again, what is being done? And why be in Afghanistan if we can't prevent this poison from growing under our very noses? One of the main reasons the Taliban have become so formidable is as a result of the drug trafficking they've become. What's ironic is that poppy production was almost completely wiped out during the period they ruled over Afghanistan. So it would seem to me that we should work harder to eradicate a plant that is costing U.S. troop lives in Afghanistan and young people on the streets of America:

Russia accused the United States on Sunday of conniving with Afghanistan's drug producers by refusing to destroy opium crops, the second time in a week Moscow has taken a swipe at the West over drug policy.

U.S. Marines have advanced into one of the main opium-growing regions of Afghanistan's Helmand Province since February, but have told villagers there they will not destroy the opium crop that is blossoming this month.

"We believe such statements are contrary to the decisions taken on Afghan narco-problems within the U.N. and other international forums," said a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry released by the embassy in Kabul.
...full article

Swiss Casino Raid: Armed Gang Steals Hundreds Of Thousands Of Francs During Heist

Swiss Casino Raid: Armed Gang Steals Hundreds Of Thousands Of Francs During Heist

- This is a classic copycat crime. The media is going to romanticize this incident as they did with the German robbery.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Bombshell: The Anthrax Killers Identified

I believed early on that the anthrax attackers were al Qaeda. The only question was where did they get it. Now the truth is finally coming out. And according to this credible source, the FBI covered it up. Not only that but they drove an innocent man to kill himself. I am not saying that I believe this account completely. But there should be a public hearing organized by a special Congressional committee. Much like the Warren Commission or the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA). We need to know the truth. The ball is in your court, President Obama.

There's a gaping hole in the FBI's argument that U.S. Government scientist Bruce Ivins was the anthrax mailer.

In addition to the 100 scientists with access to virulent anthrax from Ivins's flask whom the FBI claims to have ruled out, one unauthorized individual had a special kind of access-the kind you get when you steal something. Hovering in proximity to an unlocked refrigerator with the anthrax at George Mason University was Islamic ideologue Ali al-Timimi, who in early 2001 was studying for a Ph.D in computational biology. Al-Timimi has since been arrested and sentenced for inciting Muslims in Virginia to travel to Pakistan to fight against U.S. forces.

Al-Timimi's office was right around the corner from the offices of Charles Bailey and Ken Alibek, co-principal investigators on a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-funded anthrax project. Bailey was a former deputy commander of USAMRIID at Fort Detrick, Maryland, where he had been a boss of Bruce Ivins. Alibek was the former deputy director of the Soviet biowarfare program. Bailey and Alibek had partnered on a patent application for a method of preparing anthrax that would closely resemble the sophisticated preparation in the letters mailed to Senators Daschle and Leahy.
...read the full article appearing in Accuracy in Media

Nevada Tea Party Candidate Facing Felony Charges

The Tea Partyers seem to have trouble differentiating themselves from the corrupt Republicans they are trying to replace:

A Nevada asphalt contractor who faces a legal challenge to his Tea Party of Nevada candidacy for U.S. Senate was hit Friday with felony theft and bad check charges in Las Vegas that allege he bounced a $5,000 business check last year.

Scott Ashjian is one of a record 22 candidates, including 12 Republicans, running for the seat held by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is seeking a fifth term.

Bernie Zadrowski, head of the Clark County district attorney's office bad check unit, said he would seek an arrest warrant Monday in Las Vegas Justice Court. Ashjian could face up to 14 years in state prison if convicted.

Bullet mailed to Italian PM Berlusconi

Bullet mailed to Italian PM Berlusconi

Italy's postal service intercepted a threatening letter containing a bullet addressed to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, while letter bomb sent to a minister caught fire, police said Saturday.

A large envelope containing a letter addressed to Berlusconi with the threat "you will end up like a rat" was discovered on Friday in a post office in the Libate suburb of the northern city of Milan, police said.

The package, which also referred to other leaders of Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party, was addressed to the prime minister's private residence in the Milan region, they said.

Arabs to Unite Against Israel at Annual Summit

Israeli arrogance has succeeded in uniting the Arab world. The result of this will mean war. Which means America will get involved. This translates into more Americans dying:

Arab leaders opened their annual summit Saturday determined to send a clear message that the Middle East peace process is doomed unless Israel freezes settlements in mostly Arab east Jerusalem.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who hosted last year's summit in Doha, addressed the opening session in the Mediterranean city of Sirte before handing over the presidency to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

The two-day meeting, the first hosted by the maverick Kadhafi who considers Israel an implacable "enemy" of the Arabs, follows the worst violence in Gaza in 14 months and repeated rejections by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Arab demands to stop settlement building in occupied territory.

A Palestinian was killed and seven wounded during an overnight incursion by Israeli tanks into blockaded Gaza, Palestinian medics said on Saturday.

The incursion followed a fierce clash Friday on the border between the Gaza Strip and the Jewish state in which two Israeli soldiers, one an officer, and four Palestinians were killed, according to the Israeli army.

Fresh US efforts to broker indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks earlier this month were still-born when Israel announced a plan to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in annexed Arab east Jerusalem.
Worse yet, they've succeeded in united the Islamic world. Even with their arch enemy - Iran:
The Arab League chief is urging the 22-nation bloc to engage Iran directly over concerns about its growing influence and its nuclear activities.

Amr Moussa presented his proposal to a two-day Arab League leaders summit in Sirte, Libya, that started Saturday. The proposal could undermine U.S. and Israeli efforts to isolate Iran.

Obama's Health Insurance Rule — it was a GOP idea

Another example of the infinite hypocrisy of the Republicans:

Republicans were for President Barack Obama's requirement that Americans get health insurance before they were against it. The obligation in the new health care law is a Republican idea that's been around at least two decades. It was once trumpeted as an alternative to Bill and Hillary Clinton's failed health care overhaul in the 1990s. These days, Republicans call it government overreach.

Mitt Romney, weighing another run for the GOP presidential nomination, signed such a requirement into law at the state level as Massachusetts governor in 2006. At the time, Romney defended it as "a personal responsibility principle" and Massachusetts' newest GOP senator, Scott Brown, backed it. Romney now says Obama's plan is a federal takeover that bears little resemblance to what he did as governor and should be repealed.
...full article

Friday, March 26, 2010

GOP Lawmaker Darrell Issa Poised to Call for Special Prosecutor to Investigate White House

This is all part of the Republican strategy: attack the black man in the White House. Meanwhile, the country continues to crumble:

Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight committee, told CBS News Wednesday that he will call for a special prosecutor to investigate the White House if it does not address Rep. Joe Sestak's claim that he was offered a federal job in exchange for dropping out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary.

"If the public doesn't receive a satisfactory answer, the next step would be to call for a special prosecutor, which is well within the statute," Issa (pictured) told Hotsheet.

The California Republican has been pushing for the White House to provide details of conversations between Sestak and administration officials in the wake of Sestak's comment during a radio interview last month that he was offered a high-ranking administration job in exchange for dropping his primary challenge against Sen. Arlen Specter.
...full article

Island Claimed by India and Bangladesh Sinks Below Waves

You still don't believe in global warming? How about a disappearing Island?

For nearly 30 years, India and Bangladesh have argued over control of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal. Now rising sea levels have resolved the dispute for them: the island has gone.

New Moore island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Kolkata. Its disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said.

"What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking has been resolved by global warming," said Hazra.

Scientists at the school of oceanographic studies at the university have noted an alarming increase in the rate at which sea levels have risen over the past decade in the Bay of Bengal.
...full article

CBO Report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP

This is unsustainable. It is disastrous. That gang in Washington are destroying our country. And your just as guilty if you vote in November to keep them in office.
President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation's economic output by 2020, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday.

In its 2011 budget, which the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released Feb. 1, the administration projected a 10-year deficit total of $8.53 trillion. After looking it over, CBO said in its final analysis, released Thursday, that the president's budget would generate a combined $9.75 trillion in deficits over the next decade.
...full article

Richmond police Investigate Shot fired at Cantor's Office

Sounds suspicious to me. Maybe the shooter was put up to it by a Cantor supporter. Why the attacks on Democrats right after the incident by Cantor. And why wasn't it reported to the police? And why one bullet? And just so happens no one was in the building> This is what Cantor had to say:
A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week, and I've received threatening e-mails. But I will not release them, because I believe such actions will only encourage more to be sent," he said.
I'm just saying:
Richmond police are investigating a shot fired at U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor's downtown office on Main Street early Tuesday when no one was in the building.

A police statement this afternoon said that a preliminary investigation shows that a bullet struck a window, landing on the floor about a foot from the window. The round struck with enough force to break the window but did not penetrate the blinds.

Cantor's office is in a small building several blocks from the heart of downtown, near the historic Jefferson Hotel. It has several small offices in it, of which Cantor's is one.There are no Cantor signs on the doors or windows.

Various Republican candidates have occupied the offices in the historic Reagan Building through the years, including former governor Jim Gilmore.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Leading Conservative Fired for Criticizing Republicans

The truth hurts. And in keeping with the irrational, hateful, and intolerant tactics of Republicans and the right, they've turned on one of their own. Frum's crime is to criticize the Republicans. The Republicans/conservatives are starting look and sound like the NAZI's during their early years. The only difference is that they are not attacking Jews. Not yet:
Over the past week, David Frum, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research organization, has emerged as one of the leading critics of the way Republicans dealt with President Obama’s health care bill.

The party, Mr. Frum said, put politics over policy in trying to damage Mr. Obama’s agenda, and lost both the political battle and the ability to influence a key piece of legislation. In a column Mr. Frum posted at the FrumForum, he wrote that the House passage of the health care bill had become the Republicans’ “Waterloo,” rather than Mr. Obama’s, as a leading G.O.P. senator had once warned.

As of Thursday, Mr. Frum had become a former fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Mr. Frum said he was taken out to lunch by the president of the organization, Arthur C. Brooks. He said Mr. Brooks told him the institute valued a diversity of opinion, and welcomed that one of its scholars had become such a high-profile critic of Republican legislative leaders. Mr. Frum, who has been with the institute since 2003, said that he was asked if he would considering being associated with the institute on a nonsalaried basis.

Mr. Frum declined.
And Frum is not alone:
As some readers of this blog may know, I was fired by a right wing think tank called the National Center for Policy Analysis in 2005 for writing a book critical of George W. Bush's policies, especially his support for Medicare Part D. In the years since, I have lost a great many friends and been shunned by conservative society in Washington, DC.

Now the same thing has happened to David Frum, who has been fired by the American Enterprise Institute. I don't know all the details, but I presume that his Waterloo post on Sunday condemning Republicans for failing to work with Democrats on healthcare reform was the final straw.

Since, he is no longer affiliated with AEI, I feel free to say publicly something he told me in private a few months ago. He asked if I had noticed any comments by AEI "scholars" on the subject of health care reform. I said no and he said that was because they had been ordered not to speak to the media because they agreed with too much of what Obama was trying to do.

It saddened me to hear this. I have always hoped that my experience was unique. But now I see that I was just the first to suffer from a closing of the conservative mind. Rigid conformity is being enforced, no dissent is allowed, and the conservative brain will slowly shrivel into dementia if it hasn't already.

Sadly, there is no place for David and me to go. The donor community is only interested in financing organizations that parrot the party line, such as the one recently established by McCain economic adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin.

I will have more to say on this topic later. But I wanted to say that this is a black day for what passes for a conservative movement, scholarship, and the once-respected AEI.
This quote by Joe Klein puts it in stark terms:
Thre[sic] is a mania among Republicans right now. They thought they had Obama down for the count when Scott Brown won in Massachusetts. They didn't. The President managed to pass the one bill they hated (and feared) the most. Their reaction has been to get even more extreme...drinking their own kool-aid. I just said on Hardball, "It's getting pretty close to Jonestown."

IMF Proposes 100-Billion-Dollar Climate Fund

This is a defeat for the climate naysayers. This is a positive step in the fight against global warming. But the question is whether it's enough. Climate change is devastating the planet. And it doesn't help that we have a movement in the U.S. that crazily denies global warming:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published the first details of a proposed financing framework, dubbed the 'Green Fund', intended to mobilise 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to help developing countries cope with the consequences of climate change and mitigate further emissions.

Outlined in a staff paper by IMF economists Hugh Bredenkamp and Catherine Pattillo, the Green Fund could launch from a capital injection by developed countries, in the form of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), a currency issued by the IMF to member countries.

The facility would eventually combine resources from investors, raised through 'green bonds' in global capital markets, with developed country subsidies. Contributors could scale their equity stakes in proportion to their IMF quota share.

Aid would then be extended in the form of grants or highly concessional loans to developing countries but the IMF would not finance or manage the Fund, according to the authors.
...full article

Pope Benedict faces Child Abuse Cover-up Queries

This Pope has step down. As someone who grew up a Catholic, I find Ratzinger's actions as a Cardinal unacceptable. It is time for a revolution in the Catholic church by parishioners. Pedophile priests should not only be expelled from the church but prosecuted. Additionally, the vow of celibacy should be abandoned. It creates an unnatural lifestyle that has tragic consequences.

Questions are being raised about whether Pope Benedict was personally involved in covering up a case of child sex abuse by a Roman Catholic priest.

Documents seen by the New York Times newspaper suggest that in the 1990s, long before he became Pope, he failed to respond to letters about a US case.

Fr Lawrence Murphy, of Wisconsin, was accused of abusing up to 200 deaf boys.

Defending itself, the Vatican said US civil authorities had investigated and dropped the case.

For more than 20 years before he was made Pope, Joseph Ratzinger led the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith - the Vatican office with responsibility, among other issues, for the Church's response to child abuse cases.

Allegations that the Church sought to cover up child abuse by Catholic priests in Europe have haunted the Vatican for months.

'So friendly'

The documents seen by the New York Times suggest that in 1996, the then Cardinal Ratzinger twice failed to respond to letters sent to him personally.

They concerned the Rev Lawrence Murphy, who worked at a Wisconsin school for deaf children from the 1950s.

Three archbishops of Wisconsin were told Fr Murphy was sexually abusing boys but those allegations were not reported to civil authorities at the time.

Alleged victims quoted by the New York Times gave accounts of the priest pulling down their trousers and touching them in his office, his car, his mother's country house, on class excursions and fund-raising trips, and in their dormitory beds at night.

"If he was a real mean guy, I would have stayed away," said Arthur Budzinski, 61, a former pupil of at St John's School for the Deaf, in St Francis, in the Diocese of Milwaukee.

"But he was so friendly, and so nice and understanding. I knew he was wrong, but I couldn't really believe it."

According to the New York Times, Fr Murphy was quietly moved to the Diocese of Superior in northern Wisconsin in 1974, where he spent his last 24 years working freely with children in parishes and schools. He died in 1998, still a priest.

Rachel Maddow Transcript (3-24-10): Violence Directed at Members of Congress

Complete transcript. Excerpt below:

Today, we learned that the FBI and local authorities are now investigating threats made against a Democratic congressman named Tom Perriello of Virginia, who has been a guest on this show before. Mr. Perriello was a last-minute vote for health reform when it came before the House on Sunday night. As a result of that vote, a pair of health reform opponents posted what they thought was Tom Perriello`s home address online. They sarcastically encouraged people to, quote, "drop by and express your thanks for the Congressman Perriello`s vote."

But the address that they posted online was actually that of Congressman Perriello`s brother, who then discovered that a propane gas line leading into his home had been cut.

When one of the bloggers who posted that wrong address online was informed that the address he`d posted was for the congressman`s brother and not the congressman himself, the blogger responded by saying, quote, "Do you mean I posted his brother`s address on my Facebook? Oh, well, collateral damage."

That gentleman is now professing to be shocked about the severed propane line, saying he just wanted people to, and I quote, "get close to the congressman."

Authorities are now investigating that incident, the cut line, as an attempted threat to a member of Congress.

Then there`s Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan, who went from being opposed to health reform on the grounds of abortion to supporting health reform after the president agreed to sign an executive order concerning abortion rights. Well, today, Mr. Stupak released threatening phone calls that he says he received once it became known that he was going to vote for health reform.

Little bit of a warning here, we have bleeped the worst parts of it, but the language used in these phone calls we`re about to play for you is explicit.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIPS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE CALLER: Congressman Stupak, you baby killing (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you turncoat (EXPLETIVE DELETED), I hope you bleed out (EXPLETIVE DELETED) got cancer and die (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You do not -- you do not say that you`re a pro-life and then for a few bucks, you know, turncoat and hurt the country, you (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I hope you die.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CALLER: You are a bastard and a baby killer. You will rue the day you did this, Mr. Stupak. You are a disgusting man, and I hope you`re haunted the rest of your living days. Because you won`t be a congressman much longer, so you are a dirtbag, and the country loathes you and God, bastard that you are. We think you`re a devil, and you will go to your grave with this on your conscience. Was it worth it, selling your soul?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE CALLER: Stupak, you`re a low-life baby murderer, scumbag pile of steaming crap. You and your family are scum. You ought to fill your pockets and jump into the Potomac, punk. That`s what you are, Stupak. You`re a piece of crap. We despise you and every punk like you, Stupak.

(END AUDIO CLIPS)

MADDOW: Congressman Stupak says he referred about 50 threats like those to the Capitol Hill police.

Among the first to be physically threatened in conjunction with the health care vote was Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York. Some time last Friday, a brick was thrown through the window of her district office in Niagara Falls, New York.

Today, Congressman Slaughter spoke publicly about that incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LOUISE SLAUGHTER (D), NEW YORK: I have three offices. Niagara was the only one we were really concerned about. One is in a federal building which has guards. The other is in a building in downtown Buffalo which has guards.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are members concerned about the multiple incidents?

SLAUGHTER: No, of course, they are. I think it`s a dreadful thing that we`re going through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: Members of Congress, in fact, are so concerned that the number two and number three Democrats in the House gave a press conference today, an impromptu press conference, saying that there are more than 10 members of Congress who say they have been threatened in recent days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you feel that your members are really at risk in terms of their security?

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), MAJORITY LEADER: Yes. I think that we`ve had very serious instances that have occurred over the last 48, 72 hours.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, how are you dealing with that? What actions are you taking?

HOYER: Well, we have the Capitol Police just briefed members. If they are in any way suspicious or fearful or see actions occurring, to report those immediately, and the Capitol Police will respond and try to determine whether crimes have been committed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: Among the members of Congress who have reported receiving threats because of the health care vote is Democratic Congressman John Boccieri of Ohio. Mr. Boccieri told NBC News today that his district office in Canton, Ohio, has received a number of threatening phone calls in recent days.

Rachel Maddow Transcript: Health Care Bill Opponents Turning to "Violence and Intimidation" (3-23-10)

Complete transcript. Excerpt Below:

This hugely consequential legislative win, an accomplishment that will part of paragraph one definition of Barack Obama`s presidency no matter what else he does in this term or even in a potential second term. That`s what`s going on. That is the huge news going on above the surface, visibly, in American politics right now.

What`s going on below the surface in American politics is something very different. Last night on this show, we reported on three separate incidents across the country in which it seems that people opposed to health reform abandoned the debate over this issue and decided instead to express their opposition to health reform through violence and intimidation. We described last night incidents at two Democratic Party or Democratic-elected official offices in New York State and one in Arizona. All three of them were attacked over the weekend.

Today, we are updating our reporting on what`s turning out to be a much more serious story. It turns out it wasn`t just the three incidents we described last night. It was more.

Here`s what we know: Sometime on Friday, a brick was thrown through a window of Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter`s district office in Niagara Falls, New York. Also, late on Friday or possibly early on Saturday, another brick was thrown through a window at the Sedgwick County Democratic Party office in Wichita, Kansas. That brick was reported to have anti-Obama -- anti-Obama and anti-health reform messages on it.

A day later, on Saturday or early Sunday, another brick shattered glass doors at the Democratic Party headquarters in Rochester, New York.

Shortly after the health reform vote on Sunday, a fist-sized rock was reportedly thrown through the front window of the Hamilton County Democratic Party in Pleasant Ridge, Ohio.

And at 2:40 a.m. on Monday morning, a few hours after the health care vote, the front door and glass panel were smashed out at Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford`s office in Tucson, Arizona.

So, compiling all those, it`s Niagara Falls, New York, Rochester, New York, Pleasant Ridge, Ohio, Wichita, Kansas and Tucson, Arizona. Five separate attacks on Democratic Party offices in the span of four days.

Since the initial reports we have also learned that the FBI is now investigating threats reportedly left at Congresswoman Louise Slaughter`s campaign office -- a recorded message reportedly threatening to assassinate the children of lawmakers who voted yes on health reform. Again, the FBI is now reportedly investigating that reported death threat against Louise Slaughter`s children.

We can also now show you what was used to smash out the glass door at that Democratic Party headquarters in Rochester, New York. That brick had a note wrapped around it which reads, quote, "exremism in defense of liberty is no device." Presuming they meant extremism and not exremism, which is what they wrote, the brick wielder appears to have been, quoting conservative U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater when he accepted the Republican Party`s nomination for president in 1964.

In last night`s report on this show on some of those incidents, we said that nobody yet had taken responsibility for any of those incidents. That`s the one thing that I said in reporting on this last night, that I would have most guessed wouldn`t change over 24 hours. Well, that`s changed.

The Rochester Democrat and "Chronicle" newspaper reporting that after their initial story on the attack on the Monroe County Democratic office, somebody did contact the newspaper to happily claim credit for that incident. His name is Mike Vanderboegh. He`s the former leader of a group called the Alabama Constitutional Militia. Mr. Vanderboegh has been advocating specifically that people throw bricks through the windows of Democratic Party headquarters all around the country and he wants credit apparently whenever anyone follows his advice.

Transcript: The Treasury’s Blistering Attack on Chamber of Commerce

Now this sounds more like an administration that is dedicated to change business as usual. Let's see how successful they are at actually doing something about. Excerpts below. Complete transcript here:

Over the past two years, we have seen that the fate of Wall Street and the fate of Main Street are bound together. Responsible American businesses and families have paid a heavy price for the financial industry’s failures. Retirement accounts have been crushed, millions of jobs have been lost, and even today small businesses across the country are having trouble getting the credit they need to operate and grow.

Economists will conduct a complete autopsy of the crisis for years to come. But there should be no debate about one thing: a central cause of the financial crisis was a financial regulatory system decades out of date and riddled with gaps and loopholes.

So while we can have legitimate disagreements on the details of financial reform, there can be no disagreement that reform is necessary. And there should be no disagreement that reform is long, long overdue.

That is why it is so puzzling that, despite the urgent and undeniable need for reform, the Chamber of Commerce has launched a $3 million advertising campaign against it. That campaign is not designed to improve the House and Senate bills. It is designed to defeat them. It is designed to delay reform until the memory of the crisis fades and the political will for change dies out.

The Chamber’s campaign comes on top of the $1.4 million per day already being spent on lobbying and campaign contributions by big banks and Wall Street financial firms. There are four financial lobbyists for every member of Congress.

All told, it is one of the most expensive special interest campaigns in history.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Record Numbers now are Licensed to Carry Guns

The consequence will be chaos. We will see the kind of violence on the streets of America that we are now witnessing in Mexico. The continued collapse of the economy will mean more desperate people. They will rob banks and kill family members. That's what we are seeing now, but hasn't affected the crime rate. Guns are overwhelming used for bad purposes (crime, suicides, and accidental shootings). It is a myth that guns are being used to defend law abiding citizens. We have police for that. If you don't believe wait a couple of mores years. Then we will see what I'm talking about. Unfortunately the whore is Washington, including Obama, have been bought-off or are afraid of the NRA. At least one patriotic America will not remain silent:

From its beginnings in the 1980s, the “right-to-carry” movement has succeeded in boosting the number of licensed concealed-gun carriers from fewer than 1 million to about 6 million today, according to estimates from gun-rights groups that are supported by msnbc.com’s research. And while hotly debated, the effect of this dramatic increase is largely unknown.

Gun enthusiasts claim a link between more private citizens carrying concealed weapons and the nation’s dramatic decrease in violent crime. Gun-control activists argue that concealed-carry permits are being handed out to people who should never get them, sometimes resulting in tragic, needless shootings.

Effect on crime is hotly debated
But even with the push to expand concealed-carry rights now in its third decade, no scientific studies have reached any widely accepted conclusions about the movement’s effect on crime or personal safety.

Statistics from the national Centers for Disease Control do indicate that the murder and mayhem predicted by many opponents of concealed-carry laws have not come to pass. But even that point, while celebrated by gun-rights activists and conceded by some concealed-carry opponents, is disputed by others.

Both sides do agree on one thing: More Americans than ever are carrying hidden guns.
...full article

Secret Service paid Hacker $75k a year, friend says

This is why hackers are terrorizing America. The government seems totally inept in dealing with the greatest threat to our country:

Convicted TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez earned $75,000 a year working undercover for the U.S. Secret Service, informing on bank card thieves before he was arrested in 2008 for running his own multimillion-dollar card-hacking operation.

That information is according to one of Gonzalez's best friends and convicted accomplices, Stephen Watt.

Watt pleaded guilty last year to creating a sniffer program that Gonzalez used to siphon millions of credit and debit card numbers from the TJX corporate network while he was working undercover for the government.

Video: Mitt Romney: Obama 'Betrayed' Oath

Video: Breaking Down the Health Reform Bill

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Ezra Klein - Ron Pollack explains how the bill might cover even more than 95% of the country

Transcript: Ron Pollack explains how the bill might cover even more than 95% of the country

Google Moves Chinese Search Operations to Hong Kong

Google should have known that they couldn't do business with the Chinese. They got greedy and are now paying the price. Worse yet, they made a pact with the devil by helping the Chinese authorities oppress the people of China. Now they are beginning to realize their error. Hopefully now Google will learn their lesson and help bring democracy to China. Profits are the expense of human freedom is not very profitable in the long run. The future lies with freedom and Democracy, not totalitarianism.

Google Moves Chinese Search Operations to Hong Kong

February existing home sales drop 0.6 percent

There are serious problems with the economy that obviously are not being resolved. If things don't turning around soon for housing, as other sectors, we are in big trouble. This is what should have been the main focus of the President, and Congress, for the last year, not health care. Health care reform won't do anybody any good if no one has a job. And I don't think the government gets it yet. They've moved on to other matters, like immigration, rather than on how to get the economy moving forward. That should be our focus.

February existing home sales drop 0.6 percent

Poll: 53 percent want new rules for Wall Street

Probably another fight the powerful lobbyists will win. And the Republicans are smelling blood. They know Democrats don't want to get into another fight. Obama, and his advisers, that gave the profiteers on Wall St. no questions asked bailouts, can't be expected to do the right thing. But now we will find how much of puppet of the bankers this President really is.

in reference to:

"A little more than half of Americans want Congress to impose tighter regulation over Wall Street, a new survey released Tuesday found. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 53 percent favor legislation that would place new restrictions on banks and other financial companies, while 43 percent oppose it."
- Google Reader (1000+) (view on Google Sidewiki)

Man Stabs And Kills 8 Students In Eastern China

This is horrifying. Obviously we are not the only country where its open season on children. The only difference here is that a knife was used. In the states we believe in mass murder using guns. The totalitarian government in China is obviously good at suppressing political dissent but not so good at protecting the innocent. Remember the murder of the American coach during the recent Summer Olympic games?

Man Stabs And Kills 8 Students In Eastern China

Netanyahu stands firm on Jerusalem 'building'

The Israeli government, and the pro-Israel lobby, have decided that President Obama is soft to take them on. That is very dangerous. The reckless behavior of Netahyahu could lead to war in the Middle East that could escalate to World War III. I do not exaggerate. There will be a World War since the whore politicians running the U.S. have no understanding of history. They'e also been bought off by 'The Lobby.'

Netanyahu stands firm on Jerusalem 'building'

Monday, March 22, 2010

Health reform leaves Americans split, confused

We can thank the irresponsible press for this. They were too busy covering the Republican's outrageous antics than reporting on tedious details of health care reform.
" The overhaul of the healthcare system is being hailed in political circles as the biggest health policy change in four decades, but President Barack Obama's landmark reform has left some Americans divided and confused."

http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/FullArticle/CUSN/ndomesticNews_uUSTRE62L4J720100322?src=RSS-USN

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

UN: Polluted Water Killing, Sickening Millions

Do we care?

More people die from polluted water every year than from all forms of violence, including war, the U.N. said in a report Monday that highlights the need for clean drinking water.

The report, launched Monday to coincide with World Water Day, said an estimated 2 billion tons of waste water — including fertilizer run-off, sewage and industrial waste — is being discharged daily. That waste fuels the spread of disease and damages ecosystems.

"Sick Water" — the report from the U.N. Environment Program — said that 3.7 percent of all deaths are attributed to water-related diseases, translating into millions of deaths. More than half of the world's hospital beds are filled by people suffering from water-related illnesses, it said.
...full article

Texas Republican says he shouted 'baby killer'

Texas Republican says he shouted 'baby killer'

Tom Delay: Democrats "Burned" the Constitution with Health Care Vote

Thanks to Newsbusters:

Girl, 4, Killed In Carjacking Attempt

This is what President Obama needs to address next: guns. But he won't. This child was shot with a semi-automatic weapon. Congress allowed the prohibition on assault weapons to lapse. Now none of us are safe. Think about it. Will it be your child next that dies from a stray bullet? Should the NRA rule America, or should We The People?

A 4-year-old girl was shot and killed during an attempted carjacking in northwest Houston, police told KPRC Local 2.

Houston police said the attempted carjacking happened at the Live Oak Bend Apartments on Greens Parkway near Ella Boulevard about 2 p.m. Sunday.

Investigators said a family of four was in their car when a man approached with a semiautomatic weapon and demanded the keys.
...full article

Video: Karl Rove Tangles with David Plouffe on 'This Week'

This turned into a verbal brawl. Rove was described as losing his "cool."

Sunday, March 21, 2010

60 Minutes: The Lost Children of Haiti

This story is both horrifying and inspiring. It makes you wonder how we could ignore the enslaving of children in our own backyard. How could any humanitarian read this story (or watch the 60 Minutes segment today) and still believe the excuses of the politicians, especially Democrats. Read the complete transcript/report(video below):

Almost half the victims of the earthquake in Haiti are under the age of 18, which means about half a million children are still living on the streets, in crowded orphanages or in makeshift camps. Untold thousands of kids are separated from their families, threatened by hunger, disease, sexual assault and even a modern day slave trade.

We've just come back from six weeks around Port-au-Prince with an American charity called the Global Orphan Project. The catastrophe may have largely dropped from the news but we found that the emergency is still unfolding as rescue workers race the clock to save the lost children of Haiti.

Ten weeks after, Haitians walk an apocalyptic landscape. Many can't be certain of food or shelter. And for families with missing loved ones it is impossible to know who is living and who is dead. Survivors have raised urban campsites of sticks and cloth and plastic. It's crowded; water and sanitation are poor.

When "60 Minutes" arrived in January, the Good Samaritan Orphanage outside Port-au-Prince was overwhelmed. Even before the earthquake, orphanages like this were common because desperate families often feel forced to abandon their children to the care of others. But, now, new arrivals were pouring in.
Update: Video added:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Incitement to violence? Judge for yourself. Maybe this individual should receive a visit from the Secret Service. Bottom line: this language could serve as encouragement for some assassin. That is why all Americans should condemn this type of language. Visit his Twitter account and express your disapproval with this post, shown below. Thanks to Jezebel for the info:

IMF Warns Wealthiest Nations about their Debt

It's a timebomb that continues to tick:

The International Monetary Fund warned the world's wealthiest nations Sunday to watch their surging levels of government debt, saying it could drag down the growth needed to ensure continued economic recovery.

The economic crisis is leaving "deep scars in fiscal balances, particularly in the advanced economies," John Lipsky, the IMF's No 2. official, told the China Development Forum in Beijing. He said that countries that have been going into debt to stimulate their economies should now prepare for belt-tightening steps next year.

"Policymakers should be making it clear to their citizens why a return to prudent policies is a necessary condition for sustained economic health," said Lipsky, who is the fund's deputy managing director, according to remarks prepared for the conference.

The IMF projects that gross general government debt in the G-7 advanced economies, except Germany and Canada, will rise from an average of about 75 percent of GDP at the end of 2007 to about 110 percent of GDP at end of 2014, Lipsky said.

This year, the average debt-to-GDP ratio in the wealthiest countries is projected to reach levels that prevailed in 1950 in the aftermath of World War II, Lipsky said. The ballooning of government debt also comes amid rising health and pension spending, he said.
...full article

Video: 'Face the Nation' (3-21-10)


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Video, Transcript: Meet The Press (3-21-10)

Complete Transcript here.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Thursday, March 11, 2010

N.J. Man Accused Of Raping His 5 Daughters

A New Jersey man with apocalyptic visions is accused of years of
terrorizing his family, raping his five daughters and impregnating
three, beating his children with wooden boards and even moving at one point to avoid child welfare investigators."

- once again the system failed.

http://wcbstv.com/national/man.rapes.daughters.2.1554695.html

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Transcript: Michael Moore on Rachel Maddow (3-10-10)

Transcript: Michael Moore on Rachel Maddow (3-10-10)

Is High-Fructose Corn Syrup Really So Bad?

Eye on Health: Health Advocates Demonize the Sugar Substitute, But Scientists Say Controversy is all Hype


http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsStory/~3/OLd_AeVEF4M/main6286934.shtml

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

House Dems to ban earmarks to for-profit companies

The news: House Dems are moving to eliminate earmarks that appropriate funds for the direct benefit of for-profit companies.

The method: The adoption of a rule banning such earmarks by the House Appropriations Committee.

The reason: The PMA lobbying scandal, recently investigated by the House Ethics Committee. The committee's report concluded that no direct relationship could be established between campaign contributions and earmarks, but clearly everyone's still concerned that there's a relationship, anyway. Hence the new rule.

Will it work? Well, sort of. Here's what the watchdogs had to say:

The good government advocates believe that the Senate will likely take up the slack from the House. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said Wednesday he does not plan to impose any such ban. His position was seconded by Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who argued members' right to earmark funds is protected by the Constitution.

"The Senate hasn't been as haunted by the ethics problems, so they don't feel like it is their scandal to have to worry about," [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington executive director Melanie] Sloan said.

Yeah. Well, that and the fact that there are other ways to direct spending:

The ban won't apply to universities and non-profit institutions. It also won't apply to items in bills that aren't technically appropriations earmarks, but function in much of the same way. For example, the narrowly-targeted items that were included in the Wall St. bailout bill, like the repeal of a tax on wooden arrows, or the porky items from the stimulus bill, wouldn't be banned. And unlike the earmarks in appropriations bills, which are subject to strict disclosure rules, it's almost impossible to figure out who sponsored or is benefiting from the earmark-like items in non-appropriations bills.

Then again, Congress is supposed to have control of the federal pursestrings. The modern argument against earmarks, however, is that they've gotten out of control. But directing federal spending is one of the basic functions of Congress, and it's only in modern practice that more and more of that authority has been ceded to the executive branch, through its various departments and agencies. And as any of the remaining Congressional fans of earmarks (or "directed spending" as they prefer to call it, to keep it grounded in its original purpose) will tell you, its arguably better to have elected officials making direct spending decisions than leaving them up to unelected bureaucrats. Maybe, maybe not. But that's the argument.

At any rate, the ban certainly seems like a step in the right direction no matter how you look at it. Slicing off chunks of taxpayer funding and sending them to for-profit companies seems like the wrong thing to be doing, especially in an age where we're constantly being told that the free market can magically solve all problems, and that we need to rely on it more than ever on account of... our federal budget deficts.


http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/c-JJwYRjqjk/-House-Dems-to-ban-earmarks-to-for-profit-companies

--
This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

BBB Warns Against Deceitful Online Payday Lenders

Better Business Bureau is warning cash-strapped families to beware of some online payday lenders that claim they are not beholden to state or federal laws regarding licensing requirements, debt collection practices or caps on interest rates. Read more...

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/newsnotes/nn18920.htm
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Transcript: Karl Rove Talks Aout his Book on FOX

Transcript: Karl Rove Talks Aout his Book on FOX

Video: Congressman Patrick Kennedy Denounces U.S. Press

This was a powerful moment from the son of Edward Kennedy. He is leaving Congress and wants to speak against the irresponsible press and scandal mongering ways. Is it any wonder why there is so much corruption on Capitol Hill. The press aren't covering them. That's the biggest scandal of all.

Video: Congressman Patrick Kennedy Denounces U.S. Press

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Anti-Gay GOP State Senator Admits to being Gay

Anti-Gay GOP State Senator Admits to being Gay

Video: Obama Rally Speech for Health Care Reform (3-8-10)

Video: Obama Rally Speech for Health Care Reform (3-8-10)

Video: Scientology Defector Breaks her Silence

She was made to sign a contract that would require her to stay in the Scientology Church for a 1 billion years. She was cut off from her family when she left. She was told she could not have children. Sounds like a cult to me.

Video: Scientology Defector Breaks her Silence