Now The Focus Is On Byrd's Successor; Gov. Manchin Won't Appoint Himself : NPR
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Titan: Nasa scientists discover evidence 'that alien life exists on Saturn's moon' - Telegraph
Titan: Nasa scientists discover evidence 'that alien life exists on Saturn's moon' - Telegraph
The reason there is no evidence being presented of life at this time is that we are not ready. NASA is planning to present documented proof on the Larry King show in about a year. Make sure to tivo the program because it won't be shown again. I can't tell you where I get my information at this time. It is highly sensitive. I'm sure you understand.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Transcript: President Obama on Larry King Live (6-3-10)
Complete transcript. Excerpt below:
KING: I know you're going down to the Gulf again. But there's a question that a lot of us are pondering. After this is over, what about hurricanes, what about oil raining down? Have we thought about what we're going to do when it's over?
OBAMA: Well this is an unprecedented oil spill. We haven't seen anything like this before. That's why the minute that the rig blew up and then sank down to the bottom of the ocean, I called in my entire team. I have to tell you, Larry, the worst case scenario was even worse than what we're seeing now because --
KING: This is worse than what you thought it would be?
OBAMA: No, no, no. What I'm saying is it could have been -- get even worse.
KING: Oh.
OBAMA: So we realized right away this was going to be a big event, a big problem, and that we had to put everything we had into it. Right away we started mobilizing our Coast Guard, making sure that we are putting pressure on BP to activate their response. Eventually we ended up sending our top scientists -- we not have about 100 of the top scientists from around the world in our national labs -- to look over BP's shoulder in terms of figuring out how they're going to plug the well.
We also knew though that ultimately the only way to relieve the well safely is to drill what are called these relief wells. Now, BP and other oil companies traditionally just drill one. We said, drill two in case one of them doesn't work. But that takes some time. It takes about three months. In the meantime they've been experimenting with a whole bunch of other ways that they can capture the oil. But we've had a big spill and we know that it's going to be a long response, a long cleanup.
My commitment has always been, the last 40-some days, to make sure that we are doing everything we can to mitigate the damage, to help clean up, help recover because this is an area that already got battered during hurricane season. And this is an area that is a concern not only for the economy of the Gulf, but also for an entire way of life.
KING: Have the scientists discussed, what about a hurricane?
OBAMA: I had a Situation Room meeting about a week and a half ago, where we got the report that this could be a more severe than normal hurricane season. I asked, well, how does a potential oil spill interact with a hurricane? It turns out that -- now these are all estimations and probabilities -- it turns out that a big, powerful hurricane, ironically is probably less damaging with respect to the oil spill because it just disperses everything and the oil breaks up and degrades more quickly.
It's those tropical storms and tides that would just wash stuff into the marshes that would really be an ecological disaster. But, look, We've got a couple of tasks right now. Number one, BP has to shut down this well. The only guarantee to shut down is the relief well and that's going to take a couple of months. In the meantime we hope that by cutting the riser, putting a cap on this thing, they can funnel up the oil and that will help.
In the meantime we've still got all these barrels of oil that are sloshing around in the Gulf. They move with the currents, we don't always know where they are. But what we can do is make sure that our response doesn't hold anything back. That we put everything we've got into Louisiana, which has been hardest hit so far, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Pentagon Told to Save Billions for Use in War - NYTimes.com
Pentagon Told to Save Billions for Use in War - NYTimes.com
- You save billions by ending wasteful wars - like Afghanistan and Iraq.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Texas Police seize 147 Mexico-bound AK-47 Rifles
Just a reminder of where the guns used to slaughter thousands in Mexico come from. Tragically there are very few if any politicians in the U.S. that have the courage and integrity to criticize our guns laws. They would rather see thousands murdered than do the right thing:
Police in a Texas city just north of the Mexican border said on Wednesday they had seized 147 assault rifles apparently headed for Mexico, where tens of thousands of people have been killed by violent drug gangs.
...Mexico has long complained that many of the weapons used by drug smugglers at war with each other and with security forces come from the United States.
On a visit to Washington in May, Mexican President Felipe Calderon urged the U.S. Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons to help cut cross-border gun smuggling.
Drug violence is raging across Mexico and almost 23,000 people have been killed in the fight among cartels and with security forces since Calderon launched his army-led crackdown on drug gangs in 2006.
NY Times Op-Ed: "Saving Israel From Itself"
This comes from a newspaper that is Jewish-owned and pro-Israel:
When reports first circulated on Twitter of a deadly attack by Israeli commandos on the Gaza flotilla, I didn’t forward them because they seemed implausible. I thought: Israel wouldn’t be so obtuse as to use lethal force on self-described peace activists in international waters with scores of reporters watching.
Ah, but it turned out that Israel could be so obtuse after all. It shot itself in the foot, blasting American toes as well, and undermined all of its longer-term strategic objectives.
Israel to expel all activists by day's end
Israel to expel all activists by day's end
- You board a ship in international waters and want to prosecute those who fought back? Absurd. That's why they are being let go. This was a predictable result. The Israeli heavy-handed approach to everything has really backfired this time.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Maureen Dowd: President Obama Doesn't Get It
The criticism is getting louder: President Obama is detached and lacks emotion leadership. Maureen Dowd has strongest criticism:
Once more, he has willfully and inexplicably resisted fulfilling a signal part of his job: being a prism in moments of fear and pride, reflecting what Americans feel so they know he gets it.
...In the campaign, Obama’s fight flagged to the point that his donors openly upbraided him. In the Oval, he waited too long to express outrage and offer leadership on A.I.G., the banks, the bonuses, the job loss and mortgage fears, the Christmas underwear bomber, the death panel scare tactics, the ugly name-calling of Tea Party protesters.
Too often it feels as though Barry is watching from a balcony, reluctant to enter the fray until the clamor of the crowd forces him to come down. The pattern is perverse. The man whose presidency is rooted in his ability to inspire withholds that inspiration when it is most needed.
Turkey PM: Israel Raid a "Bloody Massacre"
Turkey PM: Israel Raid a "Bloody Massacre"
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told lawmakers in the Parliament that the Israeli military action was an attack "on international law, the conscience of humanity and world peace."
"This bloody massacre by Israel on ships that were taking humanitarian aid to Gaza deserves every kind of curse," he said, demanding that Israel immediately halt its "inhumane" blockade of Gaza.
The flotilla was the ninth attempt by sea to breach the three-year-old blockade Israel and Egypt imposed after the militant Hamas group violently seized the Gaza Strip in 2007, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. Israel allowed five seaborne aid shipments to get through but snapped the blockade shut after its 2009 war in Gaza.
The United Nations Security Council Tuesday called for an impartial investigation into Israel's actions. After an emergency meeting and marathon negotiations, the 15 council members agreed early Tuesday on a presidential statement that was weaker than that initially demanded by the Palestinians, Arabs and Turkey.
Congress Misses Medicare Payment Cut Deadline
Congress Misses Medicare Payment Cut Deadline
A missed deadline by Congress may mean many of the country's 44 million Medicare patients will have a harder time finding a doctor -- piquing the frustration of many physicians who already care for these patients.
On Friday, the Senate adjourned for its traditional Memorial Day break without eliminating a physician payment cut for treatments to Medicare patients that took effect today, which means that the country's doctors may soon be paid 21.3 percent less to treat Medicare patients.
In a statement issued Friday, Dr. James Rohack, president of the American Medical Association, expressed outrage.
"The Senate has turned its back on seniors," Rohack said in the statement. "Senators are more interested in heading home for the holiday than in preventing a Medicare meltdown for seniors... Already, about one in four Medicare patients looking for a new primary care physician have trouble finding one, and Congressional inaction will make it much worse."
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