Palin Speaks - Criticizes Baucus Health Bill

If you care read on. At least

in reference to:

""It attempts to offset the costs this will impose on insurance companies by requiring everyone to purchase coverage, which in theory would expand the pool of paying policy holders," Palin wrote. "However, the maximum fine for those who refuse to purchase health insurance is $750. Even factoring in government subsidies, the cost of purchasing a plan is much more than $750."

"The result: many people, especially the young and healthy, will simply not buy coverage, choosing to pay the fine instead," the former Alaska governor continued. "They’ll wait until they’re sick to buy health insurance, confident in the knowledge that insurance companies can’t deny them coverage. Such a scenario is a perfect storm for increasing the cost of health care and creating an unsustainable mandate program.""
- Palin offers calm critique of Baucus bill - Andy Barr - POLITICO.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Nigerian Children Deemed Witches Tortured

This is monstrous. It is example of what ignorance disguised as religion will do. When you are ignorant you look for solutions by turning to charlatans, superstition, bigotry or hate.

in reference to:

"The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.

His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him - Mount Zion Lighthouse.

A month later, he died.

Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files."
- Nigerian Children Deemed Witches Tortured - CBS News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Former President George H.W. Bush: Olbermann, Maddow 'A Couple of Sick Puppies'

What about Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck? And how about starting wars under false pretenses, committing torture, spying on U.S. citizens?

in reference to:

"Perhaps the 41st president still has it in him - at least when it comes to the left crying foul about the so-called uncivil political discourse on right, but being equally if not worse on the left - particularly on MSNBC, the "Place for Politics." In an interview on Oct. 16 with CBS Radio, former President George H.W. Bush took a very critical tact with MSNBC hosts Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, deeming them "a couple of sick puppies." (via MSNBC's Oct. 16 "The Rachel Maddow Show") "I don't like it," Bush said. "I think the cables have a lot to do with it. I'll take you back to when I was president - we got tons of criticism, but didn't seem day in and day out quite as personal as some of these talk show people.""
- Former President George H.W. Bush: Olbermann, Maddow 'A Couple of Sick Puppies' | NewsBusters.org (view on Google Sidewiki)

Congressional Campaign Accounts Invested In Stock Market Boosted By Wall Street Bounce

Wait. What's wrong with this picture? Campaign contributions being invested in the stock market?

in reference to:

"The recent surge on Wall Street has created a windfall for some Congressional campaigns that invested their political contributions in the stock market during the third quarter.

The biggest beneficiary was Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), whose campaign investments have gone on a rollercoaster ride during the past two years. After losing more than $808,000 during 2008 and early 2009, the Texas Republican's campaign fund rebounded by recouping large sums of money in recent months."
- Congressional Campaign Accounts Invested In Stock Market Boosted By Wall Street Bounce (view on Google Sidewiki)

Rachel Maddow Calls Guest "Parasite Who Gets Fat on Americans' Fears"

I think the Rachel Maddow Show is informative and agree with much of what has to say. But her behavior on this occasion was unacceptable and grossly unfair. She sounded petty and vindictive. She is supposed to be something of a journalist. She behaved like a verbal bomb thrower. This kind of obnoxious interviewing should be left to FOX News. Rachel - Don't lower yourself to their level.

in reference to:

"Rachel Maddow on Thursday told one of her guests, "I personally think that you and the folks that do what you do are a parasite who gets fat on Americans` fears."Maybe this is what led former President George H.W. Bush to call Maddow a sick puppy on Friday. Abdicating all journalistic standards and ethics -- what a shock for an MSNBC employee!!! -- Maddow made it clear why she was attacking Tim Phillips, President of Americans for Prosperity: "[B]ecause we`re making this about you and me.""
- Rachel Maddow Calls Guest "Parasite Who Gets Fat on Americans' Fears" | NewsBusters.org (view on Google Sidewiki)

Chinese democracy activist gets 10 years

Guo should have won the Nobel Peace Prize, instead of President Obama.

in reference to:

"The founder of a Chinese group that challenged Communist rule with a call for multiparty democracy has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, a human rights group said Saturday.Former university professor and judge Guo Quan was sentenced for "subversion of state power" by a court in eastern Jiangsu Province on Friday, the New York-based group Human Rights in China said in a statement.Guo had been detained numerous times since 2007, when he founded the China New Democracy Party, which he claimed had 40 million members. He was arrested in Nanjing, the provincial capital, last November. His wife told The Associated Press at the time that Guo was taken after dropping his son off at school."
- Group: Chinese democracy activist gets 10 years - World AP - MiamiHerald.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Franken's Anti-Rape Amendment

Apparently contractors in Iraq could murder, rape, and steal with impunity, and the American people had to pay for it. And this President doesn't seem to want to change this fact.

in reference to:

"In April of 2008, KBR employee Dawn Leamon went public. A few months earlier, she had been raped and sexually assaulted by co-workers while deployed at Camp Harper, in Iraq, and after weeks of being pressured not to report the incident, forced to work alongside her attackers, and medically neglected, Leamon brought the story to a Houston attorney and to The Nation. Leamon joined a slowly building chorus of female defense contractor employees who'd been raped or sexually assaulted by co-workers while in Iraq, to utter impunity on the part of their assailants. In response, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called a hearing to investigate why the Justice Department had not prosecuted any sexual assault allegations in Iraq since the going to war in the country."
- Franken's Anti-Rape Amendment - Yahoo! News (view on Google Sidewiki)

D.C. mom convicted of murdering four daughters could walk free

This is sickening process. It has nothing to do with justice. We have a criminal justice that is dysfunctional. The focus should be the 4 murdered little girls and making sure this doesn't happen again. Both points are being ignored in all of this. It is in fact a "criminal justice system."

in reference to:

"A Southeast D.C. woman who was expected to be sentenced Friday to life in prison for murdering her four daughters could instead walk free under a scenario outlined by the judge who found her guilty, though such an outcome still faces several legal hurdles.

The decomposing bodies of Banita Jacks' daughters - ages 5 to 16 - were discovered in January 2008 when U.S. Marshals came to evict Jacks from her rowhouse. In July, D.C. Superior Court Judge Frederick H. Weisberg found Jacks guilty of four counts of felony murder, three counts of premeditated first-degree murder and four counts of first-degree child cruelty.

Jacks was scheduled to be sentenced Friday but Judge Weisberg postponed it while he considers issues related to her refusal to use an insanity defense. Jacks rejected the defense against the advice of her lawyers, who are now asking Weisberg to appoint an independent counsel to investigate whether she was competent to make such a decision."
- D.C. mom convicted of murdering four daughters could walk free - Washington Times (view on Google Sidewiki)

Iran opposition: Use of force won't halt demands

As I keep arguing, arm the people of Iran with tiny video cameras and cell phones. That is the greatest weapon against tyranny. Without video the Western media ignores injustice. No video, didn't happen.

in reference to:

"Iran's embattled opposition leaders promised to press on with their campaign against the country's rulers, saying the use of force to crush the post-election protests will not silence their demands for democratic change.
The powerful statement of defiance Friday from opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and former President Mohammad Khatami also sent a message to their supporters that the protest campaign triggered by the disputed June 12 presidential election still had energy and leadership though street demonstrations fizzled out months ago."
- Iran opposition: Use of force won't halt demands - Yahoo! News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Neighbors Thought Dead Man Was Halloween Display

What ever happened to "love thy neighbor."

in reference to:

"Residents of a Southern California apartment complex say they saw a lifeless body slumped on a neighbor's patio, but didn't call police because they thought it was part of a Halloween display."
- Neighbors Thought Dead Man Was Halloween Display - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Billionaire Arrested for Insider Trading

This is what Wall St. has become: a giant money grubbing machine. "Greed is good" is the message. How life imitates art. And the near stock market collapse hasn't changed a damn thing. And the of us are just spectators to this disgusting game. And those in charge of stopping this activity are in bed with the same corrupt enterprise.

in reference to:

"Hedge fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam is one of six charged with running a scheme that netted at least $20 million in illicit gains."
- Billionaire Arrested for Insider Trading - Forbes.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Power Company Switches Off Cancer Patient's Oxygen Machine

This shouldn't be happening in America. But those who oppose health care reform don't care about people like Mable Randon.

in reference to:

"Mable Randon is suffering from the late stages of cancer. She's bound by a wheel chair and only breathing with the help of an electrically-powered oxygen machine. Rucks Russell of KHOU in Houston reports that the local power company sent her a disconnection notice because of late bills. She applied to the Critical Customer Program, a payment plan seemingly tailor-made for people in Randon's condition who depend on electric life support -- but she was denied."
- Power Company Trying To Switch Off Cancer Patient's Oxygen Machine (view on Google Sidewiki)

US Pays $400 Per Gallon For Gas In Afghanistan: Pentagon

Doesn't sound like a good deal.

in reference to:

"The Pentagon pays an average of $400 to put a gallon of fuel into a combat vehicle or aircraft in Afghanistan."
- US Pays $400 Per Gallon For Gas In Afghanistan: Pentagon (view on Google Sidewiki)

The U.S.’s 2009 budget gap widened to $1.42 trillion

You cannot run deficits when you are a debtor nation. That is unsustainable. That means that we depend on the generosity of the Communist Chinese, or we print money. All that does is create inflation. We are on the verge of financial catastrophe - still.

in reference to:

"The U.S.’s 2009 budget gap widened to $1.42 trillion as
the deepest recession since the 1930s crippled tax revenue and
the administration increased spending to rescue the economy.
The shortfall for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 was more than
triple the $455 billion record set a year earlier, the Treasury
Department said today in Washington."
- Geithner Says U.S. Must Instill Confidence in Fiscal Management - Bloomberg.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

DC woman to be sentenced for killing 4 daughters

Once again the system failed the most innocent in our society. How do 4 children go missing for months and no one notice? There has to be a way of accounting for all children in our society. This should include regular required physical and psychological testing for all youth.

in reference to:

"A D.C. woman convicted of killing her four daughters and living with their decomposing bodies for months returns to court Friday to be sentenced."
- DC woman to be sentenced for killing 4 daughters (view on Google Sidewiki)

Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License in La.

This is a major story that isn't even on the front page of the NY Times. That this sort of thing goes on in America would explain why Republicans are using racism as a political strategy. We need to find out how this clown got to where here is. And how soon do we get rid of him. And we need to ask every Republican what they think of this judge. Let's smoke these racists out.

in reference to:

"A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.
"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else.""
- Interracial couple denied marriage license in La. - Yahoo! News (view on Google Sidewiki)

6-Year-old "Balloon Boy" Story: Media Hits a New Low

I've never seen a more trivial story become a major news event. The Press/media has hit a new low. It including the interruption of regular scheduled programming in NYC about an event that occurred in Colorado. The early reports were about a runaway balloon that might've involved a 6-year-old. It turns out there was no boy in a balloon. Therefore, the press, including the NY Times spent a major amount of time covering a story about an empty balloon. So it might make ironic sense that the family involved in this possible hoax, are kooks.

"When the Heene family aren't chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm. In this ultimate swap, the Heenes swap lives with a psychic mom who speaks to the dead and can control the weather, her husband and her children -- who believe they are destined to be star," the promotional copy read.

Father Richard Heene is an amateur scientist and storm chaser, according to a 2007 Denver Post profile. He is a co-author of the Web site The Science Detective.

Here's a video CBS news. Katie Couric called the event "incredible." I call it pure sensationalism.

Watch CBS News Videos Online
The NY Times has this "story" featured prominently on its homepage.

For hours on Thursday, people around the country were gripped by television images of a homemade, silver balloon careening through the skies near here, whooshing over fields and trees and yards with a 6-year-old boy believed inside.

[...]Sheriff Alderden flashed two thumbs up and said simply: “He’s alive. He’s in the house.”

Asked about the possibility that the event was a hoax, he said: “From our investigators on the scene, by all accounts, the angst and anguish this family was experiencing was genuine and the relief they experienced when he reappeared was genuine. I can’t imagine he would have been instructed to hide by his parents.”

There was nothing on the front page on the what should have been the top story: a justice of the peace refusing to marry an interracial couple.

Burned Teen Michael Brewer Holding on to life; Prognosis Grim

We need to ask how our society continues to breed such savages. Until we answer that question our nation is in danger.

in reference to:

"Four days ago, Michael Brewer Jr. was celebrating his 15th birthday with his family, a happy teenager doing back flips in the swimming pool. On Wednesday, the slight, blonde-haired teenager was heavily bandaged in intensive care at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Burn Center, suffering from burns on 65 percent of his body. Gone were his eyebrows and eyelashes, along with most of the hair on the right side of his head. If he survives, his recovery will take months, say doctors.The Deerfield Beach seventh-grader was burned by five schoolmates who attacked him during a squabble over a video game and a bicycle, according to authorities"
- Burned teen Michael Brewer holding on to life; prognosis grim - Today's Top Stories - MiamiHerald.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Earmarks Sap Energy Chief's Priorities

Another promise not kept by Obama. Not that he could keep it. But those promises certainly helped get him elected President. Mr. Obama never had the power, nor will he ever have the power, to change this corrupt system.

in reference to:

"When President Barack Obama signed a spending bill for the 2009 fiscal year in March, he said he wanted earmark-laden legislation to be an "end to the old way of doing business, and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability."
Congress, however, hasn't given up earmarks -- the term for seemingly parochial projects funded at the behest of lawmakers.
The Obama administration didn't request these energy projects; it has proposed eliminating many of them.
Critics of the proposals -- which total more than $400 million in the legislation nearing Senate approval -- say they threaten to distract the Energy Department at a time when it is trying to disburse roughly $37 billion that Congress approved earlier this year for fuel-efficient vehicles, a modernized electric grid and other projects."
- Earmarks Sap Energy Chief's Priorities - WSJ.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

More than 85,000 Iraqis killed in war violence, ministry says

And nothing to show for it.

in reference to:

"The Iraqi Human Rights Ministry said 85,694 people were killed from 2004 to October 31, 2008, in the violence across the country. There were 147,195 people wounded during the same period. The figures include civilians and Iraqi security forces but not insurgents and militias."
- More than 85,000 Iraqis killed in war violence, ministry says - CNN.com (view on Google Sidewiki)