One person's plea for sanity and the continuation of the human race in an insane world.
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RomneyCare ‘Sort Of Similar’ To ObamaCare, But Only Obama Will Acknowledge It
(Think Progress)In an interview with President Obama today, NBC’s Matt Lauer wondered how the historic health care reform legislation that Obama signed last week “could be good for the American public in general when it didn’t receive one single Republican vote.” Obama responded by noting “that the Republican party made a calculated decision, a political decision, that they would not support whatever we did.” He then added that the bill “incorporates all sorts of Republican ideas” and is similar to what Mitt Romney did in Massachusetts:
OBAMA: And I think that’s unfortunate because when you actually look at the bill itself, it incorporates all sorts of Republican ideas. I mean a lot of commentators have said this is sort of similar to the bill that Mitt Romney, the Republican governor and now presidential candidate, passed in Massachusetts. A lot of the ideas in terms of the exchange, just being able to pool and improve the purchasing power of individuals in the insurance market. That originated from the Heritage Foundation and…
Noting the “middle of the road, centrist approach” of the reform legislation, Obama said that he was “frustrated that Republicans” who “had an opportunity to help shape this bill declined that opportunity.” “The overall architecture of it was actually something that was right down the middle,” said Obama.
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Sarkozy lauds the U.S.: ‘Welcome to the club of states who don’t turn their back on the sick and the poor.’
(Think Progress)Yesterday, as a part of a two-day trip to the United States, French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke to students and faculty at Columbia University. At one point in the speech, the French President lauded the United States for passing a health care bill that extends coverage to millions of uninsured, welcoming our nation to “the club of states who don’t turn their back on the sick and poor”:
“Welcome to the club of states who don’t turn their back on the sick and the poor,” Sarkozy said, referring to the US health care overhaul signed by President Barack Obama last week.
From the European perspective, he said, “when we look at the American debate on reforming health care, it’s difficult to believe”. [...]
Then to hearty applause, he added: “If you come to France and something happens to you, you won’t be asked for your credit card before you’re rushed to the hospital.”
Sarkozy also explained during his speech that it was “astonishing” to the French that a “violent debate” erupted in America over the notion that “the poorest of Americans should not be left out in the streets without a cent to look after them.” Sarkozy is a member of the conservative UMP party in France and is considered to be well right-of-center in the European country. His reaction to the health bill stands in stark contrast to leading conservatives in the United States, who claimed that it would damage the country more than 9/11 and constitute a great assault on freedom.
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Bullying expert: Mass. school didn't use advice
BOSTON – An anti-bullying consultant says school officials in western Massachusetts didn't follow all the advice she gave them months before a harassed freshman girl committed suicide.
Barbara Coloroso told CBS' "The Early Show" on Tuesday that schools need procedures to protect victims and punish perpetrators, and programs to prevent further problems. She says South Hadley schools "had policies, but the procedures need to be toughened up."
Coloroso said she consulted with parents and administrators months before 15-year-old Phoebe Prince hanged herself in January. Authorities say she endured months of verbal assaults and threats, mostly in school and in person, although some of the bullying occurred on Facebook and in other electronic forms.
"This is a wake-up call, and I think it will happen," Coloroso said.
Nine fellow students face charges in connection with her death, including two teen boys charged with statutory rape and a clique of girls charged with stalking, criminal harassment and violating Phoebe's civil rights. School officials won't be charged, even though authorities say they knew about the bullying.
School officials have not returned messages left by The Associated Press.
Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who announced the charges Monday, said the events that occurred between September and Phoebe's death Jan. 14 were "the culmination of a nearly three-month campaign of verbally assaultive behavior and threats of physical harm."
Scheibel said the case is still under investigation and that one other person could be charged. It's unknown whether the teens who have been charged have attorneys.
Schiebel refused to discuss the circumstances of the rape charges.
No school officials are being charged because they had "a lack of understanding of harassment associated with teen dating relationships," and the school's code of conduct was interpreted and enforced in an "inconsistent" way, Scheibel said.
"Nevertheless, the actions — or inactions — of some adults at the school are troublesome," she said.
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Feds: Militia plotted for anti-government revolt
WHEATLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Members of a rural Michigan-based Christian militia who believed a battle with the Antichrist was coming were plotting to attack police officers in hopes of fomenting a violent uprising against the government, federal prosecutors alleged.
Seven men and one woman believed to be part of the group called Hutaree were arrested over the weekend after raids in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. The ninth suspect was arrested Monday night after a search in southern Michigan and was expected to be arraigned Tuesday.
FBI agents moved quickly against Hutaree because its members were planning an attack sometime in April, prosecutors said. Members had been undergoing paramilitary training, including learning how to shoot guns and make bombs, since 2008, according to an indictment. Authorities seized guns in the raids but would not say whether they found explosives.
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Boy, who could have predicted anything like this? Oh yeah! The Dept. of Homeland Security report from last year that the right-wingers denounced so effectively!
It sure seems like this country has far more to fear from home-grown terrorists than from any outside groups these days. These nuts aren't simply opposed to the governments policies, as most of us were during the bush years, but want to actually murder the people who are implementing the policies - policies which, for a change, are actually good for the people and the country.
F'k'ing sick looney-tunes....
And here's yet another one!
White Supremacist Plotting To Kill Obama Pleads Guilty
(Huffington Post)
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On Tuesday, President Obama signed health insurance reform into law. And just a little while ago, the Senate made good on its promise to fix and finish reform by passing the reconciliation bill 56-43.
In the end, over 37,000 people added their voices to mine in support of getting this done. Reform would not have been possible without so many amazing Nevadans, and Americans, calling for change.
This was a long, tough road - but it was the right path for America. You can read about how health insurance reform will impact you by clicking here, and I encourage you to go there today and read about the many important aspects of reform that are now the law of the land.Thank you, once again, for all your support throughout this long process. The only way this was going to happen was by sticking together. There truly is no more powerful force in politics than dedicated Americans working together for change.
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House passes bill to fund infrastructure, tax cuts
WASHINGTON – Local governments would receive billions of dollars for construction projects and welfare programs under a bill passed Wednesday in the House, the latest in a series of election-year jobs bills Democrats are pushing in Congress.
The bill combines $13.2 billion in interest subsidies for local construction bonds with $3.6 billion in tax cuts for small businesses and $2.5 billion in aide to states to pay for expanded welfare programs through September 2011.
The House passed the measure 246-178, with nearly all Republicans opposed. It now goes to the Senate.
The Democrats aim to pass a series of modest measures to address unemployment as congressional elections approach in November. With unemployment hovering near 10 percent, jobs and the economy are sure to be big issues in elections.
Last week, President Barack Obama signed a bill that offers tax breaks to companies that hire unemployed workers. On Wednesday, the House also passed a bill that would provide $5.1 billion to fund local disaster relief projects, including some that date back to Hurricane Katrina, and $600 million for summer jobs programs. The bill passed 239-175.
Democrats said the economy is starting to rebound, but with high unemployment persisting, they will continue to work on the issue.
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NEW YORK – On the heels of health care, a new Harris poll reveals Republican attitudes about Obama: Two-thirds think he's a socialist, 57 percent a Muslim—and 24 percent say "he may be the Antichrist."
To anyone who thinks the end of the health-care vote means a return to civility, wake up.
Obama Derangement Syndrome—pathological hatred of the president posing as patriotism—has infected the Republican Party.
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Ten immediate benefits of HCR
Here are ten benefits which come online within six months of the President's signature on the health care bill:
1) Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 27th birthday
2) Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions
3) No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage
4) Free preventative care for all
5) Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
6) Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.
7) The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
8) Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
9) Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.
10) AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can't lose your insurance because you get sick.
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Rep. Paul Broun: The ramifications of health reform will be like ‘the Great War of Yankee Aggression.’
As the vote on health care approaches, Republican lawmakers are attacking the legislation with increasingly bizarre and hateful comments. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), a far right lawmaker who has led much of the opposition to health reform, took to the floor of the House of Representatives last night to deliver a diatribe against health reform. Previously, Broun had compared President Obama to a dictator who would impose martial law. But last night, Broun out-performed his reactionary colleagues and even his own track record of absurdity. Bellowing into the microphone, Broun said that “if ObamaCare passes,” a “free insurance card” (which is not in the bill) will be “as worthless as a Confederate dollar after the “Great War of Yankee Aggression“:
BROUN: If ObamaCare passes, that free insurance card that’s in people’s pockets is gonna be as worthless as a Confederate dollar after the War Between The States — the Great War of Yankee Aggression.
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‘Holder-in-Chief’ Coburn issues far-fetched threat against Democrats who switch votes in favor of health reform.
During a GOP press conference today, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) issued a far-fetched threat against those Democrats who are considering switching their votes to support health reform. “If you voted no and you vote yes and you lose your election and you think any nomination to a federal position isn’t going to be held in the Senate, I’ve got news for you, it’s going to be held,” Coburn said. Calling Coburn the “holder-in-chief,” Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) said, “I look forward to those holds.”
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To be clear, Coburn — who has placed holds on everything from veterans benefits bills to sanctions against a mass-murdering African militia — is targeting the small number of Democrats who switch their votes, and then are subsequently defeated, and later nominated by President Obama for a Senate-confirmed federal appointment. In other words, Coburn’s threat pertains to a highly improbable event. “There is no limit to what the other side will do to protect the insurance companies,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
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As conservatism rises, HIV infections are too, U.N. official says
NEW YORK – New HIV infections are increasing among homosexuals, drug users and prostitutes who don't seek help because of laws that criminalize these practices, the head of the U.N. AIDS agency said Monday.
Michel Sidibe, the head of UNAIDS, said "it is unacceptable" that 85 countries still have laws criminalizing same sex relations among adults, including seven that impose the death penalty for homosexual practices.
He called a proposed Ugandan law that would impose the death penalty for some gays "very unfortunate" and expressed hope it will never be approved.
At a time when UNAIDS is scaling up its program and seeking universal access to HIV treatment, Sidibe said he was "very scared" because bad laws are being introduced by countries making it impossible for these at risk groups to have access to services.
"You have also a growing conservatism which is making me very scared," Sidibe added.
"We must insist that the rights of the minorities are upheld. If we don't do that ... I think the epidemic will grow again," he warned. "We cannot accept the tyranny of the majority."
Sidibe told a group of journalists at a luncheon hosted by the United Nations Foundation that in countries from China to Kenya and Malawi, about 33 percent of new HIV infections are in men having sex with men, a significant increase.
By contrast, he said that in the Caribbean where most countries don't have repressive laws, only between 3 and 6 percent of HIV infections are in male homosexuals.
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Why Rush Limbaugh would go to Costa Rica if Obama's healthcare plan
passesSan José, Costa Rica – Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said this week he’d go to Costa Rica for medical treatment if Congress passes proposed reforms to the US healthcare system.
That might sound like an unusual choice, since this is a country with one of the longest standing socialized healthcare systems on the planet. Everyone here (including resident foreigner), are required to pay into the government-run health system, whether they use it or not.
But Limbaugh’s choice may also serve to advertise what many Americans traveling here for medical treatment already know: Costa Rica is a fabulous place for medical tourism.
Life expectancy in this little Central American country surpasses that of the United States and at one point, back in the early 2000s when the World Health Organization rated countries’ general health, Costa Rica ranked higher (No. 36) than its northern neighbor (No. 37), despite spending 87 percent less on health care per capita.
Some who've studied Costa Rican health care consider it better overall, and attribute that to the fact that free coverage extends to 86.8 percent of the population.
But the Cadillac-style private hospitals at Chevy Aveo prices are what really draw 25,000 Americans to Costa Rica every year.
“People travel to Costa Rica (and) receive the same quality of medical services for a fraction of the cost,” said Jorge Cortés, president of the Council for International Promotion of Costa Rica Medicine and medical director of Hospital Biblica, one of three internationally-accredited private hospitals in Costa Rica. “When people see they can get the same surgery for three or four times less, they decide to get medical care abroad.”
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Reid's Wife, Daughter Hospitalized After Car Accident
---WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife and daughter were being treated in a hospital Thursday for serious injuries they sustained when their
vehicle was rear-ended by a truck, a spokesman said.Reid's wife, Landra, 69, broke her back and neck in the accident, Reid spokesman Jim Manley said.
She and the couple's adult daughter, Lana, were being treated at Inova Fairfax Hospital in suburban Virginia. Neither woman's injuries appeared to be life-threatening, Manley said.
"While driving on a Washington, D.C., highway, their vehicle was rear-ended by a semi-truck," Manley said in a statement.
"Mrs. Reid has a broken nose, broken back and broken neck. Lana has a neck injury and facial lacerations. Both Mrs. Reid and Lana are conscious, can feel their extremities, and according to doctors their injuries are non-life threatening," Manley said. "Sen. Reid has been to the hospital and appreciates the support he and his family are receiving from Nevadans and his colleagues in the Senate."
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New Zealander auctions "ghosts" in a bottle
WELLINGTON (Reuters Life!) – A New Zealand woman sold two vials that she said contained the ghosts of an old man and a young girl for almost NZ$2,000 ($1,410) after a fiercely contested online auction, local media reported.
Avie Woodbury from Christchurch told TVNZ that she captured the spirits after an exorcism session of her house and for which she paid roughly $100.
Woodbury then put the ghosts into holy water and stored them in separate vials before deciding to auction them.
The web page for the sale attracted more than 200,000 views before the auction ended on Monday after a week. Woodbury said all proceeds from the auction, minus the exorcist's fee, would be donated to an animal charity.
"I would get things like the jug boiling itself, touching on the back of my neck, voices from other rooms, and items going missing then turning up in weird places," she said.
"I just want to get rid of them as they scare me. But someone might like these to play with," she said.
Woodbury said she felt a better vibe in her house after the exorcism. "Whether it is psychological or not but I definitely felt a new vibe in the house," she told TVNZ.
The winning bidder was an electronic cigarette company, which local newspapers said was now asking for ideas on what to do with the vials.
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62 percent: Turnout in Iraq’s parliamentary elections on Sunday, “higher than in last year’s provincial ballot, despite attempts by Sunni Islamist insurgents to disrupt the vote with attacks that killed 39.”
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She complained about the "establishment," this woman who once ran to be second-in-command of the largest establishment in the world; she mocked the press, speaking as a correspondent to America's biggest news network; she chastised critics who dwelt on her children's lives, after introducing to the audience her daughter, Piper, who spent the duration of the speech fidgeting near the stage. And the politician who championed the average working man and woman spent an hour before her appearance locked away in a private VIP reception posing for photos with guests who had paid hundreds of dollars for the privilege; after her speech, she was hustled by handlers out a back door. If these were contradictions, they were forgiven readily. As is surely the case with so many of her audiences, Ms. Palin's unpretentiousness and charm, and her deeply held conservatism, counted far more.
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The textbook delivers a religious ultimatum to young readers and parents, warning in its "History of Life" chapter that a "Christian worldview ... is the only correct view of reality; anyone who rejects it will not only fail to reach heaven but also fail to see the world as it truly is."---
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