The Democratic Republican

Response to 5 Questions for Atheists

2012-01-01T22:54:00.000-08:00

Answers to Silvermage85's 5 Questions for an Atheist.

The GOP Failure of 2011

2011-12-23T00:18:00.000-08:00

The GOP has blocked almost everything the president has proposed for 3 years. Their only goal is to make Obama a one term president and it is costing all of us a balanced, working capitol hill and the sanctity of the democratic process. It is immoral to campaign with the power of law making but it is traitorous to do it for 3 years.

This has driven the confidence in every branch of government into the the depths of mistrust. Taking both parties down with it. This Fox News based, reactionary, divided nation ideology is a seed of destruction. The GOP retook The House with promises of jobs, jobs, jobs. Where are they?

Any group who took part in a blatant anti-American activity would be tried for TREASON, and that is exactly how I view the behavior of these loathsome republican'ts, as treasonous!

Republican'ts aren't even pretending to do anything other than block procedure and choke participation in the democratic process. They would rather turn the USA into a third world country in less than 5 years, than let President Obama be the great president he's more than capable of being.

Now more than ever we need hard term limits, so we can rid our government of these selfserving career politician who do NOT represent their consituents or do their jobs, and only strive for re-election and to line their own and their corporate owners' pockets with illgotten taxpayer dollars.

List of President Obama's Accomplishments

2011-12-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

One of the most irritating things I hear these days is the idea that President Obama is really no different than Bush, or that he's a "disappointment." Both of those characterizations are flat ignorant. If you truly believe that, you're in serious denial, and you can't be paying very close attention. In fairness, perhaps you were in a coma for the eight Bush Years, and if so, I forgive you. But please join the real world.

So far, this president has done most of what he said he would do if elected, and he's not even through his first term. Imagine what he could have done by now if we supported him, and gave him a Congress that doesn't look at him as if he's the demon seed.

Not only is he NOT a "failure," he's pretty much the opposite. And no, I don't just say that because he took out Osama bin Laden and helped Libya determine their own destiny for the first time in a while.

Is he perfect? No, he's human. Does he deserve some criticism? Sure. But criticism about certain specific problems is one thing; taking on an overall "Obama sucks" meme not only has the potential to put another Bush into power, but it's also a lie. Just because you wanted a president who would give you a unicorn that farts the Star Spangled Banner, doesn't mean he's not doing well at the job we hired him for.

What follows is a PARTIAL list of Obama's accomplishments so far. Unlike many such lists, there is a link to a citation supporting every single one.

Anytime someone, right OR left, tells you Obama sucks, or is a "disappointment," show them this list and tell them to kiss a part of your body not usually considered pleasant to kiss.

The first section alone should make them sit down and shut up.

Legislative Prowess

Despite the characterizations of some, Obama’s success rate in winning congressional votes on issues was an unprecedented 96.7% for his first year in office. Though he is often cited as superior to Obama, President Lyndon Johnson’s success rate in 1965 was only 93%. http://n.pr/i3d7cY

Fiscal Responsibility

Within days after taking office, he signed an Executive Order ordering an audit of government contracts, and combating waste and abuse. http://1.usa.gov/dUvbu5

Created the post of Chief Performance Officer, whose job it is to make operations more efficient to save the federal government money. http://n.pr/hcgBn1

On his first full day, he froze White House salaries. http://on.msnbc.com/ewJUIx

He appointed the first Federal Chief Information Officer to oversee federal IT spending. http://www.cio.gov

He committed to phasing out unnecessary and outdated weapons systems, and also signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act to stop waste, fraud and abuse in the defense procurement and contracting system. http://bit.ly/hOw1t1 http://bit.ly/fz8GAd

Through an executive order, he created the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. http://bit.ly/hwKhKa

Improving the Economy, Preventing Depression

He pushed through and signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as “the stimulus package,” despite the fact that not one Republican voted for that bill. In addition, he launched recovery.gov, so that taxpayers could track spending from the Act. http://1.usa.gov/ibiFSs http://1.usa.gov/e3BJMk

In his first year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created and sustained 2.1 million jobs and stimulated the economy 3.5%. http://reut.rs/i46CEE

He completed the massive TARP financial and banking rescue plan, and recovered virtually all of its costs. http://1.usa.gov/eA5jVS http://bit.ly/eCNrD6

He created the Making Home Affordable home refinancing plan. http://1.usa.gov/goy6zl

He oversaw the creation of more jobs in 2010 alone than Bush did in eight years. http://bit.ly/hrrnjY

He oversaw investment in updated and improved manufacturing processes. http://bit.ly/fJEyDI

He also doubled funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership which is designed to improve manufacturing efficiency. http://bit.ly/eYD4nf

He signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act giving the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute fraud in every corner of the financial system. It also created a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial fraud that led to the economic meltdown. http://abcn.ws/g18Fe7

He signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act, which was designed to to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive credit card practices. http://1.usa.gov/gIaNcS

He increased infrastructure spending after years of neglect. http://bit.ly/f77aOw

He signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, expanding on the Making Home Affordable Program to help millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures. The bill also provided $2.2 billion to help combat homelessness, and to stabilize the housing market. http://bit.ly/eEpLFn

Through the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, he and Congressional Democrats provided tax credits to first-time home buyers, which helped the U.S. housing market recovery. http://bit.ly/dZgXXw http://bit.ly/gORYfL

He initiated a $15 billion plan designed to encourage increased lending to small businesses.
http://1.usa.gov/eu0u0b

He created business.gov, which allows for online collaboration between small businesses and experts re managing a business. (The program has since merged with SBA.gov.) http://www.business.gov

He played a lead role in getting the G-20 Summit to commit to a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis. http://nyti.ms/gHlgp5

He took steps to improve minority access to capital. http://bit.ly/f9xVE7

He created a $60 billion bank to fund infrastructure improvements such as roads and bridges. http://bit.ly/e1SSaQ

He implemented an auto industry rescue plan, and saved as many as 1 million jobs. http://bit.ly/ibhpxr

Many are of the opinion that he saved the entire auto industry, and even the economy of the entire Midwest. http://bit.ly/gj7mt5

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he saved at least 300,000 education jobs, such as teachers, principals, librarians, and counselors that would have otherwise been lost. http://1.usa.gov/ez30Dc

Provided funding to states and the Department of Homeland Security to save thousands of police and firefighter jobs from being cut during the recession. http://bit.ly/g0IKWR

He used recovered TARP money to fund programs at local housing finance agencies in California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan. http://on.msnbc.com/i1i8eV

Crafted an Executive order stablishing the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability to assist in financial education for all Americans. http://bit.ly/eyqsNE

Wall Street Reforms and Consumer Protection

Ordered 65 executives who took bailout money to cut their own pay until they paid back all bailout money. http://huff.to/eAi9Qq

He pushed through and got passed Dodd-Frank, one of the largest and most comprehensive Wall Street reforms since the Great Depression. http://bit.ly/hWCPg0 http://bit.ly/geHpcD

He made it so that banks could no longer use YOUR money to invest in high-risk financial instruments that work against their own customers' interests. http://bit.ly/fnTayj

He supported the concept of allowing stockholders to vote on executive compensation. http://bit.ly/fnTayj

He wholly endorsed and supported the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 that would close offshore tax avoidance loopholes. http://bit.ly/esOdfB http://bit.ly/eG4DPM

He made a deal with Swiss banks that permits the US government to gain access to the records of criminals and tax evaders. http://bit.ly/htfDgw

He established a Consumer Protection Financial Bureau designed to protect consumers from financial sector excesses. http://bit.ly/fnTayj

Civil Rights and Anti-Discrimination

He advocated for and signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which made it a federal crime to assault anyone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. http://bit.ly/gsMSJ7

He pushed through, signed and demanded the Pentagon enact a repeal of the discriminatory “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy that forced soldiers to lie to fight for their country, and put our troops at risk by disqualifying many qualified soldiers from helping. http://bit.ly/fdahuH http://bit.ly/mZV4Pz

He appointed Kareem Dale as the first ever Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy. http://1.usa.gov/fi5IY0

Helped Congress pass and signed the Civil Rights History Act. http://bit.ly/th0JC8

He extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. http://1.usa.gov/g2RLCj

He's appointed more openly gay officials than anyone in history. http://bit.ly/g1lA7D

He issued a Presidential Memorandum reaffirming the rights of gay couples to make medical decisions for each other. http://1.usa.gov/aUueGT

He established a White House Council on Women and Girls http://1.usa.gov/rFfqMM

He signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers. This was after the GOP blocked the bill in 2007. Only 5 Republican Senators voted for the bill. http://bit.ly/fT3Cxg

Wrote and signed an Executive Order establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies evaluate the effect of their policies and programs on women and families. http://bit.ly/e1puTk

He expanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act. http://1.usa.gov/dSbI0x

Under his watch, National Labor Relations Board has issued final rules that require all employers to prominently post employees' rights where all employees or prospective employees can see it, including websites and intranets, beginning November 2011. http://1.usa.gov/qu2EhQ

Fighting Poverty

He provided a $20 billion increase for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps). http://nyti.ms/gfLqyM

He signed an Executive Order that established the White House Office of Urban Affairs. http://wapo.st/eWECA8

Improved Foreign Relations and American Status Abroad

He visited more countries and met with more world leaders than any previous president during his first six months in office. http://bit.ly/hZycda

As he promised, he gave a speech at a major Islamic forum in Cairo early in his administration. http://nyti.ms/dKvY4g

He did much to restore America's reputation around the world as a global leader that does the "right thing" in world affairs, at least according to the rest of the world. http://bit.ly/h743y7 http://bit.ly/ho4TCr

He re-established and reinforced our partnership with NATO and other allies on strategic international issues. http://1.usa.gov/e7QuDj

Closed a number of secret detention facilities. http://nyti.ms/rpUc9l

He improved relations with Middle East countries by appointing special envoys. http://1.usa.gov/tiGAGe

Offered $400 billion to the people living in Gaza, called on both Israel and the Palestinians to stop inciting violence. http://bit.ly/9axfWh

He worked to make donations to Haiti tax deductible in 2009. http://huff.to/6YkAVY

He established a new U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. http://1.usa.gov/eX28DP

Issued Executive Order blocking interference and helping to stabilize Somalia. http://1.usa.gov/hxdf8U

He established new, more reasonable policies in our relations with Cuba, such as allowing Cuban-Americans to visit their families and send money to support them. http://n.pr/hY3Kwa http://nyti.ms/emQBde

He ordered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay. It was Republicans (and a smattering of Democrats) who prevented him from following through. http://bit.ly/eW6CVF

Ordered a review of our detention and interrogation policy, and prohibited the use of torture, or what Bush called "enhanced interrogation." He ordered interrogators to limit their actions to the Army Field manual. http://bit.ly/g6MTuC

He ordered all secret detention facilities in Eastern Europe and elsewhere to be closed. http://bbc.in/h6N9ax

He released the Bush torture memos. http://bit.ly/hWJ5z0

On his second day in office, he signed a detailed Executive Order that banned torture, reversed all Bush torture policies, and put the United States in compliance with the Geneva Convention. http://1.usa.gov/dL6Zve http://nyti.ms/hzWWys

Better Approach to “Defense”

Created a comprehensive new strategy for dealing with the international nuclear threat. http://1.usa.gov/gDX1nE

He authorized a $1.4 billion reduction in Star Wars program in 2010. http://1.usa.gov/gLFZl2

He restarted nuclear nonproliferation talks and built up the nuclear inspection infrastructure/protocols to where they had been before Bush. http://lat.ms/gkcl3i

He signed and pushed to ratification a new SALT Treaty. http://bit.ly/f3JVtw

Negotiated and signed a new START Treaty that will lst until at least 2021. http://1.usa.gov/cI1bC4

Through the Defense Authorization Act, he reversed the Bush Administration and committed to no permanent military bases in Iraq. http://bit.ly/hk73OJ

He developed the first comprehensive strategy with regard to Afghanistan and Pakistan designed to facilitate the defeat of al Qaeda and the withdrawal of most troops, as well as the rebuilding of Afghanistan. http://wapo.st/ee4Xcs

He returned our focus to Afghanistan, stabilized the country, and began the process of withdrawing our troops from the country. http://bit.ly/lNXUna

Fulfilled campaign promise and ended our involvement in Iraq, and will complete full troop withdrawal before Christmas 2011. http://onforb.es/nTUk4Z

He took steps to severely weaken al Qaeda and limited their ability to terrorize the world. http://yhoo.it/n5lXs6

He took decisive action to use NATO to limit the slaughter of innocents in Libya, so that the Libyan people could topple a despotic government and determine their own fate. http://aje.me/qAh4Sj

Treating Soldiers and Veterans with Respect

He made sure that families of fallen soldiers could be on hand when the body arrives at Dover AFB, by providing funding for it. He also ended the media blackout on coverage of the return of fallen soldiers. http://nyti.ms/glqN66

http://bbc.in/gWSSkA

He funded Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with an extra $1.4 billion to improve veterans’ services. http://1.usa.gov/huhqfo

He provided the troops with better body armor. http://bit.ly/hzSv2h

Created the Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record program for military personnel, in order to improve the quality of their medical care. http://1.usa.gov/f4yaxW

He put an end to the Bush-era stop-loss policy that kept soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan beyond their enlistment date. (personal note: my son will be in harm’s way for six fewer months with Obama as president, so you know I love this one.) http://nyti.ms/e2YQ7Q

He supported and signed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, which made more money available to enable better medical care for veterans. http://1.usa.gov/fN4ur1

He ushered through the largest spending increase in 30 years for the Department of Veterans Affairs for improved medical facilities, and to assist states in acquiring or constructing state nursing homes and extended care facilities. http://1.usa.gov/gY8O3x

He created the Green Vet Initiative, which provided special funding to the Labor Department to provide veterans with training in green jobs. http://bit.ly/epwUQY

He oversaw a $4.6 billion expansion of the Veterans Administration budget to pay for more mental health professionals. http://bit.ly/gjzTxX

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Why We Must Work Together To Pass The OCCUPIED Amendment

2011-12-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

Corporations are not people and they do not belong in our elections.

In recent months, Americans across the nation have demonstrated, protested, and occupied cities across the nation. But for far longer, corporations have occupied Washington and our state capitals. We can achieve lasting change by working together to pass the OCCUPIED Amendment. It is time to give our government back to the people.

The OCCUPIED Amendment will end corporate influence in our elections by:
Overturning Citizens United and outright banning the ability of corporations to use their profits to influence our elections.

Making clear that corporations, as well as entities formed to represent corporations — are not real, living people with rights protected by our Constitution. They are entities established under our laws and thus subject to our laws.

Reasserting the authority of Congress and the States to crack down on anonymous third party groups flooding our elections with malicious attack ads and to limit campaign contributions and expenditures by individuals, candidates, and all types of private entities.

Read More about H. J. Res 90:

The Money Masters Do Not Want the FED Audited

2011-12-05T23:20:00.000-08:00

THE MONEY MASTERS is a historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slavery to a privately-owned "central" bank was first forced upon the backs of an entire nation, not removed but only made heavier with the passing of the three centuries to our day. Nation after nation has fallen prey to this cabal of international central bankers.

If you like this film, please share it with a friend and support the makers by purchasing a full quality DVD here
http://www.themoneymasters.com/430-2/

NEW - Secret of Oz DVD (Updated version of The Money Masters)
http://www.themoneymasters.com/430-2/

5 reasons to vote for President Obama and the Democrats in 2012

2011-12-05T19:49:00.000-08:00

With the 2012 election under a year away, it's shaping up to be a roller coaster ride. As the 2010 mid-term elections went towards the Republicans, we are seeing the aftereffects now. As President Obama has tried to push through programs that would help the economy and country, the Republicans and their Tea Party members have put up a roadblock on every corner.

While the president has been forced to give in to the destructive demands of the Republican party, the GOP has simply pointed the finger of blame at President Obama when they should be pointing that finger back at themselves. Here are five of what could be a very long list, of reasons you must vote for President Obama and the Democrats in 2012.

1. The Economy and the destructive Tax Code - For the last 30 years, the United States tax code has helped destroy the American economic climate.

It began in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan, one of the worst Presidents we have seen in our country's history. Reagan lowered the top tax rate from 70% to 28% during the eight years he was in office, and raised taxes that primarily hit the middle and working class eleven times. As he managed to triple the national debt, Reagan borrowed from the Social Security trust fund to make up for his reckless tax policies. The economy began to pick back up as President Bill Clinton raised the top tax bracket back up to 39%. When George Bush was sworn into office in January of 2001, on the top of his "to-do" list was to bring taxes back down.

With the start of the "Bush Tax cuts," the rich got richer and the rest of the country began to struggle. With dangerously low capital gains rates, more loopholes for big oil and gas companies and wall street running wild, the economy finally felt the pressure and crashed in 2008. As President Obama continues to try to bring the economy and country back on track, he can't do it with the Republicans overwhelming him in congress. The destructive tax code and our economy are at the top of the list for reasons to vote for President Obama and the Democrats in 2012.

2. "Entitlements"- The big three as they are known, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, are three of the most successful programs that Americans have relied on for decades.

While the Republicans want to privatize these programs and put them in the hands of the private sector so they can gamble and continue to add to their profits, President Obama and the Democrats want to preserve these programs and help them become stronger. Republicans often spew out unfiltered false information about these programs, calling them broke, un-American or a Ponzi Scheme. Social Security itself has a $2.6 trillion dollar surplus and can pay out 100% of its benefits until 2037, and 80% of its benefits until 2057.

Currently, there is a cap on Social Security. Those who make over $106,800 a year don't pay into the Social Security tax on their addition income. A person making $1 million a year would pay around 10% of their income into Social Security, while the average household making around $50,000 a year, pays 100% of their income into Social Security. The president and Democrats want to raise the cap, having the wealthy pay their fair share, adding more money into the fund to make it solvent for decades longer. As the Republicans try to raise the retirement age and send these programs into the hands of the private sector, The president wants to keep it in the hands of the people.

3. Wars - The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on America. Whether it's the trillions of dollars it has taken from our economy or the thousands of lives that have been lost, the cost is too high.

George Bush jumped the gun with false information and invaded Iraq that, almost a decade later, we still sit and try to rebuild To his credit, President Obama has removed the majority of the troops from Iraq and with even more to come home within the next two years. The idea of invading Afghanistan was somewhat tricky as we were attacked on 9/11 by a terrorist group, not a country. However, a major part of that terrorist group was from Afghanistan so the idea of invading that country was so what more warranted. However, just months after the US entered the country, the George Bush led military had Al Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden, on the run in Tora Bora. Somehow, the beaten down old man with a cain found his way out through the mountains.

Fast forward almost a decade later, President Obama takes troops out of Iraq, loads them up in Afghanistan and finally brings down the mastermind of those horrible attacks, Osama Bin Laden. President Obama has gotten involved in strikes in Libya, but those are not direct wars with the US, but partnerships with the United Nations. While the hypocritical Republicans talk about cutting spending they don't seem to ever want to cut where the biggest fat is, military spending. The president plans to pull troops out of both unwanted wars and cut money from unneeded projects.

4. Civil Rights - The world is changing and people's views change with the times. However, not everyone seems to have changed their mind.

The conservative mindset still punishes people for not fitting an exact line of thinking. Whether it's the utter hate of homosexuals, minorities, African-Americans, women and many others, the Republican Party has taken a stance towards bigotry. The first bill that was passed by the Obama administration was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, that gave women the right to be paid at the same rate as men.

In addition, Democrats around the country have rallied for same-sex equality, getting its greatest victory in New York, with the legalization of same-sex marriage as well as the official overturn of Don't Ask, Don't Tell that now lets gays and lesbians serve openly in the military. The conservatives have also taken a hard stance on abortion, making their voice heard that a woman must be forced to give birth to her unwanted baby, and sometimes even in cases of rape and incest. In order to keep the ball rolling on equality, Democrats must be voted back in office or the Republicans will turn back the clock on our country's progress.

5. Simple Science - Science is something that should be embraced not denied.

Whether you are a person of faith or not, turning away from science because it might not fit in with your religious beliefs, is a handicap on your brain. Teaching young children to deny scientific facts and knowledge that are accepted by nearly 99% of the scientific community is nothing short of irresponsible parenting. As the Tea Party has pulled the Republican Party to the political right, they have stepped all over science in doing so.

With their denial of man-made Climate Change and their ludicrous and dangerous stance on evolution, the Republican Party has proven that if they gain anymore power that the teaching of facts might be a thing of the past.

Now, President Obama and the Democrats have their faults. Not everything they do you might agree with, sometimes you might heavily disagree. However, the difference between the two major political parties are very clear. Voting to put more Republicans in charge will only bring the country to the break of failure.

Continue reading on Examiner.com 5 reasons to vote for President Obama and the Democrats in 2012 - Orlando liberal | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/liberal-in-orlando/5-reasons-why-you-must-vote-for-president-obama-and-the-democrats-2012#ixzz1fioS7Vzi

Can Barack Obama Be Reelected President in 2012?

2011-12-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

Consider the front runners for the GOP nomination. Then reconsider them, because the the lead candidate for republicans is continually knocked off of the chess board and not one viable candidate can keep the crown perched on his hypocritical head.

President Obama, is poised and ready to sweep the 2012 elections without much chance of a dark horse galloping in from the political shadows. And while the GOP scrambles for headway into the next cycle, I have already seen numerous Obama 2012 bumper stickers adorned on every class of vehicle.

Reelecting President Obama doesn't seem like a such a long shot after witnessing the last 8 GOP presidential debates and the nominees stumble to the point of practically handing this election to Mr. Obama.

US Currency has Been Backed by Little More Than Confidence

2011-12-01T16:04:00.000-08:00

Since nixon's evaporation of the gold standard, the US currency has been backed by little more than confidence. Confidence in the people's lack of understanding of the monetary system that is. The federal reserve is not federal, it is privately owned.

They can lend multiples of what exists in reserves, under fractional reserve banking. They control the amount of money in circulation, which comes in to existence through loans made to banks and governments. Since the money comes into existence through debt it has to be repaid, but with interest. Therefore the debt is larger than the money supply and inflation, along with defaults and bankruptcy, become permanent problems

The Economic Collapse - How It Will Happen

2011-12-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

Discussion about how the coming economic collapse will happen, and how to prepare yourself. Visit http://triplew.myefoods.com to learn more about preparing you and your family and to receive 12 servings of reserve food for FREE.

*Yes, I realize there is a stutter in the audio. It wasn't there in the original file -- it appeared after it was uploaded to YouTube. When I get the chance, I'll redo it.

The Attack on Christmas is Not a Real Thing

2011-11-28T07:24:00.000-08:00

To the silly people complaining about the "Attack on Christmas." Since "Christ-mas" has nothing to do with a Christmas tree, or Santa, or black Friday, I think you guys need to get a grip on your own religion. Decorating a tree is a Pagan tradition.

It just bothers me that hypocrites constantly feel attacked about their beliefs but always have rationalizations about why they aren't good Christians. They blame everyone else but themselves while they send xmas cards with Santa or Frosty on the the front. Any "Christian" who has let their child hunt for Easter eggs has participated in a pagan ritual that according to the bible are satans works and a sin.

They forget all about the guy on the cross when they are in Wal-Mart buying crap they don't need then put themselves on the cross as martyrs for an over commercialized holiday.

On Easter we never say happy resurrection day. We hunt eggs, a Pagan ritual of fertility. Do right wing Christmas enthusiasts believe this is a left wing conspiracy too? No one is attacking your beliefs, they are helping you to find reality.

But go ahead and keep blaming the devil for declining congregations and rampant sin in an unjust world. Just keep telling yourself while you cower behind your plastic homage to a pagan induced ritual, that everyone else is at fault. While you, with your unjustified righteous indignation, pass though this Earth crowned in a store bought, unsanctioned halo bestowed upon you by a child molesting preacher.

Hypocrites.

Barack Obama, best budget strategist in history?

2011-11-21T23:01:00.000-08:00

Video on msnbc.com: MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell explains why President Obama out-maneuvered the “do-nothing Congress” on The Last Word.

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

Chief Justice John Roberts demanding action on Clarence Thomas

2011-11-19T13:29:00.000-08:00

Your activism continues to make an meaningful impact in the halls of Capitol Hill.

Just yesterday, Rep. Louise Slaughter delivered the signatures of over 130,000 CREDO members to Chief Justice John Roberts demanding action on Clarence Thomas for failing to report the source of his wife's income over the last 13 years.

Over 90,000 CREDO members signed petitions asking their representatives to co-sign Rep. Slaughter's letter to Chief Justice John Roberts. Then CREDO members followed up with nearly 4,000 calls asking them to sign.

In the end, 51 representatives joined Rep. Slaughter's call for an investigation into Clarence Thomas's unethical behavior.¹

The activism of CREDO members was critical in building momentum for other members of Congress to sign on to Rep. Slaughter's letter, and the fact that so many representatives decided to support the investigation into Clarence Thomas shows that your activism really does make a difference.

Rep. Slaughter praised the role that you and other CREDO members played and she sent us a note of thanks for us to pass on to you:

"CREDO Action members have played a huge role in our efforts to hold Clarence Thomas accountable. Thanks in part to your efforts, 52 members of Congress co-signed the letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, along with 130,000 citizens. I thank CREDO and its activists for joining me in the call for an ethics investigation of Clarence Thomas."

You can spread the news of the delivery by clicking here.

CREDO will continue to work to hold Clarence Thomas accountable for his unethical actions.

Thank you for you activism.

Ali Rozell, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

P.S. We will be launching a campaign next week to demand that Clarence Thomas recuse himself from hearing the Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of the health care law. If you'd like to take action now, you can sign the petition by clicking here.

Big Banks Plead with Customers Not to Move Their Money

2011-11-10T12:13:00.000-08:00

Posted on November 9, 2011 by WashingtonsBlog

Yes, The Big Banks DO Care If We Move Our Money

650,000 customers moved $4.5 billion dollars out of the big banks and into smaller banks and credit unions in the last month.
But there is a myth making the rounds that the big banks don’t really care if we move our money. For example, one line of reasoning is that no matter how many people move their money, the Fed and Treasury will just bail out the giants again.
But many anecdotes show that the too big to fails do, in fact, care.
Initially, of course, if the big banks really didn’t care, they wouldn’t have prevented protesters from closing their accounts.

NBC notes that – in response to inquiries regarding how many people have moved their money – Bank of America refused to provide figures, and instead sent the following defensive email:

“Bank of America continues to be a great place for customers to manage their everyday finances and achieve their savings goals,” [Colleen Haggerty, a spokeswoman for Bank of America's Southern California operations] said in an email. “We offer customers more choice and convenience, including industry-leading fraud protection, access to thousands of banking centers and ATMs, and the best online and mobile banking, which allow customers to bank on their terms 24/7.”

A writer noted at Daily Kos:

At Wells Fargo, my sister walked up to the teller and politely asked to close her account. The teller said, “No problem.” She pulled up her account and saw the balance and told her that due to the amount she had to speak with the branch manager. The branch manager came out. He was probably 30 years old and was very arrogant. He asked my sister why she wanted to close her account and my sister told him she thought Wells Fargo was part of the problem with the economy. He went thru some talking points about why she shouldn’t move her money, but my sister didn’t back down. When he asked her where she was going she told him that she would be banking at the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union. She isn’t a state employee, but anyone can join if you are related to a state employee. It turns out her husband is. Anyway, the bankster told her “You’ll be back. Credit unions can’t provide the services you need.” We’ll see about that. She withdrew over $200k from Wells Fargo.

Next we went to Bank of America. I closed my last account with hardly any questions asked. Of course, I had taken most of my money out so there wasn’t much left to take. My sister on the other hand had a large balance in multiple accounts. They actually refused to cut her a check for the full amounts. They only gave her 1/3 of her money and told her she’d have to come back to withdraw the rest. They claimed they were only allowed to make checks for a certain amount, and that they had no authority to cut additional checks on the same day. Stupid BofA. She had her check in hand and politely told off the branch manager when he told her she had to come back another day or two to withdraw the rest.

At BofA, we weren’t the only ones closing accounts. There was a line of people. Most had small accounts because they weren’t even being challenged, but she actually had to wait in line to speak with a branch manager.

At SunTrust, the branch manager went off his rocker. He just kept asking her “is there anything I can do or anything I can say to change your mind?” He asked probably twenty times. He even offered to have the market executive meet with her and hear out her concerns. She told him she wasn’t interested. He really looked nervous about it.

And a writer at Daily Bail pointed out:

I went in, asked to speak with a banker and was seated in an office. When the young associate came in and asked the purpose of my visit, I handed her my ATM card and requested that she tell me the balance. When she did, I then asked for a cashiers check in that amount. That’s when things got wonky. She froze, stumbled over her words and asked why I needed that amount (It was not a small sum). This gave me an opportunity to explain that although I personally would not be affected by their new fees I know plenty of friends and family that would feel the pain. In solidarity with them, I wished to close the account and move on.

She unwittingly suggested that if I just use my debit card once a month then there would be no fee. That was good for a belly laugh from me, then I again requested the balance to be issued to me in the form of a cashier’s check. She then told me that there would be a $10 fee for this service. Another laugh. I guess it didn’t sink in when I told her that I was fee adverse. There was an easy work-around anyway – I requested the cash. That finished my time with this associate banker as the amount I was requesting was “well past” her daily limit for withdrawals. I asked if there would be an issue with securing the cash and she said “I honestly don’t know if we have that here” and walked out to get the branch manager.

The manager was pleasant enough and very direct. After introducing herself she flat out asked “What can we do to change your mind?” “We don’t want to see you go” she emphasized. This opened a door for me to further explain my decision to leave the bank and why I was doing it. Amazingly, it did not fall on deaf ears. She indicated that understood where I was coming from and actually showed genuine surprise at some of the facts I provided her about the less than consumer friendly policies and machinations of her employer. She did make some feeble counter-arguments and repeatedly asked me if I would change my mind (with a hint of desperation!).

I stood firm and by the end of our conversation she asked if I would be willing to put it all in writing so she could send it up the chain.

She shared that management is nervous, they are seeing money leaking out of the bank and realize that they have made mistakes…. They are also aware of the growing momentum behind the November 5th move your money movement.
***
Management is aware that people are angry (how could they not be!) and have put an ear to the ground.

Hundreds of similar stories are being told all over America.
Even though the government may keep throwing money at the dinosaurs, the Basel regulations do have some capital requirements, and so the big banks need to bring in some actual deposits to fund their casino gambling.
Moreover, if too many depositors leave, the illusion that the big banks are serving the American public will be burst, and a critical mass of consciousness will occur, so that the banks’ unquestioned control over the American political and financial systems will start to be questioned.
So moving our money is an effective step towards reclaiming America.

Peter Schiff Speaks at Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

Reason.tv followed investment guru, radio show host, and unflappable defender of capitalism Peter Schiff as he spent three hours among the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park.

An unapologetic member of "the 1 Percent," Schiff argued with all comers for the better part of an afternoon.

Schiff is no ordinary observer. As the prinicipal of the financial firm Euro Pacific Capital, he's a full-fledged and unapologetic member of "the 1 Percent." As an outspoken radio show host and commentator, he not only predicted the housing crash and financial crisis, he railed bank and auto-sector bailouts as they were happening. Schiff believes that capitalism offers is the only hope for young, frustrated people to have a vibrant and prosperous future. So he went to Occupy Wall Street to engage and debate the protesters.

Touring the Occupy Wall Street scene in New York with a sign that read "I Am the 1%, Let's Talk," Schiff spent more than three hours on the scene, explaining the difference between cronyism and capitalism, bailouts and balance sheets, and more.

"The regulation we want is the market," said Schiff. "That's what works."

Schiff describes himself as "sympathetic" to the plight of the OWS protesters, but thinks their anger is misdirected at legitimate business interests and should be better at the White House, Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the crony capitalists they've bailed out.

Occupy Wall Street for the 99%

2011-10-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

OWS is fighting for you whether you like it or not. The goal is to get money out of politics and take gambling out of banking. OWS isn’t going after a figure head like a president, the Teaparty got that one wrong. Congress holds the power, congress makes the law, congress goes to bed with lobbyist and wall street.

No matter what party you belong to those with the money will continue to move jobs overseas, write the tax code to favor themselves and leave us to starve in a a nation that has spilled blood and gold to make it safe for these bastards to do business.

No ideology, no matter how strongly you believe in it will keep us safe from the elite funneling money out of our great nation.

So long as we maintain this left, right, you are wrong, I am right toxic conversations, we remain indentured to to this financial coupe.

http://occupywallst.org/article/occupy-wall-street-marks-one-month/

Joe Rogan on Occupy Wall Street #ows

2011-10-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

Joe Rogan shares his views on the Occupy Wall Street protests on his podcast: The Joe Rogan Experience. OccupyWallSt.org/

Why Occupy Wall Street 2011

2011-10-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

Will we keep assuming there's a difference between Liberal and Conservative lies? They all do, they are all bought by wall street. You and I don't have skin in this game but we keep pretending we do with this left, right fantasy.

Those that have, are taking from those that do not. Being a GOP servant won't save you from the continued pillaging of America's wealth and recourses by the top 1% nor will being a DNC member. You and I cannot debate with freedom when corporations are considered "people." When the people with all the money write the tax code. Either we are on the same side or there won't be a side, just the have mores versus the rest.

Can My Cell Phone Company Make Me Pay My Bill?

2011-10-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

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

I am the 99% Occupy Wall Street Tshirt gear

2011-10-13T19:55:00.001-07:00

Wear Occupy Wall Street, Tshirt and gear. Get ready!
http://www.cafepress.com/politicprotest.309642925#

Bill Maher: How would Jesus run for president?

2011-10-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

On Friday night’s Real Time with Bill Maher, liberal talk show host Bill Maher proposed a hypothetical: What if Jesus ran for president today?

Let’s just say he thinks it probably wouldn’t turn out well.

This video is from HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, broadcast Friday, Sept. 30, 2011.

The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer

2011-08-10T22:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to right wing policies over the last two decades, the middle class have been systematically destroyed. So the wealthiest can gain even more profit while shipping jobs out of the USA.

Tax rates on the top tax bracket:
1918 77%
1921 73%
1923 56%
1924 46%
1925 28%
1929 24%
Great Depression
1945 94%
1955 91%
1965 70%
1975 70%
1980 70%
1982 50%
1987 38%
1993 38%
2003 35%
2008 Great Recession
2011 "Effective" tax rate--17% and still declining.
2012 Great Depression II?

Similar Point of View:
http://pushedleft.blogspot.com/2010/12/rich-get-richer-poor-get-poorer-and.html

What Has America Become?

2011-08-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

I will dissect this article without much effort.
But primarily, it is sophomoric.

Whites can talk about blacks all they want.
I sat in the smog check station yesterday and bitched about blacks and whites with a black guy.
We even ragged on Obama.

They do nothing for the victims?
A free attorney is provided for the victim and criminal.
Over 200 People who have been in prison for 30 or more years, have been found innocent through independent DNA testing.
What did the courts do for them?

They don't teach that it is ok to be gay in school, they teach not to hate others for their differences.

Do you know how many children Bush killed in Iraq?
More than planned parenthood.

We are all socialist.
Do you get a check from the government?

Without Mexicans, your tomatoes would cost $4 each and that's just tomatoes.
Does anyone actually believe that Jesus would take this position?
Not a chance.

If you protest against Obama's policies you are a terrorist?
This guy, and most "christian" conservatives, have a short memory.
It was the Bush administrations that said "if you are not with us you are with the enemy."
I think Rumsfield said it but the administration repeated it for years.

I'll skip the nativity comparison.
This guy didn't graduate high school, I'm sure of that.

*He's comparing Katrina to the Gulf Oil Spill.
Are you kidding?

Finally, "What happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

Am I free to be who I want to be?
Mexican, gay, christian, democrat, republican, Independent?
Yes, I'm in America, not some third world country.

Is this the land of the brave?
Do all of our troops vote the same? Are they all one religion?
No. Are they still brave? Hell yes!

Does it take gut to go against the establishment and fight for those who have little or no rights?
Always. Both sides of these arguments are brave to some degree.
And both are right to some degree as well.
The world works because of balanced ideologies, not one sided dogma.
The difference between me nd most people I know, is that I lived with black people, I know gay people and so I have less false concepts of them.

Right or wrong, they are people and Jesus loves them all equally, without hesitation. If he were here right now, he would have a long heartfelt talk with the author of this editorial about compassion and love.

And remind him that he was tortured and died on the cross so that this guy would have to freedom to chose.

-Dennis M. Sweatt
http://twitter.com/sweattshop
http://www.facebook.com/dennis.sweatt1
http://sweattshop-graphic-artist.blogspot.com/p/logos.html

141 Reasons Sugar Ruins Your Health

2011-08-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

By Nancy Appleton PhD & G.N. Jacobs

Excerpted from Suicide by Sugar

Used with permission

Sugar can suppress your immune system.

Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.
Sugar can cause juvenile delinquency in children.
Sugar eaten during pregnancy and lactation can influence muscle force production in offspring, which can affect an individual’s ability to exercise.
Sugar in soda, when consumed by children, results in the children drinking less milk.
Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses and return them to fasting levels slower in oral contraceptive users.
Sugar can increase reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can damage cells and tissues.
Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate and crankiness in children.
Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.

10. Sugar reduces the body’s ability to defend against bacterial infection.

11. Sugar causes a decline in tissue elasticity and function – the more sugar you eat, the more elasticity and function you lose.

12. Sugar reduces high-density lipoproteins (HDL).

13. Sugar can lead to chromium deficiency.

14. Sugar can lead to ovarian cancer.

15. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.

16. Sugar causes copper deficiency.

17. Sugar interferes with the body’s absorption of calcium and magnesium.

18. Sugar may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration.

19. Sugar raises the level of neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.

20. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.

21. Sugar can lead to an acidic digestive tract.

22. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.

23. Sugar is frequently malabsorbed in patients with functional bowel disease.

24. Sugar can cause premature aging.

25. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.

26. Sugar can cause tooth decay.

27. Sugar can lead to obesity.

28. Sugar increases the risk of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

29. Sugar can cause gastric or duodenal ulcers.

30. Sugar can cause arthritis.

31. Sugar can cause learning disorders in school children.

32. Sugar assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).

33. Sugar can cause gallstones.

34. Sugar can cause heart disease.

35. Sugar can cause appendicitis.

36. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.

37. Sugar can cause varicose veins.

38. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.

39. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.

40. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.

41. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.

42. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E in the blood.

43. Sugar can decrease the amount of growth hormones in the body.

44. Sugar can increase cholesterol.

45. Sugar increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which form when sugar binds non-enzymatically to protein.

46. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.

47. Sugar causes food allergies.

48. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.

49. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.

50. Sugar can lead to eczema in children.

51. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.

52. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA.

53. Sugar can change the structure of protein.

54. Sugar can make the skin wrinkle by changing the structure of collagen.

55. Sugar can cause cataracts.

56. Sugar can cause emphysema.

57. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.

58. Sugar can promote an elevation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL).

59. Sugar can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body.

60. Sugar lowers enzymes ability to function.

61. Sugar intake is associated with the development of Parkinson’s disease.

62. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide.

63. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat.

64. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.

65. Sugar can damage the pancreas.

66. Sugar can increase the body’s fluid retention.

67. Sugar is the number one enemy of the bowel movement.

68. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).

69. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.

70. Sugar can make tendons more brittle.

71. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.

72. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women.

73. Sugar can adversely affect children’s grades in school.

74. Sugar can cause depression.

75. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.

76. Sugar can cause dyspepsia (indigestion).

77. Sugar can increase the risk of developing gout.

78. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in the blood much higher than complex carbohydrates in a glucose tolerance test can.

79. Sugar reduces learning capacity.

80. Sugar can cause two blood proteins – albumin and lipoproteins – to function less effectively, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol.

81. Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.

82. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness, which causes blood clots.

83. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance – some hormones become underactive and others become overactive.

84. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.

85. Sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.

86. Sugar can lead to biliary tract cancer.

87. Sugar increases the risk of pregnant adolescents delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.

88. Sugar can lead to a substantial decrease the in the length of pregnancy among adolescents.

89. Sugar slows food’s travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.

90. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stool and bacterial enzymes in the colon, which can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer.

91. Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men.

92. Sugar combines with and destroys phosphatase, a digestive enzyme, which makes digestion more difficult.

93. Sugar can be a risk factor for gallbladder cancer.

94. Sugar is an addictive substance.

95. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.

96. Sugar can aggravate premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

97. Sugar can decrease emotional stability.

98. Sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese people.

99. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Sugar can slow the ability of the adrenal glands to function.

Sugar can cut off oxygen to the brain when given to people intravenously.
Sugar is a risk factor for lung cancer.
Sugar increases the risk of polio.
Sugar can cause epileptic seizures.
Sugar can increase systolic blood pressure (pressure when the heart is contracting).
Sugar can induce cell death.
Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat.
Sugar can cause antisocial behavior in juvenile delinquents.
Sugar can lead to prostate cancer.
Sugar dehydrates newborns.
Sugar can cause women to give birth to babies with low birth weight.
Sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia.
Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the bloodstream.
Sugar increases the risk of breast cancer.
Sugar is a risk factor in small intestine cancer.
Sugar can cause laryngeal cancer.
Sugar induces salt and water retention.
Sugar can contribute to mild memory loss.
Sugar water, when given to children shortly after birth, results in those children preferring sugar water to regular water throughout childhood.
Sugar causes constipation.
Sugar can cause brain decay in pre-diabetic and diabetic women.
Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.
Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome.
Sugar increases neural tube defects in embryos when it is consumed by pregnant women.
Sugar can cause asthma.
Sugar increases the chances of getting irritable bowl syndrome.
Sugar can affect central reward systems.
Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum.
Sugar can cause endometrial cancer.
Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell cancer.
Sugar can cause liver tumors.
Sugar can increase inflammatory markers in the bloodstreams of overweight people.
Sugar plays a role in the cause and the continuation of acne.
Sugar can ruin the sex life of both men and women by turning off the gene that controls the sex hormones.
Sugar can cause fatigue, moodiness, nervousness, and depression.
Sugar can make many essential nutrients less available to cells.
Sugar can increase uric acid in blood.
Sugar can lead to higher C-peptide concentrations.
Sugar causes inflammation.
Sugar can cause diverticulitis, a small bulging sac pushing outward from the colon wall that is inflamed.
Sugar can decrease testosterone production.
Sugar impairs spatial memory.
Sugar can cause cataracts.

Newly Discovered Cause of High Blood Pressure and Obesity

2011-07-22T00:47:00.000-07:00

Dr. Johnson is one of the physicians on the cutting edge of sugar metabolism research today, his focus being on how the overabundance of sugar in the American diet -- particularly fructose -- is causing obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and a number of other health problems in staggering numbers.

In this lecture, Dr. Johnson takes a more historical approach to obesity and cardiovascular disease, reviewing the important uric acid connection and some interesting evolutionary findings related to the way humans metabolize sugar.

Cardiology is a Relatively NEW Field

Obesity rates have paralleled sugar consumption trends in Western civilization.
Although the obesity epidemic is relatively recent, obesity is not a new phenomenon.

In 1860, the prevalence of a BMI (body mass index) of 30 or higher (which defines obesity) was 1.6 percent among 50 year-old men. By 1900, it had tripled, and it has sharply increased over the past century.

Like obesity, hypertension was also rare prior to the twentieth century:
In 1900, only 5 percent of the population had a blood pressure of 140/90 or higher.
By 1939, 10 percent of adults had blood pressures above 140/90.
Today, 31 percent of adults are hypertensive.
Prior to 1940, there was no such thing as a cardiologist because there was no need for them. That was only 70 years ago!

The first reported angina was in 1929. In 1950, there were 500 cardiologists in the United States. Now there are 35,000 -- and they perform more than one million heart surgeries annually.
What is driving this eruption of cardiovascular disease?

One key factor: the explosion of sugar in the Western diet.

Sugar used to be quite expensive. It was a nonessential food item reserved mostly for the wealthy. Prior to 1800, Americans were consuming only about 4 pounds of sugar per person, per year. By 1800, that number had increased to 18 pounds as sugar plantations began to emerge. And by 1900, it was 90 pounds.

And sugar consumption has literally exploded since then -- our entire society is dependent on a substance that offers no nutritional value at all.

Diabetes Was Linked to Sugar Back in the 1800s

Diabetes has shown similar historical trends.
In 1892, there were just two cases of diabetes per 100,000 people, according to a famous medical textbook by Sir William Osler, The Principles and Practice of Medicine. Today, the rate is 9 percent across all age groups, and sadly one of every three children is either diabetic or pre-diabetic.

When you look at the numbers of adults aged 20 and over, the incidence rate is almost 11 percent. And when you look at seniors aged 60 and up, the prevalence is over 23 percent!
The statistics are even more grim when it comes to the prevalence of pre-diabetes (impaired fasting glucose).

Almost 26 percent of U.S. adults over the age of 20 are pre-diabetics, and more than 35 percent of seniors, 60 and older.

All in all, the reality is that one in every four Americans is now either diabetic or pre-diabetic. Even in the 1800s, it was recognized that diabetes was related to sugar consumption.

Dr. Haden Emerson, one of the first epidemiologists and a public health commissioner of New York, wrote a brilliant paper about the rise in diabetes in New York City. In it, he commented that people who got diabetes were wealthy, sedentary, white, and he posed that sugar was driving it, according to the information presented by Dr. Johnson.

Today, the average American is consuming 56 gallons of soda and 152 pounds of sugar-based sweeteners annually. Soda consumption has risen by 70 percent since 1977. Ten to 20 percent of children’s calories come from sugar -- and the top 20 percent of sugar-addicted children are getting 40 percent of their calories from sugar every single day.

It is no accident that childhood obesity is at a record high and life expectancy for the youngest generation is, for the first time, lower than that of their parents.

The worst type of sugar you can ingest is fructose, which may surprise you because it is derived from fruit.

Fructose Turns You Into a Uric Acid Factory

It’s been known for ages that meats and purine-rich foods can raise uric acid, but it turns out that one of the most profound ways to raise uric acid is by consuming the simple sugar fructose.

The chemical name for regular table sugar is sucrose, which is made up of two simple sugars, fructose and glucose, that are linked together.

Glucose and fructose are different types of simple sugars. After they are separated apart and broken down in your body they are metabolized using completely separate pathways. Glucose is utilized by every cell in your body -- in fact, your body was designed to use it for energy.

But fructose breaks down into a variety of waste products that are bad for your body, one of which is uric acid. As it turns out, uric acid drives up your blood pressure.

How does it do this?

Uric acid inhibits the nitric oxide in your blood vessels, and nitric oxide helps your vessels maintain their elasticity. Nitric oxide suppression leads to increases in blood pressure.

In fact, 17 out of 17 studies demonstrate that elevated uric acid levels lead to hypertension.

Thanks to Dr. Johnson’s research, we now know that fructose generates uric acid within minutes of ingestion. High levels of uric acid are normally associated with gout, but it has been long known that people with high blood pressure and kidney disease, and people who are overweight, often have elevated uric acid levels.

It was thought this increased uric acid resulted from the disease, but it appears now that it may have been CAUSING it!

Not surprisingly, uric acid levels have been increasing for the past hundred years.
When your uric acid level exceeds about 5.5 mg per dl, you have an increased risk for a host of diseases, including:
Hypertension
Kidney disease
Insulin resistance, obesity, and diabetes
Fatty liver
Elevated triglycerides, elevated LDL, and cardiovascular disease
For pregnant women, even preeclampsia
This is exactly why I am so passionate about educating you about the dangers of fructose! I am thoroughly convinced it’s one of the leading causes of a great deal of needless suffering from poor health and premature death.

One of the other professionals who truly opened my eyes and educated me on this issue is Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at University of California in San Francisco.

If you still haven’t watched his very popular and excellent lecture on the dangers of fructose and other sugars, I strongly recommend you take the time to do it. (I’ve published it in two parts. Click here for part 1, and here for part 2.)

Glucose Makes Fructose Even More Potent!

Fructose consumption clearly causes insulin resistance, whereas straight glucose does not. Insulin resistance can eventually lead to full blown diabetes.

Interestingly, glucose actually accelerates fructose absorption. So when you mix glucose and fructose together, you absorb more fructose than if you consumed fructose alone. This is an important piece of information if you are struggling to control your weight.

Remember, sucrose, or table sugar, is exactly this blend -- fructose plus glucose.

Is Fruit Bad?

If you are craving something sweet, your best bet is to reach for an apple or a pear. And if you give yourself a sugar holiday for even a couple of weeks, you will be amazed at how much those cravings will decrease. But be sure and count the grams of fructose and keep your total fructose from fruit below 15 grams per day as you are sure to consume plenty of "hidden" fructose in the other foods you will be eating.

My Recommended Fructose Allowance

As a standard recommendation, I strongly advise keeping your TOTAL fructose consumption below 25 grams per day.
However, for most people it would actually be wise to limit your fruit fructose to 15 grams or less, as it is virtually guaranteed you will consume “hidden” sources of fructose from most beverages and just about any processed food.

Fifteen grams of fructose is not much -- it represents two bananas, one-third cup of raisins, or just two Medjool dates!

Since the average 12-ounce can of soda contains 40 grams of sugar, at least half of which is fructose, this can of soda ALONE would exceed your daily allotment of 15 grams -- plus it offers you absolutely nothing nutritive, only empty calories.

Reducing sugar in your diet can be tough. After all, sugar is just as addictive as cocaine!

In his book, The Sugar Fix, Dr. Johnson includes detailed tables showing the content of fructose in different foods -- an information base that isn’t readily available when you’re trying to find out exactly how much fructose is in various foods. I encourage you to pick up a copy of this excellent resource.

If you feel you must have a sweetener, here are a few guidelines to follow:

Avoid ALL artificial sweeteners.
Avoid all conventional agave and high fructose corn syrup
If you have favorite products that you use PLEASE write the company and tell them to remove the fructose or you will not purchase them in the future. We have been VERY effective as many major companies have already shifted their practice of using HFCS.
Limit sugar of all types as much as possible. You can buy pure glucose (dextrose) as a sweetener for about $1 per pound, which has none of the adverse effects of fructose if used moderately. It is only 70 percent as sweet as sucrose, so you’ll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than sucrose -- but still well worth it for your health.
Use high quality agave that has fructose in it's conjugated from. You can also use raw honey in moderation or avoid it completely as it is 70 percent fructose which is higher than HFCS. However the fructose is not in its free from so that moderates the damage. But each teaspoon of honey has nearly four grams of fructose so you will want to carefully add the total grams of fructose (including fruits) and keep them under 15 grams per day.
Use regular stevia in moderation, but avoid stevia-based sweeteners like Truvia and PureVia because they have undergone more processing. My favorites are the liquid stevias that are flavored with English Toffee or French Vanilla. Remember, in the US it is illegal to advertise stevia as a sweetener so you will need to look for it in the supplement section where it is legal to sell.
Lo Han is another excellent natural herbal sweetener.
Exercise can be a very powerful tool to help control fructose in a number of ways. If you are going to consume fructose it is BEST to do so immediately before, during or after INTENSE exercise as your body will tend to use it directly as fuel and not convert it to fat Additionally exercise will increase your insulin receptor sensitivity and help modulate the negative effects of fructose. Lastly exercise will also help to blunt your appetite and control your sweet tooth.
If you have fasting insulin levels, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, or if you’re overweight, I suggest you avoid all sweeteners, including stevia, since any sweetener can decrease your insulin sensitivity.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/25/startling-research-findings-a-newly-discovered-cause-of-high-blood-pressure-and-obesity.aspx

I Want To Be A Morning Person But I Can't Sleep

2011-07-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

8 Steps to a Better Nights sleep

Usually if you are having trouble getting out of bed, it may be the problems you have getting into bed. The body is on a cycle, going to bed after midnight effects that cycle no matter what age you are.

1. Eating before bed keeps your stomach and metabolism working and interferes with deep, healing sleep.

2. You must realize that if you want to make changes in your life you have to remove the phrase "I can't help it." There is no such thing. The ego makes up that phrase early in our life to make for not understanding how to change. Now you are a grown up.

3. You cannot fix problems or schedule the next in bed, in your head and expect a good nights sleep. As a matter of fact, you will inhibit your ability top recall dates and times by putting unnecessary stress on your body and mind just before you go into the most healing part of your day.

4. Stop eating after 8pm. You do not need anymore food to survive the night than the 3 or 4 meals you have already had. Nightmares are caused by late night eating. Your dreams turned into horrors because you are digesting in bed.

5. If you find your mind habitually drifting into problem solving and scheduling, interrupt that thinking with a list of good things in your life. This works.

6. Catch yourself during the day if you say or think, "I'm tired of ___." I'm tired of being fat, I'm tired of being late, etc. Stop feeding your mind junk food that has no emotional value.

7. You can tell yourself when to wake up in the morning, just before you go to sleep. My father taught me this and he learned it in Viet Nam. After you close your eyes, repeat the time you want to wake in the morning. "I will wake up at 7:30am, I will wake up at 7:3o in the morning, I will be up at 7:30. And you will.

8. When you get under the covers, try breathing The 8's. Breath in for 8 seconds, hold it for 8 seconds, breath out for eight seconds. Calms the mind and gives more oxygen to your brain.

A few hours after the sun goes down is when Melatonin starts to produce in your brain. It is time for bed. Go to bed, lay there and get used to being in the bed at that time. Tell yourself during the day you will be in bed by 10pm. And soon you will.

Do not expect these steps to a better nights sleep to work overnight. Realize, this will take time and eventually you will change your current habits. That is really all we are doing is changing a habit into a better one. Not changing your life. That can take decades.

Average sleep needed by humans.

Newborns (0-2 months) = 12 to 18 Hours

Infants (3 months to 1 year) = 14 to 15 Hours

Toddlers (1 to 3 years) = 12 to 14 Hours

Preschoolers (3 to 5 years) = 11 to 13 Hours

School-aged children (5 to 12 years) = 10 to 11 Hours

Teens and preteens (12 to 18 years) = 8.5 to 10 Hours

Adults (18+) = 7.5 to 9 Hours

Raise taxes now!

2011-07-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

Taxes haven't been this low since 1958.
Reagan raised taxes in a recession, that's how he got out of it.
The middle class have seen wages lowered for ten years, even more this month. The rich are wealthier than they have ever been.
Most commodity traders don't pay taxes because of a loop hole among thousands of loopholes for the wealthy. If Bush's tax policy created jobs, where are they?
Raise taxes now!

Raise taxes now -- the elders of the economy say so

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- First it was Greenspan. Now one by one, other elders of the economy are speaking out against deficits, and they're making the surprising argument for higher taxes.

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was first and has taken the most extreme position, arguing that all of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 should be allowed to expire.

Greenspan, no fan of big government and an initial backer of the Bush tax cuts, allows that higher taxes now could lead to slower economic growth, but has said that chipping away at the deficit is more important.

Joining him -- at varying degrees -- are David Stockman, former budget director in the Reagan White House, and former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Paul O'Neill.

The White House and most Democrats have argued for keeping the tax cuts in place for most households, but letting them expire for those earning more than $250,000, about 2% of the country.

Extending the tax cuts for everyone would cost the government $3.7 trillion over 10 years. Taxing the high-earners would get back about $700 billion of that.

David Stockman joins Greenspan at the far end, saying the nation can't afford to extend the tax cuts now. "You have to pay your bills. I say we can't afford the Bush tax cuts," Stockman told NPR this weekend.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/09/news/economy/elders_economy/index.htm

Can Americans cut Carbs from their Diet

2011-07-08T01:03:00.000-07:00

Many people are still seriously confused about what types of food to eat to lose weight, and it's not really their fault. The conventional nutritional dogma of the last decade has been pushing a low-fat or fat-free diet on Americans, misleading them into thinking they've got to cut out fat to lose weight.

As Americans cut fats from their diet (and also the protein that's often abundant in full-fat foods), they replaced them with carbohydrates -- and not the good kind in vegetables. Partly as a result of Americans' reliance on unhealthy carbs -- bagels, pasta, pretzels, rice, potatoes, etc. -- a full two-thirds of the U.S. population is overweight or obese, and nearly one in four is considered obese, not just overweight.

The idea that cutting carbs from your diet can lead to weight loss is beginning to catch on though, and as the new study above points out, even moderate reductions in your carb consumption can help you shed extra pounds.

Cutting Carbs, Not Fat, Helps Reduce Body Fat

Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham revealed that when 69 overweight people were given a diet with a modest reduction in carbohydrates for eight weeks, they had 11 percent less deep abdominal fat than those given a lower-fat diet. Further, during a second eight-week period in which calories were reduced by 1,000 each day, those on the lower-carb diet lost 4 percent more total body fat.

An important point is that the reduced-carb diet promoted the loss of deep belly fat, also known as "visceral fat," even when no change in weight was apparent.

Visceral fat is strongly linked with type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other chronic diseases. It is thought that visceral fat is related to the release of proteins and hormones that can cause inflammation, which in turn can damage arteries and enter your liver, affecting how your body breaks down sugars and fats.

While it's often referred to as "belly fat" because it can cause a "beer belly" or an apple-shaped body, you can have visceral fat even if you're thin. So even if you aren't trying to lose weight, cutting unhealthy carbs in your diet could have a positive impact on your levels of visceral fat, and thereby potentially reduce your risk of chronic disease.

Fructose: The Biggest Carb Culprit

People on low-carb diets lose weight in part because they get less fructose, a type of sugar that can be made into body fat quickly. Although fructose is naturally found in high levels in fruit, it is also added to many processed foods, especially in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. If your only source of fructose came from eating an apple or orange a day, keeping your total grams of fructose to below 25 per day, then it would not be an issue.

But what many completely fail to appreciate is that fructose is the NUMBER ONE source of calories in the United States and the typical person is consuming 75 grams of fructose each and every day. Because fructose is so cheap it is used in virtually all processed foods. The average person is consuming one-third of a pound of sugar every day, which is five ounces or 150 grams, half of which is fructose. This is 300 percent more than the amount that will trigger biochemical havoc, and this is the average -- many consume more than twice that amount.

Evidence is mounting that excess sugar, and fructose in particular, is the primary factor in the obesity epidemic, so it's definitely a food you want to avoid if you want to lose weight. Does this mean you need to avoid fruit too? As you can see in this table, some fruits are very high in fructose, so munching indiscriminately on the wrong ones could set you back.

Fruit Serving Size Grams of Fructose
Limes 1 medium 0
Lemons 1 medium 0.6
Cranberries 1 cup 0.7
Passion fruit 1 medium 0.9
Prune 1 medium 1.2
Apricot 1 medium 1.3
Guava 2 medium 2.2
Date (Deglet Noor style) 1 medium 2.6
Cantaloupe 1/8 of med. melon 2.8
Raspberries 1 cup 3.0
Clementine 1 medium 3.4
Kiwifruit 1 medium 3.4
Blackberries 1 cup 3.5
Star fruit 1 medium 3.6
Cherries, sweet 10 3.8
Strawberries 1 cup 3.8
Cherries, sour 1 cup 4.0
Pineapple 1 slice
(3.5" x .75") 4.0
Grapefruit, pink or red 1/2 medium 4.3

Fruit Serving Size Grams of Fructose
Boysenberries 1 cup 4.6
Tangerine/mandarin orange 1 medium 4.8
Nectarine 1 medium 5.4
Peach 1 medium 5.9
Orange (navel) 1 medium 6.1
Papaya 1/2 medium 6.3
Honeydew 1/8 of med. melon 6.7
Banana 1 medium 7.1
Blueberries 1 cup 7.4
Date (Medjool) 1 medium 7.7
Apple (composite) 1 medium 9.5
Persimmon 1 medium 10.6
Watermelon 1/16 med. melon 11.3
Pear 1 medium 11.8
Raisins 1/4 cup 12.3
Grapes, seedless (green or red) 1 cup 12.4
Mango 1/2 medium 16.2
Apricots, dried 1 cup 16.4
Figs, dried 1 cup 23.0

If you struggle with insulin resistance, which you would know by measuring your fasting insulin level and seeing if it is over 5 OR if you have any of the following conditions, you'll need to be particularly careful about limiting your fructose intake to 15 grams per day or less.
Overweight
Diabetes
High blood pressure
High cholesterol

These "Healthful" Carbs Should be Avoided Too

Many dieters snack on pretzels in lieu of potato chips and other salty snacks, believing them to be healthier alternatives. But eating pretzels is akin to dipping a spoon straight into a bowl of sugar, as that's precisely the way your body responds to this refined carbohydrate snack.

Don't be fooled by the fact that they're "fat-free" – remember it's the carbs that are the culprit.

Your body prefers the carbohydrates in vegetables rather than grains because it slows the conversion to simple sugars like glucose, and decreases your insulin level. Grain carbohydrates, like those in pretzels, will increase your insulin resistance and interfere with your ability to burn fat -- which is the last thing you want if you're trying to lose weight.

Even cereals, whether high-fiber, whole-grain or not, are not a food you want to eat if you're concerned about your weight. If they contain sugar, that will tend to increase your insulin levels even more … but even "healthy" sugarless cereals are an oxymoron, since grains rapidly break down to sugar in your body, stimulating insulin production and encouraging weight gain.

Of course, increasing numbers of people are now aware that refined carbs like white sugar and white bread may make you pack on the pounds. But many are still being misled that "good" carbs like whole grains and fruit won't. Remember, whether it's a whole grain, a sprouted grain or a refined grain, ALL grains rapidly break down to sugar, which causes your insulin resistance to increase and will make your weight problems worse.

This is NOT the case with vegetables, however. Vegetables will NOT convert into sugar the way grains do, and most Americans need to eat far more vegetables. Eating carbs in the form of vegetables may make your carb intake higher, but will not be a hindrance to your health goals. One caveat, corn and potatoes do not count as vegetables; they act much more like grains as far as your body is concerned.

So What Should You Eat to Lose Weight?

Many people resist the idea of cutting grain and sugar from their diets, wondering what else there is to eat if they avoid bread, potatoes, pizza, baked goods and other unhealthy carbs.

The truth is, there is a wonderful variety of delicious foods available that are not processed, full of fructose or based on refined white sugar and flour. I've outlined many of them in my comprehensive nutrition plan, and this is the place I recommend you start if you want to tweak your diet to lose weight or just become healthier.

This program will take you from the beginner stage through intermediate and advanced, allowing you to make healthy changes to your diet and lifestyle one step at a time, at a pace that feels comfortable to you.

My program comes from decades of experience in which I have researched extensively, conferred with my professional colleagues, and most importantly, successfully treated tens of thousands of patients. Many are struggling with weight issues, but I am certain that if you adhere to the recommendations in my program, you will reach your weight loss goals.

Again, the details are outlined in my nutrition plan, but generally speaking a "healthy diet" is qualified by the following key factors:
Unprocessed whole foods
Often raw or only lightly cooked
Organic or grass-fed, and free from additives and genetically modified ingredients
Come from high-quality, local sources
Carbohydrates primarily come from vegetables (except for corn or potatoes)
To round out your weight loss program, you'll also need to have an effective exercise regimen, and for this intensity is key. High-intensity, burst-type exercises such as Peak 8 can significantly cut down on the amount of time you have to spend exercising, while optimizing your ability to burn body fat. Full instructions on how to properly perform these exercises can be found in this previous article.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/07/08/cut-down-on-carbs-to-reduce-body-fat.aspx

The Casey Anthony Murder Trial

2011-07-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

The Casey Anthony murder trial has been filled with more lies than Swiss cheese has holes as well as unexpected dangerous twists and turns which make Lombard Street in San Francisco look like a cake walk. As the trial winds down and closing arguments conclude, the most outrageous (and potentially horrendous) allegation recently hitting the Internet which is being taken seriously is the rumor that Casey Anthony may indeed be pregnant with suppositions falling on her defense attorney, Jose Baez, as the father!

It’s not as if this case does not already present with enough evidence to make any rational person want to vomit over the absurdness of her innocence. The defense has wished for viewers to entertain belief in unsubstantiated claims of sexual abuse by her father, George Anthony, and her brother, Lee Anthony, with reference to the reason she is facing capital murder charges, the murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Anthony. In addition, we must now fathom the possibility this pitiful excuse for motherhood may be pregnant with yet another child.

After reading through several reports, including ones published at The Overton Report and Yahoo! News, speculating whether or not Casey Anthony is indeed pregnant and the reasons why her attorney, Jose Baez, may actually be the only one who could have fathered the child, I found myself sickened by the thought if she is found “not guilty” or “guilty of manslaughter” she will, at some point, be released from prison with full capability to maintain custody of any child she might be carrying!

According to the rumors, Casey Anthony revealed to an Orange County jail inmate she has missed her period for what has now been a more than a month after claiming she was “always on time.” The rumor was leaked about ten days ago by an anonymous jailer who wished to remain unnamed due to his position.

Several speculations have arisen related to the rumor that it may be to gain sympathy from the jury who will not give the death penalty to a pregnant woman or simply just another elaborate desire for attention. Having learned about the ability to lie at a professional level, I venture to ascertain this is just another fabrication.

As I ponder the truth of the rumor, I think about how Caylee Anthony must have been scared senseless when her mother put duct tape over her mouth and nose; how her little eyes must have become as huge as saucers struggling for that last breathe while attempting to scream “Mommy!” as any frightened child would do. I imagine how another child would “cramp her lifestyle” and possibly face the same unspeakable fate as Caylee. These thoughts make me furious!

I do not condone ANYTHING which Casey Anthony has used as excuses for whatever her state of mind might have been which caused her to “snap” and take the life of an innocent, beautiful little girl who she should have protected with her own life.

While others may be able to have some sense of compassion for her, I do not because of one simple fact…if you do not want a child or feel you cannot handle the responsibility, there are always other options far more humane than the taking of a blameless defenseless life. For this reason, I believe she should be given the death penalty after being found guilty as there has been nothing presented in this case which would even begin to cast a shadow of doubt on her guilt!

The defense has handled this case with the utmost miscarriage of justice. The prosecution has tried to pull together a case which the police department tanked by failing to follow-up on the reports made by the meter reader, Roy Kronk, who eventually investigated the swamp area and discovered Caylee’s body. If the police department had done their job, they would have been able to recover a little girl’s body which would have revealed the implicit cause of death and it most certainly would not have been from drowning…more like the suffocation which in reality occurred.

As we await the final rebuttal by the prosecution and the decision of the jury, one can only hope the rumors of Casey Anthony pregnant are just more elaborate lies by Casey from her delusional and attention-seeking mind while praying the jury walks back into the courtroom with a guilty verdict requesting the death penalty as some measure of justice for Caylee Anthony.

Dear Mr. President

2011-06-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

As the debate over deficits ramped up in Washington on Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders laid out the compelling case not to slash programs for working families. Any deficit reduction package must rely on new revenue for at least half the reduction in red ink, he added in a major address in the Senate. Sanders spoke at length about what caused deficits (wars, Wall Street bailouts, tax breaks for the rich) and how to shrink them (more revenue from the wealthiest Americans to match spending cuts). He urged fellow senators not to yield to Republican congressional leaders who "acted like schoolyard bullies" when they walked out of budget negotiations. He summed up the situation in a letter to the president that had been signed by more than 16,000 people by the time he completed his speech.

Sign the letter »
http://sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=c1fd7f9b-abd8-4e7a-a370-1867881259d8

Time for Justice Clarence Thomas to resign

2011-06-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

A New York Times expose published Sunday details the improper ties between Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and influential rightwing funder and activist Harlan Crow.1

Crow is a major contributor to conservative causes and a stalwart supporter of Clarence Thomas. In past years he reportedly gave Thomas' wife, Ginni Thomas, $500,000 to exploit the Citizens United decision and start a shadowy, Tea Party-related group called Liberty Central. He gave Thomas a Bible (estimated value $15,000) that once belonged to Frederick Douglass, and allegedly provided the Supreme Court Justice with access to his yacht and private jet.

As if that wasn't enough, the New York Times has revealed that Thomas may have improperly solicited a multi-million dollar donation from Crow to benefit one of his own pet projects near his birth place in a remote coastal community outside Savannah, Georgia.

Enough is enough. It's time for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Shockingly, the Supreme Court is not legally bound by the code of conduct for federal judges, though Justices Breyer and Anthony M. Kennedy have testified to Congress that members of the Supreme Court voluntarily follow the code which explicitly prohibits justices from directly soliciting charitable donations. If Thomas can't legally be removed from office because adherence to ethics rules for the Supreme Court are voluntary, then we must simply demand his resignation.

Crow is far from a disinterested philanthropist. He has donated nearly $5 million to Republican campaigns and rightwing groups, including a six digit donation to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth which so effectively attacked Sen. John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election. He's on the board of the ultra conservative American Enterprise Institute which brought a case to the Supreme Court challenging federal voting rights laws, a case that found only one sympathetic vote on the court — that of Clarence Thomas.

Recusal is not enough. It's time for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Crow is not the sole source of questionable ethical behavior on the part of Clarence Thomas. His highly questionable relationship to an ethically challenged Supreme Court justice is simply the latest to be exposed.

Clarence Thomas participated in a secret political fund raising event put on by the Koch brothers to fund Tea Party infrastructure groups.2

And for years, Thomas disregarded rules requiring him to report his wife's income on financial disclosure forms. His household received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the conservative Heritage Foundation during a period when he was voting on landmark cases in which the rightwing think tank had a clear ideological stake.3

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas must resign.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas must resign. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

This type of behavior wouldn't be tolerated for any other federal court judge. Common Cause Attorney Arn Pearson says in the Times, "The code of conduct is quite clear that judges are not supposed to be soliciting money for their pet projects or charities, period. If any other federal judge was doing it, he could face disciplinary action."

Even absent a legally binding code of conduct for Supreme Court Justices, a Justice resigning for ethics violations is not without precedent. Justice Abe Fortas resigned in disgrace in 1969 after it was revealed that he had received gifts from interested benefactors similar to those received by Clarence Thomas.4

Fortas, prior to resigning, actually recused himself from voting in cases related to his benefactor. Thomas, however, has refused to recuse himself from cases before the court in which organizations related to Harlan Crow continue to file briefs.

Enough is enough. It's time for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Clarence Thomas' behavior has long been beyond the pale. In response to these latest revelations by the New York Times it's long since time to demand Clarence Thomas' resignation.

Becky Bond, Political Director

A Response to Paul Ryan’s War on Medicare

2011-06-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

I am 64 years old.
I have private health care insurance from Blue Shield.
I am in excellent health and take no medications.

The cheapest plan Blue Shield health insurance plan available to me is their Spectrum 5000 plan;
Premiums for Blue Shield= $6000 per year.
Deductible for Blue Shield= $5000 per year
That means I have to pay $6000 in premiums and $5000 out of pocket before the plan even begins to cover a dime of my doctor visits or medical care.
A total of $11,000 per year before.

In two months I will be on Medicare.
Premiums for Medicare =$1300 per year
Deductible=$0

This means I will pay $0 out of pocket and have all my doctor visits and hospitalization COMPLETELY COVERED for $1300 a year.

Compare the two plans. Now tell me why I would want a private insurance company to be a middle man between me and my doctor?

Anyone who is covered by private insurance knows that:
1. Every year your deductibles, premiums and co-payments go up…. and your coverage goes down.
2. Insurance companies have become more aggressive about finding creative ways to challenge claims and deny benefits.
3. at least 20% of every private insurance dollar is lost to administrative costs: CEO and executive salaries, advertising, sales reps etc.

Medicare covers 40 million Americans and is administered by 4000 employees. The “CEO” makes just $200,000 a year. Administrative costs are just 2% and the government drives such a hard bargain with doctors and hospitals complain that health care providers complain they aren’t being paid enough.

Only the foolish can believe that private insurance companies are going to run Medicare more cost effectively than it is being run now. Don’t be fooled.

When you are in your last years of life and require expensive and frequent medical care…the private insurance companies will expect you to mortgage your house and spend down your retirement savings to pay your medical bills.

You won’t have a dime to leave to your kids.

From an original report at: http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2011/06/13/the-7-most-awful-truths-you-need-to-know-about-paul-ryan%E2%80%99s-war-on-medicare/

Why Mr. Nice Guy and Mrs. Martyr Keep Getting Divorced

2011-06-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

With half of all marriages ending in divorce, everyone wants to know what makes a marriage last. One of the main factors appears to be in how couples handle conflict. While it doesn’t take a scientist to tell you that fighting and yelling will destroy a relationship, research also found that avoiding conflict doesn’t preserve a marriage either. Ladies, the silent treatment will lead you to divorce. And fellas, retreating to your “cave” is not working for you either. Unless, of course, there is a divorce lawyer in your cave.

Researchers followed nearly 400 married couples, checking in on the state of their relationships periodically. They paid particular attention to how the couples handled conflict, categorizing each person’s behavior in three ways: destructive (shouting and name-calling), constructive (listening, discussing peacefully), and withdrawal (saying nothing, retreating). Predictably, the destructive behaviors spelled doom for a marriage. However, withdrawal actions also led to a rocky relationship. Even when one spouse used healthy problem-solving techniques, if the other chose to ignore the issue, this couple was more likely to get divorced.

Factors such as affluence, college education, marrying later and being raised by parents who didn’t divorce also increased the chances of a person’s marriage lasting. Just because you avoid a fight doesn’t mean you’re safeguarding your marriage.

As this study shows, couples that hide from conflict are only likely to build up passive-aggression, which leads to more problems down the road. If a couple wants their marriage to stand the test of time, their best shot is to discuss and compromise on issues of conflict as they arise.

So if you’re a Mr. Nice Guy or a Mrs. Martyr who never speaks your mind, you may be good at a lot of things, but relationships– not so much.

Destructive Behaviors Linked to Higher Divorce Rates

Summary
A current study looked into the implications of certain behaviors in marriage over a 16-year period. The findings showed that certain typically “destructive behaviors” like criticizing or yelling are harmful for a marriage. In the first one year of matrimony, these behaviors as well as “withdrawal” into oneself during conflict could raise the risk of divorce. Researchers also noted that over time, “destructive behavior” decreased in women, whereas it stayed the same in men. In general, “husbands reported more constructive and less destructive behaviors than wives, and Black American couples reported more withdrawal than White American couples.”

Introduction
We all know that about half of marriages end in divorce. Studies conducted earlier have shown that some negative behaviors called “destructive behaviors” can raise the risk of divorce occurring. However, “constructive” behaviors like calm discussion, listening etc. and “withdrawal” behaviors, for example keeping quiet, leaving the scene to calm down have not been studied in detail, with regard to their effect on divorce. It was also not known if these behaviors changed over the years. This study tried to explore the dynamics of these behaviors and their effects on divorce. It also examined the differences in behavior among men and women, as well as any racial differences.

Methodology

The study involved a total of 373 married couples (174 couples were White Americans and 199 were Black Americans) over 16 years. The average age of men at the beginning of the study was 27 and of women was 25 years.
All the participants were first interviewed separately in their homes and then together in their first, third, seventh and sixteenth years of marriage.
Questions to detect destructive behaviors like shouting, disapproving, name-calling etc. were asked. Similarly, questions related to constructive behaviors, such as listening and trying to understand the spouse, were also asked. For detecting withdrawal behavior, appropriate questions were asked.
All answers were scored for severity, using a special scoring system.

Results

By the sixteenth year of marriage, 46% of the participant couples were divorced.
There were fewer divorces among White Americans than among Black Americans.
Couples used constructive behaviors most frequently; withdrawal and destructive behaviors came next.
Men and women with destructive behaviors in the initial one year of being married had higher rates of divorce.
Individuals who were not raised by both parents and whose children were born out of wedlock used more destructive behavior while those who were richer, better educated, raised by both parents, did not have children out of wedlock and married late used more constructive behavior.
Interesting effects were seen when the couples’ behaviors were viewed together. Divorce rates rose when constructive behavior increased in one spouse, but the other used more withdrawal behaviors of leaving; divorces decreased when both partners used more constructive behavior; divorce rates went up when women used “quiet” withdrawal, while men used “leaving” withdrawal behaviors.
In Black Americans, “quiet” withdrawal reduced the divorce rate when practiced by men.
Over time, “leaving” withdrawal was seen more often in White American men than in Black American men.
Women used more destructive behaviors than men but this decreased with passage of years. However, their constructive behavior and withdrawal behavior remained the same over the duration of the study.

8 facts about the US Economy

2011-06-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

13.9 million -The number of unemployed people today
9.1% -The unemployment rate in the US today.
190,895 -The number of people who were laid off in the first quarter of 2011
150,000 -The amount of new jobs expected to be generated in May 2011
54,000 -The actual amount of jobs generated in May 2011
28,000 -Government layoffs last month
200-250,000 -Jobs needed to be created each month to keep up with population growth and keep unemployment from rising
8 -The number of times an average US worker will change jobs in their lifetime

Vermont Passes Single-Payer Health Care, World Doesn't End

2011-05-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

Advocates celebrate, but critics warn: A few details—like, er, funding—have yet to be worked out.

— By David Goodman

Mon May. 30, 2011 3:15 AM PDT

As Gov. Peter Shumlin took his spot on the granite steps of the Vermont State House, a row of people fanned out behind him wearing bright red t-shirts proclaiming, “Health care is a human right.” The slogan sounded noble, and wildly unrealistic. Until the governor spoke

“We gather here today to launch the first single payer health care system in America,” began Shumlin, a Democrat who has been governor barely four months. “To do in Vermont what has taken too long: have a health care system, the best in the world, that treats health care as a right, and not a privilege."

Moments later, the governor made history, signing a law that sets Vermont on a course to provide health care for all of its 620,000 citizens through a European-style single payer system called Green Mountain Care. Key components include containing costs by setting reimbursement rates for health care providers and streamlining administration into a single, state-managed system. To move to single-payer, the state will need a waiver from the federal government, which under the federal health care reform law would become available by 2017; Vermont is asking the administration to let it get there even faster, by 2014.

The push for single payer system in Vermont was built slowly and methodically over the last decade, but has moved with remarkable speed since Shumlin took office in January. A few weeks after the new governor’s inauguration, the Democratic-controlled Legislature convened a rare joint session to hear from Dr. William Hsiao, a Harvard economist who has been involved in designing health care systems in seven countries. Last year, the legislature commissioned Hsiao to analyze the costs and benefits of various health care options, ranging from single payer to a fully privately managed system. The soft-spoken economist told a packed state House that a single payer plan would be about 25 percent cheaper for consumers, businesses, and the government than the current system of private health insurance, saving about $500 million in just the first year.

The data emboldened Shumlin, the legislature, and the single-payer advocates who had organized throughout the past decade, even as Shumlin’s Republican predecessor dismissed their ideas. Last fall, Shumlin had campaigned on twin themes of job creation and health care reform, and he often cited his experience as the owner of a successful travel business. (“I know firsthand that the biggest obstacle to job growth is the 10, 20, 30 percent increases in insurance premiums.”) He slammed the current “unsustainable system that will … bankrupt us.”

Single payer advocates have been a constant and visible presence around the state. The independent Vermont Workers’ Center launched its “health care is a human right” campaign in 2008—inspired, said health care organizer James Haslam, by the desperate calls the Center was receiving on its workers’ hotline. “It was becoming more of a health care hotline,” he said. The group’s members went door to door, conducted numerous forums for legislators and organized health care rallies that drew thousands.

Health care providers also spoke up. Dr. Deb Richter, a family physician, moved to Vermont in 1999 from upstate New York, where she despaired at seeing her patients getting sicker and even dying as a result of problems with health insurance. As chair of Vermont Health Care for All, she gave 500 talks around the state, and helped bring along many reluctant health care providers. Richter was beaming when I saw her in the State House lobby last week. “I feel ecstatic,” she told me. “It’s like giving birth.”

Shumlin, a wiry, hyper-energetic lawmaker who often insists on shaking every hand in the crowd, staked his gubernatorial candidacy on single payer. It was a bold and risky move. The former president of the Vermont Senate, he was narrowly elected governor last fall after winning a five-way Democratic primary by some 200 votes, and defeating a popular Republican Lieutenant Governor by just 2 percent. Shumlin pointedly ignored the national Democratic strategy of tacking to the center, and instead championed progressive issues, from abortion rights to closing the state’s lone nuclear plant, to health care reform. I asked him why he’d hitched his star to single payer.

“It’s first of all a huge jobs creator, secondly we can’t sustain the current system – we are spending money faster than we are able to earn it,” he told me before heading outside to sign the bill. “So we think it’s an economic development issue as well as a human right.” But when I asked whether Vermont might a national model, the governor sounded a humble note. Major questions – such as how the program will be funded—have yet to be worked out. “You know, we are launching an ambitious effort here,” he said. “We want it in place by 2014. But I don’t think we should ask anyone to follow us until we figure it out. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Opponents have focused on the unknowns in the reform effort. Not a single Republican in the House, and only one Republican in the Senate, supported the bill. Republican Rep. Patti Komline, assistant state House minority leader, told me, “When people ask questions like how much is it going to cost and who’s gonna pay for it – they say, ‘Well this bill is more fact finding and information gathering.’ Which doesn’t make it very historic.”

Physicians for a National Health Program has also been ambivalent about the bill, saying Vermont’s law “is much more modest in its actual reach than a single-payer plan would be.” Richter, a past president of the organization, responded, “You have to think positive and continue to take action to try to get to next level and the next step. Some of the criticisms are over details that haven’t yet been worked out.”

Organized opposition to Vermont’s health reform was relatively muted in the last few months, and was mainly led by insurance agents. But advocates are bracing for an influx of national money and media. “There are definitely people who want to see this fail. We cannot let that happen,” said House Speaker Shap Smith. “We need to work together to show the way for the entire country.”

Shumlin’s early success on health care has caught the attention of. In April, Congressional Democrats asked Shumlin to appear opposite Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker before a Congressional committee. In a rebuke to Walker, Shumlin talked about his approach to Vermont’s fiscal challenges. “I don’t start with collective bargaining, and I don’t start with my public pensions. I start with the true costs. In Vermont—and this is true of most of the states of the country—health care is my biggest rising cost.”

On this muggy late-May day, Shumlin reveled in the success of his signature effort. He walked over to shake hands with a group of University of Vermont medical students, conspicuous in their white lab coats. Therese Ray, a first year medical student from Denver, told me that as a result of single payer, “I will absolutely stay in Vermont.” Another med student, Larry Bodden from New Orleans, said he grew up in an uninsured household. “My family had a deep seated fear of having to go to the doctor because we didn’t have insurance. I look forward to Vermonters not having that fear.”

Gov. Shumlin suddenly called for the several hundred people who had gathered to come closer as he signed the bill. “Everybody in,” he shouted.

“Nobody out!” came the reflexive reply, a call and response version of a slogan of the grassroots single-payer campaign. Shumlin chuckled, then made the single-payer bill the law of the Green Mountain State.

David Goodman is a contributing writer for Mother Jones and coauthor of Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders and the People Who Fight Back. For more of his stories, click here.

EVER WONDER WHY CALIFORNIA IS BROKE?

2011-04-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

These are all California State Agencies.....

California Academic Performance Index (API) * California Access for Infants and Mothers * California Acupuncture Board * California Administrative Office of the Courts * California Adoptions Branch * California African American Museum * California Agricultural Export Program * California Agricultural Labor Relations Board * California Agricultural Statistics Service * California Air Resources Board (CARB) * California Allocation Board * California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority * California Animal Health and Food Safety Services * California Anti-Terrorism Information Center * California Apprenticeship Council * California Arbitration Certification Program * California Architects Board * California Area VI Developmental Disabilities Board * California Arts Council * California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus * California Assembly Democratic Caucus * California Assembly Republican Caucus * California Athletic Commission * California Attorney General * California Bay Conservation and Development Commission * California Bay-Delta Authority * California Bay-Delta Office * California Biodiversity Council * California Board for Geologists and Geophysicists * California Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors * California Board of Accountancy * California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology * California Board of Behavioral Sciences * California Board of Chiropractic Examiners * California Board of Equalization (BOE) * California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection * California Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind * California Board of Occupational Therapy * California Board of Optometry * California Board of Pharmacy * California Board of Podiatric Medicine * California Board of Prison Terms * California Board of Psychology * California Board of Registered Nursing * California Board of Trustees * California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians * California Braille and Talking Book Library * California Building Standards Commission * California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education * California Bureau of Automotive Repair * California Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair * California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation * California Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine * California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services * California Bureau of State Audits * California Business Agency * California Business Investment Services (CalBIS) * California Business Permit Information (CalGOLD) * California Business Portal * California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency * California Cal Grants * California CalJOBS * California Cal-Learn Program * California CalVet Home Loan Program * California Career Resource Network * California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau * California Center for Analytical Chemistry * California Center for Distributed Learning * California Center for Teaching Careers (Teach California) * California Chancellors Office * California Charter Schools * California Children and Families Commission * California Children and Family Services Division * California Citizens Compensation Commission * California Civil Rights Bureau * California Coastal Commission * California Coastal Conservancy * California Code of Regulations * California Collaborative Projects with UC Davis * California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth * California Commission on Aging * California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers Compensation * California Commission on Judicial Performance * California Commission on State Mandates * California Commission on Status of Women * California Commission on Teacher Credentialing * California Commission on the Status of Women * California Committee on Dental Auxiliaries * California Community Colleges Chancellors Office, Junior Colleges * California Community Colleges Chancellors Office * California Complaint Mediation Program * California Conservation Corps * California Constitution Revision Commission * California Consumer Hotline * California Consumer Information Center * California Consumer Information * California Consumer Services Division * California Consumers and Families Agency * California Contractors State License Board * California Corrections Standards Authority * California Council for the Humanities * California Council on Criminal Justice * California Council on Developmental Disabilities * California Court Reporters Board * California Courts of Appeal * California Crime and Violence Prevention Center * California Criminal Justice Statistics Center * California Criminalist Institute Forensic Library * California CSGnet Network Management * California Cultural and Historical Endowment * California Cultural Resources Division * California Curriculum and Instructional Leadership Branch * California Data Exchange Center * California Data Management Division * California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission * California Delta Protection Commission * California Democratic Caucus * California Demographic Research Unit * California Dental Auxiliaries * California Department of Aging * California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs * California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board * California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control * California Department of Boating and Waterways (Cal Boating) * California Department of Child Support Services (CDCSS) * California Department of Community Services and Development * California Department of Conservation * California Department of Consumer Affairs * California Department of Corporations * California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation * California Department of Developmental Services * California Department of Education * California Department of Fair Employment and Housing * California Department of Finance * California Department of Financial Institutions * California Department of Fish and Game * California Department of Food and Agriculture * California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) * California Department of General Services * California Department of General Services, Office of State Publishing * California Department of Health Care Services * California Department of Housing and Community Development * California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) * California Department of Insurance * California Department of Justice Firearms Division * California Department of Justice Opinion Unit * California Department of Justice, Consumer Information, Public Inquiry Unit * California Department of Justice * California Department of Managed Health Care * California Department of Mental Health * California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) * California Department of Personnel Administration * California Department of Pesticide Regulation * California Department of Public Health * California Department of Real Estate * California Department of Rehabilitation * California Department of Social Services Adoptions Branch * California Department of Social Services * California Department of Technology Services Training Center (DTSTC) * California Department of Technology Services (DTS) * California Department of Toxic Substances Control * California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) * California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVets) * California Department of Water Resources * California Departmento de Vehiculos Motorizados * California Digital Library * California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Certification Program * California Division of Apprenticeship Standards * California Division of Codes and Standards * California Division of Communicable Disease Control * California Division of Engineering * California Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control * California Division of Gambling Control * California Division of Housing Policy Development * California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement * California Division of Labor Statistics and Research * California Division of Land and Right of Way * California Division of Land Resource Protection * California Division of Law Enforcement General Library * California Division of Measurement Standards * California Division of Mines and Geology * California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) * California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources * California Division of Planning and Local Assistance * California Division of Recycling * California Division of Safety of Dams * California Division of the State Architect * California Division of Tourism * California Division of Workers Compensation Medical Unit * California Division of Workers Compensation * California Economic Assistance, Business and Community Resources * California Economic Strategy Panel * California Education and Training Agency * California Education Audit Appeals Panel * California Educational Facilities Authority * California Elections Division * California Electricity Oversight Board * California Emergency Management Agency * California Emergency Medical Services Authority * California Employment Development Department (EDD) * California Employment Information State Jobs * California Employment Training Panel * California Energy Commission * California Environment and Natural Resources Agency * California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) * California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES) * California Executive Office * California Export Laboratory Services * California Exposition and State Fair (Cal Expo) * California Fair Political Practices Commission * California Fairs and Expositions Division * California Film Commission * California Fire and Resource Assessment Program * California Firearms Division * California Fiscal Services * California Fish and Game Commission * California Fisheries Program Branch * California Floodplain Management * California Foster Youth Help * California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) * California Fraud Division * California Gambling Control Commission * California Geographic Information Systems Council (GIS) * California Geological Survey * California Government Claims and Victim Compensation Board * California Governors Committee for Employment of Disabled Persons * California Governors Mentoring Partnership * California Governors Office of Emergency Services * California Governors Office of Homeland Security * California Governors Office of Planning and Research * California Governors Office * California Grant and Enterprise Zone Programs HCD Loan * California Health and Human Services Agency * California Health and Safety Agency * California Healthy Families Program * California Hearing Aid Dispensers Bureau * California High-Speed Rail Authority * California Highway Patrol (CHP) * California History and Culture Agency * California Horse Racing Board * California Housing Finance Agency * California Indoor Air Quality Program * California Industrial Development Financing Advisory Commission * California Industrial Welfare Commission * California InFoPeople * California Information Center for the Environment * California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) * California Inspection Services * California Institute for County Government * California Institute for Education Reform * California Integrated Waste Management Board * California Interagency Ecological Program * California Job Service * California Junta Estatal de Personal * California Labor and Employment Agency * California Labor and Workforce Development Agency * California Labor Market Information Division * California Land Use Planning Information Network (LUPIN) * California Lands Commission * California Landscape Architects Technical Committee * California Latino Legislative Caucus * California Law Enforcement Branch * California Law Enforcement General Library * California Law Revision Commission * California Legislative Analyst's Office * California Legislative Black Caucus * California Legislative Counsel * California Legislative Division * California Legislative Information * California Legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus * California Legislature Internet Caucus * California Library De velopment Services * California License and Revenue Branch * California Major Risk Medical Insurance Program * California Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board * California Maritime Academy * California Marketing Services * California Measurement Standards * California Medical Assistance Commission * California Medical Care Services * California Military Department * California Mining and Geology Board * California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts * California Museum Resource Center * California National Guard * California Native American Heritage Commission * California Natural Community Conservation Planning Program * California New Motor Vehicle Board * California Nursing Home Administrator Program * California Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board * California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board * California Ocean Resources Management Program * California Office of Administrative Hearings * California Office of Administrative Law * California Office of AIDS * California Office of Binational Border Health * California Office of Child Abuse Prevention * California Office of Deaf Access * California Office of Emergency Services (OES) * California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment * California Office of Fiscal Services * California Office of Fleet Administration * California Office of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Implementation (CalOHI) * California Office of Historic Preservation * California Office of Homeland Security * California Office of Human Resources * California Office of Legal Services * California Office of Legislation * California Office of Lieutenant Governor * California Office of Military and Aerospace Support * California Office of Mine Reclamation * California Office of Natural Resource Education * California Office of Privacy Protection * California Office of Public School Construction * California Office of Real Estate Appraisers * California Office of Risk and Insurance Management * California Office of Services to the Blind * California Office of Spill Prevention and Response * California Office of State Publishing (OSP) * California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development * California Office of Systems Integration * California Office of the Inspector General * California Office of the Ombudsman * California Office of the Patient Advocate * California Office of the President * California Office of the Secretary for Education * California Office of the State Fire Marshal * California Office of the State Public Defender * California Office of Traffic Safety * California Office of Vital Records * California Online Directory * California Operations Control Office * California Opinion Unit * California Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (OTAN) * California Park and Recreation Commission * California Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) * California Performance Review (CPR) * California Permit Information for Business (CalGOLD) * California Physical Therapy Board * California Physician Assistant Committee * California Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services * California Policy and Evaluation Division * California Political Reform Division * California Pollution Control Financing Authority * California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo * California Postsecondary Education Commission * California Prevention Services * California Primary Care and Family Health * California Prison Industry Authority * California Procurement Division * California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) * California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) * California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) * California Real Estate Services Division * California Refugee Programs Branch * California Regional Water Quality Control Boards * California Registered Veterinary Technician Committee * California Registrar of Charitable Trusts * California Republican Caucus * California Research and Development Division * California Research Bureau * California Resources Agency * California Respiratory Care Board * California Rivers Assessment * California Rural Health Policy Council * California Safe Schools * California San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission * California San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy * California San Joaquin River Conservancy * California School to Career * California Science Center * California Scripps Institution of Oceanography * California Secretary of State Business Portal * California Secretary of State * California Seismic Safety Commission * California Self Insurance Plans (SIP) * California Senate Office of Research * California Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Certification Program * California Small Business Development Center Program * California Smart Growth Caucus * California Smog Check Information Center * California Spatial Information Library * California Special Education Division * California Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board * California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) * California Standards and Assessment Division * California State Administrative Manual (SAM) * California State Allocation Board * California State and Consumer Services Agency * California State Architect * California State Archives * California State Assembly * California State Association of Counties (CSAC) * California State Board of Education * California State Board of Food and Agriculture *California Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) * California State Children's Trust Fund * California State Compensation Insurance Fund * California State Contracts Register Program * California State Contracts Register * California State Controller * California State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD) * California State Disability Insurance (SDI) * California State Fair (Cal Expo) * California State Jobs Employment Information * California State Lands Commission * California State Legislative Portal * California State Legislature * California State Library Catalog * California State Library Services Bureau * California State Library * California State Lottery * California State Mediation and Conciliation Service * California State Mining and Geology Board * California State Park and Recreation Commission * California State Parks * California State Personnel Board * California State Polytechnic University, Pomona * California State Railroad Museum * California State Science Fair * California State Senate * California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) * California State Summer School for the Arts * California State Superintendent of Public Instruction * California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) * California State Treasurer * California State University Center for Distributed Learning * California State University, Bakersfield * California State University, Channel Islands * California State University, Chico * California State University, Dominguez Hills * California State University, East Bay * California State University, Fresno * California State University, Fullerton * California State University, Long Beach * California State University, Los Angeles * California State University, Monterey Bay * California State University, Northridge * California State University, Sacramento * California State University, San Bernardino * California State University, San Marcos * California State University, Stanislaus * California State University (CSU) * California State Water Project Analysis Office * California State Water Project * California State Water Resources Control Board * California Structural Pest Control Board * California Student Aid Commission * California Superintendent of Public Instruction * California Superior Courts * California Tahoe Conservancy * California Task Force on Culturally and Linguistically Competent Physicians and Dentists * California Tax Information Center * California Technology and Administration Branch Finance * California Telecommunications Division * California Telephone Medical Advice Services (TAMS) * California Transportation Commission * California Travel and Transportation Agency * California Unclaimed Property Program * California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board * California Unemployment Insurance Program * California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission * California Veterans Board * California Veterans Memorial * California Veterinary Medical Board and Registered Veterinary Technician Examining Committee * California Veterinary Medical Board * California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board * California Volunteers * California Voter Registration * California Water Commission * California Water Environment Association (COWPEA) * California Water Resources Control Board * California Welfare to Work Division * California Wetlands Information System * California Wildlife and Habitat Data Analysis Branch * California Wildlife Conservation Board * California Wildlife Programs Branch * California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) * California Workers Compensation Appeals Board * California Workforce and Labor Development Agency * California Workforce Investment Board * California Youth Authority (CYA) * Central Valley Flood Protection Board * Center for California Studies * Colorado River Board of California * Counting California * Dental Board of California * Health Insurance Plan of California (PacAdvantage) * Humboldt State University * Jobs with the State of California * Judicial Council of California * Learn California * Library of California * Lieutenant Governors Commission for One California * Little Hoover Commission (on California State Government Organization and Economy) * Medical Board of California * Medi-Cal * Osteopathic Medical Board of California * Physical Therapy Board of California * Regents of the University of California * San Diego State University * San Francisco State University * San Jose State University * Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy * State Bar of California * Supreme Court of California * Teach California * University of California * University of California, Berkeley * University of California, Davis * University of California, Hastings College of the Law * University of California, Irvine * University of California, Los Angeles * University of California, Merced * University of California, Riverside * University of California, San Diego * University of California, San Francisco * University of California, Santa Barbara * University of California, Santa Cruz * Veterans Home of California

It doesn't matter whether you are a Democrat, a Republican or Independent. This list has to shock you. Over the years, our politicians have created this enormous pork barrel of agencies that employ over 350,000 people directly and countless more via contracts with the State. All of these people get salaries, medical coverage and pensions at our expense. Take a good, close look. Unbelievable? No. Believe it.

Cartoon: http://politicallyillustrated.com/index.php/page/usa/1967/

Joe Rogans theory on Wikileaks

2011-03-20T23:20:00.000-07:00

Joe Rogans talks about why Wikileaks is good for the world and the United Sates. #Wikileaks
PG 13 (Language)

Wonderful A & W Restaurant Memories 1964

2011-02-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

We Two and A & W

I recently purchased your book “Great American Brand” Ninety years of A & W. Our story has lasted 46 years. It began in the summer of 1964. My cousin Judy, 18, was visiting from Ft. Dodge, IA. I too was 18. I wanted to take her to my high school hang out. It was the A & W on El Camino in Redwood City, California.

She and I enjoyed our burgers and ice cold frosty A & W root beer. The drive-in food tray was on the driver’s side window. I ask my cousin to let me out her door to go to the bathroom. She decided to tease me and yell out, “No, I’m not letting you out to go pee!” All of a sudden my door opened. An adorable fella with beautiful blue eyes, bowed and said, “My mother taught me to be a gentleman.” I wanted to die of embarrassment.

Upon returning I just had to glance at him as I step down off the sidewalk. He smiled at me and winked. An instant rush came over me, “I’m going to marry that guy!” Thanks to that night at A & W, I made the best decision of my life. My sister held our 25th anniversary at the same wonderful place.

A & W is still sharing events in our lives. It is the theme for all of our cars shows with our 1965 Mustangs. We have the food tray on the driver’s side, full of A & W items. On the hood we have a story banner that is titled “We two and A & W” along with the price of life in the 60’s. The passenger side has drive-in theater speakers playing rock n’ roll music. Inside the back seat are many A & W goodies. Our local newspaper even put our story in the paper.

One of our favorite places to share our A & W is the Big Island of Hawaii. We participate in a classic car event, held every three years called, “Cruise Paradise.” The people tell us of their special memories of A & W. We love letting them know that the original A & W is still in Lodi. We’ve enter the end of the year car show there and I bring boxes of my goodies and put them all over the place. We usually win the Best Display.

One of my exciting finds was at a yard sale. As we were leaving I told hubby that that peddle car had Ford on the back. I just had to ask how much. It was mine for only $15. Hubby was swinging it by his side as we approached the car. I yelled out, “Oh my gosh, it says A & W on the door.” He didn’t believe me until he looked closer. I was so excited. The next day I just had to ask how she acquired it. Her daughter won it in a coloring contest given by A & W. She was not interested in the car. I love it and our A & W.

Rosemary J. Sweatt (Contact email: rsweatt05 @ yahoo.com ) Sonora, CA

The difference between Democrats and Republicans

2011-01-27T13:19:00.000-08:00

What is exactly the difference between Democrat and Republic in politics?

Republicans:

Deeply religious in a conservative sense (No gays marriage, Pro-Life, etc) -Anti-Government (Don’t like a big government, with lots of procedures and social programs that they believe clot up the system and aren’t as effective as a free market economy)
Pro-Business (Less taxes, less government regulations of business to help those businesses compete globably, etc)
Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps; (Don’t like social programs because they feel that they just give handouts to people who could ’easily’ be working for the money they are getting for free instead.)

Democrats:

Varied religiously, however feel religion doesn’t have a place in politics and government: (Believe that God should not really be an issue in politics, other than perhaps a mild basis on ethics and morality of interactions between people, but in no way used as a condemnation of an individual.)
Pro-Government: (Want programs to help those who need help, poor, or confused, believe that it helps the economy because it also gives jobs where they may not exist without government employment.
Anti-Pro-Business legislation: (While still being for a free market (although this is varied), most democrats believe that regulations are essential to making sure that businesses don’t overrun public property with polution or create monopolies of a market.)
Pro-Social programs: Believe that people need help from time to time, and that giving a little government aid hasn’t hurt anyone to dearly since most of that money is spent within the area that the money came from.

I personally think Republicans give too much power to corporations which leaves little power for the people to fend for themselves without having to depend on large industry for their needs. Creating a nanny state through the corporations. Democrats tend to be a 'big tent' party meaning they do not vote along party lines making it difficult to make sweeping changes. Each party is necessary for the our nation to stay in balance. We are a republic that votes as a democracy. It is a difficult scale to balance.

Yet we have made this far.

Mr. President, I’m grateful for...

2011-01-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

I’m grateful for the room-lighting smile:

For preventing a second Great Depression:

For the humor:

For 1.3 million jobs created in 2010 alone, more than in the entire 8 years of George Bush:

*********************
Read more @: http://blackwaterdog.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/im-greatful-2/

"If A Democrat Said The Sun Rises In The East Republicans Would Say It's A Job Killing Sunrise!"

2011-01-19T13:01:00.000-08:00

Political strategists have chosen it as the Word of the Month.

Whenever you hear a Republican say 'Job-Killing' remember that he doesn't actually mean Health insurance reform. It's pure political rhetoric.

Unfortunately, many voters find politics confusing so they latch onto particular words as if they were flotation devices in the ocean.

A better approach for voters would be learning how to think.

Allowing politicians to manipulate you with magic words.

A private sector job is not dependency.

'Dependency' is yet -another- phony Republican magic word. It has no connection to reality.

When a father has no job and has no insurance because of Republican policies, THAT'S dependency. When Obama strengthens the economy and that father gets a private sector job and when insurance reform makes health insurance for his family affordable . . .

Liberals are winning the healthcare debate

2011-01-17T13:42:00.000-08:00

By Brent Budowsky - 01/17/11 02:40 PM ET

Bad news for conservatives and Republicans in the new AP healthcare poll, which has the following results:

Number of voters who favor stronger healthcare laws that do more: 43 percent. Number who favor repeal: only 26 percent. Number who favor the current law: 19 percent. Number who favor a healthcare law that does less: 10 percent.

In short, 62 percent favor either the current law or a new law that is more to the liking of liberals, while only 36 percent favor repeal or a new law more to the liking of conservatives.

This is why House Republicans fear and dread any Democratic amendments to the bill that would allegedly repeal the healthcare law. They see the numbers that I post here, as reported by AP. If the AP polls are right, the liberals are winning the healthcare debate.

The right can run, but they can't hide, and I can't wait for 2012.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/138299-liberals-are-winning-the-healthcare-debate

The History of Right Wing Hate Talk in American Politics

2011-01-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

Did the right wing cabal murder President Robert Kennedy?
Are republicans creating a 'hate state'?

Irresponsible Violent Rhetoric Against Liberals

2011-01-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

I am a proponent for free speech rights, I feel that people have the right in our country to say what is on their mind - however - there is a line in which this can become not only irresponsible, but dangerous too. Just as we are not permitted to yell, "Fire" in a crowed theater when there is not a fire, we have to draw a line with some of the merchandise and rhetoric that appears to be inciting some to violence. It only takes one or two to harm a lot of people and their families as we have recently seen in Arizona. Incitement to violence does not have to be a direct call to action, it can also come in other forms. I've been collecting some of these forms so that people can see a vast array of them all in one place to better understand the full magnitude of this.

Click to see both graphics larger

The Source is Sarah Palin's Facebook page

As you can see, Rep Gabrielle Giffords is clearly on Sarah Palin's hit list. She may have removed it from her website but it still exists on facebook and there are recent ongoing comments on the note. Some comments are in support of Palin and some are begging her to take the note down. I know that 100s of people have reported it to Facebook yet it is still there.

Original Source : : Graphic & Article Source

POSITIVE RADIO AIR TIME - 10 Great Things About AM and FM Radio

2011-01-03T15:53:00.000-08:00

Some critics say the best days of AM and FM Radio are gone because of all the new technologies competing against it. Well, before you hastily cast if off, remember some of its good points. Here are my list of top 10.

10. For the price of a fast food lunch, you can buy an AM radio that one day may save your life during an emergency. Ask the thousands of people who depended on it during Hurricane Katrina.
9. Local radio personalities make a difference in your life. Just ask Bill Murray’s character in the movie "Groundhog Day".
8. Romance. Who hasn’t "made out" in a car to a radio playing their favorite station?
7. There’s nothing like watching your hometown baseball team in person but getting the play-by-play in your headphones from the local sports station.
6. They can make AM and FM radios as small as pens, antenna and all. Can you say that about a satellite receiver? (Not yet, anyway.)
5. AM signals aren’t affected by dense trees or mountains. FM signals aren't affected by lightning storms.
4. When formats get old and tired, station owners can change them! When your mood changes, you can change the station.
3. Radio can unleash your imagination.
2. Multitasking. You can do almost any other task and still fully enjoy listening to the radio.
1. Free – Free – Still Free.

Article Source: http://radio.about.com/od/funradiothingstodo/a/aa100306a.htm

POSITIVE RADIO AIR TIME - 10 Great Things About AM and FM Radio

Meet the Leadership: Corporate America and the Religious Right’s New Team in the House | People For the American Way

2011-01-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

John Boehner, Incoming Speaker of the House

The GOP’s dramatic gains in Tuesday’s midterm election have positioned John Boehner as the incoming Speaker of the House in the 112th Congress. In his twenty years in Congress, Boehner has been one of the fiercest protectors of Corporate America, and his political and legislative history provide a striking road map for what to expect from his tenure as Speaker.
Following stints in local politics and service in the Ohio State House, John Boehner was elected to the United States Congress in 1990. In his second term in Congress, Boehner helped write the Contract with America and became a stalwart ally of Newt Gingrich, even his “protégé.” Boehner backed Gingrich’s partisan and confrontational style of leadership, and Gingrich elevated him to the position of GOP Conference Chairman. From there, Boehner became the go-to Member of Congress for corporate lobbyists and business interests.

As Conference Chairman, Boehner “met weekly with leading lobbyists to enlist their support and discuss strategy” throughout his four year tenure. During a vote to remove a subsidy to the tobacco industry, Boehner personally handed out checks from tobacco lobbyists and industry PACs to other congressmen on the House floor. At least one Republican colleague, Rep. Linda Smith, blasted Boehner’s actions, saying that “if it is not illegal, it should be.” Since his role in the Republican leadership was closely tied to Gingrich, when Gingrich resigned following the GOP’s 1998 election loss, Boehner was voted out of his leadership position.

After he was forced out of his role as Conference Chairman, Boehner embarked on a plan to regain support among his Republican colleagues. His leadership PAC, called the “Freedom Project,” took in millions of dollars from special-interest lobbyists, and he then used the money to contribute to his fellow Republican candidates. Top contributors included Sallie Mae, Merrill Lynch, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Cincinnati Financial Corp., which helped make Boehner’s leadership PAC one of the best-funded among his peers. The “major sources of financing” for the Freedom Project came from “for-profit colleges and trade schools, and private student lenders,” and as chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Boehner sponsored “legislation strongly supported by private student lenders to restrict the ability of the U.S. Department of Education to make government student loans less expensive by cutting fees.” Boehner told representatives from student loan companies that he has “tricks up my sleeve to protect you,” and he later helped pass a law to bar individuals from refinancing their student loans.
According to Boehner, “I have a good relationship to K Street and people who lobby us.”

Even Boehner’s landlord is a lobbyist, and the Washington Post writes that his landlord’s “clients — including restaurant chains and health insurance companies — hired him to lobby on issues at the heart of Boehner's work, including minimum-wage increases, small-business tax breaks and tax-free savings accounts to help cover insurance costs.”

In addition to building relationships with corporate lobbyists, Boehner enhanced his standing with the Religious Right. In 2002 Boehner wrote a letter to the Ohio Board of Education urging them to teach intelligent design in public schools, using language derived from anti-evolution activist Phillip E. Johnson. Cyrus B. Richardson Jr., the school board vice president, called Boehner’s letter “misleading” because “it makes it sound like the law says you have to teach intelligent design, when that isn’t in the law.”

He has consistently stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Religious Right throughout his time in Congress. Boehner voted to ban same-sex couples from adopting children and to repeal domestic partnership laws, he opposed hate crimes laws and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and he supported Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. On issues regarding reproductive justice, Boehner voted against protecting reproductive health clinics and backed laws which would compel women to go through biased counseling before terminating their pregnancy. In his speech to the Family Research Council’s 2009 Values Voter Summit, Boehner emphasized his steadfast, 100% anti-choice record. After the 2010 election, Boehner’s chief of staff met with Randall Terry, the radical founder of Operation Rescue, who pressured Republicans in the House to criminalize abortion.
Following Tom DeLay’s resignation as Majority Leader in 2006 (after DeLay was indicted on conspiracy and money laundering charges for which he was recently convicted) John Boehner returned to the GOP leadership and was elected to replace DeLay. From the outset, Boehner pledged to support Republican plans to privatize Social Security, worked against a bipartisan immigration reform bill, and vigorously fought stronger ethics laws. Once elevated to Majority Leader, his leadership PAC received even more financial support from special interest groups. The New York Times found that “Mr. Boehner’s biggest donors include the political action committees of lobbying firms, drug and cigarette makers, banks, health insurers, oil companies and military contractors.” Boehner’s PAC also received $32,000 from casino-owning American Indian tribes with ties to convicted felon Jack Abramoff.

Boehner only deepened his ties to special interest lobbyists and intensified his pro-corporate agenda after the 2006 elections, when Republicans lost their majority and he became Minority Leader. Like the Freedom Project, the “Boehner for Speaker” committee allowed lobbyists to buy significant access to the congressman. Lobbyists were allowed “VIP access” to Boehner and his top aides if they could raise $100,000 worth of contributions or more for the committee. But Boehner’s ties to lobbyists don’t end there: he routinely met with business leaders, particularly from the banking and tobacco industries, at his Thursday Group meetings, spent tens of thousands of dollars “to travel to golf destinations on a corporate-subsidized tab,” and gave business associations a larger platform through his America Speaking Out initiative. In September, the New York Times profiled his close ties with K Street:

He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R. J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.

They have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns, provided him with rides on their corporate jets, socialized with him at luxury golf resorts and waterfront bashes and are now leading fund-raising efforts for his Boehner for Speaker campaign, which is soliciting checks of up to $37,800 each, the maximum allowed.

Some of the lobbyists readily acknowledge routinely seeking his office’s help — calling the congressman and his aides as often as several times a week — to advance their agenda in Washington. And in many cases, Mr. Boehner has helped them out.

Special interest groups continue to pay handsomely to gain access to Boehner and his aides. This year Boehner raised well over $7 million and Fredreka Schouten of USA Today writes the “industries giving the most to Boehner” include “insurance companies, drug manufacturers and Wall Street firms, all of which now face new regulations adopted by the Democratic-controlled Congress.” In all, the financial and insurance industries have been his top donors, contributing $3.8 million to his political committees.

Boehner’s connections to corporate lobbyists and trade associations greatly influenced his political work. He is big business’s chief advocate on the Hill, and his efforts include “combating fee increases for the oil industry, fighting a proposed cap on debit card fees, protecting tax breaks for hedge fund executives and opposing a cap on greenhouse gas emissions.” Reacting to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Boehner agreed with the US Chamber of Commerce that taxpayers should subsidize the cleanup, rather than forcing BP to pay for the entire bill. Boehner has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from oil companies, and fought attempts by Democrats to lift the liability cap in order to make BP pay for the entire cost of the cleanup.

Boehner vehemently opposes greater supervision of the financial industry and worked tirelessly against Wall Street reform, comparing new oversight and regulations to “killing an ant with a nuclear weapon.” When speaking to an “enthusiastic crowd of bankers at the American Bankers Association government relations summit,” Boehner told them to fight regulatory reform and not “to let those little punk staffers take advantage of you.” Before the historic financial reform bill came up for a vote, Boehner “met with more than 100 lobbyists” to strategize their opposition, and after the legislation was signed into law, he immediately called for its repeal.

But while Boehner looks after his friends and campaign contributors on K Street and Wall Street, he voted against recent legislation to increase lending and tax relief for small businesses, voted ‘No’ on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, attempted to stop extending benefits to unemployed Americans, and vigorously opposed a proposal to bolster and ensure government funding for the medical treatment of 9/11 rescue workers. He also led the opposition to the DISCLOSE Act, which would have made corporations publicly disclose their political contributions and prevent foreign corporations from spending in US elections.

An unapologetic beneficiary of corporate money and an unwavering ally of K Street, John Boehner consistently supports the interests of big business over the public interest. Corporations and their lobbyists are largely responsible for financing his political operations, crafting his policy proposals, and lifting his political career and ambitions. Not only has John Boehner embraced Wall Street and K Street, but he also worked hard to shore up his support from the Religious Right and other conservative interest groups. As the next Speaker of the House, John Boehner will have even more power to advance the goals of Washington lobbyists and push his right-wing, pro-corporate agenda.

Survey: Fox News is misleading and false

2010-12-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

A University of Maryland poll found that a greater exposure to Fox News will leave viewers increasingly misinformed.

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White House won't say if Boehner's Mafia Connections will be investigated for leaking classified info.

2010-12-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

Brian Kennedy's remarks to distract from John Boehner's Mafia Connections
Submitted by Anonymous on 7 August 2007 - 1:18pm.

Brian Kennedy's public statements to describe CREW and Melanie Sloan were utterly classless and don't extinguish the fact his boss leaked classified information for political purposes!

Every American needs to understand the ramifications of all this! I am head of government operations for Immtec, Inc. which is inventor of the smart wallet in NIST's Biometrics and Security Systems and Applications program. Solely our biometric credential wasn't tried in federal identification credentialing programs, despite ours was ready for deployment 2 years before the biometric smart card.

Beginning in 2002 I became aware my calls were being eavesdropped on. I could hear people coming in on the call and on occasion when the call was solely of a personal nature, their leaving the call. My friends and family heard the eavesdroppers coming and going, too. We believed it wasn't legal, but it was the government and its contractors eavesdropping.

In November of 2002, weeks after the GSA illegally banned Immtec from federal procurement because of our monopoly-power which isn't a legal excuse to ban a contractor from supplying the federal government according to Federal Acquisition Regulation, I came home from a vacation with a parent to a broken window and on another floor a new TV with a broken circuit board.

That was the beginning of the incessant home invasions and while I didn't know what they looked like, I was very certain there were 10 mm and smaller cameras within my house. I was using dial-up and if I left the computer upstairs to do things in the kitchen, my laptop would disconnect from the Internet despite I had it set to keep running.

This even happened if I stepped away for just 1-2 minutes to do something unrelated to my work in the house. Someone knew my movements within my house! By 2003 I was waking-up in the middle of the night to the sound of my laptop dialing the net, or finding it already done and Immtec files I had stored to hard drive opened. I began to disconnect the telephone cord from the internet when I wasn't working at the computer.

In 2003 I dated a guy who wasn't being nice and since actually because I daily was being hacked, I operated using 3 laptops. His photos were taken-off of those laptops by NSA people and I found a file added to my computer had sneaked photos of my family and Immtec documents to NSA contractors.

I talked to a detective in a local precinct about my fear there were cameras in my house including my bedroom. No one in the county PD had experience with 10 mm and smaller cameras to be able to identify them! The detective checked and could find no electronic surveillance search warrant but thought my suspicions were correct because of many reasons I gave as proof beyond what I gave above.

The detective and I didn't know what to do. There was some kind of trap added to my telephone box that Verizon and MCI repair persons couldn't identify and a funky dial tone I had would never go away! The Verizon and MCI repair persons never had heard such a thing and they always left my home with the telecom problems unresolved and wigged-out!

Eventually my family and friends, including Immtec's CEO began to label me paranoid and delusional so I dropped the subject. Still, every time I went away in 2003 and 2004 my burglar alarm sounded. By the first half of 2003 we had removed my name and email address from Immtec's website because of the non-stop home invasions...so no one will find me there and I live across the country from the company's headquarters.

It is me who knows the government market for Immtec, not the CEO and to get to me people must go through him and know to ask for me. I was always away at government conferences in D.C. and my presence there and not in New York could be verified when the home invasions occurred. I learned in 1/04 that my burglar alarm was only sounding within the house, and that an NSA contractor had taken over my ADT central station contract.

In early 2/05 my grandmother was hospitalized and by then central station was again getting calls when my alarm sounded. Every single time I went out (didn't miss one time!) over the next year my burglar alarm sounded and as usual, there was nothing missing.

During that year I watched extensive changes come about in my utility closet linked to my telecom and electrical. I kept coming home to finding high hat lights unclipped...a bathroom I don't use have a light left on, etc. My mother is on my central station contact list and she got the same calls I did from central station. My family is close with people who work for one of NYPD's surveillance units. They didn't know what to make of the situation, either! Their reply was that their calls and emails were being eavesdropped on.

They couldn't help themselves so had no way to help anyone else. It all seemed illegal, but the federal government was doing it anyhow.

In 2/06 my furnace crashed and with it the government's illicit camera system crashed, too. I had electrical surges throughout my home non-stop that my neighbors didn't have beginning in 2003 and it resulted ultimately in an overloading of the interior electrical lines that were only 19 years old. The furnace, my bedroom TV, my stove, dishwasher and nearly every alarm system contact broke and I got an explanation to why certain electronics/appliances were persistently broken in the past after repeated repairs.

To this day, my gas stove is broken where if I leave the circuit breaker turned-on its 4 burners keep igniting incessantly when the burner knobs are turned off...where of course, illicit cameras are always on! From something that is rather technical that I found in my bedroom TV menu system I no longer could deny there were cameras in my house.

In December of 2005 the NY Times broke the news on the NSA surveillance programs and by Jan of 2006 my sister, mother and friends were vehemently apologizing for having labeled me delusional and paranoid.

They knew I was apart of the illicit NSA programs. By the 2nd week of Feb of 2006--the week after I no longer could deny there were cameras in my house because of all I found once the furnace crashed and took much of the house's appliances/electronics with it, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was admitting to the public there were other White House spy programs the president didn't know about that involved the White House's control over the NSA. By 4/06 these programs commonly became called the NSA Black Ops.

Most of the cameras were removed from my home by people who didn't set-off its alarm (there were 2 in my own bedroom) when I went-out for the day over the next couple of months. However, on May 25, 2006 I was out for the day again and my burglar alarm sounded. With a trained eye I came home that night and found a camera in my office TV. I went apesh*t in phone and email communications over the next 1 1/2 days and on the morning of May 27, 2006 (a Saturday) a 5th mass layoff was announced at the White House. The layoffs had started in early March of 2006.

I thought all the cameras were out, but they missed one that I found in my living room a year ago June. On my final trip up the ladder to cover the camera with opaque tape I broke a finger. I had been forced to give-up my health insurance as a cost-cutting measure. When the finger naturally healed, it healed wrong! I also suspected a switch added to my utility closet controlled the camera systems. My electrical bill was triple what it should be and when I threw it off, it sounded as though I had turned-off my main. My electric bill temporarily dropped but is again triple what it should be sending only what God and the NSA knows off via satellite!

The real skin-crawler of all this is who the surveillance was done for! In December of 2001 Immtec was offered a 100 % financing package by the Russian Federal Government. The CEO at first said no because with Putin having snatched control of the Kremlin the year before, democractic reforms had taken some major setbacks. Immtec's CEO feared our credential would be linked to data mining programs so that the Kremlin could be Big Brother.

In January of 2002 the CEO learned from western European bankers that they didn't know what the catch was, but that the Russian Mafia which was controlling the Kremlin, had begun to invest in legitimate companies as shareholders.

In 2002 the US had its own Big Brother program within DARPA. While DARPA could have attached any identification and payment credential to its Total Information Awareness program later renamed Terrorism Information Awareness program, naturally DARPA chose to attach to its data mining program the credential it knew respected privacy most and was most secure so that Americans couldn't have their identities stolen. DARPA selected Immtec's platform to attach to the data mining program and then members of Congress under investigation or already convicted began to abuse that to force Immtec to accept the Russian financing offer that hadn't yet disappeared and later in 2005 and 2006 buyout offers were made on Immtec to broker it to the Russians.

The 2006 offer was made the morning Dustin Foggo, the former # 3 at CIA had his office and home raided. Last August a leak from US DOJ's D.C. Grand Jury convening to address all Foggo and Cunningham's conspirator # 1, Brent Wilkes' crimes told the duo were being linked to Russia...but I already knew that!

Foggo and Wilkes were behind a coup within our French office that involved the installing three CIA straw men and a South African shell company posing as an investment company, set-up to run the French operation into the ground. Before that, they took down a German operation and before that, they took down our US RnD operation. When we decided to accept a 15 mos old German financing package in 11/04, Tom Ridge was fired with the first explanation given to Fox News because Ridge had failed to fund the next-generation of technologies.

Michael Chertoff is even dirtier than Tom Ridge! Chertoff continues to work for Latham & Watkins, his former employer and has told the DHS Office of Strategic Plans that was set-up to integrate Immtec's platform (In 12/04 General Hayden told Fox News that Ridge had failed to dedicate staff to medium and long-term planning and that was why, too, he couldn't be given another chance.) into the DHS' programs that it isn't permitted to consider new ID credentialing platforms for that office's five year plans.

Latham & Watkins has a giant operation in Russia, aided the Kremlin in setting-up Sitronics (Cheney's son-in-law, Phil Perry who formerly lobbied for Lockheed Martin was apart of this conspiracy) to infringe on Immtec's intellectual property in the EU, and also has Lockheed Martin as its largest lobby client.

Lockheed Martin in order to secure contracts in Russia was forced to get between the sheets with the Russian Mafia and carryout as a concession their agenda in the US. Lockheed became a Russian company long before Congress gave control via earmarks of every DHS program to Lockheed! Lockheed awarded contracts only to tech suppliers who had accepted the Russian financing Immtec declined or were publicly traded so that the Russians could buy-up majority interest in those companies. Since, Lockheed bought most of those companies so it now is awarding contracts to itself! This is why it takes up to 9 minutes for a Lockheed biometric smart card to authenticate an individual and there is a 25-50 % error rate. The acquisitions were done mostly via stock swaps so the Russian investors have become giant shareholders in Lockheed!

At the end of July of 2006 the sleazy Wilkes contract to run Immtec's French operation into the ground was taken-over by Lockheed/Latham & Watkins. This past March 1 the French operation filed for bankruptcy. France was 6 hours ahead of DHS headquarters time at the time. When Michael Chertoff set the drivers' license to minimum standards thereby scr*wing Immtec out of our leadership post that same day, he didn't know we already had replaced the French operation. All our stolen source code the straw men managers gave to Lockheed to infringe in the US on Immtec's platform no longer is valid. We also changed the design of our wallets to blow away what Lockheed obtained as stolen goods!

Michael Chertoff has told the DHS Office of Policy they aren't to speak with inventors. It is easily read between the lines that they then will only speak to infringers. Courtesy of Michael Chertoff just about every single DHS contract was awarded to companies with the Russian Mafia as majority shareholders. Known within DOD Intelligence circles is who the financiers and trainers are of 911 and homegrown terror cells.

How better to pick-up defense companies' shares dirt cheap than to create chaos on Wall St. on September 11, 2001 and in its aftermath?

How best to keep the DHS buying the solutions as a repeat buyer that the Russian Mob is majority investors in than to siphon-off some of the profits gained from how our taxpayer dollars were spent, to fund more homegrown terror? With Michael Chertoff as DHS Secretary this vicious cycle where our attackers are financially rewarded will continue!

Nearly every single DHS Secretary either worked for Motorola or for its lobbyists/litigators. Motorola is about to infringe on a portion of Immtec's platform as it applies to cell phones, 8 years after we began the patenting process in the US! The current patent bill under consideration is to favor companies such as Motorola so that it can trample on Immtec's pending patents without any repercussions! Motorola is a fine Russian company.

It's been doing business there for years and like Lockheed, had to carryout a Kremlin-agenda in the US to secure business in Russia. Apple was mentioned as one of the supporters of the pending patent bill Congress has introduced to quash the patent rights of inventors. I have a 15" Powerbook that when it was 5 months old went for service for a power charging problem. It came back with an illuminated LCD.

Then Apple refused to honor its service contract that came with the Powerbook for one year, the extended contract I bought, NYS' 90 day consumer electronics repair law, as well as already qualified under NYS' electronics lemon law. That Powerbook remains under service contract until 5/25/08, but it continues to have an unilluminated LCD. In small claims court the first judge ascertained Apple had engaged in industrial sabotage and it also came out it was for the purpose of industrial espionage. The first judge couldn't believe what she was listening to from the Apple store manager's mouth! The second judge when we went to trial is in big trouble and will ultimately be disbarred for taking a bribe!

Not only did Apple see what was stored on my hard drive because it won't accept a notebook for repair without its hard drive, but Apple also keeps a record of every email a person sends on its servers even if the person is using a mail program that didn't come with the software programs preloaded into the notebook. As for Microsoft's support of the pro-Russian patent bill, I was using a Microsoft developed mail program on the Apple and in fact on Windows-based systems until last November.

Dell supports the bill...Immtec's CEO always has used Dell computers and periodically they have required repair. Microsoft, Apple and Dell are nothing but a bunch of predators taking advantage that Immtec management was smart enough to say no to financing offered by nonsupporters of Democracy! That is one of many things Islamic militants have in common with the Kremlin. They both oppose Democracy! Two enemies of democracy teamed together against a common enemy. One has the money and training to implement attacks against western Democracies and the other has the will to die while carrying them out!

Not only does the current patent bill stink of Russian Mafia influence to make it easier for their representative companies to infringe on Immtec's platform, but the current Real ID rewrite bill does the same! The Real ID bill before Congress right now won't consider Immtec's platform since our ID isn't a card and the bill clearly says card! This is what the Russians want since Immtec won't let them have our source code like all our predecessors in federal credentialing programs did, nor will we permit them to have a financial incentive to continue to carryout attacks against the US and its allies.

As for Boehner...he's a Russian mob operative. Everything he has done with regard to legislation and his vote record proves so! Christopher Cox, the current SEC chairman has carried-out a Russian mob agenda in his post and he's abused that post to go after one of my family members who for 41 years on Wall Street never heard a peep out of the SEC. The attack from the SEC happened within 36 hours of a blog I posted telling what Cox did to Immtec, where the blog was being featured by the Washington Post.

Before the SEC Cox was apart of the conspirators to call Immtec's platform the TIA technology in congressional hearing transcripts when he was Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. (He committed plenty of acts while on the Financial Services Committee as Chairman, too, to benefit the Russians!). Again, TIA is a data mining program and it is up to the legislative branch how much spying is done. Such spying is done on government servers and hasn't a thing to do with Immtec!

Congressmen such as Ney, Doolittle, Young, DeLay, etc. also were apart of the conspiracy. In Ney's plea deal Russian biz execs gave him chips in London casinos and he left the casinos with the exact amount as winnings as was due on his credit card bills. Doolittle has clearly been linked to the Cunningham and Abramoff probes where it already came out in the press 1) that Cunningham met with Wilkes and Foggo in 7/05 and the Russians, 2) that a similar meeting that included Cheney meeting the Russians happened in 1/02 and 3) Abramoff and Edwin Buckham had Russian clients.

Young's policy toward identification credentialing programs was matched to Abramoff's which was a Russian policy designed to force Immtec to accept the Russian financing. Abramoff also did plenty of work for Lockheed behind the scenes at his last job. Stevens...he's linked to Lockheed which is the same as being linked to the Russians. The connection is through the Alaska for the Kenai River charity event where Lockheed is one of its main sponsors. Young and Stevens were authors of last year's transportation bill that prohibited anything better than the biometric smart card to be considered by all transportation application identification credentialing programs. It was announced last October by the House's Intelligence Panel that Cunningham's earmarks granted Wilkes control of nearly every government grants program's evaluation process! By doing so, Wilkes could find emerging new technologies, and then deny them funding so that they became desperate and accepted Russian Mafia financing instead!

Boehner...he just loved the Abramoff gifts and campaign money that originated from the Russian mafia where Abramoff was the conduit...the money launderer for the Russian Mob. Much of that money came from siphoned-off energy and homeland defense profits made the by the Russian Mafia!

Boehner would jump through any hoop for that Mob money and do anything they wanted of him!!! I spent more than 3 1/2 years being cyber gang raped by NSA and White House staff, experienced 3 attempts on my life in 2004, still am paying outrageous electrical bills, need my entire house rewired with electrical that now is only 20 years old but full of so many cuts that I had a fire that fortunately stayed contained 6 months ago, can't have my furnace and appliances repaired until the house is rewired, am reminded with every dish I handwash of the cyber gang rape and how the illicit images from my bedroom were posted to the internet in attempt to have law enforcement take me into custody in 2/06, had Dept of Social Services sent to my home on false pretenses to have me committed to a state asylum (had a funny ending when a DoSS supervisor and psychiatrist knew I was legit and pleaded that no matter how bad things get I not give into the Kremlin)...and Boehner was one of the supporters of this to benefit the Russian Mafia which were behind 911 and are behind the financing of homegrown terror cells!

It should be of no surprise Boehner leaked classified information for political reasons and I can take a pretty good guess that the reason why FISA didn't approve two so-called terrorists from being eavesdropped on is because they're not terrorists but patriots that have faced the most immense of problems because members of Congress such as Boehner are traitors working for the Russian Mafia! Judging by how members of Congress such as Boehner had the US declare Immtec and its management its enemy as a reward for our patriotism to not sellout to the Russian Mafia for already more than 5 1/2 years while Boehner and the former RNC membership acted as Russian mob operatives, I can envision the CEO and I are Boehner's 2 alleged terrorists!

There now is surveillance of me...protective surveillance and it's not being handled by NSA's contractors w/operations that might be affected if Immtec's platform is adopted from earmarks such as was the case in the past! The main reason for all the NSA's surveillance programs of controversy wasn't to catch terrorists! It might have been sold on the President as that, but the true purpose was to give companies working for the Russian Mafia such as Lockheed, Brent Wilkes' companies, etc. intelligence information on companies such as Immtec so that they could repeatedly sabotage one Immtec operation after another!

Members of Congress such as Boehner had those earmarks passed to enable the illicit industrial espionage to benefit the Russian Mafia...US enemies!!! Boehner is one of the many members of Congress who blackballed Immtec and mislabeled its management as terrorists so that not even how we appeared in our birthday suits in the confines of our own bedrooms could be kept a secret! Of course, there was no arrest through the illicit surveillance because the CEO and I aren't terrorists! Again, the purpose of Boehner and the former Republican leadership's earmarks was simply to aide the Russians and their representative companies in the Kremlin's desire to control Immtec's platform!

Immtec was stalked in the US so the CEO fled to Germany. We were stalked in Germany by some phony State Dept officials so he fled to France and then Immtec was stalked in France! Boehner was one of the members of Congress that facilitated this with the intelligence contracts awarded to Lockheed, Wilkes and their subcontractors! He knew what was going on and he wants the FISA law to be changed so that the Republican Intelligence Panel members can resume their industrial espionage of Immtec. I am sure it is killing them that they don't know where our new RnD operation is! They made a deal with the Devil and so long as Immtec remains open they haven't fulfilled the deal! Hence, Republican intelligence panel members have expressed a preference to go to jail longer reflective that they weren't yet indicted and think they're going to beat the rap!

Whereas someone like Stevens who actually has engaged in sleazy real estate deals for about 3 decades (we have common friends and his investigation reminded me of something I learned in the past) is 83 and will die in jail if he doesn't die before he makes it to jail...at least I know with confidence that Boehner because of his age will be spending his entire future sentence in jail! His aide Kennedy's remarks are simple BS and Boehner's big mouth on Neil Cavuto's show opened a Pandora's Box that is going to get him caught that much faster by federal law enforcement!

Tax breaks for the rich create jobs: Lie!

2010-09-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

video Tax breaks for the rich create jobs: Lie!

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Two big mistakes by Constitutional Defender Rush Limbaugh

2010-08-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

We have a tremendous Obama honeymoon lineup today, with a look back to the conservatives' wild weekend and a look ahead to the battle for your dollars and mine. The fallout from Rush Limbaugh's fevered "address to the nation" continues. The battle for the GOP's "soul" continues.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party appears to have gained the Big Momentum of Big Ideas (despite the aspirations of Republican worthy Newt Gingrich). That puts the Obama/America Honeymoon Status Advisory System (explained here) up a step to: Kissy-face.

But beware. As famous Communist Karl Marx said (or it could have been famous Communist Leon Trotsky), every movement carries "the seeds of its own destruction." Good warning for overreaching Democrats, but funny that should come up, since the right-wing attack is based on the assumption that the progressives want to make America socialist (the "U.S.S.A." — get it?).

The real issue is not ideology but strategy, and we'll look at the Obama budget that way. But first, and it's unavoidable, let's see where El Rushbo, defender of the Constitution, went wrong. UPDATE: And how he now is taking the Republican Party and its elected leader down with him.

After the break.

The Conservative Political Action Committee's huge confab climaxed in a Limbaugh speech that rivaled Bill Clinton's notoriously "droning" debut at the 1988 Democratic convention, where he went into overtime in nominating Michael Dukakis. Although Clinton only tripled his allotted 10 minutes, it seemed at least as long as Rush's four-fold extension to 80 minutes.

But here's the key to El Rushbo's speech. In receiving the CPAC's culminating Defender of the Constitution award, he MISQUOTED the Constitution.

DFH

2009-08-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

Rush Limbaugh: Obama “wants to be the black FDR” to deliver “the same health care and plan he had in Kenya”

2009-08-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

Rush Limbaugh is insane.

For-profit health care hurts those who need it most

2009-08-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

7/31/09 - by Hugh Curran

There is much debate about health care yet little consideration for the ethical implications, especially the appropriateness of profit motives in the health care industry.

Americans do not seek to make a profit from education (kindergarten to grade 12), fire or police departments, yet people seriously listen to “industry” lobbyists who believe this to be a right in health care.

The philosopher Martin Buber defined “evil” as resulting from “indecision.” Where health care is involved there is a good deal of indecision, but this indecision is largely the result of disinformation by those who profit from health care.

If we begin with the understanding that the health of the whole country contributes to the health of each of us, we can ask if private interests, wishing to maximize profit, should be the arbiters of the public good.

They are investor-owned businesses that design health care systems that benefit their investors. From recent polls we know that two-thirds of the public would prefer a system with a public option.

More than 60 percent of physicians wish for such a system.

Unlike the propaganda of corporate representatives, a public option in health care would provide free choice of physicians for the patient.

Lobbyists shamelessly portray the Canadian system in a negative light although I have yet to meet a Canadian who would be willing to adopt the American model. In fact, no country that has a public option would change to the American model for the simple reason that they know that a health care system based on profits would deny insurance to those who are most in need.

According to the World Health Organization, the U.S. ranks low in two of three main categories associated with health care: preventive care and cost of care. It is true that in a couple of categories the U.S. excels, such as surgery and medical technology, but there are many other criteria for good health, especially in the area of preventive medicine.

In France, whose general health care system is highly regarded throughout the world, providers satisfy the three categories: They provide easier access to medical facilities; life spans are longer; there is lower child mortality, and there is guaranteed health care from cradle to grave financed through tax revenues. The government’s role is to make sure that the whole population has access to care. It protects patients’ rights, helps to work out policy and is the responsible party where health safety is concerned.
Despite this, it is not a single payer.

America now pays out 17 percent of its gross national product on health while France, Canada and England pay less than 10 percent. The trillion-dollar additional cost that has been under discussion in Congress is based on a 10-year cycle that amounts to $200 billion per year.

Compared to the trillion-dollar bailout of banking interests on Wall Street and the trillion-dollar war in Iraq and the continuing hemorrhaging of the auto industry, this is a reasonable amount.

The real reason there are such vehement arguments over public options versus private plans does not involve which is superior but which approach has the most to lose. Large corporations, whether HMOs or pharmaceuticals, are intent on creating indecision and doubt in the minds of many Americans concerning universal health care. Most medical professionals, including the 3 million-member American Nursing Association and the American Medical Association, have endorsed health care plans with public options.

But with all the lobbying taking place by corporate interests there is a real danger that the public option will be removed. This would be a major setback for both working and unemployed Americans. At this moment 14,000 people per day are losing their health care because of the current downturn in the economy.

Democracy cannot long survive if the gaps between rich and poor continue to increase and continue shifting us toward a small wealthy minority and a disappearing middle class. Health care is the largest cause of bankruptcy among the elderly. It bleeds and depletes the resources of families even when one person suffers a serious accident or illness.

Although we pay twice the amount per capita as do other developed countries, the results are that we are less healthy. Let us support a public option based on the common good.

Hugh Curran of Surry is an adjunct professor in peace studies at the University of Maine. He previously was the director of a Down East homeless shelter.

Dear Heartless Senator

2009-05-19T21:40:00.001-07:00

Guns, Barack Obama and Paranoia: Who is “Tyrannizing” Who

2009-04-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

A Time for Change

The Daily Beast has a very good article and video on interviews conducted at gun shows showing the manner in which the FauxNews psychotainers, the NRA and their ilk have embedded the idea in their gun lovin’ sheeple that President Obama is out to destroy the American way, collect all of their guns and put people in FEMA camps.

Sound crazy?

Take a few moments to fish around the web a bit and you will see that “gun enthusiasts” have gone off the deep end. There is plenty of web traffic discussing the need for revolution because of our President who, to this day, has yet to put a single individual in a FEMA camp.

Guns, Barack Obama and Paranoia: Who is “Tyrannizing” Who

A Senate Mystery Keeps Torture Alive — and Its Practitioners Free

2009-04-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

By Jeff Stein, CQ National Security Editor

With all the lawsuits over kidnapping and torture marching toward the Bush administration, you might think the top officials running the global war on terror would be worried just a little about the prospect that some day they might end up in court — if not having nightmares about getting measured for orange jumpsuits at Danbury Federal Prison.

Alas, no. Thanks to the legerdemain of Bush administration lawyers, a provision quietly tucked into the Military Commissions Act (PL 109-366) just before it was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on Oct. 17, would ease any worries they might’ve had. It not only redefines torture upward, removing the harshest, most controversial techniques from the definition of war crimes, it also exempts the perpetrators — interrogators and their bosses — from punishment all the way back to Nov. 1997.

The deft wording is the Bush administration’s attempt at bringing the United States’ criteria for defining a war crime into line with the Geneva Convention’s interpretation of torture.

The Supreme Court in June had declared the administration’s hastily assembled military commissions unconstitutional, saying all prisoners in U.S. custody had to be held in accordance with the Geneva Convention’s Article 3, which prohibits “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment.”

Renegotiating the Geneva Convention was out of the question. So the administration’s lawyers took what the president’s counselor, Dan Bartlett, later called “the scenic route.”

By way of the new Military Commissions Act, they effectively rewrote the U.S. enforcement mechanism for Geneva, the War Crimes Act, passed by Congress in Nov. 1997.

Never heard of this provision? That’s because coverage of the act focused more on its suspension of habeas corpus,barring anyone defined as an enemy combatant from filing suit challenging the legality of their detention or raising claims of torture and other mistreatment.

Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in particular, must be pleased by this legal three-card monte.

So, too, must be President Bush.

Full story: http://public.cq.com/public/20061122_homeland.html

Funniest President ever

2009-03-19T20:09:00.001-07:00

Obama Collectors Coffee Mug

2009-03-14T21:14:00.001-07:00

I survived the Bush administration 2001-2009

2009-02-23T16:24:00.000-08:00

GOP Rep. Cao Faces Recall Petition For Voting Against Stimulus

2009-02-21T13:29:00.000-08:00

Bayou Buzz reports that Rep. Joseph Cao, the Republican who replaced scandalized Democrat William Jefferson, now faces a recall petition over his stimulus opposition by a group of ministers.

Cao had indicated that he would be voting in favor of the controversial legislation but instead voted against it.

Papers have been filed with the Office of the Louisiana Secretary of State which started the process requiring sufficient signatures to force a recall election for the office held by Representative Cao.

Rev. Toris Young, one of the leaders of the effort, said the stimulus vote was the "last straw."

Cao represents a majority African-American, and traditionally Democratic, district. However, the Times-Picayune says the ministers will have a hard time unseating him.

The Recall Anh Cao Committee faces daunting odds. The effort has 180 days from its filing Monday to gather 100,000 valid signatures from registered voters in the district -- a third of all district voters -- in order to get a recall vote. And even if they succeed at that, and voters approve the recall, it appears that Congress would not accept the result.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/19/gop-rep-cao-faces-recall_n_168403.html