House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, pictured standing, far right, speaks while colleagues Rep. Barbara Lambert,
D-Milford and Rep. Jack F. Hennessy, D-Bridgeport, play solitaire Monday night as the House convened to vote on a new budget. (AP)
The guy sitting in the row in front of these two... he's on Facebook, and the guy behind Hennessy is checking out the baseball scores.
WASHINGTON – It's alive. The Medicare end-of-life planning provision that 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said was tantamount to "death panels" for seniors is staying in the latest Democratic health care bill unveiled Thursday.
The provision allows Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex and painful decisions families face when a loved one is approaching death.
This civic republican or deliberative democratic conception of the good provides both procedural and substantive insights for developing a just alloca- tion of health care resources. Procedurally, it suggests the need for public forums to deliberate about which health services should be considered basic and should be socially guaranteed.
Substantively, it suggests services that promote the continuation of the polity-those that ensure healthy future genera- tions, ensure development of practical reasoning skills, and ensure full and active participation by citizens in public deliberations-are to be socially guaranteed as basic..
Conversely, services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed.
An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia. A less obvious example Is is guaranteeing neuropsychological services to ensure children with learning disabilities can read and learn to reason.
'In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. . and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.'
Chicago - A well-known bar in Chicago's Gold Coast is being accused of racism.
snip
Six African-American men in the group were denied entry to the bar last weekend.
Student Regis Nurayi says the bar's manager told them their jeans were too baggy.
But Murayi didn't buy it.
So he switched jeans with a shorter, white student.
The white student, who now had very baggy jeans, was let in, and Murayi was still kept out.
The students held a protest in front of Mother's last Sunday, and there's a meeting about this issue in St. Louis on Monday.
The students are considering a lawsuit.
Do counter-terrorism measures targeting bombers who dress as women offend the rights of transexuals? This is one of the pressing questions addressed in a new United Nations report on "Protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism."
President Obama is "leaning toward not going" to the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, a senior administration official told Fox News.
Barack Obama is less of a person than an image a brand. People see whatever they want as they do on a Rorschach test. But does anyone really know him?
In fact, he is:
An empty suit.
A man with no birth certificate.
A man who was deserted in childhood by his biological father.
A man whose birth records, both in the United States and Kenya , are sealed by government order.
A man whose childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, spied on U.S. military installations in Hawaii for the Soviet Union , edited a communist newspaper, authored pornographic novels, and wrote poetry in praise of Joseph Stalin.
A man mentored by and still supported by radical Muslims.
A man who promised transparency in government, but has spent over a million dollars in legal fees hiding and blocking information that would determine his eligibility to be President.
A former drug user.
A man whose academic records are sealed from kindergarten through law school.
A man who arrived in New York in June of 1981 without enough money to get a hotel room, but one month later flew to Indonesia and Pakistan .
Why did he go?
Who paid his expenses?
A man who traveled to Pakistan when it was illegal for U.S. citizens to do so. So what country’s passport did he use?
A man whose Law School Admission Test scores and grades at Columbia University are known to have been mediocre, but was admitted to Harvard Law School through the intervention of a Saudi named Khalid al-Mansour.
A law review editor who never published an article in any law review.
A lawyer with no significant accomplishments in the law and no reputation in the legal community.
A former State and U.S. Senator, who never authored a piece of legislation.
A disciple of the Marxist Saul Alinsky.
A product of the Chicago political machine the most corrupt political organization in America .
A man who selects Marxists, corrupt politicians, and criminals as his close political associates and personal friends.
A man whose presidential candidacy was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America , the Socialist International, and the Workers International League.
A man lauded for the literary brilliance of two memoirs, both of which were ghost written by others.
A so-called Christian who says that knowing when life human begins is “above his pay-grade,” but somehow knows that abortion is permissible at any stage.
A man who thinks “waterboarding” is immoral, but that partial-birth abortion is moral.
A man who publicly laments slavery in America which was abolished 150 years ago but praises Islam, which still practices both slavery and the sexual mutilation of young girls.
A man who speaks endlessly about helping the less fortunate, but gives almost none of his sizeable income to charity not even to his half-brother, who is living in squalorr in Kenya.
A man who had the most left-wing voting record in the United States Senate, but was predicted by the press to “govern from the middle.”
A man who has never created a job, met a payroll, or even operated a lemonade stand, but wants to tell Detroit how to make cars.
A President who has never before served as an executive in either the private or the public sector.
A Commander-in-Chief who doesn’t know how to shoot a rifle, throw a hand-grenade, drive a tank, fly a plane, or con a ship.
A Commander-in-Chief who has publicly divulged some of our nation’s most important intelligence secrets.
A man who has been put in charge of the largest economic engine that ever existed, but has never invested in the stock market and admits total ignorance of it.
A President who says that science will guide his administration, but has no education in the sciences.
A man who is proficient in reading what is written for him on a tele-prompter, but jerks and stammers his way through any off-the-cuff speaking.
A man whose health records are sealed from childhood to the present day..
A man whose educational records are sealed from childhood through law school.
A man who spent 20 years in a church whose pastor espouses Marxist Liberation Theology, anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Semitism, but claims he never heard his pastor utter anti-American, and anti-Semitic statements.
A man who added more to the National Debt in 100 days than all other Presidents did in the past 220 years, yet feels qualified to lecture Americans about “fiscal responsibility”.
A man who publicly expressed disdain for the U.S. Constitution on a Chicago radio station because it limited the government’s ability to “redistribute wealth.”
The first American President to bow before a foreign head of state a Muslim dictator.
A man who sits and listens submissively while his country is castigated by Daniel Ortega a Communist thuug whose own daughter accused him of raping her.
A narcissist who gave the Queen of England a present from the United States --an iPod containing recordings of his own speeches.
A so-called Christian who officially declared “Pride Month” for a lifestyle that the Bible calls an abomination.
A man who wanted Americans to ignore his Muslim name during his election campaign, yet boasts of his Muslim name when he travels to Muslim countries.
A man who can name hundreds of America ’s shortcomings, yet none of its great accomplishments.
A President who claims the moral high ground by closing Gitmo yet supports the transfer of terror suspects to countries where horrific torture is certain.
A President who scoffed at being called a socialist yet acted to nationalize the auto industry, the banking industry, and the insurance industry . . . and now seeks to nationalize the healthcare industry.
A President who violates private property rights, the sanctity of contracts, and the rule of law three essential principles that go back over a thousand years in the Common Law tradition.
A man who promised 95% of all Americans a tax cut, but is increasing taxes on 100% of the population through inflation the cruelest tax of all.
A lawyer who represented ACORN an organization now indicted in several states for voter fraud whosse stated goal is to get as many people on welfare as possible in order to destroy our financial system.
A President who cheated GM’s bondholders by giving their property to the UAW in a political payoff.
An American President who frequently criticizes his own country when speaking in foreign countries, but never praises America ’s generosity, goodness or greatness.
A President whose Secretary of the Treasury cheated on his taxes as did several other appointees annd advisors.
A President who, despite the current federal debt of 100 trillion dollars, wants to add the greatest debt ever by nationalizing healthcare.
A President who scoffs at being called a socialist, yet has appointed 28 “Czars” to circumvent constitutional government and vetting, including:
A “Science Czar” who has advocated compulsory abortions for American women and the “surrender of sovereignty” to a “comprehensive Planetary Regime.”
A self-professed communist as his “Green Jobs Czar”.
A “Pay Czar” to regulate the pay of corporate executives.
A President who swore an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic,” yet has nominated a domestic enemy of the Constitution to the Supreme Court.
A President whose Homeland Security Chief classified pro-lifers, veterans, and supporters of traditional marriage as terrorists.
A President who stood silent while the Iranian government hacked unarmed protestors to death with axes, because it was an internal matter, but freely offers his opinions about the internal affairs of Israel and Honduras .
A President who decreed that true acts of terrorism must now be described as “man-made disasters.”
A President who cracks hurtful jokes about Special Olympians.
A President who refused to intercept or inspect a North Korean ship virtually certain to be carrying Weapons of Mass Destruction to Burma .
A President who wants to cancel all missile defenses while rogue nations are developing long-range ballistic missiles.
An American President who blames the violence in Mexico on America .
A Commander in Chief who claims to have been unaware that Air Force One was taken on a terrifying, low-level photo-op over Manhattan .
A President who berates American CEO’s for flying in private planes at private expense on company business, but whose wife spends hundreds of thousands tax payer dollars flying to Paris for a shopping spree.
A President who promised a transparent administration, but requires all questions be screened before “impromptu” appearances.
A man who freely admitted that his energy policies are designed to bankrupt the American coal industry.
A President who has presided over the loss of 14.7 million jobs and whose “energy policy” will cause the loss of another 1 million jobs.
A President whose “energy policy” will increase the average American’s utility bills by over $2,000 a year in the middle of the Great Recession.
A man about whom liberal journalist Tom Brokaw said, “There’s a lot about him we don’t know.” . . .just one week before the election.
The vast majority of Americans do not know who he is, but someone surely does. Someone paid for his travel expenses to Pakistan and Indonesia . Someone engineered legal challenges to all of his election opponents for the State Senate and had them disqualified.. Someone straightened and leveled his path to the U.S. Senate when a Democrat Judge made public the sealed child custody records of his Republican opponent. When he was a candidate for the U.S. Senate, someone arranged for him to speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Someone saw to it that all of his records were sealed, both at home and abroad. Someone assembled the massive organization for his run for the Presidency. Someone knows all about him.
Who? So you say some of the above is overstatement or spin, some is just coincidence. How many coincidences does it take to make a truth? There is something wrong here folks, something never seen in the history of the United States .
A leading energy developer said the United States has been excluded from Iraq's revived energy market.
T. Boone Pickens told Congress that U.S. companies were losing opportunities in the Iraqi crude oil and natural gas sectors to competitors from China and Europe
Some employees are simply irreplaceable. Take Michelle Obama:
The University of Chicago Medical Center hired her in 2002 to run "programs for community relations, neighborhood outreach, volunteer recruitment, staff diversity and minority contracting" .
In 2005 the hospital raised her salary from $120,000 to $317,000 - nearly twice what her husband made as a Senator.
Oh did we mention that her husband had just become a US Senator? He sure had, and had requested a $1 million earmark for the University of Chicago Medical Center. Way to network Michelle!
But now that Mrs. Obama has resigned, the hospital says her position will remain unfilled. How can that be, if the work she did was vital enough to be worth $317,000?
Let me add that Michelle's position was a part time, 20 hours a week
And to think they were critical of Blagoyovich' s wife for taking $100,000 in a fuzzy real estate commission.
My thoughts: How did this bit of quid pro quo corruption escape the sharp reporters that dug through Sarah Palin 's garbage and kindergarten files?
THE FIRST LADY'S SERVANT LIST
First Lady Requires More Than Twenty Attendants
July 7, 2009
Dr. Paul L. Williams
"In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much,"
she said. "See, that's why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service, " Michelle Obama
No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn't perform any official duties. But this hasn't deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession.
Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.
How things have changed! I then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Miz Michelle are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by John Q. Public:
1. $172,2000 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)
2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)
3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary)
4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to> the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)
5. $100,000 - Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
6. $90,000 - Medina, David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the> First Lady)
7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)
8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)
9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)
10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
11. $64,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady)
13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)
14. $57,500 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)
15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary To The F irst Lady)
16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling Aide To The First Lady)
17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)
18. $43,000 - Tubman, Samantha (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)
19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)
21. $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)
22. $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady)
There has NEVER been anyone in the White House at any time who has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life.
One wonders why she needs so much help, at taxpayer expense, when even Hillary, only had three; Jackie Kennedy one; Laura Bush one; and prior to Mamie Eisenhower social help came from the President's own pocket.
Note: This does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom traveled aboard Air Force One to Europe.
Yeh, I know, The Canadian Free Press has to publish this because the USA media is too scared they might be considered racist. Sorry America!"
SICKENING.........ISN'T
Verizon Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg took the stage on the first morning of the Supercomm trade show Wednesday to blast network neutrality regulations currently proposed by the Federal Communications Commission.
“This is a mistake, pure and simple -- an analog idea in a digital universe,” Seidenberg said, arguing that rules preventing broadband providers from discriminating against certain content types or sources – which have been proposed by the FCC and supported by Internet-centric companies such as Google and Facebook – would choke innovation and clash with the FCC’s drive to promote broadband deployment investment.
“If we can’t differentiate between packets, we can’t prioritize emergency communications for first responders, telesurgery or heart-monitor readings for digital medicine or videoconferencing over spam for telecommuters,” he said.
BLOOM: Generally speaking we get the joke. We know that the free market is nonsense. We know that the whole point is to game the system, to beat the market, or at least find someone who will pay you a lot of money because they're convinced that there is a free lunch. We know this is largely about power, that it's an adults only, no limit game. We kind of agree with Mao that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun. And we get it that if you want a friend, you should get a dog.
Gordon Brown said negotiators had 50 days to save the world from global warming and break the "impasse".
He told the Major Economies Forum in London, which brings together 17 of the world's biggest greenhouse gas-emitting countries, there was "no plan B".
The plan, which would guide Florida hospitals on how to ration scarce medical care during a severe flu outbreak, also calls for doctors to remove patients with poor prognoses from ventilators to treat those who have better chances of surviving. That decision would be made by the hospital.
snip
The Florida plan also calls for intensive care unit patients and those using ventilators to be reassessed after 48 to 72 hours.
Those whose chances of survival have significantly worsened would be taken off the machines or discharged from critical care to make way for others who may have a better chance of survival. If needed, they would be given palliative care to keep them comfortable.
