Obama Rapid Response

"March for Change We Still Believe In - Jan 15th, 2010"

korkie — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:17:55 EST

Please read and pass this on to as many people as you can. I also suggest you join "Countdown to JANUARY 15, 2010." This is the FaceBook group
responsible for this great event.
Korkie

On January 15th, 2010, Americans will gather, peacably, on the DC Mall to show our continued support for the progressive agenda our POTUS campaigned on. We voted for President Obama b/c we hoped for more from our government: more compassion, more diplomacy, more honesty, more protection, and more equality.

On January 15th, 2010, we will stand in opposition to the voices of fear, ignorance, and hate that have, thus far, garnered virtually all the attention of the main stream media and skewed the debate over issues that are far too important to ALL Americans. We've written and phoned our Representatives in the House and Senate. We've remained a diligent, anonymous, but silent majority. Now, is the time for America to see our faces and hear our voices.

January 15, 2010 - Supporting the Change We Still Believe In

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsyU0Rzw2LI

THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

"NERVIE" — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:45:21 EST

OKAY so today President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle went to Norway to receive the coveted Nobel Peace Prize and you can't seem to hear enough about "9 days before, he agreed to sending 30,000 more troops raising the total to 100,000 troops in Afghanistan". How can he receive such an honor for having not been in office more than 8 months (depending on whether you consider the date he was called for the Prize or when the Prize Committee selected him) is being stated.

The bottomline, after 8 years of being in Afghanistan, we owe it to the citizens to assist in nation building although we have seen how corrupt Karzai can be. After years of dropping bombs on a society who had housed Osama and the Al Qaeda crew, we are trying to help them build their nation under the principles of a democracy that depending on whom you listen to, may not even be what they want. But that is the Obama plan.

The hope I believe with all capitol letters is that the people of Afghanistan will become more aggressive in wanting the help of American troops, builders, educators, and infrastructure contractors. But interestingly the areas we are looking to stabilize happen to be the same area where we know The Taliban is fighting tooth and nail for their right to be leaders in their own country. Do we have the right to go into the country and tell them what is best for them?

Will we be able to keep reigns on Karzai and keep reminding him "democracy" is not a dictatorship where you stash away 1.3 million votes when you believe you are about to loose?

The media has been screaming about the 18 months Obama said will be the deadline for pulling out. There are several comments in Huffington Post magazine, Amy Goodman's commentary on DemocracyNow! and Jesse Jackson on Tavis Smiley Show says that 18 months is a questionable amount of time to complete nation building, but has anyone factored in, that we are talking about a nation of people who have been around longer than our nation is old?

Maybe we shouldn't sell these people short! I'm sure they are tired of the time, money, families lost, bloodshed, and living without as we are of seeing them get back on their feet. And bottomline we want to see our soldiers come home in one piece, with a good sense of whom they are for the service they have given to this country. And not ever have troops feel as many expressed when they went to Vietnam, that their services weren't appreciated . . .

So maybe with the Peace Award President Obama will remember what the essence of the award means and stick to the 18 months withdrawal plan? We again, can only hope.

Contact Congress: Lower Medicare Age Limit

Pat Hanrahan — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:10:31 EST

Huffington Post reports today that a group of Senators are considering lowering the Medicare age limit as part of health care reform. Only this past weekend, a dear friend of mine who is in great need of a knee replacement told me his insurance company is refusing to authorize the surgery. He is 60 years old and has spent his entire life providing social services, primarily as director of a senior services program. Yet now that he is in need our for-profit, for-greed, private insurance system is failing him. Lowering the Medicare age limit to 60, or even 55, would go a long way towards health care reform. These changes should be part of the broader effort to provide a strong public insurance option.

Contact your Senators to encourage them to support this initiative.

Random Thoughts

rboseley — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:32:12 EST

I graduated from college. I have been lectured on a number of subjects - as has a huge percentage of the population. Normally, I require my lecturer to present credentials indicating his or her “qualifications” to lecture. Even with the most impeccable credentials - I reserve the right to disagree. OK - I just wanted to “lay the groundwork” as some are inclined to say. I was so inclined.

I could choose any of many targets of the rant I am about to launch. I most likely will not limit myself to just one. That would be like eating one potato chip.

I almost began this paragraph with the rant - but it occurs to me - that in the unlikely event anyone should read this - they may wonder of my credentials......................................... Fine. Now that I have coved that I am fired up; ready to go.

Global warming. No lectures here - just a note to point out a fact. The fact is the ice upon which Polar Bears are partial is melting. One can prove this to oneself my getting on a boat in Alaska and heading North. Now a point of reference will be required. Ask the Captain, and he/she will be happy to show pictures of the exact location upon which you are - or are about to gaze. Then - lots of ice. Now - not so much. What happens to ice? It has been my experience that it melts at temperatures above 32 degrees fahrenheit. Unless Putin reared his head and stole some ice bergs - we can safely assume the ice melted. Melting=warming. So why in the name of Aunt Nellie are we debating the subject? I believe conservatives have grown so accustomed to being proved to be on the wrong side of history so many times - they don’t want to break the tradition. So their position? No, the Earth is not getting warmer. God took the ice.

Rep. John Boehner. Now this man may love his family and pet the dog, but what is up with the tanning and the hair? Not to mention the $85,000 of our money he spent playing golf. One would need to get into the tanning bed once a day to maintain that color. As for the hair, many men elect to wear a rug, but I believe if I were to do so, I would intentionally get a strand or six out of place at least weekly. Not John. EXACTLY the same every second of every day. John complaints quite often about the lack of ideas from President Obama. John has been in DC for too many years to count and has no sponsored legislation. No ideas. John - just hush.

Sarah Palin. I find there is nothing to say. Sarah is what she is, and if that turns one on - so be it. Five small colleges in five years to get a Bachelor degree. Reads nothing, but burns the books instead. Failed to point out Iraq on an unmarked Globe. Practices witchcraft. Shoots endangered animals from a helicopter. In other words, directly follower her birth - her parents took her to the Standard station and filled her head with air. It was free then.

Sean Hannity. I have no problem with any person coming from a completely opposite political than I. To establish any credibility - the most ardent opponent of any president will agree with that president on something. At least once. Or disagree at least once with a supported president. Folks - not once. Not one time has Sean disagreed with Bush nor one time agreed with Obama. Lost? Credibility. It clearly indicates this is a person who jumps into the conservative foxhole and never comes out. Actually Sean would know nothing of foxholes since he like an amazing percentage of conservative talking heads refused any manner of military service. They do not however have any problem with letting others fight. Sean - no credibility and a coward to boot.

As for myself, I was anti-Bush from the beginning. Fell off you seat did you? However on at least several occasions I found myself defending the man on various issues. Now, having said all this - it is equally bad for one to openly say they agree with something - just to try proving they look at all sides. I generally like Chris Matthews, and yes he is clearly from the left. On a sufficient number of occasions over the years, Chris defended the Bush folks to establish at least a marginal degree of openness. However, on a number of occasions I knew he was gagging on his own words.

It is cool and raining in central Florida. This does not make me exactly fill with joy - but I am willing to let the weather do what it sees fit. Well - I really blame Richard Nixon - but that’s another story.

Are we winning or existing w/out a win?

"NERVIE" — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:12:15 EST

Today, in the preview video by Buck McKeon, http://www.youtube.com/user/BuckMcKeon

McKeon, our local Congressional representative, said he would be watching for the following points in President Obama’s speech:

Hopefully Obama will provide the number of troops requested by General McCrystal.

Having spoken to McCrystal, McKeon said that 400,000 internal security force would be required to secure the country and that there was ½ that number in Afghanistan right now. This would put a lot of people to work.

Time is another consideration: How soon will we be able to get the troops there?

McCrystal said we needed additional troops in the area w/in 1 year. We are 3 months behind in momentum, so catch up is required.

Winning is also a consideration.

Will the President say that we will have troops exiting after “winning” or “exiting (whether we win or not) Afghanistan w/in the 18 months”, which direction are we going. What is the exit strategy?

Meantime, we can only hope that Obama’s speech covers these concerns and Buck McKeon will find Obama’s momentum favorable for all Americans including our fighting troops in Afghanistan.

Looking forward to Obama’s speech, we can only pray that consensus from the right and left is coming.

OFA ===> Attend an OFA National Training Event

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:57:28 EST

Attend an OFA National Training Eventby Christopher HassMonday November 30 2009 05:07:44 PM

From Nicole Derse, the OFA National Training Director:

I wanted to invite you to a special OFA National Training we're holding for some of our top volunteers in early December.

The training is a great chance to learn how to make the biggest impact in your community, ask questions, and learn specific skills such as how to talk with your neighbors about health reform and use OFA's technology to organize most effectively.

RSVP now to reserve your spot in an OFA National Training event near you:
During the election last year, we learned that when we build a dedicated community of volunteer leaders, we can bring about powerful change.

This training is part of building our momentum on the ground -- strengthening our community in every part of the country by bringing volunteers together, learning and sharing best practices, and refining our plan to move forward with our vision for the future.

I hope you can make it,

Nicole

Nicole Derse
National Training Director
Organizing for America

Thanksgiving

Soleilmavis — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:17:40 EST

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, Victims all over the world, let Pray to The God. Thank him for standing on the Right, Just and Fair.
The God hears our crying, supports us, helps us.

Tomorrow, I will thank the God -- for all the wisdom, courage, help, support, and love he has brought into my life.
Tomorrow, I will also thank those who have concerned our suffering and have tried to help us -- for all the wisdom, courage, help, support and love they has brought into my life.

We are from different countries, different cultures, different religions, different races, different families..........
We reflect great diversity on the earth.
But we have common thread that we can share.
The God lets everyone on the earth live together here, coexistence and prosperity!!
The God lets victims work together, help each other.

So in this season of thanks giving, let pray The God together.

Let us express our gratitude to The God, to Everyone, and pray for a bright future we are creating together.

Yours Sincerely,
Soleilmavis
Video: God helped mind control victim

http://peacepink.ning.com/video/god-helped-mind-control-victim

The Bible--Proverbs
http://peacepink.ning.com/notes/index/show?noteKey=God_Bans_Mind_Control%2FDEW_weapons_abuses_and_tortures

Psalms 109:8

"NERVIE" — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:17:42 EST

It may be considered a Bible war going on in the internet but ladies and gentlemen when someone markets teddy bears, t-shirts, with Psalms 109:8 on it in reference to President Barack Obama, it is time to turn up the serious valve and ask is this an American Jihad and where are the religious leaders when you need them to stand up and exhibit contentiousness against such a decree!

And what is the CIA, FBI and Secret Service doing about any of this?

Let's Have a Tea Party

rboseley — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:12:23 EST

I am trying to imagine how a Republican gets ready to make a pronouncement “That the Health Care Reform bill simply is more big government spending”. We have all heard each of them - with a straight face - make that statement. Is it drugs? Do they take a few hits before going out in public? Does Tom Delay still run things from Texas - with a gun to their heads? OR Is it just plain old-fashioned stupidity? Has to be one or a combination thereof.

Ah.................Mr and Mrs and Ms Republican - YOU are the big spenders in Washington. The proof is there. Have you already forgotten 2000 - 2006? Well, have you? No, No, GOP that old dog simply is sound asleep and will definitely NOT hunt.

Update New York. the right, financed by Fox and hyped by Fox. The 23ed Congressional District of NY. The tea baggers were out in force. Sean Hannity flat-out said Hoffman’s victory was signed, sealed, and delivered. Palin, Beck, and the Drugster were there. They all prepared for the big takeover by the wing-nuts. WELL dumb-butts - it did not happen did it? The Democrat candidate won !!!!!!!!!!!! Shall I repeat that Sean?

So, tea party goers. put away the tea and return to the hard stuff. You have fooled absolutely no one. Oh yes, the 20% hate everything, including Black folks, will continue to make noise. Let them. Meanwhile Obama and company will continue to blaze past them - leaving dirt in their mouths. But they have tea to wash it down. :)

The GOP: Opposed Social Security - but do you hear any of them in either chamber calling for elimination? Opposed the integration of schools in 1954. Opposed Medicare - but again all they need to is refuse payment. ????????????? I’m not hearing anything. Oh yes, let us not forget they opposed the right for women to vote. They even opposed putting round tires on cars - thought square tires were the way to go.

The GOP: Motto: “WE ARE 100% OPPOSED TO IT”. IT? Doesn’t matter, it’s an automatic response.

By the way righties - how is your new Bible coming? The one which removes all references to things you disagree with. The addition of whole new passages. The inspired word of God? or the uninspired word of kooks. It is to go on sale in January. For those who think this a joke - it is not. A group of right-wing preachers are actually planning it. The faithful await the New Word.

The GOP: Sad NOT FOR US - but a sad lot of 18th Century non-thinkers.

Robert Boseley

PS - Why is everyone so silent these days. Is there no way to get folks to engage?

Psychic computer shows your thoughts on screen

Soleilmavis — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:16:27 EST

Psychic computer shows your thoughts on screenFrom The Sunday Times November 1, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/living/article6898177.ece

Scientists have discovered how to “read” minds by scanning brain activity and reproducing images of what people are seeing — or even remembering.

Researchers have been able to convert into crude video footage the brain activity stimulated by what a person is watching or recalling.

The breakthrough raises the prospect of significant benefits, such as allowing people who are unable to move or speak to communicate via visualisation of their thoughts; recording people’s dreams; or allowing police to identify criminals by recalling the memories of a witness.

However, it could also herald a new Big Brother era, similar to that envisaged in the Hollywood film Minority Report, in which an individual’s private thoughts can be readily accessed by the authorities.

Jack Gallant and Shinji Nishimoto, two neurologists from the University of California, Berkeley, last year managed to correlate activity in the brain’s visual cortex with static images seen by the person. Last week they went one step further by revealing that it is possible to “decode” signals generated in the brain by moving scenes.

In an experiment which has yet to be peer reviewed, Gallant and Nishimoto, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, scanned the brains of two patients as they watched videos.

A computer programme was used to search for links between the configuration of shapes, colours and movements in the videos, and patterns of activity in the patients’ visual cortex.

It was later fed more than 200 days’ worth of YouTube internet clips and asked to predict which areas of the brain the clips would stimulate if people were watching them.

Finally, the software was used to monitor the two patients’ brains as they watched a new film and to reproduce what they were seeing based on their neural activity alone.

Remarkably, the computer programme was able to display continuous footage of the films they were watching — albeit with blurred images.

In one scene which featured the actor Steve Martin wearing a white shirt, the software recreated his rough shape and white torso but missed other details, such as his facial features.

Another scene, showing a plane flying towards the camera against a city skyline, was less successfully reproduced. The computer recreated the image of the skyline but omitted the plane altogether.

“Some scenes decode better than others,” said Gallant. “We can decode talking heads really well. But a camera panning quickly across a scene confuses the algorithm.

“You can use a device like this to do some pretty cool things. At the moment when you see something and want to describe it to someone you have to use words or draw it and it doesn’t work very well.

“You could use this technology to transmit the image to someone. It might be useful for artists or to allow you to recover an eyewitness’s memory of a crime.”

Such technology may not be confined to the here and now. Scientists at University College London have conducted separate tests that detect, with an accuracy of about 50%, memories recalled by patients.

The discoveries come amid a flurry of developments in the field of brain science. Researchers have also used scanning technology to measure academic ability, detect early signs of Alzheimer’s and other degenerative conditions, and even predict the decision a person is about to make before they are conscious of making it.

Such developments may have controversial ramifications. In Britain, fMRI scanning technology has been sold to multinational companies, such as Unilever and McDonald’s, enabling them to see how we subconsciously react to brands.

In America, security agencies are researching the use of brain scanners for interrogating prisoners, and Lockheed Martin, the US defence contractor, is reported to have studied the possibility of scanning brains at a distance.

This would allow an individual’s thoughts and anxieties to be examined without their knowledge in sensitive locations such as airports.

Russell Foster, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, said rapid advances in the field were throwing up ethical dilemmas.

“It’s absolutely critical for scientists to inform the public about what we are doing so they can engage in the debate about how this knowledge should be used,” he said.

“It’s the age-old problem: knowledge is power and it can be used for both good and evil.”

More information about mind reading, go to:

http://peacepink.ning.com/forum/topics/information-about-mind-reading

Global protest on 10 Dec 2009 for discussion

Soleilmavis — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:53:21 EDT

From: http://peacepink.ning.com/profiles/blogs/global-protest-on-dec-10-human

Dear all,
Global protest on Dec 10 (Human Rights Day) (some locations are possible on 12 Dec, Saturday) are under discussion.
Please share your opinions by adding a comment.
If you want to be an organizer of your local protest location, (Please apply protest permition from local authorities), please just comment to this post.

If you want to see contacts and press release of "global protest on 14 Oct", Please go to: http://peacepink.ning.com/profiles/blogs/list-of-protest-locations-and
Reports of Global protest on 14 Oct:
http://peacepink.ning.com/profiles/blogs/19-oct-2009-mailteam
Photos of previous protests: http://peacepink.ning.com/photo/albums/rally-or-demonstration

Press Release in 10 languages:
http://peacepink.ning.com/profiles/blogs/24-apr-2009-media-releases-in

List of protest locations:

Worldwide protest location: China
(No street protest. Only Internet emails and websites promotion)
Contact Person: Soleilmavis
Email: soleilmavis@yahoo.com
Website: http://peacepink.ning.com
Online petition:
Congress Alert: http://www.congress.org/soapbox/alert/14382691
http://www.change.org/actions/view/ban_mind_controldirected_energy_...
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76416668535
Press release in many languages
http://peacepink.ning.com/profiles/blogs/24-apr-2009-media-releases-in

USA
Worldwide Protest Location: Washington D.C.
in front of the White House
Date: 10 Dec 2009
Contact Person: Marc Burnell
Email: burnellmarc@yahoo.com (burnellmarc(a)yahoo.com)
Tel: 202 528 2752

Worldwide Protest Location: San Francisco, California
the Chronicle building , and city hall
Date: 10 Dec 2009
Contact Person: Christine Harris
Email: christinelynnharris@yahoo.com, christinelynnharris@hotmail.com, cococobella@yahoo.com
(christinelynnharris(a)yahoo.com, christinelynnharris(a)hotmail.com, cococobella(a)yahoo.com)
Tel: 415-235-6466 c
Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Targeted_Individuals/

Worldwide Protest Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: 10 Dec 2009
Contact Person: Keith
Email: mgb.young@sbcglobal.net (mgb.young(a)sbcglobal.net)
Contact Person: Wanda D
Email: lloydjameson@yahoo.com, wanda@lentroneletric.com
lloydjameson(a)yahoo.com, wanda(a)lentroneletric.com

Worldwide Protest Location: Philladelphia Report
Date: 10 Dec 2009
Contact Person: T. Josephine
Email: xposperps@yahoo.com (xposperps(a)yahoo.com)
WEB: http://www.geocities.com/xposperps/
http://emftorturechamber.blogspot.com/,

Worldwide Protest Location: Houston Texas
150 campbell, pasaden texas, 77502
Date: 12 Dec 2009
Contact Person: Ron Price
Email: ibenscamed2@yahoo.com (ibenscamed2(a)yahoo.com)
Tel: 713-473-0233 832-289-6378

Worldwide Protest Location: Cincinnati, Ohio USA
meeting only
Location: Main Library, 800 Vine Street
Time: 10:30 am
Contact: Derrick Robinson - derrickrobinson@yahoo.com
Tel: 513-344-4113

Canada
Worldwide Protest Location: Nanaimo BC Canada.
city of BC (British Columbia).
Date: 10 Dec 2009
Contact Person:
Debbie Newhook at: dbnewhook@yahoo.ca (dbnewhook(a)yahoo.ca)
Stop Organized Stalking, Nanaimo
Website: http://osnanaimo.org http://www.iaacea.org/

Worldwide Protest Location: Toronto, ON Canada.
In front of the Legislative Building
Date: 10 Dec 2009
Contact person: Galina Kurdina
Email: helenkurdin@yahoo.ca (helenkurdin(a)yahoo.ca)

Europe
Worldwide Protest Location: United Kingdom
Trafalgar Square, or in front of No.10 Downing Street, London
Date: 10 Dec 2009
Contact Person: Winston Smith
Email: winston_smith_will_win@yahoo.co.uk (winston_smith_will_win(a)yahoo.co.uk)
Paolo Fiori Email: paolo_bf@hotmail.com (paolo_bf(a)hotmail.com)

Worldwide Protest Location: Poland
(Probably no street protest. Only Internet emails. Maybe also websites promotion)
Date: 10 Dec 2009
Contact Person: Andre Landberg
Email: andrelandberg@wp.pl (andrelandberg(a)wp.pl)

Worldwide Protest Location: GERMANY
(Probably no street protest. Only Internet emails. Maybe also websites promotion)
Date: 10 Dec 2009
Contact Person: Swetlana Schunins
Email: s-schunin@t-online.de (s-schunin(a)t-online.de)
Association Against the Abuse of Psychophysical Weapons
http://www.psychophysischer-terror.de.tl/
http://www.volkstribune.de.tl/

Worldwide Protest Location: INDIA
(No street protest. Only Internet emails)
Date: 10 Dec 2009
Contact: Vijay Karthic
Email: vijayk_dsp@yahoo.com (vijayk_dsp(a)yahoo.com)
Group: http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianTIs/

Global protest on 14 Oct 2009 for banning Mind Control abuses and tortures

Soleilmavis — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:39:00 EDT

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Photos of protests: http://peacepink.ning.com/photo/albums/rally-or-demonstration
Oct. 14 Protest: Reports from the Front

Here are the reports of the IAACEA (International Alliance Against Covert Electronic Abuse) October 14th Global T.I. Protests for Truth and Justice.

Starting with IAACEA creator, Debbie Newhook reports on the Victoria, Canada protest. Then on to reports two from San Francisco (Bruno Marchisani, Mesha Monge-Irizarry, and Christine), two from Toronto (by Helen Galina Kurdina and Danielle DiBari) and London (by Paolo Fiori). Paolo did a tremendous amount of work to get the word spread about the protest in the UK. Then move on to T. Josephine's concise Philadelphia report at the end. I want to give kudos to T.Josepine for braving the cold and rain all alone. The reports finish up with final thoughts by Debbie Newhook. - Nancy aka mistaken.name, A Word the the Wise T.I.

China
By Soleilmavis
We have more than 500 victims daily being tortured and abused by remotely directed energy weapons. But we remain resolute and most of us work diligently to expose this crime on the Internet, and won't stop reporting this heinous to the Chinese government.

In China, as in the rest of the world, the official police position is that Targeted Individuals are mentally ill, so we cannot get permits to do street protests.
However, we did promote the global protest via the Internet. We got nearly one hundred Targeted Individuals to publish the IAACEA press release on their own websites, along with the list of protest locations, and to send many letters to public.
Here is our online site of supporting signatures:
http://everywhere.zh.pledgebank.com/peacepink (in Chinese)
http://www.change.org/actions/view/ban_mind_controldirected_energy_weapons_abuse_and_torture
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76416668535

Soleilmavis, PeacePink
http://peacepink.ning.com

WASHINGTON, USA REPORT
By Marc Burnell
Thought the protest went well. Weather wasn't the greatest. Kind of nervous with all the cops and undercover cops around. Ate alot of the chips and drank sodas I bought by a great donation from Cynthia. There were lots of tourists that stopped by and took pictires of the White House and us.

Enjoyed talking to other TIs about their situation. Learning alot from other TIs about how to cope and different remedies to use to uplift myself.. Many of the TIs were form NY. We spoke to a freelance writer who took notes and took our pictures. We spoke with other human rights groups that were nearby. Handed out fliers.

SAN FRANCISCO, USA REPORT
by Bruno Marchisani

SF Photos by Scott at OneWorldLove- you'll have to join to view

Yesterday, Wednesday, October 14, 2009, from 11:00am to 2:00pm, there was a civil protest against OS/EH at city hall in San Francisco, California, one of several being planned on or about that same day in several cities around the world, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Cincinnati (meeting only), Victoria and Toronto in Canada, London, India (internet mailings) and China (internet mailings), as part of a global day of protest being organized by a newly formed TI activism group called the International Alliance Against Covert Electronic Abuse, www.iaacea.org. Debbie Newhook and Galina Kurdina in Canada, Soleilmavis in China and Derrick Robinson of FFCHS were some of the planners.

Christine Harris in SF was the contact person for the San Francisco protest, with Mesha Monge-Irizarry being a resource having had experience in protesting.
Mesha is a non-TI activist Christine recently began networking with who among other things setup and moderated a forum to help organize the global protest.
She has an office in San Francisco and apparently moderates 250 internet forums, one of them being the recently created Targeted_Individual s yahoo group. She is considering holding TI meetings at her office in San Francisco.

A possibility of rain was forecast but the weather was clear and mostly sunny. I counted 16 protesters being present, including Christine, Richard in Marin, many other TIs who I've met before, a few I hadn't met yet, Mesha, and Marlon Crump,writer for Poor Magazine who Christine has recently began networking with. Most had arrived within the first half hour of the 11:00am protest start time.

We originally planned to protest at the park across the street from city hall,to be respectful of city hall workers, but a police officer came by and said we needed a permit to protest in a public park, though he said this first time he'd allow it. He also indicated we could protest directly in front of city hall if we liked, so we moved our protest to the sidewalk in front of city hall.

There was a plethora of protest signs of various sizes, colors and styles: "stop group stakling," "stop organized stalking," "stop organized terror," "stop covert torture," "stop electronic harassment," "stop electronic torture," "stop electromagnetic weapons," "stop defamation of character now," "restore human liberties now," "stop residential directed energy attacks now IAACEA," "unforgivable! MKULTRA should never happen again," and "my family is victim of mind control program illegally run by the US gov agencies. Torture, mental rape, robbery -- the outcome of the Nazi experiment." Also I brought buttons with the FFCHS logo for us to wear.

The mood was positive if not festive, with us talking amongst ourselves, getting to know each other. Some of us had come from as far away as Modesto and Fresno,and for at least one of us this was our first time meeting with other TIs.

Foot traffic was light, even during the lunch hour, with some passers-by looking to see what our signs said. A few spoke with us to try to understand what we were protesting. Due to the relatively light foot traffic and us not being very aggressive at distributing handouts, we didn't distribute all that many.
Handouts included one of the IAACEA press releases announcing the global protest, a letter from Missouri State Representative Jim Guest acknowledging the existence of OS/EH on many of the constituents in the country, a flyer on the book "A New Breed: Satellite Terrorism in America" by Dr. John Hall, who has treated patients suffering from the effects of OS/EH, a copy of an article entitled "Is the NSA Conducting Electronic Warfare On Americans?" regarding former NSA intelligence officer Russ Tice and the NSA's purported mind control technology, and a compilation of excerpts from Cheryl Welsh, FFCHS and H.Michael Sweeney.

Vehicular traffic on the other hand was ongoing, and heavier during the lunch hour. Some of us were lined along the edge of the sidewalk displaying our signs -- several drivers honked their horns and gave us the "thumbs up" in support!

At one point a reporter and cameraperson for an independent San Francisco internet video news group came by and did a brief interview with Christine and Mesha -- everybody felt they did a great job! Later on a CBS van parked across the street to cover a different event and Christine went over and gave them some handouts.

I spoke with several TIs at the protest. Christine says she is doing what she can to network to help end our harassment, a TI from Fresno says he is educating some of the people in Fresno on OS/EH, and another said God's message of love is the most important tool in counteracting our harassment. Marlon wanted everyone to know about his new, second, article on OS/EH, entitled "Targeted Individuals.

In my opinion the protest was certainly successful in terms of turnout -- this has been the largest turnout for any TI event in the San Francisco Bay Area I'm aware of and slightly exceed my expectations! Most of us stayed there until the 2:00pm protest end time, shortly after which we disbanded. I and at least a couple of others who were present took pictures of the event and I will be forwarding mine to Felix, a TI who plans to make a video of the global protests.
President Obama was to be visiting San Francisco the following day and Christine along with some of yesterday's protesters planned to be present to gain more exposure.

Reports of some of the protests in the other locations have been posted. Debbie declared her protest a success in Victoria, Canada -- there were 5 TIs present -- they handed out about 400 flyers and were interviewed by a local university student -- later on heavy rainfall brought an end to their protest. There were 5 TIs present at Galina protest in Toronto, Canada -- they spoke with several people, some sympathetic, and handed out a few flyers -- after the main protest had ended and they had some coffee they decided to do a second impromptu protest at another location. An early report from London, England, indicated 5 TIs were present but more were expected. The Philadelphia protest apparently only had one protester show up, but none-the-less the protester remained and handed out flyers! The LA protest was postponed to next week due to a heavy storm and flooding. Nancy is posting the recaps of the protests at http://wiseti.blogspot.com and Mesha is considering doing a compilation on indymedia.org.

For questions about the protest please contact Christine directly.

Judy and I went to the Obama protest last night [Oct. 15th] at 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. at Powell Street and Geary Street, with over 1000 people. I brought my huge sign, and Russell Tice FBI fliers, and had many inquiries, and victims stopping to talk with us.

With the support of Judy, two reporters from cable channels 13, and 26, which may have been on T.V. last night at 10:00 P.M. stopped to interview me. I was brief, but stated our plight.

Three interviews in two days, I like it!!

Christine Harris
christinelynnharris@hotmail.com (415) 235-6466
Bruno Marchesani
bruno_marchesani@msn.com (650) 776-1814

SAN FRANCISCO, USA REPORT
by Mesha Monge-Irizarry

We were a "crowd" of about 20 TIs & Allies with signs brought by Bruno, Richard,a Black Brother who came from Fresno (name?), Christine, the Kats Family, Judy ... Who am I forgetting? Among us, a Black Sister who is a college professor in Political Science in Oakland, accompanied by a Latina and a white woman TIs.
Also was present a San Franciscan woman, former nurse who blew the whistle on her medical unit at PMC, when she saw several patients with electrodes in their brain, and realized from their encephalograms that something terribly wrong was being done to them... she disconnected everything, and the electronic torture started, did not let up for over a decade. At first the cops, then the sheriffs tried the intimidating routine by demanding to see a permit, but when told:

"we are not blocking traffic, we are only exercizing our right to peaceful assembly, this is a peaceful demonstration", they did not know what else to do.

Then when they approached us again, twice, I gave them a big smile, told them I was a City Commissioner and asked: "Are you going to keep us safe, Officers?" which was sufficient to make them instantly go away after exclaiming "Of course!!" One sheriff, astoundingly, raised a timid fist and quickly told us GO GET "EM" as he walked away with his colleagues (Refreshing! A TI cop ?)
Christine, Richard, the Kats Family, Carole, Judy, John, Yolanda, Carol , Bruno, Marlon, educated onlookers and passed on flyers (forgive this fried brain for omissions... ), and Bruno passed out Buttons. SF Based Tom MCray, TI and political writer, and a homeless person soon joined us. I talked to a colleague,a Veteran for Peace, published poet, who actually wore many political buttons, among them one on Covert Surveillance:

Robert W., who is the acclaimed Honorary chief of the Native Nation, although he is white, due to his incredible activism for Natives and Aborigines and tireless fight to ban School of the Americas and ROTC. He happened to just be waiting for a friend on City Hall steps, and enthusiastically interacted with us.

Robert stated: "We are ALL targeted !". I will stay in touch, potential powerful ally for us. I talked about the protest and IAACEA Goals & Objectives as defined in Debbie's pres release to Sophie Maxwell, City supervisor of my district, and to a campaign team member of James Keys, District 6 Supervisor candidate. Many participants actively engaged passerby's, including an Asian Gay Youth who now wants to be an ally to our movement. No negative interaction whatsoever! (To the sorry exception of a perplike loser... older white dude in a SUV who sped by, hollering: "Go get a job!" Which made us laugh.... Comic relief of the day) One press interview with Christine who handed out a press package and with myself.
Christine connected with the City Hall Court TV Media Liaison, and participants took many pictures and videos of our event.

...Marlon C. from Poor Magazine PPN came to interview participants, stayed with us during the entire event, and will work on his third article on "Targeted Individuals" that he will submit to his editor, the formidable "Tiny" Gray Garcia ! Christine and I will work on an article , recount that we will self publish on Indybay along with a compilation of pictures, under Health isues (Covert Violence IS a Public Health issue !)

People came to join us from : Modesto, Fresno, Marin County, Oakland, Berkeley, local San Franciscans too !

Mesha Monge-Irizarry, Founder
SFTEC

Philladelphia Report
by T. Josephine

Yes, I did give out flyers alone. Yes, some people wanted them. Plenty more were dying to get home. I am glad for the ones who were interested and next time we should have a group petition and get people to sign it.

TORONTO CANADA Report
by Galina Kurdina

We protested in front of the Legislative Assembly Building and near Medical Science Building of University of Toronto today. We started at 10.30 A.M. There were 5 people in front of the Legislative Assembly: Robin Yan, Regan Hallett, Carlo Calandra, Mark Holden and I, Galina Kurdina. People approached us and we distributed about 10 fliers. One woman came to us and started a scandal. She offered us to hire people, pay them and ask to hold our posters on streets of Toronto. She suggested us not to appear ourselves on the streets. She persuaded us that we had to put some soft information on our posters, not the truth that we experienced and described. When asked, what soft things she would advice to write on our posters, she did not answer. She asked Robin, what was the reason of his targeting. It was clear for all of us that she worked for police, or RCMP or Government. Robin took his camera and wanted to take pictures of her, and she immedieately disappeared...

We left Legislative Building about 1.30 P.M. Robin, Regan and I went to Tim Horton and had some coffee. After that we decided to go to any street and came to Medical Science Building of University of Toronto. Regan left us 30 minutes [later], Robin and I stayed there for one hour.

We distributed our fliers very quickly, people approached us, read our poster about mind control and took fliers. One student of UofT, sweet boy, said to us that, in his opinion, these experiments were disgusting, another person wished us to continue our struggle.

We made pictures and video records. I will send them to all of you, as soon as get them.

Toronto Report
by Danielle DiBari, as provided by Robin Yan

Many of you do not know me, but Galina and Robin do (who ran the protest yesterday at Queen's Park do) and I will save introductions for later for those who are dedicated to working to expose the truth about our cause.

I would like to send you all a little run-down of events yesterday -- I think Galina and Robin will agree, it was an excellent day with superb weather (my nose is totally toasted..LOL~ ) and we were treated with dignity and respect, a generous amount of interest (so much so that we RAN OUT OF letters), and a FEW VERY INTERESTING CONTACTS!All times are approximate. 10:00 AM We were greeted by Security and shown where we could set up. We were asked if we would be "chanting" and we said no. We were asked not to interfere with people on site and that we should let them come to us, we agreed.

We set up across from a woman on a month-long protest of her autistic son being cut off from therapy and put in a regular school. www.tooautistic. com (HEY! OUR PIC IS THERE!)

11:30 am, A HUGE tour of Italian and Spanish speaking tourists get stuck outside the legislative building for some reason, and (possibly to kill some time) the tour guide relays and translates in both ITALIAN and SPANISH, the story of Covert Mind control as dictated by Galina. The group is sympathetic and interested (until they get to go in..lol)

Nothing too interesting happens after that for a couple of hours, we get a
number of people stopping and asking about our situation -- some stopping for longer than others ... needless to say, we only have ONE letter left when we spot the CBC vehicle in the parking lot!

1:00 pm Media Trucks start arriving -- our hearts are in our throats as we feel as if they may intend to interview us! Acutally, the set up is for speaker Dan McTeague to present his speech on the treatment of Omar Kadhr at Guantanamo Bay!

2:30 Dan McTeague shows up to do his interview. About half an hour of talking on Dan's part -- the issue with Quantanamo Bay is loosely connected to OUR issue ... the underlying facts being that PEOPLE ARE BEING TORTURED WITHOUT MERCY/JUSTICE/ ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS!

Here is a link to the situation he spoke of(but nothing on,oh well)
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090125/khadr_panel_090125/20090125/

Unfortunately, he only appeared on the news for about 10 seconds! (Robin, did you VHS it?)

Legislature Watchdogs (while polite) stood guard IN FRONT OF AND AROUND THE CAMERAS so that WE WOULD NOT BE IN ANY SHOTS!

However, Mr. McTeague's assistant came over to talk to us, took our picture and,I believe, strategically placed a camera to include US in the shot!

Once the shoot was over, Mr. McTeague came over and shook all our hands, talked with us for a bit, gave us his card and told us "You sure got THEIR attention"(possibly meaning the media - I mean, is it coincidence that a talk on a HUMAN RIGHTS TORTURE ISSUES by a prominent M.P. is scheduled on the SAME DAY as our protest? I think NOT!

Anyhow, he said we should contact him if we need anything...we already got a very good thing from him, we got a confidence boost like you wouldn't believe!

And so, our first protest day came to a close. Sunburned, but happy, we took a walk to the subway, and went on our way.

I would say it was a VERY successful day, no one was disrespectful to us, we got a good deal of attention, learned a lot about what to do better NEXT TIME -- and ALMOST got on TV ... lol!

Most of all we learned that FEAR is THEIR greatest weapon ... none of what we feared came about.

The perps will keep on doing what they do no matter what we do...being afraid only helps their cause so...we may as well make some noise 'cause they ain't going away by themselves.

Cheers and talk to you all soon.
Danielle DiBari
TI - Toronto &Vancouver

VICTORIA, CANADA REPORT
by Debbie Newhook, founder, IAACEA

I feel our Victoria protest was a success. We had 5 people present at the
protest: Keith Tickleback from Nelson BC, Consuelo Galomar from Vernon BC, David Smith from Grabriola, Heather Quinn from Victoria BC and me Debbie Newhook. We had one protester from Nanaimo, Doug (Jerry) Rose who could not make the protest as he reported he was feeling horrible the night before the protest and he did not think he would be able to make it.

As soon as we arrived at the protest location we were greeted by a University of Victoria student who wanted an interview with us. David and I spent 30 mins with her speaking about this crime. We gave her hand out material which included FFCHS material along with a Jim Guest letter of support. In addition we suggest that she research James Walbert and directed her to an article in Wired Magazine about James Walbert. She was genuinely interested and shocked at many of the details about this crime.

During the time David and I were being interviewed, the police arrived. Consuelo spoke to the friendly police officer and was told that the police got 2 telephone calls indicating that we were obstructing the sidewalk traffic. Upon his arrival he saw that we were only a small group and that we were not blocking the sidewalk traffic and asked that we continue to allow the flow of pedestrians and not to interfere with them.

Keith was our camera person and did take still pics only of the event and did capture a picture of the police as he was talking to Consuelo.

Later I was approached by woman who knew she was a target of this crime. She knew much about the goings on of the world and she expressed that she was a whistle blower. David and I could tell that she was genuine and she was fearful.I gave her my contact info.

We had many other people briefly speak to us about this crime and did take hand out material.The area of the protest was a very busy location in Victoria and we all thought it was a success.

After about 2.5 hours we had given away about 400 fliers and we were almost out of hand out material when the skies opened up and it began to rain very hard. We called it quits at that time and went back to Heathers house for a chat and a meal.

In my opinion, I thought this was good activism day. David and I later talked about doing this in Nanaimo at a later date and discussed the date of Dec 10 as it was the UN day of Human Rights. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Debbie Newhook
International Alliance Against Covert Electronic Abuse
'We live to achieve justice.

London Report
by Paolo Firori

For all of you on the other side of the Atlantic who would like to know what happened at the Trafalgar Square protest. I received a voicemail from Winston at about 2pm London time, saying that at that point there were 5 people present at the protest, but that they were expecting a few more to attend later. I believe that besides Winston, John Allman and Amanda Palmer were there, as Winston used Amanda's mobile to ring me and John told me of his intention to attend the night before. If people [took] any picture of the event and feel able to share them, I really look forward to seeing them.

[Here's] a short message [Winston] sent me...

"There were 8 of us in the end - we handed out flyers in Trafalgar square and outside the Old Bailey. It was good to meet other T.I.s. We are going to try to set up regular meetings of T.I.s in London."

I may try to do something similar in London on the 24th at two very important events happening on the same day, the annual Anarchist Bookfair and a national Anti-War demo starting in Hyde Park, it will be actually very easy to leaflet there because there are already hundred of different people, leafleting on behalf of hundred different causes, I mean I will probably end up going there by myself, but I would certainly not mind if other London TIs were to decide to join me.

Paolo Fiori
http://altnews.viviti.com

FREE FLU SHOTS . . .

"NERVIE" — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:07:52 EDT

Saw this in yesterday's Business section of the L.A. Times, CVS and Walgreens promote free flu shots for the unemployed.

CVS will immunize 10,000 individuals that are jobless and Walgreen will give the shot to the uninsured. For a list of the vaccination locations visit www.cvs.com <http://www.cvs.com/> or call (888) FLU-SHOT. Walgreens will also give out vouchers to eligible people. Go to www.walgreens.com <http://www.walgreens.com/> or call (866) 484-TOUR for further information.

Peace out, Minerva

WhiteHouse.Gov ===> GreenGov (Part II)

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:32:11 EDT

To promote mass transit use and reduce carbon emissions, I think all agencies should include public transit information on their websites.
– Nancy Sutley, CEQ CHAIR

Please sign in to vote on suggestions and submit your own.

Or select from the following categories to see some ideas that have already been submitted:

For more information, visit WH.gov/CEQ

Email the Killers

rboseley — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:30:24 EDT

The health “insurance” companies are showing their true colors. They now threaten all of us - that they will raise our premiums substantially - if they don’t get their way 100% on any health care reform. We all know these companies are not going to give up any profits. They have thrown the ball back into our court, and all of us must again play it.

As I a writing this, United HC has refused to cover a newborn because the infant weights a little too much. Please if you have not done so, go to

http:www.sickforprofit.com

You will see first hand how the companies routinely refuse to assist in saving lives.

There are thousands of examples amid millions of cases where YOUR insurance company has just said no. They need no reason. Just say no.

Now the trade association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, has taken up the cause to maintain the 5 million average annual salaries + bonuses for the CEOs.

I urge all of you to send email to ahip@ahip.org. Let them know we are on to their killing game. And folks - that is exactly the game they are playing. Every dime paid out is a dime less profit.

Robert Boseley

JUST HUSH !

rboseley — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:09:27 EDT

THIS IS MOTHER EARTH WITH A MESSAGE TO SOME FOLKS LIVING ON MY PLANET.

Hello? Anyone awake? Anyone putting their brains to work? Message:

Your President - Barack Obama DID NOT ASK FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE !!!!! HE DID NOT EVEN KNOW OF THE NOMINATION. WHY THEN, WOULD ANY OF YOU CRITICIZE HIM FOR RECEIVING IT???

As Master of my Planet, I have overlooked some of your recent behavior. If anyone is upset with the Nobel committee - then book a flight to Norway and speak to them. Otherwise close your pie holes.

The next thing you will criticize is the number of times per day your President moves his bowels.

Hush. Support your leader. Stop standing in the way of any progress on any front.

Mom

By the way - I AM GETTING WARMER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Proof is IN

rboseley — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:49:06 EDT

The right has really proven - were there ever a doubt - just how unthinking they are. Criticize the President for winning the Nobel prize???? He had nothing at all to do with the process. Yet according to the wing-nuts - President Obama should be impeached for winning. There is dumb and dumber - and now dumbest. I thank my God daily that I was not made a right winger. One positive thing, aside from the actual winning of the prize, is that it makes the point forever solid: “The right-wing nuts are right-wing nuts.”

Congratulations Mr. President!

Robert Boseley

I Should Understand

rboseley — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:52:17 EDT

I am about to come to a conclusion that I simply do not understand anything about American culture. I was born here. So were my parents, and their parents. I point that out only to indicate I should understand. I don’t.

Am I correct - we moved into the 21st Century a few years back? I honestly believe we did, but all the evidence seems to say we did not. WE elected the first African-American to be our President. (English teachers will grind their teeth at that sentence). Eleven months after that - racism as practiced in times passed has not changed that much. There is still a core of perhaps 25% of Americans who hold fast to the notion that non-whites simply can not be allotted the same level of respect as the wonderful white man. A large majority of the 25% are non-voters. When they got their teeth in and had someone read to them - they realized a Black man was in charge. Add to this group the so-called Conservatives - and you get Tea Parties. You get folks who insist this...this.....a.....Black man WILL is NOT going to be THEIR leader. No way.

Tea Parties, Birthers, Deathers, and fake town-hall meetings are born. The run of the mill Republican politicians saw this and joined in. The official position of the right and the GOP as stated by several of their leaders:

We will oppose anything this man proposes. We will sit on our hands and be of no assistance on helping right the horrible health-care mess. We will feel quite free to disrespect the American President. Stand in join session and call him a liar. We will attack every move he makes. [These idiots spent two weeks harping because he was away from the WH overnight to help bring the Olympics to America.] Whatever decision the president makes in regard to Afghanistan - we will oppose it. Our motto for as long as a Black man is president will be “just say no”. WE after all are the masters.

I mentioned conservatives. I call them so-called simply because most have no clue as to the real and original meaning of conservatism. Has nation building been a long-time belief of conservatives? NO Was the wild spending of the Bush administration a long-held vision of conservatism? NO Actually, were anyone so inclined to research the subject - one would find today’s conservatism closer to liberal than to conservative.

I will not limit this to berating the GOP and conservatives. Harry Reid could not “lead” a tricycle parade. The Speaker is a lightening rod. She should realize this and, for the good of the House and the president’s agenda, step aside. Lack of leadership in both houses of congress is largely responsible for most of the criticism now being aimed at Barack Obama.

The media. These air-heads are so used to covering people who are basically brain-dead - they don’t know what to think or say about a person of high intellect. Make a decision today Mr. President. Why “think” about it. Pull the trigger. I no longer listen to the pundits. Morning Joe will spend every single moment analyzing Mr. Obama’s every move and statement. He smiles too much, one of the crew said. He walks too fast said another. I really believe we will see hidden cameras in the living quarters at some point. Fox is working on it. Join me in turning them off.

I began by saying I don’t understand anything about American culture. That is a fact. But it pales as to what I don’t understand about the religious right. Have you heard? They are going to publish their own Bible. The one they use now has some passages which displease them. (But they still proclaim the Bible to be inspired by the word of God). So, any line or verse or word which does not support their view of the world will be stricken from the new Bible. Then the pastor’s of the right will hold the Bible, wave it above their head and proclaim it “The Word of God”. This is so stupid, I thought it a joke when I first heard it. Unfortunately it is no joke. Look for the new and improved Bible at local bookshops in March 2010. Expect heavy discounts.

What a country !

Robert Boseley

rboseley@me.com

Health Care Reform: Investigate Claim Denials with Huffington Post

Pat Hanrahan — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:38:10 EDT

Invitation to join citizen journalists team at Huffington Post to investigate insurance claim denials follows. Also, do you have any leads to share?

Join Our Investigation: How Often Do Health Insurers Deny Claims?
Posted by Adam Clark Estes
Amid all the loud arguments about the proper role for government and private companies in American health care, one point often seems lost: Exactly how well – or badly – are private insurers handling claims in the existing system? Daniellle Ivory is uncovering some answers. But we also need you to help us investigate...

http://huffpostfund.org/participate/join-our-investigation-how-often-do-health-insurers-deny-claims

CBO to Blue Dogs, Public Option Saves BIG $$$

bob-pol — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:34:46 EDT

1) The Congressional Budget Office dealt Blue Dogs a blow Thursday by notifying House Democrats that tethering a public option to Medicare reimbursement rates would save the government $110 billion more than a public option in which the government has to negotiate rates with doctors and other health care providers.

The initial projections showed the difference between the two was $65 billion. But this shows it would cost the government a lot more money to heed moderate demands. House Democrats need to trim as much as $200 billion from a bill that most estimates peg at $1.1 trillion in order to meet President Obama's $900 billion target.

An actual robust public option saves money, and it's what the majority of constituents in districts like Rep. Mike Ross's district supports. Will Rep. Mike Ross actually listen to what the CBO says, or act like Senator Kent Conrad in dismissing the CBO's projections about the public option?

2) Competition lacking among private health insurers

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR (AP) – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON — One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition — just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the U.S.

Several studies show that in lots of places, one or two companies dominate the market. Critics say monopolistic conditions drive up premiums paid by employers and individuals.

For Democrats, the answer is a public plan that would compete with private insurers. Republicans see that as a government power grab. President Barack Obama looks to be trapped in the middle of an argument that could sink his effort to overhaul the health care system.

Even lawmakers opposed to a government plan have problems with the growing clout of the big private companies. "There is a serious problem with the lack of competition among insurers," said Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the highest-cost states. "The impact on the consumer is significant."

Wellpoint Inc. accounted for 71 percent of the Maine market, while runner-up Aetna had a 12 percent share, according to a 2008 report by the American Medical Association.

Proponents of a government plan say it could restore a competitive balance and lead to lower costs. For one thing, it wouldn't have to turn a profit.

A study by the Urban Institute public policy center estimated that a public plan could save taxpayers from $224 billion to $400 billion over 10 years by lowering the cost of proposed subsidies for the uninsured, while preserving private coverage for most people.

"Right now, there's no incentive for insurers or big hospital groups to negotiate with each other, because they can pass higher payments on through premiums," said economist Linda Blumberg, co-author of the report.

"A public plan would have the leverage to set lower payment rates and get providers to participate at those rates."

"The private plans would come back to the providers and say, 'If you don't negotiate with me, you're going to be left with only the public plan.'" Blumberg continued. "Suddenly, you have a very strong economic incentive for them to negotiate."

Insurers contend their industry is extremely competitive, and a public plan is unnecessary. About 1,300 carriers operate across the country, although many only have a small share of the market in their states.

"You can have a very competitive market and still have companies with a high market share," said Alissa Fox, a top Washington lobbyist for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Fox points to the federal employee health program, which also covers members of Congress. It offers a total of more than 260 options and 10 nationwide plans. Despite all the choices, about 60 percent of federal workers pick a Blue Cross plan. "Insurers need to be of a significant size to best serve their customers and make sure that people get the best value," Fox said.

Nonetheless, lawmakers are concerned. Big insurers are getting bigger. Small businesses in particular have fewer and fewer options for getting coverage.

Congressional investigators this year looked at insurers catering to small employers around the country. The Government Accountability Office found that the median _or midpoint — market share of largest carrier increased to 47 percent in 2008 from 33 percent in 2002.

There's widespread recognition among lawmakers that a health care overhaul should foster more competition among insurers. The debate is over how far to go.

The basic framework lawmakers are looking at would encourage competition, even without a government plan. It calls for setting up a big insurance purchasing pool called an exchange. It would be open, at least initially, to individuals and small businesses. The government would offer subsidies to make premiums more affordable.

Consumers would find it much easier to shop for a plan through the exchange. For one thing, they would be able to readily compare benefits and premiums in different plans. Also, participating insurers would have to take all applicants and not charge higher premiums to those in poor health.

Offering the option of a public plan would supercharge the competition, supporters say.

Blumberg envisions a plan that pays medical providers more than Medicare, but less than private insurance. Her study estimated it could grow to 47 million members, leaving 161 million with private insurance. Even so, that would make the new public plan one of the largest insurers in the country, rivaling Medicare, Medicaid and big private companies such as Wellpoint and UnitedHealthcare.

It's a scenario that gives pause even to traditional adversaries of the insurance companies.

"The fear and concern is that the public plan could become the market-dominant plan," said Dr. James Rohack, president of the American Medical Association. "When you've got the federal government involved, it can infuse money into a plan to keep it solvent even if the premiums are lower than its actual costs."

Snowe, among the few Republican senators still trying to come up with a bipartisan compromise, wants to hold back on creating a public plan for now and give insurers one last chance to show if they can keep costs in check.

That's doesn't go far enough for liberals, who are loath to give the insurance industry tens of millions of new customers supported by taxpayer subsidies.

"It would give the industry a windfall without any countervailing force to require them to lower their costs," said Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for the advocacy group Health Care for America Now. "The insurance companies could continue to jack up premiums while getting a whole new market."

ref (1) http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/09/24/cbo-tells-blue-dogs-that-the-public-option-will-save/

ref( 2) http://www.slate.com/discuss/forums/thread/3148749.aspx

I cannot rest for the cry of these great agonies. ~ E.A.P.

Caring is the Key to Life - Healthcare for All ... Rob [bob-pol]

Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are Stabbing President Obama in the Back

pgoCapeCod — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:35:06 EDT

This is a copy of an email I sent to Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.
I am a life long Democrat and worked hard in NH for President Obama. My sister who lives in Amesbury is a die-hard Republican. She insisted, the other day, that Barney Frank and Chris Dodd were in the tank for the big financial lobbyists.
I defended Frank and Dodd, only to be totally embarrassed by their blatant kowtowing to big money at the expense of the consumer. My brother-in-law works for a small bank in MA and he says that Frank and Dodd are hiding behind the small banks - looking for a fig leaf to cover their anti -consumer stance.
President Obama does not need this kind of back-stabbing from the most liberal wing of the party. Shape up!! I am sending this to Dodd and to my Rep Delahunt and My ONE Senator Kerry. And posting it up to the Obama web site.

Demand Your Politicans Support the Health Care Reform Bill

korkie — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:31:27 EDT

This week Congress started the 'marking up' session on the Health Care and Insurance Reform. It is crucial we keep the pressure on them pass the bill.

The Daily Kos has an excellent article about the amendments we should push to support, and those we should push against.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/21/10112/5602

Please take the time to write your politicians and the ones listed demanding they support the Health Care and Insurance Reform.

Until America Wakes Up!

Peter and Linda — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:17:03 EDT

While reflecting on the tragic events of September 11, 2001, I couldn't help but miss the "We're All Americans" spirit. There's a noticeable void, where once was a sense of unity and pride. Hence, I have made a a cognizant decision to rethink my support for various organizations, causes and charities.

I have sent notice, to many charities, of my decision to discontinue any further support. If people elect to act like "animals", then that's exactly how I'll view and treat them. After some forty years of monthly support for such organizations as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the American Red Cross, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and various local churches and charities, (just to mention a few that I've been extremely loyal to) each has been notified of my decision and all automatic monthly contributions have been discontinued immediately.

When we can once again come together as "Americans", as a respectful society, then and only then will I reconsider my position.

Regretfully,

Peter

Yes, Jimmy Carter, Racism Exists- A Year in Photos

bob-pol — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:44:14 EDT

Our gracious leader is truly a Man of Peace who turns the other cheek, or he would have a few reasons to get angry.

A few examples over the past year -

Rob [bob-pol] racggg@gmail.com

911 Remembered - Great People Make A Great Country

bob-pol — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:16:59 EDT

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/3489/towersa.jpg

SACRED LAND AND SACRED SOULS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snFyt4Kdhl4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdSJFHnbls0

GOD BLESS AMERICA'S BELOVED AND THEIR FAMILIES

Guaranteed Health Care In Iraq - But Not For You

korkie — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:29:39 EDT

You might want to sit down to read this one ......

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-dorlester/guaranteed-health-care-in_b_280528.html

My Experience at a Town Hall Meeting on Health Care Reform

FREDERICA — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:51:55 EDT

At the Lexington Town Hall meeting instead of showing the President's plan they showed the GOP plan (chart included).
At the Lexington Hall Meeting there was majority Republicans of course, and a few Democrats. There was a share of outbursts here and there.
I sat up front and got to ask the people around me their opinion on Health Care. Some were unsure about it. Dr. John Black, the President, SC Medical Assoc. Said the? Doctor association (don't remember the name) was supporting the President's Plan, because of duress. Rep. Joe Wilson also echoed that other groups were under duress, to support the plan. What I find so interesting about Dr. Black everything he would support in a Bill in Health Care Reform is already in the President's plan. The folks love it, but they didn't understand that this is part of the President's Plan not the GOP.

Rep. Joe Wilson continuously spread some of the same falsehoods Republicans have been spreading in emails. He said that Abortion is mention through out this bill, which is False. He talked about the so called death panel and how the illegal aliens would take advantage of the Presidents plans. Some Democrats were fed up of the falsehoods and would shout out liar. Any information in reference to the President’s Health Care Reform Joe Wilson talked about has been proven false by the Media and the White House. Questions were put on post cards and drawn from a box. All the questions we heard were from Republicans. (Not to add there were several duplicate questions on the Post cards which was a waste of time.) I guess they were afraid of the questions if people got up to use a microphone.

There was one short elder lady that kept interrupting and calling Joe Wilson a liar with some shouts about Iraq. She kept getting reprimanded by the man reading the Questions on stage. At one point Joe Wilson directly reprimanded her for her out bursts (something about comparing to a chair and table). People were yelling at her to leave. After it was almost over she got up to leave and Republicans were roaring and clapping. As she was leaving and Joe Wilson was speaking she yelled something and another elder man went over and looked like touch her arm (? I guess to take her out). The elder gentlemen she was with stood in front of her and stared the other elderly man down.

After the meeting I went over to Speak to Rep. Wilson to ask a question. There were several people trying to ask questions and I was directly standing beside Rep. Wilson and every time I tried to get in to ask a question he seem to keep to turning around in the circle to answer someone else's question. Not to say this figured into the picture, but I was probably suspected as a supporter for the President since I am African American, and I was the only African I noticed in the crowd trying to ask Rep. Joe Wilson a question after the meeting. There were some people who kept mentioning after the last person had finish with their question, I was trying to ask a question. (He seem to keep turning in a circle in the other direction to answers someone else's question, mind you again I was directly next to him). The agent? I assume who was with Rep. Wilson said he would make sure I would get to speak to Rep. Wilson.

I ask Rep. Wilson How can he explain for Canada, who he said has everyone on a 6 months waiting list, can some how be able to provide health care since 2007 for any American unemployed or simply cannot afford insurance in the United States to come there to gain health care for a small fee? How can he justify the United States can't take care of his own? He gave be a blip answer, we can't afford it, and tried to turn away.
I then said the President's Public option was not free and that people would have to pay for it. The plan also help covers the gap for those that can’t pay for private insurance.
He also later said each country should take care of its own. Mind you Joe Wilson is not interested in providing insurance option such as a public plan so how could he say the United States will take care of its own? The folks chimed in...

He tried to mention the Trillion dollars the President’s health care program would cost and I said I understood it to be in the billions.

He tried to mention all the illegal aliens that have been driving up the cost, (when he mentions illegal aliens everyone began yelling about the illegal aliens. I had one woman pointing at me and screaming. I looked at her and looked away. I told him of all the millions Americans who drive up cost by using the emergency rooms to get medical attention.

He then mention all the small businessmen that would go out of business and all the people with private insurance would be removed from their personal insurance plan and I explained a public plan would be good for the small businessmen that could not afford providing insurance to their employees. Employees would be able to buy affordable insurance on their own, and people with private insurance would still be able to keep their insurance.

He kept trying to make people fear government involved in health care throughout the town hall meeting and when I was talking to him, I also ask him if he is going to ask all these folks around him to get off Medicare since Medicare is ran by the government. I then ask him does he support Medicare and he did say yes.
There was another woman next to me who kept yelling I was wrong about the small businessmen not going out of business. She said she would explain it to me, and I looked at her and told her I didn't want to hear from her because anything she had to say would be biased. Rep. Joe Wilson looked over his shoulder and smiled at her. (I had overheard earlier this same woman talking to one of Joe's Wilson's people. Apparently she and Rep. Wilson have talked before and also I overheard her tell she works for the Insurance Industry).
We had some other comments back and forth but that’s about the gist of it.
I had all the questions I could think of and so I left. On my way out small businessmen shook my hand and told me he actually understood the questions I asked Rep. Joe Wilson. He thought the President plans was a good plan, but was concerned about some of the penalties (some more of the Falsehoods Joe Wilson put out there at this Town Hall meeting).
Actually I believe majority of those people in that room would support a Public choice, but the Republicans are making it sound bad. One lady told Joe she was mad and she was afraid that the government was going to take her Medicare. Do you think Joe Wilson told her she shouldn’t worry about that in the President’s plan? NO, he didn’t tell her she was wrong, he overlooked this and referenced what he would not support this bill. One gentleman told Joe Wilson that he hopes he can put out more information about the Health Care Reform bill, because he just didn’t have enough information about it. C'mon he isn't going to get the correct information from Representative Republican Joe Wilson.

Well that's my long story, and my last Town Hall meeting on Health Care, so my mom can stop worrying.

Washington Post Lies About McCain Rally

Alex Brant-Zawadzki — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:46:41 EDT

I think this merits a serious letter to the editor from way above my pay grade
Washington Post Piece:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/30/AR2009083002654_Comments.html
Associated Press piece on McCain Angry town hall
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2UNFJtL1xAX3gMkhcTwSnAs492AD9AAV7H80

Your Comments On...
Health-Care Reform, One Stop at a TimePresident Obama's supporters hope to recapture the energy of last year's triumphant election campaign in a bid to regain control of the health-care debate, planning more than 2,000 house parties, rallies and town hall meetings across the country over the next two weeks.
- By Dan Eggen Commentsbeezling wrote:"The DNC kickoff rally in Phoenix attracted about 1,200 reform supporters, but a raucous meeting on the other side of town hosted by Obama's former presidential campaign rival Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) attracted hundreds more -- most of whom were loudly opposed to Democratic reform proposals."

This is incorrect. According to the Associated Press, McCain in fact faced a HOSTILE town hall crowd in FAVOR of health care reform. And I quote:
"After McCain opened it up to questioning, one man angrily pointed at him and asked the senator why he deserves a better health care plan than him."

Here is the url:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2UNFJtL1xAX3gMkhcTwSnAs492AD9AAV7H80

Please correct your error.

With respect,
Alex Brant-Zawadzki
Volunteer
Organizing for America8/30/2009 11:16:14 PM

Greatly disturbed and offended in Nutley, NJ

Peter and Linda — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:11:51 EDT

September 4, 2009

I am greatly disturbed and offended by the decision of the superintendent of schools in Nutley, New Jersey to preview a Presidential speech in an attempt to find “relevance”.

An address directed toward school children about education is unquestionably relevant. The address will not have anything to do with any academic curricula. The speech is to be a commentary on the importance of education. I am certain that President Obama will not attempt to brainwash or indoctrinate our children regarding health care reform or economic proposals.

The importance of staying in school, earning a diploma and/or a higher degree, learning a trade and being a responsible citizen, and similar concepts have been integral to President Obama’s position on education. While most children learn political20ideas from their parents, are these not values that all children should learn regardless of political orientation? Even if one does not agree with the President’s political ideas, it is nonetheless, beneficial for our children to hear differing opinions and ideas and discuss them. By not encouraging our children to listen to the Presidential address we are promoting censorship. We cannot pretend that his ideas and commentaries are irrelevant just because they may not coincide with our personal political agendas.

In my opinion, it is an egregious disregard for the President’s well intentioned attempt to inspire our children, and in essence, the future of our nation.

Sincerely,

Alicia Realmuto
Nutley, NJ

NJmortican@gmail.com

AMERICANS UNITED FOR HEALTH CARE AND INSURANCE REFORM

korkie — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:54:45 EDT

C. Press Release Julie paulsen

AMERICANS UNITED FOR HEALTH CARE AND INSURANCE REFORM

http://www.americansunitedhcr.wordpress.com

Sioux City, Iowa 51108

Phone/Fax (712) 239-0992

Direct Questions to:

americansunitedhcr@cableone.net

Press Release

Contact: Julie Paulsen

americansunitedhcr@cableone.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

9 A.M. CDT, August 31, 2009

AMERICANS UNITED FOR HEALTH CARE & INSURANCE REFORM RALLY & March in Washington, D.C. Sept. 13, 2009

Sioux City, August 31, 2009: A rally/march will be held in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 13, 2009 between 12N – 5pm in support of the administrations health care and health insurance reform goals. It is the goal of Americans United for Health Care and Insurance Reform to let congress know that all Americans need health care and insurance. Over 47 million Americans are uninsured and millions more are underinsured or at risk of losing their health insurance

The rally/march will begin at the Lincoln Memorial and march to the steps of the Capitol Building via the National Mall. This rally/march will be peaceful.

Robert Reich has given his support to this rally and march, “….I just want Congress to know how many Americans want universal health care and will settle for no less than complete coverage and no less than a public insurance option, to keep private insurers honest. So I’m happy to lend my support to whatever you are doing.”

Americans have enjoyed the freedom of movement, speech and employment. It is time that American citizens have the freedom that comes from knowing they have affordable health care for themselves and their families. Health care is not just for the privileged but it is a fundamental right.

Other groups marching on September 13, 2009 for health care reform are Congressman Fattah’s “March for Healthcare”, “Medicare for All”, and “March on Washington for Health Care.”

We invite all those who wish to participate visit our web blog at http://www.americansunitedhcr.wordpress.com and register to rally.

For more information please see our web blog (address above)Please direct all questions to our committee at americansunitedhcr@cableone.net.

Americans United for Health Care and Insurance Reform is not affiliated with Organizing for America or the Democratic National Committee or affiliated with any other groups, special interests or lobbying forums.

Dear Mr. President

korkie — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:48:32 EDT

We've worked to hard to get you here and have earned the promises you made to us.
Do you remember 'YES WE CAN.' We certainly remember, 'YES WE DID.'

We did our part, will you do yours? The Health Care Reform is worthless without Public Option. It will still allow insurance companies to control the costs, and continue to make it out of reach for many millions Americans.

There are many reasons our citizens die. One should not be because they can not afford medical insurance.
Will you write a letter to their relatives expressing your condolences and tell 'them next time around maybe we will get this right.'

Dear Mr. President

korkie — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:46:32 EDT

Compassion and Health Costs Reconciled by a PUBLIC OPTION

bob-pol — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:26:45 EDT

Ted Kennedy- Everyone's Senator.

"We shared about the exciting work the NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped is doing to help support the independent business owners. Highlights of the day included a visit from NJ Congressman Rush Holt and an impromptu reading by Senator Edward Kennedy." (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewordblog/650915336/)

Ted Kennedy on HEALTHCARE, "We are going to make healthcare what it should be - a fundamental right for all, rather than an expensive privilege for the few".

Who are the uninsured? http://www.truthout.org/082309Z

Up to 46 million Americans are uninsured, because they are unemployed, or their employer does not provide cover, or because they do not qualify for existing government-funded healthcare. People 65 and older can qualify for Medicare, the poor can qualify for Medicaid, veterans and members of the military can qualify for Veterans Health Administration and Tricare and children can be covered under a programme called SCHIP. Those left out by the system include the young just entering the workforce, the self-employed, the unemployed and people who work for small businesses.

Comparison of Canada's Health Care Plan http://www.truthout.org/082709A

It might be helpful for Americans to know about Canada's program. Here are some essential facts.

1. It is a single-payer system, meaning that the government - federal and provincial - pays the bills. But many providers - clinics, hospitals, diagnostic services, etc. - are privately owned. They are reimbursed for services just as doctors - who are mostly incorporated - submit for fees.

2. You get to choose your doctor.

In 2005, all the provincial government leaders reconfirmed their commitment to The Canada Health Act's key principles: that Canadians have the right to timely, high quality, effective and safe health services on the basis of need, not ability to pay, and regardless of where they live or move in Canada. They also committed to a system that is sustainable and affordable and that will be there for future generations.

Why We Need a Public Health-Care Plan in the Unites States http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124580516633344953.html

Without a public option, the other parties that comprise America's non-system of health care -- private insurers, doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and medical suppliers -- have little or no incentive to supply high-quality care at a lower cost than they do now.

Which is precisely why the public option has become such a lightening rod. The American Medical Association is dead-set against it, Big Pharma rejects it out of hand, and the biggest insurance companies won't consider it. No other issue in the current health-care debate is as fiercely opposed by the medical establishment and their lobbies now swarming over Capitol Hill. Of course, they don't want it. A public option would squeeze their profits and force them to undertake major reforms. That's the whole point.

Critics say the public option is really a Trojan horse for a government takeover of all of health insurance. But nothing could be further from the truth. It's an option. No one has to choose it. Individuals and families will merely be invited to compare costs and outcomes. Presumably they will choose the public plan only if it offers them and their families the best deal -- more and better health care for less.

Private insurers say a public option would have an unfair advantage in achieving this goal. Being the one public plan, it will have large economies of scale that will enable it to negotiate more favorable terms with pharmaceutical companies and other providers. But why, exactly, is this unfair? Isn't the whole point of cost containment to provide the public with health care on more favorable terms? If the public plan negotiates better terms -- thereby demonstrating that drug companies and other providers can meet them -- private plans could seek similar deals.

But, say the critics, the public plan starts off with an unfair advantage because it's likely to have lower administrative costs. That may be true -- Medicare's administrative costs per enrollee are a small fraction of typical private insurance costs -- but here again, why exactly is this unfair? Isn't one of the goals of health-care cost containment to lower administrative costs? If the public option pushes private plans to trim their bureaucracies and become more efficient, that's fine.

Critics complain that a public plan has an inherent advantage over private plans because the public won't have to show profits. But plenty of private plans are already not-for-profit. And if nonprofit plans can offer high-quality health care more cheaply than for-profit plans, why should for-profit plans be coddled? The public plan would merely force profit-making private plans to take whatever steps were necessary to become more competitive. Once again, that's a plus.

Critics charge that the public plan will be subsidized by the government. Here they have their facts wrong. Under every plan that's being discussed on Capitol Hill, subsidies go to individuals and families who need them in order to afford health care, not to a public plan. Individuals and families use the subsidies to shop for the best care they can find. They're free to choose the public plan, but that's only one option. They could take their subsidy and buy a private plan just as easily. Legislation should also make crystal clear that the public plan, for its part, may not dip into general revenues to cover its costs. It must pay for itself. And any government entity that oversees the health-insurance pool or acts as referee in setting ground rules for all plans must not favor the public plan.

Finally, critics say that because of its breadth and national reach, the public plan will be able to collect and analyze patient information on a large scale to discover the best ways to improve care. The public plan might even allow clinicians who form accountable-care organizations to keep a portion of the savings they generate. Those opposed to a public option ask how private plans can ever compete with all this. The answer is they can and should. It's the only way we have a prayer of taming health-care costs. But here's some good news for the private plans. The information gleaned by the public plan about best practices will be made available to the private plans as they try to achieve the same or better outputs.

As a practical matter, the choice people make between private plans and a public one is likely to function as a check on both. Such competition will encourage private plans to do better -- offering more value at less cost. At the same time, it will encourage the public plan to be as flexible as possible. In this way, private and public plans will offer one another benchmarks of what's possible and desirable.

Mr. Obama says he wants a public plan. But the strength of the opposition to it, along with his own commitment to making the emerging bill "bipartisan," is leading toward some oddball compromises. One would substitute nonprofit health insurance cooperatives for a public plan. But such cooperatives would lack the scale and authority to negotiate lower rates with drug companies and other providers, collect wide data on outcomes, or effect major change in the system.

Another emerging compromise is to hold off on a public option altogether unless or until private insurers fail to meet some targets for expanding coverage and lowering health-care costs years from now. But without a public option from the start, private insurers won't have the incentives or system-wide model they need to reach these targets. And in politics, years from now usually means never.

To get health care moving again in Congress, the president will have to be clear about how to deal with its costs and whether and how a public plan is to be included as an option. The two are intimately related. Enough talk. He should come out swinging for the public option.

Mr. Reich, professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, is the author of "Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life" (Alfred A. Knopf, 2007).

NO PUBLIC OPTION = BILLION-DOLLAR TAXPAYER GIVEAWAY TO PRIVATE INSURERS

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:51:39 EDT

If we do not get a public option, we will pay billions of dollars in subsidies to private insurers only. 80% of people with no health insurance work, and rightfully, they will get subsidies.

Wrongfully, all that subsidy money paid with your taxes will go to private insurers, and pay for not only health care, but also for:

- Salaries of $20-$25 million for private insurance CEOs

- Perks like private jets, bonuses, and stock shares often worth over $100 million for those CEOs

No government employee gets millions of dollars a year, and perks and stock shares worth over $100 million.

. Your firefighter, police, highway patrol do not make $25 million a year.

. Your congressmen don’t make $25 million a year.

. Your President of the United States does not make $25 million/year.

. Your Medicare, VA and Medicaid bureaucrats do not make $25 million/year.

Ted Kennedy - Goodbye Camelot

bob-pol — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:11:54 EDT

A few photos I took of TV screen of Funeral services for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy Thursday, August 27.

Ted Kennedy's Final Exit from his famous Hyannis Port house.

Kennedy Family watches as Ted's coffin is loaded into hearse.

Camelot- Caroline's loving "goodbye touch" to uncle Ted.

Tribute to the best Senator who has ever served.

God Bless Ted Kennedy and his Family.

Rob [bob-pol] racggg@gmail.com

"KENNEDY'S DREAM" - HEALTH CARE FOR ALL

bob-pol — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:58:21 EDT

My Idea for a Town Hall Poster: KENNEDY'S DREAM.

Their mother taught them, "To whom much is given, much is required".

"We must care for those who cannot care for themselves", said Ted Kennedy.

47 MILLION AMERICANS have no health insurance. About 80% of them are working but their job provides no insurance and/or they cannot get or afford private insurance.

rob [bob-pol], Caring is the Key to Life.

racggg@gmail.com

Operation marathon for single payer healthcare reform`

CHANGE FOR POOR AND MIDDLE CLASS TOO — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:23:56 EDT

Operation swamp the streets to defend your healthcare.

match until single payer, universal healthcare for all is passed.!!!

Calling on All who voted for the Obama agenda in November to match a mile a day to hand over the torch of the United State to the next persons or groups from where you are, going until we reach whashington in a human chain, to carry the torch of humanity. We are the most prosperous nation in the world, yet there is no recourse for anyone who happen to be in a bind temporarily or not, when they get sick in our nation.

We are a God fearing nation, we profess to be a christian nation, yet the answer to a crying woman who is losing her husband to cancer for lack of insurance from the republicans was " because you are here talking to me, I would be magnanimous enough to make sure you are taken care of, but anyone else can't have the same chance."

He refused to answer her pleas for a universal single payer healthcare, yet he said "he the government" would make sure her husband receives treatment that insurance companies have rationed or denied him.

What our republican speaker was saying was that, he would used his "good office" to extend government money to take care of her husband, but if she got sick herself, then too bad she would have to call him again if he is still in office.

He didn't help her by passing a law that would ensure that she gets treatement as well as all americans in his husband's condition.

He went on to say that the job of helping people belongs to the church which all depend on the taxes we pay, to the government or to the church (donations). In effect, he is putting your life in the hands of those who can only extend their services (arbitrarily)to their frock or friends.

Many people sitting in that audience may have had cases that are worse than that of the weeping lady. Yet if they didn't have the luck to have the microphone, they were not heard, and would not be helped as the lady was promised.

We need to organize and march until the single payer universal healthcare is passed.

match until single payer, universal healthcare for all is passed.!!!

He didn't help her by passing a law that would ensure that she gets treatement as well as all americans in his husband's condition.

We need to organize and march until the single payer universal healthcare is passed.

Operation marathon for single payer healthcare reform`

CHANGE FOR POOR AND MIDDLE CLASS TOO — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:21:40 EDT

Operation swamp the streets to defend your healthcare.

match until single payer, universal healthcare for all is passed.!!!

He didn't help her by passing a law that would ensure that she gets treatement as well as all americans in his husband's condition.

We need to organize and march until the single payer universal healthcare is passed.

match until single payer, universal healthcare for all is passed.!!!

He didn't help her by passing a law that would ensure that she gets treatement as well as all americans in his husband's condition.

We need to organize and march until the single payer universal healthcare is passed.

Operation swamp the streets to defend your healthcare.

CHANGE FOR POOR AND MIDDLE CLASS TOO — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:12:53 EDT

Operation swamp the streets to defend your healthcare.

match until single payer, universal healthcare for all is passed.!!!

He didn't help her by passing a law that would ensure that she gets treatement as well as all americans in his husband's condition.

We need to organize and march until the single payer universal healthcare is passed.

match until single payer, universal healthcare for all is passed.!!!

He didn't help her by passing a law that would ensure that she gets treatement as well as all americans in his husband's condition.

We need to organize and march until the single payer universal healthcare is passed.

Ted Kennedy Made His Mark in Life and Politics

bob-pol — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:45:20 EDT

Ted Kennedy, Man of Great Compassion moves on ... to his Heavenly Reward.

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/3937/obama3kennedysrh7.jpg

from Boston Globe (1):

No senator in history, many now say, was able to be both his party's most forceful spokesman for its causes and the leader who cajoled colleagues of both parties into agreement.

In what once seemed like a premonition, President John F. Kennedy at his inauguration had given his youngest brother a silver cigarette box engraved with the biblical words from Matthew: "And the last shall be first."

Ted Kennedy did not succeed in following his brother's path, either in cultivating a faultless image or in wielding the powers of the presidency. But by the early 21st century, the achievements of the younger brother would be enough to rival those of many presidents.

That day on the Hyannis Port porch, his father-in-law's advice to relax and bask in his hard-won glory was also prescient. A year later, Kennedy would be diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

But then, as always in his turbulent life, Kennedy looked to his moorings: the Senate and the sea. He would meet cancer the way he met so many challenges.

He would keep working, and he would keep sailing.

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/1248/obamakennedylaughca8.jpg

Our Ted, champion for the people, had seen great success, and had reason to Smile,

(1) from Boston Globe, A seven-part series on the Massachusetts senator ,,http://www.boston.com/news/specials/k ennedy/

May God Bless Ted and his Loved Ones,<Rob [bob-pol] racggg@gmail.com

Warmed UP? Ready to GO?

rboseley — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:05:24 EDT

Good for Barney. Now it’s time (past) for the people who make up this network to go back to work. Let’s face it - many have dropped away.

Health Care in America. I have often said the world economy is too difficult for any human to understand. Right up there with it is health care. So many players - and each team likes to blame the other for the mess. I need to correct myself before going on. America has the best quality health care in the world - but only if one can afford it.

We have medical schools second to no other country. We have outstanding residency programs. Our medical centers are the envy of the world. SO it is not that we can’t offer quality. Our problem is the age-old problem which we see in every walk of life. When those with money need a medical procedure - they likely travel to where the “best” doctor in a particular field is. Most have to settle for Doc X - who may be quite good - but not the best. Need a specialist? Yellow pages?

Then there is the huge group who have no medical insurance or little of it. Hospital Z gives that patient the same attention as any other patient. Well that is a bit of an exaggeration, but everyone knows the score. Then each December I get a notice that my premiums will increase 10% for next year. That hospital must recover its costs or go out of business.

I do have serious questions about just how much a hospital needs to recover. Look at the retained earnings of most and you will find some mighty huge amounts. They say they must have the funds to replace equipment and add the latest. Hospitals compete just the same as auto dealers. A certain hospital in a large mid-west city recently completed a one billion dollar “reconstruction”. Their occupancy rate had fallen to 76% - yet they added 60 beds.

Thank God for the amazing work done by the researchers who work for the “drug companies”. But how many times do they need to recover research and development by selling pills at $50 each? They have the same argument as the hospitals - got to have big money for future research.

Insurance Companies. The enemy. Far too much profit and too much control over the fate of millions of policy holders. Little kid had a bad head injury. Needed an expensive, special made helmet to wear for a year or so. United Health said the helmet was not necessary and refused payment. Happens thousands of times a day. Every dime saved on paying claims = another dime for the mansion.

Yes I made it too simple - but like I said - I don’t think there are many who understand the complex system we have built.

Time to fix it.

Finally - let’s make no mistake here. At least 35% of the citizens of the U. S. hate having an African-American president. I’m not speaking of voters - although some may be. No these are the people like the one who “confronted” Barney Frank. They hide until an issue comes along like health care - then they craw from under the rocks.

Let’s get on the phone - and don’t forget your members of congress. Pump out emails. Talk until you can’t speak. The fate of Barack Obama lies in health care reform. I worked hard for two years helping elect President Obama. I’m not going to let a bunch of hate filled morons defeat me now.

Robert Boseley

rboseley@tampabay.rr.com

rdbozz@att.blackberry.net

SMS 8633079244

Our Kids in Congress

rboseley — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 09:00:29 EDT

THE SCENE:

A FORTH GRADE CLASS, IN ANYTOWN,USA.

Teacher: Now class, we have these five books, which all of you are eager to take home. It will take about 5 days for each of you to fully read and comprehend the very interesting information about Mars. The problem is we only have 14 days of school remaining - and there are 20 of you. Now I am going to step out of the classroom, and I am giving you one hour to come up with a solution to our problem. Remember, it must be a plan which makes all of you happy. See you in one hour.

Nine year olds not capable of making such a plan? Think again. This actually happened last school year in a suburb of Orlando. The kids came up with a remarkable “sharing” arrangement. By the time of the final bell on the final day - everyone of these kids got to spend “sufficient” time reading and looking at the amazing pictures in the book.

Think Washington. 535 elected (plus shadows) members of our ADULT congress - all the time and money they need - and they “the task is just way over their heads”. Can’t do it. The don’t act adult. The don’t act like forth graders. As a matter of fact - observe a loosely run 1st grade - and that will be a mirror of congress.

I don’t like what he said. That bill would cost me votes with my people. REALLY - it makes me want to get aboard the next flight to Washington - get in the gallery - and them these rotten, criminal, lazy bums a piece of my mind. Two things. Congress is on vacation. (number 5 of 10) - and I would just get a night in the D.C. jail.

Where are the VOICES of the left? Talk radio - which I literally run from - and the leftovers from the Atwater School of Dirty Tricks remain. The country is said to be split down the middle. The right has Rush, Sean, Glen, Adam, Laura, Ann and at least one local in every town and village. Spitting out hate 24/7. Now let’s think - who do we have? MSNBC has come somewhat to the rescue - but look for GE to put the claps on that operation sooner rather that later. NBC News is already feeling the extreme heat, So how does Fox continue? We already answered that. They feed off the huge base built for them by aforementioned. Everyone from the right eventually gets ditched. Bill Press can hold his own - but he is doing local radio in California We need voices. MoveOn does a solid job - but they are known only by us - and pounded well into the Earth each day by the wing-nuts.

Fixing healthcare in America is not optional. I heard one questioner ask “where in the Constitution does it say we must have full coverage?” It doesn’t. The founders knew those who followed would take care of problems as the arose. As an insured - I may not be if my rates continue to climb - to cover the cost of paying for those not covered. I would like to get Rush and his team to go to an inner-city ER and spend a few nights. I don’t think they have any idea what goes on. Actually - it does not need to be inner-city. The picture at a “nice” suburban ER will get the point across.

Finally, there is the admitted conflict for-profit insurance carriers have. I could not work in that situation. On the one hand, the owners want every dime of profit they can get. On the other - patients want and need care. Most are there through no fault of their own. Yes, some are. The number of persons over the age of 50 who have no medical insurance is nominal. Layoffs, being dropped because the carrier “felt like dropping them”, pre-conditions. There are the real reason these people use the ER.

Congress vs. forth graders. It really is that simple.

Robert Boseley

rboseley@tampabay.rr.com

Health Insurance Reform

Jane Anne Jeffries Johnson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:37:46 EDT

I retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District in February. I felt it was my civic duty to give up my job and live on my retirement, since the economy is struggling. I moved to Friday Harbor, Washington, where the economy is doing better than in California. I am able to keep abreast of the changes President Obama is making toward a more viable society and economy. I urge everyone who voted for him to continue to support him now. The sharks are swarming, and there is blood in the water. It's time to come together as a force for change.

Defend your country and democracy

CHANGE FOR POOR AND MIDDLE CLASS TOO — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:31:33 EDT

Hi viewers of AM and hosts:

I have never heard anything as stupid or ignorant as the "stay at home republican mom" altered on CNN. she said and I quote" The government has never run anything efficiently". The same dumb statement repeated over an over by the zombies on the republican side:
1-America is the greated country in the world, and the government has "run" it into becoming the best in the world.
2-America has the best military in the world. And the Government as made it what it is. The privatization by bush brought us , abugraib, and all other scandals and mismanagement by private contractors.
3-Most insurances are subsidized through legislation that allows them to tax you the premiums you pay every months.
4-All legislation that allow private business to operate in peace and healthy competition is managed by Government.
5-Keeping peace, making roads, and other infrastructures are government programs that run well: we have the best infrastructures in the world, thanks to our government planners.
5-Embassies and foreign services that pave the way to private business in foreign land, protect our interests all over the world, negotiate our participation in the world are all government run.

I was shocked to see CNN give voice to a woman who was merely voicing her own and republicans ignorance or duplicity on the air.

All those who voted for Obama's agenda rather than his good looks, get out there and defend your votes. 53% voted for now Prez. Obama after comparing his program to all the republicans' and democrats'. After two years of campagning, we finaly settled to chose among democrats Obama, Edward, and Clinton essentially. Then we selected Obama's agenda to present to Americans. The choice was between the republican agenda of More of the Same, presented by Mcain, and the democrats agenda of Reform (Heathcare and other reforms) presented by Obama.
We made that choice in nov. 2008. Those who are out there trying to undo the votes casted in nov. are plotting a coup in the open. They are the same who failled to convince us to vote for Mcain and his status quo agenda. We voted for a particular reform, that lead and presented by Obama. We should stop these people before they change our democratic process as we know it. Are we going to become the next congo or suddan? Because if elections can't settle our affairs, it simply means that the street has taken over.

Why are we still debating whether to reform or not to reform healthcare? I thought that was settled in the Nov. 2008 elections when we carefully selected the right causes, programs and agenda from more than 8 candidates in 2 years! Among the Democrats, we selected Candidate Obama's agenda to , among other things, reform health care. Then compared it to Mcain's and the majority of Americans (53%) voted for Democrats and specifically Obama's Healthcare. The president, democrats and all those who voted for this reform, or simply those who want democracy to survive, should be out there reminding everyone that the election was over in Nov. 2008. What is going on out in these townhall is a hitjack of our democratic process, a "coup" where by Republicans want to overthrow a duely elected agenda with a president, the decision Americans took to reform Healthcare in Nov. 2008, through Obama' agenda. Don't temper with our Votes!!!!!!!! We don't want a watered down version either. I know that the republicans are hoping at least, to water down the bill on healthcare reform by their protest and intimidations so much so that no one would be happy with it, and the majority being unhappy, would never vote again for Obama, or the democrats, because he hasn't, they couldn't delivered for those who voted for him (them), in a doomed effort to satisfy those who didn't want him (them) in office in the first place: The republicans.

National Boycott of the Right WingNuts' Sponsors?

pgoCapeCod — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:43:12 EDT

The organized disruption of town hall meetings is not about the economy and it has nothing to so with health care. This is the same ilk who went to Palin events and screamed "kill him". He's a terrorist - to which Palin winked and implied "You betcha". They are the racist wing of the Republican party led by Limbaugh and Beck that wants "it's country" back from the first non white man to be President. They are so ill informed that they say things like "Keep the government away from my Medicare." Limbaugh and Beck are telling their followers what to do and what to say in the hopes that at a minimum Obama's presidency will be diminished and at a maximum some wing nut will try to harm him. The press of all stripes loves the mess. It gets readers and viewers and that makes money. The messier the better.

I think that a national boycott can be organized by 50% of the country to boycott every single sponsor of the leading loudmouths of the wing nut crowd.

Fight United Health

rboseley — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:41:54 EDT

We have just begun to fight this battle against those who want no change in American healthcare. PLEASE watch this video from Brave New Films:

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/brave-new-films-fight-back-against-health

Then go to United’s site: http://www.uhc.com/

Make contact. Emails are made difficult for obvious reasons. Use the phone. Ask to speak to Stephen Hemsley. You won’t. Leave a message.

Next visit : http://sickforprofit.com/

Sign-up. Do what you can.

Are obscenely wealthy insurance companies the only blame for our healthcare mess? NO. It happens they hold first place. Next come hospitals - who believe they must have every piece of ultra expensive equipment. More beds - with a 65% utilization rate. Retained earnings which would be illegal in most businesses. Not for profits calling delinquent accounts charity. Hospital Administrators making medical decisions every day - based on the bottom line.

Plenty of blame, but the Hemsley’s are alpha. Let’s make them trail the pack.

Robert Boseley

rboseley@tampabay.rr.com

WE Won

rboseley — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:26:21 EDT

Dear Friend,

WOW what a country!!

We worked for two years to elect Barack Obama as our President. Our work was successful. In our excitement with victory, we forgot another thing we had done.

We caused the defeat of those who like to call themselves “conservatives”. (The fact is - as reported by the Washington Times - yes the Times; not the Post - only 1 in 5,000 can come close to defining modern conservatism). Regardless - this group of citizens led by Rush, Sean, Glen, Laura, and Ann, just cannot loose. Recall the hate that began in 1991? Rush: “Chelsea is the ugliest kid in America”.

When defeated at the polls, the wing-nuts (I didn’t invent the term) drive the bus directly over the cliff. It was President Eisenhower who in 1954 told the nation it must deal with healthcare. 55 years ago. All those “leaders” who have come and gone - yet not one had the courage to take on the largest issue ever. Not one until Barack Obama.

What is he and the nation getting in return? You see the news; I don’t really have to say much. The wingers are throwing every untruth they can dream up at anyone who dares support healthcare reform. Now they are even bussing in groups to disrupt folks who want to discuss the problem. They have theirs - and Damn anyone who does not.

The irony is they can’t seem to grasp the fact that they/we all wind up paying for those who have not. Many are on Medicare. Medicare will be out of business in twenty years or before. Yet they will not listen. Will not talk. Name-calling. Fighting. That’s their game.

The “uprising” is led and funded by Freedom Works. http://www.freedomworks.org/

Go to the site, click on contact - and say a word or two.

Remember - we won the war. We will prevail on healthcare. It is just going to be much more difficult that it should be.

Robert Boseley

rdbozz@att.blackberry.net

President Obama: Release Of American Journalists

EsquireUK — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:37:49 EDT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Reflecting-on-the-Release-of-Euna-Lee-and-Laura-Ling/

Reflecting on the Release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling

Posted by Katherine Brandon

We were all relieved to learn yesterday that American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, detained in North Korea since March, would be released. They arrived safely back in the United States this morning, and were reunited with their families. The President called the families yesterday when he learned that the journalists were on the plane home, and described the reunion as "a source of happiness not only for the families but for the entire country."

The President reflected on the release in a statement this morning, and he thanked President Clinton and Vice President Gore for their efforts which led to the safe homecoming:

I want to thank President Bill Clinton -- I had a chance to talk to him -- for the extraordinary humanitarian effort that resulted in the release of the two journalists. I want to thank Vice President Al Gore who worked tirelessly in order to achieve a positive outcome.I think that not only is this White House obviously extraordinarily happy, but all Americans should be grateful to both former President Clinton and Vice President Gore for their extraordinary work. And my hope is, is that the families that have been reunited can enjoy the next several days and weeks, understanding that because of the efforts of President Clinton and Gore, they are able to be with each other once again.So we are very pleased with the outcome, and I'm hopeful that the families are going to be able to get some good time together in the next few days.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Reflecting-on-the-Release-of-Euna-Lee-and-Laura-Ling/

The Haters are Back

rboseley — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:46:45 EDT

Is it the world or just America? “IT” being the wave of idiocy we are witnessing. When the Nuts of the right lost the White House to Bill Clinton - they went completely off their nut. Remember the hate? Rush: “Chelsea is the ugliest kid in America”. The Clintons’ had committed many murders. On and on. Day after day. Hillary’s cow purchase. Whitewater. Led ironically by Rush, they spent eight years having nothing to do each day but get up and see how hight they could raise the blood pressure. One large, dumb group of looneys then. AND NOW? “They are backkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk”

DEATHERS

BIRTHERS

Nothing else need be said about the truly mental defectives making up those two groups. I guarantee the average IQ to be in the moron class.

Then there is the “We will agree with nothing this President says, does,or proposes. Never”. Real fine example of the loyal opposition. Same deal. Right wing nuts just completely drive off the cliff when the lose. Must be inborn. Inbred.

I was born and raised, to 18, in a state which can claim a majority of its “folks” belong to the groups discussed. Due to having parents who saw the light early - I was able to get out. I have not been in the state for many years - but let me absolutely assure you of this: Ride up and down the highways and into the “living areas” of this state today - and you will find a huge majority who are Deathers and Birthers. Also that someone with a darker skin tone has no rights in America. Not even in 2009.

They are led - in the literal since - by Rush, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, etc. No newspapers. No internet. Just Rush. They know one thing - hate. HATE if a person is of color. HATE if a person is not So. Baptist. HATE if someone worked hard and made more that $50,000. HATE anyone different in any single way. At this hour they are being rounded up by the GOP groups who take them to various town-hall meetings to disrupt.

So here we are. No, even after the election I knew it was going to get extremely ugly. Been there - seen that. Now the groups who who would never have voted for Obama are answering the call of the so-called “regular Republicans” to preach and yell hate.

In the coming months and years, we who made this network into what it became are going to be called upon to put our positions into action. What do we do when we see some “person” being chased by TV crews tell us the government is out to kill us? Smile?

Takes more friends. I am ready to come back here full-time and go where necessary. I am prepared to shed blood should someone demand to extract it.

Let me hear from you.

God bans Mind Control/EM weapons abuse and torture

Soleilmavis — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:20:49 EDT

Proverbs

Warning Against Enticement
1-8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
1-9 They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.
1-10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.
1-11 If they say, "Come along with us; let's lie in wait for someone's blood, let's waylay some harmless soul;
1-12 let's swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
1-13 we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder;
1-14 throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse"--
1-15 my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths;
1-16 for their feet rush into sin, they are swift to shed blood.
1-17 How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds!
1-18 These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves!
1-19 Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it.

Warning Against Rejecting Wisdom
1-20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street,she raises her voice in the public squares;
1-21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out,in the gateways of the vity she makes her speech;
1-22 How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools tate knowledge?
1-23 If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you.
1-24 But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
1-25 Since you ignored all my advoice and would not accept my rebuke,
1-26 I in turn will laugh at your disater; I will mock when calamity overtakes you--
1-27 When calamity overtakes you like a storm,when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
1-28"Then they will call to me but I will not answer;they will look for me but will not find me.
1-29 Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord,
1-30 Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke,
1-31 they will eat the fruit of their ways.and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
1-32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them.and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
1-33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.

God had already shown wisdom to people with a special way, and wisdom had already awared some people to call aloud in the street with wisdom together.

Even people were not willing to believe that Wisdom was calling aloud, but they could see that there were some people had been awaring by wisdom and calling aloud in the street.

Mind control abuse and torture are (1-11) "wait for someone's blood",and "waylay some harmless soul"; (1-12) "swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit".

God condemned such terrible mind control abuse and torture. People should not ignore victims calls and reject to help victims who were calling the same with Wisdom to "stop terrible mind control abuse and torture"

Mind control abuse and torture is the most sinful thing in the world. God also condemned those who supported such crinimals and who ignored all complaints of victims. These criminals were very waywardness and complacency.

People in the world, please be awared of such terrible crime. don't ignore.
(1-32) For the waywardness of the simple will kill them. and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

ACTION TIME ! Say NO to Co-Ops !

Greg Jones' Blacks4Barack ! — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:52:42 EDT

MUST WATCH:

Here's Howard Dean explaining why Co-Ops (baby Public Options per state) instead of a true, strong Public Option Plan are just another con tactic of the insurance/drug companies and well-bribed politicians.

WATCH THEN SHARE EVERYWHERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Sjxj7XosA

It is of vital importance that EVERYONE learns the truth about this 'Co-Op thing'

p.s. President Obama yelled out 'I Want Public Option' during today's N. Carolina health care town hall. It is up to We The People to SPEAK OUT in unison ! Contact The Blue Dog Dems...Shout "WE MUST HAVE PUBLIC OPTION" !!!

OFA ==> An Update - and a Big New Goal

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:46:44 EDT

From OFA Director Mitch Stewart:

Last week, Republican Senator Jim DeMint tried to rally our opposition by declaring that stopping reform would "break" President Obama. Instead, hundreds of thousands of you rushed forward to stand up for enacting health insurance reform this year.

Then last night, the President delivered a powerful prime-time address about why further delay is simply not an option, and even more support came pouring in. (Watch the highlights here).

Now, we're on the brink of a major milestone in building this campaign: One million Americans publicly declaring their support for the President's three core principles for health insurance reform this year.

Our goal is to reach the one million mark before Congress casts the first crucial votes as early as next week. This is just a first step of many we'll take together. But it will send a clear message that the American people will not stand for playing partisan politics with our lives and livelihoods -- and that we won't settle for anything less than the real health insurance reform America so desperately needs this year.

Add your name to stand up for the President's three principles for real health insurance reform in 2009.

Adding your name right now will have real impact. Not only will you help us hit this key milestone, but we'll run the signatures we collect in local and national newspaper ads and present them in powerful displays at high-profile local events across the country in the crucial days and weeks to come.

We're so close to a million because volunteers all over the country are reaching out online, door-to-door, on the phone and at public events in their community. And every time a new supporter stands up with the President, they in turn reach out to others and the movement grows.

Less than three months ago, OFA launched our campaign for health insurance reform. In that short time, hundreds of thousands of Americans have joined in by:

sharing a personal health care story
calling their representatives
going door-to-door talking with their neighbors
calling neighbors in all 50 states
publishing letters to the editor in local newspapers
donating
hosting or attending a local event, and much more.

For Republican leaders and special interests, the health insurance debate may be a political game. But for millions of American businesses and families, the cost of inaction is economic ruin and deteriorating care for the ones we love. Out-of-control health care costs are breaking the budgets of families, businesses and government -- and every day that Congress refuses to act, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage entirely.

We're working so hard in every part of this country because we understand -- this is no game. Add your name to help us reach one million public supporters this week, and join in this effort to reform health insurance in 2009.

Thank you,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

Just Say NO

rboseley — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:01:11 EDT

Some things never change. Haven’t we all heard that all our lives? I sometimes wondered what the “some things” were. As time as passed, I now have at least a clue as to what most o f them are.

I don’t eat Big Mac’s anymore. Great sandwich – but some say not healthy. Is anything? But I did have one a few weeks ago – and by golly – it had not changed. Kids still love to jump water puddles. Dogs still rule humans.

I have reinforced what I already knew in the last three months: Folks, especially politicians never change. They hate to lose. They will do just about anything to get even.

Republicans. Lord I remember those long summer evening talks on the front porch (I had not input – I was just a fixture) of my parent’s Republicans friends saying exactly the same thing they are saying today. “Can’t trust those tax and spend Democrats”

Fast-forward forty years. Barack Obama is the newly elected Democrat. The GOP is beside itself with anger and frustration. They are a part which now points to people like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Mitt Romney – and a cast of 10’s – as their leaders. If Sarah Palin is not the dumbest public official I have ever known of – well, disregard. She is the dumbest.

Now, the Republicans just cannot get on board with this very special President. Their decision? JUST SAY NO. No Barack don’t speak with the enemy. No Barack please just let the economy slide. No Barack don’t try to cover everyone with quality health-care. No Barack, don’t get a dog. NO, NO Barack. You might look good and WE can’t have that.

I do now honestly believe that members of congress, both houses, who identify as Republicans – have adopted Rush’s position: THEY HOPE AMERICA FAILS. It is pitiful to see John McCain toddle to a microphone to denounce the man who dared beat him.

Republicans do not disagree on principle. Hell, they have had no principle since ………………. I forget. Small government? Nope, we have the congress from 2000 to 2006 that defeats that silly slogan. Socialists? Let any Republican sponsor a bill to abolish Social Security. My TV is new – I would surly have heard it. Health care? Only if the drug companies are fully protected. Keep the government out of our lives? No, they want into the bedrooms.

So they chip away. Chip, as in chip. American’s want everything yesterday. W Bush took eight years of misgovernment and lies to dig his huge hole. Now we hear rumblings that the independents believe the Obama Administration should have every thing fixed.

Hey GOP: Don’t hate America. Don’t hope we fail. Join in. Help. It will feel odd at first, but you might come to like it.

The Cost Of Health Care

EsquireUK — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:57:15 EDT

http://www.healthreform.gov/

If you’ve listened to President Obama talk about health care reform in the past several weeks, you’ve probably heard him talk about how we should study communities around America that provide better coverage for less and replicate their success. He often talks about the high cost of health care in McAllen, Texas, a town on the Mexican border that has one of the most expensive health care markets in the country.

The June 1st issue of The New Yorker magazine included an article about the soaring costs in McAllen. A few key passages are excepted below – here’s a link to this must read, The Cost Conundrum. The bottom line? More expensive care doesn’t necessarily lead to better health outcomes.

...The explosive trend in American medical costs seems to have occurred here in an especially intense form. Our country’s health care is by far the most expensive in the world. In Washington, the aim of health-care reform is not just to extend medical coverage to everybody but also to bring costs under control. Spending on doctors, hospitals, drugs, and the like now consumes more than one of every six dollars we earn. The financial burden has damaged the global competitiveness of American businesses and bankrupted millions of families, even those with insurance. It’s also devouring our government.

Read the full article . . .

President Obama attack Bush's Public Sector Deficit ASAP

Charles — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:44:11 EDT

The US in the course of the eight years of the Bush Administration and the Republican led Congress has made us a debtor nation. I will say it again: The Bush-Republican led administration sold out our nation to foreign investors making us a debtor nation. Bush-Republican "Lone Ranger" approach left our nation "Tonto (silly)" in debt.

What is left of the economy the Bush Era Republican majority (now the minority) are slowly pivoting the responsibility of the economy onto the President Obama. The truth is the Republican's and Bush are solely responsible for the current crisis we face both militarily and economically.

The security question we should be asking is: "Are we as a nation more secure in light of the Bush/Republican economic sellout and economic catastrophe of 2008?" The answer in my mind is unequivocally, No! If military security hinges on our ability to raise, produce, and reconstitute our economy then the defense of our nation is treading on thin ice. All thanks to Bush-Republican sell out policies of their administration to fund an unwarranted war, and if the country does not rebound, then history will mark the Bush-Republican era, as a failure.

No matter where we are now or four years from now if our economy is not better by 2012 it certainly will not rest on the hands of President Obama. Realistically it took FDR three terms and the destruction of Europe to make our economy humm and grow. It took Clinton two terms to create record setting job growth, and economic solvency. It will take President Obama just as long.

It is completely the fault of Bush and his Republican co-horts, and if President Obama fails to revive the economy it will certainly not be because of his lack of effort, or the democrat lack of effort, but the blame will lie squarely on the shoulders of the party of NO, the GOP, the "GOPNO's," the people who at every turn said NO to President Obama.

Who wished his failure for their political gain. The "GOPNO's" will realize one thing that the tree will lay where it falls, and when it falls it will directly fall on them crushing them for being "DO-NOTHINGS" wishing our nation and our President's demise. The public will remember who never extended their hands, who never rolled up their sleeves, and provided the all important effort to join forces to pull our nation, out of the pit the GOP and President Bush has let it fall into.

Our stability has been squandered by unrestricted bloating of the public sector by Bush Republican's and by borrowing heavily or selling out America to foreign investors in China, and Europe. This borrowing has turned us into a debtor nation, inefficient, and unresponsive to the changing world environment and economy. Led by "lazy-faire"privileged pugilists who have fought, at every phase to strip every sense of equal opportunity and destroyed the highest possible value of American pride in the American Dream.

Because we have trillion dollar deficits with a capital "T," the emphasis of crisis is even more daunting and dramatic than a million or a billion dollar deficit, but the solution is the same. The Economic approach doesn't change, the basics of economic problem solving is essentially the same, and the mode attack towards large deficits is essentially the same as it was during the Clinton years or in FDR's era, only now the scale and enormity of the problem breaks new ground, because we are in the trillions, but nonetheless the sure footed principles of economics that pulled us out of the Great Depression, and Reagan's 1980's recession in the 1990's can pull us out now.

Relying on tested, tried, and true economic principles to attack the growing trillion dollar deficit will assuage the widespread anxiety the Republican's are trying to spread in sensationalistic attacks on our worst fear of economic insolvency.

So what can the past tell us about the future: Dr. Milton Freidman and Edward Nell, a Malcom B. Smith Professor of Economics, at the New School for Research in New York City wrote an article in 1994, published by the New York Review of Books titled: How Dangerous is the Deficit? An Exchange. Here both agreed on one thing:

PROFESSOR NELL WROTE:

Moreover, included in the US measure is the highest ratio of defense spending to GNP of any advanced nation. This means that excluding defense, we have by far the smallest public sector plus transfer system, in relation to GNP, in the developed world. Moreover our public sector has grown more slowly than that of any other developed nation. Could it be that many of our problems arise because our government is spending too little, in relation to GNP, rather than too much? Can we really manage the problems of a modern economy with less government participation than other nations require? Our social and economic statistics do not paint an encouraging picture.
These issues call for analysis and interpretation. Yet in public political discussion it is all too commonly assumed that government spending must be reduced further. However, recent studies have provided evidence that public investment in education, R&D and infrastructure will add more to future GNP than private spending, and further is likely to stimulate private productive investment. Far from trying to curb or cut government spending, the Clinton Administration needs to do just what Professor Friedman apparently fears—"…deliver…little if any deficit reduction, but instead [provide us with] a big increase in domestic spending, financed by a combination of new taxes and defense cuts…"

DR. FREIDMAN RESPONDED:

I supported President Clinton's deficit reduction package (indeed, I argued in these pages for a more aggressive program than the President's) not merely because I believe increased investment is essential to achieving productivity growth and with it a rising standard of living but also, and importantly, because I share the President's assessment that on average the US economy will be near to full employment during the period in question.
For example, I suggested in Day of Reckoning that President Reagan's tax cuts and greater military spending not only did not crowd out US private investment during the high-unemployment years of 1981–1984 but probably crowded in some investment by increasing overall economic activity and hence people's incomes and their demand for many products.
In the end, I was therefore pleased that Congress passed the President's program. No one likes paying higher taxes, of course, or doing without the programs curtailed by cuts in government spending. But I believe that reducing the government's borrowing, and so increasing our country's investment, is the surest way we know to begin to correct the dual problem of declining average living standards and widening inequalities about which I have previously written here.

The answer is... not to stop government spending but to stop government borrowing, and reign in the government bureaucracy, which the Bush-Republicans created. They sold out our nation, our nest egg's and our children inheritance to foreign banks and foreign countries, and placed our overall security on the most untenable ground ever.

What President Obama needs to do is stop government borrowing to attack the deficit, and pay off the foreign debt, ASAP. President Obama must continue his full court press and pass the twin reform of both the energy and health sectors and achieve the economies of scale and energy indepence that are so large a part of our present and future GNP. President Obama must continue to invest heavily, and even take a more aggressive approach to implementing the public investment in education, R&D and infrastructure that will add more to future GNP than private spending will ever accomplish on its own, and which is further likely to stimulate private productive investment well into our childrens future.

Barack Obama Campaign Claims Prizes

EsquireUK — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:40:53 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

The campaign that drove Barack Obama to victory in the US presidential election has claimed two top awards at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Awards.

The campaign, submitted by Obama for America, has been hailed as a masterful combination of new media, door-to-door and community grass roots campaigning with a clever tactical use of traditional TV advertising.

The campaign won two grands prix in the Titanium and Integrated Lions categories.

To win the Titanium grand prix, a campaign must involve a breakthrough idea that is "provocative, challenges assumptions and points to a new direction".

"Titanium celebrates work that causes the industry to stop in its tracks and reconsider the way forward," according to the rules set out by the Cannes organisers.

The integrated prize is awarded to a campaign using three or more media – such as TV, press and the internet - that is "high standard and state-of-the-art".

Earlier in the week, Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, gave a seminar about how the different facets of media were used to deliver the campaign.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/29/barack-obama-cannes-lions

WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Highlights Tough New Consumer Protections

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:54:10 EDT

THE WHITE HOUSEOffice of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, June 20, 2009

Barack Obama's Official Fathers Day Proclamation

Jill 4 Obama — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:58:02 EDT

« What Obama just said and meant about Iran and democratic protests | Main

Barack Obama's Official Fathers Day Proclamation

A PROCLAMATION FOR FATHER'S DAY, 2009, By President Barack Obama

The journey of fatherhood provides unique and lasting joys. Cradling a baby in his arms, a father experiences the miracle of life and an unbreakable bond. Fathers imagine a world of possibilities awaiting their children and contemplate the privilege of helping them reach that expanse of opportunity.

As kids grow and mature, they look to their dad for a special kind of love and support. Providing these necessities can bring great happiness.

Fatherhood also brings great responsibilities. Fathers have an obligation to help rear the children they bring into the world. Children deserve this care, and families need each father's active participation.
Fathers must help teach right from wrong and instill in their kids the values that sustain them for a lifetime.

As they encounter new and challenging experiences, children need guidance and counsel. Fathers need to talk with their kids to help them through difficult times. Parents must also help their children make the right choices by serving as strong role models. Honest and hard-working fathers are an irreplaceable influence upon their children.

Communities must do more to counsel fathers. Family and friends, and faith-based and community organizations, can speak directly with men about the sacrifices and rewards of having a child. These groups can support men as they take on the great challenges of child-rearing.

Through honest and open dialogue, more men can choose to become model parents and know the wonders of fatherhood.

On Father's Day, we pay tribute to the loving and caring fathers who are strengthening their families and country.

We also honor those surrogate fathers who raise, mentor, or care for someone else's child. Thousands of young children benefit from the influence of great men, and we salute their willingness to give and continue giving.

We also express special gratitude to fathers who serve in the United States Armed Forces for the sacrifices they and their families make every day.

All of these individuals are making great contributions, and children across the country are better off for their care.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, in accordance with a joint resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, as amended (36 U.S.C. 109), do hereby proclaim June 21, 2009, as Father's Day.

I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on this day. I urge all Americans to express their love, respect, and admiration to their fathers, and I call upon all citizens to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

/s/ BARACK OBAMA

OFA ++> President Obama to Announce Plan for Comprehensive Financial Regulatory Reform By Christopher Hass

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:42:14 EDT

This afternoon, President Obama will lay out a comprehensive regulatory reform plan to modernize and protect the integrity of our financial system. While the current financial crisis has had many causes, it is clear that the government could have done more to prevent these problems from growing out of control and threatening our overall economy.

The President is scheduled to deliver remarks at 12:50 PM Eastern, and will be joined by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, representatives from the regulatory community, consumer groups, the financial industry and members of Congress. We'll have more coverage of the announcement later in the day.

Racial Politics- Two Tennessee GOP Mailings

bob-pol — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:51:06 EDT

1) Racist GOP mailer: Ex-Rep. Vaughn (D) calls it racially charged, a factor in losing seat.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/nov/17/dem-denounces-gop-mailer/

Democrat Nathan Vaughn says this piece of campaign literature mailed by the Tennessee Republican Party contributed to his loss in the 2nd District House race.

The mailer depicts the bodies of three black birds, perhaps crows, with the heads of Vaughn, Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi under a headline reading, "Nathan Vaughn - part of the liberal, big government flock."

The black bird depiction, Vaughn said, was apparently used only against him. "That indicates either a large degree of insensitivity, at best, or just racial hatred," he said. "I think they were just trying to spread hate to win an election. "The intent of those mailers was to put me with Barack Obama and say, 'They're both black, and we need to be against both of them,' " he said, adding that Pelosi's picture was added "as cover."

Vaughn lost to Republican Tony Shipley in the House's 2nd District race by 326 votes, according to unofficial returns.

2) Racist Email from Sherri Goforth, an aide to Tennessee State Senator Diane Black (R), depicted all 44 Presidents.

http://newscoma.com/2009/06/15/racist-and-ridiculous/

Email titled, “Historical Keepsake Photo.”, but Where's President Obama?

Spooky - funny? NOT!!!

Ms Goforth, who has 20 years of service, apologized only for sending it to the wrong people.

CNN Story, Video http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2009/06/16/nr.racist.email.cnn

Paying for Health Care Reform

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:57:05 EDT

$313 Billion in Additional Savings to Create a Deficit Neutral Plan...

111th Congress / House / 1st session / Votes

darlene matthews — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:42:53 EDT

111th Congress / House / 1st session / VotesDateResultVote6/4/09PassedSession 1, roll call 310: On Passage
Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act6/4/09FailedSession 1, roll call 309: On Motion to Recommit With Instructions
Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act6/4/09FailedSession 1, roll call 308: On Agreeing to the Amendment
6/4/09PassedSession 1, roll call 307: On Passage
Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act6/4/09PassedSession 1, roll call 306: On Agreeing to the Amendment
Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act6/4/09Agreed toSession 1, roll call 305: On Agreeing to the Amendment
6/4/09Agreed toSession 1, roll call 304: On Agreeing to the Amendment
6/4/09PassedSession 1, roll call 303: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree
Congratulating the University of Tennessee Women’S Basketball Team (the Lady Vols) and Head Coach Pat Summitt on Her 1,000th Victory6/4/09PassedSession 1, roll call 302: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass
John S. Wilder Post Office Building6/4/09PassedSession 1, roll call 301: On Agreeing to the Resolution
Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2200, Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act6/3/09PassedSession 1, roll call 300: Motion to Refer
Hoyer Resolution6/3/09PassedSession 1, roll call 299: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree, As Amended
Expressing Sympathy to the Victims, Families, and Friends of the Tragic Act of Violence at the Combat Stress Clinic at Camp Liberty, Iraq, on May 11, 20096/3/09PassedSession 1, roll call 298: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree
Honoring the 20th Anniversary of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in the Nation’S Capital and Its Transition to the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure on June 6, 2009, and for Other Purposes6/3/09PassedSession 1, roll call 297: On Passage
To Provide for the Recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and for Other Purposes6/3/09FailedSession 1, roll call 296: On Motion to Recommit With Instructions
To Provide for the Recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and for Other Purposes6/3/09PassedSession 1, roll call 295: On Agreeing to the Resolution
Providing for Consideration of H.R. 31, Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina Recognition, and H.R. 1385, Extend Federal Recognition to Chickahominy Indian Tribe, Chickahominy Indian Tribe-Eastern Division, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, the Rappahannock Tribe, Inc., the Monacan Indian Nation, and the Nansemond Indian Tribe.6/2/09PassedSession 1, roll call 294: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree
Recognizing the 20th Anniversary of the Suppression of Protesters and Citizens in and Around Tiananmen Square6/2/09PassedSession 1, roll call 293: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended
To Honor the Achievements and Contributions of Native Americans to the United States, and for Other Purposes6/2/09PassedSession 1, roll call 292: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree
Recognizing and Commending the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Its 75th Year Anniversary

U.S. to Weigh Returning North Korea to Terror List

darlene matthews — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:34:24 EDT

U.S. to Weigh Returning North Korea to Terror List
By Peter FinnWashington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 8, 2009

The United States will consider reinstating North Korea to a list of state sponsors of terrorism, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an interview broadcast yesterday as the Obama administration looks for ways to ratchet up pressure on Pyongyang after recent nuclear and missile tests.

"We're going to look at it," Clinton said on ABC's "This Week" when asked about a letter last week from Republican senators demanding that North Korea be put back on the list. "There's a process for it. Obviously we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism."

The administration is also pushing for a U.N. Security Council resolution that would punish the country financially and give the international community the power to interdict suspect North Korean cargo, but Clinton acknowledged that some countries have "legitimate concerns" about targeting international shipments.

"We will do everything we can to both interdict it and prevent it and shut off their flow of money," Clinton said. "If we do not take significant and effective action against the North Koreans now, we'll spark an arms race in Northeast Asia. I don't think anybody wants to see that."

The North conducted its second nuclear test last month, test-fired short-range missiles and announced that it was no longer bound by the 1953 armistice that ended hostilities on the Korean peninsula. President Obama on Saturday called North Korea's actions "extraordinarily provocative."

The Bush administration removed North Korea from the list of terrorist states last year as part of an unfulfilled commitment by the dictatorship to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. North Korea was placed on the list in 1988 after its agents were implicated in the bombing of a South Korean airliner that killed 115 people.

State Department officials have noted that the process for reinstating North Korea to the list is difficult. The United States would need to document that North Korea has engaged in terrorist acts since its removal from the list.

Newt Gingrich, appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," welcomed Clinton's comments.

"In the long run, we're going to have to find a strategy that uses diplomatic and economic means to replace the current dictatorship," the former House speaker said. "I mean, this is an inevitably terrifying dictatorship that is desperately trying to get enough nuclear weapons."

Clinton also said the administration is trying to keep separate its efforts to secure the release of two American journalists facing trial in North Korea in connection with illegal entry into the country and "hostile acts."

"We've been very careful in what we've said, because clearly we don't want this pulled into the political issues that we have with North Korea, or the concerns that are being expressed in the United Nations Security Council," she said. "This is separate. It is a humanitarian issue, and the girls should be let go."

U.S. journalists get 12 years hard labor in N KOREA

darlene matthews — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:21:43 EDT

North Korea jails U.S. journalists, warns U.NMon Jun 8, 2009 2:36am EDT Email | Print | Share | Reprints | Single Page[-] Text [+]1 of 3Full SizeRELATED NEWSSCENARIOS: Further retaliation North Korea may take1:58am EDTFACTBOX: A look at North's Korea's international finances12:06am EDT

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea, facing U.N. sanctions for last month's nuclear test, on Monday raised the stakes in its growing confrontation with Washington by jailing two U.S. journalists to 12 years hard labor for "grave crime."

The sentence follows U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's warning on Sunday the United States was considering putting the reclusive North back on its list of states that sponsor terrorism, which would further isolate the impoverished country.

The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of U.S. media outlet Current TV, were arrested in March working on a story near the border between North Korea and China. The trial for the two, working for the company co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, opened on Thursday.

"The trial confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing as they had already been indicted and sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor," the official KCNA news agency said in a brief dispatch.

The harsh sentence is certain to deepen the chill in relations with the United States which has been trying for years, with scant success, to convince Stalinist North Korea to give up its ambition of becoming a nuclear weapons power.

"We are deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in the statement.

"We once again urge North Korea to grant the immediate release of the two American citizen journalists on humanitarian grounds," the statement said.

Clinton had also appealed for the two women's release saying the charges against them were baseless.

"(North Korea) is using the sentence as bait to squeeze concessions out of the U.S. amid heightened tension," said Lee Dong-bok, a senior associate with the CSIS think tank in Seoul and an expert on the North's negotiating tactics.

South Korean markets were for the most part unmoved by the sentencing, that came in line with expectations. A currency trader said the U.S. reaction to the sentencing and developments thereafter were more important for local markets.

Analysts say it would take it would take a military clash at sea or on the border to have a major impact on global markets.

MILITARY GRANDSTANDING

U.S. President Barack Obama at the weekend called the North's latest nuclear test, which was followed by a series of missile tests, "extraordinarily provocative" and said that this time there would be no appeasement by Washington.

Communist North Korea kept up its rhetoric which is increasingly unnerving a region that accounts for a sixth of the world's economy.

It threatened to retaliate with "extreme" measures if the United Nations punished it for last month's nuclear test.

"Our response would be to consider sanctions against us as a declaration of war and answer it with extreme hardline measures," the North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary.

It also issued a no-sail warning off its east coast, up to 260 km (160 miles) off the Wonsan area from where it launched a short-range missile in May and a barrage of short-range missiles in 2006.

North Korea has said it would fire an intercontinental ballistic missile if the U.N. Security Council did not apologize for punishing it for its April rocket launch, widely seen as a disguised missile test that violated U.N. resolutions.

The North appears to be preparing a long-range missile for a test that could be conducted as early as this month. It also appears to be readying for tests of mid-range missiles that could strike anywhere in South Korea or most of Japan.

The Security Council may adopt a new resolution as early as this week, but there is clear division among some members over how tough to be on the reclusive state.

Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone called for a strong resolution to make it clear that such tests would not be forgiven. But his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi said a "balanced" resolution was needed.

Clinton said last week Washington wanted the strongest possible resolution.

TERRORISM BLACKLIST

The United States removed North Korea from its terrorism blacklist in October in a bid to revive faltering six-party nuclear disarmament talks, prompting the North to take some measures to disable its nuclear facilities.

Pyongyang has since reversed those steps and said it had restarted the nuclear complex -- including reprocessing nuclear fuel to obtain weapons-grade plutonium.

China is seen as nervous of measures that might push its fragile neighbor into collapse, especially at a time when there is uncertainty of the health of leader Kim Jong-il, who is widely believed to have suffered a stroke last year.

Many analysts say the North's belligerence may be aimed largely at a domestic audience, with Kim, 67, using it to bolster his position at home with the military and to better secure the succession for his youngest son Kim Jong-un.

His eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, told Japanese television over the weekend that he would not be surprised to see his brother take over. If he does, it would be the third generation to head the world's first communist dynasty.

(Additional reporting by Kim Junghyun and Jon Herskovitz in Seoul, Yoko Kubota in Tokyo and Doina Chiacu in Washington; editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Jeremy Laurence)

Health care reform is an economic necessity

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:01:02 EDT

In this excellent op-ed piece, super-economist Christina Romer (one of President Obama's most trusted advisors) makes an impassionate plea for health care reform. She expalins the different options that could lead to the President's goal of universal health care, and helps the reader get a really goodunderstanding of what is really at stake. Too often, we hear that universal health care would be too costly and force the economy to suffer. That is a far right Republican talking point which has been discredited several times over, but which still survives and lives on because of the ignorance of many. This piece by Prof. Romer dispels all misunderstandings and makes the choice clear: health care reform would strengthen America's economy for the future, not hurt it...

Obama on Clinton: A 'Loose Cannon' Who Tells 'Bald-Faced Lies'

LindaLu Nordling — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:04:44 EDT

Obama on Clinton: A 'Loose Cannon' Who Tells 'Bald-Faced Lies'

Politics Daily More Links

Carl M. Cannon Senior Washington CorrespondentPosted: 06/3/09Filed Under:Barack Obama, Bill Clinton

Referring to the link below:

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/06/03/obama-bill-clinton-is-a-bald-faced-liar/?icid=main%7Cmain%7Cdl1%7Clink3%7Chttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2009%2F06%2F03%2Fobama-bill-clinton-is-a-bald-faced-liar%2F

Just IN CASE for y'll out there supposedly SUPPORTERS of Democracy and HOW we got here...AND WHY THIS SITE and we EVEN Exist or have some little INPUTS in our Daily LIVES.

PULL ALL of Ya A..es OUT OF YOUR SleepyHEADS!

SI SE PUEDE!!!

N. Korea to Test Long-Range Missile ...

bob-pol — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:12:50 EDT

North Korea has previously launched a long range missile, and also a space satellite, so its ICBM capability is worrisome. Rob [bob-pol]

North Korea seen preparing to test long-range missile. US issues harshest warning yet as spy satellites spot signs of rocket being moved from weapons factory

Sunday, 31 May 2009, by Eric Talmadge in Panmunjom, Korea

Spy satellites have picked up signs that North Korea may be preparing to transport another long-range missile to a launch site, South Korean officials said yesterday. The development came as the US issued its harshest warning to the North since the recent nuclear test. "We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in Asia – or on us," US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates told a regional defence meeting in Singapore. He said the North's nuclear programme was a "harbinger of a dark future", but wasn't yet a direct threat.

Impoverished North Korea has earned billions of dollars from exporting missile technology to Pakistan and the Middle East, and the fear is that it could do the same with its new nuclear know-how. Mr Gates did not elaborate on how the United States might respond to North Korea, but he had earlier said no additional troops were being deployed to the peninsula, where 28,000 US soldiers are stationed.

Britain announced yesterday that it has sent a military aircraft to help verify the strength of the nuclear device detonated by North Korea last week. The Ministry of Defence said a VC10 tanker plane had been sent to Japan to assist with examinations determining the strength of the blast and the type of nuclear material used.

Since last Monday's nuclear blast, North Korea has test-launched six short-range missiles in a show of force and announced it won't honour a 1953 truce that ended fighting in the Korean War.

The reclusive communist state appears to be preparing to move a long-range missile by train from a weapons factory near Pyongyang to its northeastern Musudan-ni launch pad. Images of the movements were captured by US satellites. Experts have said the three-stage rocket has a potential range of more than 4,100 miles (6,700 kilometres), putting Alaska within its striking distance.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, said the North is likely to fire the missile shortly after the UN Security Council adopts a resolution criticising its recent nuclear test.

more, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/north-korea-seen-preparing-to-test-longrange-missile-1693517.html

Ten Things To Know About Judge Sonia Sotomayor

Peter and Linda — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:16:56 EDT

Today, President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the next U.S. Supreme Court justice. Of course, the Right is already fighting against her confirmation—so we need to get the facts out about her impressive qualifications and background.

Below is a list of 10 key things about Sonia Sotomayor that you might not know. Can you check it out and send it to 10 friends today? If each of us forwards the list, we can start to get the word out about Judge Sotomayor, and help to ensure that she gets a speedy and fair confirmation process.

Ten Things To Know About Judge Sonia Sotomayor

1. Judge Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the bench than any Supreme Court justice in 100 years. Over her three-decade career, she has served in a wide variety of legal roles, including as a prosecutor, litigator, and judge.

2. Judge Sotomayor is a trailblazer. She was the first Latina to serve on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and was the youngest member of the court when appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of New York. If confirmed, she will be the first Hispanic to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.

3. While on the bench, Judge Sotomayor has consistently protected the rights of working Americans, ruling in favor of health benefits and fair wages for workers in several cases.

4. Judge Sotomayor has shown strong support for First Amendment rights, including in cases of religious expression and the rights to assembly and free speech.

5. Judge Sotomayor has a strong record on civil rights cases, ruling for plaintiffs who had been discriminated against based on disability, sex and race.

6. Judge Sotomayor embodies the American dream. Born to Puerto Rican parents, she grew up in a South Bronx housing project and was raised from age nine by a single mother, excelling in school and working her way to graduate summa cum laude from Princeton University and to become an editor of the Law Journal at Yale Law School.

7. In 1995, Judge Sotomayor "saved baseball" when she stopped the owners from illegally changing their bargaining agreement with the players, thereby ending the longest professional sports walk-out in history.

8. Judge Sotomayor ruled in favor of the environment and against business interests in 2007 in a case of protecting aquatic life in the vicinity of power plants, a decision that was overturned by the Roberts Supreme Court.

9. In 1992, Judge Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate without opposition after being appointed to the bench by George H.W. Bush.

10. Judge Sotomayor is a widely respected legal figure, having been described as "...an outstanding colleague with a keen legal mind," "highly qualified for any position in which wisdom, intelligence, collegiality and good character would be assets," and "a role model of aspiration, discipline, commitment, intellectual prowess and integrity."

Judge Sotomayor is an historic, uniquely qualified nominee to the Supreme Court. Let's get the word out and make sure we get a prompt, fair confirmation on her nomination.

Thank you!

Obama’s Speech on National Security

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:07:17 EDT

Following is a text of President Obama’s speech on Thursday on national security issues, as released by the White House.

FORCE FOR LIFE: A FRAMEWORK FOR SECURITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Charles — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:12:59 EDT

The most demoralizing threat to any country is the destabilizing influence of terrorism, and its unlawful coercive intimidating force. The most de-humanizing factor people experience in a country beset by terrorism is the unbridled fear of the unlawful use of that force to threaten the extermination of any country’s existence by radical partisan elements within or outside of its borders.

Force, at a more basic level is divided as a force unto life and a force unto death, and devoid of the forces of theology, ideology, or philosophy the force of biology concludes a premium of life over death. The force of annihilation exerted against the force for life creates a push and pull natural of all life and death struggles and when terrorism leads the charge for death anywhere and everywhere, the “Force for Life” can build a framework where there is a shared understanding and definition of terrorism and where we can begin an exchange of ideas and open a channel of communication that prevents death and our wholesale extermination.

Force for Life can become the framework for where living secure, healthy, and prosperous lives in congruence with our environment, our societies, and cultures is based on our mutual existence. Force for Life requires us to exist and prosper, and to live out a natural course of life, and in living that natural course of life we discover a present necessity to establish an equilibrium that involves interdependence for co-existing to achieve the self-preservation, self-determination and autonomy innate to the Force for Life.

The framework for security in the Middle East and hence the world begins with accepting the premise of the Force for Life; here the world community agrees to the eradication of terrorism everywhere and anywhere. Where the world community also agrees on a Consensus of Nations of 12 signatory countries, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Canada, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Iraq to chartering a Military Tribunal on Terrorism similar to the “Tribunal” at Nuremburg, “…for the just and prompt trial and punishment of…” major world terrorists, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where al-Qaeda and the Taliban got their start, to be known as the Kandahar Tribunal. Furthermore as part of the reconstruction of Afghanistan a construction of a super maximum prison for the detaining and imprisonment of convicted terrorists will be built.

Under the Consensus of Nations, a Kandahar Treatise for Security would be drafted to establish first a viable security for the region, to promote the common good, to establish social stability, and to secure, self-governing states of Lebanon and Palestine.

Whereas, the Consensus of Nations recognizes the new nations of Lebanon and Palestine, but will also provides significant assistance, in the promotion, of regional security, to weaker states.

Whereas, Lebanon establishes its current borders, and Palestine and Israel sign a 50/50 compromise forming a parallel that starts at the Jordan Border and passes through Jericho following highway 1 as it extends to the Armistice of Agreement Line of 1949 just north of Jerusalem.

Whereas, the new Palestine State would inhabit all the lands north of that demarcation ceding and vacating the southern cities to Israel and thereby requiring Israel to halt, vacate all Israeli settlements in the new Palestine state.

Whereas, requiring the new Palestine state to halt, vacate all Palestinian settlements south of the new southern border of the Palestine state.

Whereas, the Consensus of Nations would raise the capital, and resources necessary from the world community, to facilitate the move and repatriation of people and lands between Israel and the new nation of Palestinian.

Whereas, the Consensus of Nations would establish a binding, equitable “Treatise on Water” by establishing equitable rates and agreed distribution of water resources between regional signatory countries of the Consensus of Nations.

Whereas, the Consensus of Nations would halt the proliferation of Nuclear Arms and Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East Region, and plan for a progressive timetable for the elimination and dismantling of existing nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, Asia and around the world.

Whereas, the Consensus of Nations would use the structure of the “Treatise on Water” to further review, enhance, and facilitate trade between member nations, and the world at a specific time and date.

what did congress know?

darlene matthews — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:20:26 EDT

DOESN'T THE MINORITY SPEAKER GET BRIEFED ATT HE SAME TIME?

http://www.gop.gov/media/features/09/05/19/what-did-speaker-pelosi-know

New GOP Policy

rboseley — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:14:18 EDT

Alert!!!! The GOP is expanding its general policy of Just Say No. They are adding at extra cost – The Attack & Call Names Addendum. The extra cost will be extracted at the next election. Not clear on just who the cost will be extracted from. (OK English Profs – I know that was a horrible non-sentence). How about all my fragments?

The addendum to GOP policy is to take place in a gentle way, according to RNC Chairman Steele. Right!!!!

The kick-off has already happened. There was of course Newt. Absolutely amazing that this man would preach to us on the qualifications for Speaker of the House. Newt – just go back to one of your families and tend to your problems. We Americans had a sufficient dose of you many years ago.

Today, the GOP troops are out in force. The name of the day is Socialist. President Obama is a socialist and all of us who support him are likewise. Allow me a bit of a lecture. Social Security is by virtually everyone’s definition – socialist. It has been around for a long while – and I seem to see Republicans quite enjoying it. Here’s the deal. Let any GOP member of congress write and propose a bill to abolish this socialist program. Let his or her brethren join in co-sponsorship. THEN and only then – will they earn any right to call others socialists. What is that silence I hear from the chambers? As W said – Fool Me Once…………[pause]………………………..You Can’t Get Fooled Again. As usual W had a little problem with words and memory. I do however like his policy of allowing man and fish to coexist. And to let OB/GYN’s practice their love on women. ??? (Is that what they do?)

Now to be clear, I actually hope the GOP continues on its current path. The path leads to the graveyard. I shall be happy to bring a shovel and assist in any way.

Newt Gingrich. Man of honor. Waltzed into his first wife’s hospital room. Hey honey, I want a divorce. The reason for her hospitalization? Cancer. Ran the House during his tenure like the less than moral creep he is. Forced out on ethics charges. Sorry for my own name calling – but in Newt’s case – I simply can’t help it. My bad.

Rush Limbaugh. Current GOP leader. Man of honor. Really? Was not it Rush who called for the jailing of ALL drug abusers – except him? I do believe Rush was too much the coward to get his own supply, so he made his housekeeper do it. It was Rush (and is Rush) who believes himself a far better American than Colin Powell. Never mind that Rush refused any military service. That one needs no further discussion. Then it was Rush who mimicked those suffering Parkinson’s disease. Need more?

Newt and Rush. Let them lead. Let the GOP follow them in droves. I happen to really like being a winner.

Robert Boseley

http://robertboseley.blogspot.com

An Invitation

rboseley — Sun, 17 May 2009 20:07:40 EDT

This is not really a blog.

I really am in need of folks with whom to engage in “meaningful” discourse. No, not arguing – although I am not fully immune to that. There are so many things you and I have to discuss. We did go through a long campaign together. Have you heard? We won. Now we need to spend a lot of time on Cheney, Rush, Hannity, Notre Dame and such. Anyway friends – I just would like to extend an invitation to visit with me at:

http://robertboseley.blogspot.com/

Yep it’s one more blog. However it has the title – Republicans Go Away. AH now I have your attention. Bring your own refreshments.

We can have fun and berate all those people we don’t like.

Robert Boseley

rboseley@tampabay.rr.com

rdbozz@att.blackberry.net

SMS 8633079244

Health Care Reform: “Urgency and Determination”

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:59:52 EDT

The White House: Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

The Obama Presidency

EsquireUK — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:41:05 EDT

www.whitehouse.gov

May 14, 2009Work Is Never Done, Obama Tells Class By PETER BAKER

TEMPE, Ariz. — President Obama traveled Wednesday to the university that does not think he has done enough to merit an honorary degree and declared that he agreed.

Mr. Obama delivered his first commencement address as president at Arizona State University, whose decision not to award him a ceremonial diploma touched off a national furor. He used the controversy to make the point that no one should be satisfied with “the outward markers of success,” either as individuals or as a country.

“I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven’t achieved enough in my life,” Mr. Obama told tens of thousands of students and relatives packed into Sun Devil Stadium. “First of all, Michelle concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home.

“But more than that,” he added, “I come to embrace the notion that I haven’t done enough in my life. I heartily concur. I come to confirm that one’s title, even a title like president of the United States, says very little about how well one’s life has been led — and that no matter how much you’ve done, or how successful you’ve been, there’s always more to do, always more to learn, and always more to achieve.”

The decision not to award an honorary degree to Mr. Obama was taken by many as a snub, especially after university officials explained that “his body of work is yet to come.” Embarrassed university officials tried to contain the damage by renaming its most important financial aid program the President Barack Obama Scholars Program, which will benefit 1,600 freshmen this fall.

The university’s president, Michael Crow, heaped praise on Mr. Obama in introducing him on Wednesday night. “You’ve lit a fire under all of us to move America forward,” Mr. Crow said.

Mr. Obama thanked him and called the controversy “much ado about nothing.” But he still aimed a barb at the university’s leadership. “President Crow and the board of regents will soon learn about being audited by the I.R.S.,” he joked.

Mr. Obama’s commencement season schedule this year has generated more attention than most presidents receive. His plan to speak at the graduation at Notre Dame on Sunday has drawn vociferous protests from anti-abortion leaders who consider it inappropriate for him to be invited to speak at the nation’s most prominent Catholic university.

In his speech here to a stadium full of people who waited hours in temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, Mr. Obama said the degree controversy underscored that the nation needs “a fundamental change of perspective and attitude,” one that values substance over appearance, character over celebrity and wise investments over “get rich quick schemes.”

The country, he suggested, has lost its way. “In recent years, in many ways, we’ve become enamored with our own success, lulled into complacency by our own achievements,” he said, citing the economic crisis. “We started taking shortcuts. We started living on credit, instead of building up savings. We saw businesses focus more on rebranding and repackaging than innovating and developing new ideas that improve our lives.”

He cited Americans who ran the Underground Railroad, fought for worker rights, developed new technology and saved people caught in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. “A whole bunch of them didn’t get honorary degrees,” he said in an ad lib not in the released text, “but they changed the course of history and so can you.”

He added: “That’s what building a body of work is all about: it’s about the daily labor, the many individual acts, the choices large and small that add up over time, over a lifetime, to a lasting legacy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/politics/14obama.html?ref=politics

PRESIDENT O's FIRST MAJOR FLIP - INSIDE THE BUBBLE

Charles — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:41:17 EDT

President O’s First Major Flip-Inside the Bubble

May 13, 2009 Tampa, Fl

We are seeing the full effect of the Bubble. Where are all the President’s advisors on this and who has his ear, let alone his mind, and heart? Today’s White House news conference stated that the President O. seeks to review and delay the eminent exposure of the pentagon’s file on pictures of torture, based on National Security reasons.

It goes against the courts approval to release the in-famous torture pictures, and smells of Bush era smoke screen tactics, but moreover his delay screams of power (his corrupting Presidential power) the same power he campaigned against, which opposses honest law and due process.

It raises immediately these questions: The president is impinging First Amendment rights by not abiding by the courts decision by raising a legal position outside of the original FOIA rules, thwarting First Amendment rights which prohibits against government intervention in FOIA approved releases?

What is different now as opposed to when the Abu Ghraib pictures were released? Where we actually made less safe when those pictures were released or were we made more aware of the damming injustice of torture? No, we were not made less safe! The war raged on.

But we were alerted to injustice! Again, the real questions are: Who is President Obama listening to and who made him flip on the issue, and why? The President’s Flip on the issue resembles Bush tactics to skirt the law and impinge our constitutional rights for unknown or vague National Security Interests.

The President’s release of this change of position raised more questions, created more doubt, and made people more leery of his Presidency, and wasted a considerable amount valuable political trust/capital from his contract with the American People. Was it worth it?

The report of our own soldiers killing their own out of rage and post traumatic stress disorder has marked the immediacy of ending an unwarranted war, but also marks the importance of coming clean with our sins against humanity and our selves.

Since transparency is more about being honest and forthcoming his White House press conference May 13, 2009 created big sink holes in his promise of transparency, honesty, and integrity by being vague, and incoherent, by ineptly using borderline statements that seemed to skirt the issue.

Whether the release of the pictures makes it less probable or more probable for future picture taking is irrelevant of the main verity of being transparent with the American Public.

As a matter of opinion video graphing and picture taking should be codified as a requirement in the interrogation process across every level of government, including the CIA, FBI, and destruction of those tapes should be made a federal offense punishable by federal law because it keeps everyone honest.

Giving President O the Benefit of the Doubt

“Pragmatic” is President O.’s new middle name, but how it is delivered to the American Public is in serious need of review and it is now remanded and relegated to the President to fill in the craters he and his staff have created. First it must be made clear to the American’s why the President chose to “Flip” on this issue, and it must be advocated from a point of responsibility.

“Discretion is the better part of valor”, and according to wise counsel of Proverbs: “It is good to be brave, but it is also good to be careful.; If you are careful, you will not get into situations that require you to be brave.”

First, be honest with the American people by making it clear that this is not a political ploy or a play to rouse partisan bickering, but an honest and careful examination under our moral and legal standards.

It must be made clear that he is not playing cat and mouse politics with the Constitution against the veil of National Security agency to avoid the serious scrutiny and impact these pictures represent to the moral psyche and healing of the American conscious. He must release them, and tell the country when he will.

It is also not clear how National Security would be negatively impacted by the release of these pictures, as compared to the release of the Abu Ghraib pictures. But moreover it must be made clear that he is not stepping in the way of legal justice by using a seemingly arbitrary decision to tact the delay of the release of the Pentagon’s pictures of torture through a legal ploy.

Second on that basis the President should advocate that he felt it would be inappropriate to release the pictures on Memorial Day, and give our service men and women a black eye when it should be a day of reconciliation and honor to fallen heroes of all branches of service and security.

Third, and most importantly he must uphold and honor the value of the constitutional First Amendment without abdicating our country’s sins by using National Security as a convenient veil to hide the truth, of the injustice of torture.

Anything intended to be transparent or anything that “hems and haws” or that seems illicit or anything that falls into a casting shadow of doubt becomes obscure and un-transparent, and loses all the effect of honesty.

Take counsel from Frederick Douglas:

“He is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins”
Frederic Douglas

Health Care reform is not just a good idea, it's an overdue necessity.

Tom Hayes, working for change — Mon, 11 May 2009 00:38:03 EDT

President Obama has arranged for several large trade groups, including the AMA, to join an event Monday afternoon to discuss ways to wring cost savings from the health system through more efficient practices, according to officials who briefed reporters on tomorrow's meeting. The President is expected to say that we can't continue the same way we've been going, with costs that are out of control -- that reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a pressing necessity.

According to a Reuter's article published on Sunday:

"A centerpiece of Obama's health proposal would be a new government health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers. The administration says the public plan would help cut costs by introducing competition, and cover the uninsured.
Republicans and insurers oppose a government plan, arguing that it would undermine the private healthcare market.
By focusing on delivering more efficient care, Obama is weighing in on one of the least controversial aspects of his healthcare proposal rather than the much more heated topic of whether to establish a new public insurance plan."

While you're wondering why anybody would oppose a plan that would both cut costs and cover the uninsured, do ask your friends that same question. Health Care is a 2 trillion dollar per year industry. Maybe somebody's making some serious green? Point friends at the article, perhaps.
It's at: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE54A01P20090511?sp=true

The fight's not over.

Barack Obama BEGINNINGS- A Tribute to Supporters

bob-pol — Sun, 10 May 2009 11:39:39 EDT

1} Barack's Mother brought him into the World and shaped hIm.

2) Barack's Grandparents loved him and shaped him too.

3) Barack's Early Supporters helped launch the campaign for President.

4) Barack's Portland Supporters' huge turnout was a springboard to his victory.

5) Barack's Grassroot Supporters elect a new type of candidate of the People.

6) Barack's Devoted Family were his Rock, supporting him tirelessly thru to Victory.

7) The Country supports President Barack Obama's Efforts to Change the World.

Rush Limbaugh was the 20th Hijacker on 9-11 (Wanda Sikes)

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Sun, 10 May 2009 05:07:26 EDT

What a funny way to tell the truth. Except it's so true it's no longer funny...

President Obama's Job Training Plan for the Unemployed

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Sat, 09 May 2009 22:21:52 EDT

President Obama is doing the right thing to take care of people who have lost their jobs and still need an opportunity to update their skills for the new economy. Education and appropriate job training are essential elements of the future modern, global economy which we must embrace. The President's plan makes dreams possible for many Americans and their families...

Dear "Dick"

Peter and Linda — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:13:50 EDT

What's up with Dick Cheney? Is he serious? He left office with a 13% approval rating (probably only approval from his family and a few unscrupulous friends). He was never anywhere to be found, while in office. Now, he's most visible and doesn't shut up. Just who the hell does he think he is?

You know, I had said to leave well enough alone and stop the investigations of torture used during that crooked administration. Well, since he wants notoriety and publicity, I think he should get all he wants. Be careful what you wish for, Dick!!!

In his condescending opinion, President Obama's administration is equivalent to "Amateur Hour". I think it's time we give him what he deserves: investigation, prosecution and incarceration. He is simply an arrogant, obnoxious, wealthy "white bigot". He nauseates me every time I look at his miserable, smug face doing yet another interview!

Write or call your senators and representatives and demand a thorough investigation of their torture and abuse of power. Let's show that arrogant group what "amateurs" are capable of!

Peter and Linda Realmuto

In Canada, Flu goes from Human to Pigs

bob-pol — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:25:16 EDT

photo-EdRynearson, http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=1278300472

As you can see, Pigs are very loving creatures, but we can make them sick.

In Canada, authorities have confirmed that pigs on a farm in Alberta had been infected [by humans] with the A(H1N1). It is highly likely that the infection came from a farm worker who had recently been in Mexico and had flu-like symptoms when he had contact with the pigs.

A concern is that H1N1 Flu going from Human-to-Pigs in Canada can mutate in pigs and come back to humans more virulent. Maybe not likely in this particular herd, but perhaps in the next one. Rob [bob-pol]

Flu: Countries Must Remain Vigilant Says WHO, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/148644.php

Dr Peter Ben Embarek, WHO Food Safety Scientist, told the press that the infection happened around April 12th to 14th, and the farm worker and the pigs have since recovered. The flu reaction in the pigs was mild, as it was in the farm worker, and the strain that infected the pigs appears to be the same one that is presently circulating among humans.

Embarek said he and his colleagues were not surprised by this event, since the virus has some genetic element from pig, and the authorities expected that swine would eventually become infected in areas where the virus is currently circulating.

However, while there is no evidence that the virus has adapted [mutated] from being passed from human to pig in this instance; this could change, as it can with any virus that traverses different populations, and passes from animals to humans and vice versa.

As the virus changes, it could be become more severe, or less severe, or not change in severity, and it is not possible to anticipate which direction it will take, which is why it is important to maintain surveillance and continue to analyse the samples taken from infected people and animals, said Embarek.

Let's truly "Move On"

Ailene — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:06:20 EDT

This post is by no means justifying the use of controversial 'enhanced interrogation techniques'. Its purpose is to communicate simple directive: LET IT GO!!!

Follow President Obama's lead/example. The continual insistence on public hearings, investigations, and/or commissions will only accomplish the following:

1. Set negative precedent. Future presidential administrations investigating predecessors ad nauseum.

2. The entire situation has the potential to dominate President Obama's administration; impede progress on issues such as healthcare reform, energy/environmental policies.

3. Increase political polarization and un-necessary division/rancor. Therein President Obama makes same mistake as predecessor.

4. Adversely affect foreign policy and relationship w/ allies specifically regarding their cooperation with the U.S. Recently on Meet the Press, King Abdullah, (Jordan) addressed the issue tactfully by stating, it will be opening Pandora's Box.

5. Incite retaliation from Islamic extremists. It happened once before resulting in the abductions and beheadings of American civilians.

6. Inevitably broaden scope. Congressional Democrats (e.g. Nancy Pelosi) must also be held accountable for their knowledge pursuant to their (oversight) duties.

7. Hindsight is always 20/20. Decisions are not as simple as they may seem.

************

Remember, the difference between a rut and a grave is depth....The ditch dug for another may be the one you fall in.

Hypocrisy 101

Peter and Linda — Fri, 01 May 2009 22:22:14 EDT

Talk about hypocritical bigotry ... They "pretend" to care, ONLY when it's convenient for their agenda.

Read this email that was forwarded by the so-called "Christian" conservatives. They do nothing but condemn President Obama's policies and slander him and his administration with misleading pretenses and by adamantly insisting that he's a Socialist. If they truly cared about their "brothers and sisters", they wouldn't object to extending a helping hand to those in need.

Read your Bible folks, then live what you learn!

"A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said, ‘God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.’

God led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.

In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished.

They were holding spoons with very long handles, that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

God said, 'You have seen Hell.'

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew, which made the holy man's mouth water.

The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, 'I don't understand.'

It is simple,' said God. "It requires but one skill.

You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves."

The nezt time you decide to forward your deceitful emails, stop and thnk about the message first!

Attention, Twitter Bugs

Ailene — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:44:59 EDT

From Govloop: Social Network for Government 2.0

The Official White House Twitter Has Been Launched! The Whitehouse has official taken the plunge into microblogging and launched their official twitter account @whitehouse today. Another milestone in government 2.0 and social media has been reached.

The Official White House Twitter URL: http://twitter.com/whitehouse

The account was set up and first tweet posted about 2 hours ago putting the time of official release at around 12:20 AM EST on Friday May 1st 2009. I checked the page 5 minutes ago and it had 585 followers, refreshed it and there was 731 followers. So the velocity is there and the potential for this account to reach massive twitter influencer is there, who knows it might hit a million followers even faster then Opera or Aston. :)

The first three friends of the whitehouse are all CDC Focused:

@CDC_eHealth
@CDCFlu
@CDCemergency

So it would appear that one of the initial strategic objectives of the twitter account could be to raise awareness of the CDC, most likely because to the hysteria about swine flu that is happening currently in the US.

Cybercrime

Ailene — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:39:58 EDT

From recent Blog entry....

MUST READ!!!

Are you tired of our site being attacked?

By sduncan - Apr 29th, 2009 at 6:17 pm EDT

This is a crime THESE LINKS CONTAIN COMPUTER BUGS

REPORT THIS CRIME TO IC3 I did and you should also

http://www.ic3.gov/about/default.aspx

Welcome to IC3

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C),
and the Bureau of Justice Assistance
(BJA).

IC3's mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints
regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims
of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities
of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies
at the federal, state, local and international level, IC3 provides a central referral
mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes.
read more >>

Filing a Complaint with IC3

IC3 accepts online Internet crime complaints from either the person who believes
they were defrauded or from a third party to the complainant. We can best process
your complaint if we receive accurate and complete information from you. Therefore,
we request that you provide the following information when filing a complaint:

    * Your name
    * Your mailing address
    * Your telephone number
    * The name, address, telephone number, and Web address, if available, of the individual
      or organization you believe defrauded you.
    * Specific details on how, why, and when you believe you were defrauded.
    * Any other relevant information you believe is necessary to support your complaint.

File a Complaint >>

http://www.ic3.gov/about/default.aspx

Spam

    With improved technology and world-wide Internet access, spam, or unsolicited bulk
    email, is now a widely used medium for committing traditional white collar crimes
    including financial institution fraud, credit card fraud, and identity theft, among
    others. It is usually considered unsolicited because the recipients have not opted
    to receive the email. Generally, this bulk email refers to multiple identical messages
    sent simultaneously. Those sending this spam are violating the Controlling the Assault
    of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act, Title 18, U.S. Code,
    Section 1037.

    Spam can also act as the vehicle for accessing computers and servers without authorization
    and transmitting viruses and botnets. The subjects masterminding this Spam often
    provide hosting services and sell open proxy information, credit card information,
    and email lists illegally.

    If you believe you may have fallen victim to this type of scam and wish to report
    it, please file a complaint
    with us.

http://www.ic3.gov/about/default.aspx

IC3 Mission Statement

IC3's mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints
regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims
of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities
of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies
at the federal, state, local, and international level, IC3 provides a central referral
mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes.

Significant and supplemental to partnering with law enforcement and regulatory agencies,
it will remain a priority objective of the IC3 to establish effective alliances
with industry. Such alliances will enable the IC3 to leverage both intelligence
and subject matter expert resources, pivotal in identifying and in crafting an aggressive,
proactive approach to combating cyber crime.

http://www.ic3.gov/about/default.aspx

Cybercrime

Ailene — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:39:14 EDT

From recent Blog entry....

MUST READ!!!

Are you tired of our site being attacked?By sduncan - Apr 29th, 2009 at 6:17 pm EDT

This is a crime THESE LINKS CONTAIN COMPUTER BUGS

REPORT THIS CRIME TO IC3 I did and you should also

http://www.ic3.gov/about/default.aspx

Obama's First 100 Days and the Politics of Transformation

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:47:58 EDT

A great tribute by former presidential candidate Gary Hart..

Obama's First Business Report Card

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:26:04 EDT

President Obama gets a passing grade for his handling of the economy in his first 100 days...

Change is in Our Future Not Our Past

Tom Awtry — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:30:55 EDT

Every good past President has looked to the future, while every failed administration has suffered with the past, in part by their own misunderstandings of the failure(s) and to fully concentrate on moving their own agenda’s forward! Consequently, we the American public are as much to blame, for their failures as they are.

Today in office we have elected a forward looking Chief Executive, tasked with the mission of tackling the previous administrations failures and deceptions; while moving onwards his own vision of how America should be.

To me, this means let the president delegate responsible, for corrective action on the issues concerning Gitmo, torture, Rove, FOIA and FISA to his appropriate cabinet members and select committees within congress.

We as diligent citizens and supposed caretakers of our country should and must be focused on issues such as health care, getting out of Iraq, the economy and perhaps an over looked issued by many, an improved, affordable plan to enhance our current educational system of higher learning.

We have seen hundreds of thousands of jobs disappear over the past several months, will these jobs ever come back? The answer is “No”!

Soon we will have thousands of veterans returning from overseas, will they remain in the military service? Again, the answer is possibly “No”!

So what are the solutions to the aforementioned issues within the Obama Administration? I feel the president has chosen the most correct choice by relying on what made our nation what it was in the “past” – “Education”.

But, as we all know, including the president, both the cost and quality are the downsides for most of us, even the slightly “upper middle class”.

As quoted by President Obama (President Obama on Higher Education and Reforming Student Loans):

Over the past few decades, the cost of tuition at private colleges has more than doubled, while costs at public institutions have nearly tripled. Tuition has grown ten times faster than a typical family’s income, while inefficiencies in the student loan system provide lenders billions of dollars in wasteful subsidies instead of making college more affordable for all Americans.

When we review the 60’s, the days of placing a man on the moon and the golden times of NASA; education was at our country’s forefront, even while the Vietnam War was in progress, education was considered a must for survival in the Cold War overall and personal success in life as an individual(s).

We must not accept taking a backseat within the international community, as we have and again noted by the President in his Remarks by the President at the National Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting:

Our schools continue to trail other developed countries and, in some cases, developing countries. Our students are outperformed in math and science by their peers in Singapore, Japan, England, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Korea, among others. Another assessment shows American 15-year-olds ranked 25th in math and 21st in science when compared to nations around the world. And we have watched as scientific integrity has been undermined and scientific research politicized in an effort to advance predetermined ideological agendas.
Complementing while confirming the aforementioned is the following from Gallup Polls with an article entitled: “Public Discontent With Quality of U.S. Education, where we can see the American public over the past eight years have been frustrated with the Bush Administration’s progress on education:
A three-year aggregate of Gallup data (2002-2004)* on attitudes toward the public schools indicates that 44% of Americans are very (11%) or somewhat (33%) satisfied with public education, but a slight majority, 55%, are either very (25%) or somewhat (30%) dissatisfied. Despite these negative perceptions about the quality of the U.S. education system, past surveys have demonstrated that most Americans are happy with their own educations and the educations their children receive.

So, should you subscribe to the fact our nation’s higher learning institutions are to expensive and our primary education system(s) of public schools are not performing as they should; how is the president and perhaps more selfishly “us the American public” going to resolve the educational systems and turn their services into “jobs” and an increased standard of living for all of us?

The President has prepared congress for needed changes, staring with his Fiscal Budget for 2010 with major investments in broadband networks, clean energy technologies, and health information technology, as I’ve quoted him here (Fact Sheet A Historic Commitment To Research And Education):

President Obama has already made science and technology a top priority: The Recovery Act includes $21.5 billion for research and development, the largest increase in our Nation’s history, and well as major investments in broadband networks, clean energy technologies, and health information technology. The President’s FY10 budget includes sustained increases in basic research, $75 billion to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent, and funding to triple the number of the National Science Foundation’s graduate research fellowships. The President is committed to restoring integrity to science policy, and making decisions on the basis of evidence, rather than ideology.

Also, the President has enacted steps within his own Executive Branch (President Obama Meets with Family Struggling with College Costs, Underscores Need to Eliminate Wasteful Spending in Federal Student Loan Program, Reinvest Savings in Making College More Affordable):

Today, President Barack Obama met with a family struggling to afford the cost of college and underscored his commitment to cutting wasteful spending on federal student loans by ending taxpayer subsidies to banks. President Obama discussed the strain that rising tuition costs are placing on middle class families and his proposal to end the private Federal Family Education Loans program that lines the pockets of the banks who serve as middlemen while costing the American people $5 billion a year.

As I elated to earlier, since this is a failure of past administrations to attend address the president has wisely delegated this national concern to Vice President Joe Biden, who in my own opinion as been doing an outstanding job for the president in seeing all measurers are brought to the forefront on getting legislation authored and past in a bipartisan manner.

Vice President Biden has implemented “Middle Class Task Force” to find solutions and assist him in seeing colleges become more affordable through a series of town hall meetings. Here in an excerpt from such a meeting in St. Louis, the excerpt is entitled: “Middle Class Task Force Report: College Affordability”

Middle Class Task Force Report: College Affordability

An obstacle to federal student aid is the unnecessarily complicated application process that is often intimidating to families and students seeking loans. In order to qualify for aid, students or their parents must first complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, which contains well over 100 questions on income, assets, family characteristics, personal characteristics, and other items. Completing the FAFSA requires families to sift through paperwork and transfer numbers from tax forms that they may or may not have readily available.

The following is a downloadable pdf report, which bears reading, regarding steps being taken by the Obama administration to lower college cost to the middle class desiring to enter college and making the application procedure more simplified and friendly:

Middle Class Task Force Staff Report (pdf)

So, what’s the Point:

Much “to do” recently has been made in the media over the release of torture memos and the president’s first 100 days in office, which are all constructive concerns and self-servicing pats on our own backs for electing the “right person for the right job”, but lets not get hung-up on the issues of witch hunts and arrogance that got us into the trouble we’re in today.

Lets keep pressing forward in correcting mistakes and apathy of the past with “new ideas” and approaches that will insure we’re never in the fix we are in today.

After all wasn’t it President Bush who said “Fool me once and you’re a fool, fool me twice and I’m a fool”.

The following selections of videos cement President Obama’s commitment to the middle class and his devotion to insuring every American is entitled to higher learning:

Opening the Doors of Higher Education

Taking a defiant stance towards those banks defending the status quo, the President proposes cutting out the middle man in student loans for a savings of almost $50 billion over ten years.

Additional Videos:

Real Tax Cuts Making a Real Difference

Flanked by Americans who have benefited from his Making Work Pay tax credit, President Obama speaks about his tax policy and how it is helping people across the nation.

Taking on Education

The President explains the urgency of changing the way we educate our children, and offers four pillars of reform.

Meet Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talks about the source of his passion for education reform — and why he thinks it’s about more than education, it’s about social justice.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

GOP "faithful" respond to "Send Cheney Packing"

Peter and Linda — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:09:15 EDT

I don't think he would be on the scene if this administration would stop trying to nail the last administation to the cross for war crimes. We are supposed to be going forward (CHANGE), not living in the past.

First of all, the GOP has been very, very negative since day one, way before anything about the war crimes came out. That's just another GOP excuse ... one a day lately. I would have to agree with you, but after the disastrous last 8 years, Cheney should be ashamed of their record and quietly ride off into the sunset. He is a major factor in all the negativity against the new administration, as if his era was such a huge success.

By the way, you're 100% correct. We are supposed to be going forward (CHANGE). That's what the Obama administration is trying to do. That's what the MAJORITY voted for ... OBAMA and CHANGE. Unfortunately, if you look at the GOP voting record, they're doing EVERYTHING in their power to derail any advances toward real change. If the "party of no" continues their spitefulness, we will remain stagnant and we will ALL continue to suffer because of their arrogance and obstinacies.

I'm ashamed to admit I was a lifelong Republican.

Travel Affected by Raised Global Pandemic Alert

bob-pol — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:02:55 EDT

WHO raises Swine Flu Global Pandemic Alert level to 4.

Associated Press Writers, April 27,2009

MEXICO CITY – The swine flu epidemic entered a dangerous new phase Monday as the death toll climbed in Mexico and the number of suspected cases there and in the United States nearly doubled. The World Health Organization raised its alert level but stopped short of declaring a global emergency.

The United States advised Americans against most travel to Mexico and ordered stepped up border checks in neighboring states. U.S. customs officials began checking people entering U.S. territory. "We are proceeding as if we are preparatory to a full pandemic," Napolitano said. She said travel warnings for trips to Mexico would remain in place as long as swine flu is detected.

The WHO raised the alert level to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. Its alert system was revised after bird flu in Asia began to spread in 2004, and Monday was the first time it was raised above Phase 3.

"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," as the virus has already spread to several other countries, said WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda.

Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. That move could lead governments to set trade, travel and other restrictions aimed at limiting its spread. Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.

Mexico canceled school at all levels nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government said it was considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation, if the death toll keeps rising. Labor Secretary Javier Lozano Alarcon said employers should isolate anyone showing up for work with fever, cough, sore throat or other signs of the flu.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley singled out air travel as an easy way the virus could spread, noting that the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time.

European Union Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou advised Europeans to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico and parts of the United States, although Besser said that including the U.S. in the advisory seemed unwarranted at this time.

Germany's leading vacation tour operators were skipping stops in Mexico City as a precaution. The Hannover-based TUI said trips through May 4 to Mexico City were being suspended, including those operated by TUI itself and through companies 1-2 Fly, Airtours, Berge & Meer, Grebeco and L'tur.

Japan's largest tour agency, JTB Corp., suspended tours to Mexico through June 30. Russian travel agencies said about a third of those planning to travel to Mexico in early May had already canceled.

In Malaysia, health workers in face masks took the temperatures of passengers as they arrived on a flight from Los Angeles.

Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus amid global fears of a pandemic, an epidemic spread over a large area, either a region or worldwide.

China said anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms within two weeks of arrival had to report to authorities.

President Barack Obama said the outbreak was reason for concern, but not yet a cause for alarm.

-----------
On the Net:
WHO swine flu page: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

congressman campbell R-CA ASKS

darlene matthews — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:43:32 EDT

Earmarking: Recently, a large lobbying firm in Washington was raided by the FBI in a sting designed to obtain evidence that the company was trading earmarks for campaign contributions. The firm, PMA Group, who had 34 lobbyists on staff in February, has since announced it was shutting down in the weeks following the raid. Congressman Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has put a resolution on the House floor 7 times now to ask the House Ethics Committee to do its own investigation on trading of earmarks for campaign contributions. News reports indicate that PMA clients received $300 million in earmarks in the 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill, while giving $1.8 million in contributions to 91 Members of Congress who pushed for earmarks to go to PMA Clients since 2001. Congressman Flake's resolution has failed to pass all 7 times. Congressman Paul Hodes (D-NH) has introduced a bill to ban requesting an earmark for any project or entity from which the member has received a campaign contribution. I am cosponsor of this legislation. The bill has yet to be heard in front of any committee. Do you believe: a) I support both the ethics investigation and a ban on campaign contributions from earmark recipients. b) I support a complete ban on earmarks. c) I take the position of most members of Congress and would oppose both the investigation and the ban.

emails not being sent for two months now.

fran — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:59:45 EDT

Can someone out there in mybo land help me with this...I have not received any obama group emails to my personal email address in over 2 months. i am particularly interested in getting my RapidResponse emails and NCOBAMA...my state emails.

As far as I can tell I am still IN these groups...I've checked that several times and have talked through email with the group admins. but to no avail!!

Any Help with this??

thanks ,

Fran

Like Father – Like Daughter

Tom Awtry — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:22:05 EDT

I to would like to see Donald Rumsfelt, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and George Tenet face charges, but first I want to see how our current administration handles this black mark on our country’s history, without outside interference. Basically, whose going to align themselves on whose side.

Think about it for a moment – Here’s Dick Cheney with every opportunity he can get a hold of, to voice his displeasure with any and all of Obama’s policies with the media; what other former Vice Presidents has done that? Not a one!

Now his daughter is getting into the act:

Liz Cheney Defends Father ‘Dick Cheney’ Torture Legacy/Policies

So Why, easy, to confuse along with attempting to defuse the issue at hand, his own personal involvement with authorizing torture.

Rice, Cheney Approved Waterboarding
Associated Press

The Director of Central Intelligence in the spring of 2003 sought a reaffirmation of the legality of the interrogation methods. Cheney, Rice, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and White House counsel Alberto Gonzales were among those at a meeting where it was decided that the policies would continue. Rumsfeld and Powell weren’t.

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

Thinking Broadly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:18:15 EDT

Wherever you are today is a product of your old way of thinking and acting. Whatever result you have around you is a reflection, not just of your environment but also of your inner thoughts.

It goes without saying therefore that if you must move to a higher level and enter your wealthy place, your old way fo thinking has to be dropped for a new one. The quality of your thoughts and vision must be raised to the level where it can produce and handle the wealth...

When people meet you or interact with you there are conclusions they draw based on the wealth of what comes out of your mind. The strength to handle losses, the capacity to think broadly will be dependent on how your mind has been trained.

When (some) wealthy people with the right mindset lose wealth for example, they tend to gain it back because of the kind of habits and thought patterns they have formed. During a slow economic period in Asia, a gentlemen who had lost about 4 billion dollars as a result of having all of his stocks and shares wiped out, was seen a couple of days later playing golf. When asked why didn't he lose his mind and why was he playing golf, his remark/response was that he knew what he did to gain the wealth and he KNOWS what to do gain it back again.

-Matthew Ashimolowo

As A Man Thinks In HIS Heart... SO IS HE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Europe Back Off and Stay Out

Tom Awtry — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:07:43 EDT

Nuremberg Trials

America, as all countries today, is undergoing a vast amount of change; however there exists a hopefully small number of individuals within our country who in essence mistakenly subscribe to the notion “the Bush doctrine on terror” was correct and righteous, which includes the use of torture to obtain supposed Intel information.

I believe our President is taking the right steps, as he promised during his campaign to “right the wrongs” of our country’s past eight years of injustice regarding our treatment of combative detainees. First by releasing the Bush Administration’s memos condoning torture (listed here and here also here), which he followed up by insuring his release would not produce a witch hunt (as some want) by traveling to CIA’s Headquarters and assuring employees individual prosecution would not be presumed and finally, most importantly turned the entire matter over to our Justice Department and directly to Eric Holder, the Attorney General.

On this past Wednesday (22 Apr 09) an article in the Washington Post, authored by Craig Whitlock, of Washington Post’s Foreign Service Department and entitled: “European Nations May Investigate Bush Officials Over Prisoner Treatment” confirms my beliefs by the following excerpt:

On Tuesday, Obama for the first time raised the possibility of creating a bipartisan commission to examine the Bush administration’s handling of terrorism suspects. He also said he would leave it up to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to determine whether to prosecute senior officials who approved waterboarding and other tactics.

This was further confirmed in a statement published by the American Civil Liberties Union, entitled: “Attorney General Holder Says He Will “Follow The Law” And Investigate Torture” where the following excerpt stated:

Attorney General Eric Holder said today that the Justice Department will “follow the law wherever it takes us” in investigating the U.S. officials behind the CIA torture policies under the Bush administration.

Europe, you have every obligation and right to legally pursue whatever action you feel is appropriate, but please let our present administration do what they can to correct these past “wrongs”; in our way of first and let America reestablish itself under the “Rule of Law”.

A.G. Holder: Investigate Torture

The people who authorized Bush’s torture program shouldn’t get off scot-free. It’s time for Attorney General Holder to appoint an independent special prosecutor.

Update 23 Apr 09:

Clinton Questions Cheney’s Credibility: “I Don’t Consider Him A Particularly Reliable Source Of Information”
Huffington Post | Nicholas Graham

The sensitive topic of the release of the torture memos came to the forefront when Republican Rep. Dana Rohrbacker asked Clinton if she agreed with Dick Cheney’s request that documents ostensibly showing the efficacy of the torture programs should be declassified. Clinton ultimately replied that she believes “we ought to get to the bottom of this entire matter” and that it “is in the best interest of our country” to do so, but not before she took a shot at Cheney’s credibility, saying “I don’t consider him to be a particularly reliable source of information.”

Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here:

Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009

Ailene — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:53:50 EDT

Open Congress : Congress Gossip Blog

Audit the Fed

Posted: 21 Apr 2009 08:25 AM PDT

Year after year in Congress, Rep. Ron Paul [R, TX-14] has introduced a bill to abolish the Fed (H.R. 833). Though the bill has a dedicated network of citizen supporters – see the End the Fed network – it has never made any legislative progress or gained a single co-sponsor.

This year, however, Paul has introduced a toned-down version, along with the original, that is gaining co-sponsors quickly and could actually get a vote this session — the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009. The co-sponsor list, currently at 58, is strongly bipartisan. It includes progressive Democrats like Rep. Alan Grayson [D, FL-8] and Rep. Henry Waxman [D, CA-30], Blue Dogs like Rep. Gene Taylor [D, MS-4] and Rep. Collin Peterson [D, MN-7], and conservatives like Rep. Michele Bachmann [R, MN-6] and Rep. Scott Garrett [R, NJ-5].

Far from ending the Fed, the bill calls for a full Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of the central bank to be completed before the end of 2010 and submitted to Congress for review.

Current U.S. Code protects the Fed’s secrecy in several important areas (31 USC 714 – Sec. 714):

Audits of the Federal Reserve Board and Federal reserve banks may not include – (1) transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or nonprivate international financing organization; (2) deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations; (3) transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or (4) a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board of Governors and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)-(3) of this subsection.

All of these barriers to access would be eliminated by Rep. Paul’s bill.

In the past year or so, the Federal Reserve has given banks more than $2 trillion in loan guarantees in an attempt to forestall the economic crisis. But information on where all this money has gone and what kind of securities the Fed has accepted in exchange is unavailable. Since the Fed is a quasi-public institution, they aren’t obliged to tell us, even though they are pushing around public money. “The contrast is pretty clear,” says Sen. Bernard Sanders [I, VT], who is sponsoring the Senate version (S.604), “if you want to know who received the money under TARP, go to the website, it’s there. If you want to know who received the money from the Fed, it ain’t there.”

In the Politico, Ron Paul writes, “if this audit reveals what I suspect and Congress has finally had enough, it can also pass my legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve.” Whether you support ending the Fed, like Ron Paul, or fixing the Fed in order to restore the health of our financial system, finding out what the Fed is up to – and where they have been failing – is essential to moving forward. It may sound trite, but transparency is crucial for solving our economic crisis.

One more thing: OpenCongress user emarble left a comment on the bill text suggesting a simple improvement:

In addition to increased congressional oversight, it would be nice if this provision included “all citizens who request it.” I propose the report on the audit be made available to the general public in electronic form, thereby making the Federal Reserve completely transparent.

(pictured above is Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, center, surrounded by Fed board members.)

President Obama's EARTH DAY PROCLAMATION

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:07:11 EDT

Let's support the President in his struggle to save our planet.

Re: EARTH DAY - Turning C02 into Methanol

bob-pol — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:49:24 EDT

A NEW CURATIVE PROCESS FOR OUR EARTH - Rob [bob-pol]

http://pda.physorg.com/carbondioxide-carbon-dioxide_news159098987.html

RESEARCHERS TRANSFORM CARBON DIOXIDE INTO METHANOL

Apr 16, Chemistry/Biochemistry

Scientists at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have succeeded in unlocking the potential of carbon dioxide - a common greenhouse gas - by converting it into a more useful product.

In the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, the IBN researchers report that by using organocatalysts, they activated carbon dioxide in a mild and non-toxic process to produce methanol, a widely used industrial feedstock and clean-burning biofuel.

Organocatalysts are catalysts that are comprised of non-metallic elements found in organic compounds. NHCs such as IMes (1,3-bis-(2,4,6 trimethylphenyl)imidazolylidene) are a form of organocatalysts that are stable and easily stored. They do not contain toxic heavy metals and can be produced easily without high costs.

The scientists made carbon dioxide react by using N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), a novel organocatalyst. In contrast to heavy metal catalysts that contain toxic and unstable components, NHCs are stable, even in the presence of oxygen. Hence, the reaction with NHCs and carbon dioxide can take place under mild conditions in dry air.

The IBN scientists showed that only a small amount of NHC is required to induce carbon dioxide activity in a reaction. "NHCs have shown tremendous potential for activating and fixing carbon dioxide. Our work can contribute towards transforming excess carbon dioxide in the environment into useful products such as methanol," said Siti Nurhanna Riduan, IBN Senior Lab Officer, who is also pursuing her Ph.D. under the Scientific Staff Development Award at IBN, one of the research institutes of Singapore's A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research).

Hydrosilane, a combination of silica and hydrogen, is added to the NHC-activated carbon dioxide, and the product of this reaction is transformed into methanol by adding water through hydrolysis.

Yugen Zhang, Ph.D., IBN Team Leader and Principal Research Scientist, explained, "Hydrosilane provides hydrogen, which bonds with carbon dioxide in a reduction reaction. This carbon dioxide reduction is efficiently catalyzed by NHCs even at room temperature. Methanol can be easily obtained from the product of the carbon dioxide reaction. Our previous research on NHCs has demonstrated their multiple applications as powerful antioxidants to fight degenerative diseases, and as effective catalysts to transform sugars into an alternative energy source. We have now shown that NHCs can also be applied successfully to the conversion of carbon dioxide into methanol, helping to unleash the potential of this highly abundant gas."

Previous attempts to reduce carbon dioxide to more useful products have required more energy input and a much longer reaction time. They also require transition metal catalysts, which are both unstable in oxygen and expensive. Ongoing research at IBN aims to find cheap alternatives for the hydrosilane reagent so that the production of methanol can be even more cost-effective for mass industrial production.

"At IBN, we are innovating effective methods of generating clean energy using green chemistry and nanotechnology. In the face of environmental pollution, global warming and increasing demands on diminishing fossil fuel resources, we hope to provide a viable alternative energy option for industry, and effective sequestration and conversion of carbon dioxide," said IBN Executive Director. Jackie Y. Ying, Ph.D.

More information: The research was published online in the Angewandte Chemie International Edition, at this link: 10.1002/anie.200806058. IBN's report has been designated a "Hot Paper."

Source: Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore