Sunday, September 20, 2009

Headlines - Sunday

All Obama, all the time
 
President Barack Obama today became the first president to appear on five Sunday network shows in the same morning, an extraordinary effort to build public support for health care reform, his top domestic priority.
 
I'd prefer he stay in the office and make plans to end the wars, close Guantanamo, and do all of the other things he promised during the campaign.
 
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The Guardian: Grizzly bear populations starving, declining in Canada.
 
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pope benedict xvi
 
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GOP Texas governor didn't know we were in a recession
 
Perhaps he was too busy fixing his hair to notice. Watch the video. Who does he sound like?
 
Fun fact:

Houston, where Perry was speaking, lost 95,100 jobs between August 2008 and August 2009, adding to the overall rise in unemployment for the state of Texas to 8%. Perry's state also leads the nation for people lacking health insurance. Texas would have a much higher unemployment rate if it were not for President Obama's stimulus program, which has provided billions in investments and over 70,000 jobs so far. Nonetheless, Perry not only considered rejecting the stimulus, but has called it a "burden."

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Like they couldn't have outrun a sloth
 
alien-beast
 
The 'mystery alien-beast' discovered by four teens in Panama and widely reported in the media over the past few days is likely a deformed sloth.

A week ago four teens playing near a creek in Cerro Azul, a community in the northern part of Panama City, encountered the creature, which they claim approached them. The teens threw rocks and beat the animal to death before returning to take pictures. The photos reveal a white hairless creature with clawed toes. Other than its lack of fur, the animal closely resembles a three-toed sloth, a mammal found widely in the Central American country. 
Nevertheless the local media has played up the story, reporting that zoologists are unable to identify the "alien-like" creature. But DNA testing should soon confirm what most are saying: the animal is a sloth.

As a consequence of a slow news cycle towards the end of summer, August and September tend to be peak months for sightings of "strange" and "unidentified" creatures including unusual marine life, malformed animals and the mythological beasts like the Chupacabra, the Mongolian Death Worm, Big Foot, and the Loch Ness Monster.
 
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"Hmm, I would have preferred to take the road less traveled, but, at the moment, I seem to have run
out of choices."
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Roy Blunt, speaking at the Values Voters summit, told a "joke" about monkeys in DC
First, the Values Voters don't really care about the values of their speakers, just the values of the rest of us. Case in point: Rep. Roy Blunt from Missouri. He's also running for Senate. Tony Perkins himself introduced Blunt at the Values Voters Summit today, touting their shared values. Um, does any over at VV know that Roy Blunt cheated on his wife with a lobbyist, then married said lobbyist? I don't really care, but that's the kind of thing Tony Perkins obsesses over -- for people who aren't speakers at his conference.

That's one thing. But, then, when Blunt spoke, he made a bizarre joke about
golfers and monkeys while referring to the current situation in Washington DC. Very odd choice, I think. But, fits right in with the GOP's viciousness and extremism. The Values Voters LOVED it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul_TpDvxUJM&feature=player_embedded
 
Also at the Values Voters summit: "All pornography is homosexual pornography."
 
Oh, and Romney lies about cap and trade costing each family $1,761 per year.
 
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Ezra Klein: You Have No Idea What Health Costs
If You Did, You Might Just Want Real Reform
 
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This is going to be one hell of a flu season:

The swine flu pandemic could kill millions and cause anarchy in the world's poorest nations unless £900m can be raised from rich countries to pay for vaccines and antiviral medicines, says a UN report leaked to the Observer.

The disclosure will provoke concerns that health officials will not be able to stem the growth of the worldwide H1N1 pandemic in developing countries. If the virus takes hold in the poorest nations, millions could die and the economies of fragile countries could be destroyed.

Health ministers around the globe were sent the warning on Thursday in a report on the costs of averting a humanitarian disaster in the next few months. It comes as officials inside the World Health Organisation, the UN's public health body, said they feared they would not be able to raise half that amount because of the global downturn.

Gregory Hartl of WHO said the report required an urgent response from rich nations. "There needs to be recognition that the whole world is affected by this pandemic and the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. We have seen how H1N1 has taken hold in richer nations and in the southern hemisphere. We have been given fair warning and must act soon," he said.

It might not be this bad. Because we now know the H1N1 vaccine only requires one dose, we're donating the extras to other countries – which will help.

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Takin' it to new depths

WATB Chris the Crap Reporter Wallace cries and snots all over himself, accusing the White House and the Dems of crying and snotting all over themselves in what amounts to a total all out bring it on temper tantrum that left a large gaping blow hole in his brand SPANKING new Pamper "All About ME!" Tighter Fit, Greater Suckage For The Older Child nappy. What a hack/tool that guy has always been and will remain until his last dishonest breath in this world. I'm thinkin' the whole clip was probably a good lunchtime laugh for the crowd up at 1600. That is, in any case, my verdant hope anyway.......

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vladimir putin

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The anti-illegal immigration movement is singing Congressman Joe Wilson's praises, but the lawmaker who was rebuked by the House this week recently helped extend the stay of one of those very "illegals" the activists hope to remove from the country.

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/18/you-lie-wilson-shows-two-faces-on-illegal-immigration/

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"There are different kinds of truths
for different kinds of people.
There are truths appropriate for children,
like the people who watch Fox News.
There are truths that are appropriate for college dropouts,
like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
There are truths that are appropriate for educated adults,
like my son, Dr. William Kristol.
There are truths that are appropriate for
highly educated adults,
like me.
The notion that there should be one set of truths
available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy.
It doesn't work.
Nor do I anymore.
I just died.
But not before I propagated my lie
about truth for 89 years."