Thursday, December 10, 2009

Headlines - Thursday

 
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I'll  be gone for a few days to
see my brother and sister-in-law
off on their year-long sailing adventure
from Santa Barbara. Smooth sailing
and Bon Voyage, Jeff and Nancy!
 
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Does death exist? New theory says no
 
Many of us fear death. We believe in death because we have been told we will die. We associate ourselves with the body, and we know that bodies die. But a new scientific theory suggests that death is not the terminal event we think. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-lanza/does-death-exist-new-theo_b_384515.html
 
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Dear Barack, Spare Me Your E-Mails: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/09-6
 
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House GOP introduces Christmas resolution, despitr Boner's tirade against frivolous Democratic bills.
 
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Because we shouldn't change a thing, since our health care system is so fantastic now:

PARIS - The United States ranks near the bottom in life expectancy among wealthy nations despite spending more than double per person on health care than the industrialized world's average, an economic group said Tuesday.

Life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was 78.1 years in 2007, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

That's a year less than the OECD average of 79.1, and puts the U.S. just ahead of the Czech Republic, Poland and Mexico, where spending on health care is many times less per person, the Paris-based organization said in its latest survey of health trends among its 30 rich member countries.

Let teh stupid reign supreme...

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Sounds like treason to me

House Republicans are preparing for a trip to Copenhagen and looking to derail Democratic efforts to negotiate an international climate agreement: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/shadow-government-by-digby-lets-air-our.html

Digby: I don't think I've ever heard of a group of political opponents going to a foreign country to confront the president when he's representing the nation. It's kind of startling. I'm not a big fan of the rules that call for royal deference to presidents, but you do have to let the country speak with one voice in certain situations, and the constitution anticipates that when it comes to dealing with foreign governments that voice should be the president's subject to ratification by the people's representatives. To personally go to Copenhagen and publicly argue with the president as he's negotiating a treaty is truly radical.

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Bringing Leviticus Alive

Sen James Inhofe
US Senate
African Specialist, The Family
133 C St. SE
Washington, DC 20003-1807

Dear Sen. Inhofe,

As The Family's self-described African specialist, you must be heavily involved in fellow Family member David Bahati's effort to make homosexuality a capital crime in Uganda. Certainly, no member would make such a move without The Family's guidance and support. It's all part of what it means to be a part of The Family.

Why do so few Americans know about this important work? Why aren't you and other prominent Family members proudly telling the story of how you're bringing Leviticus alive in Uganda?

Your silence may eventually cause the bill to fail. The gay and their allies are already pressuring Obama and Clinton to intervene. They need to be shown that the American people support a final Biblical solution to the homosexual problem. Who better than The Family, the patriarchs of our emerging theocracy, to deliver that message.

It's time for you and the rest of The Family to put gay execution at the top of the national agenda by sponsoring similar legislation in the House and Senate. Let us fight about important Biblical issues rather than waste time on things like universal health care.

I'm sending you a pebble. Its purpose is to remind you that there's still a lot of work to be done. Keep it with you always. Finger it when you speak out in favor of the Ugandan and American bills. And when the talking's done, let it be the first stone cast.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, patriot

Taking Action

Below are the names of known members of The Family. Tell them what you think of their work in Uganda by sending your own note and pebble to the C Street house.

Name
133 C St. SE
Washington, DC 20003-1807

Sen. Sam Brownback
Sen. James Inhofe
Sen. Jim DeMint
Sen. Chuck Grassley
Sen. Richard Lugar
Sen. John Ensign
Sen. Tom Coburn
Sen. Mark Pryor
Sen. Bill Nelson
Sen. John Thune
Sen. Mike Enzi


Rep. Joe Pitts
Rep. Todd Tiahrt
Rep. Frank Wolf
Rep. Zach Wamp
Rep. Mike McIntyre
Rep. Bart Stupak
Rep. Michael F. Doyle
Rep. Heath Shuler
Rep. Jerry Moran
 
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Only on Fox do polls total 120%:
 
 
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SURPRISE, SURPRISE! ACORN Framed! http://kiav.net/?p=3168
 
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Jesus thinks you're a jerk
 
I'm not black, but there's a whole lot of times I wish I could say I'm not white: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Oj0-splZw&feature=player_embedded
 
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The Taxi Ride To Hell

The British continue to investigate their path into the Iraq War.

The Guardian:

An Iraqi taxi driver may have been the source of the discredited claim that Saddam Hussein could unleash weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, a Tory MP claimed today.

Adam Holloway, a defence specialist, said MI6 obtained information indirectly from a taxi driver who had overheard two Iraqi military commanders talking about Saddam's weapons.

The 45-minute claim was a key feature of the dossier about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction that was released by Tony Blair in September 2002. Blair published the information to bolster public support for war.

And this claim received banner headlines in Britain. It also was of significant value to those promoting the war in the United States. In fact, it was that same month that Bush first made the claim that Iraq could launch a WMD in as little as 45 minutes. And the traditional media played right along.

Glenn Greenwald: http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014619.php

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Poor, uneducated, obese, and religious

What a horrible, sad waste of a life: Tillmon Webb injured his knee, couldn't afford to get it treated, and sat in a recliner for 8 months, praying for healing. His saintly (and I don't mean that in a complimentary sense) wife tended to him as he rotted to death in the chair.

"He read his Bible daily, he spent his full focus on God," said Webb. "And he was literally waiting and praying for a Job miracle. If anybody knows the Bible and knows Job, he really and fully believed that God was going to heal him just like he did Job, because he said he couldn't think of a better testimony to go out and to tell people."

I think two lives were wasted here. His wife took care of this suffering lump for 8 months — he didn't even get up to use the bathroom, and the neighbors didn't know she even had a husband — and this is her response after his death:

"If I feel anything right now, it's envy for him because I wish he had taken me with him," said Webb.

"Popular religious belief is caused by dysfunctional social conditions." Their piety didn't save them and didn't alleviate their pain or their desperate conditions — it made them worse.

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Thanks for this, Sage!

"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after two days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize that it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of the many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard." 

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Sarah Palin's climate change op ed causes controversy

I'll join in too. What are Palin's credentials for having anything to say at all on Climate Change? She's not the leader of the Republican party. She's not even a politician anymore. So, other than being a proven intellectual lightweight who wants to be president, what credentials does she have for the Washington Post to accept an op ed from her on this topic?

And another thing. I know for a fact that the Washington Post has published ghost written op eds in the past. But I'm not aware of them ever having published one that didn't at least pass the laugh test of credibility. Does anyone in their right mind actually believe for a moment that Sarah Palin knows the difference between the Chinese and Indian climate change proposals? Get real.

Much more over at Huffington Post.
 
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Corporate whores

All of them.

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The IRS is now auditing people for the crime of being too poor. What they are doing is guessing how much it costs to live in a certain area and if you are poorer than that that, well, you must be cheating. So they will audit you. They will audit your relatives. They will audit the dirty old man who lives down the street.

For yes, Virginia, it is now a tax crime to be poor. The IRS won't go after the really rich, because they can afford top-flight tax lawyers to fight off the IRS. So they go after the people who are too poor to fight back.

Attacking the poor for being poor: Is Bush back in the White House? Did he sneak back in and change the locks? Will someone please take a look and let me know?
 
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Cheney (R-war criminal) accuses Obama of treason: http://www.mockpaperscissors.com/?p=27089
 
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Michelle Bachmann speaks ....
 
"I'm a lovable little fuzz ball!"
 
.........and and confuses the word fuzz for the word nut.
 
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How the right wing manufactured climate gate: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/09/climategate-swift/
 
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MARK SANFORD WILL NOT GET IMPEACHED FOR SEXING: "A House panel has voted against a resolution impeaching Gov. Mark Sanford for abandoning his duties and abuse of power, all but closing the door on lawmakers removing Sanford from office." Good. Sanford is terrible but shouldn't be impeached or forced to resign for having a very comical affair. And liberals shouldn't say "no no, it's because he used state funds for his trip!" because that sounds an awful lot like, "no no, it's because he lied about his affair before a grand jury!" The State