What happened? Is everybody suddenly tongue tied?

Thank you, Michael.

McClatchy
Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq-Monday 7 April 2008

Baghdad

- Around 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. two roadside bombs targeted Iraqi police vehicles in Zayouna injuring 5 policemen and 5 civilians in both attacks.

- Around 9 a.m. a mortar shell hit the Green Zone.

- Around 2 p.m. a roadside bomb targeted a police vehicle in Al Mashtal injuring 5 policemen.

- Two mortar shells hit the air force soccer club in Palestine Street, causing no casualties.

- Clashes between Mahdi army militiamen and the Iraqi army in Sadr city took place today; Iraqi police said and gave no figures for the casualties.

- Around 3 p.m. three mortar shells targeted the Green Zone, one hit Karrada neighborhood injuring two civilians and two hit inside the Green Zone. - Around 4 p.m. two mortar shells hit the Green Zone.

- Around 5 p.m. a mortar shell hit the cars' parking area in the ministry of foreign affairs causing damages to three parking cars with no casualties.

- Around 5:30 p.m. three mortar shells hit Al Rustamiyah military camp. Minutes later the sources of fire were targeted in Al Ameen neighborhood east of Baghdad, killing 9 civilians and injuring 31, Iraqi police said. No military reepsonse was available by the time of publication of this report.

- A fire in Al Eatiman bank building in Saadon started yesterday night.

- Police found four dead bodies throughout Baghdad, one in Baladiyat, one in Jisr Diyala, one in Amil and one in Dora.

Basra

- Seven men were killed in Al Asdiqa neighborhood (5 miles north of Basra) as an explosion took place in their house.

- A roadside bomb targeted the convoy of General Abdul Kareem Khalf, the spokesman of the ministry of interior, in Al Nashwa area (about 37 miles north of Basra) injuring four body guards.

Diyala

- A roadside bomb targeted an army vehicle in Al Bu Khamis area (about 8 miles south of Baquba) killing one soldier and injuring another.
--------------------------------------------------

Is this the return to normalcy McCain was talking about?

Normalcy has been defined by a historian (P. Massie) as "The good old days that never were."

GREENSBORO, GEORGIA - April 7 - In a letter sent today to the Greene County School District, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Georgia requested that the school district make public any and all plans to segregate Greene County schools by sex. The request - made under Georgia's Open Records Act - includes all policies, memoranda, letters, emails, directives, minutes, handbooks, and all other documents in the school district's possession from the past two years addressing sex-segregation.

I would hope also that the ladies/girls will be able to pick out the color of their burkas too.

Posted by TMH on April 7, 2008 at 03:40 PM

I'll answer your question why you still have to pay a copay or coinsurance on top of the premium you pay.

One reason is the cost of procedure is not always covered entirely by the premiums paid out. There isn't just one fund with your name on it, your money is in a larger pool that goes to pay the extraordinary expenses of other insureds---some non-insureds as well.

Another reason is to provide incentive to the insured to use their health benefit wisely. Plans that pay 100% with no copays are typically the plans that are over-utilized by insureds that will go in if they happen to sneeze. Now if you have a choice of paying 20 dollars for that visit or using to buy a quarter tank of gas, you may think twice about running off to the doctor's office when it is not necessary.

Just like everything in life, there are good insurance companies and bad ones. I just hope that people do not throw the baby out with the bathwater on a subject that is no important.

McCain Still Flip-Flopping On Whether To Rescue Homeowners

It’s hard to know whether McCain supports the Democratic plan to help struggling homeowners by guaranteeing more affordable, refinanced mortgages against default.

Two weeks ago, McCain economic advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin derided the idea as “throwing money at problems” and said it had “the potential to do more harm than good.”

Last week Holtz-Eakin reversed himself, saying that the proposal reflected McCain’s principles and McCain might support it.

But yesterday McCain said he does not support the bill after all, according to Laura Meckler of the Wall Street Journal.

Am I the only one confused?

Am I the only one confused?

Posted by Cubilist on April 7, 2008 at 04:34 PM

Yes. The rest of us are in favor of being against resisting confusion.

Posted by GregL on April 7, 2008 at 04:47 PM

That was the last line of the article. Not mine.

Ok, then we all resist being for confusion when we aren't against it.

Well, I don't buy that hang nail theory, but I do believe in well care visits every 6 months or annual. You still have to pay a co-pay for them, so that doesn't hold water.

IMHO, it was not just NAFTA that drove our businesses over seas, but also the high cost of health care they had to pay for their employees. Like I said before, there is a big disparity between what a company pays out per employee and what the employee actually has in his take-home pay. Much of that is Insurance costs.

I also believe there are a few indicators that if the price on them go up then the price on everything goes up.

They are:
Gas Prices
Utility Prices
Minimum Wage
and Insurance Premiums

Gas prices are through the roof right now and we see the effects on the truck drivers, airlines, and shipping. The end result is food prices rising, along with all products that have to travel a distance to get to market.

Utilities are not rising that bad, but they were a few years ago with the rolling black outs in california and back east. But after Reagan deregulated the utility industry and privatized BPA and TVA and the like, (which provided subsidized utilities for manufactures and other businesses that used a lot of power.) Utility prices jumped and drove the prices on all manufactured good to rise.

Minimum Wage - everyone who earns a wage above the minimum wage takes a pay cut and the Cost of Living is driven up. Instead of raising minimum wage we need to control prices so people can actually pay their bills and live on minimum wage. Regardless of if a company pays minimum wage to its employees or not, the company raises its prices. Its called greed.

And finally Insurance - Companies need to offset the premiums they are paying to insurance companies by raising the price of their good or service. This has been choking businesses, small and large for years, and as a result have driven the price on everything up.

So, insurance is a problem that is part of a bigger picture that we need to get a handle on. If we control these four industries then we can keep costs down and help people survive and live a decent life.

Its not just insurance that has me outraged, it is many different industries working to make it harder for people to survive.

In Superdelegate Count, Tough Math for Clinton

The hill that Hillary Rodham Clinton must climb to beat Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination will grow a little steeper on Monday, as it has most days lately.

Margaret Campbell, a Montana state legislator, plans to declare her support for Senator Obama, of Illinois. She becomes the 69th superdelegate he has picked up since the Feb. 5 coast-to-coast string of primary elections and caucus votes.

In the same period, Senator Clinton, of New York, has seen a net loss of two superdelegates, according to figures from the Obama campaign that Clinton aides do not dispute. That erosion may dim Mrs. Clinton’s remaining hopes even more than internal campaign turmoil, which led to the ouster on Sunday of the campaign’s chief strategist, Mark Penn.

Posted by GregL on April 7, 2008 at 04:56 PM

I was all for it before I was against it... :)

New Poll: Slim Clinton Lead Disappears in PA

April 7 -- With 15 days to go before the Pennsylvania primary, results of a new poll by the American Research Group shows Senator Barack Obama has shored up Clinton's lead among likely Democratic voters in Pennsylvania. As of April 6, the two candidates were tied at 45% each. Clinton's lead has dropped 7 points since March 8.

Kathy, my 4th grader wrote a persuasive letter for class on why gender segregation was good and it convinced me. I opposed enforced segregation, however, if my daughter wanted to be in an all girl class, I would support her.

Given some of the conversations here in recent weeks, I thought I'd share this link.

If you work with all the current players in this tangled system we now have, we will have a better chance in solving the problems and coming up with a WORKABLE solution.

Posted by BlueinIdaho on April 7, 2008 at 03:09 PM
====================================================

To my knowledge, only three models produce decent results:

1) Single payer model where there are no insurance companies. Canadian is an example.

2) Highly regulated multi-payer where there are insurance companies but their premiums, copays and rules on what's covered must stick to government regulation. German system is an example.

3) Nationalized health care where there are no insurance companies and doctors are government employees. Britain is an example.

Then, there is the dysfunctional, patch work US "non-system". No one else in the world is trying to do it the way we are doing it. Maybe that's why we are getting bad results despite pouring more money than anyone else into health care.

Posted by rjsnj on April 7, 2008 at 05:10 PM

That would be my understanding as well. Your second example would be the closest to what is currently provided to governmental employees and was proposed by John Kerry in 2004.

Your second example would be the closest to what is currently provided to governmental employees and was proposed by John Kerry in 2004.

Posted by BlueinIdaho on April 7, 2008 at 05:16 PM
===================================================

Blue, agreed! It's also closet to what Clinton / Obama propose though they seem to be limiting it to only those who can't get insurance probably due to pre-existing conditions. It's also a fairly common option. Many systems in the world are in fact hybrids of a government pool along with regulated insurance pools.

Just wanted to say,
when someone tells me..."If my candidate doesn't win, I'm contributing money and voting for McCain," it makes my eyes blur with anger.
It makes me livid.
I want to shake the person and ask "WHAT THE F&*% ARE YOU THINKING?"

People like that will destroy our country by putting us on the same path for 4 more years.

How much longer can America sustain its current trajectory until we're no longer the greatest, most powerful nation in the world?

How many years?

4?

8?

No matter the outcome, I'm voting for OUR candidate. I'm voting for progress, not regress. I'm voting for security, not the illusion of security.

I'm voting for a Democrat.

How much longer can America sustain its current trajectory until we're no longer the greatest, most powerful nation in the world?

Brahahahaha...have you looked at any Global Polls with regard to quality of life, education, finance, investment, debt, poverty, human rights?

We are a very long way from being the greatest, most powerful nation in the world.

However..if there were a poll for "Boasting" how fucking wonderful we are..we'd win that hands down, head of the class, number one, numero uno, king of the kids.

Oh,, forgot...we have more nukes than anyone so we can blow the whole effin' planet up.

Guess that's power?? Right??

Good afternoon, all.

I would hope also that the ladies/girls will be able to pick out the color of their burkas too.

Posted by Kathy_from_Indiana on April 7, 2008 at 04:10 PM

Kathy,

Once they start telling you where you can go and not go, you might as well wear a prison uniform?

Posted by Veneita on April 7, 2008 at 05:05 PM

Venita,

With the bullying I've seen going on among tween girls, I think it might be good to keep the boys in the mix just to keep them all honest?

While girls tend to excel in a one sex environment, it later comes back to hurt them because the boys assume it's because girls can't compete. Imho, segregating girls from boys in school only makes men in later life think women do not belong in the workplace as equals.

It sets up a mentality that The Girls are good enough to excel in "nurturing" professions like medicine or education but not strong enough to compete with The Boys in "harball" professions like law or business.

How do I know? Been there done that.

If it wasn't for the civil rights movement, women would not be going to college with career plans...they would be going there looking for husbands because there would be no doors open for them when they graduate.

Your daughter has no idea what she is setting herself up for when she grows up if all schools were segregated. It took affirmative action and Title IX just to put women on the playing field...much less level it.

You have to put these things into perspective sometimes for younger women by reminding them of the history. There is a great reading program being used by PE teachers to do just that.

Posted by JKAR on April 7, 2008 at 05:22 PM

Last night I bit the head of my bro-in-law and spit it back at him. He's voting for Mcsame. He gave me some F-word channel talking point as to why: he's a war hero. Well so the F-ck was John Kerry but that didn't stop him from trashing Kerry and all the rest of the purple heart recipient vietnam vets back in 2004! Of course, he hadn't heard McNut's recording of Barbara Ann (bomb iran), nor had he heard that he is a leech on the back of his rich wife. A wife, I added, that couldn't help but raid her own nonprofit company to feed her drug habit. A wife, I added, that he managed to sweep up after leaving his first wife while she was ill. He also didn't know that McNut supported choice before he was against it; was seriously challenged as to the current state of Iraq or Iran and had to be corrected by Liebernut.

I called him out as the hypocrite, koolaid drinker that he is and encouraged him to start doing his homework before he makes yet another mistake. Someday he'll be more accurate than a broken clock, but apparently 2008 is not the time for it.

Kristen - good news! Sooo - will we be calling the newest Democrat Hillary or Barack?

Posted by Kathy_from_Indiana on April 7, 2008 at 01:58 PM

LOL! We named Tristan, so no little Baracks or Hillarys running around our house.

Posted by Kristen on April 7, 2008 at 06:06 PM

I sense a rhyme coming up...:)

Again, congratulations!

Have a great nite Dems.

Senator Nelson of Florida is at it again. He gave an interview today from his WPB office. He threatened a bloody fight on the convention floor in Denver if they do not get their way.

Bill Nelson: "There could be “blood all over the floor” in Denver " Video included.

Please, Bill, just hush.

How much longer can America sustain its current trajectory until we're no longer the greatest, most powerful nation in the world?
==============================================

There are lots of ways you can be great and powerful. Conservatives such as McCain have corrupted Americans into thinking it's all about money and military force. They are wrong!

It's all about ideals and a nation's commitment to them.

Saving Captain McCain Hotlist
by smintheus
Mon Apr 07, 2008 at 05:27:20 PM PDT

The traditional media's insipid love affair with John McCain reached new depths this weekend when a CNN reporter rushed to his defense against...wait for it...a high school student who "heckled" him by asking a question.

It was all started by that awful, horrible Katelyn Halldorson. You'll remember that bad-girl Katelyn grabbed a microphone or something and, like, flamed John to his face at his old private high school in Virginia.

"I think judging by the amount of press representatives here and also by the integration of your previous political endorsements in your earlier personal narrative, we can see that this isn't completely absent – er political motivation isn't completely absent," she said. "Yet we were told that this isn't a political event. So what exactly is your purpose in being here – not that I don't appreciate the opportunity, but I'd just like some clarification."

John was all like, 'Back off!'

"I knew I should have cut this thing off. This meeting is over," McCain joked, before launching into a long description of his biography tour and it's emphasis on "the values and principles that guided me, and I think a lot of this country in the past." He said he also hoped to provide voters with "a vision of how I think we need to address the challenges of the future."

McCain concluded the visit by saying, "I hope that attendance here was not compulsory...I apologize if you were unwillingly in attendance here."

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/7/153542/7787/507/491731
=================================================

McCrap!

I am McCain's "Ernest Hemingway"

I was the questioner at the January 3 Town Hall Meeting in Derry, NH, who McCain called Ernest Hemingway and who asked him what he hoped to accomplish in Iraq and how long it would take. When I pressed him for a time frame and cited George Bush's figure of fifty years, Senator McCain shocked me by saying "Maybe a hundred".

Since that time his remark has been repeated thousands of times in the press, on political talk shows, by columnists, commentators, and by the Democratic candidates. There are music videos commemorating his words, and you can buy T-Shirts displaying the quote.

Needless to say, Democrats have had a field day with that sound bite. I'm wondering, where's my cut?

Now, three months later, McCain partisans are regretting the candor of their candidate, and in a full-court press, are claiming that McCain's opponents have mischaracterized his remarks.

In Check Point: McCain Said '100'; Opponents Latch On, Kate Phillips reported in the March 27 New York Times that McCain spokesman Steve Schmidt complains that, "There is a deliberate misrepresentation of the statement" by Clinton, Obama, and the DNC.

In Foes target McCain's 100-year war remark, Brian C. Mooney wrote April 2 in the Boston Globe that "McCain and Republicans say that [Senator Barack] Obama is trying to 'swindle voters' with 'dishonest smears'."

Charles Krauthammer, in his March 28 column, went much further, and declared hysterically, "It's seldom that you see such a dirty lie." One has to wonder what planet he's been on these last seven years!

Now the Manchester Union-Leader has joined the chorus with its Sunday, April 6 editorial, McCain's '100 Years': the Democrat's war on the truth.

While splitting hairs over the meaning of campaign rhetoric, all ignore the fact that McCain advocates an open-ended presence in Iraq, and the consequences that would follow from such a commitment.

McCain's words left little room for interpretation. By saying that he was fine with staying in Iraq for 100 years, he made clear his commitment to staying the course and, further, to remaining in Iraq for years after the country is pacified, assuming that's ever possible.

Everyone who was there that night got it: we weren't getting out anytime soon.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-tiffany/mccain-told-me-100-years_b_95522.html

=================================================

McCrap and the lying right wing conservative pundits, shills, hacks and trolls can't change what he said - several times. McCrap loves war. He is campaigning on a promise of more wars.

McCain ... worse than Bush

'Surge' Protectors: The Media's 2nd Greatest Failure

by Greg Mitchell

With Gen. David Petraeus due to testify before Congress on Tuesday -- and presumably give himself another "A" for his handling of the war in Iraq -- it is worth pointing out that the media, just as in the run-up to the war, is complicit in the "surge" debacle. Back in early January 2007, I may have been the first in print to label the media "surge protectors" at Editor & Publisher. The media's performance in the days before Bush announced the surge was their single greatest failing since the war began more than five years ago.

For two months before that, I had been warning that Bush was bent on sending more troops to Iraq, but pundits and editorialists didn't seem very alarmed about the prospect, even though it promised to be one of the true (not fake) "turning points" in the war -- perhaps #1 at that. If the war didn't belong to the press and pundits before, it sure did after that (as I outline in my new book on Iraq and the media).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/surge-protectors-the-medi_b_95436.html

==================================================

The surge is a lie and a failure.

McCain is a failure.

What a hilarious speech he made today. Absolutely hilarious delusional dribble. I am glad McCain is flapping his jaws. Everytime he makes a speech, he makes an ass out of himself.

McCain ... worse than Bush.

John McCain’s Iraq speech interrupted with news of attacks on the Green Zone.
By: John Amato @ 1:01 PM - PDT

This is like an instant replay from our March 24th post. “McCain’s Iraq victory speech interrupted by reports of violence in Iraq“

MSNBC cuts away as McCain is delivering his usual pro-war Iraq speech and as he talks about leadership—MSNBC breaks into a news report that says at least 4 mortars were shot into Baghdad’s green zone.

McCAIN: Faced with the prospect of defeat, we had two fundamental choices. We could retreat from Iraq and accept the horrible consequences of our defeat. Or we could change strategies and try to turn things around. It was, I believe, a critical moment in our nation’s history, and a time of testing for our nation’s political leadership.

In the year that has passed, our nation showed its strength –

MSNBC: And speaking of Iraq, we do have breaking news out of Iraq, where at least four mortars have been fired into the heavily-fortified Green Zone today. It’s unclear at this time if there are casualties or any major damage. Now the news comes just a day after five U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq. Two, again, inside that Green Zone…read on

You see a pattern here, don’t you? I wonder if the insurgents will ultimately stage a huge assault on the green zone as the Maliki/Sadr situation worsens.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/07/john-mccains-iraq-speech-interrupted-with-news-of-attacks-on-the-green-zone/

McCrap!

Same bull as Bush.

60 Minutes: Gov. Siegelman challenges Rove to testify under oath
By: SilentPatriot @ 12:01 PM - PDT

There’s a reason why programs like “60 Minutes” win Peabody Awards. Less than 2 months after airing a story exposing the politically motivated conviction of former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman — yes, we now have political prisoners in this country — Scott Pelley sits down with a newly-released Siegelman, who has some serious questions he wants Karl Rove to answer under oath before the Judiciary Committee.

video_wmv Download | Play video_mov Download | Play

CBS:

“What we need is Karl Rove to get himself over to the Judiciary Committee and put his hand on a Bible and take an oath and give testimony. And he can either tell the truth or take the Fifth. Either one will satisfy me.”

Many of us in the blogosphere were relentless in covering this case. We should all be proud of ourselves. Something tells me the Judiciary Committee is gonna have a hard time getting Turd Blossom’s hand on that Bible.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/07/60-minutes-gov-siegelman-challenges-rove-to-testify-under-oath/

===============================================

Fascist Rove should be arrested.

John McCain: A "Genuine Prospect For Success" Hotlist
by BarbinMD
Mon Apr 07, 2008 at 05:45:42 PM PDT

Today John McCain called Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton "reckless"...four times, as a matter of fact...for promising to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. Said McCain:

There is no doubt about the basic reality in Iraq: we are no longer staring into the abyss of defeat, and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success.

In the past two days, 10 more U.S. soldiers have been killed, bringing the death toll among our troops to 4,023. And with a President John McCain we can expect another 100 years of this kind of success.

===============================================

McCrap!

Full of it just like Bush.

WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has stopped telling a story of a pregnant woman's medical tragedy after an Ohio hospital challenged its accuracy last weekend.
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But recent accounts of the episode have omitted key details that suggest there was more truth in the essence of Clinton's tale than her critics, and even her presidential campaign, have acknowledged.

Since early March, the New York senator has often told campaign audiences a heartbreaking story of a young Ohio woman who began having problems with her pregnancy. She said the woman was twice turned away by a local hospital because she had no health insurance and could not pay a $100 minimum charge.

Clinton, who advocates health coverage for all Americans, put it this way in Terre Haute, Ind., on March 20:

"I'll tell you a quick story that I heard in Ohio when I was campaigning there," she said. "A deputy sheriff told me about a young woman who worked at the pizza parlor there and she worked for minimum wage, she didn't have any insurance. She got pregnant, went to the hospital — and I don't blame the hospital. The hospital said, 'We can't take any more charity care. You have to give us $100 before we can examine you.' She didn't have $100. Went back another time, they told her the same thing."

Sen. Clinton said the woman returned a third time "in an ambulance. And they worked hard to stabilize her, and she lost her baby. Then they airlifted her to Columbus to the medical center, and for 15 days they tried to save her life, and she died."

THE SPIN:

Because Clinton never named the woman or the hospital, the story generated only gasps and tears at campaign stops. But on April 3, The Washington Post named the woman, Trina Bachtel, 35, of Middleport, Ohio, who died last August. The Daily Sentinel, a paper published in nearby Pomeroy, Ohio, cited Bachtel's name the next day.

With the patient's name now publicized locally and nationally, officials at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio, feared their facility would be falsely accused. Bachtel was indeed treated in August at O'Bleness, where her baby was stillborn. But Bachtel was never refused treatment there, and she even had medical insurance, the officials told The New York Times in a story published Saturday.

"We implore the Clinton campaign to immediately desist from repeating this story," Rick Castrop, chief executive officer of the O'Bleness Health System," told the Times.

Media outlets and political Web sites began criticizing Clinton for retelling the unsubstantiated story. By Saturday night, Clinton's campaign said she would drop it from her speeches.

"Candidates are told stories by people all the time, and it's common for candidates to retell those stories," said campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee. "In this case, we tried but weren't able to fully vet the story."

THE FACTS:

Clinton said she heard the story from Meigs County Deputy Sheriff Bryan Holman during a visit to Pomeroy, before the March 4 Ohio primary.

In a March 26 phone interview with The Associated Press, Holman said he had told Clinton the story in essentially the same way she was retelling it in her speeches. He said he knew the Bachtel story only second hand, and lacked several details.

The AP then spoke with Bachtel's aunt, Susie Casto of Middleport, who helped raise the woman. She said Bachtel, who worked at a pizza parlor, did in fact have health insurance when she and her baby died.

But at an earlier time, Casto said, Bachtel lacked health insurance and ran up unpaid bills when treated at a clinic near her home in Middleport. When she returned for treatment when pregnant, the clinic demanded $100 per visit to help retire the outstanding debt, Casto said. Because Bachtel could not afford the fees and found it difficult to travel, her aunt said, she postponed receiving treatment.

Bachtel eventually went to O'Bleness, about 30 miles to the north, for attention.

Casto declined to name the clinics or hospitals involved, and said she felt medical professionals did all they could to save Bachtel and her unborn child.

Pomeroy has about 2,000 residents and two medical clinics. One is affiliated with O'Bleness, the other is the Holzer Clinic, part of a nine-facility chain.

O'Bleness Health System spokeswoman Lynn Anastos said Monday that Bachtel was not a patient at their Pomeroy facility and "she would not have been turned away for lack of payment" if she had sought treatment there.

Holzer associate administrator Jim Blevins said his company has no record of Bachtel being a patient for the past five years. About half of Holzer's patients are "charity cases," he said, and the company tries to work out payment schedules with those who fall behind on their bills.

In some cases, Blevins said, Holzer clinics place "credit restrictions" on patients believed to be able but unwilling to pay their bills. That would not apply to patients needing immediate or emergency care, he said.

Clinton erred in telling audiences that the Ohio woman lacked insurance when seeking help for her troubled pregnancy. But according to Casto's account, Bachtel's medical tragedy began with circumstances very close to the essence of Clinton's now-abandoned account: the lack of insurance created a $100 barrier to needed medical attention close to home.

Flashpoint

Democrats cry reverse racism By Brendan McLaughlin

South Carolina and Nevada were allowed to hold their primaries before February 5th because the high percentage of blacks and Hispanics in those states helped compensate for the pasty complexion of Iowa and New Hampshire. 

That's the basis for an amended legal filing planned by Tampa Democratic activist, Victor Dimaio and attorney Michael Steinberg who are suing to have Florida's entire Democratic delegation seated at the National Convention in Denver this summer.   DiMaio's original lawsuit claimed the DNC's punishment of Florida violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, but that suit was kicked back by the federal appeals court in Atlanta.  Steinberg had a brainstorm when he read discovery papers in a similar lawsuit filed by Senator Bill Nelson that showed the DNC put South Carolina and Nevada's primary dates ahead of 46 other states to give minorities more of a voice in the nominating process. Since the DNC receives federal money to hold their convention, the party is subject to federal civil rights law.

What an interesting turn of the worm. Sometime next week, we may have democrats suing democrats for carrying out a very democratic policy of advancing minorities.  Steinberg and DiMaio acknowledge with a grin  that their reverse racism accusation will ruffle feathers, but hope the conservative judiciary will be delighted to strike a blow against affirmative action and rule in their favor. Their only objective, they claim,  is to see  all of Florida's delegates seated based on the January 31st primary election.

This is a long read, but, a very worth while one.

Please pay particular attention to the decline in the dollar vrs the increase in the price of oil. Speculators and oil producers raping the public and Washington allows it! The oil producing states say that because of the decline in the dollar, they should get more for their oil. But look at how much more they're getting. Legalized rape of our people and our economy, the blueprint for the destruction of our country to reduce us to a third world country. And the Bushies are allowing it to happen!

Breaking News from MoneyNews.com

There's No Such Thing as a Gas or Oil Shortage

First the good news: Automotive expert Ed Wallace says there's no gasoline or oil shortage in the U.S. today and near-record reserves are on hand.

Now the bad news: Not only has the congressional mandate for ethanol jacked up the price of food, but Washington, Wall Street and fuel producers all want you to think the gas and oil shortage they keep talking about is real.

Washington, Wallace says, appears to be protecting oil speculators and ethanol producers rather than the interests of U.S. citizens who will ultimately pay higher prices for food and U.S. farmers, who are already staggering under increased animal feed costs.

Just one example: Pilgrim's Pride, the country’s largest poultry processor, recently announced it must lay off 1,100 employees, close one processing plant and six of its 13 distribution centers, all because its costs for chicken feed went up $600 million last year and was on track to increase by even more this year.

"They see speculation in the market, I see decline in global inventories,” Energy Secretary Sam Bodman told Bloomberg, adding that pushing up the prices of corn and animal feed for farmers is "nowhere near as important as trying to relieve pressure on [gasoline] supplies.”

The fact is, Wallace counters, that U.S. gasoline reserves are at their highest levels since the 1990s and have risen steadily since last October and oil reserves have gone up virtually every week this year.

That’s pretty amazing when you consider refineries have been scaling back production as their profit margins decline.

According to Valero Energy CEO Bill Klesse, poor margins in recent months caused Valero to cancel planned refinery expansions that would have produced 500,000 more barrels per day.

"Refiners cut gasoline production, yet gasoline reserves have grown to their largest since late 1992,” Wallace comments. "Why is Washington insisting there’s a supply and demand problem when none exists, and that speculators aren’t responsible for the rapid oil and gasoline price rises when it’s clear that they are?”

Gas prices continue to rise even though petroleum usage has been declining since last July.

The U.S. used 4 percent less petroleum this January than in January 2007. Oil demand dropped by 3.2 percent in February. Worldwide oil production rose 3.5 percent during the first quarter — outstripping growth in worldwide demand by 1.5 percent — and is expected to increase by 3.3 percent during the second quarter by as much as 4.1 percent during the third.

Investment in oil futures, Wallace notes, has risen from $9 billion in 2000 to $250 billion today. Any publicly traded company with $241 billion more share investment would see its value soar even if it had no where near that much in market cap.

In addition, even though the dollar has dropped 30 percent since 2002, the price of oil has risen by 500 percent.

"Is it the weak dollar that has caused a 500 percent increase in the price of oil, or is it the extra $241 billion worth of speculation?” Wallace asks. "You can make the call on that one.”

good morning. its spring finally in the northeast!

good stuff coming to new york city at the end of may:

Coming to New York, a Science Event for the Masses
By DENNIS OVERBYE
Published: April 3, 2008
Vowing to make New York City the center of the scientific universe — as it is for commerce, art and expensive dining — a panel of university presidents, Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein of New York, the actor Alan Alda, the Columbia physicist Brian Greene and a Muppet announced plans on Wednesday for a World Science Festival to be held here at the end of May.

“The most exciting city in the world is going to be a little more exciting,” Mr. Alda said at a news conference at New York University.

From May 28 through June 1, festival organizers say, the canyons of the city will be alive with the sound of science. Biologists will discuss the perils and promises of humans’ knowing their own genetic codes. Quantum physicists will debate the nature of reality. Neuroscientists will ponder the mysteries of creativity. The Abyssinian Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir will serenade scientists to demonstrate the effects of music on the brain.

The festival, the first of what is expected to be an annual event, is the brainchild of Dr. Greene, and his companion, Tracy Day, a former Emmy Award-winning television producer. They said they were concerned that the public was missing out on the excitement and relevance of science...

science is mankind's mother

i am glad sally feels it's work is done here. bye sally.

meanwhile back in the state of reality we find states having to sue to get the bush administration to do anything other than abdicate it's various responsibilities:

17 states sue to force EPA to respond to Supreme Court ruling on global warming
BOSTON – A group of state attorneys general is taking the EPA back to court to try to force it to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that rebuked the Bush administration for inaction on global warming.

The high court decided a year ago that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to take action.

But 16 states and others say in a court filing Wednesday that the EPA has not issued a decision on regulation. Their court filing seeks to compel the EPA to act within 60 days.

An EPA spokesman has not responded to a call seeking comment.

...i guess all current agency heads are polishing up those resumes as they will shortly be OUT ON THEIR ASSES!

McCain Plays Down Temper

John McCain has brushed aside suggestions that his well-known quick temper could interfere with his ability to serve as president.

The Republican nominee-in-waiting admitted that he can get angry on occasion, but he told CNN’s Dana Bash that was a “very minor thing” compared to his achievements in Congress.

“My leadership qualities required an even temper and those abilities to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats for the good of my constituents and the country are clear indications that that’s a very minor thing as compared to my record of accomplishment,” he said.

McCain also said he believes voters will expect him to get angry from time to time.

“When I see corruption in Washington, when I see wasting [of] tax dollars, when I see people behaving badly — they expect me to get angry, and I will get angry,” he told Bash.

McCain has been dubbed "Senator Hothead" by more than one publication, and he’s lashed out in anger at fellow Republican Senators on several occasions.

Last year he dropped the “f” word on Texas Sen. John Cornyn during a discussion of an immigration bill, and he has also hurled epithets at Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici.

McCain quickly apologized to Cornyn, who endorsed McCain’s presidential bid in February.

Morning JohnBoy and gregg,

It's dry as hell here and cool. We have fire warning with winds almost every day.

According to the Constitution we are guaranteed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Now that the fascist bush crime family has taken away our liberty and happiness, what's left.

I am extremely unhappy with the way my country has been run into into the ground. Every morning I wake up with a feeling of gloom and hear that the price of gasoline is going higher and higher.

the bush crime family has failed America completely and must pay for their crimes.

Good morning all

In addition, even though the dollar has dropped 30 percent since 2002, the price of oil has risen by 500 percent.

How do you feel about that, Johne?

"Healthcare NOT Warfare"
February 29, 2008

As PDA board member Norman Solomon pointed out in this article, “nearly one in six Americans has no health insurance, and tens of millions of others are woefully under-insured--while the war in Iraq continues to further skew the U.S. government's budget priorities.”

We say “Healthcare NOT Warfare” and ask you to join our campaign.

The time has come to redirect unnecessary and wasteful military spending to meeting human needs.

Among those needs is the healthcare crisis and we're focusing our attention on the Democratic Party by gathering signatures on a petition to prioritize "Healthcare NOT Warfare." The signed petition will be distributed to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democratic Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and your member of Congress.

In addition, we hope to pass resolutions to support “Healthcare NOT Warfare” at the upcoming local, state, and national Democratic conventions, and in cities, counties, and states across the country.
Please, sign the petition, and join us in this effort by taking action on one or more of the following items:

https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/309/default.asp?formid=healthpet

wait until the war is over and we're both a little older:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four U.S. soldiers were killed in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday in three incidents, according to the U.S. military.

One soldier died from wounds suffered when a roadside bomb stuck his vehicle in Baghdad at about 9:30 p.m. Monday, the U.S. military said.

Two soldiers were killed by a rocket-propelled grenade attack at about 6 p.m., the military said.

Another soldier was killed by small-arms fire after his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device during a patrol in eastern Baghdad earlier Monday, the military said.

Fighting between U.S. troops and Shiite militiamen in eastern Baghdad has intensified in recent days.

The deaths bring the U.S. death toll in the Iraq war to 4,024.

...bush will have the good general cranking the lie machine in congress today...will our candidates ask tough questions or hide out in the bathrooms?

Morning rj,

Our founding fathers did not intend us to live under constant fear of bankruptcy and war. Our leaders are supposed to lead us into the light and not the depths of depression.

JohnBoy,

I think it is downright criminal that the value of the Dollar has dropped 30 percent and the price of gasolie has increased 500 percent.

How much more can the American people take before they wake up and get rid of these neocons.

bush yesterday was comisserating about the price of gasoline. "Gee, the price of gas has really gone up. Then there was silence." He doesn't give a fuck and doesn't have a clue as to how to fix the Dollar or the price of gasoline. He's got his.

You would think that this country would know by now never to elect a bush or relative of the bush`s to any office ever again! What is wrong with the people in this country? Enough! w can`t move to Paraguay fast enough for my liking.

Our founding fathers did not intend us to live under constant fear of bankruptcy and war.
=================================================

Hi JE,

That's precisely what FDR realized and why Democrats had to reverse the odious policies of the early 20th century Republicans. Time for Democrats to be Democrats has come again and the time for the GOP to go away is way past due.

Let's get rid of these GOP fascists.

Reject McCain ... same as Bush.

RJ, Petition signed

The continued manipulation of oil prices contributes to our trade deficit, allows the oil producing states to loot our treasury, weaken our country and use our own stolen dollars to come back and buy assets "on the cheap" here and to loan hough amounts of our own money back to Wall Street firms (Merrill Lynch, for example) through so-called "Sovereign Wealth Funds"

JohnBoy,

Some creep from Exxon was on the radio yesterday blaming the price of oil on the American people. We use too much and should conserve.

The problem is that the fucking necons don't give a shit and will not dictate mileage standards to the car manufacturers. It all started with that Asshole raygun. "People have a right to have the biggest car and the biggest gas hog if they want and no body can tell them otherwise. Fuck them, we are neocons."

If we had started down the road to fuel efficient autos during the Asshole raygun administration, we wouldn't be in the predicament we are in today.

Screw them all.

greenspam and eggs reached in the mystic east while on an exclusive sex tour turned his riding crop to his critics:

"SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has lashed out again at his critics, saying he was being blamed unfairly for the credit crisis and that he had no regrets about decisions he took while at the helm."

"...after all if ayn rand hadn't forced me to wear those jodhpurs while i rubbed mink oil into milton friedmans bald spot as a child i never would have known what the hell a free market was anyway!!!"

he then got back on the bus and headed out for the "implements and ungulates" sex tour session.

Hardball: VoteVets Smacks Down McCain Propaganda Pitchman Hotlist
by jhutson [Subscribe]
Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 03:16:59 AM PDT

Like a carny barker hawking geek shows, peek shows, freak shows, and funhouse tickets, Vets for Freedom Executive Director Pete Hegseth patters for the Bush/McCain surge propaganda roadshow. When he's unchallenged and uninterrupted, and the rubes are all quiet and mesmerized, he's very slick. Hegseth is a veteran who served in the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq. He's a TV-ready pitchman who wears a shiny flag pin on his lapel; and he is fully committed to holding the Bush/McCain line against all facts and reason.

Last night, he met his match on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, as he faced off and fell flat at the feet of a VoteVets.org co-founder and Iraq War veteran Jon Soltz. Soltz launched into a salvo of history and histrionics that collapsed Hegseth's calm composure and trashed his talking points. When Hegseth praised the success of the surge, Soltz called it a huge failure that represented nothing more than a bugle sounding a retreat from the real culprit on the real front lines of the war on terror: Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/8/5934/53123/164/492066
=================================================

This is a beautiful thing. Tweety and a right wing pro-war mouthpiece shutdown! The reason is simple. The right wing are speaking lies. It's imploding on them.

Well folks, off to work to earn the deflated Dollars to pay for the inflated oil and necessities of life.

It's like a treadmill and people are being thrown off at an ever increasing rate.

McCain is a train wreck waiting to happen. And it's going to happen as soon as we get our nominee. BBS

Some creep from Exxon was on the radio yesterday blaming the price of oil on the American people. We use too much and should conserve.

Yeah, that is why the oil companies are posting record profits....

...will our candidates ask tough questions or hide out in the bathrooms?

Posted by gregg on April 8, 2008 at 07:49 AM

Only when the "national interest" is decoupled from "corporate interest" will this "debate" yield anything positive.

The Pentagon has been involved in an internal debate on this issue for a decade or more. And by no means is it over... If and when it spills over into the public arena remains to be seen.

The US military is no longer the enforcer of order/stabilty for the United States itself, but rather, become the global cop for hire by the rest of the industrialized countries at the behest of global corporate interests.

We have to move beyond the nation-state in our conceptualization of international relations. With the end of the Cold War the US military-industrial complex emerged as the world leader in the "art of war." This is one thing that the US "excels" at... Simply put, the US had "comparative advantage" in this arena that other countries for both historical reasons and "barriers to entry" and "opportunity costs" deterred them from attempting to challenge the US. It has become cheaper for these other countries to rent the US military and pay for its services by purchasing US debt. The recent flap between Boeing and the fuel tanker contract also makes sense in this light. It doesn't matter who builds this tanker since the "home countries" involved are all part of the same club.

Clearly, the US occupation of Iraq will raise questions in this regard, but when one considers that the control/occupation of Iraq secures both Saudi and Kuwaiti oil reserves as well as those of Iraq, 450 billion barrels [proven reserves] of oil are SECURED! This is in the strategic interests - the globalization of "free markets" and commodification of everyting from the womb to the tomb - of all the industrialized countries and their industrializing counterparts - Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

By no means has this "new world order" emerged without some birth pangs but make no mistake about it, it is here to stay... Competing global corporate interests have transcended national boundaries and the nation-state. There are proponents of this worldview in both the republican and democratic parties...

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