Photo source- The White House
Obama signs health care ‘fixes,’ student aid bill
Measure cuts banks out of the student loan business, costing them billions
How do you get 30 million Americans to sign up for health insurance? With great difficulty.
A look at how different groups will fare under the new law
Good morning. As I sipped my coffee I accumulated six stories for your inspection. Here’s what happening:
RNC fires staffer over $1,946 topless club visit
The Republican National Committee
The episode is the latest in a string of questionable spending by the RNC as Republicans prepare for a costly election season in which they hope to take dozens of House and Senate seats from Democrats.
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Fake caviar? Fight against ‘food fraud’ grows
The expensive "sheep's milk" cheese in a Manhattan market was really made from cow's milk. And a jar of "Sturgeon caviar" was, in fact, Mississippi paddlefish.
Some honey makers dilute their honey with sugar beets or corn syrup, their competitors say, but still market it as 100 percent pure at a premium price.
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Study: Magnets can alter morality
Magnets can alter a person's sense of morality, according to a new report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Using a powerful magnetic field, scientists from MIT, Harvard University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are able to scramble the moral center of the brain, making it more difficult for people to separate innocent intentions from harmful outcomes. The research could have big implications for not only neuroscientists, but also for judges and juries.
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Man fleeing Ohio police jumps fence — into prison
Police say a motorist fleeing officers in Cleveland abandoned his car and jumped a fence — landing in what turned out to be a prison yard.
Garfield Heights police say the chase started in that suburb early Monday over a traffic violation
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DNA testing emerges as weapon against cancer
Francis Collins, who helped map the human genome, did not get around to having his own genes analyzed until last summer. And he was surprised by what he learned.
Collins has a predisposition for type-2 diabetes, something he had never suspected. The lanky, former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) discovered this through tests offered by Navigenics, 23andMe and DecodeMe — companies that charge customers a few hundred dollars for a peek at their genetic makeup.
House Republican had accused 
This proves that extremists on the Left have anger issues too. People like the guy who threatened Cantor seem to believe that violence is the only answer. Make no mistake. There are extremists on both sides of the political spectrum. They’re also getting more dangerous – and bold - every day.
Rhetoric is wreaking havoc in America. Never before has the opposition to our government been so bold. There’s too many people in this country whose idea of “taking the country back” means violence. This isn’t really about political parties. It’s about a growing divide in this nation that may result in the break-up of the union. There’s no doubt that’s what the Neo Confederacy, the Neo Nazis, the Christian Cults that wear Camouflage, the Aryan Nation, the KKK, and the rest of these fringe groups want.
Try to imagine how much these extremists are enjoying watching our two main political parties batter each others with lies and rhetoric. The problem is, they’re no longer sitting on the side waiting. They’re getting motivated by national hate speech’s by both parties. Ever hear the expression: “Waving a red flag in front of a bull?” (BTW-Bulls are color blind. It’s the waving part that angers them!)
Excerpt from the Reuters article.
“WASHINGTON - U.S. authorities have arrested and charged a man with threatening to kill the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives, Eric Cantor, and his family, according to court documents filed on Monday.”
ABOVE PHOTO: House Republican Eric Cantor
The Faces of Domestic Terrorists - This is the result of inflammatory rhetoric. People start believing that our President is the Anti-Christ, and that all police and government bodies in America are working for the devil. This group is the tip of the iceberg. Don’t be surprised to see more of this kind of thing happen as Tea Baggers call for revolution and other extreme Conservative groups ramp up the hate meter.This is the kind of extremist scum that believes in the destruction of democracy to achieve their own selfish violent ends. Take a good look at them. One day it’s going to be your neighbor if things don’t change. They wanted war, but got caught before they could attack.
They also do it in the name of religion, which is really sick. When people like Sarah Palin call for the rightwing nuts to “Reload” and to “take their country back” this is the result. Mainstream Conservatives are swimming in the same pool as the militias and other radical anti-government groups these days. Unless the rhetoric is toned down, expect to see more of this kind of thing.
Eight arrested, one on the run; they allegedly plotted to attack police
From Jim Davis (Veterans-For-Change):
“As most are aware, seen on TV, in the newspapers, and from veteran sites across the country, TCE/PCE is a major issue.
TCE a chemical degreaser used on all bases and board ships is a carcinogenic chemical, and on the many military bases nationwide was disposed of into the ground behind buildings eventually contaminating the ground water and getting into the drinking wells.
Same thing with PCE which is a dry cleaning chemical used both on bases and off base nationwide, also being disposed of into the ground and eventually contaminating the ground water and getting into the drinking wells.
Most recently CNN did a broadcast show highlighting the male breast cancer cluster surrounding Camp LeJeune, North Carolina.
Personally I feel the anchor didn’t bother to do his homework very well, didn’t bring to light all the other medical issues or the families harmed by these chemicals.
There is also currently a bill in committee to award benefits, but in my humble opinion is limited in scope and restrictive to those who served at Camp LeJeune and doesn’t mention any of the 130+ bases nationwide listed on the EPA Superfund list.
Veterans-For-Change has a bill which was drafted back in February 2009 along with a petition to which we’re trying to collect at least 40,000 signatures in order to get either a Senator or Congressman to sign off and present the bill to the floor which will not only address TCE but PCE as well, and opens it up to all military, veterans and family members who served at any base where these chemicals were used and disposed of improperly thereby contaminating all who drank the water or who used the chemicals in their daily jobs.
Veterans-For-Change needs your support desperately to meet the number of signers on the petition. This is NOT an electronic petition, but a hard copy petition. We ask that everyone please go to www.veterans-for-change.com, and if you’re not a member to please subscribe, go to the documents section, then to the TCE/PCE and other Chemicals section and download the petition.
Sign and try to obtain at least 10 more signatures and mail the complete form into our California office ASAP.
Should you have any questions, please click HERE and send us an E-Mail and we’ll be more than happy to reply!
Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard
Posted: 03/28/2010 02:26:41 AM PDT
Facts can fracture foundations, but once they are exposed they can also be repaired. The current scandals involving the Roman Catholic pedophile priests in Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the United States, the Netherlands and Italy are rocking the church's credibility and stability to the core.
When Pope Benedict XVI recently sent a letter to Ireland apologizing for the chronic child abuse within the Catholic Church, after offering no help to three official Irish investigations that revealed 100 years of abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese and the rural Ferns diocese, he followed the road paved by his predecessors. Over 15,000 victims of sexual abuse by priests have been discovered thus far.
In his letter, the Pope urged priests to confess if they're child molesters, but didn't say what he'd do with them when they did. He mentioned facing the law. But whose law? The Vatican's track record with the church's pedophiles is not very reassuring. The church outright refused to help in the 2001-2009 probes that revealed the scale and longevity of the abuse suffered by Irish children throughout the 20th century.
UPDATE: Web site carrying today’s column (11:45 a.m., PST):
Wayne Seelinger: New Jersey Church Insurance Specialist
UPDATE: Former Eurekan, Kay Ebeling, shares her story of early age abuse in the Catholic Church. Go to her blog City of Angels: Action 2010 for the whole story.
An article (March 27) by her appeared in AlterNet.
Special thanks to you Kay for fighting for justice. Someday, people like you will force changes within the Catholic Church. Someday, they won’t protect pedophiles.
updated 1 hour, 9 minutes ago
He shared documents with New York Times, sees Ore. lawsuit as critical
Probably the comma left out of the computer program for NASA's Mariner I Venus probe, which resulted in the craft's destruction.
Want to know some more interesting tidbits? Go here.
MMFA President Burns: "Glenn Beck Is The Single Most Dangerous Person In This Country"
No Surprise That Harris Poll Finds Republicans Believe GOP Smears Of Obama
No…Beck doesn’t mean to really riot…or does he? Click link below.
"You Need To Riot": Right-Wing Uses Violent Rhetoric
The Poll Comes After More Than A Year Of Conservative Media Figures Forwarding Outrageous Smears Of Obama... Rush On Harris Poll: "The Facts Are Facts. The President Is A Socialist"
The so-called “Conservative Woodstock” is happening today at Searchlight, Nevada.
I figure this will produce some great photos like the one on the right. The world will get to see what these wackaloons believe. Hint: Reality is NOT on the agenda. Rhetoric will rule. Note: guy in lower right corner wearing t-shirt that Glenn Beck is his hero! I guess that sums it up. Meanwhile, at least one Tea Party candidate is in trouble with the law.
Nevada tea party candidate facing felony charges
What Happens When Congress Fails to Do Its Job?
“What drove Bayh from office, rather, was that he'd grown to hate his job. Congress, he wrote in a New York Times op-ed, is "stuck in an endless cycle of recrimination and revenge.
The minority seeks to frustrate the majority, and when the majority is displaced it returns the favor. Power is constantly sought through the use of means which render its effectiveness,once acquired, impossible."
He knew he could always plead that he couldn’t read.
He also knew, if all else failed, he could count on the governor’s word that he would be granted free reign if he modeled for the sign to the right.
I can’t begin to describe how disgusted I am with the Republican Party, and the wing nuts who are threatening legislators. There’s NO EXCUSE for threatening violence. I don’t give a damn what kind of spin Fox and others try to put it…this shit has to stop or the polarization will lead to the destruction of this nation. It’s that simple. If it were the Democrats, I’d say the same thing. This time it isn’t. The Republican Party needs to get it’s act together or all their creditability (what’s left to the party) is going to disappear forever. They can start by listening to their leaders, and not TALK SHOW hosts who inflame viewers for ratings!
Amid reports that several Democrats in Congress have been the targets of death threats, racial and anti-gay epithets, and have had their offices vandalized for their votes on health care reform, several Fox News personalities have been quick to first condemn the threats but then immediately make excuses for the threats. Others have appeared to dismiss the seriousness of the threats.
Doocy: "So why are people angry? Maybe because they didn't want this bill?" Teasing a segment about the threats against Democrats, Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy said: "Meanwhile, some House Democrats getting extra security after a series of death threats and even a little vandalism over their health care votes. So why are people angry? Well, maybe because they didn't want this bill?" [Fox & Friends, 3/25/10]
Fox & Friends airs viewer emails comparing threats against Democrats to American Revolution, William Ayers. After Carlson said, "The most important thing is what you think about all of this, because you are the ones that are going to go to the polls eventually," Fox & Friends aired several emails from viewers that condemned the threats but immediately appeared to defend the actions. One email claimed that Democrats are using the threats "to gain sympathy. Like Rahm Emanuel said, 'you never waste a crisis.'" Another read: "[W]hat did they expect when they basically stole from the...American people. What do they think 1776 was about & wasn't there some violence back then?" A third email said: "I don't like violence & it is wrong. Having said that, why should Democrats be surprised? Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground bombed the Pentagon & now he is a 'respected' speaker of the left. Why should Democrats expect anything different?" [Fox & Friends, 3/25/10] Excerpt from the emails:
Beck: Obama is "poking and prodding" people to commit violence. ... "They need you to be violent. They are begging for it." On his March 24 Fox News show, Glenn Beck referenced the "crazy tea baggers in the streets" and said, "Why would a government continue to poke you and poke you and poke you and poke you? Why would they say these things? Why have these people said these things about good Americans?" Beck later said: "This might be the most dangerous monologue I've ever done, because I am telling you now -- they need you to be violent. They are begging for it. You're being set-up. Do not give them what they want." [Glenn Beck, 3/24/10]
Looks like we’ll be voting on cannabis legalization.
“State election officials announced Wednesday that an initiative to legalize marijuana will be on the November ballot, triggering what will likely be an expensive, divisive and much-watched campaign to decide whether California will again lead the nation in softening drug laws.”
REGULATE, CONTROL and TAX CANNIBIS ACT of 2010
“But the measure, known as the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, goes further, allowing cities and counties to adopt ordinances that would authorize the cultivation, transportation and sale of marijuana, which could be taxed to raise revenues. It's this feature of the initiative that supporters hope will draw support from voters who are watching their local governments jettison employees and programs in the midst of a severe budget crisis.”
Last September I wrote about the growing power of the NRA -
Why two states’ permits are such hot tickets for concealed-carry crowd
“Gun-rights activists say Americans who pack heat to defend themselves are exercising a legitimate right and have helped reduce the nation’s crime rate. Gun-control advocates say that there’s no proof that gun-toting civilians make the streets any safer and that looser concealed-carry laws are a recipe for disaster.”
The result of the NRAs lobbying:
“As the debate continues, the Utah and Florida permits are becoming ever-hotter tickets for out-of-state gun owners.”
Web Sites tout the need to buy guns for concealment:
“Protect your family when traveling!” shouts a headline on one of dozens of Web sites that offer training and help with the paperwork to obtain the Utah and Florida permits. “You don’t have to be a resident of Utah or Florida!”
Victories for the NRA:
“The non-resident permits are roundly criticized by gun-control advocates, who see the states that issue them as tools of groups like the National Rifle Association.
“I think the reason states are doing this, especially Florida, is the sheer power of the gun lobby in those state legislatures,” said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, which seeks a ban on private ownership of all handguns. “It’s not a question of what is in a state’s interest, but what is in the gun lobby and gun industry’s interest.”
Concealed-Weapons permits increased, not decreased under Obama’s Administration.
“The popularity of non-resident licenses with gun owners from heavily populated states like California and New York, which do not have “shall-issue” systems, has helped fuel big increases in both Utah and Florida’s concealed-carry permit numbers. That in turn has contributed to the nation’s fivefold increase in concealed-weapons permits, from fewer than 1 million in the 1980s to an estimated 6 million today.”
Second thoughts:
“But the permit’s surge in popularity with out-of-state gun owners has given pause to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, who last September expressed fears that his state could become known as a “wholesale clearinghouse” for concealed-carry licenses.”
The Florida Loophole:
“The “Florida loophole,” touted at Pennsylvania gun shows by firearms trainers, exists because Florida has a lower bar for denying and revoking permits than Pennsylvania. Florida does not check to see if non-resident applicants have been denied permits by their home states, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture, which issues the concealed-carry permits.”
Click for related content:
22 minutes for a concealed-weapon permit
Should there be a mandate for training?
Video: Handguns 101
Record number of Americans licensed to pack heat
At least 10 Dems receive threats; gas line cut at Perriello brother's home
So this is where we’re really at in politics today. It just shows how extreme the Conservatives are:
One Example:
“Conservative activists in Virginia posted the home address of Perriello's older brother — believing it to be the congressman's address —”
What happened next?
“The slashed gas line leading to a propane tank at the home of Bo Perriello was found Tuesday, one day after Tea Party activists posted the address online and suggested that opponents of the reform bill should "express their thanks" to Rep. Tom Perriello
How proud these cowards must be. What “Tea Party” patriots they are. Doesn’t it inspire you? Are these people representative of how you feel? Or, are you like me and disgusted with the blatant partisanship being displayed here?
“Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., whose Niagra Falls office was vandalized Friday, said that Democratic members are concerned about opponents of the health reform.”
You can see why. Where will these cowards with their craven tactics strike next? One has to wonder. It’s a black eye for the Conservative movement and they should be ashamed of these extreme cowards actions.
The Democrats have their faults but I can’t remember the last time they slashed gas lines to a propane tank in someone’s home. The message was clear. “We’ll do anything to stop you. Even kill you.” Doesn’t that just stir your national pride?
UPDATE: Guess who was seen putting targets on the same 10 Congressman? That’s right…Sarah Palin ! 
Who cares how incendiary her program was right? She talked about putting those Dems “in the cross hairs” and how people should target them for their wrath.
JUST THINK…she might have been out Vice-President if McCain had won. Now that’s scary…
From Georgia Gordon:
“Dave, can you use this? We have first hand experience dealing with health insurance and their denials of DOCTOR prescribed treatment.
My beautiful daughter who has been a responsible, productive, member of our society, contracted Lyme disease along with two co-infections It has affected her brain along with the rest of her nervous system.
It took nine months of Anthem Blue Cross using delay tactics with their denials and our appeals before they approved the IV antibiotic that was required to penetrate the blood brain barrier. They reluctantly approved one month of treatment, when Lisa needed three months of treatment. Anyone who does not have an advocate looses the battle. Especially someone who is so debilitated by spirochetes in their brain that they have lost the ability to concentrate while all the time more damage is being done during the wait. It is an ongoing battle, The insurance company just denied one of the oral antibiotics that she was recently doctor prescribed. These remote reviewers want to decide treatment and their decisions are always based on saving the company money. No wonder people have died waiting for treatment. Anyway, good information below from the White House. I thank you for reading all of this:”
“Since the House of Representatives voted to pass health reform legislation on Sunday night, the legislative process and its political impact have been the focus of all the newspapers and cable TV pundits.
Outside of DC, however, many Americans are trying to cut through the chatter and get to the substance of reform with a simple question: "What does health insurance reform actually mean for me?" To help, we've put together some of the key benefits from health insurance reform.
Let's start with how health insurance reform will expand and strengthen coverage:
Health insurance reform will also curb some of the worst insurance industry practices and strengthen consumer protections:
Reform immediately begins to lower health care costs for American families and small businesses:
Thank you,
Nancy-Ann DeParle
Director, White House Office of Health Reform
Now that the first major hurdle for health care reform has passed many Americans are wondering how that will affect them. Especially veterans. The good news is THERE WILL BE NO CHANGES. here’s Statement from VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki
"As Secretary of Veterans
Affairs, I accepted the solemn responsibility to uphold our sacred trust
with
our nation's Veterans. Fears that Veterans health care and TRICARE will
be undermined by the health reform legislation are unfounded. I am
confident that the legislation being voted on today will provide the
protections afforded our nation's Veterans and the health care they have
earned
through their service. The President and I stand firm in our commitment
to those who serve and have served in our armed forces. We pledge to
continue
to provide the men and women in uniform and our Veterans the high
quality
health care they have earned.
President Obama has strongly supported Veterans and their needs, specifically health care needs, on every major issue for these past 14 months - advance appropriations, new GI Bill implementation, new Agent Orange presumptions for three additional diseases,
new Gulf War Illness presumptions for nine additional diseases, and a 16% budget increase in 2010 for the Department of Veterans Affairs, that is the largest in over 30 years, and which has been followed by a 2011 VA budget request that increases that record budget by an additional 7.6%.
To give our Veterans further assurance that health reform legislation will not affect their health care systems, the Chairmen of five House committees, including Veterans Affairs
Chairman Bob Filner and Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, have just issued a
joint letter reaffirming that the health reform legislation as written would protect those receiving care through all TRICARE and Department of Veterans Affairs programs."
Source: Agent Orange Legacy
Countless men and women over the ages have stood up to evil despite the risk of harsh reprisal or even death. Everyday heroes have always r...
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