It doesn't matter the year. It doesn't matter the economy.

The Republican agenda is always the same. 


Dismantle government, cut taxes, run wars for profit, repeal civil rights and oppress the oppressed.


It never changes, except, it has gotten far worse over the years.

Republicans are greedy, self-righteous and ruthless. Gee, did I see "Dallas" and "The Big Valley" return to television lately?

...De-funded vs. repealed

Key senators like Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Dallas, a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, hold potential levers as well. "The court's ruling does not settle the debate," says Hutchison, who leaves office in January. "Congress can stop implementation of this disastrous government takeover of health care by repealing the law - or by de-funding implementation."

The little-known budget reconciliation procedure, dating from the 1974 Congressional Budget Act, enables a politically-divided Congress to drive through controversial tax and spending legislation to finance the annual budget blueprint adopted by the House and Senate.

The measure limits debate in the House and the Senate to just 20 hours, bars Senate filibusters and enables a Senate majority with less than a 60-vote super-majority to approve legislation.

It has been used almost two dozen times since 1980 to break Senate logjams, helping Republicans win passage of welfare reform in 1996 as well as $1 trillion in tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush in 2001, 2003 and 2005.

Amid the current political gridlock on Capitol Hill, with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats controlling the Senate, "there is zero chance the health care law will be repealed this year," says political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia. "But if Republicans gain enough seats in the Senate, hold the House and win the presidency, 'Obamacare' will be dramatically changed or abolished."

No abortion. No contraception. A woman's place is in the home and that will solve the unemployment problem.

After all, even Rosie the Riveter went home to have babies after the war was over.

Another month in the ramped-up war on women, and another unfortunately successful attack on women’s access to contraception. The story of the North Carolina legislature defunding Planned Parenthood is remarkable mainly for the doggedness of the anti-choice faction, from the fact that it had to be done with an override of the governor’s veto to the fact that it was done late at night before a holiday. Never let it be said that North Carolina conservatives don’t take keeping affordable birth control out of the hands of women very seriously....


You think I am joking? Not!

The most outrageous statement I heard today...

...was again by Stephen Moore.


He complained that Mitt Romney had to not only pay corporate tax on his businesses, he had to pay personal tax as well.


Is that not like an amazing statement or what?


Romney was founder of Bain Capital. He was employed as a CEO receiving a salary. He owns stock in the company he started. That stock was facilitated by initial investments and incorporation. Now, the complaint is Romney has to pay personal income tax and his corporation has to pay income tax, too.


Is that some of the most twisted thinking in the entire world? The ego involved believing that a corporation founded by someone should supply its founder with unlimited income without tax, while it pays income tax is completely bizarre. 


Individuals and corporation are two separate legal entities, but, maybe Romney has a marriage with his corporation since he believes they are people. I just wonder if his wife knows.

Another coveted agenda item is Tort Reform.

All anyone has to ask is, "Has Tort Reform contained health care costs?"\


The obvious answer is no.


Tort Reform has done nothing to reduce health care costs, it has allowed unsafe physicians to continue to practice while removing the rights of patients of malpractice and neglect to be victimized by this very faux standard. 


The Republican standard states, with Tort Reform comes lower health care costs. 


IT  IS  A BLANTANT  LIE!


There is discussion now about how the Affordable Care Act will inhibit Tort Reform at the federal level. Robert's stated, "The facets of governing that touch on citizens’ daily lives are normally administered by smaller governments closer to the governed. The Framers thus ensured that powers which, ‘in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people’ were held by government more local and more accountable than a distant federal bureaucracy.”


There are lawyers that practice in the area of victim rights whom believe his will inhibit the federal government from acting to victimize the citizens further.


June 25, 2012

AUSTIN, Texas - A new study has found no evidence (click title to entry - thank you) that health- care costs in Texas dipped after a 2003 constitutional amendment limited payouts in medical malpractice lawsuits, despite claims made to voters by some backers of tort reform.

The researchers, who include University of Texas law professor Charles Silver, examined Medicare spending in Texas counties and saw no reduction in doctors' fees for seniors and disabled patients between 2002 and 2009. A 2003 voter campaign in Texas, and some congressional backers of Texas-style tort reform in every state, however, argued that capping damage awards would not only curb malpractice lawsuits and insurance costs for doctors but also lower costs for patients while boosting their access to physicians.

Tort reform is a controversial topic likely to be resurrected by Republicans and doctors' groups who hoped to make it part of the federal health-care law in 2010....

Republicans always want to end The Estate Tax. Can't imagine why, could it be their concern with personal wealth?

By Aulva Aron-Dine

March 12, 2008

Permanent repeal of the estate tax (click here) would reduce revenues to the USA treasury by almost $1 trillion between 2012 and 2021, the first ten-year period in which its cots would be fully felt. With the economy slowing and deficits returning -- and with far larger deficits projected for future years. -- there is increasing recognition that estate tax repeal is unaffordable...

The Estate Tax could not be repealed in early 2008 and I doubt seriously that should continue to be an agenda item given the state of the country's national debt, but, no doubt it is still a goal.

From Forbes:

6/29/2012 @ 10:47AM

...You would know that I am in favor of a repeal (click title to entry - thank you) of the estate tax largely because, triggered only when wealthy people die (usually the death of a surviving spouse), it does not raise enough annual revenue to run the government for more than a few days....

Besides the fact the EFFECTIVE rate of the Estate Tax is 13.7 percent, less than Romney pays in taxes, the idea the funds would 'run the government for more than a few days' intrigued me. See, the opposition to The Buffet Rule was it would ONLY run the government for one day. One day. Then this statement about the Estate Tax running the government for only a few days. I thought, heck, we are up to an entire week now without borrowing a dime. I thought that was interesting. Also interesting was the fact that a few days of government being paid for is not necessarily important to Republicans.

The Republicans always want to privatize the entitlements.

There was an interesting hearing in regard to Social Security recently. It is at the title to this entry. I found the interest of Congressman Xavier Becerra a healthier response to the report of the Trustees. 


Forty-seven minutes into the hearing there is the comment, "The Republicans want to kill Social Security..." 


The Republicans are always inflammatory.


The Social Security Trustees agree. They are bipartisan. The bottom line is Social Security is solvent until 2033. There are 2.3 Trillion in the trust fund. The trust fund is held in USA Bonds. 


The recommendations is for the Congress to act within five years to develop a strategy to continue the fund for current generations.


There was a loss of two years of solvency lost due to the events of 2008. The solvency was 2035, but, the trust

The ink wasn't dry on the re-election of George W. Bush when it announced he wanted to reform Social Security.

How Bush's Plan Would Secure Social Security (click here)

Posted on November 28, 2004

 

Bush's plan for privatizing SSI was the most aggressive to date. He wanted to remove $2 Trillion immediately to the private sector to begin the investment porfolion and to allow up to four percent of taxable wages, up to a maximum of $1000, could be diverted from FICA and voluntarily placed by workers into private accounts for investment.

Does anyone stop to realize the devastation this country would be looking at if this was done in 2004 knowing 2008 followed?

Republicans are not trustworthy. There is concern for the Social Security program, it is not an emergency and it can be addressed. 

For a very long time and before "W" the Republicans have wanted to privatize SSI. As a matter of fact Dick Armey was its strongest advocate.

The agenda of the Republcians never change.

Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for your pocketbook.

How about that? The Flat Tax (click title to entry - thank you) where everyone, including, the low income brackets pay the same amount of tax every year.


I don't believe that is what the Buffet Rule is all about though.


This book was published in 1996, probably for election purposes. It was written before that, so this agenda item has been around now for at least 16 years.

The "Fair Tax" is not high on the agenda of most Republicans because it is a national sales tax. Republicans like a guarantee of income, so putting the entire nation on a fluctuating tax structure which would be high during boom years and lean during those pesky recessions is not their idea of a treasury they can count on.

The authors of "Contract with America."

Romney seeks to increase the USA deficit and debt AGAIN.

The priorities of Republicans are always the same. They never change. This agenda item for the Republicans may as well be on the list from the 1980s. Since, Eisenhower, the USA military industrial complex has always been the highest priority and receives endless amounts of money. Peacetime, too.

The Republicans are only biding their time to reignite tensions globally and start wars again.

Romney’s defense budget target is lofty

March 19, 2012|Michael Kranish, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON - It is one of Mitt Romney’s most striking anecdotes. The US Navy, he says, has fewer ships today than in 1917, and the US Air Force is smaller than it was in 1947. Notwithstanding that today’s fleets are far beyond the capability of those from yesteryear, Romney says it is evidence that America’s military dominance is at risk.


Romney’s solution is one of the most far-ranging, expensive, and perhaps least understood of his campaign. He has vowed to commit at least 4 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product - $4 out of every $100 in the nation’s economy - to “core’’ defense spending, not including many war expenses....

How many Republicans have an economic background?

Dick Armey did nothing but economics. He taught it as a professor in red states, primarily Texas. 


Questions?

They build moments of power to themselves.

He was against the Iraq War before he was for it. Armey knew Iraq would be a quagmire, he knew the intelligence didn't justify the war, but, Cheney told him Saddam Hussein's family was linked to al Qaeda and Saddam was creating miniature nuclear weapons. When the truth finally was known. After the USA forces were committed to the war, Armey stated, he deserved better than bullshit from the Vice President for his vote.

"During my time as Majority Leader on Capitol Hill, I came to recognize that grassroots action is the most important factor to winning at politics. That’s what FreedomWorks is all about. I know FreedomWorks and its members well from past campaigns on the Flat Tax, Social Security reform, and school choice. In every issue that matters to the U.S. economy, FreedomWorks is right there in the fight. I am very excited to be a part of this great organization."

It's Sunday Night

Auld Lang Syne is a Scottish Song sung by Dougie MacLean on the album Tribute

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
and surely I’ll buy mine !
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

We two have run about theslopes,
and picked the daisiesfine ;
But we’ve wandered manya weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine^† ;
But seas between usbroad have roared
since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a rightgood-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

Best guess I have is a medullary infection, parasite, virus, bacteria, acquired lesion.

My memory might not be correct, but, wasn't source of SARS found in Cambodia in an animal that was a food source. Something like that.


Fever and respiratory are all medullary. Respiratory is about fourth vertebra. A mutant to SARS?


Any kind of lung infection could be secondary to respiratory suppression.


Ingested possibly. Logistics of the sick before the illness might prove to a clue.

I be doing more than serum forensics at this point. Saying it was a water source would be an easy way out. Three year old immune systems are not necessarily ready for protection against the world either if there is a new contaminant.


Storms? 


Typhoon-1 PAKHAR (29 MAR-01 APR)  (click here)

The storm could have carried something into the region. 

Date: 29 MAR-01 APR 2012

Typhoon-1 PAKHAR

Below are the locations the storm passed over. It could have picked up something from land or ocean. That is the best I can offer, I am sorry it is not helpful.

1   9.70  112.30 03/29/00Z   30     - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
  2   9.80  112.00 03/29/06Z   35     - TROPICAL STORM
  2   9.80  112.00 03/29/06Z   35     - TROPICAL STORM
  3   9.90  111.70 03/29/12Z   45     - TROPICAL STORM
  4   9.80  111.70 03/29/18Z   55     - TROPICAL STORM
  5   9.70  111.30 03/30/00Z   65     - TYPHOON-1
  6   9.70  111.00 03/30/06Z   65     - TYPHOON-1
  7   9.70  110.60 03/30/12Z   65     - TYPHOON-1
  8   9.70  110.30 03/30/18Z   65     - TYPHOON-1
  9   9.50  110.10 03/31/00Z   60     - TROPICAL STORM
 10   9.50  109.80 03/31/06Z   60     - TROPICAL STORM
 11   9.30  109.20 03/31/12Z   55     - TROPICAL STORM
 13   9.80  108.90 04/01/00Z   40     - TROPICAL STORM
 14  10.00  108.30 04/01/06Z   40     - TROPICAL STORM
 15  10.90  107.40 04/01/12Z   35     - TROPICAL STORM
 16  11.50  106.70 04/01/18Z   35     - TROPICAL STORM

Fifty-six children have died so far in Cambodia (click title to entry - thank you) from an "undiagnosed syndrome", the Cambodian Ministry of Health and WHO (World Health Organization) announced on Friday. Initially, health officials placed the death toll at 61 children - and recently revised the figure to 56. WHO added that 74 cases of children being hospitalized with this mystery illness from April to 5th July 2012 have been identified.


Most of the patients are under three years of age, and mainly from southern and central Cambodia. Many of them have been admitted to Kantha Bopha Children's hospital, Phnom Penh, a reference pediatric hospital....


The Gamma Globulin could help fight the secondary effects of a virus until it runs its course. Maybe. There was an anti-virus in the USA long time ago. I am thinking the early 1990s. It was transmitted by mice. Sometimes the only way for survival was to treat the symptoms. The patients were admitted to telemetry units to monitor high heart rates and placed on cooling blankets. There were IVs for hydration. They survived it. The youngest I saw was a nine year old and she lived through it. When she was admitted, so was her father. They both survived. Then they were examined for lingering effects, heart disease, etc. Their immune system never needed Gamma, but, a three year old might. 

Avian influenza - situation in Cambodia

9 February 2011 - The Ministry of Health of Cambodia (click here) has announced a new confirmed case of human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus.

The 5 year old female, from Prek Leap village, Sangkat Prek Leap, Khan Reussey Keo, Phnom Penh, developed symptoms on 29 January, was admitted to a hospital on 3 February and died 12 hours following admission. The presence of H5N1 virus in nasopharyngeal specimens was confirmed by Institut Pasteur, the National Influenza Centre in Cambodia. The case had been in contact with sick poultry during the 7 days before onset of symptoms.

The Ministry of Health has been coordinating the response. Actions have included contact tracing, collecting specimens from suspected cases, and providing oseltamivir prophylaxis to close contacts; active surveillance and joint investigation with animal health authorities; community education; and public communications coordination with the assistance of WHO.

Of the 11 cases of human H5N1 virus infection confirmed since 2005 in Cambodia, 9 have been fatal....


Good luck.

Are you a member of The Club for Growth? It is a qualifying question for candidates interviewed by Glenn Beck.

Stephen Moore is a right wing activist. He founded The Club for Growth in 1999 and when he resigned from the presidency of the organization is founded the Free Enterprise Fund which sponsors right wing candidates.


I find some of his ideas simplistic to say the least. As an example; to the statement there is tax evasion in the USA he stated, "The more taxes the more tax evasion will result."


Basically, Mr. Moore believes enforcing tax payment is a waste of government monies. If there were less taxes, there would be less tax evasion and there would be less need to have government employees to enforce payment of taxes. That is completely laughable and he honestly expects people to take him seriously?


Really?


By his own admission he is a coward to criminals. He rather eliminate the crime than pursue criminals and JUSTICE. His idea of taxation is "W"rong. It is simply wrong and there is no reason to believe he has a legitimate point of view.

By MARK A. ADOMANIS, CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Published: Friday, March 12, 2004

Conservative free market activist Stephen Moore (click here) called for increased efforts to make the Bush administration’s tax cuts permanent in a speech at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum yesterday.

Moore’s appearance marked the beginning of what Director of the Institute of Politics (IOP) Daniel R. Glickman described as “a concerted effort to attract Republican and conservative speakers.”...

...The Club for Growth has gained notoriety for supporting challengers to incumbents in Republican primaries, particularly in Pennsylvania....


Pennsylvania is the state proudly proclaiming their Voter ID Laws are designer laws to defeat democracy. People like Moore are't interested in democracy or the sovereign state of the USA and its people, they are interested in personal wealth. I am sure Stephen Moore is a Romney wannabee.


Stephen Moore is corrupt through the simple value system he espouses as his own. He is a right wing extremist and sincerely has no validity in sound principle or practice except for the following of his organizations. The wealth he has attracted is to make the donors wealthier and not solve the nation's problems.


I mean Dick Armey was a mentor of his. There are no ideas except to regress into past ideas of 'well it worked before.' Before is not today. Never once have I heard he or those like him, including Romney, state how is it an entire generation is unemployed nor how they see that remedied. Republicans have had their way with the USA for nearly four decades. Four decades of Republican economics have robbed the current generation from employment. I'd like to see him take credit for that and realize how completely idiotic regression into the past is nothing more than a greater void of same.


Stephen Moore is great at mind speak, but, he hasn't got a clue as to how to solve the economic problems he and his peers created.

With the problems facing the new government, the question remains, would this Benghazi woman be alive if Gaddfi were not removed from power?

A voter registers her choice in Benghazi. Photograph: Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters


This is the first election in Libya since 1964. Nearly three generations have not understood the idea of freedom.


Benghazi was being shelled mercilessly by Gadaffi until NATO moved against the regime. 


There are reports of violent militias within Libya since the government overthrow and how the world is looking the other way. That is not the case. Quite amazingly and to their credit Amnesty International has  been able to document the anarchy that still exists. No one is looking the other way, but, only seeking solutions. Iraq had the problem for many reasons; revenge, control, fear and even defense of a Cleric, so the presence of outside troops are not the answer; if anything it can make circumstances far worse.


In "The Independent," Patrick Cockburn has a strong criticism of the violence and rightfully so; but the answer to his criticism is not the return of the old regime. The problem in Libya is not so very different than that of any transition of government, there is fear and strong arm local control. Everyone raising a voice against the current dynamic is viewed as a enemy. Right or wrong, the militias that fought in their liberation war are still worried about maintaining their new freedom.

While Mr. Cockburn talks about the violence, he doesn't talk in detail the measures of bringing order to Libya by the National Transitional Council. He also neglects the fact Gaddafi's son is still in the country, imprisoned and waiting trial. While having Saif al-Islam Gaddafi alive in prison seems a victory all by itself, the reality of his presence also fuels the fear of a loss of freedom to the people. His presence in the country rather than at the World Court may be a mistake. 

Trying Saddam in Iraq was a mistake as far as I am concerned. I believe removing the monster to a place where he can have no visitors to consort with as allies to invoke a return or an escape is a better outcome for the people. But, removing Saif to a World Court prison would itself bring about apprehension to the outcome of losing control of him. There is no easy answer for Libya post Gaddafi. The elections will prove Libya to be stronger and its future more secure, but, there will continue to be problems. 

The people need to find the strength to report outlaw militias to the authorities of the government they have elected. Additionally, the militias should be sanctioned and paid by the newly elected government and come under its leadership. The militias need training and confidence. They have to be legitimate members of the country they fought for. They have to bring their concerns to the leadership for resolution through applied structure of justice. The rule of law doesn't happen overnight in a country having overthrown their government only a year or so ago.

There is no immediate domestic peace when this occurs, perhaps that is why so many were still willing to fight for Gadaffi as assassins on rooftops. The revolution was a brave act by the people and still remains a brave act. 

Libya is not a poor country. It can afford to pay their militias to come under the umbrellas of the newly elected government. They can purchase the arms from those that will not commit to government leadership and ultimately it can forcefully disarm those unwilling to be peaceful. But, to those in LIbya, while the militias are a problem, one might ask them if they want a return to oppressive government control or even the appearance of it; most likely they would say no.

Saturday, 7 July 2012

Luke Harding in Tripoli

Federalists in eastern Libya (click title to entry - thank you) attacked several polling stations on Saturday as the country voted in the historic first election since last year's revolution and the death of Muammar Gaddafi.

Although voting took place peacefully across much of the country, armed gangs in Benghazi stormed a polling station and burned ballot papers. Two other polling stations were attacked, with one man shot in the arm. There were similar incidents in the eastern coastal towns of Guba and Suluq, where fighters stopped ballot papers being delivered.

However, in the capital, Tripoli, and other cities thousands queued from 8am to vote, the overwhelming majority for the first time.

Libya's last election took place in 1964 under King Idris al-Senussi, the monarch Gaddafi ousted five years later....