24 August 2009
Obama opposed healthcare reform before he was for it
8/24/2009
A Republican senator says President Barack Obama has consistently opposed Republican proposals that would make healthcare insurance less expensive and more accessible to the American public...
...Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) has been one of Obama's staunchest critics on this issue. He says the president opposed meaningful Republican legislation while he still a member of the Senate.
"I want Americans to be clear that I have introduced major healthcare reform every year I've been in the Senate. Barack Obama did not introduce any that I'm aware of. He voted against Republican reforms that would have made it less expensive and more accessible for individuals to have their own insurance if they didn't get it at work," DeMint points out. "He's done everything he can to maintain the status quo so that he could call for government intervention -- and we need to expose that to the American people."
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=653260
Congressman Mike Rogers' opening statement on Health Care reform in Washington D.C.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G44NCvNDLfc&feature=player_embedded
Republicans Have Offered Three Alternative Health Care Reform Bills
Monday, August 24, 2009
President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress -- while pushing their own health care overhauls -- have criticized Republicans as offering only opposition and no ideas for reform, but the GOP, despite the lack of media attention, has introduced three health care bills.
The three Republican bills total almost 400 pages and have been on the table since May and June.
In May, Republicans in the House and the Senate formed a bicameral coalition to produce the130-page "Patients Choice Act of 2009."
In June, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced the "Health Care Freedom Plan," a 41-page proposal.
And in July, the Republican Study Committee, under the leadership of Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), unveiled the "Empowering Patients First Act," a 130-page plan.
Some of the provisions included in one or more of the bills include: investing in preventive medicine, an overhaul of Medicaid, reduction of abuse and fraud in the Medicare program, supplemental health insurance for low-income families, tax credits for health insurance, and a ban on federal funds being used for abortions...
more at http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/52896
Harvey Weinstein: Turning Jews Into Nazis
August 24, 2009
The new Tarantino movie, Inglorious Basterds hit number one this weekend. Lots of people will see the film, think it is based on a true story, and say "Gee. The Jews were just as barbaric as the Nazis."
What a horror. Sure to get lots of commentary from the Muslim intelligentsia. It'll be linked to President Obama's historically wrong statement in Cairo to the Muslim world that Israel existed to atone for the Holocaust. See, they'll write in the Muslim press, the Jews were as bad as the Nazis. So, there's no reason for Israel to exist.
Wikipedia spells out the plot...
…Hollywood sees nothing wrong with portraying Jews as sadistic monsters. But, try and find a movie portraying Islamofascists accurately and you'll come up empty-handed...
more at http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/harvey_weinstein_turning_jews.html
Marine Corps Vet Blasts Dem Congressman for Calling ObamaCare Protesters 'Brown Shirts'
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/08/23/marine-corps-vet-blasts-dem-congressman-calling-obamacare-protesters-
Millions Face Shrinking Social Security Payments
August 24, 2009
Washington (AP) - Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise.
The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975.
By law, Social Security benefits cannot go down. Nevertheless, monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly...
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/52934
Obama's Spending Plans Will Nearly Double the National Debt--White House Leaked the News
August 24, 2009
(CNSNews.com) - In news leaked late Friday to the Reuters news agency, the White House conceded that the national debt will increase by $9 trillion over the next ten years, nearly doubling a national debt that now stands at $11.67 trillion...
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/52916
Health Care Bill Mandates That Restaurants Display Nutrition Information on Menus
Monday, August 24, 2009
(CNSNews.com) – Restaurant chains with 20 or more stores would be required to display nutrition information, including calorie counts and "suggested daily caloric intake" on their menus, under a mandate contained in the health-care reform bill drafted by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Section 325 of the bill says the listings must be placed "(i)n a nutrient disclosure statement adjacent to the name of the standard menu item, so as to be clearly associated with the standard menu item, on the menu listing the item for sale, the number of calories contained in the standard menu item, as usually prepared and offered for sale."
Restaurants must also include "a succinct statement concerning suggested daily caloric intake" that is specified by the secretary of health and human services, to "enable the public to understand, in the context of a total daily diet, the significance of the caloric information that is provided on the menu."
The legislation would also allow the HHS secretary to require disclosure of additional nutritional information if she considers it beneficial to the health of customers.
The provisions apply to menu boards -- including those displayed in the drive-thru section of some retail food chains -- and self-service food outlets, where the information would have to be displayed next to every item on display....
...The proposal has opponents, but surprisingly, they are not restaurant owners.
Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, a nonprofit health policy research group, called the nutrition disclosure provision the "pointless and expensive" requirements of "a nanny state."
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/52905
Maybe the gov't should require a nutritionist accompany your server and when you order the nutritionist can say yes you can have that or no you can't based on your weight or other factors that could also be put on a swipecard they could run through a machine when you order...
Reporting and analysis from ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent and "This Week" Host George Stephanopoulos
August 21, 2009
The biggest problem for President Obama in today's ABC News/Washington Post poll is this: only 49 percent of Americans are confident that he'll "make the right decisions for the country's future" -- down from 60 percent in April.
Voters still like Obama. His overall job approval is steady at 57 percent. But they're screaming "listen to us" and "slow down." And they're worried he's getting in over his head.
Blaming the GOP for blocking health care will make Democrats feel better. But it may turn off Independents who are already abandoning Obama (17 point drops in handling health care and overall job approval).
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/08/obama-needs-confidence-boost.html
Obama Snares Palin, Media in Wide Blame-Game Net
Aug. 19
Voters, it seems, want to understand a little more about what ObamaCare will mean for them, what it will do to the doctor-patient relationship, and what it will cost future generations in higher taxes and, yes, rationed supply.
Rather than examine the public's concerns, the plans' inconsistencies or the sheer irresponsibility of trying to ram something this big and complicated through Congress without a small-scale trial, the Obama administration is pointing fingers. Lots of them. Most of the targets are just plain silly.
1. Conservative groups
When liberal activists, including trade unions, Acorn and MoveOn.org, protested against anything and everything President George W. Bush said or did, it was called grassroots democracy.
When conservative groups encourage supporters to attend town hall meetings and make their sentiments known to their congressmen, it's un-American, disruptive and the work of right- wing extremists.
Madame Hypocrite
Where was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, when President George W. Bush was being compared to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis? She was a "fan of disrupters" in those days, as she told anti-war protesters at a January 2006 town hall meeting in San Francisco. Pelosi only developed a thin skin (too much plastic surgery?) when the Democrats took control of the executive and legislative branches of government.
The effort to blame right-wing groups is transparent. If my feedback on a recent column is indicative of the political persuasion and demographic distribution of the protesters, these are ordinary Americans energized by the debate, frustrated at not having a voice and motivated to exercise their right of free speech. Attempts to smear opponents and shut down debate are, well, un-American.
2. Insurance Companies
Garnering support for health-insurance reform by demonizing insurance companies is a cheap shot, albeit one that resonates with the public. After all, these are the faceless bureaucrats who deny or pay claims in a seemingly arbitrary manner and refuse or cancel coverage if you cost them too much money.
Stubborn Facts
Facts are stubborn things, this White House is quick to remind us. And in this case, the facts don't support the vilification.
If insurance companies were gouging the public, the evidence would show up in one of two places, according to Graef Crystal, a compensation expert in Santa Rosa, California, and occasional Bloomberg News columnist: excessive executive pay or excessive returns to shareholders.
His analysis of five major health insurers shows just the opposite: below-market pay and below-market shareholder returns.
"There's no case here for undue enrichment of shareholders" or over-compensating CEOs, Crystal finds.
Health care needs a major overhaul, but that's no reason to make scapegoats out of insurance companies.
3. The Media
I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Obama point the finger at the media at his town hall meeting last week in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
more at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aNjLN73fQVj8
Gov. David Paterson blames calls for him to step aside on race
8/21/09
ALBANY - Gov. Paterson blamed a racist media Friday for trying to push him out of next year's election - launching into an angry rant that left even some black Democrats shaking their heads.
He suggested that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the country's only other African-American governor, also is under fire because of his race.
"We're not in the post-racial period," Paterson said.
"The reality is the next victim on the list - and you can see it coming - is President Barack Obama, who did nothing more than trying to reform a health care system."
Paterson said the campaign against him is being "orchestrated" by reporters who would rather make the news than report it. (that may be true but it has nothing to do with you being black, ask W)
But critics said the governor should blame his own blunders.
"He's given the media more than enough to feed on with the incompetence shown in his administration," said state Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn), an African-American.
"To quote Michael Jackson, he should start with the man in the mirror," Parker said.
Even state Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Harlem), a black supporter of the governor, urged him to be more like Obama by staying "focused on the message."
Paterson has been the target of Democrats who fear his low approval ratings - 18% at their lowest and about 30% now - will endanger the party next year if he decides to run for his first full term as governor. ..
...Later, Paterson looked to downplay his comments, saying, "At no point did I claim that this media piling-on effect was due to race."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/08/21/2009-08-21_gov_david_paterson_blames_call_for_.html#ixzz0OuMvGrOm
In effect he said, "You all are a bunch of racists, but lets not drag race into this..."
Paterson Brings Up Racism for His Low Standing
August 21, 2009,
Gov. David A. Paterson said on Friday that the chorus of people who believe he should not run for election next year want to keep him out of the race because he is black...
...The reality is the next victim on the list, and you can see it coming, is President Obama, who did nothing more than trying to reform a health care system," Mr. Paterson said.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/paterson-brings-up-racism-for-his-low-standing/
Yeah, it's not because we don't like Obama's policies, we're going after him because he's black.
Appendix's benefits revealed: The pesky organ long thought to be useless may serve a vital function, new research shows
Aug 24,
The body's appendix has long been thought of as nothing more than a worthless evolutionary artifact, good for nothing save a potentially lethal case of inflammation.
Now researchers suggest the appendix is a lot more than a useless remnant. Not only was it recently proposed to actually possess a critical function, but scientists now find it appears in nature a lot more often than before thought. And it's possible some of this organ's ancient uses could be recruited by physicians to help the human body fight disease more effectively.
In a way, the idea that the appendix is an organ whose time has passed has itself become a concept whose time is over.
"Maybe it's time to correct the textbooks," said researcher William Parker, an immunologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. "Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a 'vestigial organ.'"
Slimy sac
The vermiform appendix is a slimy dead-end sac that hangs between the small and large intestines. No less than Charles Darwin first suggested that the appendix was a vestigial organ from an ancestor that ate leaves, theorizing that it was the evolutionary remains of a larger structure, called a cecum, which once was used by now-extinct predecessors for digesting food.
"Everybody likely knows at least one person who had to get their appendix taken out - slightly more than 1 in 20 people do - and they see there are no ill effects, and this suggests that you don't need it," Parker said.
However, Parker and his colleagues recently suggested that the appendix still served as a vital safehouse where good bacteria could lie in wait until they were needed to repopulate the gut after a nasty case of diarrhea. Past studies had also found the appendix can help make, direct and train white blood cells.
Now, in the first investigation of the appendix over the ages, Parker explained they discovered that it has been around much longer than anyone had suspected, hinting that it plays a critical function.
"The appendix has been around for at least 80 million years, much longer than we would estimate if Darwin's ideas about the appendix were correct," Parker said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090824/sc_livescience/theappendixusefulandinfactpromising
Actually this is old news..
The human vermiform appendix
A general surgeon's reflections
First published: TJ 3(1):31–38
April 1988 (note date)
by J. Warwick Glover
...Present day histology textbooks are starting to acknowledge that the appendix with its complicated and rich blood supply and marked tissue differentiation is a complex and highly specialised organ. Of course, the histological appearance of the appendix has been exactly the same all the time, but people are now starting to look at it from a different perspective.
The most recent edition of 'Gray's Anatomy'9 indicates in its embryology section that the appendix is a vestigial remnant indicative of man's ancestors' more herbivorous dietary habits, whereas the anatomical section says, 'In view of its rich blood supply and histological differentiation, the vermiform appendix is probably more correctly regarded as a specialised than as a degenerate, vestigial structure. The configuration of the caecum and appendix in man and the anthropoid apes, is probably less primitive than in the monkeys.'9 Surely one can't have it both ways!
From what has been said so far it can be seen that whereas in the past it was considered the appendix was becoming vestigial (involution with evolution), it is now generally accepted that the appendix is a highly specialised, well-differentiated organ apparently developed to the maximum in its specialisation in man...
http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v3/i1/appendix.asp
Cutting out a useless vestigial argument
First published: Creation 26(3):51
June 2004
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i3/vestigial.asp
"Junk" DNA—past, present, and future, part 1
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v2/n1/junk-dna-part-1
"Junk" DNA—past, present, and future, part 2
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v2/n1/junk-dna-part-2
Q: Are there vestigial organs?
http://www.answersingenesis.org/e-mail/archive/answersweekly/2008/0531.html
Setting the Record Straight on Vestigial Organs
by Dr. David A. DeWitt, Director, Center for Creation Studies, Liberty University on May 28, 2008
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/setting-record-straight-vestigial
Do any vestigial structures exist in humans?
Jerry Bergman has seven degrees, including in biology, psychology, and evaluation and research, from Wayne State University (Detroit), Bowling Green State University and other colleges. He has taught at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and at the University of Toledo. He is now a professor of science at Northwest College, Archbold (Ohio), and is working on a third Ph.D., this one in molecular biology.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/TJ/TJv14n2_Vestigial.pdf
David Bennett <><
posted by David Bennett | 3:21 AM
<< Home