28 August 2009

Laughing gas is biggest threat to ozone
It's no joke - laughing gas is now the biggest threat to the Earth's ozone layer, scientists have said.
27 Aug 2009
Nitrous oxide, better known as the dental anaesthetic "laughing gas", has replaced CFCs as the most potent destroyer of ozone in the upper atmosphere, a study has shown.

 

Unlike CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), once extensively used in refrigerators, emissions of the gas are not limited by any international agreement...

 

...the treaty did not cover nitrous oxide, which is generated by fertilisers in the soil, livestock manure, sewage treatment, combustion and industry.

 

Human activities account for about one third of global nitrous oxide emissions. The gas is also produced naturally when bacteria in the soil and oceans break down nitrogen-containing compounds.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6099492/Laughing-gas-is-biggest-threat-to-ozone.html

 

Chappaquiddick Revisited
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzMyNTgxMmExNzBiOTMzZWY2YjZmZTQ1MjZkZmQ2MDY=

Neither does Generation X know how Kennedy was thrown out of Harvard on his ear 15 years earlier -- for paying a fellow student to take his Spanish final..Or why the US Army denied him a commission because he cheated on tests.

 

Kennedy 'joked about Chappaquiddick'
Biographer reveals deadly incident was a 'favorite topic of humor'
August 28, 2009
One of Sen. Ted Kennedy's favorite topics of humor was the incident at Chappaquiddick Island, Mass., in 1969 in which he drove off a bridge and left behind a 28-year-old woman who drowned, according to a biographer who reminisced about the iconic Democrat on a Washington, D.C., talk show this morning.

 

Edward Klein, speaking to WAMU guest host Katty Kay, said one of Kennedy's "favorite topics of humor was, indeed, Chappaquiddick."

 

"He would ask people, 'Have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?'" said Klein, a former Newsweek foreign editor and former editor in chief of the New York Times Magazine.

Klein's revelation on the "Diane Rehm Show" can be heard in a clip of the broadcast at http://feeds.radioamerica.org/podcast/GGL/audio/000003_012213.mp3 (that is amazing)
 yeah, letting a woman suffocate (not drown) while you call your political advisers is always good for a few laughs
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=108256

 

Chief Palestinian justice: Temples never existed
Slams rabbis as 'liars,' claims Jews have no historic tie to Jerusalem
August 27, 2009
JERUSALEM – The Jewish temples never existed, and Jews have no historic connection to Jerusalem, declared chief Palestinian justice Sheik Taysir Tamimi today.

 

Tamimi condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for stressing in Europe this week the long Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

 

Tamimi claimed "all Jewish rabbis and extremist organizations" as well as Netanyahu are lying when they state Jerusalem was a historically Jewish city.

 

He called such claims "baseless and untrue."

 

"Jerusalem is an Arab and Islamic city and it always has been so," he said...

 

...Contradicting finds from scores of archeological digs, Tamimi claimed all of Israel's archaeological work since 1967 has not proven "that Jews ever had a history or presence in Jerusalem, or that their ostensible temple had ever existed."

 

...Tamimi is considered the second most important Palestinian cleric after Muhammad Hussein, the grand mufti of Jerusalem.

 

"Israel started since 1967 making archeological digs to show Jewish signs to prove the relationship between Judaism and the city, and they found nothing. There is no Jewish connection to Israel before the Jews invaded in the 1880s," said Tamimi.

 

"About these so-called two temples, they never existed, certainly not at the [Temple Mount]," Tamimi said during a sit-down interview in his eastern Jerusalem office.

 

The Palestinian cleric denied the validity of dozens of digs verified by experts worldwide revealing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temples throughout Jerusalem, including on the Temple Mount itself; excavations revealing Jewish homes and a synagogue in a site in Jerusalem called the City of David; or even the recent discovery of a Second Temple Jewish city in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

 

Tamimi said descriptions of the Jewish Temples in the Hebrew Tanach, in the Talmud and in Byzantine and Roman writings from the Temple periods were forged, and that the Torah was falsified to claim biblical patriarchs and matriarchs were Jewish when they were prophets for Islam.

 

"All this is not real. We don't believe in all your versions. Your Torah was falsified. The text as given to the Muslim prophet Moses never mentions Jerusalem. Maybe Jerusalem was mentioned in the rest of the Torah, which was falsified by the Jews," said Tamimi. (That's because Jeresulaem didn't exist when Moses was alive)

 

...The First Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.

 

The Temple was the center of religious worship for ancient Israelites. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's presence dwelt. All biblical holidays centered on worship at the Temple. The Temples served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and were the main gathering place for Israelites.

 

According to the Talmud, the world was created from the foundation stone of the Temple Mount. It's believed to be the biblical Mount Moriah, the location where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac.

 

The Temple Mount has remained a focal point for Jewish services for thousands of years. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition...

 

..Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible 656 times.

Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night on a horse from "a sacred mosque" – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to "the farthest mosque" and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque became associated with Jerusalem about 120 years ago.

 

According to research by Israeli Author Shmuel Berkovits, Islam historically disregarded Jerusalem as being holy. Berkovits points out in his new book, "How dreadful is this place!" that Muhammad was said to loathe Jerusalem and what it stood for. He wrote Muhammad made a point of eliminating pagan sites of worship and sanctifying only one place – the Kaaba in Mecca – to signify the unity of God.

 

As late as the 14th century, Islamic scholar Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya, whose writings influenced the Wahhabi movement in Arabia, ruled that sacred Islamic sites are to be found only in the Arabian Peninsula and that "in Jerusalem, there is not a place one calls sacred, and the same holds true for the tombs of Hebron."

 

A guide to the Temple Mount by the Supreme Muslim Council in Jerusalem published in 1925 listed the Mount as Jewish and as the site of Solomon's Temple. The Temple Institute acquired a copy of the official 1925 "Guide Book to Al-Haram Al-Sharif," which states on page 4, "Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the Lord.'"
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=108142

 

New Hampshire Court orders Christian homeschooled girl to attend public school
8/26/2009
A Christian homeschool girl in New Hampshire has been ordered into government-run public school for having "sincerely held" religious beliefs.

An attorney working with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has filed motions with a New Hampshire court, asking it to reconsider its order to send the 10-year-old homeschooled girl into public school.
 
According to ADF allied attorney John Anthony Simmons, the court acknowledges that the girl in question is doing well socially and academically, but he adds that the court went too far when they determined that the girl's Christian faith was a "bit to0 sincerely held and must be sifted, tested by, and mixed among other worldviews."
 
Simmons contends that parents have a "fundamental right to make educational choices for their children." However the girl's parents divorced in 1999, and she is now living with her mother who has been homeschooling the child since first grade. As part of the schooling, the young girl has been attending supplemental public school classes.
 
As part of parental custody hearings, a court-appointed guardian stated that the child reflected her mother's "rigidity" on questions of faith and added that girl's best interest would be served by exposure to a public school setting.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=659638

 

Woman accused of contempt for dinner blessing
Judge finds event was 'voluntary gathering outside of school'

August 27, 2009
A Florida school district worker whose husband read a prayer at a private banquet has been cleared of contempt accusations brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

 

The case arose after the Santa Rosa County School District in January agreed to eliminate all religious activity, including prayer, at school-sanctioned events.

 

However, district worker Michelle Winkler was at a private banquet held at a Naval base to honor non-instructional school district employees and her husband read a brief blessing prior to the meal, according to reports of the case.

 

The ACLU alleged that subjected her to contempt charges.

 

Two other district employees also are facing charges for a similar but separate incident.

Winkler, a clerical assistant for the district who was represented by Liberty Counsel's Senior Litigation Counsel Horatio Mihet and David Corry, was examined during a recent seven-hour hearing in federal court.

 

Eventually, District Judge Casey Rodgers found that Winkler's husband's prayer at a voluntary gathering outside of school did not violate any court order.

 

Liberty Counsel founder Mathew D. Staver expressed relief over the victory but frustration over the ACLU's actions.

 

"The wheels came off the ACLU's steamroller. While we are pleased with the ruling, we are saddened that a wonderful woman had to spend a day in court, with the ACLU's crosshairs aimed at her back. Prayer is neither contemptuous nor criminal. It is outrageous that the ACLU sought civil contempt charges against an outstanding woman whose husband prayed a beautiful prayer at a privately sponsored event held off campus. The ACLU needs to take a good dose of the First Amendment and call us in the morning," he said.

The fight, however, remains far from over...
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=108029

 

'08 Democrat worker held in damage to Colorado Democratic HQ
The Denver Post
08/26/2009
One of two people suspected of shattering 11 windows Tuesday morning at the state Democratic Party headquarters has an arrest record and a history of helping a Democratic political candidate, public records show.

 

Police said that about 2:20 a.m., 24-year-old Maurice Schwenkler, now in custody, and an at-large accomplice took a hammer to the picture windows displaying posters touting President Barack Obama and his health care reform efforts.

 

Early Tuesday, Democratic Party chairwoman Pat Waak said the damage to her building in Denver's art district was a consequence of "an effort on the other side to stir up hate." She tempered her statement after Schwenkler's political history was revealed...

 

...Balmer said he suspects the vandalism might have been aimed at making the GOP look bad.

 

"This sounds like the type of Democratic tactic from the left fringe trying to make Republicans look mean-spirited," Balmer said. "In this case, it blew up in their face. He was caught red-handed."
http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_13203950?source=commented-
This happens frequently... In fact I believe the Nazis did this too... BTW, not that it matters, Schwenkler is transsexual (meaning he's one messed up person to begin with)

 

Bauer: Obama ignores Islamic threat
826/2009

A conservative activist and former presidential candidate says the appeasing tenor of Barack Obama's recent Ramadan address makes him wonder if the president actually understands threat the U.S. faces from radical Islam.

On Friday President Obama heaped much praise on Islam during his five-minute address to Muslims both in the United States and around the world. The president said Ramadan is "a time of intense devotion and reflection" when Muslims fast during the day, perform their prayers at night, and recite and listen to the entire Koran during the course of the month.
 
"These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam's role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings."
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Security/Default.aspx?id=658850
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! yeah and I have a bridge to sell you.

ACLU Sues DHS over Laptop Searches
08.26.09
The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday sued the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to uncover documents related to laptop searches at the border.

 

"The ACLU believes that suspicionless searches of laptops violate the First and Fourth Amendments," the group wrote in the suit, filed in a New York District Court.

 

In July 2008, the Customs and Border Protection agency within DHS published formal guidelines for laptop border searches that gave CBP officials permission to search laptops and electronic devices at the border. Court cases on the topic have generally found that citizens should have diminished expectations of privacy when re-entering the country because the U.S. has a right to protect itself and control what crosses its borders...
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2352055,00.asp

 

Howard Dean: Democrats Left Tort Reform Out of Health Care Bill Because They Feared 'Taking On' Trial Lawyers
August 26, 2009
(CNSNews.com) - Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, a medical doctor who served as governor of Vermont, said at a town hall meeting on Tuesday night that Democrats in Congress did not include tort reform in the health care bill because they were fearful of "taking on" the trial lawyers.

 

"This is the answer from a doctor and a politician," said Dean. "Here is why tort reform is not in the bill. When you go to pass a really enormous bill like that the more stuff you put in, the more enemies you make, right? And the reason why tort reform is not in the bill is because the people who wrote it did not want to take on the trial lawyers in addition to everybody else they were taking on, and that is the plain and simple truth. Now, that's the truth."
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/53126
Yeah the congresscritters know not to bite the hand that feeds them.

 

Global Warming Blues
August 27, 2009  By Norman Rogers
I spent my working life as a computer engineer and entrepreneur. I have a long history of tilting at windmills having been involved in numerous causes and crusades during my life. So when my retirement started it was natural for me to look for something to get involved with. I picked global warming. Since I had completed the course work for a Ph.D. in physics I felt that I could deal with the technical side of global warming theory.  As a computer expert I though that I would have insight to the giant computer models of the earth's climate that are central to global warming science.

I smelled a rat right from the beginning. As a 20-something activist I had a job as the Director of Operations for Zero Population Growth, Inc. ZPG was a 70's environmental organization that at one time had 25,000 members. I knew that professional environmentalism has an ethics problem. Exaggeration promotes contributions.

In my quest to investigate and understand global warming I joined the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society.  At scientific meetings, like an anthropologist, I cultivated native informants.

I learned that most scientists don't have a good grasp of the big picture because they are narrowly specialized and don't think about much outside of their immediate interests. The scientists that do have a grasp of the big picture can be divided into global warming advocates, skeptics and the majority of passive observers who play it safe by not taking a position. The global warming advocates have the upper hand and the most power. The skeptics, including quite a few excellent scientists, are marginalized and frankly persecuted. They are whistle blowers. A lot of skeptics are retired. The warmers can't cancel pensions, at least not yet. The most famous promoter of global warming, James Hansen, wants to put his opponents on trial for crimes against humanity.

Global warming scare stories are good for global warming science because the scare stories promote research funding.  If it weren't for the scary predictions these scientists would be toiling in a poorly funded and obscure branch of academic science.  As the distinguished climate scientist Richard Lindzen noted in an article, fear is more effective than gratitude for inducing financial support...
more at http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/global_warming_blues.html

 

Stossel: Why Obama's Health Plan Gets It Wrong
Why Setting Limits on 'Out-of-Pocket' Payments Would Just Raise Costs for All
By JOHN STOSSEL
Aug. 27, 2009
http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=8409962

 

ABC, NBC Won't Air Ad Critical of Obama's Health Care Plan
The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June hosted at the White House
August 27, 2009
The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June and hosted at the White House.

The 33-second ad by the League of American Voters, which features a neurosurgeon who warns that a government-run health care system will lead to the rationing of procedures and medicine, began airing two weeks ago on local affiliates of ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS. On a national level, however, ABC and NBC have refused to run the spot in its present form.

"It's a powerful ad," said Bob Adams, executive director of the League of American Voters, a national nonprofit group with 15,000 members who advocate individual liberty and government accountability. "It tells the truth and it really highlights one of the biggest vulnerabilities and problems with this proposed legislation, which is it rations health care and disproportionately will decimate the quality of health care for seniors."

Adams said the advertisement is running on local network affiliates in states like Louisiana, Arkansas, Maine and Pennsylvania. But although CBS has approved the ad for national distribution and talks are ongoing with FOX, NBC has questioned some of the ad's facts while ABC has labeled it "partisan."

...Adams objects to ABC's assertion that his group's position is partisan.

"It's a position that we would argue a vast majority of Americans stand behind," he said. "Obviously, it's a message that ABC and the Obama administration haven't received yet."

Dick Morris, a FOX News political analyst and the League of American Voters' chief strategist, conceptualized the advertisement and said its purpose was to "refocus" the debate on health care reform.

"I feel the whole debate on health care reform needed to be refocused on the issue of Medicare," he told FOXNews.com. "Most of the debate had been on issues of socialized medicine and cost. I felt that the impact of the legislation in cutting the Medicare program and enforcing rationing needed to be addressed."

Morris, a onetime advisor to former President Bill Clinton, said he was particularly troubled by ABC's decision not to air the spot.

"It's the ultimate act of chutzpah because ABC is the network that turned itself over completely to Obama for a daylong propaganda fest about health care reform," he said. "For them to be pious and say they will not accept advertising on health care shuts their viewers out from any possible understanding of both sides of this issue."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/27/abc-nbc-refuse-air-advertisement-critical-obamas-health-care-plan/

 

Video: Congressman Demands to See Constituent's ID Before Allowing Town Hall Question
http://www.breitbart.tv/congressman-demands-to-see-constituents-id-before-allowing-town-hall-question/
Yet a certain party doesn't want voters to have to show ID when they vote...

 

A Test of Kennedy Currency
by Jonah Goldberg
August 28, 2009

If you read the newspapers or watch the news, you will encounter a long list of accomplishments by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. One thing you're less likely to hear, however, is that in his death, Kennedy proved Rush Limbaugh right.

In March, the talk-show host and bete noir of progressives everywhere said that the health care bill wending its way through Congress would eventually be dubbed the "Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill." At the time, the official position of the Democratic Party was outrage and disgust...

...The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee initiated a petition drive demanding that the Republican Party formally denounce Limbaugh for his "reprehensible" and "truly outrageous" comments.

Fast-forward to a few hours after the announcement of Kennedy's death. Suddenly, naming the bill after Kennedy would be a moving tribute.

ABC News reports that "the idea of naming the legislation for Kennedy has been quietly circulating for months" but was kicked into overdrive by Sen. Robert Byrd, the Democratic Party's eldest statesman...
http://townhall.com/columnists/JonahGoldberg/2009/08/28/a_test_of_kennedy_currency
 

Some Surprised By 'Clunker' Tax
08/24/2009
The Cash For Clunkers program is adding to the activity at treasurers' offices all around South Dakota. First, people were asking for proof of ownership, so they could show they owned their vehicle for a full year, allowing them to cash it in. Now, they'll be returning to register their new vehicle.  And when they do, new owners need to bring every bit of paperwork provided to them by their dealer.

...many of those cashing in on the clunkers program are surprised when they get to the treasurer's office windows. That's because the government's rebate of up to $4500 dollars for every clunker is taxable.

"They didn't realize that would be taxable. A lot of people don't realize that. So they're not happy and kind of surprised when they find that out," Nelson said.

For now, the biggest impact of the program hasn't hit this office yet, as most of the paperwork is still in the hands of the dealers. But Nelson expects to see move activity in her office in the next month.

"I'm anxious to see what it's going to be like. I have no idea how many people we're going to see. Hopefully the dealers can process their paperwork in 30 days," Nelson said.

And that's when the line at this office will give some indication of how many cars the government program moved off of local lots.

Nelson adds that if you did recently purchase a vehicle, ensure your dealer gets you the paperwork in time because if they don't you could pay extra interest and penalties.
http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=0,89084

New Hampshire Dem discredits U.S. Constitution
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 8/27/2009 7:00:00 AM
A prominent historian and constitutional expert says a Democratic congresswoman from New Hampshire is "dead wrong" to suggest that "the Constitution did not cover everything."

 

Representative Carol Shea-Porter (D-New Hampshire) was asked recently by a talk-radio caller about the constitutionality of the Democrats' government-run healthcare plan. Her response has at least one constitutional expert wondering whether she has ever read the Constitution.
 
"I would point out to you that in the Constitution it also does not say the government can build roads or should build roads," said Shea-Porter. "It also doesn't say the government should make sure the drugs are safe. It doesn't say the government should look at airplanes to make sure they are safe to get on. It doesn't say we should have a police force in Manchester," she continued. "So, the Constitution did not cover everything."
 
Author and historian David Barton, the president of WallBuilders, says Shea-Porter's comments reflect her view that Washington government should run everything. He notes that both the Ninth and Tenth Amendments say anything that is not explicitly covered in the Constitution belongs to the states and to the people...
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=659584

 

The Absent-Minded Chairman: Charlie Rangel wins the personal lottery.
AUGUST 28, 2009
When normal people happen to "find" their own money, it might mean a twenty left in a winter coat, or discovering change beneath the sofa cushions. But if you're Charlie Rangel, it means doubling your net worth.

Earlier this month the Chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee "amended" his 2007 financial disclosure form—to the tune of more than a half-million dollars in previously unreported assets and income. That number may be as high as $780,000, because Congress's ethics rules only require the Members to report their finances within broad ranges. This voyage of personal financial discovery brings Mr. Rangel's net worth for 2007 to somewhere between $1.028 million and $2.495 million, while his previous statement came in at $516,015 and $1.316 million.

When you're a powerful Congressman and working diligently to increase tax rates to pay for President Obama's health-care plan, we suppose it's easy to lose track of one of your checking accounts. That would be the one at the federal credit union with a balance somewhere between $250,001 and maybe as high as $500,000. And when you're crunched for time and pulling together bills to pass in a rush, we guess, too, that you might overlook several other investment accounts, even if some of them are sizable, such as the ones Mr. Rangel missed at JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer and BlackRock.

Oh, and those vacant properties in Glassboro, in southern Jersey? Everybody in Manhattan tries not to think much about New Jersey, so those lots and their as-much-as-$15,000 value must also have slipped down the memory hole. (The New York Post reported yesterday that Mr. Rangel failed to pay property taxes for two of the lots, according to the county clerk's office.)

The Chairman probably isn't doing a lot of dining at KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell or Long John Silver's, either, which may explain why he didn't disclose the $1,001 to $15,000 in stock he owns in Yum Brands, the conglomerate that runs those chain restaurants. Compared to his undisclosed portfolio stake in PepsiCo—$15,001 to $50,000—that's practically a rounding error...

...Mr. Rangel is currently under investigation regarding his use of four rent-stabilized apartments at New York City's tony Lenox Terrace and soliciting donations with his official letterhead for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York, which was itself built with a $1.9 million earmark. Yet another part of the probe is his failure to report $75,000 in income from a rental villa at the beachfront Punta Cana Yacht Club, in the Dominican Republic...

OOPS! CHARLIE FORGOT THIS $1M HOUSE
August 28, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Charles Rangel failed to report as much as $1.3 million in outside income -- including up to $1 million for a Harlem building sale -- on financial-disclosure forms he filed between 2002 and 2006, according to newly amended records.

The documents also show the embattled chairman of the Ways and Means Committee -- who is being probed by the House Ethics Committee -- failed to reveal a staggering $3 million in various business transactions over the same period.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08282009/news/regionalnews/oops__charlie_forgot_this_1m_house_186849.htm

Democratic Health Care Bill Divulges IRS Tax Data
August 26, 2009
One of the problems with any proposed law that's over 1,000 pages long and constantly changing is that much deviltry can lie in the details. Take the Democrats' proposal to rewrite health care policy, better known as H.R. 3200 or by opponents as "Obamacare." (Here's our CBS News television coverage.)

Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and "other information as is prescribed by" regulation. That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for "affordability credits."

Section 245(b)(2)(A) says the IRS must divulge tax return details -- there's no specified limit on what's available or unavailable -- to the Health Choices Commissioner. The purpose, again, is to verify "affordability credits."

Section 1801(a) says that the Social Security Administration can obtain tax return data on anyone who may be eligible for a "low-income prescription drug subsidy" but has not applied for it.

Over at the Institute for Policy Innovation (a free-market think tank and presumably no fan of Obamacare), Tom Giovanetti argues that: "How many thousands of federal employees will have access to your records? The privacy of your health records will be only as good as the most nosy, most dishonest and most malcontented federal employee.... So say good-bye to privacy from the federal government. It was fun while it lasted for 233 years."
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/26/taking_liberties/entry5268079.shtml

Military chief seeks new plan to woo Muslims
Mullen says actions, not words, needed to erase 'arrogant Americans' label
8/28/09
WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has written a searing critique of government efforts at "strategic communication" with the Muslim world, saying that no amount of public relations will establish credibility if American behavior overseas is perceived as arrogant, uncaring or insulting.

The critique by the chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, comes as the United States is widely believed to be losing ground in the war of ideas against extremist Islamist ideology. The issue is particularly relevant as the Obama administration orders fresh efforts to counter militant propaganda, part of its broader strategy to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"To put it simply, we need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate," Admiral Mullen wrote in the critique, an essay to be published Friday by Joint Force Quarterly, an official military journal.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32589657/ns/politics-the_new_york_times/
What crock. First off why is it that we're always apologizing for every little thing but you don't hear them apologizing for Jihad, honor killings, and modern day slavery. Name one country who has done more for muslims interms of both money and actions than the US. Islam has only one thing on it's menu, world domination and forced submission of anyone who disagrees with them. Kowtowing to them is quite harmful.

Probability and Global Warming
August 28, 2009
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/probability_and_global_warming.html

 

The Swine flu whipsaw
August 27, 2009
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/the_swine_flu_whipsaw.html

 

Did al-Megrahi really have only 3 months to live?
August 27, 2009
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/did_almegrahi_really_have_only.html

 

David Bennett <><

http://www.freewill-predestination.com