40 DEMS FLEE AND CAO IS FOR CHANGE
40 DEMS FLEE AND CAO IS FOR CHANGE
Representative Anh Cao (R, Lauisiana), you think he does not have a few problems in his district? Forty Democratic representatives refused to vote for health care reform; a few problems my rear end.
Now do not get me wrong, I would not begrudge any female (or male for that matter) rep for not signing because of the Stupak amendment for the obvious reasons but I feel confident it will be stripped in committee. I have my fingers crossed anyway.
My own rep here in Alaska, Don Young (R), who is famous for keeping out of the media madness of DC made it a point to appear at BACHMANN'S FIGHT AGAINST TERROR HEALTH CARE.
I can not wait for 2010; I just hope Harry Crawford does not have any union skeletons hidden in his closet. Alaska is a vary small state if you know what I mean.
So what about the others forty dems who chose the status quo? Tell me why your blue dog fence sitters chose to piss on our leg.
M. Paul
Wal-Mart/Costco Sells Caskets: Why Not Go All the Way?
Apparently Wal-Mart along with Costco offer caskets on their website now. They are supposedly cheaper than most other places and they can be shipped within 48 hours.
They run between $999 - $1800 -- and are not sold in stores (can you imagine walking past the health care products directly into the Casket Room---Geez, that would sure make you feel good huh?).
While this may sound ridiculous, I'm all for these companies doing this. There needs to be more competition between funeral homes and products required for a funeral. Just imagine the money that those one or two funeral homes and the companies they do business with -- the profits they are making. And, they are pretty much assured to stay in business for several life times.
In fact, I think Wal-Mart of Costco or some other place like that would make out pretty well if they were to create a separate division -- just for life or death products. Imagine what that could include. Not only medicines to keep you well, happy and healthy (medicine, insurance, assistant devices, weddings, baby items, homecoming dress/suits, etc..), but products for when your life ends(caskets, urns, clothing, flowers, insurance, cemetaries, etc..).
Yes I said cemeteries. I meant however however, those special Cremation Niche that some cemeteries are now offering but in small amounts. They are like a big concrete dressers, each drawer holds the cremation remains.
I would also love to see Wal-Mart offer up nursing home care. Perhaps just the long term care policies. Lock in those prices while you are young.
Imagine the possibilities folks...what a little competition will do.
The Stupack Amendment played politics with women's lives and won.
Pro-choice Democrats reports The New York Times left the Speaker's office furious when it became clear that the amendment would get the vote on the floor, which made it almost a certainty that it would pass.
Pro-choice Democrats made their way to the floor to voice their opposition to amendment before the vote took place. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said on the floor, "Abortion is a matter of conscience on both sides of the debate. This amendment takes away that same freedom of conscience from America's women. It prohibits them from access to an abortion even if they pay for it with their own money. It invades women's personal decisions." But perhaps the most damming criticism of the amendment came California Congresswoman Rep. Barbara Lee who gave a rousing speech as to why the amendment should be voted against.
Ultimately though their plea to guarantee a woman's right to choose whilst maintaining the provisions that would bar any federal funds from directly paying for abortion procedures were not fruitful. The amendment passed 240-194.
Republicans supported the measure, but Minority Leader, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), made it clear that while him and his caucus would vote for the amendment they would vote against the final vote on the health-care bill (which they did, with one Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao, voting with the Democrats). Thus the Republican strategy was simply to vote for the amendment to make choice effectively impossible for poor American women while they continued to play politics by opposing the final vote knowing that it would pass without their support.
As a result anti-choice Democrats facilitated setting back women's rights by decades and ultimately failed to covert any support from their ideological allies on the other side, with exception of Rep. Joseph Cao, when and where it really mattered.
For pro-choice progressives there is still a chance that the amendment might be stripped form the final bill during conference; however, depending on how much anti-choice Democrats are able to put on the conferees the amendment might endure the conference committee.
The extent of the Stupak amendment is far reaching and goes well beyond what was necessary to ensure that the Hyde amendment remained the law of the law. Blogger for FireDog Lake Jon Walker explains how the amendment's effect would be carried out in the exchanges:
If the insurance companies offering plans on the exchange are not allowed to turn down any costumers, it means no basic insurance plan on the exchange could cover abortion. There would be no way to prevent that at least one of the plan's costumer would be be using affordability tax credits to help purchase the plan. So the effect is no plan sold on the exchange could offer abortion coverage as part of its basic package.Anti-choice proponents are no-doubt celebrating that the amendment passed and made its way into the final House bill. However, in their jubilation it is worth pointing out that the loser from this battle was the American woman, who once again has had her autonomy chipped away by people who have made their intention to impose their beliefs on other one step closer to becoming law.
While abortion remains a controversial issue for many Americans, one thing that we have learned over the years is that making it (effectively) illegal has never stopped women seeking an abortion from having one. Instead what these legislative measures have done is merely make the procedure unsafe, being conducted in unsafe environments, which potentially put the life of the mother and the unborn in danger.
In the meantime, while the Senate works on its version of the bill, pro-choice proponents can call representatives to make a final stanch for women's reproductive rights when the bill comes back around to the House. The is no reason for there to be health-care reform if it comes at the expense of women's rights.
Tsunami Wave: Will Wipe Out Republican Party
I was listening to Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania and Governor Barbour of Mississippi on "Meet the Press" with David Gregory this morning while they discussed the Democratic and Republican Parties and the upcoming election in 2010. They were debating who would best benefit in 2010 over the issue of health care, government spending and the unemployment rate.
David Gregory pointed out some people saying that the Democrats projected spending this year and the unemployment rate of 10.2% would, in one example, cause a "Tidal Wave" for the GOP in 2010. I would argue that the "Tidal Wave" would instead, be a great "Tsunami" for the Democratic Party.
We recently saw a "Tidal Wave" for the Democratic Party in the 2008 election. Not only did Republicans lose the White House, they lost a great deal of seats in the House and in the Senate during that election.
The Republican base wasn't enough to get them over the hurdles they faced back then. Their refusal to admit to any failures during the Bush/Cheney years, both in the White House and with Congressional actions caused the voters to swarm over to the Democratic Party. Their failure to admit that they blew it when it came to the economy - allowing our nation to come within a hair's breathe away from another Great Depression hurt them. Their failure to admit that we indeed have not won the war in Afghanistan and that the war in Iraq was in no way 'over' as they claimed the "surge" caused, also hurt them.
I also happen to think that Americans realized that tax rebates and tax cuts aren't the only solution to making our nation thrive. After all, we were all given at least 5 different tax rebates or cuts over the past 8 years during the Bush administration yet instead of having a booming economy we ended up in the biggest recession since the 30s and 40s.
Commentators on "Meet the Press" also discussed whether President Obama was taking on too much and not spending enough time on the economy and whether that would hurt the Democrats in 2010.
As one of the commentators pointed out, Obama came into office planning on stopping the Iraq war, getting health care for all and getting control of our energy sources. Those were his goals and what he ran on in 2008. He inherited those other things like the "Great Recession", a corrupt Wall Street that was failing, businesses going belly up, car dealers threatening to die and two wars that we were falsely led to believe we were winning, and a world that lost their respect and admiration for the U.S.
Americans know these facts, they aren't blind. Americans also know that jobs are scarce because of all the above. Now the question becomes, what will pull employment back to at least where it was in the early 90's?
Keep in mind, the Bush/Cheney administration and Republican Party, after 8 years in office and 5 tax cuts, still left behind a 7.2% unemployment figure as of January 1, 2009 before leaving office. These facts will and should be repeated during the 2010 election cycle. It was the Bush/Cheney administration and not the Obama administration that originally designed the 750 Billion dollar bailout for large insurance companies like AIG and the car industry, will and should be repeated during the 2010 election cycle. The GOP is trying their level best to change that history in the minds of Americans but they won't succeed.
Let's take a look at what's happened since January 20th of this year. The Democratic Party came into power and immediately wrote the Recovery and Reinvestment package that was passed and signed into law within 30 days in office on February 17, 2009. This bill included a historical tax cut for Americans. Only three republicans voted for this relief (stimulus) package, and those same three Republicans helped to gut what was initially asked for by the Democrats.
President Obama immediately ordered an additional 33,000 troops be sent to Afghanistan to help try and stabilize that war. This decision was made within a couple of months of taking office. The Bush/Cheney administration had been asked by the Generals on the ground for more troops a full year before this yet date --they still hadn't made up their minds when they left office in January of 2009.
President Obama announced in March that he would be sending 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. But in an unannounced move, the White House has also authorized -- and the Pentagon is deploying -- at least 13,000 troops beyond that number, according to defense officials.
Today the President and his administration are trying to produce a new strategy, one that will work in Afghanistan instead of one we were lied to about.
The health care reform bills that the Democrats have been trying to put together is finally coming around, the House passed their final version of their bill last night that would not only cover millions of additional Americans, it is paid for and would cut the deficit by billions over 10 years. They did this with only one vote from a Republican. Now the Senate must do the same and then both bills will be merged into one final bill.
CBO says the GOP provisions would cut the deficit by $68 billion over ten years, less than the Democratic bill, which cuts the deficit $104 billion over the same time frame. That's largely because the Democrats raise taxes and cut Medicare benefits while the GOP doesn't (although the GOP plan does include some small revenue growth of about $27 billion over ten years.)
The CBO also says the Republican plan would leave 52 million people uninsured in 2019, more than the 46 million uninsured today (the percentage of Americans without insurance, about 17 percent, would remain basically unchanged, CBO says.)
CBO earlier said the Democrats' bill would leave about 18 million uninsured.
My point is this, millions of potential voters will finally get the health care they need for their families.
The economy grew 3.5% the last quarter, instead of being in the negative as it was before. Unemployment may still be high, but the numbers each month keeps dropping. Only a third of the economic stimulus package has been used which means thousands of future jobs will become available during the spring and summer of 2010.
The Republican Party was given a warning with a "Tidal Wave" during the November 2008 election. In some ways you could call this the 'drawback' step (first step of a Tsunami - the water along the shoreline recedes dramatically, exposing normally submerged areas - unaware of the danger sometimes people remain) it was a huge warning of sorts.
By becoming the Party of 'No' since January 20, 2009; the Republican Party has put themselves in the position of being the Party that was 'wiped out' by a Tsunami in November of 2010.
When voters see that they will soon have health care coverage and won't lose what they have. When they see that the economy is growing instead of melting and that jobs are finally coming around and the risk of losing their own is less. When they see our roads, bridges, electric grids and infrastructure have all been improved since the Democratic Party took control - I predict there will be the greatest political Tsunami in history. This "Tsunami wave" will wipe out what is left of, what is today known as, the Republican Party.
HIV: the New Silver Bullet for Gene Therapy

- HIV virions budding from cultured lymphocyte cell
What is an HIV virus that doesn't cause HIV?
It might be the key to medical cures based on genetics.
Since we've decoded the human genome, a tantalizing prospect has loomed before researchers and the medical community: gene therapy. If we can understand what genes cause an illness or defect, and if we can repair or replace them with a more desirable alternative, then we can correct problems at a cellular level. Gene therapy is non-invasive. The body fundamentally reforms itself, and new cells that grow after treatment follow the new, improved blueprint in the altered DNA.
We grow new cells all the time, not only when we're healing from an injury. For instance, our constantly regenerating skin gives us entirely new palms every 24 to 48 hours. In fact, our entire bodies rebuild themselves about every 7 years. Why not take advantage of this constant growth and replacement cycle to literally build "a new you", free of whatever was ailing you?
Scientists have been thinking about this for quite a while.
Two Gene Therapy Obstacles
This approach to medicine and genetics faces two major challenges. One is our as-yet limited knowledge about which particular genes are responsible for a given set of traits, symptoms and syndromes we have identified. Simply mapping the human genome is not enough: this gives us a map, yes, but as they say, the map is not the terrain. Does this bit of genetic code here affect your reaction to stress, or does it control your affinity for alcohol? Deciphering these linkages is an ongoing process. We're making progress, but so far have only scratched the surface.
The other major hurdle is how to alter genes once we know what section of code is relevant to a problem. DNA can be segmented - removing a related chunk of code, like pulling a clause out of a sentence - and a new segment spliced in its place. This process involves specialized enzymes and careful gene mapping to identify the segments being tweaked, and lends itself best to laboratory manipulation.
Yet DNA can be changed in another way, as well: it can be rewritten in place in a human body, physically altered in situ. If we can rewrite the genetic code in place, nothing needs to be removed and reinserted. Ideally, once initiated, DNA alteration would continue automatically within the subject's own body. But this neat solution is significantly more challenging. How do we work on the submicronic level to rewrite a body's genetic code?
HIV to the Rescue
The answer, surprisingly, may be HIV. Viruses survive by attaching themselves to host cells and rewriting segments of DNA to replicate themselves. HIV is so pernicious in part because it infiltrates the body so thoroughly and does such an aggressive job of reprogramming the host's genetic code and replicating itself. Unlike most viruses it can even penetrate stem cells, to reformulate the code of the basic building blocks of the human body.
Now, in a ground-breaking therapy, a team if French scientists have stripped the HIV virus of its deadly components and used it as the vehicle to carry tailored genetic code into two host bodies.
Owens' win in NY 23: bad for Democrats, good for the country?
The Democrats' celebration was also premature: Hoffman's defeat is potentially more harmful to them than to the Republicans....it increases the odds that the Republicans will not do Democrats the great favor of committing suicide between now and the next Election Day.Quite so. But what may be bad for Democrats in the short term is good for the country.
The country needs the Republican party to step back from the brink. Other mature democracies have fringe parties that play primarily to voters' fears and fantasies, but those parties exist within multiparty systems. In times of stress their vote may approach or crack 20% of the total, and everyone draws a breath and notes the electorate's anger.
We have only two national parties. If one of them shrinks to attract the affiliation of less than 30% of the electorate and retreats entirely into fringe party thinking and tactics, that's dangerous. The tea partiers' lies and paranoid fantasies; their demonization of a reform effort as incremental, cautious, and indeed historically Republican in its genesis as the pending health care bills; their glorification of the willful ignorance of Palin and Bachmann and their rapt attention to transparent demagogues like Beck and Limbaugh, is all fringe party behavior. Those who equate health insurance mandates or voluntary end of life counseling with fascism are themselves potential fascists -- demonizers of opposition, rabid advocates of torture, paranoid fantasists.
If that fringe entirely captures one of our two parties, the next big shock -- a world market collapse like that predicted by Roubini, a major terrorist attack -- could push such people into power. If, meanwhile, new Republican governors in purple states go to work with even a modicum of pragmatism -as Christie at least will have to do -- that could have a powerful demonstration effect for Republican decision-makers.
Fox Football Coverage
OK, I get up this morning with a medium sized hang-over, [First in about a month, don't send for help], I scan the couple of sights I follow on the internet, and I review the comments I have made hoping I made some sense the night before and also hoping I didn't embarrass myself or insult any of the many on-line people I have come to admire and respect. Then I turn on the TV to see which games will be televised. I am a big Cowboy fan and watch some of the other games.
So, what do I see? The damned pre-game bs show on the Fox channel that are on as I write have a complete military theme. Jimmy Johnson and the others have on Combat fatigues. Each representing a different branch. A live audience that is apparently all, or at least mostly, military. Video clips of soldiers in Afghanistan telling what a wonderful thing we are doing there.
This might settle down in my addled brain and I might come to understand just why I am pissed off by this after it stews for a while. If it wasn't Sunday I might go get a bottle of bourbon to help clear my mind.
A Song For Sunday...Archie Roach
Right Hooks and Left Crosses

Trends and lessons emerge from review of Fort Collins bike, car crashes
I'll be cycling to work again soon, so here's another earnest discussion of cycling safety. In this small study, four types of collisions predominate:
The most common collision is "The Broadside," at 60.5% of crashes. That's when a motorist goes straight through an intersection even when there's a bike right in front of him.
Broadsides seem to result from traffic violations by both bikers, such as riding on the sidewalk, riding the wrong way, blowing through stop signs, and by drivers, who blow through signals and fail to yield. As a cyclist, I have little fear of broadsides because I don't ride that way, and I no longer expect cars to yield, but I do see people riding that way every day. What scares me are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th most common accidents.
The infamous Right Hook -- or what the city calls "Overtaking Turn Accidents at Intersections" -- is the second most common collision at 13% of the total in their count.
Cars are so much faster that it is hard to see this coming. I have been cut off by the Right Hook as a runner, cyclist and moped rider. My feeling is that once a car driver passes a slower entity, his attention transfers to what is ahead. Practicing Lane Control, or riding in the center of a lane, is supposed to avoid this situation, but also tends to aggravate auto drivers.
The third most common collision type is the left cross at 9.3% of collisions. This is when a left turning motorist slams into a cyclist going straight through an intersection. Of the 33 left crosses, 3 involved a cyclist riding on the sidewalk, 2 were going the wrong way, and two failed to stop at a signal or sign. The overwhelming number of these were motorists who just kept going in spite of the presence of a bike in their path.
The Left Cross is a notorious killer of motorcyclists, too. I had my worst motorcycle accident when a car turned left right in front of me on a slick road. I put the bike down, sprained both wrists and essentially gave up motorcycling.
After that, the next collision type is the dreaded "Hit From Behind." The 30 "sideswipes" recorded account for 8.5% of bike collisions. With the exception of a single head on, all fatalities are these types.
"All fatalities" is a small number in a small study, but this collision involves the highest degree of auto driver misbehavior: DUI, erratic driving, etc., and therefore is least preventable by cyclists. Again, the standard advice is Lane Control, but on faster roads, lane control is practically asking for road rage. Hence, in a more suburban situation, I will choose the empty sidewalk rather than go rubber to rubber with SUVs going 50 mph.
I always wear a helmet, but a friend on Facebook sent me this article:
Wearing helmets 'more dangerous'
Cyclists who wear protective helmets are more likely to be knocked down by passing vehicles, new research from Bath University suggests.
The study found drivers tend to pass closer when overtaking cyclists wearing helmets than those who are bare-headed.
...
To carry out the research, Dr Walker used a bike fitted with a computer and an ultrasonic distance sensor to find drivers were twice as likely to get close to the bicycle, at an average of 8.5cm, when he wore a helmet.
...
To test another theory, Dr Walker donned a long wig to see whether there was any difference in passing distance when drivers thought they were overtaking what appeared to be a female cyclist.
While wearing the wig, drivers gave him an average of 14cm more space when passing.
I'll bet he got a lot more funny looks, though.
Grant Heslov, George Clooney team up for 'The Men Who Stare at Goats.'
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Taylor Lautner Plays Coy on Romance With Taylor Swift
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