ExConservative - The GOP Left Me!

The real turkies are the wimpy, fearful democrats. Gobble, gobble.

Hopefully, you had a great Thanksgiving.  I’ll assume that if you are reading this that you have a computer and are not homeless and you are not one of the millions that are so impacted by the economy and the years of conservatives screwing America.

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My family gathered at my brother’s place and it was a good time for all.  Kids, dogs, grandpa, nieces and nephews, assorted friends and neighbors all overate and bitched about it and then ate more.  Gluttony is not pretty, but that is what a holiday is all about, if you are one of the fortunate ones that is not destitute and with no means.  I can only hope that more Americans wake up – as I have – and reject the right-wing lies and criminal ways and return the USA to the democratic republic that it used to be, not the corporate monster that the republikscum have created.

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And balls to the democrats!  They friggin’ need some.  Send testosterone patches to every Dem you know and let’s get mad, mean and take back America.

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Holidays, family, and hearing they are going to debate some more and more and more and more... have me all fired up.  Care to share in my anger?

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Cliff – The XCon 

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Dems look for deal as Sen. debate begins

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After months of buildup, the historic debate on health care reform opens on the Senate floor Monday — but the C-SPAN cameras won’t see the real action.

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The next phase in the Democrats’ health care push will be waged in the privacy of the Senate leadership office, where Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will attempt to do something that has eluded him all year: negotiate a compromise on the public insurance option that can garner 60 votes and win over a public still leery of reform.

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“There is the inside fight and the outside fight,” said Jim Kessler, a former top aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and vice president for policy at Third Way. “The inside fight is getting to 60, and the outside fight is winning the battle of public opinion.”

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Read more – Click HERE.

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Op-Ed Columnist

Are We Going to Let John Die?

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF – NY TIMES

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If Joe Lieberman or other senators came across John Brodniak writhing in pain on the sidewalk, they presumably would jump to help him and rush him to a hospital.

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Unfortunately, an emergency room won’t help — indeed, the closest E.R. has told him not to come back, he says. So, for those members of Congress who are wavering on health reform, listen to John’s story.

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John is a sawmill worker from Yamhill County, Ore., where I grew up. He was a foreman at a mill, he felt strong and healthy, and he had very basic insurance coverage through his job. On April 18, he was married, at age 23, and life was looking up.

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Ten days after the wedding, he was walking in his backyard carrying a neighbor’s dog — and he suddenly blacked out. That led, after rounds of CAT scans, M.R.I.’s and other tests, to the discovery that the left parietal lobe of his brain has a cavernous hemangioma. That’s an abnormal growth of blood vessels, and in John’s case it is chronically leaking blood into his brain.

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Read more Kristof – Click HERE.

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Best Moments From Sunday Talk

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Rick Warren backpedals on gay marriage, Carl Levin blames Bush for Afghanistan, and Google’s Eric Schmidt offers an Orwellian vision of the future. That and more in The Daily Beast Sunday roundup.

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Read more – Click HERE.

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Op-Ed Columnist

America vs. The Narrative

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

The New York TIMES

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What should we make of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who apparently killed 13 innocent people at Fort Hood?

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Here’s my take: Major Hasan may have been mentally unbalanced — I assume anyone who shoots up innocent people is. But the more you read about his support for Muslim suicide bombers, about how he showed up at a public-health seminar with a PowerPoint presentation titled “Why the War on Terror Is a War on Islam,” and about his contacts with Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni cleric famous for using the Web to support jihadist violence against America — the more it seems that Major Hasan was just another angry jihadist spurred to action by “The Narrative.”

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What is scary is that even though he was born, raised and educated in America, The Narrative still got to him.

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Read more Friedman – Click HERE.

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Op-Ed Columnist

The Wizards’ Wizard

By MAUREEN DOWD

The New York TIMES

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There is much to be learned from exits.

How people leave relationships. How people help their loved ones negotiate their final months and years. How we ourselves face the final curtain, as Frank Sinatra would say.

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I’ve seen some people who were fierce in the face of mortification and death. But none as fierce as Abe Pollin.

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In the last few years, Washington’s great sports impresario and philanthropist suffered from a rare brain disease that robbed him of everything but his burning love of life and sports and his burning desire to help sick children and the poor in Washington and around the world.

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After giving everyone in his company, from part-time ushers to top executives, a Thanksgiving bonus; after making sure that the Wizards staff was going to get out early for the holiday; after sending his wife, Irene, a bouquet of yellow roses to thank her for their 64 years together, the 85-year-old Pollin died Tuesday at his home in Bethesda, Md.

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Read more – Click HERE.

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Barack Obama poses with the Salahis, the Black Eyed Peas, and Randy Jackson.

Photo courtesy of PoloContacts.com

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While Washington has been abuzz over Thanksgiving weekend about Michaele and Tareq Salahi crashing the White House state dinner, it turns out that may not be the first time that the couple has met Barack Obama.

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A photo on PoloContacts.com, a website for international polo fans, shows Obama with the Salahis at an America's Polo Cup event (the authenticity of the photo, dated December 2008, has not yet been verified, and one web post about it says it was taken in 2005). Also in the photo is "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson and hiphop group the Black Eyed Peas, whose leader, Will I Am, has put out several songs praising Obama.

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Read more – Click HERE.

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UK Iraq War Inquiry: Blair Was Told Iraq War Was Illegal, Decided On War In 2002

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Last Tuesday, the United Kingdom began “the most thorough investigation yet into the decisions that led up to the war and governed Britain’s involvement” through a series of Iraq war hearings in which numerous high-level British officials — including key war supporter and Bush ally ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair — are expected to testify about their role in bringing their country to war.

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The hearings, chaired by privy council member John Chilcot, have brought to light a number of explosive facts which unveil the level of chicanery practiced by the Blair government in taking the country to war over the opposition of the vast majority of British citizens...

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Read more war stuff – Click HERE.

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Inhofe Trashes Military Generals Who Advocate For Clean Energy Legislation: They Crave ‘The Limelight’

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In testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, retired Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn articulated a national security argument for passing clean energy legislation. “Continued over reliance on fossil fuels, or small, incremental steps, simply will not create the kind of future security and prosperity that the American people and our great Nation deserve,” McGinn warned.

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In an interview with the New York Times Magazine, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), the ranking member of the Senate environment committee, argued that McGinn and other generals who are advocating for clean energy reform (like Wesley Clark, Stephen Cheney, Brent Scowcroft, etc) are simply doing so because they crave “the limelight”...

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Read more Inhofe lies – Click HERE.

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Where's the outrage over Mark Halperin's photoshopped picture of Mary Landrieu?

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Maybe you thought that the recent outrage from the right over Newsweek's use of a photo of Sarah Palin in a running outfit meant conservatives are finally coming to understand that sexism has no place in the news media.  And maybe you thought all the attention the mainstream media paid to the controversy was a sign that they, too, are beginning to see the light -- and not simply another example of them asking conservative media critics how high they should jump.  Well, if you thought that, you'd be wrong.

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Take, for example, Newsbusters.  The right-wing media critics were all over the Newsweek/Palin controversy.  But they haven't said a word about Mark Halperin doctoring a photo to portray Mary Landrieu as having semen in her hair.

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Read more – Click HERE.

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Reliable Sources on CNN

 

 

 

Radio host: Beck ‘is a ticking time bomb’ that Fox News will be ’sorry’ for

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It's amazing, the standards of "newsworthiness" exhibited by some outlets.

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When Rep. Alan Grayson called a female lobbyist a "K-Street whore," Fox News went into overdrive, smelling blood in the water.

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But when one of their own drops a prostitution analogy in reference to a female lawmaker, not a word of criticism eeks out.

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Take, for example, Glenn Beck, who said recently of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), "So we know you’re hookin’ but you’re just not cheap."

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Read more – Click HERE.

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Sunday Night TV : Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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Click here to read more.

 

 

Wild, Wicked Wanda Sykes Show

 

 

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Rachel Uchitel PICTURES:

Photos Of Alleged Tiger Woods Mistress In LA

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Rachel Uchitel, Tiger Woods' alleged mistress, arrived in Los Angeles today and was greeted by her lawyer, Gloria Allred. Rumors emerged last week that Uchitel and Woods were having an affair, and speculation has increased after Woods was involved in a car accident. Uchitel has denied the affair.

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Read more GOSSIP – Click HERE.

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Random Gallery Postings

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OK, I have to stop now!  A person should not find such chuckles and keep posting them.  The internet is crowded enough, but there is so much out there. 

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Cliff – The XCon 

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Mo' Maureen Dowd - Excellent Column Today!

 

 

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I have no trouble admitting that I have a thing for Maureen Dowd who writes columns for the New York TIMES.  Even when I totally disagree with some point she makes, she says it in such wonderful sentences, such excellent imagery, that I mumble to myself, "Way to go, Mo, way to go."

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Bringing a female POV, a local D.C. girl upbringing, and just enough poison in the pen, Ms. Dowd is worth finding and reading.  Today is just one fine example of her lack of fear, her wit, and her intellect.  She's the type that insults and angers politicians and they still have to respect her! 

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So, if I tend to sound like I'm a promo-man for the TIMES, I'm not!  I just enjoy their columns and appreciate their reporting and hope they keep on being the newspaper of record!  Their daily email summary is a great way to begin a morning, by the way.

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Turkey time.  Pumpkin pie time.  Overeating time.  Have a tasty, happy, safe and sane T-Day!

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Cliff - The XCon

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Op-Ed Columnist

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Thanks for the Memories

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By MAUREEN DOWD

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At his Cabinet meeting Monday afternoon, President Obama took a moment to give thanks to his team.

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Sipping a glass of water, the president offered special gratitude to the woman on his right.

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“I advised this hard-working Cabinet to get a little bit of rest this week,” he said, looking at Hillary Clinton, “particularly the people who have been traveling around the globe day-in and day-out and don’t know what time zone they’re in.”

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The secretary of state, with a china cup and saucer in front of her, smiled.

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In the back of the room, back where they were parched, back where no water or coffee was served for the two-hour meeting, sat Greg Craig, the White House counsel who was a ghostly presence, given his death by a thousand leaks.

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Click HERE to continue on with Maureen.

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Obama Will Address Nation

On Afghanistan Decision Tuesday

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President Obama will announce his new strategy for Afghanistan during a primetime address to the nation from the West Point Military Academy Tuesday at 8 p.m., the White House announced Wednesday. Obama is expected to explain how a surge of troops—estimated between 20,000 and 40,000—is vital for national security interests, according to Politico; he will also likely note that failure would create a lawless country vulnerable to al Qaeda. The choice of setting—which provides a backdrop of future military officers—comes as the public is losing confidence in Obama’s policy.

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Click HERE to read more.

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Quick Fact: Drudge, Washington Times falsely claim allegedly hacked emails show global warming is not real

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The Drudge Report suggested that global warming is "junk science," by linking to a Washington Times editorial that falsely claims a series of emails that were reportedly stolen from the UK's Climate Research Unit [CRU] show that global warming is an "unproven theory." In fact, the validity of climate science is not hinged on the contents of these emails, some of which conservative media have taken out of context; reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading scientific body for assessing climate change research, are the product of thousands of scientists worldwide.

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Click HERE to read more.

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REPORT: At Least 40 GOP Lawmakers Fail

The ‘Purity Test’

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Yesterday, Republican National Committee member Jim Bopp unveiled a resolution to deny funding of candidates who do not uphold right-wing conservative values. The resolution, termed a “purity test,” is being touted as a mechanism for actually avoiding the party schism that occurred in the NY-23 special election, when the Republican Party nominated a moderate who violated several of the resolution dictates.

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As the Hotline has noted, the resolution, if adopted, would boot key Republican candidates running for the Senate next year. National Republicans recruited Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) to run for the Senate, even though they have bucked conservative orthodoxy in the past.

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Click HERE to read more.

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Palin Issues Thankfulnesses List

Holiday Message from the Former Alaska Governor

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WASILLA (The Borowitz Report): Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin today issued the following "thankfulnesses list":

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This being my list of the thankfulnesses I'm tapping into this year...

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I have thankfulness that we have a President who is learning to celebrate our American holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas also, even though he didn't have either of those days when he was growing up in Kenya.

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I have thankfulness that we live in a country where we have the freedom to speak, even though Todd has never done so actually.

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I have thankfulness that little Falcon was found safe and sound in that box, being that I was worried sick about him flying around in that balloon.

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I have thankfulness for all of those Jewish settlements on the West Bank, seeing that Jewish people will be flocking to the Holy Land to celebrate Thanksgiving.

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I have thankfulness also for the new drapes I installed in my house to keep the Russians from peeping in.

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I have thankfulness that Levi posed in Playgirl, and I'm sure all the gay men who read Playgirl have thankfulness for that also.

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I have thankfulness also that Levi's mom has been put in prison so I don't have to worry about her selling drugs to Willow or Piper.

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And finally, I have thankfulness for all of the good people who read my book, and for the person who wrote it also.

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Check out www.borowitzreport.com often!

 

 

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ESCAPE TIME!  Time to reprise some DAILY SHOW and Colbert Report moments.

 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Decade in Review - 2003
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

 

 

 

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
In :60 Seconds - Sweetness
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

 

 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
This Week in God - God Machine
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

 

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Does Adam Lambert owe America an apology? He doesn't think so. The American Idol star has only one regret about his controversial performance at the AMAs Sunday—and it doesn't involve his groins.

 

 

Watch CBS News Videos Online

 

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Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson show off their mirror ball trophies after winning

“Dancing With the Stars” on Tuesday night.   Adam Larkey / ABC

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Donny says ‘Dancing’ victory worth the pain

Osmond says winning mirror ball trophy among highlights of his career

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While rushing off to the airport to appear on “Good Morning America,” “Dancing With The Stars” victor Donny Osmond got on the phone with EW.com to talk about his (not-so-surprising) win, his body aches, and how he plans to torture sister Marie with his shiny new prize.

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EW: Did you think you would win?

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Donny: You always hope you can win. This morning when I got up it was like, it could go any way. Kelly was the fan favorite, but Mya was the better dancer. I was worried, I didn’t know what was going to happen. When Tom called our names, it was a dream come true.

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Click HERE to read more.

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www.truthout.org – Check it out!

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www.hinessight.com– Always great stuff!

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Let’s Gallery About Sex & More

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Please Enter With Caution.

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Before the Internet, before the noise, 1200 baud and happy?

 

A friend asked me the other day “Where do you find all this stuff?”  He meant all the news and views that I post and link to, of course.  I assured him and his wife that it is all out there for all of us, if we just look.  This internet is proving to be a tremendous resource... and for more and more people each day, a horrible source of unwanted dissemination and tawdry gossip.  And we can suppose that lots of illegal and threatening crap flows though the net ‘cause where there is greed and opportunity, crime happens.  (It always has and history proves it!)

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Negatives aside, it is getting harder and harder to remember not having the internet and all the goodies we depend on.  Email, porno, sex, dates, selling stuff, Craigslist, online buying and banking, spell checking, spreadsheets, and information are now part of the fabric of our lives.  For those of us who can remember the advent of the 1200 baud modem and what a wonderful improvement it was (over 300 baud), perhaps we are growing too accustomed to speeds measured in megabytes!  Hard drives that hold gigabytes are so commonplace thanks to the speeds and quantity of information available today.  We’ve come a long, long way since that 10-meg Seagate drive “back in the day.”

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The revolution is on.  We are soldiers and the internet is our battlefield.  We’ve come so far and have so far to go, though the horizon is infinitely distant and may have no end.

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Perhaps we would have no Palin, no Rove, no Beck, no Cheney, no Limblohole, no Bachmann, without the internet and the blogs?  They would exist but be just like a “tree falling in the forest” with no one to see (or hear), thus it would be as though they were never there.

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Imagine the quiet. 

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Cliff – The XCon

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Former Insurance Company Executive: Health Insurers

Stand Between Patients And Their Doctors

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One of the most common right-wing memes used by opponents of health care

reform is that progressive solutions to America's health care problems place

"Washington bureaucrats firmly between you and your doctor." Again and

again, conservatives have deployed this meme to demagogue the health care

debate.

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However, the reality is there already is someone standing between you and

your doctor: health insurance companies. Single mother Ellen Hayden knows

this from experience. After losing her mother at the age of 7 from breast

cancer, Hayden has done everything she can to get regular mammograms.

Following an abnormal mammogram, her doctor recommended that she have an

MRI. After the scan, her insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, refused to pay for

the procedure and is also refusing to pay for a follow-up second MRI her

doctor has suggested...

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Click here to read more!

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Fox's Fuzzy Math: 193 Percent Of The Public Support

Palin, Huckabee, And Romney

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Reporting on the latest Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll last night on Fox

News' local Chicago affiliate, anchor Byron Harlan employed some funny math

in asserting that Sarah Palin is leading the pack for the GOP nomination in

2012:

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HARLAN: It looks as if the rogue route is helping Sarah Palin. Her book tour

has meant new support. A new Opinion Dynamics poll for 2012 shows her on top

when it comes to landing the nomination. Palin is at 70 percent, about a

third higher than this past July. Mike Huckabee stands at 63 percent. Mitt

Romney's 60.

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Those figures add up to 193 percent. An accompanying graphic tried to

squeeze the numbers into one pie chart:

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Click here to read more!

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Fox News Threatens Pink Slips For On-Screen Errors

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After a rash of mistakes and apologies over the past weeks, Fox News has sent a memo to employees announcing a new "zero tolerance" policy for on-screen errors.

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FishBowlDC obtained the memo, sent last Friday, which warns mistakes could lead to written warnings, suspensions and termination.

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"Please know that jobs are on the line here. I can not stress that enough," the memo reads.

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Fox has had three much-noticed errors in the past few weeks. First, Sean Hannity used misleading footage to beef up attendance numbers at a Capitol Hill tea party rally -- an incident that caught the attention of the Daily Show's Jon Stewart, forcing Hannity to apologize on air.

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Then, last week, one of the midday news shows aired footage of an old Sarah Palin campaign rally to show the "crowds" at her current book tour. An anchor apologized a day later, and Fox blamed a "production error."

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Click here to read more on Faux!

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Cheney: Obama Bow 'Very Upsetting'

And 'Fundamentally Harmful'

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Former Vice President Dick Cheney gave an interview to conservative talk radio host Scott Hennen today, in which he slammed President Obama's "fundamentally harmful" bow to the Japanese Emperor during his trip to Asia.

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In the interview, Cheney says that when the President bows to a foreign leader, "our friends and allies don't expect it and our adversaries perceive it as a sign of weakness."

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"I think it's fundamentally harmful and it shows in my mind that this is a guy, a president, who would bow, for example, who doesn't fully understand or have the same perception of the U.S. role in the world that I think most Americans have," he says.

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Cheney concludes: "What I see in President Obama is somebody who bows before foreign leaders and spends his trips aboard primarily apologizing for U.S. behavior. I find that very upsetting."

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Click here to read more from Evil Dick!

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Palin Fort Bragg Book Signing:

Former Governor Asked Not To Speak

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FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Sarah Palin brought her book-signing tour to North

Carolina's Fort Bragg on Monday as thousands greeted the former Republican

vice presidential candidate in a campaign-like gathering that tested

military rules involving politicians.

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The Department of Defense typically prohibits politicians from using

installations as a platform, so Palin didn't give a speech and simply

thanked soldiers individually. She was allowed to hold the event as a

private citizen who was not campaigning, a Fort Bragg spokesman said.

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Army officials initially feared the book signing might turn political and

negative comments would be directed at President Barack Obama, so they

barred media from attending. The Army later relented and allowed coverage,

and many people who attended voiced their opposition to the commander in

chief.

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Click here (at your own risk) to read more!

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Caster Semenya and the middle sex

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As athletic leaders meet to decide the sex of the South African runner, our

writer reveals that the NHS has pioneered a new approach to the hundreds of

UK babies born each year of unclear sex

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The way we cope with Caster Semenya, the South African athlete of disputed

sex, is to tell ourselves that she is nothing like us, nor anyone we know,

nor anything we are likely to know. She is, in the court of public opinion,

a freak, no matter what the news is from the International Association of

Athletics Federations tomorrow.

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So would it surprise you to know that every other day in Britain a baby is

born looking different enough that doctors cannot instantly tell its sex?

Would it make you feel less safe in your opinions if you knew that for 1 in

4,000 expectant parents a year, there is no answer to that first question:

is it a boy or a girl? That almost certainly someone you know has started

off his or her life like this? That, when you take into account the more

subtle disorders of sexual differentiation, it becomes apparent only at

puberty or later, as is the case for Semenya, and the rate doubles again?

That children with physical problems such as this are one of medicine's

best-kept secrets?

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Click here to read more!

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Op-Ed Columnist

The Pit Bull in the China Shop

By FRANK RICH

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AT last the American right and left have one issue they unequivocally agree

on: You don't actually have to read Sarah Palin's book to have an opinion

about it. Last Sunday Liz Cheney praised "Going Rogue" as "well-written" on

Fox News even though, by her own account, she had sampled only "parts" of

it. On Tuesday, Ana Marie Cox, a correspondent for Air America, belittled

the book in The Washington Post while confessing that she couldn't claim to

have "completely" read it.

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"Going Rogue" will hardly be the first best seller embraced by millions for

talismanic rather than literary ends. And I am not recommending that others

follow my example and slog through its 400-plus pages, especially since its

supposed revelations have been picked through 24/7 for a week. But sometimes

I wonder if anyone has read all of what Palin would call the "dang" thing.

Some of the book's most illuminating tics have been mentioned barely - if at

all - by either its fans or foes. Palin is far and away the most important

brand in American politics after Barack Obama, and attention must be paid.

Those who wishfully think her 15 minutes are up are deluding themselves.

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Click here to read more Frank Rich!

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Op-Ed Columnist

Visceral Has Its Value

By MAUREEN DOWD

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It's easy to dismiss Sarah Palin.

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She's back on the trail, with the tumbling hair and tumbling thoughts. The

queen of the scenic strip mall known as Wasilla now reigns over thrilled

subjects thronging to a politically strategic swath of American strip malls.

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The conservative celebrity clearly hasn't boned up on anything, except her

own endless odyssey of self-discovery. And she still has that Yoda-like

syntax.

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"And I think more of a concern has been not within the campaign the mistakes

that were made, not being able to react to the circumstances that those

mistakes created in a real positive and professional and helpful way for

John McCain," she told Bill O'Reilly.

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Yet Democrats would be foolish to write off her visceral power.

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Click here to read more Mo!

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Op-Ed Columnist

Advice From Grandma

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

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President Obama's visit to China this week inevitably invites comparisons

between the world's two leading powers. You know what they say: Britain

owned the 19th century, America owned the 20th century, and, it's all but

certain that China will own the 21st century. Maybe, but I'm not ready to

cede the 21st century to China just yet.

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Why not? It has to do with the fact that we are moving into a

hyperintegrated world in which all aspects of production - raw materials,

design, manufacturing, distribution, fulfillment, financing and branding -

have become commodities that can be accessed from anywhere by anyone. But

there are still two really important things that can't be commoditized.

Fortunately, America still has one of them: imagination.

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What your citizens imagine now matters more than ever because they can act

on their own imaginations farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever

before - as individuals. In such a world, societies that can nurture people

with the ability to imagine and spin off new ideas will thrive. The Apple

iPod may be made in China, but it was dreamed up in America, and that's

where most of the profits go. America - with its open, free, no-limits,

immigrant-friendly society - is still the world's greatest dream machine.

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Who would cede a century in which imagination will have such a high value to

an authoritarian society that controls its Internet and jails political

prisoners? Remember what Grandma used to say: Never cede a century to a

country that censors Google.

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But while our culture of imagination is still vibrant, the other critical

factor that still differentiates countries today - and is not a commodity -

is good governance, which can harness creativity. And that we may be losing.

I am talking about the ability of a society's leaders to think long term,

address their problems with the optimal legislation and attract capable

people into government. What I increasingly fear today is that America is

only able to produce "suboptimal" responses to its biggest problems -

education, debt, financial regulation, health care, energy and environment.

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Click here to read more Friedman!

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Editorial-New York TIMES

Old Soldiers Never Cash Out

Published: November 22, 2009

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For all the stars of ranking generals and admirals in Washington, it turns

out there's still a higher grade - "senior mentor." These are retired brass

enjoying lucrative compensation as part-time Pentagon advisers, who, in most

cases, also draw V.I.P. pay from companies seeking defense contracts. The

mentor cohort has quietly grown in recent years from a handful to at least

158 ranking retired officers - 80 percent of whom hire on at the same time

with defense contractors.

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There is nothing illegal about the double-dipping. But few people in

Congress or elsewhere knew about it until now because there is no

requirement to tell anyone, even the Pentagon. As Pentagon advisers, mentors

are paid hundreds of dollars an hour for offering counsel to former

colleagues on war games and other specialties. As defense contract

consultants, they can make considerably more. It's time to closely manage

the retirees' good deal, documented in a report by USA Today.

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Defense specialists in the Senate are proposing that ethics rules be written

at least to mandate financial disclosure to avoid conflicts of interest.

More than that may be needed. The Air Force has just directed that financial

statements be required from mentors who might "potentially influence

procurement decisions."

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Click here to read the rest of the Editorial!

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Report: Religion-Based Hate Crimes

Highest Since 2001

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WASHINGTON (RNS) Hate crime incidents targeting people based on their

religion were at their highest frequency last year since 2001, according to

a new report.

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The report, compiled by the Anti-Defamation League from FBI data, found

1,519 religious hate crimes in 2008, accounting for about 20 percent of all

bias crimes. It was an increase from 2007, when 1,400 crimes of religious

bias were reported.

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The number of crimes targeting Jews or Jewish institutions also increased in

2008. There were 1,013 hate crimes against Jews last year, accounting for

about two-thirds of all religious bias crimes. It was the largest number of

crimes against Jews since 2001.

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Click here to read more!

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America's Best Christian, Mrs. Betty Bowers, calls out Mormons and schools all Americans on the unconstitutional craze of doling out civil rights by popular vote.  

 

 

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Robots are already being used for a variety of reasons to make our lives more comfortable, but can they ever be more than just friends? Mo Rocca finds out.

 

 

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Welcome One And All To The Gallery!

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No animals are harmed in this space.

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Playing The Healthcare Reform Game With The Senate - It SUCKS

 

 

 

The teasing continues as the politicians play their sad game of YES WE WILL BUT NO WE WON'T, the hottest game around as they play tiddlywinks with our health.  Yes, they will debate it but, and this is where their form of terrorism unfolds again, they may or may not actually pass something!

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I hate these games they play.  When I see old Blanche –No Abe- Lincoln, Ben Half-Nelson, Oly-Snowe, SusieQ-Collins, Mary-Landrover, or that pitiful Mitch McChinless doing their dance of lies and distortions I secretly dream of being a Transformer and transforming into a steamroller and flattening the whole lot of these scared, wimpy, so-called leaders!  Lives are at stake and they play their smarmy positioning games.

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Don't get me started on the House!  Now there is a group of odd creatures.  I'll include something below about smelly Michelle, the Bachmann creature that will not hibernate according to the laws of nature. 

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The debate on Testing vs. Not Testing women and girls continues, the American Music (Mucus?) Awards was... uhh, it was.  That's all I can say.  It was.  But, one big but!  The ample butt of a singer found its way to the stage.  And the Lambert gut got a little erotic for viewers. 

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I can already smell the Turkey cooking, the pumpkin pies, the spices, the bread baking, and that is reason to press on!  And On.

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Cliff - The XCon

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What's Next For Health Care Reform After Saturday's Vote?

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid got his 60 on Saturday, and when the Senate returns from Thanksgiving recess next week, they'll be debating and amending a major piece of health care legislation. However, the vote, and its aftermath exposed or clarified the cleavages within the Democratic party that will have to be bridged if Reid hopes to keep his caucus in line on the next cloture motion--to end a Republican filibuster and hold a simple majority vote on reform.

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If you thought the opt-out compromise was a silver bullet for the public option, you may have gotten a bit ahead of yourself. It held up for a while, and could still survive, but that's going to require some interesting gymnastics from Democratic leaders. Leading up to Saturday's vote, and in its immediate aftermath, conservative Democrats entrenched their opposition to the public option in the Senate bill. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) repeated his threat to support a health care filibuster if it includes a public option of any kind, and, despite her earlier support for the provision, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) took to the Senate floor Saturday and announced, "I'm promising my colleagues that I'm prepared to vote against moving to the next stage of consideration as long as a government-run public option is included." ...

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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What Made Joe Bitter

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As the Senate debates the health-care bill, Joe Lieberman is relishing his role as roadblock. Peter Beinart on how one of the most unpredictable senators became just another right-wing pol.

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Once upon a time, Joe Lieberman was interesting—not always correct, in my view, but interesting. He was interesting because he thought for himself. On most issues, most senators line up pretty automatically with their party. A few others, the moderates—often Southern or prairie Democrats or Northeastern Republicans—split the difference: If Democrats want to spend $1 billion on some domestic program, and Republicans want to spend nothing, they furrow their brows, beat their breasts and then propose spending $500 million. The moderates generally annoy party activists and impress Washington pundits who view moderation as good in and of itself. But they’re just as conventional as the liberals and conservatives. It’s no more interesting to be predictably purple than it is to be predictably red or blue.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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Dobbs: 2012 presidential run not "crazy"

Watch your back, Glenn Beck.

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Ex-CNNer Lou Dobbs tells WTOP this morning that he feels "liberated and emancipated" since leaving the network — and he's not ruling out the possibility of running for president in 2012.

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When one of the WTOP anchors joked that pundits were floating the crazy idea of the immigration-fixated Dobbs running for president, he shot back: "What]s so crazy about that?" — and disclosed that he's talking to advisers to suss out his political options.

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"For the first time I'm actually listening to [people who want him to run for office]. ... I don't think I have the nature for it. ... But we've got to do something for this country."

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Dobbs has become a prime target of Hispanic groups for his fire-breathing pronouncements about illegal immigration — including a discredited claim that Mexicans were bringing leprosy across the  border.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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Fox Apologizes For NBA Announcers’ Controversial Comments About Iranian Player

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Last Friday, the Fox Sports Prime Ticket cable network suspended longtime Los Angeles Clippers announcer Ralph Lawler and analyst Michael Smith for controversial comments the two made on air about Memphis Grizzlies center Hamed Haddadi two days prior.

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During the game, Lawler expressed surprise that an Iranian would be playing in the NBA. “He’s from Iran?!” Lawler asked. “THAT Iran?!” Smith then ridiculed Haddadi by comparing him to “Borat”:

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SMITH: Are you sure that’s not Borat’s older brother? […] If they ever make a movie avout Haddadi I’m going to get Sasha Baron Cohen to play the part. […]

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LAWLER: Here’s Haddadi, nice little back door pass

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SMITH: Look at that pass!

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LAWLER: I guess those Iranians can pass the ball...

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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Cancer screening: What could it hurt? A lot, actually

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Routine cancer testing saves lives, but it also leads to biopsies, surgeries, radiation, even deaths that otherwise would not have occurred. But experts' reevaluations are met with public angst.

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It seemed like a good idea at the time.

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In 1984, Japan began screening the urine of 6-month-old infants for neuroblastoma, the most common type of solid tumor in young children. The test was simple and could show signs of cancer long before clinical symptoms arose.

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Hundreds of infants went through the ordeal of diagnosis and treatment, but it didn't reduce the number of tumors, including deadly ones, found later. Almost none of the tumors caught by screening turned out to be dangerous -- and more of the screened children died from complications of surgery and chemotherapy than from the cancer itself.

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In 2004, health officials ended the program.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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Getting to the facts in the debate on mammograms

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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's revised guidelines have been praised and criticized. The American Cancer Society is one group that disagrees.

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It's such an appealing idea -- catch breast cancer early, treat accordingly and your patients will live.

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So perhaps it's no wonder the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force -- a panel of primary care physicians -- caught major flak when it revised its guidelines to say most women don't need mammograms until they turn 50, and thereafter every other year. Previously the recommendations had been to start getting mammograms at age 40, and then every one or two years.

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The new guidelines were met with a maelstrom of impassioned reaction from doctors. Many advocacy groups bemoaned the panel's findings, and the American Cancer Society said it would stand by its current recommendations: that women get annual mammograms starting at age 40. "There is no question that the American Cancer Society is going to stay put and is reacting strongly against the new guidelines," says board member Dr. Christy Russell, director of USC's Norris Breast Center.

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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Glenn Beck throws a (political) party

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Always one to prefer drama over substance, it was little surprise that Glenn Beck was nearly an hour late to his own rally in The Villages (a retirement community in Florida) on November 21. During the wait, Beck's patient and very non-diverse crowd was treated to supposedly live footage on giant video screens of him getting lost driving a golf cart to the rally. He admitted to have gone in a circle at least once, complaining that it took 50 minutes to drive just three miles. Soon afterward, his big tour bus pulled up alongside the crowd, and Glenn Beck took to the stage among loud cheers and applause.

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Beck wasted little time before displaying his narcissism, declaring himself and all those present as the nation's "Constitution czar" just a few minutes into his appearance. He then tried to stir up the crowd with what appeared to be a reference to climate change, declaring: "The science is not settled. We will not sit down. We will not shut up. We will stand!"

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More Beck? CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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Gun Lobby Mobilizes Against Health Reform By Claiming Obama Administration Will Issue ‘No Guns’ Decree

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On Friday, Gun Owners of America sent out an action alert to its 300,000 members warning that the Senate health care bill “would mandate that doctors provide ‘gun-related health data’ to ‘a government database,’ including information on mental-health issues detected in patients, which could jeopardize their ability to obtain a firearms license.” The alert also warned its membership that the “wellness and prevention” provisions in the health care bill would allow the Obama administration to issue a “no guns” decree:

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Finally, as we have mentioned several times in the past, the mandates in the legislation will most likely dump your gun-related health data into a government database that was created in section 13001 of the stimulus bill. This includes any firearms-related information your doctor has gleaned…or any determination of PTSD, or something similar, that can preclude you from owning firearms...

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KaPOW!  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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Rep. Patrick Kennedy (right) says that Providence Bishop

Thomas J. Tobin has forbidden him from receiving communion

because of his advocacy of abortion rights.

Photo: AP photo composite by POLITICO

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Bishops flex muscle, see opportunities

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Emboldened by their success in inserting restrictive abortion language into the House health care bill, Roman Catholic bishops say they’ve found a lobbying model that could provide them a louder voice in future policy debates.

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“It was a good example of how we, as a conference, can work together to have a positive influence on legislation,” Bishop William Murphy, head of the domestic justice and human development committee of the U.S. Conference of Bishops, told the Catholic News Service last week.

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Success in the House came after the church ran a classic lobbying operation: deploying paid staff to Capitol Hill, tapping influential bishops to make private appeals to key congressional leaders and distributing bulletin inserts to 19,000 parishes with easy instructions — and sample wording — for sending a message to local representatives.

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Kneel NOW!  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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Gettin' kinky with Adam at the AMA's

 

 

 

 

 

Jennifer Lopez falls on her perfect posterior at the American Music Awards

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Wait, the lyrics say "I'm throwing on my Louboutins"? We could've sworn it was "falling in my Louboutins."

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Amid the Adam Lambert hoopla over last night's American Music Awards, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer's professionalism and Jennifer's smashing backside are getting elbowed to the sideline.

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Yes, J. Lo did fall during her production number for "Louboutins." Yes, she bounced right back up. Yes, some folks online are speculating that her bouncy booty helped. Yes, we know that's ridiculous, but the Ministry, possessing a bouncy booty of its own, thinks it's cute.

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Ouch!  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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Bachmann: 'I Don't Understand Why The Democratic Party Would Be Opposed To Me'

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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), a champion of the right wing and a key organizer of the recent Capitol Tea Party, wonders why Democrats attack her so much -- after all, decades ago she was a Democrat herself!

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Is she THAT stupid?   CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

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Is There A Gallery?  Is There?

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Let’s Open The Door!  In No Particular Order...

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Big Business and The Right - Do They Hate Women So Much?

 

What's the deal with daily attacks on women and their health care?

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First some statistics freaks report that women don't need mammograms until after age 50, which is bullshit.  I don't know many people who have not dealt with breast cancer in their families.  The stories I hear that have "decent endings" involve early detection and intervention.  So many moms and sisters and daughters and cousins are alive at 47 or 50 or 58 because of mammography in their late 30's and 40's, thus what male chauvinist pig would deny the need for testing?

 

Next comes telling girls and women that pap smears are not as necessary as had been believed, so delay the start of the testing and save time and money and feed the corporate greed of the insurance companies.  Again, bullshit.  We need MORE testing, not less.  I have women I love very much who have endured the testing, complaining about the process (and male doctors who use cold instruments...) and are alive and living today because of a little spot that the test uncovered.

 

The crap about false positives must be more corporate disinformation, sort of like saying that if we try the terrorists here, other terrorists will come to America and will be visiting the prisoners.  Yep those terrorist visitors are actually dumber, then, than Sarah Palin?  Can't you see them lined up on visiting day?  ATTENTION RIGHT-WING DUMMIES:  Let them visit.  We can arrest them en mass and make this a better world.

Back to health care for women:  Self-exams are not necessary?  Holy F-king BULLSHIT - how idiotic.  It costs nothing to self-exam and if one person's life is saved because millions of free, private self-exams, what's the harm?  When I heard this latest report, I wanted to take a bulldozer to the freaks that seem to want to have women and girls ignore reality, take unnecessary chances, and well, die early, I guess.  (Men might want to pay attention - breast cancer is "equal-opportunity," so we're next!)

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We should all reject this crap and tell Congress and the Administration to not let this disinformation make its way into "standard procedure."  Lives are at stake, families are at risk, that it sure wouldn't be good for anyone's heterosexual marriage.  (Or, lesbian relationships, either...)

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Hopefully, the Queen Of Media will bring this to light before she finishes her 25 years.

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Cliff - The XCon

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Winfrey announces end of 'Oprah'

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(CNN) -- Oprah Winfrey knows how to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

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In the last 10 minutes of her show, Winfrey confirmed that she will be ending her syndicated "Oprah Winfrey Show" in September 2011.

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"After much prayer and months of careful thought, I thought that next season, season 25, will be the last season of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,' " she told the audience.

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"You may hear a lot of speculation in the press about why I'm making this decision now, and I wanted you to hear it from me," she said. "Twenty-four years ago on September 8, 1986, I went live from Chicago to launch the first show. I was beyond excited, and a little nervous."

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CLICK HERE – Read more!

 

 

 

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Oprah: Sarah Palin Admits To Being Naive, Loving Unprotected Sex, and Enjoying Porn

 

 

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Conservative media frequently accuse

progressives of "raping" Americans

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Conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Michael Savage frequently employ rape metaphors when discussing progressives or progressive policies. For example, Beck said that New Yorkers are "being raped by [their] government," while Limbaugh, during a discussion of health care, told his listeners: "Get ready to get gang-raped again.

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CLICK HERE – Read more!

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The former vice president returned to 30 Rock Thursday night in honor of NBC's "Green Week"—delivering an unexpectedly funny performance as the light bulb-changing janitor. If only Gore could bring this comedic timing to all his appearances.

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In this new Twitter world of fragmented media, Washington Post media critic Howie Kurtz says that there are few personalities left from the previous generation of trusted icons, and that Oprah's exit in 2011 will mark yet another shift in the landscape. CNN

Fox News' year in apologies: fake videos, false info, cutting and pasting from GOP

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On November 19, co-host Jane Skinner apologized for Happening Now "mistakenly" airing a fake video of Sarah Palin's book tour "crowds." This was not the first time Fox News has apologized for airing fake videos and false information.

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Fox News' year in apologies:

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Fox News presents year-old Palin footage as new Palin book tour crowd. As Think Progress first noted, on the November 18 edition of Happening Now, guest co-host Gregg Jarrett used old footage -- which he said was "just coming in to us" -- of a McCain-Palin rally from last year to illustrate how Sarah Palin is "continuing to draw huge crowds" during her book tour. The following day, Skinner apologized for "mistakenly" airing the fake crowd video.

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Stewart blasts Hannity for using old video footage to inflate Bachmann rally attendance. During the November 10 edition of Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Stewart blasted Fox News host Sean Hannity for attempting to inflate the crowd size of Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) Fox News-fueled GOP rally against health care reform by using footage of the crowd at the better-attended 9-12 rally. On the November 11 edition of his program, Hannity said he "screwed up" and apologized for airing "incorrect video" of 9-12 protests while discussing the Bachmann rally.

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CLICK HERE – Read more!

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Like An '08 Flashback: OFA Targets Sarah Palin As 'Dangerous'

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Organizing for America, the DNC's campaign arm set up to support President Obama's agenda, has a familiar target today: Sarah Palin.

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Mitch Stewart, OFA's director, told supporters in an email just now they need help to raise "$500,000 in the next week to push back against Sarah Palin and her special interest allies."

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His argument is that Palin's "lies" about health care are "widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform." He uses her death panels meme as an example.

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In his book "The Audacity to Win," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said he was shocked that Palin was such a good fundraising driver for the team.

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CLICK HERE – Read more!

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‘Read the stimulus’ advocate Dick Armey slammed

for not bothering to read the stimulus.

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Yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform committee held a hearing on the implementation of the Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus. Republican members invited former GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey, who now leads the corporate front group FreedomWorks, to testify as their expert witness. After listening to Armey argue at length about the merits of even having any government intervention in the economy, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) asked him if he supported the unemployment compensation provisions of the bill. Armey said he might, but conceded that he had not read that portion of the bill. Van Hollen then extracted a confession that Armey had not even read the bill at all, even though he was appearing as an expert and repeatedly goes before the press to criticize the stimulus...

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CLICK HERE – Read more!

 

 

 

 

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The Gallery Is Functioning

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But, Is The Country?

 

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The British Are Coming! The British are...NOPE, they're HERE!

 

   

I'm beginning to feel "invaded" and the invaders could be relatives.  As a guy who carries genes from Ireland and England (like millions of US citizens) and with all the "open borders" talk, I should welcome the Brits to our shores.  I used to but those days are fading away.

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Another Brit is taking work that could go to an American!  This time, it is for a job at the ultimate American television show, the Academy Awards, no less.  The news today is that a fine British director is coming to America to "do it right" and show us the way.  Sure, he's done shows for such luminaries as Britney Spears, Neil Diamond, and Stevie Wonder, but he's a Brit, and he's not the only one taking our jobs!

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From Hugh Laurie on HOUSE to Matthew Rhys on BROTHERS & SISTERS to Simon Baker on the MENTALIST, we now have all these Brits talking like one of us, sounding very American.  Have we become such a melting pot that producers and directors can't find anyone that "talks American" anymore so that have to frickin' IMPORT people from across the pond?

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Read these articles and see if you agree.  It ain't just the VISITORS on "V" that are invading us!  It looks like they are distant cousins who have decided to reopen the Revolutionary War and just not all it that.

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And another item:  Why are women being treated like $hit by the righties and big business?  This recent announcement that mammograms can be delayed is SICK, SICK, SICK and sounds like part of the Republicskum health plan.  Word is that real physicians with real oncology training were NOT on the panel that did the report.  How conveeeeenient. 

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I have to stop now before my blood pressure goes sky-high.  (My AMERICAN BLOOD!)

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Cliff, The XCon

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MOVIES

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Hamish Hamilton to direct Oscars broadcast

British director has helmed concert shows with Britney Spears and U2, and the MTV awards.

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At 82, the Academy Awards are long overdue for some cosmetic enhancement. And the show's producers have tapped a new director they hope can do the job.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced Wednesday that Hamish Hamilton would direct the telecast.

Like the telecast's producers, Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman, Hamilton is a newcomer to the Oscars.

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"One of the things that came to mind from Hamish's shows was an unbelievable use of the most current technology with cameras," Shankman said in a telephone interview.

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"He also gets inside the emotional elements of the performance. He gives a sense of movement that is really, really compelling. And then when we sat down and had a meeting with him, he made me dizzy with all of his ideas and his energy. That's the kind of director we want to work with on this show."

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The British director, 43, has worked on live concert specials with Britney Spears, Neil Diamond, U2 and Stevie Wonder. He's orchestrated live televised events, including the MTV Video Music Awards. In February, he'll direct the Super Bowl XLIV halftime show in Miami.

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CLICK TO READ MORE!

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"Americans do this lovey-dovey rubbish, right?" Fiennes and Walger

in FlashForward.Photo: Courtesy of ABC

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TV Report Card: British Actors Playing American

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Two years after the New York Times pegged a British-actor invasion to Hugh Laurie and House, a true army of (quite decent) Brits have landed starring roles playing Americans on U.S. TV. (At the time of the Times article, only a few had landed plum parts as Yanks — like Kevin McKidd in the short-lived Quantum Leap ripoff Journeyman, and the late Natasha Richardson in the equally short-lived The Mastersons of Manhattan.) The Guardian speculates that the British are simply easier to work with than Americans, although that doesn't seem like the only reason for the recent flood of talent: The higher wages and steadier pay, more elusive on the BBC, are the most likely draw. Plus, Hollywood loves a fresh face who can out-act casting-call regulars (who the Guardian amusingly assumes are all like Johnny Drama on Entourage). But for all their training, not all of these British thespians can pull off the American accent. Among the current crop of small-screen hits — and with the exception of Laurie, who we all know is good — which of these actors are stumbling on those long A's and soft T's? You can see two of them tonight on FlashForward.

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CLICK TO READ MORE!

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Britain: Putting the bite on the States

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The British ambassador to the United States is suggesting on his blog that one thing we bring to the special relationship is a bloody good bite. He is pointing out the history of British actors portraying vampires, most recently in the latest film in the Twilight saga.

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Long before I arrived here, I was tickled by the way we are portrayed in popular American media. If a Brit is involved it's a good old British pound to a cent that if not a thinly disguised Mrs Thatcher, he or she is a toff, a con artist, a degenerate, or just someone with horrific teeth. Preferably all three, which could be why we score so highly in portraying vampires.

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CLICK TO READ MORE!

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Obama on FOX – It finally happens.

 

 

Beck, Limbaugh, and Hannity link nonbinding

mammogram guidelines to "death panels"

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Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity have linked a task force's recommendation that fewer women younger than 50 receive regular mammograms to the widely debunked smear that Democratic health reform bills include "death panels." Right-wing media figures have repeatedly raised the specter of these purported panels in their discussions of health care; in this case, their fearmongering is undermined by the fact that the recommendations are not legally binding on health care providers or insurers.

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CLICK TO READ MORE!

 

 

Fox News caught red-handed (again) doctoring video

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UPDATE: For photographic proof that one of the rallies Fox News presented as being from Palin's book tour actually took place last year on the campaign trail, go here.

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As the folks over at Think Progress note, Fox News's Gregg Jarrett today used old stock footage of a McCain-Palin rally from last year to illustrate how Sarah Palin is "continuing to draw huge crowds" during her book tour. He was apparently not tipped off by the McCain campaign "Country First" sign in one of the shots, nor did he wonder why Palin would be using a teleprompter to plug her book.

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CLICK TO READ MORE!

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Joe Lieberman's threat to filibuster any health care bill with a

public option could kill health reform this year. | AP Photo

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Lieberman slams public option; brushes off critics

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Sen. Joe Lieberman’s threat to filibuster any health care bill with a public option could kill health reform this year — and embolden Democratic challengers who’d like to send him packing in 2012.

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But Lieberman doesn’t seem worried.

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“I don’t think about that stuff,” Lieberman told POLITICO this week. “I’m just — I’m being a legislator. After what I went through in 2006, there’s nothing much more that anybody [who] disagrees with me can try to do.”

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Lieberman left the Democratic Party in 2006 after liberal Ned Lamont beat him in Connecticut’s Democratic Senate primary. Lieberman defeated Lamont in the general election and returned to Washington as an independent, where he continues to caucus with Democrats — even though he accuses them of engaging in a bit of bait and switch when it comes to the public option.

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CLICK TO READ MORE!

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Mammograms: Is It About Money?

Doctors Debate Costs and Benefits of Changing Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines

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The 16-member U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released its new recommendations on mammograms two days ago -- and the resulting firestorm has yet to die down. Doctors and patients are expressing outrage that a government panel would dare adjust the mammogram guidelines. The current standard recommends annual screenings for women 40 and older; the revised recommendations push that age out to 50 and recommended screenings every other year.

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In a response that was typical of many in the medical profession, Dr. Daniel Kopans, head of breast imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital, said, "I think it is outrageous to reduce costs by taking away a test that is saving lives and saving a large number of lives."

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CLICK TO READ MORE!

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New York TIMES

Op-Ed Columnist

The Breast Brouhaha

By GAIL COLLINS

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Everyone has been trying to come up with a good nickname for the 10 years we’re concluding next month. Terror Era really sounds like too much of a downer. How about the Decade of Medical Backtracking?

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Somewhere between the reports that Pap smears and tests for prostate cancer aren’t all they were cracked up to be and the news that a high fiber diet doesn’t do anything to prevent cancer, the health establishment began looking decidedly nonomniscient. Then this week, a federal task force reported that most women don’t need annual mammograms.

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Even more fascinating, they suggested that doctors stop telling their female patients to self-examine their breasts for lumps.

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CLICK TO READ MORE!

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Analysis: How the Senate health care bill

stacks up with the House health care bill.

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Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) unveiled his comprehensive health reform legislation, which the CBO projects would extend coverage to 31 million uninsured people while reducing the federal deficit by nearly $130 billion over 10 years. The Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky has produced this helpful chart explaining how the details of the Senate bill compare with the legislation that the House passed earlier this month

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CLICK TO READ MORE!

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AOL Plans to Cut One-Third of Employees, About 2,300

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Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- AOL, the Internet unit being spun off from Time Warner Inc. in December, plans to cut about one- third of its workforce over the next several months.

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AOL employs about 6,900 people, AOL spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said in an e-mail, indicating job cuts of about 2,300. The company will begin a voluntary layoff program Dec. 4 and is looking for as many as 2,500 volunteers, she said. AOL will begin firing employees if the voluntary departures fall short.

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“They need to get leaner to enhance the stock,” Fred Moran, an analyst with Benchmark Co. in Boca Raton, Florida, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview. “They’ve had the opportunity to compete for the last decade and arguably they’ve failed.”

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AOL is aiming to reduce its annual operating costs by about $300 million through the restructuring, the New York-based company said today in a regulatory filing. AOL, an online pioneer, is now combating a slump in advertising revenue that contributed to a 50 percent drop in operating income at the division in the third quarter.

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CLICK TO READ MORE!

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The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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Idol Host Gets Shut Down

 

 

Shut Out?

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The New York TIMES has opinions that are separate from the news.

There are all sorts of names thrown around when a guy (or gal) is describing the New York Times.  From "The newspaper of record" to "The Gray Lady" to "The Daily Planet on Xanax" to "liberal, socialist and evil slime!"  The Right hates the NY TIMES, but then they hate truth and facts and logic, preferring the kool-aid that is served up at any Rupe Murdockke "House Of Propaganda," as in the New York POST and Faux News.

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The NY TIMES is not always correct, they screw up, and still they keep on and most days are about as fair-minded and factual as can be found on this planet.  Again, truth and facts and logic ARE NOT the narcotic-of-choice for those on the Right, for they are like protoplasm that seeks only to feed and not to think, not to be anything more than, well... something akin to pond-scum.

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For me, one of the highlights of the day is the Opinion page at the NY TIMES, where a fine Irish lass and some really smart Jewish guys as well as some Brits and African Americans and all manner of people write amazing pieces for you and me!  Today was especially fruitful, so let's begin with the lass, Maureen Dowd, and then keep on.  And no, I'm not getting paid to promote the Gray Lady or anything like that.  Just a fan, putting it out there.

Cliff - The XCon

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Rogue American Woman

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By Maureen Dowd

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Of course, the subtitle of Sarah Palin’s book is “An American Life.”

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Because she is the lovely avatar of real Americans — ordinary, hard-working, God-fearing, common-sense, good, ordinary, real Americans.

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If you are not living an American life, you are, to use a Palin coinage, living “bass-ackwards.”

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Palin is so determinedly American that, when she went into labor with Willow on the Fourth of July while kayaking on Memory Lake in Wasilla, she writes, “I so wanted a patriotic baby that I paddled as hard as I could to speed up the contractions, but she held out until the next day.”

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I approached reading her book with trepidation, worried I might learn that I am not a real American, dang it, just another dreaded, jaded “enlightened elite.”

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Read more Maureen – Click Here

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What They Really Believe

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By: Thomas L. Friedman

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If you follow the debate around the energy/climate bills working through Congress you will notice that the drill-baby-drill opponents of this legislation are now making two claims. One is that the globe has been cooling lately, not warming, and the other is that America simply can’t afford any kind of cap-and-trade/carbon tax.

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But here is what they also surely believe, but are not saying: They believe the world is going to face a mass plague, like the Black Death, that will wipe out 2.5 billion people sometime between now and 2050. They believe it is much better for America that the world be dependent on oil for energy — a commodity largely controlled by countries that hate us and can only go up in price as demand increases — rather than on clean power technologies that are controlled by us and only go down in price as demand increases. And, finally, they believe that people in the developing world are very happy being poor — just give them a little running water and electricity and they’ll be fine. They’ll never want to live like us.

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Read more Friedman – Click here.

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Why We Should Put Jihad on Trial

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By Steven Simon

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THE Justice Department’s decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, in a federal court in New York City has elicited several criticisms. Most are pointless, but one — the idea that it will give a terrorist a platform from which he could stir up support in the Muslim world for his radical views — is well taken.

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First, let’s dispose of the straw men. John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House, accused the Obama administration of “treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue” — as though “law enforcement” is an epithet. In truth, the White House’s counterterrorism team is composed largely of the same professionals who battled terrorists under President George W. Bush. They are generally in sync with the White House’s insistence on a strategy that uses law enforcement where appropriate and military force in places, like Afghanistan, where conspirators can’t be arrested by federal agents driving Fords.

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Simon Says:  Click here for more.

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Ben Franklin on Global Warming

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By Ben Gelber

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FEW would argue that the debate on global warming engenders a lot of emotion. What else are we to make of comments that “within the last 40 or 50 years there has been a very great observable change of climate,” that “a change in our climate ... is taking place very sensibly” and that “men are led into numberless errors by drawing general conclusions from particular facts”?

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That these comments were actually tossed around back in the late 18th century by the Pennsylvania doctor Hugh Williamson, Thomas Jefferson and Noah Webster reminds us that history has a tendency to repeat itself. (One can imagine what television talk shows would have been like then. Would Jefferson have promoted “An Inconvenient Treatise” only to be acrimoniously contradicted by Webster on “Hard Quoits,” assuming either could get a word in amid the jabbering of the host?)

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Click here for more important history!

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‘Tenther’ Oklahoma Lawmaker Considering

Bill To Opt Out Of Hate Crimes Act

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A common right-wing objection to federal health care legislation is that it’s unconstitutional. So-called “tenthers” argue that the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution never explicitly gives the federal government the right to regulate health care, leaving that power exclusively in the hands of the states. To that end, officials in various states have raised the possibility of passing legislation to exempt their residents from federal health care reform if it passes.

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Oklahoma state Sen. Steve Russell (R) is proposing to use the same argument and tactic to try to exempt his state from the recently-passed Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act — which extends hate crimes protections to gays and lesbians — because he claims it infringes on freedom of speech...

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Read more?  Click here.

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Fewer 2010-Model Vehicles Pass Tougher Safety Tests

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Shoppers looking to buy the safest 2010-model cars will have 67 fewer choices this year than they did in 2009. That's because the test for safety ratings got a lot tougher.

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A new roof-strength requirement aimed at protecting passengers in rollover crashes cut the number of top-rated vehicles to 27 for the 2010 model year, compared with 94 in 2009. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety added the roof test to the already-rigorous tests it uses to address increasingly specific circumstances under which drivers and passengers are injured and killed in collisions.

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Read more?  Click here.

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Beck uses blatant distortions to smear SEIU as violent organization of "thugs"

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During the November 16 edition of his Fox News program, Glenn Beck repeatedly launched false, misleading, or unfounded attacks against the Service Employees International Union, its president Andy Stern, and President Obama to claim that SEIU members are "thugs" who "beat down" opponents and command elected officials.

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Read more Beck-Bull?  Really?  Click here.

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Study: Stupak Amendment Will Eliminate Abortion Coverage 'Over Time For All Women'

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A new study by the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services adds some expert imprimatur to what many progressives have been saying all along: The Stupak amendment to the House health care bill--which will prevent millions of women from buying health insurance policies that cover abortion--is likely to have consequences that reach far beyond its supposedly intended scope.

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The report concludes that "the treatment exclusions required under the Stupak/Pitts Amendment will have an industry-wide effect, eliminating coverage of medically indicated abortions over time for all women, not only those whose coverage is derived through a health insurance exchange."

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Read more on Stupid?  Is he really a Dem?  Click here for DINO.

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Palin On Muslims In The Military After Fort Hood:

‘I Say, Profile Away’

 

 

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If you love The Daily Show, you can catch the entire program on the net!  Hey, not everyone can see it live, so try it online.

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Click Here to motor on over.

 

 

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The Gallery Is Open

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Browse At Your Own Risk

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The Little Boy Who Pledges To Not Pledge Until Equality For All

 

A little good or funny news is just what I need today.  Being sick of Sarah Palin and all those other brain-dead righties, sick of hearing that Obama is somehow a secret agent for some Kenyan underground, tired of hearing that all Muslims are terrorists, I just want to start with something hopeful and cute.  Luckily, my "homasexuhl" cousin sent me a link and damn, it gives me the boost I need. 

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Having a gay cousin and being a progressive makes the subject very meaningful to me.  I take that "created equal" concept very strongly, and also the bit about "equal justice," so a person's sexual "orientation" is not how I see people.  We are all a sum total of our genes, our upbringing, our education, our hair color, our talents, our goals, etc., etc. - thus who you love is just one small part of your total being.

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Watch the video and enjoy it as much as I have.

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Cliff, the XCon

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An Arkansas 10-year-old says he won't pledge to the flag until gays and lesbians have equal rights.

 

 

 

 

 

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The U.S. Preventive Service Task Force announced Nov. 16, 2009, that it would now recommend against annual mammograms for women between the age of 40 and 49 because the potential harm routine screening in this age group outweigh the benefits. These downsides include radiation exposure, cost and the physical and psychological trauma of false positives. Many doctors agree with the new guidelines. But some breast cancer survivors back the screenings. ABC News asked BreastCancer.orgfor stories from women who believe that mammograms they received before age 50 saved their lives. Here are the experiences of a few of the women who shared their stories with us. (Courtesy Stephanie Scott/Jaclyn Fisher/Joann Long/Susan Lorenz)

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Breast Cancer Survivors Back Mammograms

New recs challenge their frequency; many women say mammograms saved their lives.

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CLICK FOR MORE FROM ABC NEWS.

 

 

 

 

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Beck Compares Democrats To Rapist Roman Polanski

 

 

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Stewart On 9/11 Trials: Forget The Terrorists -- The Media's Who We Have To Worry About

 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Law & Order: KSM
www.thedailyshow.com
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Sarah Palin Lies To Oprah

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On the afternoon of Oct. 2, 2008 — the day of the vice presidential debate last year — Politico’s Jonathan Martin broke the news that Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign was “pulling out of Michigan.” The next day, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told Fox News’ Carl Cameron that she disagreed with the decision. “I fired a quick e-mail and said, oh, come on. Do we have to call it there?” said Palin. “I want to get back to Michigan and I want to try.”

 

But in her interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired yesterday, Palin claimed that she only “went rogue” on the Michigan message because she “didn’t know we pulled out of Michigan”

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More on moron Palin & her lies – click here.

 

 

 

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The hard-hitting analysis of President Obama's bow before Japanese Emperor Akihito continues: Stephen Colbert took on the incident Monday night—and Karl Rove gets the worst of it.

 

 

 

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Photo Disaster: No Full Frontal of Levi!

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There is no wang. We repeat, there is no wang! Playgirl's seen the results of last week's photo shoot, and while there may be glimpses of Levi Johnston's baby maker, there is no full-frontal shot. Let the blame game begin!

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Playgirl spokesman Daniel Nardicio has released a statement blaming Levi's manager Tank Jones. "He did not give 'full-frontal' as his manager Tank Jones reported he would. We're thrilled with the photos we got, and are confident people will love them. Although there may be glimpses, we did not get full on frontal nudity."

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Click here for no wang and more of the story.  Or not.

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Want more news?  Try www.hinessight.com and the links listed on the left side of this site.  If you have suggested blogs, send an email!

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The Gallery Is Open.

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Unlike The Right.

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A Proud Republican Who Fears Healthcare

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Health Care & The Law of Unintended Consequences (CAUTION)

The Law In Action

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All we want is a better system of health care.  Sure, that includes insurance that is not a rip-off, doctors being paid fairly, services of every American, fair prices for drugs, and much more.  A lot is on the “to-do-list” but this is the USA where it should be possible if you, as a nation, make it happen.

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Sadly, there is the Law of Unintended Consequences and it is powerful and unyielding.  For every action, there is a reaction, which then breeds further reactions and re-reactions and GAZOOKS! – we are about to be screwed!

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The Republiskum are all pushing the noble idea of allowing insurance companies to operate across state lines.  Sounds good, but then the Law of Unintended Consequences kicks in and suddenly things get all mucked up.  Perhaps the consequences are not unintended at all, considering who is pushing this!  Read the article that follows and get ready to get pissed.  When it comes to the morbid right, nothing appears to be unintended.

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Then there are the drug companies raising their already ludicrous prices NOW so that any possible legislation won’t harm them.  Ripping off Americans seems to be their most important operational tenet.  Pigs, nasty filthy swine that are all about raping our economy and taking important medicines from Grandma and poor people. 

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Read these stories please!  Tell your friends to read them.  Until enough of us get horribly angry, we will continue to be hoodwinked by mealy mouthed democraps and perverted, greedy, lying republiskum conswervatives.

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Cliff the XCon

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Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), shown in 2003, says insurance sales

across state lines "would be a huge problem for California consumers."

(Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times / August 14, 2003)

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Healthcare bills could jeopardize

states' consumer protection laws

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Opening the door for insurers to sell policies across state lines could allow health plans to avoid tougher requirements in places like California.

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Healthcare overhaul bills working their way through Congress could jeopardize laws in California and other states that require insurers to pay for treatments such as AIDS testing, second surgical opinions and reconstructive surgery for breast cancer patients.

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What's more, the federal legislation could make it virtually impossible for states to enforce other consumer protection laws, such as the right to appeal if an insurer denies coverage for a particular treatment.

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Healthcare overhaul bills in both the Senate and the House would open the door to insurers selling policies across state lines -- which some lawmakers fear could allow health plans to take advantage of the lenient rules in some jurisdictions while avoiding tougher enforcement regimes in places like California.

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"It would be a huge problem for California consumers," said Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), who helped craft insurance laws when she served in the state Senate. "California is leading the way in terms of consumer protection, and I don't want to see that lost."

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Click Here to read the rest of the story.

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Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform

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Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.

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In the last year, the industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent, according to industry analysts. That will add more than $10 billion to the nation’s drug bill, which is on track to exceed $300 billion this year. By at least one analysis, it is the highest annual rate of inflation for drug prices since 1992.

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The drug trend is distinctly at odds with the direction of the Consumer Price Index, which has fallen by 1.3 percent in the last year.

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Click Here to read the rest of the story.

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Members of the organization MoveOn.org hold a rally in Nebraska in support of a public option for

health insurance. The reform debate has emphasized the public option, but only about 10 percent

of the population would be eligible. | AP Photo

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Health reform's hidden land mines

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After all the controversy over the public option, people might think that everyone can sign up right away if Congress passes health reform.

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Or that insurance premiums will go down.

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Or that they’ll be able to shop around for insurance if they don’t like what their company offers.

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Think again.

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When it comes to the public option, for instance, only about 1 in 10 Americans will be eligible, mainly people who don’t get insurance through work. Only about 6 million are expected to enroll. The plan doesn’t even start until 2013.

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And most people who get insurance on the job would have to stick with it. No shopping in the new “insurance exchanges” for them.

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Click Here to read the rest of the story.

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Internet Takes Another Step

Toward Being Truly "Worldwide"

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The World Wide Web is about to go global. Countries have been invited to propose internationalized domain names based on non-Roman characters and Egypt has proposed the first domain name to use the Arabic script.

The move comes less than a month after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees the Internet's naming and numbering systems, approved a plan to permit Web addresses in characters other than the Roman alphabet, including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Korean.

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The first official international domain names are expected to begin appearing sometime next year.

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Last month the 15-member ICANN board, meeting in Seoul, South Korea, voted unanimously to allow scripts other than Roman characters in domain names. The move came after six years of debate and technical work on the issue.

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Click Here to read the rest of the story.

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'2012' Spells Disaster For The Box-Office Competition

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Roland Emmerich's disaster film easily wins the weekend with

more than $200 million worldwide.

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World-ending scenarios are certainly cause for concern in reality, but moviegoers couldn't resist dabbling in doomsday this weekend with the release of Sony's "2012." Director Roland Emmerich, already known for disaster epics such as "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow," set the box office on fire once again with a $65 million weekend debut domestically and an additional $160 million overseas, resulting in a $225 million worldwide intake.

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The success of "2012" marks a major step forward for director Emmerich, whose last film, "10,000 B.C.," opened softly due to bad word of mouth from critics and audiences alike. Critics are still mixed on Emmerich's storytelling merits in "2012," but the director undeniably delivered a lucrative feature this time around for Sony. Indeed, "2012" is the studio's eighth first-place-finishing film of the year, joining an elite club that includes "Zombieland" and "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs."

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Click Here - to read more.

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Rogue Facts:

Media Matters' ongoing list of falsehoods in Palin's memoir

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Media Matters for America has documented numerous falsehoods in Sarah Palin's memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life. Below is a list of what we've found so far.

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1. Palin falsely suggests poor will be "hit hardest" by cap and trade

Palin: Obama "admitted" cap and trade will cause "electricity bills to 'skyrocket' " and "those hit hardest will be those who are already struggling to make ends meet." Palin falsely suggests that "those hit hardest [by cap and trade] will be those who are already struggling to make ends meet" and that Obama "has already admitted that the policy he seeks will cause our electricity bills to 'skyrocket.' " She added: "So much for the campaign promise not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. This is a tax on everyone." [Going Rogue, Pages 390-391]

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CBO says poorest quintile will benefit from Waxman-Markey. The Congressional Budget Office found that in 2020, the version of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill that passed the House in June with the support of the Obama administration would result in a $125 average annual benefit to the quintile of households with the lowest income and a $160 average annual cost to all American households.

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Conservatives To GOP:

Quit Your Gitmo Detainee 'Scaremongering'

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Three prominent conservatives warned in a joint statement against Republican "scaremongering" on Guantanamo Bay detainees, saying the prison in Thomson, Illinois would be fine to handle them.

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Former Republican Congressman and Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union and Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, have teamed up to urge the Gitmo detainees be taken to the U.S.

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Click Here to read the rest of the story.

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Retired Military Chaplains Announce Support

For Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

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Last week, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) revealed the legislative timeline for a repeal of the military’s discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy. “Military issues are always done as part of the overall authorization bill,” Frank told the Advocate. “’Don’t ask, don’t tell’ was always going to be part of the military authorization.”

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Now, the movement to repeal the ban on gay men and women from serving openly in the military has gained even more momentum. Three former military chaplains are announcing today that they support a full repeal of the DADT. In a Q&A released by VoteVets, the three men, Charles D. Camp, Chaplain (Colonel), USA (Ret.), John F. Gundlach, CAPT, CHC, USN (Ret.), and Jerry Rhyne, Chaplain (Colonel), USAF (Ret.), also addressed implementation concerns regarding a repeal...

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Click Here - to read the rest of the story.

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Op-Ed Columnist

World Out of Balance

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By PAUL KRUGMAN

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International travel by world leaders is mainly about making symbolic gestures. Nobody expects President Obama to come back from China with major new agreements, on economic policy or anything else.

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But let’s hope that when the cameras aren’t rolling Mr. Obama and his hosts engage in some frank talk about currency policy. For the problem of international trade imbalances is about to get substantially worse. And there’s a potentially ugly confrontation looming unless China mends its ways.

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Some background: Most of the world’s major currencies “float” against one another. That is, their relative values move up or down depending on market forces. That doesn’t necessarily mean that governments pursue pure hands-off policies: countries sometimes limit capital outflows when there’s a run on their currency (as Iceland did last year) or take steps to discourage hot-money inflows when they fear that speculators love their economies not wisely but too well (which is what Brazil is doing right now). But these days most nations try to keep the value of their currency in line with long-term economic fundamentals.

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Click Here - to read on...

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Op-Ed Guest Columnist

Five Scenes, One Theme: A True if Unlikely Story

 

By BONO

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EXT. BRANDENBURG GATE

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BERLIN, NOVEMBER 2009 — NIGHT

The camera cranes over a crowd of thousands gathered in Pariser Platz.

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An Irish band plays its song “One” in the city where it was written nearly 20 years earlier. The band is here for an MTV broadcast celebrating the anniversary of the wall’s falling. A helicopter shot glides like a ghost through the architecture of this most modern of cities: the avant-garde Chancellery, the glass dome at the top of the Reichstag, the refurbished Brandenburg Gate. Images of East and West Berlin dancing to the music are projected on the gate, turning this monument to peace into a graffiti wall of the same....

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We close in on the band. We can feel its sense of occasion. This is nothing new. One suspects THE SINGER approaches a trip to the bathroom with the same degree of vainglory. (To wit, is he not writing about himself now in the third person? He is.) On stage, he is emotional in the way we’ve come to expect. In this case it’s because a song written to help stop his band from falling apart has somehow become an unsentimental ode to unity — in this instance a bittersweet song for a bittersweet history.

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Click Here – to Bono on…

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You are in The Gallery

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Bill Kristol Doesn't Want To Follow The Law, The Constitution

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No trial?  Sure, let's save some MONEY, feed the rabid righties some red meat, and totally desecrate The Constitution.  I read the Kristol story and wanted to puke.  What a pile of living crap he is, and now he further proves it.

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Sadly, most of us have had similar thoughts about all manner of "alleged" criminals who we truly hate and know for sure are guilty!  We all want to RUSH TO JUDGEMENT and just kill the M-Fers.  DING! DING! DING! Go the Bells Of Freedom!  Equal Justice Under The Law, remember that?  When even one person is lynched vigilante style, we all suffer.  Someday one of us could be the "alleged killer" when we are totally innocent.  So, we gather out wits and do the right thing:  FOLLOW THE LAW, THE CONSTITUTION, & GOD'S LAW, however you perceive him.

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Watch this video and see if you agree. 

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Cliff, the XCon

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Kristol Urges No Trial For Hasan: ‘They Should Just

Go Ahead And Convict Him And Put Him To Death’

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Law enforcement officials announced yesterday that Maj. Nidal M. Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the brutal attacks at Fort Hood Army base. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that “the number one issue, I think right now, is that Major Hasan be brought to justice.”

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Last night on Fox News, Bill Kristol called Napolitano’s comment “stupid” and stated outright that there should be no trial:

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KRISTOL: I was very struck also by Janet Napolitano’s comment, I hadn’t read it before to see her say that, that the number one priority is to bring him to justice is such a knee-jerk comment and such a stupid comment. He’s going to be brought to justice. He is not going to be innocent of murder. There are a lot of eyewitnesses to that. They should just go ahead and convict him and put him to death."

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READ MORE – Click here.

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Busted! GOP Drops Abortion Coverage

For RNC Employees

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Faced with the charge of hypocrisy for providing employees health insurance that covers abortion, the Republican National Committee has moved to strike the benefit from their policy.

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"Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose," said chairman Michael Steele. "I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."

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READ MORE – Click here.

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Tensions brim between GOP and CEOs over healthcare reform

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Tension between Republicans and the nation’s top CEOs over healthcare reform escalated this week when the executives released a report praising aspects of President Barack Obama’s top initiative.

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Republicans in Congress and some of their business allies in Washington are fuming over a new report commissioned by the Business Roundtable (BRT), an organization that represents more than 50 of the nation’s biggest corporations.

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READ MORE – Click here.

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Myths and falsehoods about health care reform, continued

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As Congress continues to debate health care reform legislation, Media Matters for America presents the latest in a series of reports identifying and debunking myths and falsehoods in the media's coverage of the issue.

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MYTH 1: GOP victories in 2009 gubernatorial elections mean "ObamaCare" is dead

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MYTH 2: Under House GOP bill, premiums would be $5,000 lower than under Dems' bill

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MYTH 3: House bill explodes the deficit, doesn't cover its costs

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READ MORE – Click here.

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Why some people will say no to the H1N1 vaccine

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Although reports from the state health department indicate that the most recent wave of H1N1-related illnesses may be cresting, no one knows for certain when the H1N1 vaccine will be produced in sufficient quantities to be available to most people. But when it finally does arrive, a recent McClatchy-Ipsos poll suggests, many Americans won't take advantage of the vaccine.

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The poll found that 47 percent of Americans reported they weren't "at all likely" or weren't "very likely" to get vaccinated.

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READ MORE – Click here.

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What Happened With Lou Dobbs

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The controversial CNN anchor’s abrupt exit took even his staff by surprise. Lloyd Grove and Rebecca Dana on the relief, sadness and job scramble at the studio.

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The abrupt resignation of CNN’s resident nativist firebrand, Lou Dobbs, was greeted with surprise and relief today by his colleagues at the cable network—and with triumphant celebration by Dobbs’ many liberal detractors, who took credit for forcing the anchorman’s departure.

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The sudden end of Lou Dobbs Tonight after six years—which Dobbs quietly negotiated in recent weeks with CNN/U.S. President Jonathan Klein—releases him from the last two years of his CNN contract, said to be valued at around $2.5 million a year. It also leaves around 30 of Dobbs’ staffers unemployed and desperately scrambling to reapply for jobs at CNN.

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READ MORE – Click here.

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Professional musician Steven McMorran examines a bass guitar in the Fender guitar manufacturing plant in Corona.

(Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Michael Hiltzik: California and the history of Fender guitars

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The sound of California business success came to my ears the moment I stepped through the door of Fender Musical Instruments Corp.'s 3-acre manufacturing plant in Corona.

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It reached me as riffs and scales on electric guitar, audible over the thud of metal stamping and the grind of band saws that one might customarily hear on a factory floor.

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READ MORE – Click here.

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Instrumental to Fender's success

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Some interesting facts – Click here.

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Random Thoughts To Hang On

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The perfect GOP bomb.

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For NEWS right now, I suggest www.hinessight.com

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And, www.news.yahoo.com

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