The Real Story Behind Kosovo’s Independence
By Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet. Posted February 23, 2008.
News Flash: The Bush administration acknowledges there is a such thing as international law.
But, predictably, it is not being invoked to address the US prison camps at Guantanamo, the wide use of torture, the invasion and occupation of sovereign countries, the extraordinary rendition program. No, it is being thrown out forcefully as a condemnation of the Serbian government in the wake of Thursday’s attack by protesters on the US embassy in Belgrade following the Bush administration’s swift recognition of the declaration of independence by the southern Serbian province of Kosovo. Some 1,000 protesters broke away from a largely non-violent mass demonstration in downtown Belgrade and targeted the embassy. Some protesters actually made it into the compound, setting a fire and tearing down the American flag.
“I’m outraged by the mob attack against the U.S. embassy in Belgrade,” fumed Zalmay Khalilzad,the US Ambassador to the United Nations. “The embassy is sovereign US territory. The government of Serbia has a responsibility under international law to protect diplomatic facilities, particularly embassies.” His comments were echoed by a virtual who’s who of the Bill Clinton administration. People like Jamie Rubin, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s deputy, one of the main architects of US policy toward Serbia. “It is sovereign territory of the United States under international law,” Rubin declared. “For Serbia to allow these protesters to break windows, break into the American Embassy, is a pretty dramatic sign.” Hillary Clinton, whose husband orchestrated and ran the 78-day NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, said, “I would be moving very aggressively to hold the Serbian government responsible with their security forces to protect our embassy. Under international law they should be doing that.”
><
If anyone wants to understand the Clintons, especially Hillary, they did leave a trail of bread crumbs to follow.
.
Dancing With Fools 
Another lovely morning in an increasingly mad world.
Pull up a chair and a keyboard and set a spell, let us gaze upon the madness with open eyes and see the folly of it.
For people to be free they must cast off the chains of ignorance first.
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ThunderRainstorms here this morning…ThunderSnowstorms in the Mountains.
Dogs have told me it would be a good day to stay inside and doze.
-T
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Dodd Endorses Obama
_________________
We have been through a lot in this past year and your friendship and support have meant so much to me.
That is why I wanted to let you know of my decision to endorse a Democratic candidate for President – and that I have decided to support Barack Obama.
We all understand how much is at stake in this election and that it is more important than ever that we put a Democrat in the White House.
And while both of our Party’s remaining candidates are extremely talented and would make excellent commanders-in-chief, I am throwing my support to the candidate who I believe will open the most eyes to our shared Democratic vision.
I’m deeply proud to be the first 2008 Democratic presidential candidate to endorse Barack Obama.
He is ready to be President. And I am ready to support him – to work with him and for him and help elect him our 44th President.
Put simply, I believe Barack Obama is uniquely qualified to help us face this housing crisis, create good jobs, strengthen America’s families in this 21st century global economy, unite the world against terrorism and end the war in Iraq – and perhaps most importantly, call the American people to shared service and sacrifice.
In this campaign, he has drawn millions of voters into politics for the first time in their lives and shown us that we are united by so much more than that which divides us.
More
_________________
Calling Kucinich, Richardson, Edwards et al…
Time to defecate or surrender the ThunderJug!
-T
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Meant to ask yesterday. The post you put up by a Chris Hedges. Was that a photo of him? I’ve never seen a guy look more like a Nazi from a WWII movie that that guy. Wow.
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Never mind. I decided to google him and got my answer.
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And now for Act 111
Greenspan tells Gulf to drop dollar
english.aljazeera.net/
Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US central bank, or Fed, has said that inflation rates in Gulf states, which are reaching near record levels, would fall “significantly” if oil producers dropped their US dollar pegs.
Speaking at an investment conference on Monday in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, he said the pegs restrict the region’s ability to control inflation by forcing them to duplicate US monetary policy at a time when the Fed is cutting rates to ward off an economic downturn.
Debate is rife in the Gulf on how to tackle inflation.
Levels have hit seven per cent in Saudi Arabia, the highest in 27 years and a 19-year peak of 9.3 per cent in the United Arab Emirates in 2006.
Free float?
“In the short term free floating … will not fully dissipate inflationary pressure, although it would significantly do so,” Greenspan said.
Saudi and UAE central bank chiefs are in favour of retaining dollar pegs, but Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar, is pushing for regional currency reform to avert possible unilateral revaluations designed to curb inflation.
According to Hamad Saud al-Sayyari, governor of the Saudi central bank, floating the Saudi riyal would not be appropriate for an economy that relies on oil exports.
“Floating is beneficial when the economy and exports are diverse … as for the kingdom it remains reliant on the export of a single commodity,” he said.
Investor attraction
The dollar peg was also defended by Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi, the UAE central bank governor, at a conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
He said the policy was helping Gulf states attract foreign investments.
“They did very well for our economies because it has led to more capital flows,” al-Suweidi said.
Qatar, has the region’s highest inflation, and is considering the revaluing of the Qatari riyal to combat inflation currently at 13.74 per cent.
The exchange rate contributes to about 40 per cent of inflation in Qatar, where the riyal is believed to be 30 per cent undervalued.
Qatar’s stand
“We prefer always to act with all the GCC countries,” Sheikh Hamad said.
Qatar currently chairs the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.
“It’s now time for the Gulf to have its own currency,” he said.
Sheikh Hamad said such a currency should be “like the Japanese yen or other currencies”.
Deutsche Bank said last month that both Qatar and the UAE will probably cut ties to the US dollar this year and track currency baskets as Kuwait did last May.
~~~~~~~~~
Now the fun REALLY starts. We’ve had 3 years warning, funny how not one of the front runners bothers to confront the deliberate ruination of our currency.
Dear Hajji, you know I love ya but that line “it is more important than ever that we put a Democrat in the White House” almost made me lose my lunch. The dems have been in charge for a year and a half and have made things even worse. Obama is nothing more than another CFR puppet, but then America is going to get exactly what it deserves. No empire lasts forever.
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Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
H.L. Menken
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This is my 2.4 GHz AMD machiine.
Testing…
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Comin’ in 10-2!
What’s your -20 Rubber Duck?
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Another lovely morning in an increasingly mad world. Pull up a chair and a keyboard and set a spell, let us gaze upon the madness with open eyes and see the folly of it.For people to be free they must cast off the chains of ignorance first.
LikeLike
ThunderRainstorms here this morning…ThunderSnowstorms in the Mountains.Dogs have told me it would be a good day to stay inside and doze.-T
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Hajji — What’s your -20 Rubber Duck?
Huh?
Anyway, I have a new (very smooth) keyboard and mouse, but this is the old 0.5 Ghz Pentium III for a bit more whilst some software problems in my newer operating system on my newer machine are resolved.
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Dodd Endorses Obama_________________We have been through a lot in this past year and your friendship and support have meant so much to me. That is why I wanted to let you know of my decision to endorse a Democratic candidate for President – and that I have decided to support Barack Obama.We all understand how much is at stake in this election and that it is more important than ever that we put a Democrat in the White House.And while both of our Party’s remaining candidates are extremely talented and would make excellent commanders-in-chief, I am throwing my support to the candidate who I believe will open the most eyes to our shared Democratic vision.I’m deeply proud to be the first 2008 Democratic presidential candidate to endorse Barack Obama. He is ready to be President. And I am ready to support him – to work with him and for him and help elect him our 44th President.Put simply, I believe Barack Obama is uniquely qualified to help us face this housing crisis, create good jobs, strengthen America’s families in this 21st century global economy, unite the world against terrorism and end the war in Iraq – and perhaps most importantly, call the American people to shared service and sacrifice.In this campaign, he has drawn millions of voters into politics for the first time in their lives and shown us that we are united by so much more than that which divides us.More_________________Calling Kucinich, Richardson, Edwards et al…Time to defecate or surrender the ThunderJug!-T
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I had a dream!
So, I thought I would bring you up to speed on what’s coming down the pike…at least in a dream I had last night.
In this dream scenario, John McCain was forced to drop out of the race because of scandals and his 100-years in Iraq crack. Mitt Romney “unsuspended” his campaign and re-entered the race, but he decided that he’d answer every question and give every stump speech by singing in folk-song style. He sang and sang and sang — and the people loved it! He was the völkerhero! The country was alive with music!
But, then!……..a guy got into the race who could drive heavy equipment and earth-moving contraptions like nobody’s business! His name didn’t come up in my dream, but he was very, very earthy, so to speak. He built his own campaign trail — top that, Obama!
This guy just drove his machinery from town-to-town and didn’t say much of anything, he was a man of few words. But he did tell everyone they could have a job, too, if they learned to “move the earth.” He won the election in a landslide.
No kidding. I had that dream.
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If you can’t walk on water…
Build a BRIDGE!!!
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You too could be a millionaire before your 21st bithday:
Teen Millionaires
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Better lay off the spicy food!
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Is this believable?
Politics is good for your brain
Or did the writer eat too much spicy food?
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Go to Columbia Journalism Review for the complete article:
Contributions made by the various industry sectors tell the real story in a presidential race. And Opensecrets.org shows that Obama is picking up gobs of money put on the table by these special interests—including those involved in health care, which will surely have a lot riding on the outcome of the election and will expect to be heard after the election is over.
Consider the sector called lawyers and law firms. Clearly, lawyers and law firms lobby on behalf of their own interests—like fighting malpractice reform, which could again surface as a thorny issue for the new administration. Clinton and Obama have raised similar amounts from lawyers and law firms—$11.8 and $9.5 million. McCain and Huckabee have taken far less. The health sector has also given to Obama, Clinton, and McCain. In the pharmaceutical and health product industries, contributions to Clinton total $349,000 and $338,000 to Obama. Again, McCain trails in donations at about $98,000, an indication that the sector sees the real action on the Democratic side of the ballot. Health professionals, which include doctors, nurses, and dentists, have given Clinton some $2.3 million and Obama $1.7 million.
Last August The Boston Globe, in a piece by Scott Helman, took a hard look at Obama’s contributions, noting that “behind Obama’s campaign rhetoric about taking on special interests lies a more complicated truth.” That truth revealed that as a state legislator in Illinois, a U.S. senator, and as a presidential aspirant, Obama had collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from lobbyists and PACs. Helman quoted an Obama campaign spokeswoman saying that after he experienced firsthand the influence of Washington lobbyists, he was taking a different approach to fundraising than he had in the past, and that “his leadership position on this issue is an evolving process.” If Obama’s leadership on campaign financing is indeed evolving, more news outlets should be following the evolution.
CJR
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I believe McCain is not reeling in the money is because the Repugs do not have a chance, no money pits needed.
I don’t really care at this point where these people get their money, it is not a guarantee of payback.
Strechin it ain’t ya?
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And Opensecrets.org shows that Obama is picking up gobs of money put on the table by these special interests
RC/FC, maybe you can find at opensecrets.org where it says that and then link us to it, because I sure couldn’t find it. What I found was… 99% of Obama’s contributions came from individuals.
Straight from their web page…
Individual contributions
$137,431,938
99%
PAC contributions
$25
0%
Candidate self-financing
$0
0%
Federal Funds
$0
0%
Other
$799,632
1%
That’s a grand total of 25 bucks from PAC’s.
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That too.
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The debate was pretty good tonite.
No major punches thrown but Obama out classed Hill by a mile , even when she went into full self pity mode whining about always being the first one to answer questions. *sniff*
Heartbreak behind her she managed to prattle up to a full blown shriek when answering definite hardball questions, the pressure was on and she was steaming!
Later on the tone settled down and Barack let it be known he had good ideas to help families, that is important.
Score? Barack 10, Hill 5
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Doc, You will find the Hajji code in these lyrics from a popular song fron the 70’s:
(c.w. mccall, b. fries, c. davis)
[on the cb]
Ah, breaker one-nine, this heres the rubber duck. you gotta copy on me, pig pen, cmon? ah, yeah, 10-4, pig pen, fer shure, fer shure. by golly, its clean clear to flag town, cmon. yeah, that
Big 10-4 there, pig pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy…
Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of june
In a kenworth pullin logs
Cab-over pete with a reefer on
And a jimmy haulin hogs
We is headin for bear on i-one-oh
bout a mile outta shaky town
I says, pig pen, this heres the rubber duck.
And Im about to put the hammer down.
[chorus]
cause we got a little convoy
Rockin through the night.
Yeah, we got a little convoy,
Aint she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Aint nothin gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin convoy
cross the u-s-a.
Convoy!
[on the cb]
Ah, breaker, pig pen, this heres the duck. and, you wanna back off them hogs? yeah, 10-4, bout five mile or so. ten, roger. them hogs is gettin in-tense up here.
By the time we got into tulsa town,
We had eighty-five trucks in all.
But theys a roadblock up on the cloverleaf,
And them bears was wall-to-wall.
Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper;
They even had a bear in the air!
I says, callin all trucks, this heres the duck.
We about to go a-huntin bear.
[chorus]
cause we got a great big convoy
Rockin through the night.
Yeah, we got a great big convoy,
Aint she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Aint nothin gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin convoy
cross the u-s-a.
Convoy!
[on the cb]
Ah, you wanna give me a 10-9 on that, pig pen? negatory, pig pen; youre still too close. yeah, them hogs is startin to close up my sinuses. mercy sakes, you better back off another ten.
Well, we rolled up interstate 44
Like a rocket sled on rails.
We tore up all of our swindle sheets,
And left em settin on the scales.
By the time we hit that chi-town,
Them bears was a-gettin smart:
Theyd brought up some reinforcements
From the illinoise national guard.
Theres armored cars, and tanks, and jeeps,
And rigs of evry size.
Yeah, them chicken coops was fulla bears
And choppers filled the skies.
Well, we shot the line and we went for broke
With a thousand screamin trucks
An eleven long-haired friends a jesus
In a chartreuse micra-bus.
[on the cb]
Ah, rubber duck to sodbuster, come over. yeah, 10-4, sodbuster? lissen, you wanna put that micra-bus right behind that suicide jockey? yeah, hes haulin dynamite, and he needs all the help he c
T.
Well, we laid a strip for the jersey shore
And prepared to cross the line
I could see the bridge was lined with bears
But I didnt have a dog-goned dime.
I says, pig pen, this heres the rubber duck.
We just aint a-gonna pay no toll.
So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight
I says let them truckers roll, 10-4.
[chorus]
cause we got a mighty convoy
Rockin through the night.
Yeah, we got a mighty convoy,
Aint she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Aint nothin gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin convoy
cross the u-s-a.
Convoy! ah, 10-4, pig pen, whats your twenty?
Convoy! omaha? well, they oughta know what to do with them hogs out there fer shure. well, mercy
Convoy! sakes, good buddy, we gonna back on outta here, so keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your…
Convoy! tail. well catch you on the flip-flop. this heres the rubber duck on the side.
Convoy! we gone. bye,bye.
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or if you would rather YouTube it here.
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Thats a big ten four, I’m headed for my home twenty.
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25 bucks eh? How nice to live in the rose colored bubble. Here are the facts and here is Mr. Gravel, along with others, laying it on the line.
These People Are Lying To You
Barack Obama (D)
Total Raised:
$137,431,963
************
Bundlers: 359
Lobbyist Bundlers: 9
Hillary Clinton (D)
Total Raised:
$118,360,205
************
Bundlers: 322
Lobbyist Bundlers: 19
What is a bundler?
look it up.
Hillary Clinton;
Goldman Sachs $413,361 Morgan Stanley $362,700 Citigroup Inc $350,895 Lehman Brothers $241,870 JP Morgan Chase & Co $214,880 EMILY’s List $213,266 National Amusements Inc $210,010 Kirkland & Ellis $179,676 Greenberg Traurig Llp $177,800 Skadden, Arps et al $167,796 Merrill Lynch $165,042 Cablevision Systems $145,313 Time Warner $144,977 Microsoft Corp $143,459 Bear Stearns $141,835 Latham & Watkins $138,598 Patton Boggs $137,200 Ernst & Young $126,865 PricewaterhouseCoopers $121,939
Barack Obama:
Goldman Sachs $421,763 Ubs Ag $296,670 Lehman Brothers $250,630 National Amusements Inc $245,843 JP Morgan Chase & Co $243,848 Sidley Austin LLP $226,491 Citigroup Inc $221,578 Exelon Corp $221,517 Skadden, Arps Et Al $196,420 Jones Day $181,996 Harvard University $172,324 Citadel Investment Group $171,798 Time Warner $155,383 Morgan Stanley $155,196 Google Inc $152,802 University of California $143,029 Jenner & Block $136,565 Kirkland & Ellis $134,738 Wilmerhale Llp $119,245 Credit Suisse Group $118,250
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Meant to ask yesterday. The post you put up by a Chris Hedges. Was that a photo of him? I’ve never seen a guy look more like a Nazi from a WWII movie that that guy. Wow.
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Never mind. I decided to google him and got my answer.
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Oh, well if Gravel says it, I’m convinced! And that cat on D/N, he told us how Obama is connected (the Forrest Gump) to every failure of our foreign policy.
How’d he beat Ann Coulter to all that info? He’s good.
But what the hell, I’m going to believe the opensecrets.org site instead.
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And now for Act 111 Greenspan tells Gulf to drop dollarenglish.aljazeera.net/Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US central bank, or Fed, has said that inflation rates in Gulf states, which are reaching near record levels, would fall “significantly” if oil producers dropped their US dollar pegs.Speaking at an investment conference on Monday in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, he said the pegs restrict the region’s ability to control inflation by forcing them to duplicate US monetary policy at a time when the Fed is cutting rates to ward off an economic downturn.Debate is rife in the Gulf on how to tackle inflation.Levels have hit seven per cent in Saudi Arabia, the highest in 27 years and a 19-year peak of 9.3 per cent in the United Arab Emirates in 2006.Free float?”In the short term free floating … will not fully dissipate inflationary pressure, although it would significantly do so,” Greenspan said.Saudi and UAE central bank chiefs are in favour of retaining dollar pegs, but Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar, is pushing for regional currency reform to avert possible unilateral revaluations designed to curb inflation.According to Hamad Saud al-Sayyari, governor of the Saudi central bank, floating the Saudi riyal would not be appropriate for an economy that relies on oil exports.”Floating is beneficial when the economy and exports are diverse … as for the kingdom it remains reliant on the export of a single commodity,” he said.Investor attractionThe dollar peg was also defended by Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi, the UAE central bank governor, at a conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday.He said the policy was helping Gulf states attract foreign investments.”They did very well for our economies because it has led to more capital flows,” al-Suweidi said.Qatar, has the region’s highest inflation, and is considering the revaluing of the Qatari riyal to combat inflation currently at 13.74 per cent.The exchange rate contributes to about 40 per cent of inflation in Qatar, where the riyal is believed to be 30 per cent undervalued.Qatar’s stand”We prefer always to act with all the GCC countries,” Sheikh Hamad said.Qatar currently chairs the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.”It’s now time for the Gulf to have its own currency,” he said.Sheikh Hamad said such a currency should be “like the Japanese yen or other currencies”.Deutsche Bank said last month that both Qatar and the UAE will probably cut ties to the US dollar this year and track currency baskets as Kuwait did last May.~~~~~~~~~Now the fun REALLY starts. We’ve had 3 years warning, funny how not one of the front runners bothers to confront the deliberate ruination of our currency.Dear Hajji, you know I love ya but that line “it is more important than ever that we put a Democrat in the White House” almost made me lose my lunch. The dems have been in charge for a year and a half and have made things even worse. Obama is nothing more than another CFR puppet, but then America is going to get exactly what it deserves. No empire lasts forever.
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This is pretty cool.
Oscar winner targets Abramoff, McCain
The filmmaker who won an Academy Award Sunday night for best documentary is next turning his attention to the Jack Abramoff scandal, including GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s role in investigating the affair.
Alex Gibney, who made last year’s “Taxi to the Dark Side,” about the lethal interrogation of an Afghan taxicab driver by American military forces, told Politico his Abramoff film would be coming out later this year. Its tentative title: “Casino Jack and the United States of Money.”
“The film should give viewers a greater understanding, in a blow-by-blow way, of how the political process works, particularly with regards to lobbying,” Gibney says. “This movie will have it all: wild international intrigue, money changing hands in unexpected places, etc. It will be fun. As someone said about an earlier picture I made: ‘It’s a comedy that turns into farce and ends up in horror.'”
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Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.H.L. Menken
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Wrong again Alan, that isn’t where it came from, but I do love a know-it-all. Your argument didn’t refute anything that was said. I’ll take a peace monger over a killer any day. Here’s another stupid idea:
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Doctor Ron Paul’s look at health care
Subject: Ron Paul’s health care bill
* Would you like a refund on your taxes for every dollar you spend on health care, including your insurance premiums?
* Would you like to pay less for health insurance, while having more and more money to fund your own health care?
* Would you like to see health care expenses go down, while quality improves?
* Congressman Ron Paul has a bill that would accomplish all of this: the “Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act” (H.R. 3343). Please urge Congress to pass this bill.
Why we need Congressman Paul’s bill . . .
The federal government owes $53.3 trillion in unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security. Instead of figuring out how to fund these commitments, the politicians keep promising more spending, especially on health care.
It’s important to understand that government health care spending is the real cause of America’s health care crisis. Government already pays for nearly half of all medical care in this country. This makes government the primary determiner of health care prices . . .
* Bureaucrats decide what the government will pay for any given procedure
* Lobbyists influence the prices the bureaucrats set
* Insurance companies then follow the government’s lead in terms of what they will pay
Health care costs are soaring because the prices are set by bureaucrats and lobbyists, instead of by free market competition.
To better understand how damaging this is just look at what’s happened to the cost and quality of Lasik eye surgery, which isn’t funded by the government, or insurance . . .
According to the federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics the price for Lasik surgery has dropped from $2,106 in 1999 to $1,626 in 2004! The quality has also improved dramatically, even though the cost has fallen.
The same could be true for all health care procedures if prices were set by free market competition, instead of by bureaucrats and lobbyists.
But the problem gets even worse. Government tax polices have created incentives that tie most people’s health insurance policies to their employer. This means “your” insurance companies work for your boss, and not for you. Losing your job could mean a catastrophic loss of medical care.
America’s health care crisis is entirely the creation of the politicians in Congress. And now they want to use the crisis they’ve created to grab still more power and money, at a time when the government is facing a looming bankruptcy.
Congressman Ron Paul has introduced a bill that would solve these problems, immediately. His “Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act” (H.R. 3343) would . . .
* Give you a 100% refund from your taxes of every dollar you spend on medical care, including insurance premiums.
* Make it easier for your employer to deposit the money it now gives to the health insurance companies into a Health Saving Account that would belong to you
* This money would come to you tax free — you could use it to fund your health care and your insurance premiums
* This means your health insurance would belong to you, not your employer
* You would have the money to pay small medical expenses with your Health Savings Account, which would allow you to reduce your insurance premiums by buying a Major Medical Plan, instead of a Cadillac Plan
* You would also earn interest on the money in your Health Savings Account, tax free — you would get this interest instead of the insurance companies getting it (collecting interest on premiums is how the insurance companies make their money — these profits could be yours instead)
* Plus, you would become your doctor’s customer, instead of the government or your insurance company being your doctor’s customer
* This would place the consumer in charge, creating competition that would lower prices and improve quality
Of course, neither the insurance companies nor the health care lobbyists want these changes, so you will have to fight for them. Do three things . . .
* Ask Congress to pass Ron Paul’s “Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act” (HR 3343)
* Share this message with others
* Make a contribution to further our work
~~~~~~~~~~~~
God forbid the people have a say in their own health care, read the CODEX lately?
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Wrong again Alan, that isn’t where it came from, but I do love a know-it-all. Your argument didn’t refute anything that was said. I’ll take a peace monger over a killer any day.
Say wha?
1. Fact Checker said to go to opensecrets.org to verify what he/she posted… ‘cept it DIDN’T verify.
2. I wasn’t “wrong again”, the fact checker posted it.
3. You’re the “know-it-all”. All the time stopping by to ‘enlighten’ us mere mortals. ‘Cept, some of us here have seen too many of your wack posts already to take any of them seriously. I did go to the link and watched it tho… something I don’t usually do.
4. Let me guess, Ron Paul is a peace monger and Obama is a killer?
I don’t need to ‘refute’ that wack statement at all. haha
Watch out tho, Paul has some racist history, so that halo you see over his head is another figment of your wild imagination.
Now, put me back on “ignore”, cause thas what I’m doing to you.
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This is my 2.4 GHz AMD machiine.Testing…
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Comin’ in 10-2!What’s your -20 Rubber Duck?
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Hajji — What’s your -20 Rubber Duck?Huh?Anyway, I have a new (very smooth) keyboard and mouse, but this is the old 0.5 Ghz Pentium III for a bit more whilst some software problems in my newer operating system on my newer machine are resolved.
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I had a dream!So, I thought I would bring you up to speed on what’s coming down the pike…at least in a dream I had last night.In this dream scenario, John McCain was forced to drop out of the race because of scandals and his 100-years in Iraq crack. Mitt Romney “unsuspended” his campaign and re-entered the race, but he decided that he’d answer every question and give every stump speech by singing in folk-song style. He sang and sang and sang — and the people loved it! He was the völkerhero! The country was alive with music! But, then!……..a guy got into the race who could drive heavy equipment and earth-moving contraptions like nobody’s business! His name didn’t come up in my dream, but he was very, very earthy, so to speak. He built his own campaign trail — top that, Obama! This guy just drove his machinery from town-to-town and didn’t say much of anything, he was a man of few words. But he did tell everyone they could have a job, too, if they learned to “move the earth.” He won the election in a landslide.No kidding. I had that dream.
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If you can’t walk on water…Build a BRIDGE!!!
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You too could be a millionaire before your 21st bithday: Teen Millionaires
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Is this believable? Politics is good for your brainOr did the writer eat too much spicy food?
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Go to Columbia Journalism Review for the complete article:Contributions made by the various industry sectors tell the real story in a presidential race. And Opensecrets.org shows that Obama is picking up gobs of money put on the table by these special interests—including those involved in health care, which will surely have a lot riding on the outcome of the election and will expect to be heard after the election is over.Consider the sector called lawyers and law firms. Clearly, lawyers and law firms lobby on behalf of their own interests—like fighting malpractice reform, which could again surface as a thorny issue for the new administration. Clinton and Obama have raised similar amounts from lawyers and law firms—$11.8 and $9.5 million. McCain and Huckabee have taken far less. The health sector has also given to Obama, Clinton, and McCain. In the pharmaceutical and health product industries, contributions to Clinton total $349,000 and $338,000 to Obama. Again, McCain trails in donations at about $98,000, an indication that the sector sees the real action on the Democratic side of the ballot. Health professionals, which include doctors, nurses, and dentists, have given Clinton some $2.3 million and Obama $1.7 million.Last August The Boston Globe, in a piece by Scott Helman, took a hard look at Obama’s contributions, noting that “behind Obama’s campaign rhetoric about taking on special interests lies a more complicated truth.” That truth revealed that as a state legislator in Illinois, a U.S. senator, and as a presidential aspirant, Obama had collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from lobbyists and PACs. Helman quoted an Obama campaign spokeswoman saying that after he experienced firsthand the influence of Washington lobbyists, he was taking a different approach to fundraising than he had in the past, and that “his leadership position on this issue is an evolving process.” If Obama’s leadership on campaign financing is indeed evolving, more news outlets should be following the evolution.CJR
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I believe McCain is not reeling in the money is because the Repugs do not have a chance, no money pits needed.I don’t really care at this point where these people get their money, it is not a guarantee of payback.Strechin it ain’t ya?
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And Opensecrets.org shows that Obama is picking up gobs of money put on the table by these special interestsRC/FC, maybe you can find at opensecrets.org where it says that and then link us to it, because I sure couldn’t find it. What I found was… 99% of Obama’s contributions came from individuals.Straight from their web page… Individual contributions $137,431,938 99% PAC contributions $25 0% Candidate self-financing $0 0% Federal Funds $0 0% Other $799,632 1% That’s a grand total of 25 bucks from PAC’s.
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That too.
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The debate was pretty good tonite.No major punches thrown but Obama out classed Hill by a mile , even when she went into full self pity mode whining about always being the first one to answer questions. *sniff*Heartbreak behind her she managed to prattle up to a full blown shriek when answering definite hardball questions, the pressure was on and she was steaming!Later on the tone settled down and Barack let it be known he had good ideas to help families, that is important.Score? Barack 10, Hill 5
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Doc, You will find the Hajji code in these lyrics from a popular song fron the 70’s:(c.w. mccall, b. fries, c. davis)[on the cb]Ah, breaker one-nine, this heres the rubber duck. you gotta copy on me, pig pen, cmon? ah, yeah, 10-4, pig pen, fer shure, fer shure. by golly, its clean clear to flag town, cmon. yeah, thatBig 10-4 there, pig pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy…Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of juneIn a kenworth pullin logsCab-over pete with a reefer onAnd a jimmy haulin hogsWe is headin for bear on i-one-ohbout a mile outta shaky townI says, pig pen, this heres the rubber duck.And Im about to put the hammer down.[chorus]cause we got a little convoyRockin through the night.Yeah, we got a little convoy,Aint she a beautiful sight?Come on and join our convoyAint nothin gonna get in our way.We gonna roll this truckin convoycross the u-s-a.Convoy![on the cb]Ah, breaker, pig pen, this heres the duck. and, you wanna back off them hogs? yeah, 10-4, bout five mile or so. ten, roger. them hogs is gettin in-tense up here.By the time we got into tulsa town,We had eighty-five trucks in all.But theys a roadblock up on the cloverleaf,And them bears was wall-to-wall.Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper;They even had a bear in the air!I says, callin all trucks, this heres the duck.We about to go a-huntin bear.[chorus]cause we got a great big convoyRockin through the night.Yeah, we got a great big convoy,Aint she a beautiful sight?Come on and join our convoyAint nothin gonna get in our way.We gonna roll this truckin convoycross the u-s-a.Convoy![on the cb]Ah, you wanna give me a 10-9 on that, pig pen? negatory, pig pen; youre still too close. yeah, them hogs is startin to close up my sinuses. mercy sakes, you better back off another ten.Well, we rolled up interstate 44Like a rocket sled on rails.We tore up all of our swindle sheets,And left em settin on the scales.By the time we hit that chi-town,Them bears was a-gettin smart:Theyd brought up some reinforcementsFrom the illinoise national guard.Theres armored cars, and tanks, and jeeps,And rigs of evry size.Yeah, them chicken coops was fulla bearsAnd choppers filled the skies.Well, we shot the line and we went for brokeWith a thousand screamin trucksAn eleven long-haired friends a jesusIn a chartreuse micra-bus.[on the cb]Ah, rubber duck to sodbuster, come over. yeah, 10-4, sodbuster? lissen, you wanna put that micra-bus right behind that suicide jockey? yeah, hes haulin dynamite, and he needs all the help he cT.Well, we laid a strip for the jersey shoreAnd prepared to cross the lineI could see the bridge was lined with bearsBut I didnt have a dog-goned dime.I says, pig pen, this heres the rubber duck.We just aint a-gonna pay no toll.So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eightI says let them truckers roll, 10-4.[chorus]cause we got a mighty convoyRockin through the night.Yeah, we got a mighty convoy,Aint she a beautiful sight?Come on and join our convoyAint nothin gonna get in our way.We gonna roll this truckin convoycross the u-s-a.Convoy! ah, 10-4, pig pen, whats your twenty?Convoy! omaha? well, they oughta know what to do with them hogs out there fer shure. well, mercyConvoy! sakes, good buddy, we gonna back on outta here, so keep the bugs off your glass and the bears off your…Convoy! tail. well catch you on the flip-flop. this heres the rubber duck on the side.Convoy! we gone. bye,bye.
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or if you would rather YouTube it here.
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Thats a big ten four, I’m headed for my home twenty.
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25 bucks eh? How nice to live in the rose colored bubble. Here are the facts and here is Mr. Gravel, along with others, laying it on the line.These People Are Lying To YouBarack Obama (D)Total Raised:$137,431,963************Bundlers: 359Lobbyist Bundlers: 9Hillary Clinton (D)Total Raised:$118,360,205************Bundlers: 322Lobbyist Bundlers: 19What is a bundler? look it up.Hillary Clinton;Goldman Sachs $413,361 Morgan Stanley $362,700 Citigroup Inc $350,895 Lehman Brothers $241,870 JP Morgan Chase & Co $214,880 EMILY’s List $213,266 National Amusements Inc $210,010 Kirkland & Ellis $179,676 Greenberg Traurig Llp $177,800 Skadden, Arps et al $167,796 Merrill Lynch $165,042 Cablevision Systems $145,313 Time Warner $144,977 Microsoft Corp $143,459 Bear Stearns $141,835 Latham & Watkins $138,598 Patton Boggs $137,200 Ernst & Young $126,865 PricewaterhouseCoopers $121,939Barack Obama:Goldman Sachs $421,763 Ubs Ag $296,670 Lehman Brothers $250,630 National Amusements Inc $245,843 JP Morgan Chase & Co $243,848 Sidley Austin LLP $226,491 Citigroup Inc $221,578 Exelon Corp $221,517 Skadden, Arps Et Al $196,420 Jones Day $181,996 Harvard University $172,324 Citadel Investment Group $171,798 Time Warner $155,383 Morgan Stanley $155,196 Google Inc $152,802 University of California $143,029 Jenner & Block $136,565 Kirkland & Ellis $134,738 Wilmerhale Llp $119,245 Credit Suisse Group $118,250
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Oh, well if Gravel says it, I’m convinced! And that cat on D/N, he told us how Obama is connected (the Forrest Gump) to every failure of our foreign policy. How’d he beat Ann Coulter to all that info? He’s good.But what the hell, I’m going to believe the opensecrets.org site instead.
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This is pretty cool.Oscar winner targets Abramoff, McCainThe filmmaker who won an Academy Award Sunday night for best documentary is next turning his attention to the Jack Abramoff scandal, including GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s role in investigating the affair. Alex Gibney, who made last year’s “Taxi to the Dark Side,” about the lethal interrogation of an Afghan taxicab driver by American military forces, told Politico his Abramoff film would be coming out later this year. Its tentative title: “Casino Jack and the United States of Money.” “The film should give viewers a greater understanding, in a blow-by-blow way, of how the political process works, particularly with regards to lobbying,” Gibney says. “This movie will have it all: wild international intrigue, money changing hands in unexpected places, etc. It will be fun. As someone said about an earlier picture I made: ‘It’s a comedy that turns into farce and ends up in horror.'”
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Wrong again Alan, that isn’t where it came from, but I do love a know-it-all. Your argument didn’t refute anything that was said. I’ll take a peace monger over a killer any day. Here’s another stupid idea:Tuesday, February 26, 2008Doctor Ron Paul’s look at health careSubject: Ron Paul’s health care bill * Would you like a refund on your taxes for every dollar you spend on health care, including your insurance premiums? * Would you like to pay less for health insurance, while having more and more money to fund your own health care? * Would you like to see health care expenses go down, while quality improves? * Congressman Ron Paul has a bill that would accomplish all of this: the “Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act” (H.R. 3343). Please urge Congress to pass this bill. Why we need Congressman Paul’s bill . . .The federal government owes $53.3 trillion in unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security. Instead of figuring out how to fund these commitments, the politicians keep promising more spending, especially on health care.It’s important to understand that government health care spending is the real cause of America’s health care crisis. Government already pays for nearly half of all medical care in this country. This makes government the primary determiner of health care prices . . . * Bureaucrats decide what the government will pay for any given procedure * Lobbyists influence the prices the bureaucrats set * Insurance companies then follow the government’s lead in terms of what they will payHealth care costs are soaring because the prices are set by bureaucrats and lobbyists, instead of by free market competition.To better understand how damaging this is just look at what’s happened to the cost and quality of Lasik eye surgery, which isn’t funded by the government, or insurance . . . According to the federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics the price for Lasik surgery has dropped from $2,106 in 1999 to $1,626 in 2004! The quality has also improved dramatically, even though the cost has fallen.The same could be true for all health care procedures if prices were set by free market competition, instead of by bureaucrats and lobbyists.But the problem gets even worse. Government tax polices have created incentives that tie most people’s health insurance policies to their employer. This means “your” insurance companies work for your boss, and not for you. Losing your job could mean a catastrophic loss of medical care.America’s health care crisis is entirely the creation of the politicians in Congress. And now they want to use the crisis they’ve created to grab still more power and money, at a time when the government is facing a looming bankruptcy.Congressman Ron Paul has introduced a bill that would solve these problems, immediately. His “Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act” (H.R. 3343) would . . . * Give you a 100% refund from your taxes of every dollar you spend on medical care, including insurance premiums. * Make it easier for your employer to deposit the money it now gives to the health insurance companies into a Health Saving Account that would belong to you * This money would come to you tax free — you could use it to fund your health care and your insurance premiums * This means your health insurance would belong to you, not your employer * You would have the money to pay small medical expenses with your Health Savings Account, which would allow you to reduce your insurance premiums by buying a Major Medical Plan, instead of a Cadillac Plan * You would also earn interest on the money in your Health Savings Account, tax free — you would get this interest instead of the insurance companies getting it (collecting interest on premiums is how the insurance companies make their money — these profits could be yours instead) * Plus, you would become your doctor’s customer, instead of the government or your insurance company being your doctor’s customer * This would place the consumer in charge, creating competition that would lower prices and improve qualityOf course, neither the insurance companies nor the health care lobbyists want these changes, so you will have to fight for them. Do three things . . . * Ask Congress to pass Ron Paul’s “Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act” (HR 3343) * Share this message with others * Make a contribution to further our work~~~~~~~~~~~~God forbid the people have a say in their own health care, read the CODEX lately?
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Wrong again Alan, that isn’t where it came from, but I do love a know-it-all. Your argument didn’t refute anything that was said. I’ll take a peace monger over a killer any day.Say wha? 1. Fact Checker said to go to opensecrets.org to verify what he/she posted… ‘cept it DIDN’T verify. 2. I wasn’t “wrong again”, the fact checker posted it.3. You’re the “know-it-all”. All the time stopping by to ‘enlighten’ us mere mortals. ‘Cept, some of us here have seen too many of your wack posts already to take any of them seriously. I did go to the link and watched it tho… something I don’t usually do. 4. Let me guess, Ron Paul is a peace monger and Obama is a killer?I don’t need to ‘refute’ that wack statement at all. hahaWatch out tho, Paul has some racist history, so that halo you see over his head is another figment of your wild imagination.Now, put me back on “ignore”, cause thas what I’m doing to you.
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