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HOUSE PASSES HEALTHCARE REFORM - TO DESTROY YOU WILL BE NO LOSS.

Note: The following text is a quote: Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release November 6, 2009 On Friday, November 6, 2009, the President signed into law: H.J.Res. 26, which proclaims Casimir Pulaski to be an honorary citizen of the United States posthumously; H.R. 1209, the “Medal of Honor Commemorative Coin Act of 2009,” which requires the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue coins in recognition and celebration of the establishment of the Medal of Honor in 1861; H.R. 3548, the “Worker, Homeownership, and Business...

Apple, once untouchable in terms of marketing, has gotten a little roughed up lately. For much of the decade, Apple got away with bashing longtime adversary Microsoft without repercussions. Apple also dominated the MP3 player category without a serious rival. But now, as Microsoft has reinvigorated its marketing and it navigates into the phone handset category, suddenly everyone is bashing Apple. First there was the Microsoft “I’m a PC” TV spot from Crispin, Porter + Bogusky featuring a send-up of the dorky “PC” caricature in Apple’s “Get A Mac” campaign. Then, three weeks ago Verizon launched a teaser pitch from...

Abortion Amendment Passes 240-194

Miss England Rachel Christie has given up her crown after being arrested on suspicion of a nightclub assault. Organisers of Miss England said the 21-year-old wanted to concentrate on clearing her name. She allegedly punched Miss Manchester, Sara Beverley Jones, 24, in the face in a dispute at a Manchester nightclub. Ms Christie, the first black woman to be crowned Miss England, was arrested on suspicion of assault and has been bailed until January 2010. The beauty queen, niece of former sprinter Linford Christie, is also a heptathlete hoping to compete in the 2012 Olympics. Miss Manchester was allegedly punched...

...gossip mills are beginning to gush and grind about increasingly muscular CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper and his muscle Mary man-friend Antoine "Ben" Maisani snatching up a very butch firehouse on West Third Street in New York City's Greenwich Village. These roiling real estate rumors of Misters Cooper and Maisani–who recently vacationed together in India –purchasing Fire Patrol House #2 seems to have first found legs a few days ago on the New York City-centric gossip site Gawker. Listing information for the four and some story firehouse shows it was listed at $4,750,000, measures a considerable 8,420 square feet, and...

This is the Happiness Hat. It detects whether or not you're smiling. If you aren't, it jabs you in the back of the head with a metal spike. Nothing makes people happier than sharp skull pain! The whole thing is a project by interactive artist and designer Lauren McCarthy, designed to train you towards "Improved Social Interacting." On the one hand, it seems like something out of a dystopian nightmare. On the other, you have such a pretty mouth when you smile! Why not show it off?

Apple is the defendant in two recent, offbeat lawsuits, including one filed by an artist who alleges he invented and named the iPod and iPhone in the 1980s, only to have Apple and actress Sarah Jessica Parker steal his trade secrets. Defendants Apple, Steve Jobs and Sarah Jessica ParkerIn 1989, the suit alleges, plaintiff Franz A. Wakefield won first place in the 17th Congressional District Arts Competition and was honored by Congressman William Lehman and movie stars Parker and Robert Downey Jr. A self-described "trade secret and copyright owner," Wakefield, of Miami, Fla., is president and chief product design engineer...

You've had it. Maybe with AT&T. Maybe with Apple's crushing, dictatorial grip strangling the App Store. Whatever the reason, you're going to Android: Land of freedom, carriers not named AT&T, and the great Google. Here's what you need to know.It's All in the Google Cloud Android phones don't sync with your computer. That's because they don't have to: Your contacts, calendar and mail are all kept up in the great Googleyplex. Unfortunately, Google's Contacts manager, while it's gotten better, is kinda crappy, and all of your Contacts are beamed down to your phone from there.So even after you get the...

Parallels on Wednesday released Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac, a new version of its virtualization software that allows Intel-based Macs to run Windows and Linux alongside Mac OS X. According to Parallels, the new version of its software is up to 300 percent faster than the previous version, Parallels Desktop 4. The company also hired Crimson Consulting Group to do performance testing on Parallels 5 and said it was 22 percent faster than its nearest virtualization competitor when running Windows 7 64-bit on a MacBook Pro. While the competitor wasn't named by Parallels, it is widely thought the virtualization market...

"Listen to the highly respected Gerald Celente, who pulls no punches, announce that the political system is failing the America people and that the Banks (Oligarchy) are robbing us blind. If you're not outraged, you're on life support. As Celente predicts – watch for the formation of an angry Progressive / Libertarian third party before the mid-term elections in 2010 and I'll be an active participant."

In a bad economy, we expect poor people will get poorer. But this recession has taught us that one mishap can snip anyone's strings and collapse middle-class financial security like a marionette. We didn't expect that. Consider planned communities. They're appealing as places where everyone is supposed to keep up: No front lawns going to seed; no cars rusting on top of them. However, the poor economy has meant that some of the neighbors can't keep up – and this hits homeowners associations in a unique way. Neighbors are financially yoked together, and problems for one can mean problems for...

It’s baaaaaack! Like a relentless zombie in a bad horror flick that just can’t be killed, the Intel Atom chip is now supported again in the latest developer build of 10.6.2, 10C53. This doesn’t mean much since it’s just a developer build, but for now Hackintosh Netbook users can feel a bit better about their uncertain future. StellaRolla reports: …the latest development build Atom appears to have resurrected itself zombie style in 10C535. The Atom lives another day, but nothing is concrete until the final version of 10.6.2 is out. So that’s all fine and dandy, but will the Atom...

Folks, it's taking alot of gumption for me to write this post. But I'm swallowing my pride to confess that I am distressingly unemployed and wallowing in frustration and anger. Maybe there are others like me in this forum. I'm actually in that "lost" zone between the 10.2% that's claiming unemployment and the estimated 20%+ that has exhausted benefits or just plain given up finding work. Well I HAVEN'T given up. I apply to dozens of jobs per week off of Craigslist, Monster, CareerBuilder and the like, but nothing's landing. I am represented by half a dozen temp agencies, but...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Some big Wall Street banks are girding against the swine flu, but a flap over how the firms got the vaccine will make them miserable. The public is outraged about reports that Citi , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley along with other big New York employers, received hundreds, even thousands, of H1N1 vaccine doses before hospitals and other healthcare providers, many of which have run out of the precious drug

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- The recent publicity for Hewlett-Packard and its new MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) accelerometer sent a message to Silicon Valley.The message was that MEMS technologies have indeed taken root and may be the target of the next generation of high tech venture investments after we're done with "green." H-P has long since been in the MEMS business since inkjet printheads are a MEMS device. Another famous MEMS device is the DLP (digital light processor) developed by Texas Instruments around 1987 by Larry Hornbeck. It was originally called a DMD, meaning digital micromirrors, the DLP now powers everything from...

Sony PRS-600 Reader Touch EditionReview When we reviewed Sony's original PRS-505 Reader a little over 12 months ago, our only real criticism was that the plethora of buttons and switches that festooned the device would be better replaced by a touchscreen. Revised edition: Sony's PRS-600 Reader Touch Now Sony has released its next-generation Reader, the PRS-600, which does indeed have a touch screen, hence its 'Touch Edition' moniker. Having asked, we have received. But should we grateful? Look at the Touch from any direction other than face on and the differences between it and the old Reader are a hard...

• Unemployment at 10.2% • President's top economic advisor admits this is by government design. • White House intends for unemployment to go down in an election year. Unemployment this morning topped 10.2%, even though the number seeking employment has declined. Many have just given up. Likewise, and more troublesome, the average hours worked in a week is at its lowest in decades - 33 hours. That suggests employers are going to just expand hours worked in the future, instead of hiring new people. So the unemployment number will stay high for a while. On January 18, 2009, Obama's top...

I have have a Canadian friend who keeps telling me that Canada's healthcare system is better because it caters to ANYONE regardless of pre-existing condition. In other words, the Canadian system has a safety net for people ( who through no fault of their own ) were born unhealthy ( asthma, diabetes, etc. ). In the USA, people who have these conditions cannot be insured because they are a drain on insurance companies and most of them are not poor enough to qualify for medicaid. The result is it drains the family's budget and makes the middle class actually poorer....

A California-based team of engineers has snagged a $1 million NASA prize by winning a pitched competition to fly homemade rockets on mock moon landing missions. Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif., successfully flew its rocket Xoie (pronounced Zoey) twice within a set time limit to qualify for the top Level 2 prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, a NASA-sponsored contest to build mock lunar landers.

Peter Diamandis, CEO of the X Prize Foundation, wants to use our competitive instincts to make the world a better place. After handing out $10 million to the first private team to achieve suborbital space flight, he's extended his X-prize concept into earthly realms such as automotive engineering, genomics and health care. And while he still sends billionaires to the International Space Station as managing director of the firm Space Adventures, he's lately teamed up with futurist Ray Kurzweil to create the Singularity University, where young entrepreneurs are trained to think about global issues. Ivan Semeniuk spoke with Diamandis about...

The government, which ordered 250 million doses, has recommended that the limited supply go first to high-risk groups: children and young people through age 24, people caring for infants under 6 months, pregnant women and health care workers.

Botnets Tighten Defenses Year After McColo Shutdown (Only a link can be posted per FR rules.)

Never let it be said that the folks in Hollywood aren't good at coming up with a totally fictional horror story. I just have a problem when they use it not to entertain, but to create a moral panic to push the government to pass laws in their favor. In discussing the recent 60 Minutes piece that was really nothing more than an MPAA scare tactic, some suggested that it was really just a first step in the process of getting the government to make sure net neutrality rules had a special Hollywood exception. So, it's interesting to note that...

When you buy an Apple device, you're often locked in to buying other Apple products that are compatible with it. Here are five examples, and some advice on what to do. Oh, wait--there's nothing you can do.Once you enter the Big Tent of Apple, it's exceedingly hard to find the exit. Over its 33-year history, Apple has consistently elected to limit consumer choice, creating a situation known as "lock in." As soon as you start buying stuff from Apple, you'll find it difficult to move to products made by someone else without losing everything you've already paid for. Of course,...

Behind the taskbarComment Much better than Vista, and the best Windows yet. That seems to be the consensus view on Windows 7, and after two and a half months with the final build, I more or less agree - despite the niggling voice that says behind the new taskbar it is not really so different from Windows Vista. Nevertheless, Windows 7 on its launch today is a better experience than Windows Vista was when released in early 2007, thanks to a UI polish, faster hardware, better drivers, and new features that users actually enjoy - Taskbar, Libraries, Aero Peek -...

NASA's Constellation Program has recommended dropping a planned follow-on to last week's successful Ares I-X flight-test because it doesn't have the funding necessary to get an upper stage engine ready in time. Instead, the Ares I-X engineering team will study the costs and benefits of going ahead with a 2012 launch previously dubbed "Ares I-X prime" that would flight-test a full five-segment Ares I solid-fuel first stage and the Orion crew exploration vehicle launch abort system at high altitude, according to Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley. Hanley said on Nov. 3 he has recommended to NASA headquarters that the Ares...

President Obama came into office believing that in order to achieve two of the hearts' desires of his electoral base -- universal health care and global warming legislation -- he would have to act while his political capital was at its highest point. Now, a year after his election, the president finds himself lugging two divisive initiatives and facing simmering outrage over the stagnant economy. Exit polls from this week's contests in Virginia and New Jersey show health care with half the level of concern among voters as economic issues. Carbon emissions didn't even produce a BTU's worth of interest....

NOVEMBER 3--Meet Aaron Siebers. The 27-year-old Denver man, a Blockbuster employee, was skateboarding yesterday afternoon when he fell and ripped his uniform pants. Due to work last night--and concerned about getting "written up" by Blockbuster superiors for not wearing his work-issued khakis--Siebers came up with a harebrained idea. Instead of just calling in sick, he stabbed himself in the leg and showed up at work claiming to have just been attacked by three Hispanic males. Siebers, who told cops he was assaulted as he walked toward the Blockbuster in Edgewater, had a deep stab wound in one leg and several...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysian wildlife authorities rescued 59 pythons from being skinned and sold to restaurants and leather dealers, an official said Thursday.

He didn’t start 13 successful companies and secure more than 200 patents over 40 years by giving up when things got tough. Perseverance drove Robert Fischell to success. Sticking with an idea they believe can work is his best advice for other inventors aiming to get their innovation to the marketplace. “The harder I work, the luckier I get,” Fischell said Wednesday in a keynote address on medical device innovation at the annual MichBio Expo in Kalamazoo. “Give yourself the opportunity to get lucky. When you think of something, don’t just let it go. Figure out a new way to...

With the economy in sad shape I have heard reports of people changing their gift giving habits this year. As the owner of a company that produces custom gifts, I would like to hear from Freepers what plans they have for gifts - both personal and business - this season. Are you planning on giving more, less, or the same? Are you cutting back on who you are giving to or are you giving to the same number of people, but changing the value of the gifts? Are you planning on giving more "home made" gifts? If so, what kind?

No actual thread. Observe members of the Texas State legislature voting multiple times for themselves, for anyone who is absent or *for anyone whose button they can reach quicker than the legislator actually present*. Astounding. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfhO38CPlAI&feature=player_embedded#

Best-selling author Daniel Estulin states that the key issue to be discussed this week at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, being held in St. Andrews, Scotland, is how to bring down the present world financial system through dumping the US dollar. Estulin first reported on this initiative as being deliberated at the most recent Bilderberg meeting held in Greece in May 2009. Estulin says that the success or failure of this callous plan hinges on the ability of the US and UK representatives to convince the Russian, the Chinese and other national governments to go along...

Hot discussion on Beck's show about banking and government. If you missed it live, try to see it later.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks ended mixed Wednesday, giving up bigger gains after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and said it will keep them low for an extended period. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) gained 30 points or 0.3%, according to early tallies. The Dow had gained as much as 156 points in the afternoon, but couldn't sustain those gains through the close. The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 1 point, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost a few points. Stocks rose through the early afternoon as investors welcomed a pair of labor market reports that...

Scientists in Washington, D.C. are reporting laboratory evidence supporting the possibility that some of Earth's oil and natural gas may have formed in a way much different than the traditional process described in science textbooks. Their study is scheduled for Nov./Dec. issue of ACS' Energy & Fuels, a bi-monthly publication. Anurag Sharma and colleagues note that the traditional process involves biology: Prehistoric plants died and changed into oil and gas while sandwiched between layers of rock in the hot, high-pressure environment deep below Earth's surface. Some scientists, however, believe that oil and gas originated in other ways, including chemical reactions...

I have heard again and again the Democrat Voters say they are voting Democrat for Education because Education is what is needed for Jobs. What good does an education do for you if there is no place to work though? Why is the thinking of Democrats so messed up?

1. Detroit, Michigan Unemployment Rate: 17.3% Labor Force: 2.1 million Unemployed: 361,100 It's Detroit. Need we say more? [Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area] 2. San Bernardino, California Unemployment Rate: 14.2% Labor Force: 1.8 million Unemployed: 253,000 3. Las Vegas, Nevada Unemployment Rate: 13.9% Labor Force: 1 million Unemployed: 141,000

My bosses kid said his history teacher is claiming that the federal gov is buying up shares of Walmart with the endgame being the gov will control Walmart at some point in the near future. Does anyone have any info/comments on this? Fact or BS? Thanks

A blow-by-blow breakdown of the young president's first year reveals that today's frustration stems not from a lack of policy so much as a lack of common ground. The myth of the American center looms in this, the second part of a week-long series on our country since the 2008 election. I have figured out The Problem With America Today. My inspiration was the recent one-year-later cover of Newsweek, which encapsulates the current conventional wisdom about President Obama in a single headline: YES HE CAN (BUT HE SURE HASN'T YET). Or, as Saturday Night Live put it, President Obama's two...

It's hard to look at the DROID without looking at the company which brought the device to life. Motorola: for years the name has been synonymous with... well, disappointment. While the industry-stalwart made cellphones sexy with the RAZR, the days which followed have not been especially fruitful or compelling. Over the past year or so, we've seen Motorola beating its way back into the mainstream through a series of smart plays: first embracing Android as a platform, then shucking off the weight of Windows Mobile and finally bringing some desirable (and high profile) devices to market. With the DROID, the...

Joan Orie Melvin is maintaining a 6% lead over Jack Panella for the lone vacancy on the Commonwealth Supreme Court. This contest is considered critical due to a 3-3 party split in the current court makeup. Panella had been heavilly favored to win, but in the waning days of the campaign, his lead dwindled and he begin running attack ads on Orie Melvin as a right wing extremist.

NEW YORK: Gold prices surged to a new high Tuesday on news that India's central bank bought US$6.7 billion worth of gold from the International Monetary Fund ....... Read more at The Star Online

2010 is supposed to be the year of many things. I’ve heard it called the year of Android and more recently, the year of the ebook reader.I used to read a lot when I was a kid at the behest of my parents. My mom always tried to enforce a balance between video games and books. That unfortunately stopped as AnandTech took off. Most of my recreational reading turned into trying to understand datasheets or reading other reviews, the rest of the time was spent writing.My first and only ebook reader was Amazon’s Kindle 2, and while it didn’t reinvigorate...

Considering how many new cars are rolled out every year, it's no surprise that a few might be just plain homely. There's a chance that certain styles might become fashionable with a dash of retro hip. (Well, maybe not from the 1970s.) But for the most part, the following 50 cars will never be anything but design duds...

Offshore tax dodgers are being warned by HMRC that they have one final chance to come clean, or face the consequences. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7qb8Y8RvE0

Ayn Rand is one of America's great mysteries. She was an amphetamine-addicted author of sub-Dan Brown potboilers, who in her spare time wrote lavish torrents of praise for serial killers and the Bernie Madoff-style embezzlers of her day. She opposed democracy on the grounds that "the masses"—her readers—were "lice" and "parasites" who scarcely deserved to live. Yet she remains one of the most popular writers in the United States, still selling 800,000 books a year from beyond the grave. She regularly tops any list of books that Americans say have most influenced them. Since the great crash of 2008, her...

Psystar and Apple continue to battle it out, and things are coming to a head next month. They are fighting on two major fronts, and both will be the subject of oral argument on November 12. It looks like we will see an end, one way or another, of much of the first Apple-Psystar litigation. Psystar, I gather, would like this to be the end of this litigation, period, and then it will be on to Florida, I assume, for the second, the one over Snow Leopard, which Psystar has already been infringing, from Apple's point of view. Psystar has...

Ford Motor Co. will haul out piles of arsenic-laced soil found in Ringwood State Park, ending a four-year battle over the source of the waste. The company failed to prove the cancer-causing element was a naturally occurring remnant of mining in the remote mountain in Ringwood, rather than a byproduct of the paint sludge it dumped decades ago. As a result, the federal Environmental Protection Agency is demanding Ford remove the contamination as part of its Superfund cleanup. Plastic tarps now cover several hockey-rink size swaths of the toxic-laden soil. Federal officials say the arsenic isn’t leaching and has not...