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Reason #9,243,543 why government is to blame for the high cost of medical care AP ^ | 9/1/2009 | JOAN LOWY and BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE Posted on Tuesday, September 01, 2009 3:34:26 PM by DManA NTSB wants new rules for medical helicopters . . . The NTSB recommendations urge the Federal Aviation Administration to, among other things, require medical helicopter operators to install autopilot systems that can help solo pilots, terrain awareness monitoring to help pilots navigate in bad conditions, night-vision systems that help navigate in the dark and flight data recorders. McCain and Martinez to hold health care forum...

Until three weeks ago if you called congress and put on hold, you would be able to enjoy some nice patriotic tunes. But with the congressional break, Speaker Pelosi directed that the patriotic music changed with elevator-style Jazz drivel. of generic smooth jazz that have been driving elevator users insane for decades. Earlier this week Michigan Congressman Fred Upton sent a letter to the House Chief Administrative Officer (who reports to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi), this to protest this decision:

Introduction: I will try and do my best to summarize the twists and turns of this very confusing tale here. That said, if you get confused, here is part one and part two of this story. If you read each, you will wind up back here.

PITTSBURGH (Reuters Life!) - Pittsburgh bartender Angelo Cammarata served his first beer a few minutes after Prohibition was lifted in 1933. Soon he will serve his last. The 95-year-old, who is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's longest-serving bartender, only had one break in his career -- to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II. When Prohibition ended he was working in his family's shop in Pittsburgh's North Side, selling 10-cent bottles of Fort Pitt Beer just past the stroke of midnight. He was 19, liquor laws were few, and patrons stood on...

As promised, today's post provides you with the official Doppler Dale 2009 Fall Forecast and a look at the preliminary 2009-10 Winter Forecast.

President Obama will deliver a webcast speech to the nation's students on September 8, the first day back at school for many kids. The Secretary of Education describes the event: The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.

Here is video of Comedian Tim Hawkins taking the tune from "The Candyman Can" and doing a parody called "The Government Can." This pretty well describes what we are seeing in America today with the Obama Administration! . . . . . (Watch Video)

lol wait until you see his video... I think it’s wonderful that President Obama is making education a priority. And his bookish, pro-intellect personality is good for children to emulate (to a point). Certainly, his academic achievements are an paradigm for kids to aspire to. But like President Bush's, Obama’s first educational foray is an unwelcome one. Bush, who also made education a priority, joined with Ted Kennedy to produce a truly horrendous piece of legislation in No Child Left Behind. NCLB is a well-intentioned disaster at best. Obama’s initial educational push will be what he thinks he does best...

Two U.S. journalists held for months by North Korea for illegal entry admitted they crossed into the reclusive state but said North Korean guard arrested them on the Chinese side of the border. In their first public account of the ordeal that was published in the Los Angeles Times web site on Tuesday, journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee of media outlet Current TV, said that when they set out, they had no intention of leaving China. "But when our guide beckoned for us to follow him beyond the middle of the river, we did, eventually arriving at the riverbank...

With the Tea Party Express being locally organized and making many stops all over the country, it occurred to me that newcomers to FR would be well advised to list their locale so that they can be informed of upcoming local events, issues, and elections, and news of their elected representatives activities and positions. Local activities and communication will likely be more important than ever in this upcoming session of Congress and the 2010 elections. So if you haven't already done so, I encourage all to go to your profile and add your location. Bushwon, from Illinois Fly-0ver Country

Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying what Obama wants to see in a compromise health care deal and directly confronting other trouble spots, West Wing officials tell POLITICO. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26672.html#ixzz0PupurCRk

Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying what Obama wants to see in a compromise health care deal and directly confronting other trouble spots, West Wing officials tell POLITICO. Obama is considering detailing his health-care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess. And although House leaders have said their members will demand the inclusion of a public insurance option, Obama has no plans to insist on it himself, the officials said. “We’re...

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) ran into a tough crowd Tuesday night, as hundreds opposed to Democratic healthcare proposals booed, jeered and screamed at their Congressman and one other. Fifteen hundred people – the limit set by local authorities -- filled the gymnasium of North Point High School during Hoyer’s first healthcare town hall meeting of the recess. The crowd appeared divided between those supportive of Hoyer’s push for a health insurance overhaul and those ready to loudly voice their opposition. The result was a volatile mix of anxious and edgy people, most of whom waited in line for...

So now we know … not only did Kenny MacAskill not want the Lockerbie bomber to die in a Scottish jail, Gordon Brown didn’t want that either. That at least is the verdict of a senior Libyan envoy who says he was told as much by a British Foreign Office minister. If accurate and, true to form on this vexed issue, Downing Street continued with their refusal to discuss the Prime Minister’s view on Tuesday night, this revelation puts a completely new gloss on the entire situation. Mr Brown has consistently refused to say whether he agreed with the decision...

Billing it as the largest state-sponsored green jobs training program in the nation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday announced a $75 million program to train 20,000 workers for environmental jobs. "We will need more workers to install the solar panels and insulate the homes and do all those things that we will need," Schwarzenegger said at an announcement at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. "We have two major problems in this state," he said. "We have high unemployment. That is crisis No. 1. Crisis No. 2 is the environment. This Clean Energy Workforce Training Program attacks both those problems."

Sen. Judd Gregg has hundreds of procedural objections ready for a healthcare plan Democrats want to speed through the Senate. Gregg (N.H.), the senior Republican on the Budget Committee, told The Hill in a recent interview that Republicans will wage a vicious fight if Democrats try to circumvent Senate rules and use a budget maneuver to pass a trillion-dollar healthcare plan with a simple majority. The death of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) leaves Democrats with 59 Senate seats — one shy of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. That, combined with the pushback from Republican negotiators, has prompted Democratic...

It's called 'Mykey.' Its a new device that Ford is offering to help parents control their kids when they're behind the wheel. Ford is rolling out the new technology with some of its new models. MyKey can control things like..

When looking at the poll data, it turns out that raising the alert levels never benefited Mr. Bush but may actually have hurt him. So we suggest a new conspiracy theory -- that Mr. Ridge stopped the country from going to orange alert to secure the re-election of Mr. Bush. As the current hyperventilating shows, some people will believe anything.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul and a mysterious supporter are attempting to paint GOP front-runner Trey Grayson as a Washington, D.C., insider. Supporter Josh Manuel, whom Paul Campaign Manager David Adams said he doesn't know, has launched a Web site promoting a "Kentucky Fight" between Paul and Grayson on Sept. 23. The site, titled "Rand 'We the People' vs. Trey 'The DC Insiders,'" notes that 23 Republican U.S. senators, including Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, are to hold a $500-per-plate fund-raiser for Grayson's 2010 U.S. Senate campaign in Washington on Sept. 23. "This deck stacking favoritism in a highly contested GOP...

Tropical Storm Erika developed in the North Atlantic September 1, 2009. Erika is expected to pass to the NE of the Leeward Islands Thursday, currently moving WNW at 8 miles per hour. Erika is not anticipated to strengthen into a hurricane over the next several days. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for St. Maarten, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St.Martin and St. Barthelemy. In other tropical storm news, Hurricane Jimena is approaching Southern Baja, and weather conditions there are deteriorating rapidly. Jimena maximum sustained wind speeds are 115mph. Public Advisories Updated every six hours. Tropical Storm Discussion...