Free Republic

Does this suggest that Barack Obama's election will cause a shift in rates of violence? Absolutely. According to Roth, FBI data released in December bear that out. In the first six months of 2009, urban areas that Obama carried saw the steepest drop in the homicide rate since the mid-1990s. During that period, the states with the largest percentage of counties that voted more heavily Republican in 2008 than they did in 2004 saw an 11% rise in homicide in cities of over 100,000 residents. I asked Roth to speculate on what could happen if the right continued its violent...

Chase plans to eliminate by the first quarter of next year a common industry practice that enraged many consumers. Instead of lumping a day’s worth of debit card and A.T.M. transactions together and then processing the highest amounts first — a practice that has caused large numbers of consumers to overdraw more quickly and pay more fees — it will credit the transactions chronologically. Chase also plans to allow customers to opt out of overdraft coverage. Consumers who overdraw often do not realize that overdraft coverage is automatic and that the bank will not simply cut them off when their...

If you want to know the extent of the dishonest facade of an organization with a religious bent to it, look for Jim Wallis' name or his association. If he is associated with that org than it is pure liberal astroturfing hoo-hah. If his name is associated with evangelical leaders, they are liberal as well. Any open policy letters directed to the government with his name on it are all about achieving democrat goals. Apply the same test for Catholic Sisters such as Carol Keehan. Wallis is pure liberalism cloaked in religious garments.

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” is a famous statement of Karl Marx (1818-1883), written in 1875. “From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed” was written by Henry Fairlie (1924-1990) in the 1980s. In February 2010, pilot Joseph Stack flew his plane into an Austin (TX) IRS office. Stack had written “The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed” at the end of his anti-government letter to explain his actions.

A series of longitudinal studies, begun decades ago, are producing a rosier portrait of life after retirement. These studies don't portray old age as surrender or even serenity. They portray it as a period of development – and they're not even talking about uber-oldsters jumping out of airplanes. One of the keys to healthy aging is what George Vaillant of Harvard calls "generativity" – providing for future generations. Seniors who perform service for the young have more positive lives and better marriages than those who don't. As Vaillant writes in his book Aging Well, "Biology flows downhill." We are naturally...

Kossack Mote Dai's discovery that "objective" analyst and MIT economist Jonathon Gruber has received a sole-source contracts with the Department of Health and Human Services since June 19, 2009 to consult on the “President’s health reform proposal" has gained some larger attention. Marcy reported that he has two contracts for a total of $392,600 to consult on the plan. The issue is that Gruber has consistently been referenced by the White House as an objective analyst in support of the bill--including the controversial excise tax--without disclosing his role as a contractor on the issue. Link: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/1/8/823043/-Transparency-Problem-in-HCR-Debate

If we want to get this info out we are going to have to do it ourselves. We need to do a news outlet flood. Kudos to Drudge and Fox and La Lydia for bringing it to our attention.

If you thought James Cameron's Avatar was just a 3D fantasy flick about nice cat people vs. mechanized mad men, think again. There's a fourth dimension, a shadowy back story about race that has the sci-fi blogosphere engaged in its own war of the worlds. Annalee Newitz, writing last week on her science blog io9, criticized Avatar for depicting yet another white man as a hero in the liberation struggles of oppressed people of color.

It’s fitting that James Cameron’s “Avatar” arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a crass embodiment of capitalistic excess wrapped around a deeply felt religious message. It’s at once the blockbuster to end all blockbusters, and the Gospel According to James. But not the Christian Gospel. Instead, “Avatar” is Cameron’s long apologia for pantheism — a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world.

The morning broadcasters, Jack Bishop and Rich Hancock, announced this morning that their organization,"Rational Radio" would be off the air as of Jan 1, 2010. Rational Radio leased this station 24/7 from the Multicultural Broadcast Corp. The rest of the local talkers on this station were discussing their plans thruout the day. Most of them trashing broadcast radio and corporations in general. They are claiming that broadcast radio is dead and Internet Radio is where it is at.

From the article published in the DMN 12/15/09 edition: "Former VP Al Gore tod the conference that new data suggests a 75 percent chance the entire Arctic polar ice cap may disappear in the summertime as soon as five to seven years from now."

If you ask me, nothing says Merry Christmas quite like a stage comedy about Santa Claus' gay relationship with toymaker Geppetto, a descendant of Pinocchio. Alas for Santa Claus Is Coming Out, now showing to Off Broadway audiences, a play about a gay Santa tormented by his clandestine same-sex canoodling is bound to have limited appeal. But the ho-ho-homosexual comedy has been embraced by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a national gay organization dedicated to fighting anti-gay bullying in schools.

I think we need to take a step back from the histronics surrounding the EPA announcement yesterday. Charles Krauthammer is correct in that this is a way to strong arm Congress into doing something. They are going after the egos of the Jim Webbs, Lindsey Grahams and John McCain. Let’s look at what the EPA CANNOT do: 1. They do not have the taxing authority of Congress, 2. The EPA cannot redistribute the wealth of this country the way congress can. 3. They have no way of making their political rulings permanent; another administration can overturn those rules. 4. Their...

At the international climate talks in Copenhagen, President Barack Obama is expected to announce that the United States wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to about 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. But at the heart of his plan is cap and trade, a market-based approach that has been widely praised but does little to slow global warming or reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. It merely allows polluters and Wall Street traders to fleece the public out of billions of dollars

Sec. 6002. Inclusion of cost of employer-sponsored health coverage on W–2. The Senate Finance Bill includes a provision that requires employers to start reporting costs of health benefits. Definitely used to determine the "cadillac" plan penalty but also an amendment away from taxing all employer-based health benefits as income.

In addition to hospital, surgical, and physician payments this section details minimum services that a health plan must cover: Prescriptions, mental health and substance use disorders, durable medical equipment, home health services and preventive services as approved by the Government. My favorite is 11). Well baby and well child care and oral health, vision, and hearing services, equipment, and supplies for children under 21 years of age. I wonder if that includes toothbrushes?

David Waldman of the progressive blog Congress Matters, is reporting that the process of merging the several health care bills is well underway in the Senate under rule number XIV (see http://lugar.senate.gov/services/pdf_crs/Senate_Rule_XIV_Procedures_for_Placing_Measures_Directly_on_the_Senate_Calendar.pdf). He states in a post on Dailykooks entitled: "Baucus might actually make it to a vote today" that he thinks that the passage of Baucus' bill out of Finance is a formality and not necessary for the passage of a Health care bill out of the Senate.

I'm just asking. Is it even legal for him to accept it while in office?

Articles coming out in various media outlets such as the NYT states BHO (mmmmmm-mmmmm-mmmmm) had a Rose Garden press conference with a number of pro-health insurance reform doctors. The article touts the credentials of the docs and their organizations. Included in the NYT's article is a statement about a "new" organizaton called Doctor's for America. This AMAnews article gives some background on this org. It is the renamed activist group Doctors for Obama. I believe that this org is also closely aligned with Organizing for America.

Another Dallas Conservative radio station, KSKY is carrying water for Jim Wallis' Social Justice Forum. KSKY, the flagship station for Mike Gallagher, is now advertising for the forum to be held in November. You can add KSKY to KLTY as christian or conservative stations that have been duped by Wallis and his people. I spoke with the call screener for Mike Gallagher this morning and he had no idea who Jim Wallis is or his organization. Maybe someone can clue him in.