Oh, sure. It's not like I believed that I shot somebody, but I absolutely know what it feels like to pull the trigger and take someone's life.
You understand how it feels to shoot someone as much as a person who has actually committed a murder?
I understand it more. It's an actor's job. A guy who's lived through the horror of Vietnam has not spent his life preparing his mind for it. He's some punk. Most guys were borderline criminal or poor, and that's why they got sent to Vietnam. It was all the poor, wretched kids who got beat up by their dads, guys who didn't get on the football team, couldn't finagle a scholarship. They didn't have the emotional equipment to handle that experience. But this is what an actor trains to do. I can more effectively represent that kid in Vietnam than a guy who was there.
#5
I was an "extra" for a concert scene in that Doors movie he did, and I have to say he's a talented actor. It felt like I had gone back in time and was actually watching Jim Morrison sing....
Spurred on by President Barack Obama, an $838 billion economic recovery plan advanced toward passage in the Senate on Tuesday, after clearing a last procedural hurdle with the help of three Republicans on Monday evening.
Collins, Snowe, Specter. Remember them next election.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), ill with cancer, returned for the 61-36 roll call in a dramatic show of Democratic unity behind Obama — and a landmark shift in fiscal policy in the face of the economic crisis facing the nation.
Republican support was confined to three moderates: Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. All had a major hand in negotiating provisions in the bill, including a Collins-Specter deal last Friday to scale back the package by $108 billion. But the lack of more bipartisan support remains a disappointment for the White House and leaves the president battling criticism from his defeated rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
“This is neither bipartisan nor a compromise,” McCain said in a biting speech on the floor. “It is generational theft.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Collins, Snowe, Specter. Remember them next election
#2
Grom: My offer still stands. I'll give you the Messiah for Bebe and I'll personally throw in three loaves of homemade challah. But wait, there's more. I'll even throw in a guarantee that neither Lieberman or Rice ever visits you again!
#4
Collins, Snowe, Specter. Remember them next election.
Like the Trunk party in their states has come up with any viable alternative. Wonder why they're so old and yet still in the seat? Same goes to the article down below about Val Kilmar running for NM governor. The state level Trunks are just as infested with the good old boys running failed tickets after failed tickets, so they just shrug their shoulders and live with the RINOs.
#6
PA could not sustain Santorum and passed on Toomey when he last challenged Specter. Toomey may well take out Specter in 2010, but it will probably be a pyrrhic victory as PA has turned true blue with the conversion of Delaware, Montgomery and Chester Counties from reliable red. PA is rapidly following in the footsteps of Caliphornia into one party rule with occasional guest appearances by RINOs and futile efforts by the ideologically unacceptable.
Feds Narrowing In On Companies With Ties To Congressman
The FBI raided the offices of a defense lobbying firm with close ties to Democratic Rep. John Murtha (Penn.), sources tell ABC News. The FBI searched the Virginia headquarters of the PMA Group in November, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. PMA was founded by former Murtha aide Paul Magliochetti and specializes in winning earmarked taxpayer funds for its clients.
Good government groups have long criticized Murtha's cozy relationship with a handful of lobbyists and defense firms, ties that see millions of dollars in government spending go out from Murtha's office, and hundreds of thousands in campaign donations come in. Murtha has said his earmarking has helped revive his economically depressed district.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
my problem here is that i am 100% positive
1)this sack of shite is as guilty of corruption as the day is long
2)he will skate after a little behind the scenes pressure by the whitehouse on the DOJ
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
02/10/2009 1:24 Comments ||
Top||
#2
ION TOPIX > VARIOUS > CALIFORNIA TO RELEASE LARGE NUMBERS OF STATE PRISONERS DUE TO RECESSION [Judges-ordered massive CA State prisoner/felon release over 3 year period].
In an earlier blog post I noted that Republican Judd Gregg, if he is confirmed as secretary of commerce, will have jurisdiction over the Census Bureau. Some Democrats noticed, including, I suspect, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
So now it's been announced that the White House will oversee the Census. Of course, the president has ultimate authority over cabinet officers (that's the unitary presidency theory that Democrats hated up to but not beyond January 20), and I am not prepared to charge that Emanuel or anyone else in the White House is determined to diabolically cook the Census books in search of gains for the Democratic Party or the Black or Hispanic caucuses. And we have the integrity of Census statisticians to rely on; they favor sampling on grounds that commend themselves to academic statisticians, but also have shown, in the 2000 Census, that they will adhere to those standards in the face of political pressures to the contrary. Nonetheless, as someone who got great joy when my parents in 1951 (when I was 7) bought a set of encyclopedias with the 1950 Census figures (I had only had access to the much outdated 1940 Census figures), I'm going to keep an eye on this one.
Here's an argument that it's unconstitutional for the president to take over the Census from the secretary of commerce. It goes like this: Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution provides for an "actual enumeration" and a statute passed by Congress provides that the duties under this clause are to be performed by the secretary of commerce. Article I (as Joseph Biden didn't know in debate) is about the legislative, not the executive branch. Hence, it is argued, the president can't substitute a sampling for the enumeration required to be done by the secretary.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
seriously, the Zero is much more important than any 'living document' compared to his 'mandate, what are mere words on paper
/pffft
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
02/10/2009 1:27 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I am not prepared to charge that Emanuel or anyone else in the White House is determined to diabolically cook the Census books in search of gains for the Democratic Party or the Black or Hispanic caucuses.
The "charge" needs no preparation. It is self evident.
#4
Watched "SuperZero's speech last night, Ummm, Errr, Ummm, Errr, etc to madness I also noticed he called for questions by calling on people BY NAME suggests he knew what they'd say.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/10/2009 11:57 Comments ||
Top||
#5
....and he used their softball questions to launch into his prepared 8-10 minute sermons. I've got Fox on in the family room listening to the cheering throngs of believers. It really is amazing.
Its almost as if the entire thing was staged. Didn't someone mention that the Questions were submitted first? So he could pick and choose and had plenty of time to prepare his speeches.
BTW: Who was the unfortunate sole who was to sit next to Helen Thomas? I noticed that the seat was empty.
Eric Holder, the new attorney general, has ordered a review of all claims of state secrets, which were used under President Bush to shield controversial anti-terrorism programs from lawsuits.
The so-called state secrets privilege was invoked by the previous administration to stymie a lawsuit challenging the government's warrantless wiretapping program.
"The attorney general has directed that senior Justice Department officials review all assertions of the state secrets privilege to ensure that is being invoked only in legally appropriate situations," Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said Monday.
"It's vital that we protect information that if released could jeopardize national security, but the Justice Department will ensure the privilege is not invoked to hide from the American people information about their government's actions that they have a right to know," said Miller.
Even as officials promised a thorough review, government lawyers continued to invoke the state secrets law Monday in a federal appeals court in San Francisco. That case involves a lawsuit over the CIA's extraordinary rendition program.
Under that program, U.S. operatives seized foreign suspects and handed them over to other countries for questioning.
Some former prisoners subjected to the process contend they were tortured. Proving that in court has been difficult, as evidence they have sought to corroborate their claims has been protected by the president's state secrets privilege.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
All detainees will soon be released due to technicalities. Please spare us the legal drama and expense, just go ahead and do it. You're gonna do it anyway.
President Obama and Congressional Democrats are inching the U.S. toward government-run health insurance. Last week's expansion of Schip -- the State Children's Health Insurance Program -- is a first step. Before proceeding further, here's a suggestion: Look at Canada's experience.
Health-care resources are not unlimited in any country, even rich ones like Canada and the U.S., and must be rationed either by price or time. When individuals bear no direct responsibility for paying for their care, as in Canada, that care is rationed by waiting.
Canadians often wait months or even years for necessary care. For some, the status quo has become so dire that they have turned to the courts for recourse. Several cases currently before provincial courts provide studies in what Americans could expect from government-run health insurance.
In Ontario, Lindsay McCreith was suffering from headaches and seizures yet faced a four and a half month wait for an MRI scan in January of 2006. Deciding that the wait was untenable, Mr. McCreith did what a lot of Canadians do: He went south, and paid for an MRI scan across the border in Buffalo. The MRI revealed a malignant brain tumor.
Ontario's government system still refused to provide timely treatment, offering instead a months-long wait for surgery. In the end, Mr. McCreith returned to Buffalo and paid for surgery that may have saved his life. He's challenging Ontario's government-run monopoly health-insurance system, claiming it violates the right to life and security of the person guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Shona Holmes, another Ontario court challenger, endured a similarly harrowing struggle. In March of 2005, Ms. Holmes began losing her vision and experienced headaches, anxiety attacks, extreme fatigue and weight gain. Despite an MRI scan showing a brain tumor, Ms. Holmes was told she would have to wait months to see a specialist. In June, her vision deteriorating rapidly, Ms. Holmes went to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, where she found that immediate surgery was required to prevent permanent vision loss and potentially death. Again, the government system in Ontario required more appointments and more tests along with more wait times. Ms. Holmes returned to the Mayo Clinic and paid for her surgery.
On the other side of the country in Alberta, Bill Murray waited in pain for more than a year to see a specialist for his arthritic hip. The specialist recommended a "Birmingham" hip resurfacing surgery (a state-of-the-art procedure that gives better results than basic hip replacement) as the best medical option. But government bureaucrats determined that Mr. Murray, who was 57, was "too old" to enjoy the benefits of this procedure and said no. In the end, he was also denied the opportunity to pay for the procedure himself in Alberta. He's heading to court claiming a violation of Charter rights as well.
These constitutional challenges, along with one launched in British Columbia last month, share a common goal: to win Canadians the freedom to spend their own money to protect themselves from the inadequacies of the government health-insurance system.
The cases find their footing in a landmark ruling on Quebec health insurance in 2005. The Supreme Court of Canada found that Canadians suffer physically and psychologically while waiting for treatment in the public health-care system, and that the government monopoly on essential health services imposes a risk of death and irreparable harm. The Supreme Court ruled that Quebec's prohibition on private health insurance violates citizen rights as guaranteed by that province's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
The experiences of these Canadians -- along with the untold stories of the 750,794 citizens waiting a median of 17.3 weeks from mandatory general-practitioner referrals to treatment in 2008 -- show how miserable things can get when government is put in charge of managing health insurance.
In the wake of the 2005 ruling, Canada's federal and provincial governments have tried unsuccessfully to fix the long wait times by introducing selective benchmarks and guarantees along with large increases in funding. The benchmarks and the guarantees aren't ambitious: four to eight weeks for radiation therapy; 16 to 26 weeks for cataract surgery; 26 weeks for hip and knee replacements and lower-urgency cardiac bypass surgery.
Canada's system comes at the cost of pain and suffering for patients who find themselves stuck on waiting lists with nowhere to go. Americans can only hope that Barack Obama heeds the lessons that can be learned from Canadian hardships.
#1
"He's challenging Ontario's government-run monopoly health-insurance system, claiming it violates the right to life and security of the person guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."
The solution is right before their eyes - repeal the Charter.
What, you think the Lefties haven't thought of that yet?
"Americans can only hope that Barack Obama heeds the lessons that can be learned from Canadian hardships."
GFL on that one, since it will never apply to him (or Congress). >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/10/2009 17:48 Comments ||
Top||
#2
We here in Blair and Brownistan know that "the Righteous" get a different NHS to the rest of us.
#3
THis kind of helthcare rationing is ALREADY HERE in the US. Read the Stimulus bill. It containst a "review board" and mdeical coding as part of the stnadards, and will require doctors to adhere to the coding, and "allowable" treatments in order to comply wiht the law and avoide being penalized.
Als - here is the biggie - its changes Medicare from "accepted and effective" treatments being paid for, to: approved by the federal oversight as being "cost effective" - meanign if you are too old or the procedure or medicine too "new", YOU WILL NOT BE GETTING TREATMENT DUE TO GOVERNMENT PREVENTING YOU FROM DOIND SO!
You have been warned - the US healthcare system is going to be demolished by the "Daschle" rationing-socialism provisions slipped into it by Pelosi.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SANTA FE (AP) - Actor Val Kilmer says some serious people want him to run for governor of New Mexico.
Feds Narrowing In On Companies With Ties To Congressman
