If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed. -- Benjamin Franklin
Egypt's jailed ex-strongman Hosni Mubarak clung to life Tuesday despite slipping in and out of consciousness, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
The spokesman, Gen.
Marwan Mustapha, said Mubarak's condition had stabilized "and a number
of doctors from the prison authority are monitoring him," along with
physicians from the armed forces.
"He does go in and out of
this state of unconsciousness, but new equipment has been installed in
the ICU room of the hospital on Saturday to accommodate his fragile
situation," Mustapha said. "His two sons are beside him, and his wife
visited him today."
Mubarak, 84, was
sentenced to life in prison on June 2 for the killing of pro-democracy
demonstrators during the 2011 revolt that toppled him. He was already
suffering from health problems and attended court on a gurney -- but
Mustapha said rumors that Mubarak had died were false.
It's funny. If his regime had lasted another year, Mubarak would be too sick to carry on anyway. Looks like this may be one of the shorter life sentences in history.
Don't cry for me, Egypt, the truth is I never left you. Upside: the people demanding Mubarak being put to death may get their wish, thus satisfying pretty much 100% of the population in the "life sentence vs. death" argument. He gets both. Everyone wins.
Giffords had hoped for such a result when she handpicked Barber, her longtime Democratic district director and friend, after she resigned in January to focus on recovering from a brain injury suffered in the shooting. Democrats were keen on keeping the toss-up seat in their hands before the fall elections.
Barber represents Congressional District 8 for six months and is running for a full term in the newly drawn District 2 during the regular fall elections.
Kelly, a 30-year-old construction-project manager and former Marine who narrowly lost to Giffords in 2010, also plans to compete for the full term.
But he could encounter Republican resistance to a third try after his loss to to Barber. Two other GOP candidates, including a potential rising star, retired Air Force pilot Martha McSally, have filed to compete for the full term.
McSally finished second to Kelly in the April primary, despite little initial name recognition and modest fundraising. Her brand of spunky conservative feminism and story of becoming the Air Force’s first female combat pilot stirred many voters. A little-known Republican county worker, Mark Koskiniemi, is also on the ballot for the fall.
Barber, 66, is slated to face Tucson doctor and state Rep. Matt Heinz in the Democratic primary.
The problem is the newly redrawn districts will make it very tough for Democrats to keep the seat in November. Tuscon will become the 2nd district, while a lot of votes will be shifted next door along the Mexico border to Democrat and Progressive Caucus head Raul Grijalva in the 7th. Ed Pastor in the 4th still looks good, but the newly redrawn second is now extremely competitive, and Arizona Republicans are confident they've stowed all the Latino vote in the 7th and the African-American vote in the 4th, leaving the other 6 districts as easy GOP wins for the next ten years.
Barber can at least make it a bit more even, but it will be difficult at best.
Greeks pulled
their cash out of the banks and stocked up with food ahead of a
cliffhanger election on Sunday that many citizens fear will result in
the country being forced out of the euro.
Bankers said up to 800 million
euros ($1 billion) were leaving major banks daily and retailers said
some of the money was being used to buy pasta and canned goods in case
of shortages, as fears of returning to the drachma were fanned by rumors
that a radical leftist leader may win the election.
The
last published opinion polls showed the conservative New Democracy
party, which backs the 130-billion-euro ($160 billion) bailout that is
keeping Greece afloat, running neck-and-neck with the leftist SYRIZA party, which wants to cancel the rescue deal.
SYRIZA says if they win, they're nullifying the bailout, which means an almost certain forced exit from the Euro, a series of bank holidays, and the return to the drachma at a massive loss...to anyone keeping cash in the bank, that is. The smart people are getting their euros out now, which is causing something of a self-fufilling meltdown.
And at a billion a day and rising, things are getting downright scary in Europe now. Here's a hint: Greek banks don't have a lot of actual physical cash on hand (like any fractional reserve banking system), so those who wait, lose.
Consider how far the world has come in seventy years. It's easy to forget that in our grandparent's generation, the world was still fighting on a scale never before experienced. And yet, it isn't that long ago when you consider Anne Frank. She could have made it easily to 83 if she had been allowed the opportunity. One lifetime. We are just one long lifetime removed from so many global firsts, mostly of the unwanted kind.
The red-checkered notebook was given to Frank by her father, Otto, on June 12, 1942—22 days before Frank and her German-born Jewish family went into hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
"I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone," Frank wrote in the diary on the same day. "And I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support."
Frank died in 1945 in a German concentration camp—crazy to think that Frank would've been just 83 today had she survived.
Her story should never be forgotten, and thanks to that diary it won't be. The story of oppression, fear, and survival is a snapshot of one of the most violent and dangerous times ever. And without vigilance and bravery, we could easily find ourselves there again.
When we talk about war, regardless of the countries involved, it's the Anne Franks of the world who remind us who we really are.
Max Page, the 7-year-old who played a miniature Darth Vader in Volkswagen’s popular Super Bowl commercial in 2011, will undergo open-heart surgery in Los Angeles on Wednesday to repair a congenital heart defect, according to ad agency Deutsch LA. The goal of the surgery is to repair a hole in his heart and replace his pulmonary valve.
Max appeared with his mother, Jennifer Page, on TODAY in February 2011 after the Super Bowl ad gained instant fame. In the ad, Max dresses as a mini Darth Vader and attempts to use the Force around the house to no avail before being surprised that he can start his father’s Volkswagen with the wave of a hand.
There are entries from the mother, telling the story of how Max has comforted her and accepted that he has to have the surgery. It's heartbreaking, but less so that his future without the operation.
Folks, Birther Queen and maniac Orly Taitz didn't run for Senate in California's primary last week because she thought she would win. She ran because she knew she would lose.
Defeated U.S. Senate candidate Orly Taitz said Wednesday that her loss was likely caused by rigged voting machines.
Writing on her blog
Wednesday morning, the Orange County resident said: "At the moment
nobody has a clue how these machines are programmed. There is a high
probability that different values were given to votes cast for
different candidates."
"How can it be that the members of Congress, which have an approval
rating of 9 to 11 percent, can be reelected on average 90 percent of
the time?" she said. "Something is very wrong with this system."
This was not the first time Taitz has claimed fraud in her bid for office. Two years ago, she lost to Damon Dunn during the Republican primary and then sued Dunn, claiming fraud. The case was thrown out of court in May.
At that time, the court said Taitz "provided no legal basis" to
explain why her opponent's past voter registration constituted fraud.
Oh there's a shocker. Taitz having no legal basis for her insanity.
Now, having said that, there are issues with voting machines in this country, and Brad Friedman at Brad Blog has done an outstanding job of continuing to expose the very real efforts to shape and control our country through voting machine fraud and has done so for years now.
But to see Oily Taint here co-opt Brad's stuff here because she claims she clearly won and was only defrauded out of her Senate seat is just mind-numbingly pathetic.
And the award for Dick Move of the Week goes to our old friend Gov. Lex Luthor Rick Scott as he says the state will now sue the Obama Administration over Florida's apparent Constitutional right to throw 180,000 eligible voters off the rolls for the crime of being likely Democratic voters.
Rick Scott made the announcement moments ago on Fox News: “the
Florida’s Secretary of State office will be filing a lawsuit against the
Department of Homeland Security to give us that database. We want to
have fair, honest elections in our state and so we have been put in a
position that we have to sue the federal government to get this
information.”
Neil Cavuto, who conducted the interview, pressed Scott on why many of those who objected to the purge were Republican election supervisors. Cavuto also noted that other prominent Florida Republicans, such as Sen. Marco Rubio, were notably silent on the purge.
Now, this is a too clever by half move on Scott's part. He's basically saying that the Federal government can't tell Florida what to do with its own voter database if it has a "better and more accurate" database through Homeland Security. If that's the case, the Feds need to pony up access for Florida to assure that "justice is being served" and the onus to prove that is on DHS. If it's not, then the Obama administration has no business telling Florida how to maintain its database.
This is pretty much akin to saying "There are crimes in other states, therefore the federal government has no business telling us how to handle crimes and we reserve the right to use Florida law enforcement for FBI matters. If Washington really cared about solving crimes, they would move FBI headquarters to Miami and give us access to the best law enforcement resources in the country so we're going to sue them for not doing that. The fact they won't do this means they're not serious about helping us fight crime and they have no business saying word one to us about the issue."
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be
made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be
made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law
of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby,
anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary
notwithstanding.
In other words, states have to defer to the federal on laws that the federal passes concerning the states. We kind of settled this in 1865 the hard way. Luthor here wants to refight that battle for, well, pretty much the same damn reasons they fought 150 years ago.
He's a funny guy, but the law is very much settled. (That is unless Romney gets to throw in a couple more nutjobs on the Supreme Court, then Article VI means whatever they say it means.) And once again let's remember that the point of the exercise is that Florida wants to toss thousands of eligible voters off the rolls and make it as hard as possible for them to vote again.
The impeachment of President Obama by proxy through the GOP assault on Attorney General Eric Holder just got deadly serious.
CBS News has learned the House Oversight Committee will vote next
week on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of
Congress. It's the fourth time in 30 years that Congress has launched a
contempt action against an executive branch member.
This
time, the dispute stems from Holder failing to turn over documents
subpoenaed on October 12, 2011 in the Fast and Furious "gunwalking"
investigation.
The Justice Department has maintained it
has cooperated fully with the congressional investigation, turning over
tens of thousands of documents and having Holder testify to Congress on
the topic at least eight times.
However, Rep. Darrell
Issa, R-Calif., says the Justice Department has refused to turn over
tens of thousands of pages of documents. Those include materials created
after Feb. 4, 2011, when the Justice Department wrote a letter to
Congress saying no gunwalking had occurred. The Justice Department later
retracted the denial.
"The Obama Administration has not
asserted Executive Privilege or any other valid privilege over these
materials and it is unacceptable that the Department of Justice refuses
to produce them. These documents pertain to Operation Fast and Furious,
the claims of whistleblowers, and why it took the Department nearly a
year to retract false denials of reckless tactics," Issa wrote in an
announcement of the vote to be released shortly. It will reveal the vote
is scheduled for Wednesday, June 20.
Issa goes on to say that by releasing these documents, he'll stand down. But on a party line, the vote would pass and then go to the full House, and after that would pass and go to the US Attorney's office in DC where presumably, Holder would be served with the Contempt of Congress charge officially. The GOP is clearly thinking that if things get that far and this being an election year, Holder would have to step aside.
Not that I think he should. "Nakedly and brazenly political" doesn't begin to describe things here. If we're seriously getting to the point where Issa will hold the AG in contempt for the answers he's getting not being the ones he wants to hear, Congress is broken far beyond the 9% approval rating failure. Should the House pass a contempt resolution, they would have to sue Holder. It would be a disaster across the board.
We'll see how this shakes out, but this seems like extortion to me. Issa's playing hardball here and he's risking serious "partisan witch hunt" blowback. Then again, they despise Obama so much it doesn't matter to them.
A kitten was rescued after he was found in the sewer, with his head stuck in a soda can. Enjoy this testament to what happens when good people come together.
It's so rare that a story about a shooting is a tad bit funny that I had to share. Please let me say that I am so sorry this man was shot before I begin to boggle yet again at the heaps o' irony.
Ray Dolin, 39, was shot in the arm as he approached a pickup Saturday evening, thinking the driver was offering him a ride, said Valley County Sheriff Glen Meier.
The freelance photographer, who runs a business called OneShot Impressions, was injured about three miles west of the town of Glasgow, along rural U.S. Highway 2, a major route into and out of the oil patch.
A 52-year-old man from Washington state, Lloyd Christopher Danielson III, was arrested about four hours later near Culbertson. Authorities said Danielson was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They released no motive in the shooting.
OneShot Impressions? Bwahahahahaha.
Now seriously, I would love to have seen such a journey completed, and of course sad to see a nice man get shot in a misunderstanding. I don't know why it struck my funny bone, but I was amused.
If they say bath salts was behind this, expect to hear more outrage. Celebrate with us, on this magnificent day our Ironic tag was born.
Republicans may be about to piss themselves in sheer happiness over the thought of SCOTUS striking down the entire Affordable Care Act this summer, but health insurance providers and hospitals are moving ahead with implementation of the law's provisions because hey, it makes good business sense. Take the example of Maimonides Medical Center in New York City:
“Quite frankly, if everything goes perfectly and everything is upheld,
there’s a lot of confusion and a lot of uncertainty here,” said Dominick
Stanzione, the hospital’s chief operating officer. “We also have an
election coming up.”
The cuts, on the other hand, seem inexorable, and not only because
Medicaid and Medicare budgets are strapped. The policy thrust in health
care financing, private as well as public, is to abandon reimbursements
to hospitals according to the number of days patients spend in a bed, in
favor of models that use a fixed sum per patient or set of patients
over time, regardless of where care is delivered or how little it costs.
Maimonides’s own successes have helped sell policy makers on the idea.
Its collaboration with a state psychiatric hospital a few years ago, for
example, put medical-mental health teams in storefront offices to
manage the care of low-income patients with serious mental illness. Such
patients, who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare, are among
the health system’s most expensive and tend to have the worst outcomes.
The program cut hospitalizations in half and reduced emergency-room use
by 30 percent.
“When the State Health Department people saw our data, the little dollar signs danced in their heads,” Ms. Brier said.
Hospitals are operating under the assumption that not only that the provisions in the law will be implemented, but that the health care industry will simply move to adopt the provisions regardless of what SCOTUS says because it's good for their bottom line.
The discussions have taken place in conference
calls over the past six weeks, as concerns have grown that a
radical-left coalition, SYRIZA, may win the second election, increasing
the risk that Greece could renege on its EU/IMF bailout and therefore
move closer to abandoning the currency.
No decisions have been taken on the calls, but members of the Eurogroup Working Group, which consists of euro zone deputy finance ministers and heads of treasury departments, have discussed the options in some detail, the sources said.
As
well as limiting cash withdrawals and imposing capital controls, they
have discussed the possibility of suspending the Schengen agreement,
which allows for visa-free travel among 26 countries, including most of
the European Union.
"Contingency
planning is underway for a scenario under which Greece leaves," one of
the sources, who has been involved in the conference calls, said.
"Limited cash withdrawals from ATMs and limited movement of capital have
been considered and analyzed."
Another source confirmed the discussions, including that the suspension of Schengen was among the options raised.
"These
are not political discussions, these are discussions among finance
experts who need to be prepared for any eventuality," the second source
said. "It is sensible planning, that is all, planning for the worst-case
scenario."
And it really is sensible planning for the magnitude of what could happen very soon. It's also all but guaranteeing a massive series of bank runs that will rapidly bring about chaos as a result. The fact that the EU is seriously considering locking off member nation borders and bank withdrawals should clue everyone in that the time to get your money out in Greece and Spain and Italy is now, before these kick in. Voila! Instant self-fulfilling financial apocalypse, just add water.
Even with the Biden Administration adults in charge and Democrats in control on Congress (barely), there remains an increasingly crumbling global economy imperiling the world, rising nationalism and deadly racism across Europe and Asia, a seemingly endless war against terror, a federal government nobody trusts or believes in, global climate change putting us on the brink of destruction and a Village media that barely does its job on even the best day.
Needless to say there's a lot of Stupid out there when we need solutions. Dangerous levels of Stupid.
Into the fray, dear Reader. Tray tables, crash helmets, arms inside blog at all times.
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