Like you I haven’t switched channels all day either. My eyes and ears have been permanently fixed on CNN’s anchors and reporters.
But as I see more images and hear more of the stories from Haiti’s earthquake disaster zone I can’t help but be reminded of those end of the world/mega disaster shows that air repeatedly on the History Channel.
This earthquake in Haiti was what those experts on those shows were talking about!
Haiti was a disaster before this natural disaster I can’t imagine what this country will be like in a few months..a few years.
How will Haitians respond not just in the first few days but in the months and years to come?
How long can the national solidarity last?
How much daily suffering can a people take and for how long?
Will the world respond fast enough to avert a global catastrophe?
Obviouslywe haven’t been listening to what the experts have been saying about Port-au-Prince and the possibility of an earthquake occurring there..hmm..I wonder if we will be listening the next time?
What a horrible way for the world to begin the new year..
The Daily Mail is reporting that Elin Woods will file for divorce from the former golfing superstar after Christmas and she’ll return to her home country Sweden at the start of the new year.
A part of me hates to ask this question since I do understand why she would want to work things out with him but if the story is true what took her so long? Did she want to see how many women were going to come forward? I know I would and then I would want him to beg and beg and beg and then beg some more for my forgiveness and then I would still leave him.
I think like most women I would rather be alone and happy with millions than married with millions and humiliated.
More and more details are emerging about balloon boy’s father, Richard Heene.
By now you’ve probably heard about the little Colorado boy, Falcon Heene who garnered worldwide attention because he was thought to be soaring above the earth in a homemade helium balloon for hours but was actually hiding in his parents’ garage.
Well, anyway according to one of Richard Heene’s past employees, Perry Caravello, Richard Heenewill do anything to become famous and this balloon saga was just his latest attempt at grabbing his 15 minutes of fame.
Now, I don’t know if Caravello statements are credible since Heene, according to him, owes him money and we all know how money can cloud events and darken the debtor’s personal character. But as this story develops I’m becoming convinced that this may have been one of the biggest hoaxes in recent history and unfortunately the little boy’s nervous reaction (he’s vomited on camera twice) and statement ‘we did this for the show‘ have only heightened speculation that this was just one big put on by the Heene family.
So far officials have stated it wasn’t hoax but if it is determined that the Heene’s hustled us I hope they are fined and ordered to reimburse all the costs of the rescue operation.
I don’t understand why some liberals and Democrats are upset about Republican groups organizing and shouting at national health care reform town hall meetings?
I say, let them SHOUT!
There is nothing wrong with these men and women shouting or voicing their passion in an aggressive manner. Shouting at an individual may be considered rude and uncouth, yes, but a rational argument can still be had during and after these meetings. And in most cases the individuals shouting slogans will not change the mind or opinion of those present at the meeting with their behaviour.
What changes an individual mind or heart is information. Simple and clear information. And to be honest, a town hall meeting, isn’t the venue to provide information about a specific plan or subject as complex and detailed as health care. It’s a place to interact with your representative in a positive or negative manner. And that interaction can be productive or worthless but in the end if DEMS want to convince voters and the public at large to support their health care bill-direct mail and the internet is the way to go or even door to door meetings.
Republicans and those oppose to health care reform will show up to these town halls ready for a fight and to say NO and nothing we do or say will stop them from shouting or being disruptive. But liberal groups have now started to organizetheir own shouting groups too counteract this opposition. So what will we achieve in the end? A shouting match between two very passionate groups.
While I do agree that shouting at these meetings is not very progressive or polite IT IS very democratic.
Speaking on MSNBC earlier today, Senior Obama advisor and political truth teller David Axelrod said that Clintons’ trip was a ’private humanitarian mission’. And while the White House is publicly tip-toeing around the trip releasing few significant details you know that Clinton has the full blessing of the White House.
What an awesome and high profile way to use the former president?
While Clinton may not always say and do the right things at home, abroad Bill Clinton exemplifies all that is great about America. And while his reputation may have dimmed just a bit due to some negative campaigning on behalf of his wife during the 2008 Democratic primary, the ex-president is still a widely respected and adored global leader. And you better believe when you’re negotiating with a ‘personality’ reportedly as big as Kim Jong-il’sthose two characteristics will go a long way in ultimately securing the release/pardon for these two women and who knows what else could emerge from this trip?
***UPDATE***..MSNBC is reporting that North Korean media is reporting that the two women have been granted a special pardon.
My Monday morning just started and already I’m wishing I had just stayed in bed because these Monday morning blues are stressing me to hell out!
From the moment I turned on my television set, headlines and anchors across the cable news networks have been asking the question, “Will Obama raise taxes on the middle class?”.
OMG!! that can’t be right? I need more coffee! Taxing the middle class, with the economy as horrible as it is, would be Obama’sWaterloo. It was the first George Bush’s and Obama is smarter than him right? So he wouldn’t make that mistake…right?
I don’t know what Larry Summers and Tim Geithner were thinking when they appeared on the Sunday morning chat shows talking about the ways and means that could be used to pay for health care and to reduce our deficit.
Do Democrats want Obama to be a one-term president? Or more importantly does President Obama want to be president again? Or is he satisfied with the fact that he was able to beat all the odds and become America’s first black president? I don’t know anymore because if you analyze Obama’s actions and words lately you might think he wants the GOP to kick him out the White House in 2012! He just keeps giving them more and more ammunition. God, even John McCain thinks it’s safe to come out of hiding.
One way or another Democrats and liberals find a way to f#$% things up!
Honestly, can the Democrats get at least one thing right this session?
Why didn’t Democrats expect the public would take advantage of theCash for Clunkers program and fund it accordingly? It was so simple. So, very, very simple.
Congress came up with the money for the banks and they didn’t seem to run out of money to fund them (banks got $700 billion, Cash for Clunkers was a measly $1 billion) yet one of the programs that could really help the average man or woman and the ailing auto industry, runs out of money after just four days!!!
And they wonder why people hate Congress and politicians?
President Obama and the Democrats in the US Congress are in the process of hacking out a health care bill.
Some say we can’t afford to cover all Americans-it would cost too much. Others, we can’t afford NOT too cover all Americans.
With one in six Americans uninsured and with the highest health care costs in the developed world what looked like a sure thing a few months ago, has now become a huge dilemma for President Obama and the Democratic Leadership.
If Democrats don’t pass health care reform, and remember Democrats are the overwhelming majority in the House and the Senate, one of Obama’s major campaign promises will not be achieved and probably wouldn’t even be achieved in his first term. And in the end you can bet that he and fellow Democrats will pay for it come election day in 2010 and 2012. But if they do listen to theopposition,within their own party, the bill may be derailed anyway because most of these Democrats oppose a public option- a‘government health insurance programakin to Medicare which would be open to anyone’and would move with the individual from job to job and even state to state.
So Democrats are left with only one option. Pass a watered down version of a health care bill and tout it as reform and hype the hell out of it so that the public may actually believe that they accomplished something truly significant and monumental this session.
We all knew that comprehensive health care reform wasn’t going to be easy and that there would be significant opposition to the president’s efforts, however as Democrats appear to be lugging a bill through Congress and more and more officials talk about thespiralling costs of the proposed reforms, at a time when the economy is in perail and a lot of people don’t know where the next pay check is going to come from, its unlikely that we’re going to see any significant reforms.
An unscientific observation has led me to believe that during these hard times, mop soda and all that while many people may understand the importance and support health care reform they are unwilling to abandon an imperfect but tried system and put their faith, once again, in an untested and somewhat dubious process, in the end Democrats will have to balance today’s hardships against tomorrow’s benefits and do what’s in the best interest of the American people and not themselves.
No doubt, things are bad out there. Obama is trying his best but to be honest it doesn’t seem to be working.
But I don’t care how bad things are with me, I would have to be so damn desperate (dying of thirst and my legs shot off) and without any hope of reaching a lake or fresh water river before I drank MOP SODA.
I’m sure you’ve seen the smart mop ad. It’s the one where this guy, pitchman Anthony Sullivan, squeezes spilled soda from a mop into a glass as he explains how awesome this ‘smart mop’ is and tries to convince you that times are so tough we can’t afford to waste even one glass of spilt soda.
I don’t know where the marketing and advertising people came up with that concept but it sucks because most people I know, even the ones hurting for money, are not going to drink soda squeezed from a mop!
What were the ad people thinking? Using that as a reason to buy the smart mop is not smart-it’s simply disgusting.
Dr.Benjamin gave up lucrative career opportunities only to watch the practice she helped to build with her own hands be destroyed twice by hurricanes-Hurricane Georges in 1998 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
She has used her own money, gone without pay, accepts what ever her patients can afford, makes house calls all in in an effort to deliver quality, preventative medical care to the residents of this small rural town.
Nothing stops Dr. Benjamin. Not rain. Not fire. Not money. With a dedicated staff firmly by her side, including 78 year old nurse Nell Stoddard, Benjamin continues to receive numerous accolades and awards for her valiant attempts and successes at providing affordable health care at her family practice clinic, helping others establish rural clinics across the nation when interviewed Benjamin has said that her goal in establishing the clinic was, ” To find a way to provide the best possible medical care to patients who often can’t afford health insurance and the only way to do that was to learn how to run a business efficiently.”
Should Benjamin become the next US Surgeon General and she still maintains the goal of finding ‘a way to provide the best possible medical care to patients who can’t afford health insurance’ you better believe she will have just as big an impact on the nations’ health care system as she’s had on La Batre, Alabama.
