Flash Back

             http://www.planetpuna.com/Dolphin-Birth-Hawaii/index.htm

Dolphin Attended Birth
and
Dolphin Assisted Therapy
in Hawaii

Well– I do believe that back in the 60’s this idea had to come from a ‘head’ on the island….lol. And to be honest– back in the day I just might have done this. Don’t tell my daughter!!! lolololol  Naw, it sounds just ‘out there’ enough to be pretty cool!       

It’s Always July 4th!

video:        http://www.sermonspice.com/product/32960/i-fought-for-you

Remember— teach it— celebrate it.

Start with 1776…

There are no words….

Scotland Says there is no time left…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p0053drb

People are people everywhere we go aren’t they. I had prior looked into a company called ‘PLUG’ and it actually has stock– it is wave energy. Now listening to this I kept answering outloud… ” Hell we can’t get people to stop killing people and you want to change people into tree planters. Well and good but in a world gone mad… well, really… what are we doing??? and for heavens sake… Carbon Credits exchanged globally– and Carbon swopping??? Geeeeeeeeece

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p0053drb

 

 

Health Insurance Vampires Need a Stake

I’ll provide the hammer, since this kit is missing one:

Vampire Health Insurance Company Killing Kit

The accoutrements for the destruction of the Vampire Health Insurance Companies

This box contains the items considered necessary for the protection of persons who travel into certain little known countries in Easter Europe America where the populace are plagued with a peculiar manifestation of evil, known as Vampires Health Insurance Companies… Professor Ernst Blomberg respectfully requests that the purchaser of this kit carefully studies his book. Should evil manifestations become apparent, he is then equipped to deal with them efficiently… Professor Blomberg wishes to announce his grateful thanks to that well known gunmaker of Liege, Nicholas Plombeur, whose help in compiling of the special items, the silver bullets, etc., has been most efficient. The items enclosed are as follows…

1. An efficient pistol with its usual accoutrements
2. A quantity of bullets of the finest silver
3. Powdered flowers of garlic (one phial)
4. Flour of Brimstone (one phial)
5. Wooden stake (Oak)
6. Ivory crucifix
7. Holy Water (one phial)
8. Professer Blomberg’s New Serum

WellPoint sued an ENTIRE STATE to increase profits

Netting $2.5 billion in profits last year wasn’t enough for WellPoint, the nation’s largest insurance company.

Now, WellPoint’s affiliate, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, is suing the state of Maine for refusing to guarantee it a profit margin in the midst of a painful recession.

As if Mainers didn’t have enough to worry about just struggling to put food on the table, WellPoint is intent on forcing them to cough up 18.5% higher premiums on their insurance policies.

While WellPoint lobbies against granting Americans the right to affordable coverage, it’s claiming that it has the right to a guaranteed profit margin, paid for by struggling working families. Mainers are outraged, and they’re fighting back.

Do you know anyone who lives in Maine? Ask them to sign up for our Maine WellPoint Watch list to make sure WellPoint doesn’t get away with it.

Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Films team

It’s my understanding that cutting the head off a vampireHealth Insurance Company has the same outcome.

B’Man’s Redneck Watch: RealMan Just Don’t Want It

Sen Bernie Sanders addresses “RealMan” about what he thinks he don’t want:

Senator Sanders Unfiltered: Lies, Fibs and Anti-Reformers

Get weekly Senator Sanders Unfiltered episodes delivered to you on Facebook, Twitter, or email. Sign up at: http://sandersunfiltered.com And, be part of Senator Sanders weekly show. Submit your video question via Twitvid with #Sanders. http://twitvid.com

I got news for you, RealMan, Ole BuelahMan, here, doesn’t want it because I have taken the time to understand what is in it. Unlike you, I haven’t fallen for the Glenn Beck, Hannity, O’Liely meme. I see what what is transpiring right before our eyes (a wonderfully enriching gift to the Insurance Companies and little true reform for anyone). I wish you would help me  fight for the ultimate in health care… Single Payer, Not-For-Profit “Medicare-For-All”. Something like Canada’s system that has an 86% Approval Rating (via Undernews):

FOUR OF FIVE CANADIANS LIKE THEIR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

Andre Picard, Globe & Mail, CA – An overwhelming 86 per cent of Canadians favor “public solutions” for bolstering medicare, according to a new poll. . . “With more than eight in 10 Canadians supporting public solutions to make public health care stronger, there is compelling evidence that Canadians across all demographics would prefer a public over a for-profit health-care system,” said Nik Nanos, president of Nanos Research.
A recent report by Health Canada found that 85 per cent of Canadians were “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with health-care services overall. That level was unchanged from 2005, the last time the survey was conducted.

I am nowhere near that satisfied with my healthcare, are you, RealMan?

And what about you “Progressive” RealMen? You still backing the plan because Mr Obama has made more money in campaign donations than any other politician in history (again, Undernews)?

Timothy P. Carney, DC Examiner – Barack Obama last year received more campaign cash from health maintenance organizations than any politician before him ever did — and it’s not even close.

Obama raised more than $1.4 million in 2008 from the employees and executives of “Health Services/HMOs” as the Center for Responsive Politics labels them — or “villains” as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls them. That’s more than the combined haul of every Republican nominee since Ronald Reagan left office.

These numbers don’t prove that Obama is owned by the health insurers. But they deflate the liberal claim that Republicans and “reform” protesters are shills for the industry…

…On insurer campaign cash, the Democrats win hands down. First, there’s Obama, the all-time champion in raising money from HMOs. . . The second-highest recipient ever of HMO money is Hillary Clinton. . . The Nbr 2 GOP recipient last election (after presidential nominee John McCain) was former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who created his own Obamacare in the Bay State.

So far this election, 65 percent of HMO money has gone to Democratic candidates, up from 60 percent last cycle.

The top recipient of HMO money this election is Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, and the top House recipient is Rep. Henry Waxman, the “reform” author in the House.

Yep. Did you ever really believe them? Any of them?

I’d say its time to find a whole new slew that will ONLY support HR676 (From Dave Lindorff’s piece at AfterDowningStreet):

The so-called “reform” bill that is going to emerge from the current process is going to be the legislative equivalent of road kill, barely recognizeable either as health care or as a “reform.” It will be a Christmas present for the insurance industry, the hospital industry and the phramaceutical industry, all three of which struck secret deals behind closed doors with the White House.

It will set back health reform in America a generation, will require everyone to buy inadequate and overpriced insurance, overpriced drugs and to go to overpriced hospitals. And the cost of healthcare to individuals, businesses, and the nation as a whole (already the highest in the modern industrial world), will continue to soar.

This is not a case where the right thing to do is push for any bill, and then try to move on. This is a case where Obama and the Democrats have whored themselves out to the greedy industry that is causing all the problems, and are pushing a plan that is worse than nothing.

We should all be working to kill this whole thing and start over, with HR 676.

If Congress won’t do it, we need to start working for a new Congress in 2010 that will.

No Democrat running for House or Senate in 2010 who isn’t solidly for expanding Medicare to all should get a single vote.

You might notice that I link often to AfterDowningStreet and UNDERNEWS and want to give a shoutout for the excellent work that David Swanson and growing contributors) and a special howdy to Sam Smith at UNDERNEWS and the work he does. Read the QUESTIONS SHOULD YOU FIND YOURSELF AT A MICROPHONE AT A ‘TOWN MEETING’ for a great rundown on Single Payer issues and how to explain it in everyday terms.

Article from the Jerulsalem Post—promise tracker

The Obama Promise Tracker is an electronic tool with which to follow all the promises the new President has made – 895 by its inventor Todd Smiths count. Of these 895 promises, made between February 10 2007 – the day he announced his candidacy – and November 4 – the day he was announced President-elect – 14 are tagged under “Foreign Policy, Israel”.

The first, “I will bring to the White House an unshakable commitment to Israel’s security”, is a commitment hard to define. Obama also promised to make the peace process “a key diplomatic priority”. This is easier to check, and one Obama is evidently serious about. Proof: the appointment of George Mitchell as special envoy to the Arab-Israeli peace process.

Mitchell is not new to this contentious conflict. He was in the Middle East over eight years ago, appointed by President Bill Clinton, to report on the raging second intifada. The report was not very helpful. The intifada continued. One of his recommended measures was not well received by the Israeli government: to halt development in the settlements, including measures taken to meet the needs of “natural growth”.

“We can’t ask people not to have children. We can’t ask the children not to live with their families,” Israeli opponents claimed.

Mitchell is coming back to a different Middle East. In the past eight years Yasir Arafat died, the intifada was defeated, Israel evacuated Gaza and Hamas was elected. Mitchell will find a Palestinian leader who is willing but incapable and a new Israeli government that needs time to organize. A realistic, modest approach will have to be formulated. One thing can ignite some friction: the man who wanted a total settlement freeze cannot be expected to let Israel off on illegal outposts. The promise that Israel made to evacuate them will have to be executed. This might be possible for a government of the right-centre (more likely) or centre-left (less so, according to polls). It will be very difficult for a government of the right, headed by Likuds Binyamin Netanyahu and supported by right-wing parties only. Netanyahu knows that for his own good, he needs Labor, Kadima or both as part of his coalition.

But for most Israelis, Obama’s commitment will not be tested in Palestine, but rather in Iran. Smith’s Promise Tracker notes three promises: “incentives” for Iran to abandon its nuclear program; a promise to “tighten sanctions”; and “direct diplomacy, without preconditions”. This will be enough only if Iran agrees.

Obama has not always been consistent regarding Iran. Earlier this week, I sent Smith a quote from my May 2007 interview with Obama: “I don’t think it would be appropriate for us to engage in full-scale diplomatic discussions without some progress or some indication of good faith on the part of the Iranians,” the then senator said. “I do think the US needs to send a signal to Iran that if they change their behavior that they have avenues available to them for improved international relations.”

This assertion somewhat contradicts his later promise for unconditional high-level talks. Smith will add the quote to the next edition of the Obama Promise Tracker. This will present a dilemma to those following these promises: do they want the first promise to materialize, or the second?

You may be a Taliban member if…

Subject: You may be a Taliban if

You may be a Taliban if….

             Our troops in Afghanistan prove they’ve retained their
sense  of humor with the following:
             “YOU MAY BE A TALIBAN IF….”
             1. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral
                 objection to beer.
             2. You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher,
                  but you can’t afford shoes for your kids.
             3. You have more wives than teeth.
             4. You wipe your butt with your bare hand, but consider
                  bacon “unclean.”
             5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and
                  suicide.
             6. You can’t think of anyone you haven’t declared Jihad
                  against.
             7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry
                  explosives in your clothing.
             8. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses
                  other than setting off roadside bombs.
             9. You have nothing against women and think every man
                  should own several.
             10 You’ve always had a crush on your neighbor’s goat.

Hyper-Libido’s should be scared lol

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/medical_notes/260459.stm

Vibration White Finger

Vibration White Finger can cause numbness and disabling pain

British miners have been awarded compensation after they developed Vibration White Finger, a condition caused by working with vibrating machinery such as chain saws and drills. The condition is one form of Raynaud’s Disease which affects one in 10 women, usually with mild symptoms. Women are nine times more likely to suffer from the disease as men. What is Raynaud’s Disease?

Raynaud’s is caused by a restriction in the blood supply to the extremities, usually the fingers and toes.

It can also affect the ears and nose. The parts initially turn white and dead-looking and then become inflamed. An attack may be accompanied by significant pain, numbness or a tingling sensation.

With Vibration White Finger (VWF), the fingers may go into spasm.

This is due to an intermittent lack of blood supply to the fingers.

The condition is usually not severe and attacks only cause minor discomfort. But it can lead to skin ulcers and even gangrene.

And it can be progressive over a period of several years.

VWF is triggered by continuous use of vibrating hand machinery, but some forms of primary Raynaud’s have no trigger.

The disease can also be genetically inherited.

However, in these cases, the attacks are usually mild.

Secondary Raynaud’s is less common and more severe. It is linked to underlying diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

What triggers attacks?

Prolonged exposure to the cold is a major trigger for the disease.

Smoking and stress are also thought to be factors and the disease can be caused by a reaction to beta blocker drugs.

People who work with vibrating machinery are more likely to develop VWF, which can become irreversible.

Vibration White finger (VWF) causes the fingers to become numb and begin turning white.

Symptoms include:

Tingling and numbness in the fingers which often continues after the machinery has been switched off;

One fingertip temporarily turns white and may start to ache;

The finger turns white with increasing frequency;

Other fingers begin turning white, but the thumb is not usually affected. After several fingers turn white, the disease is probably irreversible;

The person suffers increasingly frequent painful attacks at any time.

Eventually, the person may lose their fingers. This only happens in extreme cases, for example, when people are working with vibrating machinery in very cold conditions, but it is more common in the forestry industry among people working with chainsaws.

Treatment–

Discontinuing the use of vibrating equipment and keeping hands warm and dry.

Who can really afford this!

Besides the unmeasureable damage that hit residents locally and headon to ruin their lives– the radius is being hit with water problems, air pollution and air-traveled-and-breathed toxins. And then– we all get to pay for it while we also endure our personal economys sinking fast. This [among so much stuff everytwhere ] sucks so bad.

 

 

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090108/GREEN02/901080355/1001/RSS01 

TVA’s ratepayers will be saddled with the cost to clean up a massive coal ash slide at an East Tennessee power plant, the agency’s chairman said.

The tab, likely to be tens of millions of dollars or more, will include the cost of extra workers, overtime pay, heavy machinery, and housing and supplies for families chased from their homes, along with the lawsuits that have begun to pile up.

“This is going to get into rates sooner or later,” Tennessee Valley Authority Chairman Bill Sansom told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “We haven’t even thought about going to Washington for it.”

Washington is where Sansom will be today, as Tom Kilgore, the agency’s chief executive, testifies about the spill at a Senate hearing that brings TVA’s operations into their first high-profile scrutiny by Congress in more than a decade.

Also testifying will be Stephen Smith, a longtime TVA watchdog who heads the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and William Rose, director of emergency management services for Roane County.

The equivalent of more than 1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge cascaded Dec. 22 in a dark avalanche from an aboveground, ash-walled storage structure at the Kingston coal-burning power plant.

When a wall ruptured, the waste barreled out, damaging homes, knocking over trees and power lines and filling two inlets of the nearby Emory River.

The slide has turned into a rallying point for activists, many of whom want national regulation of coal ash ponds and question industry talk of developing “clean” coal for the nation’s energy future.

Several residents who live not far from TVA’s coal-burning plant also have traveled to Washington to lobby their lawmakers with Smith.

“I want to be part of the solution, to get this mess cleaned up,” said Melinda Hillman. “We lived in a little bit of paradise and now it is unbelievable what has been done.”

Much of the gray ash covering almost 300 acres is being sprayed with liquid fertilizer and seeds to try to stop what could be lung-damaging ash particles from drying and going airborne as the cleanup continues.

Lab work on water and ash samples has shown elevated levels of arsenic, lead, thallium and other substances.

State and federal environmental officials say testing shows that drinking water supplies are safe and that treatment plants would remove these materials if they entered the water intakes.

Hillman, who has lived in the area for eight years, said an independent investigation is needed to determine why the pond wall failed.

Forty area families have joined a pending lawsuit along with several environmental groups, demanding that federal courts levy fines and assure the community is made whole.

A TVA official had said earlier that insurance covers such accidents, but just how much had not been determined.

“We are primarily self- insured, but we also have some insurance policy carriers,” agency spokesman John Moulton said Wednesday. “It’s too early to tell what the impact on rates might be.”

Ash pond spills and leaks elsewhere in the country — some smaller than the one at Kingston — have resulted in cleanups of more than $35 million and lawsuits with settlements of $25 million and more.

Tough hearings likely

Pointed questions are expected at today’s hearing, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. CST.

The Environment and Public Works Committee is led by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who has pushed an aggressive environmental agenda since she took over as chairwoman in 2007. She supported efforts late last year to keep tighter environmental regulations in place for coal-fired power plants.

Kilgore, the CEO and president of TVA, was not available for an interview. But agency spokesman Moulten said Kilgore and Sansom were scheduled to meet before the hearing with the TVA Caucus — members of Congress who represent areas to which TVA provides electricity. That’s virtually all of Tennessee and parts of six other Southern states.

Moulten said Kilgore’s Senate testimony would emphasize cleanup efforts.

“Our focus is entirely on recovery,” Moulten said.

The last major confrontation between TVA leaders and Congress came in the 1990s, when the agency gave up the annual appropriations that had covered the costs of management of the Tennessee River system and economic development projects.

Today, TVA, a federal corporation, finances all its flood control, power generation and recreation operations from the sale of electricity.

Groups call for change

Local and international environmental groups homed in on the spill when it occurred.

The Environmental Integrity Project, along with Earthjustice, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the United Mountain Defense, held a teleconference Wednesday, releasing federal data about nearly 100 largely unregulated wet landfills nationwide that hold arsenic and other potentially toxic substances, like TVA’s Kingston facility.

Heavy metals found in coal can concentrate in the ash when it’s burned, and even more ash is created as pollution controls are tightened on power plants.

The groups object to mixing the dry ash with water to move it into ponds. They want dry landfills, recycling of the materials and regulations requiring liners to protect groundwater.

“This issue has been a sleeper,” said Jeff Stant, with the Environmental Integrity Project. “It’s not a glamorous issue. It’s been dumped where people are poor or aren’t members of environmental groups.”

High stakes and glamour, however, are part of it now — along with the potential for huge claims for class-action damages.

Erin Brockovich, who was made a celebrity by the Julia Roberts movie about a community’s fight against contaminated water, and a New York law firm are coming to meet victims this week.Contact Anne Paine at 615-259-8071 or

apaine@tennessean.com.
Contact Bill Theobald of The Tennessean’s Washington bureau at wtheobal@gns.gannett.com.
Duncan Mansfield of The Associated Press contributed.

Times we say “WOW!”–

Human perfection just may exist–

thehumanperfectioninphysicalworld

►

Come on, admit it when you have seen this , that this made you say “Wow!!”

Those minds before us–

I Couldn’t sleep last night– so I sat-up in bed  clicked on “Independent Lens” PBS– watched ‘DOC’— loved it!!

So very very cool. I learned much about those directly before my time…. and especially a wonderfully crazy man named ‘Doc’. Catch it if you can!

http://www.filmswelike.com/pages/doc.html

The amazing adventures of H.L. “Doc” Humes, the man who put the culture in counterculture. With Lord Buckley, the Hip Messiah; paper houses for the poor; Don Peyote, a lost Beat take on Cervantes; the CIA, FBI, marijuana, massage, utopia—and paranoia.
In the 1950s and early ’60s, Doc co-founded The Paris Review, wrote two acclaimed novels, and was a gregarious fixture of the cultural scene in Paris, London and New York. Doc was a 1950s NYC intellectual, a 60s free speech militant, and a 70s visionary crazy genius. His story is the story of decades of cultural history, a poignant personal long-strange-trip, and a fount of ever-relevant ideas.

Absorbing! Could have been subtitled Portrait of the Artist as a Madman… Doc emerges as a quintessential countercultural figure, embodying both the exuberance and the excesses of the times. More poignantly, Immy Humes finds redemption for the father who was often too preoccupied or too sick to tend to his family.”
– Tom Beer, Time Out NY
“An engaging time capsule of ‘60s downtown subversive culture.”
– Lisa Rosman, Flavorpill

DOC
95 Mins/ 2008/ USA
A film by Immy Humes

QUOTES BY H.L.“DOC” HUMES
“I suggest that we start with the blueprint for Utopia. We’ve gotten into the pernicious habit of dismissing utopia as impractical. It may be that utopia is the only way out. I mean that quite seriously. It may simply be a fact of history that the alternative to Utopia is Hell, perpetual warfare. It looks like we all have to learn how to live like saints and angels merely to survive.”
“The country is suffering a real pestilence, a plague as real as anything that ever hit Europe in the Middle Ages. It’s an emotional plague, an emotional disorder rather than virus or a bacillus, it’s endemic anxiety neurosis. They see fear as something that makes their machine go –I mean when I say they, call them the government, call it the corporate structure, call it whatever you will. They deliberately induce a state of anxiety.”
“I think we can establish in a court of law that cannabis is a drug that does heal and liberate the human spirit. If used properly and not just to get stoned out of your balloon on—you dig what I mean.”
“What’s happening in the world of the media is that the techniques of image mongering are being perverted to distract, divert, obfuscate, exactly the opposite of what the poet does—It’s kind of a battle of language that’s going on. This presents a real problem for the poet, because the poet—being the first enemy of the tyrant—is stuck with the task of unraveling this perversion of the use of language.”
“Machinery that’s not used rusts. And sometimes it’s a good idea not to pay the 2 dollars, to fight the case, to give the judge something to get his teeth in, so he can put down a decision, make a precedent. If you pay the 2 dollars every time, then nothing gets before the courts and nothing is decided, no new precedents are made and everything stagnates.”
“The thing I’ve discovered most recently, that I think is the most relevant, is that you never fall out of love with anybody that you’ve ever loved. I mean, once the anger has diminished, once the stone has been removed from your shoe, the love is still there. And that’s just amazing. Just amazing. I’ve done exhaustive research on that subject. Exhaustive research. And it has exhausted me.”

Norman Mailer
“The 50s had sat on all of us like a boil… And what we wanted was to disturb society. We couldn’t stand the complacency of society. We hated the Cold War, although I don’t recall we ever talked much about it, it wasn’t the Cold War we hated, we hated the air of oppression that sat over everything because of the Cold War and the way we felt that the powers that be were manipulating everything and using the Cold War in order to be able to run their little game the way they liked to run it. So we saw ourselves as icebreakers, as people who were going to smash all the stupidity and this congealed lard that sat over the public mind. It never occurred to us that there’s a certain part of the public mind that loves being installed in congealed lard because it makes life a lot easier if you don’t have to think a lot of the time. Then came the 60′s…”

“Pardon me Boys, this ain’t the Chattanooga Cho-Cho…”

Common reasoning tells all of us that this is just the beginning of this pardoning crap from Bush… he has bigger fish to set free than these…

Bush pardons 14 and commutes 2 prison sentences

By DEB RIECHMANNThe Associated Press
Monday, November 24, 2008; 6:20 PM

WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush has granted pardons to 14 individuals and commuted the prison sentences of two others convicted of misdeeds ranging from drug offenses to tax evasion, from wildlife violations to bank embezzlement, The Associated Press learned Monday.

The new round of White House pardons are Bush’s first since March and come less than two months before he will end his presidency. The crimes committed by those on the list also include offenses involving hazardous waste, food stamps, and the theft of government property.

Bush has been stingy during his time in office about handing out such reprieves.

Including these actions, he has granted a total of 171 and eight commutations. That’s less than half as many as Presidents Clinton or Reagan issued during their time in office. Both were two-term presidents.

On the latest pardon list were:

_Leslie Owen Collier of Charleston, Mo. She was convicted for unauthorized use of a pesticide and violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

_Milton Kirk Cordes of Rapid City, S.D. Cordes was convicted of conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, which prohibits importation into the country of wildlife taken in violation of conservation laws.

_Richard Micheal Culpepper of Mahomet, Ill., who was convicted of making false statements to the federal government.

_Brenda Jean Dolenz-Helmer of Fort Worth, Texas, for reporting or helping cover up a crime.

_Andrew Foster Harley of Falls Church, Va. Harley was convicted of wrongful use and distribution of marijuana and cocaine.

_Obie Gene Helton of Rossville, Ga., whose offense was unauthorized acquisition of food stamps.

_Carey C. Hice Sr. of Travelers Rest, S.C., who was convicted of income tax evasion.

_Geneva Yvonne Hogg of Jacksonville, Fla., convicted of bank embezzlement.

_William Hoyle McCright Jr. of Midland, Texas, who was sentenced for making false entries, books, reports or statements to a bank.

_Paul Julian McCurdy of Sulphur, Okla., who was sentenced for misapplication of bank funds.

_Robert Earl Mohon Jr. of Grant, Ala., who was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

_Ronald Alan Mohrhoff of Los Angeles, who was convicted for unlawful use of a telephone in a narcotics felony.

_Daniel Figh Pue III of Conroe, Texas, convicted of illegal treatment, storage and disposal of a hazardous waste without a permit.

_Orion Lynn Vick of White Hall, Ark., who was convicted of aiding and abetting the theft of government property.

Bush also commuted the prison sentences of John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., and James Russell Harris of Detroit, Mich. Both were convicted of cocaine offenses.

Under the Constitution, the president’s power to issue pardons is absolute and cannot be overruled.

Some high-profile individuals, such as Michael Milken, are seeking a pardon on securities fraud charges. Two politicians convicted of public corruption _ former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., and four-term Democratic Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards _ are asking Bush to shorten their prison terms.

One hot topic of discussion related to pardons is whether Bush might decide to issue pre-emptive pardons before he leaves office to government employees who authorized or engaged in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Some constitutional scholars and human rights groups want the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama to investigate possible war crimes.

**If Bush were to pardon anyone involved, it would provide protection against criminal charges, particularly for people who were following orders or trying to protect the nation with their actions. But it would also be highly controversial.

At the same time, Obama advisers say there is little _ if any _ chance that his administration would bring criminal charges.

So, NOW they decide to talk about it!

This drives me NUTS! In my field of Social Work [years ago]… I can not even begin to tell you how many soldiers were lost due to PTSD ‘after’ being placed into unjust wars much less insane circumstances. WWI saw this very same thing– as well as WWII. No one wanted to se it for what it is. It is about time someone woke up and made this program a reality! It should of been S.O.P. anyway years and years ago!

Filner Advocates ‘De-Boot Camp’ for GIs

November 22, 2008The Washington Post

A key House leader is proposing to establish a “de-boot camp,” where returning service members would undergo mandatory diagnosis for brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in order to reduce instances of domestic violence and suicide.

Rep. Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said Wednesday he will lobby the Obama administration for the de-boot camp and other new initiatives for service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as veterans from the Vietnam era.

“There were more suicides [postwar] by Vietnam veterans than those who died in the war. We cannot make the same mistakes again. Mental illness is an injury that has to be dealt with,” Mr. Filner said during an editorial board at The Washington Times. “We all have to understand what they are facing. We all have to understand PTSD.”

The California Democrat said he wants the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reduce a backlog of claims by granting all claims made by Vietnam veterans who say they suffer illnesses from exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.

He said he also advocates a “radical” new approach to veterans health care that would allow veterans living in rural areas to have more choices to access health care, even private alternatives, rather than travel hundreds of miles to veterans hospitals.

Mr. Filner, who is not a veteran himself but represents a large veterans constituency in the San Diego area, said he would even support privatizing psychological care for veterans suffering from PTSD.

Many active-duty personnel are returning home as veterans who are “wounded psychologically,” he said during an hourlong meeting with editors and reporters. “If they don’t kill their wives or themselves, they end up homeless.”

“Something is going on that we are not dealing with,” said Mr. Filner, 66.

With a survival rate at 95 percent, nearly 1 million new veterans will emerge from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The psychological wounds are going to last a very long time,” Mr. Filner said. “The public has to support the new veterans.”

After the Vietnam War, there was a failure to distinguish between the war and the warrior that lead to social displacement, mental disorders, homelessness and even suicide, Mr. Filner said.

News reports suggest that as many as 1,000 veterans a month attempt suicide. A third of those diagnosed with PTSD have committed felonies, Mr. Filner said.

“This is a moral issue, and I think [President-elect Barack] Obama will agree with that,” he said.

The “de-boot camp” Mr. Filner envisions could last weeks, even a month, to prepare the military and National Guardsmen to re-enter society. It would include mandatory evaluations by medical professionals to diagnose brain injuries and PTSD.

Currently, the military only offers a two-hour lecture in which “kids are falling asleep,” Mr. Filner said. “It’s so boring.”

While diagnosis would be mandatory, seeking psychological help would be voluntary. Such help would include educational and vocational counseling and would involve spouses and family.

Mr. Filner said he would like to see more access to necessary private hospital care for seriously wounded veterans in rural areas where they may not have the major medical facilities that are available in urban centers.

“In terms of access to that care for rural veterans, who may be away from main centers where their community may have good care, they ought to be far more open to specialties that may not be available within their locale, then we ought to get them into the private system as quick as we can,” he said.

Unfortunately, VA hospital officials all too often are “very hesitant about doing it” because of cost considerations, he said. “They don’t want” care delivered outside the VA hospital system “because if everyone is going to the Mayo Clinic, it’s going to cost a lot.”

But Mr. Filner said he favors expanding access to private care “in certain situations for rural veterans in some specialty areas,” adding that “they’ve got to be far more open and quick about allowing that to happen.”

Mr. Filner also addressed The Washington Times/ABC News investigation into ethical questions about experiments that involve human subjects — specifically, the smoking-cessation drug Chantix that has been linked to dozens of suicides and suicidal behavior.

A study that specifically targeted veterans suffering from PTSD included more than 100 who were taking the drug, but the VA failed to notify the participants of the new Food and Drug Administration warnings until nearly three months later.

“There has got to be really tight kinds of controls on this kind of research,” said Mr. Filner, who expressed disappointment that the VA did not pull the program, which he said was “problematic” for “fragile” veterans.

The entire culture at the VA must be overhauled, Mr. Filner said.

“For a lot of veterans, VA means advisory instead of advocate,” he said. “People in there are really good people, they just need to be inspired.”

I think he’d say– no thanks

I actually would think that John did not apologize for saying what he said, he was sorry they ‘didn’t get it’. AND the sad part is, at that time– yes the Beatles were more openly popular than Jesus [in human terms]. I would think if john were here, he would say he doesn’t need, nor require the Popes forgiveness!!!

Vatican ‘forgives’ John Lennon

By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7499825.stm  1966 News Video!

A Vatican newspaper has forgiven the late English singer John Lennon for saying four decades ago that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.

In an article praising The Beatles, L’Osservatore Romano said Lennon had just been showing off.

Lennon told a British newspaper in 1966 that he did not know which would die out first – Christianity or rock and roll.

At the time, the comparison sparked controversy in the US.

The semi-official Vatican newspaper marked the 40th anniversary of The Beatles’ “White Album” with an article praising Lennon and the Fab Four from Liverpool.

Youthful joke

The paper dismissed Lennon’s much-criticized remark that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ as a youthful joke.

The paper described the remark as “showing off, bragging by a young English working-class musician who had grown up in the age of Elvis Presley and rock and roll and had enjoyed unexpected success”.

Charles Wheeler on the reaction to John Lennon’s claim in 1966

L’Osservatore Romano recently got a new editor and now – apart from chronicling the Pope’s daily doings and printing the texts of papal speeches – it sometimes runs articles on entertainment on inside pages, together with extensive reporting on world affairs.

In a half-page illustrated article, the paper praised The Beatles for what it called their “unique and strange alchemy of sounds and words”.

The newspaper said The Beatles’s songs had shown an extraordinary capacity for survival and the White Album album remained a “magical musical anthology”.

In an another article on the same page entitled “Twilight of the gods” the newspaper lamented the passing of the golden days of Hollywood and said the mysterious fascination of the star system of Hollywood in the 1950s had been superseded by the cult of so-called celebrities.

Although Pope Benedict has criticized many aspects of modern pop culture, he now allows the newspaper of the tiny independent Vatican state to reflect the reality of the world outside in a way that would have been unthinkable in the days of Pope Paul VI who reigned during heyday of The Beatles.