Here's an article I found on Burris

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/02/burris-now-acknowledges-fundraising-effort-for-blagojevich.html

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This report is dated June 18. I was a bit off yesterday when I stated $1 Trillion cost. It is now up to $1.6 Trillion...over the next 10 years. The proposal is now over 400 pages with 388 amendments.

"That effort hit a snag earlier this week when the Congressional Budget Office attached a $1.6 trillion price tag to a preliminary version -- far more than many senators are prepared to spend. The figure shocked key Democrats, who were scrambling yesterday to make adjustments that would slash the price by more than a third.

Among the changes under discussion, according to Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.): tightening eligibility for federal subsidies to purchase insurance, which had been set at 400 percent of the federal poverty level; and potentially requiring businesses to pay more if they decide not to provide insurance coverage to their workers.

Committee members also were still struggling with the shape of a government-sponsored insurance plan that would be available to people who could not get coverage elsewhere. Republicans are opposed to any government-run plan, though they are willing to consider Conrad's proposal to form insurance cooperatives run by consumers.

The panel also had yet to settle on a financing package, though aides said members are looking at imposing a tax on the health premiums millions of families receive through their employers, with any premiums over $17,000 a year being taxed as income beginning in 2013. Setting the cap that high would generate less revenue than Democrats had hoped for, a Finance Committee aide said, forcing them to revisit an idea they had once flatly rejected: President Obama's proposal to tax high-earning families by limiting the value of their itemized deductions."

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth/policy/articles/debate_on_health_care_hits_snags_at_the_start.html

He claimed there was nothing going on but he just dropped the bombshell as O was speaking stating he can recall 6 different contacts and is now under investigation.

I see where Perle and Rice take exception to some of his statements, but that's all I could find. And I guess that would expected as they do have to protect themselves. Also, it's very hard to find opinions that do not have a noticeable right or left slant. If anyone out there has suggestions on middle-of-the-road, non-politically-sided information sites please let me know.

My point was how many people have to step forward and report that the White House manipulated the truth before it gets addressed? How many can you dismiss as saying they had a book to sell, or they were protecting their careers, etc.? At what point does some of what they are saying (Clark, Tenet, Powell to name a few) become believable?

An eagle-eyed reporter for the ABC affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, noticed something missing from Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama's, D-Ill., lapels.

"You don't have the American flag pin on. Is that a fashion statement?" the reporter asked, at the end of a brief interview with Obama on Wednesday. "Those have been on politicians since Sept. 12, 2001."

The standard political reply to that question might well have been, "My patriotism speaks for itself."

Instead the Illinois senator answered the question at length, explaining that he no longer wears such a pin, at least in part, because of the Iraq War.

"You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest.

"Instead," he said, "I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism."

In Iowa, some Obama supporters applauded the candidate's fashion statement. Said Carrie Haurum of Waterloo: "He doesn't need to wear that flag on his lapel. He wears it in his heart."

"It just shows you he's not ready for the big time," conservative Laura Ingrams opined on Fox News.

The Obama campaign declined to expand on the senator's statement. Spokesman Bill Burton said, "His comments speak for themselves."

"I'm less concerned with what you're wearing on your lapel than what's in your heart," Obama said Thursday while campaigning in Independence, Iowa.

"You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who serve. And you show your patriotism by being true to your values and ideals. And that's what we have to lead with, our values and ideals," Obama said.

Of course, if he had said that in the first place, he might have avoided any controversy.

I'm forwarding this to Alan Combs, Greta Van Sustern (sp) and Bill O'Rielly. Thanks.

AIKEN -- The 6-year-old Aiken girl who'd been dead for up to 14 hours before being taken to a hospital was beaten to death, authorities said Thursday.

And the woman who called Chaquise Gregory her life and her baby is being charged with homicide in the child's death.

Aiken police arrested Kathy Salley, 26, at her Aiken home Thursday evening and booked her into the Aiken County Deten�tion Center.

She'll be charged with homicide by child abuse this morning, Aiken Public Safety Sgt. David Turno said.

Police arrested Ms. Salley on an outstanding warrant for fraudulent checks to get her in jail, he said.

An autopsy found that Chaquise, who'd moved to a home in the 500 block of Abbeville Avenue in Aiken with Ms. Salley in May or early June, died from a severe beating, he said.

Authorities had already revealed that Chaquise had been dead between 10 and 14 hours when Ms. Salley took her to an Aiken hospital June 23.

"That's all we can tell you," Sgt. Turno said. "I do not believe they're going to go into the full evidence of the case, but we do know it was from a severe beating."

Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton said he couldn't release many details about what killed Chaquise, except that the beating "caused some internal-type malfunction in the body that caused her death."

Mr. Carlton said there were no drugs found in the child's system, but "there were some older injuries that we're looking into that may or may not have been related to previous abuse."

Mr. Carlton said the initial results indicate that the child was not sexually abused, but he would not rule it out completely.

Capt. Maryann Burgess, who has been the investigator in the case, said she can't say how many others may have been involved in Chaquise's death or what charges they face.

She said investigators also have not been able to verify that Ms. Salley had legal custody of Chaquise, which she claimed.

If convicted of homicide by child abuse, Ms. Salley faces between 20 years in prison and a life sentence.

In an interview with The Augus�ta Chronicle on June 27 - five days after Chaquise was pronounced dead - Ms. Salley denied any wrongdoing in her death. Ms. Salley said she'd raised Chaquise since she was 3 years old.

"She was the only child I could ever have," she said, and questioned how the girl's biological family could think she was responsible.

Ms. Salley hinted that another person living with her and Chaquise - and who m she said she'd left the child with the night before - may have had something to do with the little girl's death.

"I can't point fingers when I don't know what went on in this house while I was gone," she'd said.

According to preliminary autopsy results that were released soon after her death, Chaquise had been dead between 10 and 14 hours before Ms. Salley took her to Aiken Regional Medical Centers.

Capt. Burgess said the additional autopsy results she received Wednesday led to Ms. Salley's arrest.

Ms. Salley told The Chronicle that authorities found bruises on Chaquise's arm and bottom, and cigarette burns on her shoulder and back.

Mr. Carlton said investigators are still trying to determine whether those marks were cigarette burns.

"It's just a tragic incident that was visited on a defenseless child," Mr. Carlton said. "And if the allegations are all true, then we certainly hope that the law and criminal justice system will be the defender of this child's rights."

It supposedly was a mistake, and it's been changed. Unfortunately, the groups involved in complaining about this are much less than credible, and it's impossible for me to just take what they say at face value. I don't believe they're above just inventing propaganda just so they can blame it all on the immoral liberals.

If it truly was a mistake, it was a stupid mistake, and I'm glad they fixed it. It's too bad that I just don't know who I can believe and who I can trust any more.

Barbie Accused of Being Part of the Transgender Movement

By JAKE TAPPER

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 3, 2006 � - The Concerned Women for America were ... well, concerned. Outraged, even. Was Barbie becoming part of the transgender movement?

On Dec. 30, CWA, a leading Christian conservative group, noted on its Web site that on the Barbie Web site, www.Barbie.com, there is a poll that asks children their age and sex.

You can see a screen grab of the poll here.

The age choices were 4 to 8 but children are given three options for their choice of gender: I am a Boy, I am a Girl and I Don't Know.

Bob Knight, director of CWA's Culture and Family Institute, said Barbie manufacturer Mattel was being influenced by the transgender movement.

To pose this transgender question at little girls, they've really crossed the line, Knight said, who added that bisexuality gender confusion is the Web site's agenda, which is very dangerous.

The concern comes after a conservative boycott of Mattel's American Girls dolls. The American Family Association and the Pro-Life Action League protested that some American Girls dolls were wearing I Can wristbands, which support Girls Inc. Girls Inc. is a national, nonprofit organization that promotes education and self-esteem programs, as well as sex education, and supports abortion rights and the acceptance of gays and lesbians. The Mattel-Girls Inc. partnership ended on Dec. 26.

But Mattel, which also manufactures Barbie, said the Barbie incident is much ado about nothing.

This was just an innocent oversight, says Lauren Bruksch, a spokeswoman for Mattel. As a rule of thumb, Bruksch said, the questionnaires at barbie.com always try to have a neutral answer or nonresponse option. For gender, this third option should have been I don't want to say, rather than I don't know. The Web site has since been fixed.

Knight had said CWA would contact Mattel to investigate the matter, but Bruksch said Mattel first heard of the complaint when ABC News called for comment.

From an obscure site called Rogers Cadenhead. The remainder of the stories, from the LA Times, etc., did not include anything about U.S. Troops protecting the Hezbollah sympathizers.

Actually I was looking for a physician name and this came up with their name on it.... Got to looking at it and you can put in a name, zip code, etc. and it will show you who has financially supported different candidates...... the link I'm putting here has "jones" just as a general name.

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=jones&fname=&search=Search

I would. I just don't view the whole concept of abortion as funny in the least, and I find jokes about it, in any capacity, to be especially sick and demented.

Rachel Maddow doesn't even know what the movement is all about and doesn't care to find out. She makes a big joke out of it, all the while ridiculing and making an a$$ out of the people who are going to participate and only because Fox News will be there to cover it.

Because I am infinitely quizzical about most things and the rising cost of healthcare was on my mind, I did a little browsing and came across this document:

Now keep in mind this is information compiled is from a think tank funded by some of the biggest corporations, including insurance corps for the betterment and furtherance of the regressive conservative ideal, so I was rather surprised to see these numbers so beautifully printed in black and white.

It shows exactly how much we are paying for healthcare in the United States and it is rather astounding. Far more of our GDP, about 15.5% (the highest in the world) goes to healthcare. Almost double that other industrialized nations that have socialized healthcare.

I think this is a pretty good argument against a free market healthcare system being the most efficient and the best, it is just the most expensive and at the rate it has been exploding, it is going to increase the number of uninsured.

Why is it so expensive? Because the insurance companies are pacing the market. Some things should just NOT be included in the free market enterprise, and healthcare is one of them. We get sicker and the insurance companies get fatter.