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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Saturday, September 12, 2009

Open letter to the Democrats

Dear Democratic Leadership

You won overwhelming majorities because Americans, yes, Real Americans, were fed up with what the repugican junta was doing.
When it comes to health care, civil liberties, equal rights, workers' rights, disabled Americans' rights, consumers' rights, if the repugicans aren't screaming and moaning about what you are doing then you are doing it wrong.

Sincerely the American People

The Big Picture

From BBC-Science:
THE BIG PICTURE
Click to reveal

Keith Olbermann Special Comment: Joe Wilson, You're Wrong!


On the night after Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "You Lie" at President Obama during an address to Congress, Keith Olbermann devotes a "Special Comment" to the Congressman, and mocked his apology.

"You embarrassed your district, you embarrassed your nation... and you were wrong!"

Olbermann said "Wrong-Way Wilson" "made himself look like an uninformed eight-year-old screaming at an adult."

He also comments on how "stupid" certain repugican talking heads have made the party look. "The time has come to rise up and take this country back, to again make it safe for people who actually completed the seventh grade."

*****

Keith telling it like it is ....

Iran judiciary rejects opposition rape allegations

A high-level Iranian judicial panel rejected claims made by a pro-reform presidential candidate that detained protesters were raped and demanded those making the allegations be prosecuted, the state news agency said Saturday.

Iran judiciary rejects opposition rape allegations

Obama pushes health care plan at Minnesota rally

Thousands Turn Out For Obama Health Care Pitch

President Barack Obama speaks about health care reform during a rally at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Obama pushes health care plan at Minnesota rally

President Barack Obama, citing new government data showing that nearly half of all Americans live without health insurance in a 10-year period, says the situation will only worsen without the overhaul legislation he wants Congress to send him.

Editors Note: You know of course, every network has the right to air whatever it wants to, but it is quite telling that today, when CNN and MSNBC aired Obama's Minneapolis speech about health care, Faux News simply turned its cameras over to Glenn Beck.

Andy Warhol Purloined

Thieves nab famous Andy Warhol art

Andy Warhol's portraits of sports stars are stolen from a home where nothing else is taken.

What they are worth

Also:

Be the President's neighbor

Chance to live next door to Obamas

A 17-room home next to the first family's Chicago residence hits the market.

But address comes with big hassles

Also:

Fair Food

Belt-busting fair and festival foods

Consuming one funnel cake will add up to 700 calories and 30 grams of fat.

Birth of the Health Maintenance Organization


Richard Nixon taped a 1971 Oval Office conversation in which John Ehrlichman explains the HMO concept of squeezing patients for profit. Nixon expresses assent for the idea, which eventually led to the HMO act of 1973.

And you wonder why the repugicans are so opposed to ending this outrage?!

Butterflies Are Free

Male butterflies overwhelmed

This species of tropical butterfly suffers from too many females.

Fall Colors

Prettiest drives to see fall colors

These beautiful road trips offer scenic vistas where you can get out of the car and soak in the views.

Saturday Jam

Today's Saturday Jam includes:

Workin' At The Car Wash Blues

Jim Croce

Summertime Blues

Eddie Cochran

Folsom Prison Blues

Johnny Cash

Blue On Black

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

President Obama's Weekly Address


Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
September 12, 2009

On Wednesday, I addressed a joint session of Congress and the American people about why we need health insurance reform and what it will take to do it.

Since then, I’ve continued to hear from many Americans across the country about why this is so urgent and important.

I’ve heard from Americans who can’t get health coverage; men and women who worry that one accident or illness could drive them into bankruptcy.

And I’ve heard from Americans with insurance who thought that "the uninsured" always referred to someone else – but between skyrocketing costs and insurance company practices; they’re beginning to worry that they could find themselves uninsured too.

It’s an anxiety that’s keeping more and more Americans awake at night. Over the last twelve months, nearly six million more Americans lost their health coverage – that’s 17,000 men and women every single day. We’re not just talking about Americans in poverty, either – we’re talking about middle-class Americans. In other words, it can happen to anyone.

And based on a brand-new report from the Treasury Department, we can expect that about half of all Americans under 65 will lose their health coverage at some point over the next ten years. If you’re under the age of 21 today, chances are more than half that you’ll find yourself uninsured at some point in that time. And more than one-third of Americans will go without coverage for longer than one year.

I refuse to allow that future to happen. In the United States of America, no one should have to worry that they’ll go without health insurance – not for one year, not for one month, not for one day. And once I sign my health reform plan into law – they won’t.

My plan will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance; offer quality, affordable choices to those who currently don’t; and bring health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government under control.

First of all, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have insurance through your job, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in my plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.

What my plan will do is make the insurance you have work better for you. We’ll make it illegal for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition, drop your coverage when you get sick, or water it down when you need it most. They’ll no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or over a lifetime, and we will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses – because no one should go broke just because they get sick.

Second, if you’re one of the more than thirty million American citizens who can’t get coverage, you’ll finally have quality, affordable choices. If you lose your job, change your job, or start your own business, you will be able to get coverage.

And as I have said over and over again, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – period. This plan will be paid for. The middle-class will realize greater security, not higher taxes. And if we can successfully slow the growth of health care costs by just one-tenth of one percent each year, it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term.

Affordable, quality care within reach for the tens of millions of Americans who don’t have it today. Stability and security for the hundreds of millions who do. That’s the reform we seek.

We have had a long and important debate. But now is the time for action. Because every day we wait, more Americans will lose their health care, their businesses, and their homes – but also the dreams they’ve worked for and the peace of mind they deserve. They are why we have to succeed.

So if you’re willing to put country before party and the interests of our children above our own; if you refuse to settle for a politics where scoring points is more important than solving problems; and if you believe, as I do, that America can still come together to do great things – then join us. Give us your help. And we will finally get health insurance reform done this year.

Unusual Holidays and Celebrations

Today is Popcorn Day.

Daily Almanac

Today is Saturday, Sept. 12, the 255th day of 2009.

There are 110 days left in the year.

Today in History, September 12.

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Bucharest, Bucuresti, Romania
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
London, England,United Kiingdom
Mannheim, Baden-Wurttemburg, Germany

as well as Ireland, and the United States