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Obama Does Not Want to Kill Your Grandma: Health Care Speech Thoughts
September 16, 2009 by Michael Hayne, Writer · 2 Comments
After capping off an important but casual speech to American school children in Virginia about the benefits of injecting socialism into their water fountains, Big O headed back to Washington to deliver perhaps the biggest and most important speech in his presidency regarding the particulars of his seemingly intractable plan for health care reform. The president appeared aplomb and firm as he impassionedly explained to an incorrigibly skeptical Congress the dire need for a complete overhaul of the broken national health care system, which did not include how he wishes to kill millions of grandmas with poisoned dentures. After all, such a system would be akin to every filthy, socialistic European country, and everybody knows that Europe is stagnant.
"We are the only democracy — the only advanced democracy on Earth — the only wealthy nation — that allows such hardship for millions of its people. There are now more than 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage. In just a two-year period, one in every three Americans goes without health care coverage at some point. And every day, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage. In other words, it can happen to anyone." ~President Obama
Looking to quell all the seemingly endless fusillade of flagrant misinformation and irrational rumors that imbued the circus-like health care town halls this summer, President Obama politely threw his halo at all of his Republican critics by beautifully refuting the outrageous, unsubstantiated rumors with a heaping pile of delicious Baroccoli:
Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple. There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms — the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. ~President Obama
The President must have mistaken the adult congressional lawmakers for the elementary children he addressed the day before, because of course one congressional Republican man-child jumped up and interrupted the President's speech by shouting "You lie!"
Notwithstanding the visceral disruption, President Obama chugged along with his speech and reached great heights in the realm of civility and harmony when he used a beautiful letter written by the late Ted Kennedy to touch upon the greatness of Liberalism and how it historically existed alongside other schools of thought.
"You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom. But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, and the vulnerable can be exploited. And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter – that at that point we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves." ~ President Obama
Come on, Mr. President! Once again, you're assuming you're talking to adults who place a high value on history and the divergent but intelligent differences that once separated the two parties. Moreover, if you really want to sway today's circus tent of insane Republican wingnuts, just announce the public option comes with a free AK-47.
Hoots and Hollars from Joe the Interrupter notwithstanding, President Obama has been awfully vague and mealy-mouthed in terms of where he stands on the health care debate. It's as if he comes out every morning on the White House lawn, licks his finger, and see which way the wind's blowin' (emanating from Wall Street and Fox News Headquarters) today, then changes his agenda and message accordingly in spite of the millions of ordinary Americans and those who worked tirelessly for the Hope Man and agent of change.
Perhaps this latest speech is an indication that a sudden dip in President Obama's popularity among his die-hard supporters and independents might have sparked Campaign Obama back into gear.
In short, President Obama clearly (and finally) delineated the classic philosophical differences between the two parties and flatly showed his drooling critics that liberalism (not socialism) isn't on par with bestiality. Therefore, the President publicly pantsed the lunatics that comprise today's GOP while inviting them to have tea. It was about time.
If Republicans Won't Play Along on Health Care, Who Cares?
April 27, 2009 by Mark Wilson, Editor · 2 Comments
The Republicans bluffed and lost in February when they complained that the stimulus bill wasn't "bi-partisan" enough. Okay, so House and Senate Democrats acquiesced to some of their demands, including tax cuts for businesses and removing provisions for "family planning" (the euphemism that refers to things like abortion and contraception). The Republicans responded to these concessions by voting against the bill.
Not a single House or Senate Republican voted in favor of the stimulus bill. They apparently believed that this would demonstrate to the American people their opposition to wasteful spending and fiscal irresponsibility. Trouble is, the American people didn't much care what the Republicans thought; they're in the midst of a financial crisis, where hundreds of thousands of jobs are being lost each month. Hell, yes, they want a stimulus!
Republicans were using a two-pronged approach to sway the public: (1) tax cuts are superior to government spending when it comes to stimulating the economy; and (2) the government is spending way too much. I won't go into the merits of the arguments here, but suffice it to say that those were the counter-arguments to the Democratic spending bill (yes, "stimulus" = "spending." Recall President Obama's statement: "What do you think a stimulus bill is?").
The public doesn't much care for tax cuts when those tax cuts would benefit only the top earners in the country. Now, what does look like a good idea is investment in public works projects that have been long-neglected by Reaganites who believe that the government shouldn't spend any money on anything that isn't national defense.
Those four paragraphs were a flashback.
Interior — White House, Present Day.
President Obama is meeting with GOP leaders, reminding them that when they clamored for "bi-partisanship," they abandoned it just as much as they accused Democrats of abandoning it. Between 2003 and 2009, Republicans were used to getting their way every time. Sure, Democrats have controlled Congress since 2007, but for some reason, Democrats spent those two years perfecting the fine arts of cowering and acquiescing. Whenever Republicans talked about "bi-partisanship," they meant, "Give us everything we want or we'll call you names. We'll say you're soft on terrorism. We'll say you're engaging in pork-barrel spending. And if that doesn't work, then we'll call you socialists and say that you hate America and want the terrorists to win. So you'd better give us all the things we demand, and if you ever try to put your own agenda forward, we'll slap you down so hard you'd think Mike Tyson had taken Trent Lott's seat."
Well, the tables have certainly turned. And I'm pleased that Obama is prepared to shut Republicans out if they refuse to play ball. Hypocrisy? Not at all. I believe in universal health care. I think it's absolutely necessary and I think it's nothing but good. If Democrats are willing to embrace it and make it law, then I support them. When Republicans tried to stop SCHIP, I disagreed with them. It's a matter of not only agreement and disagreement, but also of what's good for this country. Quite honestly, the Republicans are not interested in governance. They're interested in stalling until 2010. They want the wheels of government to grind to a halt so that they can then go back to their constituents in November, 2010 and say, "Look at what the Democrats have done for you! Nothing, that's what! Aren't you sorry that you voted them into office?"
And therein lies the fundamental difference: Democrats, including President Obama, are interested in doing something constructive. I will frequently disagree with the methods they use, but I largely agree with their philosophy that the government is going to need to spend money to improve the country. I agree that the wealthy should pay for the impoverished. And I agree that health care should be our right not only as citizens, but as human beings. I think the Democrats' approach is superior to the Republicans' approach, and that is why I believe that if Republicans are unwilling to reach an actual compromise with the Democrats, then they should be left behind. It is not the Democrats who should have to bend to appease the Republicans; the Democrats won, their ideas are better, and if the Republicans don't want to go along with them, then it's their own funeral. Congress doesn't even need the Republicans.
I'm not the only one who believes this. The American people would rather the Democrats get on with their agenda instead of watering it down to please Republicans whose sanction they don't need and whose contempt they will get in return for their efforts. In the New York Times/CBS poll referenced above, 56% of those surveyed said that they thought Democrats should stick to their policies, but 79% thought that it was Republicans who should be bi-partisan. That says a lot: not only do Americans want Democrats to do whatever it is Democrats want to do, but they simultaneously think that Republicans should do whatever it is the Democrats want to do.
Health care reform is way too important for Democrats to be chicken about. The last significant health care reform we had in this country was the prescription drug bill from 2005, which funneled a lot of money directly from the government into the hands of prescription drug companies. Sure, the bill could have included a provision for the government to use its significant bargaining power to get better deals on drugs — but then, that would hurt the drug companies' revenue, wouldn't it? At approximately the same time, Congress passed a bankruptcy bill that offered terrific terms for banks, credit card companies, and the very wealthy, but left middle- and low-income people in the dark.
The relationship between bankruptcy and health care is quite close; President Bush declared, in 2005, that we needed the bankruptcy bill so as to stop people from gaming the system and trying to get the rest of us to pay off their debts. To listen to him, you'd think Americans were going bankrupt after buying too many Faberge eggs. At the time he said that, though, fully half of bankruptcies in American were being caused not by frivolous over-spending, but by health-care spending. People were — and still are! — spending themselves into tremendous debt in order to stay healthy and alive. And since our health care system discourages regular check-ups, people are guaranteed to see a doctor only when the condition is serious, which means that it will cost more money to fix than it would have if a doctor had caught the condition earlier, during a regular check-up.
It shouldn't be surprising that Republicans see health care as a political issue instead of a humanitarian one. In 1993, Bill Kristol wrote that Republicans couldn't afford to let the Clinton health care plan survive; if it did, then the Republicans would be finished. Let me re-iterate that: to Bill Kristol, it was more important that heath care get defeated so the Democrats wouldn't win re-election in 1994 than it was for people to have universal access to health care.
That's what we're up against. And that's why I support the Democrats. And if Republicans don't want to join, who cares? Let them explain to their constituents in 2010 about how they didn't want those same constituents to have universal health care, all so that the free market could survive.
What Do You Think a Stimulus Is?
February 6, 2009 by Mark Wilson, Editor · Leave a Comment
Yesterday, President Obama finally stood up to the Republicans. For the last week, Republicans have been doing what they do best: controlling the message. They have talked about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 only in terms of its negative components: how much individual elements cost, how there aren't enough tax cuts. They have, as they always do, derided and made fun of specific parts of the bill, like the part that calls for moving the federal vehicle fleet to hybrid cars. In much the same way that Sarah Palin derided certain research projects during the election (research projects that, by the way, benefit the state of Alaska), Republicans have attempted to hold up individual programs and say, "Isn't this stupid?" Of course, that message is only suucessful if the audience similarly agrees that the program is stupid.
Yesterday, at a Democratic getaway (which cost $100,000, by the way), Obama defended the stimulus plan and even — what's that — improvised:
When you start asking, "Well what is it that's such a problem, that you're seeing? Where's all the waste in spending? Well, you know, you want to replace the federal fleet with hybrid cars."
Well, why wouldn't we want to do that? That creates jobs for people who make those cars. It saves the federal government energy, it saves the taxpayers energy.
Then you get the argument, "Well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill." What do you think a stimulus is? That's the whole point. No, seriously. That's the point.
Republicans have been pushing more of the same: tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. For businesses and for the wealthy. But businesses have shown that they have no tolerance for spending money right now. They'll take a tax cut and save it rather than use it for new production, or investment, or to hire workers. The wealthy have all the necessities of life they need. Rather than spend a tax cut on a new car or a new house, they'll save it. The marginal value of a 10% tax cut is greater for a poor person than it is for a wealthy person. The wealthy person doesn't need another Rolls. The poor person needs to eat.
Part of the Republicans' problem with the stimulus package is that it involves the government doing things beyond fighting wars. It's a generalization to say that Republicans hate government, but certainly part of what it means to be conservative is wanting "less government." Grover Norquist is, of course, the proprietor of wanting to make the government so small he could drown it in a bathtub, which is why the government was so mismanaged for so many years. It's hard to do a job well when you don't think that job is worth doing at all. Given the choice between action or inaction, conservatives have preferred inaction (except, of course, when action increases businesses' profits, as when Congress voted to take up United Airlines' pension plan). One conservative pundit last week (who may or may not be able to speak for all conservatives and may or many not also be an idiot) claimed that the government has never created jobs, that government can only destroy jobs. It's like dealing with an economic al-Qaeda: Republicans don't want to negotiate, they don't want to be bipartisan. They want to get exactly what they want, in full. They've grown accustomed to that after eight years. (Democrats have the exact opposite problem: they'll capitulate at the drop of a hat. They'll volunteer to capitulate if no one has asked them. There's even a picture of Harry Reid in the dictionary next to the word "pusillanimous." Someone needs to tell the Democrats that Ronald Reagan stopped being the president a long time ago.)
It's true that, given enough time, the economy could probably fix itself (of course, John Maynard Keynes famously said that, in the long run, we're all dead). But while we're waiting for the free market to operate, people are getting laid off and losing their homes. Can we morally permit ourselves to let the economy remain in shambles for an unknown amount of time just to prove a point about capitalism? Of course not; it doesn't make sense to do something just because it's liberal or just because it's conservative. We should do things because they work; Obama said as much in his inaugural address (though, admittedly, he was referring to more government versus less government).
Right now, the free market is broken. Consumers don't want to spend at any price (and "any price" here means "any price that would be beneficial to the market"; certainly businesses could offer their goods for free, but that doesn't exactly help us out of a recession). The cycle is supposed to work like this: a recession occurs, consumers stop spending, businesses lower their prices, consumers start spending again, business make more money, they start hiring people, consumers get employed again, business raise their prices, and we're on our way back to 99-cent gas and Hummers at a 2-for-1 discount.
Our recession is working like this: consumers stop spending, businesses lower their prices, businesses lay more people off in order to save money, consumers stop spending even more as some of them get laid off, business revenue decreases, business lay more people off to save money, and so on. It's a downward spiral that the market can't correct. The market needs a fresh infusion of cash that just isn't going to be coming any time soon.
Monetarism has failed. The discount rate — the interest rate that banks pay for short-term loans to other banks — is between 0% and 0.25%. It can't go any lower, and banks still are reluctant to lend to other banks. This isn't an issue strictly of price; it's also one of psychology. Until businesses are ready to produce again, government must step in and fill the void to prevent the recession from getting any worse than it already is. Republicans criticize the size of the stimulus and bring up the issue of how we're saddling future generations with this debt (these same people, by the way, were remarkably silent as the debt doubled under George W. Bush, Henry Hyde, Tom DeLay, and Bill Frist). They forget the other component of Keynesian economics: once the economy has recovered, the government must increase taxes and cut spending in order to pay back the money it borrowed. Let's hope Congress doesn't forget that part.
Update: Daily Kos has an interesting article analyzing media coverage of the stimulus bill. The Liberal Media, as it turns out, are not liberal at all. "Republican lawmakers outnumbered Democratic lawmakers 75 to 41 on cable news interviews." In addition to Congressional Democrats themselves, cable news networks must be informed that Democrats won the election. Also, some of the Democrats who appeared on cable news networks were "Blue Dog" Democrats who side with Republicans on economic issues. And pretty much every other issue. Why are they Democrats, again?
The Legends Win in the End
January 19, 2009 by Tom Gallagher, Senior Writer · Leave a Comment
On a rainy Saturday afternoon this past November, San Francisco said its final goodbye to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Or at least it said goodbye to the one veteran of the brigade who could make it – the hundred-year-old Hilda Roberts, one of about sixty American women who served the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War. Apparently, a couple of other vets had planned on being there but the weather kept them away, and there's not a large pool to draw on – only about twenty-two or twenty-four of the veterans are thought to still be alive.
The San Francisco event was a commemoration of a much larger leave taking that took place seventy years earlier, almost to the day. For that farewell, remembered in Spain as the Despedida, the crowd numbered in the tens of thousands, as Spaniards filled the streets of Barcelona for a last look at the departing International Brigades, the 35,000 or so volunteers from 53 countries who had come to defend the Spanish Republic from General Francisco Franco's military uprising two years earlier. Among the departing were about 2,800 Americans – less about 800 who died in Spain – who subsequently became known as the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
At the time, Spain seemed a microcosm of all the world's conflicting ideas on one peninsula in Europe. Within five years after the 1931 fall of the monarchy that ruled it almost continuously for centuries, Spain's disparate points of view had crystallized into two opposing coalitions: The Popular Front of Socialists, Communists, and left-wing Republicans; and the National Front of Christian Democrats, fascists, and monarchists. Five months after the Popular Front's electoral victory, the two sides would become transformed into the warring Republicans and Nationalists when army officers in the Spanish colony of Morocco began the uprising that would end democracy in the country for nearly four decades.
It is hard to convey today what Spain meant to the world in those days, but perhaps the title of Andre Malraux's novel about the Civil War does it best: It is called Man's Hope. And the fact the events, while certainly not clearly recalled or understood, have never entirely receded from popular memory came to the fore in the most recent presidential election when both Barack Obama and John McCain claimed Republican sympathizer Ernest Hemingway's Spanish Civil War novel For Whom the Bell Tolls as one of their favorite books.
Just a few years ago, the Bay Area Veterans, while few in number themselves, were holding annual reunion events at the Oakland Hilton or the Kaiser Center that drew crowds in the high hundreds. Speakers like Ariel Dorfman and Molly Ivins talked of the relevance the Spanish war to the events of the day, and the whole audience joined members of the San Francisco Mime Troupe in singing "Viva la Quince Brigada!" and the other songs of the Spanish Republic. But seventy years is a mighty long time to keep an organization going when there's no source of new members. A recent obituary for Jack Shafran noted that the 91 year old was "one of the youngest volunteers in the Lincoln Brigade." So the decision was made to dissolve the Veterans, either upon the death of two of the group's remaining activists, Moses Fishman and Abraham Sorodin or on the seventieth anniversary of the Despedida, whichever came first. The organization's work would be continued by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.
By the time of the San Francisco event, both of those veterans had in fact died, so there no longer was an organization known as the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The singing would be thin on the choruses of the old songs at the final event, and the 150 seat Delancey Street Theater was less than half full for a showing of a British newsreel on the Despedida apparently never before seen in the US. On the screen, Dolores Ibárruri Gómez, better known as La Pasionaria (or "the passion flower"), delivered her famous send off speech to thousands of the then young volunteers. As a rule, Ibárruri's speeches included the Republican cry, "No pasaran!" – they shall not pass. But there were no such illusions on that day in Barcelona. Franco's Nationalists had indeed passed and the Internationals were being sent home because the cause was lost. Instead, Ibárruri told them, "Sois la leyenda." You are legend. And legends they would be, for the rest of their days. People used to cite the phrase "May you live in interesting times" as an ancient Chinese curse. It seems, however, that this widely cited bit of eastern wisdom may have originated in the east coast of the United States, for it appears to be neither ancient nor Chinese. In fact, the earliest date anyone can find evidence of its use is 1936, the year the Spanish Civil War began. And maybe that's about right because the veterans of that war embodied this apparently modern curse as well as anyone ever has.
When the western democracies refused to aid Spain's fight against the military uprising, the Internationals came without sanction of their governments. (The only significant foreign assistance the Republic received came from the Stalin-era Soviet Union.) Afterwards, some volunteers, like the Italians and the Germans who constituted the largest bloc, couldn't go home. In Spain, they had fought against their own governments because, unlike France, the United Kingdom, or the United States, Mussolini and Hitler's governments had not hesitated to assist their ally Franco – and take the opportunity to hone their military operations for the larger conflict on the horizon. Others like the Americans were able to return home but were now considered suspect as the times got ever more "interesting." It seems they had been "premature anti-fascists." They were anti-Hitler before being anti-Hitler was cool.
The interesting times continued. When US Attorney General Thomas Clark decided to warn the nation about the subversive organizations in its midst on 1947, he did so by releasing a list in alphabetical order, starting with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. And since a good number of the volunteers had, in fact been Communist Party members, they faced "are you now, or have you ever been" questioning for decades.
By the Vietnam War era, the Spanish Civil War was a largely forgotten event in the US. Most of the participants in the big antiwar demonstrations of the day would likely not have noticed the group of old men and a few women, marching behind a Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade banner. But they were always there, probably the most antiwar group of veterans you were ever going to meet. And an activist core continued on, and on, and on. When the Reagan Administration subverted the Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the 1980s, the Lincolns were well past the age of volunteering to fight the Contras, so they sent an ambulance down instead.
In her speech on that long ago afternoon in Barcelona, La Pasionaria went on to exhort the 13,000 Internationals who were there, "When the olive tree of peace puts forth its leaves entwined with the laurels of the Spanish Republic's victory, come back." Considering the Republic's desperate military position at the time, this seemed like so much bravado. And, at the time, it was. But not in the long run. As the viewers of Saturday Night Live would be reminded week after week, in 1975 General Francisco Franco finally died. And more importantly, with him died his dictatorship. Two years later, La Pasionaria, returned form exile, was elected to represent Asturias in the first post-Franco government.
Still, Spain was reluctant to revisit its Civil War in those first post-Franco years, and it would be nearly another two decades before the volunteer veterans were invited back. But in November 1996, sixty years after the war's start and three years after Ibárruri herself had died, 400 of them returned to finally see the olive trees of peace and receive a hero's welcome at the "Homenaje," the homecoming. Twelve years later, a mere twenty-three of them were on hand for the seventieth anniversary Despedida commemoration in Spain, their numbers having plunged worldwide just as they have in the Bay Area.
But things have continued to change in Spain, and the reluctance to confront the crimes of the Franco has declined with the passing of those personally involved. A recently passed law mandates the removal of symbols of the Franco era from various public buildings and funds the unearthing of Civil War-era mass graves. And it begins the real Homenaje: As of the end of 2008, all descendants of those Spaniards forced to leave the country from the beginning of the war through 1975 will be allowed to claim the Spanish citizenship denied them by Francisco Franco's war and dictatorship. And although most did not live to see it and had to content themselves with being legends in their own time, this is the final victory of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
Session in Order: Speakers and Old Tricks
January 15, 2009 by Scott Unzicker, Contributing Writer · 1 Comment
Nobody does it like Texas. With appropriate pomp and circumstance, the 81st session of the Texas Legislature has come to order. While all the vestigial parliamentary rituals went off with minimal incident, some drama came from unexpected quarters.
The House
The tension and intrigue preceding the installation of Joe Straus as the 84th Speaker of the Texas House had largely played out about a week before commencement of the session. Tom Craddick, the Republican incumbent whose three reigns as speaker had been characterized and criticized as some of the most heavy-handed and partisan in Texas' history, had dropped out of the race. Nine of the ten Democrats whose support he, ironically, relied upon for his reelection had jumped ship, thus irrevocably tipping the scales against him. Their change of heart had been motivated by a group of eleven Republicans, dubbed the ABC (Anyone But Craddick) gang, who had nominated Straus as a moderate alternative. In a narrowly divided house, 76 Republicans to 74 Democrats, Craddick just didn't have the votes to win without the entirety of his party behind him, and when he lost the support of those few Democrats who embraced him, all hope was gone.
Apropos to both the spirit of bipartisanship and the re-consolidation of the heretofore fragmented Republican majority, Straus' nominating speakers came from both sides of the aisle.
First to rise was Jose Menendez, a Democrat from Straus' hometown of San Antonio. His selection to speak may have raised a few eyebrows from the anti-gambling conservatives in the House, suspicious of the new speaker from day one. Straus and his family have a big stake in a San Antonio pari-mutuel horse track, and have been long-time supporters of betting on the ponies. Menendez is in favor of legalizing Vegas-style poker in the state of Texas and has a bill before the house to make it so. Consequently, his appearance on the dais probably did little to quell the anti-gambling crowd's concerns about Straus. They're worried that he will abuse his influence as speaker to push through more relaxed legislation on gaming. Menendez praised Straus for his support of allocating funding to cord-blood banks, which is a big deal for the pro-stem-cell research crowd. A moderate, indeed.
Seconding the nomination was Houston Democrat Senfronia Thompson. Her own pre-session bid for speaker was only symbolic as she was in the minority party, but the fact that she got up to speak in support of Straus was poignant. Consider that Straus' claim to the speakership was solidified when he got the pledges of 70 of the 74 House Democrats and 15 Republicans compared to Tom "Mr. Partisan" Craddick's 87 Republicans to 15 Democrats in 2002.
In total, six representatives rose in support of Straus as the new speaker. Extolling his virtues were four Democrats, and two Republicans, including John Smithee who represented the waning vestiges of the Craddick camp. He had taken up the conservative mantle for speaker after Craddick's abandonment of the race, hoping to form a coalition of now-freed Craddick supporters and bring both Republicans and Democrats crossovers back into the fold. That didn't happen, and he too dropped out. His subsequent open support of Straus seems to have mended fences for the time being within Republican circles.
All in all, it was a smooth transition of power and a good start to business within the House of Representatives. Too bad it isn't going as smoothly over in the East Wing.
The Senate
In short, the Senate Republicans are taking their cues from the Tom DeLay playbook chapter entitled "When We Don't Like the Rules, We Just Change Them."
As the Senate rules stand, it takes the approval of two-thirds of the Senators, the exact number is presently 21, to open up a measure to debate. Senator Dan Patrick, R-Houston, wants to change that to a three-fifths rule, which would lower the absolute number to 19. Guess what the Republican to Democrat ratio in the Texas Senate is: 19 Rs to 12 Ds.
The most pressing issue relevant to the rule change is a forthcoming voter ID bill that was passed in the House during the previous session, but died on the floor in the Senate because the Republicans couldn't meet the two-thirds rule. It is likely to be reintroduced this session and is staunchly opposed by Democrats who fear the disenfranchisement of many traditionally Democratic voters by such a bill. Without the rule change, the Republicans would most likely be out of luck on passing this bill.
The subject of redistricting is even more nefarious. Some longtime followers of Texas politics may remember Senate Democrats leaving the state in 2003 to prevent a quorum, and thus a vote, on the gerrymandering of congressional maps. The Dems eventually came back and lost the issue, and the redistricting that ensued significantly favored Republicans in the federal House races that followed. While Texas is not presently up for redistricting, it's not unreasonable to presume that many GOP senators want the state Senate voting rules changed now while they still hold a slight majority in the face of a state that is trending Democrat.
What's Ahead
As always, the most looming issue facing the legislature this session is the budget. On this issue, the news this year is particularly bleak. Comptroller Susan Combs has announced a projected $9 billion drop in revenue over the next two years. She cites significant declines in car and cigarette sales tax revenue and lowered lottery earnings as the main culprits.
Legislators use the Comptroller's numbers when writing spending and appropriations bills, and Combs' figures represent about a 10.5% drop in available money from two years ago. Granted, there is the proverbial "Rainy Day Fund" of about $6.7 billion. Yes, it's a lot of money, but to get at it, a super majority of both houses needs to approve, and its use would be sure to breed contention. In addition, in hard economic times, once the money is gone, replenishing it would be no easy task.
With a House that is now seemingly united behind a young, charismatic moderate, many Texans echo Rep. Jim McReynolds' sentiments that "we in this chamber want a workhorse, not a show pony." The state Senate needs to take its cues from the "lower" chamber and intelligently set aside corrosive partisanship. It's time to get down to the business of the state. With the gloomiest economic climate in decades, the decisions made by this legislature will bear heavily on the fiscal fitness of Texas through the coming financial tempest.
It's the Public, Stupid!
September 23, 2008 by Christopher Swyers, Contributing Writer · Leave a Comment
In the throes of what could become the toughest economic times since the Great Depression, everyone's worried about "saving the economy." Perhaps this single-minded obsession is a throwback to the '92 election—many of us will remember the phrase "It's the economy, stupid"—but it's time for a reality check.
This time, it's not the economy… it's the public.
On the basis of the current government's ineptitudes, it's best to break it down. First, there's the war in Iraq. Irrespective of its validity or necessity, the United States has spent over $550 billion (as of August '08) fighting to secure Iraq from insurgents, outside forces, and ultimately its own citizens. With the cost of the war growing by an estimated $200 million per day–that's roughly $138,000 per minute—and an unknown number of belligerents and civilian casualties, the "liberation" of Iraq will ultimately cost the United States far more than the current $700 billion in proposed corporate bailouts. The damage we've caused to our international reputation and the fabric of the international system itself has yet to be fully felt, however.
The second major issue is the war in Afghanistan. While forgotten in many Americans' eyes due to the overwhelming popularity of the "Bombs over Baghdad" campaign, we're still shelling out blood and money to restore the country to normal operation. We spend $2.3 billion per month in Afghanistan —about a quarter of the Iraq War's cost—with very little to show for it. Taliban fighters still make raids from safe havens in the mountains, or from Pakistan; at best, intelligence needs to be taken with a grain of salt; Afghani soldiers are far behind their Iraqi counterparts in training and discipline; warlords still maintain authority over many of the regions outside of Kabul; and insurgents have begun using American military tactics against our soldiers. In short, Afghanistan is analogous to the administration's view of our economy: undervalued and teetering on the edge of the abyss.
…and then there's the economy, with its strong "fundamentals" standing beside its collapsing infrastructure. I'm not an economist, but common sense suggests that, when half a dozen of your economic powerhouses either collapse or need rescued from their own bad decisions, the fundamentals of the economy—measured risk-taking, a sound credit line, and long-term stability, in my opinion—are lacking. Amid this turmoil, taxpayers are being asked to spend more money (that many Americans don't have, by the way) to bail out the corporations who squandered our money in the first place. Taxpayers are also being asked to do this immediately, with no guarantee that such a corporate stimulus package will fix the problem. Oh, and to oversee the operation, Washington's asking the taxpayers to trust the same government who lifted New Deal bank regulations and allowed such shady deals to progress on their watch.
Finally, the global demand for oil acts as a perpetual thorn in working-class America's side. With gasoline prices surging twenty cents in a single day, then taking four weeks to return to normal, one must consider whether the record-setting profits made by petroleum conglomerates are indeed the result of peak production… or the result of taking their powerless consumers to the cleaners. Increased fuel charges, of course, trickle down through the economy: everything from food to pharmaceuticals now costs markedly more than it used to.
With all of these issues converging on the taxpayer, most people have started the Blame Game. Democrats blame the Republicans; Republicans blame Democrats; the banks blame everyone but themselves, and the public blames whomever's closest. In reality, however, the public is the source of this mess. We're the ones who bought into mortgages that were too good to be true; we're the ones who put our government into office and allowed them to cow us into submission; we're the ones who grumble at the gas pump and do nothing about it; and ultimately, we're the ones who pay for issues that we shirk off, saying "there's nothing I can do about it."
And until we're willing to fix our own mistakes, we're right.


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Illinois is set to hire Ohio's John Groce as their new men's basketball coach, according to a report. Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Groce will almost certainly get the job once both parties finalize terms of a deal:
Barring a shocking change, Ohio U. coach John Groce will be hired as Illinois' new basketball coach, multiple sources said Tuesday, indicating it's more a case of when, not if, the announcement will come.
Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune reported that Illinois will not be holding a press conference on Tuesday, but that Groce was "the guy."
Groce will be returning to a conference he's very familiar with, having coached under Thad Matta at Ohio State. He was a crucial part of Matta's early success on the recruiting trail, helping put together the "Thad Five" class that went to the 2007 title game. At Ohio, Groce had considerable postseason success, advancing past the first round with shocking upsets in two of the past three NCAA Tournaments. This year's run to the Sweet 16 made him a hot name in the coaching carousel.
For more on the Illinois coaching search, visit Hail to the Orange.

subset: commoncrawl


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Behind the Scenes: Spring/Summer 2013 Photo Shoot Video
You've seen our new yarns and our beautiful new designs for Spring/Summer 2013. Now you can watch the behind the scenes video from our photo shoot on Cape Cod last fall.
Jan 31
You've seen our new yarns and our beautiful new designs for Spring/Summer 2013. Now you can watch the behind the scenes video from our photo shoot on Cape Cod last fall.
Jan 29
It's the ultimate test of self-control. You're eager to start a new sweater project – all the beautiful yarn is sitting on the couch next to you, the pattern is waiting on your lap, and the recommended needle is in your hands. Why in the world would you knit a tiny, seemingly useless square when you could be starting on the actual sweater?
Jan 28
If you're first learning how to knit, you may be feeling overwhelmed with the various techniques and stitches at your disposal. I suggest starting with traditional knitting, particularly when it comes to sweater knitting, to help increase your knitting confidence. Read more
Jan 25
In my opinion, there's nothing like a new knitted winter hat to get you excited to be out in the cold. It might sound silly, but I speak from experience. I used to live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and some days, the opportunity to show off my "chook" (that's what Yoopers call a knit hat – don't ask me why) was all that got me out of bed. Read more
Jan 24
When it comes to unveiling a new collection, I'm honestly not sure who is more excited. We know a lot of you have been eagerly awaiting our new yarns and spring & summer knitting patterns. But everyone in the Berroco design office is thrilled to finally share the secrets we've kept for months!
Jan 23
January is a crazy time for the Berroco Design Team. From holidays to trade shows to the unveiling of our new yarns and designs for spring, there isn't much downtime. It's hectic, but it's also a lot of fun.
Jan 22
I think it's happened to everyone – no matter what you try, something about your latest knitting or crocheting project isn't right. You're completely stuck and frustrated, and nothing is working! In cases like this, I'm convinced that the best answer is to put the project away and do something else.
Jan 21
My love of natural fibers came early. The first sweater I ever knit was made from wool yarn I bought at the county fair. Creamy white, right off the sheep, and soaked in its own natural lanolin, the yarn had an aroma I love to this day. Read more
Raveler bonniejacobs is as generous as she is talented. She's been crocheting for as long as she can remember, but she only picked up knitting (or at least, it finally stuck) a few years ago. Shortly after, she turned her new hobby into a beautiful charity effort to help bring smiles to the faces of homeless children. Read more
Jan 17
Did you know the Berroco Design Team creates nearly 200 new patterns every year? While we're constantly thinking up new designs, we still love to see that people are continuing to knit some of our enduring favorites. You know the ones I mean. They're the designs you make in multiple colors or for every family member. The sweater you knit when it's new and again, when you've worn out the first one.


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This book features an ancient system of yoga presented as a journey of 108 steps. The substance of this journey comes from the author's own experimentation with yogic principles and practices conveyed to him by his teacher, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, during the 37 years he lived and served in his monasteries.
The system of yoga that Muni was taught is a harmonious blend of many yogas—hatha yoga, karma yoga, japa yoga, nada yoga, bhakti yoga and raja yoga—dedicated to the attainment of yoga's highest goal: To realize life's fullest potential by merging with life's ultimate essence into the "I" of all.


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Team # 554 -- Construct Server Room
Enrollment Management and Administration
July 2003
ObjectiveThe Registrar's office continues to develop services for students, faculty, and alumni that are supported on computer servers within the Registrar's office. These servers must be physically secure and operate in a controlled environment to insure uninterrupted service. This construction project will result in a new server room, the elimination of the wall now separating rooms 112 and 110, and the creation of a new office by combining rooms 112 and 112F.
Team Membership
- Jim Wager, Sponsor
- Bob Becker, Member
- Rob Bloom, Member
- Ross Borde, Member
- Mike Herbstritt, Member
- Karen Sampsel, Member
- Mary Beth Schmidhamer, Member
- Jerry Stimely, Member
- David Stucky, Member
- John Zeiders, Member
Results Achieved to Date
- Completed: Obtain design specifications and cost estimates from OPP
Obtain design specifications and cost estimates from McCartney's
Create a new office by combining offices 112D and 112F.
Complete construction of server room and remove the wall between rooms 112 and 110.
Completed 07/02/03: Reorganize office workspace for IT staff.
Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment
The Pennsylvania State University
502 Rider Building
University Park, PA 16802-4819
Phone: (814) 863-8721
Fax: (814) 863-7031
Email: email@example.com
Copyright 2006-2014 The Pennsylvania State University
This publication is available in alternative media upon request
Questions regarding web issues, please contact email@example.com


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Remington Silk CI96Z1 Waving Wand
- In Stock
1 review
- Delivery
- Next day delivery available
Remington Silk CI96Z1 Waving Wand.
Whether you want to create a professional looking finish or channel effortless festival chic, you can achieve the desired effect without spending time and money in a salon with the Remington Silk CI96Z1. With an elliptical shape barrel and Silk Ceramic coating, this waving wand creates effortlessly smooth, frizz-free, glossy waves every time.
The Remington Silk Waving Wand is part of the Silk collection of appliances that have been specially designed to help you to achieve professional style at home. Whatever your hair type, whatever its length, the Silk Wand will transform your tresses into a cascade of loose, silky waves. It has a ceramic coated barrel for even heat distribution and it comes with a heat resistant mitt to protect your hands as you style and a mat to protect your surfaces.
- Elliptical shape barrel
- Ceramic coating
- Create waves effortlessly
- Heat resistant mitt/mat
- 5 year manufacturers guarantee
- Remington Silk CI96Z1 Waving Wand
BaByliss 2667U Curl Secret Hair Styler
With this curler you can effortlessly create beautiful, free-flowing curls without the salon price tag. It automatically draws your locks into the ceramic chamber, softly holding your hair and heating it from all directions. You can then simply release the styler for instantly gorgeous curls. The ceramic style of the chamber ensures it doesn't tangle or damage your tresses as you curl and with such a simple to use design you can easily get a salon quality look from home.
This styler comes with 2 heat settings, along with 3 timer settings so you can create loose waves or tight curls with ease. There's even an automatic curl direction control for a natural finish every time. An auto shut off function means you won't have to worry about whether or not you've left your styler switched on.
- Ceramic curl chamber
- Professional heating system
- 2 heat settings
- 3 timer settings
- Audio beep indicator, alternating curl direction
- Heat ready indicator
- 20 minute sleep mode function, Auto shut off
- 2.5m swivel cord
- Heat protection mat
- 3 year guarantee
- BaByliss 2667U Curl Secret Hair Styler
Please note:
- This styler is not designed for use on very long hair and should not be used on hair lengths below the bust.
- This styler reaches high temperatures and is not suitable to be used on either synthetic or real hair extensions.
Replacement Guarantee available:
4 Year Protection £16.00
BaByliss 2885U New Big Hair Styler
- In Stock
38 reviews
- Delivery
- Next day delivery available
BaByliss 2885U New Big Hair Styler
This BaByliss styler allows you to create a salon perfect blow-dry with dramatic volume thanks to the rotating brush that boasts an ionic conditioning system, giving your hair a wonderful frizz-free shine.
The large ceramic 50 mm barrel adds fullness and body as you dry, replicating the volumising technique used by the top hairdressers to get salon worthy hair.
The barrel has a multi directional design, with 2 rotation speeds and a 2.5 metre cord that gives you complete freedom as you style. The soft bristles ensure it doesn't snag or tangle either for gorgeously glossy locks.
With 2 heat settings so you can tailor it to suit your hair type, while the added cool shot function is ideal for setting your style and creating a long-lasting effect.
This BaByliss styler comes with a handy protective cover so you can easily pack it away without worrying about bending the bristles.
- 2 heat settings and 1 cool shot option
- Ionic conditioning system
- 2.5 metre cord
- Mains powered
- 700-watt
- 50mm ceramic barrel
- Soft bristles
- 2 rotation speeds
- Multi-directional brush
- Hinged rear filter
- Protective cover
- 3 year guarantee
- BaByliss 2885U New Big Hair Styler
Replacement Guarantee available:
4 Year Protection £9.00
BaByliss 2285CU Curling Wand Pro
- In Stock
45 reviews
- Delivery
- Next day delivery available
BaByliss Curling Wand Pro Styler
This professional styler has no clamp to fiddle around with, giving you the freedom and flexibility to really get creative with your curls. Simply wrap your hair around the barrel for a beautiful kink-free style.
The Wrap Control feature gently holds the hair around the barrel, with a top temperature of 210°C for a long-lasting finish. You can also use the 5 digital temperature settings to create a range of looks, from sultry waves to corkscrew curls for complete versatility.
Ready to use in just 30 seconds it boasts an elongated barrel that makes it great for long locks, with advanced ceramics to maintain a constant high heat for even and professional results. The heat ready indicator lets you know when you can start styling too.
The 2.5 metre swivel cord gives you freedom as you style, while the auto shut off ensures you won't have to spend the day worrying that you've left your styler on.
- Top temperature of 210°C
- 5 digital temperature settings
- 25 mm -13 mm ceramic coated barrel
- Ready to use in 30 seconds
- Auto shut off
- Mains powered
- 2.5m swivel cord
- Wrap Control™ for easy winding
- Long barrel
- On/off button
- Heat ready LED indicator
- Cool tip
- Integrated heat rest
- Universal heat protective glove
- 3 year guarantee
- BaByliss 2285CU Curling Wand Styler
BaByliss 3045U Thermo Ceramic Heated Rollers
- In Stock
13 reviews
- Delivery
- Next day delivery available
BaByliss 3045U Thermo-Ceramic Heated Rollers
Create gorgeous curls and loose waves with these easy-to-use rollers. Each roller delivers a high heat performance, while the variable temperature control means you can tailor them to suit your hair type.
The heat ready indicator lets you know when you can start styling, and the rollers have cool ends to prevent burnt fingertips. The clips and metal pins are ideal for keeping them in place while you finish getting ready, before unrolling them to reveal beautiful curls with plenty of volume.
Each roller has a ceramic design to ensure they don't snag for a gorgeously glossy finish every time. This BaByliss roller set also includes 3 different sizes so you can experiment with your look.
- 20 thermo-ceramic rollers
- 8 large, 6 medium and 6 small rollers
- 10 super clips
- 20 metal pins
- High temperature performance
- 2 heat settings for different hair types
- Heat ready indicator dot
- On indicator light
- 1.85 metre cord
- BaByliss 3045U Thermo-Ceramic Heated Rollers
BaByliss Pro Curl 210 Tongs.
Up to 210°C salon performance tong for quick and easy curling results. With its Advanced Ceramics™ heating system it has ultra fast heat recovery to maintain constant high heat during use and is ready to use in seconds. The 25mm tourmaline-ceramic barrel creates perfectly defined curls with a smooth shiny finish.
- 25mm tourmaline-ceramic coated barrel
- Up to 210°C salon temperature
- 5 digital temperature settings for all hair types
- Advanced Ceramics™ for ultra fast heat up and heat recovery
- On/off switch with heat ready indicator
- Cool tip
- Integrated heat rest
- 1.8m swivel cord
- Auto shut off
- 3 year guarantee
- BaByliss Pro Curl 210 Tongs
The Remington CI95 Pearl Curling Wand combines advanced technology and traditional ceramic coatings with real pearl to create a curling wand that delivers professional, salon-perfect results.
It's fast-working, reaches a top heat of 210°C and has a high-tech barrel with ceramic coating to help you effortlessly achieve super sleek, high definition curls without snagging or catching.
Lusting after loose waves for that tousled, boho-chic casual look? Keeping it cute with flirty flicks or want to put a spring in your step with bouncy curls? All these shapes can easily be yours with the Pearl Curling Wand. Simply wrap strands of hair around the smooth conical barrel and in seconds you're ready to go with light, natural movement and enviable volume.
Its sleek design brings together high-gloss black contrasts with a subtle and stylish oriental cherry blossom to add a splash of style to your grooming routine.
This versatile hair curling wand has worldwide voltage, so there's no need to skimp on your style routine wherever you are in the world. The Remington C195 also comes with a heat-proof pouch making it easy to carry around.
Useful info:
- Luxury pearl ceramic
- Top temperature 210°C
- 30 second heat up
- Digital display
- Advanced ceramic ultimate coating with real pearl shimmer
- LCD lock
- Fast heat up
- Worldwide voltage
- Auto shut-off after 60 minutes
- 3m swivel cord
- Heat proof pouch
- 5 year guarantee
- Remington C195 Pearl Wand
Replacement Guarantee available:
3 Year Protection £27.00
Cloud Nine The Waving Wand
The Cloud Nine Waving Wand is the ultimate tool for creating large textured curls, or sexy tousled waves. The Award Winning long, straight and super smooth barrel allows you to create super smooth curls.
Be kind to your hair and choose the perfect level of heat with the Waving Wand's innovative temperature control. It's handy kick-stand means you can rest your Waving Wand without damaging your surfaces.
The Cloud Nine Wand comes with a one-year manufacture's warranty. Simply register your product to activate.
- Ceramic plates
- Curl control
- Swivel cord
- Hibernation Mode
- Kickstand
- Dual Voltage
- Variable heat settings
- Heat proof glove
- 1 year Manufacturers Guarantee
- Cloud Nine The Waving Wand
TRESemme 2805U Volume Curls Tong
- In Stock
13 reviews
- Delivery
- Next day delivery available
TRESemmé 2805U Volume Curls Tong
The salon-quality TRESemmé Volume Curls Tong has a large 32 mm barrel, perfect for creating volume or adding soft, natural curls and waves to your hair.
With a top temperature of 200°C, the Advanced Ceramics barrel of this styler guarantees fast heat-up and heat recovery during use. With 3 heat settings it is suitable for every hair type.
The long 2.5m length cord gives total ease of use and for safety a heat protection mat is included.
- 200°C high heat salon temperature
- Large 32 mm ceramic coated barrel
- Advanced Ceramics for ultra-fast heat up and heat recovery
- Ready to use in 60 seconds
- 3 temperature settings to suit every hair type
- Cool tip
- Integrated heat rest
- 2.5m length swivel cord
- On indicator light
- Auto shut off
- Heat protective mat
- 3 year guarantee
- TRESemme 2805U Volume Curls Tong
TRESemmé 3039U Volume Rollers
Create stunning curls or add plenty of volume with these TRESemmé heated Rollers. The 10 large rollers can all be heated up at once to a high temperature, giving long lasting results in your hair, whether you want a gorgeous wave or perfect curls.
This set also includes 10 metal pins that hold the rollers in place while cooling, so you can leave them to do the hard work while you put the finishing touches to your make-up.
The soft storage case is perfect for keeping everything together and this set also boasts a dual voltage for worldwide use, giving you gorgeous tresses at home or on holiday.
- 10 large rollers
- Ultra-fast heat up
- Heat up all 10 rollers at one time
- High temperature
- Dual voltage
- Lightweight and compact
- Soft storage case
- Includes 10 metal pins
- On/off switch
- 3 year guarantee
- TRESemmé 3039U Volume Rollers
Enrapture Encode Totem Styler Curling Tongs
- In Stock
29 reviews
- Delivery
- Next day delivery available
The Enrapture Encode Totem Styler Curling Tong has 3 independent heat zones, allowing you to create glossy ringlets, bohemian curls and soft waves with ease.
Each heat zone has 3 different settings, with an encoder dial on the handle so you can tailor it to suit your needs. The lowest setting on all three zones creates gorgeous waves, while the highest creates tight ringlets and varying the temperature ensures wider curls for a full on glamorous look.
This curling tong also comes with a handy guide that shows you the best settings and techniques to create a gorgeous, salon-quality style from the comfort of your own home.
A mini flipper on the handle hold each section of your hair in place, while the removable stand and heat resistant pouch ensure your dressing table remains clean and burn free.
With a fast heat-up time and an LED indicator it's perfect for when you're in a rush. The polished titanium barrel glides through your hair too, creating a smooth and sleek finish every time.
With such a unique design you can be in complete control of your style and with a 3-year guarantee you also get extra peace of mind.
Useful info:
- 3 independent heat zones
- Encoder dials control each zone
- Different heat combinations
- Mini flipper
- Polished titanium
- Fast heat up
- Constant high heat
- Cool tip
- LED on/off light
- Removable stand
- Style guide included
- Heat resistant pouch included
- 3 year guarantee
- Enrapture Encode Totem Styler Curling Tong
Nicky Clarke NSS088 Classic 2-in-1 Styler
- In Stock
5 reviews
- Delivery
- Next day delivery available
Nicky Clarke 2 in 1 Styler
This handy tool transforms from straighteners to tongs at the click of a button, so you can get straight sleek locks or gorgeous bouncing curls.
The ceramic coated plates glide effortlessly through your hair without any unwanted snagging. It's also simple to lock the plates together to switch between the straighteners and the tongs for complete versatility as you style.
With a top temperature of 210°C you can create a long lasting look, with a variable heat settings that allows you to tailor it perfectly to suit your hair type.
The 360° swivel cord gives you the freedom to move around as you style, with a handy auto shut off after 60 minutes for added peace of mind.
Having had his hands on the lustrous locks of stars such as Liz Hurley, George Michael and Princess Diana, who is better placed than Nicky Clarke to understand the tricks to getting perfect hair?
- Switch between tongs and straighteners
- 210°C high temperature
- Variable heat settings
- Ceramic plate technology
- Auto shut off after 60 minutes
- Mains powered
- 360° swivel cord
- Nicky Clarke NSS088 Classic 2 in 1 Styler


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'Out of This World' Healthy Stuffing
This stuffing really is out of this world! It provides you with all the comforting goodness of bread stuffing… with just a fraction of the calories and fat of traditional stuffing. Yes, the recipe has a lot of ingredients, but the actual process is very easy — promise!
1 large onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
4 pieces sage, chopped
6-8 pieces of thyme, chopped
1/2 pound turkey sausage (choose flavor)
splash of good white wine
1 teaspoon butter
1 pound assorted fresh mushroom, sliced
1/2 cup dried morels
1/2 loaf regular size 9-grain or multi-grain bread, toasted and chopped
1 egg, beaten
Saute chopped onion and stalks of celery in oil in a nonstick pan. Add salt, pepper, and minced garlic.
Add sage and thyme. Break turkey sausage into small pieces and saute in pan. Add a good splash of wine and butter.
Add mushrooms and morels (soak and cover them in water until soft), then add them and the mushroom water to the mixture.
Add 9-grain or multi-grain bread. If the mixture is dry, add more mushroom water, chicken stock, white wine or another flavored liquid. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add 1 beaten egg to bind.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes and put on broil for last 5 minutes to make top crunchy (make sure to keep an eye on it when broiling).
For more healthy twists of traditional recipes, check out her books "Naturally Thin" and "The Skinnygirl Dish."


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Hey Sustainable Wallingford! I am looking for sunny land to get a small SPIN Farm going this Spring (5,000-10,000 sq. ft.). Plots of land can be on multiple locations (but not much less than 1,000…Continue
Started Feb 28, 2012
Hello Dear, I will like to get acquainted with You, I have something Special to share with You, Contact me via email firstname.lastname@example.com
Miss Stacy
© 2014 Created by Cathy Tuttle. Powered by


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Browns might hesitate on RG3?
The mention of the Browns "hesitating" is in point 3. Not sure what to make of it, could just be the Browns not wanting the price to get driven up before free agency determines who is in play. But also could have some validity. Only time will tell I guess.


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I don't really use this product very much if I'm honest but it is a product I quite like even if I do usually hate shimmer. I wouldn't recommend this product as a blush instead it should be used as a highlight.
This product has four different colours either to be used individually as eyeshadows or together as a highlighter. It gives the perfect shine without leaving me looking oily or over shiny and doesn't highlight my pores as much as many other products do.
This product really provides a pretty summer glow, would recommend and for about £1.50 you can't really go wrong.
What Wet n Wild products do you like?


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The X Button - Hive Finds
This week brings pitches for dungeon treks, alien bug raids, and a nightmare long thought over. Plus Silent Hills, BlazBlue, and the results of an anime-editing contest!
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6710
Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia
I'm making this thread so people can ask about the specifics of the blu-ray version for a show. With the bulk of BD releases being put out today being upscales and not a lot of people having the A/V know-how, a lot of buyers remain very weary of them, especially with there being a number of not-so-good releases. Even with that being the case, though, many people want to embrace the new HD world we're entering, but they need to do so with training wheels on. So with ANN having a community filled with people who enjoy buying anime and also having many people knowledgeable in the ways of High Definition, I feel this thread is very much needed.
I believe the most common questions buyers have are the following: Is it worth double dipping if you already have the DVD, but an upscaled BD is released later on? Is the BD really that much better than the DVD, or is there no remarkable difference and I'm better off saving those ten dollars?
I predict these to be the most common questions asked because ultimately they're all that matter, at least to those less familiar with the intricacies.
So with all that said, let the questions begin.
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6710
Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia
I'll christen this bad boy.
1) The Burst Angel Blu-ray, how good is it? I'm a collector through and through and can find the singles for about $6 less than the Blu-ray version, so the BD has to be greatly superior for me to go for it over the singles.
2) When people start receiving their Tears to Tiara BDs can you post about the quality of it? It's just that having 13 episodes per disk worries me a little bit even though I know nothing of blu-ray disc capability. Maybe 13 per disk isn't a problem, but I'd like to know before I drop $50 for it.
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Posts: 7606
Almost all BDs of old shows, I'm talking before 2000, back when things were on film (you remember film right?) should be real HD remasters. Before you start thinking LOL OLD STUFF CAN'T LOOK GOOD, yes it can. They're HD scans of analog material that can come out looking fantastic, far better than any previous transfer could ever hope to look. Of course, being older, the likelihood of these being available for sale in the West is slim, but I'm sure some of us buy releases from Japan every now and then.
-Worth It- Char's Counterattack, Gundam F91, Patlabor 1, Patlabor 2, the Five Star Stories, and Memories were some of the ones I've seen, all highly recommended and all beautiful. I've yet to check out AKIRA or the Patlabor OVAs/TV. Riding Bean recently got a BD release as well, destroys the old DVD transfers.
-Can Be Worth It- Lupin III movies Castle of Cagliostro and the Secret of Mamo looked marginally better, as do the Galaxy Express 999 films. If all of Zeta Gundam had been shot on 35mm like the OPs were, the full 1080p would have been miraculous. But the main part of the show was 16mm, and probably tops out at 720p. Do watch the OPs in full HD, it's breathtaking.
-Not Exactly Worth It- Bubblegum Crisis' BDs really make a lot of that OVA sharp and pretty, but as Justin pointed out in one of the ANNcasts, it also helps show a lot of the cheapness of the OVA at points. They're not movies after all, so it's to be expected. Looks immensely better than the old DVD transfers.
Keep in mind when the older DVDs were produced. Something like Tenchi Muyo in Love was a single layer disc that looks absolutely putrid for a DVD, so a BD replacement is absolutely worth it. If it's a remaster from something on film, chances are it's going to look great: color correction, sharper lines, bringing out more detail in the hand-painted cels. If it's a recent digital anime, the benefits will be much harder to notice, especially if you don't have a full 1080p screen.
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Space Cowboy
Posts: 1773
Location: Frig off, Ricky!
Here is a pretty good review of Burst Angel. Seems to be a pretty good improvement over the dvds.
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Posts: 1457
I'm VERY picky when it comes to buying anime on blu. I'll buy my live action and CG on blu, but when it comes to animation of any kind, I still to DVD still (although I do buy those classic Disney Diamon Editions).
For anime I currently only own Ponyo and Eva 1.11. I will continue to buy the Eva movies in blu and Miyazaki ones as well, and may even double dip for those ones.
For the rest of my collection, well, some I don't expect to even COME out on blu ever (Sailor Moon etc.) and even then they can only clean up old anime like that so much, it would have to be fully restored like the Disney classics.
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Posts: 2648
Just finished Samurai 7 on Blu-ray. That show looked and sounded great.
I'd recommend all of Bandai Visual USA's BD products as well (Gunbuster vs Diebuster, Freedom, Yukikaze, etc) Those are definitely the pride of my hi def collection.
Did you want to know about Japanese imports as well?
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Posts: 63
Location: Texas
Blu-ray.com is pretty poor when it comes to anime bluray releases, their theatrical film bluray reviews are great though. For anime they're overly forgiving and don't really compare them to the DVDs. All the Funimation upscales scored decently, mainly because they were unaware of the detail loss.
From what I've heard Burst Angel loses detail, but does look a lot better than the DVDs simply because the DVDs had a ton of compression artifacts on all the CGI.
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Tony K.
Posts: 9366
Location: Frisco, TX
I have a question about the JP GitS 2: Innocence BD. I was very disappointed to find out that the U.S. version decided not to encode any kind of lossless audio, whereas the JP version has lossless 6.1. And in looking up some info, I notice the JP BD also has English subs, but very little in terms of extra features. At some point, I would consider importing this, but only if the subs were good. Do you have any idea on their quality?
Also, I rented Sword of the Stranger from Netflix a while back and was absolutely blown away by the A/V quality (as well as the movie itself). Unfortunately, it looks like the disc is either in low stock everywhere or may be even going out of print. Would anyone know where I could find a Like New or better copy for around twenty-ish dollars?
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6710
Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia
Would you say that it's a significant enough improvement that if you were a collector like myself, you'd forgo the singles and get the BD?
GoHastings has one for $21.20. There quality usually ranges from good to like new, so it can be a crapshoot. However, using the store locater and your location Frisco, Texas, there are two stores near you with one in Denton and one in Greenville (this one actually looks pretty far), so you can go to those and see if they have one in stock and you can see for yourself.
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Posts: 24
|Any word on how good the Full Metal Panic series is on bluray?
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Tony K.
Posts: 9366
Location: Frisco, TX
I actually go to school in Denton on Mondays and Wednesdays. Don't really feel like looking for the place, though, and I think I can get lucky by either buying it from Right Stuf during a Bandai sale or Deep Discount during their semi-annual coupon thing and not pay tax on top of it.
There's a pretty in-depth user review on Amazon here. Just scroll down, and it's the highest rated one.
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Posts: 63
Location: Texas
I can't really say, I have the show on DVD and I've only seen screen captures from the bluray. I haven't bothered to find the exact shots on the DVDs to compare since I don't care for the show enough to upgrade.
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Posts: 924
Yea Samurai 7 look beautiful. As well as Gunbuster in HD but I really did not care for the ending of it all that much.
If you really loved Samurai 7 I highly recommend cheeking out Seven Samurai http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Samurai-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B003KGBISY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287017096&sr=8-1
This was the movie that inspired the anime. I own the DVD collection and It looks amazing and very impressive how well they restored this classic. I have already pre ordered the blu-ray version. The movie did come out in 1954 so it is a bit old but its definitely a great movie especially if you are into Samurai movies. But if you want to see what inspired the series then check it out.
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Posts: 716
Location: Covington, KY
I swore I'd stop buying discs that didn't have lossless audio...but then Grindhouse came out...and I got it for $14...and, well, damn it, NOW I'm going to stop buying them...I swear.
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Posts: 207
|I have the Blu-ray of Akira and it looks phenomenal. Definitely worth it. It's a little on the pricey side though some places.
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Roasted Ginger Green Beans Recipe
My husband, Michael, is the cook in our house and discovered this simple treatment for green beans. I hope you like its pleasant flavor as much as we do. Kathy Jackson of Arlington, Virginia
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or dash dried thyme
- 1 pound fresh green beans
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh gingerroot
- In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Add beans; toss to coat.
- Transfer to a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 16-20 minutes or until beans are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with ginger. Yield: 4 servings.
Originally published as Roasted Ginger Green Beans in Light & Tasty April/May 2003, p27
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Reviewed Dec. 14, 2013
We love green beans roasted this way!
Reviewed Feb. 6, 2012
Made this side dish as an appetizer for a party and they were gone in minutes!!! Delicious and super easy to make!
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Final Fantasy IV For Android Arrives
Popular RPG now available on iOS and Android devices
Gamers of the world rejoice – cult hit Final Fantasy IV has arrived on Google Play, meaning Android users can get a slice of the RPG action on their mobile devices for the first time.
First launched in 1991, the iconic title debuted on consoles including the Super Nintendo and later the Sony Playstation, and generated interest in the franchise that still exists today. Gamers take control of dark night Cecilas he tries to stop an evil sorcerer from destroying the world., which is a fairly serious task when you think about it.
Having been initially reborn on the Nintendo DS in 2008, an iOS version launched back in November to a positive reception. Since then pressure has grown for an Android version, with those wishes having been finally granted.
That said there are conditions – the game will only work on devices running Android Gingerbread or above, and it won't be cheap at £10.99. Despite this, we fully expect it to be met with a raucous reception and widespread popularity. You've gotta love retro games, aye?


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FamilyDoctor.org—American Academy of Family Physicianshttp://familydoctor.org
HealthyChildren.org—American Academy of Pediatricshttp://www.healthychildren.org
About Kids Healthhttp://www.aboutkidshealth.ca
Health Canadahttp://www.hc-sc.gc.ca
Cholesteatoma. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at:
http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed. Updated June 27, 2013. Accessed September 19, 2013.
Cholesteatoma. ENT Health Information: Ears. American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery website. Available at:
Updated March 2011. Accessed September 19, 2013.
Levenson M. Cholesteatoma. Ear Surgery Information Center website. Available at:
Accessed September 19, 2013.
4/29/2014 DynaMed's Systematic Literature Surveillance http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed: Angtuaco EJ, Wippold FJ. American College of Radiology (ACR) Appropriateness Criteria for hearing loss and/or vertigo. Available at: http://www.acr.org/~/media/ACR/Documents/AppCriteria/Diagnostic/HearingLossVertigo.pdf. Updated 2013. Accessed April 29, 2014.
This content is reviewed regularly and is updated when new and relevant evidence is made available. This information is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with questions regarding a medical condition.
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Cats with hyperthyroidism [(increased serum thyroxine (T(4))] commonly have increased serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in addition to other serum biochemical abnormalities. Serum biochemical profiles were obtained from 10 hyperthyroid cats which had increased serum ALP. Agarose gel electrop...
Serum sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) activities in 10 cows and nine horses were measured using an automated clinical analyzer. The serum samples were divided into aliquots that were stored at room temperature (21 degrees C), refrigerated (0-5 degrees C), or frozen (-30 degrees C). The stability of the...
Classification of Homarus americanus hemocytes and the use of differential hemocyte counts in lobsters infected with Aerococcus viridans var. homari (Gaffkemia)
Hemocytes of the American lobster (Homarus americanus H. Milne Edwards) were classified after examination of Wright-Giemsa stained cytocentrifuge preparations by brightfield light microscopy. Eleven hemocyte types were identified using morphologic criteria. The classification system was then used to...
The concentration of arginine kinase (AK) in the hemolymph of lobsters may aid in the identification of muscle diseases in these animals in the same way that creatine kinase activity in blood plasma does in mammalian species. Both manual and automated analysis methods were developed for measuring AK...
Potassium chloride (KCl: 330 mg/ml) was assessed as an euthanasia agent in American lobsters (Homarus americanus). Two groups of 10 lobsters (408.2 to 849.9 g) were maintained at 11.9 to 12.1 degrees C ('warm') and 1.5 to 2.5 degrees C ('cold') to evaluate the possible effect of ...
Evaluation of platelet function in dogs with cardiac disease using the PFA-100 platelet function analyzer
BACKGROUND: Cardiac disease has the potential to alter platelet function in dogs. Evaluation of platelet function using the PFA-100 analyzer in dogs of multiple breeds and with a broad range of cardiac conditions would help clarify the effect of cardiac disease on platelets. OBJECTIVES: The objectiv...
BACKGROUND: The platelet function analyzer (PFA)-100 is a point-of-care instrument previously evaluated in humans and dogs. In both species, artificially prolonged platelet closure time (CT) occurs with anemia. Reliability of the analyzer in dogs becomes a concern when the HCT is between 0.25 and 0....
Use of genomic DNA probes for the diagnosis of acute sarcocystosis in experimentally infected cattle
Two clones of 1.4 and 4.33 kilobase pairs (kbp) DNA inserts, were selected from a Sarcocystis cruzi sporozoite genomic library constructed in bacteriophage lambda gt10. These clones strongly hybridized with sporozoite and merozoite DNA and were evaluated as probes for detection of merozoite DNA in c...
Comparison of the effects of xylazine bolus versus medetomidine constant rate infusion on the stress response, urine production, and anesthetic recovery characteristics in horses anesthetized with isoflurane
OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of xylazine bolus versus medetomidine constant rate infusion (MCRI) on serum cortisol and glucose concentrations, urine production, and anesthetic recovery characteristics in dorsally recumbent, spontaneously breathing, isoflurane-anesthetized horses. DESIGN: Prosp...
A 4-6-mo-old female red fox (Vulpes vulpes) was presented to the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) Teaching Hospital, Prince Edward Island, Canada. On presentation, the fox was weak and had pale mucous membranes. A complete blood count and a serum biochemistry profile were performed. Blood smear exa...
Pulmonary histopathologic findings, acid-base status, and absorption of colostral immunoglobulins in newborn calves
A study was conducted to investigate whether aspiration of amniotic fluid is associated with a deleterious effect on absorption of colostral immunoglobulins or on blood gas and acid-base values of healthy newborn calves. Fourteen calves purchased from commercial sources were transported to a researc...
Production of monoclonal antibodies specific for antigens derived from tissue of chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) affected with plasmacytoid leukemia
Two distinct monoclonal antibodies (MAB) were prepared for testing with kidney, spleen, and retrobulbar tissue imprints made from chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) affected with plasmacytoid leukemia. (PL). Hybridomas were prepared from mice immunized with whole and lysed cells purified from...
Comparison of wet-mount, Wright-Giemsa and Gram-stained urine sediment for predicting bacteriuria in dogs and cats
This study assessed the standard urinalysis technique and sediment stain techniques as predictors of bacterial culture results for canine and feline urine. Canine (n = 111) and feline (n = 79) urine samples were evaluated using unstained wet-mount and air-dried Gram and Wright-Giemsa stained sedimen...


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A local maid will be doing more cleaning up, for free, but this time it's part of her sentence.
Susan Warren was sentenced to one year, 20 hours of community work service, and slapped with $150 fine.
Warren, also known as "The Cleaning Fairy", plead guilty earlier this month to one count of attempted burglary.
Police say back in the summer, the 53-year old Elyria woman, broke into Westlake home and started cleaning it.
Before she left, scribbled her name, number, and address on a napkin along with a bill for $75.00 for the homeowner.
Copyright 2012 WOIO. All rights reserved.
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Newsroom: (910) 791-6681
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Survey: A&E departments understaffed by almost 10%
Accident and emergency departments in England are understaffed on average by nearly 10%, a BBC survey suggests.
A Freedom of Information request by BBC 5 live revealed 101 out of 166 hospital trusts who responded had 1,260 vacant posts as of August 2013.
The largest proportion of vacancies were found in four trusts in London.
According to the BBC, the Department of Health said A&E staffing was an ongoing problem, but action was being taken.


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Frequently Asked Questions: Business
RTBkit is an open-source software framework that takes much of the hard engineering work out of creating a Real-Time Bidder for online advertising. Its open, service-oriented architecture can be used to assemble a bidder as simple or complex as desired. The RTBKit core connects to ad exchanges via Exchange Connectors and routes bid requests and data through a configurable set of components which can be extended to implement a customized bidder. More details.
Anyone can use RTBkit to build a real-time bidder. RTBkit is open-source software, so it is free to use within the bounds of the Apache License.
RTBkit is open-source software, it is feely available within the bounds of the Apache License.
RTBkit is software framework which developers can use to build real-time bidders. The first step is to download and explore the code and design your bidder around the RTBkit core and plugin architecture. If you need help, don't hesitate to join our Google Group or find a member of the RTBkit ecosystem to help you.
- Develop the GUI to manage your RTB campaigns and to offer reporting to your users
- Implement the logic that decides how much to bid for each campaign
- Launch, configure and monitor your bidding agents
- Launch, configure and monitor your RTBkit installation
- Handle billing
- Serve the ads
- Upload the creatives
- Find the right servers to host your services on
- Develop and maintain relationships with the ad exchanges
The best way to get involved is to download the code and start playing with it, join the Google Group to ask/answer questions, and eventually contribute some code back to the project.
RTBkit is released under the Apache License, v2.0.
RTBkit was developed and released by Datacratic and is intended to become a community-led open-source project, contributions are welcome by all.
For more information on why Datacratic released RTBkit see RTBkit: An Exciting Day for Real Time Advertising on Datacratic's blog.


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Haha not bad, i didnt really get the part about the TV on the doorstep, but when that ps3 handle broke i lol'd
Wow..That was awesome
Wii killz :P
haha that was great, but y did the tv show up on the doorstep?
*claps* best thing ive seen ever, period. Quite funny. Awsome find...
Great Find! ROTFLOL!
Very well done. And indeed quite funny.
If you listen he says the strap broke and the control flew out of his hand breaking his 25 inch TV. He called nintendo and they say "check your doorstep" and he says "The big N has got my back".Originally Posted by w3sl3y!
He is implying that due to the way the old straps snapped that when he called they replaced the damaged TV. Obviously this is stretching the truth but regardless it was funny.
Sorry, but I have to agreeOriginally Posted by KooBloo
I agree its a bit lame but its still a laugh
yeah, but still; Lol.Originally Posted by krazykirk


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Five Teams Reportedly Interested in Aaron Curry
Seattle Seahawks place LB Aaron Curry on trading block, sources report 5 teams in contact. Eagles, Cardinals, Giants, Panthers and Chiefs.— Rich Smith (@ALLsportsINTEL) September 26, 2011
Perhaps not too surprising given his benching. Eagles, Giants, Cardinals, Panthers, and Chiefs are the teams supposedly in talks to pull a trade to get Curry.