mpohl

Members
  • Content

    824
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Feedback

    0%

Everything posted by mpohl

  1. The NRA is one of the deadliest forces in our society. I know, "Guns don't kill ppl, ppl kill people!" So the slogan goes. But how many mass killings would happen in the US if the attacker were req to hack his victims to shreds, or suffocating them one-by-one? Hand-to-hand combat!!? And yeah, another 11 victims in NYC today. It's becoming a daily occurrence.
  2. It is not only that your fascist trains (Steve Reich, "Different Trains" anyone?) don't run on-time. A Fascist Train from the EC to the WC for a family of four runs on the order of $1,400++!!!! And that's for basic accommodation. No sleeper nothing. Seems middle-class families are relegated to air travel!!!! What's up with that, BITCH?
  3. That should answer your question. No need to reinvent the wheel!!! http://www.fascismusa.com
  4. Plenty of information. But then, dumbing it down to the average Joe won't do any good either! Too much rhetoric. Not enough information.
  5. Probably too long. Too much information. For an American. Bleep. Over and Out. 08/17/2012 08:52 AM The End of Reason What Potatoes Say about the State of US Democracy By Marc Hujer The debate in the US Congress last winter over whether potatoes should be curbed in school lunches is emblematic of the modern-day crisis in US governance. Lobbyists and other powerful interest groups dominate the tenor of the debate. Unsurprisingly, most Americans have lost confidence in their leaders. Western democracies consider themselves to be efficient, farsighted and just -- in other words, prime examples of "good governance." But in recent years, the euro and debt crises, along with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have shattered faith in the reliability of Western institutions. Disconcerted Europeans are casting a worried eye at newly industrialized nations like China and Brazil. Can the West learn something from countries that for so long sought its advice? This is part II in a four-part series looking at how the world is governed today. For part I on Brazil, click here. Check back for more on China and Denmark in the coming weeks. He has climbed the highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains, he is in excellent physical condition, and he could easily serve as the face of a marketing campaign to promote healthy living. In his 14th year in the US Congress, Colorado Senator Mark Udall is standing in front of his seat in the Senate, in the second-to-last row on the Democratic side of the aisle, talking about pizza and French fries. "Let's be honest," says Udall. "Anything can be fried or drowned in any number of fats." It's the core of his argument against the new guidelines that President Barack Obama wants to see enacted for school cafeterias. Obama had tried to separate healthy from unhealthy food in school cafeterias and have more vegetables served to students instead of just pizza and French fries. But Udall has gained the support of seven other senators in his bid to block Obama's guidelines. Instead, he has drafted Senate Amendment 804 to the 2012 spending bill for the Agriculture Department. Every French fry and every Tater Tot, the 61-year-old politician argues, was once a potato, which makes it a vegetable, just like broccoli, green beans, spinach or carrots. Banning French fries, he says, is basically discriminating against potatoes just because they're sometimes dipped in oil. At issue, says Udall, is the equal treatment of vegetables, and the fact that even a potato has vitamins, as does pizza -- because of the tomato sauce. On this October afternoon in the US Senate, politicians are seriously addressing the question of whether a distinction should be drawn between French fries and vegetables, and whether French fries and pizza don't also qualify as vegetables. Former President Ronald Reagan, pandering to the food industry, once tried to declare ketchup a vegetable. But Reagan's effort failed in Congress. That was 1981 -- a different time. American democracy has always been proud of its balance of powers, the checks and balances of a complex political system that once served as a model for the balancing of political interests and a modicum of reason. It was a system that prevented fanaticism and kept the most feeble-minded efforts in check. And now this? Down with discrimination against the potato? Powerless Politics The current Congress, the 112th in US history, is the most unproductive since the end of World War II. It enacted only 80 laws in 2011, fewer than any Congress has done since 1947, despite the great need for reform and the ongoing budget crisis. The US Congress has failed to achieve a united position on the war in Libya, climate change, immigration, tax policy, reforming the country's social welfare systems and other important issues of the day. The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction failed. Politics has become powerless, or at least it seems that way in America. It no longer controls the country's fate, as it once did. Monetary, fiscal and even economic policy are fizzling out in a globalized world. Even Obama's $787 billion (€641 billion) economic stimulus package fell short of its desired effect. Nowadays, Congress exemplifies the crisis in American democracy, the failure of checks and balances, an out-of-control culture of debate, reform gridlock, the increasing polarization of the parties and the loss of credibility of political institutions. About 80 percent of Americans no longer have confidence in Congress. Its failure raises the question of whether the United States, the world's oldest democracy, has reached its limits -- and whether it can even be governed anymore when there is no longer any agreement or consensus. Sacred Potatoes The story of Senate Amendment 804 is a lesson on the state of American democracy. It shows why the reform debate has lost its direction, why the short-term profits of potato farmers are more important than the long-term goal of public health, and why politics is shaped more by special interests than by the well-being of society. It is a story of representatives of the people giving into the pressure of lobbying groups. "The potato is a religious commodity in America," says Dr. Walter Willett. As professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, he has studied the consequences of poor eating habits and written the definitive work on the subject. In a 1992 study on women's health, Dr. Willett found that excessive consumption of potatoes could lead to diabetes. It was only a suspicion at the time, but the more Dr. Willett studied the issue, the more convinced he became. "The venerable baked potato increases levels of blood sugar and insulin more quickly and to higher levels than an equal amount of calories from pure table sugar," he says. That makes people hungry, says Dr. Willett. This wasn't a problem in the past, when people were not as sedentary, he says. But, today, it leads to obesity and illnesses , such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. The average American consumes 53 kilograms (117 lbs) of potatoes a year. There is hardly an American meal that makes do without Tater Tots, mashed potatoes or French fries. Children are especially prone to overdoing it; they consume 30 percent more starchy vegetables, such a corn and potatoes, than adults. Eating too many potatoes, as Willett demonstrated, is one cause of obesity. 'A National Disgrace' The government subsidizes this poor nutrition. It distributes food stamps for poor people that are often used to buy pizza and French fries. It pays for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). And, this year, it will spend $10.8 billion on the School Lunch Program, which provides children from low-income families a free daily school lunch. The School Lunch Program was at issue when Udall became involved. The program has a particularly miserable reputation, given that high-starch dishes, such as pizza and French fries, make up such a large share of the food served. It is the most important of all programs because the food that children are served at school five days a week strongly shapes the new generation's eating habits. Hardly a day goes by in an American school when a dish containing potatoes isn't on the menu. A quarter of all schools get their food directly from fast-food chains, such as McDonald's and Pizza Hut, but even the food prepared in schools is out of step with contemporary ideas about nutrition. When the School Lunch Program was launched, in 1946, many children were still undernourished. They needed calories, not diets. Potatoes were cheap and nutritious, and they were filling, as their advocates still argue today. But, now, even military generals are sounding the alarm, warning that many children nowadays are too fat to be able to defend the country when they grow up. Nutrition experts call it a "national disgrace" that so little has changed in school cafeterias. Skim milk has replaced whole milk and the size of soft drink containers has been reduced, but no one has tackled the quantity of potato-based dishes. On Jan. 13, 2011, the Food and Nutrition Service at the Department of Agriculture issued new guidelines for the School Lunch Program. This happened at about the same time that Dr. Willett published a new study that declared that high-starch foods, along with sweets and soft drinks, were the biggest causes of poor nutrition. The new guidelines were based on recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, which in turn cited the results of Dr. Willett's research. They recommended that school cafeterias serve only a cup, or about 235 millilitres, of starchy food a week. This would have meant that either one serving of pizza or one serving of fries could be on the menu only once a week, and that items such as Tater Tots, potato pancakes and potato chips would have to be eliminated altogether. It would have been a necessary contribution to public health, a real intervention in the America way of life, but its opponents already began organizing on that January day. Symbol of America French fries are as much a part of American life as big cars and shopping malls and office buildings kept at refrigerator-like temperatures in the summer. The potato, Larry Zuckerman notes in his book "Potato," is the food of the masses, America's "democratic table," celebrated by John Adams, who would later become the second US president, when he wrote to his wife Abigail in 1774: "Let us eat potatoes and drink water." Even then, the potato stood for the revolt against the European aristocracy, with its elaborate dishes and table manners. America wanted to distance itself from the motherland, England, where King George III refused to even touch potatoes during the bread crisis of 1795. The potato is a symbol of good ol' America. Clinging to this good old America has become a reflex in a country whose citizens now fear that they could lose everything: their homes, their jobs and their status as a superpower. During the last few decades, it has been a country in which the rich have become richer and the poor poorer, and in which the middle class seems to be disappearing and, with it, the sense that everyone shares in rising prosperity. America's democracy worked well as long as there was sufficient growth. The social welfare state -- which has significantly expanded since World War II, both in America and elsewhere -- had enough money. Compromises were possible because there was enough for everyone. But does democracy still work when that is no longer the case? America was always a land of extremes, but these extremes are increasingly irreconcilable, even in politics. Enemies of Ordinary People Since the eruption of the financial crisis, paranoia has taken hold in American politics. Americans' faith in institutions has been shaken. The government has become the adversary of the citizens, and the elites the enemies of ordinary people. Rallying cries characterize both left-wing and right-wing protest movements, from the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street. Those who do not shout these slogans, at least in part, find it difficult to be heard at all. Politicians, such as former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, exploit the divisions. They invoke the US Constitution and America's long-outdated clichés, such as the values of small-town life and the days when a handshake was still considered a word of honor. The world has become more complicated and complex, but the political debate in America has become more simplistic -- wilfully ignorant of climate change, inattentive to the new requirements of an immigrant society, wary of science and even unknowledgeable about the insights of food science. Change versus idyll: That's the new dichotomy of the political discourse, which consists of only two incompatible categories: American and un-American. When Michelle Obama recommended that Americans eat more vegetables and fewer sweets, and perhaps occasionally skip dessert, Sarah Palin acted as if the First Lady had declared war on freedom. Now Michelle Obama was trying to deprive Americans of their desserts, Palin claimed, and her fellow citizens in many parts of the country agreed. Twenty Potatoes a Day And, now, is Obama trying to deprive Americans of their French fries? "We've been eating potatoes for 200 years," says Roger Mix, a potato farmer from Alamosa, the most important potato-farming region in Udall's home state of Colorado, "and now, suddenly, there's supposed to be something wrong with them?" When asked whether he is he familiar with the studies by Professor Willett, of Harvard University, Mix responds with a wave of his hand: "Have you heard of Chris Voigt? Have you seen him on TV?" Last year, Chris Voigt, the head of the Washington State Potato Commission, made himself the subject of his own experiment, in which he ate 20 potatoes a day for two months. On his website, he claims to have lost 21 pounds in the process. "He did more to educate people than that professor," says Mix. "The professor has been on an anti-potato campaign for years." Mix is an influential fourth-generation potato farmer. He was president of the National Potato Council in Washington in 2010, the highest honorary office in the industry. His farm is in the San Luis Valley, a 20,000 square-kilometer (7,700-square mile) desert with elevations of up to 2,300 meters (7,500 feet) above sea level. Winter lasts more than half a year there. Sometimes, temperatures drop below freezing as late as July 4. Potatoes are almost the only thing farmers can grow there because the potato is about the only plant with a sufficiently short growing season. Potato farmers control the valley, and they are the only ones who still have money in the economic crisis. Politicians, both Republican and Democrat, who hope to win elections here know not to tangle with potato farmers. Pricey Politics Politics has become more expensive. These days, a politician needs more and more money to be heard at all. A presidential candidate now has to raise more than $1 billion, a successful Senate campaign costs about $8.5 million, and even a seat in the House of Representatives can't be had for less than $1.4 million anymore. It's no accident that almost all presidential candidates today are millionaires. Senators have large staffs compared with members of the House of the Representatives, who are restricted by law to employing no more than 18 full-time staff members. A senator can have as many employees as he or she pleases; the average senator's staff size is 34. Staff members can study individual issues and prepare them for their senator. Nevertheless, a senator's staff still isn't large enough to handle the growing flood of information. If a member of Congress hopes to be successful, he or she must rely on the quick help and detailed information supplied by interest groups. Experts euphemistically call this "lobbying as legislative subsidy." Simon Tafoya, a member of Udall's staff, deals with agricultural issues, as well as trade, immigration and minority affairs. The potato farmers of the San Luis Valley remember that they invited him to pay them a visit in 2008. They showed him the valley and the farms, and they took him out to eat at a Mexican restaurant on Main Street in Alamosa -- an establishment that Jim Ehrlich, executive director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, says he frequents because no one has complained about the quality of its food yet. Tafoya was grateful for the information that the Coloradans emailed him, and he was pleased about the arguments in favor of the potato, such as its potassium and protein content, which, in their assessment, makes it a good vegetable. They examined the studies, and they conducted surveys that underscored their demand that the quantity of potatoes served per week should not be reduced. They condensed the flood of information into a few catchy statements, which, of course, favored their position. When Tafoya answered their emails, they knew that things weren't going so badly, says Mix, the potato farmer. Not surprisingly, they felt good about their prospects when they left for Washington last March. The delegation consisted of Potato Committee Director Ehrlich, Mix and 12 other potato farmers from the San Luis Valley. Invading Washington They flew from Denver to Washington, where they checked into the Madison Hotel downtown. For some, it was their first trip to the capital and, after visiting a few museums, they went to see the Department of Agriculture, their congressman and, finally, Senator Udall. Tafoya had made the appointment for them, and if there was anything that surprised them, it was the amount of influence staffers like him have. They already knew that they could count on Tafoya's support, and the senator was basically on their side, as well. Udall's only concern was that the influence of the potato lobby would be too obvious, which meant that he had to find someone outside their circle who opposed Obama's guidelines, someone without economic interests. It isn't clear who came up with the idea but, as the potato farmers recall, at some point Tafoya asked whether the representatives of school cafeterias supported the proposal. It was the key idea: Potatoes are cheap and versatile and, in some regions, schools get them for free. Wouldn't that be a way to convince the schools? To calculate for them what it would cost to do without inexpensive potato dishes, as Obama wants to require them to do? School cafeterias, like concerned mothers or well-meaning volunteers, make for good PR. Previously, the farmers had had nothing to do with school cafeterias, but as soon as the delegation returned home from Washington, Potato Committee lobbyist Ehrlich contacted the Colorado School Nutrition Association to propose joining forces to fight the proposed guidelines. He drove to Denver to meet with a few of the association's board members. After 45 minutes, they had agreed that they would work together. Going It Alone Shelly Allen, the director of the association, remembers all the emails she suddenly started getting from potato farmers. They asked for her support, and they reminded her that some schools were getting potatoes for free, that it was a patriotic duty to support local farmers, and that school lunches were funded in part with the taxes paid by the potato farmers. She says that she would have preferred to see children eating fewer potatoes, but she supported her state, even though her group's national umbrella organization, the School Nutrition Association (SNA), warned her against going it alone in support of French fries. The SNA had already decided that it was taking a neutral position on the issue, and it hoped that Allen would do the same. "I know that it would really be better if children didn't eat as many French fries in school," she says. "But we were also talking about Colorado, our own state, where we're fortunate enough to be able to buy vegetables locally. We want to promote that." Anyone was allowed to be part of the discussion over the guidelines that Obama wanted to issue. Anyone could submit comments, criticism or support. The Agriculture Department received 133,286 letters. In the end, however, it didn't come down to those letters but, rather, to the voices of a few influential lobbyists who sifted through a large amount of information to come up with just the right slogan, the key selling point. America's political system is both one of the most transparent and most professional in the world. One of the purposes of Washington's think tanks is to maintain experts within the political spectrum, even if their use is limited outside of policymaking. The flipside of this highly professionalized democracy, however, is that it is controlled by people who have always been there, are well-connected and, in some cases, may have worked on both sides of an issue or the political aisle. Lobbying Work Pays Off After he had assembled his coalition, Senator Udall, in his campaign to rescue French fries, wrote letters to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the Senate Agriculture Committee and his fellow senators. In the letters, he used the arguments he had been fed by Mix and Ehrlich in Colorado. He quoted the Colorado School Nutrition Association, which claimed that it would no longer be able to serve school lunches if potatoes were eliminated from the menu. He quoted his sources in a key speech to the Senate, but he neglected to mention Professor Willett's study. The United States is one of the richest industrialized nations in the world, with a median household income of $49,445 (€40,416). Despite all income disparities, Americans are spoiled. They use roads, bridges and a public healthcare system, and yet they don't want to pay taxes if they can help it. Government services are taken for granted instead of being seen as an achievement, as they were in 1954, when President Dwight Eisenhower had the interstate highway system built. Unlike people in up-and-coming economies, Americans are no longer filled with pride over the things their government provides. Instead, a sense of entitlement has taken hold, and politicians lack the courage to tell their voters that the only way to get what they want is to pay higher taxes. In the end, costs would be the key argument used to rescue French fries and to continue serving food that fills children with unnecessarily large numbers of calories. If Obama's guidelines went into effect as they are written, costs would go up by 14 cents a meal, a seemingly negligible amount when one considers that the health of future generations is at stake. But it won't happen. When the politicians in Washington voted on Mark Udall's Senate Amendment 804, it became clear that the senator's work paid off. If the vote on that afternoon had been about common sense, no one would have supported the amendment. But the number of votes in favor of the amendment practically skyrocketed, first clearing the 50-percent hurdle and then reaching a two-thirds majority. By the time all the votes had been cast, there were 70 yes votes and 30 no votes. It was an overwhelming, historic vote for French fries in a Congress that only recently couldn't agree on anything. Senator Udall, the man who rescued French fries in America's school cafeterias, then thanked his colleagues for their "healthy common sense." It's About Politics It's the spring of 2012. Udall's amendment in favor of French fries is now in effect. Obama signed the bill as though the debate over the amendment had never happened. He acted as if the new guidelines were still a success, which is partially true, given that more fruit will be served and the amount of sugar in foods will be reduced in school cafeterias. But he is no longer mentioning the big political fight he lost, the dispute over French fries. He has to be satisfied with what was left of the legislation. Professor Willett has a meeting at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside of Washington. He is there to prepare a small group of experts, physicians and nutritionists for the third edition of his book "Nutritional Epidemiology," which is the bible in the industry. It's an important event, and the new edition is so important, in fact, that it justifies an entire event devoted to it at the most important biomedical research agency in the world. There have been many new findings, says Willett, and the third edition will be much more comprehensive than the second one, although he was unable to fit all the new information into the book. But the structure and the chapters haven't changed, he says. There is one change, however: He's added a chapter, Chapter 16. "Unfortunately, it was necessary," he says. Chapter 16 isn't about nutrition. It's about politics. Read SPIEGEL's introduction to this series on good governance here and the first installment on Brazil here. Check back for more on China and Denmark in the coming weeks. Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
  6. This not good news! But what parent in their right mind would ever choose to name their off-spring "Mister." ? I am glad that the mother has removed herself from the gene pool. I am saddened that she took her kids along... Child whose mom, sibling drowned in Chattahoochee dies The Associated Press 5:57 p.m. Thursday, August 16, 2012 A child who wandered into the Chattahoochee River in Columbus has died at a hospital, three days after his mother and her 11-month-old son both drowned while trying to save the boy. Muscogee Coroner Bill Thrower says 3-year-old David Brown died Wednesday. Police told The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that the family was fishing on the bank at Rigdon Park Sunday when the 3-year-old went into the water. Police say the mother, holding her baby, went in to get him and all three went under the water, police said. Authorities say the mother, 30-year-old Krystal Ann Brown and her infant son Mister Brown both died that day. David Brown died around 1 p.m. Wednesday at Egleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta, where he had been transferred after being pulled from the water.
  7. This is becoming a weekly occurrence! What a sick puppy of a country/ society this is!!!! Oh yeah, and let's not forget: if everybody had a fully automatic assault weapon at their immediate disposal (AK 47), this could never have happened. SICK!
  8. Chris, I understand. And I concur at some level. But I open up my US passport, and it says boldly: WE THE PEOPLE of the United States..." Whatever happened to the WE??? When I arrived in this country almost 25 yrs ago, it was a very different place! There was a WE. These days, no more!!!! It is every man for himself, and God against all.
  9. Food, housing, education, and health care are a BASIC human right. Just as clean water and breathable air. As it is a "right", it should not be dolled out by a church. And if a government can't provide it, it is not a government worth its name. Or a society worth living in!
  10. FUCK THIS. In Atlanta, people will and have lined up three blocks deep for food and medical services. So, how does this make the US the grandest nation on earth...????? If its citizens are lacking even the most basic necessities? Only available thru charity. Lilburn church distributing 100K pounds of food to needy By Pat Fox The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5:46 p.m. Sunday, July 29, 2012 The line snaking around Lilburn's Faith Center church Sunday morning was as intent on real food as much as spiritual nourishment. With church services canceled, there was a big turnout, nevertheless, for the church's annual food give-away. More than 100,000 pounds of food, from cereal to produce to canned soup, was set up on tables for the thousands who filed into the church hall, located on the Berkmar High School campus. The event ran from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., but many, like Norcross resident Juanita Kennemore showed up early. "I got here at 6, because we have no food," said Kennemore, who is disabled and lives with her two children and two grandchildren. Even before the distribution began, the sanctuary was packed with more than 400 people, and the line leading into the building stretched out the door, along a shaded breezeway and into the parking lot. Volunteers were still serving into the early evening, and church Pastor Vincent Campbell estimated close to 9,000 people from Gwinnett, Cobb, Fulton and Douglas counties were served. All the food is purchased by the church with donations from parishioners. The inspiration for the food drive came in 2008, when gas soared to more than $4 a gallon. "I wanted to know what I could do to help all the single mothers in my congregation," Campbell said. He partnered with a bread company to collect and distribute bread to needy families. Almost immediately, more than 100 families showed up, Campbell said. "From there, I got the crazy idea to get 10,000 pounds of food," he said. "That turned into 21,000 pounds of food and 7,000 pounds of clothing." Inside the hall Sunday, each family was handed a large box before they even got to the food. They were told they should fill the box, take it to their car and come back for seconds if they desired. "We want to make sure they get everything they need," said Felicia Campbell, the pastor's wife. Sunday's event was a double blessing for Arneka Franklin of Norcross, who is unemployed. Franklin was seeking food for her family and prayer support for a job interview she has scheduled for today. "I literally have nothing left, and it was a blessing that somebody told me about this so I could feed my children," she said.
  11. IF THIS IS THE SECOND BEST PERSON IN ALL OF THE US, THAT'S NOT GOOD?! http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/27/mitt-romney-gaffe-strewn-london Romney campaign tries to pick up the pieces from gaffe-strewn London visit Mitt Romney is eyed by pedestrians as he was forced by gridlock traffic to walk from his hotel to the Irish embassy. Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters Mitt Romney's campaign is scrambling to limit the damage from his gaffe-strewn visit to London – which has drawn mocking put-downs from the city's mayor and the British prime minister, and "Mitt the twit" headlines in the UK – by saying that Americans don't care what the foreign press prints. But the attempt to downplay the debacle made little headway in the face of a barrage of critical coverage in the US, which portrayed the Republican presidential candidate as incompetent and undiplomatic, and stinging criticism from American Olympic legend Carl Lewis, who suggested that Romney should not be allowed to travel abroad. Senior Democrats accused Romney of embarrassing the US and himself and said that press criticism wasn't limited to foreign newspapers. The New York Daily News called Romney's visit to the UK "flub-filled". "At this rate, Mitt Romney may provoke an international incident with the United Kingdom by the weekend," it said. The Democratic party swiftly put out a video advert compiling negative coverage of Romney's trip on US news stations that played up a line from a CNN anchor: "It's a good thing the British do not vote in our elections". Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican who is touted as a potential Romney running-mate, told reporters that Americans don't care about events in London. "The reality is we're not worried about overseas headlines. We're worried about voters back here in America," he said. "I think the focus needs to continue to be on what's happening here at home. That's what's important to voters." Jindal was backed by another possible Republican vice-presidential candidate and Romney loyalist, Virginia governor Bob McDonnell. But a leading Democrat, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, told the Huffington Post that Romney has hurt the US abroad. "It's not good for us as a country – it's not good for him – but as a country to have somebody that's nominated by one of the principal parties to go over and insult everybody," he said. Reid picked up on Romney's questioning of whether London was prepared for the Olympic Games and if Britons would support them. The Republican candidate's scepticism drew derisory responses from London's mayor, Boris Johnson, and the British prime minister, David Cameron, who seemed to put down Romney's stewardship of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Reid said Romney got the tone wrong. "I would go there and I would say: they have done a remarkably good job. I know how they have been hurt with the economy. But they have done this. I have done it myself. It's so hard to do, and they have done a remarkably good job," he said. "That's what [Romney] should have done. He would have been cheered and not have the mayor, before 60,000 people, belittle one of our major party nominees. And that's what the mayor did." Romney's supporters have noted that he was not saying anything the British have not been concerned about in recent weeks including the security shambles at the Olympic site and questions over Londoners' enthusiasm for the Games amid much moaning about the impact on their daily lives. He sought to defuse some of the criticism in an interview with NBC on Friday in which he said he was sure London will carry off the Games, although he avoided acknowledging he made a mistake with his earlier comments. "I'm absolutely convinced that the people here are ready for the Games," he said. "In just a few moments all the things politicians say will get swept away because the athletes finally take the stage. The games are about the athletes. That's why the games, virtually anywhere they've been, have been highly successful." Romney also avoided the risk of further gaffes by declining to make any public comments when he met the Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, in London. Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said that the Romney campaign is right that Americans care more about the economy than they do about what is happening in London. But he said the near farce of Romney's trip will reinforce doubts in the minds of some voters about his fitness for the presidency. "The image is somewhat that he's not ready for prime time. It's London for God's sakes. You have to try to mess up a foreign debut in Great Britain if you're an American candidate for president. It looks terrible. He was a gaffe machine. It wasn't just a single gaffe. Every time he opened his mouth he created another gaffe," he said. "It's late July. The memory of it will be wiped out by the Olympics, the vice-presidential choice and the [Republican] convention. But does it play into the dilemma Americans have in this election? Yes. They're very dissatisfied with President Obama's economic performance but they're not at all sure that Romney's the kind of president that they want or need." Romney's difficulties provided a welcome distraction for Obama from the latest poor economic figures which showed that US economic growth has slowed to 1.5% over the last quarter. A growth rate of 2% is necessary to start bringing down unemployment which rose to 8.2% last month. Sabato said that in those circumstances, Romney should have a clear lead in the polls. Yet, Obama is pulling ahead in the most recent opinion polls. "If Obama wins re-election he's literally going to smash into bits the rule book about where unemployment has to be, where GDP has to be. The numbers are miserable," he said.
  12. Geez, and just look at all the Americans that prefer to get their healthcare needs taken care of in Germany/ Austria, or a Carribean country. Or all the foreigners from Saudia Arabia, Russia, etc. They prefer Western Europe over the US. And certainly not for lack of money! Dimwit, you ever travelled to another country? You have a passport? Have you ever lived in another culture other than your incestuous neighborhood?
  13. Been retired from TI (UPT, Strong) duties for almost 7 years. I always made sure to tell my passengers: "Smile into the camera. I will ask you: "Are you ready to skydive?" Simply, if we had video, this would be my assurance if anything went wrong. Made about 500 tandem jumps. Never injured a passenger. Only the asshole dzo! (i) One time passenger didn't want to get out. So, we retreated. Ordered the pilot/dzo for a a go-around. She was ready on the second pass. DZO wasn't happy because of additional flight time and associated costs; (ii) On another occasion, solid cloud cover from 4-13k. Got up to about 13.5k. I needed less than 500 ft to get stable and deploy the drogue. But I wasn't going to take a chance w/ my or my passenger's life. You don't want to end up unstable in a grey oblivion where you can't tell up from down. Four tandems went, I refused and rode the plane down w/ my passenger. We went back-up again within the hour. Had a good jump! But so did all the other four tandems; because every one of their videos was shit. Condensation on the camera!!!! Difference between my fellow tandem instructors and me? I was pulling a $100k M-F, and I could afford to say NO!
  14. You ever ventured outside of Texas? Didn't think so! How about Harris County???
  15. Traitor! Terrorist!!!! Only those who would wish to harm the great nation of ours , have dental implants!! Real Americans have perfect teeth! :)
  16. Speechless!!! Without words!!! Only in the USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Certifiably the most gaga Nation in the world!!!! Surealists, like Dali, would have a field day! P.S.: Also, don't miss the lesbian/queer hate speech by the NC pastor. Youtube.com Plane Diverted After Passenger Claims an Implanted Device By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr. WASHINGTON -- A passenger flight from Paris to Charlotte, N.C., was diverted on Tuesday to Bangor, Maine, because of security concerns apparently set off when a passenger told the crew that she had a surgically implanted device. Airline and government officials said US Airways Flight 787, carrying 179 passengers and a crew of 9, was escorted safely to land by military aircraft, as is the standard precaution when a flight is diverted because of the suspicions of the flight crew over a passenger's behavior. Airlines and counterterrorism agencies have been on the watch for the possibility that terrorists would try to bring down a plane using a bomb concealed on a passenger or even implanted as a way to hide it better. The state of alert was heightened after intelligence agencies penetrated the Al Qaeda network in Yemen a few weeks ago and captured a bomb designed to be hidden in a person's clothing. There was no immediate indication that a bomb or any such device was involved in this case. The woman was arrested, according to Representative Peter T. King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.. The flight, from Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris, was expected to continue to Charlotte later in the day, according to Reuters. "Out of an abundance of caution, the flight was diverted to BGR (Bangor) where it was met by law enforcement," the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement. More details would be made public soon, an official said. In a statement issued by Mr. King, a New York Republican, he said that he had been told that “a French citizen on board handed a note to a flight attendant that said she had a surgically implanted device inside her. Doctors on the flight checked her out and did not see any sign of recent scars. The woman was born in Cameroon, was traveling alone without any checked baggage. She was visiting the U.S. for 10 days.”
  17. The "we" is the absolute we! The King's we! Just as Texas John is outraged for all of "we", I am, too!! Except that he has no business in the UK, none in the US, none in TX, and probably none in his community in TX either. Proof me wrong, Texas John!!! What have you done for YOUR community lately? EXCEPT POSTURIZING ON THE INTERNET????? Who is this "we" that you are pretending to speak for? It's rather presumptuous of you to pronounce judgement upon him on behalf of everyone else, don't you think? And if he shouldn't speak on subjects outside of Texas, does that mean that you also should refrain from spaeking on any topics outside your own home state? My goodness, little Skypiggie is shocked at the attitudes that some people have here.
  18. In summary, I think we can conclude that Texas John's RICH reviews are unwelcome, unhelpful. And if he confine himself to his native Texas: the better for all of mankind. DO YOU GET IT, JOHN RICH???
  19. The Power of propaganda. Remember the Soviet Union? It was all propaganda, all the time. In your face. And totally unbelievable. And that's why the US succeeded. Better propaganda. So good, that people actually want to believe it. It's all lies and deceits, but, nevertheless, people like to be served their lies and deceits. This is the real MATRIX!!! P.S.: And our own LawnRocket is its agent!
  20. But it is my country. The US, that is. How about YOU leaving it??? And take your genius Perry and Texas w/ you.
  21. RICH, very rich! Spin on, Texas John. P.S.: And that's all that s.b. needs to know about you. No spin at all. Copyright law prohibits me from reprinting the entire article. And I provided a link to the full story for all to see. So all I can do is introduce it with the essential facts. There is nothing intentionally misleading about that methodology - it's all there for anyone to see. And I hope you don't think it is the correct policy to bar anyone who speaks out against a country's politics. Because I'm sure that if America barred everyone who spoke out against it, you would have a conniption fit.
  22. By Miriam Widman In Germany, people are baffled by how hostile a country as religious as the United States can be to the principle of mandatory healthcare insurance. Not even conservatives question the system, which businesspeople say gives Europe's largest economy a competitive advantage. As the United States Supreme Court considers whether requiring people to have health insurance is unconstitutional, Germans are bewildered as to why so many Americans appear to be against universal coverage. They also question the continued portrayal of US President Barack Obama and his health reform backers as socialists and communists, noting that healthcare was introduced in Germany in the 19th century by Otto von Bismarck, who was definitely not a leftist, and is supported by conservative and pro-business politicians today. "It's a solidarity principle," says Ann Marini, a spokesperson for the National Health Insurers Association. "Not every 'S' automatically means socialism." Marini and others say that mandated coverage is something that is simply not questioned in Germany. Furthermore, even the most pro-market politicians wouldn't dare to dismantle the country's health insurance system. System Only Works if Everyone Takes Part The requirement that everyone buy health insurance is based on a simple concept, healthcare experts agree. Allowing healthy people to opt out of having health insurance destroys the insurance community and leaves insurers covering only the sick. American health insurance companies are well aware of that. America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in January saying the required coverage mandate cannot be divorced from Obama's healthcare reforms. In a convoluted press release it wrote: "A wide range of experts has consistently agreed that enacting guarantee issue and community rating has severe unintended consequences unless they are paired with a strong commitment to achieve universal coverage through an effective and enforced personal coverage requirement." In plain English, this means that if only sick people sign up for insurance it is impossible to insure people regardless of pre-conditions, or to limit insurance companies' ability to set prices based on an individual's history and risk. Everyone has to take part -- sick and healthy people -- for the system to work. Competitive Advantage This is understood in Germany, even by some American businesspeople who know their corporate health insurance costs could be much lower in the US, where no coverage is required. "As an employer I would never question hiring somebody and not insuring them," says Seattle native-turned Berlin café owner Cynthia Barcomi. She opened Barcomi's, a café in the trendy Kreuzberg neighborhood, in 1994. Three years later Barcomi's Deli opened in the central Mitte district. Between the two ventures she now has around 40 employees. Under German law, she pays roughly half her employees' healthcare premiums as part of their labor contracts. The actual sum is based on what a worker earns. Even though it costs her a lot, she's a staunch believer in the system. "The national healthcare system is an incredibly important thing for everybody, for the entire society and for the health of the society," she says. "You just cannot have people falling through the grid because they don't have healthcare, because they are not healthy. The basis for everything is people's health, not just your own health but the health of your neighbor." The American entrepreneur said she'd offer health insurance to her employees even if she weren't required to by law, as she is in Germany, because people are more productive if they think their employer cares about and believes in them. "It's part of a working relationship; It's a tit for tat," she says during an interview at her Kreuzberg café. "If I want people to work well for me and if I want them to be satisfied with me as an employer, I have to offer them something that's more than just the minimum wage." This attitude toward healthcare -- which seems so foreign in the US -- gives Germany a competitive advantage, Barcomi and other businesspeople say. A healthy workforce is a more productive workforce and recent German statistics would back that up. The country has relatively low unemployment and in many sectors the economy is booming. But in the US, which spends more than any other developed nation on healthcare, an increasing number of businesses are "less competetive globally because of ballooning healthcare costs," according to an article published by the Council on Foreign Relations in March. Indeed, despite the ample spending on healthcare, the system remains inefficient, and the US ranks with Turkey and Mexico as the only members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) without universal heath coverage, it adds. Don't Religious Americans Love Their Neighbors? But there are other reasons why Germans are confused about the US healthcare debate. The US comes across to not only Germans, but to many Europeans, as a religious country. God seems to be part of many US debates, especially ones surrounding the presidential campaign. In secular European politics, the Almighty is rarely if ever invoked. "For me the US is a very religious country. It doesn't matter which religion I look at -- love thy neighbor is a very, very important point in religion," health insurance spokesperson Marini says. For her, the apparent deep religiousness of many Americans doesn't jibe with their unwillingness to be part of a healthcare community. Politician Wolfgang Zöller, a member of Bavaria's conservative Christian Social Union party, argues that Christian principles support a national healthcare system and both are compatible with capitalism. He wonders how a working class man with a family who doesn't have insurance pays for an operation when he becomes sick. "The question of health insurance is a humane question," he says. "I want every person -- independent of age, independent of income or pre-existing conditions -- to have the possibility to be helped when he is sick." But that is not happening in the United States, according to numerous statistics. The US ranks last out of 16 industrialized countries on a measure of deaths that might have been prevented with timely and effective care, according to a study released last year by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that supports independent healthcare research. Germany was in ninth place, according to the "National Scorecard on US Health Performance." Premature death rates are 68 percent higher in the US than in the best-performing countries. As many as 91,000 fewer people would die prematurely if the US could achieve the leading country rate, the report said. Instead, the study notes that "access to healthcare significantly eroded since 2006," with more than 81 million working-age adults -- some 44 percent of those aged 19 to 64 -- uninsured or underinsured in 2010. This was an increase of 35 percent from 2003 levels. Other advanced countries are managing to outpace the US in providing "timely access to primary care, reducing premature mortality, and extending healthy life expectancy, all while spending considerably less on healthcare and administration," the study goes on. And that's exactly what Zöller says he's talking about. When people become sick they should be helped regardless of their financial or social situation, he says. "Otherwise you're left with the famous saying, 'the poor die young.' And I don't want that."
  23. Some 15 yrs ago, the requirement for AFF-I w/ USPA was the equiv of 360 jumps. Also, at that time the courses were considered pretty "demanding"; no Facebook/ social network ppl needed to apply!! Membership on drop zone.com would not get you a rating in those days; unlike today! My wife, at exactly 360 jumps, did a one-week pre course w/ the late Terry Goode, and passed her AFF-I w/ one of the five USPA examiners on the first try. In her time she was a very successful AFF-I, TI, and Rigger. Students just loved her. My point: when you are ready, you are ready. If you have doubts about yourself, you are not ready!
  24. Common sense went out the window in this country of ours, the first time a person had to acknowledge in writing that jumping out of an airplane at 13k carries the risk of death.