Mira
Mira's JournalSandusky Sex Abuse Investigation Faults Paterno and Others at Penn State
Source: The New York Times
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Thursday, July 12, 2012 -- 9:11 AM EDT
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Sandusky Sex Abuse Investigation Faults Paterno and Others at Penn State
The most senior officials at Penn State University failed for more than a decade to take any steps to protect the children victimized by Jerry Sandusky, the longtime lieutenant to head football coach Joe Paterno, according to an independent investigation of the sex abuse scandal that rocked the university last fall.
“Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims,” said Louis J. Freeh, the former federal judge and director of the F.B.I. who oversaw the investigation. “The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/sports/ncaafootball/13pennstate.html?emc=na
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/sports/ncaafootball/13pennstate.html?emc=na
Where is the Daily Show and Jon Stewart? Please tell me
what I don't know.
No Jon - or Steve Colbert yesterday, or today, on my Comedy Central channel.
Americans' Confidence in Television News Drops to New Low---Gallup results
July 10, 2012
Americans' Confidence in Television News Drops to New Low
Liberals' and moderates' views are now similar to conservatives'
by Lymari Morales
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' confidence in television news is at a new low by one percentage point, with 21% of adults expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in it. This marks a decline from 27% last year and from 46% when Gallup started tracking confidence in television news in 1993.
source:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/155585/Americans-Confidence-Television-News-Drops-New-Low.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=Politics%20-%20USA
Best 5 "dancing" minutes I think I ever spent - don't know where to post this, Artists Group won out
It's a wonder. And it's a tribute to so many artists, mostly past, some present.
Enjoy this now!
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=ab9i0s4WEY0&feature=related
"The Newsroom" has what to me is a thrilling added attraction. Look here:
http://www.nextavenue.org/blog/jane-fondas-latest-comebackI just watched the third installment of the show, and the way I see it, if you add the first and second, then you come near how good the third was.
This is the first show in decades, other than Bill Maher, that I have taken a shining to and sit down to watch.
I'm having such a good time with it!!!
(Yes, I do listen to MSNBC in the evening, but rarely sit down for any of it)
What happens if a state opts out of Medicaid? In one chart.
What happens if a state opts out of Medicaid? In one chart.
Ezra Klein
If governors opt their states out of the health law’s Medicaid expansion — as many are now threatening to do — it’s the poorest Americans who would find themselves getting the rawest deal.
This set of charts from our graphics department helps explain why: People who earn less than 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Line (about $11,170 for an individual) are ineligible for tax credits to purchase health insurance. In a state like Arkansas, for example, that could be a big deal:
Anyone in the orange area above is stuck in a sort of no-man’s land: They’re both ineligible for tax subsidies but not covered under their state’s current Medicaid program.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/05/what-happens-if-a-state-opts-out-of-medicaid-in-one-chart/
"Just speak for yourselves"-health care & Republicans claiming to speak for"The American People"
Just speak for yourselves
By Jim Jenkins
Raleigh News and Observer
After the U.S. Supreme Court basically supported the legality of what Republicans have come to call “Obamacare,” the GOP’s bombastic leaders went on and on and on about what an outrage it was and how disastrous it was going to be for “the American people.”
They spoke for “the American people,” they said, who, if given the choice, would run over all 2,000-plus pages of “Obamacare” as if it were a possum on a two-lane blacktop at midnight.
Mitt Romney, the once-moderate Republican governor of Massachusetts who presided over the installation of something very similar to the president’s health care reform in his state, used the high court’s ruling to put it to “the American people” that by golly, this was 1776 all over again and that the only way they were gonna get rid of Obamacare would be to get rid of Obama.
Coincidentally, that would make Republican nominee-designate Romney, who’s had more plastic surgery done on his political positions than Joan Rivers has on her cheekbones, the next president.
As one of “the American people,” your correspondent suggests that there might be a few people who’d opt out of Romney’s offer to speak for them. The idea that politicians think they probably deserve to be elected unanimously because they know “the American people” is annoying as all get-out whether it comes from Republicans or Democrats.
The GOP strategists are using “Obamacare” as a device to raise money and stir up opposition to the president. The people buying their pitch don’t like President Obama, for various reasons. Health care reform seems like a hook on which to hang their feelings against the president.
So after the high court ruling, let’s take a breather and consider what “Obamacare” doesn’t do: It’s not a government takeover of health care. The insurance system still is in place, but most everyone will have to have it. Over time that ought to lower the cost for others. (And by the way, government has long been in the health care business through Medicare, which works well for the vast majority of recipients.)
What it does do is, in time, help people who have pre-existing conditions get coverage, make coverage more affordable, cover more children, allow parents to keep their kids (who may not have coverage in their first jobs) on their insurance for a while and generally aim for what’s called universal coverage. Some of the benefits of “Obamacare” already are in place. By 2014, more will be.
And Mitt Romney, who had no problem with this type of care when he was governor of Massachusetts, says he’ll repeal “Obamacare” as his first priority. Great. Nothing like a man with conviction.
For millions and millions of people. the ones with insurance, anyway, the American health care system works fine. We get timely and good care and we like our docs. We respect their training and their right to be compensated for their skills, something health care reform respects as well.
But the competition among hospitals (buying doctors’ practices, etc.) and an insurance system that’s connected to employment has made for a patchwork, a confusing system of care for the average patient. (I recently had a minor surgical procedure, but couldn’t go to Rex Hospital, where I normally would have gone, because my insurer isn’t accepted by UNC Hospitals, which owns Rex. My doctor, who normally would have done the procedure at Rex, went to WakeMed to treat me, which I greatly appreciated. Everything was cool. It’s a very fine hospital.)
There are, for example, instances where one hospital will have the capability for complicated eye surgery, for example, and another will not. Some doctors don’t take calls at all hospitals.
More and more, hospitals are acquiring doctors’ practices, which means that if a patient’s insurance isn’t accepted at such a hospital, that patient is going to have to change doctors. And if a patient winds up at a hospital that doesn’t accept his or her insurance without knowing it, a huge bill may cause financial mayhem.
In other words, the system isn’t perfect, and so what’s wrong with reform that might make it better? Yes, the path to reform was indeed rocky, and mistakes were made by well-intentioned advocates. But more than a few of “the American people” have had problems of one kind or another in the current health care system, problems that were not of their making and beyond their control.
For that reason and others, the “repeal Obamacare” bandwagon, with Mitt Romney riding shotgun, may have more empty seats than Republicans realize.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/07/05/2177852/just-speak-for-yourselves.html
Murder and Mayhem in Karlsruhe Germany - 5 dead
Up to five people are reported dead in a hostage-taking in Karlsruhe, southwest Germany.
The hostage-taker is believed to be among those killed, police told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
He is said to have been facing eviction from his apartment after failing to pay rent.
Officials were sent to evict him this morning and were greeted with multiple gunshots, the Associated Press reported. The man also claimed to have a hand grenade, one witness told Die Welt.
The gunman is believed to have forced the bailiff, a locksmith, the apartment block caretaker and the property owner into his property, though their identities have not yet been confirmed.
Special forces were sent to the scene and attempted to contact the hostage-taker, Karlsruhe police spokesman Juergen Scheufer told the AP. It is not known whether they succeeded.
Commandos eventually stormed the apartment after smelling smoke, according to Reuters.
They first saw four dead bodies inside; another, that of a woman thought to be the apartment owner, was discovered upon searching the property, said Agence France Presse.
All the victims died of gunshot wounds, DPA reported.
Police are still investigating what happened. They are due to give more details at a press conference later today.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/120704/germany-hostage-taking-4-killed-karlsruhe
I talked to my Mom, 88, who lives in Karlsruhe around the corner from where this happened. She drove to Aldi's this morning to go shopping and found herself in the middle of this. She said she had never seen so many police in her life, and not knowing what was wrong she kept looking around and saw policemen in the trees.
She said at first she figured that they were hired to trim the trees safely.
Bet no American would think this as the first possibility. Yes, I know what you are thinking, but her mind is as sharp as yours 
An occurrence like this mass murder is rare in Germany, for which I am grateful.
Money and Rmoney --- a good read on how he's dodging full disclosure
WASHINGTON (AP)
For nearly 15 years, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's financial portfolio has included an offshore company that remained invisible to voters as his political star rose.
Based in Bermuda, Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd. was not listed on any of Romney's state or federal financial reports. The company is among several Romney holdings that have not been fully disclosed, including one that recently posted a $1.9 million earning - suggesting he could be wealthier than the nearly $250 million estimated by his campaign.
The omissions were permitted by state and federal authorities overseeing Romney's ethics filings, and he has never been cited for failing to disclose information about his money. But Romney's limited disclosures deprive the public of an accurate depiction of his wealth and a clear understanding of how his assets are handled and taxed, according to experts in private equity, tax and campaign finance law.
Sankaty was transferred to a trust owned by Romney's wife, Ann, one day before he was sworn in as Massachusetts governor in 2003, according to Bermuda records obtained by The Associated Press. The Romneys' ownership of the offshore firm did not appear on any state or federal financial reports during Romney's two presidential campaigns. Only the Romneys' 2010 tax records, released under political pressure earlier this year, confirmed their continuing control of the company.
much more at this link:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ROMNEY_OFFSHORE_COMPANY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Associated Press writer Josh Ball in Hamilton, Bermuda, contributed to this report.
Michael Moore Talks About SCOTUS, Occupy, Weasel Democrats and Obama
Rob Kall says:
Michael Moore gave a talk at a fundraiser for health-care Now, a single payer advocacy organization, on Saturday, June 30th. He covered the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare, Weasel Democrats, Occupy, the Obama Election...
The first few minutes of the talk were not recorded.
The transcript picks up just after Moore had just said that in other countries, outside the USA, people have a different approach than Americans, who are all about "Me, myself and I."
Moore:
Again, somehow we've got to take care of each other especially on the big stuff like healthcare. But we are the only country that doesn't have this, when there are like so many other good things about us, as Americans, things that people in other countries like, they actually like about, they like us in many ways,But we have a few blind spots, and this is a huge one but it's is not just about healthcare, it's about that basic sense of "me". When, if you live in Canada, or France, or Sweden, or UK, or Ireland, or Ghana, it's "we", "me" Vs. "we", that is really the thing that we have to change ultimately, if we're going to get people to come with us politically on these issues.
I wanna say a couple of words about what happened this week (Supreme Court ruling on ACA/Obamacare.) Let me start by saying this, because we're just talking amongst friends here, right? This is not on YouTube, with twenty thousand.
Those of us on this side of the political fence sometimes have a problem with not being able to be happy, and for good reason, there's a lot of stuff, to be really sad and angry, and upset about. But it calls our judgment so that when we occasionally have a victory, we can't even celebrate the victory, because clearly we know, and we do know that Thursday is not a victory, is not a real victory, right? But if you just step back from that for a second, and realize that, for the other people that do share our political beliefs, even if they're not activists, they felt really good on Thursday, those Americans, when the Supreme Court did that, and we take on the other side, when Roberts flipped, they still have not gone to bed tonight, right now. I mean seriously, they are so depressed, and upset. If you don't believe it, you go to my twitter feed and just read all the comments beneath cause it's been non-stop 72 hour hate fest, because they're so upset that somehow, somehow we got away with one.
And we go on there too, because we didn't wake up Thursday thinking anything, right, expect the worst. And some of us probably thought, Oh, they're getting rid of it, so we can start over.
for all of it and some good photos go here:
http://www.opednews.com/populum/printer_friendly.php?content=a&id=152565
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