Sunday, November 1, 2009

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Mark Joseph: President Obama & America's Comedically-Challenged Funnymen Top
For years liberals and conservatives have argued back and forth about a press biased against their side. President Obama is now leading a crusade against conservative talk radio and Fox News, while for years, at least since Richard Nixon's presidency, conservatives complained about biased coverage by the mainstream media. I think it's fair to say that most mainstream news orgs tilt left while talk radio leans right but somehow through a multitude of voices and forms of media, we arrive at a semblance of balance. But I'm increasingly troubled by the lack of objectivity among comedians, especially when it comes to the treatment of our new President. Comedy should be bipartisan, and we should all be able to laugh equally at conservative and liberal leaders alike, but an increasingly ideological comedy community suddenly claims it can't find anything to laugh about when it comes to Barack Obama, a problem they mysteriously never seemed to have with previous presidents. President Gerald Ford was an ace football star at the University of Michigan, yet a few slip ups like this one caused SNL star Chevy Chase to create sketches like this one which had us all convinced that Ford was a bumbler. But if we thought our comedians were being equal opportunity mockers, the joke was on us. In an unusual moment of candor, Chase confirmed last year what conservatives had long suspected: comedians were acting less like an impartial umpire and more like a referee who kept throwing punches when the judges weren't looking. "I wanted Carter in and I wanted him out," Chase said of Ford and his relentless if hilarious attacks on the sitting President. "And I figured, 'look we're reaching millions of people.'" A nonplussed CNN interviewer tried again to make sure she had heard him right. "Wait a minute you mean to tell me that in the back of your mind you were thinking 'hey I want Carter and I'm going to make him look bad?'" "Oh Yeah!," Chase replied. Ronald Reagan's occasional napping and his seeming disengagement from the issues provided fodder for comedians and hilarious sketches like this one in which Reagan the foreign policy mastermind pretends to be the amiable dunce that Clark Clifford once called him. George Bush's mangled syntax and general awkwardness was all Dana Carvey needed to mock him effectively as he did here. Who could forget SNL's hilarious take on Bill Clinton whose outsized appetites for sex and fast food provided wonderfully funny moments like this one. Then there was Will Ferrell smartly capturing George W. Bush's cowboy impatience and less than perfect command of the English language here. But then along came Barack Obama and suddenly professional funny-men claimed in articles like this one and this one that they were suddenly unable to be funny anymore. Sorry, comedians of America, we don't believe you, and after Chase's confession, we really don't believe you. But for a moment let's just pretend you're not pretending you can't be funny in order to help him politically and you are, indeed, momentarily, truly comedy-challenged. Here are some suggestions from an amateur: * Obama as Erkel: He's black, skinny and, let's be honest here, a little geeky. Give him some suspenders and some glasses and you've got Steve Erkel. And when he gets on his bike and hikes up his pants too high, he begins to look like an all-grown-up Erkel. * The Gerald Ford Factor: No pratfalls yet, but if he keeps doing stuff like this, the bumping his head into stuff might work nicely. *The guy who tries to pretend he's working class but can't do working class things-like bowl and throws a baseball like a....well...not like a boy. *The guy who can't function without his Teleprompter. * The foreigner who hasn't been around the continental United States long enough and thinks there are 57 or 58 or 59 states in America * The elitist who asks for Dijon on his hamburgers , and asks country folk if they've seen the price of Arugula at Whole Foods lately. Americans love to laugh at our Presidents and if our so-called funnymen keep feigning an inability to speak humor to power-and make us laugh-we may have to find new voices who prize doing their jobs and keeping the jokes coming over advancing an ideologically-driven political agenda. More on Barack Obama
 
Teen Abortion Law Goes Into Operation This Week Top
Physicians in Illinois this week must begin notifying a parent or guardian when a girl 17 or younger seeks an abortion -- a rule abortion opponents long have sought, but which critics say could keep minors from seeking safe procedures.
 
World Series Game 4: Yankees Beat Phillies 7-4 Top
PHILADELPHIA — Alex Rodriguez waited all game for this hit. Heck, he waited his whole career. Rodriguez delivered the biggest hit of his life, a go-ahead, two-out double in the ninth inning off Brad Lidge and the New York Yankees took advantage of Johnny Damon's alert dash to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-4 on Sunday night for a 3-1 lead in the World Series. Derek Jeter delivered all game and Mariano Rivera closed it out as the Yankees moved within one win of that elusive 27th championship and first since 2000. Rodriguez could really savor this victory – seething after again being hit by a pitch, he struck back with his potent black bat. The Yankees will try to clinch it Monday night when A.J. Burnett faces October ace Cliff Lee. Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz hit late home runs for the Phillies that tied it at 4. Then it moved to the ninth and Phils brought in Lidge – a postseason star last year, who had struggled all season before regaining his touch this October. But November was not so kind to him. More on MLB
 
Carolyn Brown Hodge, Aide To Gov. Quinn, Resigns After Probe Top
A top aide to Gov. Quinn has left her $119,158-a-year job amid a state government probe into whether she had done political work on state time.
 
Bears Pull Away Big To Beat Browns 30-6 Top
CHICAGO — Pounded the previous week and losers of two straight, the Chicago Bears couldn't afford to go down again. Good thing for them that Derek Anderson and the Cleveland Browns were in town. Jay Cutler threw for 225 yards, Matt Forte ran for two touchdowns and the Bears (4-3) beat the bumbling Browns 30-6 Sunday. Anderson had another miserable day for the Browns (1-7) and was lifted for Brady Quinn, the man he replaced in Week 3, with about three minutes left in the game. Anderson completed just 6 of 17 passes for 76 yards and got intercepted twice. That certainly didn't help a rating that was already a league-low 40.6 entering this game. And now, the Browns appear to be back in a familiar spot: Deciding on a starting quarterback. The Bears paid tribute to Walter Payton at halftime on the 10th anniversary of his death, then delivered a performance that was far from sweet. Chicago struggled to complete drives early on, settling for field goals instead of touchdowns but did just enough to put away the team with the league's worst defense and second-worst offense. That won't settle the nerves of fans who were more than antsy after a 45-10 thumping the previous week at Cincinnati. Cutler was on the run all day and got sacked a season-high four times despite a shakeup on the line in which Josh Beekman replaced Frank Omiyale as the starting left guard. A late hit from Kamerion Wimbley on a third down in the second quarter left him with a bloody mouth, and he got leveled by Shaun Rogers on a 31-yard pass to Johnny Knox in the third. Both plays led to touchdown runs by Matt Forte, who finished with 90 yards on 26 carries. The Bears got a scare when Devin Hester limped off the field after making a catch late in the fourth quarter. He came back for a punt return and finished with seven receptions for 81 yards. After giving up a season-high 448 yards and touchdowns on the first four possessions against the Bengals and old friend Cedric Benson, the Bears held Cleveland to 191. The Browns didn't score until Anderson ran it in from the 1 early in the third, making it 16-6, and the Bears pulled away from there. They might have broken it open earlier if not for some missed opportunities. Robbie Gould gave them a 3-0 lead with a 37-yard field goal with 2:20 left in the first quarter, and the Bears immediately had a big opportunity when a Danieal Manning lunged to pick off a deep pass intended for Mohamed Massaquoi. He returned the ball 35 yards to the Cleveland 13, but instead of a touchdown, Chicago had to settle for a 29-yarder from Gould that made it 6-0 with 1:13 left in the quarter. The Bears had another shot at the end zone early in the second when they recovered a fumble by Jamal Lewis near midfield, only to call on Gould again. This time, he booted a 32-yarder after Cutler got sacked by an unchecked Kamerion Wimbley on third down at the 3, but Wimbley's late helmet-to-head on the quarterback on third down at the 31 a few minutes later proved costly. Not only did the Bears finally score a touchdown, the Browns lost linebacker Eric Barton to a right shoulder injury. That happened when he and Eric Wright tackled Greg Olsen on a 12-yard pass that put the ball on the Cleveland 14. Three plays later, Forte ran it in from the 1 to make it 16-0. NOTES: Besides the change at left guard, the Bears juggled their defensive lineup. DT Tommie Harris started after being benched the previous week. The Bears also went with Marcus Harrison over Anthony Adams at nose tackle, and had Hunter Hillenmeyer at middle linebacker, with Nick Roach moving to the strong side. ... Browns K Phil Dawson was active after missing five weeks with a strained left calf. He missed an extra point. More on Sports
 
Walter Payton Honored By Bears At Halftime Top
CHICAGO — Ten years to the day he died, Walter Payton was honored by the Chicago Bears with a ceremony at halftime of Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns. The crowd roared during a video tribute that showed highlights of his career and included praise from Mike Ditka and owner Virginia McCaskey, along with former teammates such as Otis Wilson and Richard Dent. Besides dodging and leaping over defenders, Payton was also known for his work ethic and his tendency to pull pranks. The video showed that, too. There was Payton running up a hill in suburban Barrington and setting off a firecracker at training camp, as he was known to do. When the tribute was over, his wife Connie asked the crowd, "Wasn't that awesome?" Flanked by their son Jarrett and daughter Brittney, Connie Payton ended her brief speech by saying, "We love you. And one more thing: Go Bears!" The NFL's all-time leading rusher when he retired, Payton was first diagnosed with a rare liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis and then cancer before he died on Nov. 1, 1999. More on Sports
 
Roni Zeiger: Add magic and music to medicine Top
Last week a special conference called TEDMED happened, which brought together thought leaders in health, technology, as well as leaders from many fields which at first glance might surprise you. We saw the future of healthcare in discussions about robotic limbs , over-the-counter DNA testing , and pills with (edible!) computer chips inside them. Equally eye-opening was inspirational poetry , soul-touching live music , and magicians who made us question our assumptions about the impossible. I even learned how to hold my breath for 4 minutes ! At first, I judged these latter sessions to be light entertainment designed simply as a break between the real content of the conference. Now I'm not so sure. Health is a science we still understand only superficially. Surely a century from now we will look back at the state of the art of 2009 and see that medicine was in its infancy. I expect (and hope) that health care also has a long evolution ahead. We -- patients, clinicians, caregivers, friends -- will learn to take better care of each other as we uncover the mysteries of science and technology. Perhaps we can also learn about health care by listening to the way music and other art can heal, and the way magic can make us challenge our assumptions about what is possible. More on Health
 
How Important Are These Off-Year Races? Top
At the very least, the results in the governors' races, if not predictive, are quite likely to drive the political narrative, bolstering or diminishing Mr. Obama's political stature as he seeks to rally a divided party. The outcome could, to a limited degree, help measure whether Mr. Obama's success last year was a phenomenon limited to him or the early signs of a long-term Democratic resurgence. More on Democratic Convention
 
Paula Gordon: Time of Our Lives Top
Rejoice!  Today is the Longest Day Of The Year.  No, it’s not a solstice.  Today we right the wrong of so-called “daylight saving” and get back closer to being in sync with the sun in our obsession for tracking the arrow of time.  Why do we put up with effectively moving to a different time zone twice a year, with all the dissociation that goes with it?  Beats me.  There are still a whole bunch of countries that never ever fell for it.  And Daylight Saving Time is far from “free” -- I’ve seen estimates  that figure the costs of changing the clocks start at a minimum of half a billion dollars.   Not that there is anything “standard” about “Standard Time”.  Of course, that too is a human invention, a convenience to and for the gargantuan railroad industry that was the beating heart of much of the industrial revolution in the developed world.   But at least please let us remember.  NO DAYLIGHT IS SAVED just because we fool around with clocks.  (If you’re interested in the long and contentious history that goes with all this, there’s an excellent website .) Others seem to take the biannual disruption of their endocrine system lightly but I do not.  And year ‘round, I have the great luxury of being able to awaken more or less at the same time every day because our schedules are much less fixed than other peoples’.  Try as he might, my husband has yet to convince me that what a clock says really does not matter, as long as I get where I need to be when I need to be there.  Yet to have the hands on the clock, digits on the LEDs and roll-overs showing moment by moment on my computer more accurately reflect -- calmly, consistently, correctly -- where the sun is in the sky relative to “high noon”?  A visceral relief! For five long-gone years, I lived in Indiana during the years it refused to completely capitulate.   All year long in many counties (including the one in which I lived,) clocks remained “Standard”.  Simply in biological and psychic terms, it was nothing short of wonderful.  Neither in spring nor in fall did anyone have to factor in a week or more acclimating to what is in effect moving to a different time zone -- twice a year!   Alas, the Indiana legislature caved recently and forced the state into the lockstep of the nation’s time-fiddlers.  The result?  No less that National Geographic  reported a study that stated unequivocally, that it “cost homeowners dearly on their electric bills.  Just in the state of Indiana, it turns out to be almost seven million dollars a year in increased residential electricity bills... And that's at a far lower price for electricity than the national average." The study found that daylight saving time did save on lighting use but that heating and air-conditioning use more than offset any gains. “Daylight Saving Time actually increases electricity demand, instead of lessening it. DST caused electrical demand to rise almost 1 percent each year overall—with a much heavier increase of 2-4 percent in the fall, when residents ‘fall back’ an hour.” My half-baked solution is clumsy at best.  And yes, it lasts all the months that I have no choice but to endure the mandated “daylight savings”.  I operate on a double clock.  My internal one does what that of all living creatures do -- I stay with the sun.  Then in a weird kind of 2-2 time, I adjust my steps to that which society imposes. Admittedly, I am all the more rankled that a.) this was a war-time solution that never went away (that’s World War ONE,) and b.) my months of relief are even fewer than they used to be because a Republican Congress -- actively averse to doing anything meaningful about America’s oil dependence after “9/11” -- imposed DST on me and everyone else four weeks earlier in the spring and stretched it out one week longer in the fall. Given all the things about which I could get “het-up”, fooling with the clock -- especially my internal one -- may seem a tad silly.  But never, ever, should one miss an opportunity to challenge arbitrary authority ... particularly when it, too, is half-baked. More on Health
 
Stewart Acuff: Fundamental Healthcare Reform Now. Top
It is beyond doubt that we are in a potentially historic moment of great change. In the last two years we've made huge change in America. Just four or five years ago after George W's re-election how many of us thought that in 2008 we would elect as President a progressive African-American and large majorities of Democrats in both Houses of Congress? And how many of us thought that we would also be so close to passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and real, fundamental labor law reform? Americans are ready for change! And no potential change in America is more significant as real, fundamental healthcare reform,. To be sure we have huge obstacles and barriers to overcome. Now the insurance companies which originally committed to working with the President and Congress on change have reversed course, come out adamantly for the status quo and threatened to raise premiums and other costs if we achieve change. And America's Radical Rightwing led by Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove, Dick Armey, Newt Gingrich and others are doing all they can to keep us from critically needed reforms in healthcare. They even went so far as to try to intimidate Members of Congress and proponents of change at Congressional Town Hall meetings in August, using such thuggish tactics as shouting down Members of Congress, carrying guns to the town halls and generally trying to bully everyone who supports reforming healthcare. But the American people want healthcare reform and the economic and moral case for reform could hardly be stronger. In the richest country in the history of the world, we have 47, 48, maybe 50 million Americans with no access to healthcare. We have another 40 million Americans with unreliable or inadequate insurance - like the Wal-Mart workers with a company policy that has a $3000 annual deductible. There is no way an average Wal-Mart worker can put $3000 together in one place at one time to save their lives. In fact, all of us subsidize Wal-Mart and other non-union, abusive employers by providing Medicaid to their employees - which is funded by our tax dollars. The AFL-CIO has several very important principles and goals for healthcare reform: • Universal coverage. Ensure that everybody in America has access to quality, affordable healthcare; • Lower costs for all of us. We get less per healthcare dollar spent than any other nation in the developed world. We pay more than anyone else and get less care; • Break the stranglehold of the insurance companies; and, • An employer mandate. It is critical that employers all provide health insurance for their employees. It makes no sense that Ford, GM, and Chrysler pay $1500 - $2000 more for every car they manufacture in healthcare costs than Honda, Nissan, BMW, and Mercedes. Critical to doing all of this is the so-called public option. The public option is simply a government sponsored health insurance plan similar to other government plans like Medicaid or Medicare to make sure those who can't get or afford private sector insurance coverage will still have access to healthcare coverage. The public plan or option is also critical to the private sector insurance companies to force down their costs and to break their monopolies. The insurance companies and America's radical rightwing have done all they can to bully, threaten, and scare the American people and political leaders away from a public plan or option. They have called it socialism. They have called it un-American. But the fact is that America already has at least five government-run healthcare plans: Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration (VA), Federal Employees Healthcare, and Congressional Healthcare. Anyone who is intellectually honest and opposes the public plan or option in healthcare reform should oppose Medicare, Medicaid, or the healthcare provided by the VA for our veterans who honorably serve this country, for the same reasons. Caring for the uninsured is not the only reason that we need real fundamental healthcare reform. The annual rising costs of healthcare are killing us. More than 60% of home foreclosures are due to uninsured medical crises. For union and non-union workers, potential pay raises are eaten up by rising healthcare costs. Union employers who provide healthcare for their workers like Safeway and Kroger are undermined by employers like Wal-Mart. One of the most important reasons for the troubles of the Big Three Automakers is that they provide healthcare for the employees and retirees while foreign automakers don't or have it provided by their governments. Real, fundamental healthcare reform would mean that all of us - no matter our income - would have healthcare coverage, that it would be a right not a privilege, that no family would lose their home or declare bankruptcy because of illness or injury, that no one would have to be afraid to leave their job because they were afraid of losing healthcare, that good union employers could compete with non-union employers because all employers would have to provide healthcare. Even American manufacturers would be better able to compete in the global marketplace. Real fundamental healthcare reform would lower healthcare costs because access to preventive care and wellness care would be opened up and health problems could be addressed at an earlier, cheaper stage rather than at a later, more expensive stage. Real fundamental healthcare reform would also mean that the nation's healthcare costs would be lowered because no one would have to go to a hospital emergency room for routine care with a cost the rest of us have to bear. Finally, real fundamental healthcare reform with a public healthcare plan would take our nation one more step toward a more perfect union where fewer of our people suffer needlessly to increase already obscene profits, where more of our people have more security, where our economy is strong, more vibrant, and more competitive, and more of our people are allowed - in the words of our founders - "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." What, then, about this discussion does Senator Joe Lieberman not get? What does he reject? Why would this man who so many of us worked so hard for to be vice president in 2000 turn his back on all of us? Why would this Senator who has funded his campaigns with the dollars of Democrats and Progressives, who has won every election with the votes of Democrats and Progressives turn his back on such a common sensical and just movement for fundamental healthcare reform? More on Health Care
 
Terry Krepel: WorldNetDaily Can't Stop Whitewashing Orly Taitz Top
In August, I detailed how WorldNetDaily is telling only part of the Orly Taitz story -- the anti-Obama birther lawyer with whom WND has long had a symbiotic relationship -- in order to hide from its readers the increasingly questionable job of lawyering she's doing. WND is still keeping up the ruse -- and, it would appear, doing so under orders from Taitz. In mid-September, the Washington Independent's David Weigel reported that Larry Sinclair -- best known for his claims that he did drugs and had sex with Barack Obama -- filed an affidavit claiming that Taitz told him to testify at a court hearing "that three (3) member (sic) of Obama's church were murder (sic)," adding that Taitz told him that "You testifying that three (3) members of Obama's church were murdered will help me establish that expedited delivery is necessary because people wind up dead over Obama." (WND uncritically promoted Sinclair's claims in early 2008, publishing them before making any effort to investigate them -- an ethically unsound pattern WND has regularly followed in its reporting on Obama -- and never bothering to report that Sinclair's claims have been utterly discredited . Nevertheless, WND's behavior seems to believe that it would anything Sinclair has to say with respect and credulousness.) Sinclair's affidavit also contained references to "Lucas," whom Weigel stated is Lucas Smith, who, through Taitz, filed an affidavit -- which WND had been touting at the time -- swearing "under threat of perjury" that a "Kenyan birth certificate" Smith claims to have is authentic, despite the fact that it has been discredited by none other than WND itself. An unbylined Sept. 17 WND article reported Sinclair's allegation -- but only after first allowing Taitz to claim without challenge that "doubters should be questioning Obama, not her" and dismissing attacks on Taitz as merely "various accusations" that "have been cluttering the blogosphere in recent weeks." It's not until the 13th paragraph -- after the non-news of rehashing yet again the purported eligibility case against Obama -- that WND actually got around to the actual news of detailing Sinclair's allegation that Taitz suborned perjury. WND, shockingly, noted that Sinclair's "allegations that Obama shared cocaine with him were undermined by a reported failed lie detector test" -- an act of incredulousness WND did not display in originally reporting Sinclair's claim. WND then quoted Taitz dismissing the claim because "a person cannot just come from the street and file a declaration or an affidavit. ... It has to be filed by a party to the action. Either I, as an attorney for the plaintiffs, or attorney for the defendants, assistant U.S. attorney, would file something." Significantly, at no point did WND quote Taitz denying the allegation itself. WND also reported a similar claim "purportedly" from Smith, "the individual who has reported obtaining a Kenyan birth certificate for Obama," that Taitz asked him to "lie under oath about information that I had no knowledge of at the time I was in Africa." WND offered no direct refutation of that claim by Taitz, either, nor did it report that it had discredited Smith's certificate. WND then quoted Taitz saying, "There was a rumor that there was some complaint filed with the [California] bar and I was disbarred. None of it is true." While it may not be true that Taitz has been disbarred, it is indisputably true that a complaint against her has been filed in the California bar. WND has yet to report on that complaint -- nor has it ever mentioned a second bar complaint that was filed -- and failed to correct Taitz in the article. The entire article reads like something WND was shamed into writing, built around a Taitz blog post and padded with standard WND anti-Obama boilerplate. WND makes no attempt whatsoever to verify the claims Taitz makes. The key takeaway from this article is Taitz's admonition that "doubters should be questioning Obama, not her." That's been WND's modus operandi regarding Taitz -- remember that fawning profile of her? -- and WND has apparently taken this to heart as its marching orders going forward. A few days after that story appeared, Connie Rhodes -- An Army captain whom Taitz was representing in a lawsuit seeking to block her deployment to Iraq because Obama has purportedly not demonstrated himself to be an American citizen and thus qualified to be commander in chief, a case WND had also touted -- sent a letter to the judge in her case denouncing Taitz for filing motions in court without her knowledge or approval. Rhodes goes on to request that the motion be withdrawn and state that she no longer wished Taitz "to file any future motions or represent me in any way in this court," and Rhodes also states that she "plans to file a complaint with the California State Bar due to her reprehensible and unprofessional actions." Taitz responded by suggesting that Rhodes' letter is a forgery, even though Talking Points Memo reported that it appears to be legitimate. WND has never reported that development. Meanwhile, WND was eager to downplay -- and fail to fully report -- Taitz's involvement in another birther case. An Oct. 2 article by Chelsea Schilling featured the involvement of fellow birther lawyer Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation in that case, stating that "Forty-six of the plaintiffs are represented by Orly Taitz" and "two - Wiley Drake and Markham Robinson - are represented by Gary Kreep." Schilling failed to report that Drake and Robinson used to be represented by Taitz, but dropped her after determining she was "in over her head." Schilling also didn't report that Taitz for a while refused to sign papers transferring Drake and Markham's representation from her to Kreep, then filed papers stating Drake and Robinson's desire to be removed from the lawsuit, which is not what they wanted. By contrast to Schilling, who benignly wrote that "Taitz and Kreep have expressed significant differences of opinion in how the case should be handled," the OC Weekly reported on the feuding between Taitz and Kreep: [Judge David] Carter, very much taking the tone of a teacher scolding children, called a 15-minute recess and told Taitz and Kreep to work it out. When court resumed, Taitz lit into Kreep with a litany of ways that she said he had botched the suit against Obama. Carter wasn't pleased. "I think what I'm going to do is force you two together [in one lawsuit]," Carter said. "I don't know if I can legally do this, you can take it to the 9th Circuit if you like and delay it longer." He then made the two bickering lawyers move their chairs next to one another. "I'm very visual," he said. "I need to see you two as one." (Needless to say, Schilling also made sure not to report that Drake has prayed for Obama's death , which makes him a less-than-objective plaintiff.) An Oct. 5 follow-up article by Bob Unruh largely repeated Schilling's claims without offering the full truth -- which, in this case, according to the OC Weekly, meant more specious and bizarre arguments: Carter seemed genuinely perplexed by the issue of standing. A plaintiff claiming harm must prove that that harm is not "speculative and hypothetical." Again and again, he asked Taitz and Kreep to explain why that wasn't the case for their plaintiffs. After returning from a twenty minute recess, Taitz was armed with a compelling answer: Because she came from the USSR! Taitz's question to the court: "Have you ever heard of a lawyer being able to challenge Stalin?" She then launched into the story of how her great uncle was sent to a labor camp in Siberia, and lawyers weren't able to free him. Her great aunt, stricken with grief, slit her own wrists but was rescued by a neighbor. After years and years in Siberia, Taitz's uncle returned to his family, only to die soon after. The moral of the story? "That's what happens when citizens don't have the power to enforce their constitutional rights given by God and given by the Constitution." It was the biggest applause line of the day. An Oct. 13 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh on Judge Land's $20,000 fine against Taitz for her antics in the Rhodes case is the closest thing to criticism that WND has offered of her, but Unruh still pulled punches and hid relevant information. Unruh's emphasis in the first part of his article was on the judge "mocking her concern over Obama's background," waiting until the 14th paragraph to get to the meat of the judge's order, that "Taitz 'personally attacks' opposing parties and 'disrespects' the judiciary, 'recklessly' accusing the judge of violating ethics rules." Unruh referenced Rhodes, "a reserve military officer ... who questioned Obama's eligibility to hold office." But Unruh failed to note that Rhodes dropped Taitz as her attorney. Unruh repeated boilerplate from previous articles that "Taitz also has another case pending in California. She represents several dozen defendants, and attorney Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation represents two others." But Unruh didn't report that the defendants now with Kreep were originally represented by Taitz until they determined that she was "in over her head," and that Taitz for a while refused to sign papers transferring their representation from her to Kreep. This denial of reality continued in an unbylined Oct. 23 article detailing Taitz's legal response to the $20,000 fine. The article kicked off by overbroadly stating that Taitz was fined "for her work on the case," not mentioning that the issue is that "her work on the case" sucks. It later quoted four paragraphs from Judge Land's order fining Taitz -- but only a section of sarcastic remarks making the point that Taitz has not demonstrated that her clients have standing to sue Obama or the federal government over the issue of eligibility. Nowhere did it mention the specific acts Taitz committed that led to the sanction -- even though WND had done so on Oct. 13 -- nor did the article link to Land's order itself (only to the website of the courthouse where Land works; the Oct. 13 article did the same thing). The article stated that Rhodes "later decided not to appeal Land's adverse rulings in her case, a decision Taitz attributed to 'duress' from her commanders" -- again ignoring the fact that Rhodes dropped Taitz as her attorney over her misconduct. Further, no evidence is offered to support Taitz's "duress" allegation; given Taitz's history of making hyperbolic statements, chances are there's no evidence at all. The article again repeated that "Taitz also has another case pending in California. She represents several dozen defendants, and attorney Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation represents two others" while not mention that those two clients were formerly Taitz's or the bitter dispute over them. WND's whitewashing continued in an Oct. 29 article by Unruh on the dismissal of the California lawsuit in which two of Taitz's clients dropped her for Kreep. As expected, Unruh buried the important stuff -- when he bothered to write about it at all. The article began not by detailing the ruling but by rehashing a non-issue -- that "one of the newest law clerks" for the judge in the case, David Carter, formerly worked for what Unruh describes as "the law firm that has been paid nearly $1.7 million to defend Obama from eligibility challenges." At no point does Unruh establish a link between the law clerk and the judge's ruling, making this a distraction and a waste of time. Unruh followed WND policy by being unwilling to concede that the birth certificate released by Obama's campaign is legitimate. He added that "Taitz earlier submitted to Carter a copy of what purported to be a Kenyan birth certificate for Obama, asking for permission to verify its authenticity." Unruh failed to mention that his employer has found both previously released "Kenyan birth certificates" to be fake, nor did Unruh explain why Taitz needs a court's permission to verify the certificate's authenticity, or even whether Taitz admitted WND's debunking of the certificates into evidence -- which would presumably preclude the need for any verification efforts Taitz might undertake. And,of course, there's no mention of the animosity between Taitz and Kreep. Once he finally got around to discussing Carter's actual ruling -- to which he did not link, though he could have easily done so -- Unruh focused narrowly on the procedural arguments Carter makes, completely ignoring Carter's statements about Taitz. As the Washington Independent points out, Carter highlights the usual issues with Taitz's lawyering: Interpreting the Constitution is a serious and crucial task with which the federal courts of this nation have been entrusted under Article III. However, that very same Constitution puts limits on the reach of the federal courts. One of those limits is that the Constitution defines processes through which the President can be removed from office. The Constitution does not include a role for the Court in that process. Plaintiffs have encouraged the Court to ignore these mandates of the Constitution; to disregard the limits on its power put in place by the Constitution; and to effectively overthrow a sitting president who was popularly elected by We the People‚ sixty-nine million of the people. Plaintiffs have attacked the judiciary, including every prior court that has dismissed their claim, as unpatriotic and even treasonous for refusing to grant their requests and for adhering to the terms of the Constitution which set forth its jurisdiction. Respecting the constitutional role and jurisdiction of this Court is not unpatriotic. Quite the contrary, this Court considers commitment to that constitutional role to be the ultimate reflection of patriotism. More significantly, Carter is taking seriously the accusations that Taitz suborned perjury: [T]he Court has received several sworn affidavits that Taitz
 
Rescue Efforts Called Off In Coast Guard-Marine Corps Plane Crash Search Top
LOS ANGELES — The search for nine people missing when a U.S. Coast Guard plane collided with a Marine Corps helicopter over the Pacific Ocean is now a recovery mission, officials said Sunday. Petty Officer First Class Allison Conroy said there was little chance of finding survivors among the seven military personnel aboard the Coast Guard C-130 and the two in the Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter. "We always hold out some hope, but at this point the Coast Guard has suspended the active search for survivors," Conroy said. The two aircraft collided Thursday evening as the Coast Guard was searching for a missing boater. The Marine helicopter was flying in formation with another Cobra helicopter and two transports on a nighttime training exercise. The Coast Guard has begun its investigation into the cause of the crash, Conroy said. Kenneth Claiborne said Sunday that his son Marine 1st Lt. Thomas Claiborne, who was on the helicopter, had been declared deceased. He declined to comment further and referred calls to a Marine spokesperson. But the mother of Lt. Adam W. Bryant, 28, of Crewe, Va., who was a co-pilot on the Coast Guard plane, said she hadn't given up hope despite the Coast Guard's announcement. "Miracles do happen," Nina Bryant said Sunday. "Miracles every day." Rear Adm. Joseph Castillo said Saturday evening that the chance for finding survivors would be slim, even though the servicemembers had access to heat-retaining drysuits and were in excellent physical shape. Water temperatures were in the low 60s at the time of the collision. "We don't ever want to suspend the case prematurely, when there may be someone out there," Castillo had said. "But hope gets less every day. My hope today is not what it was yesterday." The Coast Guard search for the missing boater, David Jines, 50, was called off Saturday evening. Nine aircraft searched over a 644-square-mile patch of ocean in waters about 2,000 feet deep. Debris from both aircraft was found, but there was no sign of the crew members. All seven aboard the Coast Guard plane are stationed at the Coast Guard Air Station in Sacramento, Calif. Among the other missing crew members on the plane were Lt. Cmdr. Che Barnes, 35, of Capay, Calif.; Chief Petty Officer John F. Seidman, 43, of Carmichael, Calif.; Petty Officer 2nd Class Carl P. Grigonis, 35, of Mayfield Heights, Ohio; Petty Officer 2nd Class Monica L. Beacham, 29, of Decaturville, Tenn.; Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason S. Moletzsky, 26, of Norristown, Pa., and Petty Officer 3rd Class Danny R. Kreder II, 22, of Elm Mott, Texas. Maj. Samuel Leigh, 35, of Belgrade, Maine, was the other crew member on board the Marine Corps helicopter. "These brave men and women dedicated their lives to ensuring our safety, and today we are tragically reminded of the dangers they face while protecting our state and nation," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement Sunday. "Maria and I join all Californians in expressing our respect and gratitude for their service and sadness over their deaths." The investigation will be conducted jointly by the Coast Guard and the Marine Corps, Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said Sunday. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will be available in a support role, Dunphy said. The accident happened in airspace uncontrolled by the FAA and inside a so-called military warning area, which is at times open to civilian aircraft and at times closed for military use, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said. He did not know the status of the airspace at the time of the crash. Minutes before the collision, the FAA told the C-130 pilot to begin communicating with military controllers at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego Bay, but it was not known if the pilot did so, Gregor said. On Saturday, a top Coast Guard official said he believed the C-130 pilot had spoken with the military controllers before the accident. Accident investigators who began arriving in San Diego on Saturday would review communications between the pilots and between the pilots and the FAA and military controllers, said Capt. Tom Farris, commander of the Coast Guard's 11th District. Investigators are also collecting witness statements from those aboard the three other Marine aircraft and will check to see if any distress calls were made. Calls to Marine Corps investigators were not immediately returned Sunday. The Coast Guard C-130 is a four-engine turboprop transport aircraft. It generally carries a crew of five: two pilots, a navigator, flight engineer and loadmaster. The Coast Guard uses the C-130 for search and rescue missions and cargo and personnel transport. The AH-1 SuperCobra is a twin-engine attack helicopter outfitted with a 20mm cannon that carries a pilot and co-pilot or gunner. The Marines use it for support of ground troops and protection of Navy ships and planes at sea. ___ Associated Press Writers Tim Huber in Charleston, W.Va., and Kristen Wyatt in Denver also contributed to this report. (This version CORRECTS that Marine 1st Lt. Thomas Claiborne was on the helicopter.)
 
Youth Homelessness Awareness Month: Ways To Get Involved Top
A version of this article originally appeared on Causecast.org . This month is Youth Homelessness Awareness Month, and it has come not a moment too soon. Teen homelessness rates have soared in the U.S., with fewer jobs available for teens to help their family financially and more stresses pushing more kids to leave their homes and live on the streets. With more than three-quarters of these cases going unreported by parents and caretakers, many times there is no one even looking for these kids, and too often, they aren't trusting of the help that occasionally is offered to them. Children make up 27% -- the fastest growing segment -- of the U.S. homeless population, and there's no end in sight; the recession has forced many families out of their homes, making these youth just another group on the long list of victims, moving from couch to couch, shelter to shelter. But for many, economic stresses are just another ingredient in dysfunctional home lives, leading many to run away. They escape their home only to find new dangers and challenges; as many have pointed out, it's not that these youth are living on the streets -- they're surviving, at best. And while Obama's economic stimulus plan has funneled $1.5 billion to fight homelessness, virtually all of that money goes to homeless families, not unaccompanied youth. As a result, nonprofits and private charities have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders in this upcoming year; it is estimated there will be a 10-20% increase in homelessness this year, many of them children. One organization working to change this trend is StandUp for Kids , working to get abused youth into shelters and away from their abusers through the Don't Run Away Program . They're also instrumental in helping street kids get their own apartments and teaching them the basic skills they need to live on their own. They're not alone in the fight. This month marked the third year of the Virgin Mobile FreeFest , working to help end youth homelessness. The National Alliance to End Homelessness has initiated a new program to focus particularly on youth and get them the help they need through early intervention, long-term housing, and after-care services for youth coming from foster care and correctional settings. You too can help, particularly this month: • Volunteer with StandUp for Kids . You can also donate $5 right now by texting STANDUP to 85944 on your mobile phone (don't forget to reply YES to the confirmation message). • Participate in peer outreach and community-based outreach to prevent youth homelessness in the first place. If you think someone you know is considering running away or already has, call 1-800-RUNAWAY or contact the Family and Youth Services Bureau to help find shelter for a homeless youth. • Let your state representatives know that we need more affordable housing options for young adults. • Stay up to date on upcoming opportunities with Causecast and Huffington Post Impact this month and get involved to help end youth homelessness. • Read the latest blog post from filmmaker Michael Hubbard , who discusses his experiences working with homeless families in Los Angeles for the Heartfelt Foundation. More on Homelessness
 
Michael Hubbard: Changing the World One Family at a Time Top
In the years I've been working with homeless families, I've learned there's a very thin line between the people who are homeless and the people who aren't. In today's economy, this line is thinner than ever before. My mother, Patti Rayner, started the Heartfelt Foundation 30 years ago. She is still the executive director and the organization's sole paid employee. The cornerstone of the Heartfelt Foundation since the very beginning has been respect, dignity and loving connections. I want to share with you my experiences and what they've meant to me. When I was young, my mother realized that she couldn't solve the entire homeless problem. She began by doing what she could, one person and one family at a time. I would go with her on her trips, handing out toys to children in shelters around Christmastime. Over the years, our services became more organized: hot meals and hugs for the homeless, school supplies and smiles for at-risk and disadvantaged children, holiday feasts and festivals for impoverished families, helping relocate homeless families from shelter living, Valentines and validation for forgotten seniors. What began in 1979 as a one-time local project in southern California is today a respected 30-year-old global volunteer network. Under the tireless, dedicated direction of my mother, Patti, more than 50,000 individuals have helped nourish and nurture well over 500,000 men, women, children, families and seniors in need. Heartfelt has been twice-nominated for the President's National Service Award, and received the Outstanding Volunteer Group award from the County of Los Angeles. Heartfelt's Mission Statement -- Changing people's lives through the healing power of heartfelt service -- had a profound effect on me from an early age. You see, what makes Heartfelt different from other organizations is that our volunteer base is out there in the streets, getting to know people face-to-face. We aren't giving people a hand-out; we're giving them a relationship. Volunteers get a full experience of love, compassion and joy. The people we serve know they are loved. They've been looked in the eye. They've been touched. And they realize they are not alone. My mother and Heartfelt are on a continuous mission to seek out those individuals most in need, whether it's working directly with Katrina survivors or simply survivors of hard times on the brink of homelessness. Each holiday season, we plan a one-of-a-kind event for children. In December, homeless children and underprivileged students from impoverished schools are bussed to the Santa Monica Pier to receive gifts, go on rides, and take all the hot dogs they can eat. This is an experience that both the children and our volunteers never forget. Last year, we had our own Christmas miracle. A single mother and her six children who had been staying at a mission on Skid Row wanted to come to our Christmas event at the Santa Monica pier. As anyone who's driven in L.A. knows, from downtown to Santa Monica on the bus can be a significant time commitment. They arrived late and were told that there were no more gifts. This wonderful family got back on the bus, empty-handed. Patti talked to the mother on the phone and implored her to come back to Santa Monica. My mother and a volunteer filled sacks with all the clothing and small toys they could carry. Still wanting to do more, she called the Heartfelt Service Board, of which I am a member, and before the end of the day, we'd approved a grant of $900 to move this family of seven people into low-cost housing. Here's how my mother describes what happened next: One miracle moved into another and on December 23, several of us showed up at the mission, jammed our cars full of children, bags of belongings, and the disbelieving mom, and traveled 25 miles to see what awaited them. And to our shock and surprise, there was a beautiful, brand new, fully furnished, turnkey, five bedroom, two bath, new everything apartment waiting for this dear family. The children were beside themselves with joy and the rest of us couldn't close our mouths. It was a true Christmas miracle! We left them that night -- warm, safe, hopeful, overjoyed, and with a brand new life afoot -- which continues to this day. These are the stories that fulfill us and make our work so rewarding. And for this reason, I hope you'll join us as the Heartfelt Foundation celebrates its 30th anniversary with a benefit gala on Saturday, November 7, in Marina Del Rey, CA. This fundraiser will support and finance the holiday outreach event and the 2010 service year, and we need your help. Feel free to head over to our website to contribute or consider volunteering . I was shown the value of public service from an early age, and I can't recommend it enough for you or your children. I promise you won't regret it. More on Homelessness
 

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