Mountain Sage

This was a bad bill when it was passed and it’s a bad bill now.  It’s a violation of civil liberties and the Obama administration should be ashamed of continuing using terror as an excuse to spy on American citizens.  The thirst for power and control knows no party.

Obama signs one-year extension of Patriot Act

(AP) – 22 hours ago

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has signed a one-year extension of several provisions in the nation’s main counterterrorism law, the Patriot Act.

Provisions in the measure would have expired on Sunday without Obama’s signature Saturday.

The act, which was adopted in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, expands the government’s ability to monitor Americans in the name of national security.

Three sections of the Patriot Act that stay in force will:

_Authorize court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones.

_Allow court-approved seizure of records and property in anti-terrorism operations.

_Permit surveillance against a so-called lone wolf, a non-U.S. citizen engaged in terrorism who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group.

Obama’s signature comes after the House voted 315 to 97 Thursday to extend the measure.

The Senate also approved the measure, with privacy protections cast aside when Senate Democrats lacked the necessary 60-vote supermajority to pass them. Thrown away were restrictions and greater scrutiny on the government’s authority to spy on Americans and seize their records.

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The earthquake that hit Haiti was a 7.0, so this is a significantly stronger earthquake.

A massive earthquake rocked Chile early Saturday, killing at least 122 people and triggering a tsunami that threatened more than 50 countries and territories and sparked emergency plans to evacuate the coast of Hawaii.

The magnitude-8.8 quake was the worst in the South American country in half a century. As the earth heaved, bridges buckled, home collapsed into piles of bricks and cars flipped over. The 3:20 a.m. quake churned up a nearly eight-foot wave that smashed into the Chilean coast.

Tsunami warnings were issued in Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the Pacific. In Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said “urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property.” At 6 a.m. local time, sirens wailed on the coast alerting people to tune into television and radio stations for instructions.

Washington Post

SOURCE.

Thirty thousand teachers in Virginia face being laid off, schools all over the Commonwealth are being closed, unemployment in Virginia increased at the highest rate in the nation in December, and foreclosures continue all over the state.  Yet, the General Assembly has been spending it’s time changing gun laws because of an ignorant paranoia that President Obama wants to take away their beloved guns.

I’m a gun owner and I support gun rights, but not once have I heard President Obama mention wanting to take away my guns or my gun rights.  Not once have I heard the Democratic Senate and House talk about gun control recently.  I’ve always tried to deflect the redneck epithet so often applied to southerners, but I’m finding it more and more difficult to do so.

I honestly have to wonder if my fellow Virginians have lost their collective minds.  As far as I’m concerned, spending valuable time and brain power on gun rights is insanity given the problems Virginians face.  Since Obama has taken office, the NRA has pushed and pushed the idea that somehow Obama’s main goal in life is to take gun rights away and it is nothing more than propaganda being bought by ignorant, and in my opinion, predominately racist rednecks who don’t have the intelligence or desire to grasp the magnitude of the problems that face the Commonwealth.

I have always considered myself a Virginian first, an American second, but I can honestly say that I am  fed up with being surrounded by people who believe Republicanism equates Christianity, the earth is 6,000 years old, “thou shalt be a capitalist” is part of the Ten Commandments and guns are the most important of their earthly possessions.

The saddest part of this whole thing is the closing of schools and the laying off of teachers thus ensuring a whole new generation of Virginians who are basically uneducated and who will carry into the new century all of the old fears, prejudices and ignorance of the past.

When President Obama took office, gun rights advocates sounded the alarm, warning that he intended to strip them of their arms and ammunition.

And yet the opposite is happening. Mr. Obama has been largely silent on the issue while states are engaged in a new and largely successful push for expanded gun rights, even passing measures that have been rejected in the past.

In Virginia, the General Assembly approved a bill last week that allows people to carry concealed weapons in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, and the House of Delegates voted to repeal a 17-year-old ban on buying more than one handgun a month. The actions came less than three years after the shootings at Virginia Tech that claimed 33 lives and prompted a major national push for increased gun control.

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An elderly couple walked into the lobby of the Mayo Clinic for a checkup and spotted a piano. They’ve been married for 62 years and he’ll be 90 this year. Check out this impromptu performance. We are only as old as we feel, it’s all attitude. Enjoy! They certainly do

I listened to the health care summit most of the day today.  There was a lot of information tossed out and lots of suggestions from both sides of the aisle.  The Republicans want a plan that would insure 3 million more people and the Democrats want a plan that will insure 30 million more people.  3 million is a drop in the bucket in my opinion.  The Republicans want “incremental steps” in health care reform and the Democrats think baby steps aren’t enough to help those in crisis right now.

President Obama closed the meeting with a statement that basically boiled down to….. if we can come to some agreements, that’s great, but if not, the Democrats will move ahead and we’ll let the American people decide in the next election how they feel about health care reform.

I’m sure there is much in the health care reform bill that I would disagree with.  I personally think we would be a lot better off with universal single payer health care, BUT, I know there are others who are facing life without any health insurance and no means to get health care.  These are the Americans that have been caught in the pre-existing conditions exclusions or who have found themselves not only without health insurance but jobs.

I heard a lot of talk from Republicans about the free market and “choices” for consumers and frankly I think it’s a bunch of bullshit.  What choice does someone have currently if the insurance company says they won’t cover that person because of a pre-existing condition?  What choice do we really have when year after year the insurance industry raises our rates?  The only thing free about the market is the free ride the health insurance industry has had for years, including an exemption to the laws governing monopolies.  What I think the Republicans are really worried about is keeping the health insurance companies profitable because they have health insurance industry stock in their portfolios.

It’s time for regulation and it’s time to do away with the exemption from the monopoly laws the health insurance industry has enjoyed.

I don’t understand why health insurers’ were ever exempt from antitrust laws.  I think the fact that they are is indicative of the incredible lobby the industry has and I believe  the lobby is why we can’t seem to get any real health care reform passed.

WASHINGTON — The House has voted to repeal the health insurance industry’s exemption from federal antitrust laws, giving Democrats an easy win on health care a day ahead of President Barack Obama’s bipartisan health summit.

The vote was 406-19, with most Republicans siding with majority Democrats against a widely unpopular industry which has been under attack by Democrats and consumer advocates for recent rate hikes.

Republican lawmakers complained, though, that the legislation passed Wednesday was largely symbolic and would have little real impact since states already regulate health insurers.

Independent experts largely share that view. Democrats, however, contended that the bill would help consumers by increasing competition.

Prospects are dim in the Senate.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked the heads of five major health insurance companies on Wednesday to meet with her next month to explain why their premiums are on the rise.

Sebelius’ move came as Democrats stepped up attacks on the health insurance industry ahead of a bipartisan health care summit Thurday they hope will jump-start President Barack Obama’s stalled overhaul legislation.

At a contentious House hearing, Democrats confronted executives of one company that has sought rate increases of up to 39 percent in California and accused them of purging their sickest customers while spending millions on exorbitant salaries and retreats at ritzy resorts for executives. And the House neared a vote on revoking health insurers’ antitrust exemption.

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Real Time is back and Bill Maher takes on the Tea Baggers in this edition of New Rules.

Maher: And three, cult members always attribute all of their problems to one simple explanation. Now here’s an amazing statistic. In a recent poll almost ninety percent of Tea Baggers said that they thought taxes had either gone up or stayed the same under Obama. Only two percent thought they went down. But the reality is taxes have gone down for ninety five percent of working families.

Think about that. Only two percent of the people in a “movement” about taxes named after a tax revolt have the slightest idea what’s going on…with taxes.

So, it would be easy to just mock, except that those who fall under the control of cults aren’t necessarily weirdoes, they’re victims. And we shouldn’t forget that these people are our relatives, our neighbors and the folks at the next table in the restaurant. Especially if that restaurant is Hooters and it’s dollar wing Wednesday.
SOURCE

It’s no secret that drug companies keep drugs on the market that they know are dangerous.  They make as much money on them as they can and use part of the profit on the drug to pay off lawsuits.  I think it’s time drug manufacturer’s head honchos start going to prison for marketing drugs they know are harmful.

The diabetes drug Avandia is linked with tens of thousands of heart attacks, and drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline knew of the risks for years but worked to keep them from the public, according to a Senate committee report released Saturday.

The 334-page report by the Senate Finance Committee also criticized the Food and Drug Administration, saying that the federal agency that regulates food, tobacco and medications overlooked or overrode safety concerns found by its staff.

“Americans have a right to know there are serious health risks associated with Avandia and GlaxoSmithKline had a responsibility to tell them,” said U.S. Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat and committee chairman. “Patients trust drug companies with their health and their lives and GlaxoSmithKline abused that trust.”

The bipartisan report also was signed by Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top-ranking Republican on the committee.

GlaxoSmithKline rejected any assertions Saturday that the drug is not safe.

“We disagree with the conclusions in the report,” company spokeswoman Nancy Pekarek told CNN. “The FDA had reviewed the data and concluded that the drug should be on the market.”

[snip]

• FDA scientists estimated in July 2007 that Avandia was associated with approximately 83,000 heart attacks since the drug came to market.

[snip]

• Two FDA safety officials sounded a clear alarm in October 2008 writing, “There is strong evidence that rosiglitazone [Avandia] confers an increased risk of [heart attacks] and heart failure compared to pioglitazone [rival drug on market].” They concluded and trials comparing the two would be “unethical and exploitive.” Yet, the trial is still under way, the senators say.

GlaxoSmithKline counters that the Senate report relies on outdated information.

Read the report

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We discussed this law in an earlier post, and I’m happy to see that it was declared unconstitutional.

Time and time again we see these attempts to nullify Roe v. Wade and it’s getting really ridiculous.   This particular law was especially egregious considering Roe v. Wade was decided on the issue of PRIVACY.

The Court held that a woman’s right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy (recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision gave a woman total autonomy over the pregnancy during the first trimester and defined different levels of state interest for the second and third trimesters. As a result, the laws of 46 states were affected by the Court’s ruling. SOURCE

It is always a source of amazement for me that other people think they have a right to determine something that is a medical decision between a woman and her doctor.  Privacy seems to be a rare commodity these days.  We have an article about a school official invading the privacy of a family through the use of a webcam on a laptop computer, and I have another article to post about the FBI tracking cell phones without a warrant.  We are videoed at stop lights and in malls and students are watched with cameras in the schools.

I don’t believe that the motives for all of the nosiness and invasions of privacy can be explained by security or concern….I think some of it stems from a self-righteousness and an over abundance of authoritarianism.   While authoritarianism is usually part and parcel of conservatism, I am finding more and more liberals who embrace an air of authoritarianism, and of course it is always ostensibly for our own good.

Privacy is a very simple concept….that which does not directly affect you is none of your business.  Who I have sex with, how I have sex and what goes on in my uterus is none of your business nor that of the government.  What I eat, drink or smoke in the privacy of my home is none of your or the government’s business.  I frequently hear the excuse of “well, it’s going to cost me more in tax dollars” if so and so does such and such.  Well, get the hell over it.  Lots of things I don’t approve of cost me in tax dollars, but I don’t have a choice.  I don’t approve of war but I have to pay for it.   I pay out a goodly sum in real estate taxes to support schools that I will never use nor will any child of mine ever use.  That’s the way a society works and using that as an excuse to micromanage others lives is just that, an excuse.  Seriously, everyone needs to get the hell over themselves and mind their own damn business.  If you have enough time to worry about my business you don’t have enough to do.

Court Strikes Down Intrusive OK Abortion Law, Declares Unconstitutional

02.19.10 Today, an Oklahoma County District Court declared unconstitutional a state law that would have imposed a host of restrictions related to abortion and cost the state over a quarter million dollars a year to implement, blocking the state from enforcing the law. The court ruled that the bill passed by the legislature addressed too many disparate topics and therefore violated the Oklahoma Constitution’s “single-subject” rule which requires laws only address one topic at a time. One of the provisions would have required doctors to request detailed personal information from patients who have had abortions and report that data to the state health department who will then post it on a public website.

“We are very pleased with today’s ruling,” said Jennifer Mondino, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “The government has no business running a grand inquisition into the private lives of Oklahoma women and wasting a quarter of a million dollars of tax payers’ money in the process.”

The law also would have banned abortions based on a woman’s gender preference for her child; created new responsibilities for state health agencies to gather and analyze abortion data and enforce abortion restrictions; and redefined a number of abortion-related terms used in Oklahoma law. The Center filed a challenge against the law in September on behalf of former state representative Wanda Stapleton and Shawnee, Oklahoma resident Lora Joyce Davis.

This is the second time in two years that the Oklahoma legislature has tried to restrict abortion in the state by bundling numerous provisions into one bill. In September, the Oklahoma District Court struck down another state law imposing various abortion restrictions, including the most extreme ultrasound requirement in the country, ruling that it violated the state’s single subject rule.

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A school issues laptops to school students and come to find out the laptops have webcams that the school administrator’s remotely activate to spy on the students and their families.  How incredibly sick and frightening is that?

I saw a special on t.v. a while ago about cameras in schools, and a psychologist, whose name I can’t remember, felt that after awhile the cameras were responsible for instilling paranoia in the students.  BUT, is it paranoia when you really are being watched?  Do we not have any right to privacy in our homes?  The government uses illegal wiretaps, illegally reads emails, and now school administrators are spying on students at home.  Just because we have technology must we use it to invade others privacy?

According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools’ administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins’s child was disciplined for “improper behavior in his home” and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines.

If true, these allegations are about as creepy as they come. I don’t know about you, but I often have the laptop in the room while I’m getting dressed, having private discussions with my family, and so on. The idea that a school district would not only spy on its students’ clickstreams and emails (bad enough), but also use these machines as AV bugs is purely horrifying.

Schools are in an absolute panic about kids divulging too much online, worried about pedos and marketers and embarrassing photos that will haunt you when you run for office or apply for a job in 10 years. They tell kids to treat their personal details as though they were precious.

But when schools take that personal information, indiscriminately invading privacy (and, of course, punishing students who use proxies and other privacy tools to avoid official surveillance), they send a much more powerful message: your privacy is worthless and you shouldn’t try to protect it.

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