For any who believe government can be successful running a business, look up Tff-Track Betting in New York and ask just how a bookie can lose money month after month, for years. OK, actually it makes money - but then the legislature takes more than the profits out of it. Which puts it into a hole. So the legislature has to get money from elsewhere to make up the defecit - instead of just not taking out more than net profit in the first place... As to the number of uninsured - for one thing, if you are uninsured for a single day of 365-366 you are one of them, and under the Senate bill would be penalized just as if you refused to have insurance at all - http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/08/irs-new-health-care-enforcer.html The Senate bill imposes a new requirement that all persons who provide health care coverage to others must file a return with the IRS listing the names, addresses, social security numbers, and the coverage period for each person, and "such other information as the Secretary [of Health and Human Services] may prescribe." (Section 161(b) starting at page 107). The bill does not limit what information the Secretary may request, so it is conceivable and likely that information as to the nature of the coverage, the family members included, and other details will be reported to the IRS. The House bill contains similar provisions in section 401(b) (at pp. 175-176)... And for a different way of coming up with the same number, 15 million rather than 46 million, see - http://netrightnation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1251788:fuzzy-health-care-math&catid=1:nrn-blog&Itemid=7

Congresscritters exempt themselves from lots of things. Pay our pages minimum wage - no can do, carve out Congress from minimum-wage laws! Repeat for OSHA, EPA...

I am reminded that when the invaders ruled that all Jewish persons must wear a yellow star the Royal Family of Denmark decided they would as well - and so did almost the entire population. Symbolic - and effective.

"However, an investigation by the school concluded that there was no truth in the allegation." Oops. deez, looks like she was suspended before the "investigation" and probably then fired to appease the more virulent of the parents. Or more likely because just what was any "religious education" doing in a government school at that grade level? While the UK has an "official" religion, I do not think State-run schools are supposed to run worship services of any type...

I hope the emphasis on "civilian casualties" is media hype and not near the top of the reasoning here. Other concerns seem more logical, such as the request that Israeli-supplied electronics be factory-installed here and changing the weapons on board from those which have already been tested and standardized. These would considerably alter costs and schedules, thus calling for extended negotiations.

Why does no-one ever bring up California-Enron? Was it not California deciding to do without its own power generation and outsourcing elsewhere that made that mess possible? And even now, trying to use madly insufficient solar or wind, it finds it impossible to overcome the desert-tortoise lobby. All while forcing nigh-impossible standards on autos for the other forty-nine states and some territories... Gosh, our taxes are less than some other places - we could pay more! Why not instead ask, if we can get by with fewer taxes how is it they can not? But the "new" idea (it's only been around a few thousand years, since even before Akhenaten taxed the temples) is not to raise taxes on the people but instead to tax non-persons, i.e. corporations. That can proceed indefinitely, and not show up as a payroll deduction - just ever-rising prices. Yes, go further - give every household two-hundred fifty dollars, and surely they will not notice that we are forcing their electricity bills up six hundred... Oh yes, and make everybody to cut back on salt. Forget the fact that federally-mandated "iodized salt" of the past century dramatically cut thyroid and related health problems.

I agree that tech is killing newspapers, not bias. For all that most blogs I read complain about the bias, I note that thhere are far more links to NYTmes, CBS, AP, UPI, and even Reuters than to [slightly less biased] Fox - and that even Fox gets raw news from external feeds. I hope some further tech, perhaps practical micro-payment, can rescue actual newsgatherers and, yes, writers and editors, before thei skills are relegated to scholarly tomes rather than personal interfaces. If three professors in Germany can hold a halting conversation in the Miwuk language but the still-living Miwuks cannot...

His interpretation may be disputed by Isabella of Andalusia - er, Spain - or Elizabeth I and/or Victoria of England of England or a couple of Pharoanic figures of Egypt...

Where does one begin? With the Jews, who may have been the first to insist on a STANDARD marriage contract spelling out rights that even the husband could not take away from a woman? Or the Republic of Rome, which established a State-issued "marriage" certificate, that among other things said that a woman could indeed inherit her husband's property - which certificate/license was kept by the Empire of Rome, and promulgated to territories (including MId-Eastern) under its sway? It was Islam which did away with these things.

Where does one begin? With the Jews, who may have been the first to insist on a STANDARD marriage contract spelling out rights that even the husband could not take away from a woman? Or the Republic of Rome, which established a State-issued "marriage" certificate, that among other things said that a woman could indeed inherit her husband's property - which certificate/license was kept by the Empire of Rome, and promulgated to territories (including MId-Eastern) under its sway? It was Islam which did away with these things.

(Slavery? -ed.) Uh, yeah, some time back. Mostly before the not-so-Civil War. And not just abolitionists, but actual slaves. And in a way, more relevant than the 'Nam refugees since mostly they were not fleeing already-imposed penalties while escaped slaves and deserters... well...

Well... no, there are circumstances in which you do not have to be elected: if he dies or resigns, the seat can be filled (I think in Mass. by Gubernatorial appointment) without an election, for the remainder of the term. And yes... he does regard that seat as having been Kennedy family property since about 1956.

Under the law he wants, Muslim Khan (gee, does anyone suspect that is an alias?) should be put to death for killing other Moslems - or at least pay whatever the families of the victims want. As soon as he surrenders to fulfill these obligations, I will start to believe he may actually think he is correct rather than a power-grabbing homicidal backtard who has eaten too many poppies.

It's fun to catch out heads of religious orders/sects who don't know the difference between tradition and what their holiest compilation of writings actually says: the "covering" in the Koran (spell it any way you want, I don't much care) refers to the pubic genital area and applies to both (or all?) sexes. Tradition comes from the necessity of covering just about everything during a sandstorm, and the feeling that a woman's hair (like the rest of her) is property of her closest male relative or other guardian. E.g. among the Tuareg, it was the man's face that must remain covered in public.

"They said a first step would be to add language to a draft election bill banning parties that operate militias from fielding candidates in provincial balloting this fall." So, they're catching up with (or surpassing) the Roman Republic/Roman Empire, which allowed victory marches by military leaders but only if their own legions were stationed at a distance and did not participate? Good. And multi-partisan, to boot! Great!