Women's Health Amendment Passes Senate (...and Open Thread)

I'm glad it passed, and I'm surprisingly pleased to see a bit of non-partisan voting (2.00 / 3)

in both directions.  Party-line voting (on anything) never feels really comfortable, just the fact that a few people from either side chose to vote with the majority of the other party makes the whole process seem a little more legitimate to me.  Maybe all of the energy put into the bipartisanship effort really is worth it if it can leaven some of the cynicism about politics.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

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by: chrisblask @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 06:47:53 AM CST

Same here -- pleased that it passed, (2.00 / 3)

and relieved to see even a small amount of Republican support. Also, since we had votes to spare, almost glad to see some Democrats rejecting it. To me, that is nearly as indicative that it is not a purely partisan measure.  

"I now am bold to say to the swift changing hours,
Pass, pass upon your way, for I grow never old,
Fleet to the dark abysm with all your fading flowers,
One rose that none may pluck, within my heart I hold."

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by: sricki @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 07:05:32 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Feingold? (2.00 / 5)

Not for nothing, but if this came out of Blanche Lincoln, Max Baucus, Evan Bayh or Bill Nelson's mouths, the blogsphere would be bursting blood vessels screaming for primaries.

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by: DTOzone @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 06:56:30 AM CST

What about free prostate screening for men? (2.00 / 2)

Or free sickle cell for African Americans?

I glad the bill passed, I support it( I'm actually supprised it wasn't already included). Well, maybe I don't support it.
I aknowledge that insurance companies have treated women from a profit and loss angle. I also aknowledge that women do not yet operate on equal footing with men in the workplace. But if you make it illegal to consider pre-existing conditions in insuring somone, does that not make this law unnessary?  
And if preventive care is so important for women that we all pay for it, why not for the rest of us. My insurance pays for complete physicals once a year, I have to get colonoscopys every two years. Its recomended for men to get theese every 5 years after they turn 40 or 50.
It would seem we need universal preventitive care to be fair.

 

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by: creamer @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 08:27:05 AM CST

That's a fair point. (2.00 / 1)

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 09:37:56 AM CST

[ Parent ]

As a horrible reminder that the Afghanistan talk isn't just academic... (2.00 / 8)

A good friend of mine died this morning.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wor...

He'd only just finished a postgraduate degree at Imperial in London and took a job back home. He'd gone to the mosque with his dad, who's injured and in hospital.

Bad timing...

Bad time to go back, bad time to go pray, bad time to get in the way of bombs and bullets.

I called my parents this afternoon, just to check up on them. They live a ten minute drive from that place. My 17 year old brother was complaining about how he never gets to do anything because the folks are scared of letting him go anywhere with his friends. I told him it's hard to blame them. It's all so different from ten years ago.

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by: dtox @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 09:28:52 AM CST

I'm so sorry. (2.00 / 6)

I'll include your friend's dad in my prayers.

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 09:35:48 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Terribly sorry. (n/t) (2.00 / 4)

It's a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead, and find no one there. -Franklin Roosevelt

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by: fogiv @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 09:56:40 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Im sorry. (2.00 / 5)

I recently read a letter from an Army Pastor who is from our church. The scene's he dscribes were truly frightening.
My heart goes out to all who are in that place.

(originaly attached to wrong post)

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by: creamer @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 10:54:05 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Incredibly sorry to hear that. (2.00 / 5)

So many tragedies -- it's heartbreaking.  

"I now am bold to say to the swift changing hours,
Pass, pass upon your way, for I grow never old,
Fleet to the dark abysm with all your fading flowers,
One rose that none may pluck, within my heart I hold."

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by: sricki @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 11:05:15 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I'm so sorry, dtox. (2.00 / 4)

My condolences for your loss, and please express to the family the sympathy, support and concern of everyone here at the Motley Moose if you have a chance.

There is only one family.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

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by: chrisblask @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 11:20:14 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Thank you for your support, everyone. (2.00 / 5)

There is indeed only one family.

It's been a bad day. This, and I just got a call from my dad. He's in Mingora, near Swat tonight. That's the part the Taliban took over for a while. He works in renewable energy, and he's there to see what opportunities there are to work local renewable energy sources into reconstruction. He was telling me how they've torn down almost every single school. They just scattered explosives around them and set them alight. The few remaining schools in the area are running multiple shifts. People are sending their kids to school at night because that's the only opportunity they have. He was very shaken by what he saw yesterday and today.

Oh - and I discovered USAID has taken responsibility for rebuilding all the schools and much of the health infrastructure in the area. Thanks guys.

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by: dtox @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 12:05:25 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Terrifying. (2.00 / 4)

I discovered USAID has taken responsibility for rebuilding all the schools and much of the health infrastructure in the area.

I have a close friend working for USAID in Islamambad now, and hope to have an update on these efforts from her, that I can put into a diary here.  While I've got you on the line (so to speak), are there any questions you might have for my pal with regard to these efforts?  Obviously, your understanding far surpasses my own and you'd probably have better questions than I would.

It's a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead, and find no one there. -Franklin Roosevelt

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by: fogiv @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 13:08:48 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Sorry to Hear That... (2.00 / 3)

Condolences on your loss of a good friend.  Apparently thirty-five people, including seventeen children, have died in that attack.

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by: Shaun Appleby @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 13:52:56 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Speaking of women's health: (2.00 / 5)

On the 'mental health' front, Sarah Palin has identified herself as a Birther.  In an interview with conservative radio host Rusty Humphries, she was asked if she planned to "make the birth certificate an issue" if she runs in 2012:

Sarah Palin declared on Thursday that the legitimacy of President Obama's birth certificate is "rightfully" an issue with the American public, and that it is "fair game" for politicians to question Obama's citizenship.

OMG, WTF.

"I think the public rightfully is still making it an issue," Palin said. "I don't have a problem with that. I don't know if I would have to bother to make it an issue, because I think that members of the electorate still want answers."

[snip]

"I think it's a fair question just like I think past associations and past voting records. All of that is fair game," Palin responded, adding that "the McCain-Palin campaign didn't do a good enough job in that area. We didn't call out Obama and some of his associates on their records and what their beliefs were, and perhaps what their future plans were, and I don't think that was fair to voters to not have done our job as candidates and a campaign to bring to light a lot of things that now we're seeing manifest in the administration."

Yeah, the pallin' around with terrorist stuff wasn't taken far enough.  It's done wonders for the national discourse.

Palin later referenced "that weird conspiracy theory freaky thing that people talk about that Trig isn't my real son, and a lot of people that went 'Well, you need to produce his birth certificate, you need to prove that he's your kid,' which we have done, but yeah, so maybe we can reverse that, and use the same [inaudible] thinking on the other one."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

It's a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead, and find no one there. -Franklin Roosevelt

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by: fogiv @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 09:54:05 AM CST

What a freak. (2.00 / 3)

Part of me would love to see her as the Republican nominee in 12. The rest of me shudders at what her losing another campaign might do to our country.

We are a country with real problems that needs real answers. Either talk solutions or STFU.

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by: creamer @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 10:57:08 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I like how she threw the bit about Trig in there to somehow justify (2.00 / 2)

her comments about Obama's birth certificate.  I found the whole who-is-Trig's-real-mother thing stupid and, I suspect, that if an elected or former elected Democrat had raised the issue most of us would have shut him or her down.

She did say in her Facebook page that she doesn't doubt he's a citizen, it's just a fair question to ask.  BTW, does she still think he's pallin' around with terrorists?

We didn't call out Obama and some of his associates on their records and what their beliefs were, and perhaps what their future plans were, and I don't think that was fair to voters to not have done our job as candidates and a campaign to bring to light a lot of things that now we're seeing manifest in the administration

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 12:24:43 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Now, wait a minute. (2.00 / 2)

The Right confuses tv shows and movies with reality all the time. Why shouldn't the Left take its ideas from Desperate Housewives? ;~)

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

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by: John Allen @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 13:19:49 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Steve Benen... (2.00 / 3)

That last point about the bizarre notion that Palin's son is not her son was especially odd. The former half-term governor seems to think questions about Trig's birth certificate are a "weird conspiracy theory freaky thing" -- she does have a way with words -- but instead of arguing that all of the nonsense be taken off the table for everyone, Palin wants to see "the same type of thinking" applied to the president.

Ideally, this is the kind of inanity that would lead polite company to realize Sarah Palin isn't the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, and her credibility as a national figure would be permanently ruined. But this relates back to what we talked about earlier this week: among conservative Republicans, the nonsensical fringe has been mainstreamed. The line between GOP adults and GOP nutjobs has been blurred, if not erased altogether.(It's more than likely the Republican base will be even more impressed with Palin now.)/>blockquote>

http://www.washingtonmonthly.c...

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 18:12:09 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Figures (2.00 / 2)

It's more than likely the Republican base will be even more impressed with Palin now.

It was ever thus:

Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Matthew 15:14

It's a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead, and find no one there. -Franklin Roosevelt

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by: fogiv @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 20:38:55 PM CST

[ Parent ]

So now Congress is going to start legislating (2.00 / 3)

specific treatments? Does this go against the recent guidelines put out about mammograms or does it follow those guidelines?

I'm all in favor of reform of the more egregious policies of health insurance companies, like calling spousal abuse a pre-existing condition, but I'm a little uncomfortable on this one.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

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by: John Allen @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 10:40:50 AM CST

Forget the war on Christmas, we've got the war on the Peanuts (2.00 / 4)

In the opinion of Arlington [TN] Mayor Russell Wiseman, President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night on the war in Afghanistan was deliberately timed to block the Christian message of the "Peanuts" television Christmas special.

snip

"Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim president is there, what a load.....try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose. Ask the man if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he will give you a 10 minute disertation (sic) about it....w...hen the answer should simply be 'yes'...."

snip

In Wiseman's extensive thread that attacked the president, his supporters and Muslims, he stated "...you obama people need to move to a muslim country...oh wait, that's America....pitiful."

At another point he said, "you know, our forefathers had it written in the original Constitution that ONLY property owners could vote, if that has stayed in there, things would be different........"

Mayor Wiseman doesn't deny the post, which can only be seen by his 1,600 Facebook friends, in his statement to The Commercial Appeal

When contacted Thursday, Wiseman declined to comment about his Facebook posts.

"It's ridiculous for someone to send my Facebook post," Wiseman said. "You guys are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill."

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 12:43:30 PM CST

I saw that and LMAO (2.00 / 5)

Shows what the GOP thinks is important in this country. How dare a wartime president give a speech about a war that preempts a cartoon.  

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

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by: John Allen @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 13:16:38 PM CST

[ Parent ]

The crack about property owners is kind of interesting, too. (2.00 / 3)

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 14:05:41 PM CST

[ Parent ]

This is the guy I voted for... (2.00 / 5)

Joni O'Neill was in her Mission Viejo flower shop late one night, watching the news, when she saw a story critical of President Barack Obama.

She sat down right then and wrote him a letter.

O'Neill, 54, is a Republican. She'd voted for the other guy. She told Obama that.

"I was honest. I said these times are difficult and challenging and I could be really angry about it. But I don't have time for that. I'm just going to move forward and that's what I'm hoping the country would do.''

She also wrote that she believed him when on election night "... you said you'd be my president too. I took that as an invitation to be positive.''

"He wrote me back,'' she said in a telephone interview Tuesday night as she prepared to leave for the nation's Capital.

The letter was hand written.

"It's priceless,'' she said of the president's response.

In his reply, Obama thanked O'Neill for her kind words. One line particularly stood out.

O'Neill had told the president she hoped he would keep smiling; that his smile reassured her when she watched him speak.

He wrote back: "You know I will keep smiling, just for you.''

"He made it really personal.''

snip

As if that wasn't cool enough, six months after she and the president became pen pals, O'Neill heard from someone at the White House who invited her to this job summit, designed to explore ways to fix that part of the economy. The summit is Thursday, Dec. 3 in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, right next to the White House.

snip

O'Neill will probably tell administration officials that the best thing they can do is cut red tape and regulations to make it easier for small businesses to get going. And they should find a way to cajole banks into lending money to help companies expand and hire more people.

snip

"Although I'm a Republican and I didn't vote for the president, he's my president,'' O'Neill says. "In my opinion he's doing the best job he can. I think he is thoughtful and careful about the decisions he makes. I think he has a phenomenal team behind him who are trying to make all the right moves.''

http://www.ocregister.com/arti...

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 14:23:16 PM CST

I'm just pissed. (2.00 / 5)

I'm pissed about Afghanistan.  I can't even talk about it.

I'm really pissed about healthcare.  Why do we need a special amendment for women's health issues?  It's as if my vagina makes me a special needs American, and it most certainly does not.  Congress does not need to get into the particulars of what my health concerns are anymore than a fucking health insurance company.  When I read that federal employees don't have abortions covered, I dropped out of the debate altogether.  Now, I know that it is a moral issue, but I am not having a moral debate with my health insurance company or with Congress.  Right to life from conception to birth ONLY, but I guarantee that they will be seeking the federal death penalty for Major Hasan.  Why don't they set up "abortion panels" so that some jackasses can decide if I am morally entitled to my abortion?  And I wonder how they would come out on this story?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/healt...

Let's have some "erectile dysfunction panels" too so that we can morally determine if the old dude is going to fuck around on his wife before he gets medical treatment.

I am NOT pissed at Obama, despite being pissed at those who are politically aligned with me who continue to wail and gnash their teeth over the man.  I feel like a fish out of water politically.

And I'd like to see those state house dinner party crashers thrown in jail.

That is all.

The ripple from one tossed pebble can a tsunami make.

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by: Michelle @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 16:33:56 PM CST

This deserves a separate diary "Why I'm pissed off today".. (2.00 / 4)

Your comment today reminded me of Helen Reddy's "I'm a Woman"...

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'Cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to
I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

You can bend but never break me
'Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'Cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

Oh, yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to
I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long, long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Oh, yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to
I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

Oh, I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong

I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman

Watch her sing..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

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by: louisprandtl @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 17:49:02 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I got a Helen Reddy album (yes, album) (2.00 / 2)

for Christmas one year.  I believe I got a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons that year, too.  (I was young.)

I actually hadn't thought about it until I read the comments by creamer, John, and Michelle.  This type of legislation may not be such a great idea.

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 18:01:05 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I'm kinda the same for the same reasons. (2.00 / 2)

I haven't read the legislation itself, but a bipartisan break on the vote makes me more comfortable in general with it.  Not many republicans (any) would vote for something that was too far down the pipe to the that part of the left is the way I figger it.

I guess part of the reason I'm OK so far is that I lived in Canada for decades, and these sorts of issues are normal discussion when you have single payer.  "What procedures are covered in what way for which reasons?"  It is the public process that tends to chew through the issues the the Tea Partiers are all bunched up about - it's never a Death Panel it is a societal dialogue.

But a deep core of my beliefs is with Michelle on issues like this in general.  It has to happen sometimes, but I'm not a fan of government committees making any more decisions for citizens than is defenesibly arguable.

(Sorry, can't spell defensibly right now [oh, look!] and I'm not going back and fixing it.  Down in Sarasota cleaning the house prior to the buyer coming tomorrow, and I've found that Rum works very very well with carpet cleaning but it doesn't improve typing//\)

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

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by: chrisblask @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 18:58:37 PM CST

[ Parent ]

LOL. You putting the rum on the carpet or in your belly? (2.00 / 2)

So, I guess this means that folks who say this is just the first step to socialized medicine are right.

sorts of issues are normal discussion when you have single payer.

Lastly, I can't spell defensibly right the first time, either.  "Figger" was what shot the Hershey's kiss out of my mouth.  :)

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 19:14:16 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I'd have no problem with this if we had single-payer (2.00 / 3)

but we don't and won't any time soon. If we did have it then it would be natural for the administration of the program to determine what was and was not covered. However, if you are going to mandate one item then why not all of them? As I said above, I'm not comfortable with this decision. And, it is certainly not because I am anti-woman in any way.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

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by: John Allen @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 19:24:48 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I'm in a cut and paste mood. (2.00 / 2)

Exclusive: Beck's movie bombs in New York, Boston - and Washington, D.C.

In New York, Beck sold 17 tickets. In Boston, another 17. And in Washington, D.C., the hotbed of political activism, his tearful film drew only 30, Raw Story has found.

Glenn Beck's new movie The Christmas Sweater - A Return To Redemption -- released for a viewing Thursday night in hundreds of theaters across the country. While it performed better in the south and in rural, more conservative areas, his ability to draw viewers in major US markets was a bust.

"The theater's almost empty," a representative at Regal Cinemas in Manhattan told Raw Story moments before it began.

The flick features the firebrand Fox News host sharing with willing souls his most profound childhood memories, along with his philosophies on life, love and happiness.

"It is the story of faith, tragedy, redemption and hope," Beck says in the trailer. (Reporter's caution: he cries in it.)

snip

The viewing in Lynnwood, WA -- the closest one to Beck's Mount Vernon hometown -- sold out several hours before the show began. Ten miles south, 70 out of 415 seats had been snagged in Seattle, a better turnout than other cities.

All attendees were charged $20 -- a figure that Beck surely hoped was affordable for the "little guy," who he often claims to stand up for.

http://rawstory.com/2009/12/gl...

$20 for a movie, before the popcorn, candy, and soda.  No thanks.

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 17:00:23 PM CST

Sounds 'Great' (2.00 / 1)

Oh, boy:

The bulk of the evening consists solely of Glenn Beck acting out every role in his hokey story, with only his limited repertoire of accents and pantomime filling out the 'cast'.

Joseph Childers - Glenn Beck's 'Christmas Sweater': A Viewer's Guide True/Slant 3 Dec 09

A 'one man' show.  Crikey.

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by: Shaun Appleby @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 17:26:04 PM CST

[ Parent ]

$20 to see the same sh*t (2.00 / 2)

you can see on his show. God, some people are dumb.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

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by: John Allen @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 17:55:17 PM CST

[ Parent ]

But potentially you can sit in a room with a whole lot of (2.00 / 1)

crazies just like you.

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 18:02:32 PM CST

[ Parent ]

! (2.00 / 4)

got nothing more than that... reading the comments for some reason did make me think of this, which i believe i have posted before...

"I spend my days and nights pondering the meaning of life, the state of the universe, and the Home Shopping Network." -- Donald Roller Wilson

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by: canadian gal @ Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 21:38:47 PM CST

Ooops (2.00 / 4)

Gotta' love them phones:

Under a new system set up by Sprint, law enforcement agencies have gotten GPS data from the company about its wireless customers 8 million times in about a year, raising a host of questions about consumer privacy, transparency, and oversight of how police obtain location data.

Justin Elliott - Police Tapped Sprint Customer GPS Data 8 Million Times In A Year TPM 3 Dec 09

Say what?  Eight million times a year?  But it gets better, much better.  This is a revenue stream for the provider, they are selling the privacy of their own customers for profit and are unwilling to reveal for how much.  Watch this space...

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by: Shaun Appleby @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 05:11:53 AM CST

I'm guessing there is no way for someone to find out (2.00 / 1)

if they were one of the customers.  (I have Verizon and am waiting for some similar admission to come from/about them.)

Hey, Brett, piss or get off the pot.  Really.

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by: HappyinVT @ Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 10:04:13 AM CST

[ Parent ]