American flag yanked from work cubicle

American flag yanked from work cubicle

American flag yanked from work cubicle
michaelsavage.com

Link to the story

MANSFIELD (CBS 11 News) ―

May 27, 2009 10:53 pm US/Central
Mansfield Flag Controversy Draws Worldwide Outrage

Click Here To Watch Our Interview With The Woman At The Center Of The Controversy

For one Arlington woman, the answer was "no" after she hung an American flag in her office just before the Memorial Day weekend.

Debbie McLucas is one of four hospital supervisors at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield. Last week, she hung a three-by-five foot American flag in the office she shares with the other supervisors.

When McLucas came to work Friday, her boss told her another supervisor had found her flag offensive. "I was just totally speechless. I was like, 'You're kidding me,'" McLucas said.

McLucas' husband and sons are former military men. Her daughter is currently serving in Iraq as a combat medic.

Stifling a cry, McLucas said, "I just wonder if all those young men and women over there are really doing this for nothing."

McLucas said the supervisor who complained has been in the United States for 14 years and is formerly from Africa. McLucas said that supervisor took down the flag herself.

"The flag and the pole had been placed on the floor," McLucas said. But McLucas also said hospital higher-ups had told her some patients' families and visitors had also complained.

"I was told it wouldn't matter if it was only one person," she said. "It would have to come down."

McLucas said hospital bosses told her as far as patriotism was concerned, the flag flying outside the hospital building would have to suffice.

"I find it very frightening because if I can't display my flag," McLucas asked, "whatother freedoms will I lose before all is said and done?"

Kindred Healthcare's corporate headquarters are located in Kentucky. We called them for comment when we were first working on this story Tuesday, but they did not return our calls.

Wednesday morning, however, our story received nationwide attention. We have received hundreds of emails and comments from people who had something to say about it.

Among the supporters was a combat medic in Iraq: Debbie McLucas' daughter, Lillian McLucas Dressig. "My mom is a true hero in my book," she said.

It was midnight in Iraq when she spoke to CBS 11. Talking about the stand her mother took which could have cost her job, Lillian said, "If it's the right thing to do, it's the right thing to do. And, I think we need more people to stand up for what's right in America."

Several dozen people protested outside the Mansfield hospital Wednesday. And a receptionist at Kindred's headquarters told us they received many phone calls.

Then, late Wednesday morning, Kindred posted on its website a statement about the incident. It reads, in part: "The disagreement was over the size of the flag and not what it symbolized. We have invited the employee to put the flag back up."

We talked to McLucas Wednesday afternoon. She says the hospital's local CEO called and apologized. And McLucas says the woman did tell her she could put the flag back up, which she has done.

But she says when she was first told the flag had to go, nobody mentioned anything about its size being the root of the problem.

"At no point was I afforded the opportunity -- [no one said,] 'Hey Deb, could you get a one and a half by three and a half and hang it instead of hanging this three by five?'" McLucas said.

Even so, McLucas says she's happy people have spoken out about the issue. "It's just restored my faith in the American people," she said.

African American jailhouse converts to Islam arrested trying to blowup U.S. synagogue

African American jailhouse converts to Islam arrested trying to blowup U.S. synagogue

African American jailhouse converts to Islam arrested trying to blowup U.S. synagogue

michaelsavage.com

Link to the story

FBI arrest four in alleged plot to bomb Bronx synagogues, shoot down plane
BY Michael Daly, Alison Gendar and Helen Kennedy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Thursday, May 21st 2009, 8:09 AM

Read more: "FBI arrest four in alleged plot to bomb Bronx synagogues, shoot down plane" -

The FBI and NYPD busted a four-man homegrown terror cell Wednesday night that was plotting to blow up two Bronx synagogues while simultaneously shooting a plane out of the sky, sources told the Daily News.

The idea was to create a "fireball that would make the country gasp," one law enforcement said.

Little did they know the plastic explosives packed into their car bombs and the plane-downing Stinger missile in their backseat were all phony - supplied by undercover agents posing as Pakistani militants linked to Al Qaeda.

"If there can be any good news from this terror scare it's that this group was relatively unsophisticated, penetrated early, and not connected to another terrorist group," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "This incident shows that we must always be vigilant against terrorism, foreign or domestic."

The suspects - three U.S.-born citizens and one Haitian immigrant - at least three of whom were said to be jailhouse converts to Islam, were angry about the deaths of Muslims in Afghanistan, sources told The News.

"They wanted to make a statement," a law enforcement source said. "They were filled with rage and wanted to take it out on what they considered the source of all problems in America - the Jews."

The group's alleged ringleader, James Cromitie, according to the complaint, discussed targets with an undercover agent. "The best target [the World Trade Center] was hit already," he allegedly told the agent. Later, he rejoiced in a terrorist attack on a synagogue.

"I hate those motherf-----s, those f---ing Jewish bastards. . . . I would like to get [destroy] a synagogue."

The men allegedly parked car bombs wired to cell phones outside the Riverdale Temple and nearby Riverdale Jewish Center. They were also heading to Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, Orange County, when the law swooped in on them.

Sources said their plan was to shoot down a cargo plane headed to Iraq or Afghanistan with a surface-to-air guided missile while simultaneously calling the cell phones and blowing up the Riverdale synagogues.

Sources said the four men were arrested after a year-long investigation that began when an informant connected to a mosque in Newburgh said he knew men who wanted to buy explosives.

FBI agents supplied them with what they billed as C-4 plastic explosives and a Stinger missile.

The weaponry was all phony.

"The bombs had been made by FBI technicians," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "They were totally inert."

Witnesses said an NYPD 18-wheeler blocked a black SUV on Independence Ave. in Riverdale and then officers broke in the darkened windows and yanked out the four men from inside the car.

Read more: "FBI arrest four in alleged plot to bomb Bronx synagogues, shoot down plane" -

When they came for Savage . . .

When they came for Savage . . .

When they came for Savage . . .
Barbara Anderson Link to the story



When They Came for Savage.....

A representative of the British government has banned Michael Savage from that country. He has been listed among such real haters as a Hezbollah terrorist, a leader of Hamas, white supremacists, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, and Russian skinheads, now in prison for murder. This is a hateful, murderous lot.

And on this blacklist by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, in an “in-your-face” announcement, Smith has added Michael Savage. Since there are no crimes committed by Savage, it can only be surmised that he appears there because he is deemed hateful and may stir up feelings of hate and incitement to violence.

Savage often yells at those he thinks are steering us into socialism, or worse. He sometimes is strident. He is articulate and makes his case. There have been callers who would like to go farther than that, but Savage has carefully drawn that line beyond which he will not go. He will not call for violence, nor will he stand for callers who would like to do so. His is a war of words, nothing more.

Now that we live in a New World Order, globalism reigns supreme. What is happening overseas has more importance than ever. However, instead of being able to count on traditional allies, we find the government of Britain colluding with a push toward punishing so-called “hate” crimes. Canada has already succumbed to this push, stifling religious opinions that do not toe their particular line.

The European Union has become almost monolithic. Britain’s representatives have betrayed the common man in forcing this union. It is largely hated because the citizens have little input as to how they will be governed. However, the elites that run the country have learned well how to leverage a small amount of power. It is the same all over the EU, to a large extent. The EU, having the blueprint, and having had time to iron out the problems, stands ready to help implement our own union, the North American Union. Our grand plan is to merge Mexico, Canada and the U.S. into the NAU.

Connecting the dots, we can see that our own domestic “hate” legislation is being pushed along even now. The Democrats have always wanted it. Now they think they are in a position to ram it through. The “victims”, the beneficiaries of this legislation, were chosen based on “actual or perceived…sexual orientation, gender identity”.

Representatives Louis Gohmert R-Texas, and Steve King R-Iowa, tried to have congressional Democrats define “sexual orientation” in this bill, but were refused. This is so vaguely defined that some have dubbed it “The Pedophile Protection” Act. King and Gohmert also tried to add an amendment that pedophiles were not protected under the law. Again, Democrats voted against this provision.


King thinks that this is a national effort by homosexual activists to not only have the freedom to choose their lifestyle, but be able to demand that approval be given and that those who don’t agree with their particular behavior will be silenced by law.

We saw the hatred toward those in California who worked to pass legislation stating that marriage is between a man and a woman. Elderly people who carried signs were accosted and their signs were ripped from their fingers. An elderly woman had a cross taken from her. That was her own property. No tolerance of opinion there, although they prate about it. Early on, we were told that homosexuals just wanted to be left alone; just to have respect, just to have tolerance. How far we have come.

Christians seem to be particularly hated and the homosexual lobby would like nothing more than to silence them and their pastors. Canada is just a little ahead of us in that regard. Catholics have been a favorite target. Churches have been disrupted in their services. Wild looking people in garish garb run throughout the pews, scaring children. Holy sacraments are thrown to the floor and stomped upon. Condoms are thrown through the air and lesbians kiss on the altar. These attacks were premeditated, planned, staged (with props), and executed. This is not tolerance they are asking. This is hateful behavior. The Catholics are under attack and do not always know if actual shooting will be used against them, the violence is so intense. The attacks are calculated to instill fear in those under siege.

There is a two pronged attack on free speech. The other is the so-called “fairness doctrine” which was trotted out recently. There again, this has been a favorite to be put into law by Democrats. They think they have the power to do it now. More commentators have noticed this and condemned it because it is familiar to them. However, hate speech laws are not as familiar.

A wise man said that with politics there are no coincidences. Accusing hatred of those who just want to give an opinion comes right back to Michael Savage. Since we are all “citizens of the world”, according to some, the globalists zero on in those who speak against them. One of the loudest is Savage. To take him on calls for a certain “chutzpah”, unless you know that your allies are very strong. I think that Smith knew of Savage, and his been egged on by the globalists in our country. Usually, the modus operandi is to whittle away at some of the weaker structures until the opposition falls. With Savage, Smith has taken on the top.

It is a gamble. We have seen that he will not be intimidated. He now has a suit against Smith. Discovery should prove interesting. What little we are allowed to see in Britain lets us know that the politicians are quite corrupt. Ms. Smith herself is not squeaky clean. Did someone high up in our government give the “go ahead” for the action taken against Savage? With several millions of listeners, Savage is a threat, unlike their usual MSM puppets.

Most importantly, how will We the People respond? Everyone who writes or speaks should be alarmed. When laws are enacted for one set of people, there is favoritism that should never happen in a free Republic. If you can be sued just because somebody charges that they “perceive” that their “feelings” have been hurt, the slippery slope is greased.

Voltaire is credited with saying “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it”. To the death. Strong words.

There is time to speak out and make allies. There is time to let our representatives know killing free speech is not acceptable. These reps seem to only fear one thing: a loss of power. They respond when enough let them know to change their votes.

They have come for Michael Savage; let them find a phalanx of Savage allies. If Savage is left to “twist in the wind” alone, there will soon be no champions of free speech, whether you like the speech or not.


Barbara Anderson

Struggling families putting babies up for adoption

Struggling families putting babies up for adoption

Struggling families putting babies up for adoption

Link to the story

Struggling families look at adoption
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

MARENGO, Ill. — Renee Siegfort broke the news to her three teenagers on Mother's Day last year: She was pregnant.
She really wanted the baby. Her kids did, too. Her on-again, off-again boyfriend of three years did not.

"I talked to God a lot, asking what does this mean. What am I supposed to do?" she recalls. She was working long hours as an office manager at a chiropractic firm and just making ends meet. She would need to take on a new expense: child care.

"We live simply," says Renee, 36, looking around the living room of her three-bedroom town home. "There wasn't much more we could simplify in our lives." As much as she wanted the baby, she says, "I didn't want to hurt my children."

So after giving birth Dec. 30, she nursed Josephine Olivia Renee for six days. She then did something she would not have imagined nine months earlier: She gave her child to another family.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: United States Florida Illinois Hollywood Chicago Wal-Mart Facebook Lewis Starbucks Corp Mars Overland Park Pizza Hut Radiohead Brittany Meredith John Calvin
Renee says placing Joie (pronounced "Joey") for adoption was the most difficult thing she's ever done, but she has no regrets.

"I've never been more at peace in my life," she says. "Joie deserved better."

As parents struggle to raise children in a weak economy, a half-dozen large adoption agencies are reporting that more women with unplanned pregnancies are considering placing their babies for adoption rather than keeping them.

Many of these women are in their 20s and already have at least one child, says Joan Jaeger of The Cradle, the Chicago-area agency that placed Joie. She says 30% more women are inquiring about placing a child for adoption than a year ago.

"The economy has made them take a second look at adoption," says Scott Mars of American Adoptions, a private agency in Overland Park, Kan. In the past year, he's seen a 10% to 12% increase in women inquiring about placing a child for adoption and a 7% to 10% increase in actual placements, as strong demand for healthy infants continues to outstrip the supply.

"We've seen a dramatic increase in girls calling us from the hospital," says Joseph Sica of Adoption By Shepherd Care, an agency in Hollywood, Fla. He says they expect to get help to raise their children, so they wait, but after they give birth and no help arrives, they call. He had 14 such adoptions in 2008, up from 11 in 2007 and four in 2006.

"Finances are one of the major reasons women feel compelled to place their children for adoption," says Adam Pertman of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a research group.

Finances are also prompting more women to question pregnancy and to inquire about abortion. One in 10 married women say they are delaying pregnancy because of the economy, according to a Gallup Organization survey this month.

"Our phones are ringing off the hook," says Vicki Saporta of the National Abortion Federation, which represents abortion providers. She says calls to her group's hotline have nearly tripled in the past year, many from women whose families have lost jobs.

Renee says she's "pro-choice" but didn't choose abortion because she felt better about adoption, especially after finding Meredith and Ryan Sheriff. The first time she met the adoptive parents, they talked for four hours." It just felt right."

Their rapport is obvious as they meet at a Starbucks a week before Mother's Day, hugging and chatting like old friends. Renee brings flowers and cards. She holds Joie with one arm and gently touches Meredith's hand with the other. Their mothers have come along, too.

Sharon Smietanski says she's grateful to Renee for bringing joy back to her daughter Meredith's life. A year ago, she says, Meredith was in despair because she had lost a child, stillborn at 39 weeks of pregnancy. She calls the adoption the "most unselfish act any woman can do."

Renee's busy world

On a Friday evening in Renee's town 70 miles northwest of Chicago, Katelyn, 13, answers the door. Calvin, 18, is playing guitar and hanging out with a friend. Brittany, 17, is chatting at the kitchen table. In the corner are two boxes of diapers for Joie, and on the refrigerator are pictures of Joie and the teens.

"At first the adoption was kind of weird. Why don't we just keep her," says Brittany, a junior who plans on college. She says they talked about what to do. "Now it seems like a normal thing."

"We all wanted her. Everyone loves a baby," says Calvin, a graduating high school senior who is joining the Army Reserve. He says family finances made adoption a "smart choice."

Renee says she's always struggled financially to raise her children. She was pregnant her senior year of high school. She and her ex-husband, who lives in the same town and shares custody of the kids, worked varying shifts at Pizza Hut and Wal-Mart. After they divorced eight years ago, Renee went back to school. She's two classes away from an associate degree in applied science.

Renee says that even after the birth father "stepped aside" and she learned she was carrying twins, she thought she could do it on her own. She then went to the hospital because of complications — tests showed only one fetus was still developing — and the bill made her realize just how costly a baby would be. She didn't have health insurance.

She works more than 50 hours a week and earns nearly $50,000 a year, but she says she was counting on monthly bonuses to cover baby expenses. "I was banking on money that wasn't guaranteed."

So Renee decided she needed a "better plan — plan B." She contacted The Cradle, which handled her aunt's adoption of two babies decades ago.

The agency directed her to a state health program that covers pregnant women. She and her kids combed through profiles of 115 couples until they picked Meredith, 32, a high school guidance counselor, and Ryan, 33, a high school chemistry teacher. They became Facebook friends and e-mailed often.

Renee invited them to Joie's birth. Meredith was nervous about being on a maternity ward again, but she couldn't stay away. When she and Ryan stepped off the hospital elevator, Katelyn and Brittany were waiting to tell them Joie had just been born.

A joyous crowd snapped pictures, Renee recalls. "It was just the way it was meant to happen."

Adoption's new openness

The bond between the two families reflects a trend toward openness in adoption. In up to 90% of domestic infant adoptions, Pertman says, adoptive parents maintain some contact with birth parents.

"It's considered best practice," he says, because most women want to know what happens to the child and the child wants to know family history.

Pertman says he recently flew to Florida with his daughter so she could spend time with her birth family. He says their relationship is similar to that of in-laws or stepfamilies. "Instead of marrying into a family," he says, "you adopt into one."

Adoptive parents are often wary at first of contact with the birth family but later appreciate its benefit for the child, says Jaeger at The Cradle. She says birth mothers may find contact difficult.

"It's not easy to have an open adoption," says Courtney Lewis, who placed a baby boy for adoption 11 years ago when she was in college. She says she was upset when her son was 4 and his adoptive parents divorced. "Maybe if it had been a closed adoption, it wouldn't hurt as bad."

Chuck Johnson recalls "awkward moments" with the biological grandparents of his adoptive son. He says the grandmother wanted to visit on Christmas Eve. He agreed instead to a Dec. 26 visit.

"We knew they loved him," says Johnson, chief operating officer of the National Council For Adoption, an advocacy group. "We shared that love."

He says adoption was far more common decades ago, when single women often were sent away to give birth and never saw their babies again.

Before 1973, when abortion became legal, one in 10 never-married women who gave birth placed the child for adoption, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Among white women, it was one in five. That number has plummeted. In a 2002 survey, the latest available, the center found only 1% of such women relinquished her baby.

Johnson says the percentage of women who place a child for adoption is low because single parenthood is widely accepted and abortion is legal.

Meredith's dream arrives

About 75 miles southeast of Renee's apartment is Meredith and Ryan's four-bedroom home in New Lenox, Ill. Tulips and daffodils are planted in the backyard in memory of Addie, the baby they lost.

When they had trouble getting pregnant after Addie, they turned to adoption. Ryan wanted to adopt domestically, so they would get full medical information about the child. Meredith preferred an international adoption to avoid contact with a birth mom. The international wait was long, though, so they took out a home-equity loan and signed with The Cradle, which charges $29,900.

Within a few months, Renee chose them. Meredith says she feared getting too attached in case Renee changed her mind after the baby was born.

She kept wondering, "How is Renee going to look at that baby and hand her away?" About 20% to 30% of birth moms have a change of heart, Jaeger says.

They agreed to meet at least once a season. So far, they're doing more. Meredith invited Renee and her family to Joie's baptism. She's also driven to Renee's office so Renee could show off Joie to co-workers.

She and Ryan chose Joie's first name and wanted "Renee" as the middle name. They kept it but made "Olivia" the second name, because Brittany and Katelyn called her that during the pregnancy. "It's never been awkward," Meredith says about their relationship. She says co-workers find it "weird" and ask, "Why do you talk to her (Renee) so much? … People don't get that it's not threatening."

She says she knows what it's like to lose a child. "I don't ever want Renee to wonder how Joie is doing." She's kept Renee's e-mails, including the one wishing her well on her first day back to work after maternity leave. She's put together a scrapbook of their correspondence and pictures.

"I can't wait for Joie to get old enough to understand all of this," Meredith says. "I'm so excited to tell her her story."

Obama's IRS targets most productive members of U.S. ("Trickle-up poverty"?)

Obama's IRS targets most productive members of U.S. ("Trickle-up poverty"?)

Obama's IRS targets most productive members of U.S. ("Trickle-up poverty"?)
michaelsavage.com

Link to the story

IRS says focus on wealthy individuals, companies
Tue May 19, 2009 6:02pm EDT
By Kim Dixon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is focusing its audits on wealthy individuals and corporations as part of a broader effort to increase enforcement, the agency chief told lawmakers on Tuesday.

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman disputed a suggestion at a congressional hearing that the agency has been lax in going after rich people and big companies. He was responding to a lawmaker who cited big drops in audits of millionaires and large companies.

"Our long-term investment is to have a trend where wealthy individuals, large corporations, (those) who have really benefited from being in the United States, we're going to make sure that they pay their taxes," Shulman, an appointee of former president George W. Bush, told a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the agency's 2010 budget request.

Representative Jose Serrano, Democratic chairman of the subcommittee, cited data from Syracuse University that the IRS audit rate for millionaires fell 19 percent between fiscal 2007 and 2008 and fell 39 percent from 2005 to 2008 for big corporations.

"We think some of that is just wrong and some of it is looking at unfair comparisons," Shulman said, adding there was a slight decline in the rate of audits of millionaires because the overall number of audits grew.

"They were overcounting their audits of millionaires," said Sue Long, the statistician and professor at Syracuse's Whitman School of Management who runs the database.

IRS data did confirm a major drop in audits of corporations with more than $250 million in assets in recent years. The rate fell from 44 percent in 2005 to 27 percent in 2008.

According to the IRS's website, it audited about 5.6 percent of individuals making more than $1 million in fiscal year 2008, down from 6.8 percent in 2007, a drop of about 18 percent.

The 2008 rate was up slightly from 5 percent in 2004, the earliest year available by income class.

Serrano acknowledged that the problem began long before Shulman's tenure, which began about a year ago: "Some of this obviously happened before you came on the job."

Shulman has said enforcement of laws against international tax cheating is his top priority.

The U.S. government is now suing UBS AG to retrieve thousands of names of American clients who stashed money in secret accounts. The Swiss banking giant settled with the Department of Justice in February to avoid criminal charges after agreeing to pay a $780 million fine.

"For many years, some people have felt safe and some financial institutions have marketed 'come and hide your assets here,'" Shulman told the lawmakers.

UBS is fighting the civil suit, claiming compliance would require UBS employees to commit fraud in Switzerland.

In March, the IRS began a six-month voluntary amnesty program to encourage individuals and companies evading U.S. taxes in offshore accounts to come clean in exchange for lower penalties and in most cases avoiding the risk of criminal prosecution.

"We've seen a significant uptick in our voluntary disclosure program," Shulman said.

(Reporting by Kim Dixon; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Andre Grenon, Gary Hill)

Obama seizes control of GM; creates massiveSoviet-era car company

Obama seizes control of GM; creates massiveSoviet-era car company

Obama seizes control of GM; creates massiveSoviet-era car company
michaelsavage.com

Link to the story

CORRECTED - UPDATE 1-GM bankruptcy plan eyes quick sale to gov't
Tue May 19, 2009 2:02pm EDT
(Removes third paragraph with reference to not making any other payment)

By Chelsea Emery and Tom Hals

NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp's (GM.N) plan for a bankruptcy filing involves a quick sale of the company's healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

The source, who would not be named because he was not cleared to speak with the media, did not specify a purchase price. The new company is expected to honor the claims of secured lenders, possibly in full, according to the source.

The remaining assets of GM would stay in bankruptcy protection to satisfy other outstanding claims.

GM has about $6 billion in secured debt, including a secured revolving credit and bank debt.

The government's plans include giving stakes in the new company to GM's union and bondholders, although the ownership structure of the company is still being negotiated, said the source who is familiar with the company's plans.

In addition, the government would extend a credit line to the new company and forgive the bulk of the $15.4 billion in emergency loans that the U.S. has already provided to GM, the source said.

The government has given GM until June 1 to restructure its operations to lower its debt burden and employee costs.

If those talks failed, the company has said it would follow rival Chrysler LLC into bankruptcy.

Setting up a new company to buy the healthy assets is aimed at reassuring consumers who might not be willing to make a major purchase from a bankrupt company, fearing it would not honor warranties or provide service.

The board of the new company would be established with the tacit approval of the government. Fritz Henderson, who took the helm of GM earlier this year after the government pushed out Rick Wagoner, would likely head the new company, the source said.

GM could not be immediately reached for comment.

GM shares were up about 9 percent at $1.29. (Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Sweden rules 'gender-based' abortion legal

Sweden rules 'gender-based' abortion legal

Sweden rules 'gender-based' abortion legal
michaelsavage.com

Link to the story

Sweden rules 'gender-based' abortion legal
Published: 12 May 09 07:27 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/19392/20090512/

Swedish health authorities have ruled that gender-based abortion is not illegal according to current law and can not therefore be stopped, according to a report by Sveriges Television.



The Local reported in February that a woman from Eskilstuna in southern Sweden had twice had abortions after finding out the gender of the child.

The woman, who already had two daughters, requested an amniocentesis in order to allay concerns about possible chromosome abnormalities. At the same time, she also asked to know the foetus's gender.

Doctors at Mälaren Hospital expressed concern and asked Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) to draw up guidelines on how to handle requests in the future in which they "feel pressured to examine the foetus’s gender" without having a medically compelling reason to do so.

The board has now responded that such requests and thus abortions can not be refused and that it is not possible to deny a woman an abortion up to the 18th week of pregnancy, even if the foetus's gender is the basis for the request.

Woman dead for 40 years receives stimulus check

Woman dead for 40 years receives stimulus check

Woman dead for 40 years receives stimulus check

michaelsavage.com

Link to the story

Dead Woman Gets Federal Stimulus Check
Son Wants To Keep Check As Souvenir
POSTED: 12:32 am EDT May 12, 2009UPDATED: 11:50 am EDT May 12, 2009

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY -- Millions of Americans on Social Security are receiving $250 checks as part of the president's stimulus plan -- including an Anne Arundel woman who died more than 40 years ago.

The woman's son, 83-year-old James Hagner, said he got the surprise when he checked his mailbox late last week.

"It shocked me and I laughed all at the same time," Hagner said. "I don't even expect to get one my own self, and I get one for my mother for 43 years ago?"

His mother, Rose, died on Memorial Day in 1967.

Social Security representatives said there is a good explanation. Of the about 52 million checks that have been mailed out, about 10,000 of those have been sent to people who are deceased.

The agency blames the error on the strict mid-June deadline of mailing out all of the checks, which didn't leave officials much time to clean up all of their records.

Agents ask that people return the check if they receive it.

Hagner said he'd like to frame it and hang it on his wall.

"I just want to keep it as a souvenir, that's all. I'll never cash it," Hagner said.

Social Security officials said they aren't expecting to lose too much money to fraud. They're reminding the public that it's a federal offense to cash someone else's Social Security check.

U.S. will pay $2.6 millionto train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job

U.S. will pay $2.6 millionto train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job

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U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the JobTuesday,

May 12, 2009By Edwin Mora

(CNSNews.com) -- The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.

Dr. Xiaoming Li, the researcher conducting the program, is director of the Prevention Research Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.

The grant, made last November, refers to prostitutes as "female sex workers"--or FSW--and their handlers as "gatekeepers."

"Previous studies in Asia and Africa and our own data from FSWs [female sex workers] in China suggest that the social norms and institutional policy within commercial sex venues as well as agents overseeing the FSWs (i.e., the 'gatekeepers', defined as persons who manage the establishments and/or sex workers) are potentially of great importance in influencing alcohol use and sexual behavior among establishment-based FSWs," says the NIH grant abstract submitted by Dr. Li.

"Therefore, in this application, we propose to develop, implement, and evaluate a venue-based alcohol use and HIV risk reduction intervention focusing on both environmental and individual factors among venue-based FSWs in China," says the abstract.

The research will take place in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi.

Guangxi is ranked third in HIV rate among Chna's provinces--and is a place where the sex business is pervasive, Li said.

“The purpose of the project is to try and develop an intervention program targeting HIV risk and alcohol use,” Li told CNSNews.com. “So basically, it’s an alcohol and HIV risk reduction intervention project."

The researcher outlined three components of the intervention program in the abstract for the project:

“(1) gatekeeper training with a focus on changing or enhancing the protective social norms and policy/practice at the establishment level; (2) FSW (female sex workers) training with a focus on the acquisition of communication skills (negotiating, limit setting) and behavioral skills (e.g., condom use skills, consistent condom use); and (3) semi-annual boosters to reinforce both social norms within establishments and individual skills,” wrote Li.

The doctor said the heart of the study involves “a community-based cluster randomized controlled trial among 100 commercial sex venues in Beihai, a costal tourist city in Guangxi.”

"We anticipate that the venue-based intervention program will be culturally appropriate, feasible, effective and sustainable in alcohol use and sexual risk reduction among FSWs," says the NIH grant abstract.

Li said his study is being done in China rather than the U.S. because prostitution occurs with alcohol use in the United States like it does in China, Americans will be able to benefit from the project’s findings.

“We want to get some understanding of the fundamental role of alcohol use and HIV risk,” he said. “We use the population in China as our targeted population to look at the basic issues. I think the findings will benefit the American people, too.”

Li said minimal research has been conducted on the link between alcohol use and prostitution as it relates to HIV.

“Alcohol has been a part of the commerce of sex for many, many years. Unfortunately, both global-wise (and) in the United States, very few researchers are looking at the complex issue of the inter play between alcohol and the commerce of sex,” he told CNSNews.com.

The grant is one of several “international initiatives” sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

Ralph Hingson, director of epidemiology and prevention research at NIAA, told CNSNews.com, “There are many Americans who travel to China each year and they should be made aware of the HIV problem.”

Hingson said that Americans will be able to apply the studies findings to the American situation because 1.2 million Americans are currently living with HIV.

Li’s research includes exploration, development, implementation and evaluation. Currently, the project stands at the exploration stage, which the doctor expects to last 18 months.

“The first phase is kind of an exploratory study just trying to get a good understanding of the phenomena in the population of female sex workers in China. The second phase is the program development,” the professor told CNSNews.com.

Phase two will be based on the first year of the study and on “field observations,” he added. The third phase will be the implementation and evaluation of the program.

“Prostitution is illegal in China but it exists in China," Li told CNSNews.com, “but the Chinese government and the society’s attitude towards prostitution is complicated.”

According to Li, there may be as many as 10 million female prostitutes in China with the majority raging from teenagers to those in their 20s.

“We see a lot of governmental initiatives in China, like 100 percent condom distribution promotion programs, so they deliver condoms in those (prostitution) venues," he added.

“The global literature indicates an important role of alcohol use in facilitating HIV/AIDS transmission risk in commercial sex venues where elevated alcohol use/abuse and sexual risk behaviors frequently co-occur,” Li wrote when introducing the project last November.

"We expect that the intervention will improve protective normative beliefs and institutional support regarding alcohol use and HIV protection,” he added.

The NIH proposal hypothesizes that the program will decrease "problem drinking and alcohol-related sexual risk" among prostitutes that participate.

"We hypothesize that the venue-based intervention will change and enhance the protective social norms and institutional policies at the establishment level and such enhancement, accompanied by individual skill training among FSWs, will demonstrate a sustainable effect within commercial sex establishments in decreasing problem drinking and alcohol-related sexual risk, increasing consistent and correct condom use, and reducing rates of HIV/STD infection among FSWs," says the NIH abstract.

U.K. welcomes Che's daughter but bans Michael Savage

U.K. welcomes Che's daughter but bans Michael Savage

U.K. welcomes Che's daughter but bans Michael Savage

michaelsavage.com

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Britain Welcomes Che Guevara's Daughter -- But Bans Michael Savage
by Humberto Fontova (more by this author)
Posted 05/12/2009 ET
Updated 05/12/2009 ET


For “fostering extremism and hatred " Britain's home Secretary has barred the popular U.S. radio commentator Michael Savage from setting foot in the UK. “Coming to the U.K. is a privilege,” explained Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, “and I refuse to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life. Therefore, I will not hesitate to name and shame those who foster extremist views as I want them to know that they are not welcome here."

Fair enough, Ms Smith. But Che Guevara's daughter, Aleida, will be in Britain next month for a hoopla titled Cuba50, which is billed as “the biggest European celebration in this 50th anniversary year.” In London's expansive Barbican Centre, Britain will throw the continent's biggest party commemorating fifty years of Castro's Stalinist regime, which jailed political prisoners at a higher rate than Stalin's, murdered political prisoners at a higher rate than pre-war Hitler's, and came closest of anyone to plunging the world into nuclear war.

In the process of “liberating” Cuba, the regime to be honored in London's most prestigious convention centre, created refugees at a higher rate than the Waffen SS and Gestapo created while conquering and subjugating France ( all figures for the above murder and oppression are provided with full documentation in Fidel; Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant.)

And lest we get the wrong idea, Aleida Guevara will visit Home Secretary Smith's jurisdictional domain in order to promote, in her own words: “my father's ideals, his concerns, and his ambitions. I believe that my father is a banner to the world!” adds Che's well-fed (in sharp contrast to most Cubans) daughter.


Fine. Let's have a look at Aleida's father's “ambitions,” keeping in mind that “hate speech” is a buzz-term beloved by the likes of Jacqui Smith and, for them, has an extremely elastic application.

"Hatred as the central element of our struggle!" raved Ernesto 'Che' Guevara in his 1966 Message to the Tricontinental Conference in Havana. "Hatred that is intransigent...hatred so violent that it propels a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him violent and cold- blooded killing machine...We reject any peaceful approach. Violence is inevitable. To establish Socialism rivers of blood must flow!... The imperialist enemy must feel like a hunted animal wherever he moves. Thus we'll destroy him! These hyenas (Americans) are fit only for extermination. We must keep our hatred alive and fan it to paroxysm! The victory of Socialism is well worth millions of atomic victims!”

No rational person would require any such elasticity of definition to classify Aleida's father's--this “banner to the world!”--speech.

“My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood.” Aleida's father had raved as early as his Motorcycle Diaries (though this passage was somehow omitted from Robert Redford's heartwarming movie.) “Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any vencido that falls in my hands! With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!"

Vencido, by the way, translates into English as “defeated” or “surrendered.”

And Aleida's father made good on his boast. The "acrid odor of gunpowder and blood" rarely reached Che Guevara's nostril from actual combat. It always came from the close-range murder of bound, gagged or blindfolded men (and boys.) "The Black Book of Communism," written by French scholars and published in English by Harvard University Press (neither an outpost of the vast right-wing conspiracy,) estimates 14,000 firing squad executions in Cuba by the end of the 1960's, the equivalent, given the relative populations, of over 3 million executions in the U.S.

Aleida's father delighted in delivering the coup de grace to dozens of these. When office work (signing execution warrants) tore him away from his beloved execution pits, Che ameliorated his emotional deprivation by having a special window installed in his office so he could watch his busy firing squads at work, beaming at the spectacle. Among many others, Aleida's father invited Ernest Hemingway as a spectator to the slaughter.

Tragically for tens of thousands of Cubans, Aleida's father was in a position to convert his hate speech to action. By the mid 60's the crime of a "rocker" lifestyle or effeminate behavior got thousands of youths yanked off Cuba's streets and parks by secret police and dumped in prison camps with "Work Will Make Men Out of You" in bold letters above the gate (the one at Auschwitz' gate read: "Work Will Set You Free”) and with machine gunners posted on the watchtowers. The initials for these camps were UMAP, not GULAG, but the conditions were quite similar.

The UMAP Prisoners Association in Miami has the names of hundreds of these imprisoned “delinquents” (as Che denounced them) who were bludgeoned, bayoneted and otherwise tortured to death while in these forced-labor camps, established under the direction of Aleida's father, the man Sec. Jacqui Smith's London will honor with a gigantic festival on June 27/28..

“Gay-bashing” seems to figure big in Jacqui Smith's definition of hate speech. But apparently when this bashing comes in the literal form, involving Soviet gun-butts and bayonets bashing a gay's head until he dies from massive cerebral trauma, it fails to fall under her definition of “Hate Speech.”

In the process of these tortures and murders Aleida's dad helped his Cuban mentor establish a personal fiefdom that proved quite enduring. This totalitarian endurance is what Jacqui Smith's London will celebrate next month.

Alas, when Aleida's father finally found himself up against armed and determined enemies in Bolivia, all that bloodthirsty bluster mentioned above vanished in a “poof.” “Don't shoot” he whimpered to his U.S. trained Bolivian captors as he dropped his fully loaded weapons, “I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than dead!”

His Bolivian captors viewed the matter differently. In fact they adopted a policy that has since become a favorite among Americans who encounter (so-called) endangered species on their property: “Shoot, Shovel and Shut up." Justice has never been better served.

I strongly suspect that in the process of “promoting her fathers' ideal's” Aleida Guevara (like Robert Redford and Stephen Soderbergh) will do Fidel and Raul Castro proud, while mounting no offense to Britain's “standards and values,” as defined by her Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith.

UK Minister Who Blacklisted American Talk Show Host May Lose Her Post

UK Minister Who Blacklisted American Talk Show Host May Lose Her Post

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UK Minister Who Blacklisted American Talk Show Host May Lose Her Post
Thursday, May 07, 2009
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

CNSNews.com) – The senior British government minister who included U.S. radio talk show host Michael Savage on a list of people banned from the U.K. for “stirring up hatred” may lose her post in a forthcoming cabinet reshuffle.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has courted controversy in her position, which focuses on law and order, but the threat to her cabinet career stems from a dispute over housing expenses claims, according to reports in Fleet Street tabloids Wednesday.

The expenses row was exacerbated earlier this year by the embarrassing revelation that her husband, Richard Timney, had included the cost of two pornographic pay-per-view movies on Smith’s parliamentary expenses claim.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labor Party anticipates a pounding in local government and European Parliament elections to be held on June 4.

In the local election, all 27 county councils in England are being contested. Labor currently holds only four of them, compared with 19 controlled by the Conservatives, and those four Labor seats are expected to change hands in what some experts are predicting will be Labor’s worst showing in 30 years.

A cabinet shake-up will almost certainly follow quickly as the embattled prime minister tries to restore credibility ahead of the next general election, which must be held by June 2010 but could take place this year.

Several newspapers, citing unnamed government sources, put Smith at the top of the list of ministers expected to get the boot.

Apart from the expenses row, Smith has become a lightning-rod for unhappiness over government security policies that critics say will threaten civil liberties. They include an unpopular and costly scheme to issue Britons with identity cards and plans for a database that will keep DNA records of convicted criminals – as well as records of people who are arrested but never convicted – for years.

The issue of excluding undesirable visitors has brought the government more unwelcome controversy.

Last October, Smith announced the tightening of regulations to allow the government to bar entry to foreigners who provoke extremism and hatred.

She came under fire in February when, invoking those new rules, she denied Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders a visa. The move to bar Wilders, a critic of Islamist radicalism, sparked a diplomatic row with the Netherlands.

The opposition Conservative Party then noted that no such restrictions had been placed on a spokesman for the radical Lebanese group Hezbollah, who was due to address an academic seminar in London in March. Facing accusations of employing double standards, Smith then banned Ibrahim Moussawi too.

On Tuesday, Smith for the first time published a list of people she said had been banned from the U.K. for fostering hatred or extremism since the regulations were tightened last October.

“Coming to the U.K. is a privilege and I refuse to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life,” she said. “I will not hesitate to name and shame those who foster extremist views as I want them to know that they are not welcome here.”

Of the 16 names released, half are Islamic radicals or terrorists while the rest include Russian skinhead gangsters, white supremacists, a militant Israeli settler, anti-homosexual activists – and the host of the nationally-syndicated “Savage Nation” talk show.

Smith said she was publicizing the names to signal what type of behavior Britain was not prepared to tolerate. She said the full list currently stood at 22, but cited “public interest” reasons, without elaborating, for not releasing the other six names.

(Having been barred in March, Moussawi is evidently one of the six, although the reason for not disclosing his name is unclear. Britain last March said it was re-establishing official contacts with Hezbollah’s “political wing.” The Shi’ite group expects to do well in Lebanon’s general elections next month.)

‘Backfired’

In its statement listing the “hate promoters excluded from the U.K.” Smith’s Home Office described Savage as follows: “Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behavior by seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence.”

The provocative talk show host hit back at his inclusion on the blacklist, threatening during his show on Tuesday to sue Smith.

“They linked me up with Russian skinheads who had murdered 10 people, Islamists who had smashed in the heads of Jewish children with rifle butts [a reference to Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, released from an Israeli jail last year],” Savage said. “How could they put Michael Savage in the same league with mass murderers when I have never avowed violence?”

“This lunatic Jacqui Smith, in my opinion, has defamed me, and if possible, I will sue her personally,” he said.

British media outlets have picked up on Savage’s remark that he had not even been planning to visit Britain. Similarly, the two Russian skinheads listed are both serving 10-year prison sentences. The Home Office was unable to say how many of the 22 people listed actually wanted to visit.

The conservative Daily Mail opined that Smith’s initiative “appears to have backfired spectacularly at a time when her job is already hanging by a thread after a string of expense scandals.”

In the left-wing Guardian, a commentator wrote that Smith was evidently planning to use the exclusion of Savage, who has criticized Islam, as “a fig leaf” when faced with future complaints about the banning of a Muslim figure.

In 2007, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) complained after Savage on his program called the Koran a “book of hate” and a “document of slavery and chattel.”

Terror Group Warns of 'Fake' Qur'an that Omits Jihad...

Terror Group Warns of 'Fake' Qur'an that Omits Jihad...

Terror Group Warns of 'Fake' Qur'an that Omits Jihad...
thereligionofpeace.com

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Fake Qur’an circulated in Mideast, MILF warns

By EDD K. USMAN

May 3, 2009, 5:04pm

There is a new and fake version of the Qur'an or the Muslim Holy Book, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) warned Sunday, saying copies are being distributed particularly in the Middle East.

It is being presented as the "True Furqan" with two American printing companies allegedly involved in the fake Qur'an's publication, the MILF's website, luwaran.net, said.

The MILF stressed that "The Qur'an, which remained to this day exactly as it was more than 1,400 years ago, is held sacred by Muslims. Unlike the Christian Bible, the Qur’an has no versions, although there (are) many translations, including those done by “orientalists."

It said "orientalists are Christian scholars who studied Islam and the Qur’an, the motive of which is to undermine both."

While true versions of the Qur'an and its English and other translations have 114 Surahs or chapters, it said the "True Furqan" also being billed as "The 21st Century Qur'an" has only "77 Surahs, which includes “Al-Fatiha, Al-Jana and Al-Injil."

The MILF said that instead of the usual "Bismillah (In the Name of Allah), each Surah begins with a longer version of this incorporating the Christian belief of the “Holy Trinity.” It said the "True Furqan" has 366 pages and contains both Arabic and English languages.

"It also opposes many Islamic beliefs. In one of its ayahs (verses) it describes having more than one wife as fornication, divorce being non-permissible and it uses a new system for the sharing out of the will, opposing the current one," the Moro group said.

The fake "True Furqan" which is being sold for US$3 describes "Jihad" as "haram" or "prohibited."

6-Year-Old Israeli Girl Raped by Palestinian Man...

6-Year-Old Israeli Girl Raped by Palestinian Man...

6-Year-Old Israeli Girl Raped by Palestinian Man...

thereligionofpeace.com

May 3, 2009 12:16
Palestinian indicted for rape of 6-year-old girl from Beitar Illit

by JPOST.COM STAFF

A 22-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank was indicted at the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday for the alleged rape of a six-year-old girl from Beitar Illit.

The young man, who was conducting renovation work at the house of the girl's neighbors, allegedly cornered the girl and assaulted her when she came for a visit.

Funny thing about Obama ...

Funny thing about Obama ...

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Funny thing about Obama ...
Well, maybe not so funny. Comedians are treading carefully as they test the limits of political satire with a black president.

By Greg Braxton May 4, 2009

On his HBO show, "Real Time With Bill Maher," the comedian routinely makes vicious fun of celebrities, politicians, presidents and even God. But he's learned that, for much of his audience, Barack Obama is off limits.

Not long after the historic presidential election, Maher joked that Republicans were feeling particularly superstitious: "They say the country is having bad luck because there's a black cat in the White House." The studio audience erupted in loud groans and boos -- a reaction, Maher observed in a recent interview, that exceeded his often scathing attacks on organized religion.

"Obama is the new God," quipped Maher of the poorly received dig, which he pointed out pokes at conservatives more than the commander in chief.

The heckling response to Maher's gibe is hardly an anomaly. As late-night talk show hosts and other television comics who trade in political humor know, cracking wise about the new president, who marked his 100th day in office last week, is apparently not very funny for most of the people, most of the time. Not surprisingly, to guard against a frosty or uncertain reception, TV's leading political humorists have largely backed away from their ritual comic hazing of the president, a colorful tradition in the medium, especially in its late-night time slots, since at least the Nixon administration.

"If you're a comedian and you die and go to heaven, Bill Clinton is your president," said Robert J. Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. "If you're a comedian and you die and go to hell, Barack Obama is your president."

Obama has cast so many political humorists into a bad spot because he lacks the obvious defining qualities -- both mentally and physically -- that transformed previous Oval Office occupants into comedic catnip. He doesn't have a strong regional accent and didn't have a strange job before his political rise (former peanut farmer Jimmy Carter). He doesn't fall down (Gerald Ford). He is not regarded as aging or forgetful (Ronald Reagan). He hasn't been dubbed a "wimp" (George H.W. Bush). He is not tainted by scandal (Clinton). He doesn't stumble over the English language (George W. Bush).

The 44th president's elusiveness as a comic target is more than just superficial, however, and reveals deep national reluctance toward mocking a leader in crisis and toward discussing race. Much of humor's punch derives from the humbling of the mighty, but that card has, for now, been greatly diminished in the wake of the financial meltdown.

Obama didn't create the economic mess, and Americans see him earnestly struggling to clean it up. Just as they virtually went silent in taking potshots at George W. Bush in the months following the attacks of 9/11, so, too, television comedians have been hesitant to go after Obama as he copes with a genuine disaster.

But it's Obama's African American heritage more than any other single factor that has perhaps frozen comics' pens and keyboards. Political humorists, most of whom are white, have never dealt with a black president and aren't sure how their material will be received. Is an Obama joke truly aimed at the office and its policies, or is it merely a smokescreen for racial prejudice?

"You don't want to appear racist," said Buddy Winston, a former writer for the "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." "You can't do the stereotypical thing. Someone who's a Texan or an elite is much easier to attack."

Black comedians encounter similar difficulties in crafting humor at the new president's expense, said David Alan Grier, star of Comedy Central's short-lived "Chocolate News." "Some people in the black community see any sort of criticism of Obama as a betrayal," said Grier. "But my thing is, it's not a betrayal. It's just jokes. That's what comedy is."

Much of the humor in the last few weeks on "The Tonight Show" has taken a safe comic route by centering on the first family's new dog and Obama's mother-in-law, who lives in the White House.

Meanwhile David Letterman, who regularly bashed Bush, has repeatedly praised the new president ("You gotta like this guy . . . by God, this guy is out there, doing stuff. He's always got stuff going on").

In fact, the CBS late-night host has used Obama to set up jabs at Bush. In one monologue, he noted Obama's recent trip to South America, where his lack of knowledge of Spanish prevented him from reading a book presented to him by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez: "It would be like handing George Bush any book."

Writers and producers for "Late Show With David Letterman," "The Tonight Show," "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" declined comment for this story.

Even "Saturday Night Live," which is renowned for its politically biting humor, has been mostly soft on Obama. A few weeks ago, the series ran a sketch with former pro wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. In it, the normally cool-under-fire Obama, played by Fred Armisen, would transform into the hulkish wrestler "The Rock Obama," who would throw dissenters out the window.

Contributing to Obama's kid-glove treatment, too, are the political leanings of many comedy writers. Although it didn't ultimately help Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter, Winston, who wrote for Leno for six years, argues there's little doubt many joke writers are Democrats.

"You have to remember that most comedy writers on these shows are more liberal than conservative," Winston said. "It was much easier to write comedy when the enemy was the target."

To be sure, Obama is not getting away scot-free. In recent weeks, "The Daily Show" has jabbed the president for the tax problems of his Cabinet nominees and his indulgent fondness for private White House performances from such artists as Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire.

It's also important to remember that television audiences aren't a scientific sample of the nation and might be distorting the true appetite for Obama humor, said Maher. He contends most of his TV audiences are "limousine liberals" who are overly sensitive, particularly about race. But he says when he's on the road performing in arenas, jokes about Obama having a shark tank in the White House earn big laughs.

"There's a huge difference with the stand-up audiences across the country in cities such as Tulsa and Kansas City," said Maher. "Those people never boo. They're the real deal, true freethinkers. They want to laugh."

But in comedy, it's all about timing. More than 100 days into the new administration, Ian Cameron, executive producer of ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," said that it may still be too early for Obama-based material to emerge. The show's regular segment "The Sunday Funnies," which offers a roundup of national political humor, has been light on Obama jokes.

"There also has been more of a track record with Bush, when there were eight years," said Cameron. "A lot of comedians are still feeling their way. There's still the 'Obama walking on water' jokes."

Obama will fall into the water somehow, and when he does the comedians will be there, said Malcolm Kushner, a scholar of presidential humor who co-created the humor exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

"Everybody thought 9/11 would be the death of comedy, and it wasn't," he said. "It will happen."

greg.braxton@latimes.com

Chavez's anti-Semitism buried by liberal media

Chavez's anti-Semitism buried by liberal media

Chavez's anti-Semitism buried by liberal media
michaelsavage.com

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The Politics of Intimidation
By MELANIE KIRKPATRICK MAY 1, 2009.

In 1998, the year Hugo Chavez was elected president, there were 22,000 Jews in Venezuela. Today the Jewish population is estimated at between 10,000 and 15,000.

Those numbers tell a story, and it's not a happy one. The Jews of Venezuela are fleeing to Miami, Madrid and elsewhere because of the anti-Semitism they face at home. In an interview this week in Washington, D.C., the country's chief rabbi sounds a warning bell: "There's anxiety in the Jewish community because of what has happened," says Rabbi Pynchas Bremer, "and of course because of what may happen."

Mr. Chavez's vitriol about Jews is well documented and of long standing. In recent years he has referred to Venezuelan Jews as "descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ" and "a minority [that] has taken ownership of all the gold of the planet." According to Shmuel Herzfeld, a Washington, D.C., rabbi who visited Venezuela in March: "Chavez is isolating the Jews and turning Venezuelans against the Jewish community. . . . The government is transforming a society that has been welcoming and accepting of Jews" in the past. Rabbi Bremer, who has lived in Venezuela for more than 40 years, says that he had never personally encountered anti-Semitism or heard of anti-Semitic incidents until recently.

This year has seen an intensification of attacks -- verbal and physical -- on Jews and Jewish institutions in Venezuela. In January, the largest Sephardic synagogue in Caracas was vandalized and desecrated. Among the slogans painted on the wall was "damned Jews, death to you." A list of members of the congregation was stolen. In February, another synagogue was attacked with a grenade. Eleven people have been arrested in the first attack.

The attacks on the two synagogues took place in the context of Mr. Chavez's tirades against Israel over its campaign in Gaza as well as his continuing charm offensive with Iran. In early January, the president expelled the Israeli ambassador, calling Israel's campaign a "holocaust." He demanded that Venezuelan Jews denounce Israel.

In January, a professor published an article online calling on citizens to boycott Jewish-owned businesses and confiscate the property of Jews who support Israel. He urged Venezuelans to "summon publicly every Jew found in the streets, squares, shopping malls, etc. and force them to take positions, screaming at them slogans in favor of Palestine and against the abortion-state of Israel." Change the language from Spanish to German, and this could be an anti-Semitic tract from the 1930s.

In a report to be released today, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom puts Venezuela on a watch list of countries where religious freedom is threatened. "Anti-Semitic statements by government officials and state media," it says, "have created a hostile environment whereby some Venezuelan citizens have harassed and threatened rabbis, vandalized Jewish businesses with anti-Semitic slogans, and called for a boycott of all Jewish businesses in Venezuela." In a report on global anti-Semitism last year, the State Department listed Venezuela as a state sponsor of anti-Semitism.

Venezuelan Catholics are also "at risk," the Commission on International Religious Freedom notes, and there have been "repeated attacks" on Catholic leaders and Catholic institutions. In January, La Piedrita, a pro-Chavez group, threw tear-gas cannisters into the house of the papal nuncio. Last year pro-Chavez thugs occupied the residence of the archbishop of Caracas and held a press conference at which they denounced Catholic leaders. There have been no arrests in either incident.

Last week Rabbi Herzfeld and others asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to hold a hearing on anti-Semitism in Venezuela. A brief filed with the commission documents the "escalating violence and hostility" against Jews, which it says is "designed to isolate, terrify and ostracize that community." The commission will make a decision on the request in September, a spokeswoman says.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Bremer, the chief rabbi of Venezuela, asks that the world pay attention to the plight of Jews in his country. "We don't know what the future holds for us," he says. But he believes Mr. Chavez pays attention to world opinion. "I hope we will hear from the world community if there is future deterioration."

Rabbi Herzfeld is blunter: "I think we're in the early stages of something catastrophic."

Ms. Kirkpatrick is a deputy editor of the Journal's editorial page.

San Fran bedbug epidemic - links to illegal immigrants hidden

San Fran bedbug epidemic - links to illegal immigrants hidden

San Fran bedbug epidemic - links to illegal immigrants hidden
michaelsavage.com

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S.F.'s bedbug battle a war without end
C.W. Nevius
Saturday, May 2, 2009

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When she and her husband moved into an upscale apartment in an "emerging" neighborhood near Civic Center, Katie Beckheyer may have had some concerns about crime, gritty streets and panhandlers. But she never expected what would be the real nightmare.

Bedbugs.

"I am covered in itchy red welts," she said in an e-mail, "and drained to the core from six months of insomnia, paranoia (I wake up every morning at 3 a.m., searching my sheets for signs of them feeding on me) and incessant itching."

Beckheyer had their apartment sprayed six times. But they were still getting bitten, so they finally paid for one last treatment to make sure their belongings were clean, and then moved out.

Before you extend sympathetic wishes to the poor folks who are infested with bedbugs, here's a piece of advice - better check your mattress.

Like the rest of the country, San Francisco is experiencing a bedbug boom. Dr. Johnson Ojo of the Department of Public Health said bedbugs are popping up everywhere, from "low-income housing to high-priced hotels."

It's an all-out war on the tiny, creepy, blood-sucking predators. And the bugs are winning.

Ojo has put together a citywide policy that covers all the basic steps: Hotel managers who learn of an infestation must immediately set up a pest-control spraying, and residents are encouraged to follow specific instruction on washing clothing and showering with hot water.

Yet many who deal with the problem regularly think that current methods are no more than stopgap measures. Faced with a growing epidemic, the city needs to start thinking beyond the idea of squirting insect spray and hoping for the best.

"I feel like there has not been enough research on alternative methods," said Jeff Buckley, director of the Central City Single Room Occupancy Collaborative, which works with 5,000 to 7,000 people each year who live in supportive housing. "I know for a fact that one hotel (in the Tenderloin) has had 14 sprays in the last two months."

That's not necessarily because the hotel is doing a poor job of attacking the pests. Bedbugs are everywhere, particularly in supportive housing. But it is an example of the scale of the problem and how hard it is to solve. Consider, each of those 14 treatments is actually three consecutive sprayings per room, two weeks apart.

And the bedbugs keep coming back.

"In terms of nonroutine maintenance, bedbugs are at the top of our list," said Richard Heasley, executive director of Conard House, which provides supportive housing in 525 units for clients with chronic mental illness. "It is the single most frustrating problem we have to deal with."

If you thought bedbugs were eradicated long ago, you are not alone. Arthur Slater, an entomologist who directed UC Berkeley's pest management program from 1973 to 2001, said he hardly gave bedbugs a thought.

"When I started in '73, bedbugs were something your father might know about," he said.

Slater said there are two major factors in the bedbug upsurge over the past 10 to 15 years. The first is cheaper air fares, which allow regular travel from countries where bedbugs had never been controlled. The second factor is complacency.

"We are not prepared to put out the resources to do it well," he said.

Slater, who is now a pest-control consultant and freelance bedbug expert, is among those who think there are better treatments than spraying insecticides. He is an advocate of a treatment where large heaters are brought into a sealed room and the temperature is raised to more than 120 degrees for 24 hours. That not only kills the bedbugs but also their eggs, which are the real problem in the bugs' rapid growth.

Ojo is willing to consider heat treatment for the city, but he points out that it is expensive and requires technical expertise.

"It is promising," he said. "But it has never been tried on a large-scale basis."

Well, this might be a good time to give it a try. San Francisco has been ahead of the curve on the bedbug issue, but so far that's only meant that the city realizes what a difficult and pervasive problem it has become.

Buckley wonders if the city couldn't persuade a researcher at one of the Bay Area's medical facilities to do some work on alternative methods. Besides heat treatment, Slater said, there have been some promising results from the use of concentrated orange oil.

All worthwhile ideas.

But until they can be given a try? "I'm still checking my mattress," Buckley said.


C.W. Nevius' columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail him at cwnevius@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Professor's comparison of Israelis to Nazis stirs furor

Professor's comparison of Israelis to Nazis stirs furor

Professor's comparison of Israelis to Nazis stirs furor

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Professor's comparison of Israelis to Nazis stirs furor
The UC Santa Barbara sociologist, who is Jewish, sent images from the Holocaust and from Israel's Gaza offensive to students in his class. He has drawn denunciation and support.
By Duke Helfand
April 30, 2009

Controversy has erupted at UC Santa Barbara over a professor's decision to send his students an e-mail in which he compared graphic images of Jews in the Holocaust to pictures of Palestinians caught up in Israel's recent Gaza offensive.

The e-mail by tenured sociology professor William I. Robinson has triggered a campus investigation and drawn accusations of anti-Semitism from two national Jewish groups, even as many students and faculty members have voiced support for him.

The uproar began in January when Robinson sent his message -- titled "parallel images of Nazis and Israelis" -- to the 80 students in his sociology of globalization class.

The e-mail contained more than two dozen photographs of Jewish victims of the Nazis, including those of dead children, juxtaposed with nearly identical images from the Gaza Strip. It also included an article critical of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and a note from Robinson.

"Gaza is Israel's Warsaw -- a vast concentration camp that confined and blockaded Palestinians," the professor wrote. "We are witness to a slow-motion process of genocide."


Two Jewish students dropped the class, saying they felt intimidated by the professor's message. They contacted the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which advised them to file formal complaints with the university.

In their letters, senior Rebecca Joseph and junior Tova Hausman accused Robinson of violating the campus' faculty code of conduct by disseminating personal, political material unrelated to his course.

"I was shocked," said Joseph, 22. "He overstepped his boundaries as a professor. He has his own freedom of speech, but he doesn't have the freedom to send his students his own opinion that is so strong."

Robinson, 50, who is Jewish, called the accusations and the campus investigation an attack on academic freedom. He said his former students, the Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League had all confused his criticism of Israeli policies with anti-Semitism.

"That's like saying if I condemn the U.S. government for the invasion of Iraq, I'm anti-American," he said. "It's the most absurd, baseless argument."

Robinson said he regularly sends his students voluntary reading material about current events for the global affairs course, and that no one raised questions when he subsequently discussed his e-mail.

"The whole nature of academic freedom is to introduce students to controversial material, to provoke students to think and make students uncomfortable," said Robinson, a UC Santa Barbara professor for nine years.

As the dispute over his e-mail plays out, UC Santa Barbara has become the most recent U.S. university to confront campus unrest over issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In recent years, Jewish and Muslim groups have quarreled repeatedly at UC Irvine about the Holocaust and Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. Professors and students at Columbia University have also argued over issues of intimidation and academic freedom amid debates on the Mideast.

In Robinson's case, reaction has been strong -- on both sides.

Shortly after hearing from the two students in January, the Wiesenthal Center produced a YouTube video titled "Jewish Students Under Siege from Professor at UC Santa Barbara." The clip shows one of Robinson's former students, her face obscured to protect her identity, reading from his e-mail.

The head of the ADL's Santa Barbara region sent Robinson a letter in February calling on him to repudiate his statements about Israel. Last month, the ADL's national director, Abraham Foxman, in a meeting with faculty members at the campus, urged the university to conduct an investigation into Robinson. He was told that an inquiry was already underway.

"You can criticize Israel; you can criticize the war in Gaza," Foxman said. "But to compare what the Israelis are doing in defense of their citizens to what the Nazis did to the Jews is clearly anti-Semitism."

Robinson's supporters say the professor is being maligned for exercising his right to challenge his students to think critically about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Students on campus have formed a group, the Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at UCSB, which is chronicling the saga on its website.

Letters of support also have arrived from academics across the country, including one from California Scholars for Academic Freedom, which says it represents 100 professors at 20 college campuses. The group argues that the allegations have been raised against Robinson to "silence criticism of Israeli policies and practices."

Some UC Santa Barbara faculty members also are speaking up for Robinson. History professor Harold Marcuse, who attended the March meeting with the ADL's Foxman, said the pictures e-mailed by Robinson were "well within the bounds of appropriateness on campus. It's something I could have used in a course."

Marcuse, who is Jewish and teaches about the Holocaust in his world history and German history classes, said he would not have injected his own views into such a message to students, but added: "I don't think Bill Robinson's e-mail is anti-Semitic in any way. I think criticism of Israel is OK."

One UC Santa Barbara official has already looked into the allegations against Robinson, and a faculty committee is being formed to decide whether to forward the case to UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang. A university spokesman declined to comment on the case.

Robinson has hired an attorney, and the student committee supporting him has scheduled a May 14 campus forum on the matter. Joseph and Hausman, the students who filed the original complaints, said they plan to attend. So do Hausman's parents from Los Angeles and Rabbi Aron Hier, director of campus outreach for the Wiesenthal Center.

"I just want to bring awareness," said Hausman, 20. "I want people to know that educators shouldn't be sending out something that is so disturbing."

duke.helfand@latimes.com

No more blaming Bush; It's all on Obama now

No more blaming Bush; It's all on Obama now

No more blaming Bush; It's all on Obama now
michaelsavage.com

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It's all on Obama now

Political observers say that with the events of the last week, accountability for the nation and its current problems has clearly shifted from Bush.
By Peter Nicholas
May 3, 2009


Reporting from Washington -- In the span of a single week -- from the day Arlen Specter turned Democratic to the moment Congress passed the White House's budget blueprint and on through the opening of a spot on the Supreme Court -- President Obama crossed a fateful line: From now on, it's his country.

Every president inherits a tangle of problems from his predecessor. War and recession, natural disaster and foreign crises. And for some undefined interval, new presidents argue that they should not be accountable for the troubles that arose on another's watch.

But inevitably, responsibility shifts. And for Obama, that time came last week, bringing both greater opportunities and greater risks.

On the economy, Obama won approval Wednesday of a $3.5-trillion budget plan that aims to help pull the country out of the worst recession in decades. It also smooths the way for one of the president's signature domestic priorities -- overhauling the nation's healthcare system.

At the same time, the budget projects a whopping $1.2-trillion deficit in 2010, undercutting Obama's ability to bemoan Bush-era red ink.


"It is now absolutely his economy," said Paul Light, a New York University professor who specializes in presidential transitions. "I don't think that the public will continue to believe that this was all George W. Bush's doing. And every day that goes by, it becomes more Obama's than Bush's."

Ever since his inauguration, Obama has nurtured the idea that responsibility for grim economic conditions rested with former President Bush. As recently as Wednesday, Obama sought that political cover when it was announced that the economy had shrunk by 6.1% in the first quarter of the year.

Speaking at a town hall meeting near St. Louis, he said: "Now, we've got a lot of work to do, because on our first day in office we found challenges of unprecedented size and scope."

But the events of the last week made Bush seem less relevant, presidential experts and political strategists said. As Obama's imprint on the economy grows, so does his ownership of the issue.

That ownership became almost literal as Obama moved more deeply into the banking and auto industry crises.

As the Treasury Department finished "stress tests" on 19 of the country's biggest banks, the administration became further enmeshed in the workings of the financial system.

And on Thursday, Obama announced he was pushing Chrysler into bankruptcy. He may take another corporate icon, General Motors, down the same path.

As a kind of shareholder in chief, the president now is responsible for guiding companies with thousands of union workers and investors -- firms that remain vital to the economies of states that stretch across the nation's industrial heartland, from Pennsylvania to Illinois and south into Kentucky and Tennessee.

Though the auto industry was in crisis before Obama reached the White House, his team has been in charge of the rescue effort for the last four months.

"The perception will be that Barack Obama owns this bankruptcy," said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster. "He owns this economy."

On the political front, the decision by Pennsylvania's senior senator to join the Democrats moved Obama to the brink of a 60-vote majority in the Senate, which could prevent Republicans from blocking his initiatives by filibuster. One of the people instrumental in persuading Specter to abandon the GOP was Vice President Joe Biden, reinforcing the appearance of White House influence on Capitol Hill.

All that raised expectations that Obama should be able to win congressional approval of his core agenda.

Yet Specter insisted he would not be a rubber stamp for the president. He promptly voted against the Obama budget. And although Democrats have a strong majority in the House, their control of the Senate is still far from absolute.

Democrat Al Franken, the apparent victor in the still-contested Minnesota Senate race, has yet to be seated.

In addition, Obama must work to get support from such relatively conservative Democratic senators as Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

HATEFUL CONGRESSMAN REFUSES TO DEBATE SAVAGE

HATEFUL CONGRESSMAN REFUSES TO DEBATE SAVAGE

HATEFUL CONGRESSMAN REFUSES TO DEBATE SAVAGE

michaelsavage.com

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FROM STEVE ISRAEL’S OFFICE:

“IN RESPONSE TO YOUR INVITATION TO DEBATE: REP. ISRAEL WON'T GO ON MICHAEL SAVAGE'S SHOW …

LINDSAY HAMILTON, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR”


FROM MICHAEL SAVAGE:

“REP ISRAEL IS A DISGRACE. TELL THE FRAUD I HAVE AN EARNED PHD IN EPIDEMIOLOGY. WHILE HE WAS GOING TO NASSAU COMMUNITY COLLEGE I WAS DOING MAJOR FIELD RESEARCH. HE'S A COWARD.”