Reading Room

I am so tired of packing that I need a diversion. I tried to listen to comedian Rush Limbaugh today for a while. His stuff is so counter intuitive and hypocritical these days that it is actually quite amusing to listen to for a while. I got a few guffaws out of his spew. After a while though it all just runs together in blah, blah, blah again. That is the difference in him and Sean Hannity though. Rush is such an pompous ignoramus sometimes that you can actually laugh. Hannity is so pathetic that all you can do is feel sadness and repulsion.

Kerry is likely to run again.
ABC's Teddy Davis reports: During a learning class held at C-SPAN's studios on Tuesday, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said he's "pretty much feeling" what you need to feel to run for President.
I think he would be a fine President but he needs to “bulldog up” if he decides to run.

This rightist site agrees that our elections are in peril.
A new study reported that researchers were able to hack one of the most widely used voting machines in the United States. The researchers asserted that the machine could be hacked within four minutes using $12 worth of tools. "By planting a virus far enough in advance, [a hacker] can ensure that a significant number of machines can steal votes on Election Day," the report by Princeton University said. The report comes after the House has
been warned of the vulnerability of U.S. voting machines and the prospect that the vote-count could be hampered in the forthcoming elections. Congress has failed to approve legislation that would require a paper trail for independent vote verification.
In a related story:
Three Senate Democrats proposed emergency legislation today to reimburse states for printing paper ballots that can be ready at polling places in case of problems with electronic voting machines on Nov. 7. The proposal is a response to grass-roots pressure and growing concern by local and state officials about touch-screen machines. An estimated 40 percent of voters will use those machines in the election. “If someone asks for a paper ballot they ought to be able to have it,” said Senator Barbara Boxer of California, a co-sponsor of the measure with Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Republican leadership aides were skeptical about the prospects for the measure.
Why!? I note that once again when someone needs to stand up for the American way, the American people and the Constitution Russ Feingold is there.
...Last week, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of Maryland, a Republican, joined the skeptics, saying he lacked confidence in his state’s new $106 million electronic system and suggesting that state officials offer all voters paper ballots as an alternative. The proposed federal bill would provide 75 cents for each backup paper ballot that local officials print. If ballots are printed for half the 27 million voters expected to use touch-screen machines, Ms. Boxer said, her bill would cost Washington no more than $10.1 million. Barbara Burt, vice president and director of election reform programs at Common Cause, a good-governance advocacy group, said that the bill would have been stronger if it had required precincts to provide paper ballots in federal elections, but that it was a step in the right direction. “Lack of funding has been the main excuse that local election officials have used to avoid implementing paper precautions,” Ms. Burt said. “This takes that excuse away from them entirely.”

And then there is this:“We cannot allow the American people to lose faith in the most fundamental aspect of our democratic system – the right to vote,” Feingold said.....Kerry said, “It’s a disgrace that a Congress and an Administration which talks about exporting democracy around the world ignores the challenges of our own democracy right here at home.....that is why Russ Feingold and I are introducing our resolution today demanding election day back-up plans.
But who can think about something like this when there are GAY people running around!?

Well. SOME of the fundie nut cases are Muslim
This weekend, some of the nation’s leading conservatives — from Tony Snow and Attorney General Gonzales to Sen. George Allen (R-VA) and Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AK) to Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity — appeared at the Family Research Council’s “Values Voter Summit.”
An hour and a half after Snow’s speech, Bishop Wellington Boone, founder of the Wellington Boone Ministries, took the stage and announced, .....Back in the days when I was a kid, and we see guys that don’t stand strong on principle, we call them “faggots.” … [People] that don’t stand up for what’s right, we say, “You’re sissified out!” “You’re a sissy!” That means you don’t stand up for principles......But I want to tell you something is, they don’t know, we’re driven by God to deal with this stuff.....Everywhere I get to speak, I am guarded by the grace of God........As Right Wing Watch notes, another speaker at the conference later claimed “the gay rights movement was inspired ‘from the pit of hell itself,’ and has a ’satanic anointment.’ … He suggested that the anti-Christ is himself gay, citing a verse from the book of Daniel saying the anti-Christ will have no desire for a woman.”
OK, I admit, I think homosexuality is unnatural and abnormal. I also do not believe that people choose to be gay any more than someone would “choose” not to be gay. Especially with the sigma attached it would be far easier to just be hetero. I know for me it is not a choice. I am heterosexual innately. It certainly prohibits procreation. I don't think there is a problem with that in the world today. God has created a world with a vast amount of diversity in nature and beyond. If they truly have a desire to stop this I would think a far more reasonable approach would be to address the science of why this happens. Unfortunately they put their fear and hate ahead of rational thought. They just want to boost their fragile egos and feel superior. It is hate speech. These people are playing God. God wants you to mind your own business. To quote their bible: Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? (Matthew 7-1/3) And: Many will say to me “Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you, away from me you evildoers.”(Matthew 7-21/23)

Rising health care costs are ignored..but hey, gas prices are down!(for now)
For the seventh straight year, premiums for employer-based health insurance rose more than twice as fast as overall inflation and wages, an annual survey of employers shows. The average 7.7 percent premium increase for 2006 was the smallest since 2000 and marked the third straight year that the rate of growth has slowed, according to the survey, released Wednesday by Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. But most Americans probably have felt little or no relief because their paychecks haven't kept pace with the rate hikes. Workers' earnings increased only 3.8 percent on average from April 2005 to April 2006, while inflation, up 3.5 percent, erodes their disposable income. Since 2000, inflation has jumped 18 percent and the amount that workers pay toward family health-care coverage has skyrocketed 84 percent, the survey found. Average wages have increased 20 percent over the same period. So even while the premium-rate increases have moderated - down from a 9.2 percent jump in 2005 and an 11.2 percent spike in 2004 - experts say there's no reason to celebrate...... This year, the average annual premium for single coverage is $4,242, of which workers pay $627, up from $610 in 2005. Family coverage costs an average of $11,480, with workers paying $2,973 annually, up from $2,713 last year. Since 2000, workers' annual contributions have increased on average by $293 for single coverage and by $1,354 for family coverage, the survey found. Rising health-care costs have forced many companies to scale back or drop coverage. Five million fewer workers are receiving job-based coverage in 2006 than in 2000, the survey found. And the percentage of firms that offer health benefits has fallen from 69 percent in 2000 to 61 percent this year. That's prompted concerns that the job-based health insurance system, which covers nearly 175 million Americans, could unravel in the face of runaway costs. Most at risk are millions of low-income workers who haven't taken coverage as employers require their workers to pay higher out-of-pocket costs. Forty-nine percent of employers surveyed indicated that they'll make workers pay more for coverage in the future. The number of uninsured Americans has grown for five straight years, with 46.6 million lacking coverage in 2005......Smaller firms are most likely not to provide coverage. Only 48 percent of companies with three to nine workers offer health coverage, compared with 73 percent of those with 10 to 24 employees, 87 percent with 25 to 49 employees and more than 90 percent of those with 50 or more workers.

How's the economy these days? This from the certainly not liberal media Bloomberg.
The U.S. lost its position as the world's most competitive economy to Switzerland as budget and trade deficits prompted a slide to sixth in the World Economic Forum's annual rankings. Switzerland jumped from fourth place last year and Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Singapore all overtook the U.S. with Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. rounding out the top ten in the study of 125 nations by the Geneva-based forum. Switzerland, home to companies such as Nestle SA and Novartis AG, topped the table because of its reputation for innovation, research and development and its scientific infrastructure, the forum said, adding Scandinavian economies performed well for similar reasons.
Innovation? Science? Universal health care? Oh no! Those darned liberal countries are kickin our ass!

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