With Hamas telling tales of deprivation and suffering in Gaza, Egyptian journalist Ashraf Abu al-Houl has added his report to others who were surprised to discover a “prosperous” Gaza in which prices are low and luxury businesses are booming. Al-Houl's story of his trip to Gaza and his realization that “in actual terms, Gaza is not under siege” was written up in the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

"A sense of absolute prosperity prevails, as manifested by the grand resorts along and near Gaza's coast. Further, the site of the merchandise and luxuries filling the Gaza shops amazed me,” he reported.

Concerned that his initial impression of prosperity may have been misleading, “I toured the new resorts, most of which are quite grand, as well as the commercial markets, to verify my hypothesis. The resorts and markets have come to symbolize prosperity, and to prove that the siege is formal or political, not economic,” Al-Houl said.

Your Body within 1 Hour of Drinking Soda

 

According to the Nutrition Research Center, this is what happens to your body within 1 hour of drinking a can of soda:

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One in five Californians say they need mental health care

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 13:18.

Almost 5 million California adults say they could use help with a mental or emotional problem, according to a survey released Wednesday by researchers at UCLA. About 1 million of them meet the criteria for "serious psychological distress."

However, only one in three people who perceive a need for mental health services or are in serious distress have seen a professional for treatment, the survey found.

The survey was conducted among more than 44,000 adults as part of the 2005 California Health Interview Survey, administered through the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Since the survey was conducted, the recession probably has contributed to worsening mental health for even more people, said the lead author of the study, David Grant The survey showed that lack of health insurance coverage was a major reason why people didn't seek help -- a situation that may be rectified somewhat by state and national mental health parity laws now in effect that require insurers to cover mental health conditions similarly to they way they cover physical conditions. (The final phase of the federal law went into effect on July 1.) However, stigma continues to be a barrier to mental health services. The survey found that men, people 65 and older, Latinos and Asians were less likely to seek help because of the stigma associated with mental or emotional problems. But being poor is the biggest barrier to care.

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Arizona preparing appeal of immigration ruling

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 13:13.

AP – 21 mins ago

PHOENIX – Arizona is preparing to ask an appeals court to lift a judge's ruling that put most of the state's immigration law on hold in a key first-round victory for the federal government in a fight that may go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Finally!…Ronald Reagan Gets His Day

Submitted by Yoora on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 03:14.

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004)

President Reagan was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975).

Former first lady Nancy Reagan joined California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today in Simi Valley for a ceremonial signing of a bill making it Ronald Reagan Day every Feb. 6 in California.

The late president — and former California governor — was born Feb. 6, 1911, so the 100th anniversary of his birth is approaching.

A few great Reagan quotes:

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

“True wealth comes from the heart, from the treasure of ideas and spirit, from the investments of millions of brave people with hope for the future, trust in their fellow men, and faith in God.”

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'Their Goal Is Intimidation'

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 02:51.

ACLU lawsuits force localities to back off tough immigration laws

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/#ixzz0v38xLpit
 

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National NAACP Financed by Wells Fargo and its Mexican Drug Cartels?

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 02:47.

 

Posted by AAPP at 5:05 AM

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Dems launch effort to equate GOP with far right Tea Party candidates

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Wed, 07/28/2010 - 12:18.

 

By Jon Ward - The Daily Caller | Published: 6:01 AM 07/28/2010 | Updated: 9:28 AM 07/28/2010

 

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Augusta State University to student: Accept homosexuality or leave school

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 20:02.

Anderson-Wiley reportedly complained about Keeton’s Christian belief that homosexuality is sinful and demanded she choose between her faith and the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics.

“You couldn’t be a teacher, let alone a counselor, with those views,” court documents quoted Dr. Paulette Schenck, another of the university’s counseling professors, as having said in response to Keeton’s affirmation of her Christian beliefs.

And Anderson-Wiley subsequently told Keeton the faculty wanted her to “alter some of her beliefs,” court documents say.

According to e-mails between Keeton and the professors, the faculty does not expect her to change her personal beliefs and values, but rather wants her to not expect others to share her values or impose them during her counseling sessions.

“This is the unethical part  — applying your own personal beliefs and values on other people and not truly accepting that others can have different beliefs and values that are as equally valid as your own,” court documents say Schenck wrote in an e-mail exchange with Keeton.

The ACA would not immediately comment on the facts of the case, but released a statement clarifying its standards.

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OLIVER STONE-JEWS CONTROL THE MEDIA

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 19:55.

If it were ever in doubt that one can be very talented and very stupid (or possibly simply venal), Oliver Stone’s recent interview with The Sunday Times surely settles the matter.  Stone is planning a 10-part documentary about Stalin and Hitler that will put them “in context.”  And heaven knows we need a dollop of “context” for the planet’s top two pathological murderers with 8-figure victims (well, top three, you have to include Mao).

No, Oliver, “context” is a mitigating, larger, more nuanced truth that yields a less judgmental perspective.  As body counts go, Stalin and Hitler created the über-context, and any impulse to be “less judgmental” is a moral travesty.  In fact, it is not possible for a human being to be sufficiently judgmental of Stalin and Hitler.

I’m apt to give the Stone documentary a pass — not because it wouldn’t deliver some sparkle of Stone’s filmmaking aptitude, and not even because Stone would likely indulge his penchant for conspiracy theories — but because Stone’s core ideology, with which the documentary will presumably be suffused, is offensive nonsense.  Here, courtesy of Norman Geras, are excerpts from the Stone interview in The Sunday Times:

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Bob Tuskin and Girlfriend Wendy Together at Magic: The Gathering Convention

Submitted by Yoora on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 14:49.

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Summer time in gaza strip mall district, the kids are in summer camps learning retail job skills

Submitted by sefihome on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 10:02.

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The Queen visits RAF Marham - What a different world....

Submitted by sefihome on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 09:56.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishmonarchy/

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The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it; Giant Sucking Sound

Submitted by Lola on Mon, 07/26/2010 - 15:42.

The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it

Posted Jul 15, 2010 02:25pm EDT by Michael Snyder in Recession

The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.

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Last Friday Night Somewhere in Central Florida-BOB TUSKIN

Submitted by Yoora on Mon, 07/26/2010 - 00:28.

From left to right:unkown, Bob Tuskin, Bitchard

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Catholic church embarrassed by gay priests revelations

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Sun, 07/25/2010 - 13:05.

The Catholic church, already reeling from a string of clerical sex abuse scandals, is facing new embarrassment after an Italian magazine published an investigation into what it termed the double life of gay priests in Rome.

Using hidden cameras, the weekly Panorama, owned by Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, captured priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex. The Vatican does not condemn homosexuals, but it teaches that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered". In one of his earliest moves, pope Benedict barred actively gay men from studying for the priesthood.

The diocese of Rome lashed out at the prime minister's magazine, saying its aim was "to create scandal [and] defame all priests". But it also urged gay clerics to leave both the closet and the priesthood.

It said, "Consistency would require that they come into the open", but that they "ought not to have become priests".

The semi-official papal daily, L'Osservatore Romano, made no reference to the affair. Vatican Radio reported it briefly.

One priest, a Frenchman in his 30s identified as Father Paul, attended a party at which there were two male prostitutes then said Mass the following morning before driving them to the airport, Panorama reported. A photo on its website claimed to show the priest in his dog collar but without his trousers with a gay man who acted as decoy for the magazine. In other shots, priests were shown apparently kissing Panorama's collaborator.

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Britain Plans to Decentralize Health Care

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Sun, 07/25/2010 - 13:01.

LONDON — Perhaps the only consistent thing about Britain’s socialized health care system is that it is in a perpetual state of flux, its structure constantly changing as governments search for the elusive formula that will deliver the best care for the cheapest price while costs and demand escalateEven as the new coalition government said it would make enormous cuts in the public sector, it initially promised to leave health care alone. But in one of its most surprising moves so far, it has done the opposite, proposing what would be the most radical reorganization of the National Health Service, as the system is called, since its inception in 1948.

Practical details of the plan are still sketchy. But its aim is clear: to shift control of England’s $160 billion annual health budget from a centralized bureaucracy to doctors at the local level. Under the plan, $100 billion to $125 billion a year would be meted out to general practitioners, who would use the money to buy services from hospitals and other health care providers.

The plan would also shrink the bureaucratic apparatus, in keeping with the government’s goal to effect $30 billion in “efficiency savings” in the health budget by 2014 and to reduce administrative costs by 45 percent. Tens of thousands of jobs would be lost because layers of bureaucracy would be abolished.

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Indian official urges investigation of "love jihad" plan to recruit girls for jihad activities

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Sun, 07/25/2010 - 12:58.

 

Around 5,000 girls have gone missing in the Indian state of Kerala, and Pakistan's nefarious governmental jihad arm, the ISI, appears to be involved. Yet the Kerala police remains silent. "Love jihad cases: Mahila Morcha for NIA probe," from the Express News Service, July 25:

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Bharatiya Janata Mahila Morcha state president Sobha Surendran has urged the authorities to order a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the 'love jihad' cases.

She told a news conference here on Saturday that over the past five years, around 5,000 girls had gone missing in the State. Many of them were recruited by terrorist outfits sponsored by the ISI and sent to Pakistan. But the Home Department told the High Court in an affidavit that no such activities were noticed in the State, she said.

The Police had seized some CDs during the raids conducted as part of the investigation into the chopping of the hand of Newman College teacher T J Joseph. These CDs had visuals of girls sent to red streets in Pakistan. But the Kerala Police is maintaining silence over this development, despite having registered over 1,000 cases related to 'love jihad'. Sobha Surendran said that 'love jihad' was a planned move to recruit girls for terrorist activities. She said that as the Home Department was functioning under a tacit understanding with the Popular Front of India (PFI), the Union Home Department should take up the cases. The raids on the houses of PFI workers were a farce.

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RESPECT THE TEA PARTY

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Sat, 07/24/2010 - 14:27.

LAS VEGAS, NV — Liberals could face major losses if they continue to ignore the Tea Party movement, a panel of progressive writers said Thursday during a discussion at NetrootsNation, an annual gathering of bloggers, activists and policy makers.

The panelists, which included well-known authors David Neiwert and John Amato of Crooksandliars.com, warned that regardless of whether people have negative attitudes toward the Tea Party, progressives could lose their footing unless they mobilize their own base and treat the right-wing movement as a force to be reckoned with.

“The thing that has me most concerned about the Tea Party movement is the overarching theme on our side of things that we should dismiss these people because they’re nuts,” said Adele Stan, Washington bureau chief for Alternet.org, a progressive website that covers politics and culture. “We really do that at our peril.”

The panelists agreed that the era of writing off the conservative populist movement must end, adding that serious steps need be taken to combat the growing antagonism to the party in power.

“The answer to the Tea Party is to activate truly the populist wing of the progressive movement,” Neiwert said. “That’s the only way we’re going to have a chance to overcome this very threatening and very powerful movement.”

“We have to rise to the challenge,” Amato added.

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START TAXING THE RICH-VAN JONES SAYS

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Sat, 07/24/2010 - 14:23.

LAS VEGAS, NV — While the federal government sinks deeper into debt than any time since World War II, former White House “green jobs” adviser Anthony Van Jones said it was time to stop worrying about budget deficits and pressure Washington to take more money from American businesses to fund larger social and infrastructure projects.

“This is a rich country. We have plenty of money, and if you don’t believe me, ask Haliburton,” Jones told a group of progressive bloggers and activists at the Netroots Nation convention Friday. “There’s plenty of money out there; don’t fall into the trap of this whole deficit argument.”

“The only question is how to spend it,” he added.

American corporations currently face the second-highest corporate tax rate in the world, according to the Tax Foundation.

Jones, who rejoined the Center for American Progress after resigning from his White House post amid criticism for signing a petition calling for an investigation of the Bush administration’s prior knowledge of the September 11 terrorist attacks, also urged progressives to ease up on the criticism of President Obama.

“This is harder than it looks,” he said. “Having spent six months in the White House, it’s a totally different experience when you’re sitting there and the missiles are coming over the horizon at you.”

Only hours before, Democrats in the U.S. Senate announced they would not pass energy reform legislation before the November midterm elections, a cause Jones has championed throughout his career.

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10 killed in mass panic at Germany's Love Parade

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Sat, 07/24/2010 - 14:02.

BERLIN – At least 10 people were killed and another 15 injured when mass panic broke out Saturday in a tunnel at an annual celebration of techno music in western Germany.

The deaths occurred at the Love Parade in Duisburg, near Duesseldorf, where thousands had gathered for the event.

Police gave no other immediate details. But the German news agency DAPD reported the stampede broke out after authorities tried to stop thousands of people from entering the area where the parade was being held.

DAPD reported the victims were crushed and that emergency workers had trouble getting through to them.

The all-news station n-tv said the party continued after the accident, with many of the other participants unaware of the stampede.

The Love Parade was once an institution in Berlin, but has been held in the industrial Ruhr region of western Germany since 2007.

The original Berlin Love Parade grew from a 1989 peace demonstration into a huge outdoor celebration of club culture that drew about 1.5 million people at its peak in 1999. But it suffered from financial problems and tensions with city officials in later years, and eventually moved

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Bob Tuskin The Gardener

Submitted by Yoora on Sat, 07/24/2010 - 11:35.

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flatin those titties

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 23:24.

Affecting one out of every four girls, the brutal practice of "breast ironing" is on the rise in the African country of Cameroon. The procedure -- which involves the flattening of a young girl's growing breasts with hot stones, coconut shells and other objects -- is considered a way to curb the country's staggering number of teenage pregnancies, particularly high in rural areas, as well as limit the risk of sexual assault.

According to a new report by CurrentTV, Cameroonian mothers believe breast ironing will protect their daughters from becoming pregnant and being assaulted in that it will postpone their development and men will not be enticed by their breasts. With dietary habits in the country improving, girls are beginning to hit puberty as young as 9, and are subject to the practice around at the same age.

Though only limited medical research has been done on the practice, Cameroonian women say breast ironing can lead to numerous physical issues, such as burns and deformations, not to mention psychological problems. The procedure has been compared to the custom of female circumcision/genital mutilation.

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OBAMA'S POLL NUMBERS DOWN, IMAGINARY RACISM UP

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 14:46.

July 21, 2010

The Democrats are depressed about their collapsing poll numbers, so it's time to start calling conservatives "racist."

As we now know from the Journolist list-serv, where hundreds of liberal journalists chat with one another, and which was leaked to Daily Caller this week, journalists cry "racism" whenever they need to distract from bad news for Obama. (Ironically, this story did not make headlines.)

When the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal broke during the 2008 campaign, the first response of Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent was to demand that they start randomly picking conservatives -- "Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares -- and call them racists."

Ackerman, frequent guest on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show," continued on Journolist:

"What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger's [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically."

This is what "racism" has come to in America. Democrats are in trouble, so they say "let's call conservatives racists." We always knew it, but the Journolist postings gave us the smoking gun.

This explains why we've heard so much about Tea Partiers being "racists" lately.

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Analysis: Race issues beset Obama's "post-racial" presidency

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Thu, 07/22/2010 - 21:13.

WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:12pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many supporters of Barack Obama hoped his election as America's first black president might herald an era of post-racial politics, but race has been an issue his administration just can't seem to avoid.

Division and tension between black and white Americans has cropped up repeatedly over Obama's 18 months in office, hurting his popularity and distracting from his political agenda.

 

The issue surfaced this week when the Agriculture Department pushed a black official to resign after allegations she discriminated against a white farmer, only to apologize a day later for acting too quickly and without the facts.

 

Some said the White House was too eager to prove to its critics on the right that it does not favor blacks.

 

"The Obama administration lost some political capital because they acted without thinking things through," said Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University.

 

Obama and race relations have often grabbed headlines.

 

Last July -- in the heat of the White House fight for its healthcare overhaul -- when Obama was subjected to scathing criticism for saying police had "acted stupidly" when they arrested Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates, who is black, on charges he was breaking into his own home.

 

More recently, the Justice Department dismissed voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panther Party, prompting criticism from conservative groups who said the black president was unwilling to prosecute fellow blacks for civil rights violations.

 

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Charlie Rangel CHARGED With Ethics Violations, Trial To Be Held

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Thu, 07/22/2010 - 20:58.

WASHINGTON — A House investigative committee on Thursday charged New York Rep. Charles Rangel with multiple ethics violations, dealing a serious blow to the former Ways and Means chairman and complicating Democrats' election-year outlook.

The panel did not immediately specify the charges against the Democrat, who has served in the House for some 40 years and is fourth in seniority. The charges by a four-member panel of the House ethics committee sends the case to a House trial, where a separate eight-member panel of Republicans and Democrats will decide whether the violations can be proved by clear and convincing evidence.

The timing of the announcement ensures that a public airing of Rangel's ethical woes will stretch into the fall campaign, and Republicans are certain to make it an issue as they try to capture majority control of the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi had once promised to "drain the swamp" of ethical misdeeds by lawmakers in arguing that Democrats should be in charge.

Responding to the charges, Rangel said in a statement, "I was notified today, two years after I requested an investigation, that the Ethics Committee will refer the allegations reviewed by an investigations subcommittee to a subcommittee that will review the facts. I am pleased that, at long last, sunshine will pierce the cloud of serious allegations that have been raised against me in the media."

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said, "The action today would indicate that the independent, bipartisan ethics committee process is moving forward."

WASHINGTON — A House investigative committee on Thursday charged New York Rep. Charles Rangel with multiple ethics violations, dealing a serious blow to the former Ways and Means chairman and complicating Democrats' election-year outlook.

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Newark Budget Cuts-STOPS BUYING TOILET PAPER-TELLS WORKERS TO USE LEFT HAND LIKE THE MUZZIES

Submitted by snake-plisskin on Thu, 07/22/2010 - 16:47.

 

Published : Thursday, 22 Jul 2010, 7:47 AM EDT

MYFOXNY.COM - Things are getting so bad in Newark that the mayor has ordered the government to stop buying toilet paper.

It's part of Newark Mayor Cory Booker's belt-tightening plans that include reducing most city workers to a 4-day work week and shuttering city pools.  Booker estimates that the pool closures alone would save $250,000.  He also says that no gas will be purchased for municipal vehicles that are not deemed critically important. 

Police officers, firefighters and sanitation workers would not be affected by the furlough plan. City workers were already bracing for furloughs starting in August. The number of unpaid days would increase from 11 to 19 with Booker's plan.

The city budget shortfall is $70 million and Booker plans to meet the revenue shortfall with budget cuts instead of property tax increases.

"Taxes can not be the answer," Booker said.

Booker says property taxes in Newark have gone up 76 percent in last decade and 19 percent in the past five years.

At the news conference Booker was also quoted as saying, "Call me Mr. Scrooge, if you want, but they'll be no Christmas decorations around the city."

Booker has proposed a $600 million budget which includes the possibility of laying off as many as 350 police and firefighters.

The moves come after the City Council deferred action on the creation of a municipal utilities authority, which is a key part of Booker's budget.

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