I wonder how many of these secular hospital buy-outs/takeovers by religious organizations are spurred by the tax exemptions afforded to religious organizations that are not available to secular health care organizations.

The Saudis and the Arab League are screaming for the U.S. and NATO to intervene or at least provide arms to the opposition (yeah, arming Bin Laden really worked out well for us). The Saudis need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. After all, they have a fabulous air force equipped with really keen F-15s and F-16s flown by U.S. trained pilots and serviced by U.S. trained crews. They are in the neighborhood, and should be able to handle this, but they like to leave the hard and dirty work to their guestworker Filipinos and Bangladeshis (or whatever folks from Bangladesh are called), and they haven’t been trained to fly the jets yet.

Obie could diffuse the Ron Paul poll numbers if he would just stop being such a weed whacker and honor his campaign promises not to interfere with medical marijuana dispensaries that comply with state laws. The only constituency that he really pleases with his tough stance on pot is “Big Pharma”, the same constituency with whom he and Rahm Emanual cut back room deals to kill the “public option” during the health care bill debates. Until Big Pharma can figure out a way to guarantee a big payday from marijuana, they will fight to keep it illegal, and Big Pharma has a pretty good track record for winning their fights.

The NY Times tried to explain the Social Security accounting issues last week:

Disagreement Over Payroll Tax Cut’s Impact on Social Security Critics predict one extension will lead to another as politicians balk at raising taxes to their former level, especially if unemployment remains high.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/us/politics/payroll-tax-cut-extension-seen-as-peril-to-social-security.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha24

Graphic: Accounting for Social Security
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/15/us/politics/accounting-for-social-security.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha24

Why am I not surprised that Obama finds himself on the wrong side of history on this issue

The Obama Administration and Democratic “Leadership” have progressed from leading from behind to speaking from their behinds, not fully understanding that most OWS protesters would prefer a dose of tear gas to the gas the Democrats are passing around.

Story in the morning papers about wasted natural gas being burned off instead of captured. Companies need to be forced to recover this gas or hire a subcontractor who will do so. This was infuriating!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/business/energy-environment/in-north-dakota-wasted-natural-gas-flickers-against-the-sky.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/09/14/business/energy-environment/flare-ss.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1

That texas macho nonsense is Bush & Perry’s way of dealing with the cognitive dissonance that they have from their shared past as cheerleaders in college.

“Fighting Bob” is certainly not Obama, but he is frequesntly known as “BOB”, short for Bend Over Barry.

And your proof that the economy in Arizona has improved due to undocumented immigrants leaving is what?

Maybe SB-1070 has contributed to the economic downturn in Arizona. Maybe Jan can get a bail-out from her friends in the private penitentiary business.

Maybe rates are high in California, but our 36 foot camper is parked at a county park in Wisconsin on the State’s 4th largest in-land lake about 25 miles North of Wisconsin Dells, and the rent there is about $250/month, and that includes water and electricity. The rent drops by about $100 in October when they shut off water service to the campers (there is still water service in the public buildings), and electric service continues, but at a daily rate of $4 or $80 per month, whichever is less. We often go up to the camper a few times during the winter, and pay the $8 for a weekend of electricty. I don’t see many apartments with a lake view for $250/month.

Anecdotally,We’ve had a camper at Castle Rock Park about 25 miles North of Wisconsin Dells for the last few years. Last year, there were three families who had lost homes and/or businesses, and were living year round in the park. This year, it looks like at least twice that number. Our purchase of the camper was initially as a vacation get-away, but it is increasingly becoming “Plan B”, for when we can no longer keep the wolves from the door.

http://americasvoiceonline.org/blog/entry/the_budget_crisis_and_border_agents/

“Here’s a question: how many border agents does it take to the protect the border?
The real-life answer is that we’ll never find out because apparently, a significant number of them have been known to fall asleep on the job.
If Congress is looking for places to slim down out-of-control bureaucracies, they should take a really close look at the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). Officers in that agency have been known to fight boredom by falling asleep. That is no joke, especially when you consider the amount of resources our government funnels into these program — take a look at the numbers:
• As this chart shows, spending by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) skyrocketed from almost $7.5 billion in 2002 to over $17 billion in 2010.
• Over the last decade, agents on the northern border have increase by 700 percent (up from 300 agents to 2,263); the number of Border Patrol agents stationed along the Mexican grew to 16,974 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2009.
• The Immigration Policy Center notes that the annual budget of the U.S. Border Patrol stood at $3.0 billion in FY 2009 – nine times the FY 1992 budget.
They literally have so much money, staff, and resources that they don’t know what to do with it — other than nap. You can only imagine the return.
As the Seattle Weekly News reported last week, if you dial 911 in some towns in Washington state (even towns nowhere near the border) the Border Patrol answers the phone.
Instead of hiring 911 dispatchers, local governments have contracted those services out to US Customs and Border Protection because they apparently have way too much free time on their hands. …”

And ICE has, in fact, removed US citizens (when they are not too busy denying medical care to detainees).

http://stateswithoutnations.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-ice-deported-another-us-citizen.html

More than 100 ICE detainees have died in custody over the past few years, often due to withholding of necessary medical care.

http://immigration-lawyer.typepad.com/phileichorn/2010/01/really-107-ice-detainees-died-in-the-past-6-years.html

According to data obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from the Department of Justice, federal prosecutors brought 15,173 new cases nationwide in April. Of these, a full 55.4% were related to immigration activities. TRAC, Prosecutions for April 2011. The leading immigration offense was unlawful entry, INA § 275, 8 U.S.C. § 1325. TRAC, Immigration Prosecutions for April 2011 (July 19, 2011).

http://crimmigration.com/2011/07/26/report-55-of-fed-crim-prosecutions-in-april-were-immigration-related.aspx

Most of the prosecutions are for unlawful reentry after removal, so there is no longer a policy of “catch and throw back”.

The government has chosen to prioritize immigration prosecutions over prosecutions for dangerous or violent crimes.

http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/06/30/new-data-shows-government-prioritizes-immigration-prosecutions-over-dangerous-crime/

Prosecutors across the country have and utilize prosecutorial discretion in deciding which cases to prosecute, given finite prosecutorial resources. While I may not always agree with the manner in which discretion is excercised, I appreciate that such discretion exists, as it should in any society that deems to call itself just.