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POPSHealth Care Bill Could Face String of Legal Challenges Third, auto insurance regulation occurs at the state level. When the Congressional Budget Office considered the idea of a health insurance mandate back in 1994 under the Clinton administration, it concluded that the mandate would be "an unprecedented form of federal action." The only congressional mandate close to that was the draft, the CBO concluded. Other legal objections are emerging in the wake of a concession that Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., won for his state as a condition for his support of the health care bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed to provide for full and permanent federal aid for Nebraska's expanded Medicaid population. It was only one of a slew of hand-crafted sweetheart deals for those senators who agreed to support the bill. Graham said his state could file an equal rights suit under the Constitution. The Constitution calls for "equal protection" of all citizens.
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POPSObama's Critics Are Also in His Administration Those deficits were nothing compared to those provided in Obama's budget. His deficits would last years after the recession is over and in spite of the massive tax increases that promises to accompany them. The Democrats correctly criticized Bush's deficits. Feldstein notes that Obama's deficits, because of its expensive health care agenda will reach $9.3 trillion -- more than twice the amount of the previous administration. In an earlier article in the Washington Post, Feldstein noted that "For the 85 percent of Americans who already have health insurance, the Obama health plan is bad news. It means higher taxes, less health care and no protection if they lose their current insurance because of unemployment or early retirement." Feldstein also notes that the price of the program is enormous and would cost more than $1 trillion and would raise the current maximum tax rate from 35 to 45 percent.
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POPSHave Your Say on US Ocean and Great Lakes Policy The Task Force’s Interim Framework is now available for a 60-day public review and comment period. After the close of the comment period on the Interim Framework, the Task Force will finalize its recommendations in both this report and the September 10, 2009 Interim Report, and provide a final report to the President in early 2010.
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POPSSecurity Risk Management: Operational Risk Management Awareness
"The term Operational Risk Management (ORM) is not new. ORM and the oft associated term Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) have generally been used as corporate buzzwords, business culture idioms referenced in board meetings and articulated during presentations. Recent developments, such as the creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act in 2002 in response to growing financial scandals in the U.S., have brought Operational Risk Management, Enterprise Risk Management and related concepts from the backrooms to the forefront of corporate America. New technologies and attitudes have allowed loss incidents to be seen as more predictable and able to be grouped into risk categories. While large scale corruption may have brought about regulatory changes, these changes have spurred a re-visioning of Enterprise Risk Management. Advanced Risk Management software has allowed business to more directly mitigate losses. Improved attitudes and tools have encouraged the proliferation of sound Operational
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POPS Obama Push For 'World' Regulation
Obama said lobbyists for financial institutions are already fighting against new regulations. “We cannot let the narrow interests of a few come before the interests of all of us,” Obama said. “We cannot forget how close we came to the brink, and perpetuate the broken system and breakdown of responsibility that made it possible.” In the Republican address, North Carolina Representative Sue Myrick focused on Obama’s health-care proposals, which are being debated in Congress. She said the plan being offered by Obama and congressional Democrats would lead to government-run insurance and that would mean delays in care. Access to Care “Every family that confronts a serious illness should have access to the highest-quality care at the lowest possible cost, with no delays,” Myrick said. Obama has said he favors a government-run insurance program to compete with private insurers. While he has suggested he wouldn’t make it a requirement as part of final legislation,
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POPSNigeria-Italy Human Trafficking Rises Sharply Every time I read about this issue I feel that a part of our humanity is dying. There are so many good people in the world. I just hope the balance stays to the good. A conference of women’s group’s was held in Rome Sep 9-10 to raise issues such as rape, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, access to education, and violence against young girls. While the U.N. report says most victims of traffickers are women and girls, they are also the majority among perpetrators in 30% of the countries that provided evidence on the gender of traffickers. Many former victims, pushed by psychological or financial reasons, become traffickers. According to Nigeria’s Women's Promotion and Child Protection, the government of Nigeria is doing a lot to stop human trafficking. But since the numbers are on the increase, I submit that they are not doing enough.
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POPSDon't Worry Be Happy if you are a communist in ZAF
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande is often seen wearing a Mao cap and is known for breaking out into his favorite tune: "My mother was a kitchen girl, my father was a garden boy. That's why I am a communist." But his new wheels have soured his relationship with his close ally COSATU, the country's largest labor organization. COSATU has asked ministers to return their costly cars and instead opt for cheaper ones favored by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who bought two cars for the same price as Nzimande's one. "Nzimande was the one least likely to go on a profligate expedition ... when the (SACP) often rails against the excesses of unchecked capitalism," said a Wednesday editorial in Johannesburg's daily newspaper The Star. But the SACP has defended Nzimande, saying the German luxury sedan was bought on the recommendations of the police VIP protection unit. The rule book for ministers also allows for such purchases. over the limit....sorry not much more anyway.
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POPSThe Last Rung usually settled by exchanging a customer's ladder for a new one, according to Robert G. Howland, whose great-great-grandfather John Tilley founded the company. And Howland says the company never lost any of the few cases that went to trial over the years . "We could see the handwriting on the wall and just want to end this whole thing," says Howland. Tilley was bearing the burden for the national jump in jury awards in all product-liability cases--from an average of $1.7 million in 1994 to $6 million in 2002. "Unfortunately, even insureds with perfect loss records are impacted," says Craig D. Simon, managing director of insurance brokerage firm Willis Group Holdings. "This affects virtually every manufacturer of consumer goods." Or as Sean McBride of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform puts it: "The problem for small, family-owned businesses like Tilley Ladders is that if the death tax does not get you, the unscrupulous trial lawyers will."
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POPSAnonymous Blogger Unmasked by Court Anonymous blogging is supposed to give the blogger a level of protection that the self-identified blogger lacks: freedom from the repercussions that come from self disclosure. But the veil of protection has just been pierced by a court. The court ordered Google to give up the IP address to the plaintiff of the blogger who used words like "skanky," "ho", and "whoring" beneath the photographs of the plaintiff (a model). Be careful my anonymous blogger friends.
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POPSPhD Confirms - takes a village to raise a child We really did not need a 5 year study to confirm what people have known for centuries but maybe in this era of selective illiteracy, memory, ans short attention spans - this study is a good thing even if it states the obvious.
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POPSSome Chrysler Models in Shortage JUNE 30, 2009 When both auto makers bring the plants that survived the latest round of closings back online later this summer or in the fall, they will be running fewer shifts and turning out fewer vehicles in an effort to manage inventory and keep transaction prices up. Michael Stravato for The Wall Street Journal Some of the supply shortages may ease slightly in coming weeks. Chrysler restarted seven plants Monday to finish building 2009 models that it had been working on when it filed for bankruptcy reorganization. All its plants will close again for the company's two week summer shutdown in the second half of July. Chrysler hasn't finalized its production for the rest of the summer, but expects to start production of 2010 models the week of July 27, it said. If it can avoid flooding the market, the inventory decline could help Chrysler and its dealers earn more on every sale, even if it sells fewer cars.
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POPSHomeland Security drone patrolling NNY Terminator Salvation anyone? These are near identical to the Hellfire missle carrying Drones used in Afghanistan for intelligence and "Response" . Its not much of a step for them to include weapons and bio-metric scanners in the domestic ones. The really worrying part about this is how the PentaCon and NSA now view citizens who support much of the Bill of Rights as domestic terrorists.
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POPS“Mugabe, Schmugabe” Says Tsvangirai
When asked why three secret service officers were holding pistols to his temple while a fourth held a set of notes under his face, Tsvangirai stated “These guys? Pay them no mind. Bobby M hired them to look after me. He said that if anyone tried to assassinate me, they’d be up real close. So these guys are keeping their guns next to my face so scare them away. Honestly. Could we change the subject, please?” He went on to dismiss claims that he was being forced to read a prepared statement by Mugabe, claiming the papers were being thrust under his nose because “I forgot to order a lectern. My bad.” Mugabe praised Tsvingarai’s appointment, stating “This is a new day for the people of Zimbabwe. An era of trust and cooperation is upon us. I know I share my colleague’s fullest confidence as well as the support of his family, who are being housed in my maximum security enclave for their own protection.” He also refuted reports that news footage showed Tsvingarai mouthing the words “Please
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POPSNew Abortion Doc LeRoy Carhart Ready To Take Over Maybe Carhart's clinic can receive stimupork money for purposes of training his staff on the procedural techniques for late-term and partial birth abortion. Maybe this is how Obama Trickle Up works? Because we all know that Liberal women only think about birth control after getting knocked up, not before putting their footprints on the ceiling. "Pregnant? How did this happen," she asked herself. It is quite the mystery, isn't it? How did that happen?
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POPSThe NRA thrives on paranoia, and the rest of us will pay But the NRA is an organization built on fear, and they use that fear to pump up those shreds into nuclear threats. Watch the interview with NRA spokeswoman Rachel Parsons above, talking about how a proposal to close the gun-show loophole -- which permits hundreds, if not thousands, of transactions to occur that would be illegal in a gun shop, and lets people who are forbidden to buy guns to do so, since no background check is required. Parsons is trying to tell us that this somehow affects people's Second Amendment rights -- even though the only actual effect of this legislation she can claim is that the people who put on these gun shows couldn't afford to do so anymore, because they wouldn't be making as large of sums from them as what they're accustomed to. Of course, this has nothing to do with the Second Amendment.
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POPS4Kidstv.com: Funky Cops Enjoy the 1970's stylish and funky detectives of San Francisco Police Department and know why they are the coolest cops in town.
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POPSThe master plan I can't deal with this country anymore. Norquist said one in six state lawmakers across the country has signed his Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Members of Congress, governors and attorneys general also have signed it. "I'm not voting for the budget because I signed a tax pledge; I'm not voting for the bill because raising taxes will devastate our economy for all Californians," said state Sen. Tony Strickland of Thousand Oaks, one of those who kept their word. Devastate what? You mean you're going to do everything to make sure the people don't raise taxes on the rich so they can ride out the financial crisis in style? Go devastate your face.
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