David wanted to know about the sacrifice that Barack keeps saying Americans will have to make. Selibus insisted that "House and Senate bills are contemplating some responsibilities" and right away you're probably wondering about that. Selibus didn't go into those. She noted "liability" as an aside and then insisted, "We're hoping that personal responsibility extends to lifestyle" as she began ticking off "what we eat, how much we exercise" and more, so much more.
The government can't legislate lifestyle. That's why Prohibition didn't work. That's why pot remains popular with citizens if not (publicly) with politicians. The fact that Kathleen Selibus or any government official thinks they should be able to legislate lifestyle is frightening enough but you really need to put it with the fact that she mentions "liability" as an aside and then launches into "personal responsibility." Correctly or not, she appears to indicate that the White House is hoping that lifestyle will be legislated and, those who do not meet the guidelines, will be found legally liable.
Apparently, she's continuing to make these statements. Amy Goodman and her motley crew note the liability today but then ignore it. It's at the top of the segment. Now on the left, we will repeatedly support the decriminalization of pot but we're supposed to be okay with legislating what people eat?
And if they don't follow the eating dictates what?
Lock 'em up?
The US has enough eating disorders without the idiot Sec of HHS doing "obesity seminars." She is so ill equipped for the post she holds.
And it won't just be those suffering from body image issues.
Some of us are pushers. I might need to be locked up. Elaine as well. We both know how to make French pastries. I am known for my croissants made from scratch. And to make a good croissant, you have to cut that repeatedly with real butter, natural butter. Maybe people like Elaine and myself can sign a waiver swearing never to use our knowledge? We can be on some sort of government watch list and they can install a sensor in our kitchens.
The White House needs to grasp that -- idiots like Amy Goodman aside (and her own personal health habits are not healthy -- that cough she gets every winter isn't just from cold air) -- people aren't going to look the other way on government legislating health habits. You can provide care, you can enforce legislation on the food industry but Americans do not go for the curtailing of their own personal liberties.
Is that what the White House wants? With David Gregory, Sebelius appeared to be pushing that. We (Ava and I) were willing to give her the benefit of the doubt because she's a bad speaker but now we have Goody and Company intro-ing a segment while noting the liability aspect.
I don't support ObamaCare (and we'll include a video in a second) but if someone wants to sell it, they need to get out ahead of Sebelius. If she's speaking correctly of what the White House wants, they're begging for the death of ObamaCare (I think that would be a good thing). If she's speaking incorrectly, it needs to be corrected because she's been putting that out for two weeks now.
This is Single Payer Action saying "NO" to ObamaCare.
Because Ava and I covered it two or so weeks ago and Ty's said a number of e-mails came in asking about that aspect, we're opening with the topic here. It's not Iraq related but it's also something that needs to be addressed (by the White House) this week and I also don't want to grab something from Monday and carry it over to Third on Sunday. Yesterday at Third, we wrote "Single-Payer to get a vote" on the issue of health care. Yes, that is an attention-getting headline (for this entry) and for an obvious reason. If we need to go into it for drive-bys, we'll do so later in the week. The short version is: The HHS Secretary continues making alarmist statements and that's how they sound. And how they sound feeds into alarm and feeds into a country with eating disorders (both in terms of starvation and in terms of binging -- with or without purging on the latter). Neither are helpful and the HHS Secretary isn't qualified for the job she holds. Since she won't be asked to step down, she needs to learn to speak appropriately in public.
Over the weekend, we noted the three Americans allegedly hiking in Iraq and allegedly ending up on the Iranian side of the border. They were arrested. (Idiot Amy Goodman says they were "caught." Hikers are not caught. Is she implying they are CIA? I have no idea. ) There's no real news on that but the KRG has issued a statement:
KRG statement regarding three American citizens detained by the Islamic Republic of Iran
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Statement by the Kurdistan Regional Government regarding three American citizens detained by the Islamic Republic of Iran
On 28 July 2009 four American citizens entered the Kurdistan Region in Iraq through the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing from Turkey under standard procedures. They then travelled to the city of Suleimaniah within the Kurdistan Region in Iraq.
On 30 July at 6pm, three of the four Americans decided to go by themselves by taxi to Ahmedawa resort, situated in the Hawraman area near the Iranian border.
After walking around the area and hiking the mountain, they lost their way due to their lack of familiarity with the location, and entered Iranian territory. On 31 July at about 1.30 pm, they were detained by the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the border.
These American citizens visited the border area willingly and of their own accord, without prior consultation. However, the Kurdistan Regional Government will work closely with the US Regional Reconstruction Team and the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Erbil on this matter, and will do its utmost to find a solution.
On 28 July 2009 four American citizens entered the Kurdistan Region in Iraq through the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing from Turkey under standard procedures. They then travelled to the city of Suleimaniah within the Kurdistan Region in Iraq.
On 30 July at 6pm, three of the four Americans decided to go by themselves by taxi to Ahmedawa resort, situated in the Hawraman area near the Iranian border.
After walking around the area and hiking the mountain, they lost their way due to their lack of familiarity with the location, and entered Iranian territory. On 31 July at about 1.30 pm, they were detained by the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the border.
These American citizens visited the border area willingly and of their own accord, without prior consultation. However, the Kurdistan Regional Government will work closely with the US Regional Reconstruction Team and the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Erbil on this matter, and will do its utmost to find a solution.
Yesterday Nouri al-Maliki, puppet of the occupation, and Massoud Barzani (current Kurdish president and presumed to have been re-elected in last month's election -- official tally still not released) met up. Alsumaria notes:
During a joint press conference with Iraq Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki and the President of Kurdistan region Massoud Barazani Iraq President Jalal Talabani said that the long meeting held in Irbil was fruitful and successful as lots of pending issues were tackled. Iraq enjoys a federal system and Kurdistan region sticks to this system Talabani said. Any wrong interpretations or practices are to be discussed between the two presidents in the framework of brotherhood and accordance spirit and solutions shall be based on the Iraqi constitution, Talabani added.
Iraq Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki praised the two presidents Talabani and Barazani for the responsible and “positive” meeting. The different parties agreed to protect national unity in order to protect the political and democratic process in the country, Maliki stressed. The three officials also agreed to face all the internal and foreign challenges that impede establishing the state of institutions, the modern Iraq State, Prime Minister clarified.
Nada Bakri (Washington Post) reports:
The dispute between the two sides includes a disagreement over a hydrocarbon law to share oil revenue and manage oil reserves, some of the world's largest; demarcation of the border between the country's Kurdish and the Arab regions; and the fate of Kirkuk, an oil-rich city with mixed Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen ethnicities.
The Kurds want to expand their region to include Kirkuk, which produces a fifth of Iraq's oil, and other towns and villages along the border between Iraq's Arab and Kurdish regions, many of them predominantly Kurdish.
Of more interest than the meet-up is Jeff Schogol (Stars and Stripes) reporting on interaction between Iraqi forces and the peshmerga. Meanwhile Larry Kaplow (Newsweek) interviews Barzani (Kaplow's in italics):
For the first time in many months, you and Prime Minister Maliki spoke yesterday. is your relationship improving?
Prime Minister Maliki called and congratulated me. This was a good initiative, and we believe it will help break the ice.
You have made some tough statements lately about how bad relations are with Baghdad.
There has been misinterpretation of what I said. In fact, my position has been the same from day one. I did not ask for anything else for my people beyond what the Constitution entitles us to. I have always stated that I will defend the rights of our people, and the only weapon in my hand will be the Constitution.
How concerned are you about the U.S. withdrawal?
Within the time that's left, we all have to sort out Iraq's problems. The important thing here is the political [will] of the United States and not the number of troops left on the ground. Will the United States leave Iraq and allow the situation to collapse, or will they withdraw in a way that leaves stability?
Violence continues in Iraq today. Reuters notes a Falluja suicide car bombing which claimed the lives of 2 people (plus car driver) and left seven injured and a Baghdad roadside bombing which left two people injured and then falls back to offer Sunday violence.
For those wondering, Retuers didn't offer Sunday violence . . . on Sunday. A Mosul roadside bombing injured a police officer, 1 Iraqi soldier was injured in a Mosul shooting, another was wounded in another Mosul shooting, 7 corpses were discovered in Baghdad and a Haditha car bombing claimed 6 lives and left twenty-one people injured. Alsumaria explains 8 people died in the Haditha car bombing with dozens wounded and adds, "A citizen was killed and 3 were wounded in a separate bomb blast placed in a pile of rubble near Abu Hanifah Mosque in Al-Azamiyah neighborhood, police reported."
This is from Sherwood Ross' "Obama Says Dr. King Paved His Way But King Would Reject Obama's Wars" (New Zealand's Scoop):
Civilian deaths in Afghanistan jumped 24 percent over 2008 according to the United Nations, CNN reported July 31st. There were 1,013 civilian deaths in the first six months of this year and 30 percent of the slain were killed by Western military air strikes. The UN said the air strikes "remain responsible for the largest percentage of civilian deaths" attributed to foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Not surprisingly, Afghan President Hamid Karzai pleaded months ago "for the U.S. to halt air strikes in his country, following attacks that Afghan officials said killed 147 people," Reuters reported.
But President Obama isn't listening to the president of Afghanistan. Neither is he listening to the swelling chorus of Americans who regard the attack on Afghanistan as "a mistake" and who believe, says Gallup Poll, that by a two to one margin the U.S. is spending "too much" on defense. Apparently, some Americans are painfully aware that dollars spent to conquer Afghanistan will never fund education or retraining in America.
Of the five major civil rights organizations, the NAACP and the National Urban League, the two oldest and most conservative, backed U.S. involvement in Viet Nam. The NAACP was determined to show how patriotic African-American Americans were, even as Pentagon records in 1966 revealed a disproportionate number of Army casualties, some 23 percent, were African-Americans.
And while privately many Urban League officials opposed the Viet Nam war, the organization was reaping Federal anti-poverty grants for its job training and job-finding work from President Johnson. This followed the Urban League’s successful voter registration campaign in 1964 that enrolled an estimated 1 million new black voters. The campaign was non-partisan, of course, but well over 90 percent of Negroes signed up would vote for LBJ over Republican challenger Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona.
Bonnie reminds that Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Full On Federline" went up last night.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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