November 4th, 2009

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SHOCKING NEWS! DEMOCRAT WINS NY-23. GOP ASKS WHY!!

NY 23 Election Results: Bill Owens Beats Doug Hoffman

A Democrat running in a historically Republican stronghold won a closely watched special congressional election in northern New York on Tuesday, capitalizing on a split that emerged between moderates and conservatives for control of the GOP.

With 92 percent of the precincts reporting early Wednesday, lawyer and retired Air Force Capt. Bill Owens defeated businessman Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate, 49 percent to 45 percent, after a boost from unified labor efforts in the last days of the campaign and the withdrawal of the Republican candidate over the weekend.

"This has been an extraordinary journey," said Owens, who thanked his family, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

"The process of bringing people together to get results is something I've been doing for a long time, and that's what I'm going to continue to do when I get to Washington," he added.

Owens also thanked one-time opponent Dierdre Scozzafava, a moderate Republican who exited the race Saturday under pressure from the party's right wing because of her support of abortion rights and same-sex marriage and momentum behind Hoffman. Scozzafava, an assemblywoman in the state legislature, picked up 6 percent of the vote herself.

The race has been getting national attention, with some calling it a referendum on President Barack Obama and others saying it could help Republicans focus their message to attract more people to the party.

Republicans hadn't lost in the region in more than a century. Owens defeated Hoffman despite a 45,000-voter registration edge for Republicans and big-name endorsements for Hoffman from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson and others. Hoffman had rallied an unexpected level of support in the final days of the campaign, ultimately forcing Scozzafava to quit when he surged past her in the polls.

"This is only one fight in the battle, people," Hoffman said before a gathering of supporters in Saranac Lake, N.Y., after conceding the race. "Let's keep the fight going. Let's make sure our voices are heard."
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Palin Actually Not That Popular In NY-23

Sarah Palin may have managed to drastically alter the course of upstate New York's special congressional election with a comment on her Facebook page. But despite catapulting the Conservative Party's Doug Hoffman to a likely victory in Tuesday's election, the former Alaska Governor is, herself, relatively unpopular in the state's 23rd district.

According to Public Policy Polling, 44 percent of voters in NY-23 said they had a negative view of the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. That's one percentage point higher than those who viewed her favorably. Isolating just Republicans in the district, the numbers are better, but not overwhelmingly so. Fifty-three percent of Republican voters said they had a positive view of Palin while 32 percent said their view was negative.
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jisookimcandela

Sarah Palin's Lost Speeches (from Election Night '08)


The Daily Beast has obtained the speeches Sarah Palin planned to deliver on Election Night 2008—win or lose. Read the words the McCain camp didn’t want her to say.

One year ago Wednesday, the McCain/Palin ticket suffered a resounding electoral defeat. But for Sarah Palin, it was still only the beginning of her reign as the most talked about Republican in America—a title she can rightfully claim to this day, as her very name continues to elicit emotions ranging from abhorrence to adoration.

In Sarah from Alaska we uncover new stories and insights into Palin’s ascent from Wasilla to the governor’s mansion and bring to light how her unhappy return to Alaska led to her abrupt resignation in July. In addition, we go behind the scenes of Palin’s 2008 vice presidential run, where we illustrate how internal tensions led to an all-out civil war on election night in Phoenix. We reveal the minute by minute details of how Palin turned her back on top campaign staffers and fought behind the scenes to deliver a concession speech that had been written for her in advance. John McCain and his senior aides blocked her from doing so, leading to a dramatic showdown between the candidates and their staffs that has remained untold until now.

We present exclusively the concession speech that speechwriter Matthew Scully—a Palin loyalist—had written for the vice presidential nominee, as well as the victory speech that he penned for her in the event of a positive outcome. On election night, senior McCain aides had to tell Palin several times that she would not be allowed to speak before the Alaska governor finally relented.

The clash between the McCain and Palin camps became so heated, we reveal, that McCain’s aides literally turned the lights out on Palin when she retook the stage later that night to take pictures with her family, fearing that she would give the concession speech after all.

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Hm.

Akuma River

Houston on the way to having gay mayor

Parker, Locke in runoff for Houston mayor (November 04, 2009 - Houston Chronicle - BRADLEY OLSON and JAMES PINKERTON)

The unpredictable and unorthodox race for Houston mayor narrowed Tuesday to a choice between a veteran City Hall insider trying to become Houston's first openly gay leader and a former civil rights activist hoping to become only the second African-American to run the nation's fourth-largest city.

City Controller Annise Parker and former City Attorney Gene Locke, the two candidates originally predicted by many to prevail at the race's outset, face each other in a Dec. 12 runoff.
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Some good news from Texas at least.
Magneto & Xavier.
  • doop

Feral cats rescued from island find a home at wildlife center


Chelsea, a feral cat, relaxes under the shade of a bush as she and other feral cats from San Nicholas Island live in a newly built habitat at the Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in Ramona on Tuesday.

Dozens of feral cats that once appeared doomed to be euthanized have a new home in Ramona after being rescued from one of the Channel Islands off Ventura County.

Shelters euthanize about half of the 8 million cats they take in annually and usually have no resources to handle the hundreds of thousands of feral cats that roam in the wild, said Betsy McFarland, senior director of companion animals for the Humane Society of the United States. However, the Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in Ramona has made an exception for 54 feral felines taken from San Nicolas Island.

Wildlife officials and the U.S. Navy, which owns the island, recently decided to remove the cats to improve the nesting success of seabirds that increasingly use the islands as a refuge.

After learning the cats may be euthanized, the Humane Society began working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game and the Navy on an alternative to killing the cats.

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Source.
Akuma River

Kay Bailey STFD & STFU!

As if I needed anymore bad news.

Got an e-mail from my wonderful *eyeroll* Senator.

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me regarding S. 1681, the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

On September 17, 2009, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced this legislation, which would eliminate the federal antitrust exemption for health insurance and medical malpractice insurance companies. The bill would repeal the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act, which gives states the authority to regulate the insurance business and includes an exemption from federal antitrust laws.

I believe that the insurance market must be one in which competition is encouraged between insurance providers based on transparency and value. This would make health insurance a buyer’s market in which patients have affordable choices and know what plans cost and offer.

Over the past few months, we have seen unprecedented federal involvement in Wall Street, the banking industry, the housing market, and the auto industry. This bill would further expand the role of the federal government, taking away a state’s right to regulate the market and ultimately advancing the Administration’s agenda of a federal takeover of health care.

I firmly believe in preserving a state’s right to regulate insurance providers offering services within their borders. I will continue to fight against further unnecessary encroachment by the federal government.

The Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act has been referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, on which I do not serve. Should this legislation come for consideration before the full Senate, you may be assured I will keep your views in mind.

I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue that is important to you.

Sincerely,
Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator

284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5922 (tel)
202-224-0776 (fax)
http://hutchison.senate.gov


RAGE!!! Keep my view in mind my ass.

P.S. I'm REALLY getting tired of being referred to as "dear friend" feels too much like comrade to me.
jisookimcandela

Italians outraged as European court rules against crucifixes


Rome – Italians reacted with outrage on Tuesday after a European court ruled that displaying crucifixes in the country's schools violated the principle of secular education.

Italy's education minister condemned the judgment by the European Court of Human Rights, saying that the Christian cross was a symbol of the country's Roman Catholic religion and cultural identity.

Mariastella Gelmini, a member of the conservative government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, argued that "no one, and certainly not an ideological European court, will succeed in erasing our identity," said

Other ministers said they were appalled by the ruling, calling it "absurd," "shameful" and "offensive."

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IDK, I can understand Catholics in a traditionally Catholic country not wanting to remove the crucifixes, but one in every classroom of a state school? And lol at them saying that the ruling is "biased". Oh but this takes the cake: "At a time when we're trying to bring religions closer together, this is a blow to Christianity," he said." Meaning, at at time when we want to bring all religions closer under Christianity's umbrella, this is a blow to the religion.

Rainbow

Allez Cuisine Obama! Iron Chef goes to the White House!

Yes I am a Alton Brown fan and foodie geek, yes I am huge fan of Michelle Obama (seen here impersonating a carrot?) and yes I am a huge fan about educating kids about the source of their foods . Yes, sad to say or not, I learned how to cook by living off of Good Eats, Emeril live and other shows on the Food Netework so um, YAY and WIN all around.



ALTON BROWN, the host of “Iron Chef America,” fell into the turnip patch just before the show began taping several scenes outside the White House in late October. (The best stuff always happens off camera.)

On the episode, which will open the show’s new season Jan. 3 on the Food Network, two pairs of chefs will compete: Cristeta Comerford, the White House executive chef, and Bobby Flay go up against the combined forces of Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse.

In a collision of politics, cooking and popular culture, Michelle Obama will reveal the secret ingredient that the chefs must use in their televised cook-off: anything that grows in the White House garden (no further spoilers here, though). Mrs. Obama will also talk about her crusade to reduce childhood obesity through better school lunches, community gardens, farmers’ markets and exercise, which around the White House has the working title Healthy Kids Initiative.

The first lady’s cameo on “Iron Chef” is the latest example of her willingness to get her message across to the public in ways few of her predecessors would have considered.

From digging, planting and harvesting the garden with elementary school children, to completing 142 revolutions with a hula hoop before cameras at last month’s kickoff for the Healthy Kids project, Mrs. Obama has been making her point.

The source has the sauce

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yay / seinfeld

Haaretz: America, stop sucking up to Israel



Barack Obama has been busy - offering the Jewish People blessings for Rosh Hashanah, and recording a flattering video for the President's Conference in Jerusalem and another for Yitzhak Rabin's memorial rally. Only Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah surpasses him in terms of sheer output of recorded remarks.

In all the videos, Obama heaps sticky-sweet praise on Israel, even though he has spent nearly a year fruitlessly lobbying for Israel to be so kind as to do something, anything - even just a temporary freeze on settlement building - to advance the peace process.

The president's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, has also been busy, shuttling between a funeral (for IDF soldier Asaf Ramon, the son of Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon) and a memorial (for Rabin, though it was postponed until next week due to rain), in order to find favor with Israelis. Polls have shown that Obama is increasingly unpopular here, with an approval rating of only 6 to 10 percent.

He decided to address Israelis by video, but a persuasive speech won't persuade anyone to end the occupation. He simply should have told the Israeli people the truth. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived here last night, will certainly express similar sentiments: "commitment to Israel's security," "strategic alliance," "the need for peace," and so on .

Before no other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this. In other trouble spots, America takes a different tone. It bombs in Afghanistan, invades Iraq and threatens sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Did anyone in Washington consider begging Saddam Hussein to withdraw from occupied territory in Kuwait?

But Israel the occupier, the stubborn contrarian that continues to mock America and the world by building settlements and abusing the Palestinians, receives different treatment. Another massage to the national ego in one video, more embarrassing praise in another.

Now is the time to say to the United States: Enough flattery. If you don't change the tone, nothing will change. As long as Israel feels the United States is in its pocket, and that America's automatic veto will save it from condemnations and sanctions, that it will receive massive aid unconditionally, and that it can continue waging punitive, lethal campaigns without a word from Washington, killing, destroying and imprisoning without the world's policeman making a sound, it will continue in its ways.

Illegal acts like the occupation and settlement expansion, and offensives that may have involved war crimes, as in Gaza, deserve a different approach. If America and the world had issued condemnations after Operation Summer Rains in 2006 - which left 400 Palestinians dead and severe infrastructure damage in the first major operation in Gaza since the disengagement - then Operation Cast Lead never would have been launched.

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Israel of 2009 is a spoiled country, arrogant and condescending, convinced that it deserves everything and that it has the power to make a fool of America and the world. The United States has engendered this situation, which endangers the entire Mideast and Israel itself. That is why there needs to be a turning point in the coming year - Washington needs to finally say no to Israel and the occupation. An unambiguous, presidential no.

Source

Scientists claim junk food is as addictive as heroin



With the rumors swirling that Michelle Obama is a big fan of former FDA Commissioner David Kessler’s new book The End of Overeating, it seems reasonable to check in on the science behind an “addiction model” for salty, sweet, and fatty processed food (an assertion at the core of the book). As it happens, a group of researchers from the independent, not-for-profit Scripps Research Institute has just released a new peer-reviewed study on the subject. The conclusion: the brain responds to junk food the same way it does to heroin:

  • Junk food elicits addictive behavior in rats similar to the behaviors of rats addicted to heroin, a new study finds. Pleasure centers in the brains of rats addicted to high-fat, high-calorie diets became less responsive as the binging wore on, making the rats consume more and more food. The results, presented October 20 at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting, may help explain the changes in the brain that lead people to overeat.

    “This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neurobiological underpinnings,” says study coauthor Paul Johnson of the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla.

Johnson offered one group of rats a broad range of processed food, from bacon and cheesecake to Ho Hos while another received a “high-nutrient, low-calorie chow.” There was an immediate difference:

  • Rats that ate the junk food soon developed compulsive eating habits and became obese. “They’re taking in twice the amount of calories as the control rats,” says Johnson’s coauthor Paul Kenny, also of Scripps.

The researchers also tested the responsiveness of the animals’ pleasure centers:

  • After just five days on the junk food diet, rats showed “profound reductions” in the sensitivity of their brains’ pleasure centers, suggesting that the animals quickly became habituated to the food. As a result, the rats ate more food to get the same amount of pleasure. Just as heroin addicts require more and more of the drug to feel good, rats needed more and more of the junk food. “They lose control,” Kenny says. “This is the hallmark of addiction.”

And here’s where things get ugly. The rats wanted their junk food fix so badly, they were willing to tolerate electric shocks if that’s what it meant to keep eating the stuff.

  • To see how strong the drive to eat junk food was, the researchers exposed the rats to a foot shock when they ate the high-fat food. Rats that had not been constantly exposed to the junk food quickly stopped eating. But the foot shock didn’t faze rats accustomed to the junk food — they continued to eat, even though they knew the shock was coming.

    “What we have are these core features of addiction, and these animals are hitting each one of these features,” Kenny says.

Because a study like this isn’t complete without a sinister postscript, I give you this:

  • Scientists are interested in determining the long-term effect of altering the reward system. “We might not see it when we look at the animal,” says obesity expert Ralph DiLeone of Yale University School of Medicine. “They might be a normal weight, but how they respond to food in the future may be permanently altered.”

Eating junk food for a while could leave your brain’s response to food “permanently altered”? How. Nice.

Kinda puts industry calls for preserving consumer “choice” regarding the foods we eat into perspective, doesn’t it? When it’s an addiction, choice is the last thing we have. Besides giving ammunition to those wanting to restrict access to these foods for children (well, for anyone really), this study certainly ensures that I will never look at a Ho Ho the same way again.

[source]

I cut fast food out of my diet about three weeks ago. I miss you, Five Guys. :(
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Bachmann Call Tea Party For Help: Tea Party Fails To Gain Support. EPIC FAIL

Is The Tea Party Over?

The tea partiers are launching the revolution. This week. But will anyone actually show up?

On Sunday, Rep. Michele Bachmann challenged viewers of Sean Hannity’s Fox News show to join her last-ditch attempt to kill health care reform. The fiery Minnesota Republican plans to hold a press conference at "high noon" on Thursday. She urged Americans to flood the halls of Congress that day, find their elected officials, "look at the whites of their eyes and tell them, 'don't you dare take away my health care.'"

Since then, so-called tea party patriots have been burning up the Internets trying to rally supporters to attend Bachmann’s event. But so far, their efforts haven't amounted to much. The official Tea Party Patriots website laments that Bachmann’s rally is being stymied by a "media blackout"—meaning that mainstream outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post have ignored it.

The lack of media interest could stem from the tea partiers’ failure to mobilize as a genuine grassroots political force. In preparation for Bachmann’s press conference, the patriots devised a "three phase attack" on Congress called "Operation House Call." The idea was for tea partiers to call, email, fax and visit key lawmakers, starting at 1:30 on Tuesday afternoon.
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"Hoffman Defeats Owens" Rush Limbaugh Declares Hoffman The Winner, Calls Democrats Sore Losers!

Dud, Baby, Dud: The Lesson of Doug Hoffman

I believe America is turning the page to a new dawn." ~ Doug Hoffman, Concession Speech

Doug Hoffman lost his election last night. He was supported by a plurality of talk radio entertainers, and a majority of former half-term governors of Alaska, but it wasn't enough. An obscure quirk of constitutional law says you also need votes from voters. This is the same cruel hurdle that tripped up three of his other biggest supporters, Gary Bauer, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani, all of whom ran for President of the United States, but failed the "getting votes" test, because everyone hates their guts.

With their help, and a million dollars from the Club for Growth, Doug Hoffman lost a part of New York State that had voted Republican since the best way to get from Albany to Buffalo was by canal.

Not bad for a first try.

Doug Hoffman didn't just have money to burn and the staunch support of Facebooking frost bunnies, Fox News and the Ghosts of Vanity Campaigns Past. He also had coots on the ground; an army of volunteers from the tea bag movement, the 9/12 Project and the fanatic anti-choice fringe. The problem was, they could shout at the polling places as loud as they wanted, and they did, but they didn't live there, so they weren't allowed to vote.

There's probably a lesson to that. Something about politics being local.

And beyond that, about the people who do live there resenting being told what to do.

Rush Limbaugh predicted that Hoffman would win. In fact, Hoffman's victory was such a foregone conclusion yesterday that Rush had already moved on to mocking Democrats spinning their loss.

Rush:

If Hoffman wins -- and polls suggest that he will -- the race there will be dismissed as an outlier...


Folks, I want you to print these words out. I want you to get the transcript off my website. I want you to print these out, I want you to distribute them, I want you to carry them with you, and we'll just see how close I am to being right. (When Hoffman wins) the State-Run Media will say, "New York-23, the race is more about the demise of the Republican Party and anger on the right than Obama or his policies."

Print it out. Distribute it. And carry it with you, just to see how close he was to being right: Not within a zillion light years.

Rush couldn't be right, (and he can never be wrong) because he's debating a straw man from the future. His point is that X would say Y. And that's always his point: If the thing he imagines happening happens, liberals will react in a way he imagines, and it'll be just like them, too. Except they never do, because it doesn't, so they can't, not that they would have. But I wouldn't put it past them, since they do it every time.

But not today. Imaginary liberals won't be saying New York-23 doesn't matter. Rush will.
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Warning To Democrats and GOP: This is Neither 2008 or 1993

Contests serve as warning to Democrats: It's not 2008 anymore

Off-year elections can be notoriously unreliable as predictors of the future, but as a window on how the political landscape may have changed in the year since President Obama won the White House, Tuesday's Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey delivered clear warnings for the Democrats.


But the Republicans' celebration was marred by the surprise loss of a House seat in upstate New York that had been in GOP hands for more than a century. The race that underscored the consequences of the ideological warfare that now grips the party and threatens its ability to rebuild itself as a broad-based coalition.

Neither gubernatorial election amounted to a referendum on the president, but the changing shape of the electorate in both states and the shifts among key constituencies revealed cracks in the Obama 2008 faction and demonstrated that, at this point, Republicans have the more energized constituency heading into next year's midterm elections.

The most significant change came among independent voters, who solidly backed Democrats in 2006 and 2008 but moved decisively to the Republicans on Tuesday, according to exit polls. In Virginia, independents strongly supported Republican Robert F. McDonnell in his victory over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, while in New Jersey, they supported Republican Chris Christie in his win over Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine.
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A Year After Dousing, Republicans’ Hope Rekindled

The Republican victories in the races for New Jersey and Virginia governors put the party in a stronger position to turn back the political wave President Obama unleashed last year, setting the stage for Republicans to raise money, recruit candidates and ride the excitement of an energized base as the party heads into next year’s midterm elections.

But a Democratic victory in an upstate New York Congressional district — after an ideologically pitched battle between moderates and conservatives over how best to lead Republicans back to power — signaled that the Republican Party faces continued upheaval. The Democratic victory came over a conservative candidate who, with the enthusiastic backing of national conservative leaders and well-financed grass-roots organizations, had forced out a Republican candidate who supported abortion rights and gay rights.

The results in the New Jersey and Virginia races underscored the difficulties Mr. Obama is having transforming his historic victory a year ago into either a sustained electoral advantage for Democrats or a commanding ideological position over conservatives in legislative battles.
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Steele Declares Republican Renaissance Has Begun. Denies There Are Ideological Divisions...

Steele: Reports Of Ideological Division In GOP Are "Phony"

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said on Wednesday that the philosophical disputes erupting within the GOP, which manifested themselves in last night's special election in upstate New York, were "phony" and the creation of an overzealous media.

Speaking to reporters after Republicans swept two gubernatorial lessons but lost a long-held congressional seat in New York's 23rd district, Steele chose to emphasis the sweet over the sour.

"The Republican renaissance has begun," he declared at one point, "and it has begun in earnest."
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psychotic / patrick bateman

Sesame Street and its secret agenda of social justice a.k.a. COMMUNISM!

The Public Broadcasting System’s taxpayer-funded ‘Sesame Street’ has, at cursory glance, presented young American children with what colorfully appears to be one of television’s few safe havens of educational fun.

Yet, embedded in its visually intoxicating muppetry and otherwise innocently entertaining educational content there lurks highly controversial political messages designed to promote multiculturalism and global citizenship:



”We all sing with the same voice, the same song, the same voice. We all sing with the
same voice and we sing in harmony…

I live in southern France, I’m from a Texas ranch, I come from Mecca and Peru… I come
from everywhere, and my name is you…”


That’s right kids! We’re ‘All’ the ‘same’… um, except that we’re all different. As Orwell deconstructed: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” What next, “Monsters are entitled to their opinions and those opinions deserve equal respect to humans”? NUTS!

Our tax dollars by the $tens of millions$ have been redistributed to the CPB/PBS for decades to ‘help’ its social change agents reach into our homes and preach the gospel of multiculturalism.

It is both ironic and hypocritical that the folks producing and airing such socially conscious segments for “Sesame Street” would certainly be among the very first to intolerantly decry the holy leftist “separation of church and state!” political canard.

Kermit the frog once sang: “It’s not that easy being green.”

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Americans should demand the withdrawal of funding from divisive social justice organizers and educators whose goal is to subvert the family and our national motto, E Pluribus Unum.

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For bonus lulz, Oscar the Grouch is the latest soldier in the Left's war on FOX News
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  • luno

AP: H1N1 breaks more species barriers: cats and ferrets

Several sources have run the AP story, however the best write-up I've seen so far is at http://vetmedicine.about.com/b/2009/11/04/cat-catches-h1n1-swine-flu-in-iowa.htm

The question has been circulating for months, can dogs and cats catch the H1N1 flu? While no one could say for sure, infectious disease experts felt that dogs and cats were not as susceptible as humans, pigs, and then later turkeys and ferrets.

Today, the answer is different: It has been confirmed that a cat has caught the H1N1 virus from humans. The Iowa Department of Public Health as reported that a cat became ill with H1N1 virus after 3 members of the family became ill with influenza-like symptoms.

"[A] 13-year-old indoor cat in Iowa was brought to the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, where it tested positive for the H1N1 virus. The diagnosis is the culmination of collaborative efforts between IDPH, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Center for Advanced Host Defenses, Immunobiotics and Translational Comparative Medicine, USDA, and IDALS Animal Industry Bureau."

[ ... ]

From the AVMA: "Until recently, we had no reason to believe pets could be infected with the 2009 H1N1 virus because it is very uncommon for flu viruses to jump between species. However, on October 9, 2009, a USDA laboratory confirmed 2009/H1N1 infection in a ferret."

Kirk Seeks Palin Endorsement One Year After Trashing Her



Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk of Illinois is reportedly trying to get Sarah Plain to endorse his candidacy, which is not surprising considering the formidable sway the former Alaska governor seems to hold on the conservative movement.

But there's good reason to think Kirk will come up short in his efforts. And its not simply because the tea-party set feels he lacks the ideological bonafides.

Kirk was one of the first elected Republican officials to raise concerns about Palin's selection as John McCain's vice presidential candidate. Back in October 2008, the Illinois Republican told the Chicago Tribune that he "would have picked someone different." Asked later whether he thought Palin was qualified to be one heartbeat away from being commander in chief, Kirk replied: "Quite frankly, I don't know."

Quite a few other Republicans were distancing themselves from Palin around the same time. But Kirk was actually associated with the McCain campaign -- having bundled for the Senator -- making his remarks all the more of a distraction for the Arizona Republican.

Kirk, significantly, is using back channels to ask for Palin's endorsement. Illinois, after all, is not a conservative state, and to win the general election, a Republican would have to show some streaks of political moderation.

The emergence from the right of Patrick Hughes, a Chicago-area developer, as a primary opponent undoubtedly is convincing Kirk that he needs a bit more conservative cred. These days, Palin is the surest way to cover that flank.

But whether she is the forgiving and forgetting type remains to be seen.

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♪ the greatest
  • schmiss

Oh for what could have been

N.Y.C. Mayor Michael Bloomberg survives scare



Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s stunningly narrow re-election in New York was a moral defeat for the billionaire incumbent, and a profound embarrassment for a Democratic establishment – from the White House on down — that abandoned his rival, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, as a hopeless loser.

Bloomberg’s meager five-point win left Democrats pondering what might have been if New York’s Democratic donors hadn’t turned their back on Thompson, if its politicians had worked for him, and most of all if President Barack Obama had offered anything more than the lamest words of praise.

“Maybe one of those Corzine trips could have been better spent in New York. Who knows?" remarked New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, who weighed his own run for mayor, referring to the White House’s devout attention to the New Jersey contest.

“Maybe Anthony Weiner should have manned-up and run against Michael Bloomberg,” shot back a White House official, who attributed the night’s results across the board to anti-incumbent fervor.

The New York race deepened the impression that a White House that prides itself on resisting conventional political analysis had badly misjudged the key contests Tuesday — committing itself most heavily to a New Jersey election that Republican Chris Christie won handily, studiously avoiding a referendum to preserve same-sex marriage that was defeated in Maine and giving up too early in New York City.

But Obama wasn’t alone in abandoning Thompson. The city’s Democratic donors – source of millions for the likes of Obama and Senator Chuck Schumer – closed their wallets to the Brooklyn-born Thompson, who spent less than 10 percent of the $90 million spent by Bloomberg.

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I think the end of this article explains why Bloomberg almost lost. Howard Wolfson was working for him. In other news we apparently have a Howard Wolfson tag.
misc - microphone

sad about Maine? me, too. but here's a bit of comfort...

Wisconsin Supreme Court Rejects Case Seeking to Strip Away Domestic Partnership Protections
Decision Ensures Domestic Partnership Protections for Over 15,000 Wisconsin Same-Sex Couples 


Today, Lambda Legal and Fair Wisconsin applaud the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision to reject a lawsuit brought by Wisconsin Family Action, an antigay group attempting to strip away newly enacted domestic partnership protections for same-sex couples and their families.

“We are pleased that the Court has rejected this challenge to an important law that was validly enacted to protect Wisconsin families,” said Christopher Clark, Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Midwest Regional Office based in Chicago. “Because of today’s ruling, Wisconsin’s same-sex couples and their families who depend on domestic partnership protections can take care of each other in times of illness and crisis. Even with the discriminatory amendment excluding same-sex couples from marriage, the Wisconsin Constitution does not prevent enactment of laws that offer basic decency and security for couples.”

Fair Wisconsin, the statewide LGBT advocacy group, along with national and regional allies, recently helped enact these important domestic partnership protections for same-sex couples. Fair Wisconsin, vigorous opponents of the 2006 amendment banning marriage equality and civil unions, is defending the new domestic partnership law. Lambda Legal filed to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of Fair Wisconsin and its members to protect the few but fundamental protections granted to same-sex couples through the domestic partnership law. After reviewing the case, Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit.

“We are elated with this decision from the State Supreme Court,” says Executive Director Katie Belanger. “Over 15,000 same-sex couples in our state need the basic protections domestic partnerships provide.”

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It seems there's nothing on the Wisconsin State Journal website about this yet - too busy salivating over Obama's visit to Wright Middle School earlier today.
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Glenn Beck's Got Appendicitis

FNC host Glenn Beck had an appendicitis attack during his radio show today. Chris Balfe, President of Mercury Radio Arts, Beck's production company, confirmed that Beck had his appendix removed today at an undisclosed hospital. "Before going under Glenn asked the doctor to draw out the surgery procedure on a blackboard," Balfe joked to the blog NTS MediaOnline.

source

So, let's hear his health care story!
Reporting
  • acmeeoy

At the UN, Criminalizing Rape as a Weapon


By Bia Assevero

In the last week of October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made headlines and sparked anger in travels to Israel and Pakistan. Her role some weeks earlier was less controversial yet critically important, as she led UN diplomats forward in an action that could ease the suffering of countless women and girls living in conflict zones around the world.

 

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OMG WTF BBQ
  • homasse

Noooooooooooooooo~

Maine voters reject gay-marriage law

PORTLAND, Maine – Maine voters repealed a state law Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed, dealing the gay rights movement a heartbreaking defeat in New England, the corner of the country most supportive of gay marriage.

Gay marriage has now lost in every single state — 31 in all — in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine — known for its moderate, independent-minded electorate — and mounted an energetic, well-financed campaign.

With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes had 53 percent of the votes.

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I am so depressed right now. D:
MLP Rainbow Dash nahnah

Clinton vs. Bush - FINAL SHOWDOWN... has been canceled.

Bush, Clinton Debate At Radio City In February

Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will go head to head in a debate at Radio City Music Hall next February, as part of a series pairing liberal and conservative thinkers called "Minds That Move The World."

The event takes place on February 25, 2010 -- anyone can suggest a question here.

The debate "will be formatted to allow for President Clinton and President Bush to each present their thoughts on a wide range of important current events and national issues through a moderated question and answer period during which the moderator can elicit information and insights into particularly pertinent topics of the day," according to a press release.

Tickets, which go on sale Sunday, range from $60 to $1,250.

ETA: The debate has been called off.

As quickly as you can say nuke-yu-ler, the hotly anticipated debate between George W. Bush and Bill Clinton has been called off! At first we assumed it was because when Bush agreed to the debate, he thought he'd be going up against George Clinton, the brain-fried frontman for Parliament-Funkadelic, not Bill Clinton, world-renowned master debater. But turns out, it's Clinton who's withdrawn.

Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna insists the former presidents never agreed to a "debate"—what they'd signed up for was a breezy moderated panel discussion, like the one between their cronies Carville and Rove in May. McKenna tells the Post, "This event ... was supposed to be a discussion between the two former presidents, and has been canceled because it was not being billed as such by an overeager promoter." Okay, fine, so it's not a "debate!" Why pull the plug on the whole thing? Can't we still watch these two "discuss" how Bush burned through America's $2.2 trillion surplus and left us living in a Mad Max-style tent city?

Source

Damn.
Zoidberg

Germany angry at GM, drama ensues

German fury over GM Opel U-turn



General Motors' (GM) decision to hang on to its European car unit Opel, including Vauxhall, was welcomed in the UK but met with anger in Germany.

Unite union chief Tony Woodley, a former Vauxhall worker, hailed the news as a "fantastic decision".

But unions in Germany said workers would begin walk-outs from Thursday in protest at GM's decision.

The German government, which had backed the sale of Opel, demanded GM repayment of a 1.5bn euro ($2.2bn; £1.3bn) loan.

German leaders and labour unions had favoured a sale, to Canadian car parts maker Magna, as the best way to save German jobs as it included a guarantee that no German factory would be closed.

'Totally unacceptable'

"General Motors' behaviour shows the ugly face of turbo-capitalism," said Juergen Ruettgers, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where there are fears that the Opel plant in Bochum could face closure.

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  • anster5

Swine FLU Vaccine


http://hubpages.com/hub/Sasha-Malia-Will-Not-Receive-the-Swine-Flu-Vaccine

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15092

Nano Particles used in Untested H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccines
Part III: ‘It’s the vaccines, Stupid!

by F. William Engdahl
.
Global Research, September 13, 2009
 


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Vaccines which have been approved by the responsible government authorities for vaccination against the alleged H1N1 Influenza A Swine Flu have been found to contain nano particles. Vaccine makers have been experimenting with nanoparticles as a way to “turbo charge” vaccines for several years. Now it has come out that the vaccines approved for use in Germany and other European countries contain nanoparticles in a form that reportedly attacks healthy cells and can be deadly.

 
In 2007 researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) announced in an article in the journal, Nature Biotechnology, that they had developed  a “nanoparticle that can deliver vaccines more effectively, with fewer side effects, and at a fraction of the cost of current vaccine technologies.” The article went on to describe the effects of their breakthrough: “At a mere 25 nanometers, these particles are so tiny that once injected, they flow through the skin’s extracellular matrix, making a beeline to the lymph nodes. Within minutes, they’ve reached a concentration of DCs thousands of times greater than in the skin. The immune response can then be extremely strong and effective.” 1


There is only one small problem with vaccines containing nanoparticles—they can be deadly and at the least cause severe irreparable health damage.


Nanoparticles, promoted in the mass media as the new wonder revolution of science, are particles that have been produced vastly smaller than deadly asbestos particles which caused severe lung damage and death before being outlawed. Particles at a nano size, (nm = 0,000000001 Meter) fuse together with the membranes of our body cell membranes and, according to recent studies in China and Japan, continuously destroy cells once introduced into the body. Once they interact with the body’s cellular structure, they cannot be removed. Modern medicine euphemistically terms the phenomenon, a continuing infectious reaction.


Since the asbestos scandal, it has been established that particles in size a millionth of a meter, because of their enormous attractive force, penetrate all cells, destroying all those they come into contact with. Nanoparticles are far smaller than asbestos fibers.

Beijing Tests confirm deadly effects on humans

The fact that WHO, the European Medicines Evaluation Agency, the German Robert Koch Institute and other health bodies today would permit the population to be injected with largely untested novel vaccines containing nanoparticles says more about the powerful pharma lobby in Euiropean politics than it does about the sanity or moral integrity of the civil servants responsible for health of the general public.

The September 2009 issue of the respected European Respiratory Journal, made public on 19 August, and available since 21 August online, contains a peer-reviewed article with the title, “Exposure to nanoparticles is related to pleural effusion, pulmonary fibrosis and granuloma.”

The article describes tests carried out in 2008 at the elite Beijing Chaoyang Hospital on seven young women. All seven, ages 18-47 had been exposed to nanoparticles for 5–13 months in their common workplace. All were admitted to the hospital with shortness of breath and pleural effusions, or excessive fluids surrounding the lungs, inhibiting breathing. None of the seven had ever smoked and none were in any special risk group. Doctors carefully tested for every possibility and confirmed that the lung problems had a common origin—regular inhalation of nanoparticles in their factory. They had been exposed to Polyacrylat nanoparticles.

The tests confirmed the nanoparticles had set off a “super-meltdown” reaction in the patients. Despite all heroic efforts of doctors, two of the seven died from the lung complications. 2

In their report, the scientists concluded something so alarming it is necessary to quote at length:

“Immunological tests, examinations of bacteriology, virology and tumour markers, bronchoscopy, internal thoracoscopy and video-assisted thoracic surgery were performed. Surveys of the workplace, clinical observations and examinations of the patients were conducted. Polyacrylate, consisting of nanoparticles, was confirmed in the workplace. Pathological examinations of patients' lung tissue displayed nonspecific pulmonary inflammation, pulmonary fibrosis and foreign-body granulomas of pleura. Using transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticles were observed to lodge in the cytoplasm and caryoplasm of pulmonary epithelial and mesothelial cells, but are also located in the chest fluid. These cases arouse concern that long-term exposure to some nanoparticles without protective measures may be related to serious damage to human lungs.“3

To date Animal studies and in vitro experiments show that nanoparticles can result in lung damage and other toxicity in animals, but no reports on the clinical toxicity in humans due to nanoparticles prior to the Beijing study had been made.

The Beijing Chaoyang Hospital study has now conclusively confirmed that nanoparticles cause lung damage and other toxicity in humans as well. At this point in time, when two of the approved vaccines planned to be mass distributed in Germany and elsewhere contain nanoparticles, failure of the relevant responsible public health and epidemiology officials to order an immediate emergency freeze on distribution of any vaccine containing nanoparticles can only be considered tantamount to criminal negligence. Hopefully the responsible authorities will react in time to avert a possible human health catastrophe orders of magnitude worse than the worst case of Swine Flu reported to date.




I am not gonna debate anymore as majority of people is not ready to think outside their comfortable bubble. I am gonna post some links and hope at least some people will look into it and do their own thinking. Hopefully not everyone believes what the box called the TV tells you to. Getting a vaccine is your own choice, but do educate yourself about consequences first, peace.

http://theflucase.com/    ----->official investigation of the flue pandemics, it is a scientist who filed lawsuit against WHO and Baxter for creating a virus

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,656028,00.html   ------->double standards in germany, politicians getting different vaccine than the citizens

http://www.infowars.com/fall-of-the-republic-millions-of-people-worldwide-take-the-red-pill/  ------->comments about the Fall of the Republic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shU   ---->Fall of the Republic the Movie

http://www.infowars.com/category/flu-pandemic/   ------> updates about the flue from around the world

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRLPG_HplrA   ----If you want to learn about the NWO 

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/end-the-illuminati-conspiracy/c4a13853d7e8a27034f4466eb154220c   -------> NWO

http://educate-yourself.org/nwo/nwopopcontrol.shtml  ----->population control

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15092  ----->deadly cells in the vaccine








 


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When Your Captain Is Batsh#t Insane, It's Time For You To Jump Ship!

Bachmann aide no longer taking care of business

The aide who helped turn Rep. Michele Bachmann into a controversial mainstay of cable news has informed colleagues that she’s quitting — just as the firebrand Republican congresswoman prepares for her biggest media moment yet.

Multiple sources have confirmed that Michelle Marston, a veteran Hill aide, is leaving Bachmann’s office.

In an e-mail exchange with POLITICO, Marston declined to say why she’s going.

“I’m just not talking about it, and frankly I don’t think there’s a story here,” Marston wrote. “Now, the thousands of people calling our office to tell us [they’re] coming to Capitol Hill tomorrow — that’s a story.”

Marston was referring to the prolific Bachmann’s latest political brainstorm, a “house call” on the Capitol Thursday to which she’s invited Fox News viewers and other conservatives to march with her through House office buildings, “find members of Congress, look at the whites of their eyes and say, ‘Don’t take away my health care.’”

The idea was hatched by Bachmann and a small clutch of allies at the member level, and aides say that the response to it has been so overwhelming that the conservative Republican Study Committee has been tapped to help with the arrangements for the event on the West Front of the Capitol.

The image of travel-ready conservatives flooding the hallways of the Capitol complex to confront members of Congress may not be one that Republican leaders are too keen to project.

A conservative Republican House member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, suggested that Bachmann’s views — and her willingness to state them — make it hard for her to keep staff.

“When your captain’s crazy, it’s time to find a new ship,” the lawmaker said.

Marston replaced Bachmann’s former chief of staff, Rich Dunn, last February. She beefed up Bachmann’s outreach operations with the aim of getting her out in the public eye more often.

“She looks like the type of person who you would invite in to have a cup of coffee at your table,” Marston said at the time. “There are a lot of people who are good, smart, well-meaning, well-intentioned members of Congress, but they speak to the people like they are members of Congress. Rep. Bachmann talks to people like they are people.”

But when Bachmann infuriated liberals with the suggestion that then-Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats in Congress held “anti-American” views, Marston acknowledged that her boss wasn’t for everyone.

“You either love Michele Bachmann or you don’t love Michele Bachmann at all,” Marston said in an interview with POLITICO last fall.
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Jim DeMint To Uninsured: "Stop Dying, You Got Access To Hospitals..."

Jim DeMint On Health Care Reform: "Everyone Can Show Up At The Hospital" (VIDEO)

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) was caught off guard when pressed about health care in Washington D.C. earlier this week.

In footage of the incident posted by mrcawguy on YouTube, the South Carolina lawmaker said that his goal in the Senate's health care debate is to make sure that "everyone has an affordable [insurance] policy that they can own and keep, but it is frustrating that this process has nothing to do with that."

DeMint did not appear to know how many people in his home state lack health insurance, or the number that have gone bankrupt as a result of sky-high medical bills.

On South Carolina residents' medical-related bankruptcies, he said:

There are a lot of numbers floating around and it's really hard to know exactly what that number is, but bankruptcies, personal bankruptcies, business bankruptcies that occur, certainly do not justify health reform that raises the price of health insurance, which is what all of the outside analysis is saying this would do.

On the size of South Carolina's uninsured population, DeMint echoed former President Bush: "No one is going to go without health care because everyone can show up at the hospital, that's just not the most efficient way to do it."

While DeMint may not know his state's health insurance statistics, Cover The Uninsured South Carolina does: 19.4% of the state's population lacks health insurance and 74% of that group cites affordability as the primary reason they have not purchased health coverage. Furthermore, each uninsured individual in South Carolina imposes a cost of $1,936 on the larger health care system.

WATCH: Jim Demint Botches Health Care Facts

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Dick Armey: Death Panels Are Real if You Believe in Them!

Dick Armey: I Don't Believe In "Death Panels" But If People Believe That, It's OK With Me

In a profile in the upcoming New York Times magazine, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey touts his role through his FreedomWorks group in watering down health care reform and says "pretty soon it's going to be about cap and trade, which is another big Democratic power play."

In the interview, Armey reveals that he doesn't personally believe the "death panels" myth but he isn't too bothered by such hysteria, on display at town-hall rallies promoted by FreedomWorks. Despite the fact that the group launched a website called DontKillGrandma.com, Armey dismisses concerns about such lies. "Are their fears exaggerated? Yeah, probably. But are Obama's promises exaggerated? I may think it's silly but if people want to believe that," Armey says, referring to death panels, "it's OK with me."
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GOP's New Strategy For 2010: Tosses Republican Moderates To The Wolves.

Cornyn's Primary Strategy Has "Neutered" The Moderates: Dems

Two of the Republican Party's three federal campaign committees announced on Wednesday that they would be forgoing active participation in future GOP primaries.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele went first, when he told reporters during a morning press conference that, as "national chairman," his job was "not to pick the winners or losers" in a primary system.

"It is not to pick who gets to run," he said. "My job is to support the eventual nominee whether they are selected or elected through a primary process."

Hours later, he was echoed by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who told ABC News that his committee "will not spend money in a contested primary."

"There's no incentive for us to weigh in," added Cornyn. "We have to look at our resources... We're not going to throw money into a [primary] race leading up to the election."

Coming just one day after the Republican Party -- amidst infighting between moderates and conservatives -- lost a long-held seat in upstate New York, the dual pledges by Steele and Cornyn seem like an effort to avoid future hostilities. But, stepping back, the move promises to have major ramifications for the upcoming 2010 elections, Democrats allege. In the past, committee chairman have traditionally pinpointed the candidates they believed had the best general election viability in hopes that their support would dissuade a primary challenge. The move by Cornyn and Steele, in effect, may make it more likely for conservatives to take on moderate or "establishment" Republicans.

Democrats, for one, were downright gleeful with the news. A strategist working on the upcoming congressional races said the remarks amounted to a "neutering" of every moderate Republican who is making a run at office.

"What Cornyn is doing is basically abandoning the [California Republican] Carly Fiorinas, the [Connecticut Republican] Rob Simmons, the [Illinois Republican] Mark Kirks and [Florida Republican] Charlie Crist's of the world," said the strategist. "He's giving a green light to all the fringe, tea-party people out there that, if they choose to run, they won't have to go against the party apparatus. The party apparatus isn't going to spend a dime. They aren't going to have Mark Kirk's back. If you're that guy in Illinois and you're worried about the cost of taking on Kirk, well, now that's not a problem."
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Obama - Pie

Malia Obama's Science Test: President Tells Story About Daughter's Grades

During a speech in Madison, Wisconsin today to promote education reform Obama veered from his scripted remarks to give an example of the importance of parents setting high academic standards for their children so that they come to expect such standards from themselves. We're not sure how much his daughter Malia appreciated the story since it involved the nation hearing how she received a 73 on a science test a couple years ago, but it ends with her success so we hope she won't be too upset.