Monday August 3, 2015


News Clips For The Day


https://m.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/03/1252733/-90-Year-Old-Legendary-Speaker-of-the-House-Jim-Wright-Denied-Texas-Voter-ID-Card?detail=facebook

90 Year Old Legendary Speaker of the House Jim Wright Denied Texas Voter ID Card
by Heavy Mettle
Nov 03, 2013


Photograph -- A 90 year old man who just happens to be the former Speaker of the US House was denied a voter ID according to Texas's new voter ID requirements.


FORT WORTH — Former House Speaker Jim Wright was denied a voter ID card Saturday at a Texas Department of Public Safety office.
“Nobody was ugly to us, but they insisted that they wouldn’t give me an ID,” Wright said.

The legendary Texas political figure says that he has worked things out with DPS and that he will get a state-issued personal identification card in time for him to vote Tuesday in the state and local elections.

Because a 90 year old man is trying to game the system, right?

But here is the real problem:


But after the difficulty he had this weekend getting a proper ID card, Wright, 90, expressed concern that such problems could deter others from voting and stifle turnout. After spending much of his life fighting to make it easier to vote, the Democratic Party icon said he is troubled by what he’s seeing happen under the state’s new voter ID law.

“I earnestly hope these unduly stringent requirements on voters won’t dramatically reduce the number of people who vote,” Wright told the Star-Telegram. “I think they will reduce the number to some extent.”

Wright and his assistant, Norma Ritchson, went to the DPS office on Woodway Drive to get a State of Texas Election Identification Certificate. Wright said he realized earlier in the week that the photo identifications he had — a Texas driver’s license that expired in 2010 and a TCU faculty ID — do not satisfy requirements of the voter ID law, enacted in 2011 by the Legislature. DPS officials concurred.

Not everyone will have the resources, or knowledge, that Wright has to overcome these obstacles. And Wright puts it very well:

We want to make sure that every eligible Texan who wants to cast a ballot can,” Pierce said. “We want to help any Texan who needs additional information."
Wright, who said he has voted in every election since 1944, lamented that such help is called for.

“From my youth I have tried to expand the elections,” Wright said. “I pushed to abolish the poll tax. I was the first to come out for lowering the voting age to 18.”

The state put up these obstacles in the first place- now they are 'concerned' to make sure everyone can overcome them. They have 'solved' non-existent voter fraud problems by creating actual problems.
9:59 AM PT: For help with getting Voter ID the linked article suggests:


For more information, voters may call the Texas secretary of state's office at 800-252-VOTE (8683) or the Tarrant County Elections Office at 817-831-VOTE (8683). Go online for more information at www.tarrantcounty.com/evote or votexas.org.




“Former House Speaker Jim Wright was denied a voter ID card Saturday at a Texas Department of Public Safety office. “Nobody was ugly to us, but they insisted that they wouldn’t give me an ID,” Wright said. The legendary Texas political figure says that he has worked things out with DPS and that he will get a state-issued personal identification card in time for him to vote Tuesday in the state and local elections. …. But after the difficulty he had this weekend getting a proper ID card, Wright, 90, expressed concern that such problems could deter others from voting and stifle turnout. After spending much of his life fighting to make it easier to vote, the Democratic Party icon said he is troubled by what he’s seeing happen under the state’s new voter ID law. “I earnestly hope these unduly stringent requirements on voters won’t dramatically reduce the number of people who vote,” Wright told the Star-Telegram. “I think they will reduce the number to some extent.” …. Not everyone will have the resources, or knowledge, that Wright has to overcome these obstacles. And Wright puts it very well: We want to make sure that every eligible Texan who wants to cast a ballot can,” Pierce said. “We want to help any Texan who needs additional information." Wright, who said he has voted in every election since 1944, lamented that such help is called for. …. The state put up these obstacles in the first place- now they are 'concerned' to make sure everyone can overcome them. They have 'solved' non-existent voter fraud problems by creating actual problems.”

There are 188 of these comments, so I just clipped a few good ones. Go to the site to check them all out. Folks are incensed about this. Not merely blacks and Hispanics are being cheated of the right to vote (which is never good but it is predictable) but now the elderly, and another article several months ago said college students are as well. It’s so clear that they are simply going after the “difficult” groups who tend to vote Democrat. The Tea Party are a bunch of troublemakers where there is no real problem. They’re going to lose more votes by trying to keep Hispanics and blacks from voting than they would if they had just left the situation as it was. Such machinations cause the honest man to hate and fear you.



COMMENTS


1:45 PM PT: From kossack ccafrey who can't post comments:

I was hoping to let people know who were commenting on the Jim Wright article, and having problems establishing id requirements for elderly relatives to tell them the following: A group of nonprofits put together a great help site that will walk you through all the requirements step by step, and have active links to the agencies/sites necessary to make corrections. It's Got ID Texas? www.gotidtexas.org. If someone else would post this info until my problem is resolved, that would be great. Thanks!
Heavy Mettle Nov 3, 8:33a (Posting it in a couple of hours, Mr. kossack ccafrey!! Lucy Warner)


coquiero Nov 3, 1:32p

My wife gives in my name because of her job so I get to reap the cred x2.

Yes, we need Davis and I am really glad she is not on the ballot Tuesday. I am pretty certain we will learn the new ID law has a major impact on numbers. We will be able to figure it out more or less by looking at Affidavits and anecdotally, because media WILL be seeking out stories of disenfranchisement.

My hope is that we see stories of MEN and Republicans being disenfranchised. It won't help correct because the Lege and Perry knows the larger disenfranchisement will be among women, POC, students and the elderly. But it will lend credence to Davis attention to the issue and will help focus media further.

Keep giving! He will forgive you!
- bastrop



There is something blessed though, that the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives doesn't qualify as a voter under the Republicans' voter ID law. It is beyond laughably ridiculous.


DCDemocrat Nov 3, 10:02a


TrueBlueMajority Nov 3, 11:38a
unrecommendable 64

Judge who authored Voter ID says decision 'wrong' The seventh circuit judge, Richard Posner, says voter ID laws, like the kind sanctioned by the 2-1 decision he authored, are “now widely regarded as a means of voter suppression, rather than fraud protection.”

Posner says judges didn't have the right information to make the right decision when the Indiana voter ID case came to his Appeals panel.

Lately, Posner says his disavowal of the original decision is not "recanting" the decision.


"Do you think that the court got this one wrong?" HuffPo's Mike Sacks asked.
"Yes. Absolutely. And the problem is that there hadn’t been that much activity with voter identification," Posner said. "Maybe we should have been more imaginative….
Posner created an uproar when he wrote in his new book, Reflections on Judging:
I plead guilty to having written the majority opinion (affirmed by the Supreme Court) upholding Indiana’s requirement that prospective voters prove their identity with a photo ID — a law now widely regarded as a means of voter suppression rather than fraud prevention.

As an aside, when I had to bring enough documents to switch my driver's license to photo ID, it cost me $20 (and two trips to DMV). $20 for the original documents - that's a poll tax.

joan reports Nov 3, 10:39a
unrecommendable 71


Poll tax exactly! When you must pay to obtain additional documentation with costs varying state by state and in many cases increased in the last 5 or so years it is an additional barrier to voting that disproportionately impacts those of limited financial means. Add to that the requirement in many cases that the request for documentation be supported both by being notarized (which requires that the notary either know the person really well or is able to verify identity through some means) and in addition to that notarization you must provide a photocopy of an acceptable form of documentation, like a driver's license. And isn't that just lovely circular logic. In order to get the documentation needed to get your license or State Identification Card you must provide an acceptable form of identification from a fairly limited list, including a driver's license.

Rainefenix Nov 3, 11:12a
unrecommendable 52

… poll tax and money both add up to voter suppression. I had to get a certified copy of my birth certificate from Indiana AGAIN...cost of 75 dollars...plus the cost of the ID, plus my other 'required info' just for a driver's license renewal in Florida... I do NOT have an original social security card for several reasons. First of all, it fell apart as I got it originally in 1954 and nothing was laminated. Then I got married, so had to change the name. Then, I got a divorce, so had to change the name...Moved a few times...remarried and changed my name again..Have had the same name for 33 years now. OH, forgot, here in Florida I had to have a certified copy for every name change...and a copy of divorce papers from 1973...in Indiana..guess what; another big fee. My DL has my first name, my maiden name, and my married name. Guess what..it doesn't match EXACTLY to my passport, my SS Card (which also had my middle name)..so guess who has trouble.. There is no doubt as the pictures on my passport and DL match...but I have been questioned. If I move back to Texas..I am in deep SHIT!!!!
Oh, I left out I was supposed to have BOTH marriage licenses for the ID. I BURNED my first one...and my ex is LONG DEAD...so

grannygrey50 Nov 3, 11:47a
unrecommendable 51


Not just money although that's a determent for most folks, but also the waste of your valuable time in obtaining those documents and going to the office to get the ID. People who work have to take a day off and go without pay (more money) and people who don't drive have to arrange transportation to the ID offices (even more money).

It's very clear that the purpose of these laws is voter suppression that hits workers, the poor, and seniors the hardest. Voting fraud already is a crime, punishable by prison time, and occurs so rarely that it's nearly non-existant.

Lets keep calling these "Voter ID Laws" what they really are: Voter Suppression Laws.

Puddytat Nov 3, 1:21p
unrecommendable 30


It's not Voter Suppression It's voter FRAUD, committed by the Legislatures.

Lisztman Nov 3, 3:30p
unrecommendable 7

it's an end-around poll tax they don't charge you to vote, just to prove you're eligible.

Gee O Pee worthless useless uckers. (I started to edit this word uckers to suckers when I suddenly realized that an f was probably the intended letter. Lucy Warner)

BlackSheep1 Nov 3, 7:33p
unrecommendable 12


"Real americans" have id GOPee dead-enders clinging to their privileges. They've convinced joe 6-pack that the shrinking pie is the fault of brown people.

As the wealth is sucked up by the 1%, the remainder are set against each other, competing for the scraps.

odenthal Nov 3, 8:19p
unrecommendable 7

I needed a new copy of my BC My original one was in the papers of my father that his second wife had refused to give me when he died in 1975.

When I got married in 2011 I needed to change my passport and New Mexican driver's license.

I could recite all the information and more that is now on the 'short' certified copy that NYC issues. I know the exact moment I entered this weary world, I know the name of the doctor and the hospital, my mother's birth town.

The one damn thing I couldn't remember was my father's birthdate. Oh, I recalled he was 27 when I was born. He was a Sagittarius, but not the same day as Jimi Hendrix, but right around then.....

And I couldn't figure out how to find that information and the NYC bureau of vital statistics or (whatever they call it now) wouldn't give me a certified copy until I came up with Dad's birthdate.

I ended up hiring a friend who's a retired library researcher. She was going back to Maryland to visit family and figured it would take a couple of hours checking birth registries in Baltimore and the 2 towns on the Eastern Shore she might have to check because I didn't remember where he was born.

It ended up costing me $500, plus expenses and copying and travel fees.

And I was determined to get everything sorted out and had the resources to do so.

If there's some way to support paying and processing the needed IDs/certificates/travels/notarizations for people who don't have the resources you and have, let alone the ability to navigate they systems mazes, please put up that information bold and bright.

It would give me great satisfaction to help Mrs Lopez whose family was living in Tejas before Sam Houston showed up, and young Kendra Jackson who was lost in the foster system for a few years making getting their documentation organized, accepted and processed by the state before the next major elections in Texas.





http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/opinion/the-campaign-of-deception-against-planned-parenthood.html?_r=0

The Campaign of Deception Against Planned Parenthood
The Opinion Pages | EDITORIAL
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
JULY 22, 2015

A hidden-camera video released last week purported to show that Planned Parenthood illegally sells tissue from aborted fetuses. It shows nothing of the sort. But it is the latest in a series of unrelenting attacks on Planned Parenthood, which offers health care services to millions of people every year. The politicians howling to defund Planned Parenthood care nothing about the truth here, being perfectly willing to undermine women’s reproductive rights any way they can.

With Planned Parenthood Videos, Activist Ignites Abortion Issue JULY 21, 2015
The nine-minute video clip released by the Center for Medical Progress, an outfit apparently created in 2013, invites viewers to “Hold Planned Parenthood accountable for their illegal sale of baby parts.” In it, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood’s senior director of medical services, is seen discussing the collection of fetal tissue in a lunch meeting with two people posing as potential tissue buyers. A second video, released on Tuesday, shows another Planned Parenthood staff member discussing fetal tissue.

After the first video’s release, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky pledged to “introduce an amendment to pending Senate legislation to immediately strip every dollar of Planned Parenthood funding.” Senator Ted Cruz of Texas called for defunding and for “an investigation of Planned Parenthood’s activities regarding the sale and transfer of aborted body parts.” The House Energy and Commerce Committee is undertaking an investigation, and Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana have ordered investigations in their states.

The full video of the lunch meeting, over two hours long and released by the Center for Medical Progress after complaints by Planned Parenthood, shows something very different from what these critics claim. Clearly, the shorter version was edited to eliminate statements by Dr. Nucatola explaining that Planned Parenthood does not profit from tissue donation, which requires the clear consent of the patient. Planned Parenthood affiliates only accept money — between $30 and $100 per specimen, according to Dr. Nucatola — to cover costs associated with collecting and transporting the tissue. “This is not something with any revenue stream that affiliates are looking at,” she said. Under federal law, facilities may be reimbursed for costs associated with fetal tissue donation, like transportation and storage.

According to a letter sent by Roger Evans, a lawyer for Planned Parenthood, to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the video is a result of a yearslong campaign of deception. The head of the Center for Medical Progress, David Daleiden, created a fake company called Biomax Procurement Services almost three years ago for the purpose of tricking Planned Parenthood employees, the letter alleges, even setting up exhibits at Planned Parenthood’s national conferences. The letter also says Biomax offered a Planned Parenthood affiliate $1,600 for a fetal liver and thymus, presumably to trap the affiliate in the act of accepting a high payment for fetal tissue. The affiliate declined.

In a statement on its website, the Center for Medical Progress says it “follows all applicable laws in the course of our investigative journalism work.”

Anti-abortion groups have long pushed to defund Planned Parenthood, even though no federal money is used to provide abortions. But that hasn’t stopped their efforts to shut down the clinics, which provide services like contraception, cancer screening and other tests.


RECENT COMMENTS

jackslater54 July 22, 2015
Your mention of Operation Rescue brought back memories...I was a clinic escort back when the "Spring of Life" protest was held in Buffalo,...
partlycloudy July 22, 2015
I DO NOT oppose abortion. I've never had one, so I know birth control works. I was however appalled by the videos and the attitude and...

Surfrank July 22, 2015
I'd like to ask the anti abortion politicians what kind of legislation they have in mind. Will they outlaw abortion within the borders of...
SEE ALL COMMENTS WRITE A COMMENT
The Center for Medical Progress — which managed to get tax-exempt status in 2013 as a biomedicine charity, according to a report by The Huffington Post — appears to have done little beyond producing the undercover video. According to its registration form with the California attorney general, it has three officers: Mr. Daleiden; Albin Rhomberg, who has participated in anti-abortion protests; and Troy Newman, the president of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.

In a statement last week, Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said that “our donation programs — like any other high-quality health care providers — follow all laws and ethical guidelines” and that “Planned Parenthood stands behind our work to help women and families donate tissue for medical research when they wish to.”

Researchers use fetal tissue to study and develop treatments for diseases and conditions like H.I.V., hepatitis, congenital heart defects, retinal degeneration and Parkinson’s. Last year, the National Institutes of Health gave $76 million in grants for fetal tissue research. Planned Parenthood is certainly not the only collector of fetal tissue — clinics associated with universities also supply tissue for research.

The Center for Medical Progress video campaign is a dishonest attempt to make legal, voluntary and potentially lifesaving tissue donations appear nefarious and illegal. Lawmakers responding by promoting their own anti-choice agenda are rewarding deception and putting women’s health and their constitutionally protected rights at risk.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxwVuozMnU

#PPSellsBabyParts PLANNED PARENTHOOD’S TOP DOCTOR, PRAISED BY CEO, USES PARTIAL-BIRTH
Published on Jul 14, 2015
EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:00 A.M. ET, 14 JULY 2015

CULT WATCH 2 weeks ago (edited)
Liberalism is a dangerous cult of deception, greed, and human sacrifice. It's like Scientology but with more horror.
Reply • 205

View all 118 replies

CULT WATCH 55 minutes ago
+Sveinn Faltskog Come up to present time, cultie.
Reply •


Sveinn Faltskog 44 minutes ago
+CULT WATCH No thanks Charles Manson.
Reply •


jefe Anson Shared on Google+ • 2 weeks ago • Shared to "Saving The Truth Movement"
Disgusting , people selling body parts of children like grocery store items , feminists chopping up babies and selling thier organs. Thier body thier property, and planned parenthood wants you to give them your babies parts so they can sell them. These people need to be shut down for humanitarian reasons , along with these disgusting feminists who are just flat out evil.
109

View all 28 replies

jefe Anson 2 weeks ago
+Hugo Stiglitz my friend I worked with killed himself when he went through withdraws, his wife and kids mother was a lawyer and hated that he was religious, so when she divorced him and took the kids she set conditions with the court and ordered him to take prozac but he decided to stop because he couldn't feel anything and it wasnt right , after he left work he went home and hung himself. He was always a very happy and positive man and loved helping people at his church and out side of it and was a community supporter, but his nasty evile feminist wife constantly harrased him and called him crazy for believing in god and wanting to do good things for others, as a nihilist she couldn't understand and deemed him crazy for being happy, his sadness from losing his children all came back when his emotions were suppressed when he rejected the brin washing pills and it was too much for him. Nick was a good man and had a kind soul and just refused to except another life besides his own happiness, charity and good will tward others and he couldn't change so he took his own life.
Read more
3


Hugo Stiglitz 2 weeks ago
+jefe Anson horrible, another thing people don't realize is that prozac has tons of fluoride in it and by taking it you're just getting a double whammy
4


Ian Stevenson 1 week ago
This is a highly edited video that does not show the truth of this meeting. The creators of this edited video are liars and propagandists with a political agenda. Maybe the "Center for Medical Progress" would like to explain what actual progress they are making in medicine? The truth is that they don't. They are a political pressure group pushing their own agenda and don't care what lies they tell to achieve their aims.
Reply • 40

View all 20 replies

Shane Yu 48 minutes ago
You probably didn't even watch it. If you did, you'd know better.
Reply •


Steven Marc 1 week ago
Protect the innocent that is what real men and women do not eating a meal having your belly filled while discussing crushing parts of the dead fetus to pull out the organs for sale!

And I heard Obama say God bless U to planned parenthood! Money is the root of all kinds of evil and evil is running America into judgment!

It is a feast of devils and anything goes! There is nothing sacred anymore because we are not understanding who the God of the bible really is and so morality is thrown out the Window and this is the result - a reprobate people! It takes each individual to seek the truth in the bible! To apply morality to his or her own soul and to walk in peace and true love, but we let the humanists trick us into paganism that is wickedness and when we hear or see things so vile like what planned parenthood does then we act so shocked! Well what does anyone expect?

We have been heading down this path for more than 50 years! This list goes on and i see no people rise up to stop this wickedness this will not stop anytime soon! The dark forces of evil will continue to push us over the edge and the want you to be evil just like them! But the elites never get convicted for their crimes, but they are hypocrites and love to convict us of some criminal act!!!
Wake up this isn't a game we playing in it is real dangerous!!

Read more
Reply • 23

View all 66 replies

LadyAmaltheaUnicorn 2 weeks ago
The only problem I see with this is making it profitable. Outside of that, there is nothing wrong with using a corpse for the sustenance of the living
Reply • 39

View all 258 replies

Danthious 9 hours ago
^ fallacy at best, Lady hasn't used logic at all. She hasn't addressed most of what I was asserting in my argument. I've provided moral reasoning and a logical premise from my worldview and demonstrated that Lady is happy to take from my worldview
Reply •


Mighty AtheistSquirrel 8 hours ago
+LadyAmaltheaUnicorn It would be illegal to use Fetal organs in another human being, And no one has been "sustained" by abortion or embryonic stem cell researchSeveral have tried in the UK , but it just gave the patients' cancer that killed them.
Reply • 1





NYT -- “The full video of the lunch meeting, over two hours long and released by the Center for Medical Progress after complaints by Planned Parenthood, shows something very different from what these critics claim. Clearly, the shorter version was edited to eliminate statements by Dr. Nucatola explaining that Planned Parenthood does not profit from tissue donation, which requires the clear consent of the patient. Planned Parenthood affiliates only accept money — between $30 and $100 per specimen, according to Dr. Nucatola — to cover costs associated with collecting and transporting the tissue. “This is not something with any revenue stream that affiliates are looking at,” she said. Under federal law, facilities may be reimbursed for costs associated with fetal tissue donation, like transportation and storage.” …. Surfrank July 22, 2015 I'd like to ask the anti abortion politicians what kind of legislation they have in mind. Will they outlaw abortion within the borders of... SEE ALL COMMENTS WRITE A COMMENT The Center for Medical Progress — which managed to get tax-exempt status in 2013 as a biomedicine charity, according to a report by The Huffington Post — appears to have done little beyond producing the undercover video. According to its registration form with the California attorney general, it has three officers: Mr. Daleiden; Albin Rhomberg, who has participated in anti-abortion protests; and Troy Newman, the president of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. …. CULT WATCH 2 weeks ago (edited) -- Liberalism is a dangerous cult of deception, greed, and human sacrifice. It's like Scientology but with more horror. …. Messy Ventura 1 week ago -- Planned Parenthood was founded on eugenics. Margaret Sanger said it herself, and she even met with the KKK in 1939 (it's in her autobiography). The full version of this video is RIGHT ON THIS CHANNEL, for those shouting "edited!".
"Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated." - Margaret Sanger -- "The campaign for birth control is not merely of eugenic value, but is practically identical with the final aims of eugenics" - Margaret Sanger …. James Bond 22 hours ago -- FUKUUTUBE USUXX Abortions need to be legal because if not, then you're forcing women to remain pregnant when they don't want to. They have a right not to be the host of a parasite. They're not non-human beings. They're human beings, but they're not children anymore than a zygote is a child. I don't know anything about funding organizations or anything like that. I'm not debating that issue. …. Xander Patten 3 days ago -- If you actually watched the video, you would hear time and time again that they are only selling tissue for certified medical research, not just any rube who knows how to fill out some form. She says over and over again that none of them are interested in profiting because their only goal is to do as much good as they can with whatever they have. If the pregnant woman decides she wants to donate the fetus' tissue to medical research, it can be donated; or, after she gets an abortion, it can just be labeled pathologic waste, and get destroyed at some cost I might add. …. “Researchers use fetal tissue to study and develop treatments for diseases and conditions like H.I.V., hepatitis, congenital heart defects, retinal degeneration and Parkinson’s. Last year, the National Institutes of Health gave $76 million in grants for fetal tissue research. Planned Parenthood is certainly not the only collector of fetal tissue — clinics associated with universities also supply tissue for research.”

“According to a letter sent by Roger Evans, a lawyer for Planned Parenthood, to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the video is a result of a yearslong campaign of deception. The head of the Center for Medical Progress, David Daleiden, created a fake company called Biomax Procurement Services almost three years ago for the purpose of tricking Planned Parenthood employees, the letter alleges, even setting up exhibits at Planned Parenthood’s national conferences. The letter also says Biomax offered a Planned Parenthood affiliate $1,600 for a fetal liver and thymus, presumably to trap the affiliate in the act of accepting a high payment for fetal tissue. The affiliate declined. In a statement on its website, the Center for Medical Progress says it “follows all applicable laws in the course of our investigative journalism work.”

Center For Medical Progress, rightwing religious/political forces and the “fake company” Biomax Procurement Services are going for the throat in the short version of the video shown and available on Youtube, with the backing of Tea Party members and related US representatives to Congress. I did play the video and it is no longer than 5 minutes or so, though Planned Parenthood has stated that the actual original length is in the range of two hours long, and was not issued to the public until PP made complaints about the matter. That is implicit evidence that it has been edited not a little bit, but a lot. Biomax is stating that the several minutes long video is a complete representation of the lunchtime meeting. Planned Parenthood has stated that their representative in the original video made lengthy statements denying the sale for profit by the group, but Center/Biomax edited all those statements out to paint them as being “evil” and profit oriented. A fee to cover lab activities and delivery in the range of $30 to $100 is all they ever charge, which is a legal fee for such tissues and is nowhere near the figure of $1600, as claimed by Biomax. The PP affiliate in question, responding to a letter from Biomax with that order, declined the $1600 flatly. Not only PP but universities also donate the organs for medical research, so PP is doing nothing outside the law or even unusual. All tissues procured must be for medical research only and are not for resale or any other usage. This short video, “all that CMP has produced in its three year career,” was only aired to the public when the group was pressurized to do so by PP. I hope to see more articles about this matter, and expect I will when Congress gets into its investigation.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sen-chuck-schumer-and-comedian-amy-schumer-team-up-on-gun-control/

Sen. Chuck Schumer and comedian Amy Schumer team up on gun control
By STEPHANIE CONDON CBS NEWS
August 3, 2015

Photograph -- Amy Schumer reacts as her distant cousin, Senator Chuck Schumer, watches during a news conference in New York, Monday, Aug. 3, 2015. The Schumers are teaming up to try and enact gun control regulations. SETH WENIG, AP
Play VIDEO -- Gunman in Lafayette shooting had erratic past

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, is teaming up comedian and actress Amy Schumer -- his second cousin once removed -- to step up the push for new gun control legislation on Capitol Hill.

"We're here to say enough is enough," the senator said in a press conference with his famous cousin in New York on Monday. "We can't just sit back and allow mass shootings to become commonplace... How many breaking news flashes will it take for Congress to act?"

The issue of gun violence became "extremely personal" for Amy Schumer, the comedian said, on July 23. A gunman that night killed two people and wounded nine others in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana during a showing of Schumer's film "Trainwreck."

"I've thought about these victims each day since the tragedy," she said, adding that the shooter, who had a history of mental illness, "shouldn't have been able to put his hand on a gun in the first place."

"The critics scoff and say, 'Well, there's no way to stop crazy people from doing crazy things,' but they're wrong," Amy Schumer added.

The comedian, who has broached political issues in her comedic routines before, said, "I am expecting a backlash" for advocating for gun control. She noted that she has received death threats and "a lot of hate directed toward me, but... I want to be proud of the way I'm living and what I stand for."

She called the proposals that Sen. Schumer is putting forward in Congress "sensible" measures. "No one wants to live in a country where a felon, the mentally ill or other dangerous people can get their hands on a gun with such ease," she said.

South Carolina Rep.: Removing Confederate flag matters, but what about guns?
The senator described a three-pronged plan. First, he proposed implementing a "carrot and stick" system to compel states to share information about felons, spousal abusers and the adjudicated mentally ill with the federal government to include in the national background check system. Under Schumer's proposal, states would get funding for sharing the information, and they would be denied funding if they refused to share the information.

Next, the senator wants the Justice Department to survey all 50 states on their standards for involuntary commitment for the mentally ill and put forward national best practices.

Third, Schumer and Schumer called on Congress to fully fund mental health and substance abuse programs. The senator noted that the senator is currently considering cutting $159 million in federal funding that helps treat the mentally ill. Implementing those cuts in the wake of the multiple mass shootings that have happened this year is "the equivalent of a shoulder shrug to the victims," Sen. Schumer said.

While gun control proposals have gone nowhere in Congress in recent years, the senator said that his proposals should find support in Washington. "There are so many killings, so many needless killings, that every day the movement grows," he said.

Asked whether the Lafayette shooting was an attack on feminism, Amy Schumer said, "I got about a million emails from friends telling me it could've been any movie -- I'm trying to believe that, but I'm not sure."

"Women are always under great threat of violence, just statistically," she continued. "When these sort of things happen we mourn, and then we get angry, and it'll just make us fight harder."




“Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, is teaming up comedian and actress Amy Schumer -- his second cousin once removed -- to step up the push for new gun control legislation on Capitol Hill. "We're here to say enough is enough," the senator said in a press conference with his famous cousin in New York on Monday. "We can't just sit back and allow mass shootings to become commonplace... How many breaking news flashes will it take for Congress to act?" The issue of gun violence became "extremely personal" for Amy Schumer, the comedian said, on July 23. A gunman that night killed two people and wounded nine others in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana during a showing of Schumer's film "Trainwreck." …. "The critics scoff and say, 'Well, there's no way to stop crazy people from doing crazy things,' but they're wrong," Amy Schumer added. The comedian, who has broached political issues in her comedic routines before, said, "I am expecting a backlash" for advocating for gun control. She noted that she has received death threats and "a lot of hate directed toward me, but... I want to be proud of the way I'm living and what I stand for." She called the proposals that Sen. Schumer is putting forward in Congress "sensible" measures. "No one wants to live in a country where a felon, the mentally ill or other dangerous people can get their hands on a gun with such ease," she said. …. The senator described a three-pronged plan. First, he proposed implementing a "carrot and stick" system to compel states to share information about felons, spousal abusers and the adjudicated mentally ill with the federal government to include in the national background check system. Under Schumer's proposal, states would get funding for sharing the information, and they would be denied funding if they refused to share the information. Next, the senator wants the Justice Department to survey all 50 states on their standards for involuntary commitment for the mentally ill and put forward national best practices …. Third, Schumer and Schumer called on Congress to fully fund mental health and substance abuse programs. …. Asked whether the Lafayette shooting was an attack on feminism, Amy Schumer said, "I got about a million emails from friends telling me it could've been any movie -- I'm trying to believe that, but I'm not sure."

Amy Schumer and the movie Trainwreck is getting lots of stars from various reviewers, with her comic ability high on the list. I gathered from her comment that the marriage in the movie might have been violent, but the reviews didn’t say anything about that. I do know that I am going to try to see it. Apparently the fact that it portrays a wildly feminist woman is the problem which Schumer suspects may have caused the theater shooting in Lafayette. It’s hard to believe any antifeminist would be that insane and full of hate toward women, but maybe his mother was abusive toward him.

With these mass shootings, though, I don’t think there is usually a truly logical simple reason for them. The Son of Sam murderer killed people because the neighbor’s barking dog was “telling” him to do that. (Right!) He was a schizophrenic person. Religious fanatics, etc., do tend to have more understandable reasons, but not for the degree of their reaction. The problem is that even known psychotics keep getting their hands on a gun. Better gun laws is the answer, to me, plus the fact that to me a person who is in that condition should be locked up, not in a jail but in a hospital for the criminally insane. Just giving them drugs at home doesn’t always work if they refuse to take the meds or simply can’t afford them. Talk therapy isn’t used as much as it used to be, and that is a problem. Mental patients need to “work through” their issues until they come to think, react and feel in a more healthy way. The medicines may work so well that the outward symptoms will totally disappear without the “kinks” in the patient’s thinking ability being properly addressed. Money rules all in the funding of mental health issues. Hospitalizing people costs more money than outpatient treatment, but that may well amount to merely supervising their medication and not talk therapy. Likewise talk therapy takes months to years to be fully effective on its own. People who hallucinate need an effective medication. Do both!

Even with the best efforts of society it will probably be impossible to detect them all before their first episode of insanity or keep them successfully confined so that they don’t kill someone, so we will continue to have some shootings. I do believe though that when parents beat, rape, persistently browbeat and express either zero tolerance or zero faith in the child, or otherwise brutalize their kids, such as systematically withholding a warm parental love shown physical with warm hugs to the child, there very likely will be serious mental illness as a result, so maybe if social services departments can catch those situations when the kids are young and separate them from the parent at least temporarily, or if a court could act to mandate mental health care, substance abuse or peer group therapy for those parents and their kids it could change the quality of the home situation. There was a very interesting documentary on doing intervention with such parents, with a peer group therapy set up for them which was very helpful for a number of the parents.

Unfortunately a child may still love his parent even if he is being abused and will suffer from being totally removed from their home. The whole family is sick, after all. We tend to think of poverty situations as causing this kind of thing, but wealthy people are not all always healthy either. Many wealthy people are heavily addicted to drugs, and with all that money they can afford the more exotic drugs rather than just alcohol or marijuana.

It’s a sad set of circumstances, but even with the best efforts, there will always be ongoing problems. That’s why I vote for GUN CONTROL AND MORE MONEY INVESTED IN TREATING THE ENTIRE SICK FAMILY MENTALLY. Family therapy is more uncommon than it should be. It has been discussed by professionals for at least fifteen or twenty years, so it isn’t new. So many Americans think that their mental problems are “shameful” or simply due to a lack of “salvation” by the Higher Power. Too many people think that “getting religion” will solve the problems, but it may just produce a person with an irrational and fanatical turn of mind who is even more likely to kill someone. Everybody wants a “quick fix” on mental health and drug problems, and that just isn’t available. We have to have patience and persistence to get through life and improve as we go.

We’ll all have to keep trying to learn how to be healthy mentally. Some people think AA is not successful because people “use meetings as a crutch,” but in fact AA members stay with their group until they work through the hard nuts of pain that are behind the drug use. The problem with a drug like alcohol is that it gives a temporary relief from emotional pain without curing the matter. The AA group provides a structure for members to talk about their life until they grow into not a cure exactly, because any time they take a drink they will be right back in the cycle of destruction, but the group gives support and companionship for learning greater emotional knowledge. Most alcoholics have lots of issues that they are in the habit of covering up with the drink, but which never get cleared up. The AA program has a series of “steps” which work with their problems one by one, and guide the drinker into accepting a voluntarily chosen counselor of sorts called a “sponsor.” I personally believe that a sponsor should be a friend rather than just a counselor, and certainly not a “boss” as some interpret it. They should be very similar to a psychiatrist. Trust is the deal.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-republicans-say-they-have-the-votes-to-disapprove-iran-nuclear-deal/

House Republicans say they have the votes to disapprove Iran nuclear deal
CBS/AP
August 3, 2015

Photograph -- WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 23: Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (C) (R-TX) debates members of the protest group Code Pink while speaking during a rally in Lafayette Square July 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. The rally, organized by the Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, was held to protest the recent nuclear deal reached between the United States and Iran but was interrupted by protesters from Code Pink who support the deal. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) WIN MCNAMEE, GETTY IMAGES
Play VIDEO -- Huckabee defends his Iran deal Nazi analogy


WASHINGTON -- House Republicans said Monday that they have the GOP votes to disapprove of the Iran nuclear deal as Democrats stepped up their support of the agreement the Obama administration and other world powers negotiated with Tehran.

Since Republicans hold a commanding 246 seats in the House, it was widely expected that the GOP would come up with 218 votes to support a resolution of disapproval, which has been introduced by Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill.

"Time is not the friend of this deal," Roskam said in a statement. "The more time members spend evaluating this agreement, the more they realize it's an historic mistake."

It is not clear that there would be enough votes in the House to override President Obama's expected veto of the legislation, though. Mr. Obama is counting on Democrats to sustain his veto, and House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi has said they will.

While the White House doesn't have a specific vote count it would share, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Monday that the administration has been confident in its ability to sustain a veto "at least in the House." Earnest said that in May, about 150 House Democrats had indicated they supported the effort "to reach a final agreement consistent with the parameters established in the political agreement that was announced the first week in April."

The president would need 34 members of the Senate or 146 members of the House to stand with him.

On Monday, California Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Anna Eshoo joined an expanding list of representatives who have announced their support of the international accord.

Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said the deal "realistically precludes Iran from developing an atomic bomb" for at least 15 years.

Congress is engaged in a 60-day review of the deal, and Schiff's decision to back the agreement is a boost for Obama.

Eshoo said her decision was not based on trusting Iran. "To the contrary," she said, "the regime has a long list of offenses that I deeply object to, but there must be a mechanism in place to keep them from becoming a nuclear power."

Crucial to the administration is New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Jewish Democrat who is widely expected to be the next party leader in the Senate. Schumer, who hasn't disclosed his stance on the deal, has faced intense lobbying from both sides, including the powerful pro-Israel lobby, American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

"This is such an important decision that I will not let pressure, politics or party influence (me)," Schumer said Monday at a news conference in New York on gun control.

Schumer said he has received around 20 briefings, including two classified sessions.

"This is one of the most important decisions that I'll make, that any senator or congressman will make, and so I'm studying it really seriously," he told reporters.

Asked if he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a fierce foe of the deal, Schumer declined to answer.

Another New York Democrat, freshman Rep. Kathleen Rice, said Monday she opposes the deal.




“Since Republicans hold a commanding 246 seats in the House, it was widely expected that the GOP would come up with 218 votes to support a resolution of disapproval, which has been introduced by Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill. "Time is not the friend of this deal," Roskam said in a statement. "The more time members spend evaluating this agreement, the more they realize it's an historic mistake." It is not clear that there would be enough votes in the House to override President Obama's expected veto of the legislation, though. Mr. Obama is counting on Democrats to sustain his veto, and House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi has said they will. …. The president would need 34 members of the Senate or 146 members of the House to stand with him. On Monday, California Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Anna Eshoo joined an expanding list of representatives who have announced their support of the international accord. …. Crucial to the administration is New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Jewish Democrat who is widely expected to be the next party leader in the Senate. Schumer, who hasn't disclosed his stance on the deal, has faced intense lobbying from both sides, including the powerful pro-Israel lobby, American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "This is such an important decision that I will not let pressure, politics or party influence (me)," Schumer said Monday at a news conference in New York on gun control.”

I wonder if Chuck Schumer would like to run for President one of these years? He has always struck me as the kind of calm, thoughtful, strong person who should be in that office. Maybe another year. As for the Iran deal I think there may be enough support for it that the Republicans can huff and puff all they want, but will find that the house is built with brick! The Dems seem to be together on this issue. I have not forgotten that bizarre and rather obscene business with the letter Congressional Republicans sent to Netanyahu. He, of course, is dead set against any improvement of relations with Iran. That kind of thing gets the world nowhere fast. I will try to collect more articles on this as events proceed.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cat-found-alive-aboard-sunken-boat-pulled-from-lake-arizona/

Cat found alive aboard sunken boat pulled from Arizona lake
AP July 29, 2015

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. -- A trapped, hungry, wet and scared cat is now safe after it was found tucked away in a boat that had sank to the bottom of Lake Havasu in Arizona.

Today's News-Herald reports the brown-and-black American shorthair breed was found when the boat was brought ashore by Dive Time Recovery owner John Zucalla.

It's unclear who the cat belongs to, if anyone, and Western Arizona Humane Society workers named the cat River.

Zucalla says River had been in the water for at least an hour and was alive, though frightened, when she was spotted in a front storage compartment.

He said the cat must have stowed away sometime before boat owner Genaro Rudaldava left Orange County, California.

Rudaldava said River wasn't his cat. If owners don't step forward this week, River will be eligible for adoption.




“A trapped, hungry, wet and scared cat is now safe after it was found tucked away in a boat that had sank to the bottom of Lake Havasu in Arizona. Today's News-Herald reports the brown-and-black American shorthair breed was found when the boat was brought ashore by Dive Time Recovery owner John Zucalla. It's unclear who the cat belongs to, if anyone, and Western Arizona Humane Society workers named the cat River. Zucalla says River had been in the water for at least an hour and was alive, though frightened, when she was spotted in a front storage compartment. He said the cat must have stowed away sometime before boat owner Genaro Rudaldava left Orange County, California.”

I think the reason I like cats just a little bit more than I like most dogs is that they are so very quirky! They’re less prone to do tricks on command, though some do if you train them to it, and some can sit on the commode to do their business and all but flush it! They are clever. I believe they so genuinely love their owners, too, which is the complaint many dog lovers have against them – that they are “cold.” I love them for being graceful, athletic, lovely, adventurous and curious. Those traits are what allows a cat to jump inside an abandoned boat and hide in a cubbyhole without dying. Of course in this case curiosity almost did kill the cat. If the boat hadn’t been towed to shore this animal would be dead. I’m so glad he was saved, and that the now famous River will almost certainly be adopted by a new owner. I have faith that he will be.







http://www.cbsnews.com/news/morrissey-says-he-was-sexually-assaulted-at-airport/

Morrissey says he was sexually assaulted at airport
By LAUREN MORASKI CBS NEWS
July 30, 2015

Photograph -- Morrissey performs at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 9, 2013, in Greenvale, N.Y. MIKE PONT/GETTY IMAGES

Morrissey says that airport security "sexually groped" him at the San Francisco International Airport this week.

The 56-year-old singer alleges the incident took place when he was going through airport security on his way to London.

"At 2:30 in the afternoon I went through the usual airport security procedure including the stand-up 'scanner', and all was well - no bleeps and nothing unusual. Before I could gather my belongings from the usual array of trays I was approached by an 'airport security officer' who stopped me, crouched before me and groped my penis and testicles. He quickly moved away as an older 'airport security officer' approached," he wrote on his website, True To You.

"The officer who sexually assaulted me was identified as the General Manager On Duty. Luckily I was accompanied by two members of British Airways Special Services, who were horrified at the sexual attack and suggested that I lodge a complaint," he continued.

TSA spokesperson Mike England denied Morrissey's version of the incident. TSA Spokesman Mike England told CBS News in a statement, "TSA takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and strives to treat every passenger with dignity and respect. Upon review of closed circuit TV footage, TSA determined that the supervised officer followed standard operating procedures in the screening of this individual."

Go here to read Morrissey's entire blog entry.




I’m not up on rock music that was put out after the 1970s, though I would probably like it. I like many rock sounds from the beautiful “folk rock” of the Mamas and the Papas and the Beatles to “acid rock.” I didn’t recognize any of the songs mentioned in this article or on Wikipedia by name, but since I mainly listen to the radio for music I may never have heard the title. I am likely to recognize a melody though I don’t know the singers or the words. Often the radio disc jockey will play 5 or 6 songs in a row before announcing the names, and by the time he gets around to that I most likely won’t remember how the music sounds. I must say I don’t like music whose lyrics I can’t understand or which to my way of looking at the world “has no melody” or any tonality at all– hip hop, etc. – and I heard a group whose specialty is white supremacist hate lyrics on TV once. Predictably, their sound doesn’t resemble music to me at all. It’s just bang, bang, bang with loud drums and screaming. If I wanted to feel a little insane I would smoke some marijuana (medical, of course.)

The reason I picked this article is because, except for maybe three cases, I can’t remember a man being the subject of a sexual assault by another man. It’s usually a woman or a child. This is a clearcut case of that kind, though the TSA agent in charge “reviewed” the video and decided that the assault didn’t take place as charged. Sounds like so many of the police officer’s stories after they make a pointless shooting of a suspect to me. In this case TSA Spokesman Mike England has been in the news before, and should be trustworthy. I don’t want to think that an Obama appointee will make up a cover-up story just to save the TSA reputation. It would inspire much more public confidence if England had 1) expressed great concern and 2) promise to investigate and discipline the man. I am more prone to believe a highly placed pop star in this case than a government body covering up its involvement in a nasty and even criminal event like this. Why would Morrissey tell such a whopper? I doubt that he did. So they hired a sexual deviant. So just fire him! Don’t try to deny that it happened. For shame!!