November 6, 2015


News Clips For The Day


Archaeologists To Ben Carson: Ancient Egyptians Wrote Down Why The Pyramids Were Built
Kristina Killgrove , CONTRIBUTOR
NOV 5, 2015

Photograph -- Egyptian archaeologist Abdelgawad Harrbi speaks to the press inside the tomb of Iymery. AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)


Yesterday, November 4, marked 93 years to the day that the tomb of King Tutankhamen was opened in Egypt, revealing spectacular artifacts and a magnificent mummy of the boy king. The celebration was somewhat marred, at least here in the U.S., by a leading Republican candidate for president, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who confirmed a statement he’d made in 1998 — that he believes the Egyptian pyramids were grain silos, not tombs.

The collective reaction from archaeologists and historians, who have command of literally centuries’ worth of research into the artifacts and literature of the ancient Egyptians, is… Wait, what now?

Carson said in his 1998 talk at Andrews University, a Seventh-Day Adventist-affiliated university, “And when you look at the way that the pyramids were made, with many chambers that are hermetically sealed, they’d have to be that way for various reasons. And various of scientists [sic] have said, ‘Well, you know there were alien beings that came down and they have special knowledge and that’s how, you know, it doesn’t require an alien being when God is with you.’”

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson gestures during a news conference during a campaign stop, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, in Lakewood, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Just to be clear, no scientists think that aliens built the pyramids. There is a small but vocal contingent of people who believe in pseudoarchaeological explanations, but archaeologists have dismantled those harebrained theories at every possible turn. (See, for example, my piece, “What Archaeologists Really Think about Ancient Aliens, Lost Colonies, and Fingerprints of the Gods.”) So while it may look good for Carson to deny alien involvement in pyramid building, he also attributes them to a single dude rather than, well, the ancient Egyptians.

As a Seventh-Day Adventist, Carson appears to subscribe to the idea that the book of Genesis is literal history. And therefore that the Joseph of the Old Testament, who was sold into slavery in Egypt, built the pyramids to store grain during the seven years of abundance mentioned in Genesis.

My favorite tweet on this comes from ecologist Jacquelyn Gill:

We know what the pyramids were built for because the ancient Egyptians tell us what they were built for (see, for example, the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts). Denying ancient people the capability of building monumental structures is not new, though, and not confined to Egypt — plenty of people over the years have denied that Native Americans could have built the massive earthwork mounds across the U.S. and that the Mayas could have built their pyramids without help from aliens, Europeans, or a higher religious power.

Carson affirmed this belief in Joseph and his amazing technicolor grain silo to CBS News last night, doubling down on a profound, willful ignorance of science.

In the end, does it really matter what Carson thinks about the Egyptian pyramids? There will always be science deniers, there will always be people swayed by pseudoarchaeology, and there will always be people who believe what they want no matter the facts. It does matter, though, because Carson is vying for the job of representing the United States. So it matters that Carson casually rejects hundreds of years’ worth of research because in denying science, he throws the U.S. back into the past. It matters that he brazenly denies the Egyptian people their rightful history because this marginalizes an entire culture and makes the U.S. look like an ignorant bully.

Aside from the massive, collective sigh that has gone out among my colleagues’ Facebook FB +4.63% and Twitter TWTR -3.57% feeds over the Carson brouhaha, there have also been links shared to honor the history of the Egyptian people, my favorite of which is this series of color photos of the discovery of the tomb of King Tut in 1922. There’s no denying that humans are — and have always been — very clever at using and creating their environment and culture. So let’s stop pretending more complicated explanations are needed for the creation of ancient monuments.


https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bI47YJQY_K8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=ancient+egyptian+pyramid+texts#v=onepage&q&f=false, Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. This is a translation by James P. Allen, published in 2005. It’s a pdf and can’t be copied, but can be read on screen. See what the Egyptians said.


Comments on this story

Keith B 6 hours ago
And the ForBSes LIBTARD attacks start on Ben Carson because they know that he CAN and WILL beat Hillary ‘pants suit on fire, liar’ Clinton.

MovieJay 3 hours ago
Yeah, progressives are just shaking in their boots over Ben Carson. Now go back to your t.v. dinner, Goober.


Ferinand Diala 4 hours ago
How anyone can believe this man should be president is beyond me. He doesn’t believe in numerous scientific facts. They’ve FOUND numerous kings and queens buried in these pyramids. What does he think they were there for? To add flavor to the grain?
But hey, when you live in a party where it is acceptable, expected even, to claim that science is “just an opinion,” then what’s another whacko “personal theory” going to matter, right??

You clowns want something to talk about? I’ll help you out –

Dow over 17,000, record corporate profits, 5% growth, best year for jobs since 1999, consumer confidence up, deficit down 60% in 2014, gas prices low, health insurance cheaper than ever ($85/month), car insurance cheaper than ever ($25/month from Insurance Panda), the 1% starting to be taxed more… all while republicans bleated about Benghazi took pointless votes to repeal the ACA, and did nothing for anybody except the top one percent.

It turns out that Obama is indeed “the adult in the room,” and yes, the Chess Master. HRC will keep it going, any republican will screw it up. Simple as that.


Peter Evans 3 hours ago
Woopsie. All those things you mention are for the small percentage meaningfully employed. You closed your eyes and mind to allow you to forgot over 35% unemployment, a whole generation with no way to translate college into paid work. You also forgot the seven million people permanently living a subsistence lifestyle in campgrounds and trailer parks and the hundred million permanent city dwellers where they experience the highest murder rate in the nations history. Foolishness knows no bounds.


Sam Brody 4 hours ago
Quick correction to the author: even if Seventh-Day Adventists read the (translated) text of Genesis “literally,” this would not yield the view that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain, because “pyramids” are not mentioned in the Bible at all, in the Joseph story or anywhere else. This is a very old interpretation of the story, but not a “literal” reading in any way.


Erskine Fincher 4 hours ago
I am not endorsing Carson’s nutty claim, but can you point me to where the Egyptians wrote down the purpose of the pyramids? In doing some quick research, I’m unable to come up with a source on this, and I’ve bumped into the inconvenient fact that no mummies were ever discovered in the pyramids.


Kristina Killgrove 4 hours ago
This is a pretty good primer on inscriptions in/on Egyptian pyramids in general. Many of them specifically label them as tombs – https://www.rom.on.ca/en/education/online-activities/ancient-egypt/religion/tomb-inscriptions-curses. And I have no idea where you get your lack of mummy claim. Yes, many pyramid tombs were plundered, so many lack mummies. But we have King Tut….

Eru Dite 3 hours ago
Very interesting article that highlights the clash of ideology and reality. Ben Carson is clearly unqualified for the highest office – not based on his faith, but his inability to use reason to sift thru unyielding dogma and facts. In a past era, dogmatists put such inconvenient facts down to the machinations of Lucifer. Perhaps Ben Carson will put down inconvenient facts to the many agents of Lucifer who work at the thousands of universities, think-tanks, companies, and do Lucifer’s bidding in confusing honest folks! Can’t have the red button under the control of a chap who cannot understand facts.




I won’t say much about Carson’s theory on time, but things like that do hold young people back from understanding and processing information as thinking, and therefore better, citizens. If you really think the world began 6,000 years ago, that will limit your knowledge acquisition in the future. Of course, the American public is a mixed bag on the subject of reading, writing and “‘rithmetic,” not to mention reasoning ability or religious fanaticism.

There is a law in this country that says all young people must go to school until they are 16 years old and then they may freely drop out with or without a diploma. It doesn’t say they have to study, behave themselves in class, or even refrain from bullying smaller or more timid kids, but if they don’t go to class they can be put into juvenile jails. As a result there is a larger group here in this country than I would like to admit, who know very little, can read only minimally and can’t do basic math. We have pushed vast numbers of kids through school before they mastered the material in the various earlier grades just to get them through. There is no individualized, developmentally oriented course material or progression levels taught in many places in this country, so a “slow learner” really doesn’t have a chance. With language differences, there are similar problems. It’s a factory system these days. Too little individual instruction or tutoring when they were first found to be in need of help on specific issues has caused too many kids to have large gaps in their education, partly because when they couldn’t pass third grade reading they were passed anyway. “Hit ‘em up, move ‘em out!” (Rawhide, ya know.)

That just isn’t good teaching, and teachers know it, but the administration and school boards rule, and a lot of it is about money. State legislatures and the federal government have been cutting the budgets on schools for decades now, because schools don’t “make a profit” or do a “valuable” service the way businessmen do. A significant number of Republicans do not even believe in our having a free public school system at all. If you can’t pay the tuition you can’t go, might be their motto. Besides, most of the wealthy don’t send their kids to public schools, but to private and college prep schools, so nobody who is really important is being harmed. Right! The poor kids are supposed to dig ditches or become a welder, as Jeb Bush recently stated. No, he didn’t put it that baldly, but he did mention welding as a good field to train for, when he could have mentioned community college or scholarships to universities instead.

When I was in school they were doing a better job than that, though my oldest sister said that one of her classmates – a big “popular” football player – was unable to say his ABCs. Then there are the embarrassing comparisons that come out every year or so of American scores on basic information beside those of kids from Europe, and worse still, from third world countries, in which those kids often outdo ours by many points. I cringe every time I see those articles. Can that possibly lead to a well-educated population here?

Of course in places like Japan a kid will be punished and shamed for doing badly on his studies, so they don’t do better merely because they are supposedly smarter than American kids. (Maybe they are, and maybe they aren’t. One news article said that it’s only the first generation Asians who do so much better than our white and black kids fellow students.) They often do better because they are deeply afraid of failing. I was watching a documentary on the role of education in the Japanese culture in which a father smartly whacked his son on the head with a lightweight stick every time he got the lesson wrong, and the boy’s face crumpled up in misery and shame. You can’t tell me that’s a good thing, but it does produce a well-educated society. Unfortunately, in the 1930s it also produced a fascist society who were allies with Hitler’s Germany – bad playground pals, most would agree. People who are allowed very little self-expression, relaxation, play time and creativity all their lives may turn out to be simply very angry individuals, but often they are instead actually believers in the very abuse that they endured, so they pass it on down the line to their kids.

I want to see our schools teach much more thoroughly in the early grades so all normally intelligent students can do well enough on the basic reading and math – necessary for learning more advanced material -- that they will be ready for the rest of their life to continue to learn. People who go through high school or college either for that matter, without reading informational material at least to some degree into their distant future will not be the well-informed citizens that a democracy/republic needs to vote on issues to improve our society. Believe me, if you don’t have good reading comprehension you won’t pass college work in the first place. The first thing I noticed about college courses was that there were many new vocabulary words and lots of pages assigned for study in every course. I was a fairly slow and analytical reader. That’s good for comprehension, but very tiring. I took two courses every summer and always made better grades on those than when I took a full load.

Likewise, say they go for a job after high school instead of college, a girl can try to get a job as a secretary (if they have such people nowadays), but if they can’t read, spell and understand some fairly complex English they won’t get far because they will encounter that sort of reading in businesses, and most likely they won’t even be hired anyway. Businesses are doing IQ testing, reading and math tests, and personality testing on applicants now before they hire in many cases, and a characteristic like speaking an unclearly pronounced and non-standard form of English will invalidate them for the really well-paid positions, or even for a job answering telephones. People who can’t speak clearly can’t be understood at the customer’s end. So our schools should prepare kids, first, to get some sort of basic work after high school that pays better than McDonald’s, plus if possible the ability to pursue a higher education as well. Dropping out of high school without even a diploma or getting kicked out over pointless misbehavior is the worst mistake of all, of course. Prison for you, my man!





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-rejects-keystone-xl-pipeline/

Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline
By STEPHANIE CONDON CBS NEWS
November 6, 2015

Photograph -- President Obama, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden (L) and Secretary of State John Kerry (R), speaks about the Keystone XL oil pipeline from the White House in Washington November 6, 2015. REUTERS


After keeping the project on hold for years, President Obama on Friday officially rejected the Keystone XL pipeline.

The project "would not serve the national interests of the United States," Mr. Obama declared from the White House with Vice President Joe Bide and Secretary of State John Kerry by his side.

The nearly 1,200-mile underground oil pipeline would have linked the tar sands fields of northern Alberta to oil refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. TransCanada Corporation first submitted an application for the project in 2008, leaving the decision looming over Mr. Obama's entire presidency.

Surprise in Keystone XL pipeline controversy

Over the years, as Mr. Obama touted investments in alternative energy and the GOP lambasted the administration's regulations over fossil fuels, Keystone became a symbol of the conflict between liberals and conservatives over energy policy.

Mr. Obama said the pipeline played an "over-inflated role in our political discourse" and was "too often used a campaign cudgel."

The reality, he said, is that "this pipeline will neither be a silver bullet for the economy, as was promised by some, nor the express lane for climate disaster proclaimed by others."

The project required State Department approval, since it crossed international lines, and the administration promised a decision on the controversial matter before the end of Mr. Obama's presidency.

But in fact, Mr. Obama's decision comes days after TransCanada announced that it had actually asked the State Department to suspend its review of the project while the company worked with Nebraska authorities on the preferred route.

After Mr. Obama announced his rejection of the pipeline, TransCanada on Friday said it will review all of its options, including filing a new application for a cross-border pipeline.

"TransCanada and its shippers remain absolutely committed to building this important energy infrastructure project," TransCanada president Russ Girling said in a statement.

Even as the evolving energy sector made the project's significance and impact on the economy increasingly questionable, its supporters in Congress insisted it remained an important part of a comprehensive energy policy. Mr. Obama on Friday forcefully argued that its economic impact would be marginal -- and not worth the harm it would cause in the ongoing discussion over climate change.

"America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change," he said. "Frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership and that is the biggest risk that we face -- not acting."

The rejection of the pipeline comes just three weeks before Mr. Obama will join other world leaders in Paris for a United Nations conference on climate change. In that context, he said Firday, the U.S. must "lead by example."

"Because ultimately, if we're going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Obama noted that in America, "homegrown energy is booming and energy prices are falling." Specifically, the national average gas price is down to about $0.77 over a year ago, while a boom in shale-oil extraction in North Dakota, Pennsylvania and elsewhere has reduced the United States' dependence on foreign oil.

The president asserted that the Keystone pipeline would not lower gas prices for American consumers, and it would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to the economy.

"If Congress is serious about wanting to create jobs, this was not the way to do it," he said. "If they want to do it, what we should be doing is passed bipartisan infrastructure plan."

Last year, the State Department issued a report on Keystone, projecting the pipeline's construction would support about 42,100 jobs (directly and indirectly). Opponents of the pipeline point out those jobs would be temporary. After its construction, the operations of the pipeline would create about 50 jobs.




“After keeping the project on hold for years, President Obama on Friday officially rejected the Keystone XL pipeline. The project "would not serve the national interests of the United States," Mr. Obama declared from the White House with Vice President Joe Bide and Secretary of State John Kerry by his side. The nearly 1,200-mile underground oil pipeline would have linked the tar sands fields of northern Alberta to oil refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. TransCanada Corporation first submitted an application for the project in 2008, leaving the decision looming over Mr. Obama's entire presidency. …. The reality, he said, is that "this pipeline will neither be a silver bullet for the economy, as was promised by some, nor the express lane for climate disaster proclaimed by others." The project required State Department approval, since it crossed international lines, and the administration promised a decision on the controversial matter before the end of Mr. Obama's presidency. But in fact, Mr. Obama's decision comes days after TransCanada announced that it had actually asked the State Department to suspend its review of the project while the company worked with Nebraska authorities on the preferred route. …. Even as the evolving energy sector made the project's significance and impact on the economy increasingly questionable, its supporters in Congress insisted it remained an important part of a comprehensive energy policy. Mr. Obama on Friday forcefully argued that its economic impact would be marginal -- and not worth the harm it would cause in the ongoing discussion over climate change. "America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change," he said. "Frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership and that is the biggest risk that we face -- not acting." …. "Because ultimately, if we're going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky," he said. …. Last year, the State Department issued a report on Keystone, projecting the pipeline's construction would support about 42,100 jobs (directly and indirectly). Opponents of the pipeline point out those jobs would be temporary. After its construction, the operations of the pipeline would create about 50 jobs.”


It’s a big environmental cost for a very small payback in long-term jobs. Fifty jobs is ridiculous. “The rejection of the pipeline comes just three weeks before Mr. Obama will join other world leaders in Paris for a United Nations conference on climate change. In that context, he said Friday, the U.S. must "lead by example." "Frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership and that is the biggest risk that we face -- not acting." Thanks to his thick skin and perhaps to the fact that he’s not running for office now, he has stepped up on the side of the Angels rather than the “Bad Man.” I am grateful to him for resisting Koch et al, and for helping shield us from an even more rapidly moving Climate Change progression. Perhaps he will also put some of the government buildings under Solar Energy as well. The more renewables the better, and on that score the US hasn’t done a very good job of International leadership. Maybe he will sign some more Executive Orders toward that goal before he gets out.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-incidents-surface-from-dark-past-of-embezzler-cop/

More incidents surface from dark past of embezzler cop
CBS/AP
November 6, 2015

Photograph -- Fox Lake Lieutenant Charles Joseph Gliniewicz is undated handout photo provided by Lake County Sheriff's Office in Illinois on September 1, 2015 REUTERS


FOX LAKE, Ill. -- An Illinois police officer who staged his suicide to make it look like he was murdered had a troubled job history, ranging from numerous suspensions to sexual harassment allegations to complaints that he intimidated an emergency dispatcher with guns, according to his personnel records.

Despite a reputation as a respected youth mentor, Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz also had problems off the job, including one incident in which a sheriff's deputy found him passed out in his truck and took him home, only to have Gliniewicz report his truck stolen the next day, according to documents in the file.

The records were released late Thursday by the Village of Fox Lake in response to a Freedom of Information request, after a day in which officials said Gliniewicz had sought out a hit man to kill a village administrator he feared would expose him as a thief, and may have planned to plant cocaine on the administrator to discredit her as a criminal.

The image of Gliniewicz that's emerged in recent days stands in stark contrast to the hero's funeral and outpouring of community support after his death in September.

Dubbed "G.I. Joe," Gliniewicz was a well-known figure in the bedroom community of 10,000 people 50 miles north of Chicago. His death, moments after he radioed that he was chasing three suspicious men, prompted an intense manhunt involving hundreds of officers, and raised fears of cop killers on the loose. Thousands attended his funeral, and he was held up as the latest example of dangers faced by police.

Defaced memorial sign for police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz was placed outside the police department in Fox Lake, Illinois, on Nov. 4, 2015 WBBM-TV. The huge outpouring of grief has now been replaced by a sense of betrayal after investigators revealed on Wednesday that he had elaborately planned his own killing after stealing and laundering money from a Police Explorers Program he oversaw for seven years. In his last weeks, he feared he was about to be exposed by a new village administrator.

Recovered text messages and other records show Gliniewicz spent the money on mortgage payments, travel expenses, gym memberships, adult websites, withdrawing cash and making loans, said Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Commander George Filenko, who led the investigation.

A law enforcement source tells CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton that Gliniewicz apparently sought a hit man to kill the village administrator, Anne Marrin.

The source said Gliniewicz sent a text to a woman in April asking her to set up a meeting with him and a high level motorcycle gang member. Gliniewicz later told the woman on the phone he wanted to contact the gang member for the purpose of putting a hit out on Marrin, who was auditing the books of Police Explorers program authorities say Gliniewicz was stealing from.

The woman disclosed the telephone conversation to detectives following Gliniewicz's death. However, when police interviewed the gang member, he denied any such conversation took place with Gliniewicz, according to the source.

In addition, small packages of cocaine were found in Gliniewicz's desk drawer at the police station after his death, raising questions on whether Gliniewicz was planning to try to frame Marrin before she could expose him as an embezzler. The drugs were not linked to any case he or the department were working on. Detectives could find no other explanation for his having the cocaine, the source said.

CBS Chicago says authorities now are also investigating Gliniewicz's widow, Melodie, and son. D.J..

An official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that Melodie and D.J. received incriminating text messages from the lieutenant.

The family's attorneys, Henry Tonigan and Andrew Kelleher, have not responded to numerous voicemail and email messages from AP seeking comment.

Gliniewicz's police personnel file contained numerous commendations for good work early in his career with the department, which began in 1985. But in just a few years, he was racking up reprimands and suspensions for lying about being sick and giving motorists the wrong court dates on their traffic citations.

In 2003, a dispatcher complained Gliniewicz tried to intimidate her by bringing guns into the radio room after the two had a disagreement during which Gliniewicz allegedly told her he could put three bullets in her chest if she didn't stop acting foolishly.

A couple weeks later, the chief eliminated Gliniewicz's job as commander of support services because of his "problems with the communications division."

But there is no evidence Gliniewicz got in serious trouble, and in 2006, he was promoted to lieutenant in control of the patrol division.

A letter in the file dated Feb. 1, 2009, addressed to then-Mayor Cynthia Irwin and signed only by "Anonymous Members of the Fox Lake Police Department" outlined complaints about Gliniewicz that included: allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate officer and the sexual harassment of a dispatcher, complaints from bouncers at local bars for being drunk and belligerent, and allegations that he allowed members of the youth program unsupervised access to the police department and the opportunity to wear clothing labeled "police," misidentifying themselves as officers.

It was not clear from the file whether any action was taken in response to the letter. The AP attempted to reach Irwin late Thursday for comment, but telephone messages were not immediately returned.




“An Illinois police officer who staged his suicide to make it look like he was murdered had a troubled job history, ranging from numerous suspensions to sexual harassment allegations to complaints that he intimidated an emergency dispatcher with guns, according to his personnel records. Despite a reputation as a respected youth mentor, Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz also had problems off the job, including one incident in which a sheriff's deputy found him passed out in his truck and took him home, only to have Gliniewicz report his truck stolen the next day, according to documents in the file. The records were released late Thursday by the Village of Fox Lake in response to a Freedom of Information request, after a day in which officials said Gliniewicz had sought out a hit man to kill a village administrator he feared would expose him as a thief, and may have planned to plant cocaine on the administrator to discredit her as a criminal. …. In 2003, a dispatcher complained Gliniewicz tried to intimidate her by bringing guns into the radio room after the two had a disagreement during which Gliniewicz allegedly told her he could put three bullets in her chest if she didn't stop acting foolishly. A couple weeks later, the chief eliminated Gliniewicz's job as commander of support services because of his "problems with the communications division." But there is no evidence Gliniewicz got in serious trouble, and in 2006, he was promoted to lieutenant in control of the patrol division. …. It was not clear from the file whether any action was taken in response to the letter. The AP attempted to reach Irwin late Thursday for comment, but telephone messages were not immediately returned.”


Despite a complaint letter from his co-workers of various abuses of his power, including sexual misconduct, there were incidents within the community as well. Most of what I saw there looks a good bit like the type of thing that an alcoholic might do, including the embezzlement, the threat with his gun to a woman on the force, and in one case he was removed from his car by a fellow officer after being found passed out. That’s a primary sign right there that he was addicted to alcohol, because a person who is not consuming alcohol compulsively, wouldn’t risk his job in that way. Usually a drinker does that because he is emotionally blind to the fact that he is unable, not merely unwilling, to have “just one drink.”

It is surprising to me that so many businesses of all kinds will let a worker, perhaps because they feel sorry for him, go on doing fairly outrageous drug/drink induced actions, since it is an ongoing threat to the public at large and the organization that he works for. If they don’t want to fire him they could have warned him and ordered him to attend 90 AA meetings in 90 days, like some court judges do. It doesn’t always get the person sober, but sometimes it does.

On a basic level, of course, a person who is not absolutely willing to follow the program and refrain from all drinking/using, will not recover until he has bounced around from one frightening or humiliating situation to another. Some people prefer to go into a treatment center for a month or so, but that doesn’t always work either. Enough experiences like that will often turn the patient’s mind around to the point that he is ready, and he can stop completely, usually recovering his mental and physical health over a period of time.

AA provides a new philosophy, an informal but helpful type of group therapy, a person or group who are willing to help when the person is having problems, and much companionship for the long-term survival without a drink. It’s really the best way, and it doesn’t cost a penny except for what he gives at meetings. Most people with a good job will give from $1 to $5 per meeting, and there is no mandatory fee of any kind for attendance. It’s all voluntary and that’s one of the main reasons it works.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-to-take-up-another-obamacare-case/

Supreme Court to take up another Obamacare case
ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 6, 2015

Photograph -- Interns with media organizations run with the decision upholding the Affordable Care Act at the Supreme Court in Washington June 25, 2015. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the nationwide availability of tax subsidies that are crucial to the implementation of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, handing a major victory to the president. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTR4YXSO REUTERS


WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court is wading into its fourth dispute over President Barack Obama's 5-year-old health care overhaul.

The latest "Obamacare" case involves objections by faith-based hospitals, colleges and charities to the process the administration devised to spare them from paying for contraceptives for women covered under their health plans, and yet ensure that those women can obtain birth control at no extra cost.

The groups complain that they remain complicit in making available the contraceptives in violation of their religious beliefs.

Seven out of eight federal appeals courts have agreed with the administration that requiring the faith-based groups to make their objection known and identify their insurer or insurance administrator does not violate a federal religious freedom law.

Only the appeals court in St. Louis ruled for the groups, saying they probably have a right to refuse to comply with the administration rules.

The justices on Friday said they would hear pending appeals from groups in Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, DC.

The case will be argued in late March.

Among the challengers are the Little Sisters of the Poor, nuns who run more than two dozen nursing homes for impoverished seniors.

The administration has argued that the accommodation it came up with does not violate the nonprofits' religious rights. Even if the Supreme Court rejects that argument, the administration has said in court papers, the justices should determine that the system for getting contraceptives to women covered by the groups' insurance plans is the most effective and efficient way to do so.

The high court has twice preserved the health overhaul, but has allowed some for-profit employers with religious objections to refuse to pay for contraceptives for women.

Houses of worship and other religious institutions whose primary purpose is to spread the faith are exempt from the requirement to offer birth control.

For other religious-affiliated nonprofit groups such as hospitals and schools, the administration argues that the accommodation creates a generous moral and financial buffer between religious objectors and funding birth control. The nonprofit groups just have to raise their hands and say that paying for any or all of the 20 devices and methods approved by government regulators would violate their religious beliefs.

To do so, they must fill out a government document or otherwise notify the government so that their insurers or third-party administrators can take on the responsibility of paying for the birth control. The employer does not have to arrange the coverage or pay for it. Insurers get reimbursed by the government through credits against fees owed under other parts of the health law.

But dozens of colleges, hospitals, charities and other organizations have said in lawsuits they still are being forced to participate in an effort to provide coverage for contraceptives, including some which they claim amount to abortion. The government may impose fines on groups that do not comply.




“The latest "Obamacare" case involves objections by faith-based hospitals, colleges and charities to the process the administration devised to spare them from paying for contraceptives for women covered under their health plans, and yet ensure that those women can obtain birth control at no extra cost. …. The groups complain that they remain complicit in making available the contraceptives in violation of their religious beliefs. Seven out of eight federal appeals courts have agreed with the administration that requiring the faith-based groups to make their objection known and identify their insurer or insurance administrator does not violate a federal religious freedom law. Only the appeals court in St. Louis ruled for the groups, saying they probably have a right to refuse to comply with the administration rules. …. The case will be argued in late March. Among the challengers are the Little Sisters of the Poor, nuns who run more than two dozen nursing homes for impoverished seniors. The administration has argued that the accommodation it came up with does not violate the nonprofits' religious rights. Even if the Supreme Court rejects that argument, the administration has said in court papers, the justices should determine that the system for getting contraceptives to women covered by the groups' insurance plans is the most effective and efficient way to do so. …. Houses of worship and other religious institutions whose primary purpose is to spread the faith are exempt from the requirement to offer birth control. …. The nonprofit groups just have to raise their hands and say that paying for any or all of the 20 devices and methods approved by government regulators would violate their religious beliefs. The nonprofit groups just have to raise their hands and say that paying for any or all of the 20 devices and methods approved by government regulators would violate their religious beliefs.


“To do so, they must fill out a government document or otherwise notify the government so that their insurers or third-party administrators can take on the responsibility of paying for the birth control. The employer does not have to arrange the coverage or pay for it. Insurers get reimbursed by the government through credits against fees owed under other parts of the health law. To do so, they must fill out a government document or otherwise notify the government so that their insurers or third-party administrators can take on the responsibility of paying for the birth control. The employer does not have to arrange the coverage or pay for it. Insurers get reimbursed by the government through credits against fees owed under other parts of the health law.” “Dozens” of religious groups have complained about the fact that they are being “forced to participate in an effort to provide coverage for contraceptives.” I’m reminded of a sturdy toddler in the throes of a screaming fit of rage as he rolls on the floor of my local Publix supermarket and stamps his little feet. All they have to do is fill out and sign either the government form or a letter, and they are not liable for any financial payments. Likewise, the insurance company is being reimbursed for its’ expenses. Interestingly 7 out of 8 courts backed the Obama Administration, and the one which did not is in Missouri, not known for its’ political liberalism. Ferguson is in Missouri. It seems to me that the phrase “stubborn as a Missouri mule,” is applicable as well. I hope the Supreme Court will back Obama. They have done so 4 other times, and likely will again, I think. I don’t know what argument the Little Sisters of The Poor can have in the matter at all, since they only help elderly retirees who need hospitalization, and they certainly won’t be using birth control any more.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ben-carsons-campaign-admits-he-never-applied-to-west-point/

Ben Carson's campaign admits he never applied to West Point
By REENA FLORES CBS NEWS
November 6, 2015

Photograph -- Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson leaves a book signing and campaign event in Ames, Iowa on October 24, 2015. REUTERS/MARK KAUZLARICH
Play VIDEO -- Ben Carson under scrutiny for childhood stabbing story


Despite numerous claims from Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson that he had received a "full scholarship" to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point -- including a mention in his best-selling memoir "Gifted Hands" -- Carson never even applied for admission to the academy, Carson's campaign confirmed to CBS News.

Campaign spokesperson Doug Watts said in a statement, that though Carson's "Senior [ROTC] Commander was in touch with West Point and told Dr. Carson he could get in, Dr. Carson did not seek admission."

The confession comes after a West Point spokeswoman told Politico that the military academy had no record of Carson's acceptance, much less an application.

"If he chose to pursue (the application process) then we would have records indicating such," West Point official Theresa Brinkerhoff told Politico.

Carson's story of his acceptance to the academy, according to his memoir, began with meeting Gen. William Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam, in 1969.

As a 17-year-old ROTC student in Detroit, Carson wrote in "Gifted Hands," he had dinner with Gen. Westmoreland and was later "offered a full scholarship to West Point."

"I didn't refuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn't where I saw myself going," the memoir states. "As overjoyed as I felt to be offered such a scholarship, I wasn't really tempted."

But according to his campaign, the GOP candidate "can't remember with specificity their brief conversation but it centered around Dr. Carson's performance as ROTC City Executive Officer."

Carson's campaign manager, Barry Bennett, also expanded on the neurosurgeon's past remarks, telling CBS News that what "Carson said was he was offered a nomination for a scholarship. You know that's the first step and you got to be nominated in order to even be considered for military academy so that's the first step."

"It's also important to understand that he was the top ROTC officer in Detroit," Bennett said. "So that's why --you know, being that he was a ROTC officer and of course, he had the SAT's to get into any school in America, just like he got into Yale -- of course they were interested in having him come to West Point."

"But when they told him that they would nominate him, he said he wasn't interested," he added. "He never applied. He never was accepted. He never turned down the offer. They told him they would nominate him."

Carson has recounted the story of a scholarship to West Point several times during his campaign, including in a recent interview with Charlie Rose that aired on PBS.

"I was offered a full scholarship to West Point, got to meet General Westmoreland, go to Congressional Medal of Honor dinners, but decided really my pathway would be medicine," Carson said in October.

Technically, West Point does not offer "full scholarships." The cost of the university is covered if admission is offered, and the student is required to serve time in the military after completing their education. Candidates applying for West Point must also first obtain a nomination -- usually from a member of the U.S. Congress or from a military official.

The revelation that Carson fabricated the story comes just as other details of his biography are being called into question. On Thursday, CNN came out with a deep dive interrogating the retired neurosurgeon's claims of his angry youth. The network could not find any proof of the violent incidents -- like an attempted knifing of a friend -- that Carson has mentioned several times during his presidential campaign.

Carson had a scathing response for the media regarding the investigation into his past.

"It's a bunch of lies. That's what it is," Carson said early Friday on CNN. "A bunch of lies, attempting to say that I'm lying about my history. I think it's pathetic."




“Campaign spokesperson Doug Watts said in a statement, that though Carson's "Senior [ROTC] Commander was in touch with West Point and told Dr. Carson he could get in, Dr. Carson did not seek admission." …. Carson's story of his acceptance to the academy, according to his memoir, began with meeting Gen. William Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam, in 1969. As a 17-year-old ROTC student in Detroit, Carson wrote in "Gifted Hands," he had dinner with Gen. Westmoreland and was later "offered a full scholarship to West Point." "I didn't refuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn't where I saw myself going," the memoir states. "As overjoyed as I felt to be offered such a scholarship, I wasn't really tempted." …. "It's also important to understand that he was the top ROTC officer in Detroit," Bennett said. "So that's why --you know, being that he was a ROTC officer and of course, he had the SAT's to get into any school in America, just like he got into Yale -- of course they were interested in having him come to West Point." …. Carson has recounted the story of a scholarship to West Point several times during his campaign, including in a recent interview with Charlie Rose that aired on PBS. …. Technically, West Point does not offer "full scholarships." The cost of the university is covered if admission is offered, and the student is required to serve time in the military after completing their education. Candidates applying for West Point must also first obtain a nomination -- usually from a member of the U.S. Congress or from a military official. …. The network could not find any proof of the violent incidents -- like an attempted knifing of a friend -- that Carson has mentioned several times during his presidential campaign.”


If I were a political candidate I definitely wouldn’t tell a lie to establish perhaps some kind of macho background that actually involved a stabbing. That kind of thing has no good way for a candidate to spin it. I feel somewhat sorry for him, actually, because I can’t imagine what he was trying to do. The scholarship story does make sense, but it is a bad move to purposely tell lies, the way the press and even the US public can viciously pick people apart. I think Carson is finished.

Of course I thought Hillary was finished over the Bengazi business and she seems to have survived that. I remember some misrepresentation she was involved in a couple or three years ago also that sounded like she, too, got overly excited and simply stretched the truth about being shot at in a helicopter when she was overseas, much like the dinner with Gen. Westmoreland. It’s tempting to get wound up emotionally and do that kind of thing, but it’s always a very bad idea. It’s like Carson’s story about storing wheat in the pyramids. It’s deeply embarrassing and causes the public to lose respect and trust for the candidate. I liked him a couple of weeks ago much more than Trump, and I still do, because to me Trump is a “snake in the grass,” and Carson at the very least is not as vicious as he is.

Besides, he’s a much better looking guy than Trump, which is one of those things that in all fairness “shouldn’t matter,” but it does. Every other picture I see of Trump he’s either eating or talking and his mouth and face look really bizarre. He would look better in photos if he would talk less forcefully, I think. It makes his mouth and eyes do funny-looking things. It’s like when the camera caught Lyndon Baines Johnson, who wasn’t even vaguely an attractive man under any situation, in the middle of opening his mouth wide to shove in a hot dog at some campaign function, and when he picked up his poor hound dog by its ears. Also, equally as bad, was the time when he pulled up his shirt to show his surgical scar to the cameraman. Politics is always entertaining unless it’s tragic, and this business about West Point may be tragic.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-man-who-escaped-ohio-prison-in-1978-caught-in-minnesota/

Feds: Man who escaped Ohio prison in '78 caught in Minnesota
By CRIMESIDER STAFF AP
November 6, 2015

Photograph -- Oscar Juarez, Ohio fugitive, in images dating back to his imprisonment in 1975; he was captured in St. Paul., Minnesota, Nov. 5, 2015. U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE VIA CBS AFFILIATE WOI


TOLEDO, Ohio -- A convicted murderer who escaped an Ohio prison in 1978 by cutting through cell bars and a fence has been captured in Minnesota's capital city, the U.S. Marshals Service said Friday.

Oscar Juarez, 66, was among Ohio's most wanted fugitives and evaded being caught while on the run despite being arrested twice. He was let go both times.

He was taken into custody Thursday night in St. Paul, Minn., at an apartment building on a tree-lined street. It wasn't clear how long he had been in Minnesota, said Pete Elliott, the U.S. marshal for northern Ohio.

"We know if he was in several different states over the years," Elliott said. "It wasn't one thing that led us to his doorstep. It was a number of things and good old-fashioned police work."

Juarez, who was serving a life sentence for killing a Toledo man in 1975, escaped from a state prison in Marion in 1978 by sawing through prison bars and cutting through a fence, according to the marshals. They say he also put a dummy in his bed and covered it with blankets.

Juarez was arrested twice since the escape - in Texas and California - but he went unnoticed because he was using fake identities, the FBI said.

He apparently used at least seven different aliases and worked as a welder and machine operator, the FBI said.




“A convicted murderer who escaped an Ohio prison in 1978 by cutting through cell bars and a fence has been captured in Minnesota's capital city, the U.S. Marshals Service said Friday. Oscar Juarez, 66, was among Ohio's most wanted fugitives and evaded being caught while on the run despite being arrested twice. He was let go both times. …. They say he also put a dummy in his bed and covered it with blankets. Juarez was arrested twice since the escape - in Texas and California - but he went unnoticed because he was using fake identities, the FBI said. He apparently used at least seven different aliases and worked as a welder and machine operator, the FBI said.”


Well, he was apparently very clever, but the FBI, like the Canadian Mounties “always get their man,” it seems. If he managed to cut through prison bars, can he do that again? I hope not. He looks like a rough customer, and I don’t want him out on the streets.