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Polanski in jail until at least Monday

Roman Polanski will remain in a jail outside Zurich for at least three more days until he meets the security conditions of his bail, a Swiss official said Friday.

Polanski wouldn't be placed under house arrest in Switzerland before Monday, because he has yet to fulfill all the requirements to ensure that he stays in his chalet in the Swiss luxury resort of Gstaad, Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli said.

Galli did not elaborate, but the 76-year-old director must post $4.5 million bail, surrender his identity papers and be fitted with a monitoring bracelet.

Polanski cannot leave the chalet because the ministry is still deciding whether to extradite him to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. Authorities in Los Angeles want him sentenced after 31 years as a fugitive.

(As I have posted before  this man needs to be brought to America to face the charges he has been running from for the last 31 years. Justice needs to take place no matter how long it has been . Read more on this issue Polanski in jail until at least Monday.)

 
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Adam Lambert furor spreads to gay community.

"American Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert on Wednesday admitted he got carried away during his racy American Music Awards performance, as furor over his singing and dancing stoked a wider controversy in the U.S. gay community.

Complaints poured in to the ABC TV network that aired the show, and it canceled the Lambert's appearance on its "Good Morning America" news and chat show set for Wednesday. (Adam Lambert furor spreads to gay community...  )

Yet rival network CBS put him on its "The Early Show" program, where Lambert claimed he had not intended to provoke audiences but declined to apologize, saying: "I'm not a baby-sitter. I'm a performer."

"I admit I did get carried away, but I don't see anything wrong with it. I do see how people got offended, and that was not my intention," he said.

(Shame on this so called performer. He may not be a baby-sitter but he should show class which he hasn't so far. I guess anything done by a member of the gay community is cool with those who run the TV networks. At least ABC TV stopped this man from being on it's morning show unlike CBS.  No wonder more souls are trying to raise their kids without TV.) 


Tags: culture   TV  
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Damn the deficit: Full speed ahead on health care...

Double-digit. That hyphenated adjective has been used most often recently to describe October's 10.2 percent unemployment rate. But it can also be used to describe the federal budget deficit as a percentage of the gross domestic product. That precise number is not yet known, but it may turn out to have a more dire effect on our national life than October's unemployment rate.

In the fiscal year just ended, federal spending was nearly 25 percent of GDP while federal revenues slipped below 15 percent because of the financial crisis and recession. We have not seen a budget deficit of this magnitude since World War II, which surely was a greater challenge than recent economic troubles.

Apologists for the Obama administration argue that some 2009 spending, like that on financial bailouts, is nonrecurring. True, but as the Congressional Budget Office has reported, the trajectory of administration spending and revenue is pushing the annual deficit toward $1,000,000,000,000 -- that's $1 trillion -- for the next decade.

Congressional Democrats' health care bills threaten to add to that. The bill currently before the Senate is advertised as costing less than $1 trillion. But significant spending doesn't kick in till 2014 and over the ensuing 10 years adds up to $1.8 trillion, nearly double that.

Thanks to current low interest rates, servicing the debt costs the government only $200 billion this year. But the White House estimates that debt service will exceed $700 billion in 2019. "In a few years," the Economist editorializes, "the AAA rating of Treasury bonds, the world's most important security, could be in jeopardy."

(OK lets forget how much everything costs  just keep spending because government should do everything. That is the attitude of those running our nation and some of us believe destroying the idea America was built on. Read more of the above story   Damn the deficit: Full speed ahead on health care...)

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Orange County Register: Jerry Brown vs. ACORN...

Political activist Andrew Breitbart broke a story this week about ACORN, a national association of community organizers that claims to advocate for low-and-moderate-income people, on his Big Government blog. This time ACORN is accused of a massive document dump at its San Diego office. The discarded papers contain sensitive personal information about clients and employees, such as Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, voided checks, tax returns, even credit reports. Other documents, according to Derrick Roach, the private investigator who retrieved the data, contained detailed information about how ACORN operates in California.

The real story, though, is the timing of the disposal, which occurred six days before representatives from the Attorney General's Office visited the ACORN offices for their investigation into potentially illegal advice and misconduct captured on video by two activists posing as potential ACORN clients. The videos caused a national stir in September. ( Jerry Brown vs. ACORN... )

If Mr. Brown is serious about returning to the governor's job, which he held from 1975-83, he will need to get serious about investigating ACORN. If he doesn't, it might cost him at the ballot box.

(Brown needs to do what is right and look into ACORN. What he decides should not be based on politics or is that asking too much. The good people of America and CA. deserve that don't we?) 

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Ex-ambassador gives Obama an 'F'

President Barack Obama gets an “F” for his initial effort to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel said Tuesday.

Martin Indyk, ambassador to Israel under President Bill Clinton, told an   audience the current president is trying hard to re-ignite diplomacy in the Middle East — trying, in fact, much harder than former President George W. Bush did.

But, he said, the growing mistrust between Israelis and Palestinians, the meddling influence of Iran, the Bush administration’s neglect and the Obama administration’s missteps have worsened the situation in the past year.

“It’s clear that things are not going as he planned,” Indyk said.

Indyk, who now serves as a vice president at the Brookings Institution, told the approximately 300 people that Obama planned on the quick support of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. It made some sense: Saudi Arabia and other Arab powers are alarmed by the Iranian support of Palestinian extremist groups like Hamas. Abdullah could deflate that Iranian influence by helping to normalize relations between Israel and much of the Arab world.

But King Abdullah, mistrustful of both Israel and the Palestinians, flatly turned Obama down, Indyk said. That resounding “no” echoed through the Middle East, sending other Arab leaders away from the peace process.

The former ambassador is hopeful that the Obama administration will keep trying.

The former ambassador hopes the president starts by looking for small victories in the region. Maybe some disputed land returned to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Maybe baby steps to normalize the relationship between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Such progress is important because it’s the only way to achieve any lasting stability in the region. It’s the only way to peacefully prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. And it’s the only way to ensure the steady export of natural resources like oil, Indyk said.

“For America’s credibility, we need to find a way to succeed,” he said.

(Here is a new idea why don't we let the Jewish State defend itself. Why do we think Israel should have to sit down with people who want to destroy their nation and kill them. You can't talk with people who want you dead, can you? Read more of the above story

 

 

 

 

 

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Baby Bennett beats the odds

WTAE anchor Kelly Frey's unborn baby was diagnosed with holoprosencephaly, a severe malformation of the brain which results in death in the womb, or shortly after birth. But against the odds, the baby was born alive, breathing on his own and kicking and screaming for life. (Baby Bennett beats the odds  )
In Frey's interview about the situation, she says, "I was so overwhelmed [that] I was almost scared to touch him at first because I was not in disbelief, but somewhat in disbelief that here is this child that we had lived with the knowledge for all those months that he was going to die, and that here he was bundled up."
(This lady is truly thankful and she should be. Too often today we complain  about what we don't have instead of being thankful for  the blessings in our lives. This brings me to a story I heard this last week which  I am told is a true story . A washing machine man was complaining  about not being able to  afford a new pairs of shoes for his daughter one Easter. Then one day he was in a very rich home fixing  a washing machine. He complained to the lady how his daughter would have to wear  the same shoes as she did the year before. The lady jumped up and ran out of the room  crying. Her husband came into the room and explained the reason his wife went out crying is because they have a six year old daughter who will never walk. He said we just wished  our daughter could wear the old shoes your daughter doesn't   want  to wear.  What is something that you have or get everyday. It can be big or small. Watch a   video  to do with the above story Kelly Frey's Thanksgiving Miracle.)


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Blessed Thanksgiving

I hope all of you my blog readers will have a Blessed and Thankful Thanksgiving! 

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GodLess Thanksgiving 11-26-09

What is Thanksgiving truly about and what kind of holiday should it be. I have posted a video that talks about that along with the written transcript on my faith based blog. Here is the link  to the posting GodLess Thanksgiving 11-26-09.

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A taste of America

To the class of “newcomer” students at Jefferson Elementary School, Thanksgiving was largely a foreign concept.

Then they made cranberry sauce.

(Cranberries, they learned, were among the few fruits the Native Americans shared with the Pilgrims back at the first Thanksgiving in 1621.)

The students also got a taste of local customs by reading, “Thanksgiving at Our Home.” 

And they drew a world map showing the route the Pilgrims — and each classmate — took to get from their respective homelands to the United States. (A taste of America  )

With most of the 15 young immigrants and refugees about to spend their first Turkey Day in their adopted country, the uniquely American holiday served up the opportune time to teach about cultural similarities, differences, even food.

“We wanted to give them a flavor for holidays here, so they understand American traditions and feel part of it,” said Trish Vojtech, who co-teaches with Lindsay Ehresman.

In their English as a Second Language class alone, eight countries are represented. One boy arrived from Thailand only a month ago. Others came within the last two years.

Vojtech and Ehresman revolved much of their teaching around food, employing tactics to expand student vocabularies. They also were teaching about the five senses.

(It is nice that these students learned about foods at Thanksgiving. However I wonder if  these kids were taught that Thanksgiving is a faith based holiday and since these students are in a government school I rather  doubt it. I hope somebody will teach these young ones why the Pilgrims  risk their lives to come to this new world like their Pastor,  Priest, or Sunday School teacher. This is another reason why  you might want to remove your children from the government schools or at least make sure your children and grandchildren are taught in your home  the whole Thanksgiving story.) 





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George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789


WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

(Read all of George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789.)

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Sarah Palin and the Future of Conservatism by Cal Thomas

I'm sure I would like Sarah Palin if I got the chance to meet her. We share many things in common. She is still married to her first spouse, as am I. She has a Down syndrome son. I have a brother with Down syndrome. We share the same faith and we both like the outdoors. She is conservative on economic and social issues, and so am I.

In her new book, "Going Rogue," Palin complains about her running mate's handlers, whom she says kept her from being herself. I have similar complaints. Those handlers also kept me from interviewing her. The handlers are long gone, of course, but still I cannot get close to her.

I could either play the victim, or move on. I choose to move on. But before I do, the Palin phenomenon -- for that is what it is because her celebrity flows singularly from John McCain's choice of her as a running mate -- offers an opportunity for conservatives to choose their path to the future. Will it be a path of the angry and disenfranchised outsider, or will it be something of substance that produces triumphs in both politics and policy?

(The above is part of a column Cal Thomas   wrote awhile back. Read more of the column below.)

The victim thing is getting old. Conservatives have a significant presence in virtually every venue they like to denounce. That includes government (though not this one) and especially the media. Talk radio rules and the rulers are conservatives. Fox News Channel dominates the ratings. The conservative presence in academia lags, but there are universities that do not revise American history and mock religious values. Movies? There are some with solid conservative principles, such as Sandra Bullock's latest film, "The Blind Side." Will conservatives go see it, or are they more comfortable denouncing "Hollywood"? How about reinforcements for those conservatives already "making it" in the mainstream media?

( I find it funny and too bad that  Sarah Palin will talk to people like Oprah Winfrey and Katie Couric but not to Cal Thomas who would for sure be more  fair  than those two ladies. Cal is also right that instead of always playing the victim we need to support those on the right who are making an impact. Too many on the right are yelling so and so is not fair instead of supporting those who are. It is true Palin was not treated right at times by the media but we need to move on. Do read  the whole  Cal Thomas column Sarah Palin and the Future of Conservatism.)

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1863 Lincoln Presidential Proclamation

Proclamation of Thanksgiving
by the President of the United States of America


The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

(I don't believe we know for sure if President Lincoln ever came to put his faith in Jesus but this still is something we should read. Do read  all of it 1863 Lincoln Presidential Proclamation.)

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Misdiagnosis of 'vegetative state' raises questions

(Here is a great Thanksgiving story even though my guess is this man doesn't take part in the Thanksgiving holiday. The story should also make all of us think.) 


A man thought to have been in a vegetative state for 23 years was conscious throughout the entire ordeal.

 Rom Houben of Belgium was diagnosed as being in a vegetative state after a car wreck, but doctors now know the 46-year-old man was aware of his surroundings, heard what was being said, but couldn't respond. He has been provided with equipment to read and type since this discovery, and with therapy, he is now able to communicate. Bobby Schindler of Terri's Foundation reacts to the news.

 
"This isn't the first time we've heard this or we've read that something like this has happened where someone has emerged from what doctors were saying...was a persistent vegetative state, and I think it illustrates why we need to stop dehydrating to death these people who are labeled in this highly subjective diagnosis," Schindler contends.

(Read more of the above story  right here.)




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