anonymity

Since taking control of Ohio in January, the Republicans, lead by Governor John Kasich, have been on a rampage of right wing ideological legislation. Now the Ohio Assembly is set to take up another slice of that agenda:

Abortions in Ohio would be banned at most publicly funded hospitals, clinics and other facilities under a proposal Senate Republicans are considering putting in the state budget, a Senate GOP official told The Associated Press on Monday.

The official, who had direct knowledge of the changes being discussed, requested anonymity because the revisions were still a part of negotiations.

State senators are also weighing a separate amendment to restrict public employees' insurance from covering abortions, the official said. Not included would be those public employees of the state's two chartered counties and chartered municipalities, which account for roughly two-thirds of the cities in the state.

This can be added to the growing list of idealogical legislation either passed or in the process of being passed, which includes: stripping unions of bargaining rights, opening Ohio parks to oil drilling, stopping the voter approved casinos, allowing people to carry guns into bars, etc., etc., etc.

The Republicans have no intentions of creating jobs in Ohio. They don't care about our state's economy. All the Republicans are worried about is rushing through an agenda based upon their social agenda.

Another reason why President Obama shouldn’t have done this deal with big phrama – they are cheaters:

“The states are the next battle,” said Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for the liberal advocacy group Health Care for America Now, “and the insurers and health care industry are primed up and ready to go. The industry has enormous power at the state level, and very few states have state-level consumer groups that are able to lobby effectively against them.”

Last year, for example, the drug industry poured more than $20 million into political contributions in states around the country. In California alone, the industry spent an additional $80 million on advertising to beat back a California ballot measure intended to push down drug prices.

Now, speaking on condition of anonymity because the pharmaceutical trade group is officially backing the federal overhaul, industry lobbyists say they are eyeing Congressional proposals that would expand a state’s Medicaid obligations, and are preparing to fight efforts to make some of it up by paying less for drugs. (A spokeswoman for the National Conference of State Legislatures said many states were contemplating just that.)

Time to call big pharma back into the White House and tell them the deal's off. After that get changes to the health care bill, including reimportation, that big pharma was against. These people have been screwing Americans over for years and they won't stop now.

There has been a lot of talk about Justin Barrett, a police officer with Boston. He made fame yesterday when it was exposed that he wrote a letter to the media and referred to Henry Gates as a “banana eating jungle monkey'”. if you missed it, here’s the run down:

The law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Officer Justin Barrett referred to the black scholar as a " jungle monkey" in the letter, written in reaction to media coverage of Gates's arrest July 16.

Barrett, a 36-year-old who has been on the job for two years, was stripped of his gun and badge yesterday and faces a termination hearing in the next week, said police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. He has no previous disciplinary record, she said.

Barrett will be represented by the police union in his hearing, as he should be. This gets into a very iffy area of our first amendment rights. One way he may have stripped himself of that protection though is by identifying himself as a police officer in his “anonymous” email.

But there is something more interesting here. In Barrett’s letter he made a statement that should be a warning sign that a person does not understand the very fundamental’s of our nation’s laws:

Jonathan Martin is reporting about a secret session of conservatives planned for after the election:

Two days after next week's election, top conservatives will gather at the Virginia weekend home of one of the movement's most prominent members to begin a conversation about their role in the GOP and how best to revive a party that may be out of power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue next year.

The meeting will include a "who's who of conservative leaders -- economic, national security and social," said one attendee, who shared initial word of the secret session only on the basis of anonymity and with some details about the host and location redacted.

The decision to waste no time in plotting their moves in the post-Bush era reflects the widely-held view among many on the right, and elsewhere, that the GOP is heading toward major losses next week.

Oh to be a fly on the wall. The conservative movement has been greatly crippled by people like George Bush and Karl Rove. Will they be able to turn that around? Hopefully not.

Truly disturbing statistics out by the Army today:

Pentagon officials say there were fewer Army suicides last year than they had feared. But it was still the highest number in almost two decades.

Two defense officials said Thursday that 108 troops committed suicide in 2007, the most since 1990. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the full report on the deaths wasn't being released until later Thursday.

I like how they try to downplay the numbers by saying "fewer than they had feared". Iraq is causing so much stress on our soldiers, and for what? So George Bush could achieve some "greatness" in his mind? Every solider killed either in action, or by their own hand, as well as every Iraqi life lost is the fault of this incompetent, arrogant, idiotic thing we call a President. Yes - he is a murderer and should be held accountable for his actions.

Are war drums beating again?

In what U.S. officials called a serious provocation, Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to explode the American vessels.

U.S. forces were on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats in the early Sunday incident, when the boats turned and moved away, a Pentagon official said. "It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The incident occurred at about 5 a.m. local time Sunday as a U.S. Navy cruiser, destroyer and frigate were on their way into the Persian Gulf and passing through the strait — a major oil shipping route.

I would love to be able to say I believe our accounts of what happened, but I can't. This administration has been wanting a war with Iran for so long now, I wouldn't put it past them to order those boats into Iranian waters, or do some other action to try and provoke them. Once we get a commander in chief who doesn't reach climax at the thought of war and lie to the American people constantly then I might buy it.

From the administration that HATES everything America stands for:

A top intelligence official says it is time people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.

Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, a deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguards people's private communications and financial information.

Kerr's comments come as Congress is taking a second look at the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act.

Maybe it would be better if the administration followed the law. Wow - that is an absurd idea. I thought we protections in place to make sure that an administration followed laws. Oh wait! The cowards running Congress took that option "off the table". They hate America just us much as Bush does.

So long idiot!:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. A senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in Washington.

Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, the official said. His decision was not immediately announced, the official added, until after the president invited him and his wife to lunch at his ranch near here.

Mr. Bush has not yet chosen a replacement but will not leave the position open long, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Attorney General's resignation had not yet been made public.

Now we can see who the replacement will be.