Stupak: Abortion Language Still "Unacceptable"

By Philip Klein on 2.23.10 @ 10:05AM

Rep. Bart Stupak just released the following statement on President Obama's health care proposal:

?”I was pleased to see that President Obama’s health care proposal did not include several of the sweetheart deals provided to select states in the Senate bill.  Unfortunately, the President's proposal encompasses the Senate language allowing public funding of abortion. The Senate language is a significant departure from current law and is unacceptable.  While the President has laid out a health care proposal that brings us closer to resolving our differences, there is still work to be done before Congress can pass comprehensive health care reform.? “

http://spectator.org/blog/2010/02/23/stupak-abortion-language-still

Snow Begins to Fall, Schools Begin to Close

Only two inches of snow needed to break record

By FRANK HEINZ, GRANT STINCHFIELD and SCOTT GORDON

Updated 8:03 AM CST, Tue, Feb 23, 2010

Weather you love the beauty of a snowfall or refer to it only as that annoying white stuff that falls from the sky, another winter snowfall is pushing into North Texas Tuesday morning.  Snowflakes began falling in Parker County around 5 a.m.  By 6 a.m., those flakes grew much larger and the winds stronger as the upper level high continued its push into North Texas.

The snow should begin falling in the Metroplex by about 7 a.m., according to NBC DFW Meteorologist Jennifer Lopez. Periods of heavy snow are expected Tuesday morning though the snowfall is expected to taper off to just flurries in the afternoon.  Overall, 2 to 4 inches of snow are expected in North Texas, with southern counties receiving more of the snowfall.

Most of the Metroplex will see snowfall ranging from a trace up to 2 inches. But higher totals are likely from Stephenville to Hillsboro to Corsicana to Athens. Areas even farther south could see even more; up to 6 inches of snow is possible in the Waco area.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/weather/stories/More-Snow-Expected-Tonight-84994822.html

Doomsday Predictions Tax Illinois

State watchdog group calls for 'historical' increase in personal income tax

By JENEL NELS

Updated 11:27 AM CST, Mon, Feb 22, 2010

In order to crawl from beneath crushing debt and reach fiscal solvency, Illinois legislators must choose from a series of options that range from bad to worse, according to a prominent watchdog group.

The Civic Federation wants to launch an intervention that includes significant budget cuts and the largest tax increase package in Illinois history, all in an effort to save the state from a $12.8 billion budget deficit.

“Doomsday is here for the state of Illinois,” said Laurence Msall, Civic Federation President, to the Sun-Times.

The group says it would support a state income tax increase from 3 percent to 5 percent. It also recommends the state tax retirees’ pension and Social Security checks be taxed for the first time at the same rate as workers’ paychecks. They want another $1 increase on a pack of cigarettes and to eliminate $181 million in corporate tax breaks.

...

And of course the unions don't want to pay anymore:

If implemented, the Federation's recommendations could shave off $8 billion, but there is a catch.
 
In order to implement those increases, the Civic Federation says unions should pay more toward their pensions and health care -- but the unions aren't interested.

“Illinois’ fiscal crisis has been many years in the making. It was caused by more than 30 years of pension underfunding and many years of spending unfettered by the state’s shrinking revenue resources,” said Msall.

The group’s plan would help alleviate the deficit by 2012, they say.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Doomsday-Taxes-State-of-Illinois-84947527.html

'It's my health, it's my choice,' Danny Williams says

"This is my heart, it's my health, it's my choice."

With these words, Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams defended his decision to hop the border and go under the knife for heart surgery in Florida.

The minimally invasive mitral valve surgery he needed is not available in Newfoundland, he told his province's NTV News channel in the first part of an interview aired last night.

"Did some checking, of course, and what was ultimately done to me, the surgery I eventually got ... was not offered to me in Canada," he said.

But it is available in his home country, a point that cardiologists fervently made last night.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/its-my-health-its-my-choice-danny-williams-says/article1477872/

School Spying Case In Pennsylvania

February 22, 2010 - 6:30 AM | by: Laura Ingle

The school webcam spy case continues to spark questions about student security and school administrators' rights in Philadelphia. Last week, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the Lower Merion School District, its board of directors and the superintendent for allegedly violating the privacy of a 15-year-old student at Harriton High School by remotely activating the webcam inside a school-issued laptop computer. Now, the FBI has reportedly opened an investigation into the case to see if there were any federal wiretap or computer-intrusion laws that were violated.

Blake Robbins and his 18-year-old sister both attend Harriton High School and were among the 2,300 students in the district to receive the Apple laptops. All students and their parents had to sign a "memorandum of understanding" to take the laptops home with wording that explained the rules and regulations that came along with the computers. The paperwork did not include the disclosure that the school district had the ability to remotely activate the embedded webcams at any time, without student's permission.

Last November, Blake Robbins was called to the office by the vice principal to talk about what she called his "improper behavior" at home. Vice Principal Lindy Matsko allegedly cited as evidence a photograph taken with the computer's webcam that had been activated in Blake's bedroom. Robbins claims that the Matsko accused him of selling drugs when she saw him holding up what she believed to be pills. The 15-year-old says he was simply holding his favorite candy, "Mike And Ikes," which are small oblong, chewy jelly beans.

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/02/22/school-spying-case-in-pennsylvania/?test=latestnews

From CNN's Jeff Simon

(CNN) - Mitt Romney endorsed Sen. John McCain, one of the former Massachussetts governor's main competitors for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, for re-election to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

"Senator McCain's record of service and sacrifice for America is honored by all," Romney said in a statement. "But I believe that it is his core values of courage, faith and honor – forged in battle and confirmed by a lifetime of service to America – that make Senator McCain's leadership in the United States Senate so necessary in these perilous times."

Romney said it is "hard to imagine the United States Senate without John McCain."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/23/romney-endorses-mccain-for-re-election/?fbid=22DfRtTGInK

Poll: Passing public option would lift Harry Reid’s re-election chances

By Lisa Mascaro (contact)

Monday, Feb. 22, 2010 | 3:56 p.m.

Washington — One-third of voters in Nevada say they would be more likely to vote for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this fall if he wins passage of the public option in the health care bill, according to a poll released today.

Reid continues to trail his potential Republican opponents by double-digit margins, according to the Research 2000 poll. But Reid could peel off 20 percent of support from Republicans Danny Tarkanian or Sue Lowden if he won passage of the public option.

“It looks like there is a path to salvation for him if he not only fights for, but wins, the public option,” said Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which commissioned the poll with Credo Action and Democracy for America.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/feb/22/poll-passing-public-option-would-lift-reids-re-ele/

Eclectic trio of candidates considered for Obama deficit panel

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 21, 2010; A13

Republican David M. Cote, the chief executive of Honeywell International, has emerged as a top contender for a slot on President Obama's commission to bring the nation's soaring debt under control, a senior administration official said Saturday.

The White House is also considering appointing two Democrats: Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, and Alice M. Rivlin, a budget expert and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve who recently launched a separate, independent effort to draft a bipartisan plan to stabilize government borrowing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/20/AR2010022003493_pf.html

As Crist poll numbers slide, staffers leave campaign

By Adam C. Smith, Times Political Editor
In Print: Tuesday, February 23, 2010

In the latest sign of turbulence for Charlie Crist's wounded U.S. Senate bid, key staffers are starting to leave the campaign.

Political director Pablo Diaz, one of the first two staff members hired for the Senate campaign, is departing at the end of the month for "a new opportunity." Sean Doughtie, a well-regarded new media consultant who had worked with Crist for years, stopped working for the campaign at the end of January.

"The campaign was going in a different direction," said Doughtie.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/gubernatorial/as-crist-poll-numbers-slide-staffers-leave-campaign/1075070

 

In an exclusive interview to Hot Air blogger Ed Morrissey, he explains what the report, which will be released today, will say:





Pajamas Media has received the report and discusses excerpts of it:

enator James Inhofe (R-OK) today asked the Obama administration to investigate what he called “the greatest scientific scandal of our generation” — the actions of climate scientists revealed by the Climategate Files, and the subsequent admissions by the editors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).

Senator Inhofe also called for former Vice President Al Gore to be called back to the Senate to testify.

“In [Gore's] science fiction movie, every assertion has been rebutted,” Inhofe said. He believes Vice President Gore should defend himself and his movie before Congress.

Just prior to a hearing at 10:00 a.m. EST, Senator Inhofe released a minority staff report from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, of which he is ranking member. Senator Inhofe is asking the Department of Justice to investigate whether there has been research misconduct or criminal actions by the scientists involved, including Dr. Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University and Dr. James Hansen of Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Science.

This report, obtained exclusively by Pajamas Media before today’s hearing, alleges:

[The] Minority Staff of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works believe the scientists involved may have violated fundamental ethical principles governing taxpayer-funded research and, in some cases, federal laws. In addition to these findings, we believe the emails and accompanying documents seriously compromise the IPCC -backed “consensus” and its central conclusion that anthropogenic emissions are inexorably leading to environmental catastrophes.

As has been reported here at Pajamas Media over the last several months, the exposure of the Climategate Files has led to a re-examination of the IPCC Assessment Reports, especially the fourth report (AR4), published in 2007. The IPCC AR4 report was named by Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson as one of the major sources of scientific support for the agency’s Endangerment Finding, the first step towards allowing the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/climategate-and-the-law-senator-inhofe-to-ask-for-congressional-criminal-investigation-pajamas-mediapjtv-exclusive/