House health care bill text (1018 pages pdf ) is here

Digby first take on the plan here

Slate's Timothy Noah on the plan here

Newt Gingrich urges US to use Special Forces to 'sabotage' Iran's Gas Infrastructure

He laughs in gingrich's face. It's too funny and so very, very deserved.

China stops shock therapy for Internet addicts

BEIJING— China's Health Ministry has ordered a hospital to stop using electric shock therapy to cure youths of Internet addiction, saying there was no scientific evidence it worked.

Linyi Mental Health Hospital in eastern Shandong province used the treatment as part of a four-month program that has so far treated nearly 3,000 youths, the China Youth Daily newspaper has reported, citing the psychiatrist who runs it, Yang Yongxin.

The ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site late Monday there is no domestic or international clinical evidence that electric shock therapy helps cure Internet addiction. Electric shock therapy is most often used to treat severe depression.

Chinese psychologists say symptoms of Internet addiction include being online more than six hours a day — playing games and looking at pornography rather than working or studying — and getting angry when unable to get online. ...

Case study: Electric shock therapy in China for internet 'addiction'

'My mum saw the adverts on television. They demonised the internet and after watching them she believed I was sick'

If that video didn't have enough "Sarah Palin as Jesus" mumbo jumbo in it for ya, get a load of this article from a professor at Liberty University. It'll make your head spin. Not a parody, either.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/god_an...

I can't believe there's people out there like this, but there you go.

Liz Cheney for speaking out about dear old dad.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/071409b.html

Proposed by Sam Brownback, with co-sponsorship by Mary Landrieu D(umbass) - La., and supported by all the usual wingnut suspects (McCain, Graham, Kyl, Diaper Dave Vitter, etc, etc, etc) I give you (drumroll please!):

The Human-Animal Hybrid Prohibition Act of 2009

Yes, you read that right. No, they're not joking, apparently. Here's the link to Brownback's website:

http://*******.com/n46xlr

These people are insane:certifiably batshit insane.

Ok, for some reason, it wont post the tiny url link. Here's the full link to brownback's site:
http://senatorsambrownback.blogspot.com/ Scroll down.

The Anna Kournakova of politics.

pleasure (or not)

Hitchens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_C2SpCAsN8

Palin Weighs in on Cap-and-Trade in WaPo Op-Ed, Revealing Her Own Ignorance, Arrogance and Self-Absorption -- BuzzFlash News Analysis
- http://blog.buzzflash.com/analysis/858
Listening to Sarah Palin about science, reality, and energy is like asking a Sumo Grand Champion about weight control...
If you haven't already had your morning cup of unbelievably stupid...drink up...warning this will impair your vision...

Corporate Media giving Deniers/Extinctionists exposure: Odd priorities: The Washington Post Publishes Palin Editorial Attacking 'Cap and Trade'
- http://lonesomemongoose.wordpress.com/2009/07...
The ONLY reason con-servatives want to 'tax' emissions is because they can use it as a battle axe with their tired old 'taxes are evil' one trick pony platform....

Tomgram: Michael Klare, Peak Oil and the Remaking of Iraq - http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175095
Has it all come to this? The wars and invasions, the death and destruction, the exile and torture, the resistance and collapse? In a world of shrinking energy reserves, is Iraq finally fated to become what it was going to be anyway, even before the chaos and catastrophe set in: a giant gas pump for an energy-starved planet? Will it all end not with a bang, but with a gusher? The latest oil news out of that country offers at least a hint of Iraq's fate.
For modern Iraq, oil has always been at the heart of everything. Its very existence as a unified state is largely the product of oil.

"House Democrats Introduce Bill to Provide Quality, Affordable Health Care for All Americans." Summary of Bill, Includes Public Option. Released on July 14th.
- http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?opt...

DO IT ALREADY: President Barack Obama may rely only on Democrats to push health-care legislation through the U.S. Congress if Republican opposition doesn’t yield soon, two of the president’s top advisers said. Yes! We can use some audacity to achieve some hope.
- http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206010...
'Bi-partisanship' is a delay tactic used by con-servatives/republicans to block leglislation that will 'hurt' their meal tickets (ie, corporations that make money off of human illness, disease, & manufactured 'medical' complications)
There is nothing 'bi-partisan' about obstructing leglislation that will allow us to compete with the rest of the industrialized/civilized world...
Healthcare is a human right, not a 'privilege'....(greed is not a right con-servatives...its a self-destruction mechanism for a nation/state....look at history for more details idiots)

Can it be true? The wealthy might have to pay a little bit more of a fair share of their obligation to America? "House health plan to boost taxes on rich." Corporatist Senators will try and make it DOA.
- http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HEA...
Still waiting for a con-servative to SHOW ME how tax cuts for the top 1% 'create jobs'...I'll be waiting until the Sun swallows the Earth....about 5 billion years from now...
The only thing 'tax cuts' for the wealthy do, is widen the divide between haves (Bush: You are my base) & have nots, destroy the middle class by making us subsidize the top 1%s taxes...

Goldman's Back, and Why We Should Be Worried by Robert Reich - http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2009/07/goldm...
But in another respect, Goldman's resurgence should send shivers down the backs of every hardworking American who has lost a large chunk of retirement savings in this economic debacle, as well as the millions who have lost their jobs. Why? Because Goldman's high-risk business model hasn't changed one bit from what it was before the implosion of Wall Street.
There's no 'genius' in swindling a nation's treasury....sorry 'captains of industry'/bank robbers...Paulson & Bush's 'administration' came up with the plan & Geitner helped ensure its execution...another 'shining' example of con-servative economic malfeasance...

The Man Who Knew Cheney's Secret - http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-storie...
Reporting legend Seymour Hersh raised eyebrows back in March when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that Dick Cheney ran a secret hit squad that he kept hidden from Congressional oversight.
Some observers accused him of rumor-mongering and a top former military official threw cold water on the story, but with the recent news that the CIA allegedly kept Congress in the dark on a covert program, Hersh's words suddenly look more and more prescient. Yesterday, the New York Times reported the hidden program in question was a death squad authorized by Dick Cheney without Congressional approval—almost exactly what he described.
But there is one major difference between Hersh's reporting and the Times' latest piece – according to Hersh's sources, the program was operational, while the Times cited officials saying that the CIA hit squad never actually carried out a mission.
So in other words...con-servatives can't fathom that the CIA 'could lie'....yet Cheney had a secret assasination team that the director of the CIA didn't 'know about' and had no control over....

The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think - http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va...
The average length of unemployment is higher than it's been since government began tracking the data in 1948.
WOW! Another free market miracle! Yes...this is definitely the way to run a world economy.

Robert Reich: The Health Care Clock, and Why Obama Has to Act Quickly - http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2009/07/healt...

The fight over school curriculum in Texas, recently focused on biology, has entered a new arena, with a brewing debate over how much faith belongs in American history classrooms.
- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1247530785239...
Apparently Texas is getting jealous of Oklahoma, the south, Kansas, and the Dakotas for the stupid state sweepstakes and is putting in their entries...

Ensign's stubbornness, says he won't resign (Hypocrite) and plans to run in 2012 (giggle, snort) - http://thepage.time.com/2009/07/14/ensign-def...
Well there's another seat in play...

Unions and Wage Growth Can Fuel Recovery - http://www.themediaconsortium.org/2009/07/14/...
And why? Because wage earners (not dividend earners) spend their money...we, the middle class fuel the economy & in essence....our democracy

President Barack Obama's plans to overhaul the $2.5 trillion healthcare industry got a boost on Tuesday in the House of Representatives where Democrats predicted passage on schedule by August.
- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090714/hl_nm/us_...
Without a public option its meaningless...and we'll still be right back to needing single payer in order to compete with the EU economies, Japan, & most especially China & India...

Ray McGovern: Cheney Sweats Out the Summer - http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/071409b.html
The media is pimping Liz for her 'Senate run' in Wyoming, meanwhile her father who actually has something to do with this disgrace is still skating along without a dent...

Profiles in futility & stupidity, republican volume: Sen. Voinovich stalls confirmation of EPA deputy, demands new climate-bill analysis
- http://www.grist.org/article/2009-07-14-voino...
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) is holding up the confirmation of a deputy administrator at the U.S. EPA until the agency coughs up numbers on the House climate bill that are to his liking.

New US Renewable Energy Record Set: 13% of Total Electric Generation in April - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/new-u...
And that's without firm commitments to subsidize (like the obscene amounts that dirty energy gets), invest in R&D, and newer technologies....
We still have a long way to go before we can touch China's Stunning New Renewable Energy Standard 20 Percent by 2020

China Makes Big Sustainable Palm Oil Commitment, Pledges Greater Foreign Investment - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/china...
We can listen to Republican/right wingnut denier/extinctionist idiots out there or we can beat China and lead the world in the new economy....

Trend Watch: Large-Scale Solar Projects In Unexpected Places - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/trend...

12 Hip Green Hostels in North America - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/12-hi...

WE TOLD YOU SO (Voting against your own best interests by voting for self-haters) - http://politicalirony.com/2009/07/15/gay-cons...
Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks, who is not gay:
"You know, all three of us spend a lot of time covering politicians and they’re all emotional freaks. They’re guaranteed to invade your personal space, touch you. I sat next to a Republican senator (Lindsey Graham) once at dinner and he had his hand on my inner thigh the whole time."
Conservative The Atlantic columnist Andrew Sullivan, who is gay:
"Mercifully, I avoid dinners with Republican senators. It’s usually far too gay a scene for me."

july 15th, 1815

napoleon's career comes to an end

e.t. gets drunk and elliot saves the frogs:

E.T. (1982)

(go to about 6:35 in)

go to

http://wechoosethemoon.org/

for complete coverage of the mission. This is from the JFK Library. It includes pics, virtual launch and mission, and tweets. We are now 21 hours from launch.