Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Will "Fairness Doctrine" Return Under Another Name?

ACLJ "Bottom line, Lloyd’s appointment to a FCC position with direct authority on these issues crystallizes our concerns. Further, Lloyd’s own writings lay out a plan for accomplishing this onerous objective. We will be working vigorously to make sure this effort does not go unnoticed and that the American people are not deceived by a revival of the Fairness Doctrine under a different name."

Mike Ramirez cartoon

Too Old for Pain Meds

American Thinker "Now, I need to tell you that your mother's pain medication will have to be purchased by you, as Medicare will not pay for these, as your mother is too old. Thinking I heard the man wrong, I asked him, Did I hear you correctly? Did I hear you say my mother is too old for pain medication following surgery? The druggist, smiling, repeated his previous comment, reiterating that Medicare, at least in his district, refuses to pay for pain medication for seniors, even following surgery."

The Ramadan dinner at the White House

By Ethel C. Fenig "However--and understandably--Obama did not mention the case of Rifqa Bary, the American teen ager born to Muslim immigrant parents who fled her home, fearing her parents would kill her after her conversion to Christianity."

'Sons' become 'children' in new Bible translation

From the UK "The New International Version, the Bible of choice for conservative evangelicals, will be revised to reflect changes in English usage and advances in Biblical scholarship, it was announced Tuesday. The revision is scheduled to be completed late next year and published in 2011."

Torture's Unanswerable Questions; one Liberal's thoughts

Washington Post "The questions of what constitutes torture and what to do with those who, maybe innocently, applied what we now define as torture have to be removed from the political sphere. They cannot be the subject of an ideological tug of war, both sides taking extreme and illogical positions -- torture never works, torture always works, torture is always immoral, torture is moral if it saves lives. Torture always is ugly. So, though, is the hole in the ground where the World Trade Center once stood."

Video: Kennedy’s name booed at health-care town hall

HotAir "Consider this further evidence, though, in case any was indeed that slapping the Ted Kennedy seal of approval on a government program isn’t much of a selling point to anyone to the right of MoveOn.org. "

White House Seeks to Capture and Archive Citizens’ Comments on its Facebook, YouTube, MySpace Sites

CNS News "Anyone who posts comments on the White House’s Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter pages will have their statements captured and permanently archived by the federal government..."

Childhood Obesity Report Calls For Government Regulations to Limit Access to ‘Unhealthy’ Restaurant Chains

CNS News "When asked by CNSNews.com if regulating where restaurants can be built could harm communities by taking away jobs, committee members said the report presents “options” and that studies show that fast food restaurants are disproportionately located in low-income and minority neighborhoods."

Seller, beware: Feds cracking down on secondhand sales of some products

KC Star Even garage sales, apparently. Don't you love having government watching out for you?

Cut Costs Without Rationing Care By Putting Patient Back In Charge

Investors.com "Only two basic ways exist to cut costs: putting consumers in charge and letting them pursue value; putting the government in charge and letting it ration care. So, how do we put consumers back in charge? First, we need to reject the current bills in Congress, which would restrict consumer choice substantially. Then we need to empower consumers in three key ways..."

Yes, Harsh Interrogations Work

Rich Lowry= "Top terrorists were withholding information prior to the application of the toughest techniques, and were compliant afterward. Surely, their decision to talk didn’t result from a sudden fit of conscience. According to the report, KSM was “an accomplished resistor,” who provided mostly “outdated, inaccurate, or incomplete” information until he was waterboarded. Subsequently, he became the “most prolific” source of important leads."...."Years of bombast and distortion have nonetheless killed the enhanced-interrogation program. The Obama administration has put the CIA out of the interrogation business and will henceforth endeavor to limit itself to the minimalist methods in the Army Field Manual. Thus it enshrines an interrogation regime that wouldn’t have gotten KSM to cooperate so quickly, if at all. And turns its back on what worked."