Another great story out of Canada's universal health system!  "She Lay 5 Days on Stretcher in ER"

Mark Degasperis was furious his mother spent five days on a stretcher at Toronto Western Hospital waiting for a room with 25 patients ahead of her -- until the Toronto Sun made a call and she was suddenly moved to a room yesterday.

"They were giving us the same old song and dance why she was in the emergency department with only a sheet draped around her. I couldn't even call her because she didn't have a phone," Degasperis of Georgetown said.

Heather Degasperis, 60, has a dangerous bacterial condition and was sent by her doctor to Toronto Western because it has the experts for her condition.

"She is not well and wasn't able to sleep and she wasn't getting any better. She needed peace and quiet to sleep.

"This is a terrible environment. I suggested taking her to another hospital, but we were told there are long waits across the region and the doctors we need are here. So there was nothing we could do," Degasperis said yesterday.

"I'm angry we pay such high taxes and the more money we throw at the health care system the worse it gets. People shouldn't be lined up on stretchers in the emergency department. If you are sick you should get a room."

Coming soon to an American ER near you?

 A new study shows that Conservatives are happier than Liberals because we're able to "justify economic inequalities."

To justify economic inequalities, a person could support the idea of meritocracy, in which people supposedly move up their economic status in society based on hard work and good performance.

In that way, one's social class attainment, whether upper, middle or lower, would be perceived as totally fair and justified.

If your beliefs don't justify gaps in status, you could be left frustrated and disheartened, according to the researchers, Jaime Napier and John Jost of New York University.

I couldn't have said it better myself!  Apparently we're happier because we're not socialist! 

I realize this study was more intended to malign Conservatives by saying that we just don't care, but the truth is we do believe that, in America - the greatest land of opportunity mankind has ever known - people have a lot of control over their own destiny.  If you work hard, make responsible life decisions, and yes, even make sacrifices, then there's a good chance that you can improve your financial status.

If you're lazy, make poor lifestyle decisions, and seek every luxury right now with credit cards or an excessive mortgage, then it's not the job of government to insulate you from the consequences by taking more from those who have sacrificed and achieved and giving it to you.

Here's a nice little story about Duvall County in Florida, where 54% of their 10th graders couldn't read well enough to pass a standardized test.  Parents are pissed!

This Ribault High School sophomore - is about as quiet as a teenage girl can get. She barely speaks. But the tears streaming down her face say a lot.

"I am not going to be successful," says the 17 year old student.

She thinks that – because she can't read well enough to pass the 10th grade FCATS.

"I was sad. It made me feel like I'm dumb,” she says.

Her score is as low as it can get – a 1 out of a possible 5. All that says is she's at least two years behind in reading comprehension. If she can't catch up and pass the FCAT - she may not graduate high school. That's news to her grandmother Eunice – who's become guardian of her education.

"They were going to wait until we thought she was getting ready to march across the stage to tell us?" says Eunice.

[...]

"I want heads to roll. I want someone to be held accountable for what they have done to this child," says Eunice.

Uh, if your 17-year-old student can't read and you haven't even invested enough time in her education to know that before the tenth grade, then that's your own fault!  Yes, it's obviously an awful school district (open enrollment and vouchers anybody?), but the government can't even balance a budget... why in the world would you make them the sole trustee of your child's education?

Zogby is showing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) with a 14-point lead over rival Sen. HIllary Clinton (D-NY) in today's North Carolina presidential primary and with much slimmer (and surprising) two-point lead over her in Indiana.  Pollsters are never able to account for the Bradley Effect though, which is why I believe he'll only win N.C. by about nine points (state demographics strongly favor him) and she'll probably win Indiana by seven.

The DNC has placed a new attack add against presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz).  Not only does the add shamelessly show footage of American troops being killed in an IED attack in Iraq (which is why the add won't be shown here), but it is fundamentally dishonest as well.  They're claiming that John McCain wants 100 years of war in Iraq.  Here's what McCain actually said to a townhall meeting in New Hampshire on January 3, 2008:

Make it a hundred... We’ve been in Japan for 60 years. We’ve been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That would be fine with me, as long as American, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. It’s fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintained a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al Qaeda is training, recruiting and equipping and motivating people every single day.

"As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed?"  That doesn't sound like 100 years of war to me...

A Jordanian man who converted from Islam to Christianity is about to lose everything, including custody of his children, as punishment for his "apostasy."

ISTANBUL, April 24 (Compass Direct News) – On trial for converting from Islam to Christianity, a Jordanian man may lose legal custody of his children and have his marriage annulled if found guilty of “apostasy.” Mohammad Abbad, 40, fled Jordan last month after Muslims violently attacked him and his 10-year-old son in their home and his father sued him on charges of apostasy, or leaving Islam. “I can’t win this case as long as I insist that I converted from Islam to Christianity,” Abbad wrote from the safety of a nearby country. “The court will annul my marriage, I will be deprived of my kids, I will be with no ID or passport, and my properties will be confiscated,” said the father of two, referring to a previous Jordanian apostasy verdict. In a separate November 2004 ruling, an Amman Sharia Court headed by Judge Suleiman Abdullah Abu Yahya convicted a Muslim convert to Christianity of apostasy. Stripped of all his legal rights, the convert and his family fled Jordan to escape the verdict.

I don't know who at the Obama camp thought it would be a good idea to let Obama's controversial pastor/mentor Rev. Jeremiah Wright go on tour, but he's not helping his candidate any.  At Wright's appearances over the weekend, he is claiming that criticisms of his overtly racist and anti-American rhetoric are actually "an attack on the black church." 

In other words, if you object to him yelling "God damn America" from the pulpit, you're just a racist member of the "dominant culture" who's only out to smear black Christians everywhere!

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose post-Sept. 11 comments critical of America have raised questions about his relationship with Obama, has been on a multi-stop tour to restore his image and talk about his church. In addition to speaking at the National Press Club on Monday, he sat down for an interview with PBS's Bill Moyers in recent days.

"This is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright. This is an attack on the black church," said Wright, who cast his appearance as part of a two-day "symposium" on the black church.

[...]

Playing off the crowd's energy, Wright even suggested he would be interested in the vice presidency.

[...]

Wright also reasserted Monday that Obama was only disavowing his former pastor's comments for political reasons.

I'm sure Obama must be glad to know that his mentor of twenty years is running all over the country telling people that Barack actually does believe that controversial crap that Wright's been preaching but that he's only saying that he doesn't so that he can trick us into electing him, a raging radical, to the White House.  That's gotta be great news for his campaign.  Sure it's the same game he played with NAFTA, but the public isn't supposed to find out about these things!  (Don't you just love his "new brand of politics?"  We've never seen such overt double talk from politicians before!)

Wright has also announced that he will play an extremely influential role in an Obama administration (whether Barack likes it or not), and he continues to claim that his comments have been taken out of context.  But, like any liberal trying to play this smoke and mirrors game, refuses to explain the "proper" context that would make his comments acceptable.

A story in "The Independent" today reports that researchers are very pessimistic that an AIDS vaccine can be developed in the next decade, if at all:

Most scientists involved in Aids research believe that a vaccine against HIV is further away than ever and some have admitted that effective immunisation against the virus may never be possible, according to an unprecedented poll conducted by The Independent.

A mood of deep pessimism has spread among the international community of Aids scientists after the failure of a trial of a promising vaccine at the end of last year. It just was the latest in a series of setbacks in the 25-year struggle to develop an HIV vaccine.

This is by no means good news, but I have to say that an effective "vaccine" is already available.  It's called abstinence!  Two people who wait until marriage and then remain faithful to their spouse for life have virtually zero chance of contracting the disease.  Those who choose alternative, more promiscuous lifestyles take on significant risk of contracting any sexually transmitted disease, including HIV.

According to Democrats in Congress though, teaching such information to students would be a "huge waste of money." 

First, since when is anyone in Congress, Democrat or Republican, concerned about wasting money?  Is it less wasteful to spend billions more trying to find a vaccine for a disease that apparently doesn't have one?

When Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) questions the probable Democrat nominee Sen. Barack Obama's connections to an unrepentant domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers, his campaign only responds by attacking McCain for "smear politics," but does not refute the Illinois Senator's friendliness with Ayers.  He then went on to smear McCain for his positions on the economy and Iraq.  (Ironic?)

In fact, the only defense offered by Sen. Obama regarding his relationship with Ayers was during the recent debate in Pennsylvania:

“The fact is, is that I'm also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions. Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn's statements? Because I certainly don't agree with those either.”

I wonder if the American people will find Sen. Obama's association with a sitting United States Senator just as palatable as his friendship with Ayers; a man who told the New York Times in 2001, regarding his terrorist activities during the 1970's and '80's which took the lives of numerous police officers and civilians, "I don't regret setting bombs.  I feel we didn't do enough."

I'd say Obama needs to work on his moral equivalents.  Ayers is not a guy who simply made a controversial statement.  In fact, we're not concerned about his rhetoric at all!  Ayers blew up cops!

Last October, when presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) was asked why he does not wear an American flag pin on his lapel, Obama responded:

Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest.

Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism.

Well apparently keeping an overtly racist, anti-American pastor/mentor for twenty years and accusing rural Americans of being so "bitter" that they have to "cling to guns or religion," does not make for such a great "testimony" to his patriotism.

So ironically enough, Barack's lapel flag is back (Pennsylvania photo here), apparently a "substitute" for the "true patriotism" that his poor choice of company and elitist opinion of average Americans have proved he is lacking...

A Liberal New York Times columnist (please forgive my redundancy) believes that people will not mind paying so much in taxes if we simply start calling them "dues."

It’s time to take a page from the conservative playbook, the one where they reframe the debate by changing the language — for instance, calling the “estate tax” a “death tax,” or making equal rights for same-sex partners a “protection of marriage” issue. I propose we stop saying “taxes” and start calling them “dues.”

Yes, this is a little sneaky. Some conservatives may even call it Orwellian, and they ought to know. But the word “dues” also plays into the psychology of group identity, and that can work to the benefit of conservatives and liberals alike. Consider that “tax” comes from the Latin for “appraise” with punitive overtones of “censure” or “fault,” as if wage-earners have done something wrong by their labors. “Dues,” in contrast, is rooted in social obligation and duty.

Why are the Dems so intent on pushing nationalized healthcare when so few Americans want it?

Twenty-nine percent (29%) of American adults favor a national health insurance program overseen by the Federal Government. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 39% oppose such a government-led initiative while 31% are not sure.

The survey also found that 46% believe the quality of care would decrease under a national health insurance program while 16% believe that quality would increase. Twenty percent (20%) say the quality of care would remain about the same while 18% are not sure.

At the same time, 42% believe the cost of health care would increase while 25% would expect prices to go down.

While opposing a national program overseen by the federal government, Americans support requiring companies to provide health insurance for their employees. Sixty-three percent (63%) favor such a requirement while 24% are opposed.

Only over-sensitive Liberals could possibly find a way to tag a Hispanic woman who has endorsed a African-American man for president as racist toward blacks...

Moving to nip in the bud some potential bad press, White House hopeful Barack Obama's campaign persuaded a delegate to step down after she was ticketed for calling her neighbor's African-American children "monkeys."

Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, a Carpentersville village trustee, was elected as an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention. She sports an Obama sign in her front yard.

On Saturday, two neighbor children were playing in the tree next-door to her house.

Ramirez-Sliwinski "came outside and told the children to quit playing in the tree like monkeys. The tree was not on Ramirez-Sliwinski's property," Carpentersville Police Commander Michael Kilbourne said.

Ramirez-Sliwinski admitted she used the word "monkeys," but said she did not intend racism. She said she was only trying to protect them from falling out of the tree.

I can't say that I would agree with Ramirez-Sliwinski on most public policy issues, but I feel bad for her.  These are the kind of baseless accusations of racism that have been thrown at Republicans for years.

The real irony is that Obama would throw this woman under the bus for this but when his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was found to have said way worse during his twenty years as Obama's personal mentor, Barack only threw white grandmother under the bus.

What a joke...

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Boy... Muslims sure do get angry and violent when people accuse them of being... well... angry and violent.  They're already calling for the death of Dutch politician Geert Wilders for his fifteen-minute documentary "Fitna," which chronicles Islamic violence around the world...