Why don’t the health professionals who don’t believe in abortion go get jobs where it’s not an issue? What if I work in a liquor store but my religious beliefs are such that I don’t believe in drinking? Can I keep my job in the liquor store but not sell any liquor? What if I work at a car dealership as a sales person, but my religious beliefs are such that I don’t believe in motorized vehicles. Can I keep my job but not sell any cars? If these health professionals are so serious about their religious and moral beliefs, then why would they be working in an establishment that performs abortions to begin with?

The Bush administration Thursday proposed stronger job protections for doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions because of religious or moral objections.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said that health care professionals should not face retaliation from employers or from medical societies because they object to abortion.

“Freedom of conscience is not to be surrendered upon issuance of a medical degree,” said Leavitt. “This nation was built on a foundation of free speech. The first principle of free speech is protected conscience.”

The proposed rule, which applies to institutions receiving government money, would require as many as 584,000 employers ranging from major hospitals to doctors’ offices and nursing homes to certify in writing that they are complying with several federal laws that protect the conscience rights of health care workers. Violations could lead to a loss of government funding and legal action to recoup federal money already paid.

More at the AP

I know McCain’s wealth shouldn’t be an issue in the presidential race. But he has called Obama an elitist, runs around spewing his “my friends” crap and tries to act like he’s an average joe. He’s not…..he’s so not average Joe that he doesn’t even KNOW how many houses he has. Who’s the elitist?

From Politico:

Asked how many houses he owned, John McCain replied, “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

“I think — I’ll have my staff get to you,” McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. “It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you.”

The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, according to his staff. Newsweek estimated this summer that the couple owns at least seven properties.

In recent weeks, Democrats have stepped up their effort to caricature McCain as living an outlandishly rich lifestyle — a bit of payback to the GOP for portraying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as an elitist, and for turning the spotlight in 2004 on the five homes owned by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Yah, these wounded French troops are lying…….riiigggghhhhttt. Why can’t our military just tell the truth???? Shit happens…… just tell the truth.

The Pentagon said Wednesday it has no information that close US air support resulted in casualties among French troops ambushed by insurgents in Afghanistan.

The newspaper Le Monde reported that French troops wounded in the fighting said NATO air strikes missed their targets and hit French troops, as did shots fired by Afghan troops backing them up.

“We have no reports of any casualties caused by close air support,” said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. Asked whether French soldiers had been killed or wounded by friendly fire, he said there were “no reports of that.”

More at Yahoo News

RIP

A Cleveland Clinic spokeswoman says U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones has died.

The Clinic released a statement just before 7 p.m. which said the congresswoman’s condition since suffering a brain aneurysm and hemorrhage had declined throughougt the day. Rep. Tubbs Jones was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m.

More here

Are these people crazy? If they are truly democrats, why on earth would they even think of supporting McCain? I don’t think they are crazy. One of two things here…..I think there is a master plan here in play…..2012. OR……it’s the race thing. Otherwise, why would any democrat in their right mind (no pun intended) consider supporting McCain? What’s your take?

A brother of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and local Democrats who backed her unsuccessful presidential campaign socialized privately Monday with a top surrogate of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

The private gathering featured Carly Fiorina, Mr. McCain’s top economic adviser, and took place at the Dunmore home of political consultant Jamie Brazil, a longtime friend of Mrs. Clinton’s family who has signed on as paid national director of Mr. McCain’s Citizens for McCain Coalition.

The attendees included Tony Rodham, Mrs. Clinton’s youngest sibling, his wife, Megan, and their two children; attorney Kathleen Granahan Kane, who coordinated Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign in Northeast Pennsylvania during the primary election; and Virginia McGregor, sister of Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty.

With the Democratic National Convention less than a week away, the gathering raises questions about the support Illinois Sen. Barack Obama can expect from former local supporters of Mrs. Clinton, who dominated at the polls in the Northeast in the April primary election. Mrs. Clinton won 74 percent of Lackawanna County Democrats to Mr. Obama’s 26 percent.

Ms. Fiorina’s daylong local visit, part of a two-day bus tour of the state, was aimed at talking disenchanted former supporters of Mrs. Clinton into supporting Mr. McCain. The private gathering was not a fundraiser.

“I think there’s going to be a groundswell of support for McCain,” said Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola, a Republican and one of the people who attended. “I think a lot of Hillary supporters are going to be for McCain.”

More here

From NDTV:

A small airplane carrying three people, including two US Secret Service agents assigned to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, made a forced landing in Arizona, but no casualties were reported, authorities said.

The single-engine plane carried two agents believed to be scouting Havasu Canyon, the site of recent flooding, in advance of Thursday’s visit by Senator John McCain, officials said.

Ok, someone explain to me…… scouting Havasu Canyon? Do they think there’s a terrorist in the canyon lying in wait for McCain? Are they going to report back to McCain on the flooding? Would this be the job of secret service detail? Just asking……..

“A man from the west will fight over three things: water, women and gold, and usually in that order.” ~Barry Goldwater~ Looks like McI’mawarhero has pissed off Colorado.
This is from an email I received from Progress Now Action:

When Sen. John McCain came to Colorado last week, he proved one more time that he doesn’t understand Colorado or the issues we care about. To put it simply, he’s missing the boat on water.

Talking to the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper, McCain said the Colorado River Compact “obviously needs to be renegotiated.” (Pueblo Chieftain, Aug. 15) He wants to take water from Colorado to deliver more to his home state of Arizona.

Senator Ken Salazar wasted no time responding. “Over my dead body,” he said. What McCain proposed flies in the face of decades of hard-won negotiations, which resulted in an agreement reached just last year that protects Colorado’s water rights from exploding sprawl in downstream states like Arizona.

The Denver Post denounced McCain’s attack on Colorado’s water rights, saying “McCain’s comments were…not only political poison in Colorado, they displayed a disturbing ignorance of the realities of the West’s scarce water resources. To say Westerners are disappointed in McCain would be an understatement.” (Denver Post, Aug. 19)

IRAQ WANTS TO PUT TORTURERS ON TRIAL

WHY AREN’T THESE ADS ON THE AIR?

VP RUMOR WATCH

REFERENDUM ON TORTURE: DEBATE OVER ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGISTS IN MLITARY INTERROGATIONS

FBI TERROR RULES MUST BE DELAYED

CHEVRON ON TRIAL

IRAQ TO SIGN $1.2 BILLION DEAL WITH CHINA

THE GEORGIAN/RUSSIAN CONFLICT AND A RETURN TO IRAN

IRAQ ORDERS PROBE AFTER RAID ON GOVERNOR’S OFFICE

This needs to be addressed. Not just ANOTHER hearing…….people need to start paying for these deaths, and paying for covering them up.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

50,000 sign ColorOfChange.org Petition for Hearing into LaVena Johnson’s Death
Womens’ and veterans’ groups join campaign to urge US Rep. Henry Waxman to lead Congressional investigation into potential US Army coverup of rape-murders

Oakland, CA – Today, two prominent organizations serving women and veterans signaled their support for ColorOfChange.org’s petition calling on Congress to investigate the death of LaVena Johnson, a young female soldier who was raped and murdered while serving in Iraq. The petition has reached over 50,000 signatures and calls on the House Oversight Committee to lead a hearing into the cause of Pfc. Johnson’s death, and the Army’s handling of her case and others like it. The Army continues to maintain that LaVena Johnson’s death is a suicide, despite overwhelming physical evidence she was murdered. In cases like Pfc. Johnson’s, Congress has been slow to investigate or hold the military accountable.

“Private LaVena Johnson’s death is one in a disturbing pattern of cases where female soldiers have been raped and killed with the military either obscuring the truth or conveniently labeling the deaths ’suicides’,” said James Rucker, executive director of ColorOfChange.org. “Congress now faces pressure to act, with more than 50,000 ColorOfChange members joining the Johnson family as they call on Congress to hold the military accountable for these hidden tragedies.”

MomsRising.org and VoteVets.org both endorsed the ColorOfChange.org petition this week. MomsRising.org is a 140,000 member grassroots organization standing up for mothers and families. VoteVets.org is a 100,000-member, pro-military organization comprised of veterans, military family members, and supporters who are dedicated to getting veterans elected to public office.

LaVena Johnson’s death did not make sense as a suicide. Friends and family had been speaking with her regularly, and according to them she was happy—nothing indicated she could be suicidal. After two years of being denied answers and hearing explanations that made no sense, the Johnsons received a CD-ROM from someone inside the military.

(more…)

Albert Castiglia
“Bad Year Blues”

I love this guy…….