Jennifer Lopez
J Lo - Doing it well. It is blowing up the charts. Sweet.
Entries Tagged as ''
Dow falls
I have said that this economy is designed for the rich to get richer. That’s not sound economics.
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From MSNBC:
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 360 points Friday — the anniversary of the Black Monday crash 20 years ago — as lackluster corporate earnings, renewed credit concerns and rising oil prices spooked investors.
The major stock market indexes turned in their worst week since July after Caterpillar Inc., one of the world’s largest construction equipment makers, soured investors mood Friday with a discouraging assessment of the U.S. economy. In a week dominated by mostly negative results from banks facing difficult credit markets and rising mortgage delinquencies, investors appeared surprised that an industrial name was feeling an economic pinch, too.
Reports from Honeywell International Inc. and 3M Co., themselves big industrial names, gave investors little incentive to take chances on the market. In one bright spot, Google Inc. reported stronger-than-expected profits, drawing a number of analyst upgrades. (more…)
HB - who should apologize
Frankly, I don’t think that anyone should apologize. We need to get over jumping on what people say. Whether it is Imus or President Bush or Representative Pete Stark (D - Ca.), actions speak louder than words. What are the actions? That is what President Bush has been allowed to get away with the past 6 years. Everyone is focusing on his words - Healthy Forests, Clear Skies, Iraqi Freedom. What has he done? Gutted the EPA. Tried to cut funding for every kind of social program from S-Chip to LIHEAP (Low income home energy assistance program). Tax cuts to Big Oil. Please why? For record profits? No bid contracts to Blackwater and Halliburton. All the while, the President talks about fiscal discipline. Let’s focus on actions.
It is great to see Stephanie Miller beat back this blow hard.
Finally, I hate this format. Like there are only 2 sides to an issue - Liberal and Conservative.
The Left In Germany & America
The Economist reported recently about problems facing Germany’s Social Democratic Party. This is the main center-left party of Germany. At current, the S.D.P is the junior partner in a grand coalition government led by Christian Democratic Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The threat rising against the S.D.P is the new Left Party. The Left Party is pulling away many working class voters who have long supported the S.D.P.
The appeal of the Left Party comes mostly from economic issues such as low pay, job security and retirement age. The party is strong where steel plants and coal mines have shut down.
In short, the Left Party does best where globalization has hit hardest.
The Left Party was formed in the former East Germany from the remnants of the former Communist Party. Despite those roots, The Economist cites a recent book maintaining that Left Party leaders are fully democratic.
Blacks have less intelligence
These are words that have been attributed to Nobel Prize winner Jim Watson. Dr. Watson who is 79 won the Nobel for his work on DNA. It is really kind of funny that he would comment on intelligence since he really didn’t discover DNA. He didn’t do any great experiment to show that DNA was a double helix. Instead, he and Crick took the findings of other scientists and put them together and then they came up with their conclusion. Many scientists were jealous or upset that Watson and Crick won the Nobel for interpreting other peoples work.
Well, this morning Watson is taking back his statement.
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From CNN.com:
Nobel laureate biologist Jim Watson apologized “unreservedly” Thursday for stating that black people were not as intelligent as whites, saying he was “mortified” by the comments attributed to him.
“I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said,” Watson said during an appearance at the Royal Society in London. [Read more →]
The Errington Thompson Show 9/08/07
I interview the wonderfully intelligent Rachel Maddow from Air America Radio.
Bhutto target of bombing
Benazir Bhutto has just arrived in Pakistan yesterday. She was greeted with thousands of well-wishers. She was also greeted with a bomb attack in spite of the fact that there were thousands of police for security. Bhutto has supported the US and has pledged to help the US kick Al Qaeda out of her country.
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From MSNBC:
A suicide bombing in a crowd welcoming former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed at least 123 people Thursday night, shattering her celebratory procession through Pakistan’s biggest city after eight years in exile.
Two explosions went off near a truck carrying Bhutto, but police and officials of her party said she was not injured and was hurried to her house. An Associated Press photo showed a dazed-looking Bhutto being helped away.
There were conflicting reports on the number of people killed in the blasts. The Associated Press, citing officials from six hospitals, reported 126 dead and 248 wounded. Reuters, citing witnesses and a police official, reported 123 killed and more than 260 injured. There was no way to immediately reconcile the difference, but these figures make the attack one of the deadliest bomb strikes in Pakistan’s history. (more…)
Dumbest Representative of the day
I hate calling people liars. I guess it is my upbringing. I’ll have to talk to my mother about that.
Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas wins today’s award. There is not one thing that he said about the S-Chip bill that was correct. So either he needs to fire his staff or he needs his mouth washed out with soap. Oh, BTW, S-Chip can NOT be used for non-citizens.
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From WaPo:
Q: How does the program work and who does it cover now?
A: The $5 billion-a-year program was created 10 years ago with the goal of covering children from families with annual incomes at or below about twice the poverty level, or $41,300 for a family of four. The target population is children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance on their own.
Currently, 18 states and the District of Columbia have eligibility levels above 200 percent of the poverty level. New Jersey is the highest at 350 percent. No other state is above 300 percent.
About 6.6 million children and 671,000 adults received health coverage through SCHIP in 2006, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
About 83 percent of those enrolled were children at or below 200 percent of the poverty level, and another 9 percent were low income adults, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The remaining 8 percent were children from families with incomes above twice the poverty level. (more…)
Dana Perino explains WWIII comment
Dana Perino. I’m not sure that someone who speaks as haltingly (is that a word??) as she does should be a press secretary but then again she is better than Scott McClellan. No, she didn’t say that the president’s comments were over the top but I wish she did because they were.
The famous Sands Hotel is imploded
The only reason that I have posted this video is the fact that I posted something on Joey Bishop’s death. The Rat Pack hung out at the Sands Hotel. That was over 40 years ago. I have been to Vegas several times in the last 5 - 7 years. The Sands was a dump compared to the Belliago, the Venetian and Mandalay Bay.
Update: Ops. I’m got my Sands Hotels mixed up. The clip below is the implosion of the Sand Hotel in Atlantic City. Sorry. Still it is a cool video.
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Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, fulltime sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
