Subject: txt bdd vals lbrty reps edu -
In the wake of the dismissal of Green Jobs Czar Van Jones, another of the President's men has been attracting negative attention.
The President has chosen teacher and GLBT activist Kevin Jennings for advice and guidance on how best to foster a safe and drug-free environment for America's school children. Much has already been written about Jennings's controversial background, his troubling associations, his questionable ethics, and his obvious lack of qualification and suitability for the job of Safe Schools Czar.
With each passing day, it's becoming increasingly clear that the change the American people voted for is not the "change" President Obama envisions for our country. It remains to be seen, however, whether the American people are prepared to compromise their children's education in service of Mr. Obama's vision of the future....
[Appointments are policy. Another extreme one.]
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Thursday, October 22, 2009
Welcome to the Social Engineering
California Court Strikes Down Race-Based Scholarships
Subject: txt edu cali bbro =
Thirteen years after California amended the state constitution to bar the government from discriminating against or preferring individuals or groups in admissions, contracting, and hiring, on the basis of race and sex, courts still are eradicating discriminatory provisions from the code. Proposition 209 passed with 54 percent of the vote. Earlier this week, Sacramento Superior Court ruled part of the state health professional scholarship program unconstitutional.
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The Grating Communicator
The Grating Communicator
The Obama administration has attacked Fox News in order to prevent government corruption stories broken on Fox from bleeding into the other media, which are all-consumed with daily updates on Levi Johnston's Playgirl spread and Carrie Prejean's breast implants.
That's understandable. But I think the administration should have picked someone other than David Axelrod to deliver the claim that Fox News is "not really news," inasmuch as Axelrod was behind the leak of scurrilous allegations in Jack Ryan's sealed divorce papers when he was running for a Senate seat against Obama. Talk about vicious personal gossip.
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
POLL: Health Care Reform Support Continues to Diminish
Subject: txt 1st hcare -
Now that the Senate Finance Committee has passed its version of health care reform, 42% of voters nationwide favor the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s down two points from a week ago and down four from the week before.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that those oppossed has risen to fifty-four percent (54%), an all time high.
Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters say passage of the plan will make the cost of health care go up while 18% say it will make costs go down.
Just 36% of the nation’s senior citizens favor the current legislative effort while 59% are opposed. Support is highest among voters under 30, the age group least likely to use the nation’s health care system.
Public-Option 'Polling' Deceptive
[HT:SC]Subject: txt 1st hcare msm =
The Washington Post poll is the latest example of a "public poll" in the past 2–3 weeks that curiously shows a growing number of Americans supportive of the "public option." AP and Gallup were others.
This is agenda-driven polling.
The fact is: Asking an ignorant public about the "public option" is incomplete polling. It calls for a response to feel-good phraseology rather than a probing of underlying ideology...
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POLL: 32% Favor Single-Payer Health Care, 57% Oppose
Subject: txt hcare
Thirty-two percent (32%) of voters nationwide favor a single-payer health care system where the federal government provides coverage for everyone.
A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% are opposed to a single-payer plan. Fifty-two percent (52%) believe such a system would lead to a lower quality of care while 13% believe care would improve.
OBAMACARE'S TAX ON WORK
Subject: txt 1st hcare -
- CBO says a mid-level "silver" plan will cost about $14,700 in premiums, of which the family will pay $2,600 -- since the government would pay the other $12,100. If the family breadwinner (or breadwinners, because the subsidies are based on combined gross income) then gets a raise or works overtime and wages rise to $54,000, the subsidy drops to $9,900.
- That amounts to an implicit 34 percent tax on each additional dollar of income.
Or consider a single worker earning $20,600 and buying an individual "silver" policy with a premium at $5,000:
- Again according to CBO, if his income rises to $26,500, his subsidy plummets to $2,700 from $4,400 (including a cost-sharing subsidy that goes away).
- This is a 29 percent marginal tax; moving to other income levels yields increases in the neighborhood of 20 percent to 23 percent for both individuals and families.
- Jim Capretta, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, calculates that when combined with other policies like the Earned Income Tax Credit that also phase out, the effective marginal rate would rise to nearly 70 percent at twice the poverty level.
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JUST SAY NO: HEALTH CARE NULLIFICATION
Subject: txt 1st hcare -
No matter what the federal government winds up doing about health care, the people of Arizona will be able to vote in 2010 to retain their right to the health plan of their choice.
- In June the Arizona legislature voted to place the Arizona Health Freedom Act on the ballot for voter consideration.
- If the measure passes, a new constitutional amendment will protect Arizonans' right to spend their own money on any legal health care service and to opt out of any health care system imposed upon them.
Whether they would in practice have the right of exit from federal health care programs is a question that would be settled by the courts.
- State nullification of federal law has an awkward and difficult history, dating back to attempts by Kentucky and Virginia to ignore the Alien and Sedition Acts in the 1790s and South Carolina's unsuccessful efforts to ignore two federal tariffs in the 1830s.
- Still, the recent history of the Real ID Act, a homeland security measure that was scuttled by state resistance, suggests that if other states follow Arizona's lead, their coordinated action could prove fatal to national health mandates.
Christine Herrera, who tracks health care issues for the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, says similar bills are being considered in at least five more states...
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On Health Care...
Subject: txt 1st hcare - Sarah Palin on health care
Sarah Palin posted on Facebook her thoughts on health care. She called Obamacare good intentions.
We know what is paved by good intentions - and Americans better take charge of the scharade taking place in Washington or we'll be where it leads sooner than we think... [snip]
She pointed out how the bill will raise premiums, making health care less affordable. Here is another way. She also pointed out President Obama’s track record on legislation, as in the $787 billion stimulus.
I like her idea of actually working with the insurers on a solution instead of ordering them about.
Here’s a novel idea. Instead of working contrary to the free market, let’s embrace the free market. Instead of going to war with certain private sector companies, let’s embrace real private-sector competition and allow consumers to purchase plans across state lines. Instead of taxing the so-called “Cadillac” plans that people get through their employers, let’s give individuals who purchase their own health care the same tax benefits we currently give employer-provided health care recipients. Instead of crippling Medicare, let’s reform it by providing recipients with vouchers so that they can purchase their own coverage.
These ideas have real support from a full spectrum of industry and consumer experts:
- [1] See http://tinyurl.com/yjs3mgf
- [2] See http://tinyurl.com/yfuw3k3
- [3] See http://tinyurl.com/yfxq8ca
- [4] See http://tinyurl.com/ykefsk6
- [5] See http://tinyurl.com/ygf42fj
- [6] See http://tinyurl.com/ykefsk6
- [7] See http://tinyurl.com/lkvgsp
- [8] See http://tinyurl.com/nx4nh6
- [9] See ibid.
- [10] See http://tinyurl.com/yhhr56v
- [11] See ibid.
- [12] See http://tinyurl.com/yhzhkvg and http://tinyurl.com/lhyr9o
- [13] See http://tinyurl.com/yksd6h3
- [14] See http://tinyurl.com/yl9gg27
- [15] See http://tinyurl.com/yknpxd6
- [16] See http://tinyurl.com/d2k5hb
- [17] See http://tinyurl.com/yf8qmfh
Now is the time to make your voices heard before it’s too late. If we don’t fight for the market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven reform plan that we deserve, we’ll be left with the disastrous unintended consequences of the plans currently being cooked up in Washington.
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Afghan Delay Emboldens Our Enemies
[HT:DF]Subject: txt gwot -
Washington - Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn told CBS News that President Obama should move forward on U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan without waiting to see if Hamid Karzai wins another term as that country's president.
The senator even went as far to say that Mr. Obama's deliberations might have the effect of ''emboldening our enemies.'...
[May?]
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As the Commander in Chief Deliberates, Frustration Builds Within the Ranks
Subject: txt gwot -
... But now, after nearly a month of 'deliberations' by Mr. Obama over whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan, frustrations and anxiety are on the rise within the military.
A number of active duty and retired senior officers say there is concern that the president is moving too slowly, is revisiting a war strategy he announced in March and is unduly influenced by political advisers in the Situation Room.
Last week the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., gave voice to the concerns of those in the military when he issued a terse statement criticizing Mr. Obama’s review of Afghan war strategy.
“The extremists are sensing weakness and indecision within the U.S. government, which plays into their hands,”
Another source of tension within the military is the view that a delay is endangering the 68,000 American troops now in Afghanistan.
“McChrystal has troops out there who are risking their lives more than they need to, partly because we have not filled in the gaps and we have not created a safe zone in southern and eastern Afghanistan,”
said Michael O’Hanlon, a national security expert at the Brookings Institution.
[Yes that {ultra-liberal} Brookings Institution.]
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76 days since request for more troops, Obama accused of stalling
Subject: txt gwot -
[HT:Ldot:
Five war councils so far and nothing expected until November. That's stalling.
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Female suicide bomber launches deadly attack in Chechnya
Subject: txt gwot islm -
A female suicide bomber blew herself up on Wednesday in an attack on a police car in the main street of Chechnya's capital Grozny. News agencies reported that six people were wounded. '
'The woman went up to a traffic police car in which there were several people and detonated her explosives,'' Chechnya's deputy health minister Rukman Bartiyev told the ITAR-TASS news agency...
[GWOT]
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Republicans Call for CAIR Investigations
Subject: txt islm -
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a U.S. non-profit Muslim activist group associated with Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, is reeling under new allegations of highly suspect activity.
In a big presser Reps. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) yesterday asked federal officials to investigate the actions and non-profit status of the controversial group. The allegations are based on work done by veteran federal investigator and counter-terrorism specialist Paul David Gaubatz. The information was obtained during a six-month undercover sting investigation and 12,000 pages of documentation including CAIR internal memos and emails.
“It’s frightening to think that an organization with clear-cut ties to terrorism could have a hand in influencing policy -- especially national security policy -- within our government,” ... “The investigations that we’re asking for are simple, and I’m hopeful that they will bring to light any and all information regarding the goals of CAIR.”
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Who is Keith Ellison and why should we CAIR?
Subject: txt islm -
On September 18, Rep. Keith Ellison spoke at the annual fundraising dinner for the Arizona chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).
He did so even though, as the American Islamic Forum for Democracy notes, the FBI has broken all formal relations with CAIR because it is listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial.
The Holy Land Foundation and five of its board members were found guilty on November 24, 2008 of illegally funneling more than $12 million to terrorist organizations.
The trial raised significant concerns for the FBI about CAIR's connections to Hamas, which is a designated terrorist organization by the United States Department of State.
In short, Keith Ellison is helping to raise money for an Islamist organization with ties to terrorist organization.
Three members of Congress from Arizona -- Sen. John Kyl, Rep. Trent Franks, and Rep. John Shedegg -- wrote a letter to Ellison urging him to reconsider his decision to speak to the Arizona chapter of CAIR.
Ellison went ahead with the speech anyway...
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Europe's angst over Afghanistan
Subject: txt gwot - intl -
As the president and his National Security Council privately debate whether to send tens of thousands of troops to war, America's European allies watch with a mixture of anxiety and anguish. They know that if the deployment goes forward, they will be asked to make their own difficult and politically costly contributions of soldiers or other personnel. But they are, if anything, even more worried that the American president will choose a feckless strategy for what they consider a critical mission. And they are frustrated that they must watch and wait -- and wait and wait -- for the president to make up his mind.
"Everyone is waiting for what is going to be decided in the Oval Office, without having any chance to have our say," moans a senior commander in one European army.
No, Norwegian Nobel Committee, this is not George W. Bush but Barack Obama, the president lionized for favoring harmonious collaboration with the rest of the world. It's fair to say that Obama has tried harder than Bush to coordinate policy with U.S. allies. But his deliberations on Afghanistan are demonstrating how some fundamentals of being a superpower never really change.
For example, when you're supplying 70 percent [+] of the troops for a war and doing 90 percent [++] of the fighting, your 'allies' may just have to cool their heels while you decide whether to escalate, hold steady or blow up your strategy...
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New FCC Chairman Targets internet
Subject: txt bbro sclm lbrty bdd action -
Instead of managing traffic in response to market forces, ISPs would be forced to cede such decisions to the FCC, which would decide which practices are "fair" and "reasonable" on a "case-by-case basis." [snip]
The FCC has proven either unwilling or unable to competently regulate its current spheres of influence. The United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit provided Exhibit A in an August decision that can be described only as a public embarrassment.
The court vacated the FCC's longstanding rule limiting a single cable company to no more than 30 percent of the market's overall premium television service. The judges -- who recognized the rise of satellite and fiber-optic TV delivery into the market, even if the commission remained willingly blind -- called the rule "arbitrary and capricious."
It takes quite a dose of hubris to propose micromanaging an even more vibrant Internet industry in the wake of that humiliation, and profoundly foolish to replace the swift judgment of millions of consumers with the dictates of a handful of slow-footed, uninformed, unaccountable bureaucrats.
Undeterred, however, Genachowski said Monday the FCC intends to do just that...
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EU ministers agree to wind down stimulus spending
Subject: txt intl mny -
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TIME FOR A TARP EXIT STRATEGY
[HT:MG]
Shutting down the Troubled Asset Relief Program would ensure that we don't risk losing more taxpayer dollars
Our financial markets are no longer in free fall and the crisis has receded, so it is time to bring an end to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) emergency measures and come up with an exit strategy to get government out of the business of running businesses.
The Treasury secretary has the authority to either allow the program to expire at the end of this year or extend it into next fall. Ending TARP this year is a vital first step to getting the federal government out of these expensive and risky entanglements in private industry:
- The latest report by the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel found that approximately $330 billion of the $700 billion limit is currently untapped.
- Allowing TARP to end this year and cancelling that remaining $330 billion would remove the inevitable temptation to spend it.
- With a budget shortfall expected to hit a record $1.6 trillion this year and a staggering $9 trillion over the next 10 years, we should be looking for every possible way to reduce the risk we are taking on behalf of taxpayers.
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Sir Christopher Monckton: Copenhagen treaty eviscerates U.S. sovereignty
Subject: txt grn intl owg -
Sir Christopher Monckton is a global warming skeptic. Former Vice President and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore has for years refused to accept Monckton's repeated challenge to a public debate on global warming.
He's also a very close reader of the proposed UN Climate Change Treaty President Obama is expected to sign along with other world leaders in Copenhagen in a few weeks. Monckton says that 200-page treaty cedes U.S. sovereignity to the UN, mandates a massive transfer of wealth from the U.S. and Europe to pay our "Climate Debt" to the Third World, and creates a new enforcement mechanism to make it all happen.
Is Monckton right? I don't know because I haven't yet read the treaty (But I soon will be). Here's his warning about the Copenhagen Treaty, and here's the draft text of the treaty. Judge for yourself.
[Recommended > ]
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Junk climate science a cover for fanatics
THE world has only five years to implement a destructive low-carbon economy or the planet will hit a “point of no return”, we were warned yesterday.
But the report, by Climate Risk, for the World Wildlife Foundation, did not admit that even if we start destroying our economies, the nations of the world will continue to develop, the poor will become richer, and there’s every chance that the world will continue to cool as it has for the past 11 years.
Another day, another doom-laden forecast about the future of the planet. Prepared, as always, by an organisation locked into the theoretical human-induced global climate change business.
The targets of this latest panic remain those who are easily scared and who don’t want to do any reading of the science for themselves....
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TIME FOR INACTION ON GLOBAL WARMING
Subject: txt grn -
The new Boxer-Kerry Senate bill would require a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions - by 2020 [we're at 2010]. According to Steven Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute:
- A 20 percent reduction would mean cutting America's greenhouse gas emissions to our 1977 levels, and that would radically change both the U.S. economy and our personal lives.
- We had 220 million people in America then; today we have 305 million.
- In 1977 our economy produced $7.2 trillion (in 2008 dollars); today it is twice as large, at $14.2 trillion.
- Back then we had 145 million vehicles on the road; today we have 251 million.
America has substantially grown, and our energy needs have grown as well. So what would we have to do get back to 1977 emission levels and meet the Boxer-Kerry requirement?
First, car and truck miles traveled would have to be reduced by one-third, which would seriously reduce travel and transportation, and likely force changes in automobile design that consumers would not like.
Next, the amount of coal burned to generate electricity would have to be cut in half:
- So we would close more than 200 of our coal-fired power plants, and as Hayward says that would reduce our electricity supply by some 800 million megawatts.
- To replace those millions of megawatts with non-hydro renewable power sources like wind, solar and geothermal power would be virtually impossible.
- We have about 130,000 megawatts generated by them now, and the growth rate of these power sources over the last five years suggests it would take 97 years to make up for the shutdown of 200 coal-fired plants.
Boxer-Kerry would have no impact on reducing global warming but would significantly depress our economy. It would, however, succeed in expanding the control government has over the American economy, businesses and individuals...
[Which was its true intent all along.]
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White House Crosses the Line
Subject: txt msm bias crpt lbrty reps libs -
Every White House complains about its press coverage. A contentious relationship between the Executive Branch and a free and independent media is part of America's DNA. Always has been.
But this White House seems to feel they're different.
It's not just that the current occupant of the Oval Office has a particularly thin skin when it comes to criticism - which is especially ironic given that he's been the recipient of more glowing press coverage than possibly any candidate or president in modern American history. But not since Nixon conjured up an "enemies list" have we seen the full weight of the Office of the Presidency brought to bear in such a targeted and deliberate effort to delegitimize a media organization critical of the President.
It's actually quite brazen when you think about it.
The two most senior members of the Obama White House - men who control all the information and access to the Executive Branch, the lifeblood of most news organizations - went on national television and suggested that ABC, CNN and other networks follow the White House's lead and join in its war to marginalize a competitor because it takes a "perspective" that displeases the President.
Most Americans of all political stripes don't want to see the President using the majesty and power of his office for heavy handed attacks on any organization simply because it has been critical of the President.
This White House's strategy may be the Chicago way, but it isn't the American way.
[Despite many pundits saying how foolish such a feud is, I wonder. The real message they're sending isn't to Fox - but all the other nets that, eventually, will have to come clean for business reasons and largely emulate Fox by default.
And that's what this administration can't afford - so they're sending the signal: dissenters will be punished, it's in your interest not to become one.
Scary, insulting stuff - but likely to work on the other outlets.]
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White House Cites Opinion Shows as Basis for FOX News Complaints
Subject: txt msm bias crpt reps libs lbrty -
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday pointed to two top-rated opinion shows on Fox News as the reason why the Obama administration has castigated the network as an illegitimate news organization
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Jake Tapper takes on the White House
Subject: txt msm bias gdd crpt reps libs -
Jake Tapper — like Brit Hume and Sam Donaldson before him as ABC News White House correspondents — is holding the administration’s little feet to the big fire.
Today’s exchange with Robert Gibbs, presidential spokesman:
Tapper: It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one –
(Crosstalk)
Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage.
Tapper: But that’s a pretty sweeping declaration that they are “not a news organization.” How are they any different from, say –
Gibbs: ABC -
Tapper: ABC. MSNBC. Univision. I mean how are they any different?
Gibbs: You and I should watch sometime around 9 o’clock [O'Reilly Report] tonight. Or 5 o’clock [Glenn Beck] this afternoon. [Both opinion shows, airing across MSNBCs Olberman and Maddow - not mentioned]
Tapper: I’m not talking about their opinion programming or issues you have with certain reports. I’m talking about saying thousands of individuals who work for a media organization, do not work for a “news organization” — why is that appropriate for the White House to say?
Gibbs: That’s our opinion.
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Unlike Nixon, Obama's Media Attacks Generate Little Press Anger
Subject: txt msm bias lbrty - 
Pundits have wondered aloud since last week why the White House would pursue a strategy that seems to be boosting the ratings of a purported 'opposition' news network. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough posited today that the White House's attacks on Fox News are designed to prevent the mainstream media from picking up on stories damaging to the administration (video embedded below the fold, h/t to NB reader Kirk W.).
Every time Fox breaks a story on the radical connections of a White House advisor or appointee, the news is potentially damaging to the administration. But damage is only really done if the rest of the media picks up on the story, reports it, and turns it into a national news sensation, a la Van Jones...
[Exactly.]
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MoveOn.org Asks Democrats To Stay Off Fox News
Subject: txt bdd vals libs msm bias crpt -
"Democrats should support President Obama's effort to boycott FOX. Please stay off FOX for as long as he does."So reads a petition created and disseminated by MoveOn.org Tuesday.
I kid you not. Full text of this abomination is below...
[The new definition of 'discourse' in the age of Obama.]
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Monday, October 19, 2009
Look in the mirror, Mr. President
Subject: txt 1st hcare crpt reps li- 
"It's smoke and mirrors," ... "It's bogus, and it's all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say take one of these and call us in a decade. Well not this time."In view of these facts [provided in piece], it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that Obama's campaign promises were just so much ... smoke and mirrors. Not only were Obama's bullying remarks Saturday harsh and hypocritical, they also sounded desperate, shrill and divisive. Not what one expects from a president promising bipartisan reform.
[Ah but that was in 'campaign mode' were told, which enlightened, nuanced folk realize doesn't really count.]
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$1T reform for 5%
Subject: txt 1st hcare immig -
THE health-care-reform debate is plagued by different num bers on how many Ameri cans lack health insurance, but we actually have excellent data on the question: Ninety percent of Americans are insured, according to the Census -- and even the president more or less concurs.
The Census is the source for the much-cited figure of 46 million uninsured. Yet the very same table plainly indicates that 9 million of those are not US citizens. That leaves 37 million uninsured who are Americans.
But there's more. In the same document, the Census also plainly states that "health-insurance coverage is underreported" in its survey. When it cross-checked its survey results with the official Medicaid rolls, it found that 16.9 percent of those on Medicaid had claimed on their Census forms that they were uninsured. That 16.9 percent amounts to 9 million people.
So the actual tally, according to the most authoritative source we have, is just 28 million uninsured citizens.
So, who are the 28 million uninsured? The president suggests they're all people "who cannot get coverage." But the Census tallies suggest otherwise.
Many of the uninsured are young. Except in states like New York that have made it illegal for insurance companies to offer lower rates to younger, healthier people, these Americans can get insurance cheaply -- but many choose not to. That may be problematic, but it doesn't suggest that they "cannot get coverage."
Then, too, the Census tells us that 47 percent of the uninsured (citizens or not) make over $50,000 a year. Since the median American family income is $50,740, this means that nearly half of those who are uninsured make more than most American families.
None of this is to deny the high costs of health care -- which are often a key reason federal health programs are already by far the biggest contributor to the deficit. But it brings us to a simple but largely ignored truth:
Only 5 percent of Americans are uninsured and making less than the median income. (And many among that 5 percent are already eligible for government programs).
For comparison, the Congressional Budget Office says that 6 percent of Americans would remain uninsured after 10 years under the bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee, which would spend nearly a trillion dollars, impose new taxes and fines of more than half a trillion and cut $400 billion-plus from Medicare and related programs -- while raising taxes and spending by more than three times as much in its second decade...
[Its never had anything to do with health 'care'.]
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POLL: Most Insured Americans Say They’d Have to Switch Coverage if Health Care Reform Passes
ubject: txt 1st hcare -
Despite assurances from the president and congressional Democrats who authored the bill that no one with insurance will be forced to change their current coverage, 52% of those with insurance say it’s likely they will have to change coverage following passage of the congressional health care reform proposal.
The current numbers include 31% who say it is Very Likely that they would be forced to change their coverage while only 18% say it’s Not at All Likely. Most Republicans and unaffiliated voters say it’s likely they would have to change plans. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of those in the president’s party agree.
That’s part of the reason that just 43% of all voters currently favor the president’s plan and 53% are opposed. Those who oppose the plan feel more strongly about it than those who favor it.
Destruction Of Healthcare Delivery System Underway
Subject: txt 1st hcare - 
"But if you haven’t figured out by now that Mr. Obama’s a habitual liar, you haven’t been paying attention."
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Small Group Now Leads Closed Negotiations on Health-Care Bill
Subject: txt 1st hcare -
Three months before he was elected president, Barack Obama vowed not only to reform health care but also to pass the legislation in an unprecedented way.
"I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table,"... the discussions would be "televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies."
But now, as a Senate vote on health-care legislation nears, those negotiations are occurring in a setting that is anything but revolutionary in Washington: Three senators, count 'em, are working on the bill - behind closed doors...
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America Apologizes for its Own Existence
Subject: txt 1st bdd vals sclm -
Last week was Columbus Day, once considered a major event, the holiday has been undergoing a decline in recent years. Columbus Day parades have met with protests and some have been deemphasized or outright eliminated.
In California, Columbus Day become Indigenous People’s Day, which sounds vaguely like a Marxist terrorist group’s holiday. But while it’s tempting to put that down to California’s political nuttiness, in South Dakota, Columbus Day became Native American Day, and that is a trend that other states are likely to follow, as protests mounted under the aegis of La Raza (The Race) continue to grow.
And while none have thus far followed Venezuela’s lead in renaming it DÃa de la Resistencia IndÃgena, or Day of Indigenous Resistance, which indeed is a Marxist terrorist group’s holiday, the whole notion of celebrating the discovery of America has come to be seen as somehow shameful and worst of all, politically incorrect...
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[Only for some...]
Most Think Columbus Deserves Holiday
Subject: txt 1st -
Some historians paint a dark picture of Christopher Columbus these days, and nearly a quarter (24%) of adults now don't think America should honor him with a national holiday.
Fifty-eight percent (58%) disagree and say Columbus should be honored with a holiday. Seventeen percent (17%) are undecided.
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republicans favor continuance of Columbus Day, compared to 52% of Democrats and 54% of adults not affiliated with either party. Democrats are nearly twice as likely as Republicans to think Columbus should not be honored.
Sixty-one percent (61%) of whites say Columbus deserves a holiday, a view shared by just 50% of African-Americans and 51% of those in other racial categories.
Perhaps surprisingly, younger Americans are more supportive of the famous Italian explorer than their elders. Seventy-two percent (72%) of both men and women under 40 believe Columbus should be honored with a holiday. Only 57% of men over 40 and 53% of women over 40 agree.
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Revolutionary Guard commanders killed in Iran bomb
Subject: txt gwot heroes -
The region in Iran's southeast has been the focus of violent attacks by Jundallah, which has waged a low-level insurgency in recent years. The group accuses Iran's Shiite-dominated government of persecution and has carried out attacks against the Revolutionary Guard and Shiite targets in the southeast.
Despite Iran's claims of an al-Qaida link, Chris Zambelis, a Washington-based risk management consultant who has studied Jundallah, said in a recent article that there is no evidence al-Qaida is supporting the group. He does note, however, that the group has begun to use the kinds of suicide bombings associated with the global terror network.
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Iran blames U.S. and U.K. for suicide attack, vows revenge
Subject: txt gwot - intl -
The Iranian armed forces have accused the United States and Britain of involvement in a suicide bombing that targeted the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guard on Sunday, and warned of revenge. The headquarters of the armed forces blamed the bombing on ''terrorists'' backed by ''the Great Satan America and its ally Britain''. ''Not in the distant future we (Iran) will take revenge"...
[Seems to me that, if we're going to get blamed for it anyway, ...]
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Explaining terrorism to a Nobel laureate
Subject: txt gwot libs edu -
The world finally has a definitive answer to the age-old question about whether intelligence is the same thing as common sense. That answer, in case you've ever wondered, is a conclusive "no."
Last week Israel Army Radio interviewed Dr. Ada Yonath, professor of structural biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science, on her selection for a Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Dr. Yonath, who uses high powered x-rays to map locations of things I can neither spell, pronounce, nor use in a sentence, is the first Israeli woman ever to win the Nobel in any category... [snip]
...when the topic turned to 'Palestinian' prisoners and Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit, Dr. Yonath reportedly said the following:
"It's not clear to me why we're holding these Palestinian terrorists, instead of releasing everybody who is [in our jails] from the outset, without any connection to a deal for Shalit. I do not understand why he is there."
Well, that's pretty simple. Staff Sergeant Shalit is there because he was taken hostage while serving his country. His kidnappers, members of various terror gangs, are the sons of foreigners once given refuge by that same country.
Perhaps Dr. Yonath should ask them why he is there.
I have watched for some clarification by Dr. Yonath, or some protestation that her words were taken out of context, but so far nothing like that has been forthcoming...
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[Why some of us so frequently use terms such as 'insular' {ok, sometimes 'liberal'} delusion. Or as recently put another way...
Beware of Ideological Teamism
"Ideological teamism" refers to people's desire to belong to a team representing that they want to believe, which corrupts their judgment in determining what to believe... "or, put in its most basic:
"If Arabs laid down their arms there'd be no war. If Israel laid down its arms, there'd be no Israel."Council ef ex-Muslims
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Played By Putin
Subject: txt intl russia - gwot nsec -
If only the world matched President Obama’s rosy image of it. Perhaps then pre-emptive concessions to other nations, in the hope of prompting reciprocation, might make sense.
Alas, the world doesn’t work that way.
And nothing demonstrates this more than Moscow’s increasingly problematic position on Iran, despite the White House’s “goodwill”...
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Russia Rejects Our Reset Button in Favor of Theirs
Subject: txt intl -
From the moment the use of the term “reset” as a synonym for do-over, start-over, or make-over, entered the political vocabulary – inserted by none other than that wonderful wordsmith, Vice President Joe Biden – it has been applied foremost to our relationship with Russia. But as a recent, probable reluctantly chosen, headline in the Washington Post indicated, a reset button can often create an error message.
“Russia Not Budging on Iran Sanctions: Clinton Unable to Sway Counterpart,”
was how the largely pro-administration paper put it. [snip]
The message of danger is never a comfortable one to deliver or receive, but without it we may find ourselves with no real comfort zone at all.
I say let’s forget about this whole reset button nonsense. Frankly, what some in Washington should actually be concerned about is an eject button. It is shaped like a lever and every voting booth in the country will be equipped with one over the next few Novembers...
[Alas, nearly half of this country still gets its 'news' from TV...]
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Whipped for wearing a 'deceptive' bra
Subject: txt islm - :
A hardline Islamist group in Somalia has begun publicly whipping women for wearing bras that they claim violate Islam as they are 'deceptive'. The insurgent group Al Shabaab has sent gunmen into the streets of Mogadishu to round up any women who appear to have a firm bust, residents claimed yesterday.
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e-reformation: Internet Vital to Reforming Islam
Subject: txt islm gdd -
First, many Muslims can now express their opinions about religious issues without fear for their lives. They can simply critique the traditional teaching and provide alternative interpretations anonymously and remotely without fear on the Internet. This encouraged many reformers to speak out and forced the recipients of their views to listen without being able to harm them physically.
The Internet basically changed the ‘war within Islam’ from a physical one (where the reformer could be killed) to an intellectual one where reformers are relatively safe and able to continue their mission. This option was not available before the Internet era when reformers were physically threatened. In fact, the reformers can now communicate together to become more powerful and even find a larger audience.
Second, the Internet has allowed an exchange of ideas with the non-Muslim world as well. This has enriched the thinking process in Muslim communities and bypassed the barriers that have been created by the radicals to prevent such exposure. Now Muslims can listen to different views and ideas from other parts of the world... [snip]
The Internet can certainly be used by the radicals to promote radical views. However, the net outcome of using the Internet is more likely to be positive than negative as it overcomes most, if not all, of the obstacles of reformation in Islam that existed. Using the Internet to promote reformation and modernity within Islam rather than extremism is our next challenge and goal to modernize the Muslim world.
This form of e-reformation can change the future of our world and can determine the future of Islam...
[Provided pro democracy folk aren't cowed into silence by political correctness. I.e., we too need speak up.]
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Uribe faces ‘crossroads of soul’
Subject: txt intl trade -
Alváro Uribe sweeps in and apologises for keeping his visitors waiting for four hours. “If you’d seen my schedule since 6.30 this morning, you would forgive me,” says the 57-year-old Colombian president. Mr Uribe, a dapper, silver-haired man who has survived 19 assassination attempts, has just finished emergency talks with his economic team. Venezuela, a troublesome neighbour, has tightened restrictions on Colombian food imports, while the soaring peso is squeezing exports.
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[And still no trade agreement with the US.]
FLASHBACK >
Colombia’s Uribe, Canada’s Harper to Sign Free Trade AgreementPresident George W. Bush made approving a free trade agreement with Colombia, a top ally in the fight against drugs, a priority before leaving office in January. U.S. President Barack Obama, voicing Colombia’s human-rights record raised by labor unions, opposes the agreement...
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EU Grabs Korea Trade Pact That Was Ours
Subject: txt trade -
Free Trade: Europe just walked off with the second-biggest trade deal in history with South Korea, bringing a fresh $26 billion to both economies and extending their clout globally. It's a prize that could have been ours. Welcome to the new America, the land of the left behind. As the Obama administration dithers for the eighth straight month about three pending free-trade treaties, those dust clouds you see are Europe taking off and running
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Pleasing China, at Dalai Lama’s expense
Subject: txt intl -
President Obama was too quick to please China’s leaders when he recently put off meeting with the Dalai Lama. The spiritual leader of the long-oppressed Tibetan people was visiting Washington, but Obama said he did not want to meet with the exiled monk until after meeting President Hu Jintao of China next month.
Obama’s consideration for foreign leaders’ sensibilities can be a virtue, but in this case the president showed China’s leaders and Tibetans alike that he is more susceptible than recent predecessors of both parties to pressure from Beijing. The informal chats presidents Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush held in the White House with the Dalai Lama had no adverse effects on US-China relations.
Obama should be using his persuasive powers to convince China’s leaders that their interest would be best served if they granted cultural autonomy and religious freedom to Tibetans...
[Again and again, the 'new' US sides with tyranny. How very european.]
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U.S. can't afford pay for no work
Subject: txt bbro bdd mny hcare -
Can you detect the pattern? About 15,000 postal workers, including (so far) more than a dozen in Waterbury, will spend at least part of some or all of their shifts this year in "standby rooms," where they will collect their paychecks but will be prohibited from earning them.
The cost to the Postal Service of paying 7 percent of its work force to do nothing will exceed $50 million this year...
[This is government. Health care anyone?]
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"Pay Czar?!"
Subject: txt sclm bbro mny -
The Obama administration's "pay czar" has demanded that Ken Lewis, Chairman of the Board of Bank of America, work for free. The "czar," Kenneth Feinberg, pressured Lewis not only to forgo all remaining compensation for 2009, but to repay the $1 million he has already received this year.
Lewis acquiesced...
[And that's part of the problem. Like all aspects of contemporary American society, our 'captains' of industry are completely devoid of testicular fortitude. The government works for them, not the other way around {unless we allow it}.
Sheep will be sheared.]
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NBC's 'Today' Includes Michael Moore as Expert to Attack Wall Street Bonuses
Subject: txt mny msm bias fnn bdd -
[What bias?]
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Obama team makes it official: Budget deficit hits record. By a lot.
Subject: txt mny -
The Obama administration has released new deficit numbers, and they are not pretty. The deficit for Fiscal Year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, came in at a record $1.42 trillion, more than triple the record set just last year. In addition, future deficits are currently projected to total $9.1 trillion in the coming decade...
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US budget deficit hit a record $1,400bn
Subject: txt mny -
The US budget deficit hit a record $1,400bn in the last fiscal year as the government tried to spend its way out of recession - more than three times that of 2008.
[Maybe that's the way we should get in the habit of portraying it: One THOUSAND four hundred BILLION dollars. Think about that. In a year.]
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CO2 driven global warming is not supported by the data
Subject: txt grn -
CO2 -- many seek to regulate it, legislate it, tax it, capture it, sequester it, cap it, trade it or otherwise control it. And they who do would have us risk nothing less than worldwide economic destruction based on the theory that not doing so will inevitably lead to catastrophic global warming.
But one need only study the past two centuries of climate history to conclude that CO2 simply does not drive global warming.... [snip]
The above plot clearly shows the following shifts in mean global temperatures:
Global cooling by 0.71 deg C from 1878 to 1911, for 33 years.
Global warming by 0.53 deg C from 1911 to 1944, for 33 years.
Global cooling by 0.48 deg C from 1944 to 1976, for 32 years.
Global warming by 0.67 deg C from 1976 to 1998, for 22 years.
In addition to the data above that show cooling and warming phases of mean global temperature anomalies, there exist supporting documents that describe the climate of those periods in the media:
For the global cooling from 1878 to 1911, the headline in The New York Times on 24-Feb-1895 was PROSPECTS OF ANOTHER GLACIAL PERIOD.[snip]
For the global warming from 1911 to 1944, the headline in The New York Times on 15-May-1932 was Melting Polar Ice Caps to Raise the Level of Seas and Flood the Continents
For the global cooling from 1944 to 1976, the headline in Newsweek on 28-April-1975 was The Cooling World.
Science is about the data. Science is not about consensus or authority.
The linear global warming of the last century was similar to that of two centuries ago. The oscillating warming by 0.67 deg C from 1976 to 1998 is as natural as the oscillating cooling by similar amount from 1878 to 1911. From Figure 4, there is no shift in mean global temperature anomaly in the last century as a result of CO2 emission. None.
CO2 driven global warming is not supported by the data.
Girma Orssengo, MASc, Ph.D.
[Long, boring, much of it over my head - you know; serious science.]
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Cash for Clubbers
Congress's fabulous golf cart stimulus
We thought cash for clunkers was the ultimate waste of taxpayer money, but as usual we were too optimistic. Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part of President Obama's stimulus plan, Uncle Sam is now paying Americans to buy that great necessity of modern life, the golf cart... [snip]
The federal credit provides from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and when it is combined with similar incentive plans in many states the tax credits can pay for nearly the entire cost of a golf cart. In South Carolina, sales of these carts have been soaring as dealerships alert customers to Uncle Sam's giveaway.
"The Golf Cart Man" in the Villages of Lady Lake, Florida is running a banner online ad that declares: "GET A FREE GOLF CART. Or make $2,000 doing absolutely nothing!"
You can't blame a guy for exploiting a government backed scam... [snip]
This golf-cart fiasco perfectly illustrates tax policy in the age of Obama, when politicians dole out credits and loopholes for everything from plug-in cars to fuel efficient appliances, home insulation and vitamins.
Democrats then insist that to pay for these absurdities they have no choice but to raise tax rates on other things—like work and investment—that aren't politically in vogue. If this keeps up, it'll soon make more sense to retire and play golf than work for living.
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California appears poised to be first to ban power-guzzling big-screen TVs
ubject: txt grn cali engry -
Reporting from Sacramento - The influential lobby group Consumer Electronics Assn. is fighting what appears to be a losing battle to dissuade California regulators from passing the nation's first ban on energy-hungry big-screen televisions.
On Tuesday, executives and consultants for the Arlington, Va., trade group asked members of the California Energy Commission to instead let consumers use their wallets to decide whether they want to buy the most energy-saving new models of liquid-crystal display and plasma high-definition TVs.
"Voluntary efforts are succeeding without regulations," said Doug Johnson, the association's senior director for technology policy. Too much government interference could hamstring industry innovation and prove expensive to manufacturers and consumers, he warned.
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Did You Know...
Subject: txt msm bias libs intl owg mny -
"I said that population, when unchecked, increased in a geometrical ratio; and subsistence for man in an arithmetical ratio." Thomas Malthus, 1798
"The battle to feed humanity is over. In the 1970s, the world will undergo famines. Hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. Population control is the only answer." Paul Ehrlich, in The Population Bomb, 1968.
Human Population Growth Since 1750
Source: United Nations.
World grain production increase from 1960 to 2000: 270%.
Percentage of world population living in poverty and hunger in 1960: 50%.
Today: 13%.
Source: Thomas R. DeGregori, American Council on Science and Health.
[That's can't be right; everything's getting worse, everyone knows that...]
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How to take down a great power
Subject: txt hstry -
Unlike Augustus or Caligula, Lucius Aurelius Commodus was not an emperor who made a strong impression on modern consciousness. Until the release of the film Gladiator, a heavily fictionalized version of his reign, most Americans had never heard of him.
Commodus' failings became evident soon after he ascended to the imperial purple. Having no background in foreign policy, he effectively set it aside, allowing his father's achievements to unravel.
We look back at the Roman epoch with a sense of relief. We've learned so much since then. No longer do we consider our leaders to be gods among men. No longer do we hand them unearned and meretricious awards and prizes. We don't turn on and destroy members of previous administrations.
We don't tolerate incompetent and corrupt sycophants in high office. We've learned to recognize disorders such as pathological narcissism and assure that the victims do not gain high office. Any president who placed his prestige on the line with an athletic contest would be laughed to scorn.
And as for political bloodshed, that kind of savagery has no place in a modern democracy. Any party that called for the assassination of an opposing leader -- say, George W. Bush -- would simply be run out of the public sphere. Unlike the Romans, we all understand the concept of consequences, that what goes around comes around.
Don't we?
Under Commodus the leadership of Rome rotted away. The fault of those who opposed him and did not rid themselves of him sooner.
So here is today's history lesson: If you don't like history be warned that you are living it...
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Island of fiscal sanity - in Michigan
It's well known that the State of Michigan is on life support from the federal government. The situation is hopeless. Thousands are lining up for "Obama Cash." The state budget is a mess. State police have been laid off and school funding reduced.
But, amidst the calamity, to the absolute horror of tax and spend democrats there is a shining example of conservative, republican, common-sense management: Oakland County.
It's just had it's triple A bond rating reaffirmed:
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson announces that Wall Street has reaffirmed the county’s coveted AAA Bond Rating.
The AAA Bond Rating is difficult to retain in the current economy. Only about two dozen of the nation’s 3,000 counties have the AAA rating.
“The county will continue to adhere to its historically strong budget and management practices which have resulted in ample financial flexibility that positions the county well to manage current economic challenges,”
Moody’s says.
Patterson, in the mid 1990's, reformed Oakland County's employee health and retirement plans and privatized many services,
So don't tell the voters there that the only choices in tough times are higher taxes or cuts in services. Oakland county voters know better.
It could be called the Miracle of Oakland County if it were ever reported by the major media, but as usual success contrary to the liberal line doesn't seem to be 'news worthy'.
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Woody Harrelson claims he mistook photographer for zombie
Woody Harrelson defended his clash with a photographer at a New York airport Wednesday night as a case of mistaken identity -- he says he mistook the cameraman for a zombie.
The TMZ photographer filed a complaint with police claiming the actor damaged his camera and pushed him in the face at La Guardia Airport, according to an airport spokesman.
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