The State: "Sanford's mental state questioned"

The State newspaper, based in Columbia, SC, has had excellent coverage of all things related to Mark Sanford. There are eight new Sanford-related articles and that's not counting the editorials and op-eds. But one headline really caught my eye: Sanford's mental state questioned. You don't see a headline like that about a high-ranking elected official every day. Here's an excerpt:

Gov. Mark Sanford is acting like a love-struck teenager.

Or, maybe he has a deeper personality disorder, some experts speculate.

As the saga of Sanford and his Argentine lover continues, the public, the governor?s political rivals and some allies are speculating about the governor?s mental stability and whether he?s able to lead the state.

While mental health experts are reluctant to pin a diagnosis on the governor, their observations of his behavior suggest a chemical imbalance, narcissism and impulsive behavior.

Sanford has not sought professional mental health treatment, said Joel Sawyer, the governor?s spokesman.

But some fellow politicians are saying the governor needs help.

The governor shold be seeking professional help. Either way, this has been a meteoric fall. A couple weeks ago, Sanford was the rage among conservatives because he wouldn't take the stimulus money. He was a hot GOP prospect for 2012. Now his state's leading paper is wondering about his mental state.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/aYQ9e7NWFEo/state-sanfords-mental-s
tate-questioned.html

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It's Hard to Confess, But I Owe it to My Readers
and My Family

I have to make a confession and shares some facts with my readers, my family, my friends and all those who depend upon this blog for prompt and factual information. I have to make this confession because I know I have not lived up to your social expectations in my personal life.

Today, and I say this with the deepest regret, and with the hope that a forgiving God and my wife and children will forgive me . . . I have experienced an acute but temporary flatulence while in Brazil, and I have not said "excuse me".

I know this was wrong, and I am working with a spiritual adviser to get my . . . heart to behave as it should. I ask your forgiveness. I know it will take a while for us all towork through the consequences of my behavior, but I hope and I pray that I, my family, friends and all of my readers will agree to work through these consequences together.

I know what you are going to ask. I know you will want more details, and I am going to be completely forthcoming, hard as it may be for all of us. I admit that this has happened more than once. I only ask that you keep my error in your prayers.

If you have any comments, please place them in the comment section below. Thank you, and God bless America!

Read The Full Article:
http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2009/07/its-hard-to-confess-but-i-owe-it-to-m
y.html

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Asian Snap: China revives the reserve currency
debate and pushes for more Forex diversification NFPs and ECB rate decision loom.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jutiagroup/~3/atowPBP2Oz4/

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Muse in the Morning

Muse in the MorningIt is a city built of bones,and daubed with flesh and blood,in which old age and death,pride and hypocrisyare the inhabitants.--Dhammapada, verse 150Phenomena XXXIV:  dyingDoorwayMortAt some instantone daythe words will cease to[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/C-f4IRSgVEA/muse-in-the-morning

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HE GIVES US HELL, ALL RIGHT

Harry? Harry, is that you? Oh wait, the sign says that this fellow is suspending pan-handling, to focus on the national economy. That can't be our Harry.

by Noah

The other day I received a sponging-for-reelection money e-solicitation from Sen. Harry Reid, under this banner --


It started out:

Friends [quite an assumption there -- Noah],

I've said it before: the Republicans have made me their top target. [God knows why! -- Noah again]

Then he blathered on about how he's a "force for change," a phrase whose meaning has apparently been redefined by people like him.

Nowadays, the only Democrat that's gonna get money from me would have to be a progressive, ActBlue kind of Dem, not the usual Repug in Dem clothing, so I wasted no time in replying to His Royal Spinelessness.

Senator Reid:
Sorry, but your party is also a party of no change and "no, we can't," as in "no, we can't get the votes for a public option." You guys don't even want us to have the same government health care that you have and will have the rest of your lives. Hell, Baucus and Schumer just sat on their fat asses and laughed as they had single-payer advocates arrested. You could practically see the crisp Franklins from the K Street Bribery Squads sticking out of their pockets. Joe Stalin would have cheered them on.
Until there is a public option (and one that isn't a watered-down, crossed-fingers-behind-the-back one), or, better yet, single-payer, I don't see why I should support or vote for Democrats anymore. Your party seems to think we have no choice but to vote for you. Well, I'll either support third-party candidates or just stay home. What's the difference? Now I hear even President Obama is open to abandoning the public-option concept. Might as well have given Bush a third term.
I'm sick of the sell-outs and sick of the corruption and bribe-taking. I'm tired of the smirks and the laughter coming from inside the Beltway. Tired of being played. You guys either have no idea or just don't care. The Senate is the worst of all. I'll give the Repugs credit, though. At least they have a spine. You're givin' us hell, all right. A Republican-lite is still a Repug.
Given the choice, Americans will vote for the truth-in-advertising model. Change is a hell of a lot more than a cynical campaign slogan, but I guess you're hoping there are just enough fools outside the Beltway to get you another term. You need to go visit America. Take some of your buddies with you. I wonder if they can comprehend it.

I heartily encourage all readers to give 'em all hell -- by phone, by e-mail, by fax, by buttonholing them if they dare walk the streets of your town, even by carrier pigeon, complete with well-aimed droppings! Just do it.#

Read The Full Article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2009/07/he-gives-us-hell-all-right.html

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Employment numbers today were a disaster

The nitwits of CNBC strike again with their "recession is over" shtick. That team wouldn't have a feel for the real world if it bit them in the bottom. Actually it did and they still have no idea. A few more tough months still to come, unfortunately. We will get there and turn this around but not overnight.

Employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, far more than expected, while the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, the government said on Thursday in a report that showed a labor market continuing to struggle with a deep recession.

The June job losses were more than 100,000 greater than the 363,000 consensus of Wall Street economists polled by Reuters and broke a four-month trend of moderation in job losses.

The Labor Department data showed that in April and May, 8,000 fewer jobs were lost than previously reported. The May job losses were revised downward to 322,000, while the April losses were revised upward to 519,000.

The jobless rate of 9.5 percent compares with 9.4 percent in May and was the highest since a matching unemployment rate in August 1983. Analysts had expected the rate to rise to 9.6 percent.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/hszDhG7jMHg/employment-numbers-toda
y-were-disaster.html

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Read Michael Jacksons will online

Click the link below to read Michael Jackson’s Executor will to see who is in charge of what. Hopefully this will shoot down some rumors but I know it will start many more:http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

Read The Full Article:
http://glciii.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/read-michael-jacksons-will-online/

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Hamstringing Environmental Protection for
Agriculture

In a previous post, I wrote about how the coal industry got its way with ACES, the Waxman-Markey[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/tbKYNs1iSfQ/hamstringing-env
ironmental-protection-for-agriculture

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Senators Kennedy and Dodd Update Affordable
Health Choices Act

AP is reporting that:

In a letter outlining the details, Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said their revised plan would cost dramatically less than an earlier, incomplete proposal, and help show the way toward coverage for 97 percent of all Americans.

The two senators said the Congressional Budget Office put the cost of the proposal at $611.4 billion over 10 years, down from $1 trillion two weeks ago. The revising also "virtually eliminates" an earlier forecast that the proposal would cause many companies to drop coverage for their workers, they said.

You can read the original bill here, and view the mark-up sessions here. the Chairman's Mark outlining many of the changes summarized in the letter can be viewed here. 

It answers to Obama's points in his letter to Kennedy and Baucus in early June. 

This is very different from the Baucus bill coming out of the Finance Committee. This one is dedicated to providing health care for all, and will, according to the letter, cover 97% of all Americans. There is an employer mandate, with fines for companies not providing health insurance to both full time and part time employees, and an exemption for companies employing fewer than 25 people. There is OF COURSE a Public Option, because this bill is directed at patients and other American human beings instead of towards the benefits of the health care industry.

There is a huge set of differences between the two bills. I hope that Senators read both before they vote on either. At least that they read President Obama's letter and realize one bill has a public option, and the other does not.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.Demconwatchblog.com/diary/1901/senators-kennedy-and-dodd-update-afford
able-health-choices-act

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Kennedy/Dodd offer cheaper public option health
care bill

AP:

Determined to advance President Barack Obama's health care agenda, key Senate Democrats are calling for a government-run insurance option to compete with private plans, as well as a $750-per-worker annual fee on larger companies that do not offer coverage to employees.

In a letter outlining the details, Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said their revised plan would cost dramatically less than an earlier, incomplete proposal, and help show the way toward coverage for 97 percent of all Americans.

The two senators said the Congressional Budget Office put the cost of the proposal at $611.4 billion over 10 years, down from $1 trillion two weeks ago. The revising also "virtually eliminates" an earlier forecast that the proposal would cause many companies to drop coverage for their workers, they said.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/kO5hJ_Rx3eA/kennedydodd-offer-cheap
er-public-option.html

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