Found this on the ‘net…I think it’s been widely shared by now! 
Hundreds Protest Global Warming
December 15, 2009 By
Teamster Strike Blocks Blood Delivery
December 15, 2009 By
The American Red Cross in Philadelphia, PA, is accusing a local union, Teamsters Local 929, of blocking a blood delivery to a two-year-old girl, whose life depended on the blood delivery. According to the article, the union members refused to move until they were told about the girl. As a result the Red Cross got an injunction against the union so they would stop interfering with blood deliveries to hospitals. The union went on strike December 3 after a failure to negotiate a new contract.
The reason for the strike? According to the union, unfair labor practices and pay. But, according to the Red Cross, there have been no unsafe labor practice complaints by the Teamsters Union. The court that awarded the injunction agreed with the Red Cross.
The Red Cross is struggling, like other organizatios, through the economic slump. As a result, non-union workers are under a pay freeze until June 30, 2010. This has been a major contention during the contract negotiation, and the union refuses to agree to a pay freeze.
“We are simply asking union employees to make the same sacrifices that their non-union colleagues have already made,” said Anthony Tornetta, Communications Manager for the Red Cross Penn-Jersey Blood Region. “Their refusal to do so remains a significant issue in these negotiations.”
The union workers are covered both by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the SEIU, and being encouraged to strike by the organization Change to Win. Their mantra? They will not stop “until every man, woman and child has quality, affordable care they can count on”.
Change you can believe in.
The Defense of our Nation
December 14, 2009 By
In the defense of our nation, a president must be a clear-eyed realist. There are limits to the smiles and scowls of diplomacy. Armies and missiles are not stopped by stiff notes of condemnation. They are held in check by strength and purpose and the promise of swift punishment.
George W. Bush
Unfortunately, I don’t think our current president realizes this. He is neither clear-eyed, nor a realist. He continues to use diplomacy as though it’s the be-all, end-all of all arguments. He wants to reduce our nuclear deterrent, while other nations strive to increase theirs. He wants to essentially cut our defense appropriations. He is consistently weakening us, and he has obfuscated our purpose as a nation — not only in foreign policy, but in domestic issues as well.
We The People need to wake up and realize what is happening to our country. Every day we see the vitriol and hatred increase, not only from the left, but from the fringes of the political right also. And now it seems as though the fringe left and fringe right are turning on themselves as well. What will it take for this country to come together, as we did after 9/11? Will it take another terrorist attack, or will it take something worse (i.e., revolution)? I pray to God not.
I just continue to see the moral decline of this country, and it saddens me. This is not the country I remember from my childhood, and it’s certainly not the one from September 2001. We were united. We all suffered — even those of us who didn’t have any immediate family or friends to die in the terrible attacks of that day. I saw a patriotism and a love for God and country like I had never seen before. What happened?
If things do not improve soon, I truly see a revolution or civil outburst happening soon — certainly not as widespread and devastating as our Civil War, but still dramatic in its own right. We’ve already seen what happens when people are upset with tuition increases. What do you think will happen when the people of this country finally get tired of the continuous “tax and spend” coming from Washington? I foresee it being far, far worse.
Copenhagen negotiations ‘suspended’
December 14, 2009 By
Looks like all the developing countries have ganged up on the developed countries in Copenhagen:
Negotiations at the UN climate summit have been suspended after developing countries withdrew their co-operation.
Delegations were angry at what they saw as moves by the Danish host government to sideline talks on more emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.
While it’s not exactly what I was hoping would de-rail the summit, at least something is stopping — at least temporarily — the insanity that is global warming talks. Apparently the Danish government drafted some papers that are actually benefiting the developed countries over the developing.
I hope the disagreements and dysfunction at the “summit” continue. We do not need to enter into a meaningless agreement that will end up taking more of our sovereignty away and giving it to the U.N. If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, go watch this.
Obama’s Nobel Speech: My Analysis
December 10, 2009 By
I didn’t get to watch it, but I have read it — a couple of times. As a conservative and a Christian, I will applaud Obama and his speechwriters for developing and delivering a speech that does, in fact, edify America and champions our cause against global terrorism. Below are some excerpts of the speech that jumped out at me.
Harry Reid: Race-Baiter Extraordinaire
December 9, 2009 By
This would be funny if it wasn’t so blatantly wrong and serious. Actually, I take that back. It’s NEVER funny to play the “race card”. Alas, Harry “The war is lost” Reid does it again. On the Republicans opposing the “public option” in healthcare:
“If you think you’ve heard these same excuses before, you’re right,” Reid said. “When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said, ‘Slow down, it’s too early, things aren’t bad enough.’”
WRONG, Harry! It was the Democrat Party who opposed the abolition of slavery:
The Southern Democrats endorsed slavery, while the Republicans denounced it. The Northern Democrats said democracy required the people to decide on slavery locally. The Constitutional Union Party said the survival of the Union was at stake and everything else should be compromised.
Although the bill was supported by a majority of both parties, it was Democrats in key positions that opposed the legislation.
The bill was reported out of the Judiciary Committee in November 1963, and referred to the Rules Committee, whose chairman, Howard W. Smith, a Democrat and avid segregationist from Virginia, indicated his intention to keep the bill bottled up indefinitely. It was at this point that President Kennedy was assassinated. The new president, Lyndon Johnson, utilized his experience in legislative politics and the bully pulpit he wielded as president in support of the bill.
On June 10, 1964, Robert Byrd, the Democratic Senator from West Virginia (and a member of the KKK, I might add), delivered a long-winded speech during a filibuster — 14 hours, 13 minutes - opposing the legislation. Albert Gore, Sr. (D-TN) also opposed the legislation.
Harry Reid should be forced to apologize for this blatant and outrageous lie, and for playing the race card on a total non-race issue. If he doesn’t, he and all those who support him should be forced out.
It’s time for this demagoguery to stop.
An Historical Take on Global Warming
December 9, 2009 By
“It’s not a lie, I tell you!”
Al Gore recently broke his silence on “ClimateGate” (seriously media — do we really have to suffix every scandal with “-gate”?) Here’s what Mr. Gore-leone said about the hacked e-mails:
What we’re seeing is a set of changes worldwide that just make this discussion over 10-year-old e-mails kind of silly. The entire North Polar ice cap is disappearing before our very eyes. It’s been the size of the continental United States for the last 3 million years and now 40 percent is gone and the rest of it is going. The mountain glaciers are going. We’ve had record storms, droughts, fires, and floods. There is an air of unreality in debating these arcane points when the world is changing in such dramatic ways right in front of our eyes because of global warming.
Nice spin, Big Al. Now here’s a little bit of an historical take on the “truth” of global warming:
Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it. — Adolf Hitler
Apparently Hitler was right. This “inconvenient truth” of global warming has been told for so long and so loud, that everyone is buying into the lie instead of doing their own research.
Kercher Murder Trial Update: Defendants make final pleas
December 3, 2009 By
Meredith Kercher
Breaking from Sky News: Amanda Knox has made her final statement in the Meredith Kercher murder trial. Speaking in a trembling voice and in Italian, Amanda said she feared ”having the mask of a killer forced onto my skin”.
She also said she was confident her conscience was clean, and thanked the prosecution for the job they’re doing. “I want to thank the accusers because they are only trying to do their job even if they don’t understand,” Knox said.
Maria del Grosso, Knox’s defense attorney, said, “This theory of sexual violence demands strong evidence and what does the prosecutor bring? That Amanda murdered because Meredith didn’t like the fact she did not flush the toilet and that Amanda was an adulteress.”
“Amanda has been described as punctual, a good student, extrovert, supportive, someone who enjoyed music and sport, yoga and many other interests.”
Earlier, Raffaele Sollecito testified in his defense that he was not a violent person and never had been. He said, “Why would I want to commit something so horrible as murder? I want to understand why I would participate in this murder for no motive. I am not a dog on a lead and I am not dependent on Amanda as the prosecution say.”
Knox, 21, and Sollecito, 25, have been charged with murder and sexual assault. The prosecution is asking for life sentences for both defendants.
It’s really sad that someone so promising as Ms. Kercher was taken from this world at such a young age and in such a brutal manner. My heart and prayers go out to her family. I’m also praying for justice to be done in this case. I would hate to see Knox and Sollecito, if they truly are innocent, to wind up with a life sentence in jail. However, I would equally hate to see murderers go free. I’m praying the jury in this case will weigh all the evidence and render a just verdict.
The jury has retired to deliberate the case, and a verdict is expected within the next 48 hours.
On This Day — December 3
December 3, 2009 By
Several interesting things happened on December 3 in history. Here are just a few:
1818 — Illinois was admitted to the union as the 21st state.
1828 - Andrew Jackson was elected the seventh president of the United States.
1857 -Novelist Joseph Conrad was born in Berdychiv, Poland.
1947 - “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway.
1948 — The House Un-American Activities Committee announced that former Communist spy Whittaker Chambers had produced microfilm of secret documents hidden inside a pumpkin on his Maryland farm.
1964 — Police arrested some 800 students at the University of California at Berkeley, one day after the students stormed the administration building and staged a massive sit-in.
1965 — The album “Rubber Soul” by the Beatles was released.
1967 — Surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, performed the first human heart transplant. Louis Washkansky lived 18 days with the new heart.
1967 — The 20th Century Limited, the famed luxury train, completed its final run from New York City to Chicago.
1979 — Eleven people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum before a rock concert by the Who.
1989 — East German Communist leader Egon Krenz, the ruling Politburo and the party’s Central Committee resigned.
1994 — Elizabeth Glaser, who became an AIDS activist after she and her two children were infected with HIV via a blood transfusion, died at age 47.
1997 — South Korea struck a deal with the International Monetary Fund for a $55 billion bailout of its foundering economy.
1999 — Scientists failed to make contact with the Mars Polar Lander after it began its fiery descent toward the red planet; the spacecraft was presumed destroyed.
2006 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won re-election.
Source: New York Times
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Is Amanda Knox innocent?
December 3, 2009 By
On November 2, 2007, Meredith Kercher, a British student from the University of Leeds studying abroad in Perugia, Italy, was found stabbed to death in a shared apartment. For two years, the prosecution has been trying to tie two other students — Amanda Knox from Seattle, Washington, and Raffaele Sollecito from Giovinazzo, Bari, Italy — to the murder. Rudy Guede, 20, from the Ivory Coast, was arrested after fleeing to Germany and has been found guilty in the murder of Kercher.
The trial for Knox and Sollecito started on 16 January 2009. Rudy Guede, who was a close friend of Knox and Sollecito, declined to testify in the trial. Knox testified for the first time in June, saying that she was innocent and was at Sollecito’s flat on the night of the murder. For a more extensive history on the trial, see this Wikipedia article.
According to the prosecution, Knox and Sollecito’s modus operandi was a sex game turned deadly. According to Speigel Online, Kercher was upset that Knox had brought home the two men — Guede and Sollecito — something Knox had apparently done before. An argument broke out between the two women over the differences in lifestyle. (Kercher is described as an “innocent angel”, one that wasn’t prone to bring home strange men and be promiscuous).
This is how the prosecutor’s animated film depicts the murder: Kercher falls to the floor and the three others begin to undress her. Kercher struggles, Sollecito pulls out his pocketknife and Knox gets a knife from the kitchen. Guede tries to rape Kercher, Sollecito injures her and Knox finally kills her by slitting her throat. The three flee the apartment. Later, Knox and Sollecito return to clumsily stage a burglary and wipe away their fingerprints.
The indictment against the two is based on circumstantial evidence and very little, if any, witness testimony. The defense is arguing that there is no clear proof, no confession, and no motive. The verdict is supposed to be announced at the end of this week.
What others are saying: