Biotech Investors Bet On Your Life

How many times I have to type it?

AmeriKa's health care system is about $$$$, not care!!!

"New diabetes pill passes FDA heart test" by Bloomberg News | March 31, 2009

WASHINGTON - A new diabetes pill from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and AstraZeneca PLC did not increase the risk of heart attack or stroke in a US review, boosting shares in New York and London as investors bet the drug will be approved.

Oh, I have no doubt about that!

FDA Protects Big Pharma While Telling Americans "F*** You!"

FDA Doesn't Care About Cancer

FDA Approval to Immunize Drug Companies From Lawsuits

FDA Approves Fake Firm

Isn't it nice to know that the people allegedly looking out for your health are the ones who are only interested in corporate profits?

The medicine, saxagliptin, meets new guidelines for cardiovascular safety, according to a staff report posted yesterday on the Food and Drug Administration's website. Outside advisers to the FDA will consider the findings when they meet tomorrow to discuss whether the companies should be allowed to sell the drug in the United States under the name Onglyza.

Drug makers are striving to introduce new treatments for the 24 million Americans with diabetes, as some older therapies pose heart risks and fail to control blood sugar. Bristol-Myers and AstraZeneca need new products to revive sales and replace drugs facing generic competition, and analysts have been worried that safety concerns at the FDA may preclude saxagliptin's approval....

An FDA panel will also consider liraglutide, an experimental shot for diabetes made by Novo Nordisk A/S. The agency usually follows the recommendations of its advisers.

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Of course, they don't always approve 'em:

"Dyax Corp. eliminating 60 positions" by Todd Wallack, Globe Staff | March 31, 2009

Dyax Corp., of Cambridge, yesterday said that it cut 60 positions, about one-third of its workforce, becoming the latest Massachusetts biotechnology company to slash its headcount to conserve cash.

The move came a week after the Food and Drug Administration tentatively rejected the company's application to market a treatment for a rare genetic disease called hereditary angioedema. The FDA said it needed additional safety data about the drug, called DX-88....

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And I JUST FIGURED OUT WHY there is an OBESITY AGENDA PUSH on!!!

Also see: Fat Fascism

And consider:

"Researchers calculated the body mass index - a standard measurement of size.... There is growing debate about the accuracy of the standard method of calculating whether someone is overweight.... the system would put nearly half of NBA players in the overweight category"

But TRUST those STATIES that are telling you your KIDS are FAT!!!

"Tests of obesity drug are positive" by Andrew Pollack, New York Times | March 31, 2009

Arena Pharmaceuticals said yesterday that its experimental drug to treat obesity had succeeded in its first late-stage clinical trial, producing results it said would be good enough for regulatory approval. But some analysts said the results were unimpressive because patients on the drug for a year lost an average of only 5.8 percent of their body weight....

I just heard a cash register click.

The company, based in San Diego, is one of three small California drug makers in the final stages of developing obesity treatments. The other two companies, Orexigen Therapeutics and Vivus, have already presented data from late-stage clinical trials, but all three companies have other trials in progress.

Start here:

"Every table was set with a single fresh rose (from the rose gardens outside, I was told) and a full complement of three forks, two knives, and two spoons in silver plate..... The buffet tables could have graced a high-end ocean liner. I watched a gentleman in colorful African garb pile his plate with slices of roast sirloin and potatoes mashed with feta cheese. A post-retirement-age couple from the East Side scarfed up most of the egg rolls, though more came out quickly....

I made for the roast leg of lamb with rosemary sauce after I filled my salad plate with chilled asparagus and slices of a duck and pork terrine.... fresh tomato soup and bowls of pasta primavera.... The dessert buffet table practically groaned under a spread of apple and pumpkin pies, cheesecakes, tarts, half a dozen cheeses, sliced fruits, bowls of berries, and, off to one side, three urns of ice cream"

And that was just for LUNCH!

Also see: Globalist Gluttons Gorge Themselves

The MSM and the Meal

With two-thirds of Americans said to be obese or overweight, a successful obesity drug could have huge sales.

So WHO SAID you are FAT, America?

Gonna get the KIDS HOOKED on ANOTHER DRUG so the RICHERS can EAT MORE, huh? Because THAT'S WHAT THIS IS: making dough off of starvation!

And experts say there is a need for better drugs because the existing ones are hampered by side effects.

Ever notice the side effects are worse than the illness?

Because of safety concerns, though, developing a successful obesity drug can be treacherous.

Here we go: Yup, a billion-eight taken out of taxpayer's pockets so the state can throw money away to lying biotechs even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit."

Flush all that money away, too, taxpayer.

Need insult to injury?

See: The Money Pipeline From Massachusetts to Israel

Are you you surprised?

Sanofi-Aventis, Merck, and Pfizer all discontinued work on experimental drugs last year because of concerns that the drugs, which all worked by similar mechanisms, could contribute to depression and suicidal thoughts.

How come ALL their POISONS do this, readers?

Arena said its drug, called lorcaserin, which works by a different mechanism, did not show psychiatric side effects. Even more importantly, the company said, there was no sign the drug damaged heart valves.

Pffft!

Heart effects are relevant because lorcaserin works in a way similar to Wyeth's drug fenfluramine, which was part of the fen-phen combination before it was pulled from the market after being linked to heart valve damage.

So that crap is back on the market, huh? Pffft!

Arena says lorcaserin can stimulate a receptor in the brain that is thought to regulate food intake without binding to somewhat similar receptors that cause the heart problems. But the effectiveness data left analysts debating the drug's value....

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This medical fraud, plunder, and pillaging will go right to your heart, readers:

"Boston Scientific stents are questioned" by Bloomberg News | March 31, 2009

NEW YORK - Heart stents made by Boston Scientific Corp., the biggest seller of the artery-clearing devices, were less effective in studies than those from Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic Inc.

Taxus Liberte, Boston Scientific's newest stent, required more repeat procedures than products from Medtronic and J&J in a South Korean study reported this weekend at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Orlando, Fla. In a separate trial, two Taxus models were linked with an 88 percent higher risk of heart-related deaths than Abbott's Xience stent.

I wouldn't want them going back into me all th time; would you?

Stent makers are competing for a $4 billion market....

Once again, it is the MONEY that is important (why all this is in the business section, huh?), not YOUR HEALTH!!!!!

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And despite YOU not being able to find a job or loan....

"Biotech's $40 million in funding will help it run cancer drug trial" by Jeffrey Krasner, Globe Staff | March 30, 2009

Where are they getting all this $$$$$?

Also see: Criminal Biotech

A Woburn biotech firm is expected to say today that it has raised $40 million in financing.... BioVex Inc. said the finance round is its fourth since it was launched in England in 1999, and brings the total invested in the firm to $120 million. The company moved to the United States in 2005....

BioVex's methods involve using a modified cold-sore virus that is injected into a skin-cancer tumor. The virus then invades and kills cancerous cells within the tumor. The dying cells release additional virus particles to continue the attack. Healthy cells are not affected, the company said, and the virus has been disabled so it doesn't cause cold sores.

In the meantime, the company says, the virus stimulates a patient's immune system to seek out and destroy tumor cells in other parts of the body where the disease has spread. With the expected $60 million in funding, BioVex will have enough money to operate through mid-2010....

So they will be ALL SET for a few years; how about you, American?

The firms currently investing in BioVex have previously put money into the company. They include lead investor Forbion Capital Partners, formerly part of the Dutch bank ABN AMRO Bank NV, Credit Agricole Private Equity, Innoven Partners, New Science Ventures, Triathlon Medical Venture Partners, and Scottish Equity Partners.

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There is money out there somewhere, America, despite what you hear.

It's just that none of it is for you.

Pirate School

The more you hear about these 21st-century "pirates," the more I am convinced it is another western-intel black-op to advance the globalist agenda!

Also see: EU Acquires Pirate Protection Patrol From NATO

A FRONT-PAGE, AGENDA-PUSHING SPECIAL, folks!!!

"For cadets, piracy echoes from afar; Mass. Maritime teaches gun use" by Peter Schworm, Globe Staff | March 30, 2009

BOURNE - .... Taking aim at a threat half a world away: the surge of piracy off the Horn of Africa, the continent's easternmost peninsula that juts into the Arabian Sea. With the spate of ship hijackings posing a growing menace to global trade, the military-style college, whose mascot is a buccaneer, is expanding its security training to deter crime on the high seas.

Related: America's Lone Industry

CUI BONO?

The 1,000-student academy sends many graduates into seafaring careers where they might traverse pirate-plagued waterways, and joins other maritime academies in campaigns to thwart pillagers. "The world has become a much more dangerous place, and it's a problem that is getting worse all the time," said Joseph Murphy, who teaches anti-piracy tactics in his maritime security class. "We're all keenly aware that the ante has been upped."

Especially when western intel operatives are behind it all to advance the world domination agenda and global-mapping grid.

Murphy's teachings are personal: His son often travels in dangerous waters and was onboard a commercial ship sailing through the Gulf of Aden last April when pirates attacked a Japanese oil tanker a short distance away. That was one of 293 pirate attacks last year, a record number that included 49 hijackings and almost 900 hostages, according to the International Chamber of Commerce's global maritime bureau. Eleven were killed and 21 reported missing and are presumed dead.

For many academy graduates, their work will eventually take them to the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's most heavily traveled shipping lanes and a gateway to the Suez Canal.

On the deck of the college's training vessel, a former merchant ship named the TS Kennedy that is berthed at the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal, cadets learn to use radar to detect nearby craft, use high-pressure fire hoses to sink attacking boats, and steer the ship in a zigzag fashion to create a wake to ward off assailants.

Robert MacAleese, a senior majoring in marine transportation who hopes to become a deck officer, said training is vital, given the rising risk of piracy in trouble spots, which also include Southeast Asia and the Caribbean.

Need I even type it? One wonders why it isn't happening or hasn't been happening yet, huh? Pffffttt!!!!

Also see: NATO Lets Somalia Pirates Seize Norwegian Ships

"In today's world, you need this," said MacAleese, a straight-backed 22-year-old from Walpole. "That's where the jobs are, and you need to know what to expect, and what actions to take."

In addition, about 10 percent of cadets at the school, which is structured as a military academy, will pursue military service, college officials said.

Looking on, the ship's master, Thomas L. Bushy, said he emphasizes deterrent tactics, such as vigilant watches, carefully planned routes, and evasive action. Contemporary pirates have traded daggers and cutlasses for automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, and can easily overwhelm small and lightly armed crews if they can scramble aboard, officials said.

Then how come the seas are not full of them? Think about it, readers, and consider just where this shipping lane is in the world. Coincidence?

"If the pirates get onboard, it's all over for the crew," Murphy said, adding that merchant ships are bound by rules of engagement that prevent them from firing upon approaching pirate ships, and are often unarmed to begin with. Some ships have armed security teams capable of using force against attackers.

Related: Blackwater's Navy

Interesting how the MERCENARY CONTRACTORS carryoing out PRIVATE WARS do not make the AGENDA-PUSHING PAPERS very often, huh?

Modern-day pirates often launch small, fast-moving motorized craft from a larger ship, typically one disguised as a fishing vessel. The smaller boats can easily overtake a slow-moving freighter. These tactics allow pirates to range far from land, with some hijackings occurring more than 400 miles out at sea. Increasingly, pirates are not only pillaging ships, but holding the crew hostage and successfully demanding huge ransoms. The growing scope and brazenness of the attacks has persuaded some companies to reroute ships around the southern tip of Africa.

Last week, Somali pirates hijacked two tankers within 24 hours. NATO announced that its anti-pirate force had resumed patrols in the pirate-plagued waters off the coast of Northeast Africa, joining a broader international mission that includes reconnaissance aircraft.

After a while, I just get tired of the bulls***. Don't you?

Basic weapons training is increasingly required for a range of other maritime careers, and officials believe it will give graduates a leg up in the job market....

But some parents have voiced concern about students' safety during training, and specialists question whether arming merchant ships is wise.

Once again, the CONCERNS against the AGENDA-PROMOTING GARBAGE of the paper are BURIED in the BACK!!!!

Donna Nincic, chairman of the department of maritime policy and management at California Maritime Academy at California State University, which includes piracy training in two courses, believes it will only escalate conflicts and increase the likelihood of casualties.

I doubt it. If I am armed, there is less of a chance you will attack me. The daily list of shooting victims in the US (as well as Saddam Hussein) can testify to that.

"Pirates can afford bigger weapons than we can," she said. "I feel that if you start arming merchant ships, you up the risk dramatically."

While an increasing number of commercial vessels are hiring private security teams for protection, Nincic said keeping a wary lookout is the best deterrent....

How come the paper is not MENTIONING the NAMES of the FIRMS, huh?

The Maine Maritime Academy is also creating an anti-piracy course....

Amanda Priest, a marine safety and environmental protection major, never imagined her college studies would involve firing a handgun, but was happy with her debut. She doubts she will come in harm's way in her upcoming job as an environmental protection agent at a shipyard in San Diego, but you never know....

So WHY must AMERICANS be DISARMED, huh, gummint?

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Harvard's Worthless Degree

I've got one (not from Harvard). I majored in history, and as fun as some of the memories are, it was a waste of time and money. I don't want to dismiss the whole experience as worthless, but looking back, that's pretty much the extent of my ejerkashen at the school.

And look at what they want you to get a degree in:

"Harvard encourages dusting off the classics; Says esoteric courses enrich learning" by Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | March 30, 2009

I guess, if you don't have to worry about money or future employment!

.... Although most students may deem the undersubscribed subjects impractical, the bastion of liberal arts education has in recent years begun promoting learning for learning's sake as a worthy and enriching pursuit.

As long as you PAY the TUITION and FEES, right? God! This is about COLLEGES MAKING DOUGH!!!!! Another front-page special agenda-push from the Boston Globe!

Rather than viewing a major solely as a stepping-stone to a career, the university is pushing students to broaden their interests and explore more esoteric topics. Professors and students in those subjects insist that studying even the most obscure disciplines can lead to jobs in a variety of fields, from academia to finance....

Why you gotta lie to the kids? For a buck?

Harvard President Drew Faust, a Civil War historian, has said that education in the humanities prepares students to challenge the status quo.

"That kind of critical thinking and questioning is something we should encourage and instill more fully than we do," Faust said in a recent interview about the value of a liberal arts education when jobs are becoming hard to come by.

While most students think of government and economics as more practical majors, leading to careers in politics and business, said classics major Veronica Koven-Matasy, "Classics is something you just want to do for its own sake."

That was the philosophy I took when I decided my course list -- and here I am!

That's the best advice I can give you, kids.

****************

At Harvard, other small departments are considering introducing new focuses to make themselves more attractive to students. The university has discussed expanding Sanskrit and Indian studies to a more broad-based South Asian Studies.

Not that they shouldn't have those programs; however, once again we get division and agendas pushed by our schools.

And the Near Eastern languages and civilizations department would like to beef up its offerings in the contemporary Middle East. But their ambitions may be stymied by Harvard's budget crisis.

See: Harvard Hoarding Cash

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A Class of One

I'm sorry, but at the local school the class is canceled.

And Harvard is crying poverty?

"Harvard encourages dusting off the classics; Says esoteric courses enrich learning" by Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | March 30, 2009

.... Meanwhile, students in less sought-after majors relish their fortune. They have easy access to professors, many opportunities for independent research, and enroll in small - and at times, private - classes.

Rachel Carpentier, the only junior majoring in Sanskrit and Indian studies, has been the sole student in her Tamil language class for the past two years.

???

Maybe she can get a classmate soon, huh (or someone who will take her place)?

"I basically get private tutoring three times a week," said Carpentier, who is also majoring in music. "It's really quite remarkable how much attention my professors are willing to pay to me."

You are the ONLY ONE THERE!!!

WHO ELSE are they going to pay attention to, kiddo?

This is the ejerkashen she's getting?

--more--"

Not Enough Room at Harvard

And yet they have enough for one-person classes, huh?

Something smells a el-stinko down at old Harvard -- as it has for centuries.

"Harvard says yes to 7% of 29,112 aspirants" by Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | March 31, 2009

At 5 p.m. today, thousands of anxious high school seniors will check their e-mail to learn whether they got the nod from Harvard University. Only 7 percent will be admitted, college officials said yesterday, the most selective year yet at one of the world's most selective universities....

The stiffer competition is not surprising, given the record 29,112 applications this year.... Members of the incoming freshman class come from diverse backgrounds. A record 10.9 percent are Latino, said Fitzsimmons; 10.8 percent are African-American; 17.6 percent are Asian-American; and 1.3 percent are Native American. Another 8.9 percent are international students.

There they go: promote the divisive agenda and segregating everyone by gender, race, age.... we are ALL AMERICANS!

About a quarter of the admitted students come from families earning less than $80,000, making them eligible for a nearly free ride at the university. Two years ago, Harvard instituted one of the most generous financial aid initiatives in the country, waiving tuition, room, and board for students whose parents earn less than $60,000 and capping tuition, room, and board at 10 percent of income for those whose families earn up to $180,000. Nearly 60 percent of the incoming class will receive aid, Fitzsimmons said.

In response to increased demand from families struggling through the recession, Harvard plans to boost its undergraduate aid program to $147 million, an 8 percent increase over last year.

"Certainly, it's a measure of the pain in the economy, not just among the families of the incoming students, but of the families that are here now," Fitzsimmons said. "This has been a very tough year for people to think about college. Parents have lost jobs and houses."

The average financial aid package is likely to total more than $40,000. The annual cost of a Harvard education, including room and board, will be $48,868 next year. Fat envelopes congratulating students on their selection will arrive by snail mail in the coming days....

Is that like SNAIL NEWS -- i.e., newspapers -- you insulting sack of shit?

It remains to be seen how many students will choose Harvard, now that Harvard has chosen them. Last year, 76 percent of admitted students decided to enroll. The university will now dispatch an army of students, faculty, and staff to encourage the chosen to commit by May 1.

Professors will personally call as many students as possible. Current Harvard students and alumni will, too. The admissions office will also host online chats to connect admitted students to current undergraduates.

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Poor Politicians

I can't believe the Globe actually ran this.

Oh, the poor vampires and their lies.

Boo-hoo-hoo!

"Campaign fund-raisers feel tight economic squeeze, too" by Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff | March 30, 2009

If money is the mother's milk of politics, this may be a season of crash diets or even malnutrition for some candidates. Massachusetts political operatives and elected officials say the cratering economy is hitting them, too, because campaign contributors are more tight-fisted....

See: Legislating Your Own Looting

A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund

Compared with businesses, which can offer fabulous deals to entice consumers to part with their increasingly precious dollars, politicians have few tools to change the dynamic. What additional inducement to write checks can a politician offer supporters - an extra dessert with the rubber chicken at fund-raising dinners?

What an ELITE INSULT by this SHIT REPORTER, huh?

Yeah, the LOBBYISTS and CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS have virtually NO INFLUENCE!!!

No wonder no one but me reads newspapers anymore. They suck!!!

In the near term, at least, the economic stress may hurt challengers more than incumbents....

At the statewide level, activity is heating up in anticipation of next year's election. Attorney General Martha Coakley had a $250-a-head event, with a long list of prominent sponsors, at the Seaport Hotel in Boston Thursday night. The Boston lobbying firm of the Karol Group held a reception, at $250 or $500 per ticket, on Friday for Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, the most active Democratic fund-raiser in recent months.

Coakley, among several potential candidates for US Senate in the event the ailing Senator Edward M. Kennedy is unable to serve out his term, issued a prepared statement in response to inquiries by the Globe. She said her campaign is sensitive to the effect of the economic crisis and its impact on fund-raising and has asked supporters to "set the goals that they are comfortable hitting." Coakley has not established a federal campaign account, and funds raised this week would be restricted to use in statewide campaigns.

Several members of Congress, including Capuano and Stephen F. Lynch of South Boston, both with more than $1 million in the bank, are also possible Senate candidates.

All 10 members of the Bay State delegation enjoy a recession-resistant advantage of federal political action committee money, which flows freely and accounts for nearly 40 percent of all funds raised by Massachusetts congressional incumbents in the past two years, a Globe review indicates.

Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray, who was also in Washington recently for a fund-raiser sponsored by the Massachusetts congressional delegation, has $979,317 in the bank, more than double the balance of Governor Deval Patrick....

Is ANYONE ELSE OFFENDED that as AMERICANS are in POVERTY, all this $$$ is SWIMMING AROUND the POLITICS?!!!!

The national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, for example, has issued a come-on of sorts to encourage donations. In an e-mail solicitation, the committee promised that anyone who makes a donation of $5 or more before March 31 will receive a free car magnet that says "Change Starts With Me."

Oh, this is DISGUSTING!

You can SHOVE that MAGNET up your ASSES, fuckers!!!!

--more--"

On second thought:

Last Day For Purchasing the Boston Globe

Final Insults: Job Market

An Immigration Insult

The Boston Globe Insults the Unemployed

America's Workers Are Cooking

Architects Can't Build a Career

Boo-Hoo For Boston's Leeches, 'er, Lawyers

No, the arrogant article doesn't surprise me.

Cuts of the Cruelest Kind

Trillions for war and banks, corporations and well-connected interests.... and for the kids?

Related: No SPARK in Stimulus

Stimulus Helps Poor Hospitals

Not this one:

"Large cuts felt at small clinic for children; Franciscan Hospital sees budget shortfall, layoffs" by Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | March 30, 2009

.... Franciscan Hospital for Children's chief executive officer Paul DellaRocco:

"When you're small, losing a million dollars is almost catastrophic."

And when I think of the waste and looting of taxpayer money in this state.... the top of my head explodes and hits the ceiling.

Sometimes referred to as "the other children's hospital," Franciscan has operated largely in the shadow of larger institutions like Boston Children's Hospital or the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts. Located in Brighton, the small hospital, which has relied on donations and state funding for most of its 60-year history, is now operating with $16 million less in funding this year due to state budget cuts.

Recall the biotech money!! Shelve the tax giveaway to Hollywood.

The 100-bed facility treats children with wide-ranging illnesses, including many who have hard-to-treat diagnoses such as a child who falls into a coma or suffers an incapacitating brain injury, or who is breathing only with the help of a ventilator. Many young patients are from poor families....

Franciscan opened in 1949 when Cardinal Richard J. Cushing asked the Franciscan order of nuns to take on the work. The Kennedy family provided seed money as a memorial to their eldest son, Joseph, who was killed in World War II. Over the past several decades, the hospital has struggled financially, undergone name changes, staff reductions, and drafted new mission statements. And in an era of mergers and takeovers, it has persevered by promoting its niche as the largest pediatric rehabilitation hospital in New England.

In 2006, approximately 1 of 3 patients received government-paid healthcare. The hospital struggles to break even on most patients. This year, the state reduced Franciscan's Medicaid payments, wiping $12 million from the hospital's budget, DellaRocco said. About $4 million in special appropriations or "earmarked" funds was also vetoed by Governor Deval Patrick.

WTF is WRONG with THIS GUY?!

I am SO SICK of the STINK-S*** LIBERAL DEMOCRATS of this state!!!!

Patrick had said at a press conference preceding the veto that he would make the cuts only if the state received additional federal stimulus money for Medicaid and healthcare. State officials said they will receive $764 million in federal stimulus funds for healthcare, but had not decided how all the money would be allocated.

DellaRocco likened the situation to problems at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which recently announced that it would lay off as many as 140 employees....

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Also see: Boston's Best Hospital

Hub Hospitals Hate Unions

I'm not surprised: Hospital Union is Anti-Semitic

Of course, I wouldn't hold my breath, workers.

"The chances for the bill, which was introduced earlier this month but has not gone before any committees, remain in doubt, particularly after Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the only Republican in the Senate to vote for the bill two years ago, announced last week that he will oppose it. Unions were hoping he would provide the crucial 60th vote to overcome an expected Republican filibuster"

So the bulk of this front-page report is not really important or relevant, is it?

Thanks, Globe, for wasting the time of myself and my readers.

"Labor effort aimed at Hub health workers" by Joseph Williams, Globe Staff | March 30, 2009

WASHINGTON - .... Beth Israel CEO Paul Levy, a harsh critic of the federal legislation that could enhance the strength of unions nationwide, has said it would eliminate free choice from the workplace and has said a union would do nothing to improve patient care at the hospital.

I'm not surprised he feels that way, and I don't think it could get any worse, doc!!

A hospital spokesman said that Levy would not comment on the bill, but referred to Levy's blog, Running a hospital, where in one posting last month, Levy slammed the SEIU for "running roughshod over freedom of speech." In another posting last fall, Levy criticized the local SEIU chapter's spending, writing that "as you read stories and ads over the coming months, think about who is really Goliath here, and who is really David."

I think this guy needs to go see one of the mental health professionals. He obviously has a problem with delusions.

SEIU, the nation's fastest growing union, is one of the measure's biggest supporters, spending at least $10 million on advertising and on lobbying Congress. The Massachusetts local has chipped in, setting up phone banks and going door-to-door in nearby states, urging residents to call their representatives in Washington.

"American workers are losing the American dream," Andy Stern, SEIU's international president, said in an interview. "That's what's really at stake here."

That's why I call it AmeriKa!

In all, major business groups and labor unions have spent more than $225 million in the battle over the "check-card" bill, which organized labor considers its best chance in a generation to stem a long-term decline in membership.

The bill, backed by President Obama and many leading Democrats, would allow a majority of employees at a company to organize by signing cards, a change from current law that gives management the right to demand that workers ratify that decision through a secret ballot. Unions say the elections allow companies to use scare tactics and pressure employees to vote no, while management says that secret ballots are the only way to prevent unions from intimidating workers and also give workers more time to learn both sides of the issue.

"The vast majority of hospitals in Massachusetts are philosophically opposed," Lynn Nicholas, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, said in a telephone interview. Though the association isn't opposed to all unionization, she said, with the proposal, "there's no private, search-your-conscience vote at the end of the day."

I thought HOSPITALS where supposed to CARE ABOUT YOU!!

Instead, they ONLY CARE about $$$$ -- and THAT is what is WRONG with AmeriKa's health care system (more like a cover-up how we made you sick system)!!!

Besides Beth Israel, the SEIU local is eventually expected to try to unionize the entire workforces at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and other major teaching hospitals. In January, Caritas Christi Health Care announced a deal with SEIU to not interfere with the union's effort to try to organize about 13,000 employees at the six hospitals owned by the Archdiocese of Boston. SEIU successfully organized 25,000 Massachusetts home health assistants in 2007, and a year later negotiated a contract for them.

The battle over the legislation has spread from Capitol Hill to living rooms and Internet chat rooms nationwide. Through "Americans for Free Choice," a business-funded group, and "American Rights At Work," a pro-labor group, both sides are spending seven-figure sums on TV and print ads and other efforts. While each side claims it has been outspent by the other, most analysts say that business groups have the clear financial advantage.

As usual!!!!!

Both business and labor are determined to use their war chests until lawmakers vote on the Employee Free Choice Act, looking for any way to tilt public opinion. For the 2008 elections, the two sides have spent tens of millions since the new Congress convened in January.

Yup, health, hospitals, and workers are in a WAR!!!! Is there NOTHING that AmeriKans do NOT WAR OVER??

Please see VIDEO: Red State/Blue State: How the Media Tear Our Nation Apart for an expose on the journalism style inherent in the last paragraph, readers.

We want SINGLE=PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE!

"When so many people are out of work and businesses are failing, to be spending this kind of money really stands out," said Mary Boyle, a spokeswoman for Common Cause, the independent good-government group.

Yeah, it didn't go over to well with me when I saw the #s.

Both business and labor agree that the bill would bring sweeping changes to their relationship, and provide a significant boost to workplace unions. Besides the check card provision, the bill includes two provisions that give the advantage to union organizers: penalties for businesses that interfere with the process, and mandatory, binding arbitration if they do not negotiate in good faith with the newly formed union.

Ha-ha-ha!!! See: Stiffing Boston's Finest

Yeah, the STATE is going to LOOK OUT for UNIONS, uh-huh!!!!

The binding arbitration provision is "very, very threatening to employers," said Glenn Spencer, executive director of the Workforce Freedom Initiative of the US Chamber of Commerce, which plans its second Capitol Hill lobbying blitz on Wednesday.

If it were up to business Chicken Littles like this guy, there would be children working in the factories.

"The issue isn't whether workers should or shouldn't join unions. The issue is the process that's used for workers to form a union," he said in an interview.

Pfffft! Lying doesn't help your case!!!

Labor unions' membership rolls have diminished steadily since the late 1970s. Although analysts say that corruption among top union officials contributed to the decline, analysts also point to a simultaneous rise in aggressive, antiunion management tactics, - including firing workplace organizers - and an erosion of the nation's industrial and manufacturing base, once the stronghold of union membership....

That is WHAT I KEEP SAYING!!!!!!

The OFF-SHORING and OUTSOURCING are RARELY EVER MENTIONED -- and WHEN they ARE it is in a DEEP SENTENCE(!) like this one!!!!!

Unions recorded a slight increase in membership last year for the first time in a quarter century.... The chances for the bill, which was introduced earlier this month but has not gone before any committees, remain in doubt, particularly after Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the only Republican in the Senate to vote for the bill two years ago, announced last week that he will oppose it. Unions were hoping he would provide the crucial 60th vote to overcome an expected Republican filibuster....

That's when I cut the piece! Why wait SO LONG to tell me this is basically a NOTHIONG STORY written about an event that is UNLIKELY TO HAPPEN?

WTF, Boston Globe?

That was the POINT, wasn't it?

--more--"

Slow Saturday Special: No Purchase Protest

Notice they HAVEN'T SAID a WORD about THESE PROTESTERS!!!

The people are angry - this is pre demo

Tens of thousands march in G20 protests

But the PRO-ILLEGAL, AGENDA-PUSHING PAPER has PLENTY of GOOD COVERAGE for THIS GROUP!!

Also see: Sunday Leftovers: The Clock Strikes.... 8:30?

"Marchers urge end to immigrants' jailing; Detentions have quadrupled since 1995 nationwide" by Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff | March 28, 2009

More than 300 demonstrators, waving signs and wearing green-foam Statue of Liberty crowns, converged yesterday near the John F. Kennedy federal building to protest a surge in the number of immigrants who are jailed pending deportation.

What are you do-gooder agenda-pushers trying to do? Kill our economy?

See: The Illegal Immigrant Imprisonment Industry

Maybe someday the agenda-pushing paper will care about tax-paying Americans -- when they are out of business.

Under bright blue skies, the crowd marched from Boston's Park Plaza Hotel to City Hall to urge Congress to dramatically curb immigrant detentions, which have nearly quadrupled nationwide since 1995 to 30,000 detainees on any given day, according to federal statistics.

"It is time for us to stand up and say enough," said Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), who called on Congress to create a path to legal residency for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States....

Supporters of greater immigration enforcement say detaining immigrants ensures that they will be deported, and prevents the government from having to chase down fugitives.

Is that the lone sentence we gonna get, Globe?

But advocates say that illegal and legal immigrants can spend months in jail at an average cost of $95 a day to taxpayers, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in expenditures for jails in Massachusetts and across the nation.

Actually, we MAKE OUT on the DEAL, so STOP LYING!!

Yeah, the DRIVE-DOWN-the-WAGES ILLEGAL SUPPORTERS care about the TAXPAYERS when they want us PICKING UP ALL the SOCIAL COSTS for the ILLEGALS!!

Hey, I've EXPLAINED MANY TIMES I'm all for the national health care, don't care about the language, etc. If this was NOT SOME AGENDA-PUSHING GARBAGE by the PAPER to form a GLOBAL ECONOMIC GOVERNMENT, I wouldn't even be posting the issue.

But they are not entitled to lawyers and are increasingly unable to get a judge to set bail. "Now they're using us as immigrants to make their money, to fill their pockets," said Bishop Filipe Teixeira of Brockton, of the Catholic Church of the Americas' Diocese of St. Francis of Assisi.

I wish these guys felt so passionately about the MUSLIMS being TORTURED by the U.S., but....

Advocates said releasing immigrants on tracking devices could cost as little as $12 a day....

No good: Illegal Enabler "Escapes"

Amnesty International USA, which organized the rally along with the MIRA Coalition, the ACLU, and others, said it is launching a nationwide campaign to push officials and judges to stop holding immigrants except in extraordinary cases, citing concerns about detainees' access to healthcare and legal services. At least 74 immigrants have died in detention in the past five years, organizers said.

Hey, I'm not for a tyrannical police state like this, but.... Gitmo.

Yolanda Rolle, an assistant professor in mathematics education at Boston University, stood in the crowd and said she was bothered by the rise in detentions. "It's making me think," she said of the rally. "When one of us is in trouble, we're all in trouble."

Of course, that doesn't extend to people like you and me, reader.

--more--"

They even follow up for you on a Monday!

"Proposed immigration raids delayed; Napolitano seeks more scrutiny on investigations" by Spencer S. Hsu, The Washington Post | March 30, 2009

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has delayed a series of proposed immigration raids and other enforcement actions at US workplaces in recent weeks, asking agents in her department to apply more scrutiny to the selection and investigation of targets as well as the timing of raids, federal officials said.

A senior department official said the delays signal a pending change in whom agents at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement choose to prosecute - increasing the focus on businesses and executives instead of ordinary workers....

I will BELIEVE IT when I SEE IT!!!

Napolitano's moves have led some to question President Obama's commitment to work-site raids, which were a signature of Bush administration efforts to combat illegal immigration. Napolitano has highlighted other priorities, such as combating Mexican drug cartels and catching dangerous criminals who are illegal immigrants.

See: Drug War a Cover For North American Union

Drugs and Guns

Napolitano's moves foreshadow the difficult political decisions the Obama administration faces as it decides whether to continue mass arrests of illegal immigrant workers in sweeps of meatpackers, construction firms, defense contractors and other employers.

Related: How to Destroy a U.S. Town

Illegal Employers Avoid Prison Time

Critics say workplace and neighborhood sweeps are harsh and indiscriminate, and they accuse the government of racial profiling, violating due process rights and committing other humanitarian abuses. The raids have enraged Latino community and religious leaders, immigrant advocates and civil liberties groups important to the Democratic base, who have stepped up pressure on Obama to stop them.

They need not worry; that's one promise he's quietly keeping: Obama's Amnesty

At a rally last week in Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, head of the archdiocese of Obama's home city, called on the government "to end immigration raids and the separation of families" and support an overhaul of immigration law. "Reform would be a clear sign this administration is truly about change," George said.

How about ENDING the WARS?! THAT splits up families, too, and WOULD be a CHANGE!!!

Also last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus made similar calls as the caucus met formally with Obama for the first time. "Raids that break up families in that way, just kick in the door in the middle of the night, taking [a] father, a parent away, that's just not the American way. It must stop," Pelosi added at a Capitol Hill conference on border issues sponsored by the US Chamber of Commerce.

Is she a piece of work or what?

Yeah, but it is OK for COPS to DO THAT to AVERAGE AMERICANS and OUR MILITARY to do it in the countries we OCCUPY!!

What a DISTASTEFUL PIECE of FLATULENCE PELOSI IS!!!!!!!!

But Obama also faces pressure from conservative lawmakers and many centrist Democrats, who say that workplace enforcement is needed to reduce the supply of jobs that attract illegal immigrants, and that any retreat in defending American jobs in a recession could ignite a populist backlash.

Could ignite? The BAILOUTS have ALREADY DONE THAT!

We are IN ONE, dipshit paper!

Congress this year ordered ICE to spend $127 million on workplace operations, $34 million more than President George W. Bush had requested. Reducing those amounts, even in ICE's overall $5 billion budget, would provoke a fight, senior aides in both parties said....

Yeah, sure it will.

Analysts say they also think ICE may conduct fewer raids, focusing routine enforcement on civil infractions of worker eligibility verification rules. Former Bush administration officials said their raids were also targeted against supervisors, but that it took time to build complicated white-collar cases.

Always an excuse for not investigating themselves or buddies!

In the meantime, they said, depriving companies of their workforces and in some cases filing criminal charges against illegal immigrant workers sent a clear message of deterrence to both management and labor.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks to reduce immigration, said Obama aides are trying to manage the issue until an economic turnaround permits an attempt to overhaul immigration laws.

"I think their calculus is, how do they keep Hispanic groups happy enough without angering the broader public so much that they sabotage health care and their other priorities?" Krikorian said.

Translation: How do they FOOL YOU, America!!!

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy group, said that to the contrary, groups such as his support Obama's focus on going after bad employers and criminal illegal immigrants first - or as he put it, prioritizing "drug smugglers, not window washers."

Except the DRUG SMUGGLERS are ALREADY in the employ of the U.S. GOVERNMENT!!!!

--more--"

And just in case you haven't gotten the point....

"The "Nation of Immigrants"-themed event....

I'll give you one guess whose behind it.

The event was also organized to address the recent spate of hate crimes."

Yup.

See: It Came in a Letter

Why I Have Been Buying the Boston Globe

Because they aren't going to be aren't going to be around much longer!

"Newspapers retrench amid industry turmoil; Four major US dailies offer new faces to public" by Associated Press | March 31, 2009

NEW YORK - Four major US daily newspapers sported makeovers yesterday as they grapple with life in a world of digital news.

Quit telling lies. That might help.

Some of the biggest changes were happening in Detroit, where the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News offered free copies of their newly slimmed-down Monday editions. The newspapers now will be delivering to homes just three days a week - Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, the most popular days for advertisers.

The newspapers also were promoting electronic versions that are laid out like the print editions. The regular online editions will be open free to anyone, but the electronic versions that have the newspaper layout will be for subscribers only. The newspapers said higher-than-expected demand caused delays in the digital editions' loading times.

No one is reading them anyway (except fools like me).

Elsewhere, The Washington Post put out its first newspaper with business news folded into the front section. And The International Herald Tribune introduced a redesigned print edition and took on a new form online, merging with the website of The New York Times, which is published by the same company. The New York Times Co. also owns The Boston Globe.

Yes, I'm well aware of the incestuous nature of AmeriKa's papers!

The Detroit papers found themselves giving out free copies on a particularly busy news day, with the White House ousting General Motors Corp. chief executive Rick Wagoner and the Michigan State Spartans winning a spot in the NCAA Final Four.

Gannett Co. and MediaNews Group, which publish the Free Press and the News in partnership, said more than 500,000 copies were distributed free for the first time in those newspapers' history.... Both newspapers will be kept shorter than usual - about 32 pages - on the four days they don't deliver.

Meanwhile, the website of the Times Co.'s International Herald Tribune moved to global.nytimes.com. A link from the Times's website offers readers its "global" online edition, which features the IHT masthead over a site that looks almost identical to www.nytimes.com, but features international news more prominently.

I never go to Times' websites anymore.

See Sunday Leftovers: The Boston Globe Hates Men for more.

At The Washington Post, business and economic coverage moved inside the "A" section, and a daily page on Washington business news replaced a weekly one that used to run on Mondays. An index of headlines also appeared on page A2 with a list of the most popular stories online. The print edition of the newspaper's Style section lost some of its comic strips, which will still run online.

--more--"

One day, readers, you will go to the corner store and there WILL BE NO NEWSPAPERS!!!

:-)

Good. That will save the environment!

"Globe completes newsroom cuts" by Robert Gavin, Globe Staff | March 31, 2009

The Boston Globe said yesterday it completed cutting the equivalent of 50 full-time jobs from its newsroom, with about 60 percent of the reductions achieved through voluntary buyouts.

The remaining jobs were eliminated through layoffs of full- and part-time staff, said Globe editor Martin Baron in a note to staff. On Thursday, the Globe laid off 20 part-time employees in its newsroom....

The Globe, like papers across the country, has cut jobs in both newsroom and business operations as print circulation and advertising have declined. Even though many papers, including the Globe, reach more readers than ever through the Internet, newspaper websites are not generating enough advertising revenues to make up for the decline in print advertising.

The industry has also been hit by the recession, which has hurt traditional advertisers such as retailers.

Yeah, the AGENDA-PUSHING LIES have NOTHING to do with it, huh?

To further cut costs, The New York Times Co., which owns the Globe, said last week that nonunion employees at the New York Times newspaper and the Globe will take a temporary 5 percent pay cut. The Times Co. said unionized employees in Boston and New York also will be asked for wage reductions soon.

Baron added.... "We can all be proud that this newsroom continues to deliver journalism of the highest caliber."

--more--"

Is that what they are calling distortions and propaganda these days?

See: Globe Pats Itself on Back

Obama Drops Nuke on Liberal Base

"Steve Chu, Obama's energy secretary, told a Senate budget hearing two weeks ago that "I believe in nuclear power as a central part of our energy mix"

How many betrayals are enough, liberals? One of these in your backyard?

We have a couple nearby and over the border. I prefer not to use them. We don't need more Chernobyls or Three Mile Islands because of a fart-misting lie!

"Poll shows growing support for nuclear power plants" by Beth Daley | March 30, 2009

Yeah, sure it does!!!

Excerpts from the Globe's environmental blog.

A new Gallup poll found growing levels of support among Americans for nuclear energy.

While support for nuclear power in recent years has usally been in the mid-50 percent range, the latest poll found that 59 percent of the respondents favor its use. And the number of people who say they strongly favor nuclear - usually around 20 percent - was 27 percent in the poll.

Until the cooling tower belches a radioactive fart.... then, pffffftttttt!!!

Never mind the increased rates of cancer, etc, etc, in the area where there are nuke plants.

President Obama has pledged to reexamine nuclear energy, although that promise came under scrutiny this month, when his proposed budget cut most of the funds for a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. His stimulus package also stripped billions for a loan program the nuclear industry wanted.

Still, Steve Chu, Obama's energy secretary, told a Senate budget hearing two weeks ago that "I believe in nuclear power as a central part of our energy mix," according to the Associated Press.

Nuclear proponents say new plants could help solve the energy crisis, in part because they do not emit heat-trapping gases that contribute to global warming. They could also help with national energy security, backers say.

Get enough of the kool aid?

Opponents, however, say nuclear plants are potentially too dangerous and too expensive and there is no safe place to put the waste.

And WE COULD HAVE NON-CENTRALIZED, SELF-SUFFICIENT SUPPLIES if the fart misters would get out of the way!

Nuclear energy now accounts for about 20 percent of the US energy load.... The Gallup poll also underscored a large gender gap: 71 percent of the respondents who were men favored nuclear energy, compared with 47 percent of the women.

They NEVER STOP trying to DIVIDE US, do they?

Now I believe the poll even less than I did before -- which was already not much!

--more--"

Related: Obama Breaks Wind Over Environmentalists

Also see: Obama's Prime-Time Insults

Obama Lets Down Liberals

Taxing Your Lungs

Not that drawing hot smoke into your lungs helps, but MORE TAX GOUGING doesn't help you either, does it?

Related: Coughing Fit

"Smoke break gets more expensive with tobacco tax boost" by Associated Press | March 30, 2009

WASHINGTON - However they satisfy their nicotine cravings, tobacco users are facing a big hit as the single largest federal tobacco tax increase ever takes effect Wednesday.

Tobacco companies and public health advocates, longtime foes in the nicotine battles, are trying to turn the situation to their advantage. The major cigarette makers raised prices a couple of weeks ago, partly to offset any drop in profits once the per-pack tax climbs from 39 cents to $1.01.

(Aagh, aagh, aagh, aagh, what?)

Medical groups see a tax increase right in the middle of a recession as a great incentive to help persuade smokers to quit.

Then who is going to pay the taxes (not me, I don't smoke)?

Tobacco taxes are soaring to finance a major expansion of health insurance for children.

And if everybody stops smoking because the taxes are too high or for health reasons, whose gonna pay? Kinda short-sighted, 'er, winded, wouldn't you say, pfft?

President Obama signed that health initiative soon after taking office. Other tobacco products, from cigars to pipes and smokeless, will see similarly large tax increases, too. For example, the tax on chewing tobacco will go up from 19.5 cents per pound to 50 cents.

Just a pinch between your cheek and gum and then pull the switch....

The total expected to be raised over the 4 1/2-year-long health insurance expansion is nearly $33 billion. The tax increase is only the first move in a recharged antismoking campaign.

Yup, it's the same on every agenda-pushing piece of freedom-limiting garbage. The tyranny was to catch "terrorists," and now it is just for crime.

Congress also is considering legislation to empower the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco.

Yeah, they've done such a great job on everything else!!!

That could lead to reformulated cigarettes. Obama, who has agonized over his own cigarette habit, said he would sign such a bill. About 1 in 5 adults in the United States smokes cigarettes.

But won't be for much longer.

That's a gradually dwindling share, though it isn't shrinking fast enough for public health advocates.

You gonna pick up the tax tab when they all dead and no one smoking? How long tobacco been around? Centuries? Gonna stop that like you stopped sex.

--more--"