rod03801: So explain to me where I said Obama gets a free pass?

Is telling the truth of how the US system is a free pass or just admission that through analysis....

...... It doesn't matter who gets in at the moment eg if the hardware is screwed how is any new software gonna make any difference to the machine (aka the USA) ..it's still screwed.

Is that clear?

....Remember only a few Americans own most of America, and as my college lawyer teacher said.

"Property is NINE TENTH'S of the law"

rod03801: No... I never said that. I thought it was us "libs" that were supposed to put words in conservative mouths...

Maybe we had a quantum moment eh Rod!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrxqTtiWxs4&

rod03801: ... you want a politician to tell you before he gets in office that the country is screwed. And even if I get in there is little to do about it because of our political system, and the interference by the masters.... Mmmmmm I can just imagine that as part of the election speech.

Also, you want him to be honest and say that to reverse and fix the problem will take decades, and to ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8lVXQfPXRw

Says it all

Artful Dodger: Everything...... I think many things were pretty screwed up before hand, he just inherited a mess

A laser beam that makes molecules vibrate could help detect improvised explosive devises, say scientists.

Every molecule vibrates with a unique frequency - so the laser could "sense" bombs while scanning the ground from a safe distance.

The Michigan State University team's work is another attempt to curb the number of deaths from roadside bombs in places such as Afghanistan.

The research appears in the journal Applied Physical Letters.

An improvised explosive device is a homemade bomb and more than half the deaths of coalition soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been as a result of IEDs.

The lead developer of the laser sensor, Dr Marcos Dantus said detecting IEDs has always been a challenge because of the chemical compounds present in the environment that mask the bomb's molecules.

"Having molecular structure sensitivity is critical for identifying explosives and avoiding unnecessary evacuation of buildings and closing roads due to false alarms," he said. The invention uses a laser beam that combines short pulses that "kick" the molecules to make them vibrate with longer pulses.

"The laser and the method we've developed were originally intended for microscopes, but we were able to adapt and broaden its use to demonstrate its effectiveness for standoff detection of explosives," said Dr Dantus.

The researcher said he was not able to describe the technology behind the invention in great detail because of the project's sensitive nature.

Gene Roddenberry either was way ahead of his time... or knew some aliens!!

Artful Dodger: UARS entry has changed dates? Is that to be blamed on Obama as well??

Artful Dodger: Nooooooooo!!

You mean this isn't 2020??

Artful Dodger: You forget to mention that LightSquared have also supported Bush and gave equal funds (I think more) to the GOP. You also forget to mention that the problem with the GPS interference is in the upper frequency bands and they plan at the moment to just stick to using a lower frequency level.

Also, the GPS problems have been known for EIGHT YEARS, that the interference problems are because the GPS manufacturers are not building their receivers properly to "Department of Defence standards".

Basically cheap and nasty gear!!

So.. if the Constitution is so perfect... why were non white folk banned in many states of America from owning guns after the civil war?

Hardly fair and balanced.

Justaminute: Of course anyone who is not right wing is silly here. It's like Fox news

rod03801: Aye... He did, but that was so prophecy (Isaiah 53:9-12) could be fulfilled. 11 disciples and two swords were not exactly a challenge to those who were arresting him.

Taking things out of context don't work.

As to "what parts are "figurative" and which parts are "literal""

All at the same time and more...

as for the whip. He chased them with it is all I see, he drove the money changers out of the temple. Something that needs doing today seeing all those wearing bling that are paid for by donations to help fight the DeViL!!

Personally it's good to question, without that we'd still be ruled by the RCC.

Übergeek 바둑이: From what I remember when one of Christ's disciples cut off an ear with a sword he healed it...

The use of violence is totally against the teachings of Jesus.

This fear of Muslims is also against what Christ said...

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28 KJV)

Artful Dodger: Never brought up Healthcare and prisons as stated by Fox that I can see. IMHO .... it's all in your imagination.

Artful Dodger: Nope... it just came up on my youtube recommendations.

No answer from you.. as usual.

"he loves to take things out of context"

As much as Fox news?

EOS!!

Under the health care bill being considered in the Senate Finance Committee, Americans who fail to pay a penalty for not buying insurance could be charged up to $25,000 by the Internal Revenue Service or face up to a year in jail, according to congressional analysts.

That's just one of the concerns Republicans say the Democratic-run Congress is ignoring in the rush to pass legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system.

"The American people expect us to get this right and to do it in an open, honest and bipartisan debate. That's what they deserve," said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in his party's radio and Internet address Saturday. "But that's not what they're getting from the Democrats on Capitol Hill."


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/26/baucus-mandate-penalty-lead-prison-congressional-analysts-say/


http://swampland.time.com/2010/04/14/jail-time-for-insurance-evaders-yes-said-fox-news/


so explain why fox news stated people will go to jail. Or I'll treat your denial as utter rubbish. Is that to hard for you?

Artful Dodger: The lie was plain and simply put in the link. Fox news were telling people that they would go to jail if they didn't take out health insurance...

.... it was very clearly stated in the video

And then Bill O'Reilly stated he and Fox news have never said such a thing.

...yet many video clips were collected showing that on Fox news it was said. Including one that shows Bill and Glenn together with Glenn saying it.

...On a stack of Bibles are you going to state that no such thing was present in the video? That would take "a dishonest man twisting things".

Artful Dodger: What has that got to do with the price of chips? Bill lied and the Fox news channel lied... end of. It's documented.

.. The only other option is that the Fox news researchers couldn't research themselves out of a wet paper bag. Which makes them incompetent...... but I think it was Fox news just trying to lie and relying on it's watchers having a goldfish style memory.

Is Bill O'Reilly and Fox that stupid... or is it they think their audience is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKH5rLVhxK4&

...Can you spot how many times O'Reilly is busted on lying?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fk6qkHs0oM&

The New American Century (2009) FULL LENGTH MOVIE

Cost-plus contracts

Halliburton earns money from the government primarily through its "cost-plus" contracts. Under a cost-plus contract, a government contractor like Halliburton purchases all the necessary items to complete a job order and is subsequently reimbursed all those costs from the government -- and then paid a percentage of those costs (the plus) as a fee. A typical contractor earns a base fee of 1 percent of the estimated contract cost and an "incentive fee" of up to 9 percent of the cost estimate based on the contractor's performance in a number of areas, including cost control. The upshot: The contractor will never spend $1 million to do a job when it can spend $10 million and thereby earn a higher fee. So, contractors actually earn more money by wasting taxpayer money. The cost-plus method of accounting is the primary system today for determining how much government contractors are owed by the taxpayer. Congress and whistle blowers have criticized Halliburton and the Army Corp of Engineers for inflating costs via cost-plus contracts.

Halliburton's most lucrative contract is with the U.S. Army. It is officially known as "LOGCAP" (or Logistics Civil Augmentation Program). LOGCAP is a "cost plus" contract performed by Halliburton's KBR subsidiary. This is the contract that requires KBR to feed, house and transport troops around Iraq and the middle east.

The LOGCAP contract is the most lucrative contract being performed in Iraq today. Under the cost-plus provisions of LOGCAP, the U.S. government pays KBR 1 percent of every purchase KBR makes with the possibility of an additional 2 percent as an incentive bonus that is paid if the company is operating efficiently and honestly. When KBR buys food for the troops, it is paid 1 percent of the cost of that food. When KBR constructs a new military housing facility, it is paid 1 percent of the construction costs. When KBR houses its staff at hotels or purchases trucks and equipment to carryout its duties, it is paid 1 percent of those costs.

LOGCAP and other cost-plus contracts require the company to purchase items only from a vendor offering the lowest price if the amount of the purchase order exceeds $2,500. Thus, purchase orders exceeding $2,500 require KBR to search for competing vendors in order to find the lowest price available. But KBR often takes a purchase order exceeding $2,500 and breaks it down into its parts so that the order becomes more than one purchase order, each valued below $2,500. This allows the company to avoid searching for the lowest-priced vendor, which results in higher costs to the U.S. taxpayer. About 70 to 80 percent of KBR's purchase orders are below $2,500 - mainly because large-value purchases are broken down so they don't exceed $2,500.

A former employee of Halliburton said the company's motto is "Don't worry about price. It's cost-plus." Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) said "The higher Halliburton's costs are, the larger its profits will be." Of the firms for which Halliburton purchased items, Waxman said "Many of the preferred firms were unreliable or charged 'outrageous' prices. [Halliburton] Supervisors did not encourage buyers to identify alternative vendors and, in some cases, wanted to use a higher price vendor on the preferred list rather than a new, cheaper vendor."

"The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) was an American think tank based in Washington, D.C.. It was co-founded as a non-profit educational organization by neoconservatives William Kristol and Robert Kagan. The PNAC's stated goal was "to promote American global leadership."[1] Fundamental to the PNAC were the view that "American leadership is both good for America and good for the world" and support for "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity."[2] The PNAC exerted influence on high-level U.S. government officials in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush and affected the Bush Administration's development of military and foreign policies, especially involving national security and the Iraq War......

.....Former US Congressman Lionel Van Deerlin and UK Labour MP and Father of the House of Commons, Tam Dalyell, criticized PNAC members for promoting policies which support an idealized version of war, even though only a handful of PNAC members have served in the military or, if they served, seen combat.[44]

As quoted in Paul Reynolds' BBC News report, David Rothkopf stated:

Their [The Project for the New American Century's] signal enterprise was the invasion of Iraq and their failure to produce results is clear. Precisely the opposite has happened. The US use of force has been seen as doing wrong and as inflaming a region that has been less than susceptible to democracy. Their plan has fallen on hard times. There were flaws in the conception and horrendously bad execution. The neo-cons have been undone by their own ideas and the incompetence of the Bush administration.[24]

In discussing the PNAC report Rebuilding America's Defenses (2000), Neil MacKay, investigations editor for the Scottish Sunday Herald, quoted Tam Dalyell: "'This is garbage from right-wing think-tanks stuffed with chicken-hawks -- men who have never seen the horror of war but are in love with the idea of war. Men like Cheney, who were draft-dodgers in the Vietnam war. These are the thought processes of fanaticist Americans who want to control the world....

........The Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. that was founded in 2009. It is committed to strong U.S. diplomatic, economic and military engagement in the world, support for democratic allies of the U.S., and opposition to "rogue regimes" that threaten American interests. FPI shares directors and staff with the now defunct and controversial Project for the New American Century, and is described in the media as its successor organization."

rod03801: I think trying to say more conservatives then liberals or vice versa have gone crazy and killed is nuts.

But.. you could ask under your version of the freedom of information act there is such data available.

Vikings: lol I said it is statistically inevitable that there will be a rampage. NOT that half the gun owners will go on the rampage.

You just can't have the loose controls on guns and ownership without one disturbed person flipping and ending up taking out his fear/anger induced reality on others.

Can I prove this is true? History shows it is true. It's not spin, it's a fact.

Übergeek 바둑이: There would be less. Some part of teenage sex (as with teenage drug taking/booze drinking) is that it is wrong... a rebellion, as expected of kids, as it is what kids do.

Unless they are so mentally abused they become zombies par say.

Übergeek 바둑이: Not really unless it was his job to make or repair/restore them.

If someone needed them to make themselves feel 'safe' ... then no way. That kinda paranoia and guns do not mix well. It's a rampage waiting to happen and statistically one will.

"or he might go crazy one day and start shooting everybody."

Well... then surely like we have in the UK the person needs declaring sane before he is allowed to possess that much death dealing hardware. N' that most is locked up safely to stop kids and criminals nicking them.

Übergeek 바둑이: Simple solution.. at the time the right to bear arms was made... guns were single shot slow loaders. If they were good enough for the founding fathers of the USA... .... then there is no need for automatic shotguns, automatics and other guns designed to take out a small village on one clip.

Seeing pre pubescent kids owing over a dozen firearms is freaky.

Marshmud: With guns I agree. But there is a problem with sex ed that many parents don't teach a damn thing. Leading to kids entering the adult world with no idea about the likes of contraception, STD's... and a good description of the birds and the bees.

Not a good idea.

Erik Telford, AFP's director of online strategy and a leading figure on the right in the deployment of the internet as a political tool, exhorted Tea Party members to attack politicians through their blogs.

"Pick your least favourite public official and beat the crap out of him every day," Telford told the audience. "It's fun, and people will start to notice and you will have a tremendous impact.

"The way to beat the left is to link more and more to one another and to link to articles that are in tune with our ideology and that will push the articles to the top of Google search.""

An idea funded by the Koch brothers

Drug and insurance companies say they are merely seeking to educate politicians and the public. But with industry lobbyists swarming over Capitol Hill ‑ there are six registered healthcare lobbyists for every member of Congress ‑ a partner in the most powerful lobbying firm in Washington acknowledged that healthcare firms' money "has had a lot of influence" and that it is "morally suspect".

Reform groups say vast spending, and the threat of a lot more being poured into advertisements against the administration, has helped drug companies ensure there will be no cap on the prices they charge for medicines ‑ one of the ways the White House had hoped to keep down surging healthcare costs.

Insurance companies have done even better as the new legislation will prove a business bonanza. It is not only likely to kill off the threat of public health insurance, which threatened to siphon off customers by offering lower premiums and better coverage, but will force millions more people to take out private medical policies or face prosecution.

"It's a total victory for the health insurance industry," said Dr Steffie Woolhander, a GP, professor of medicine at Harvard University and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Programme (PNHP).

"What the bill has done is use the coercive power of the state to force people to hand their money over to a private entity which is the private insurance industry. That is not what people were promised."

PNHP blames a political process it says is corrupted by millions of dollars poured into the election campaigns of members of Congress and influencing the discourse about health reform by funding advertising campaigns, supposedly independent studies and patients rights organisations that press the industry's interests.

Corruption in washington approved by those who say it is wrong.

.. never happens

I'm on disability now from AT&T. Three years ago I was making $150,000 a year as a Global Account Manager for Cingular, then I had to go on disability shortly before AT&T took over. I paid for the best health coverage available and also always paid for supplemental disability insurance. I've been on disability and under medical treatment since then. You'd think with my career path, income and savings, and my commitment to always get the most and best insurance I could I should be in great shape, right? I'm now completely broke, I have no retirement savings left, can't pay for my kids college, and my copay on just ONE of my prescriptions has gone from $150 to $1254 for a one-month supply, so I can't even afford the prescription I need to stay alive.

I don't care how good your job is, how secure it is, how great your insurance is, or how much you have in savings and retirement accounts, YOU ARE NOT COVERED. The contractors your company works with (i.e., United Healthcare for Medical Ins., Hewett for Benefits Mgmt., Sedgewick for Disability Mgmt., CVS for drug benefits, etc.) will pull every trick in the book to reduce/deny coverage. Their systems are set up to force you to monitor a constant barrage of paperwork and forms, and if you miss any required response notices, they will permanently drop you from benefits/coverage, and you're screwed, forever.

WASHINGTON — The largest medical insurers and drug companies spent 41% more on lobbying this year as Congress began debate on an overhaul of health care, which may include a public insurance plan the industries oppose. The largest medical insurers and drug companies spent 41% more on lobbying this year as Congress began debate on an overhaul of health care, which may include a public insurance plan the industries oppose.

I say it was not Obama that caused companies to increase insurance costs in the USA, but the extra money the Health companies are spending on making sure they profit while people live in pain, go bankrupt.. or die.

This is great that people in America (practising nimby's) love their neighbours!!

Übergeek 바둑이: Right, as if the corps using dodgy chemicals are going to do that. They will use what is cheaper until they either get told to change (like with CFC's) or... someone manages to prove in court that the chemicals are harmful to the organic chemistry of our bodies and/or the environment.

After watching a company and one of it's so called new wave of drugs that is supposed to be helpful to many people be found to be not or harmful, many side effects buried in reams of results, or not told to the respective government regulator... and yet sold as the next best thing to sliced bread.

"video game legislation failure"

Never gonna really work. Too many factors outside regulation to make any real effort except branding an age on it worthwhile.

Data from various reports by medical analysts do confirm a link between being uninsured (or with low insurance) and mental health problems. That this is related to the lack of treatment for physical health problems, of a long or severe enough nature to have an impact on that persons quality of life.

Gotta love the lobbyists who pay for the current health system in the US to carry on so they can profit!!

Übergeek 바둑이: Figures from other organisations put the figure of people with mental illness higher, being 1 in 3 of all Americans. Stating that the NIMH figures are based on old data.

Though the danger through Victorian style stigmata and the lack of universal health care makes these figures more on a concern then in Europe, as many will never be diagnosed and/or given the treatment and care they deserve.

... Lifetime prevalence estimates put the US figures at about 57%

Or if you work in the CIA 100%

Aganju: George Carlin sums up politicians and the myth of electing them very well.... The masters just use them as a means of population control.

US and UK spy agencies built close ties with their Libyan counterparts during the so-called War on Terror, according to documents discovered at the office of Col Gaddafi's former spy chief.

The papers suggest the CIA abducted several suspected militants from 2002 to 2004 and handed them to Tripoli. The UK's MI6 also apparently gave the Gaddafi regime details of dissidents.

The documents, found by Human Rights Watch workers, have not been seen by the BBC or independently verified.....

.....The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Tripoli says the documents illuminate a short period when the Libyan intelligence agency was a trusted and valued ally of both MI6 and the CIA, with the tone of exchanges between agents breezy and bordering on the chummy.

Human Rights Watch accused the CIA of condoning torture.

"It wasn't just abducting suspected Islamic militants and handing them over to the Libyan intelligence. The CIA also sent the questions they wanted Libyan intelligence to ask and, from the files, it's very clear they were present in some of the interrogations themselves," said Peter Bouckaert of HRW.

The papers outline the rendition of several suspects, including one that Human Rights Watch has identified as Abdel Hakim Belhaj, known in the documents as Abdullah al-Sadiq, who is now the military commander of the anti-Gaddafi forces in Tripoli.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood said: "It can't come as a surprise that the Central Intelligence Agency works with foreign governments to help protect our country from terrorism and other deadly threats."

The documents also reveal details about the UK's relationship with the Gaddafi regime. One memo, dated 18 March 2004 and with the address "London SE1", congratulates Libya on the arrival of Mr Belhaj. It states "for the urgent personal attention of Musa Kusa" and is headed "following message to Musa in Tripoli from Mark in London", according to the Financial Times. Its authenticity could not be independently verified.

The UK intelligence agency apparently helped to write a speech for Col Gaddafi in 2004, when the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair was encouraging the colonel to give up his weapons programme. And British officials also insisted that Mr Blair's famous 2004 meeting with Col Gaddafi should be in his Bedouin tent, according to the UK's Independent newspaper, whose journalists also discovered the documents.

"[The prime minister's office is] keen that the prime minister meet the leader in his tent," the paper quotes a memo from an MI6 agent as saying. "I don't know why the English are fascinated by tents. The plain fact is the journalists would love it."

In another memo, also seen by the Independent, UK intelligence appeared to give Tripoli details of a Libyan dissident who had been freed from jail in Britain. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague played down the revelations, telling Sky News that they "relate to a period under the previous government so I have no knowledge of those, of what was happening behind the scenes at that time".

Mr Blair and US President George W Bush lobbied hard to bring Col Gaddafi out of international isolation in the years after the 9/11 attacks, as Libya moved to normalise relations with former enemies in the West.

And of course, the most controversial moment came when Ronald Reagan's budget director, David Stockman, proposed classifying ketchup as a vegetable to meet dietary requirements while also slashing costs.

Both federal and local officials have been trying to improve the school lunch programme, so it is more nutritious for students and the food is more liked by them. But it's a massive undertaking. The National School Lunch programme in the United States feeds more than 28 million students in 98,000 schools across the country.

Schools also provide breakfast in some districts to low-income children and, since 1998, the federal government has also given schools money to provide snacks to students who participate in after-school programmes.

In 2003, the US Department of Agriculture said the school lunch programme cost $7.1bn (£3.7bn). The menus vary greatly from district to district, but they must meet the applicable recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These say no more than 30% of an individual's calories should come from fat, and less than 10% from saturated fat.

School lunches are also required to provide one-third of the recommended dietary allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories.

The food is mostly packaged, with some critics complaining that lunchrooms are merely dumping grounds for agricultural surplus.

Dr Walter Willett, head of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, says of the foods offered to schools by the Department of Agriculture: "Their foods tend to be at the bottom of the barrel in terms of healthy nutrition."

A 2001 Department of Agriculture study showed that 80% of schools offered menu items that could be combined to meet dietary guidelines.

But more than one-fifth of lunch programmes offered commercial fast food, and most schools had vending machines. The study found that students often made bad choices.

But there are attempts at broader reforms.

A new programme partners schools with local small farmers to bring more fresh fruit and vegetables to students. And some states are pushing to ban vending machines in an attempt to keep the students from subsisting on snacks and junk food.

Übergeek 바둑이: Green tomato's ... fruit or veg!!

Propaganda, American-style
by Noam Chomsky

The Vietnam War is a classic example of America's propaganda system. In the mainstream media--the New York Times, CBS, and so on-- there was a lively debate about the war. It was between people called "doves" and people called "hawks." The hawks said, "If we keep at it we can win." The doves said, "Even if we keep at it, it would probably be too costly for use, and besides, maybe we're killing too many people." Both sides agreed on one thing. We had a right to carry out aggression against South Vietnam. Doves and hawks alike refused to admit that aggression was taking place. They both called our military presence in Southeast Asia the defense of South Vietnam, substituting "defense" for "aggression" in the standard Orwellian manner. In reality, we were attacking South Vietnam just as surely as the Soviets later attacked Afghanistan.

Consider the following facts. In 1962 the U.S. Air Force began direct attacks against the rural population of South Vietnam with heavy bombing and defoliation . It was part of a program intended to drive millions of people into detention camps where, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards, they would be "protected" from the guerrillas they were supporting--the "Viet Cong," the southern branch of the former anti-French resistance (the Vietminh). This is what our government calls aggression or invasion when conducted by some official enemy. The Saigon government had no legitimacy and little popular support, and its leadership was regularly overthrown in U.S.-backed coups when it was feared they might arrange a settlement with the Viet Cong. Some 70,000 "Viet Cong" had already been killed in the U.S.-directed terror campaign before the outright U.S. invasion took place in 1972.

Like the Soviets in Afghanistan, we tried to establish a government in Saigon to invite us in. We had to overthrow regime after regime in that effort. Finally we simply invaded outright. That is plain, simple aggression. But anyone in the U.S. who thought that our policies in Vietnam were wrong in principle was not admitted to the discussion about the war. The debate was essentially over tactics. .......

US authorities are to sue 17 major banks for losses on mortgage-backed investments that cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it was taking action against banks including Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC. The agency says they misrepresented the quality of the mortgages they sold during the housing bubble.

The values plunged as the US was engulfed in the financial crisis.

The FHFA oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two firms lost more than $30bn (£18.5bn), partly because of their investments in the subprime mortgages, and were bailed out by the US government.

Since the rescues, US taxpayers have spent more than $140bn to keep the firms afloat. Other banks facing action include Royal Bank of Scotland, Nomura, Citigroup, and Societe Generale.

A spokesman for RBS said: "We believe we have substantial and credible legal and factual defences to these claims and will defend them vigorously." Speculation in recent days that the FHFA was about to launch legal action had led to falls in US bank share prices.

The FHFA said in a statement that there had been "improper actions by the firms and individuals".

"Based on our review, FHFA alleges that the loans had different and more risky characteristics than the descriptions contained in the marketing and sales materials provided to the Enterprises for those securities," the statement said.

Major banks are already negotiating with the attorneys general of all 50 states to settle mortgage abuses.

I suppose if it was freshly made.....

Then as now, local school districts could receive reimbursement for each lunch served provided it met minimum standards. In mid-1981, only a few months after Reagan took office, Congress cut $1 billion from child-nutrition funding and gave the USDA 90 days--the blink of an eye, for the federal bureaucracy--to come up with new standards that would enable school districts to economize, in theory without compromising nutrition.

The USDA convened a panel of nutritionists and food service directors to ponder what to do. One option on the table--no one later would admit to putting it there--was to "accept catsup as a fruit/vegetable when used as an ingredient." Some panel members seized on this as an opportunity to discuss whether to count ketchup even if used as a condiment. From what I can tell, the motive wasn't so much penuriousness as trying to face facts about what kids would actually eat. USDA standards at the time required that a reimbursable lunch consist of five items: meat, milk, bread, and two servings of fruit or vegetables. Many kids refused to eat the veggies and the stuff wound up as "plate waste." Would-be realists on the panel reasoned that if they could count ketchup as a vegetable they could meet federal standards without having to throw away so many lima beans, thereby saving money while having no impact on the kids. Looked at in a certain light, it made sense. Ketchup wasn't the only newly permissible substitute: pickle relish and conceivably other condiments could also count as vegetables (precise interpretation was left to state officials); protein sources like tofu or cottage cheese could replace meat; and corn chips, pretzels, and other snacks could replace bread. Minimum portion sizes were also reduced, purportedly another effort to reduce waste.

Mid-level Reaganauts at the USDA saw all this as a matter of giving the states more latitude; wiser heads might have realized that the rest of the world would see it as taking food away from children. Unfortunately for Reagan, the 90-day deadline allowed no time for higher review. When the proposed new rules were released for comment in September 1981, food activists went ballistic. Democratic politicians staged photo ops where they feasted on skimpy-looking meals that conformed to the new standards. The mortified administration withdrew the proposal and the USDA official in charge of the program was transferred, a move widely interpreted as a firing.

And to think Ronald Raygun wanted Tomato Ketchup classified as a vegetable to enable schools to ...."cut out a serving of cooked or fresh vegetable from hot lunch program child-nutrition requirements."

... at the same time ..."the White House purchased $209,508 worth of new china and place settings with the presidential seal embossed in gold."

.... Texas is now the place to live for those who are rich. The cuts or virtual non existence of state taxes have made it the state to be in.... unless you want to better yourself. As the Conservative run state has cut education and other services that give people the chance to be part of 'ThE aMeRiCaN DrEaM'...

But wth.. The rich can live in their gated communities and reassure themselves they are safe.

More children and young adults in the US are having strokes - with unhealthy lifestyles being a likely cause, scientists have said.

Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysed hospital data on up to eight million patients a year between 1995 and 2008. In Annals of Neurology, they say stroke rates in five to 44-year-olds rose by about a third in under 10 years.

Higher blood pressure, diabetes and obesity were common in stroke patients.

The researchers looked at figures for ischemic stroke, due to blood clots, and haemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by bleeding on the brain.The rate of ischemic stroke increased by 31% in five to 14-year-olds, from 3.2 strokes per 10,000 hospital cases to 4.2 per 10,000.

There were increases of 30% for people aged 15 to 34 and 37% in patients between the ages of 35 and 44. In all age groups the increase was greater in men than in women.

Supersize me??

Eating high levels of chocolate could reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, according to a review of previous research.

Data from 114,009 patients suggested risk was cut by about a third, according to a study published on the BMJ website.

But the researchers warned that excessive consumption would result in other illnesses.

The British Heart Foundation said there were better ways to protect the heart.

The analysis, conducted by scientists at the University of Cambridge, compared the risk to the brain and heart in groups of people who reported eating low levels of chocolate, fewer than two bars per week, with those eating high levels - more than two bars per week.
Chocolate shield

It showed that the "highest levels of chocolate consumption were associated with a 37% reduction in cardiovascular disease and a 29% reduction in stroke compared with the lowest levels".

A senior National Transitional Council official in Libya has told Al Jazeera that Saadi Gaddafi, the third son of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi, is willing to give himself up.

Abdelhakim Belhaj, the NTC's military leader in Tripoli, said on Wednesday that Saddi called him and asked if he can surrender. In an exclusive interview, Belhaj said the revolutionaries know for sure where some of the regime leaders are, including unconfirmed reports on where Gaddafi is.

"Gaddafi is now fleeing - and we have a good idea where he is," Ali Tarhouni, a senior NTC minister said earlier, without elaborating. "We don't have any doubt that we will catch him." There has been speculation that Gaddafi is seeking refuge in Sirte or one of the other remaining regime strongholds, among them the towns of Bani Walid or Sabha.

Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from Tripoli said: “We asked him [Belhaj] about the military situation, remaining members of the Gaddafi family, and he said that he believes one of Gaddafi's sons, Saadi, is preparing to surrender.

Libya's interim leaders have given pro-Gaddafi forces until Saturday to surrender or face military force.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, who leads the National Transitional Council (NTC), said the ultimatum applied to loyalists of Col Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown of Sirte and in other towns.

The announcement came after Col Gaddafi's wife and three of his adult children fled to neighbouring Algeria. Algeria has defended the move, which the NTC called an "act of aggression".

The anti-Gaddafi forces are trying to overcome pockets of resistance by loyalists, and preparing to advance on Sirte.

Speaking at a news conference in Benghazi, Mr Jalil said that if there was no "peaceful indication" by Saturday that Gaddafi-loyalists intended to surrender, "we will decide this manner militarily"