Gmail, google groups need to become more user friendy!!

Can google get it more user-friendly???

Could they maybe talk with yahoo or amazon or airline companies to see how they make it more possible for people to recover accounts?

Very very difficult. I thought that I put in the right email when they asked for originating email for the gmail. It seemed so, the system remembered me. I got into my old version of this blog --with but one post.

Anyway, it still allowed no access for my gmail accounts.

This makes for problems beyond gmail.
It is impossible to join google groups.
Again, why can't they make friends among the competition over at yahoo, who make it a LOT MORE EASIER to access their yahoo group counterparts to google groups.

Why does Verizon make online payment impossible?

Verizon will NOT make payment possible online.
And their phone service is not helpful toward this end.

I attempted to make a payment online.
Now they have an added charge: you used to be able to do this online.
Actually, in the Nynex days you could pay in person at customer service centers.

However, now you encounter a message at their site saying that you must pay $3.50 at an outside vendor.
What is the other option? You must register if you want to bypass that.
What does registration involve? you must wait for a PIN.

OK, what if you want to pay at an authorized payment center.
But the official Verizon payment center locations directory says that there are no authorized payment centers for zip codes for the vicinity of zip codes for lower Manhattan, mid-town Manhattan, downtown Brooklyn, western, central queens.
OK, so if you want to go to checkfreepay centers. They do not take checks
they want cash.

As I have been typing this, I have been on hold for 55 minutes on bothn my landline to 1-888-669-9901, and my cellphone to Verizon's standard local number for service/ payment matters, 1-718-890-1550.
Hello, Verizon! This blogpost should be a wake up call that you have to reform your ways, or people will search out your competitor phone companies.

Another route that we should take is to rally to have a consumer's bill of rights, just as Congressman Barney Frank and President Barack Obama have been pushing to roll back the most egregious abuses of the credit card companies.

THE WORKERS' SOLIDARITY ASPECT OF LUDDISM
You know, in the not so far distant past, like ten years ago, you could go to centers, staffed by real humans (as I noted earlier). The elimination of these centers has meant the elimination of jobs. And furthermore, it is apparent that many of your service assistance calls are not being handled by employees in the United States but by people in India. In a time of declining domestic (i.e., American) employment, it is critical to do what little one can to support live human beings that are working in the United States. Off-sourcing and modern technology are sending jobs abroad.

Rob Miller, Democratic challenger to Joe "You Lie" Wilson reaps cash rewards

South Carolina Democratic Iraq War veteran Rob Miller has cashed in, in the fallout over Joe Wilson's "you lie" retort, disrupting President Barack Obama's speech.

... and he boost his opponent's fund-raising, on the order of $500,000 in one day.
See this story from Congressional Quarterly Politics at yahoo.com:
"'You Lie' Fallout: Foe Hauls in Quick Half-Million":
Rob Miller, Wilson's Democratic challenger for the 2010 contest for Wilson's seat, reaped half a million dollars in the 24 hours following the Congressman's disruptive yell.
By 48 hours, Miller garnered $1,000,000 in donations, the "Washington Post" reported.
Miller has apparently surpassed Wilson's fundraising.

Click here to reach two-Iraq tour Iraq vet, Rob Miller's website.

EWG study: top most attractive cellphones and 10 worst phones in radiation emissions

Bravo to the Environmental Working Group for posting its ranking of the best and the worst of cellphones (or mobile phones), measured by the factor of lowest or highest radiation emissions.

AND

Here is the link to the full Environmental Working Group (EWG) study on DOZENS of phones.

AND ANOTHER AUTHOR ASKED, Was Senator Ted Kennedy's brain cancer death the result of frequent cellphone use?
Follow this link at examiner.com.

Teabagger South Carolinian Congressman heckles President, spikes searches, bad press for GOP

South Carolina Republican tea-party-type Congressman Joe Wilson heckles President Obama with "you lie"

... and he boost his opponent's fund-raising, on the order of $500,000 in one day.
See this story from Congressional Quarterly Politics at yahoo.com:
"'You Lie' Fallout: Foe Hauls in Quick Half-Million":
Rob Miller, Wilson's Democratic challenger for the 2010 contest for Wilson's seat, reaped half a million dollars in the 24 hours following the Congressman's disruptive yell.
Some observers believe that this incident could garner critical donations that would help Miller in 2010.

If this is the case, we would wish for more such incidents!

How has anti-Semitic filth evaded amazon.com's filters?

Read through the reviews of Bernard Malamud's Pulitzer Prize winning "The Fixer" at www.amazon.com, and you'll see a lead to a sickening review title, "A brief and painful history of why Christians were annoyed by Jews and what they did about it," February 24, 2008
HOW DISGUSTING AND SHAMEFUL!!! You want to know about Christians' treatment of Jews? Begins with medieval era expulsions from towns or nations, and it caps with genocide, The Holocaust, in World War II.
Doesn't anyone vet the reviews?!?! How did this post last in the system for a year and a half??
Report this to amazon.com By the way, I'm of Christian background.

Health benefits of weekend trips, vacation, unions

On the fly today, but let me add:

1) This blog quote brings to mind: taking breaks, as weekend trips or longer vacations, have health benefits.
2) France has a better policy than the US has. More people get more vacation --FIVE weeks at minimum-- in France than people do in the US.
3) The French have their strong union movement to thank for these accomplishments.
Now why can't those tea-bag party Joe the Plumber / Glenn Beck following yahoos absorb that message?

The Health Benefits of a Weekend Getaway
Weekly advice from our herbs and alternatives expert

By Sara Altshul
My first cousin Laura asked me and another cousin, Liz, to join her on a weekend mini-vacation. I knew it would be good for me, but now a new study backs me up!
Laura and I share a July birthday, which we’ve never celebrated together. And though Laura, Liz, and I love seeing each other at family events, we’ve never hung out, just the three of us. So we unanimously decided to make some new family history.
Laura was due for some fun: Her mother recently passed away after a 10-year battle with a blood cancer, and Laura dropped everything to tend her while working a demanding job in television sports. Liz, too: She’s a top retail executive and the mother of three boys. Her workday starts at 5:30 a.m. and ends at 8 p.m.
Compared to the lives of Laura and Liz, my whole life is a vacation; I don’t commute and I don’t answer to a boss. Still, the stresses of being family breadwinner and a freelance writer are real enough. Plus, I haven’t taken a vacation in years.
So off we went to a lovely resort just outside of Atlantic City, N.J. I admit, I worried a little at first about how relaxing it would be to share a room for two nights (and a bathroom) with two women relatives that I haven’t spent much time with.
I absolutely needn’t have. I was stunned to discover how utterly relaxed I became in the short time between Friday afternoon and Sunday. I’m sure the heavenly massage, facial, and spa manicure I enjoyed, to say nothing of the strolling, shopping, pool-lounging, and divine food, and our brief stint in the resort’s fitness room, and the howling fun we had staying up late on Friday playing pool and air hockey, helped me unwind so quickly. I swear I could literally feel the stress hormones leaving my body.

Study says: Have fun!
Turns out, that’s exactly what was happening to me. According to a study published Thursday in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine,

Blogger's comment: that journal title, I admit, doesn't give me a lot of confidence.

engaging in enjoyable leisure activities can lower stress hormones and blood pressure, make you feel better all over, and reduce your waist circumference and body mass index (although I’m pretty sure the Friday night gala all-you-could-eat seafood buffet probably canceled out those last two benefits).
In the study, 1,400 people reported how often they participated in activities like vacationing, going to clubs, playing sports, or plain old loafing around. Folks who spent the most time doing many different fun activities reaped the most health benefits. Though the study may sound like “duh” research (what I call studies whose results seem painfully obvious), the scientist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who conducted it makes a good point.
“When you’re under stress, the usual thing is to cut back on enjoyable activities because you’re feeling uncomfortable and you need more time to deal with the stress. But these data suggest that’s the wrong thing to do, and that continuing enjoyable activities can be helpful,” says study coauthor Karen Matthews, PhD, a professor of psychiatry, epidemiology, and psychology.
That’s all I needed to hear. I’m planning to take a real vacation with my husband, Frank, at the end of August. Not sure where yet, but it will absolutely be someplace that has lots and lots of fun things to do. Suggestions are welcome!

And a wonderful comment from a reader named Sally:

Sally
I’m amazed that someone had to study this issue. Of course time off is good for you. Just like breathing is good for you.
In America, the 10 days most people get are spread out over the year, to make for long weekends. It’s a rare treat to actually take a whole week off of work. In France, 5 weeks vacation per year is the minimum. Going away for 2-3 weeks at a time is normal. All that is courtesy of their unions. Why do Americans hate unions?

UK-US study: cellphones AND cordless phones users risk brain tumors

"Cellphones Cause Brain Tumors, Says New Report By International EMF Collaborative"
August 26, 2009, from MedicalNewsToday.com
*Cellphones do pose dangers to users
*Children and young adults are at greater risk
*Telecom industry-funded studies paint too sanguine a picture of the health risks

A new report, "Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone," was released today by a collaborative of international EMF activists. Groups affiliated with the report include Powerwatch and the Radiation Research Trust in the U.K., and in the U.S., EMR Policy Institute, ElectromagenticHealth.org and The Peoples Initiative Foundation. Download the report.

The exposé discusses research on cellphones and brain tumors and concludes:

- There is a risk of brain tumors from cellphone use;
- Telecom funded studies underestimate the risk of brain tumors, and;
- Children have larger risks than adults for brain tumors.

This report, sent to government leaders and media today, details eleven design flaws of the 13-country, Telecom-funded Interphone study. The Interphone study, begun in 1999, was intended to determine the risks of brain tumors, but its full publication has been held up for years. Components of this study published to date reveal what the authors call a 'systemic-skew', greatly underestimating brain tumor risk.

The design flaws include categorizing subjects who used portable phones (which emit the same microwave radiation as cellphones,) as 'unexposed'; exclusion of many types of brain tumors; exclusion of people who had died, or were too ill to be interviewed, as a consequence of their brain tumor; and exclusion of children and young adults, who are more vulnerable.

Lloyd Morgan, lead author and member of the Bioelectromagnetics Society says, "Exposure to cellphone radiation is the largest human health experiment ever undertaken, without informed consent, and has some 4 billion participants enrolled. Science has shown increased risk of brain tumors from use of cellphones, as well as increased risk of eye cancer, salivary gland tumors, testicular cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and leukemia. The public must be informed."

International scientists endorsing "Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern" include Ronald B. Herberman, MD, Director Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute; David Carpenter, MD, Director, Institute for Health and the Environment, University at Albany; Martin Blank, PhD, Associate Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University; Professor Yury Grigoriev, Chairman of Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, and many others.

Source
Radiation Research Trust

Now, did cellphone use contribute to Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy's brain cancer?

Don't give the facts, ma'am; health care rallies are about distrusting government

It's crazy: people from the lower half of society, often lacking health care or enduring financial abuse from insurance companies, are overcome with anger about Congress' proposals (plural, as the House and Senate variations need reconciliation) to reform health care. These tea-bagging yahoos, inspired by lies from FoxNews, are disrupting the public aspect of American republicanism, town meetings.

Michael McAuliff did a great job of doing undercover reporting at the rallies, interviewing the hot-head right-wingers. Important also in his "New York Daily News" report (Sunday, August 30, 2009) was the analysis by academic Carol Weisser (University of Florida).

APALACHICOLA, Fla. - In government, they do not trust.

And there's no way they'll let Uncle Sam run their health care - even if they have none. Even if they already have government-run care, like Medicare, and wouldn't give it up.

"I believe this bill is literally a death bill," said Pam Olsen, a mother of four who has no insurance.

And it doesn't seem to matter what officials say to the contrary.

To find out why, the Daily News made under-the-radar visits last week to contentious town hall meetings in the Florida panhandle district of conservative Democratic Rep. Allen Boyd.

The answer was opponents trust more what they're learning on their own from Internet activist sites, e-mails sent around by folks they know and talk show hosts like Glenn Beck.

Some of the fervor can be blamed on the "Astroturfing" of opponents who seed talking points in grass-roots networks.

But town hall attendees - unaware they were talking to a reporter - said they came to their opinions on their own and were happy to point to sources like Beck, the Web-based 9/12 Project and ResistNet, plus their own research. Some said they maintained their own e-mail networks to spread the truth as they see it.

It all produced a powerful and uniform set of gripes in three standing-room only, hours-long forums attended by The News.

In the minds of many folks packing the sessions, federal intervention in health care will only hurt, and could even doom, the nation.

Signs outside Tallahassee's City Hall were especially extreme. "Obama is not a Nazi - he's worse," declared one. "Das Kapital," proclaimed another, renaming the nation's Capitol after a Karl Marx tome.

Inside, people were more polite, but no less afraid.

"I am a single uninsured mother of an uninsured child, and yet still do not want the government involved in my health care," declared a woman who identified herself as "Jane Doe" because she wanted to protect herself and her daughter from "attacks."

"Our country is going down the wrong path right now. It's going down the path to socialism," said Olsen.

"We the people are afraid that we're being taken over," said another woman to loud applause.

Plenty of Floridians back health care reform, and many turned out in Tallahassee.

But outside the state's capital city, few believed anything good could come from health reform. Even when Boyd, their congressman, said their fears were baseless, it didn't make a difference.

Asked in the Gulf Coast town of Port St. Joe if he'd back provisions to help illegal immigrants, Boyd emphatically denied they were covered.

"There is no - zero, zippity-doo-dah, none - coverage for illegal immigrants," Boyd said, drawing boos and disbelief.

Mike Horan, a Medicare and Veteran's Administration health care recipient with a doctorate in education and a master's degree in social work, wasn't buying what he heard from Boyd in Apalachicola.

"If you think that the federal government can do anything better than private enterprise, show me the agency," he said.

Janice Williamson, who has built her own e-mail list, was so unhappy with Boyd's answers she vowed to "do everything" she could to fight his reelection.

The open disbelief, said Florida State University politics Prof. Carol Weisser, marks a new and disturbing trend.

"We know that trust in government is low," she said. "But there's always been this split where people still like their own congressman."

Suddenly, constituents prefer the flood of scary information from TV and the Internet.

"The communications are what's different, and somehow people are believing them, even though they've got someone they voted for and like telling them otherwise," Weisser said.

University of Missouri Prof. Peverill Squire says the fear isn't just about health care.

"People are desperately trying to hold on to what they may have, and they're fearful that whatever comes out of this debate is going to leave them worse off," he said.

"They fear they're going to get screwed."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/08/30/2009-08-30_fear__loathing_fuel_health_care_forums.html#ixzz0PoCLXLAJ

Beware of these cancerous chemicals in your work or home-lives

We know not to smoke or chew tobacco.

But we must further beware of other items that can cause the development of cancer.

These environment substances can be contributory to the development of cancers:
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) (uses:
vinyl siding for houses --incidentally, such siding is banned by local authorities in some countries, such as Germany and the Netherlands [source: polyvinyl chloride article, wikipedia]
sex toys have high concentrations of PVCs [source: polyvinyl chloride article, wikipedia]
car interiors {that "new car smell"}, outgassing" {open those windows!} is recommended for new cars. Japanese car makers, Nissan, Honda and Toyota eliminated PVC use in cars in 2007.

vinyl flooring is considered toxic to children, according to a Swedish-Danish study, but a European study found no risk.

Bisphenol A ("BPA") is a substance found in plastic bottles. It has been found to interfere with reproductive function in animals and has been associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans. -Physorg.com, May 21, 2009. A Harvard School of Public Health monitored BPA levels in urine of drinkers from plastic bottles.

REMINDER OF BOTTLES TO AVOID --from thegreenguide.com, a site project of National Geographic:

What To Buy:

#2 HDPE, #4 LDPE and #5 PP: These three types of plastic are your best choices. They transmit no known chemicals into your food and they're generally recyclable; #2 is very commonly accepted by municipal recycling programs, but you may have a more difficult time finding someone to recycle your #4 and #5 containers.

#1 PET: Fine for single use and widely accepted by municipal recyclers; avoid reusing #1 water and soda bottles, as they're hard to clean, and because plastic is porous, these bottles absorb flavors and bacteria that you can't get rid of.

PLA: plastics made from renewable resources such as corn, potatoes and sugar cane and anything else with a high starch content; although you can't recycle these plant-based plastics, you can compost them in a municipal composter or in your backyard compost heap.

Plastics to Avoid:

#3 PVC: Used frequently in cling wraps for meat, PVC contains softeners called phthalates that interfere with hormonal development, and its manufacture and incineration release dioxin, a potent carcinogen and hormone disruptor.

#6 PS: Polystyrene-foam cups and clear plastic take-out containers can leach styrene, a possible human carcinogen, into food.

#7 PC: The only plastic made with bisphenol A, polycarbonate is used in baby bottles, 5-gallon water-cooler bottles and the epoxy linings of tin food cans. Bisphenol A has been linked to a wide variety of problems such as heart disease and obesity.

NEGATIVE DIETARY SUBSTANCES:
nitrates, nitrites, fatty foods, high caloric diet, >>> negative diet substances
(Yet, a commenter at a chow.com reports that s/he has found nitrate/free bacon at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.) On the other hand, WebMD reports that nitrites and nitrates in "leafy vegetables and meats" "may cut heart damage."

HEALTHY FOODS WE SHOULD EAT MORE OF:
fruits and vegetables, high fiber food (inc whole grain cereals and cruciferous vegetables)
cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kohlrabi, kale, bok choy, turnips, turnip greens)

Hear stories of how European health care compares with American health care, from Americans living abroad

The commercial media, particularly FoxNews and poorly informed reporters, pump us with stories of the horrors of European public medical care.
Yet, Public Radio International (PRI)'s "The Takeaway" aired this morning (August 28, 2009) interviews with Americans living abroad, to hear how European health care compared with health care in the United States.

Read also the background on the medical systems of Germany and the United Kingdom. They have better rankings in terms of infant mortality rates and life expectancy than the United States has.

Interviews are by John Hockenberry and Femi Oke. Interviewed guests, living abroad, in Bavaria, Northern Ireland and Russia are Cynthia Geyer, Amanda Graham and Lynne Udoalov.
Click here for this and other The Takeaway segments this month on healthcare, or Healthcareroundtablesinternational.

Columnist writes of United Healthcare's existing Death Panels, that denied cancer care to her husband

I return from southern Europe (France and Italy), with some of the best World Health Organization-rated national health insurance systems,
to the madness of America, with the same histrionic lies that were in FoxNews when I left two weeks ago.
There is a terrific column, of a tragically tight-fisted insurance policy that denied care to a columnist's ailing husband. Nationally syndicated columnist Froma Harrop (based at the "Providence Journal" in Rhode Island) wrote of the already existing rationing of care, of death panels that we have with the private system.
Read this column, "Here's the real `death panel' for you," posted August 20, 2009, linked from the "Miami Herald:"

''Death panels''? I'll tell you about death panels.

My husband faced one some years ago, and it didn't involve any government bureaucrat. It was run by our private insurer, the sort of corporate entity that foes of healthcare reform say will give you anything you want.

My husband was diagnosed with liver cancer. We were ``insured'' by United Healthcare. The deal was as follows: You had to use doctors on its list, but if you needed specialized care outside the network, United's health-maintenance organization would pay for it. Fair enough.

A liver expert within the network said point blank that for my husband's case, there was but one place to go, a specialized chemotherapy program at Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Fortunately, it was only 50 minutes away.

But United Healthcare refused to pay for it. Instead, it directed us to a small, local hospital unequipped to deal with this kind of cancer. Our liver specialist warned, ``Don't waste your time.''

We naively tried to go through United Healthcare's appeals process. We would call the number and speak to a handler who said our case would be reconsidered. Days later, a one-sentence letter would arrive by slow mail saying that we were being denied, but call this number to challenge the verdict.

Around and around we went. We could never speak to anyone making the decisions. No one would even talk to our doctor, who at one point whispered to us, ``Mortgage the house.''

I became convinced that the insurance company was trying to run out the clock on my husband's life. Had it issued an outright No, we would have gone to Deaconess, paid for the care ourselves and fought the insurer later. But it always pretended that a possible Yes could be around the corner.

Having already lost precious time confronting this cancer, we simply rushed to Deaconess. On hearing the story, the head of the chemo program told us: ``HMOs don't care whether you live or die. They just want to save money.''

My husband underwent the arduous chemo. Meanwhile, powerful people were pulling strings for us with the insurer. Upon learning we had ``connections,'' United Healthcare finally said it would pay.

The cancer came back. This treatment was never a sure thing, but I often wonder how much the delay affected the outcome. An ex-Marine, my husband was a tough customer. Toward the end, he said to me, ``You know, fighting the insurance company was worse than fighting the cancer.''

A year after my husband died, I was still receiving medical bills for some of the treatment that United Healthcare had agreed to cover. Oh, they eventually paid. The game is to break you down.

An economic note: In 2006, William ``Dollar Bill'' McGuire, CEO of parent-company UnitedHealth Group, walked off with a $1.1 billion golden parachute (on top of the $500 million he had already raked in) -- though he had to return some of it in an options backdating scandal.

What we wouldn't have done to have traded Dollar Bill's minions for a government bureaucrat. The bureaucrat would have given a simple Yes or No based on official guidelines. He or she would have had no personal stake in denying you care.

By the way, a government-run program doesn't tell you what treatments you may or may not have. It tells you what the taxpayers will subsidize. You are free to go out with your own money and buy whatever you want. We would have been prepared to do that. Instead, we got tied up in a private insurer's web of tricks.

Believe me, ``death panels'' already exist, and they have nothing to do with the government.

Blue Dog Democrats praise health care lobbyists; GOP turncoat analyzes new thuggish strategy of Armey and Republican operatives

*Right-wing Tampa, Florida town hall mob gets violent at town hall forum, nearly turning it into riot
*Tampa Tribune pulls story references to Obama as "The Joker;" conservative witness reports witnessing Joker signs

On Thursday, August 6, 2009, State Rep Betty Reed (Dem.-Tampa) and the Service Employees International Union were met by a town hall tea-bagger-type mob of hundreds. The mob had been spurred to attend the forum by the conservative activist group, the 9-12 Project, promoted by conservative broadcast host (Fox News) Glenn Beck. The Hillsborough County Republican Party urged e-mail recipients to attend the town hall meeting.
From Huffington Post, August 6, with August 7 updates:

Many of the hundreds of protesters said that they had been inspired by a conservative activist group promoted by Fox News host Glenn Beck and some received emails from the county Republican party, according to the St. Petersburg Times:

Instead, hundreds of vocal critics turned out, many of them saying they had been spurred on through the Tampa 912 activist group promoted by conservative radio and television personality Glenn Beck. Others had received e-mails from the Hillsborough Republican party that urged people to speak out against the plan and offered talking points to challenge supporters.

The Times added:

The spectacle at the Children's Board in Ybor City sounded more like a wrestling cage match than a panel discussion on national policy, and it was just the latest example of a health care meeting disrupted by livid protesters.

The Tampa Tribune reports that some protesters carried racist caricatures of President Obama and added details of more fights and scuffles:

Several of the protesters' signs bore an image of Obama with his face painted as the Joker, an image that drew protests of racism locally when it appeared on a Web site thought to be associated with the Pinellas Republican party.

There were at least two scuffles between protesters trying to enter and organizers manning the doors.

One of those involved in a scuffle, Randy Arthur, of Oldsmar said he was injured by those manning the doors and said he would file a police report... Randy Arthur, who owns an air conditioning service company, later talked to police officers, his knit shirt ripped and a few scratches visible on his chest. "They slammed him into the wall,'' Kathy Arthur said.

*Health insurers confident that they are winning the health care debate, as Blue Dog / Blue Cross Democrats praise the lobbyists
From "Business Week," August 6, 2009, "The Health Insurers Have Already Won
How UnitedHealth and rival carriers, maneuvering behind the scenes in Washington, shaped health-care reform for their own benefit":

As the health reform fight shifts this month from a vacationing Washington to congressional districts and local airwaves around the country, much more of the battle than most people realize is already over. The likely victors are insurance giants such as UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Aetna (AET), and WellPoint (WLP). The carriers have succeeded in redefining the terms of the reform debate to such a degree that no matter what specifics emerge in the voluminous bill Congress may send to President Obama this fall . . . .

Blue Dog / Blue Cross Democrats have nice words for lobbyists:

" . . . UnitedHealth parked a shiny 18-wheeler outfitted with high-tech medical gear near the Capitol and invited members of Congress aboard. Inside the mobile diagnostic center, which enables doctors to examine distant patients via satellite television, Representative Jim Matheson didn't disguise his wonderment. "Fascinating, fascinating," said the Democrat from Utah. "Amazing." "
. . . .
UnitedHealth has distinguished itself by more deftly and aggressively feeding sophisticated pricing and actuarial data to information-starved congressional staff members. With its rivals, the carrier has also achieved a secondary aim of constraining the new benefits that will become available to tens of millions of people who are currently uninsured. That will make the new customers more lucrative to the industry.

Matheson, whose Blue Dogs command 52 votes in the House, can't offer enough praise for UnitedHealth, the largest company of its kind. "The tried and true message of their advocacy," he says, "is making sure the information they provide is accurate and considered."

Representative Mike Ross, an Arkansas Democrat who leads the Blue Dogs' negotiations on health reform, also welcomes input from UnitedHealth. "If United has something to offer on cutting costs, we should consider it," says Ross, a former small-town pharmacy owner. "We need more examples that work, and everything should be on the table."

*RACHEL MADDOW (MSNBC) DETAILS HOW CORPORATE INTERESTS SPONSOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE DISRUPTIVE RIGHT-WING MOBS.
The Raw Story summarizing Maddow's report:

who are behind these groups?

“The executive director of American Majority’s Minnesota office — ko’inky dink — regional field director for Bush-Cheney ‘04,” began Maddow. “Executive director of their Kansas office would be a former Republican state legislator; executive director of their Oklahoma office, a former Washington, D.C. conservative lobbyist — you know, just your average middle-class Americans.”

Another ‘Recess Rally’ sponsor is The Sam Adams Society, run by “the former executive director of the Illinois State Republican Party,” said Maddow. “Sam Adams Alliance is also led by a former Dow Chemicals engineer who’s also president of the nation’s largest conservative state-level policy think tank…”

Finally, and what Maddow called “the most illustrative of all,” is Americans for Prosperity, run by Art Pope.

“Art Pope. Art Pope,” she said. “Why does that name sound familiar? Oh, right! That’s the headquarters of the North Carolina Republican Party. That building is named after Art Pope because Art Pope is a multi-millionaire far-right activist who’s given the Republican Party in North Carolina so much money over the years that they could think of no grander gesture than to name their headquarters building after him.”

*FORMER CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST REVEALS CORPORATE CONNECTIONS AND TACTICS OF DISRUPTERS
Francis Schaeffer wrote on the corporate connections to the right-wing mobs and their tactics.
Schaeffer on corporate sponsorship

Having failed at the ballot box, having watched their Fox News-organized "tea parties" fizzle the intimidation tactics which the Republicans have embraced are being used in a well-financed, top-down orchestrated fake grass roots campaign by corporate interests to try and protect the profits of the insurance business. Armey's FreedomWorks is organizing against health care reform. Armey's lobbying firm represents pharmaceutical companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb. Armey's lobbying firm also represents the trade group for the life insurance industry. FreedomWorks is supporting the status quo at all costs. (They are also fans of fossil fuels. Armey's lobbying firm represents Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE, on energy related issues.)

Last year, the Wall Street Journal exposed FreedomWorks for building "amateur-looking" websites to promote far right interests of Armey. FreedomWorks represents a top-down, corporate-friendly approach that's been the norm for conservative organizations for years.

He described how he used to organize crowds to harass Congressmen and abortion providers, foreshadowing the harrassment we're seeing this month.

Last year, the Wall Street Journal exposed FreedomWorks for building "amateur-looking" websites to promote far right interests of Armey [Former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey]. FreedomWorks represents a top-down, corporate-friendly approach that's been the norm for conservative organizations for years. How do I know this is the norm? Because I used to have strategy meetings with the late Jack Kemp and Dick Army and the rest of the Republican gang about using their business ties to help finance the pro-life movement to defeat Democrats. I know this script. I helped write it.

Democratic members of Congress are being harassed by angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior at local town halls. It's the tactic we used to follow abortion providers around their neighborhoods. "Protesters" surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and forced police officers to have to escort him to his car for safety. We used to do the same to Dr. Tiller... until someone killed him.

Schaeffer explains why Armey and other activist Republicans took an ugly turn.

Armey was once a decent guy, whatever his political views. How could he stoop so low as to be organizing what amounts to America's Brown Shirts today?

I think I know what happened to him, Gingrich and the rest: They can't compute that their white man-led conservative revolution is dead. They can't reconcile their idea of themselves with the fact that white men like them don't run the country any more -- and never will again. To them the black president is leading a column of the "other" into their promised land. Gays, immigrants, blacks, progressives, even a female Hispanic appointed to the Supreme Court... for them this is the Apocalypse.

Reminds us of Dick Armey's leaked memo, on how to confront while avoiding intelligent, civil debate

- Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: "Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington."

- Be Disruptive Early And Often: "You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep's presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep's statements early."

- Try To "Rattle Him," Not Have An Intelligent Debate: "The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions."

Armey's organizing formula:

Here's the emerging American version of the fascist's formula: combine millions of dollars of lobbyists' money with embittered troublemakers who have a small army of not terribly bright white angry people (collected over decades through pro-life mass mailing networks) at their beck and call, ever ready to believe any myth or lie circulated by the semi literate and completely and routinely misinformed right wing -- Evangelical religious underground. Then put his little mob together with the insurance companies' big bucks. That's how it works -- American Brown Shirts at the ready.

What's the results of the fascist formula for the rest of us? Well, think how this "method" worked against Dr. Tiller's abortion clinic and how that story ended. In this case a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save our economy from going bankrupt because of spiraling health care costs may be lost, not because of a better argument, but because of lies backed up by anti-democratic embittered thuggery.

Orly Taitz's restricted legal bar status

Dr. Orly Taitz, the so-called Birther Queen, has gained prominence with her lawsuit on behalf of birthers challenging President Barack Obama's US birth. However, she has shaky ground on which to practice law.
Her law degree is from a correspondence school, the William Howard Taft Law School. California is an exceptional state, in that it allows her to practice, even though she is not a graduate of an American Bar Association-accredited law school. So, she is restricted to California, for the question of where can she bring this suit..

And finally, we must note that her so-called Kenyan birth certificate is a farce. It has the city of Mombassa on it. Yet, Mombassa is in Tanzania. Furthermore, the certificate carries the governmental name, the Republic of Kenya, yet Kenya was a British colony at the time that the alleged certificate is dated.
A blogsite, acandidworld, has laid out the damning details, with crisp tautness, in such plain language, refreshing to those who have read legal briefs. They provided the key background on these issues. A key excerpt from the article appears below.

Although Taitz is a member of the California Bar, she’s not listed as a member of the American Bar Association (check for yourself). Nor is her “law school” (William Howard Taft University) accredited by the ABA. Because Taft is a distance-learning school only, Taitz’s degree entitles her, at most, to practice in California, as her school candidly admits.

Rules of attorney discipline forbid the practice of law without a license – i.e., without sitting for and passing the bar exam, after graduating from an ABA-accredited school. Her correspondence degree is a limited exception, only useful in California. So, any action in which she appeared as counsel of record outside the state would constitute practicing law without a license, in violation of California disciplinary rules. Has “Dr.” Taitz violated this rule? Does her appearance before the Supreme Court, in filing documents for the frivolous, since-dismissed case Lightfoot v. Bowen, therefore subject her to discipline?

Maybe. Under the rules of the Supreme Court, an attorney must be admitted to the Supreme Court Bar to make an appearance before the court (i.e., make arguments, or file a motion).* Her limited admission in California appears to entitle her to admission to the Supreme Court Bar, provided she checked all the boxes and paid her $200 fee,* or sought temporary (pro hac vice) admission.* The question is whether “Dr.” Taitz managed to get herself admitted – which Taitz has never suggested. (UPDATE: She did, and she posted it. However, using the burden of proof Taitz expects of Obama, I still don’t believe it.)

Even if Taitz legitimately filed her grade-school level motions before the Supreme Court, she may have violated a series of other disciplinary rules in the course of her conduct. The California Rules of Professional Conduct provide,

A member shall not seek, accept, or continue employment if the member knows or should know that the objective of such employment is:

(A) To bring an action, conduct a defense, assert a position in litigation, or take an appeal, without probable cause and for the purpose of harassing or maliciously injuring any person; or

(B) To present a claim or defense in litigation that is not warranted under existing law, unless it can be supported by a good faith argument for an extension, modification, or reversal of such existing law.*

The exception for “good faith argument[s] for an extension, modification, or reversal of such existing law” is large as a matter of policy, and allows attorneys to creatively address real problems in the current state of the law . But at least one judge thinks that the Obama citizenship cases are more than creative – in his words, they’re the “frivolous” actions of “agents provacateurs,” constituting harassment, and potentially subjecting at least one Berg-led attorney to discipline. There’s no reason Taitz shouldn’t be similarly disciplined upon her next filing, under California’s mirror rule.

Further, Taitz’s “consent form,” posted on her site to solicit & induce ill-advised members of our military into suing the President, may constitute an unethical attorney solicitation. Under the California rules, attorney “communications” may not contain dramatization, or “confuse, deceive, or mislead the public.”* Tricking enlisted men & women into frivolously suing the commander in chief at least flirts with that line. Smart lawyers don’t cut the disciplinary rules this close.

Now, I’m not a lawyer. Yet. So the above is amateur opinion, not professional theory. I know my limits. Taitz doesn’t. That’s just one of a few things that separates us.

——

1. Sup. Ct. Rule 9.1.
2. Sup. Ct. Rule 6.
3. Sup. Ct. Rule 5.1.
4. California RPC 3-200.
5. California RPC 1-400.

How to peacefully thwart town hall thuggish, disruptive mobs

A diary posted at www.democraticunderground.com,
how to peacefully, successfully counter the anti-democratic, thuggish FreedomWorks tea-bag mobs:

The Democratic Alliance of Northwest Indiana (DANI ) hosted a meeting with Rep. Pete Visclosky (D, IN-01), on Monday, Aug. 3, 6:30 PM. We invited the public and their written questions. It seems good to share with the Daily Kos readership some lessons we learned.

Bottom line:
• We had an orderly and productive meeting.
• No one stood up, shouted out and sat down.
• At no point was our Congressman or audience rattled.
• DANI accomplished its objective. We provided the public an opportunity to question our Congressman about Health Care and Clean Energy.
• Tea Baggers came out in force, but they failed to disrupt the meeting.
• Local reporters attended.

Lessons learned follow below the fold.

Don Briggs's diary :: :: 1.We sent out Public Service Announcements to the local media a week in advance, and then followed up with phone calls to each outlet the Thursday before the weekend. The event got good exposure.
2.The topic of Health Care Reform draws the Tea Baggers, no problem. But oddly, it proved somewhat difficult to rouse enough Progressives to attend. We recommend a strong, multifaceted approach. We posted the event with MoveOn and Organizing for America. But, we also blasted e-mail to lists scoured from the 2006 election. In this effort, we succeeded, but barely. The attendance inside was split roughly evenly between Progressives and Tea Baggers. The meeting room filled to its capacity of 110 well before our start time. About 40 Tea Baggers and 20 Progressives remained outside. Both sides had their signs.
3.Physical separation proved very important. We were lucky to have a foyer between the meeting room and the Tea Baggers outside. The Tea Baggers chanted for the duration, but only occasionally did their noise perturb the meeting. Rep. Visclosky was able to address the audience without resort to a microphone, and only a few times did he find it necessary to raise his voice. Without the foyer, the meeting might have been far less successful.
4.Don't call them Tea Baggers to their faces in a public setting. Yes, we all know—they self-identified as Tea Baggers early on. But, in a public meeting, it gives them a pretext to take umbrage. Don't go there.
5.People entered single file, signed in, and filled out a name tag. This simple measure helped set an orderly tone to the meeting.
6.The local police were present inside and out, in force. The Congressman didn't call them, nor did DANI. Our meeting was at a library. The Library staff got wind of the Tea Baggers and called the police well in advance. DANI officers were loath to go heavy. But, the police presence proved crucial to success. DANI just got lucky. Don't leave this element to chance.
7.DANI members and friends gained early entrance and sat in front. Make sure your Progressives know to get to your event early.
8.The DANI executive board consulted closely with Visclosky's office to draft the Public Service Announcement and to set up ground rules for the meeting. So, we opened the meeting by laying down the ground rules.
9.Written questions went directly to Visclosky's staffer, not to DANI members or officers. Do not stand between the people and their representative.
10.And then in opening remarks, I blew the Tea Baggers' cover. Roughly, it went like this:
Meetings like this one continue a democratic tradition more than 2500 years old, that of the ancient Greek "Ecclesia." The term means "those called out"—called out to discuss and decide civic matters, and to defend their ancient Greek city-states, to defend their democracy. And you all were called out by notices in the local papers, radio stations, by e-mail and internet, to discuss Health Care Reform and Clean Energy with our Representative tonight.

So know this: efforts to disrupt and thwart public discourse on civic matters are profoundly anti-democratic. But, that's an obstacle we face tonight. It's public knowledge that groups known as Tea Baggers intend to disrupt and thwart the public discourse on Health Care Reform in meetings like this during this month's Congressional Recess. They want Democracy to fail. So, let's face this obstacle together.

The Tea Baggers' instructions are also public knowledge. If some people stand up, shout out and sit down; if some try to rattle us and the Congressman; if some pretend numeric superiority; if some try to stifle intelligent debate; then we can compare that behavior to the Tea Baggers' instructions and draw our own conclusions.

That was my "appeal to first principles" of Democracy. Karen Kroczek followed by laying down the law: unruly behavior would not be permitted. Period. Violators would be escorted out of the meeting. End of story. The police presence inside lent credibility.

11.As it turned out, Rep. Visclosky took one look at the stack of about 100 index cards with questions, and decided to make some opening remarks, and then simply invite verbal questions from the floor, one-at-a-time. His approach worked very well.
12.At one point, Rep. Visclosky said he agreed that government has a natural role and responsibility in health care. The Tea Baggers booed him roundly. It was the only serious breach of decorum. One Tea Bagger even challenged the constitutionality of a governmental role in health care. So, at these meetings, we should raise the point that the Preamble to the Constitution includes the phrase "promote the general welfare" as one of its key organizing principles.
13.Rep. Visclosky responded that MediCare is 44 years old and has not been challenged on constitutional grounds. He went on to note that MediCare was enacted in 1965, just after the last time Indiana turned Blue, in the 1964 election. He drew a round of applause from the Progressives. It was a delicious moment, and I think it was ad lib.
14.As a side effect of this meeting's success, DANI will grow stronger. Many of the local Progressives attending did not know about DANI before this meeting, but now intend to join up. And the Tea Baggers will shrivel.

FoxNews is endorsing Town Hall un-civil mob thuggery

Media Matters, the monitors of mainstream media performance, has spotted FoxNews' endorsement of Town Hall mobs:

Just as it promoted the April 15 "tea party" protests, Fox News is now promoting the disruptions of Democratic town hall events by protesters opposed to health care reform, protests that are being touted by Republican leaders and supported by conservative groups. Following the August 2 disruption of a town hall event hosted by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Fox News personalities have repeatedly lauded such protesters and urged viewers to take similar action.