Scare, Confuse, and Delay

Well, that did it.

Now you can be sure that we'll never hear the Stephanie Miller Show in the High Country. Steph had a guest on this morning who enjoyed a good laugh (ok, lots of good laughs) over Dr. Foxx's recent assertion that a government-run healthcare system would result in seniors somehow being put to death.

The guest? It was Foxx's congressional colleague, Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Let's go to the audio tape (scroll down to the interview on the left side of the site under the Stephanie Miller Show widget).

From the Huffington Post:

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Anyway, today she came up with a brand new health care reform objection when she said that the Republican health care plan -- whatever that is! -- would "make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government."
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U.S. 421 Widening Project

U.S. 421 widening to begin today. From NCDOT:

Rendered Pork

It will be interesting to see if any other rendition-related flights from North Carolina come to light:

Large parts of the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program — which sent terrorist suspects to countries and prisons where they would be tortured — could soon become public, thanks to a lawsuit in Britain on behalf of a person who claims he was a victim of the agency’s program.

There has already been a fair amount of coverage of rendition flights occurring at Kinston, NC (the Global Transpark).

The Kinston site houses Aero’s Boeing 737 business jet which plane spotters and flight logs have linked to many of the “extraordinary rendition” flights that have delivered suspects to various detention centers, including U.S. secret prisons in Europe.
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Three of these Aero pilots live in Johnston County. Their identities were made clear by Los Angeles Times investigation and verified by investigation of the NC-based Institute of Southern Studies. So, with today’s action, NC Stop Torture Now has continued the collective exposé of extraordinary rendition and our state’s complicity. Today’s witness follows our letters to Aero and Global TransPark leaders, to NC legislators, to the Governor, to the state SBI, and to the Attorney General, asking for a NC SBI inquiry into Aero’s documented criminal actions. At this point, the investigation sits with the Charlotte office of the FBI. Attorney General Roy Cooper sent our files about Aero to the FBI after 22 NC legislators asked him to have SBI look into Aero’s legal violations.
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The activists also note that Aero’s rent to Global Transpark (GTP) is just $.05 a square foot. Since Aero leases five acres—218,000 square feet—it’s just $10,890 a year. Moreover, since GTP gave Aero a credit for the $60,000 the company spent to “upfit” its hangar, Aero will park free for over five years. Someone is footing the bill, the activists argue, and that someone is the taxpayer.

Aero’s planes stop first at Dulles or at CIA facilities in Virginia to pick up flight plans, then fly to Ireland to refuel, and from there to countries such as Britain, Italy, Sweden, Pakistan, Germany, Bosnia, Macedonia, Morocco and Turkey to collect the suspects. On the final lap, they deliver the human cargo for interrogation to countries such as Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Afghanistan and until last year, Uzbekistan—all cited in U.S. State Department reports as having unclean hands when it comes to human rights.

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Think they'll give the prisoners some good 'ol North Carolina Bar-B-Que en route to their FINAL destination? You know, kinda like a little care package?

Birther Bull****

Chris Matthews shuts down a whack-job birther who co-sponsored a bill in Congress to investigate President Obama's birth certificate. The fun starts at 2:26 into the clip:

Mitch & Friend & Friend

Lewis Black calls out Mitch McChinless and other assorted obstructionists--and their lackeys--on healthcare reform:

Wednesday Sermon: All In The Family

And we're not talkin' Archie, Edith, and Meathead. We're talkin' about the Family on C Street:

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Weekend Video Salon: Look! Something Shiny! Over There!

Thanks to the bizarro-world that is Sarah Palin's universe, and to the untimely passing of several celebrities (all at once), it seems that Mark Sanford can breathe a sigh of relief: the corporate media has found other shiny things to focus on--instead of him.

Let's go to the videotape!

Epic FAIL

...and apparently, much more to come. Poor Sarah.

Girltalk

Hey girls, it's summertime. The kids are out of school. Let's hope you're not having any trouble keeping them busy, out of the house--away from the TV and radio. Get 'em outside!

Playing outside is more important than ever, given what your kids might stumble across on some of the local radio stations around here. Rush Limbaugh's squeaky-clean family fun program airs in Blowing Rock/Boone on WXIT 1200 AM from 12 noon to 3 pm, just when the little ones are most active.

Rush has lately been obsessing about rape, something that most women find a tad distressing--and certainly something that we would not want our children learning about from a drug-addicted, divorced, misogynist creep like Rush. Rush has been comparing legislation that he disagrees with to rape. Repeatedly.

But what does it say about the state of local radio--that local stations would continue to air this program (and others like it)--despite the well-established history of Rush's filthy statements? This is commitment to community?

How 'bout some proof?

Note to programming central: Women are responsible for most household purchases. Seems like you are doing a mighty fine job alienating a pretty important demographic. Will your advertisers understand this fact better than you do?