JT Allen

That's all. Just FIRE DAN SNYDER.

I think you're right Joe; there are a lot of very, very unhappy fans out there with the job Snyder is doing. Jim Zorn's a nice guy but can't be a head coach. TRADE SYNDER!

Stinky: I don't think it does cause anything untoward, but I'll be happy to check it out.

My friend has a freakin' SEQUOIA growing in his back yard; when questioned, he stated it was a "special type of sequoia suited to this specific climate." Now, I don't know about anyone reading this, but I find the prospect of a potentially-400-foot-tall-tree quite enticing. I will post back here when I get more information. SEQUOIAS IN DC!!!

...enough lolly-gagging: How much for the glow-in-the-dark-green-monkey??

"Conservatism ... is a beautiful message horribly packaged ..." I absolutely could not agree with you more - that is - if you are speaking purely in fiscal terms.

I'd like to purchase a glow-in-the-dark monkey ... several, perhaps.

While I didn't personally care for him as an actor, I would not have wished his untimely demise on him, for certain.

Really. Well, I was a proud member of the Republican Party before I watched the first 90 seconds of that video.

I tend to agree: a free market is great - just not so free all the thieves who operate said free markets it can abscond with other peoples' money they were entrusted to do right by.

Still waiting. Anyone??

I would like to hear from people who do not have health insurance at all (preexisting condition perhaps?)who are against this idea. Whatcha got? This entire debate/debacle is being politicized, but I have not forgotten my white, conservative, Southern friends who may not have enough money or might have a preexisting condition which would prohibit them from acquiring health insurance at any price. Where are you?

Tell that to Dr. Michael Franchetti, an orthopedic surgeon in Laurel, Maryland, who refused to see me with a crushed tibial plateau from a motorcycle accident. Sure, he sees some Washington Redskins from time to time, but I was not deemed worthy of care as I was uninsured. Never mind I had inherited 10 thousand dollars at the time - No insurance, No treatment!!! While you rub your eyes trying to figure out if you read that correctly I'll repeat: No insurance, NO TREATMENT, DOES NOT ACCEPT CASH. Have a nice day.

"Raising Arizona."

Announcing the penalty as a warning to all drug manufacturers, Justice Department officials said the overall settlement is the largest ever paid by a drug company for alleged violations of federal drug rules, and the $1.2 billion criminal fine is the largest ever in any U.S. criminal case. The total includes $1 billion in civil penalties and a $100 million criminal forfeiture. Authorities called Pfizer a repeat offender, noting it is the company's fourth such settlement of government charges in the last decade. The allegations surround the marketing of 13 different drugs, including big sellers such as Viagra, Zoloft, and Lipitor. As part of its illegal marketing, Pfizer invited doctors to consultant meetings at resort locations, paying their expenses and providing perks, prosecutors said. "They were entertained with golf, massages, and other activities," said Mike Loucks, the U.S. attorney in Massachusetts. Loucks said that even as Pfizer was negotiating deals on past misconduct, they were continuing to violate the very same laws with other drugs. To prevent backsliding this time, Pfizer's conduct will be specially monitored by the Health and Human Service Department inspector general for five years. In an unusual twist, the head of the Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder, did not participate in the record settlement, because he had represented Pfizer on these issues while in private practice. Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli said the settlement illustrates ways the Justice Department "can help the American public at a time when budgets are tight and health care costs are rising." Perrelli announced the settlement terms at a news conference with federal prosecutors and FBI, and Health and Human Services Department officials. The settlement ends an investigation that also resulted in guilty pleas from two former Pfizer sales managers. Officials said the U.S. industry has paid out more than $11 billion in such settlements over the past decade, but one consumer advocate voiced hope that Wednesday's penalty was so big it would curb the abuses. "There's so much money in selling pills, that there's a tremendous temptation to cheat," said Bill Vaughan, an analyst at Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. "There's a kind of mentality in this sector that (settlements) are the cost of doing business and we can cheat. This penalty is so huge I think consumers can have some hope that maybe these guys will tighten up and run a better ship." The government said the company promoted four prescription drugs, including the pain killer Bextra, as treatments for medical conditions different from those the drugs had been approved for by federal regulators. Authorities said Pfizer's salesmen and women created phony doctor requests for medical information in order to send unsolicited information to doctors about unapproved uses and dosages. Use of drugs for so-called "off-label" medical conditions is not uncommon, but drug manufacturers are prohibited from marketing drugs for uses that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. They said the junkets and other company-paid perks were designed to promote Bextra and other drugs, to doctors for unapproved uses and dosages, backed by false and misleading claims about safety and effectiveness. Bextra, for instance, was approved for arthritis, but Pfizer promoted it for acute pain and surgical pain, and in dosages above the approved maximum. In 2005, Bextra, one of a class of painkillers known as Cox-2 inhibitors, was pulled from the U.S. market amid mounting evidence it raised the risk of heart attack, stroke and death. A Pfizer subsidiary, Pharmacia and Upjohn Inc., which was acquired in 2003, has entered an agreement to plead guilty to one count of felony misbranding. The criminal case applied only to Bextra. The $1 billion in civil penalties was related to Bextra and a number of other medicines. A portion of the civil penalty will be distributed to 49 states and the District of Columbia, according to agreements with each state's Medicaid program. Pfizer's top lawyer, Amy Schulman, said the settlements "bring final closure to significant legal matters and help to enhance our focus on what we do best -- discovering, developing and delivering innovative medicines." In her statement, Schulman said: "We regret certain actions taken in the past, but are proud of the action we've taken to strengthen our internal controls and pioneer new procedures." In financial filings in January, the company had indicated that it would pay $2.3 billion over the allegations. The civil settlement announced Wednesday covered Pfizer's promotions of Bextra, blockbuster nerve pain and epilepsy treatment Lyrica, schizophrenia medicine Geodon, antibiotic Zyvox and nine other medicines. The agreement with the Justice Department resolves the investigation into promotion of all those drugs, Pfizer said. The government said Pfizer also paid kickbacks to market a host of big-name drugs: Aricept, Celebrex, Lipitor, Norvasc, Relpax, Viagra, Zithromax, Zoloft, and Zyrtec. The allegations came to light thanks largely to five Pfizer employees and one Pennsylvania doctor, who will now share $102 million of the settlement money. FBI Assistant Director Kevin Perkins praised the whistleblowers who decided to "speak out against a corporate giant that was blatantly violating the law and misleading the public through false marketing claims." To rein in the abuses, the government's five-year monitoring will force Pfizer to notify doctors about Wednesday's agreement, encourage them to report any similar behavior, and publicly post any payments or perks it gives to doctors. Under terms of the settlement, Pfizer must pay $1 billion to compensate Medicaid, Medicare, and other federal health care programs. Some of that money will be shared among the states: New York, for example, will receive $66 million, according to the state's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo.

"Slumdog Millionaire" with the stunningly gorgeous Frieda Pinto and "Burn After Reading" another Coen Brothers instant, hilarious classic.

No no no Max: that makes way too much sense and is way too easy - remember where you are - nothing isevereasy. Now, for the "Lighter Side" of this debate:(photo 2) [url=http://http://blogs.newsobserver.com/multi/first-look-health-care-opponents-protest-in-raleigh][/url] http://blogs.newsobserver.com/multi/first-look-health-care-opponents-protest-in-raleigh Let me repeat what the woman's sign says in the second photo: "No [sic] PUBIC option" No "pubic" option? THAT'S an outrage! I think I might just go "pubic" with this story, but let me take a poll of John Q. Pubic first. "The pubic has a right to know"!!! she cried...

Now, if only Roberts would get a REAL job, Thomas would realize he's wrong most of the time and Scalia would get a grip on reality, we'd be headed in the "right" direction.

WASHINGTON (Aug. 5) - Two nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines have been patrolling in international waters off the East Coast for several days, in activity reminiscent of the Cold War, defense officials said Tuesday. In Moscow, a top Russian general says two nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines that have been spotted off the U.S. East Coast are part of regular patrols. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff of Russia's armed forces, said the patrols are not newsworthy. Nogovitsyn said Russia resumed the submarine patrols after restarting strategic bomber patrol flights in 2007 U.S. Northern Command would not comment on the Russian submarines' movement. But in a prepared statement, Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek acknowledged the patrols and said the U.S. has been monitoring the two submarines Russian Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, seen speaking to the media in Moscow on Wednesday, said the submarine patrols were "a normal thing." Two senior U.S. officials, however, said the submarines had been patrolling several hundred miles off the coast and so far had done nothing to provoke U.S. military concerns. The officials provided details on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence reports. While the incident raises eyebrows, it did not trigger the more intense reaction by the U.S. military that Russia prompted when two of its bombers buzzed an American aircraft carrier in the western Pacific in February 2008. U.S. fighter planes intercepted the two Russian fighters, including one that flew directly over the USS Nimitz twice at an altitude of about 2,000 feet. The event did not escalate beyond that, but it signaled a more aggressive military agenda by Moscow. The latest incident, which was first reported by The New York Times, comes amid increased Russian military activity in the region, and as the Obama administration works to thaw tense relations with Moscow over plans for a missile defense system in Central Europe. Just last week a senior Pentagon official said the administration is looking at options for the plan, which would install 10 interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic. Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow told Congress members that the Obama administration is looking at various configurations as part of its review of missile defense plans. Russia, meanwhile, conducted naval exercises with Venezuela last year in the Caribbean and sent one of its warships through the Panama Canal for the first time since World War II. The exercises with Venezuela were the first deployment of Russian ships to the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War. Officials said they became aware of the most recent submarine activity off the East Coast early on through intelligence sources and were not notified by Moscow in advance of the patrols. They said the submarines have not crossed into U.S. waters, which extend 12 miles out into the ocean. The statement issued by Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command said, "We have been monitoring them during transit and recognize the right of all nations to exercise freedom of navigation in international waters according to international law." Source: The A P

In its opinion, the appellate court returned repeatedly to the July 19, 2008 statement of MPD Police Chief Cathy Lanier that she would continue to impose mass suspicionless roadway checkpoints “until a judge orders me to stop.” (See Slip. Op. at 5, 14). That day has, quite decisively, come. Hilarious: here's mud in your eye, m'dear ...

That is HUGELY fascinating to me. How is this legal? What a friggin' scam! Right now I have to let it sink in as I cannot wrap my mind around this post ...

Great point. What is a " ... paper FIAT currency ... " and who owns the Federal Reserve? I thought (SFM, SFM=Silly "effing" Me) the Federal Reserve Bank was owned by, well, the Feds. Does this mean I can open a business called Federal Reserve Mortgages? Further, if not, why?

Dear Human: I haven't been through the healthcare system and I'm healthy? Please tell me more inaccurate shots-in-the-dark about myself; I'll be waiting with baited breath. Really.

It doesn't get any better than this folks ...

(Ed. note: I recieved this email from a friend last week: what struck me about it is how often I keep hearing of this type of dangerous chemical, i.e., this topic keeps popping up from various sources). ---Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins--- Bottled water in your car is very dangerous! On the Ellen show, Sheryl Crow said this is what caused her breast cancer. It has been identified as the most common cause of the high levels of dioxin in breast cancer tissue. Sheryl Crow's oncologist told her: women should not drink bottled water that has been left in a car. The heat reacts with the chemicals in t he plastic of the bottle which releases dioxin into the water. Dioxin is a toxin increasingly found in breast cancer tissue. So please be careful and do not drink bottled water that has been l eft in a car. Pass this on to all the women in your life, please. This information is the kind we need to know that just might save us! Use a stainless steel canteen or a glass bottle instead of plastic! LET EVERYONE WHO HAS A WIFE / GIRLFRIEND / DAUGHTER KNOW PLEASE! This information is also being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center NO plastic containers in microwave! NO water bottles in freezer! NO plastic wrap in microwave! Doxin, a chemical that causes cancer, especially breast cancer, is present in all these items. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers... This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastic releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body... Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food.. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons... Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran wrap, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead. This is an article that should be sent To anyone important in Your life!