Medical transcription is a lucrative profession which allows you the flexibility to work from home. Unfortunately, it’s this appeal that has opened the doors for less than honest online medical transcription schools.

This is the text of President Nixon’s radio and television broadcast…

At 12:30 Paris time today [Tuesday], January 23, 1973, the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam was initialed by Dr. Henry Kissinger on behalf of the United States, and Special Adviser Le Duc Tho on behalf of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
[…]

Yay!

Hope all is going well with you! I’m swamped as well, but I force myself to get on TP and become a nuisance. Gotta do my part!

Anyways back to work, hopefully it will slow down again soon so I can get back to being a nuisance around here.

Are you talking about the need for evidence in order to make sound policy decisions? Or to support a cause?

That will not happen with this administration. Just like with Iraq, Intelligent Design, the abortion debate, embryonic stem cell research, etc., evidence and facts are inconsequential in the Bush cultist’s mind when it comes to forming an opinion.

Only about a quarter of U.S. citizens hold valid passports and new passports cost almost $100.

No wonder Americans are so unaware about the rest of the world, and can be so easily duped. Lack of knowldege about the world beyond US borders is breathtaking. Even when it comes to Canada or Mexico.

That’s the percentage of countries that think the US is a positive influence in the world. Goes to show divorce from reality cuts across cultures.

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — OPEC nations are unloading Treasuries at the fastest pace in more than three years as crude oil prices tumble, sending bond yields higher.

Exporters including Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, sold 9.4 percent, or $10.1 billion, of their U.S. government debt securities in the three months ended in November, according to Treasury Department data. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries last sold Treasuries for three straight months in June 2003.

Oil producers have surpassed Asian central banks as the largest pool of global savings, accumulating an estimated $500 billion in 2006 alone, according to research by Pacific Investment Management Co. The sales during those three months mark a reversal because OPEC countries have boosted their holdings of U.S. government bonds by 70 percent to $97 billion in the past 17 months, Treasury data show.

…“Lower oil prices mean less inflation pressure, but that doesn’t seem to be going on,” said Stiglitz of Columbia. “The dollar has been subjected to a great amount of exchange-rate volatility, and it’s not a good store of value anymore.”

…China, the second-largest holder of U.S. debt, also is cutting back holdings. The central bank, which owned $346.5 billion of Treasuries as of November, trimmed purchases by 1.7 percent in the first 10 months of 2006, Treasury figures show.

“The Chinese are slowing down their buying, so that leaves a big hole after the oil money,” said Brenner at Hapoalim Securities.

Full Story:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a5_a16pzE3rs&refer=home

A group of forty-four “fiscally conservative” Democrats will not call for an end to America’s military involvement in Iraq, RAW STORY has learned. Instead, the Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats will introduce legislation this week focusing on accountability for money the White House wants to spend on the nearly four year long Iraq War.

In a press conference last Friday, Rep. Jane Harman, the California Democrat who was formerly the ranking minority member of the House Intelligence Committee, announced a bill she would sponsor this week on behalf of the Blue Dog Democrats: “Providing for Operation Iraqi Freedom Cost Accountability.” The provisions of the bill focus on Congressional oversight of the funds used to pay for operations in Iraq.

The Blue Dogs will not speak out as a group on whether or not to call for an end to the Iraq war. “They will not draft a resolution or course regarding the troops other than one of support for our soldiers in harm’s way,” said Jon Niven, Communications Director for Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR), who co-chairs the caucus.

Full story:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Blue_Dogs_announce_Iraq_plan_no_0122.html

You are absolutely right, this health plan is the first step towards screwing the middle and lower class on health care. Krugman has written about how this will look in practice.

Let’s also remind everyone that the U.S. spends approximately twice as much on health care as the so-called European welfare states, yet achieves quantifiably worse outcomes by almost any measure (infant mortality, life expectancy, etc.).

What we don’t see is the mortaging of our children’s future in the enormous debt being racked up by the neocon jackanapes.

I did hear a report yesterday about the Chinese intent to “diversify” their foreign currency holdings.
Uh Oh…

Comment by Jackanory — January 23, 2007 @ 10:30 am

I have been to Europe eight times since the Iraq war began, with visits to Russia, Germany, Sweden, and France, and have found Europeans to be remarkably restrained and civil. I have not experienced a single instance that could be regarded as anti-American. Europeans for the most part do not bring up the war or Bush out of politeness, and if they do, it is usually more with curiousity than hostility. They are deeply puzzled by the behavior of our country, but understand well enough that governments don’t always represent the beliefs of their people. I always sense their relief when I explain that there is widespread opposition to Bush in the U.S., that many Americans are actually horrified by what is happening, and that most Americans are basically good in their hearts but the mainstream media helps the regime to lie and fool the dumb ones.

Add all these things together and you come up with companies no longer providing health insurance and shifting the cost to the consumer, or tax payer. This may sound far fetched, but like all things republican the sound bites they deliver do not have anything to do with what we ultimately get as citizens. In our country the healthcare system is essentially a question of the haves and have-nots. Our health care system is, contrary to popular republican belief, the major cause of bankruptcy in America. Shifting the cost of health care to the individual has been an item long in the making for republicans. I have been reading about it for several years now in tax publications.

The republican mantra will be personal responsibility, however I believe in a few things. I took this particular job because it had health benefits and I believe it to be part of my pay. I also believe that when you become a society where only those who have money can also have access to good health care, you become a society that on paper, and in rhetoric claims to follow Christ, but in actions has long abandoned Christ. I also believe that if the country had universal health care it would not cost me much at all, so I end up in a close to net zero position. How? I already pay a certain amount for health insurance, I pay a certain amount in medical out of pocket expenses, My company pays for health insurance. Should we all have national health care I think the increase in my taxes, and those of my company would be close to offset by the decrease in our out of pocket expenses and our premiums savings. It may be a simplistic approach, but I’ll bet more thought went into my last paragraph than the white house has put into the Iraq War. for clarification: Lots of thought has gone into the political aspect of selling the war, but little thought has gone into the war it’s self

Right and don’t forget the enormous sacrifice of “peace of mind” americans have had to make by watching it on tv. Can you beleive it, the media is complicit in forcing the average american so sacrifice something for this war?

I tell you, if the american civilian population had to actually sacrifice anything for this war, you’d see support bottoming out alot quiicker than it already has…

I trust almost nothing this administration does, and am always looking for the nefarious alternative explanation, but there just isn’t one here.

Damn, that guy Chomsky is never exhausted of saying the truth every single time. Whenever US, or the superpower in turn, threatens a country it will do whatever it can to arm itself contributing to a military climate in the region. Then, US will say: Hey, they are completely confrontative against us. In the case of Iran, thats completely true, but in the case of Nicaragua who sought better trade deals with the Soviet Union, US cried that they were Marxist-Leninist and then invaded… I wish I was Chomsky…