People tend to forget about the almost 2 million Muslims (Palestinians) - who live in poverty beyond anything we can conceive - living in Gaza and the West Bank who are not considered citizens. They have absoultely no rights....not even to vote . This doesn't include the 5 million Palestinian refugees who have been forced from their homes and are now living in other countries in the Middle East.

But I do understand that the Maliki government is so concerned with the ops that he is considering ordering the US to not stage the ops from Iraq. That would be a test of Iraq's purported sovereignity that the US is desperate for them not to make.

No, it isn't. Democracy requires stability. There is no stability in the region, hence Democracy can't last.

Syria is ready to break off its close links with Iran if America gives it financial and military backing, a former Israeli diplomat involved in unofficial peace talks has revealed to The Sunday Telegraph.

According to the official, who has been engaged in low-key "second track" discussions with Syrian representatives for many months, Syria's President Bashar Assad is increasingly open to a deal which would greatly weaken Iranian influence in the region.

Alon Liel, a former director of Israel's foreign ministry, said the prospect of a peace agreement with Syria was growing, though it might require a new American president before a deal could be agreed. Syria's support for radical groups including Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hizbollah, both also backed by Iran, has played a large part in fomenting trouble in the Middle East.

For any peace agreement to be struck between Israel and Syria, it would first be necessary to agree on the future of the Golan Heights - the lofty piece of territory claimed by Syria but occupied by Israel, which supplies much of that country's drinking water.

As Canada's Slow-Motion Public Health System Falters, Private Medical Care Is Surging

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By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: February 26, 2006

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 23 — The Cambie Surgery Center, Canada's most prominent private hospital, may be considered a rogue enterprise.

Accepting money from patients for operations they would otherwise receive free of charge in a public hospital is technically prohibited in this country, even in cases where patients would wait months or even years in discomfort before receiving treatment.

But no one is about to arrest Dr. Brian Day, who is president and medical director of the center, or any of the 120 doctors who work there. Public hospitals are sending him growing numbers of patients they are too busy to treat, and his center is advertising that patients do not have to wait to replace their aching knees.

The country's publicly financed health insurance system — frequently described as the third rail of its political system and a core value of its national identity — is gradually breaking down. Private clinics are opening around the country by an estimated one a week, and private insurance companies are about to find a gold mine.

Dr. Day, for instance, is planning to open more private hospitals, first in Toronto and Ottawa, then in Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton. Ontario provincial officials are already threatening stiff fines. Dr. Day says he is eager to see them in court.

"We've taken the position that the law is illegal," Dr. Day, 59, says. "This is a country in which dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and in which humans can wait two to three years."

Dr. Day may be a rebel (he keeps a photograph of himself with Fidel Castro behind his desk), but he appears to be on top of a new wave in Canada's health care future. He is poised to become the president of the Canadian Medical Association next year, and his profitable Vancouver hospital is serving as a model for medical entrepreneurs in several provinces.

Canada remains the only industrialized country that outlaws privately financed purchases of core medical services. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other politicians remain reluctant to openly propose sweeping changes even though costs for the national and provincial governments are exploding and some cancer patients are waiting months for diagnostic tests and treatment.

But a Supreme Court ruling last June — it found that a Quebec provincial ban on private health insurance was unconstitutional when patients were suffering and even dying on waiting lists — appears to have become a turning point for the entire country.

"The prohibition on obtaining private health insurance is not constitutional where the public system fails to deliver reasonable services," the court ruled.

In response, the Quebec premier, Jean Charest, proposed this month to allow private hospitals to subcontract hip, knee and cataract surgery to private clinics when patients are unable to be treated quickly enough under the public system. The premiers of British Columbia and Alberta have suggested they will go much further to encourage private health services and insurance in legislation they plan to propose in the next few months.

Private doctors across the country are not waiting for changes in the law, figuring provincial governments will not try to stop them only to face more test cases in the Supreme Court.

One Vancouver-based company launched a large for-profit family medical clinic specializing in screening and preventive medicine here last November. It is planning to set up three similar clinics — in Toronto, Ottawa and London, Ontario — next summer and nine more in several other cities by the end of 2007. Private diagnostic clinics offering MRI tests are opening around the country.

Canadian leaders continue to reject the largely market-driven American system, with its powerful private insurance companies and 40 million people left uninsured, as they look to European mixed public-private health insurance and delivery systems

What I meant was that a 400,000,000 contract means that they have to have over 50,000 in advertising income for every single hour of his show, ever day every week of every year JUST to break even on HIS contract, not counting any other production costs such as sales, studio, legal defense, , , etc. However, I'm sure he saves a fortune on fact checking and research, but it is what is known is economics as a "Loss Leader."

You're in luck. Nobody's actually proposing that personal toilet paper use be legislated.
One celebrity made one remark without thinking, the "news" media jumped all over it, and now you act like it's real, just because it was repeated on television a dozen times.

I worry more about the dictatorship that relies on unreliable and incomplete news reporting.

iam,
you are very poorly informed.
the FISA bill, although not everything the Democrats wanted, is nothing like what Bush wanted.

Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who was released after six years in captivity on Wednesday, compared her “impeccable” rescue operation to Israeli commando operations.

Perhaps she did not know it, but Israel indeed contributed to the elaborately-planned, daring rescue mission.

…Since word of the dramatic rescue spread, speculation in the world media has attributed the success to people trained by Israeli intelligence. But an Israeli figure familiar with the military aid to Colombia said there was “no need to exaggerate” Israel’s involvement in the operation.

The Israelis involved in the operation feel it is important to accord the credit to Colombia. The Israeli activity, involving dozens of Israeli security experts, was coordinated by Global CST, owned by former General Staff operations chief, Brigadier General (res.) Israel Ziv, and Brigadier (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser.

“It’s a Colombian Entebbe operation,” Ziv said Thursday when he returned from Bogota. “Both regarding its national and international importance. Betancourt has become a symbol of the struggle against international terror. This is an amazing operation that wouldn’t shame any army or special forces anywhere in the world.”

Asked about the Israeli involvement in it Ziv said there is “no need to exaggerate.”

“We don’t want to take credit for something we didn’t do,” a company source said. “We helped them prepare themselves to fight terror. We helped them to plan operations and strategies and develop intelligence sources. That’s quite a bit, but shouldn’t be taken too far.”

And who says no one gets enraged when they see people beheaded by terrorists?? Did you question Hersch and find out that this does not bother him?? Obviously it's disgusting beyond words when that has happened and to top it off been videotaped and put on the Internet. But that should basically go without saying. Anyone who's not a total sociopath would get upset seeing that. America holds itself to a far higher standard (ideally) than Middle Eastern nations (again, Israel included) and of course holds itself to a far higher standard than terrorists ; so the level they all may descend to with their behaviours should not affect America nor should it somehow sanction America's likewise behaving in similar fashion.

"Analysis of job salaries that doesn't take into account what the actual jobs are? That's good work there, Lou."

Indeed! But then, in some circles, half-truths trump facts any day.

maybe it has something to do with the Republicans record number of Filibusters or potential Filibusters to block any proposed legislation?

did you somehow forget that when the Democrats threatened a filibuster in the past, the Republican threatened the "Nuclear Option". Now the Republicans prevent cloture on bills on a regular basis.

So, to answer your question, the Republicans have shut down any action so they can point at how ineffective the Democratic Congress is.

Is this not obvious? It should be.

Democrats Declare July 4 'Energy Independence Day'
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
April 26, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - "Global warming is "one of humanity's greatest challenges," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared on Wednesday. She said House Democrats are "working diligently" on legislation to address global warming challenges, and they expect to unveil their proposals by July 4, which she called "Energy Independence Day."

Speaking at a League of Conservation Voters' dinner in Washington Wednesday evening, Pelosi said future generations "must be first and foremost in our minds as we consider the conclusions of the scientific community: the planet is warming, human activity is responsible, and the effects are already evident around us."

She said the House will lead by example: "It is time for Congress to act on its own carbon footprint," she said, applauding Sen. Barbara Boxer for getting key offices to switch to energy efficient lighting and introducing legislation that will promote energy efficiency in federal buildings.

"Just last week, I was proud to join other House leaders in announcing a 'Green the Capitol Initiative,' which will result in us operating the House in a carbon neutral manner at the earliest possible date, but certainly by the end of the 110th Congress," Pelosi said.

"We will adopt innovative solutions, such as purchasing 100 percent renewable electric power, ensuring wood for our furniture is sustainably harvested, and conducting a comprehensive review of our recycling initiative," Pelosi said.

She said Democrats want to convert the Capitol Power Plant to a combined heat and power system and improve the House office building ventilation system. She did not give a cost estimate.

"It is so exciting to stand before you as Speaker of the House and know that because of all our hard work together, we have elected a Congress that takes real action on behalf of our beautiful planet," Pelosi said.

"The days of rejecting the science of global warming are over, as are the days of standing idly by."

Pelosi concluded with a reference to the Old Testament: "To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us."

Some critics have accused liberal Democrats of putting global warming on a par with religion, just as Pelosi did on Wednesday.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who chairs a new House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said last week that climate change is a national security issue.

At the inaugural hearing of the panel he chairs, Markey urged forceful action to "curb our dangerous dependence on imported oil and reduce our emissions of global warming pollution."

But Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the ranking Republican on the select committee, has urged a "common-sense" approach to "big questions" about mankind's contribution to recent climate fluctuations.

"I believe we should continue to foster a healthy economic climate, and at the same time, make responsible decisions and seek innovations to lessen our impact on the global climate," Sensenbrenner said in news release last month.

"'Let's Be Responsible' may not grab headlines like 'The Sky is Falling,' but it has the virtue of being correct. It also recognizes that there are two climates this panel, and Congress, have to be concerned with. One is environmental, and the other is economic."

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a leading skeptic of the nation that human activity is impacting the climate, has called global warming the most "media-hyped environmental issue of all time."

It is also worth remembering that any war with Iran will not only be fought on the streets of the Middle East, it will be fought on the streets of America and whoever else supports them. The number of new 'terrorists' such an attack would create will mean that suicide bombers and 9/11 type attacks will become an everyday occurance on our streets.

Whilst many controls have been introduced in both the UK and America to prevent further acts of terror, the fact that the attacks here in the UK were carried out by British subjects born and bred, working in respectable jobs with families, should tell you that you will never have any defence against these attacks.

We are already losing the war in the Middle East and are doing absolutley nothing of any significance in the war on terror, attacking Iran will bring the front line of these wars right home to us in our cities and towns.

explain how Israel would attack iran's nuclear program without America's help? Fly over Iraq airspace controlled by USA? Fire missile over Iraq without America's support and knowledge? How much of their technology is indigenous?

You served in Israel ? You were born in Canada, yet you served in Israel ? How is this possible considering Canadian armed forces have no operations in Israel -- and never have ?

But hank you for acknowledging, that Iran is a peaceful and isolationist country who haven't invaded another nation in 3 centuries (that's 300 years). Israel is only 60 years old -- or have you forgotten this ? During just 60 years, apart from the 1967 war, Israel has in every single war fired and invaded first -- this is a historical fact.