Disgusting

Payoffs for states get Harry Reid to 60 votes

By CHRIS FRATES 12/19/09 7:56 PM EST Politico

Ben Nelson’s “Cornhusker Kickback,” as the GOP is calling it, got all the attention Saturday, but other senators lined up for deals as Majority Leader Harry Reid corralled the last few votes for a health reform package.

Nelson’s might be the most blatant – a deal carved out for a single state, a permanent exemption from the state share of Medicaid expansion for Nebraska, meaning federal taxpayers have to kick in an additional $45 million in the first decade.

I just have one word for this; DISGUSTING.

Death Penalty for Gays in Uganda

Death penalty for gays? Uganda debates proposal

By KATHARINE HOURELD and GODFREY OLUKYA (AP) – KAMPALA, Uganda — Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family and friends could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals.

Gay rights activists say the bill, which has prompted growing international opposition, promotes hatred and could set back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. They believe the bill is part of a continent wide backlash because Africa's gay community is becoming more vocal.

I have often wondered why the peace loving Muslim community does not stand up in opposition to the terrorist's actions. Perhaps they do, but we do not hear about it.

In that same light, I stand in opposition to this proposal in Uganda. I will be the first to state my view that homosexuality or any sexual relations outside of marriage is sin. But I also believe that this bill goes way overboard in reaction to the issue. I reserve the death penalty for those who take another persons life. This proposal, in a word, is wrong and I pray will not pass.

Change we can believe in?

Is this the change we can believe in?

But Washington is a city that likes its traditions, and Ms. Rogers has raised a few eyebrows by trying to bend them. When former social secretaries gave a luncheon to welcome Ms. Rogers earlier this year, one participant said, she surprised them by suggesting the Obamas were planning a “non-religious Christmas” — hardly a surprising idea for an administration making a special effort to reach out to other faiths.

The lunch conversation inevitably turned to whether the White House would display its crèche, customarily placed in a prominent spot in the East Room. Ms. Rogers, this participant said, replied that the Obamas did not intend to put the manger scene on display — a remark that drew an audible gasp from the tight-knit social secretary sisterhood. (A White House official confirmed that there had been internal discussions about making Christmas more inclusive and whether to display the crèche.)

Yet in the end, tradition won out; the executive mansion is now decorated for the Christmas holiday, and the crèche is in its usual East Room spot.

The White House wanted to make Christmas more inclusive by excluding that which represents the story of the birth of Christ, the reason for the season, as they say. More inclusive by excluding Jesus, hmmm, I don't get it. I am glad tradition, reason and common sense won out.

Hope and change. I am hoping for a change in 2012, if we last as a nation until then.