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Senators Want VA Official Out For Suicide Cover Up

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:40:33 GMT

clipped by: reimers

After learning that more than 17 veterans per month commit suicide while under the care of the Veterans Affairs Department, senators accused VA of withholding information about suicide rates and demanded the removal of its mental health chief.

“The culture of the VA has to change,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., after a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday.

To restore credibility, she said VA must take responsibility and dismiss Dr. Ira Katz, deputy chief patient care services officer for mental health.

The accusations began flying Monday after a lawsuit brought to light a series of e-mails about high suicide numbers from Katz.

Murray quoted Katz writing in one e-mail:

“Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans in our medical facilities.”

Murray noted that Katz’s wondered in his e-mail if VA should try to address the numbers in “some sort of release before someone stumbles on it.”

Scalia On Bush v. Gore: Get Over It!

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:08:06 GMT

clipped by: reimers

Clip Source: www.cbsnews.com

People who believe the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision giving the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush was politically motivated should just get over it, says Justice Antonin Scalia.

Scalia denies that the controversial decision was political and discusses other aspects of his public and private life in a remarkably candid interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl

"I say nonsense," Scalia responds to Stahl’s observation that people say the Supreme Court’s decision in Gore v. Bush was based on politics and not justice. "Get over it. It’s so old by now. The principal issue in the case, whether the scheme that the Florida Supreme Court had put together violated the federal Constitution, that wasn’t even close. The vote was seven to two," he says, referring to the Supreme Court’s decision that the Supreme Court of Florida’s method for recounting ballots was unconstitutional.

Extinction threatened people 70,000 years ago

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:06:46 GMT

clipped by: reimers

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday.

The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.

"This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history," Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement. "Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA."

Wells is director of the Genographic Project, launched in 2005 to study anthropology using genetics.

Hillary on Weatherman Pardons:

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:03:38 GMT

clipped by: reimers

Clip Source: weblogs.newsday.com

In an interview yesterday, Hillary -- whose connection to President Clinton's 2001 sentence commutations for two members of the Weather Underground has become an issue since she tried to raise questions about Obama's acquaintance with another ex-Weatherman -- told "Inside Edition" that she "didn't know anything about" the 2001 clemency case.

You can watch the video below. If it's true, it means that she got the worst briefings in the world when she was running for Senate in 2000 and the clemency issue was hot in Rockland County, and it means that Chuck Schumer didn't even bother to mention the issue to his fellow NY senator-elect/ First Lady after promising the widows of two dead cops to fight against one of the clemencies.

[Video]

Why Hillary is still eating Obama's dust

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:57 GMT

clipped by: reimers

Clip Source: www.nydailynews.com

Hillary Clinton says she is the one to fix everything, which these days means fixing only one thing: a Republican economy that has looted the country. Then, almost in the next breath, she acts as if she is willing to open a lemonade stand to keep her campaign going.

The way things are going for her - because she will say or do anything to be the Democratic nominee - her latest commercial message in Indiana and North Carolina will probably go something like this: "You're all in debt, but don't worry ... so am I!"

She raised more than $200 million to run for President. It wasn't nearly enough, and yet she continues to tell the voters and the country that she is the one who will put money back into everybody's pockets. Her own people issue press releases that trumpet her "commitment to jump-starting our economy" when she can't even jump-start her own.

Barack Obama has been better organized, raised more money, won more states, gained more delegates

Tiger Adopts Piglets

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:38:57 GMT

clipped by: reimers
clipper's remarks: Go to: http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/tigerpig.asp for the real story

Clip Source: urbanlegends.about.com

In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only orphans" that could be found quickly