Drudge Retort

Doctors Sold Newborns After Saying They Died

reinheitsgebot — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:15:45 -0500

Three doctors and a nurse have been arrested for allegedly selling newborns after telling their mothers they had died. Police uncovered the scheme after one of the women learnt her baby was alive and had been sold to a woman for 15,000 pesos ($1240), said Mexico City's deputy attorney general, Luis Genaro. The woman gave birth to a girl through caesarean section at the private Central West Hospital in a working-class district in October 2008, Mr Genaro said.

Health Reform Hits the Floor

rcade — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:44:44 -0500

The House of Representatives began debate Saturday on legislation to transform the nation's health insurance system. "Now is the chance to fix our health care system and improve the lives of millions of Americans," said Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D.-N.Y.), chair of the Rules Committee, as she opened the daylong debate.

Abortion Amendment Faces Vote

rcade — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:51:03 -0500

House Democratic leaders agreed Friday night to settle an impasse over abortion by letting the entire House vote on a proposed solution, a risky decision that could determine the fate of their trillion-dollar overhaul of the nation's health care system. Under the agreement, anti-abortion Democrats will be permitted to offer an amendment on the House floor to the health-care overhaul bill. The amendment would prohibit a new government-run insurance plan created by the health-care bill from offering to cover abortion services, congressional sources said. It would also block people who received federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance from buying policies that offered coverage for abortions.

Obama Reminds Nation of Military's Diversity

rcade — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:07:16 -0500

President Obama, extending condolences to Fort Hood, Texas, reminded Americans that people of all faiths and none serve in the military -- an oblique attempt to prevent a backlash against Muslims. "They are Americans of every race, faith and station, he said. "They are Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and nonbelievers. They are descendants of immigrants, and immigrants themselves. They reflect the diversity that makes this America. But what they share is a patriotism like no other."

Census Worker Death May Be Suicide

rcade — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:08:00 -0500

Investigators probing the death of a Kentucky census worker found hanging from a tree with the word "fed" scrawled on his chest increasingly doubt he was killed because of his government job and are pursuing the possibility he committed suicide, two unnamed officials told AP. Bill Sparkman, 51, was found naked and hanged from a tree Sept. 12 in the Daniel Boone National Forest near Manchester, Ky.

Congress Has 237 Millionaires

nanc — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:49:02 -0500

Two hundred and thirty seven members of Congress are millionaires, according to a new report by the Center for Responsive Politics -- that's 44 percent of the body compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.

Kos Chases Tancredo Off MSNBC Show

nogov4me — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:47:10 -0500

During Ed Schultz's show Friday night on MSNBC, former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo got up and left the show in the middle of a segment after Daily Kos publisher Markos Moulitsas referred to Tancredo's Vietnam draft deferment. "Tom, I'm a veteran. Okay?" Moulitas said in a discussion about government health care for veterans. "I did not get a deferment because I was too depressed to fight a war I supported in Vietnam."

VW Van Stolen in 1974 Recovered

rcade — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:34:31 -0500

A 1965 Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Spokane, Washington, was found by customs agents in a shipping container in the Los Angeles port last month.

Man Earns $85,000 Wearing T-Shirts

rcade — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:11:39 -0500

Entrepreneur Jason Sadler, has earned $85,000 this year by wearing a T-shirt each day supplied by any company and using social media tools to promote the firm.

Fiorina: Sorry for Poor Voting Record

rcade — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:12:03 -0500

U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina has become the second prominent Republican candidate in California to apologize for her spotty record of voting in elections. "I'm a lifelong registered Republican but I haven't always voted," she said Thursday. "And I will provide no excuse for it."

Book Tackles Evangelical Questions on Climate Change

rcade — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:25:43 -0500

As an evangelical Christian living in Texas, climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe found that many conservatives had questions about climate change based on things they'd heard on talk radio. So Hayhoe and her husband, Andrew Farley, the pastor of a nondenominational church in Lubbock, Texas, decided to answer the questions in a new book, A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-based Decisions. When it comes to conservative Christians, I think the real question is who can we trust on this issue?" Farley said.

Letter from Fort Hood

rcade — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:42:31 -0500

A firsthand account from a soldier present during the Fort Hood shootings, according to Kevin Drum at Mother Jones: "I was walking into the medical SRP building when he started firing (he never made it to the main SRP building ... the media accounts are understandably pretty off right now). He was calmly and methodically shooting everyone. Like every non-deployed military post, no one was armed. For the first time in my life I really wish I had a weapon. I don't know how to explain what it feels like to have someone shoot at you while you're unarmed. He missed me but didn't miss a lot of others."

Medical Breakthrough Uses HIV for Good

jackass — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:11:04 -0500

French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause AIDS, and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene.

Obama Won't Attend Berlin Wall Celebration

member2586 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:31:08 -0500

President Obama will not travel to Germany to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9. White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs said today that President Obama's schedule will not allow for a visit to Germany.