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    links for 2009-08-26

    • The number of U.S. citizens in Britain fell 3.8 percent to 126,000 in the 12 months through September, according to the Office for National Statistics. The trend probably continued this year, with the Confederation of British Industry estimating the U.K. financial industry will lose about 45,000 jobs in the first nine months of 2009, or 4.3 percent of the total.

      Americans are heading home as Britain plans a 50 percent tax rate for those who earn more than 150,000 pounds ($248,000) a year and employers cut benefits for workers living abroad, reducing the allure of London. That comes a year after the U.K. said foreigners who have lived in the country for more than seven years must pay 30,000 pounds annually or give up the special status that shields overseas income from British taxes.

      (tags: Britain UK taxes)
    • Contrary to the insistence of Pentagon officials this week that they are not rating the work of reporters covering U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Stars and Stripes has obtained documents that prove that reporters’ coverage is being graded as “positive,” “neutral” or “negative.”

      Moreover, the documents — recent confidential profiles of the work of individual reporters prepared by a Pentagon contractor — indicate that the ratings are intended to help Pentagon image-makers manipulate the types of stories that reporters produce while they are embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

    • New Labour's answer to everything these days is a glossy brochure and a "nurse consultant". More millions to be wasted on glossy presentation and plausible process. More large salaries to be paid to officious nurses to go round telling others how to do their jobs.

      What is really needed is better pay, better incentives and better working conditions.

    • The huge extent to which the NHS needs foreign doctors to treat patients out of hours is revealed today.

      A third of primary care trusts are flying in GPs from as far away as Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Switzerland because of a shortage of doctors in Britain willing to work in the evenings and at weekends.

      The stand-ins earn up to £100 an hour, and one trust paid Polish and German doctors a total of £267,000 in a year, a Daily Mail investigation has found.

    • After weeks of excruciating pain, Mark Wattson was understandably relieved to have his appendix taken out.

      Doctors told him the operation was a success and he was sent home.

      But only a month later the 35-year-old collapsed in agony and had to be taken back to Great Western Hospital in Swindon by ambulance.
      To his shock, surgeons from the same team told him that not only was his appendix still inside him, but it had ruptured – a potentially fatal complication.

      In a second operation it was finally removed, leaving Mr Wattson fearing another organ might have been taken out during the first procedure.

      The blunder has left Mr Wattson jobless, as bosses at the shop where he worked did not believe his story and sacked him.

  • Mitt Romney,  Ted Kennedy

    Mitt Romney for Massachusetts United States Senate – Ted Kennedy’s Seat?

    Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., left, and Republican challenger Mitt Romney argue while answering a question concerning welfare during a televised debate Oct. 27, 1994, at Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, Mass. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate, has died after battling a brain tumor. He was 77.

    And, why not consider the race?

    Surprisingly enough, this brings things back full circle to Romney, who up to now has been busy laying the groundwork for another presidential bid in 2012. It would be an intriguing thing if, after waiting a day or two out of respect for the late senator, Romney were to downshift and announce he will be a candidate in the upcoming election to fill Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat.
    Such an announcement would likely be embraced immediately by the Republicans, who would like almost nothing more than to deny Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada his new, hard-won, 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority. As a self-funding candidate who has already been elected once statewide, Romney has nearly 100 percent name ID. And, in an environment where President Obama seems to be dragging the Democrats down, he would be a serious threat to the Democratic hegemony in Massachusetts’s congressional delegation. Meaning Romney likely would win.

    Well, Mitt wants to be President and it is uncertain whether President Obama will be vilnerable in 2012 anyway. And, Romney sure as hell could beat Democrat Congressman Barney Frank.

    I think this an intriguing proposition because I do believe Romney can win this race, setting the stage for a Presidency campaign either in 2012 or 2016.

    Stay tuned……

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  • Ted Kennedy

    Senator Edward M Kennedy, 1932-2009

    Senator Ted Kennedy has passed away at 77.

    U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, a towering figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America’s most fabled political families after two older brothers were assassinated, died at age 77, his family said.

    “Edward M. Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts),” the Kennedy family said in a statement early on Wednesday.

    One of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history — a liberal standard-bearer who was also known as a consummate congressional dealmaker — Kennedy had been battling brain cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2008.

    His death marked the twilight of a political dynasty and dealt a blow to Democrats as they seek to answer President Barack Obama’s call for an overhaul of the healthcare system.

    May he rest in peace.


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  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day,  Obamacare

    Day By Day by Chris Muir August 26, 2009 – They Have a License

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Yes, Chris, the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats have a license to steal from future generations – especially by racking up massive record-breaking federal deficits. How do you spell hyper-inflation and low economic growth?

    And, who does that hurt?

    The senior citizens, who have dutifully paid their taxes and now find their fixed incomes worth less because the currency buys less.

    To think the Democrats ACTUALLY think they will pay for Obamacare?

    They cannot balance or manage the economy now.

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