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Thanks Jim Amman!

Ever wonder where Linda McMahon is going to get the $30 million she has threatened to spend in the Senate race?

From the State of Connecticut – that’s where! Connecticut taxpayers gave McMahon and the WWE at least $14.2 million to produce SmackDown! in 2007-2008, $4.1 million to produce RAW, and $9 million so they could upgrade their website WWE.com. More info here-see comments.

That’s $27 million dollars of their own money they didn’t have to spend – and is now available to try to buy a Senate nomination.

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Republican U.S. Senate Candidates Rob Simmons and Tom Foley are doing their best to ensure that Bush family holidays are as awkward and uncomfortable as possible, lining up politically-involved and wealthy Bushes in each of their respective camps.

Both candidates have strong ties to George W. Bush. Simmons was a Bush cheerleader while serving in Congress. Dick Cheney said he should be re-elected to help President Bush “carry out their priorities for the country.” Tom Foley was a high-dollar Bush Pioneer fundraiser. He was rewarded for his loyalty with a plumb ambassadorship to Ireland by the former President.

“Aside from the fact that there are enough Republican candidates in the field to form their own basketball team, two of them are actively trying to out-do one another in the race for monetary and political support that comes with having their name attached to the long-discredited Bush political brand, particularly in this state” said Connecticut Democratic Party Communications Director Colleen Flanagan. “Every time we think this primary can’t possibly get any more entertaining, we’re proven wrong by a cast of characters better suited for a reality television show than a U.S. Senate race.”

Earlier this year, Foley tapped his Bush Pioneer connections to raise money for his campaign. He held fundraiser hosted by Craig and Debbie Stapleton. Craig Stapleton is also former Bush Pioneer fundraiser who was rewarded with ambassadorships by George W. Bush. Debbie Stapleton is W.’s cousin.

Not to be outdone, Simmons is counting on his own Bush connections to help his anemic fundraising. According to The New York Post, the word about Rob Simmons’ swanky New York City fundraiser tomorrow, hosted by Henry and Nancy Kissinger, is being spread by 41’s brother (and 43’s uncle) Jon Bush. “Come meet Rob Simmons,” he wrote. “He’s a true American hero!” Jon Bush’s father, Prescott Bush, once held the seat for which Simmons is running.

In the battle for the Bushes, it may actually come down to Bush loyalists who are quickly taking sides, as well. Last week, Foley held a fundraiser at Washington’s Café Milano featuring some of the most prominent members of George W. Bush’s administration, including former Bush Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, former economic advisor Al Hubbard, and Cheney personal aide, Brian McCormick. Jack Oliver, the former Bush fundraiser credited with orchestrating the President’s fundraising domination in 2000 and 2004 was also a host member.

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Here’s some exciting news: Vacations are good for your health:

Mortality rates in several Mediterranean countries decline in September.

In North America and Sweden, August is the lowest month for mortality, in Japan it is July, and in Australia, it is March (the counterpart to September in the southern hemisphere).

The authors suggest the physiological effect of increased vitamin D synthesis combined with the stress-relieving benefits of time off may contribute to these lower mortality figures.

I don’t see a lt more vacation time in my future, but I will try to be more diligent about taking my Vitamin D-3 pills and here are still more reasons why:

Vitamin D Fight Heart Disease in Elderly

Vitamin D deficiency leads to high blood pressure

Vitamin D: Many Benefits:

Recent reports on vitamin D suggest that it offers many benefits, especially for older adults. Findings point to improved balance, reduction in the risk of bone fractures, and better thinking skills such as planning, organizing and abstract thinking. Low levels of vitamin D are associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders, infections such as tuberculosis, and periodontal disease. Low vitamin D levels also may affect certain cancers, including colon, breast and prostate cancers.

I’m going to keep drinking green tea:

Green tea may help improve bone health

I’m going to consider adding zinc to my supplement regimen:

Studies have shown that zinc is essential to protecting against oxidative stress and helping DNA repair – meaning that in the face of zinc deficiency, the body’s ability to repair genetic damage may be decreasing even as the amount of damage is going up.

One new study has found DNA damage in humans caused by only minor zinc deficiency.

More info on zinc, from the U.S. government

And I will look further into Vitamin K:

Vitamin K essential for old age

I took CPR many years ago, but if I find someone who seems to need it, I’m not going to worry that I’m no longer licensed:

More chest compressions mean more saved lives during CPR:

The chance that a person in cardiac arrest will survive increases when rescuers doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) spend more time giving chest compressions, according to a multi-center study reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

“Chest compressions move blood with oxygen to the heart and the brain to save the brain and prepare the heart to start up its own rhythm when a shock is delivered with a defibrillator,” said Jim Christenson, M.D., lead author of the study and clinical professor of emergency medicine at the University of British Columbia. “We found that even short pauses in chest compressions were quite detrimental.”

Good news for prostate cancer sufferers:

2/3 of prostate cancers do not need treatment:

and

Conservative management of localized prostate cancer seems to work

and for those trying to prevent prostate cancer:

Research shows that cancer risks, including the risk for prostate cancer, may be reduced by 30 to 40 percent if people ate a more plant-based diet. This healthy diet includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds – including flaxseed.

But mixed news for those trying to prevent breast cancer:

Three drugs, including tamoxifen, reduce a woman’s chance of getting breast cancer, but each drug carries distinct potential harms of its own, according to a new report from HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Drugs to reduce the risk of breast cancer can be prescribed to women with a family history of breast cancer or other risk factors, but prescribing practices vary widely. The comparative effectiveness review found that all three drugs — tamoxifen, raloxifene, and tibolone — significantly reduce invasive breast cancer in midlife and older women but that benefits and adverse effects can vary depending on the drug and the patient.

And one final warning:

Showers can be dangerous to your health

More interesting research reports at my blog:

Health News Report

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I really do recommend reading the original – it is interesting and well researched:
Latest WWE character: Linda McMahon a/k/a “the Wild RINO”

….Without further adieu, WWE presents its 2010 U.S. Senate candidate in Connecticut, Linda McMahon…

…Mrs. McMahon now gets to play the role of a conservative Republican in her bid against Senator Chris Dodd…

I mean, of all the people whom she could have been a regular contributor to, you think a true believer in conservatism might have excused themselves from writing huge checks every election cycle to Rahm Emanuel?  

And Connecticut liberals are gleeful that Mrs. McMahon contributed over $10,000 to the DCCC,….

And please don’t think this was all part of some old, repudiated phase in her life….like Reagan being a New Dealer.  Just months ago she was bankrolling Virginia Democrat Mark Warner’s U.S. Senate bid.

McMahon did something lots of Connecticut Republicans did in 2006 –contribute to Joe Lieberman’s campaign. Of course, most of Lieberman’s contributors also made the effort to vote in the 2006 election. McMahon didn’t bother to cast a vote ; perhaps it’s easier to write checks than to wait in line at some Greenwich polling station…

In fact, it appears McMahon wrote more checks to elect Democrats to the Senate than Republicans. But ok, she says she’s a Republican? Well, what kind of Republican?

* One who supported various PACs affiliated with liberal Republican Christie Todd Whitman, the former NJ Governor. PAC’s whose very purpose was to oppose conservative Republicans. 

* One who contributed to Whitman’s daughter ‘s unsuccessful NJ congressional race

* One who has had turncoat  former liberal Republican Senator Lowell Weicker on her corporation’s board of directors for over a decade

I mean, what more could she do to convince me she’s a liberal Republican? Although she says she’ll spend $30 million to convince me otherwise.

Hmm, hire as top consultant part of the NRSC’s brain trust that wrote a blank check to Lincoln Chafee?

Oddly enough, no one is attacking Rob Simmons for being too liberal, despite his support of gay marriage and abortion rights. In fact, most mainstream conservatives, and even some further right, are rushing to support him.

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The good old AR-15 semi-automatic is harmless, The National Shooting Sports Foundation claims:

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that a public nuisance suit against five of the nation’s largest electric utility companies, alleging that they contribute to global warming with greenhouse gas emissions, can go forward.

The complaint seeks to force the utilities to reduce their emissions.

The district court held that the plaintiffs’ claim raised ‘political questions’ that could not be decided by federal courts because of a lack of standards for determining whether the defendants’ conduct was unreasonable, and the overarching national and international policy implications of regulating greenhouse gases.

The district court also said it was not equipped to determine the appropriate level of emissions, assess alternative energy resources, or consider the implications for US energy policy.

The ruling in State of Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co. Inc. explicitly rejected the political question doctrine and found that the plaintiffs — eight states, three land trusts and the City of New York — have standing both to sue and to present common law nuisance claims. It also vacated the federal district court decision.

In reinstating the case, the Second Circuit observed: “It is error to equate a political question with a political case. Given the checks and balances among the three branches of our government, the judiciary can no more usurp executive and legislative prerogatives than it can decline to decide matters within its jurisdiction simply because such matters may have political ramifications.”

The Second Circuit court held that the political questions raised by the suit are justiciable in federal courts, that none of the claims are preempted by regulations or legislation, and that all of the plaintiffs have standing to bring the suit.

The Second Circuit’s decision is extraordinarily broad and can be applied to all industries, not just the electric utilities. Any industry that generates greenhouse gas emissions is implicated, and that category includes virtually all businesses.

More interesting discussion on this case.

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The working poor simply have no or limited options for providing healthcare for themselves and their families. This predicament devastates communities of color, where more than seven million African Americans are without coverage. This is not a contrived problem; rising healthcare costs are a real crisis.

So why, suddenly, must healthcare reform legislation become a budget-reduction bill?

Instead of focusing on how to obtain the best coverage possible for millions of people without insurance, the debate in Congress has been transformed into a referendum on which plan can save government the most money. This is not how it should be. When Congress was allocating billions of dollars for the war in Iraq, the focus was on how to win the war, not on how much taxpayer money could be saved.

Right now, the nation needs its leaders, President Obama and the Congress to focus on the best plan for the people, regardless of the cost. There has been much debate over whether there should be a “public option” allowing the government to offer insurance. The public option should be considered not based on its cost, but its merit. It should be included if it can offer additional competition in the marketplace and drive down the premiums charged for other insurance plans. Now is not the time for ideological battles over government-run programs, now is the time for finding and implementing programs that work, be they government, private or hybrids. The nation needs programs that reduce the cost of insurance to consumers and cover the uninsured.

This over emphasis on costs has led to some ridiculous proposals that would ultimately be bad public policy if enacted.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), for instance, has a plan mandating that all Americans purchase health insurance. Because his plan has no public option, struggling middle-class families would be forced to buy health insurance at rates likely to be difficult for them to pay.

The Kaiser Family Foundation recently released data further reinforcing why real healthcare reform must be enacted. Already, healthcare coverage for the average American family costs $13,375 a year, and health insurance premiums increased 138 percent over the last 10 years. At that rate, many families will suffer financial hardships.

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The funniest thing about this ad is that not everybody recognizes that it’s not real: