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WELCOME TO WYDEWORLD:  WITH HYPERLINKED NEWS UPDATES AND OCCASIONAL COMMENTARY 
  
"All the news that's fit to post."
 

 

Shooting From the Hip:

 

02/07/10:

The Real MVP:

      

       Yeah, Drew Brees was named MVP in a super Super Bowl game Sunday night, but for my money, the guy who deserved it was his coach, Sean Payton. 

 

                                                                                                     John Wydra, WydeWorld.com

 

                                                                                                            Mike Keefe, The Denver Post

Commentary:

 

01/30/10

Sorry, Can’t Help You:

 

       There are many ways to measure the serious shortcomings in America’s broken healthcare system.  From costs that are far too high to the uninsured that are far too many, the problems in providing affordable healthcare to everyone have proven to be insurmountable.  If nothing else, that’s what Americans have learned from the bizarre and perpetual puppet show in Congress, where the strings are pulled with deft precision by the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.  Healthcare Reform?  It’s merely a cruel oxymoron.

       Now we can add still another outward sign of how broken is America’s healthcare system.  On Friday, January 29, the U.S. military stopped the mercy flights out of Haiti that were ferrying Haitian citizens aboard C-130 planes to the United States to be treated for life-threatening injuries suffered in the Armageddon-like earthquake that ruined an already impoverished nation January 12.  The reason for suspending the flights?  The cost, specifically who’s going to pay for the treatment.  Most of the mercy flights were going to Florida, where Republican Governor Charlie Crist complained that his state couldn’t afford it and that the federal government has to pay.  What’s wrong Governor Crist?  Can’t the system in which you and every Republican puts their faith, the “Free Enterprise” system pay for it?  I thought you didn’t want “interference” from the federal government.

       As in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, here is another example of how America’s current healthcare system makes life-saving decisions a crass bottom-line function, not a humanitarian one.  As every other western nation knows from practical experience, the only nondiscriminatory system that works, the only system that provides healthcare for everyone, regardless of station in life or catastrophic circumstance, is a single-payer system.  Since the interests of the American people are subordinated to the interests of corporations, tellingly reinforced by the recent Supreme Court decision that allows corporate America to buy any politician they want to, there is no way that sane and effective healthcare reform on any level, much less a single-payer system, will ever see the light of day.

       So, once again, the United States of America is telling the rest of the world that we can’t provide life-saving medical care because we can’t afford it, because America’s system of healthcare is only concerned about the profits that can be made in treating those who can pay for it, and not about anything remotely resembling a humanitarian concern for anyone truly in need.  The Haitian people should understand that this is how we treat our own people.  Why should they expect to be treated differently? 

       While they and we wait to see who’s going to pay, which, according to the rules of our current healthcare system really means who’s going to make a buck from other people’s misery, Haitians who are suffering horrific burns, spinal cord injuries, crushed internal organs and myriad other injuries, were left to die.

 

UPDATE:  Responding to an uproar over the cancellation fo the mercy flights, the White House intervened on Sunday and ordered the U.S. military to resume the airlift of Injured Haitians Monday.  It was still not clear how already overcrowded U.S. medical facilities were going to handle the incoming patients, or who was going to pay for their medical care.

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                           John Wydra, WydeWorld.com 

 

 

                                                                                                          Brian Fairrington / Cagle Cartoons

 

 

                                                                                                  J.D. Crowe, the Mobile, Alabama Register

 

 

Shooting From the Hip:

 

 

01/24/10

TV'S Vast Wasteland:

 

       I miss the days when there were only three TV networks to choose from.  You spent a lot less time deciding there was nothing good to watch.

 

                                                                                                           John Wydra, WydeWorld.com 

 

01/20/10

The Phony Family Man:

        

       Dr. James Dobson, founder of the ultra-conservative political interest group, “Focus on the Family” is leaving his post at the age of 73.  No, he’s not retiring.  He’s going to start up a new radio program with his 39-year-old son, Ryan, himself a Christian fundamentalist preacher.

        Apparently, Dr. Dobson has little choice in the matter.  It turns out that son Ryan was not focusing on his family.  He’s divorced. 

       Note to Dr. Dobson:  You’ve still got time to stop being such a hypocrite.  Why not put your Ph.d. in psychology to some good use for a change?  Why not call your new venture “Focus on the Fractured Family,” or maybe “Focus on the Extended Family”? 

       Of course, he won’t.  There are still big bucks to be made in the discriminatory ideological-peddling business.

 

                                                                                                           John Wydra, WydeWorld.com 

 

01/17/10

Mr. Awareness:

 

       President Barack Obama asked former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to head up a national effort to assist the people of earthquake-ravaged Haiti.  Bush said his job was to “raise awareness.”  Too bad his “awareness” wasn’t aroused before, during or after Hurricane Katrina.  Haitians should give thanks that Mr. Awareness is not in the White House anymore.  If he were, they would now be feeling first hand the effects of a key policy of his Administration—abandonment.

 

                                                                                                           John Wydra, WydeWorld.com 

01/10/10

Resolutions:

 

(The following was forwarded to us by a friend)

 

       “As part of my New Year resolutions, I sat my kids down for a frank chat about my living will.  I made it very clear to them that I did not want to spend my final days in a vegetative state, totally dependent on a machine and fluids from a bottle to keep me alive.   I told them that when the time comes, to pull the plug.

       They said they fully understood.  So they got up, disconnected my computer, and poured all of my wine down the drain.”

 

                                                                                                           John Wydra, WydeWorld.com 

 

01/08/10:

Self-destructing Democrats:

 

       If there is any way that Democrats can make the Republicans in Congress feel better about the 2010 elections in November, rest assured, they will find it.

      Just when the Democrats were getting their act together, reaching a certain comfort level with their barely filibuster-proof power in the Senate, comes news of a crack in their armor—well, two of them actually.  Senators Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd, both Democrats, have announced they will not run for reelection.  They both made known their intentions to throw in the towel on the same day that a Democratic Governor, Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado, announced that he is not re-upping either.  And, demonstrating that party unity has always been hard to come by, the Democrats have lost a House seat to a flipper.  Parker Griffith of Alabama announced December 22 that he would rather be associated with the party of elephants than with the one of donkeys, which is not that big a leap for a Blue Dog anyway.  Personally speaking, I think he’s a jackass.  His entire staff thought so too, quitting en masse.  Of course, Griffith is not the only one.  Another party defector, Repubindecrat, Joe Lieberman, one of the most unctuous and insipid politicians of all time, qualifies as a jackass too.

       The point is, Democrats just love shooting themselves in the foot, which is just fine with Republicans who love to shoot them in the foot as well.

 

                                                                                                           John Wydra, WydeWorld.com

 

01/06/10:

You Get What They Pay For:

 

        Following months and months of caving in to the desires of their campaign contribution managers, namely the insurance and pharmaceutical locusts that have overrun “K” street, members of Congress are getting closer and closer to forging a new health care reform proposal that they can send to the Obama White House.  The legislation will proudly bear the following title: 

 

The Comprehensive Health Care Reform Prevention Act of 2010.

 

                                                                                      John Wydra, WydeWorld.com

 

*****************************************************************************************************

 

 Cam Cardow / Ottawa Citizen 

 

          ********************************************************************************* 

 

                                                                                                          Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette

 

          ***********************************************************************************

 

What Hath Bush Wrought?

 

To sample the book by reading the first page from each chapter,

click on "Excerpts from New Book"

 

For Back Cover quotes, see below

 

AVAILABLE FROM WEBSITE BOOKSELLERS,

INCLUDING AMAZON.COM AND BORDERS.COM

(For hyperlinks, see below)

 

 

 

         Can anyone from the Bush Administration face war crimes charges for torturing “enemy combatants?”  Was the Iraq invasion planned as far back as 1992?  How did the radical Religious Right infiltrate a key federal agency and dictate U.S. policy?  Were there insidious reasons when the government of the United States of America turned its back on its own citizens after Hurricane Katrina?  Was 9/11 allowed to happen?

These questions and much more are addressed in John Wydra’s new book:  What Hath Bush Wrought?  Using Bush’s own words and naming names in a neoconservative/Religious Right conspiracy that hijacked the U.S. government, Wydra meticulously recounts the numerous “crimes and misdemeanors” of the “Unitary Presidency” of George W. Bush.

If Attorney General Eric Holder is looking for reasons why he should initiate proceedings against a number of former Bush Administration officials, he can find them in this book.  Leavened with sarcasm and humor, Wydra documents the legacy of the most disastrous presidency in U.S. history. 

There was more to it than just the approval of the illegal and immoral use of torture, a war crime.  There was more to it than launching an unjust war against Iraq, also a war crime.  There was more to it than just the mishandling of the aftermath of Katrina, a crime against humanity.  Chillingly, it was worse, much worse than anyone thought.   

The ultimate question remains:  Why has no one been held responsible?

 

ISBN: 0-7414-5269-3 ©2009
Price: $34.95
Book Size: 5.5'' x 8.5'' , 653 pages
Category/Subject: POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory  

 

**************************************************************************************

  

QUOTES FROM BACK COVER:

   

     “There is no longer any doubt as to whether the (Bush) Administration (has) committed war crimes.  The only question that remains to be answered is whether or not those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”

Antonio Taguba, Major General, U.S. Army, retired

 

     "Who would have thought that in the United States of America, in the 21st Century, the top officials in the (Bush) Executive Branch would routinely gather in the White House to approve torture?"

Senator Edward Kennedy

 

     "The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a tragedy...for Iraq, for the U.S., for the U.N., for truth and human dignity."

Hans Blix, former Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector

 

     "The invasion of Iraq was...an illegal act that contravened the U.N. Charter."

Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary General

  

     "History will not judge us kindly."

John Ashcroft, former U.S. Attorney General

 

***************************************************************************************

 

The book is available from website booksellers, including those listed below.

 

Click here for hyperlinks:

 

http://www.amazon.com/What-Hath-Bush-Wrought-Wydra/dp/0741452693/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250265718&sr=1-13

 

http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0741452693

 

http://www.buybooksontheweb.com/product.aspx?ISBN=0-7414-5269-3

 

 

 

 

News:

 

The latest news, business and sports in 60 seconds.

(Each story hyperlinked for more detail) 

 

 

Tuesday February 9, 2010

 

Top Stories  

 

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., dies at 77 

 

Congressman John Murtha died Monday afternoon at Virginia Hospital Center

in Arlington, Virginia after complications from gallbladder surgery. 

A Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Murtha was Chairman

of the House Subcommittee on Defense. 

(File photo) 

 

 
 
 
Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's physician.
(File photo)
 
 
 
A mechanic at Narita Airport in Tokyo found the body of an unidentified man in the  
landing gear bay of this Boeing 777 Sunday, Tokyo time.  The Delta Flight 59
originated at JFK Airport in New York Saturday.  It's believed the man died
of high altitude exposure.  An autopsy is pending.
(Photo courtesy Getty Images)
 
 
 
 

5 dead in Conn. power plant blast

 

 

The skeletal remains of a new power plant in Middletown, Connecticut,

where a natural gas pipeline was being tested. The blast occured Sunday morning.

(Photo courtesy The Middletown Press)

 

Def. Sec. Gates Voices Concern About Warship Sale to Russia

 

Space shuttle blasts off on last night flight

 

The Space Shuttle Endeavor during liftoff early Monday morning.

(Photo courtesy NASA)

 

5 dead after mid-air collision near Boulder, Colo.

 

U.S. swine flu epidemic shows signs of being over

 

Costa Rica elects 1st woman president

 

Former Vice President, Laura Chinchilla during a rally Sunday in Costa Rica,

where pre-election polling showed her with a lead.

(Photo courtesy AP)

 

Yanukovych apparent victor in Ukrainian vote

 

Sri Lankan Opposition Candidate Arrested

 

EU summit Thursday to focus on Haiti, economy

 

Paperwork Hinders Airlifts of Ill Haitian Children

 

Haiti awash in Christian aid, evangelism

 

Brazil handing out 55M condoms for Carnival

    

Military health facilities to begin stocking morning-after pill

   

'Thirdhand Smoke' May Pose Health Risk

 

Fatty foods may not be that bad for your heart

 

The Universe is Precisely 13.75 Billion Years Old

   

 

Biz Briefs

 

Dow Industrials Close Below 10,000

 

Stocks to Watch: Stocks in focus for Tuesday

 

Toyota to Recall 2010 Prius for Brake Problems

 

Amazon shares gain, pacing tech stocks

 

Energy stocks perk up on oil, Exxon upgrade

 

BioMarin, Cell Therapeutics lead drug stocks south

 

Newsstand Sales and Circulation Fall for Magazines

 

Blanket, pillow on American flights to cost $8

 

CIT, emerging from bankruptcy, hires Thain as CEO

 

10th Person in Galleon Insider Case Pleads Guilty

 

Group of 7 Vows to Keep Cash Flowing

  

Bank failures to keep rising in 2010

  

  

Sports   

 

Absence of Wind Puts Off Start of the America’s Cup

 

Super Bowl XLIV was most watched TV program in history

 

Saints coach, Sean Peyton being carried off the field after

calling some gutsy plays in Super Bowl XLIV.

(Photo Getty Images)

  

A key interception by Tracey Porter, who ran it back 74 years for a TD,

an on-side kick to open the 3rd Quarter and a 2-point conversion that had to be

reviewed led the New Orleans Saints to their first Super Bowl win in franchise history.

(Photo courtesy Getty Images)

 

Coach Sean Payton’s bold calls difference for Saints

 

Another big disappointment for Manning

 

Goodell: NFL may ban 3-point stance for safety

 

Union leader: NFL lockout in 2011 quite possible

 

Florida State vacates 12 Bowden wins in scandal

 

 Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice highlight 7-man Pro Football Hall of Fame class

  

Warren Sapp charged with domestic battery, pulled off TV

 

Danica Patrick to race in Daytona Nationwide event this weekend 

 

Winter missing in Vancouver as Games approach

   

Let the Games begin! USOC reveals Olympic roster

 

USC gets commitment from a 13-year-old QB

 

Islanders to Hold Part of Training Camp in China

   

 

Features 

 

Older Mothers More Likely to Bear Autistic Children

 

Fewer Than 50 Wild Tigers Left in China

 

65,000-Year-Old Language Goes Extinct

 

Study: Babies' low serotonin levels cause SIDS  

 

 India is Sinking into Earth's Mantle

 

 

Bizarre Asteroid is One For The X-Files

 

An image of the strange X-shaped object about 100-million miles from earth.

Astronomers have been astounded by its shape and never-before-seen streamer tail.

(Image courtesy NASA from the Hubble Space Telescope)

 

Scientist: Alien Life Forms May Be on Earth

 

No, not little green men, but Paul Davies, an Arizona State University

physicist believes alien life forms could be microbial.  He says

less than 1% of earth's microbes have been identified or studied.

(Photo courtesy Getty Images)

 

Meteorite Crashes Through Virginia Doctor's Office

 

Past Decade Warmest Ever, NASA Data Shows

 

Swine flu death toll surpasses 11,000

  

Many appendectomies may not be needed, study finds

 

FDA alters stance, has 'some concern' about chemical BPA

 

Morphine found to help stave off PTSD in wounded troops

 

Too Much Sitting Creates a Health Hazard

 

Too much TV may mean earlier death

 

Mystery object whizzes past Earth harmlessly

 

Near-earth object identifed as 2010 AL30 passed Earth only 80,000 miles away,

extremely close by planetary standards.  It was believed to be an errant asteroid. 

More information about the object can be found at : NASA's Solar System Dynamics Web site

(Image courtesy AFAM/CARA)

 

'Astonishing' Ancient Amazon Civilization Discovery Detailed

 

Are Men More Evolved Than Women?

 

Half of Americans with depression not treated

 

Study: Antidepressant lift may be all in your head

 

Kepler telescope discovers five new planets, all bigger than Earth

 

Incoming asteroid under close watch

 

The orbit of Adophis, an 885 foot-long asteroid.  Some scientists predict it's course will

intersect with earth in 2036.  Russian scientists are urging an "intervention," to force

the object off course.  NASA says the chances of Adophis hitting earth is 1 in 250,000.

 

Remains of Early 1900s Plane Found in Antarctica

 

 The Vickers single-engine plane being assembled in Antarctica, circa 1912.

The plane was referred to as an "air tractor" by contemporary explorers.

(Photo courtesy of The Mawson's Huts Foundation)

 

Tarantula shoots sharp hairs into owner’s eye

 

A Chilean Rose Tarantula.  Doctors are now warning owners of such pets to wear

eye protection when handling the creatures.  (Photo courtesy LiveScience.com)

 

Study Finds Origin of Tasmanian Devil Cancer

  

In South Africa, drug-resistant HIV emerging

 

Study: Ginkgo biloba has no effect on Alzheimer's, dementia

 

The Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations Comes of Age

 

 Monument lifted from Cleopatra’s sunken city

 

Part of a stone pillar from a temple in a sunken Cleopatra-era city off Alexandria,

is lifted by a crane from the Mediterranean sea on Thursday.  (Reuters) 

 

Report: White Americans' majority to end by mid-century  

 

Official: KGB chief ordered Hitler's remains destroyed

 

Mystery Spiral Appears Over Norway

 

(Photo of mystery spiral in the sky over Norway by Jan Petter Jørgensen via Vaeret.  It appeared

just 2 months after another mystery spiral, different in shape, appeared over Moscow, pictured below.)

 

Mystery halo cloud that appeared over Moscow in October.

 

Radiation from CT scans linked to cancers, deaths

  

U.S. grapples with child hunger ‘epidemic’

 

Study: Missing DNA can promote childhood obesity

 

Soy foods could help breast cancer survivors

 

More seniors showing up at soup kitchens

 

Hunger, America’s ‘dirty little secret’

   

 Support for legalizing marijuana gaining ground rapidly

 

Vatican Expert: Turin Shroud Jesus Relic 

 

Thousands of strange creatures found deep in ocean

  

Kudzu compound could help alcoholics quit drinking 

 

Over 17,000 Animals Near Extinction

     

High levels of chemical used in plastics, BPA, linked to male sexual problems

  

  This page was last modified on Monday, February 08, 2010 11:46:53 PM