BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by Barak Ravid Dennis Ross, who most recently served as a special State Department envoy to Iran, will abruptly be relieved of his duties, sources in Washington told Haaretz. An official announcement is expected in the coming days. The Obama administration will announce that Ross has been reassigned to another position in the White House. In his new post, the former Mideast peace envoy under President Bill Clinton will deal primarily with regional issues related to the peace process. Washington insiders speculate that a number of reasons moved the administration to reassign Ross. One possibility is Iran's persistent refusal to accept Ross as a U.S. emissary given the diplomat's Jewish background as well as his purported pro-Israel leanings. Ross is known to maintain contacts with numerous senior officials in Israel's defense establishment and the Israeli government. Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem surmised that another possibility for Ross' ouster is his just-released b...

Islamic extremists increasingly using the Internet as outreach tool Terrorist groups that have long used the Internet to spread propaganda are increasingly tapping the Web to teach Islamic extremists how to be hackers, recruit techies for cyberwarfare and raise money through online fraud, U.S. officials say. A senior defense official said intelligence reports indicate extremist groups are seeking computer experts, including those capable of breaching government or other sensitive network systems. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, said the extent and success of those recruiting efforts are unclear. Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here But jihadists' interest in hacking is evident in forums across the Internet. Law enforcement officials say terrorists are branching out into Internet fraud to raise money for their operations. 'Experts in the electronic jihad' One Internet forum, the Mujahedeen Electronic Net, off...

By Eric Goldman Davis v. Google, 09 CH 15753 (Cook County Ct. complaint filed April 9, 2009) Venkat sent a very interesting lawsuit this morning that raises some complex policy issues. The complaint alleges that Sean Healy created a blog at unknowncolumn.blogspot.com and posted defamatory content about speedskater Shani Davis' mom, Cherie Davis. [I believe the post in question is at http://unknowncolumn.blogspot.com/2006/02/memo-to-cherie-davis.html -- I'm not going to link to it, but it did show up as my first search result for "Cherie Davis"]. The complaint further alleges that Healy is now deceased, so he can no longer remove the content on Cherie's demand, and he did not have a "probate estate" to take over his blog. As a result, Cherie feels like she has nowhere to turn to clean up the alleged defamation, so she is suing Google's Blogspot for a takedown injunction. On the face of it, the lawsuit is clearly preempted by 47 USC 230, and Google oug...

by the late, forever great Kathy Krajco It's easy to take an honest look at someone you have something against. And though i have no time for blaming the victim, those of us who have been victimized by narcissists must take an honest look at ourselves. Why is it so hard to face facts? Why do we remain in denial so long, and thus play the fool? People on the outside are flabbergasted by the abuse the victim takes. But it is really very easy to understand. To face facts, one fact you must face is that you mean nothing to the narcissist. Zip, zero, zilch, nada. You are nothing but a punching bag. A thing, an object he (ab)uses to make himself feel good. If he breaks you, that's nothing because you are just an object to a narcissist or psychopath. That's humiliating. Who wants to admit that they are worth nothing to someone so precious to them? It's a spear right through the heart. And stupid conventional thinking views value backwards. True, if a thing is a commodity for e...

Larry Sinclair will be happy. ;) President Barack Obama, under growing criticism for not seeking to end the ban on openly gay men and women in the military, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Obama plans to announce his decision on Wednesday in the Oval Office, a White House official said Tuesday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the president hadn't yet signed the presidential memorandum. The official said Obama would release more details on Wednesday. The decision is a political nod to a reliably Democratic voting bloc that in recent weeks has grown frustrated with the White House's slow movement on their priorities. Several powerful gay fundraisers withdrew their support from a June 25 Democratic National Committee event where Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak. Their exit came in response to a June 12 Justice Department brief that defended the Defense of Marriage Act, a prime target for gay and lesbian critic...

I love this!! I myself have argued with doctors and gotten up and walked out of offices without paying... and guess what? It's my body and I have ALWAYS been right! You go, Jessica! TEEN OUTSMARTS DOCTORS By Emily Feldman When doctors didn't give a Washington state high school student the answers she wanted, she took matters into her own hands. Eighteen-year-old Jessica Terry, brought slides of her own intestinal tissue into her AP science class and correctly diagnosed herself with Crohn's disease. "It's weird I had to solve my own medical problem," Terry told CNN affiliate KOMO. " There were just no answers anywhere... I was always sick." For years she went from doctor to doctor complaining of vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss and stomach pains. They said she had irritable bowel syndrome. They said she had colitis. They said the slides of her intestinal tissue were fine, but she knew that wasn't right. "Not knowing much about a disease you...

Barack's pissing all over Bibi already, after Bibi's speech... this should come as a surprise to NO ONE! by Aaron Klein The Palestinian Authority has received signs from the U.S. that it should not take seriously Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent major address, according to a top PA official speaking to WorldNet Daily (WND). Nimer Hamad, senior political adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, also said the PA is not concerned about Netanyahu's policies since Abbas relies on American support for key Palestinian demands. During Netanyahu's speech Sunday, the Israeli leader called for a demilitarized Palestinian state and said Jerusalem would always be united under Jewish sovereignty. Hamad countered: "No matter what is the position of the Israeli government and no matter what are the statements of Netanyahu, what counts is what was promised to us by Obama, which is totally the opposite [of Netanyahu's positions]." "We received encouraging ...

Alex Isenstadt As President Barack Obama tried to sell the American Medical Association today on his health care overhaul, the top Senate Republicans launched a familiar line of attack. They warned of rationed medical care, lack of patient control and government bureaucracy. “The American people will not stand for rationed health care,” Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl said Monday. “We believe that a one size fits all approach is the wrong approach." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a floor speech scheduled for this afternoon warned that what Americans "don’t want is a Washington takeover of health care along the lines of what we’ve already seen with banks, insurance companies, and the auto industry. Americans don’t want a government-run system that puts bureaucrats between patients and doctors." Kyl and McConnell introduced a bill today that would bar the federal government from using "comparative effectiveness research" — which, Kyl charged in a news ...

This was so good, I am reposting it here - Barbara by MICHAEL J. SALAMON Two items recently crossed my desk. The first was an article that appeared in The Jerusalem Post written by Matthew Wagner entitled "Haredim move to silence 'treif' music". It was about a movement to ban musicians who produce or perform any music which the Guardians of Sanctity and Education deem inappropriate. Musicians playing such music would be banned from playing in wedding halls, their CDs would be banned and their concerts disallowed. The other item was a breaking news piece from JTA indicating that Rabbi Benzion Twerski had resigned from a task force in formation being brought together to deal with sexual abuse in the Orthodox community. New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, also an Orthodox Jew, is establishing the task force to deal with this scourge. Twerski resigned because of the many threats against him and his family made by several individuals from his community. When taken toge...

I have suffered with PCOS since 1966 and it has affected my physical and emotional health in ways too numerous to elaborate on on this blog. I have had 3 surgeries for PCOS consequences, including one just a few weeks ago. I was in my 40s when I finally found a doctor who "got it" and treated the disease, not just the symptoms. If you need to know more or need to find a doctor - please feel free to write to me. - Barbara If you have PCOS, you've probably heard that you have a much higher risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. But what about cancer? Are you at risk? The relationship between PCOS and cancers in general is not completely clear, although women who are overweight are more likely to get some kind of cancer. Women who are infertile ( whether they have PCOS or not ) are more likely than fertile women to get a cancer of the reproductive system. The strongest link between a cancer and PCOS is endometrial cancer. A few studies have suggested a correlation ...

by Mary Williams Walsh For the first couple of days after his flight ditched into the Hudson River, Paul Jorgenson was just glad to be alive. But then he started to need his laptop, his wallet, his car keys -- all the essentials he had stowed under his seat and left behind in the sinking plane. A pleasant woman at US Airways told him not to worry; he would be made whole for his losses. But then the matter shifted to US Airways' insurer, the American International Group, operating under government stewardship since its bailout last fall. "Everything went downhill," said Mr. Jorgenson, a software executive in Charlotte, N.C., whose laptop and keys have not been recovered. When a homeowner has a burglary or a driver has a crash, all it normally takes is a call to the insurance company and a description of the loss to activate the policy. But aviation liability insurance is different. It is activated by a finding of negligence on the part of an airline. If there is no neglig...

Wish Away Cancer! Get A Lunchtime Face-Lift! Eradicate Autism! Turn Back The Clock! Thin Your Thighs! Cure Menopause! Harness Positive Energy! Erase Wrinkles! Banish Obesity! Live Your Best Life Ever! by Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert In January, Oprah Winfrey invited Suzanne Somers on her show to share her unusual secrets to staying young. Each morning, the 62-year-old actress and self-help author rubs a potent estrogen cream into the skin on her arm. She smears progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month. And once a day, she uses a syringe to inject estrogen directly into her vagina. The idea is to use these unregulated "bio-identical" hormones to restore her levels back to what they were when she was in her 30s, thus fooling her body into thinking she's a younger woman. According to Somers, the hormones, which are synthesized from plants instead of the usual mare's urine (disgusting but true), are all natural and, unlike conventional hormones, virtually risk-fre...