"SMALL STUFF"

There is NOTHING Honest or OPEN about this government.

From the EYE of CBS News:

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, responded Tuesday to widespread criticism that Democrats only garnered the 60 votes needed to defeat Republican stalling tactics on the health reform bill by catering to self-interest, saying Democrats are focusing on the big picture; "trying to cross a demarcation line."

Harkin dismissed deals dubbed vote-buying by GOP senators as "small stuff" that distracted Americans from the primary focus of the overhaul bill.

"We have to keep our eyes on what we're trying to do here. We're trying to cross a demarcation line," Harkin told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "On one side is health care as a privilege, on the other side is health care as a right. With these votes, with the vote that we'll take before Christmas, we will cross that line finally and say that health care is a right of all Americans."

Asked by Rodriguez whether that meant he would still support the bill if all the bonuses for Iowa were stripped out of it, Harkin responded without hesitation: "Absolutely. Without a doubt."

"The principle of this bill overrides everything; that we're going to increase the number of people who are covered by insurance, we're going to increase affordable care, we're going to crack down on abuses by insurance companies."

"We have more in this bill now for prevention and wellness than any bill that's ever passed the Congress," added Harkin.

The senator also predicted that while a public option was unlikely to work its way back into the current health reform legislation during reconciliation between the House and Senate bills, it would be back.

"I am a strong supporter of a public option, I remain so, and I believe that sometime in the near future we will revisit that issue again and we will adopt a public option."

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Small Stuff eh?

If this is so needed that you have to come into the office on Christmas Eve and if so many people need this, why doesn't it take affect until 2014?

If this is so good for the American people, why don't you and your colleagues have to have the same policy and coverage?

If it is illegal to take money as a Disc Jockey to play a certain record, why is it not illegal for a member of Congress to take money (In ANY form, personally or for pet projects) to vote a certain way? Payola is Payola!

If this is so good, why are over 60% of American's against it?

I honestly believe that this vote will resonate with the American people and will be the catalyst for many senators and congressmen to loose their seat in 2010.

I also believe that this bill will be brought before the Supreme Court and will be declared Unconstitutional on several grounds.

I have been saying for months, if not years, the system is not broke to the point where it needs to be completely gutted and rebuilt from scratch.

I would LOVE to know what YOU think. Write me at antimacyapper@gmail.com

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SHAMEFUL, SHAMELESS AND EMPTY

FROM THE AP:

ATLANTA (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter apologized for any words or deeds that may have upset the Jewish community in an open letter meant to improve an often-tense relationship.

He said he was offering an Al Het, a prayer said on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. It signifies a plea for forgiveness.

"We must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel," Carter said in the letter, which was first sent to JTA, a wire service for Jewish newspapers, and provided Wednesday to The Associated Press. "As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so."

Carter, who during his presidency brokered the first Israeli-Arab peace treaty, outraged many Jews with his 2006 book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." Critics contend he unfairly compared Israeli treatment of Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza to the legalized racial oppression that once existed in South Africa.

Israeli leaders have also shunned him over his journey to Gaza to meet with Hamas, considered a terror group by the U.S., the European Union and Israel.

Carter's apology was welcomed by Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and a vocal critic of Carter's views on Israel.

"When a former president reaches out to the Jewish community and asks for forgiveness, it's incumbent of us to accept it," he said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem. "To what extent this is an epiphany, only time will tell. There certainly was a lot of hurt, a lot of angry words that need to be repaired. But this is a good start."

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee could not immediately be reached for comment.

The letter comes weeks after his grandson, Jason Carter, said he would run for a Georgia state Senate seat being vacated by President Barack Obama's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Singapore. If David Adelman is confirmed as ambassador in January, Jason Carter will be a candidate in a March special election in the northeast Atlanta district.

Jason Carter, who is running in a district with a vocal Jewish population, said in a statement that his grandfather's letter was unrelated to his campaign and hailed the apology as a "great step towards reconciliation."

President Carter's letter said he hopes bloodshed and hatred will yield to mutual respect and cooperation between Israel and its neighbors. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has long said bringing peace to the Middle East remains one of his unfulfilled goals.

In a recent appearance at Emory University, he said if he had one more day as president he would use it to bring the "full weight of the White House" to the peace process.

"That's what I'd do with my one day in the White House," he said. "Bring peace to Israel and its neighbors."

As I have said many times, I use to have the utmost respect for the former President, even though I disagreed with many if not all of his political positions. In recent years, I have lost whatever respect I had because of his anti-Semitic rhetoric and his stance towards Israel.

You can spin it anyway you want, but if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, guess what? IT'S A DUCK!

The ONLY reason Jimmy is apologizing now is because his grandson is running for Congress and his district has a lot of Jewish constituents who vote!

It's shallow, hollow and shameless! Typical liberal.