Every Picture Tells A Story II

Doctor Smiley Face Will See You Now!

Wal-Mart expanding in-store health clinics.
By The Associated Press

Wal-Mart Stores will open its first in-store medical clinics under its own brand name after leasing space in dozens of stores to outside companies that operate the quick-service health stops.

The world's largest retailer said last week it will open The Clinic at Wal-Mart as a joint venture with local hospital systems in Atlanta, Dallas and Little Rock, Ark., starting in April.

Wal-Mart is among several supermarket and drugstore chains that in the past couple of years have begun opening store-based health clinics, which are staffed mostly by nurse practitioners or physician assistants and offer quick service for routine conditions from colds and bladder infections to sunburns.

About 7% of Americans have tried a clinic at least once, according to an estimate by the Convenient Care Association, an industry trade group formed in 2006.

Full story:

Every Picture Tells A Story

Is McCain Being "Swiftboated"?

NY Times Article:

Sermon On Mount Fruitcake

Obama Wins Wisconsin!

"Civil Wrongs"

"...the sincerity and intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations. It is very obvious that the Communists, as they do in all parts of the world, are taking advantage of a tense situation in our land, and are exploiting every incident to bring about violence and bloodshed."

The Reverend Jerry Falwell
from "Ministers and Marchers"
a 1964 sermon

From The Top...

"Recession means that people's incomes, at the employer level, are going down, basically, relative to costs, people are getting off."

George W. Bush
the MBA President

Resistance Is Futile

The Reagan Revolution:

Started With A Trickle...Ended With A Bust


“In the age of Reagan, conservatism had cachet, thus many of us drifted into it easily, without really having to think our way there. The leaders of our generation had been drawn to Washington, rather than New York, where politics, not ideas, are central. Yet we were different as well from past generations who had come to the capital to make their mark. High-minded ideals of public service and journalism were little in evidence, nor was there much concern or compassion for those less fortunate than us. For all our ferocious intensity, our hatred of big government, and big media, our ideology was in a way empty, more an attitude, a kind of playground politics, than a philosophy of government (p.32)…Though the conservative movement operated outside the Republican Party, while seeking influence within it, in the Reagan era, the movement’s agenda – and therefore that of the (Washington) Times – was pretty much Reagan’s militant anti-Communism, tax cuts to benefit corporations and the rich, dismantlement of affirmative action and social welfare programs, deregulation, and union-busting.” (p. 24)

David Brock
Blinded By The Right

Obama Packs House in Eau Claire

Packed House in Wisconsin
by Sarah RameySaturday, February 16, 2008 at 08:35 PM

Barack Obama absolutely packed the house at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire today:

Getting ready for their February 19th primary coming up this Tuesday, Wisconsinites have been coming from all over the state to see Senator Obama speak, even on a chilly Saturday afternoon like today. In fact, so many people showed up to the rally that the crowd spilled over by the hundreds outside...

Here's Barack coming to speak to the overflow crowd:

Earlier in the day, Barack had a chance to visit the Northcentral Technical College in Wausau where he held a community meeting and got to talk with with students from the college about his plan to strengthen America’s community colleges and prepare students for 21st century jobs.

He met with two students in particular: Andrew Staub, a 21-year-old Electronics student who earned a degree in Electromechanical Technology, and returned to NTC to continue his education because of the valuable training opportunities the school provides; and Kimberly Whitewater, a human services student who grew up in a family without the resources to pursue a higher education, and is attending NTC to gain new opportunities in the workforce.
Here's a quick video of Andrew and Kimberly giving Senator Obama a tour of NTC:





All in all, a great day for Barack Obama in Wisconsin!

To get involved in Wisconsin, please visit WI.BarackObama.com.

And tomorrow, we'll need your help making calls to Wisconsin voters to make sure we get out the vote!

See you then...

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of Wisconsin has endorsed Barack Obama

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of Wisconsin has endorsed Barack Obama...read the full endorsement here:

"Obama: Change for the Good"

"Both candidates would serve their party well as nominee, but in the Illinois senator, there is a potential for change that can only help this country move on and progress."

There is only the tiniest sliver of daylight separating Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the issues, with the notable exception of health care reform.

Even on Iraq, they end up in much the same place: Steady U.S. troop withdrawal, leaving themselves enough wiggle room in case the situation on the ground becomes so dire that more flexibility becomes necessary.

The similarity of views is, in truth, why the candidates return so much to the themes of change and experience.

Our recommendation in Wisconsin's primary on Tuesday for the Democratic nomination is Barack Obama. That's our recommendation because change and experience are crucial to moving this country forward after what will be eight years of an administration careening from mistake to catastrophe to disaster and back again.

The Illinois senator is best-equipped to deliver that change, and his relatively shorter time in Washington is more asset than handicap.

The Obama campaign has been derisively and incorrectly described as more rock tour than political campaign and his supporters as more starry-eyed groupies than thoughtful voters.

If detractors in either party want to continue characterizing the Obama campaign this way, they will have seriously underestimated both the electorate's hunger for meaningful change in how the nation is governed and the candidate himself.

In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board on Wednesday, the first-term senator proved himself adept at detail and vision. They are not mutually exclusive.

On poverty, he eschewed the phrase "war on poverty," preferring instead to describe the task as a long-haul effort. No one should launch a program, fight a battle and declare mission accomplished, he seemed to say.

Instead, it will require continuous and unflagging efforts along several fronts - taxation, education, economic development and, yes, personal responsibility - to make progress. He speaks of strengthening the middle class, helping with child care, early childhood education and ensuring access to affordable health care.

In other words, a broad, nuanced approach that recognizes that problems are linked to others.

Similarly nuanced answers came from questions on manufacturing, trade, school choice, the Great Lakes and energy.

He spoke of turning to alternative energy, not just to wean addiction from oil but to spur more technologies that in turn spur more manufacturing possibilities. We can find "competitive advantages at higher value products," he said, adding that rebuilding much needed infrastructure also can create jobs.

He was a realist, recognizing that no one could likely turn the clock back to Milwaukee's manufacturing heyday. "The percentage of manufacturing jobs to service jobs is not going to be the same as it was in the 1950s," he said. "We're not going to get those jobs back."

Yet he insisted that manufacturing still could become more competitive and the service industry better-paying for its employees.

Which is not to say that we are in lockstep. On school choice, Obama does not see as clearly as we do the intrinsic value in and of itself of low-income parents having a choice.

On health care, we prefer Clinton's insurance mandate, though we recognize that more details are needed. Obama would mandate insurance for children only, a worthy goal, but we're skeptical of his claim that it will get to the same number of people insured as Clinton's plan.

But, again, not a lot separates Obama's views from Clinton's. So why Obama?

It is precisely the excitement that we see in the candidate and his supporters in their demands for change. This promises to alter the political landscape and dynamics for the better, energizing youth for service and involvement as we haven't seen in a very long time.

In Clinton, there is the potential for déjà vu all over again. Right or wrong, she is a polarizing figure who excites all the wrong kinds of political passions.

And even if she didn't, her vote on the Iraq war cannot be explained away as not realizing that the president would take that ball (and blank check) and run with it.

Yes, she has been tried. And much of the antagonism she engenders in the right is simply irrational.

But even without this Clinton baggage and on their individual merits, Obama still has the edge. His experience as community organizer, state legislator, U.S. senator and campaigner who took a dream and became a credible contender measures up well against Clinton's experience as poverty lawyer, first lady and U.S. senator.

The party would be well-served with either candidate, and the historical implications are huge with each.

But in Obama, there is a potential for meaningful change that does not exist with any other candidate.