Anti Morsi Protests Grow in Numbers

Tharir Square

Tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square demanding that President Morsi resign, on Tuesday.

They say it's too late for him to back down from his decrees from Thursday.

His deal with judges was not enough for the masses arriving to stop protesting him.

Egyptians will not allow another man to try and become dictator, again, not so soon.

Protesters clashed with police and Morsi supporters, leaving one man dead after he inhaled tear gas and suffered a heart attack.

Morsi supporters, including the Muslim brotherhood, backed down from having a rally on Monday, saying they feared for their safety.

If these protests continue, and most of his followers won't show their faces, Morsi will have no choice but to resign.

US ARMY Sgt. Channing B. Hicks

ARMY Sgt. Channing B. Hicks, twenty-four, of Greer, South Carolina, died November 16, in Paktika province, Afghanistan.

A soldier from Greer was killed in Afghanistan on Friday, November 16, when his unit was attacked by enemy forces, according to the Department of Defense. US Army Sgt. Channing B. Hicks, 24, of Greer and US Army Spc. Joseph A. Richardson of Booneville, Arkansas, twenty-three, died Friday in Paktika province.

He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, at Fort Riley, Kansas. Officials say he died from injuries suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device and small arms fire.

Hicks, known as “Bo” to family and friends, grew up in Greer and graduated from Greer High School in 2006, where he played football. Greer High School athletic director Travis Perry knew Bo Hicks and grew up with Hicks' father, Chan Hicks Sr. “He was really a fine young man,” Perry said Sunday. “He was always, ‘Yes, sir. No, sir.' He was a quiet kid and didn't play a whole lot, but he played for our scout team and found a way to contribute. He was part of the foundation of our team, helping the other players prepare for the games each week.”

Perry said he spoke to Hicks' father early Saturday. The family left early Sunday morning for Dover, Md., to meet the plane carrying Hicks' body back to the United States. “They're having a really hard time with it, as can be expected,” Perry said. “He made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. It's a loss for our whole country.”

Hicks' younger brother, John, is a star senior linebacker with the Greer High School football team. Perry said John Hicks looked up to his older brother.

During the weekend, friends and family posted on Bo Hicks' Facebook page, sharing their memories, including four-wheeling and fishing with him, and hailing the twenty-four year old as a hero. John Hicks also shared his feelings about his brother on Facebook. “First I would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers,” John Hicks wrote. “I also wanted to say that my brother was a good man, he served our country well and did it with pride. He was not just my brother but my best friend and my hero. I could talk to him about girls, fights, and Friday night football games. There will never be a moment forgotten with Bo. R.I.P Bo Hicks. I love you.”

Dairy Farmers Attack EU Parliament With Milk

Protests have a new, healthy for you, weapon.

As thousands of angry dairy farmers descended on Brussels, they attacked the European Union's Parliament building, and it's police guards, by spraying milk at them.

The farmers, who came in their hundreds of tractors, from all over Europe, are angry that milk prices have fallen.

They're demanding that the EU raise dairy prices by at least twenty-five percent.

Farmers say that unless it is raised, many of them will go out of business, as they aren't able to make up their costs.

Among their other demands was an increase in EU subsidies for farmers.

Already nearly half of the EU's budget goes to subsidizing farmers, throughout Europe.

Hungarian Member of Parliament Calls for Jew Registry

Marton Gyongyosi

One of the leaders of Jobbik, Hungary's third largest party, found himself in rather hot water after he made an extremely distasteful statement.

Marton Gyongyosi, proposed that the country create a list of all it's Jews, saying they could be a threat, after the recent Gaza conflict.

With his bringing back memories of Nazism, mass anger was quickly aimed at Gyongyosi, including calls for his resignation.

The government's office stated that, "The government strictly rejects extremist, racist, anti Semitic voices of any kind and does everything to suppress such voices."

Speaker of Parliament Laszlo Kover countered with a proposal for new house rules that would sanction such comments from it's members, in the future.

Gyongyosi apologized for not wording his remarks correctly, in a way that they could be misunderstood.

Causing some to point out he wasn't actually apologizing for what he said.

But Gyongyosi says he will not resign and that the matter is now closed.

Jobbik is regularly accused of promoting anti Semitism, and also has it's own personal group of thugs, known as the Hungarian Guard. 

With Options Dwindling, The Battle Against Obamacare Continues in The House and The Courts

Options for preventing the implementation of Obamacare are diminishing as Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans appear to have given up on a full repeal of the health care law.

Boehner is now considering gutting particular aspects of the law by applying pressure on Obama and working with moderate Democrats.

But, the failure of the Boehner and House Republicans to defund Obamacare back in April 2011, during the first budget battle, leaves some to doubt their dedication to continuing the fight against Obamacare.

According to Senator John Thune (R-SD), chairman of the Republican Conference, the components of the law targeted for dissolution include a tax on medical devices, the Independent Payment Advisory Board and the individual mandate requiring people to buy insurance.

At the same time, House Republicans have been attempting to put their stamp on the law. The Oversight and Government Reform and Ways and Means committees have sent subpoenas to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, over the past few weeks, demanding information that committee leaders say she has refused to provide.

Far from being an easy endeavor, Randy Barnett, the Georgetown University law professor who assisted in constructing the Supreme Court argument against Obamacare earlier this year, said that, “it’s going to become increasingly difficult because courts are much less willing to overturn something that’s already entrenched.”

So, time is of the essence because though some court challenges remain, as parts of the law are implemented, the harder it will be to fight it. “There’s no question that one of the reasons why we had as much room to run as we did is we had a two year delay in implementing most of the law,” Barnett said. “That opening is closing.”

One of the pending court cases is an Oklahoma lawsuit which maintains that insurance can be subsidized only through state run exchanges and not by the federally backed ones that Obamacare enacts.

At the same time, Paul Howard, director of the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Medical Progress and Stephen Parente, director of the Medical Industry Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota, explain on Real Clear Politics that Obamacare faces a number of obstacles:

“‘Delaying implementation [of Obamacare] until 2014 helped the president win re-election, but now the bill is coming due,’ the duo says. ‘The administration can’t forestall Obamacare’s massive regulatory impact any longer, and the result will keep Congress and the media occupied for months and years to come.’”

Boehner has also pointed to governors who may be able to thwart the establishment of insurance exchanges in their respective states.

Republicans should continue to work diligently towards this effort because fully implemented Obamacare will represent over 1/6 of our economy. The Heritage Foundation has compiled an Obamacare guide, demonstrating how it will affect specific groups of individuals:

Seniors

Doctors

Business & The Economy

States

Families & Future Generations

The Uninsured

Generic Cholesterol Reducer Lipitor Recalled

India based Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. may have accidentally added an ingredient to their generic version of Pfizer's Lipitor. The intent behind the accident may have been to add an additional ingredient intended to further decrease arterial plaque which can clog arteries and lead to heart attacks.

The accidental ingredient is microscopic shards of glass. The glass shards were inadvertently added to the company's 10, 20, and 40 milligram dose versions of the tablets and include both 90 and 500 capsule bottles of the drug.

Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. has issued a recall of the pills. The affected lot numbers are enumerated in a document provided by the company. 

Ranbaxy, a US subsidiary of the India based parent company of the same name, is the largest producer of atorvastatin calcium, the generic version of Pfizer's Lipitor. Ranbaxy informed the Food and Drug Administration of the possible contamination and initiated the recall. So far, there have been no injuries or reported cases of ingestion of the tablets. If you use a generic version of the drug, please check your bottles against the list before taking the drug.

This is not Ranbaxy's first foray into the realm of FDA investigations. Since 2008, the company has been in at least 30 previous battles with the FDA and lost approval to import or produce those drugs, largely due to the firm's manufacturing processes.

Due to the recall, prices for the drug may increase for many prescribed the medication. The patients may need to purchase the more expensive Pfizer version of Lipitor. In the meantime, there will still be shortages as Ranbaxy produced a large portion of the market share of the generic atorvastatin calcium.

In the meantime, those who are or know someone at risk of heart attack may wish to read Surviving a Successful Heart Attack (Google Affiliate Ad), a good book to help with a long, happy lifestyle.

 Article originally published at P-G Matuszak's Mental Aikido. Reprinted with permission.

Feds Stepping in on NHL Lockout

Possibly a small glimmer of hope remains that there will be any form of hockey for this season.

A large chunk of the season has already cancelled, due to the lockout imposed by the league.

Negotiations between the NHL and the players' union has failed to the point that the feds are stepping in.

On Monday, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service director George Cohen announced that federal mediators will now be trying to work things out between the two groups.

In a statement, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said, "While we have no particular level of expectation going into this process, we welcome a new approach in trying to reach a resolution of the ongoing labor dispute at the earliest possible date."

NHLPA executive director Don Fehr released his own statement, saying "We look forward to their involvement as we continue working to reach an equitable agreement for both the players and the owners."

Now we just wait and see if the federal government can solve the problem.

Cambridge Preparing Terminator Studies Center

Cambridge University has announced what could be a very interesting field of study.

The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk will be the home for "terminator studies".

Their goal for the new area of study is to ensure that mankind exists, in the future, by preparing for situations in which humanity might find itself in danger of extinction.

The center will focus on the four greatest threats to human existence: artificial intelligence, climate change, nuclear war, and rogue biotechnology.

Cambridge, one of the world's oldest universities, has long been known for being at the forefront of scientific thought.

Minnesota Man Arrested For Killing Teens Who Broke Into His House

Sixty-four year old Byron David Smith was charged with two counts of second degree murder, on Monday.

On Friday, Smith asked a neighbor it the knew a good lawyer and then asked them to call Little Falls, Minnesota police.

He took police into his home and showed them the bodies of two teenagers that he said broke into his place on Thursday.

According to Smith he was in his basement when he heard a window break upstairs.

Fearful after at least one previous break in, he grabbed one of his guns, a Mini 14 rifle.

When he could see the first suspect from the waist down, he fired, then shot him in the face when he fell to the floor.

Smith then dragged the body out of view and sat back down.

A few minutes later the second person started down the stairs, so he shot them when he saw their waist as well.

When she fell to the floor, Smith went to shoot her in the face, but his rifle jammed.

When this happened, Smith says the girl laughed at him.

Grabbing his .22, Smith then fired several shots into her chest, then dragged her body next to the boy's.

Seeing that the girl was still breathing he took his revolver to the bottom of her chin, and fired into her skull. 

His two victims were seventeen year old Nicholas Brady and eighteen year old Haile Kifer.

Kifer had a history of breaking into houses, but neither teen had and any history of violence.

Minnesota law allows for homeowners to use deadly force when they feel their life is threatened by home invaders.

However prosecutors are describing Smith's acts as those of an execution.

They have raised questions about the amounts of shots fired, which Smith does acknowledge was excessive.

Prosecutors are also pointing out the delay in the reporting of the shooting, as well as Smith's movement of the bodies.

UN to Vote on Palestinian Status, on Thursday

On Thursday, the United Nations General Assembly is set to vote on the status of the Palestinian state.

The UNGA will decide if the PLO should be moved from observer to a nonmember observer state.

It is very likely to pass as over two thirds of the UN's members have already recognized them as a country.

PLO leaders believe that the gain in status will move them closer to becoming the 194th member of the UN.

The US has previously vetoed a 2011 application by the PLO to become member 194, saying that they won't approve any application until after talks have successfully been concluded with Israel.

Both the US and Israel state that instead of going to the UN, the PLO should stop trying to skip negotiations, with Israel, over their statehood.