First meeting between the president and Cory Remsburg
PHOENIX — Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg and his father, Craig, knew they would be watching the State of the Union address in the box reserved for guests of the first lady. But they didn’t know exactly where their seats would be.
Someone at the top of the stairs directed them to the first row. Craig Remsburg guided his son — who walks with a cane and has limited use of his left arm after nearly being blown apart in Afghanistan — down the five steps.
Craig Remsburg scanned the names taped to each chair. There was one that said Dr. Jill Biden. Another said Michelle Obama.
The chair next to that one had his son’s name. “Oh,” he thought. “OK, here we are.”
In that seat, in the minutes that followed, Cory Remsburg would be seen on TV by an estimated 33.3 million viewers. He would turn into a representative for all wounded soldiers. And he would be lauded by the president as a role model, a man whose own struggles to walk and talk again mirrored the struggles of the nation.
It was something the 30-year-old didn’t expect when he left his suburban Phoenix home and boarded a flight Monday to Washington, D.C.
Remsburg had received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. He had been feted at Gilbert Town Hall, and a local group of motorcycle riders welcomed him home when he was released from rehabilitation centers.
But while sitting in the front row of the gallery at the U.S. Capitol, the recipient of a nearly two-minute standing ovation Tuesday night, Remsburg would become part of the national conversation.
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“I don’t think I deserve that much recognition,” Remsburg said Wednesday, during an interview after landing at Sky Harbor International Airport. “I was just doing my job.”
Didn’t know the president’s State of the Union address had that much power. If you listen to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, you’ll be on the next flight to Mars if you’re a man, Venus if you’re a woman.
After praising President Barack Obama on immigration, South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham blasted the foreign policy portion of the State of the Union speech.
“The world is literally about to blow up,” Graham said, saying he completely disagrees with Obama on Iran policy.
Obama pledged to veto any additional sanctions legislation while negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program are ongoing.
“The world as I know was not remotely described by the president. Syria is a contagion,” Graham said.
I don’t see how a man who stole government secrets, fled to a communist country and is disclosing those secrets to the world on a regular basis, a man who by his own actions have caused multiple nations to look at the United States Government with skepticism and in some cases, more hatred than before, could be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but according to two Norwegian politicians, Edward Snowden fits the profile of someone bringing peace to the world.
According to the Norwegian politicians Baard Vegar Solhjell, and Snorre Valen, Snowden’s actions had “contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order.”
Of course, a nomination does not automatically mean that Edward Snowden is the winner, but it has put his name in the category of greatness, of someone who has done wonders for humanity.
I beg to differ.
To learn more about the awards given by the Nobel Foundation, visit here.
Republicans have found an opening. They, like vultures, are zoning in on a little discrepancy in Davis’ story and as far as they’re concerned, this little discrepancy is enough to disqualify Wendy Davis from running for governor in Texas.
Davis has long said she first took a job at 14 to help support her single mother and three siblings in Fort Worth, Texas. By 19, she was married and divorced with a child of her own and living in a mobile home.
After community college, she graduated from college at Texas Christian University and with honors from Harvard Law School. She later returned to her home state and built a successful legal career before jumping into politics.
But The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that Davis was 21 — not 19 as stated in her online Texas Senate biography —when her first marriage ended in divorce. Also, Davis and her daughter Amber only lived a few months in her family’s mobile home.
That’s it. That’s what Republicans are gabbling about trying to disqualify Wendy Davis from running for governor in Texas. Even Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol… yes, the very same Bristol who had her daughter out of wedlock and who is apparently the standard bearer for Republican parenthood, chimed in to attack Davis’ parenting skills. In one of her useless posts, Bristol wrote;
“Gosh, children are sooo inconvenient, huh? I’m glad my mother didn’t put motherhood on the shelf when she was elected to City Council, then became our mayor, then governor.
[and addressing comments to Liberals, she said]
“I know you would rather think about Wendy Davis, so let’s get back to her. She’s more your type of woman. She left her kid, husband, made it into a false ‘made-for-tv-movie-type tale’ and then demanded that Texans have the right to kill babies. That’s the woman you libs can really get behind!”
Davis of course dismissed the accusation from the insignificant one. But it was the responses from her daughters that’s worth mentioning. Here is one of the letters from Dru Davis, one of Wendy’s daughters.
My name is Dru Davis and I am Wendy Davis’s daughter. I hate that I feel the need to write this, but I have been reading and hearing so many untrue things about my mom and I want to set the record straight. And sadly I feel the need to be crystal clear on the malicious and false charge of abandonment as nothing could be further from the truth. My mom has always shared equally in the care and custody of my sister and me.
My mom had my sister at 19 and although she was technically married for a short period of time, she was handling almost everything on her own. She was working 2 jobs regularly and going to school. She met my dad when Amber was still very young. They had an amazing love that I witnessed for many years. Unfortunately, it didn’t last, like so many love stories don’t.
I can tell you that my mom was a remarkable mother and continues to be so to this day. She was there on my first day of school and my last, and so many days in between. She never missed a school performance or a parent-teacher conference. Even if that meant she had to miss something else important. My sister and I were always her first priority. She was there when I needed her and even when I thought I didn’t. My mom was my Brownie Troop leader. I still remember camping out in the backyard with my troop after our trip was cancelled because of bad weather. She was also my field hockey team mom during my senior year of high school, not to mention that she went with me to every single field hockey camp, tryout, program that I ever had. She helped me sort through college possibilities, helped me with my applications and visited colleges with me.
I will never forget our drive to Colorado when she was dropping me off as a freshman at Colorado College. I cried the entire way. I am surprised she made it through that one. And after we got there, she stayed for days making sure every detail of my room was perfect until I finally had to tell her to leave.
My mom has been my sounding board for everything in my life, from resumes and papers to helping me with relationships. She was and is an amazing mother and has been the greatest role model I could imagine. Whatever happened, whatever difficult things she and my dad went through, she was always there. And I knew I was loved by her, regardless.
Yes, she went to law school after my sister and I were born. We lived with her the first semester, but I had severe asthma and the weather there wasn’t good for me. My parents made a decision for my sister and me to stay in Texas while my mom kept going to school. But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t there for us. She traveled back and forth all the time, missing so many classes so that she could be with us. Her friends were such a big help. Especially her third year, when she would only go to school two weeks out of the month and her friends would share class notes so she could try to keep up while she was home with us in Fort Worth.
I love that my mom went to law school and was dedicated to both her work and us. Watching her work so hard to achieve something great has been one of the most important lessons in my life. To this day, I watch my mom greeted and hugged by people who love her and are thankful for things she has done for them. I am proud of her for that. Both of my parents made sacrifices to make education happen for all of us, my sister and me included. And both of them have been great role models for what it means to care about people in the world.
New York Republican Rep. Michael Grimm was not happy when a New York reporter asked him Tuesday night about allegations involving his campaign finances.
The incident happened after Rep. Grimm was asked to respond to allegations about his campaign corruption case in a post-sotu interview
While the camera was still rolling, but after the reporter ended the segment, the congressman can be heard telling NY1 reporter Michael Scotto “you’re not a man” and saying the words “break you in half.” Scotto was not facing the camera, and some of the exchange isn’t audible.
“So Congressman Michael Grimm does not want to talk about some of the allegations concerning his campaign finances,” Scotto said before tossing back to the station. But as the camera continued to roll, Grimm walked back up to Scotto and began speaking to him in a low voice.
“What?” Scotto responded. “I just wanted to ask you…”
Grimm: “Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I’ll throw you off this f—–g balcony.”
Scotto: “Why? I just wanted to ask you…”
[[cross talk]]
Grimm: “If you ever do that to me again…”
Scotto: “Why? Why? It’s a valid question.”
[[cross talk]]
Grimm: “No, no, you’re not man enough, you’re not man enough. I’ll break you in half. Like a boy.”
Grimm donor Diana Durand has been charged with exceeding the maximum donation to his campaign by reimbursing friends for their contributions to him. Grimm is not charged with any wrongdoing.
If Congress cannot come together to work for the American people, President Obama is prepared to do so alone on the matters where the constitution allows him that authority. That was the message of Mr. Obama’s State Of The Union Address for 2014!
When you continue pairing the likes of Bernie Sanders with imbeciles like Michele Bachmann, the outcome will always be the same – a total waste of time.
Sanders of course, had facts on his side and tried to educate the Republican Congress lady. But the rebellious Republican came armed with her talking points, name calling and the uncanny ability to blame Obama for Republicans blocking all of his policies.
One of the most ignored stories in the mainstream media will surely be coming to a television screen near you once the court proceedings commence. That lawsuit is none other than racketeering charges leveled against one Willard “Mitt” Romney and his co-defendants in Haas v. Romney.
Filed on October 18 in Los Angeles, CA, in an ironic twist of fate it was decided on November 6, the one-year anniversary of Romney’s loss to Barack Obama, that the lawsuit could go forward.
eToys executive Steven “Laser” Haas and his company, Collateral Logistics, Inc., was the court appointed fiduciary charged with overseeing the liquidation of eToys. Haas filed the suit after discovering multiple frauds while in the process of liquidating the company. In his affidavit to the Securities and Exchange Commission dated August 3, 2012, Haas charges, among other things, that he was offered $850,00 by Bain Capital to keep quiet about irregularities he uncovered.
He is suing the defendants for $100 million in an effort to recoup the losses incurred by him and the other victims of the alleged fraud.
Several steps are necessary as the lawsuit goes forward. In a lengthy and sorely in need of an editarticle written by Haas for the Daily Kos, he lists the procedural necessities:
Haas notes that the Court denied his request for the U.S. Marshal’s Office to serve the summons on legal grounds, but that notwithstanding, the case will go forward. It is up to Haas to find the means to have the summons served to the parties involved by February 16. He is gleeful at the prospect.
There are allegations of murder and mayhem in addition to the breaking of federal racketeering laws.
The case number is 2:13-cv-07738 and will be tried in the Los Angeles Division of the Federal District Court, located on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles.
Chris Christie’s political future looks to be in serious danger with more Americans believing the embattled New Jersey governor is lying about the bridge closure scandal than telling the truth, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Christie’s overall standing has taken a major hit in the survey, with just 22 percent of Americans viewing the Republican New Jersey governor favorably — down from 33 percent in October.
Twenty-nine percent now view Christie unfavorably, versus 17 percent a few months ago.
NBC News and our partners at NowThisNews break down the main facts surrounding the Chris Christie bridge controversy.
Christie has denied ordering or knowing anything about the traffic jam-inducing George Washington Bridge lane closures, but 44 percent believe that Christie mostly is not telling the truth. By comparison, 42 percent say he’s mostly telling the truth.
That’s a significant shift from an NBC/Marist poll taken earlier this month, when 44 percent of respondents said he was mostly telling the truth (compared to 33 percent who said he wasn’t).
The governor is also dealing with a second allegation – that his administration threatened to hold up Hurricane Sandy relief aid to Hoboken unless the Democratic mayor supported a private development project.
Christie, who was recently considered a front-runner for the 2016 presidential nomination, has a lot of work to do to make up ground if he decides to run.
On the eve of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords is challenging Washington leaders not to ignore gun violence.
The former Democratic congresswoman is featured in a new television ad set to air immediately before and after the president’s speech. In the ad, Giffords faces the camera and says, “Congress is afraid of the gun lobby.”
“Tell Washington it’s too dangerous to wait,” she says in a slightly slurred voice.
Giffords, 43, is still recovering from a brain injury suffered in 2011 when a mentally ill man shot her in the head as she met with constituents outside an Arizona shopping center. Six people were killed in the attack.
A North Carolina man was billed $80,000 for an 18-hour hospital stay last summer after being bitten by a snake – and almost all of the bill was for anti-venom.
Eric Furguson, 54, of Mooresville, was shocked when he received the massive bill from Lake Norman Regional Medical Center attributing more than $81,000 of the cost to a four-vial dose of anti-venom.
He told the Charlotte Observer he was able to find the same anti-venom online at prices ranging from $750 to 12,000 per vial, a staggering difference for which they demanded an explanation.
Mr Ferguson’s health insurance through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina reduced the total bill from Lake Norman Regional Medical Center to just over $20,000, of which he paid a deductible of about $5,400 – but his wife worried about the cost of being uninsured.
‘What if it was someone that didn’t have the resources to research and didn’t have insurance?’ Wife Laura Ferguson wondered aloud to the paper. ‘What is fair and equitable here?’
When reached by the Observer, the hospital released a statement saying it rarely charges list prices.‘We are required to give Medicare one level of discount from list price, Medicaid another, and private insurers negotiate for still others,’ said the statement.
‘If we did not start with the list prices we have, we would not end up with enough revenue to remain in operation… Our costs for providing uncompensated care are partially covered by higher bills for other patients.
‘In some cases, Lake Norman Regional’s charge is considerably higher than other local hospitals,’ the statement continued, explaining that discounts of about 62 to 65 percent are offered to patients without insurance, according to the Observer.
A lawsuit was filed in 2010 by doctors at Lake Norman and another local hospital accusing the medical facilities of offering kickbacks to doctors who could provide unnecessary treatment.
Parent company Health Management Associates denied the allegations, but declined further comment.
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