Sham universities, funeral pyres, and a final bucket wish realized

Notes 44

Unintended benefits. Interesting how our obsession with illegal immigration is finally getting the government to move on the money hemorrhaging into phony training programs.

Feds probe Calif. 'sham university' for visa fraud
Press Terence Chea, Associated Press – Tue Feb 1
SAN FRANCISCO – The government of India is urging the United States to show leniency toward Indian students who were enrolled at a "sham university" in California that U.S. authorities say was a front for illegal immigration.
The U.S. attorney's office alleges the owner of Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton used the unaccredited school to charge foreigners millions of dollars in tuition fees and help them obtain student visas to stay in the U.S.

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So much for the 1st Amendment when the Koch Brothers get together

25 arrested at California conservative meeting
Sun Jan 30, 9:10 pm ET
LA QUINTA, Calif. – Authorities in California say 25 protesters have been arrested for trespassing outside a strategy session of conservative political donors at a Palm Springs-area resort.
Sunday was the second day of the four-day conclave. It was organized by brothers David and Charles Koch, who have funded the fight against global warming laws and have financial ties to tea party groups.

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When the people are aroused, mountains will yield. The problem is arousing people in denial and standing on the edge of a cliff

Raffi | The Right to a Future
Raffi Cavoukian, Truthout: "Are we tweeting while Earth burns? Is climate collapse our new collective Titanic? How do we best describe the survival struggle of seven billion in a way that connects with the public and with decision makers? The science on global warming is clear and compelling. Earth is in serious climate crisis. That's why many writers have recently upgraded climate change to climate collapse, climate catastrophe, the long emergency. To convey the climate threat fully, we need a new Story.... I propose a new lens and lexicon for conveying climate change as the greatest threat on Earth, a tragedy of epic proportions, especially for the world's young."

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Congressman Jeff Miller in Florida’s 1st District.

Here’s a record to write home about. What’s the Constitutional authority for a health care subsidy to private insurance industry that gets 50% more than any government system in the world for services? And will funnel 33,000,000 more government subsidized customers through the private system rather than having a single payer public system that eliminates the price gouging?

Miller Newsletter January 30, 2011


Three weeks ago a new Congress was sworn in, and, immediately, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives began to fundamentally change the way the House works. We adopted a House rules package requiring all legislation to cite Constitutional authority. This rules package also requires that legislation be publicly available for at least three days before voting on it. Additionally, we changed budget enforcement rules to ensure limited government and fiscal responsibility prevails over wasteful spending.
In the Republican Pledge to America, we promised to repeal and replace the job-killing health care package passed in the 111th Congress. The ObamaCare package was a 2,800 page monstrosity that imposed unconstitutional mandates on our citizens. This bill increased economic uncertainty and infringed upon our individual liberties without effectively reducing the cost of health care. H.R. 2, one of the first bills introduced and passed in the 112th Congress, repealed ObamaCare with a simple two-page bill. By itself, repealing ObamaCare will save $2.6 trillion over ten years, or $22,643 per household.

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I do not know if justice is blind or not but I get the feeling the blindfold has gotten rotten

By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Melissa Nelson, Associated Press – 1 min ago
PENSACOLA, Fla. – A federal judge declared the Obama administration's health care overhaul unconstitutional Monday, siding with 26 states that argued people cannot be required to buy health insurance.
Senior U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson agreed with the states that the new law violates people's rights by forcing them to buy health insurance by 2014 or face penalties. He went a step further than a previous ruling against the law, declaring the entire thing unconstitutional if the insurance requirement does not hold up.

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People taking more charge of a lot of previously off limits options

Funeral pyres an option in Colo. mountain town
By IVAN MORENO, Associated Press Ivan Moreno, Associated Press – CRESTONE, Colo. – Belinda Ellis' farewell went as she wanted. One by one, her family placed juniper boughs and logs about her body, covered in red cloth atop a rectangular steel grate inside a brick-lined hearth. With a torch, her husband lit the fire that consumed her, sending billows of smoke into the blue-gray sky of dawn.

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There’s dying and there’s dying with a mission

How a Dying Wish Became a Best-Selling Investment Guide
Posted Jan 28, 2011 by Peter Gorenstein
A shot to beat the buzzer, a walk-off home run...the most memorable winning moments often come at these final stages of a game, with the clock running down and your back against the wall. Seldom does real life offer these same opportunities to make an indelible mark while staring death in the face. But for Gordon Murray, a former Wall Street investment banker, that's exactly what happened.
Murray died on January 15 at the age of 60 from glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. Fortunately, several months before he died he was able to accomplish his dream, to write and publish an investment guide for individual investors.