Please read the following and help out: My friend’s facebook friend has a 5yr old son Noah. He is in the last stages of a 2 1/2yr battle with neuroblastoma cancer. The family is celebrating Xmas next week, & Noah’s request is to get lots of Christmas cards. His favorites are angels. Please send cards to: Noah Biorkman 1141 Fountianview Circle South Lyon, MI 48178 USA (please feel free to repost this and help the kid out) How often do we get to do so much for so very little. Please help me give joy to a sick little boy.

RECEIVED THIS FROM A FELLOW BLOGGER NO MONEY ASKED FOR JUST A CARD

At least seven people are dead and 12 wounded in a shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, the base’s public affairs office told NBC News on Thursday. The official would not give his name nor additional details. It was unknown whether victims are soldiers or civilians. One gunman was reportedly in custody and another was on the loose, NBC News said. A third shooter may be involved, according to NBC News affiliate KCEN, which said the person had opened fire on the SWAT team at the base. KCEN reported that a policeman was among those shot.

DO YOU  know why presidents dont do this? its because it looks like a photo op. if he really wanted to do it and i can understand why he would he should have done it without cameras with out press. the salute was outrageous his time would have been better spent either adding more troops to fix the problem or getting our troops the hell out of harms way. come on mr president do one or the other stop showing up for photo ops with dead soldiers. make a damn decision and live with it.

IVE NOW BEEN SICK 11 DAYS ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD BUT DAMN IT SUCKS

THE RALLY PLANNERS EMAIL HAS GONE DEAD. id take this rally with a grain of salt.

All 5 commissioners vote to seek public comment on rule
* Two Republican commissioners have some reservations

* Draft rule would allow for ‘reasonable’ net management

* Public comments accepted until Jan. 14

* Telecom firms worry rule would hamper network management (Adds vote by commissioners, quotes, background)

By John Poirier and Sinead Carew

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Oct 22 (Reuters) – U.S. communications regulators voted unanimously Thursday to support an open Internet rule that would prevent telecom network operators from barring or blocking content based on the revenue it generates.

The proposed rule now goes to the public for comment until Jan. 14, after which the Federal Communications Commissions will review the feedback and possibly seek more comment. A final rule is not expected until the spring of next year.

“I am pleased that there is broad agreement inside the commission that we should move forward with a healthy and transparent process on an open Internet,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said.

The vote came despite a flurry of lobbying against the net neutrality rule by telecommunications service providers like AT&T Inc (T.N), Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and Qwest Communications International Inc (Q.N), which say it would strip them of the ability to manage their networks effectively and would stifle innovation and competition.

The rule would prevent operators from discriminating against any legal content a third party wants to deliver to consumers on their networks, though it allows for “reasonable” network management to unclog congestion, clear viruses and spam, and block unlawful content like child pornography or the transfer of pirated content.

The full FCC slate of three Democrats, led by Genachowski, and two Republicans voted in favor of issuing a proposed network neutrality rule for public comment.

But the two Republicans, Robert McDowell and Meredith Attwell Baker, did express concern with the content of the rule, saying they do not share the majority’s view that the Internet is showing breaks and cracks and that the government is the best tool to fix it. They also questioned whether the FCC has the legal authority to regulate the Internet network.

Nonetheless, the vote was 5-to-0 for proceeding with the rulemaking, and 3-to-2 for approving the notice’s language in its entirety, said Jen Howard, an FCC spokesman.

The FCC will accept public comments until Jan. 14; then it will review them and can ask for further comment, with replies due by March 5.

“We commend the FCC for beginning the process,” said Senators Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, and Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican, in a joint statement. They proposed a net neutrality bill in the last session of Congress.

http://www.reuters.com/article/regulatoryNewsConsumerGoodsAndRetail/idUSN2237873320091022

ONE STEP CLOSER

LIKE alot of you my kids ….well the whole family has caught the flu it started with me almost a week ago now and im just now starting to feel well. my little ones started yesterday spiking fevers and throwing up. we did indeed getthem the flu vaccinations unfortunatly they take 2 weeks to take affect. taking this seriously as i believe everyone should we called the family physician. we were informed it probably wasnt worth bringing them in tamiflu is not working. the advice we weregiven was to watch the temperatures alternating fever reducing over the counter meds and to make sure they didnt become dehydrated. they told us if the fever hits 103 to call back to the on call dr.

very reassuring
very disconcerting that the one medicine they have to combat flu isnt working and isnt even being tried anymore.

i have also been in contact with some local school nurses or their proxys and they have informed me they have never been so busy. hopefully this peaks soon and we have a good rest of the year.

Voters in this small city decided overwhelmingly last year to do away with the party affiliation of candidates in local elections, but the Obama administration recently overruled the electorate and decided that equal rights for black voters cannot be achieved without the Democratic Party.

The Justice Department’s ruling, which affects races for City Council and mayor, went so far as to say partisan elections are needed so that black voters can elect their “candidates of choice” – identified by the department as those who are Democrats and almost exclusively black.

The department ruled that white voters in Kinston will vote for blacks only if they are Democrats and that therefore the city cannot get rid of party affiliations for local elections because that would violate black voters’ right to elect the candidates they want.

Several federal and local politicians would like the city to challenge the decision in court. They say voter apathy is the largest barrier to black voters’ election of candidates they prefer and that the Justice Department has gone too far in trying to influence election results here.

Stephen LaRoque, a former Republican state lawmaker who led the drive to end partisan local elections, called the Justice Department’s decision “racial as well as partisan.”

“On top of that, you have an unelected bureaucrat in Washington, D.C., overturning a valid election,” he said. “That is un-American.”