Bad Deeds for 12-10-2009

 

Health Insurers Caught Paying Facebook Gamers Virtual Currency To Oppose Reform Bill – Health insurance industry trade groups opposed to President Obama’s health care reform bill are paying Facebook users fake money — called “virtual currency” — to send letters to Congress protesting the bill. Some Facebook users play social games, like “FarmVille” or “Friends For Sale.” They get addicted to it. Eager to accelerate their progress inside the game, the gamers buy “virtual goods” such as a machine gun for “Mafia Wars.” But these gamers don’t buy these virtual goods with real money. They use virtual currency.

An anti-reform group called “Get Health Reform Right” is using to pay gamers virtual currency for their support. “Get Health Reform Right” requires gamers to take a survey, which, upon completion, automatically sends the following email to their Congressional Rep:

“I am concerned a new government plan could cause me to lose the employer coverage I have today. More government bureaucracy will only create more problems, not solve the ones we have.”

Under the “Who We Are” tab on GetHealthReformRight.org, the following organizations are listed:

· Association of Health Insurance Advisors
· America’s Health Insurance Plans
· American Benefits Council
· BlueCross BlueShield Association
· Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers
· Healthcare Leadership Council
· Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers
· National Association of Health Underwriters
· National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors
· National Retail Association

 

ABC News Tries to Make Jon Stewart Seem Like a Climate Change Denier – On Tuesday, ABC News used a clip of the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart to make him look like a climate change denier. But in fact, the full clip shows that Stewart was arguing the opposite.

This is the sound bite ABC News played :

Stewart: “Poor Al Gore, global warming completely debunked via the very Internet you invented. Oh!”

The full clip goes like this.

Stewart: “Poor Al Gore, global warming completely debunked via the very internet you invented. Oh!” Stewart mocks. “Oh, the irony. The iron-y. Actually, the real story is not quite that sensational. Now, does it disprove global warming? No, of course not!”

 

John McCain Made Robo-Calls Urging Voters to Pressure Their Senators on Health Care Bill – Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) made robo-calls urging voters to pressure their senators into supporting a McCain-led amendment to the Senate health care bill. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, filed the complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee on Wednesday, saying the Arizona senator and former presidential candidate violated Senate ethics rule 38, which prohibits senators from using political money to fund official Senate business. McCain’s robo-calls were targeted to five states represented in the Senate by conservative Democrats whose votes on the health care bill are seen as crucial. The robo-calls were targeted at senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Kent Conrad (D-ND), according to CREW.

 

Conservatives Have Mislead You About the Importance of Christmas in Early America – From 1659 to 1681, showcasing one’s holiday spirit in Boston could cost you a fine of as much as five shillings. That’s right, Christmas used to be illegal. It’s somewhat surprising then that the same puritanical minds also created the first American batch of eggnog at Captain John Smith’s 1607 Jamestown settlement. (The word “nog” comes from the word grog, that is, any drink made with rum). Christmas was so inconsequential that after the Revolutionary War, Congress didn’t even bother taking the day off to celebrate the holiday, deciding instead to hold its first session on Christmas Day, 1789. It took almost a century for Congress to proclaim it a federal holiday.

 

Top 10 Crooked CEOs

ï‚· Bernard Madoff
ï‚· Kenneth Lay & Jeffrey Skilling
ï‚· Dennis Kozlowski
ï‚· John Rigas
ï‚· Joe Nacchio
ï‚· Gregory Reyes
ï‚· James McDermott Jr.
ï‚· Sam Waksal
ï‚· Sam Israel
ï‚· Bernie Ebbers

 

Bush Deficit Hurting Obama

 

Meet the Billionaire Koch Brothers Funding the Right-Wing War on Obama – They’re the 9th richest people in America and they’re pushing hard to upend President Obama’s progressive agenda.

 

Karl Rove and O’Reilly Say Fixing Health Care is Not a “Bread and Butter” Issue for America – The disgraced man once known as Bush’s Brain actually has the nerve to say that the reason President Obama’s poll numbers are slipping is because he’s wasting time trying to fix our broken health care system and that’s not one of the real “bread and butter” issues that Americans care about.

As Stephen Colbert said about Fox News: “Fair and balanced. To be fair, you have to balance every fact with corresponding bullshit.”

 

Obama Sends Predator Drone to Pick Up Nobel Peace Prize 😉 – Responding to criticism about his receiving this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, President Barack Obama today sent an unmanned predator drone to Norway to pick up the prize for him.

Mr. Obama’s decision to have an unmanned bomber plane accept the Peace Prize raised eyebrows in diplomatic circles, as well as concerns about whether the plane was accurate enough for such a delicate mission.

“We know there’s a possibility that the predator drone might miss Norway altogether and instead hit Finland,” said White House press spokesman Robert Gibbs. “Having said that, an unmanned plane is still more accurate than one manned by a couple of Northwest pilots.”

Elsewhere, a new study shows that teens who experiment with sex are at risk of getting involved in professional golf.

Regards,

Jim