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Acupuncture May Help Lazy Eye

Acupuncture treatments to treat one type of lazy eye proved as good as the traditional patching of the eye used to help the eyes work together, according to a new study.

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Obama Applauds Senate Test Vote on Tax Cut Plan

President Barack Obama praises Senate test vote supporting compromise tax plan he negotiated with Republicans and says it proves both parties can work together. (Dec. 13)

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Judge Henry Hudson owns a piece of the Donatelli firm Campaign Solutions, Inc., a right-wing go-to source for turnkey campaigns and donation collections. I wrote about their ties to the right-wing establishment back in August, when he first agreed to hear the case. Since August, Campaign Solutions has made millions from Republican campaigns for candidates running on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Hudson’s annual financial disclosures show that he owns a sizable chunk of Campaign Solutions, Inc., a Republican consulting firm that worked this election cycle for John Boehner, Michele Bachmann, John McCain, and a whole host of other GOP candidates who’ve placed the purported unconstitutionality of health care reform at the center of their political platforms. Since 2003, according to the disclosures, Hudson has earned between $32,000 and $108,000 in dividends from his shares in the firm (federal rules only require judges to report ranges of income). As one of only thirteen investors, I’m certain this year will be a bang-up year for him, dividend-wise. Just have a look at their client list . I’m not a big fan of playing the judicial activist/judicial bias card. But in this case, it seems clearly warranted. This judge stands to make a bundle of profit via his 1/13th investment in Campaign Solutions. Campaign Solutions profited much from the 2010 midterm elections and candidates who ran on the repeal of the health care law. It’s not all that much of a leap to think maybe there’s just a teeny, tiny bit of bias there. He should have recused himself then, and he should be investigated to see if he has any other ‘investments’ that might have prejudiced his ruling.

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Comparing the current tax cut compromise with Barack Obama's stimulus plan of 2009, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough labeled the tax cuts a “steaming pile of garbage” on his December 13 show. Complaining that the compromise will add another $900 billion to the deficit, Scarborough compared it to the stimulus plan that cost a similar amount in the name of “stimulating” the economy. “This is a disaster for conservatives,” Scarborough asserted, arguing that adding to the deficit is worse than stimulating the economy with tax cuts that aren't “paid for.” The weekend after the deficit commission proposed a way to cut $4 trillion in the next generation, Republican leaders met with President Obama and produced a compromise extending the Bush tax cuts for all income earners, along with other provisions that would ultimately add $1 trillion to the deficit. “It's another steaming pile of garbage,” co-host Mika Brzezinski spat. Scarborough agreed with her. “Man, I tell you, if I were a Democrat in the House, I'd vote against this in a second,” he remarked.

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Afghanistan moves ahead with plans for national electronic ID cards

It doesn’t appear to involve the biometric IDs that were first proposed by NATO, but the Afghanistan government has just announced plans to issue electronic ID cards to everyone in the country — an undertaking that it hopes will be complete in five years. That admittedly difficult effort got off to an official start today with the signing of a $101 .5 million contract with Afghan company Grand Technology Resources, which will apparently be responsible for producing the wallet-sized cards themselves. In addition to the usual identification, those will each contain a chip that stores the individual’s drivers license, vehicle registration, signature and voting registration records — the latter of which is particularly key, as one of the main reasons for the cards existence is to ensure ” fairer, more transparent and efficient” elections in the future. Afghanistan moves ahead with plans for national electronic ID cards originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 18:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Brrr! and Buried in the Midwest After Snow

A slow-moving storm leaves a heaping dose of snow and bitterly cold temperatures across the Midwest, collapsing a stadium roof and sending people scurrying for warmth and snow shovels. (Dec. 13)

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Judge Strikes Down Federal Health Care Law

A federal judge in Virginia declared the foundation of Pres. Barack Obama’s health care law unconstitutional Monday, ruling that the government cannot require Americans to purchase insurance. The case is expected to end up at the Supreme Court. (Dec. 13)

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There's little point in “following the money” if you only follow it in one direction. And too often, journalists only follow the money to the right, leaving shady financial dealings from the left unexposed. That's exactly what Bloomberg News reporter Ryan Donmoyer did in a recent article on the death tax provisions of President Obama's tax deal with congressional Republicans. As the Washington Examiner's Tim Carney noticed , Donmoyer dutifully noted the indirect financial stake in the death tax debate of a conservative group that opposes the tax, but ignored a similar conflict on the parts of some of the tax's proponents. read more

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New York Governor Orders Moratorium on Fracking, But It’s Only Sort of Good News

Daniel Foster via flickr This weekend, Governor Paterson ordered a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, that will last until July. But it’s only on certain kinds of drilling—horizontal wells as opposed to vertical wells—and it came after Paterson vetoed a bill that would have put all fracking on hold until May. At the same time, the Delaware River Basin Commission—of which Paterson is a member—also looks like it is

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Indian Diplomat’s Turban + Airport Security = International Incident

As India’s top U.N. diplomat, Hardeep Puri is supposed to have an easier time getting through the airport, but a trip through Houston found the Sikh in a polite showdown with security officials who wanted to search his turban. Puri is the third high-ranking Indian official to have a run in with American security, prompting controversy on the subcontinent. India’s foreign minister said his government had raised the Puri incident with U.S. authorities. Puri, himself, downplayed what happened, saying he corrected the offending officer and “The important thing here is that I did not let them touch my turban,” an offense to Sikhs.

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