New federal regulations issued this week stipulate that the electronic health records–that all Americans are supposed to have by 2014 under the terms of the stimulus law that President Barack Obama signed last year–must record not only the traditional measures of height and weight, but also the Body Mass Index: a measure of obesity.

The obesity-rating regulation states that every American’s electronic health record must: “Calculate body mass index. Automatically calculate and display body mass index (BMI) based on a patient’s height and weight.”

The law also requires that these electronic health records be available–with appropriate security measures–on a national exchange.

The new regulations are one of the first steps towards the government’s goal of universal adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) by 2014, as outlined in the 2009 economic stimulus law. Specifically, the regulations issued on Tuesday by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, define the “meaningful use” of electronic records. Under the stimulus law, health care providers–including doctors and hospitals–must establish “meaningful use” of EHRs by 2014 in order to qualify for federal subsidies. After that, they will be subjected to penalties in the form of diminished Medicare and Medicaid payments for not establishing “meaningful use” of EHRs.

Section 3001 of the stimulus law says: “The National Coordinator shall, in consultation with other appropriate Federal agencies (including the National Institute of Standards and Technology), update the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (developed as of June 3, 2008) to include specific objectives, milestones, and metrics with respect to the following: (i) The electronic exchange and use of health information and the enterprise integration of such information.‘‘(ii) The utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014.”

Under this mandate in the stimulus law, Secretary Sebelius issued a regulation–developed by Dr. Blumenthal–that requires that all EHRs keep track of a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) score. Body Mass Index is a ratio between a person’s weight and height, and is used to determine whether or not someone is overweight or obese. It is the preferred method of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for measuring obesity.

Michelle Obama has made dealing with the problem of childhood obesity the main theme of her term as First Lady.

BrokenCountry.com has been screaming about this for years. People keep making these insidious claims that illegal aliens are doing the work that Americans refuse to do. That illegals are industrious hard working people.

Thinking Americans from both sides of the political isle know that this is a lie being foisted upon the people by politicians that are willing to sacrifice the safety of every one of us for the potential votes that illegal aliens will give them once they become citizens.

The scams being perpetrated on Americans by illegal aliens runs so deep today that the government can’t begin to unravel them. Keeping in mind that Americans were foolish enough to let unions get into the public workforce, most government employees are too lazy to actually do their jobs and stop the fraud.

Now here we are reading about how illegal aliens are spying on Americans and their government.

I guess the only thing to do is make these illegal aliens citizens, thus giving them better access to confidential information that can later be used to undermine America. That’s what Obama will be telling us all tomorrow. JD

They had lived for more than a decade in American cities and suburbs from Seattle to New York, where they seemed to be ordinary couples working ordinary jobs, chatting to the neighbors about schools and apologizing for noisy teenagers.

ARLINGTON, VA. Two suspects, Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills, were arrested at the high-rise complex where they lived.
But on Monday, federal prosecutors accused 11 people of being part of a Russian espionage ring, living under false names and deep cover in a patient scheme to penetrate what one coded message called American “policy making circles.”

An F.B.I. investigation that began at least seven years ago culminated with the arrest on Sunday of 10 people in Yonkers, Boston and northern Virginia. The documents detailed what the authorities called the “Illegals Program,” an ambitious, long-term effort by the S.V.R., the successor to the Soviet K.G.B., to plant Russian spies in the United States to gather information and recruit more agents.

The alleged agents were directed to gather information on nuclear weapons, American policy toward Iran, C.I.A. leadership, Congressional politics and many other topics, prosecutors say. The Russian spies made contact with a former high-ranking American national security official and a nuclear weapons researcher, among others. But the charges did not include espionage, and it was unclear what secrets the suspected spy ring — which included five couples — actually managed to collect.

After years of F.B.I. surveillance, investigators decided to make the arrests last weekend, just after an upbeat visit to President Obama by the Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, said one administration official. Mr. Obama was not happy about the timing, but investigators feared some of their targets might flee, the official said.

Criminal complaints filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Monday read like an old-fashioned cold war thriller: Spies swapping identical orange bags as they brushed past one another in a train station stairway. An identity borrowed from a dead Canadian, forged passports, messages sent by shortwave burst transmission or in invisible ink. A money cache buried for years in a field in upstate New York.

But the network of so-called illegals — spies operating under false names outside of diplomatic cover — also used cyber-age technology, according to the charges. They embedded coded texts in ordinary-looking images posted on the Internet, and they communicated by having two agents with laptops containing special software pass casually as messages flashed between them.

Neighbors in Montclair, N.J., of the couple who called themselves Richard and Cynthia Murphy were flabbergasted when a team of F.B.I. agents turned up Sunday night and led the couple away in handcuffs. One person who lives nearby called them “suburbia personified,” saying that they had asked people for advice about the local schools. Others worried about the Murphys’ elementary-age daughters.

Jessie Gugig, 15, said she could not believe the charges, especially against Mrs. Murphy. “They couldn’t have been spies,” she said jokingly. “Look what she did with the hydrangeas.”

Experts on Russian intelligence expressed astonishment at the scale, longevity and dedication of the program. They noted that Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian prime minister and former president and spy chief, had worked to restore the prestige and funding of Russian espionage after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dark image of the K.G.B.

“The magnitude, and the fact that so many illegals were involved, was a shock to me,” said Oleg D. Kalugin, a former K.G.B. general who was a Soviet spy in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s under “legal” cover as a diplomat and Radio Moscow correspondent. “It’s a return to the old days, but even in the worst years of the cold war, I think there were no more than 10 illegals in the U.S., probably fewer.”

Mr. Kalugin, now an American citizen living outside Washington, said he was impressed with the F.B.I.’s penetration of the spy ring. The criminal complaints are packed with vivid details gathered in years of covert surveillance — including monitoring phones and e-mail, placing secret microphones in the alleged Russian agents’ homes, and numerous surreptitious searches.

The authorities also tracked one set of agents based in Yonkers on trips to an unidentified South American country, where they were videotaped receiving bags of cash and passing messages written in invisible ink to Russian handlers in a public park, according to the charges.

Pay close attention to the second man named in this article. His name is of Hispanic origin. Perhaps we are seeing a new trend here.

Newark, NJ, United States – Anti-terror task force agents arrested two New Jersey men at John F. Kennedy International Airport as they were boarding separate flights bound for Egypt.

The men were charged late Saturday night with conspiracy to commit international terrorism.

Mohamed Hamoud Alessa, 20, and 26-year-old Carlos Eduardo Almonte are suspected of trying to fly to Somalia to join a jihadist group. The state and federal task force has been investigating the men since October 2006.

State and local police, including members of the New York City Police Department, and federal agents, also raided the two men’s homes–one in North Bergen and the other in Elmwood Park-earlier in the evening.

Observations by local media at the scene appeared to indicate Almonte’s family may have alerted authorities to their son’s plans to join the violent terror group, al Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda.

Bea Arthur

Can you imagine the nerve of Obama having a party at the White House for Paul McCartney? We all know that what Obama is really doing is having a free concert for Obama.

Here we are in the middle of a huge oil spill, world policy issues with Israel, Arizona being boycotted by neighboring states, and all Obama can think to do is throw himself a party. We are all doomed. JD

Paul McCartney said on Tuesday he was honored to be receiving one of the United States’ most important music awards, the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

To mark the occasion, a lineup of stars including Stevie Wonder , the Jonas Brothers, Herbie Hancock and Elvis Costello will pay tribute to the former Beatle in a concert at the White House on Wednesday presided over by President Barack Obama.

McCartney is the first non-American recipient of the award that has only been given twice before — to Paul Simon in 2007 and to Stevie Wonder in 2009.

“It’s fantastic for me to be here because as a little kid I grew up listening to the music of the Gershwin Brothers and loved it and had no idea, of course, that one day I might be in such a place, getting an honor such as this,” McCartney told a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.

“I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me as a kid growing up in Liverpool that this would happen. So it’s very special for me.”

The award created by the Library of Congress celebrates McCartney’s music career that spans over five decades from his years with The Beatles to his current solo output.

It was named to honor the American songwriting team of brothers George and Ira Gershwin and “recognizes musicians whose careers reflect a lifetime achievement in promoting song as a vehicle of artistic expression and cultural understanding.”

McCartney, who turns 68 later this month, will also perform at the concert on Wednesday which will be televised on July 28.

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington described McCartney’s career as spanning genres ranging from rock and roll to classical.

“But he also has made an impact far beyond music through his humanitarianism and activism around the world,” Billington said in a statement.

I have been saying this for years. The Mexican government, which seems to believe that America should welcome their scofflaws into America with open arms, routinely runs illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Once while taking one of the many vacations I have taken in Mexico, I met an Englishman in a local cantina. He was in Mexico illegally. This man was forced to sneak around the alleys of Puerto Vallarta hiding from the Mexican fedrales, who if they found him, would beat him and steal his money then make him leave Mexico.

Read this FoxNews article on what Mexico does to their illegal aliens. JD

From FoxNews Reports

Mexican President Felipe Calderon says his government “cannot and will not remain indifferent” in the face of Arizona’s new immigration enforcement law, which he says violates human rights. But Mexico itself has “incredibly restrictive” immigration laws, experts told FoxNews.com.

When Arizona’s law goes into effect this summer, law enforcement officers in the state will be required to verify the immigration status of individuals they suspect are in the country illegally. President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder quickly criticized the law despite its popularity in Arizona, and a referendum drive and a lawsuit have emerged as potential roadblocks to it.

But Calderon’s objection has riled some immigration policy experts, who called his take on the measure misguided given Mexico’s policies on unauthorized residents, particularly how the country deals with illegal entry and foreign ownership of property.

“It shows more than anything else that Mexico’s restrictive immigration policies have kept that country poor and in conflict for years,” said Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based conservative think tank. “The United States should not try to emulate that.”

Before last year, when Mexican immigration law was amended, the penalties for entering Mexico illegally ranged from fines to imprisonment for up to two years, followed by deportation. The law now allows for fines up to 5700 pesos (roughly $470), and a $400 fine for overstaying on a visa.
video
Arizona Immigration Outcry Has Congress’ Ear

Becerra wants ’sensible’ reform

And the U.S. State Department warns Americans to exercise “extreme caution” prior to investing in property in Mexico, due to substantially different real estate practices and laws. The Mexican Constitution bans direct ownership by foreigners of real estate within 10 kilometers — or 6.2 miles — of any border and within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of any coastline.

“In order to permit foreign investment in these areas, the Mexican government has created a trust mechanism in which a bank has title to the property but a trust beneficiary enjoys the benefits of ownership,” the State Department profile on Mexico reads. “However, U.S. citizens are vulnerable to title challenges that may result in years of litigation and possible eviction.”

Nowrasteh said those policies hurt Mexico financially and contribute to a system that is not designed to accommodate foreigners.

“Restrictive ownership of property by foreigners restricts foreign investment,” he said. “It restricts the movement of entrepreneurs and laborers to Mexico who make the country wealthier. Any person around the world should be able to own property and invest in any economy around the world. It’s to everyone’s benefit.”

Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin said Mexico’s immigration laws are “far more draconian” than those in the United States, adding that Mexican authorities can “exercise any discretion” regarding deportations.

“So it’s particularly ironic to see them complaining about America when we allow open borders activists and illegal aliens to march on the streets demanding that we give them more than they certainly do in Mexico,” said Malkin, who is a Fox News contributor.

Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, agreed that Calderon’s statements regarding Arizona’s law are seemingly incongruous given immigration policies in his own country.

“The Mexican government is certainly within its rights to defend its citizens abroad, but they should also remind them of the need to substantially improve immigration laws in Mexico,” Selee said. “We would expect the Mexican government to want to protect their citizens living in the United States, but this is a highly public issue. It should certainly also bring about some reflection on how immigration law is applied in Mexico.”

Dan Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, disagreed, saying Calderon has a right to speak his mind about Arizona’s new law.

“The Mexican president has a right to complain about laws he thinks work against Mexican citizens in the United States,” he said. “And the Arizona law does raise legitimate questions about discrimination.”

Griswold continued, “The Mexican president is an important voice in this discussion. They’re an important neighbor, an important trading partner and we have mutual interests.”

Its a good question to ask. President Obama has completely ignored the will of the people on almost every issue. Obama’s first order of business as president was to start appointing socialists like himself that would help try to take away American freedoms that we have been guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

Obama used the bad economy as a lynch pin issue to frighten the inept and stupid into believing that he had a moral obligation to seize control of every aspect of our lives.

First came the attack on financial institutions. For those of you that do not know, the American financial industry was forced by President Clinton, President Bush and now President Obama to loan money to people that could not afford a home. This created the real estate bubble that led to the collapse of the banking industry and eventually the entire economy.

If these banks did not loan money to the poor, they would be investigated and drummed out of business by Washington. The very people in congress that are busy attacking Wall Street today are responsible for the economic collapse in the first place.

In rides Obama to the rescue. The media, busy portraying Obama as “The knight in Shining Armor” coming to rescue us from the evil corporate giants that were responsible for the bad economy, played along, marching in lockstep with Obama’s secret agenda.

Obama appointed a series of “Czars” to oversee the takeover of Wall Street. To date Obama has appointed 32 such czars, who Obama considers “overlords” of such things as stimulus accountability, science, pay, intelligence and the climate.

Of course none of these czars do anything. I would bet that most of them are highly paid douche bags that sit about all day doing nothing except living on the American wallet.

Obama spent the first eight months of his presidency doing nothing with the exception of entertaining the Hollywood elite and jetting about the world to exotic foreign locations.

This was almost a repeat of what Bill Clinton did. Meet the celebrities they liked and see the countries they couldn’t afford to see until they became president.

The American people began to cry foul. The economy was stagnant or getting worse, and Obama had done nothing to affect the “Change” that he had promised during the 2008 campaign. All of that was about to change.

Obama and the socialists ( I refuse to call these miscreants democrats) decided that America was ready for socialized medicine and come hell or high water (or even the possibility of being a one term president) Obama was going to give it to us.

Health care reform was born. No one including Obama knew what the legislation even said, and I believe that even today most democrats do not know what the bill actually contains.

We can sit around blaming republicans and Rush Limbaugh for how much Obamacare has divided Americans, but the fact of the matter is that once thinking Americans realized how intrusive this massive piece of legislation actually was, they revolted.

The Tea Party was borne out of Obamacare. The hatred that Bill Clinton and the left are crying about was the very way this country was founded. Can you imagine how much different the entire world would be if George Washington would have said ‘Never mind. Lets just be slaves to England.’

The media and the left hold global warming protesters as hero’s of society. Tea Party members were immediately vilified and ridiculed by the left. I guess we all forgot about the town hall meetings last year, where the tea party members turned out in great numbers against health care reform.

The Tea Party rank and file were looked upon with disdain and contempt. They were called “racists and Nazi’s.” Tea Party members are people from all walks of life. Black, white, left and right. Still today the media and Obama discount the tea party movement as a bunch of fringe element nut jobs.

Virtually everything the federal government runs is BANKRUPT. Yet Obama and the democrats seem to think that they can manage health care better than the private sector.

Obama and his socialist cabinet have divided and conquered America. Next comes immigration reform, financial reform and people reform. These are code words for turning America into a nation of serfs and plebes that are slaves to the government. JD

MOUNT DORA, FL. — A doctor who considers the national health-care overhaul to be bad medicine for the country posted a sign on his office door telling patients who voted for President Barack Obama to seek care “elsewhere.”

“I’m not turning anybody away — that would be unethical,” Dr. Jack Cassell, 56, a Mount Dora urologist and a registered Republican opposed to the health plan, told the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. “But if they read the sign and turn the other way, so be it.”

The sign reads: “If you voted for Obama … seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your healthcare begin right now, not in four years.”

Estella Chatman, 67, of Eustis, whose daughter snapped a photo of the typewritten sign, sent the picture to U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, the Orlando Democrat who riled Republicans last year when he characterized the GOP’s idea of health care as, “If you get sick, America … Die quickly.”

Chatman said she heard about the sign from a friend referred to Cassell after his physician recently died. She said her friend did not want to speak to a reporter but was dismayed by Cassell’s sign.

“He’s going to find another doctor,” she said.

Cassell may be walking a thin line between his right to free speech and his professional obligation, said William Allen, professor of bioethics, law and medical professionalism at the University of Florida’s College of Medicine.

Allen said doctors cannot refuse patients on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or disability, but political preference is not one of the legally protected categories specified in civil-rights law. By insisting he does not quiz his patients about their politics and has not turned away patients based on their vote, the doctor is “trying to hold onto the nub of his ethical obligation,” Allen said.

“But this is pushing the limit,” he said.

Cassell, who has practiced medicine in GOP-dominated Lake County since 1988, said he doesn’t quiz his patients about their politics, but he also won’t hide his disdain for the bill Obama signed and the lawmakers who passed it.

In his waiting room, Cassell also has provided his patients with photocopies of a health-care timeline produced by Republican leaders that outlines “major provisions” in the health-care package. The doctor put a sign above the stack of copies that reads: “This is what the morons in Washington have done to your health care. Take one, read it and vote out anyone who voted for it.”

Cassell, whose lawyer wife, Leslie Campione, has declared herself a Republican candidate for Lake County commissioner, said three patients have complained, but most have been “overwhelmingly supportive” of his position.

“They know it’s not good for them,” he said.

Cassell, who previously served as chief of surgery at Florida Hospital Waterman in Tavares, said a patient’s politics would not affect his care for them, although he said he would prefer not to treat people who support the president.

“I can at least make a point,” he said.

The notice on Cassell’s office door could cause some patients to question his judgment or fret about the care they might receive if they don’t share his political views, Allen said. He said doctors are wise to avoid public expressions that can affect the physician-patient relationship.

Erin VanSickle, spokeswoman for the Florida Medical Association, would not comment specifically.

But she noted in an e-mail to the Sentinel that “physicians are extended the same rights to free speech as every other citizen in the United States.”

The outspoken Grayson described Cassell’s sign as “ridiculous.”

“I’m disgusted,” he said. “Maybe he thinks the Hippocratic Oath says, ‘Do no good.’ If this is the face of the right wing in America, it’s the face of cruelty. … Why don’t they change the name of the Republican Party to the Sore Loser Party?”