Amherst Times

If you have "friends in high places" you can get away with anything it seems.  Just ask Scooter Libby.  George W. gave him a Get Out of Jail card.  Sweet.

"Mr. Bush’s action, announced hours after a panel of judges ruled that Mr. Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, could not put off serving his sentence while he appealed his conviction, came as a surprise to all but a few members of the president’s inner circle. It reignited the passions that have surrounded the case from the beginning."

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My sister is in a rehab facility following some knee surgery.  When she was hospitalized she had to give a code word to people she would allow to have updates and information about her condition.  I was given that code word and yet still had difficulty getting updates due to Hippa restrictions, or so I was told, but that's not true.

"Medical professionals can talk freely to family and friends, unless the patient objects. No signed authorization is necessary and the person receiving the information need not have the legal standing of, say, a health care proxy or power of attorney. As for public health authorities or those investigating crimes like child abuse, Hipaa defers to state laws, which often, though not always, require such disclosure. Medical workers may not reveal confidential information about a patient or case to reporters, but they can discuss general health issues."

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With the housing market in decline, financial predators are employing schemes that take various forms.  They often involve promises to distressed homeowners of cash upfront.  Such predators have found yet another way to take advantage of people who fall behind on their payments.  It's a matter of kicking someone when they are down.

"The schemes take various forms and often involve promises to distressed homeowners of cash upfront, free monthly rent and a chance to retain their houses in the long run. But in the process, someone else takes over the deed, borrows as much as possible against the value of the house and pockets the cash. And, almost always, the homeowners still end up losing their homes."

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When we go out to dinner with a certain friend of ours he often orders tilapia.  I wasn't familiar with it until he began ordering it.  Now I've read that it is another of those pesky imports from China and our government is placing restrictions on them.

"At the Xulong eel factory here, a team of workers slice eels, lop off their heads and push them through a huge assembly line that will cook and package them for millions of customers around the world."

"But the Food and Drug Administration says Xulong and other Chinese companies will be restricted from selling certain types of seafood in the United States because regulators keep finding Chinese imports contaminated with carcinogens and excessive antibiotic residues."

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