Saturday, November 21, 2009
Health Care Reform Bill Passes First Procedural Vote In Senate - 60 Votes! (Lincoln warns Reid: Drop the public option or next time I’ll filibuster)
Yes, it passes and will hit the floor, but I think this is where the Blue Dogs will step up. We see some already laying it out as HotAir cataloged:
Today’s moment of truth, courtesy of Greg Hengler. The cave-in comes at the beginning followed by the public-option ultimatum at 3:15. She hit all the points predicted by Jay Cost, i.e. we need reform but maybe not this kind of reform but let’s debate it anyway ’cause I’m a free-thinkin’ moderate, but I’m surprised at how dug in she seemed to be about a public plan. It’ll be hard for her to cave on the next cloture vote having thrown down the gauntlet in a setting as visible as this.
Will today’s “compromise” earn her any goodwill with conservatives? Judging from Palin’s latest tweet, I’m going to guess no:
Not sure I can convince Sen. Lincoln to vote no – but will do everything in my pwr to convince my friends in Arkansas to vote against her.
I was going to give you the clip of Landrieu too, but if she can’t even figure out who it was who first accused her of being bought — hint: not “very partisan Republican bloggers” — then she’s not worth listening to.
Rifqa Bary Panel: Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, Dr. Andrew Bostom
Some great minds in this warning for those who will listen -- media scores bad in this common sense critique.
Dumbest Headline: “Climate Change Pushes Poor Women to Prostitution”
Since society is to blame, or status in society, or poverty levels for crime -- in the Democratic mind-set -- even the climate is to blame for peoples choices. I will include a bit of the article and then follow it by a portion of an old paper I wrote (actually, a response to a skeptical friend).
The effects of climate change have driven women in communities in coastal areas in poor countries like the Philippines into dangerous work, and sometimes even the flesh trade, a United Nations official said.
Suneeta Mukherjee, country representative of the United Nations Food Population Fund (UNFPA), said women in the Philippines are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in the country.
“Climate change could reduce income from farming and fishing, possibly driving some women into sex work and thereby increase HIV infection," Mukherjee said during the Wednesday launch of the UNFPA annual State of World Population Report in Pasay City.
In the Philippines, small brothels usually pop up near the coastal areas where many women perform sexual services for transient seafarers. Often, these prostitutes are ferried to bigger ships by their pimps...
(read more)...
~ The obvious question is what went wrong in France? ~
The French Declaration did not acknowledge that the source of man’s rights is man’s “Creator,” as Jefferson had affirmed in America’s Declaration of Independence. The French Declaration did not even mention that rights are inherent, inalienable, or derived from any transcendent authority. This is why in China today the communist government persecutes the followers of the Christian faith. Not because communism is atheistic in it’s philosophy, but because Christians believe that earthly kings are answerable to the “King of the Earth.” A transcendent right giver, so to speak. Rights, for the Frenchman, were granted by an enlightened government. George Washington inadvertently commented on such an enlightened government: “[L]et us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be concede to the influence of refined education on minds… reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
Locke’s two Treatise of Civil Government contained 102 Biblical citations. Locke even began his argument with the proposition that God intended man to own private property, and referred the reader to Genesis: “God gave the world to Adam and his posterity in common,” He then went on cite Paul’s first letter Timothy: “God… richly supplies us all things….” But, Locke added hastily, this was by no means a prescription for socialism, as man also possesses property in the form of his own exertions. Thus, any individual who takes what God has provided equally to all and tailors it to his purposes becomes sole owner of that property. A farmer, for example, who builds a fence and cultivates the land for the production of food, becomes the legitimate owner of the land.
According to Locke’s view: “God, when He gave the World in common to all mankind, commanded man also to labor… God in His reason commanded him to subdue the earth, subdue it for the benefit of life, and therein lay out something upon it that was his own, his labor. He that in obedience to this command of God subdued, tilled and sowed any part of it, thereby annexed to it something that was his property, which another had no title to, and could not without injury take it from him.” Moreover, “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not covet” are commandments (unchanging moral law that is Locke’s [God’s] general will) of God designed to protect private property, which includes labor and the fruits thereof.
Another vast difference between Rousseaulean doctrine and that of Locke’s is Original Sin. From his reading of Genesis, Locke noted that man at one time existed outside the bounds of civil government, was in a “state of nature” and completely free. But once sin entered into the world through Adam’s indiscretion, the safety of men and their property became tenuous. Man’s fallen state required that he give up some of his freedom and prudently subject himself to civil government, without which his ability to enjoy the fruits of his labor and defend his rights “is very uncertain and constantly exposed to invasion of others.”
Locke adds, “For all men being kings such as he, every man his equal and the greater part no strict observers of equity and justice, the enjoyment of the property he has in this state [of nature] is very unsafe, very insecure. This makes him willing to quite this condition, which however free, is full of fears and continual dangers.”
Frail and defenseless individuals, in Locke’s view, were forced by the brutish circumstances (i.e., original sin = man inherently evil; no original sin = man inherently good) of existence (which man creates) to band together for their own mutual protection to form civil societies, entrusting to some sovereign agent the power to wield the sword against bandits and foreign invaders. But Locke, wanting to confine the duties of government to a narrow compass, was quick to add that the power of government is by no means absolute; the people had entered into a mutual and binding trust with each other and had established a regime with precisely defined obligations. If this trust or “compact” - precisely defined obligations – is at any time broken, the people have the right to withdraw their allegiance… even to rebel and depose their ruler, an astonishing notion to those who believe the monarch’s authority flowed from divine right.
To the question: Who shall judge the king? Locke replied, “The people shall be the judge,” though in the end, said Locke, “God in Heaven is Judge. He alone, ‘tis true, is Judge of the right. But every man is judge for himself… whether he should appeal to the Supreme Judge, as Jephthah did” and wage war (Judges 11:27-33). “I will not dispute now whether princes are exempt from the laws of their country,” wrote Locke, “but this I am sure, they owe subjection to the laws of God,” and added: “No body, no power, can exempt them from the obligations of that Eternal Law [caps in the original]… Whatever some flatterers say to princes of the world, who all together, with their people joined to them, are, in comparison to the Great God, but a drop of a bucket, or a dust on the balance, inconsiderable, nothing” (Isaiah 40:15).
Locke's argument for disobeying a king was actually a conservative one. While Royalists believed rejection of the monarch’s authority was the same as disobeying God. Locke thought little harm would come from acknowledging the people’s prerogative to exercise their ultimate right to reject the civil authority, because “people are not so easily got out of old forms as some are apt to suggest.” “Great mistakes,” said Locke, “will be born by people without mutiny or murmur” (see conclusion). Only “a long train of abuses, prevarications and artifices, all tending the same way,” that is towards subverting the people’s God-given liberties, could make people “rouse themselves.”
Locke was merely applying Protestant religious principles to the world of politics (see appendix C). If the individual has the authority to interpret Scripture for himself, without a human agent acting as intermediary, isn’t it also up to the individual to determine his own relationship to the government and indeed to the rest of society? Under extreme circumstances, thought Locke, the conscience of the individual, informed by scripture, and right reason, can supersede the government and even the collective judgment of the group because society is a voluntary union, from which anyone can exit if he so chooses. Unlike Rousseau who said, “Further, the general will, the will of the people taken collectively, represents the true will of each person. Thus, insofar as the individuals actions coincide with the common will, he is acting as he really wants to act – and to act as you really want to act is to be free.” Neither are you free to exit at any time according to Rousseaulean philosophy: “If any one, after he has publicly subscribed to these dogmas [which dispose a person to love his duties and be a good citizen], shall conduct himself as if he did not believe them, he is to be punished by death.”
"Evolution Flunks Botany" (A New Site by a Friend) -- Must Visit
(All Photos linked)
George F. Howe
He earned the Ph.D. degree in botany (plant physiology) from the Ohio State University, studying the time-course of photosynthesis in leaves of various flowering plants. He has taught many different science courses in two Christian colleges where he was a professor of biology for over 42 years. He has been a member of the Creation Research Society since its inception and a member of its board for 41 years, holding such CRS Board offices as president, vice president, and secretary. For five years he served as editor of the CRS Quarterly and four years as its managing editor.
He has published numerous technical papers on botany in the CRS Quarterly, the Journal of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, the Journal of the Ohio Academy of Sciences, and Crossosoma. He continues research on plants such as the unicorn plant, also known as devil's claw. He is a scientific creationist who believes that general macroevolutionism will someday lose its "luster" when workers come to see that it has little predictive value and only very meager support in the sciences.
Mark H. Armitage
Mark H. Armitage grew up in a military family and lived in Venezuela and Puerto Rico for 15 years. He became a Christian when he was a college senior, studying plant pathology at the University of Florida, and his family withdrew support from him. He then entered a career in microscopy with firms such as Olympus Corporation of America and Carl Zeiss selling over $30 Million in microscopy equipment across the Southeast, the Caribbean and Southern California. In 1984 he founded a microscope sales and service company and has been in business for 25 years. He also went back to school and earned a BS in Education from Liberty University and an MS in Biology (parasitology), under Richard Lumsden (Ph.D. Rice and Dean of Tulane University’s graduate program) at the Institute for Creation Research.
He later graduated Ed.S. in Science Education from Liberty University and is a doctoral candidate there. He was awarded a US patent for an optical inspection device in 1993. Mark taught botany, genetics lab and medical microbiology at Master’s College, and Biology 101 lab and electron microscopy at Azusa Pacific University over a 9-year period. He served as Executive Director of the Bible-Science Association, LA chapter from 1993-2000. He is a lifetime member of the Creation Research Society where he has served on the Board of Directors since 2006. He was recently elected to the position of Financial Secretary of the Society. Additionally, Mark has served on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Society for Microscopy and Micro-analysis since 2000 and has been President of the Society for 4 years. For five years, Mark maintained a working electron microscopy laboratory (SEM and TEM) at the Institute for Creation Research in San Diego. Recently he moved his laboratory to the Creation Research Society Van Andel Creation Research Center in AZ.
Mark’s micrographs have appeared on the covers of eleven scientific journals, and he has many technical publications on microscopic phenomena in such journals as American Laboratory, Southern California Academy of Sciences Bulletin, Parasitology Research, Microscopy and Micro-analysis, and Microscopy Today among others. He has received national recognition for his micrographs in the Nikon Small World annual competition. He recently authored the book; Jesus is like my scanning electron microscope.
Mark is a member of the Microscopy Society of America, the Southern California Academy of Sciences and the American Society of Parasitologists.
(ABC News) The Louisiana Purchase: $100 Million Payoff to Buy Sen. Landrieu's Vote... (Plus: Charles Krauthammer on the Matter) -- UPDATED
Updated Headline: THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE: $300 MILLION FOR MY VOTE!
ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports:
What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform?
Here’s a case study.
On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”
The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”
I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.
In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.)
Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu.
How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.Here’s the incredibly complicated language:
SEC. 2006. SPECIAL ADJUSTMENT TO FMAP DETERMINATION FOR CERTAIN STATES RECOVERING FROM A MAJOR DISASTER.
Section 1905 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d), as amended by sections 2001(a)(3) and
2001(b)(2), is amended— (1) in subsection (b), in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘subsection (y)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (y) and (aa)’’; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
‘‘(aa)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (b), beginning January 1, 2011, the Federal medical assistance percentage for a fiscal year for a disaster-recovery FMAP adjustment State shall be equal to the following:
‘(A) In the case of the first fiscal year (or part of a fiscal year) for which this subsection applies to the State, the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), increased by 50 percent of the number of percentage points by which the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), is less than the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the preceding fiscal year after the application of only subsection (a) of section 5001 of Public Law 111–5 (if applicable to the preceding fiscal year) and without regard to this subsection, subsection (y), and subsections (b) and (c) of section 5001 of Public Law 111–5.
‘‘(B) In the case of the second or any succeeding fiscal year for which this subsection applies to the State, the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the preceding fiscal year under this subsection for the State, increased by 25 percent of the number of percentage points by which the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), is less than the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the preceding fiscal year under this subsection.
‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘disaster-recovery FMAP adjustment State’ means a State that is one of
the 50 States or the District of Columbia, for which, at any time during the preceding 7 fiscal years, the President has declared a major disaster under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act and determined as a result of such disaster that every county or parish in the State warrant individual and public assistance or public assistance from the Federal Government under such Act and for which— ‘‘(A) in the case of the first fiscal year (or part of a fiscal year) for which this subsection applies to the State, the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), is less than the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the preceding fiscal year after the application of only subsection (a) of section 5001 of Public Law 111–5 (if applicable to the preceding fiscal year) and without regard to this subsection, subsection (y), and subsections (b) and (c) of section 5001 of Public Law 111–5, by at least 3 percentage points; and ‘‘(B) in the case of the second or any succeeding fiscal year for which this subsection applies to the State, the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), is less than the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the preceding fiscal year under this subsection by at least 3 percentage points.
‘‘(3) The Federal medical assistance percentage determined for a disaster-recovery FMAP adjustment State under paragraph (1) shall apply for purposes of this title (other than with respect to disproportionate share hospital payments described in section 1923 and payments under this title that are based on the enhanced FMAP described in 2105(b)) and shall not apply with respect to payments under title IV (other than under part E of title IV) or payments under title XXI.’’.
A Defense Oriented Democrat... A Breath of Fresh Air
This Dem makes me happy that there are a few JFK minded guys in that party. This is with thanks to HotAir:
The chair of the House Armed Services Committee has sent a letter demanding the appearance of Attorney General Eric Holder to explain his decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators in federal court. Rep. Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat and former prosecutor, says the decision raises “many serious questions” to which Skelton would like answers. Skelton also wants to make sure that Holder doesn’t continue to favor federal court trials over military tribunals:
Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) penned a letter to Holder and Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggesting military trials would be a more appropriate venue for the accused terrorists.
“As a former prosecutor, I am not yet convinced that the right decision was made in these cases, nor that the presumption in favor of federal criminal trials over military tribunals for these detainees should continue,” Skelton wrote. …
“The decision to terminate the prosecution of these self-confessed terrorists in military commissions, transfer them to the United States, and bring them into a federal courthouse for trial raises many serious questions which I would like you both to address in a full committee briefing on December 3, 2009, at 1:00 PM,” Skelton requested.
The letter, which The Hill reprints in full at the jump, expresses Skelton’s skepticism politely but unmistakably. Skelton reminds Holder that he worked hard to ensure a fair system for all of the Gitmo detainees in the military commissions system, and that effort was meant to prevent the very decision Holder and Barack Obama have made.... (more)...
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Stimulus is Working ~ 7MM Magnum (Plus: Thornton over Erskine)
The Stimulus is Working
by, Jake Swiftarrow, Sports Slayer
11-20-09
Free agency begins today in Major League Baseball. This is the best time of year to be a Yankee fan. It’s like Ivanka Trump in the mall with daddy’s credit card. Although it’s a thin crop of players, Matt Holliday, Jason Bay and John Lackey will help some ball clubs. The question is, “at what price?” Unless, of course, you’re a Yankee fan, then you never ask yourself that question. “The Stimulus is working.”
The new Health Care bill is over 2000 pages long. Raise your hand if you think your government representatives will actually read it. They admittedly didn’t read the Stimulus bill because they weren’t given enough time. Most had aides skim through it. And it really didn’t matter because they crossed stuff out and wrote in new material in the margins. Give them some napkins and crayons to write on next time. This is government at its finest. The Goth Girl down the street would have trouble finishing a 2000 page Twilight book and digesting it, let alone understand it well enough to legislate in every American home. Of course, under the proposed bill, all Americans refusing to purchase health care will be considered criminals. I guess this will benefit the prison industry. “The Stimulus is working.”
Senator Graham Questions (e.g., Destroys) Attorney General Eric Holder -- Plus! Patrick Leahy Saying We Don't Need To Iterrogate Bin Laden... The Dems Do Not Understand the War on Terror
We Wouldn't interrogate him (bin Laden) merely for convicting him, we obviously already have enough evidence to shoot him on the spot. We would interrogate him (bin Laden) to get connections and information on the dated terror network as well as any insights into the new gen guys. This needs to be done without Miranda warnings or Federal Court oversight or legal opportunities to have evidence thrown out. Eric Holder (above) and Obama have a fundamental misunderstanding (as does Leahy) about the nature of this war.
Cable News Race -- I Love Posting This
CABLE NEWS RACE
NOV. 18, 2009
FOXNEWS HANNITY/PALIN 4,200,000
FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,868,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,512,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,383,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,235,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 1,980,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,041,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,036,000
MSNBC MADDOW 957,000
CNN KING 835,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 625,000
CNN COOPER 611,000
NOV. 18, 2009
FOXNEWS HANNITY/PALIN 4,200,000
FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,868,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,512,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,383,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,235,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 1,980,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,041,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,036,000
MSNBC MADDOW 957,000
CNN KING 835,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 625,000
CNN COOPER 611,000
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Promoter of Pacquiao-Mayweather Fight Wanted It In Ny or New Jersey... Taxes Were Too High
(HotAir h/t-import)
You don’t have to be a boxing fan to understand the uppercut that high state taxes gave to an opportunity for a big sports event in New York and New Jersey. Newsday reports on the decision by promoter Bob Arum to pursue a highly-sought bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather in Jerry Jones’ new football stadium in Texas instead of Yankee Stadium or the Meadowlands. What KO’d the East Coast? High state taxes:
It appears the Tax Man is about to do to Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. what Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto could not.
Namely, knock both of them out.
Out of New York, that is. And New Jersey, too. …
But last night, Arum dropped the hammer on the fight taking place anywhere east of the Mississippi River.
“No chance,” Arum said. “Nothing would please me more than to have it at Yankee Stadium, but the way the tax structure in New York is set up, it’s impossible.”
But that’s not the worst news. The front-runner to host the bout, proposed for early May or June 2010, is – gulp! – Cowboys Stadium, Jerry Jones’ $1 billion-plus, retractable-roof football palace that makes Yankee Stadium look like a sandlot.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Salah - Bboy/Popper/Locker...Dancer (Battle Mix Added)
I have been busy talking to some seniors at Village Christian and prepping for the presentations I give. So enjoy the line of videos I have been putting up.
ACORN Employee of the Year! (ACORN employee refuses to aid and abet underaged prostitution)
(HotAir h/t)
Felix Harris was the only ACORN employee (Los Angeles) that refused to help in illegal actions proposed by this undercover scheme. Felix, God Bless You!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Painter Painst Christ in 5-minutes to Worship song... wait for it... it all comes together at the end.
(With Thanks To Tom, a Reader)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Kidnapped As a Child, Woman Finds Family after 55 Years
Woman, 61, Missing as a Child, Finds Her Family After 55 YearsWoman Says Alleged Abductor Changed Her Name, Birth Date, Making Search Difficult
Dollie Ann Henson has been seeking her family for more than half a century, ever since she was kidnapped by a neighbor as a child, she said. Now, she's finally found them.
The 61-year-old California woman was reunited with the aunt and sister she barely remembers, and a niece she has never known, in a touching reunion Saturday on "Good Morning America Weekend," in New York.
Henson and her daughter Kia'Ora flew from the West Coast to meet Donilla McDaniel, her aunt, Rita McDaniel, her sister, and Valencia McDaniel, her niece, who came from Houston.
Henson was just 5 years old when, she said, she was kidnapped. She was playing at a neighbor's home in Houston, she claimed, when the neighbor woman asked her if she wanted to go on a train ride. She was first taken to Louisiana, then to California.
All the while, Henson said, she was told her biological family never wanted her, and she would never be able to find them. Her name and birth certificate were changed, and said she was unable to trace her family because she didn't know her real identity. She's been living in the San Francisco area ever since, some 1,600 miles away from the family she never knew.
Henson claims her alleged kidnapper changed Henson name, birth date and birth certificate -- and kept all of her identification information locked in the trunk of a car.
Shortly before the alleged kidnapper's death, a fire destroyed the car and the documents it contained.
ABC News is not releasing the name of Henson's alleged kidnapper because the woman was never formally accused of or charged with a crime. She passed away in 1977.
Asked on "GMA Weekend" if she knew as a child she had been kidnapped, Henson explained, "I didn't know the word 'kidnapped,' but I knew that I had been taken."
"GMA Weekend" anchor Kate Snow introduced the Henson and McDaniel families on the set, and it was a tearful reunion as the women hugged and laughed. "Oh my, goodness! Hi!" Henson exclaimed as she embraced her sister, Rita.
"I can't believe this. It's awesome. It's just, you know, closure in my heart. It's just unbelievable," said Henson as she sat among three generations of her family.
Long-Lost Woman's Sister: 'You Look Like Mama!'
Henson's sister, Rita, was overwhelmed by the reunion, but grateful she lived to see it.
"I always wondered what she looked like. You look like Mama," she told her sister as she laughed. "I wondered if I would ever see her before I leave this world. I am just so grateful [God] sent her back to us."
Over the years, Henson created a life of her own in California. She got married and had children. Henson related the story of her devastating ordeal to her daughters who helped her search.
Last week, Henson's daughter Kia'Ora, desperate to help her mom fill in the blanks after all these years, reached out to the Houston ABC affiliate KTRK, knowing Henson was born in the Texas town.
Henson went on television Thursday, telling the station the story of her alleged abduction 55 years ago.
Long-lost family members happened to be watching the newscast, and knew right away that Dollie Ann was the little girl who had disappeared from their lives all those years ago.
A reporter from KTRK reunited the two families by phone Friday.
Henson became frustrated six years ago when a relative traveled to Houston to look for Henson's childhood home. The neighborhood Henson went missing from was found to be a freeway. Still, she refused to give up.
"I'm shocked. All these pieces that's been floating around in my heart," Henson said.
Family members filled in Henson on what she's missed. They said they tried to track her down in the past, but they were searching for her under her birth name, Darlene McDaniel.
Sadly, Henson won't be reunited with the mother she barely knew. Her mother died 10 years ago. But a photo shows a resemblance, and that's enough for Henson.
"They said that she really talked about me up until she passed, you know. I wish she could have known this day was coming," Henson said.
"Do you remember me?" Donilla asked her Friday over the phone. "I just want to let you know I hadn't [forgotten] you."
"Thank you, Lord. Thank you, thank you, thank you," said Henson after seeing video of her aunt Donilla for the first time, taken by KTRK.
Henson's remarks after her Friday phone call with her family may sum it up best: "I'm just happy we were able to find them. I'm happy to know they looked for me, and I'm happy to know they all said they loved me," she said as she wiped away tears.
Balloon Boy Mom & Dad Plead Guilty
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A Colorado couple who reported their son was aboard a runaway balloon could land in jail after pleading guilty Friday to charges they made up the story to generate publicity for a possible reality TV show.
Richard Heene appeared before a Larimer County District Court judge first, pleading guilty to a felony count of falsely influencing the sheriff who led the rescue effort during the 50-mile balloon chase that captivated a global television audience Oct. 15.
Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of knowingly filing a false report with emergency services. Prosecutors said she had a lower level of culpability and cooperated with authorities, telling investigators the balloon launch was a publicity stunt two weeks in the making.
The Heenes are amateur storm chasers and had twice appeared on ABC's "Wife Swap." Richard Heene's business associates said he was trying to pitch a TV series based on science, and the couple had a tentative deal in the works with RDF USA, which produces "Wife Swap."
RDF has said it scrapped the plans after the balloon flight.
Even as the Heenes entered their guilty pleas, their attorneys' comments in court set off speculation of talk show appearances or other deals.
Judge Stephen Schapanski agreed to the attorneys' request that the couple be allowed to travel to New York and California to explore "employment opportunities." David Lane, Richard Heene's lawyer, declined to elaborate as he left the courtroom, and Heene waved off questions.... (more)...
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