Ohio Hospital Says It Won’t Hire Smokers

Summa Health Systems in Akron says it will no longer hire smokers.

People applying to work for Summa must agree to a urine test to confirm they don’t use tobacco products.

The policy doesn’t affect current employees at the six-hospital system.

Other hospital and health care systems have also stopped hiring smokers, including the Cleveland Clinic and Medical Mutual of Ohio.…

New Poll Shows 52% Believe Obama Doesn’t Deserve Reelection

According to a CNN/Opinion Research poll 52% of Americans say President Obama doesn’t deserve reelection in 2012.

44 percent of all Americans said they would vote to reelect the president in two and a half years, less than the slight majority who said they would prefer to elect someone else.

Four percent had no opinion.

44 percent of all Americans said they would vote to reelect the president in two and a half years, less than the slight majority who said they would prefer to elect someone else.…

Sarah Palin Uses Daughter To Attack “Family Guy” For Referencing Son

Sarah Palin continues to play the victim, this time lashing out at the FOX show “Family Guy,” referring to them as “cold-hearted people who would do such a thing.”  And she again continued to attack Rahm Emanuel for the same offense committed by Rush Limbaugh, to whom she continues to give a pass.

But “Family Guy,” where the stock-in-trade is mockery, regardless of how politically correct (Don’t conservatives rail against political correctness?), made only a vague reference to a girl whose mother is “the former governor of Alaska” and, if the scene is seen correctly, shows the Down syndrome daughter …

Evan Bayh Replacement…John Mellencamp?

There is a movement afoot to convince John Mellencamp to run for Evan Bayh’s Senate seat. A “Draft John Mellencamp For Senate” Facebook page has sprung up. Mellencamp is liberal, and asked John McCain to stop using his music during the 2008 campaign.

He’s well-positioned to take advantage of the powerful but ill-defined populist atmosphere among voters. Both in the state and nationally, Mellencamp has generated a lot of goodwill with working people by virtue of his Farm Aid concerts, and he’s managed to retain working-class authenticity despite being a superstar.…

JD Hayworth Won’t Answer Directly If He Thinks Obama Is US Citizen

Campbell Brown pressed John McCain’s challenger for the Republican nod for Senate, JD Hayworth, to answer whether he believes Obama was born in the United States and he wouldn’t give a direct answer.  Hayworth first said the issue was important because there’s so much identity theft in the news:

All I’m saying is, for every race across the country, especially with identity theft in the news, it would be great that people can confirm who they say they are.

He then referred to the issue as “some esoteric argument about birth certificates and eligibility.”

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On Tuesday’s Radio Show…

• U.S. ice hockey goalie Jonathan Quick has been ordered to remove the slogan “Support Our Troops” from his helmet. Alan explains why the IOC made the right call.

• Airport Insecurity? A college student was detained for boarding a plane with flashcards written in Arabic. Nick George and his attorney David Rudovsky join Alan to explain their case against the TSA.

• Utah state Sen. Chris Buttars is proposing that 12th grade be optional in order to save the state $60 million dollars. Alan questions the controversial budget maneuver.…

“Impeach Obama” Billboard In Wisconsin: Haven’t They Heard Of Elections?

They still can’t get over the fact that Barack Obama won an election and rather than argue for a better set of policies, they just want to get rid of him. The billboard on Highway 41 in Oshkosh, WI, doesn’t even identify who put it up, at a cost of $1000 per month. Was there some impeachable offense that we didn’t notice?

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Good That “Support Our Troops” Is Ordered Off Olympic Helmets

US ice hockey goalie Jonathan Quick has been ordered to remove the slogan “Support Our Troops” from his helmet because it violates IOC rules against political propaganda.

Netminder Ryan Miller, Quick’s team mate, has also been told to remove the slogan ‘Miller Time’ from his helmet while the third American netminder Tim Thomas had already placed a sticker over a slogan on his mask during training on Monday.

“We will inform the American team and their equipment managers that this is a violation of IOC rules,” IIHF spokesman Szymon Szemberg told Reuters. “According to IOC rule 51, no political propaganda …

Majority Of Minnesotans Embarrassed By Michele Bachmann

A survey of Minnesotans by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee reveals that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is an embarrassment to the majority of the respondents. (h/t RightWingWatch)  Bachmann’s most recent statements haven’t helped, saying:

…she believes President Barack Obama wants to “annihilate” conservatives, that the U.S. faces a “curse” – and extinction — if it fails to support Israel, and that government must “wean” Americans off of social safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security.

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The Bachmann survey results, released exclusively to the Minnesota Independent, measure responses to the question, “Do you think Congresswoman Michele Bachmann does …

Utah Conservatives Have Plan To Eliminate The 12th Grade

Many conservatives hate public education to begin with but a plan by Utah State Senator Chris Buttars to eliminate the 12th grade entirely probably won’t fly. Buttars dowgraded the idea to suggest that the 12th grade be made optional. (h/t Think Progress)

The notion quickly gained some traction among supporters who agreed with the Republican’s assessment that many seniors frittered away their final year of high school, but faced vehement opposition from other quarters, including in his hometown of West Jordan.

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Buttars has since toned down the idea, suggesting instead that senior year become optional for students who …

Will Obama’s Up Numbers Get The Attention His Down Numbers Did?

The minute President Obama’s numbers dipped below 50% the right wing went into full bashing mode. The play in the numbers always goes back-and-forth, and conservative icon Ronald Reagan began his third year in the White House at 35% approval. In February of year two, Reagan was at 47%.

Now that Obama is up to 53% in the ever-changing numbers, where is the sugar?

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