BRATTLEBORO, Vermont — Vermont became the first state to lay the groundwork for single-payer health care on Thursday when its governor signed an ambitious bill aimed at establishing universal insurance coverage for all residents.
“This law recognizes an economic and fiscal imperative,” Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin said as he signed the bill into law at the State House.
“We must control the growth in health care costs that are putting families at economic risk and making it harder for small employers to do business.”
Legislators say the plan, approved by the Democratic controlled House and Senate this spring, aims to extend coverage to all 620,000 residents while containing soaring health care costs.
A key component establishes a state health benefits exchange, as mandated by new federal health care laws, that will offer coverage from private insurers, state-sponsored and multi-state plans. It also will include tax credits to make premiums affordable for uninsured Vermonters.
A single-payer health care system is one in which a single-entity — the government — collects almost all of the revenue for and pays almost all of the bills for the health care system. In most single-payer systems only a small percentage of health care expenses are paid for with private funds. Countries that have a single-payer system include Australia, Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Single-payer is popular among the political left in the United States. Leftists have emitted tons of propaganda in favor of a single-payer system, much of which has fossilized into myth.
Here are some of the more prominent single-payer myths:
Myth No. 1: Everyone has access to health care a single-payer system.
Everyone in a single-payer system has health insurance, not necessarily health care.
While the government in a single-payer system will pay for everyone’s health care, it limits the access to health care. In a single-payer system, citizens often believe that “the government” is paying for their health care. When people perceive that someone else is paying for something, they tend to over-use it. In a single-payer health care system, people over-use health care. This puts strain on government health care budgets, and to contain costs governments must ration care.
Governments in a single-payer system ration care using waiting lists for surgery and diagnostic procedures and by canceling surgeries. As the Canadian Supreme Court said upon ruling unconstitutional a Quebec law that banned private health care, “access to a waiting list is not access to health care.
Clinton tells Ryan that he’s glad Dems won the New York congressional race this week, but he’s afraid that Dems will never do the right thing on Medicare as a result. Amazing truth telling.
Clinton, speaking at a fiscal summit sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said the race showed that voters don’t like the Republican plan.
But he also told Democrats not to shy away from tackling entitlement programs.
“You shouldn’t look at the New York race and think that nobody can do anything to slow Medicare costs,” Clinton said.
House budget chief Ryan’s proposal would convert Medicare — the health care program for seniors — into a voucher program in 2022. Seniors would choose from a Medicare-approved list of private insurance plans. Wealthier seniors would pay more and poorer seniors would get federal subsidies.
Ryan, who spoke after Clinton at the summit, wasn’t asked directly about the New York race. But he did accuse Democrats of trying to use Medicare to scare seniors.
“Democrats are shamelessly demagoging and distorting this,” Ryan said. “Trying to scare seniors and (making) these things as political weapons creates political paralysis,” he said.
Fmr President Clinton: Cannot Have Health Care to Devour Economy
Former President Bill Clinton chastised fellow Democrats today for employing scare tactics while on the campaign trail. Clinton also commented on House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan, saying that although it may not be the best proposal, “you cannot have health care devour the economy.”
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Republicans Voted to End Medicare: How Will You Pay?
Andrew Breitbart in Arkansas Breitbart talks about the Clintons.wmv
Conservative film activist Andrew Breitbart spoke in Little Rock on Wednseday May 25th at the Hilton Hotel. The room was packed with conservative activist and Tea Party members. Breitbart talked about dealing with the liberal media and how the left indoctrinate the public on so many levels. Americans for Prosperity hosted the event.
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Andrew Breitbart in Arkansas Media destroying our culture.wmv
Andrew Breitbart chatting before the speech starts.wmv
Brietbart also offered his thought on the current Republican Presidential candidate pointing at that it is still very early and we still need to get to know the candidate better and hopes more candidates get in the race. He pointed specifically to Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, Herman Cain who has announced and is now “being taken seriously by the grassroots,” and Rep. Allen West of Florida.
“I don’t want the Republican establishment to think that it has the ability after all its year of ineptitude, that it thinks it is going to come in and give us another John McCain or give us another Bob Dole or give us the inferior product.”
He said the he appears in Sarah Palin’s upcoming movie defending her because she is being attacked by what he called “the Democrat media complex” because of her ability to connect with conservatives. He also blames Republicans for “kicking her when she down” following the criticism against her after the Tucson shootings.
“When the Republican establishment does not stand up for those that stick their necks out for conservative principles, then the conservative establishment has become worthless,” said Breitbart
Volunteer firefighters William Jackson, left, and Ashley Martin, center, from Oklahoma, and Johnny Ward of Joplin look through the wreckage of a home whereit was feared a pregnant woman as feared to be trapped following a tornado in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornado moved through much of the city, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses. The three did not find anyone during their search.
Missouri’s government announced Thursday that more than 230 people are still unaccounted for after a powerful tornado hit the southwestern city of Joplin Sunday.
Andrea Spillars, deputy director of the state’s Department of Public Safety, told reporters in a morning news conference that 232 people are missing. She urged survivors to check in.
“Our goal is to get that number to zero,” Spillars said of the missing. “We will dedicate as much state resources as needed around the clock to ensure those family who have loved ones that they cannot find are connected.”
But Spillars also said officials know some of the people on the missing list are dead. She wouldn’t say how many or say when names of the deceased would be released.
One example of the potential overlap: 12 residents of the Greenbriar Nursing Home are listed as missing. But nursing home administrators reported earlier that 11 people died in the tornado; only one resident was known missing.
Officials said previously they believe people who are unaccounted for aren’t necessarily dead or trapped in debris. They say many are probably safe and but failed to tell friends and family where they are. Cell phone service in Joplin remains spotty. Officials released a list naming all of the missing people soon after the press conference.
The death toll rose Wednesday to 125 people, not all of them identified, and officials have estimated more than 900 were injured.
Some families have complained about not being allowed into the morgue to try to identify missing relatives. Asked about that Thursday, Don Bloom, the deputy commander for family assistance for the mortuary team, said “the process has to take it’s time. We have to be 100 percent accurate.”
Search-and-rescue teams have made multiple sweeps through the destruction, using dozens of dogs and listening devices in hopes of picking up the faint sound of anyone still alive beneath the collapsed homes and businesses. No new survivors have been pulled from the rubble since Tuesday.
The list of the missing was checked against shelter populations, the Safe and Well list run by the American Red Cross, federal agencies, lists of hospital patients, ambulance logs and cell phone companies, Spillars said.
An increasingly desperate group of people in Joplin are pleading for help in tracking down one of the dwindling number of people still missing in the wake of Sunday’s storm, which leveled much of the southwest Missouri city and now ranks as the nation’s single deadliest tornado since the National Weather Service started keeping records.
They’re scrawling signs in wreckage, calling in by the hundreds to local radio stations and posting on the Internet. They are inspiring city officials to continue search and rescue efforts, yet there is no talk yet of recovery.
“I am hopeful,” Joplin Fire Chief Mitch Randles said. “We’ve had stories from earthquakes and tsunamis and other disasters of people being found two or three weeks later, and we are hopeful we’ll have a story like that to tell.”
Randles and others leading the search effort say it’s impossible to know exactly how many people are truly missing, since many may have simply left the area without getting in touch with their families. They believe most will be OK.
Amid that confusion, away from formal grid searches in the debris fields, children are looking for their parents and friends are searching for neighbors in any way they can.
With erratic cell phone service throughout Joplin and travel hindered by damaged cars and blocked streets, many residents have turned to local radio stations as a hub of information, sifting through around-the-clock reports of missing family members.
The Zimmer Radio Group, which operates seven radio stations in Joplin, abandoned its various music formats for 24-hour tornado coverage starting late Sunday afternoon. Newscaster Chad Elliot, whose home was destroyed, slept in his office when he wasn’t on the air. His dog Rusty barked loudly behind a closed door.
“I thought we were going to do a normal severe weather broadcast,” he said. “Obviously, that’s not the case.”
Calls flowed in — hundreds of them — from people looking for displaced loved ones, or calling in to say they were OK. By Wednesday, reports of missing friends and relatives were decreasing, replaced by updates of successful, tearful reunions.
“Folks wondering about Larry Allen, who was living near the Stained Glass Theater, he is fine,” an announcer said Wednesday afternoon. “He’s staying with friends.”
Another listener reported, “I want everyone to know that Alice DuBois, 94 years old, is alive and well. We hadn’t heard from her until yesterday afternoon. We thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers.”
Pleas were rampant on social networks.
“This little boy was taken to Memorial Hall,” one poster wrote next to a picture posted on KRGZ-FM’s Facebook page. “His name is David and all he know’s is that his mother’s name is Crystal and his brother is Zachary. He was airlifted to Tulsa. Please help find his mom.”
Other cries for help were low-tech: A tornado-battered pickup truck was spray-painted with the message, “Looking 4 Zachary Williams Age 12,” along with a phone number.
At the Red Cross shelter at Missouri Southern State University, a steady stream of people visited a table where Bill Benson took down the names of people for a “safe and well” database. Some people entered their names; others hoped to find the name of their loved ones in the database.
Benson has seen parents looking for missing children, saying “we had one where a 17-month-old infant was lost.” He contacted police and had not heard if the child was found. But more people have come to Benson searching for seniors — more than 100 were listed as missing Wednesday.
At Freeman Hospital, Karen Mitchell waited Wednesday hoping for word on her missing son, Robert Bateson, or her grandson, Abe Khoury. Khoury was found and taken to Freeman, where he was in critical condition. But Mitchell and her family continued to search for Bateson.
When she arrived in Joplin on Tuesday, Mitchell walked through the wreckage of her son’s apartment building. She recognized his mattress sitting in a pile. Her family continued to post Bateson’s information online. She prayed for a miracle.
“I am waiting on God to tell me where he’s at,” she said. “God is going to take him to me.”
Kathy Watson, a marketing team member and front desk volunteer at Freeman, said the hospital was deluged with calls and visits from searchers, sometimes in vain.
“You want to be able to say, ‘Not only do we have your loved one, but they’re fine,’ but you can’t say that,” Watson said.
Mike Hare has scoured the ravaged neighborhood where his 16-year-old son Lantz was seen last. He’s called hospitals from Dallas to Kansas City and taken dozens of calls offering advice, prayers and hopeful tips.
None of the calls came from Lantz. None offered any hope he might still be alive.
Hare has been looking for his son since Sunday.
“We know he’s hurt somewhere,” Hare said Wednesday, his voice breaking. “We just can’t sit and keep calling. You’ve got to be moving.”
The evening of the tornado, Lantz Hare was driving with a friend who said the two tried to take cover in the parking lot of a grocery store. The tornado shattered the windows and crumpled the car, and Mike Hare found Lantz’s backpack in the wreckage.
He said he would keep searching until he found his son, dead or alive.
“If you look at the ground, life will pass you by,” he said. “I won’t let life pass me by.”
Destructive Joplin Missouri Torando On May 22, 2011 a destructive and sadly a deadly tornado tore through the town of Joplin, MO. Here is video of the tornado entering the southwest side of town. Filmed by TornadoVideos.net Basehunters Colt Forney, Isaac Pato, Kevin Rolfs, and Scott Peake. Good Morning America: Joplin, Missouri Tornado Video: Storm […]
Destroyed helicopter lies on its side A destroyed helicopter lies on its side in the parking lot of the Joplin Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornadomoved through much of the city, damaging the hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses Emergency personnel walk Emergency personnel walk through […]
The last video listed does not have very good pictures but you hear when the tornado hits a building where people inside are filming. The sounds are just horrible and a cold feeling went through my body just listening to it. Joplin, Missouri tornado damage from the air Tornado damage of Joplin, Missouri. Aerial coverage […]
Volunteer firefighters William Jackson Volunteer firefighters William Jackson, left, and Ashley Martin, center, from Oklahoma, and Johnny Ward of Joplin look through the wreckage of a home whereit was feared a pregnant woman as feared to be trapped following a tornado in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornado moved through […]
Fox News reported today: Rescue crews dug through piles of splintered houses and crushed cars Monday in a search for victims of a half-mile-wide tornado that blasted much of this Missouri town off the map and slammed straight into its hospital. At least 116 people died, making it the nation’s deadliest single tornado in nearly […]
It is the job of state political party operatives to be ridiculous and to seek to make mindless partisan points out of the most common or routine matter.
The staff at the Arkansas Republican Party’s headquarters is, sure enough, doing its job.
On Tuesday the GOP’s hyperactive public information people issued a news release essentially alleging that Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, being Democrats who will compose two-thirds of the board that must redraw state legislative districts, might very well behave as partisan Democrats in their execution of this constitutional responsibility.
What might be the basis of this … well, I started to say “charge,” but will go instead with “belaboring of the painfully obvious?”
It is that neither Beebe nor McDaniel has released any of the redistricting maps that they surely already have prepared without the courtesy of conferring with the third member… Republican secretary of state, Mark Martin.
It is that Beebe and McDaniel are supposedly making a mockery of the public hearing process now being undertaken by seeking pointless public comments with no plan on the table for any context.The eventual issue here — the one to which I alluded by invoking potential little-bitty Fayetteville Fingers — is whether Beebe and McDaniel can be sufficiently deft and subtle. The Fayetteville Finger was a brazen overreach, the mapping of which revealed its own heavy-handedness.
So let us take a few deep breaths and wait for Beebe and McDaniel to show us what they have in the desk drawer. Brazen overreaching and heavy-handedness — those, if evident, will be cause for Republican whining. Even a left-leaning columnist would agree.
P.S. — If the state is tilting Republican in the way I think, maps will matter less than moods, anyway
President Reagan with actress Victoria Principal during a photo opportunity with the Arthritis Poster Child of the Year in the Oval Office. 5/29/86.
From Oct. 28, 1980 in Cleveland, here is part 8 of the Carter-Reagan Presidential Debate, as taped from WJKW-TV, CBS. Amazing how things have changed…and yet stayed the same…in almost 30 years!!!
Ronald Reagan came to the presidency with several important political advantages. He had an express mandate from the American people who knew what he intended to do — cut income taxes from top to bottom, reduce the size of the federal government for the first time since the New Deal, and make the U.S. military Number One in the world. To help him in this revolutionary task, he had a Republican Senate and a feisty Republican minority in the House determined to avoid legislative gridlock.
And he had something else, something that neither Robert Taft nor Barry Goldwater could have counted on if either of them had been elected president — a vital, committed conservative movement. Reagan could turn to the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and other think tanks for ideas.
He could call on groups like the Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress, the American Conservative Union, the National Rifle Association and the National Tax Limitation Committee for political muscle.
He could staff his administration with professionals who had gotten their start in the movement. In the White House alone, there were conservatives Ed Meese, Richard V. Allen, Martin Anderson, Robert Carleson, Lyn Nofziger, Tony Dolan, and Kenneth Cribb, all in senior positions. And he could draw on the neoconservatives for respected foreign policy experts such as Jeane Kirkpatrick, Max Kampelman, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, and Elliott Abrams.
Outside his administration, Reagan could depend on the support of opinion molders like columnists George Will, Patrick J. Buchanan, William F. Buckley, Jr., James J. Kilpatrick, and John Chamberlain. Will and Buchanan would become major television commentators before the end of the decade; Buckley, it seemed, had always been a major TV presence. Reagan could rely for guidance on the analytical skills of the editors and writers of a wide range of journals like National Review, Human Events, The American Spectator, Commentary, The Public Interest, The National Interest, and the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal.
And thanks to direct mail, there was sufficient money to fund the activities of the conservative movement — and those of the Republican party, especially when Reagan signed the letter.
Former Arkansas Gazette reporter and later independent journalist Carol Griffee died last night in hospice, we just learned from an e-mail from historian Michael Dougan.
“The Grif” was all business — she recently called Max to matter-of-factly inform him that she was dying and was putting her affairs in order — and in addition to her memorable work on the Vertac plant in Jacksonville and other environmental stories, colleagues remember her labors covering murderess Mary Lee Orsini. In her Gazette Project interview, Griffee told interviewer Michael Haddigan that she “should never have been involved in covering” the Orsini case. “It just made a total nervous wreck out of me. I [laughs] nearly lost it a couple of times.”
An excerpt from the Gazette Project interview on the Orsini case:
MH: Well, I want to make sure I ask you this question. There’s an often-told story about you coming to work and walking across the parking lot with a shotgun.
CG: Absolutely!
MH: What was that about?
CG: I carried a double-barreled shotgun.
MH: Was that . . .?
CG: I was being watched. No, this was just during the McArthur thing.
MH: Right.
CG: I was being watched, and I knew it.
MH: Who was watching you?
CG: I have a feeling it was Orsini, but I don’t really know for sure. But I was quite aware of it. Not only that, but there was one day when John Woodruff had to come to the house to get me out of my house, that’s how scared I was! [Laughs]
“Gerrymandering” Film Exposes Truth of Redistricting
Bill Plante talks to Jeff Reichert, the writer/director of “Gerrymandering,” a new documentary film that uncovers the way that congressional districts are drawn up.
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In my last post about redistricting, the point was made that State House and Senate redistricting could lead to many little Fayetteville Fingers. However, Brummett makes the point today that mood more than maps will make the difference. Max Brantley agrees. In his blog post, “Brummett to GOP: Take a deep breath,” Arkansas Times Blog, May 26, 2011, Brantley asserted, “Legislative lines are of relatively small importance against prevailing political moods anyway.”
Here is the deal: It is well-understood that the elections for governor, attorney general and secretary of state take on extra importance to the political parties, if not so much the general public, in census-year elections.
That’s because those three people will draw the new state legislative districts. It is because of a common universal understanding that the party with control of this board will exercise that control to protect and enhance its legislative districting position.
In 1981, two young Democrats — Attorney General Steve Clark and Secretary of State Paul Riviere — redrew these districts. The third Apportionment Board member was the governor, who happened to be Republican Frank White, who had upset Bill Clinton.
The late and lovable Frank didn’t much like it that Clark and Riviere did the work themselves without including him at all, but his reaction was one of amused scoffing.
He never put out a news release accusing Clark and Riviere of being Democrats who favored Democrats and Democratic interests.
The eventual issue here — the one to which I alluded by invoking potential little-bitty Fayetteville Fingers — is whether Beebe and McDaniel can be sufficiently deft and subtle. The Fayetteville Finger was a brazen overreach, the mapping of which revealed its own heavy-handedness.
So let us take a few deep breaths and wait for Beebe and McDaniel to show us what they have in the desk drawer. Brazen overreaching and heavy-handedness — those, if evident, will be cause for Republican whining. Even a left-leaning columnist would agree.
P.S. — If the state is tilting Republican in the way I think, maps will matter less than moods, anyway
2000: The Terminator with Mrs Baena and his son Christopher, who was born five days before the housekeeper gave birth to his secret lovechild.
1994: Schwarzenegger and his housekeeper Mildred Baena share a dance at a family party
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A general view of the home of Mildred Patricia Baena, a member of former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s household staff for 20 years, is seen in Bakersfield
I got a lot out of this article below: Adrift in Marriage:Jerry and Olivia Dugan wanted to stay married but didn’t know how by Mary May Larmoyeux When Jerry and Olivia Dugan got married, they pledged lifelong commitment to one another. After all, they each knew firsthand how divorce rips families apart. They had individually […]
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments: […]
Hot Topics-Arnold’s Love Child – The View Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In […]
Schwarzenegger’s Love Child Bombshell Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger: News On Woman & Love Child TMZ Scoop Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger & Family Out For A Walk In Santa Monica In This Photo: Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christina Schwarzenegger The Govenator Arnold Schwarzenegger takes a walk on Ocean Ave with his wife Maria Shriver and daughter Christina Schwarzenegger in Santa Monica, CA. (// May 23, 2009- Photo by FlynetPictures.com) Hot Topics-Arnold’s Love Child – […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger & Family Out For A Walk In Santa Monica In This Photo: Maria Shriver, Christina Schwarzenegger The Govenator Arnold Schwarzenegger takes a walk on Ocean Ave with his wife Maria Shriver and daughter Christina Schwarzenegger in Santa Monica, CA. (May 23, 2009- Photo by FlynetPictures.com) Schwarzenegger’s Love Child Bombshell Maria Shriver Asks – […]
California First Lady Maria Shriver (L-R) California First Lady Maria Shriver, niece of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, her son Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger and her husband CaliforniaGovernor Arnold Schwarzenegger attend funeral services for Senator Kennedy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts in this August 29, 2009 file photo. Former […]
The private driveway to former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s home is seen in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California May 17, 2011. Schwarzenegger,newly estranged from his wife of 25 years and seeking to resume his Hollywood career, has acknowledged fathering a child more than a decade ago with a member of his household staff ______________________________________ California Governor […]
File photo of Schwarzenegger File photo of the Schwarzenegger family: (L-R) Maria Shriver, Christina, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Patrick(AFP/Getty Images/File/Jason Merritt)… Arnold Schwarzenegger Fathers Love Child With Longtime Member Of Household Staff Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had […]
The Schwarzenegger Family Voting In This Photo: Christina Schwarzenegger Governor Schwarzenegger goes to cast his vote on election day with his wife Maria Shriver and their daughters Christina and Katherine (her first time voting), at the Kenter Canyon elementary school in Brentwood. Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold […]
___________________________________________ Arnold Schwarzenegger & Family Out For A Walk In Santa Monica In This Photo: Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christina Schwarzenegger The Govenator Arnold Schwarzenegger takes a walk on Ocean Ave with his wife Maria Shriver and daughter Christina Schwarzenegger in Santa Monica, CA. (// May 23, 2009- Photo by FlynetPictures.com) Maria Shriver Asks – […]
File photo of Schwarzenegger File photo of the Schwarzenegger family: (L-R) Maria Shriver, Christina, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Patrick(AFP/Getty Images/File/Jason Merritt)… Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of […]
California First Lady Maria Shriver (L-R) California First Lady Maria Shriver, niece of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, her son Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger and her husband CaliforniaGovernor Arnold Schwarzenegger attend funeral services for Senator Kennedy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts in this August 29, 2009 file photo. Former […]
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, his son Christopher, 9, and his wife Maria Shriver hold hands as they walk to their vehicle after voting inthe U.S. midterm elections at the Crestwood Hills Recreation Center in Los Angeles, California, in this November 7, 2006 file photo. Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has acknowledged […]
Maria Shriver Asks – How Do You Handle Transitions in Your Life? Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to his wife several months ago that he had fathered a child about 10 years ago with a member of their household staff. Maria moved out, but has not filed for divorce. In the you tube clip above she comments: […]
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In this series “Will Maria Shriver’s marriage survive Arnold Schwarzenegger’s admission of infidelity? I hope so,” there has been a great reaction to it by the public. I have included articles from “Family Life” of Little Rock, Arkansas about how to recover from an infidelity. I have also included info on how to take part in a “Weekend to Remember,” where you can hear “Family Life” speakers with your spouse. The only hope for Maria’s marriage will come from the power of Christ in her life to forgive. “A Family Life Conference” would be a great first step. Below is some info on that:
In just one November weekend, for example, more than 6,200 people attended 10 Weekend to Remember® marriage getaways around the country. Here are a couple quotes from those who went:
We are moving from a place of being ready to divorce to looking forward to growing together through Christ. This has given us important tools to do so.
We’ve been walking separate roads for many years. Infidelity was the final straw leading us to divorce. I was filling out the papers two days before we came to this event. Over the course of the weekend we found each other, wrote love letters that will be kept as reminders of our true love for each other. I granted forgiveness that my husband really needed. We are going to burn the divorce papers when we get home!
In today’s culture, the issues of marriage and family are open doors for the gospel–the Good News of Christ. Because people want their marriages and families to succeed.
Arnold Schwarzenegger & Maria Shriver Divorce, Prenup Discussion With Robert Brandt
The Schwarzenegger Shriver divorce will throw off a big number for sure. The legal complexities involved in this process are fascinating. Los angeles family law specialist Robert Brandt (Feinberg Mindel Brandt $ Klein) says the most interesting aspect is how Schwarzenegger was able to keep this quiet so long given the woman and boy were living in the house.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s divorce could cost him $200 million.
The ‘Terminator’ star split from wife Maria Shriver after 25 years earlier this month and she is now set to begin divorce proceedings against him following the revelation he fathered a child with their housekeeper Mildred ‘Patty’ Baena, and it is thought their assets – estimated between $200 and $400 million – could be divided evenly.
While the couple is believed to have a prenuptial agreement, because of the former Governor of California’s infidelity and the length of the marriage, it could be voided.
Instead they would then have to split their net worth, as per Californian law.
Although Maria hasn’t announced official divorce plans yet, she is believed to have hired top divorce lawyer Laura Wasser.
Meanwhile, Patty’s ex-husband Rogelio Baena – who believed her son Joseph, now 13, was his child – has spoken of how betrayed he feels, particularly after the actor gave him “a big Judas hug,” and told him “You must be so proud”.
Rogelio – who divorced Patty two years ago – told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “I have been betrayed, and I’m shocked and very angry. I want to know what Mr. Schwarzenegger has to say for himself.
“We met many times and he always treated me as a friend – but he was lying. He has lied to me and he has lied to everyone. I feel like he has stuck a knife through my heart.”
He also branded Patty – who has gone into hiding – a “snake,” and said he will always feel like Joseph’s father.
Governor Schwarzenegger goes to cast his vote on election day with his wife Maria Shriver and their daughters Christina and Katherine (her first time voting), at the Kenter Canyon elementary school in Brentwood.
(// November 4, 2008- Photo by FlynetPictures.com)
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lawyer Wednesday denied tabloid rumors the former California governor used state funds to cover up his extramarital exploits, “Entertainment Tonight” reported.
Schwarzenegger’s legal rep, Marty Singer, said claims his client used members of the California Highway Patrol to “to ferry scantily clad women in and out of his [hotel] suite” were “completely false.”
“Unfortunately, the media’s relentless desire for new information has some outlets running stories that are made up by paying sources that have zero credibility,” Singer said about The National Enquirer report, which cited a former hotel security officer.
“My client stated from the beginning that he takes full responsibility for his actions and deserves the public and media criticism. This does not entitle some in the media to be totally irresponsible,” the lawyer added, referring to the recent revelations, in the wake of Schwarzenegger’s split with wife Maria Shriver, that the movie star turned politician had fathered a lovechild with housekeeper Mildred Patty Baena.
Despite the denial by Singer — who is also representing actor Charlie Sheen in his Warner Bros. lawsuit — the California Attorney General will pursue an inquiry into the alleged misuse of government resources, according to Radar Online.
As Singer handles the media storm over the lovechild bombshell, Schwarzenegger is laying low and was spotted out on a bike ride Wednesday in the celebrity getaway of Ketchum, Idaho.
Two former California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers also spoke out Wednesday, denying they helped the former California governor cover up his love affairs.
“I can say without a shadow of a doubt as a supervisor of his protective detail that at no time did I see Governor Schwarzenegger say or do anything that could be deemed inappropriate,” retired CHP Sergeant Mark Hammond, who worked for Schwarzenegger for seven years, told TMZ.
Retired CHP officer Manny Trevino reiterated the denial, saying, “I never witnessed the Governor acting in a less than honorable manner.”
Meanwhile another woman — child actress Gigi Goyette — told “Extra” she had an affair with Schwarzenegger in the late eighties, while he was married to Shriver.
“Arnold is a very physical and sexual man, with a voracious appetite that likes a lot of physical attention,” Goyette told the entertainment TV program.
Singer similarly dismissed that reported affair, calling Goyette “a person who wants to make money selling stories,” according to People magazine.
Schwarzenegger, 63, and Shriver announced in May they had separated after 25 years of marriage which produced four children — Katherine, 21, Christina, 19, Patrick, 17, and 13-year-old Christopher.
Shriver, 55, has already hired one of Hollywood’s top divorce lawyers, Laura Wasser, and could file for divorce by the end of the week, sources suggest.
A general view of the home of Mildred Patricia Baena, a member of former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s household staff for 20 years, is seen in Bakersfield 
The Daily Hatch 