Muslim Burqas, Hospital Infections, Obama's Deductions, Beck, a preacher?, The Retread Brigade, The Rev Sharpie Sharpton

You may have heard about another air traffic controller falling asleep last week. Leno remarked the traffic controller had a good excuse. He was watching the president's speech.

• Hey, if you're looking for cheap fuel, go to Mexico--then pray.
• As you know, France has outlawed the wearing of burqas. My take is if the woman wants to wear it, it's her choice. But she has to know it's a sign of oppression and submission. As one commentator remarked last week, "To defend the wearing of the burqas is to suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. Ban them."
• How dirty are many of our hospitals?  A study of 36 hospitals from Boston to D.C., found that cleaners routinely overlook half the surfaces in patients' rooms. Toilet seats are cleaner than telephones and call buttons. The answer: it's important to clean all surfaces  MRSA is easily picked up by patients even when they enter their new room because the room was not cleaned properly. The Mayo Clinic reported they found a 75% drop in C. diff infections just by cleaning the surfaces around each patient's bed once per day with bleach-soaked wipes ( Source: Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths).
• Pundits were talking about who the winners and losers were last week after the budget was discussed last week. I have this feeling we were the losers.
• I don't often agree with John Farmer, columnist for the Newark Star Ledger, but I believe he made some good points in his piece today. He called Newt, Huckabee, Romney and Santorum the "retread brigade." He also pointed out something that I've been saying about Newt for some time now, "Newt's running as the 'morality' candidate, which requires uncommon chutzpah considering his three marriages and assorted sexual dalliances," referring to Newt's own marital adultery.
• Last week,  the president said the wealthier will have to pay more. But he's not following his own advice. His 2009, tax return shows he took tax deductions of over $115k. If he didn't, it meant he would have owed around $200k more in taxes (Source: Linda Chavez, "O's Tax Hypocrisy.").
• The FBI is reporting that Al-Qaeda thrives after dictators fall (ABC News).
• Farrakhan went on another anti-Semitic rant at Howard University. Nothing new really.  But the question is: when is this lunatic going to bring out the kool aid?
• Word on the street is: Glenn Beck might morph into a full-blown preacher.
• This is bad and disappointing news. "As many as 400 NYPD cops could face disciplinary action for fixing tickets in a widening corruption scandal" reported the NY Post today.
• As you know, Pres. Obama attended an event for the Rev. Sharpie Sharpton two weeks ago. So I found it interesting  and coincidental that Sharpie vowed to clean up his outstanding tax liabilities to the tune of $1.1 million. He also owes $2.6 million in federal liens and $1.3 million in state personal and corporate liens. Question is: why is this fake, phony and fraud not in jail?
• The president wants to raise taxes on "millionaires and billionaires," meaning families making over $250k. So how can he fix the financial problems by raising taxes on 2% of the population? Interesting math here.
• Obama is set to appear on one of Oprah's last shows. He's hoping it's the one where she gives away $14 trillion (size of our debt)--courtesy Conan.