Obama is one of Ten Most Corrupt Politicans;Philly councilwoman games the system; Alaskan seals sickened by Japanese Fukushima nuclear plant?; Light bulb standards will phase in; Girl Scouts will cease promoting Media Matters website; Conservative states donate more to charity; Obama gives assistance to illegals; Americans pay for China's access to Afghanistan's oil; 2012 unemployment to be 9%; The 10 most corrupt politicians of 2011;

On left is our National Christmas tree, which stands very near the White House.  This year it is short, it is like a Charley Brown tree, and it is almost an embarrassment.  Below is the stately Capitol Christmas tree...
 

Examiner examines: As they do each year, officials at the successful (and feared) public-interest group Judicial Watch released their annual Ten Most Corrupt Politicians list. President Obama makes Judicial Watch’s “Ten Most Wanted” list for a fifth consecutive year. (The former Illinois Senator was also a “Dishonorable Mention” in 2006.)The 2011 list contains several well-known government officials as well as some lesser known -- but equally corrupt -- elected leaders.  [Four are Republicans.  Go to the site for more information.  I present our President:] Obama continues to countenance actions by his appointees that undermine the rule of law and constitutional government:
Despite a ban on funding that Obama signed into law, his administration continues to fund the corrupt and allegedly defunct “community” organization ACORN. In July 2011 Judicial Watch uncovered a $79,819 grant to AHCOA (Affordable Housing Centers of America), the renamed ACORN Housing which has a long history of corrupt activity. In absolute violation of the funding ban, Judicial Watch has since confirmed that the Obama administration has funneled $730,000 to the ACORN network, a group that has a long personal history with President Obama.In 2011,

Barack Obama apparently believes it is his “prerogative” to ignore the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law when it comes to appointing czars. According to Politico: “President Barack Obama is planning to ignore language in the 2011 spending package that would ban several top White House advisory posts. Obama said this ban on “czars” would undermine “the President’s ability to exercise his constitutional responsibilities and take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” In other words, Barack Obama believes he must ignore the U.S. Constitution to protect the U.S. Constitution. 

In an historic victory for Judicial Watch and an embarrassing defeat for the Obama White House, a federal court ruled on August 17, 2011 that Secret Service White House visitor logs are agency records that are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell issued the decision in Judicial Watch v. Secret Service. The Obama administration now will have to release all records of all visitors to the White House – or explain why White House visits should be kept secret under the law. 

http://www.examiner.com/public-safety-in-national/ten-most-corrupt-politicians-2011-selected-by-top-legal-group

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The Blaze reports: Philadelphia is known as the city of brotherly love and, apparently, paying out massive pensions to public employees who will continue working for the city. Marion B. Tasco, who has been described as being “politically savvy,” will retire from her sixth term as councilwoman, collect $478,057, and then be sworn in on Monday to serve her seventh term, Catherine Lucy and Chris Brennan of the Philadelphia Daily News.
How does she get away with this?
Tasco, along with many of her fellow Council members, is enrolled in Philadelphia’s Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP). DROP allows city workers to collect salary and build up pension money during the last four years of their employment, writes Aaron Kase of Philadelphia Weekly.  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/philly-councilwoman-will-retire-for-one-day-collect-a-478k-pension-and-return-on-monday/
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Personal Liberty writes: Scientists are investigating whether seals in Alaska that have recently fallen ill are being sickened by radiation from the destroyed Japanese Fukushima nuclear plant.
Several seals have washed up on Alaska’s Arctic coastline since July, suffering or killed by a mysterious disease marked by bleeding lesions on the hind flippers, irritated skin around the nose and eyes and patchy hair loss on fur, according to Reuters. http://www.personalliberty.com/news/scientist-think-sick-seals-may-be-radioactive/?eiid=
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The Hill writes: “The major manufacturers have already made the investments to follow the law,” he said. “They’re law-abiding companies who aren’t going to break the law.”

The GOP-backed measure to cut funding for enforcing the light bulb standards “probably is not going to have much impact,” Nadel said. http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/201687-despite-gop-opposition-light-bulb-standards-to-phase-in-on-jan-1
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The Blaze reports: On Tuesday, we broke the story of the Girl Scouts using one of its books to direct young girls to the liberal site Media Matters to combat media misinformation. The story took off, with everyone from Fox News to the Drudge Report covering it. The girl at the center of the story was 15-year-old Sydney Volanski, who first noticed the Media Matters reference last year and left the organization over it. Now, Sydney is speaking out.
Sydney joined the crew of “Fox & Friends” on Thursday morning to explain what she found and also to talk about her website, “Speak Now: Girl Scouts Website,” which she co-edits and that was set up to expose other liberal bias within the Scouts.
“My sister and I started a website to help inform families of the more leftward leanings of Girl Scouts because they promise to be neutral politically and about certain social issues,” she explained, “but when you examine the women that they promote and the websites and books that they refer girls to, there is a clear liberal ideology, like with the Media Matters site.”
On a side note, Girl Scouts spokesperson Michelle Tompkins — who did not answer any of our follow-up inquiries — did give a statement to Fox saying that the organization’s material is regularly reviewed and updated and that upcoming versions of the book will not include references to Media Matters. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/15-year-old-behind-blaze-story-on-girl-scouts-speaks-out-clear-liberal-ideology/
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Redstate reports: The Fraser Institute has released their latest report on charitable giving in the U.S. and Canada, and once again North America’s leaders in charitable donations from the Rio Grande to the Arctic Circle reside overwhelmingly in red states. This has been the case for some time, and the reason for it almost certainly comes down to a difference in philosophy regarding charity and the role of private/public institutions in its application. It’s unsurprising that conservatives – who by and large believe in the sovereignty of the individual, particularly in terms of fiscal decision-making – choose to give of their own net incomes to charitable causes and organizations that they find worthwhile. It’s also unsurprising (and stereotypical) that liberals choose to give less of their own net income to charity, instead leaving that responsibility to the government, which replaces the individual as the evaluator and benefactor of charitable organizations and endeavors.  Based on that philosophy of charity and responsibility, it’s no surprise that some liberals have been calling on the government to reduce or eliminate the charitable giving tax deduction. http://www.redstate.com/jeff_emanuel/2011/12/29/once-again-red-staters-lead-the-nation-in-private-charitable-giving/
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Politico reports: As states across the nation ramp up their efforts to catch illegal immigrants, the Obama administration on Thursday launched a new free hotline for people busted on violations to get help.
The hotline, run by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, is available 24/7 for detained individuals to phone if they think they “may be U.S. citizens or victims of a crime.”
The new practices are “part of a broader effort to improve our immigration enforcement process and prioritize resources to focus on threats to public safety, repeat immigration law violators, recent border entrants and immigration fugitives while continuing to strengthen oversight of the nation’s immigration detention system and facilitate legal immigration,” ICE wrote in its press release.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70943.html#ixzz1i1Nj1E9p

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News Observer reports: Congressman Walter Jones has fired off an angry letter to President Barack Obama criticizing a deal between the Afghan government and China's National Petroleum Corp. that allows China to be the first foreign country to access Afghanistan's oil and natural gas reserves.
"It is completely unacceptable to send our young men and women to protect China's interest in Afghanistan's natural resources," Jones said in a statement. "How many more of them have to die for a corrupt leader and a corrupt government?"
In his letter to the president, the Farmville Republican asks the president for an accounting "of dollars spent directly and indirectly providing security to Chinese mineral extraction activities in Afghanistan as well as an accounting of Americans killed and wounded providing security to those same operations."
He urged Obama to "dramatically accelerate" the projected 2014 withdrawal date of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/12/30/1741118/jones-troops-shouldnt-help-china.html
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American Thinker writes: Most economists predict that, under current policies, the nation's unemployment rate will be close to 9% through the end of 2012, with the broader measure of unemployment (U-6) running above 16%. GDP growth is predicted to be sluggish, in the range of 2%. Government will continue to lay off workers as growth stagnates and tax receipts remain flat. In short, the economy will remain lousy.
It doesn't have to be this way.
Tax cuts are always a good idea, but not if they are funded by a $37 billion stealth tax on mortgages. A permanent cut in tax rates funded by real spending cuts is the best prescription for growth. As Stanford economist John B. Taylor put it, it is adherence to "the principles of economic freedom" that spurs growth, not short-term intervention by the Federal Reserve or other parties. What Taylor means by "economic freedom" is simply freedom from excessive taxation and regulation, and strict adherence to the rule of law. http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/12/m-unhappy_new_year.html
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