Obama's National tree; National Defense Authorization Act being questioned, turning USA into USSR; N. Carolina Governor's administration breaking the law by getting advanced word on unemployment; Government using drones against US citizens; Arrests of illegals down as Obama draws down troops from Mexican border; We are not detaining criminal illegals; 45% increase in Iraqi college students in America; Occupy says to church: "We need more; you have more"

When asked whether the [National] tree included any ornaments that mention or depict Christmas or the birth of Jesus, the office of the Architect of the Capitol, which is responsible for the tree, told CNSNews.com that it “does not have a policy nor any restrictions concerning the themes for the ornaments” that go on the tree. The office could not say, however, whether or not this year’s Christmas tree does in fact include even a single ornament that directly references or depicts Christmas or Christ.

The 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)

The office of the Architect of the Capitol also did not directly respond to the question of whether any other elected official—in addition to President Obama—is mentioned on any ornament hung on the tree.

In keeping with this special invitation to students, the official website also produced some environmental “lesson plans” that teachers could use in helping their students create ornaments.

“Ornaments should be designed to reflect our theme ‘California Shines’ by showing how the rich cultural and ecological diversity of this state make it shine,” says the tree’s official website, which was funded by corporate sponsors.  ”From the Pacific Ocean to the sparkling deserts, from the high mountain peaks to its forests, rivers and abundant Central Valley, the diversity of nature and the people who live here are what make the great state of California shine.”

“Ask students where they think that trash goes when they throw it away,” said this introduction. “Work with them until they understand that trash eventually ends up in a landfill. Show students the image of a landfill.”

The tree also includes an ornament that from a distance looks like it could be a cross--but closer up turns out to be a road sign, pointing the direction not to California—but 4837 miles to Hawaii.

The tree also includes a number of ornaments representing Christmas gift packages. The ribbons on these packages are arranged in a cross pattern--but all of them have "Happy Holidays" enscribed on them.

“We ask that all ornaments for the Capitol Christmas Tree be made out of natural or recycled materials,” said the introduction to the lesson plans. [OK, inquiring minds want to know if this is the first time the tree celebrates just one state (and a liberal one of course) and one of the President's indoctrination points, instead of celebrating the birth of Jesus.  I shall be photographing this tree within the next few weeks, and my anticipation has been diminished by Obama's political tree.]    http://cnsnews.com/news/article/us-capitol-christmas-tree-pays-homage-obama-not-jesus
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Personal Liberty writes: But here we are. The passage of the National Defense Authorization Act has turned the U.S. into the USSR.
The bill authorizes the indefinite detention of American citizens without trial. We have become the USSR and Nazi Germany wrapped into one. The Constitution is shredded, the Bill of Rights nullified. There is bitter irony that it happens on the anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights.
Some have been fooled into believing the bill does not apply to Americans. But as Congressman Justin Amash (R-Mich.) has pointed out, the wording is cleverly disguised doublespeak. Section 1032 says: “The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States.” Read it again this way: “The requirement… does not extend to citizens of the United States,” meaning the detention is discretionary rather than required.
Who is foolish enough to think that a President who will assassinate an American without trial would not exercise this discretion? The President who campaigned on closing Guantanamo Bay will now have the authority to fill it up with Americans.  http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/government/welcome-to-the-new-nazified-soviet-union-of-america/?eiid=
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The Intel Hub writes: 40 members of Congress have sent an urgent letter to House and Senate Armed Services Committee leaders protesting provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act that would legalize indefinite detention of American citizens without trial, as the revised version of the bill heads for a final vote on Thursday.

“The Senate-passed version of the NDAA, S. 1867, contains Section 1031, which authorizes indefinite military detention of suspected terrorists without protecting U.S. citizens’ right to trial.
We are deeply concerned that this provision could undermine the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth amendment rights of U.S. citizens who might be subjects of detention or prosecution by the military,” states the letter. http://theintelhub.com/2011/12/14/40-members-of-congress-protest-%E2%80%98indefinite-detention%E2%80%99-bill/#.TulE2cT7wOs.facebook
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Washington Examiner writes: The Carolina Journal, published by the Raleigh-based John Locke Foundation (for which I’ve given paid speeches on occasion) reports that staffers in North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue’s office have been getting advance word on monthly unemployment statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is highly illegal under federal law and violates what I have understood to be a strong tradition in the BLS and other government statistics that no one—no one at all, not even in the White House—gets advanced word ahead of the public announcement of government statistics.
There’s obviously good reason for this: someone with advanced word could place bets in financial and community markets and make lots of money. That’s why Congress provided for penalties of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for early release of this data. And there’s another excellent reason: government statistical agencies should be free of political influence to insure the integrity of the numbers on which many people depend.  [Why are they not accusing the Dept. of Labor as a law breaker as well?] http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/government-statistical-agency-helping-nc-democrat/264741
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ABC's WISN writes: Meet the Brossarts, a North Dakota family deemed so dangerous that the local sheriff needed unleashed an unmanned Predator drone to help bring them in. 
The Brossart's alleged crime? They wouldn't give back three cows and their calves that wandered onto their 3,000-acre farm this summer.
The same aerial vehicles used by the CIA to track down and assassinate terrorists and militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan are now being deployed by cops to spy on Americans in their own backyards.
Read more: http://www.wisn.com/politics/29987729/detail.html#ixzz1gWsZHhTp
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The Daily Mail reports: The number of arrests for illegal immigration by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection are down 53% since Barack Obama was elected president, that agency reported on Monday. The news comes as the president prepares to withdraw troops from the Mexican border — leaving the USA even more vulnerable to infiltration by foreign terrorists.

Meanwhile, the frisking of citizens at airports will continue in the name of security.

The federal government spun its 53% cut in productivity as “proof” that it is doing a good job. From the press release: “U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions — a key indicator of illegal immigration — decreased to 340,252 in FY 2011, down 53 percent since FY 2008 and one fifth of what they were at their peak in FY 2000. Of these apprehensions, 87,334 people had a record in the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, a law enforcement database of individuals with criminal charges and convictions.”

his shows a lack of interest by both President Bush 43 and Obama in protecting our borders. Both men favor amnesty for illegal immigrants. Their failure to secure the border led Arizona to pass a law that enforces the federal law that Bush 43 and Obama have ignored. http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/47877 

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Examiner reports: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today sent another letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano following the Department’s continued delay in providing a list of illegal and criminal immigrants that have been flagged by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) but have not been detained or placed in removal proceedings by the agency.

If DHS fails to produce the requested data in its entirety by December 9, the Committee intends to move forward and consider a resolution to hold DHS in contempt of Congress, Rep. Smith stated. December 9 came and went without a Napolitano response. http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/immigration-probe-lawmakers-threaten-secretary-napolitano

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 ABC News reports:The number of Iraqi students studying in the U.S. was up 45% for the 2010-11 school year, according to statistics compiled by the Institute of International Education and State Department. Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has earmarked $1 billion to be spent on education initiatives over the next several years and the Iraqi government will announce this week that it will fund scholarships for 2,500 students to attend U.S. universities in 2012 —quadrupling enrollment of Iraqi students in American universities, said Abdul Hadi al-Khalili, the cultural attaché at the Iraq Embassy in Washington.
As concerns grow in Washington about waning American influence in Iraq as the U.S. military presence concludes, al-Khalili said the initiative gives the United States a chance to help shape the next generation of Iraqi leaders.  http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-opens-doors-iraqi-students/story?id=15134853
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Powerline writes: But in the weeks since Occupy Wall Street was evicted from Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, relations between the demonstrators and Trinity Wall Street, a church barely one block from the New York Stock Exchange, have reached a crossroads.
The displaced occupiers had asked the church, one of the city’s largest landholders, to hand over a gravel lot, near Canal Street and Avenue of the Americas, for use as an alternate campsite and organizing hub. The church declined, calling the proposed encampment “wrong, unsafe, unhealthy and potentially injurious.”
So now the Occupiers are demonstrating against the church. One of them explained the facts of life to the liberals at Trinity:

“We need more; you have more,” one protester, Amin Husain, 36, told a Trinity official on Thursday, during an impromptu sidewalk exchange between clergy members and demonstrators. “We are coming to you for sanctuary.”

Ah, yes–you have money, and we want some! This is the essence to which leftism can always be reduced. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/12/limousine-liberals-learn-the-essence-of-leftism.php

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Lake Superior was formed during the last glacial retreat, making it one of the earth's youngest major features at only about 10,000 years old.  [I read this to mean that there was another "global warming" 10,000 years ago, before mankind could have had a great effect......  ]
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