House rejects debt ceiling hike; Obama denies call for direct talks with Iran via secret letter; Natural gas in abundance; China wants Obama to be reelected; NY, St. Louis and N.J. schools invade privacy of students; Jan. 26 hearing on Obama eligibility; Treasury dips into federal pension funds; Newsweek calls Obama detractors "dumb"; Obama blames Republicans; Hillary Clinton to testify on pipeline; Pelosi no longer supporting "Occupy"; ABC to run hit piece on Gingrich; Our Divisive President

The Hill reports: The House on Wednesday evening approved a resolution disapproving of President Obama's request to increase the federal debt ceiling by another $1.2 trillion, sending it to a Senate that is expected to reject it.
The House approved the resolution in a 239-176 vote in which just one Republican voted against it, and six Democrats voted for it. But the vote fell far short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed for passage if Obama were to veto the resolution. http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/204927-house-approves-resolution-opposing-obamas-debt-limit-hike
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The UK Daily Mail reports: The White House has denied calling for direct talks with Iran in a 'secret letter' to the country's supreme leader.
A conservative Iranian lawmaker had claimed that Barack Obama was trying to open back-channel negotiations with the leadership of the Islamic Republic.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088431/U-S-threatens-Iran-crucial-global-oil-route-blocked.html#ixzz1juSeiMuk
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Chicago Tribune writes: The price of natural gas is plummeting at a pace that has caught even the experts off guard.  A 35 percent collapse in the futures price over the past year has been a boon to homeowners who use natural gas for heat and appliances and to manufacturers who power their factories and make chemicals and materials with it.

The country is flush with natural gas as a result of new drilling techniques that have enabled energy companies to tap vast supplies that were out of reach not so long ago. The country's natural gas surplus has been growing even as the country burns record amounts. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-natural-gas-plunge,0,7715256.story
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Personal Liberty writes: Good news: You don’t need to fret about global war, the economy or even the future value of outstanding U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds, at least if China has any say. It is not going to do a single thing to rock America’s boat. In fact, Beijing hopes that things stay smooth as glass, because it holds more than $1.1 trillion of U.S. Treasury debt. And with the direction America is going, the country would love nothing better than to see Barack Obama re-elected.
China’s leaders are not stupid. To them, Obama is the best thing to come along since one-minute rice.
One prominent Republican agrees. Last month, self-promoter extraordinaire Donald Trump wrote an open letter to the President. Trump took issue with Obama regarding the advantages in trade that China is being given, writing: “How little respect the Chinese government has for you.”  http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/keep-china-happy-vote-obama/?eiid=
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personal Liberty writes: A group of Bay Shore, N.Y., school students will soon be wearing a watch-like device that allows school officials to track how active they are, officials say.
The devices are called Polar Active monitors and they count heartbeats, detect motion and even track students’ sleeping habits in an effort to combat obesity, the New York Post reported Sunday.
“It’s a great reinforcement in fighting the obesity epidemic. It tells kids, in real time, ‘Am I active? Am I not active?’ We want to give kids the opportunity to become active,” said Bay Shore athletics chairman Ted Nagengast.
The devices are called Polar Active monitors and they count heartbeats, detect motion and even track students’ sleeping habits in an effort to combat obesity, the New York Post reported Sunday.
The monitors are distributed by Polar Electro, of Lake Success, the U.S. division of a Finland firm. They cost $90 each.
School districts in St. Louis and South Orange, N.J., already use the devices, which has raised some privacy concerns, according to the Post. [Where are the parents to say, "Make me" put this "watch" on my child!  What an invasion of privacy!]    http://www.personalliberty.com/news/schools-to-monitor-obesity-in-students/?eiid=
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Expose Obama writes: A hearing has been set for January 26,2012,for the purpose of hearing the complaint of David Weldon,a citizen living in Georgia,where he questioned the Constitutionality of President Obama being allowed on the Georgia presidential ballot.
The hearing here in Atlanta will be on January 26th at 9 a.m. Since this is a public hearing,the public can attend. The location is the Justice Center Building,160 Pryor St,Atlanta,GA – Courtroom G40 on the ground floor.

On January 3,2012,Judge Malihi denied the request from Mr. Obama’s attorneys to dismiss the case accusing him of not being qualified to be on the ballot;and therefore,ineligible to run for President this year in Georgia. They contend that since both of his parents were not citizens,that makes him ineligible. http://www.exposeobama.com/2012/01/17/the-public-can-attend-the-hearing-over-obamas-eligibility-set-in-georgia/
----------------------------------------------------- In this Feb. 27, 2008 file photo, a Vietnamese woman works at a fish market in Nha Trang, Vietnam. It might have surprised you to learn in recent news that Brazil tops Florida as the world's largest orange juice producer. You probably also didn’t know most of our apple juice comes from China. What about the fact that 85 percent of the fish Americans eat is imported, too? Photo: Chitose Suzuki / AP For instance, while 85 percent of the apple juice we drink is imported, only about 7 percent of the apples we eat are. Andy Jerardo, an economist at the USDA, says that's because the juice often comes from China, which produces apples that are inferior for snacking but good for drinking. http://www.chron.com/news/article/Apple-juice-made-in-America-Think-again-2527591.php
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Yahoo writes: The Treasury on Tuesday started dipping into federal pension funds in order to give the Obama administration more credit to pay government bills.
"I will be unable to invest fully" the federal employees retirement system fund beginning Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a letter to Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Wednesday on the Obama administration's request to raise the country's legal debt limit to $16.394 trillion. http://news.yahoo.com/treasury-dips-pension-funds-avoid-debt-limit-202850021.html
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The Blaze reports: The “Newsweek” magazine cover from the latest issue has done its job — it’s created quite the controversy and gotten plenty of people talking. If you haven’t seen it, it’s below, along with the cover story headline of “Why are Obama’s critics so dumb?” http://www.theblaze.com/stories/megyn-kelly-blasts-newsweek-author-andrew-sullivan-over-cover-hes-not-an-actual-journalist/

 
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National Journal reports: In a decision sure to re-ignite a fierce energy debate, the Obama administration was announcing on Wednesday its rejection of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline because the 60-day deadline imposed by Republicans did not allow adequate time to review an alternate route through critical wetlands in the Midwest. http://nationaljournal.com/congress/obama-rejecting-pipeline-pokes-back-at-gop-20120118?mrefid=subhplead_1
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House Republicans have called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify as early as next week on the Obama administration’s decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

A bill from Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) to give FERC control over the pipeline’s fate instead of the White House and State Department is “first in line,” Upton said. “Terry has a very good bill,” he said. “But again all options are on the table.”
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) has a draft bill to allow Congress to approve the pipeline, giving Nebraska officials time to find an alternative route.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71624.html#ixzz1juP9if1g

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Big Government opines: Of course, when the #Occupy movement first arose, Pelosi and and other members of the Leftist Elite gushed with enthusiasm about the protests:

House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she supports the growing nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, which began on the streets of downtown New York City in mid-September.

“I support the message to the establishment, whether it’s Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest, that change has to happen,” said Pelosi in an exclusive interview with ABC News “This Week” anchor Christiane Amanpour. “We cannot continue in a way this is not relevant to their lives.”

For good measure, President Obama added:

The most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side.

So, what happened? 

Or, maybe the news that the #Occupy kids had illegally taken over the home of a struggling single dad for their own use proved too much for Dame Pelosi. It’s a nice attempt at a pivot, but make no mistake, the Dems own the #Occupy movement. [At a recent Politico event, Miss Nancy actually said, "Well, we don't really have much of a connection to the Occupy".] http://biggovernment.com/mikeflynn/2012/01/17/dead-movement-walking-pelosi-tries-to-distance-herself-dems-from-occupy-movement/

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Drudge Reports: Marianne Gingrich has said she could end her ex-husband's career with a single interview.
  She spoke to ABCNEWS reporter Brian Ross for two hours, and her explosive revelations are set to rock the trail.

ABCNEWS suits determined it would be "unethical" to run the Marianne Gingrich interview so close to the South Carolina Primary.
A decision was tentatively made to air the interview next Monday, after all votes have been counted.
Gingrich canceled a press conference on Wednesday to deal with the matter. UPDATE: The AP reports ABC is now likely to air the segment Thursday on NIGHTLINE.
http://drudgereport.com/flash2.htm
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American Thinker opines: Democrat professionals Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen this July pleaded with Obama in a Wall Street Journal column, "Our Divisive President," not to run for a second term.  They describe his leadership as toxically divisive to our country.  According to Gallup, Obama's approval gap after one year was the most polarized in history, with an average approval of 88% among his own party and 23% among Republicans. 
Obama's disdain and hostility to opponents has been quite visible.  He dissed the Supreme Court to their faces, dismissed Congressman Ryan's efforts to work together on the deficit with a "you lost, we won" crack, and told Republicans to shut up and go to the back of the bus.  He rammed through the biggest changes to health care in history by chicanery, to avoid having to make compromises with Republicans through the normal conference process.  He ignored the recommendations of his own bipartisan commission on controlling debt and deficit.  His favorite activity (next to golf) is class warfare.  Obama is indeed the great divider, and the country shows it. 
What else do we know?  To the surprise of many, we now know that Obama does not pay attention to the black community -- he doesn't visit them, talk to them, encourage them, propose policies to benefit them.  He hasn't helped this suffering community, and when he does go to speechify, this is what he says:

Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'.  We are going to press on. We have work to do.

We now see the lazy student, the charmer in the White House, busy at what he likes best: golf, basketball, vacations, parties, speeches, and raising money.  He has not been the policy wonk Democrats dreamed of, President Clinton redux.  Obama doesn't do hard work.  He farmed out his health reform to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, showing no interest or capability in formulating the details of the policy or even working the politics to get it through Congress.  He famously didn't lift the phone to call Capitol Hill and get his signature policy passed.  Obama's only contribution was nonstop speeches, which failed to win over the country.  He doesn't seem interested in or capable of formulating an intelligent economic policy or foreign policy.  He doesn't care enough to even try.
Progressives saw Obama as worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize, before even taking office.  Republicans warned that Obama was a psychologically troubled man who deified his anti-colonial father, resented American power abroad, and had a troubling history of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel relationships (think Reverend Wright and Rashid Khalidi), never outgrowing an adolescent idolization of Castro and Che Guevara.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/m-now_we_know_who_was_right_about_obama.html

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