Cuba to drill off Key West, FL; We provide free cell phones to the "poor"; Insurance companie balk at new government mandate and precedent; Commisar Sebelius "shall", "may", and "determines"; School children exploited; Trash into fuel?; UN forecasts on climate change overstated and supported by weak science

Resourceful Earth reports: Cuba’s ambition to drill has caused Florida to make way for offshore drilling by Spanish company Repsol just miles away from its shoreline.  Cuba has signed lease agreements for offshore drilling blocks with six nations in the North Cuba Basin, a body of water within the Cuban Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that is believed to be at least 4.6 billion barrels rich in crude oil.  Five of the six companies are owned by foreign countries: India, Venezuela, Malaysia, Vietnam and Angola.  Repsol is the single private company and will drill one exploratory well about 55 to 60 miles south of Key West, Florida called the Jaguey Prospect in the North Cuba Basin.
However, the powerlessness of the U.S. illustrated by this scenario is both unnecessary and ironic. In 2010, President Obama introduced a plan for drilling to take place 125 miles from Florida’s Gulf coastline.  Only weeks later, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred, changing the course of oil exploration with a moratorium on offshore drilling.  Now Cuba, a country which we have cut nearly all relations with, is facilitating offshore drilling closer to U.S. borders than the U.S. allows itself to drill.  http://resourcefulearth.org/2012/02/07/cuba-drills-closer-to-u-s-coast-than-the-u-s/
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The Conservative Tree House reports: Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, is popular for obvious reasons, with participation rising steeply since 2008, when the government paid $772 million for phones and monthly bills. But observers complain that the program suffers from poor oversight, in which phones go to people who don’t qualify, and hundreds of thousands of those who do qualify have more than one phone. http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2012/02/09/roaming-on-the-taxpayers-dime-well-1600000000-in-dimes-actually/
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Life Site News reports: The White House announced today that, instead of forcing religious employers to pay for birth control, it will force insurance companies to offer the drugs free of charge to all women, no matter where they work.
The plan, put forward as a concession to freedom of religion, was immediately denounced by Catholic Rep. Chris Smith as fundamentally the exact same mandate.
“The so-called new policy is the discredited old policy, dressed up to look like something else,” said Smith. “It remains a serious violation of religious freedom. Only the most naive or gullible would accept this as a change in policy.”
“The White House Fact Sheet is riddled with doublespeak and contradiction,” Smith continued. “It states, for example, that religious employers ‘will not’ have to pay for abortion pills, sterilization and contraception, but their ‘insurance companies’ will. Who pays for the insurance policy? The religious employer.”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/white-house-religious-employers-wont-have-to-cover-birth-control-but-insura
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Yahoo reports: President Barack Obama's compromise on free birth control coverage left health insurers stuck with the bill, sparking worries over the precedent set by the new policy. Providing free birth control is not expected to hurt profits for the multibillion dollar insurance industry. But insurance companies questioned the principle of making them pay for coverage with no clear way to recoup the expense.
Employers who have signed on for such health plans in the past paid part of the cost of birth control prescriptions, while their employees also bore some expense through co-payments.
An Obama administration official said the new policy would not allow health insurers to increase their premiums, charge co-payments or deductibles to make up for the cost of contraceptives.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/insurers-stuck-cost-obama-birth-control-plan-003257037.html

Health Insurance Industry OK With ObamaCare As Long As There's a Mandate to Purchase Health Insurance 
http://reason.com/blog/2011/10/26/health-insurance-says-its-ok-w

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As Mark Steyn notes: None of this should come as a surprise. As Philip Klein pointed out in the American Spectator two years ago, the Obamacare bill contained 700 references to the Secretary "shall," another 200 to the Secretary "may," and 139 to the Secretary "determines." So the Secretary may and shall determine pretty much anything she wants, as the Obamaphile rubes among the Catholic hierarchy are belatedly discovering. His Majesty King Barack "shall have full power and authority to visit, repress, redress, record, order, correct, restrain and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts and enormities whatsoever they be." In my latest book, I cite my personal favorite among the epic sweep of Commissar Sebelius' jurisdictional authority:

"Maybe the Founders were wrong to guarantee free exercise of religion in the First Amendment," Melinda Henneberger of the Washington Post offered to Chris Matthews on MSNBC. 

The bigger the Big Government, the smaller everything else: First, other pillars of civil society are crowded out of the public space; then, the individual gets crowded out, even in his most private, tooth-level space. President Obama, Commissar Sebelius and many others believe in one-size-fits all national government – uniformity, conformity, supremacy from Maine to Hawaii, for all but favored cronies. It is a doomed experiment – and on the morning after it will take a lot more than a morning-after pill to make it all go away.
| Article Videos

 http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/church-339789-one-catholic.html

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Michigan Capitol Confidential reports:  [It was just a few days ago that I posted the fact that the Michigan Education Association has distributed information on how to use students for propaganda.  Here it is  - in action, the exploitation and indoctrination of our children.] Third through fifth graders at an elementary school in the Walled Lake Consolidated School District were assigned by at least one teacher this week to write letters to Gov. Rick Snyder saying how unhappy they were with his budget cuts, the school district confirmed Thursday.  http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/16450

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Wired.com writes: Not all the trash arriving at Columbia Ridge has ended up buried. On the southwest side of the landfill, bus-sized containers of gas connect to ribbons of piping, which run into a building that looks like an airplane hangar with a loading dock. Here, dump trucks also offload refuse. This trash, however, is destined for a special kind of treatment—one that could redefine how we think about trash.  In an era when it’s getting more and more confusing to determine where to toss your paper coffee cup—compost? recycle? trash? arrrgh!—and when no one seems to have a viable solution to the problem of humanity’s ever-expanding rubbish pile, this plant represents a step toward radical simplification. It uses plasma gasification, a technology that turns trash into a fuel without producing emissions. In other words: a guilt-free solution to our waste problems. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2012/01/ff_trashblaster/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
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Spiegel International asks: Will reduced solar activity counteract global warming in the coming decades? That is what outgoing German electric utility executive Fritz Vahrenholt claims in a new book. In an interview with SPIEGEL, he argues that the official United Nations forecasts on the severity of climate change are overstated and supported by weak science. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,813814,00.html

 

30% less ice is melting that has been stated; 0 states get a pass on No Child Left Behind; Cost of Obama's mortgate scheme to be passed onto taxpayers; Middle East sees America as neutral on Israel; Rep. Bachus investigated for insider trading; Hearing on Homeland Security's monitoring of social networks; Unemployment to be 8.9% in 2012; Federal judge dismisses PETA lawsuit; Breitbart, CPAC, and Occupy; Warming, but not as much, as per Nature Magazine

While vast quantities of ice melting into the ocean is not exactly good news, Wahr says, according to his team's estimates, about 30 percent less ice is melting than previously thought.
The team used data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite, which was launched as a joint project between NASA and Germany in 2002. The GRACE satellite measures gravity, which is related to mass, in 20 distinct regions worldwide. Wahr says that gives the team more accurate estimates, because previous teams had to measure ice loss at "a few easily accessible glaciers" and then extrapolate it to the 200,000 glaciers worldwide.
"It's tough to get an estimate [with previous methods]," he says.http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/02/08/earths-polar-ice-melting-less-than-thought
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Odd Onion reports: President Obama is set to give 10 states a pass regarding an approaching deadline under the No Child Left Behind law, after the states struggled to meet the proficiency standards for reading and math.
No Child Left Behind requires all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014. Obama's action strips away that fundamental requirement for those approved for flexibility, provided they offer a viable plan instead. For all the cheers that states may have about the changes, the move also reflects the sobering reality that the United States is not close to the law's original goal: getting children to grade level in reading and math.
Critics today say the 2014 deadline was unrealistic, the law is too rigid and led to teaching to the test, and too many schools feel they are labeled as "failures." Under No Child Left Behind, schools that don't meet requirements for two years or longer face increasingly tough consequences, including busing children to higher-performing schools, offering tutoring and replacing staff.
On Tuesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said states without a waiver will be held to the standards of No Child Left Behind because "it's the law of the land."  http://www.oddonion.com/2012/02/09/obama-to-give-10-states-a-pass-on-no-child-left-behind-deadline/
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National Journal reports: The $26 billion mortgage-servicing settlement that federal and state prosecutors announced on Thursday with the nation’s largest lenders is a much needed boost to the Obama administration’s dismal housing scorecard.Because so many homeowners owe more than their homes are worth, lenders will not get dollar-for-dollar credit in what they pay to satisfy the settlement. Administration officials said that to satisfy the $26 billion agreement, lenders might have to pay as much as $40 billion. And if prosecutors can expand the deal to encompass nine more lenders, for a total settlement figure of $30 billion, that could cost lenders as much as $45 billion.
Under the terms of the initial deal with the top five lenders, $17 billion will provide direct relief to an anticipated 1 million borrowers or more, with 60 percent of those funds dedicated to principal reductions. The principal relief is an attempt to forestall foreclosures, so it will be targeted at borrowers who are deeply underwater and those who are delinquent. Lenders can also pursue other options, including short sales, loan modification, and forbearance, when deciding the most advantageous way to handle a given loan.  The deal will be submitted to the courts for approval in a few weeks. After that, the banks have three years to pay out the settlement, but there are incentives for them to deliver funds in the first year to maximize relief to borrowers.http://nationaljournal.com/economy/massive-mortgage-settlement-a-win-for-obama-administration-20120209
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Glenn Beck reports: “I spoke to somebody last night who just returned from the Middle East, very high level government official, and I’m going to let them speak for themselves. They will be on the show in the coming weeks. But they said that everyone they met with in the Middle East, everyone, they said, how are you going to react if if Israel strikes Iran and Iran strikes back? How are you going to react? And without exception in every country they were in the Middle East, the leadership of those countries said, “Well, now that the United States is neutral on Israel, we’re not going to get involved.’”
Uh, what?
Glenn continued, “The message has been sent: ‘We are not a protector of Israel; we are neutral in this; you guys settle it, whatever happens.‘ The game is about to change.” http://www.glennbeck.com/2012/02/09/middle-east-we-think-us-is-neutral-on-israel/
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Washington Post reports: The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee over possible violations of insider-trading laws, according to individuals familiar with the case.
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), who holds one of the most influential positions in the House, has been a frequent trader on Capitol Hill, buying stock options while overseeing the nation’s banking and financial services industries.
The Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent investigative agency, opened its probe late last year after focusing on numerous suspicious trades on Bachus’s annual financial disclosure forms, the individuals said. OCE investigators have notified Bachus that he is under investigation and that they have found probable cause to believe insider-trading violations have occurred.  [But haven't we been led to believe that insider trading is ok for Congress?]   http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rep-bachus-faces-insider-trading-investigation/2012/02/09/gIQA21Ui2Q_print.html
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Info Wars reports: A privacy advocacy group has swayed Congress to hold a hearing next week into the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of monitoring social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as media reports and organizations, including The Drudge Report.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) recently obtained close to 300 pages of documents, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, detailing the federal agency’s “intelligence gathering” practices on the web.
Among the documents were guidelines from DHS instructing outside contractors to monitor the web for media reports and comments that “reflect adversely” on the agency or the federal government. http://www.infowars.com/group-forces-congressional-hearing-on-big-sis-twitter-drudge-spying/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo writes: President Barack Obama will forecast a U.S. unemployment rate averaging 8.9 percent in 2012 in his annual budget on Monday - but before the document was even released a top aide called the projection "stale" and said it should be lower.  http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-issue-jobless-forecast-disavows-133307929.html
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CBS reports: A federal judge in San Diego dismissed an unprecedented lawsuit [by PETA]seeking to grant constitutional protection against slavery to a group of orcas that perform at SeaWorld parks, saying the 13th amendment applies only to humans. http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2012/02/09/federal-judge-dismisses-peta-lawsuit-claiming-seaworld-whales-are-slaves/
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Washington Times opines: At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday, Conservative web activist Andrew Breitbart and the Citizens United Productions team previewed a trailer of an Occupy Wall Street documentary that will be released in April. Amid rumors that Occupiers might attempt a CPAC infiltration, hearts skipped a beat when Breitbart and fellows paraded into the hall masquerading as occupy protesters
"Same apparatus, same structure, is conspicuously absent, from pointing out the clear and present threat that the Occupy movement represents to civil order in the United States, we’ve seen enough riots, we’ve seen enough threats. I’m a media personality, Newt Gingrich is a presidential candidate, there has been an open threat against both of us saying that Mitt Romney has security, secret service security, but they don’t, and therefore we’re going to be targeted," he added.
The Citizens United film suggests that ACORN, anarchists, and anti-war organizations are central to the occupy movement's continued presence. The documentary also unveils what Breitbart identifies as the “puppet masters” behind the demonstrations and so-called spontaneous movement: the Democratic Party and President Obama. http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2012/feb/10/gabl-occupy-documentary-teased-cpac/
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The Central Wisconsin Tea Party reports: Going through this week’s issue of Nature magazine, which arrived in my in-box yesterday, the following short squib in their “research highlights” section appears:
Warming, but not as much
The climate system may be less sensitive to greenhouse-gas warming than many models have predicted.First, this study was conducted by the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis of Environment Canada, which is Canada’s EPA, so the climate campaigners can’t use their favorite talking point that this comes from a private, fossil-fuel funded skeptic outfit.  Second, there is no disguising that the finding of this model, along with recent similar studies, that global warming is overestimated by roughly a factor of two in the usual models the IPCC uses. http://cwteaparty.org/comments.php?ct=2
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Current global development deemed unsustainable; Homeland Security and ID chips in driver's licenses; AZ woman who graduated high school and can't speak English now running for office; Non-citizens voting in Florida; 25% of Michigan education payroll goes to pensions; March 1 Arizona news conference on Obama's eligibility; American dependence on federal government goes up 23% in first two Obama years; Can Catholic confessions be admissable in court?; 5.4 million fewer Americans now employed; "Occupy" plans violence at CPAC; Con't you throw a football!; 20% of Republicans leaning toward Obama; If it walks like a duck....; Public advocate hired for illegals

Yahoo News writes: The world can no longer afford to ignore the environmental cost of economic growth and must redefine the very concept of national wealth, a UN panel of heads of state and environment ministers said Monday.

The panel challenged leaders to recognise that "current global development is unsustainable."

"We need to chart a new, more sustainable course for the future, one that strengthens equality and economic growth while protecting our planet," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in Addis Ababa to mark the release of the panel's report, which outlines more than 50 policy recommendations.

By 2030, the report warned, the planet will need at least 50 percent more food, 45 percent more energy and 30 percent more water.

The report called for:

-- a new nexus between food, water and energy. "All three need to be fully integrated, not treated separately, if we are to deal with the global food security crisis";

-- a stronger interface between science and policy. "We must define what scientists refer to as planetary boundaries" beyond which human activity could wreck the planet;

-- reducing social exclusion and closing the widening gap of social inequality. http://news.yahoo.com/un-panel-says-retool-world-economy-sustainability-164515165.html

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Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) website urged:  Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano to reverse a new policy that requires some states to implant radio frequency identification (RFID) chips into the states’ driver’s licenses. The chips allow Customs and Border Protection officers to scan an entire vehicle from up to 30 feet away in order to identify the vehicle’s occupants. “The chips would give public and private entities an unprecedented ability to track Americans,” wrote Amash. “RFIDs can be read using widely available technology, including technology contained in mobile phones, which increases the risk of identity theft. Furthermore, if RFIDs were to become ubiquitous, there is little doubt that private entities would deploy new technology to capture the chips’ data.”
Michigan is one of the states subject to the DHS mandate. The Michigan state House and Senate each unanimously approved a resolution calling on DHS to address privacy concerns related to the mandate, and Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson has asked the Department for the flexibility to issue secure driver’s licenses without RFIDs. Amash also is working closely with state Rep. Paul Opsommer on the issue. http://amash.house.gov/press-release/amash-no-tracking-chips-drivers-licenses
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Canada Free Press writes: Our broken education system and the immigration without integration issues were brought to the forefront once more in the recent fight of a woman in Arizona who wishes to run for a city council seat. 

According to the Phoenix Sun, Cabrera does not speak proficient English and uses an interpreter to communicate, in spite of the fact that she is a graduate of Kofa High School in Yuma.  http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44328

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American Thinker writes: Judging by the ACLU's double standard, secrecy is warranted if exposure might reveal voter fraud.  On the other hand, if exposure puts marriage supporters at risk for harassment by radical activists...well, then, that's okay.
Unlike its apparent indifference to abuses of pro-marriage donors exposed in California in 2008, the ACLU pressured a Wisconsin agency not to create an online database to verify two million signatures for recalling Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, and four Republican state senators.  The ACLU cites possible threats to victims of domestic violence.  This might wash, except that the ACLU is also suing Wisconsin over its photo ID law that curbs voter fraud.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/02/aclu_fights_sunshine_in_wisconsin_recall.html#ixzz1lKHRuwD0

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ABC writes: Poor record keeping is what's leading to potential fraud in the elections system. And election supervisors say registering non-citizens will continue until they get more help.

Officials we spoke to say non U.S. citizens are voting in Lee and Collier counties.

"If there is a change by one vote and somebody's voted that really has no right to be voting," said Lee County Supervisor of Elections Sharon Harrington.

Nearly 100 registered are now under investigation for possible voter fraud.

"It could change the whole complexion of an election," Harrington said.

We found those 100 people after reviewing jury excusal forms. We compared the names of those who said they couldn't serve because they were not U.S. citizens to those listed on Florida's voter registration rolls.http://www.abc-7.com/story/16666098/2012/02/02/nbc2-investigates-voter-fraud-part-2
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Michigan Capitol Confidential reports: The state’s teacher retirement system continues to increase burdens on taxpayers and local school districts. The costs exploded in the recent years, and without substantial reform there is no reason to expect that trend to change.
The explanation isn’t hard to find: Since 1988, the system has been close to “fully-funded” in just three years, all in the high-growth 1990s. Its unfunded liabilities are now $17.6 billion. To put this into perspective, it would take roughly all of the state’s annual tax revenue to fully fund the system.
The upward trend of these payments is striking: In 1984, they cost just 3.22 percent of school payroll expenses. Today they swallow nearly 25 percent of payroll.  http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/16387
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World Net Daily reports: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told WND today his office has scheduled a news conference in Phoenix for March 1 to release findings of the Cold Case Posse that has been investigating Barack Obama’s birth certificate and eligibility to be president.
Arpaio declined to release to WND any of the posse’s conclusions in advance of the press conference, although he is on record saying the findings may be “shocking” to many.
The posse was constituted as a 501(c)3 organization, designed to cost the people of Maricopa County nothing, while enabling people from around the country to contribute to its mission.
In total, more than 3,000 volunteers participate in Arpaio’s posse program. The power to constitute posses is authorized to Arizona sheriffs under the state constitution. http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/d-day-set-for-sheriff-joe-on-obama-eligibility/
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Investors writes: [This is not by accident.  It is the Cloward and Piven Strategy in action]: The American public's dependence on the federal government shot up 23% in just two years under President Obama, with 67 million now relying on some federal program, according to a newly released study by the Heritage Foundation. http://news.investors.com/Article/600452/201202080802/government-dependence-jumps-under-president-obama.htm
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Washington Post covers Santorem speech: But then again, I wouldn't be surprised if he [Obama] isn't listening. Why would you think he would be listening now? Has he ever listened to the voice of America before?
He's someone who -- well, let's just go look at the record. If you look at when it came to the -- the Wall Street bailouts, did the president of the United States listen to you when it came to bailing out the big banks?
Why? Because he thought he just knew better. He and his friends on Wall Street knew better than what was -- what was good for this country. When it came to the problems that were being confronted on Obamacare, when the health care system in this country, did President Obama, when he was pushing forward his radical health care ideas, listen to the American people?
Why? Because he thinks he knows better how to run your lives and manage your health care.
When it comes to the environment, did the president of the United States listen to the American people, or did he push a radical cap- and-trade agenda that would crush the energy and manufacturing sector of the economy? Did he listen to you? No, because he thinks he knows better.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/rick-santorums-missouri-victory-speech-full-transcript/2012/02/07/gIQAGcUwxQ_blog.html

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CBS reports: In a case that could set national precedent, the three-judge Michigan Court of Appeals panel plans to hear arguments Thursday about whether a pastor’s testimony related to a possible confession in a child sexual assault case may be used in court. http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/02/08/court-to-hear-arguments-about-pastors-testimony/
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Boston.com reports: The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University found that there were 5.4 million fewer people in the workforce last year than projected by the Labor Department in 2008 - many the “hidden unemployed’’ who, no longer searching for work, are not counted in the official jobless rate. In Massachusetts, their numbers have more than doubled over the past decade to about 120,000. http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2012/02/08/more_than_5_million_people_missing_from_the_us_labor_force/
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Big Government reports: The “Occupy DC” protest group is planning to disrupt the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference using a range of potentially illegal tactics that could even include violence against participants, Scribe has learned.

“Speakers will be physically assaulted, not just verbally confronted,” the source told Scribe in an email. Two Occupiers, who the source also identified as members of the New Black Panther Party, “said they would be disappointed if they didn’t get arrested and planned to ‘make it count.’”
The source quoted another protester as saying, “Mitt [Romney] has Secret Service now, but [Newt] Gingrich and [Andrew] Breitbart don’t,” seemingly suggesting that the latter two would not be as heavily guarded.
Protesters planned to conduct most of these activities on Saturday, the last day of the conference, so as not to overlap with the recently announced protests by labor groups on Thursday and Friday. http://biggovernment.com/jhoft/2012/02/07/occupiers-are-targeting-andrew-breitbart-at-cpac-threaten-physical-violence/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CBS reports: When you head down to the beach for a little fun this summer, county officials want you to leave the pigskin at home.
The Board of Supervisors this week agreed to raise fines to up to $1,000 for anyone who throws a football or a Frisbee on any beach in Los Angeles County.
In passing the 37-page ordinance http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/02/08/la-county-oks-1000-fine-for-throwing-football-frisbee-on-beaches/
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World Net Daily writes: But the 2012 election is looking more like a replay of 2008 than a do-over.
The latest WND/Wenzel Poll shows none of the current crop of Republican presidential candidates has solidified the base of the party, with one in five GOP voters leaning toward support of Obama in November. http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/20-of-republicans-leaning-to-obama/
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American Thinker opines: Any doubt over presidential eligibility is unacceptable.  The American people shouldn't have to "believe" that Obama is constitutionally eligible. Trust is for gods; skepticism and verification is for politicians.

The recent development of the state ballot challenges represents the right of the people to remove the doubt.  Petitioners are demanding that evidence that meets the standard of courtroom admissibility, if it does exist, be produced to confirm Obama's eligibility.

If Obama is not willing to be completely transparent, then he should step down.  To the bewilderment of his sycophants, the cloud of skepticism hanging over Obama's head is commensurate to his unique background, not his skin color.  No one doubted the eligibility of Jesse Jackson, Alan Keyes, Al Sharpton, or Herman Cain.

Doubt remains because, legally speaking, Obama hasn't "released" anything.  To meet a basic legal standard of evidentiary competence and admissibility, certified paper copies must be produced, and the original document in Hawaii must be made available for the states.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/02/the_obama_ballot_challenges_a_crisis_of_confidence.html#ixzz1ltMWsmQ3

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Investors.com writes: If anything shows how ever-expanding government works at cross-purposes, it's the Obama administration's newly named post of "public advocate" for illegal aliens. What part of "illegal" don't they understand? It seems those who've broken the law by entering the U.S. illegally are now entitled to special U.S. government protection from — the U.S. government. At least, that's the logic of the phony new "public advocate" post created for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. http://news.investors.com/Article/600585/201202081901/illegal-aliens-get-taxpayer-funded-advocate.htm

Constitution gets in Obama's way; Michigan ties government payments to all-day kindergarten; New ways to fend off Asian carp; Needy family assistance not for strip clubs, casinos or liquor; Some states required to implant radio frequency id into drivers' licenses; Michigan Education Association urges members to use students as propaganda; Girl Scouts are being brainwashed by Planned Parenthood, promoting sex; Teacher charged with lewd conduct, and all staff, off job but being paid; House votes to repeal Obamacare's long-term care program; Social Security trust fund in worse shape than thought; AZ candidate for City Council cannot speak Engish even with high school diploma; Government intervention in company decisions; ACLU calls for online database listing Gov. Walker's supporters against recall; Forced unionization of home healthcare workers really paying off for SEIU; Unfunded liabilities for teacher retirement account for 25% of MI school payroll expenses; Israeli facilities around the world on high alert; Khamenei predicts Islam will be victorious; UN wants world tax on financial transactions; Obama channels Jesus; Obama quotes Islamic belief; Stock Markets says Obama to be defeated?: We lost $1.3 billion on Chrysler; God removed from patch logo for Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office; Obama sings a new tune;

  Powerline reports: And this week Barack Obama proved himself once again the perfect epitome of Woodrow Wilson—the first president to criticize the Constitution and the principles of the American Founding—with his remarks to NBC’s Matt Lauer that one reason he hasn’t succeeded in fulfilling his campaign promises to transform the world is that “it turns out our Founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes.”  It turns out?  He’s just discovering this now?  (Well, one thing that “turns out” is that the only constitutional law Obama actually taught at the University of Chicago was the equal protection clause.  Apparently he skipped over that whole “separation of powers” stuff.)  http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/02/liberals-and-the-constitution.php 
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WSBT reports: Updated state rules mean public schools in Michigan must offer all-day kindergarten to receive full funding for each kindergarten pupil starting in September.
The Detroit News reports Monday (http://bit.ly/zGwzes ) that the rules were approved last year by the Legislature. The state this month updated school districts about the half- and full-day options as well as the financial consequences.  [I can still remember back in my childhood when Kindergarten was devised and it ran as an option, not a requirement.  I remember because I was not happy when my Mother refused to let me go - to have the government take control of what I did at such an early age.]  http://www.wsbt.com/news/wsbt-michigan-schools-face-kindergarten-funding-changes-20120130,0,6078518.story
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USA Today writes: A privately funded study to be released Tuesday outlines three ways the Chicago waterways could be closed off from the Great Lakes to keep invasive species, such as Asian carp, from moving between them.

The cheapest solution would cost taxpayers more than $3 billion and would take at least a decade to complete.

The study, which cost $2 million and was funded by several foundations, says separating the two watersheds would create jobs and could end up being cheaper than spending money every year to fight invasive species. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/story/2012-01-31/michigan-asian-carp/52899102/1
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US News reports: As the recession continues onward, House Republicans are worried that those receiving welfare payments may be having a bit too good of a time.
The chamber will again vote Wednesday on a bill which would ensure that electronic withdrawals of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dollars aren't allowed to be withdrawn from ATMs at strip clubs, casinos or liquor stores. TANF replaced national welfare programs after the welfare reforms of 1996.
Now, it will get a stand-alone vote, along with several other measures which face an uncertain future in the Senate. "The abuse of [electronic benefits transfer] cards must stop," Boustany said when the measure was first proposed in December. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/01/31/house-set-to-ban-welfare-payments-at-strip-clubs
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Patriots for American opines: For more than two years, the Michigan Education Association [MEA] has had a manual that urges its members to use students as propaganda in contract negotiations and also lays out how to organize strikes,” writes Tome Gantert of Michigan Capitol Confidential.
Considering the fact that teacher strikes are illegal in Michigan, some may find it odd that the MEA has been encouraging this sort of behavior. In fact, the MEA has done a lot more than just “encourage” potentially illegal activity. As Gantert reports, the organization produced an anonymously written 28-page manual titled, “Building Full Capacity Locals — Crisis Planning, It’s Never Too Ear...”
Alinsky instructs his followers to “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Likewise, the MEA manual instructs teachers to “Pick a target—personalize—and polarize the opposition [pg. 17].” And those are just the verbatim quotes; the entire manual is a handbook for creating, managing, and profiting from crises. [Wake up, parents!  Pay attention to what your school may be doing!]  http://patriotsforamerica.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=2734278%3ATopic%3A324841&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_topic
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CNS News writes: In 2010, a panel sponsored by the Girl Scouts USA at the United Nations Commission featured a Planned Parenthood pamphlet called “Healthy, Happy and Hot," according to published reports.
A portion of the pamphlet read:
[I will not print the words here, as they are totally inappropriate for Girl Scouts or this news service.  Do you know what YOUR Girl Scout is learning?  If you want the details, go to the link below.  Suffice it to say, it ends with this: There is no right or wrong way to have sex. Just have fun, explore and be yourself!”
A similar pamphlet was distributed at a Waco, Texas Girl Scouts organization in 2008 that included information on masturbation, diagrams of adults having sex and a boy putting on a condom.  http://cnsnews.com/news/article/pelosi-girl-scouts-relationship-planned-parenthood-very-valuable
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LA Time writes: A teacher charged with 23 counts of lewd conduct in his classroom successfully thwarted attempts by the Los Angeles Unified School District to fire him. In the process, the teacher, who is accused of spoon-feeding his xxxxx to blindfolded children, managed to retain lifetime health-benefits provided by the nation’s second-largest school system.
Former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt also automatically receives nearly $4,000 a month in pension from the California State Teachers' Retirement System. [Aren't public unions and their protected teachers such a good thing?  He and his staff have all been replaced, but are still being paid.  Are you talking to your children about what interesting things happened during their school days?] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/02/la-teacher-suspected-of-lewd-conduct-keeps-benefits.html
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The Washington Times reports: The House voted Wednesday to repeal a part of President Obama’s health care law deemed unsustainable by his own administration, sending the bill to the Senate, where Democrats have indicated they aren’t ready to kill the long-term care program.
More than two dozen House Democrats broke party ranks to join Republicans in a 267-159 vote to repeal the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act - a part of Mr. Obama’s signature health care reform aimed at providing long-term coverage for the elderly and those with disabilities. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/1/house-votes-to-repeal-part-of-health-care-law/
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Investors.com reports: The outlook for Social Security's trust fund has deteriorated to an astonishing degree over the past year, new Congressional Budget Office projections show.
The nonpartisan budget http://news.investors.com/Article/599776/201202020805/social-security-trust-fund-missing-trillion.htm?src=HPLNews
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The Hill opines: Criticizing the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s to defund Planned Parenthood, Sen. Barbra Boxer (D-Calif.) said Thursday the breast cancer foundation was getting involved in a “political witch hunt.”
"I’m reminded of the McCarthy era" Boxer said on MSNBC’s "Andrea Mitchell Reports," a period she described as “a congressman stands up, a senator, [and says] 'I’m investigating this organization and therefore people should stop funding them.' 

The Komen foundation is under attack for defunding Planned Parenthood due to an investigation undertaken by House Republicans, claim foundation representatives deny. When should names on public rolls be kept secret?  [I can't say that I am shocked that once again our government is in the business of telling companies what they think they can and cannot do.  Komen's focus is on breast cancer.  Period. Will your company be next?]  http://thehill.com/video/senate/208335-dem-sen-komens-decision-reminiscent-of-mccarthy-era-
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Michigan Capitol Confidential reports: Far more home healthcare providers were ensnared in Michigan's forced unionization of 2006 than previously believed, according to figures provided by the Department of Human Services.
There are 60,190, which is more than 25 percent higher than the 43,000 reported up to now.
It's probable that more than 80 percent of these workers were forced into the Service Employees International Union through a "scam" perpetrated while Gov. Jennifer Granholm was in office.
The SEIU “take” so far is more than $28,089,803 from the Home Healthcare Dues Skim, and the tally is climbing. Those dollars can be used for anything the SEIU desires, including politics. http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/16405
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ABC News reports: Israeli facilities in North America -- and around the world -- are on high alert, according to an internal security document obtained by ABC News that predicted the threat from Iran against Jewish targets will increase.
"We predict that the threat on our sites around the world will increase … on both our guarded sites and 'soft' sites," stated a letter circulated by the head of security for the Consul General for the Mid-Atlantic States. Guarded sites refers to government facilities like embassies and consulates, while 'soft sites' means Jewish synagogues, and schools, as well as community centers like the one hit by a terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires in 1994 that killed 85 people.
The head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, told an audience at a closed forum in Tel Aviv recently that Iran is trying to hit Israeli targets because of what it believes are Israeli attacks on it nuclear scientists. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/israel-warns-us-jews-iran-strike/story?id=15506257

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World Net Daily writes: “In light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated,” Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, is warning.
Khamenei, speaking to hundreds of youths from more than 70 countries attending a world conference on the Arab Spring just days ago, told a cheering crowd in Tehran that “Allah’s promises will be delivered and Islam will be victorious.”
The countries represented included Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Palestine and Tunisia, all of which have been involved in the Arab Spring. http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/iran-warns-world-of-coming-great-event/
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Info Wars reports: The United Nations wants a world tax imposed on all financial transactions to fund a global model of social services that will provide “needy people” with a basic income, free healthcare, education and housing.

The drive is part of the UN’s mission to create a “social protection floor” under the auspices of the Commission on Social Development, which began this week in New York. The SPF will become the UN’s primary focus from 2015 onwards when the Millennium Development Goals project concludes.According to the report, the new global tax is designed to be a progressive scale, with higher earners paying more to help provide “all needy people with a basic income, healthcare, education and housing.” http://www.infowars.com/un-wants-world-tax-to-help-the-poor/

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White House Dossier opines: President Obama today suggested his political agenda is blessed by the world’s great religions, linking a variety of specific policy proposals to the teachings of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
In a remarkable flouting of the traditional barrier between church and state, Obama used the annual National Prayer Breakfast to assert that his proposals are not just based on economic benefit, but on guidance he receives from the Bible.
But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that “for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.” It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others. http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2012/02/02/obama-jesus-loves-policies/

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Investor's Business Daily opines: It's happened 13 times since 1936. Call it the IBD January Incumbent Barometer.Here's how it works: When the stock market scores a big gain in January — about 6% or more — the challenger beats the incumbent president every time, or as we shall see, almost every time. When the stock market goes up or down modestly in January — 4% or less in either direction — the incumbent wins almost every time.
This January the Nasdaq rose 8%, signaling a loss for President Obama, according to the IBD JIB.  http://news.ptest.investors.com/Article/600150/201202040805/january-stock-market-indicates-obama-loss.htm
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CNN reports: U.S. taxpayers likely lost $1.3 billion in the government bailout of Chrysler, the Treasury Department announced Thursday.
The government recently sold its remaining 6% stake in the company to Italian automaker Fiat. It wrapped up the 2009 bailout that was part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program six years early. http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/21/autos/chrysler_government_exit/index.htm
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The Hill reports: A group of Republican lawmakers is protesting the removal a reference to God in the patch logo for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.  The patch logo was changed after a military atheist group, the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, protested the reference to God on the patch. The patch has a saying on it in Latin, which is common for military patches, that tranlates to: “Doing God’s Work with Other People’s Money.” http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/air-force/209289-lawmakers-protest-removal-of-god-reference-from-air-force-patch

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The NY Timew opines: Two years ago, while delivering his State of the Union address, President Obama looked the Supreme Court justices in the face and told them they were wrong to have allowed special interests to spend without limits on campaigns. “I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests,” he said. “They should be decided by the American people.” 

On Monday, the president abandoned that fundamental principle and gave in to the culture of the Citizens United decision that he once denounced as a “threat to our democracy.” 

The announcement fully implicates the president, his campaign and his administration in the pollution of the political system unleashed by Citizens United and related court decisions.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/opinion/another-2012-campaign-for-sale.html?_r=1&ref=opinion  

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Robbing Peter to pay Paul; Florida's poor may be banned from buying sweets with food stamps; Minnesota voter fraud convictions; Afghan soldiers selling our weapons; Indiana voter fraud; Obama may scale back regulations on farmers; Federal dollars for anti-sweets campaign; Egypt holds Americans hostage; They call for killing all Jews and annihilating Israel; Catholics promise to do whatever it takes; Obama may be backing down; Brothers of Mexican wanting US pardon give OBama $200,000; Illegals are not immigrants; Democrat Rhode Island votes for voter ID because they are racist

Washington Examiner opines: In today’s America, government benefits flow to large numbers of people who are encouraged to vote for politicians who’ll keep them coming.  The benefits are paid for by other people who, being less numerous, can’t muster enough votes to put this to a stop.

Over time, this causes the economy to do worse, pushing more people into the moocher class and further strengthening the politicians whose position depends on robbing Peter to pay Paul.  Because, as they say, if you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can be pretty sure of getting Paul’s vote.

But the damage goes deeper.  Sykes writes, “In contemporary America, we now have two parallel cultures:  An anachronistic culture of independence and responsibility, and the emerging moocher culture.
“We continually draw on the reserves of that older culture, with the unspoken assumption that it will always be there to mooch from and that responsibility and hard work are simply givens.  But to sustain deadbeats, others have to pay their bills on time.”

And, after a while, people who pay their bills on time start to feel like suckers.  I think we’ve reached that point now:
* People who pay their mortgages - often at considerable personal sacrifice - see others who didn’t bother get special assistance.
* People who took jobs they didn’t particularly want just to pay the bills see others who didn’t getting extended unemployment benefits.
* People who took risks to build their businesses and succeeded see others, who failed, getting bailouts.  It rankles at all levels.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2012/02/its-takers-versus-makers-and-these-days-takers-are-winning/2170511#ixzz1lX11Lb5c
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MSNBC reports: Florida's poor can use food stamps to buy staples like milk, vegetables, fruits and meat. But they can also use them to buy sweets like cakes, cookies and Jell-O and snack foods like chips, something a state senator wants stopped.
Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, also wants to limit other welfare funds, known as Temporary Assistance For Needy Families, from being used at ATMs in casinos and strip clubs and anywhere out of state. The bill comes after reports that the debit cards welfare recipients now receive were used in those places, as well as locations in Las Vegas and the Virgin Islands in a small percentage of cases, but the state does not track what items were purchased.  http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46270895/ns/us_news-life/
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PRN reports: Minnesota Majority today released a report on voter fraud convictions to date stemming from Minnesota's 2008 general election. The report finds that 113 individuals who voted illegally in the 2008 election have been convicted of the crime, "ineligible voter knowingly votes" under Minnesota Statute 201.014.
"As far as we can tell, this is the largest number of voter fraud convictions arising from a single election in the past 75 years," said Minnesota Majority president Jeff Davis, "Prosecutions are still underway and so there will likely be even more convictions." http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/minnesota-leads-the-nation-in-voter-fraud-convictions-131782928.html
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The Gateway Pundit writes: Afghan soldiers are already selling weapons and vehicles and ceding territory to Taliban.
The Vancouver Sun reported:
Afghan soldiers are selling their weapons and vehicles to the Taliban, sharing intelligence with them and signing covert ceasefires as they pre-pare for NATO forces to with-draw, according to a classified military report. http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/02/thanks-barack-afghan-soldiers-already-selling-weaponsvehicles-ceding-territory-to-taliban/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox News reports: Indiana's top elections official has been found guilty of six of seven voter fraud-related charges and faces removal from office.

White was accused of lying about where he lived when he registered to vote in the May 2010 Republican primary. Prosecutors said he used his ex-wife's address instead of a condo he had with his fiancDee to keep his $1,000-per-month Fishers Town Council salary despite moving out of his council district.

He faced seven felony charges.

State law bars anyone convicted of a felony from remaining in office. It wasn't immediately clear how quickly White could be replaced or who might succeed him.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/04/indiana-election-chief-found-guilty-voter-fraud/?test=latestnews#ixzz1lbiLFfR7

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Personal Liberty writes: Succumbing to angry backlash from agriculture groups and family farmers across the U.S., the Administration of President Barack Obama announced it would scale back proposed new rules that would have limited the amount of work young Americans can do on farms, The Washington Times reported.
According to the newspaper, communities across the Midwest had attacked the rules, saying that they threatened a traditional way of life for people in the American heartland and could undermine the viability of many family farming operations. http://www.personalliberty.com/news/pressure-from-farmers-leads-to-rethinking-of-youth-labor-laws-800699324/?eiid=
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Fox News reports: According to Fox News, a bill was introduced to Congress by Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) that would prohibit Federal money from going toward ad campaigns in opposition to junk food and in favor of “safe” foodstuffs and beverages.
“I don’t think it’s the Federal government’s (role) to try and regulate people’s habits on products that were deemed safe by the FDA,” DesJarlais told Fox News. “The government is reaching too far into our lives in trying to regulate personal habits.”
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NY Times writes: Egypt’s military-led government said Sunday that it would put 19 Americans and two dozen others on trial in a politically charged criminal investigation into the foreign financing of nonprofit groups that has shaken the 30-year alliance between the United States and Egypt.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/world/middleeast/egypt-will-try-19-americans-on-criminal-charges.html?hp-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
World Net Daily reports: Calling Israel a danger to Islam, the conservative website Alef, with ties to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the opportunity must not be lost to remove “this corrupting material. It is a “‘jurisprudential justification” to kill all the Jews and annihilate Israel, and in that, the Islamic government of Iran must take the helm.” http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/ayatollah-kill-all-jews-annihilate-israel/
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CBS news reports: Catholic leaders are furious and determined to harness the voting power of the nation’s 70 million Catholic voters to stop a provision of President Barack Obama’s new heath car reform bill that will force Catholic schools, hospitals and charities to buy birth control pills, abortion-producing drugs and sterilization coverage for their employees.
“Never before, unprecedented in American history, for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church,” said Catholic League head Bill Donohue.  “This is going to be fought out with lawsuits, with court decisions, and, dare I say it, maybe even in the streets,” Donohue said. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/02/06/catholic-league-poised-to-go-to-war-with-obama-over-mandatory-birth-control-payments/
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Daily Caller reports: White House spokesman Jay Carney today hinted that the Obama administration might compromise on its Jan. 20 directive requiring religious groups to comply with federal sex-related health insurance mandates.  [Perhaps that part of Obamacare which gives unbridled power to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to write regulations is a problem.]

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/06/obama-spokesman-hints-at-concession-over-church-health-care-mandate/#ixzz1lhTrSCRd

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NY Times writes: Two American brothers of a Mexican casino magnate who fled drug and fraud charges in the United States and has been seeking a pardon enabling him to return have emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama’s re-election campaign. When The New York Times asked the Obama campaign early Monday about the Cardonas, officials said they were unaware of the brother in Mexico. Later in the day, the campaign said it was refunding the money raised by the family, which totaled more than $200,000. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/us/politics/major-obama-donors-are-tied-to-pepe-cardona-mexican-fugitive.html?_r=1
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In National Review Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who is Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and the Media Fairness Caucus, writes: It’s hard to imagine a worse example of media bias than the national coverage of illegal immigration. Every week, it seems there are stories across the United States that minimize the issues of illegal immigration and border security. But look at the facts and the media’s bias towards illegal immigrants is clear.

Many reporters often neglect to mention that the immigrants they write about are illegal immigrants. For example, in an article that appeared in the San Antonio Express-News last year, “Hunt for border-crossers is on ground and in air,” the reporter used the words “immigrant” and “immigration” five times but couldn’t bring himself once to use the word “illegal.”
It’s not right to gloss over the difference between legal and illegal and call them both immigrants. 

Illegal immigrants also receive huge amounts of taxpayer-funded benefits, such as health care and education. Some estimate that illegal immigrants cost taxpayers as much as $113 billion annually. All in all, if illegal immigrants are granted amnesty, one study estimates that it will cost at least $2.5 trillion in retirement expenditures, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Supplemental Security Income.
But these reporters failed to mention that 82 percent of likely voters — including 78 percent of black voters and 72 percent of other minorities, primarily Hispanics — think all U.S. employers should be required to use E-Verify.  http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/290292/media-ignores-facts-illegal-immigration-lamar-smith
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The New Republic writes: Of the eight states to pass photo ID laws in 2011, only Rhode Island had a fully Democratic legislature and a liberal governor. What’s more, black and Latino lawmakers were among the most vocal supporters of the July bill. How does this alleged voter fraud work? According to Williams, a candidate hires a “recruiter,” who obtains a list of likely non-voters, and then pays willing foot soldiers to cast ballots in their place. A large Hispanic man who calls himself “El Macho” and works for the Providence Water Supply Board is rumored to be the most prominent recruiter. George Lindsey, a prominent South Providence African American, told me that candidates have long paid El Macho five or six thousand dollars per election. “What he’ll tell you is he’s basically a hired gun.”
Whatever truth there is to these accusations, it’s difficult to ignore the pattern: The perpetrators are all Hispanic and the accusers are mostly not. This underlines what is most likely at play in Rhode Island— anxiety over the state’s changing demographics. 

The immigration boom, coupled with a 10.8 percent unemployment rate (the third-worst in the country), has contributed to the open hostility toward Hispanics. Voter ID proponents subtly capitalized on these fears. The bill’s main House sponsor, conservative Democrat Jon Brien, has “anti-immigrant credentials like no other,” says Latino activist Pablo Rodriguez. Brien has argued that illegal immigrants are usurping government resources, taking American jobs, and now, voting.  http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/100429/rhode-island-voter-id-laws-hispanic
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Obama on Georgia ballot; Doctors to be given immunity from lawsuits; Playing with the numbers; Soros predicts government crack down; EPA gives exemption to GE -using company; Muslim who honored Islamic extremist now on our Homeland Security Adviosory Group; Justice Ginsburg shows contempt for US Constitution; CPAC should prepare for AFL-CIO violence; 58% of Americans are pro-life; Internet cafes and computer screens; Building the Obama Climate Legacy; Army Chaplain forbids reading of letter to Catholics; Terrorism is now "ordinary crime"

Obama Wins Georgia Ballot Challenge

American Thinker writes: In his sweeping denial of the Plaintiff's challenges, however, Judge Malihi did not mention the principle, and instead relied on the 2009 case of Ankeny v Governor, stating that "[t]he Indiana Court determined that a person qualifies as a natural born citizen if he was born in the United States because he became a United States citizen at birth."

And the fact that Judge Malihi took note of and relied upon on the established rule of statutory construction in his earlier order, but then made assertions contrary to that principle in his final decision, should not go unnoticed by those versed in constitutional law. 
Opponents of the controversial birthright citizenship practice should also take note, since Judge Malihi's opinion further entrenches the notion that every baby born on U.S. soil, regardless of the citizenship or domicile of its parents (presumably even an "anchor baby" or "birth tourist" baby) is a "natural born" citizen.  So would have been Anwar al-Awlaki.
Whatever one's opinions on the constitutional definition of "natural born citizen," the arrogance exhibited by this president and his defense attorney to the judiciary of a state, and the abject lack of reporting by the major networks and mainstream media, should trouble every citizen in the nation.

Obama may have won the Georgia ballot challenge, but the rule of law and the Constitution suffered a crippling blow.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/02/obama_wins_georgia_ballot_challenge.html#ixzz1lQ8zZeJ5

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Townhall reports: During the debate over ObamaCare, more than one critic charged that government panels would make life and death decisions affecting patient care.

Now it seems the Obama administration is contemplating something that is even scarier: doctors would be given immunity from malpractice lawsuits, but only if they practice medicine according to government guidelines. The pressure would be enormous. Have you ever met a doctor who wanted to be sued?
The original "death panel" charges were not entirely baseless. Former Senator Tom Daschle, who wrote the blueprint for health reform, advocated a "comparative effectiveness" agency that would decide which medical procedures were worthwhile and which ones were not. As a model, Dashiell pointed to the National Institute for Comparative Effectiveness (NICE) in Britain. How are patients faring under that regime? According to the World Health Organization, about 25,000 British patients die prematurely every year because they do not have access to cancer drugs that are routinely available in the United States and continental Europe.
Those who comply on up to 194 different metrics — including adopting electronic medical records — will get higher fees. Those who resist will get lower ones.
These are examples of a much larger trend: Washington telling the medical community how to practice medicine. Even though a recent study finds little relationship between the inputs Medicare wants to pay for and such outputs as patient survival, and even though the latest pilot programs show that paying doctors and hospitals for performance doesn’t improve quality, we are about to usher in the era of big brother medical care.
Remember these words: "evidence-based care."[This is one article which every one of you should open.  Learn the future under Obamacare as it will pertain to you.].
If that’s not incentive enough, the Obama administration has a medical malpractice carrot and stick it wants to try out. If doctors follow protocols and guidelines developed by committees of experts, they will be immune from lawsuits. If they don’t, they will have to take their chances.  http://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2012/02/04/worse_than_death_panels
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NY Post reveals: Everyone, of course, would be thrilled if 243,000 jobs were actually created in the month of January. Hallelujah!

[Proving the old adage: There are lies, damn lies, and statistics]: Those 243,000 jobs are the total after seasonal adjustments.
The question you should be asking is, what’s the un-tampered-with number before the adjustment?
Glad you asked. The Labor Department reported a loss of 2,689,000 jobs in January.
Seasonal adjustments are intended to smooth out holiday bumps like that. But because of the depth and unusual nature of the nation’s Great Recession, those seasonal adjustments are being skewed.
Here’s how it works: In January 2010, as I said, there was an actual, unadjusted job loss of 2,858,000 jobs.
To make it simple, the government computers were expecting a bigger unadjusted loss than the 2,689,000 jobs because last January’s decline was 2,858,000.
Why weren’t there as many job losses this January? Very likely because the weather throughout the country is a lot milder this year than during the past two Januarys.
A loss of jobs that isn’t as bad as expected turns into a job gain. Does that mean there really are 243,000 new jobs out there? Absolutely not.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/rosy_report_ruse_LsXHVA9epmxGzTBHeOW6WP#ixzz1lQBl9kWv
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The Nation reports: Demonstrations and riots on the streets of American cities, manifested by the leaderless, grassroots Occupy Wall Street movement, are growing. Chronic unemployment is here to stay. The official response to the street demonstrations will be even more draconian.
"Yes, yes, yes," Soros said, almost gleefully. "It will be an excuse for cracking down and using strong-arm tactics to maintain law and order, which, carried to an extreme, could bring about a repressive political system, a society where individual liberty is much more constrained, which would be a break with the tradition of the United States."
The passage of the National Defence Authorisation Act last year, signed into law by President Obama, signalled an overture to a "war on terror", not only abroad but also at home. For this law allows the authorities to hold any citizen in custody without any warrant or trial. Last week, dozens of prominent websites from Wikipedia, Reddit to Craigslist staged a voluntary blackout in protest against two other bills - SOPA and PIPA. The two bills are designed to combat Internet piracy, but would also help the US government fight a "war on terror".
Last year more than 10,800,000 guns were sold in the United States alone. Obviously, the Americans know what is about to happen as the economy continues its spiral downward. They have to arm themselves to protect their families.   http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Time-is-running-out-for-the-global-economy-30174563.html
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Washington Examiner reports: Last month, the Obama EPA began enforcing new rules regulating the greenhouse gas emissions from any new or expanded power plants.
This week, the EPA issued its first exemption, Environment & Energy News reports:

The Obama administration will spare a stalled power plant project in California from the newest federal limits on greenhouse gases and conventional air pollution, U.S. EPA says in a new court filing that marks a policy shift in the face of industry groups and Republicans accusing the agency of holding up construction of large industrial facilities.
According to a declaration by air chief Gina McCarthy, officials reviewed EPA policies and decided it was appropriate to "grandfather" projects such as the Avenal Power Center, a proposed 600-megawatt power plant in the San Joaquin Valley, so they are exempted from rules such as new air quality standards for smog-forming nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

There's something interesting about the Avenal Power Center:

The proposed Avenal Energy project will be a combined-cycle generating plant consisting of two natural gas-fired General Electric 7FA Gas Turbines with Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG) and one General Electric Steam Turbine.

Maybe GE CEO Jeff Immelt's closeness to President Obama, and his broad support for Obama's agenda, had nothing to do with this exemption. But we have no way of knowing that, and given the administration's record of regularly misleading Americans regarding lobbyists, frankly, I wouldn't trust the White House if they told me there was no connection.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/02/obama-issues-global-warming-rules-january-gives-ge-exemption-febr#ixzz1lRAcYg2H

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American Defense League writes: It is no wonder that our very lives are at stake in America when the Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano swears in a man on the Homeland Security Advisory Group, promoted by her, to counter violent extremism (you can’t say Islamic in her Homeland Security because heaven forbid  it’s not politically correct) by the name of Mohamed Elibihary who has honored, of all people, the ruthless leader of Iran, Ayatolla Khomeini.  In other words, a supporter of terrorism is hired by Janet Napolitano to counter terrorism!  And he’s sworn in and has access to the SLIC top security data base to boot!  That’s like hiring a drug addict to counter drugs and providing him with the money to buy them.

It was subsequently revealed in this same questioning that this same Mohamed Elibihari has accessed the SLIC data base  from his home computer and got information off and has been shopping a story to national media on Islamophobia directed at the Governor of Texas and the security people there in Texas and apparently Janet Napolitano didn’t know anything about it!  Rep. Gohmert summarized by saying this: “So, this man, Mohamed Elibihari, who is on the Homeland Security Advisory Group countering violent extremism was a featured speaker at the tribute to the great Islamic visionary Ayatollah Khomeini on December 11, 2004, Janet Napolitano had him on the Homeland Security Group countering violent extremism and promoted him and swore him in, Elibihari has written glowingly of  Kotby on whom Osama bin Laden relied heavily for his barbarism justification, he has written against the trial and conviction of the Holy Land Foundation’s funding of terrorism, he has still remained in this Homeland Security Advisory Group and now he has accessed a week ago the State and Local Intelligence Community Data base, he took documents that said for Official Use Only and shopped them with national media and it appears that not only has our security been compromised, our secure system, but he’s using it to help his friend politically the President,” continued Rep. Gohmert.

http://americandefenseleague.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/a-grave-national-threat-janet-napolitanos-swearing-in-of-mohamed-elibihari-known-admirer-of-ayatollah-khomeini/

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The Right Scoop reports: Current US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg proved her contempt for the US Constitution when she told Egyptian Al-Hayat TV on January 30, 2012 that when Egypt drafts their own constitution they should not look at the US Constitution, but rather to that of South Africa or Canada that “embraces basic human rights”:
MEMRI – Ruth Bader Ginsburg: It is a very inspiring time – that you have overthrown a dictator, and that you are striving to achieve a genuine democracy. So I think people in the United States are hoping that this transition will work, and that there will genuinely be a government of, by, and for the people.  http://www.therightscoop.com/ginsburg-to-egyptians-i-would-not-look-to-the-us-constitution-if-i-were-drafting-a-constitution/
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American Thinker opines: If it's anything like the "Occupy" protest of the Americans for Prosperity conference at the Washington Convention Center last fall, CPAC attendees better be prepared for violence.
RedState:

According to the AFL-CIO's Washington DC Metro Council website, "Actions are currently being planned for noontime and after work on Friday, February 10."
Apparently, the unions plans to attempt to disrupt the conference with rats, puppets, and more: Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/02/unions_plan_occupy_cpac_thuggery.html#ixzz1lW401Ijh

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The NY Times writes: IN the most recent Gallup poll on abortion, as many Americans described themselves as pro-life as called themselves pro-choice. A combined 58 percent of Americans stated that abortion should either be “illegal in all circumstances” or “legal in only a few circumstances.” These results do not vary appreciably by gender: in the first Gallup poll to show a slight pro-life majority, conducted in May 2009, half of American women described themselves as pro-life. -  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/douthat-the-medias-blinders-on-abortion.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
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Canada Free Press writes: A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity.  The use of encryption is also listed as a suspicious activity along with steganography, the practice of using “software to hide encrypted data in digital photos” or other media. In fact, the flyer recommends that anyone “overly concerned about privacy” or attempting to “shield the screen from view of others” should be considered suspicious and potentially engaged in terrorist activities.  http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/News-Headlines-Breaking-news -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
World Net Daily reports: In a recent report called “Building the Obama Administration’s Climate Legacy,” the Presidential Climate Action Project, or PCAP, recommends reinstating the “Fairness Doctrine,” the old FCC rule that kept conservative talk radio off the airwaves until the ruling was struck down during the Reagan administration. http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/white-house-advisers-its-time-to-hush-rush/
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Human Events reports: All the bishops in the country sent out a letter to be read in their parishes promising that the Church "cannot-and will not-comply with this unjust law." Even Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who is in charge of Catholic military chaplains sent out the same letter.

But after he did, the Army's Office of the Chief of Chaplains sent out another communication forbidding Catholic priests to read the letter, in part because it seemed to encourage civil disobedience, and could be read as seditious against the Commander-in-Chief.  http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=49299

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Judicial Watch reports: A new Homeland Security report compares terrorism to “ordinary crime” in metropolitan U.S. cities and omits the radical Islamic factor, instead finding “significant variability in the ideologies motivating terrorist attacks across decades.”
This appears to be part of the Obama Administration’s Muslim outreach effort, which includes hiring a special Homeland Security adviser (Mohamed Elibiary) who supports a radical Islamist theologian and renowned jihadist ideologue. The Obama Justice Department also created a special Muslim Engagement Advisory Group to foster greater communication, collaboration and a new level of respect between law enforcement and Muslim and Arab-American communities. http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2012/02/dhs-report-compares-terrorism-to-ordinary-crime-omits-islamists/
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