US arms went to Islamist terrorists in LIbya; Geithner's outrageous proposal; MI Nat'l Guard might be prohibited;

In a story that’s been largely buried by the media for years upon years – and was doubly buried in the aftermath of the Benghazi terrorist attack on September 11 resulting in the death of four Americans – the New York Times is now reporting that US-approved arms that were supposed to go to Libya rebels went to Islamist terrorists. Even more importantly, the Obama administration knew about it before, during, and after the Benghazi attacks. The Times reports: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/12/05/NYT-Benghazi-weapons-funneled

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[Democrat strategist Pat] Caddell believes that an outrageous proposal offered by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner presents a golden opportunity that Republicans have thus far failed to seize.
Geithner brazenly asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Boehner to ignore the Constitution and give the Executive Branch the ability to raise the national debt ceiling with the stroke of a pen. McConnell reportedly laughed out loud and Boehner afterwards said he was “flabbergasted.”
“If this cession of fiscal authority were ever to happen—if Congress were to lose its right to vote ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ on debt-limit increases—that would be an epochal political power shift,” says Caddell. “It would mean that for the first time in US history, the President would have complete dominance on spending issues. And that’s a kind of dominance that no president should be trusted with, let alone Obama.” http://frontpagemag.com/2012/matthew-vadum/pushing-obama-over-the-fiscal-cliff/
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2012 House Bill 5768: Prohibit Michigan National Guard executing federal “indefinite detention”
      Comments on this legislation    Post new comment    Text and Analysis    Add to Watch List 
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Introduced by Rep. Tom McMillin (R) on June 14, 2012, to prohibit members of the Michigan National Guard or other state and local government employees from helping to execute a recent federal law giving the current or a future President the power to order the indefinite detention of persons arrested on U.S. soil, without charge or trial. http://www.michiganvotes.org/2012-HB-5768
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 One of the curious—and admirable—things about President Obama is how he has sought to correct the narrative of Vietnam. The way Vietnam veterans were blamed for the "misdeeds of a few" GIs when "the honorable service of the many should have been praised," the president said on the 50th anniversary of the start of the war, was "a national shame, a disgrace that should have never happened."

So why in the world is Mr. Obama floating the name of John Kerry for secretary of either state or defense? It is hard to think of anyone who did more to besmirch the name of the GIs who fought in Vietnam than Sen. Kerry.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Republicans slammed right-to-work legislation through the Michigan House and Senate Thursday, drawing raucous protests from throngs of stunned union supporters, whose outnumbered Democratic allies were powerless to stop it.

Just hours after they were introduced, both chambers approved measures prohibiting private unions from requiring that nonunion employees pay fees. The Senate quickly followed by voting to impose the same requirement on most public unions.
A victory in Michigan would give the right-to-work movement its strongest foothold yet in the Rust Belt region, where organized labor already has suffered several body blows. Republicans in Indiana and Wisconsin recently pushed through legislation curbing union rights, sparking massive protests.
Also influencing his decision, he said, were reports that some 90 companies had decided to locate in Indiana since that state adopted right-to-work legislation. "That's thousands of jobs, and we want to have that kind of success in Michigan," he said.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-michigan-right-to-work-20121207,0,6331751.story
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A top Michigan Democrat is looking to President Obama to deliver retribution to Republicans after the GOP-dominated state legislature approved a package of bills that could make this stronghold of union power the nation’s 24th right-to-work state as early as next week.

Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, who on Thursday called the votes to approve the right-to-work measure “petty and vindictive politics,” sparked more backlash Friday when she said she wants the president, who is set to visit Detroit on a previously scheduled political trip on Monday, to push back on Republican Gov. Rick Snyder by holding back federal money for a new international bridge project to Canada and a badly needed mass-transit program in ailing Detroit.

“We are hoping that when President Obama comes to Michigan next week, that this is going to be on his radar screen, that he’s going to say Michigan doesn’t care about their middle class, [so] why should we be bending over backwards to make sure that this governor is able to deliver on his promise,” said Mrs. Whitmer in an interview with local radio station WWJ.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/7/dems-look-obama-punish-michigan-over-labor-vote/#ixzz2ESuj0vlD
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Conservatives kicked off House committees; Saul Alinsky and his Rules for Radicals; Common man's explanation of the tax code

Yesterday, we noted that not only did House leadership select moderates to fill vacant spots on the top congressional committees, they made the unprecedented decision to banish conservatives already sitting on some important committees.  All of the decisions related to committee assignments are decided by a Steering Committee.  At present, the Steering Committee is comprised of 31 members, most of who are either members of leadership or pushed onto the committee by leadership.  These are the men and women behind the decision to throw conservatives under the bus.
It’s important to note that Boehner gave himself 5 votes and Cantor 2 votes on the committee, so there are actually a total of 36 votes on each committee assignment decision.  Here is the list of the committee members:  http://www.redstate.com/2012/12/04/the-members-behind-the-purge-of-conservatives/
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Saul Alinsky was a brilliant man. Evil, but brilliant. Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, everyone on the Left from the President on down is playing by his rules in the political arena. Not all liberals have read his book or know his name, but his tactics have become universal. Sadly for conservatives, when two evenly matched forces go head-to-head outside of a fairy tale, the side that tries to play nice usually ends up with its head in a box. So, don't lie or become an evil person like Alinsky, but learn from what he wrote and give the Left a taste of its own medicine.
Always remember the first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have. The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people.
…The third rule is: Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
…the fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.
…the fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.
…the sixth rule is: A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
…the seventh rule is: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
…the eighth rule: Keep the pressure on.
…the ninth rule: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
The tenth rule: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.
…The eleventh rule is: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.
…The twelfth rule: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
…The thirteenth rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. — Rules for Radicals  http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2012/04/13/12_ways_to_use_saul_alinskys_rules_for_radicals_against_liberals/page/2
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The Common Man’s Explanation of Our Tax Code - [an internet explanation....]
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all
ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes,
it would go something like this…..

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12….

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar
everyday and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day,
the owner threw them a curve ball. “Since you are all such good
customers, “he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer
by $20”. Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So
the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men? How could they divide the $20
windfall so that everyone would get his fair share? They realized that
$20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from
everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end
up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each
man’s bill by higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the
principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to
work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).

The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving)

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% saving).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four
continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began
to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20 saving,” declared the sixth man.
He pointed to the tenth man, “but he got $10!” “Yeah, that’s right,”
exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar too. It’s unfair that
he got ten times more benefit than me!” “That’s true!” “shouted the
seventh man.” “Why should he get $10 back, when I got only $2? The
wealthy get all the breaks. “Wait a minute,” Yelled the first four men
in unison, “We didn’t get anything at all. This new tax system
exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine
sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay
the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough
money between all of them for even half the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and government officials, is
how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes
will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too
much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up
anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the
atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

What’s particularly interesting is if the story were not an analogy
for our tax system, the obvious solution to the mens' problem would be
for everyone to pay an equal amount for each beer!!! This would be
similar to a flat tax concept. Everyone would have paid their “fair
share” (hate that term) and there would be no disagreements. But if
one of our elected politicians were to suggest a flat tax in place of
our current tax system, it would immediately get shot down.

Go figure!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------George Zimmerman sued NBC on Thursday, claiming he was defamed when the network edited his 911 call to police after the shooting of Trayvon Martin to make it sound like he was racist.  http://news.yahoo.com/george-zimmerman-sues-nbc-reporters-221734555.html
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OBAMACORE: THE SUBSTITUTION OF PROPAGANDA FOR GREAT LITERATURE IN OUR SCHOOLS  http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/12/obamacore-the-substitution-of-propaganda-for-great-literatiure-in-our-schools.php

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An amazing speech; Appeals court questions appointments; bama reeks of hubris;

The following link takes you to the speech of Bill Whittle.  If you have not seen it, I guarantee you that you have missed a very special, 15 minute inspiring speech.  It includes what should have been discussed by Mitt Romney and all conservatives.  Instead of acting guilty for being the "greedy rich", we should have explained just what those who provide jobs to others do for this country!  http://blip.tv/davidhorowitztv/bill-whittle-6444929
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A federal appeals court on Wednesday questioned not only President Obama’s controversial January recess appointments but the entire system of such appointments, using oral arguments in a case to cast doubt on whether presidential powers can ever be exercised unless Congress has adjourned for good.
The case involves a challenge to Mr. Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in early January — during a time when the Senate was holding pro forma sessions every three days, specifically for the purposes of denying him the chance to make those appointments.

“Once you remove yourself from the principles set forth in the Constitution — inter-session versus intra-session — you are adrift,” said Judge Thomas B. Griffith.
He was joined in his pointed questioning by Chief Judge David B. Sentelle, who said the clause in the Constitution giving presidents recess appointment powers refers to “the recess,” which he said suggests the one at the end of each year, not the breaks Congress regularly takes for holidays, weekends or other reasons.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/5/court-questions-obama-recess-appointments/#ixzz2ED7MCPxT
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Lawmakers in the House have proposed establishing a Watergate-style investigatory committee aimed at exploring every aspect of the Sept. 11, 2012, terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, that claimed the lives of four Americans.
Rep. Frank Wolf (R., Va.) and a delegation of his colleagues introduced a resolution Tuesday to establish a House select committee, much like the one that investigated and ultimately brought down former President Richard Nixon.  [I wonder if they would have been so scared if one of the new and hazardous lightbulbs which we are all supposed to buy was brought in.  And what old-timer didn't play with the mercury from a broken thermometer back in the day?]  http://freebeacon.com/gop-calls-for-benghazi-select-committee/
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Boca Ciega, Florida — A chemistry project caused a big problem at Pinellas’ Seminole High School Tuesday morning.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office says students were given an assignment to bring in a substance from the Periodic Table of Elements.
One student brought in mercury — contained within a thermometer — and the school went into lockdown.http://www.usaprepares.com/health/high-school-locked-down-after-student-brings-mercury-filled-thermometer-to-class-for-chemistry-project
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[I do recommend that you take the time to read this entire article, several paragraphs of which are here ]  The man you see before you as your President today bears a striking resemblance to the main character in a Greek tragedy. He so reeks of hubris. Every word that drops from his lips speaks a haughty derision of the lesser beings not benighted to be a cog in his political machine. All witness Obama the Magnificent, the conqueror of America, which was the world hyperpower, but is now the Sick Man of the 21st Century, en route to terminal illness.
Middle class beware. Did you not hear four years ago Obama the Magnificent bewail that America with 4 percent of the world's population consumes 25 percent of the world's resources? So unfair, you know, the magic incantation of the Obama Regime. 
To a normal person, the fair share of federal income taxes for a top 1 percent earning 13 percent of income is 13 percent of the taxes. For a Marxist, the top 1 percent earning 13 percent of the income while paying only 39 percent of the income taxes is unfair because it is only fair for the top 1 percent to pay most of the income taxes by themselves.
A normal person would see that policy as social theft. But a born and bred Marxist would see that as social justice, because it is unfair for the top 1 percent of income earners to even exist. Their income and wealth is not earned in the Marxist view, but stolen from The People. So it is only fair that the people steal it back.
Of course, Harry Reid's Senate will ignore the House passed tax reforms, just as it will Ryan's House-passed budget. Indeed, the Senate will continue to break the law, by failing to pass any budget at all, or even to try. This is where House Speaker John Boehner can man up, by literally suing Harry Reid for failing to obey the 1974 Budget Act, which the then Democrat-controlled Congress enacted. Indeed, Boehner, who is just about the only person who would have standing to sue, should file a class action on behalf of the American people. The case of John Boehner and the American People v. Harry Reid can ask the court to enjoin payment of all Senate salaries until the Senate complies with the law. Win or lose, the case would dramatize and drive home the point to the American people.
I am consequently predicting that America's foreign enemies, seeing America has trashed its defenses, and cannot even finance a war to defend itself, will be tempted beyond resistance to attack the American homeland. The result will make 9/11 look like a mere skirmish. The Great Marxist will then politically have turned into The Great Pumpkin.
Thank you, "Progressives." You will then really have transformed America. 
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/05/planting-the-seeds-of-his-ownhttp://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/05/planting-the-seeds-of-his-ownhttp://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/05/planting-the-seeds-of-his-ownhttp://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/05/planting-the-seeds-of-his-ownhttp://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/05/planting-the-seeds-of-his-ownhttp://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/05/planting-the-seeds-of-his-own
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday offered an amendment to force a vote on President Obama’s deficit-reduction plan, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was having none of it.
“Last week [Treasury] Secretary [Timothy] Geithner brought up a proposal that was so unserious,” McConnell said on the floor, “I would like to see if my Democratic friends would like to support it.”

McConnell suggested that the Senate vote on what he called the president’s “ridiculous” plan as an amendment to the Russian trade bill that is being considered. http://thehill.com/video/senate/271255-mcconnell-calls-for-vote-on-obamas-ridiculous-deficit-reduction-plan
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Online sales tax to be added to defense authorization bill http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/04/online-sales-tax-to-be-added-to-defense-authorization-bill/

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The tax plan; FEMA; The ONE says "I won"; The back taxes of Obama aides; Domestic terrorism ties of appointees; States not signing on the Obamacare exchanges

The “plan,” presented to Republican leaders yesterday, consists of $1.6 trillion in tax hikes over 10 years and unspecified spending cuts that “could total” $400 billion over the same period. So estimating liberally, the package consists of at least $4 of tax increases to $1 of spending cuts—and that’s if the promised spending reductions do materialize (which is far from certain). This is the Obama definition of “a balanced plan.”  http://blog.heritage.org/2012/11/30/chart-of-the-week-obamas-fiscal-cliff-plan-has-4-of-tax-hikes-to-1-of-cuts/?roi=echo3-13920382850-10478732-aee1cd8f3db7de9ecb92eaea911de7d5&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
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White House Heralds Unanimously Rejected Fiscal Plan as Base for Fiscal Cliff Deal

The Democratic Senate voted 0-99 against Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget proposal. The Republican House voted 0-414 on Obama’s budget proposal. The Senate has blocked passage of a budget for three years.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/white-house-heralds-unanimously-rejected-fiscal-plan-base-fiscal-cliff-deal

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In ‘cliff’ talks, Obama on brink of disaster

 

It will be hard for Obama and the Democrats to blame the GOP for taking us over the fiscal cliff when they are the ones cheering for going over the edge. And it will be difficult for them to blame Republicans for wanting to protect tax cuts for the rich, when House Speaker John Boehner agreed to $800 billion in higher taxes for the rich in the form of limits on deductions and loopholes.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-thiessen-in-cliff-talks-obama-on-brink-of-disaster/2012/12/03/b3ed6aec-3d5e-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html

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FEMA buys disaster trailers from firm despite chronic flaws

the problems were so widespread that FEMA spent at least $1.3 million in October 2011 to fix warped exteriors on 581 TL trailers at FEMA's Selma, Ala., facility, according to the agency's public contracting records.  http://washingtonexaminer.com/fema-buys-trailers-from-firm-despite-chronic-flaws/article/2514920#.ULz7heQ72Ag

 

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The two defining moments of Obama's presidency

(snip) Minority Whip Eric Cantor distributed a five-point Republican stimulus plan that included tax cuts for the poorest Americans, tax cuts for small businesses, no taxes on unemployment tax credit. Instead, Obama told Cantor, "I can go it alone. ... Look at the polls. The polls are pretty good for me right now. Elections have consequences. And Eric, I won." Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was even more frank: "We have the votes. F--k 'em." http://washingtonexaminer.com/the-two-defining-moments-of-obamas-presidency/article/2514797#.ULz8N-

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Before Raising Rates, Obama Aides Should Pay Their Taxes

Before the President and Democrats preach to small business owners about "paying their fair share," they should ask the cheaters in Washington to do the same.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2012/12/03/before_raising_rates_washington_aides_should_pay_their_taxes

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Political Elites Keep Power By Blocking Change

It should not be considered radical to argue that it looks like today's party of the left is following a Cloward-Piven-like strategy of purposely ruining a country so that it can be rescued with a bigger, stronger, much-further-left government. Remember, it was the president's first chief of staff who said "you never want a serious crisis to go to waste" and it was his current secretary of state who said "never waste a good crisis."

Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/120312-635561-political-elites-stay-in-power-by-controlling-the-population.htm#ixzz2E2xwO053

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The Ties that Bind President Barack Obama’s latest round of appointments includes the head of a nonprofit that gave tens of thousands of dollars to a group run by a convicted domestic terrorist.  http://freebeacon.com/the-ties-that-bind/http://freebeacon.com/the-ties-that-bind/-

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 Many states are wisely signaling that they aren’t interested in doing the Obama administration’s bidding on Obamacare. As a result, many if not most of Obamacare’s insurance exchanges — the heart of the beast — will have to be set up and run by the Obama administration at the federal level.  

The Obama administration’s congressional allies botched the drafting of this aspect of the health care overhaul, as the plain language of Obamacare doesn’t empower federal exchanges to distribute taxpayer-funded subsidies to individuals; it empowers only state-based exchanges to distribute the subsidies. (The administration pretends otherwise.) Moreover, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is lagging behind in developing the federal exchanges. 

It gets worse. HHS has contracted with a subsidiary of a private health care company to help build and police the very exchanges in which that company will be competing for business. The person who ran the government entity that awarded that contract has since accepted a position with a different subsidiary of that same company. An insurance industry insider (speaking on the condition of anonymity) says that HHS, in an attempt to hide this unseemly contract from public view until after the election, encouraged the company to hide the transaction from the Securities and Exchange Commission. http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/sebelius-coverup_664285.html?page=2

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Secession; palm-printing your children; STEM Act; Internet regulation by the UN

President Obama Honors Rosa Parks Anniversary With Picture Of…Himself

President Obama loves to insert himself in other people’s biographies. He also loves to honor people, most recently Neil Armstrong and Vice President Biden, with pictures of himself. All. About. Him. His laser-like focus never wavers from his own image.
And the narcissism continues: To honor the 57th anniversary of the day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, President Obama paid homage with a picture of himself.  http://nation.foxnews.com/obama/2012/12/02/president-obama-honors-rosa-parks-anniversary-picture-himself
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Since Barack Obama's re-election, hundreds of thousands of petitions for secession have reached the White House. Some people have argued that secession is unconstitutional, but there's absolutely nothing in the Constitution that prohibits it. What stops secession is the prospect of brute force by a mighty federal government, as witnessed by the costly War of 1861

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2012/11/28/parting_company/page/full/

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-Instead of paying for their lunches with crumpled dollar bills and loose change, students in Carroll County schools are having their palms scanned in a new check-out system — raising concerns from some parents that their children's privacy is being violated.

The county is one of the first localities in Maryland to use the PalmSecure system, in which children from kindergarten to 12th grade place their hands above an infrared scanner. It identifies unique palm and vein patterns, and converts the image into an encrypted numeric algorithm that records a sale.

Though the school system does not store those images, some parents have complained about the implications of having their children's hands scanned. About 20 percent of parents have declined to participate in the program, said supervisor of food services Karen Sarno.  [I have a question.  Does anyone alive remember who "Big Brother" is?  And don't they see him everywhere these days?  Is that not a problem?]  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bs-md-ca-school-scan-20121002,0,7431956.story

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This week the House of Representatives made a positive move in reforming the US immigration process by passing the STEM Jobs Act sponsored by Lamar Smith (R-TX).

This act does what our immigration policy should do: ensure a higher level of economic growth in the United States by encouraging the brightest and most talented students in the world to become permanent residents of the United States. It also reduces the wait for the families of the visa recipients to receive residency visas which is now at least two years.
It also eliminates the grotesque “Diversity Visa” lottery program which divvies up some 55,000 visas each year among applicants from countries that are deemed to have low immigration rates to the United States.
Now the left is all aflutter that yet another source of recruiting for the various ethnic ghettos is endangered. http://www.redstate.com/2012/12/02/house-passes-stem-immigration-reform-racialists-go-crazy/
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UN internet regulation treaty talks begin in Dubai

[We finally have some clarity as to just why the UN is demanding this action.  It is that redistribution of our wealth thing again and always.] From the BBC:  But the agency said action was needed to ensure investment in infrastructure to help more people access the net.
"The brutal truth is that the internet remains largely [the] rich world's privilege, " said Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the UN's International Telecommunications Union, ahead of the meeting.
"ITU wants to change that." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20575844
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A State Department board of experts is calling for steep cuts in U.S. nuclear forces beyond the New START treaty limits and recommends unilateral or informal reductions to avoid expected Senate ratification battles. http://freebeacon.com/disarming-america/
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Admit it. Angus T. Jones was right. From “Glee” to “Girls” to “Two and a Half Men,” television has devolved into a vacuous wasteland where ordinary notions of morality, fidelity and decency are not just censored. They’re a joke.
TV shows present teenage virginity as a curse, human intelligence as a disease, and promiscuous sex as the norm, while average human attention spans are as alien as the Martian landscape.
That’s what Jones, all of 19, suggested when he made a video that went viral on YouTube last week, an impassioned, 20-minute religious rant that had Hollywood’s amoral glamazons shocked and appalled — while hiding the remote from their own children.
Consider the latest episode.
Jones, who plays Army recruit Jake Harper, giddily tells dad Alan (Jon Cryer) his girlfriend “gave me the clap!’’ Jake’s thrilled. Now everyone knows he’s having sex!
“So you’re telling people?’’ his dad asks incredulously. “I don’t have to,’’ responds Jake, “because I scream when I pee.’’ Two minutes of my life, irrevocably ruined.
And that moronic episode, all you connoisseurs of fine TV, tied the season’s highest rating. Nearly 14 million folks tuned in, proving that the public’s acceptance of “humor” of the lowest common denominator is not just limitless. It’s soul crushing.
That’s not to say “Two and a Half Men” is alone. Far from it. [Is it any wonder that after decades of purposefully debasing our culture thru tv, movies, education agendas, and music, we now have an America which would reelect a failed but "charming" President?]   http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/tv_air_pollution_eGCcNisGDI01RXo35uIRyL
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Larry Summers, chair of the White House National Economic Council when the 2009 stimulus was developed, suggested that President Obama will eventually tax and regulate junk food to drive people to eat more healthily — although he dinged First Lady Michelle Obama’s healthy foods initiative. http://washingtonexaminer.com/obamas-2009-stimulus-chief-says-taxes-and-rules-on-junk-food-are-coming/article/2514572#.ULaBKoZOmfW
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Should veterans deemed too mentally incompetent to handle their own financial affairs be prevented from buying a gun?

The issue, for a time last week, threatened to become the biggest sticking point in a $631 billion defense bill for reshaping a military that is disengaging from a decade of warfare.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., sought to amend the bill to stop the Veterans Affairs Department from putting the names of veterans deemed too mentally incompetent to handle their finances into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which prohibits them from buying or owning firearms. http://news.yahoo.com/veterans-gun-rights-sticky-issue-defense-bill-084034457--politics.html

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The 3.8 percent surtax on investment income, meant to help pay for healthcare, goes into effect in 2013. It is the first surtax to be applied to capital gains and dividend income.
The tax affects only individuals with more than $200,000 in modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), and married couples filing jointly with more than $250,000 of MAGI.

The proposed rules are effective starting January 1. Before making the rules final, the IRS will take public comments and hold hearings in April.
Together, the two taxes are estimated to raise $317.7 billion over 10 years, according to a Joint Committee on Taxation analysis released in June.
To illustrate when the tax applies, the IRS offered an example of a taxpayer filing as a single individual who makes $180,000 in wage income plus $90,000 from investment income. The individual's modified adjusted gross income is $270,000.
The 3.8 percent tax applies to the $70,000, and the individual would pay $2,660 in surtaxes, the IRS said.
The IRS plans to release a new form for taxpayers to fill out for this tax when filing 2013 returns.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/03/us-usa-tax-irs-idUSBRE8B21HA20121203
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Obama's unbalanced approach; Obamacare still has a Constitutional issue; Effects of Obamacare on employers and employees; The Medicaid argument for states; Greedy rich Susan Rice?; What Obama voters won; Obama's FEMA a failure after all; and more

President Barack Obama’s opening bid in negotiations over the so-called fiscal cliff was neither balanced nor especially concerned about reducing the deficit despite the president’s claim to favor a “balanced approach” to solving the country’s fiscal crisis, Republicans said.
The White House did not offer any concrete commitments on spending cuts or entitlement reform.
The White House proposal was adopted from the president’s most recent budget proposal, which did not receive a single Democratic vote in either chamber of Congress. [But, but, but - the Democrats say they already cut spending - last year!  So they don't need to do that again!  And why on Earth are we not hearing that IF Republicans agree to raising taxes on the "greedy rich", the "greedy rich" would not start at $200,00/yr - but several million at least?] http://freebeacon.com/an-unbalanced-approach/
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[As I wrote the day following the Supreme Court's Obamacare decision:] Nevertheless, according to the Roberts opinion, the individual mandate survived its constitutional challenge as a tax. More important, according to Roberts, it survived only as a tax.
It also, ironically, precisely because it is a tax that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, as the Cato Institute’s Michael F. Cannon notes in his article in today’s Los Angeles Times (emphasis mine):

The Pacific Legal Foundation is challenging the individual mandate, which originated in the Senate, even though the Constitution requires that tax measures originate in the House.

And, the 16^th Amendment carves out a special exemption from the Constitution’s requirement that taxes “shall be apportioned among the several States.” For any tax that is not an income tax, the Constitution’s original language applies and thus, per Cannon:  The mandate is also vulnerable because it is not uniform across all states. http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Repealing-Obamacare-The-Roberts-Irony/
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Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, plans to begin denying health insurance to newly hired employees who work fewer than 30 hours a week, according to a copy of the company’s policy obtained by The Huffington Post. …

Walmart declined to disclose how many of its roughly 1.4 million U.S. workers are vulnerable to losing medical insurance under its new policy. …

Labor and health care experts portrayed Walmart’s decision to exclude workers from its medical plans as an attempt to limit costs while taking advantage of the national health care reform known as Obamacare. Among the key features of Obamacare is an expansion of Medicaid, the taxpayer-financed health insurance program for poor people. Many of the Walmart workers who might be dropped from the company’s health care plans earn so little that they would qualify for the expanded Medicaid program, these experts said.

By making the fine for not providing health care cheaper than providing health care, this was always the plan: to encourage employers to send us to the government.

Remember how Obama's big ObamaCare sell was, "You get to keep the health insurance you have"?

It was all a lie, a hustle, a con, a ruse…

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[Here is the argument against accepting Obama's Medicaid expansion]: Turn it down, and governors risk coming off as callous toward their neediest residents. Not to mention the likely second-guessing for walking away from a pot of federal dollars estimated at nearly $1 trillion nationally over a decade.

If the Obama administration were to compromise, say by sweetening the offer to woo a reluctant state, it would face immediate demands from 49 others for similar deals that could run up the tab by tens of billions of dollars.

As state legislatures look ahead to their 2013 sessions, the calculating and the lobbying have already begun.

Conservative opponents of the health care law are leaning on lawmakers to turn down the Medicaid money. Hospitals, doctors’ groups, advocates for the poor and some business associations are pressing them to accept it.

“Here’s the big thing: The state does not want to expand Medicaid and get stuck with the bill,” said Dr. Bill Hazel, Virginia’s health secretary. “Our legislators do not like to raise taxes to pay for a benefit someone else has promised. The concerns we have ... are around federal solvency and the ability of the federal government to meet its commitment.” http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20121203/PC05/121209842/1177/brinksmanship-on-obama-medicaid-expansion-for-poor

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Susan Rice’s Enrichment Program, Cont. [Or - does this make her as greedy and rich as Mitt Romney?  However, she even has a large investment with a company which does business with Iran.  She is worth more than $23 million.]

Rice has investments in bank defrauded by Madoff, in Irish pharmaceuticals, in firm located in Bermuda. http://freebeacon.com/susan-rices-enrichment-program-cont/

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President Herman Cain wrote: Obama won the popular vote by 50.6 percent. OK, those of you that voted for him, you won. But you did not win the lottery. Here's what you won.
You won a president who wants unlimited federal spending powers with no federal debt ceiling. Would you give unlimited credit to a person who has maxed out all of their credit cards? If you say yes, then respectfully, you are a fool.

Obama voters, you won a president who is still campaigning, so he can keep using the lapdog mainstream media to tell you what he wants you to believe instead of telling you the truth. Strip away your preconceived notions about media channels that Obama told you not to watch, and you just might learn something. http://www.caintv.com/obama-voters-you-won-heres-you

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Dozens of residents are still living without heat, hot water, or electricity in condemned structures flooded by both sea and sewer water in the Gerritsen Beach community of Brooklyn after a request to FEMA for temporary housing after Hurricane Sandy was denied.
“We need structures and housing. It is truly desperate,” said Jameson Wells, executive assistant to the director of GB Cares Sandy Relief, a volunteer relief organization. FEMA has said they did not have appropriate trailers.
“They told us they were unavailable because they are unheated and not insulated,” Wells said.
However, around 92 FEMA trailers are sitting idle and unused 145 miles away in Pennsylvania, the Free Beacon has found. Two employees from different companies located near the trailers’ location on Route 315 in Plains Township, Pa., confirmed the trailers were there. http://freebeacon.com/flailing-fema/
Senator Rand Paul, speaking before the Senate on Wednesday said: (And these are not my words.....)“If you don't have a right to trial by jury, you do not have due process. You do not have a Constitution. What are you fighting against and for if you throw the Constitution out? When zealots of the government arrest suspects or radicals without warrants, hold them without trial, deny them access to counsel or admission of bail, we have shorn the Bill of Rights of its sanctity.”

Read more: Rand Paul's victory over the NDAA Indefinite Detention clause | Washington Times Communities
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San Bernardino is so bankrupt that the city’s attorney is advising residents to “lock your doors and load your guns,” in the face of budgetary cuts that have downsized the police force by 80 officers.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/02/bankrupt-california-city-attorney-warns-of-public-safety-cuts-lock-your-doors-and-load-your-guns/#ixzz2DtsLcFLc

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Small businesses across the country are planning for economic hard times during President Barack Obama’s second term.

Basic Machinery Co., Inc. (BMC)—a small design firm in Siler City, N.C., that specializes in heavy industrial systems for the brick, tile, power generation, recycling, and ship and rail terminal industries—has already felt the negative effects of Obama’s policies and its executives are worried for the future.

http://freebeacon.com/small-business-big-problems/

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The future of Twinkies is virtually assured.

Hostess Brands Inc. got final approval for its wind-down plans in bankruptcy court Thursday, setting the stage for its roster of snack cakes to find a second life with new owners - even as 18,000 jobs will be wiped out.

The update on the sale process came as Hostess received approval in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York in White Plains, N.Y. to give its top executives bonuses totaling up to $1.8 million for meeting certain liquidation goals. The company says the incentive pay is needed to retain the 19 corporate officers and "high-level managers" during the wind down process, which could take about a year.  http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HOSTESS_BANKRUPTCY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-11-29-07-55-06

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