Chief of Staff to Top Dem and Former Obama Advisor Arrested for Soliciting Sex from Minor

from JammieWearingFool by JammieWearingFool


Chief of Staff to Top Dem and Former Obama Advisor Arrested for Soliciting Sex from Minor: "No word whether he's in line for a job with the TSA.Fox News has learned that Bob Decheine, longtime chief of staff to Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) has been arrested by police in Gaithersburg, M.D. for allegedly soliciting sex from a minor and has been fired.Decheine is 48 and has been Rothman's Chief of Staff since 2003. He's also a former aide to Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.).The arrest was made"

Nuts… Whoopi Goldberg Lectures O’Reilly: “Two Years Ago it Was the White People Who Were the Terrorists” (Video)

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft


Nuts… Whoopi Goldberg Lectures O’Reilly: “Two Years Ago it Was the White People Who Were the Terrorists” (Video): "

What’s really sad about this discussion was that Whoopi was serious.

The left wing entertainer told Bill O’Reilly that “white people” are just as likely to be terrorists as anyone on the planet.

“What do you mean 90% of the terrorists come out of that region? Terrorists come from everywhere. Right now everyone can say the Muslims are the terrorists. Two years ago it was the white people that were the terrorists.”

Whoopi believes that “white people” are just as likely to be terrorists as Muslim fanatics.

What a shocking display of ignorance.

Remember when you watch this… Whoopi is the smart one on “The View.”



Two years ago we were fighting terrorists in Iraq… The same terrorists that killed some 70,000 Iraqis.



For the record… Muslim extremists have carried out more than 16,000 deadly attacks since 9-11.



But Whoopi sees “white people” as the enemy.

She must not understand that “white people” are Muslims, too.

"

Good-Bye Freedom – Hello Police State… Napolitano Announces Next Steps for Naked Scanners Involves Trains, Boats, Metro

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft


Good-Bye Freedom – Hello Police State… Napolitano Announces Next Steps for Naked Scanners Involves Trains, Boats, Metro: "

Good-Bye Freedom – Hello Police State



Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today that the next steps for the naked body scanners involves trains, boats and metros.

The Hill reported:

The next step in tightened security could be on U.S. public transportation, trains and boats.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says terrorists will continue to look for U.S. vulnerabilities, making tighter security standards necessary.

“[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through,” Napolitano said in an interview that aired Monday night on “Charlie Rose.”

“I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?”

Napolitano’s comments, made a day before one of the nation’s busiest travel days, come in the wake of a public outcry over newly implemented airport screening measures that have been criticized for being too invasive.

The secretary has defended the new screening methods, which include advanced imaging systems and pat-downs, as necessary to stopping terrorists. During the interview with Rose, Napolitano said her agency is now looking into ways to make other popular means of travel safer for passengers and commuters.

But, don’t worry. Government officials will be exempt.

After all, naked body scanning is for the little people.

"

More Hope & Change… Feds Are Now Using Mobile X-Ray Vans On U.S. Streets (Video)

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft


More Hope & Change… Feds Are Now Using Mobile X-Ray Vans On U.S. Streets (Video): "

More hope and change…

The Obama Regime Administration is not only forcing travelers through naked body scanners, they’re bringing the X-ray scanners into your neighborhood, too.

The Department of Homeland Security says the vans have been a huge asset at the nation’s ports and borders, and at major crowd events like the Super bowl.



FOX News reported on the X-ray vans last month.

Privacy advocates worried about x-ray scanners making their way around U.S. airports may be surprised to know the technology is also making its way onto America’s streets.

The Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. military and even local law enforcement agencies are buying and deploying mobile X-ray vans that can see into the interior of vehicles around them.

The Z Backscatter Van (ZBV), manufactured by American Science and Engineering (AS&E), can be used to detect contraband such as car bombs, drugs and people in hiding.

But the vans, which can also see through clothing and into some buildings, are raising privacy concerns as well as questions about health risks — and what might happen if the technology gets into the wrong hands.

FoxNews.com was given a rare ride-along in a ZBV at a U.S. seaport in Elizabeth, N.J.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) wrote letters to President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Transportation Security Administration administrator John Pistole, last month complaining about the van scans.

"

Economy Sees Growth, but Unemployment Stays High

from News by melanie


Economy Sees Growth, but Unemployment Stays High

VIDEO: Gov Jindal: ‘Make Congressmen Part-time’

from RedState by Jason Mattera (Profile)


VIDEO: Gov Jindal: ‘Make Congressmen Part-time’: "

It seems like an insurmountable task for GOP candidates to take out the liberal fixtures of Nancy Pelosi, Charlie Rangel, and Barney Frank in congressional elections, but how about making them part-time workers instead? Perhaps that’s one way to minimize the amount of unpopular legislation coming out of Washington these days. Bobby Jindal thinks so. According to him, it’s about time we slice and dice the number of hours lawmakers have in a work day.

“We used to pay farmers not to grow crops, let’s make congressman stay out of Washington, D.C.,” the Louisiana Governor said in an exclusive interview with HUMAN EVENTS. “Our liberty, our wallets are safest when the legislature’s not in session,” he added, borrowing the line from Mark Twain.

As Jindal describes in his new book Leadership and Crisis, Twain’s warning was precocious. “Right now, each American ‘owes’ $45,000 on the national debt, and that figure is set to rise much higher,” writes Jindal. “The 2009 budget deficit was nearly the size of the entire federal budget in 2000.”

While Jindal’s proposal may come across as overly ambitious, he points out that for most of America’s existence, Congress was indeed regarded as a part-time institution. In fact, some states, including Pennsylvania, even codified provisions in their constitutions that mandated lawmakers to hold down separate jobs from their legislature duties in order to “preserve [their] independence” and to ensure that they weren’t tempted to use their position of power to rake in personal riches.

“Make [politicians] part-time. Give them term limits. Don’t let them become lobbyists. When they have to live under the same rules and laws they passed for the rest of us, maybe you’d see some more common sense coming out of Washington, D.C. Instead you got a permanent governing political class.”

***Stay tuned for more segments of our exclusive interview with the Louisiana Governor, including his thoughts on Steven Seagal, the need for a “smart” immigration policy, and how the administration’s “social justice” approach to fighting terrorists has left the country vulnerable.

Cross-posted from Human Events.

---

Mr. Mattera is the editor of HUMAN EVENTS and the author ofObama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation (Simon & Schuster).He also hostsThe Jason Mattera ShowonNews Talk Radio 77WABC. Previously, he was the Spokesman for Young America’s Foundation and a TV correspondent for Michelle Malkin. Follow Jason onTwitter,Facebook, andYouTube.

"

Peter Schiff predicted the disaster called Obamanomics

from USACTION NEWS by Editor


Peter Schiff predicted the disaster called Obamanomics: "

Before the election Schiff said Democrats taking control of the house, makes matters worse. Obama’s policies will turn economic crisis into something similar to the great depression. During Obama’s term, there will be a major dollar crisis and run-away inflation. Obama will exasperate the problem delaying any meaningful recovery. More and bigger government and irresponsible policies. The government is worried about people going to the back and not having many there, I’m worried about people going to the bank, taking out there money, but they can’t buy anything. We are a republic, I like what the founding fathers created.

If you can see this, then you might need a Flash Player upgrade or you need to install Flash Player if it's missing. Get Flash Player from Adobe.

"

Record-High Turkey Prices Are Just the Beginning

from Business News, Stock Quotes, Investment Advice - DailyFinance by Bruce Watson


Record-High Turkey Prices Are Just the Beginning: "

Wholesale turkey prices are currently hovering around $1.09 per pound, the highest they've ever reached. Several factors are behind the record, but perhaps the biggest one comes from Washington, in the form of Federal Reserve monetary policy.

Continue reading Record-High Turkey Prices Are Just the Beginning

Record-High Turkey Prices Are Just the Beginning originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:40:00.

Filed Under: Economy, Retail, Video

Permalink | Tweet this! | Comments

"

TSA Issues List of Govt. Officials Whose "Junk" is Too Prescious to Touch

from YID With LID by Jeff Dunetz


TSA Issues List of Govt. Officials Whose "Junk" is Too Prescious to Touch: "

As usual, people in our government are too good to be subject to those regulations that the American people are subject to (especially the really "crappy" ones). The latest example is the TSA's new security rules which gives the public the choice of not flying vs being subject to a choice of having your "junk" grabbed or savable nude pictures taken.



The new exceptions include, Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior U.S. officials.

Aviation security officials would not name those who can skip the controversial screening, but other officials said those VIPs range from top officials like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and FBI Director Robert Mueller to congressional leaders like incoming House Speaker John Boehner, who avoided security before a recent flight from Washington's Reagan National Airport.

Personally I can understand giving an exception to Nancy Pelosi, the TSA couldn't pay its agents enough to have to see her naked X-Ray or to grope her private parts, but for the rest of the list they should be subject to the same procedures as the rest of us. Even the cabinet members some of which like Timothy Geithner are granted exceptions to paying penalties when they forget to pay their taxes.

'Government officials traveling with approved federal law enforcement security details are not required to undergo security screening,' TSA spokesman Nicholas Kimball said, speaking about checkpoint security at airports. 'TSA follows a specialized screening protocol for federal law enforcement officers and those under their control, which includes identity verification.'

I am planning on going on vacation with my family in the near future, I will gladly let a federal law enforcement security detail tag along if it means that my wife and kids are not subjected to the federally mandated sexual perversion.

Some members of President Barack Obama's Cabinet, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, travel almost exclusively on government or military planes and are therefore not subject to airport security.

Geithner travels with a Secret Service detail, for example, the only Treasury official with such a security exception. When Mueller and John Morton, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, travel on commercial airlines with their federal security details, they also skip the lines, machines and pat-downs.

Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer said the only Congress members with protective details are leaders, 'based upon a threat analysis conducted by the (U.S. Capitol Police) and affirmed by the Capitol Police Board.' Gainer added that members 'with sworn protection' are able to avoid security because 'their secure posture is affirmed by the law enforcement process established by TSA.'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid flies commercial, has a security detail and does not go through security, spokesman Jim Manley said. The assistant Senate Democratic leader, Richard Durbin of Illinois, flies commercial and has a security detail — mainly when he's in Washington. His office said he goes through the security line like other passengers.

Look, I am not suggesting that members of the cabinet or congress are going to "lose it" and start shooting up the joint (with the exception of maybe Al Franken), but then again neither is the Nun who's picture made headlines last week. The point is our government is not supposed to be royalty, they are supposed to be equals. And once they start getting treated like royalty they forget how to listen, which has been the issue with our government for a long time.

Please email me at yidwithlid@aol.com to be put onto my mailing list.
Feel free to reproduce any article but please link back to http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com

"

Rush Theory: TSA Screenings Bankrupt Airlines and Pres. Obama Takes Them Over

from Our Purpose | The FOX Nation by brobinson


Rush Theory: TSA Screenings Bankrupt Airlines and Pres. Obama Takes Them Over: "

'Try this theory: The airlines go bankrupt thanks to these aggressive searches. They start hemorrhaging money just like the auto industry, so the government has to go in there and take over -- and then, magically, the screening techniques are relaxed. Problem solved! Just remember Nov. 23, 2010.' -Rush

"

Pentagon Reports Setbacks in Afghan War

from WSJ.com US News


Pentagon Reports Setbacks in Afghan War: "A new Pentagon report on the Afghan war through September said the reach of the insurgency was growing and the Taliban dominate more territory, though President Barack Obama has said insurgents now control fewer areas of the country."

Thanks Barack… Fed Lowers Outlook Through 2011

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft


Thanks Barack… Fed Lowers Outlook Through 2011: "

Worst. President. Ever.

The Federal Reserve lowered its expectations for 2011. The economy is projected to grow only at 3.0 percent and the unemployment rate is expected to stay around 9.6 percent in 2011.

Already Barack Obama is the worst jobs president since the Great Depression.

The AP reported:

Federal Reserve officials have become more pessimistic in their economic outlook through next year and have lowered their forecast for growth.

The economy will grow only 2.4 percent to 2.5 percent this year, Fed officials said Tuesday in an updated forecast. That’s down sharply from a previous projection of 3 percent to 3.5 percent. Next year, the economy will expand by 3 percent to 3.6 percent, the Fed said, also much lower than its June forecast.

Fed officials project that unemployment won’t change much this year, averaging between 9.5 percent and 9.7 percent. The current unemployment rate is 9.6 percent. Progress in reducing unemployment has been “disappointingly slow,” the central bank said, according to the minutes of its Nov. 2-3 meeting.

The darker view helps explain why the Fed decided at its meeting earlier this month to launch another round of stimulus. The central bank plans to buy $600 billion in Treasury bonds over the next eight months in an effort to lower interest rates and spur more spending.

The Fed is slightly more optimistic about 2012, in part because officials expect the bond-buying program to have a positive impact. The economy should grow 3.6 percent to 4.5 percent that year, a tick better than June’s forecast of 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent.

Thank you hopey-changers.

You must be very proud.

"

Korean Crisis: What's Really Behind North Korea's Attack? (PJTV Special)

from PJTV


Korean Crisis: What's Really Behind North Korea's Attack? (PJTV Special): "

Alexis Garcia speaks with Walter Lohman of the Heritage Foundation.

"

Experts: Korea conflict poses major risk for U.S.

from Politics - USA Today

Experts: Korea conflict poses major risk for U.S.: "China says it sees no need to go after North Korea for its attack on a South Korean island that left two dead while some Korea experts say the ...

"

South Korean president: Another provocation by North Korea will invite “enormous retaliation”

from Hot Air TV by tips@hotair.com (Hot Air Network, LLC)


South Korean president: Another provocation by North Korea will invite “enormous retaliation”: "

At the brink.

---

Realistically it’s the only thing he could say, but calling North Korea’s bluff at a moment when it’s even less stable than usual due to internal succession politics is awfully dicey. Time speculates that this morning’s shelling might be a show of strength from incoming Dear Leader Kim Jong-un, who’s allegedly “under the influence of [...]

Read this post »

"

Japan On High Alert After North Korea Attacks South

from Flopping Aces by Curt


Japan On High Alert After North Korea Attacks South: "

North Korea attacks South Korea and now Japan is on high alert:

North Korea’s artillery attack on a South Korean island put the Japanese government on high alert, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordering his cabinet members to step up information-gathering and prepare for emergencies.

China sends two ships to patrol islands in the East China Sea that are also claimed by Japan, the latest sign of heightened tension between the two nations.

After Mr. Kan gathered his key cabinet ministers for an emergency meeting late Tuesday, Tokyo issued a statement that harshly condemned Pyongyang for its attacks on civilian targets and expressed strong support for South Korea.

Time has more:

At about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Korea, North Korea commenced a fusillade of artillery fire across the disputed maritime border between North and South, attacking an island in what the Koreas call the West Sea. For just over an hour, the North bombarded Yeonpyeong Island, killing two South Korean marines, injuring 16 more marines and injuring at least three civilians. More than 50 homes caught fire because of the bombardment, and residents of the sparsely populated island scrambled for safety in a bomb shelter. The South responded by scrambling F-16s — which did not cross into North Korean airspace, the South Korean Joint Chiefs said — and returning artillery fire, to unknown effect.

The assault — the second in the area in the past year — came in the midst of a nine-day live-fire exercise conducted by South Korean forces in the waters near the so-called Northern Limit Line, the U.N.-mandated maritime border that Pyongyang does not recognize. Late Tuesday, the North explicitly blamed these exercises for its attack: “Despite our repeated warnings, South Korea provoked us by firing artillery shells into our territory,” said a statement from Pyongyang that was carried on the Korean Central News Agency, the North’s primary external propaganda arm. “Our revolutionary forces countered with stern military actions. It is our traditional military countermeasure to punish perpetrator’s fire with a thunderbolt of fire.” The South, for the record, said the exercises were conducted on its side of the so-called NLL.

But the timing, with U.S. special envoy Stephen Bosworth in the region, was probably not coincidental. The skirmish comes less than two weeks after North Korea allowed a prominent American nuclear scientist to see a brand-new facility for the production of highly enriched uranium — one of the two possible source materials for producing a nuclear bomb. Siegfried Hecker, former director of Los Alamos National Labs in the U.S., described the facility, which sits next to the North’s plutonium reactor in Yongbyon, 60 miles north of Pyongyang, as “stunning.” Though the North told Hecker during his 3½-hr. visit that the centrifuges in use there were intended to enrich uranium only to produce electricity, the revelation heightened fears that Pyongyang seeks to develop nuclear weapons with highly enriched uranium.

Heightened fears? Gimme a break. Of course it’s to develop even more nuke’s. The new leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, decided it was the best time to flex his muscles and he did just that.

According to the article the US has no plans to re-engage with the fruitless six-party talks with North Korea, which is good. They wouldn’t do any good with a regime such as North Korea’s. But what could work is a strategy laid out by Charles Krauthammer:

I think we have to completely redirect the policy. It’s not to aim at the leadership in [North] Korea. It’s to aim at the leadership in China. We heard earlier in the show that the Pentagon is considering a request by the South Koreans for tactical American nuclear weapons … We ought to go one step beyond that, to offer South Korea its own nuclear program and to encourage the Japanese to arm themselves if they need to. The way to say it is: All our [Six-Party] negotiations including China — with China — have not succeeded. You’re going to have to arm yourselves and develop a deterrent.

That will get the attention of the Chinese. Up until now the Chinese have played a double game. They have no interest in helping us on the [North Korea] issue. They like having it as a thorn in our side. It’s distracting us as China expands its influence in all of Asia.

What we ought to say is: What they’re worried about is a Japan with nukes or a South Korea with nukes. Let them [the Chinese] imagine that will be the outcome of this double game — and they will begin to act. They control what happens in Pyongyang. All the fuel, all the food comes through China and they could turn it off.

He is so right on target here. Negotiations with NK will produce absolutely nothing except getting our chain yanked. Make their benefactors worry and results may come about quite quickly.

Of course there is one thorn in this plan.

Obama, being a weak liberal, wouldn’t even consider a plan like this. The man was made to have his chain yanked.

"

Lawmakers Warn $1.2 Billion Payout to Black Farmers Rife With Fraud

from FOXNews.com - Politics by Judson Berger


Lawmakers Warn $1.2 Billion Payout to Black Farmers Rife With Fraud: "

A handful of Republican lawmakers is warning against Congress approving a massive discrimination settlement that passed the Senate last week despite concerns that the process has been marred by thousands of potentially fraudulent claims.

"

Democratic internet censorship

from RenewAmerica by Washington Times


Democratic internet censorship: "(Washington Times) - Al Gore's most famous claimed invention, the Internet, has become a thorn in the side of the left. Online shopping protects consumers from having their pockets picked by the tax man..."

Regions Cut to Junk by S&P on Concern Over Funding

from BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice


Regions Cut to Junk by S&P on Concern Over Funding: "Regions Financial Corp., the Alabama bank that replaced its risk managers last week, was downgraded to junk status by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on concern that more loan losses will erode the firm’s capital."

Iranian Parliament Wants to Impeach Ahmadinejad

from YID With LID by Jeff Dunetz


Iranian Parliament Wants to Impeach Ahmadinejad: "

The Anti-Ahmadinejad movement that started with last year's Iraqi elections is still alive and well. Iran's parliament is trying to impeach the Iranian presidential nut job, but they were stopped by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, exposing a deepening division within the regime.

Lawmakers also launched a new petition to bring a debate on the president's impeachment, conservative newspapers reported Monday.



The reports of challenges to Mr. Ahmadinejad were intended as retorts to a powerful body of clerics that urged Mr. Khamenei to curb the parliament's authority and give greater clout to the president.



In a report released Sunday and discussed in parliament Monday, four prominent lawmakers laid out the most extensive public criticism of Mr. Ahmadinejad to date.

The charges filed against Ahmadinejad include:

• Withdrawing $590 million from the Central Bank's foreign reserve fund without approval.


• Trading 76.5 million barrels of crude oil in exchange for gasoline imports in 2008 without approval.


• Illegally importing gasoline, oil and natural gas at a value of about $9 billion since 2007.


• Failing to provide transparency in budget spending and curbing parliamentary oversight.


• Failing to provide transparency about the source of money for the president's domestic travels and about the allocation of money in Iran's provinces.


• Failing to implement or notify ministries about 31 legislative items passed by the parliament in 2010.

This move comes as some of the economic sanctions seem to be causing a hardship for the Iranian people. As sanctions bite, the regime is now forced to raise prices on basic staples. As the regime is well aware, the most potent challenge to Iran's ruling system may be as simple as a shopping list.

Iranians - both rich and poor - have long benefited from blanket subsidies on natural gas, electricity, petrol, water and many staple foods. As sanctions target Iran's limited refining capabilities, Iran was recently forced to import refined fuel, despite owning one of the world's biggest oil reserves. As a result most drivers expect a rise of 400% in gasoline prices creating immense pressure at petrol stations across the country.

In the food department, bread prices are up more than fivefold, cooking oil more than double, cuts of lamb about triple from last year.

Price supports have long buoyed Iranians, with average households receiving $4,000 worth of fuel and electricity payments a year. Taking these benefits away can shake up the regime's stronghold significantly.

But what may bring the Anti-Ahmadinejad forces to a head is the administration's plan to gradually eliminate subsidies for fuel, food and utilities from an economy strained by a string of international sanctions over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.

Authorities have tightened security and arrested members of the opposition to prevent riots and uprisings in response to the subsidy cuts, which economists say will drive up inflation.



In opposition to the conservative lawmakers are Iran's ultraconservatives—led by Mr. Khamenei, who has final say in all state matters—who have increasingly backed the president when he carries out policy without parliamentary approval.

....Conservative newspapers reported on Monday that lawmakers have started a motion to collect the 74 signatures needed to openly debate impeachment. Mousa Reza Servati, the head of the parliament's budgetary committee, was quoted as saying 40 lawmakers, including Mr. Servati, have signed the motion.

Whether this attempt to oust Ahmadinejad works or not, two things are clear the United States is not going to help and the effort for Iranian freedom will continue.

Please email me at yidwithlid@aol.com to be put onto my mailing list.
Feel free to reproduce any article but please link back to http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com

"

So Which Government Officials Get to Skip TSA Security Checks?

from The Blaze - Stories by Scott Baker


So Which Government Officials Get to Skip TSA Security Checks?: "

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior U.S. officials are exempt from toughened new airport screening procedures when they fly commercially with government-approved federal security details.

Aviation security officials would not name those who can skip the controversial screening, but other officials said those VIPs range from top officials like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and FBI Director Robert Mueller to congressional leaders like incoming House Speaker John Boehner, who avoided security before a recent flight from Washington’s Reagan National Airport.

The heightened new security procedures by the Transportation Security Administration, which involve either a scan by a full-body detector or an intimate personal pat-down, have spurred passenger outrage in the lead-up to the Thanksgiving holiday airport crush.

But while passengers have no choice but to submit to either the detector or what some complain is an intrusive pat-down, senior government officials can opt out if they fly accompanied by government security guards approved by the TSA.

“Government officials traveling with approved federal law enforcement security details are not required to undergo security screening,” TSA spokesman Nicholas Kimball said, speaking about checkpoint security at airports. “TSA follows a specialized screening protocol for federal law enforcement officers and those under their control, which includes identity verification.”

The TSA would not explain why it makes these exceptions. But many of the exempted government officials have gone through several levels of security clearances, including FBI background checks, and travel with armed law enforcement, eliminating the need for an additional layer of security at airports.

Armed law enforcement officials who travel commercially are also allowed to skip airport security after they fill out the proper paperwork at the airport.

Some members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, travel almost exclusively on government or military planes and are therefore not subject to airport security.

Geithner travels with a Secret Service detail, for example, the only Treasury official with such a security exception. When Mueller and John Morton, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, travel on commercial airlines with their federal security details, they also skip the lines, machines and pat-downs.

Same goes for Boehner, the top House Republican, who was sighted last week being guided past security lines at Reagan. Spokesmen for both Boehner and current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would not discuss security arrangements. But under a policy started by the Bush administration after the Sept. 11 attacks, a military aircraft is made available to the speaker, third in line to the presidency, for all official flight needs.

Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer said the only Congress members with protective details are leaders, “based upon a threat analysis conducted by the (U.S. Capitol Police) and affirmed by the Capitol Police Board.“ Gainer added that members ”with sworn protection“ are able to avoid security because ”their secure posture is affirmed by the law enforcement process established by TSA.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid flies commercial, has a security detail and does not go through security, spokesman Jim Manley said. The assistant Senate Democratic leader, Richard Durbin of Illinois, flies commercial and has a security detail — mainly when he’s in Washington. His office said he goes through the security line like other passengers.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell flies commercial, spokesman Donald Stewart said, who also would not detail his security arrangements.

A spokesman for incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor declined to discuss his arrangements. Daniel Reilly, a spokesman for outgoing House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, said he flies commercial, but also would not discuss security.

A few lawmakers have called for investigations into the intimate pat-downs, and some refuse to go through the full-body imaging machines when they travel. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who has blasted the procedures, avoids the scanners but goes through security and takes the pat-down if it’s required, according to his spokeswoman Alisia Essig.

The TSA’s administrator, John Pistole, is treated like any other traveler when he flies, waiting in security lines and walking through X-ray machines, including the full-body imagers, his spokesman said.

Even as he has led a publicity campaign in recent days to urge cooperation from air travelers, Pistole’s agency is preparing for long lines at airports Wednesday, the busiest travel day of the year.

Security checks at some U.S. airports could be slowed this year by a loosely organized campaign for travelers to opt out of going through the full-body imaging machine, a 10-second process. By opting out, travelers would be choosing to undergo a pat-down which can take up to four minutes.

This year’s pat-downs are different from last year. The new version includes a rigorous screening that includes agents running their hands inside a passenger’s legs and along the cheek of the buttocks as well as direct contact with the groin area.

The terrorist threat to commercial aviation, including a failed attack on a Detroit-bound jet last Christmas, prompted the Obama administration to develop a more invasive pat-down on air travelers.

About two-thirds of Americans support using the full-body scanners to increase security, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll published Tuesday. But half of the 514 adults surveyed by phone said the more rigorous pat-downs go too far.

The American Civil Liberties Union has received more than 600 complaints over three weeks from passengers who say they were subjected to humiliating pat-downs at U.S. airports, and the pace is accelerating, according to ACLU legislative counsel Christopher Calabrese.

___

Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman, Martin Crutsinger and Larry Margasak contributed to this story.

"

Both Limbaugh And Huckabee Call For Obama To Send His Family In For A TSA Pat Down

from Mediaite.com | News & Opinion | Media: TV, Print, Online, Jobs ... by Jon Bershad


Both Limbaugh And Huckabee Call For Obama To Send His Family In For A TSA Pat Down: "

As Reddit goes, so goes the Republican Party? Today both Rush Limbaugh and Mike Huckabee have gone on record as saying that President Obama should send his family through a TSA screening as a sign of good faith, which is the same thing a popular Internet campaign was saying last week. Who would have guessed that conservatives were actually getting their talking points from Reddit? Forget Sarah Palin. Lets look forward to Zach Anner in 2012!

Huckabee made the suggestion on his radio show and then echoed it on Fox & Friends:

“If he thinks this is an appropriate way for us to deal with security as he has defended, then I’ve said, ‘OK, Mr. Obama, take your wife, your two daughters and your mother-in-law to Washington Reagan National Airport and have them publicly go through both the body scanner and the full enhanced pat-down in front of others. And if it’s OK for your wife, your daughters, and your mother-in-law, then maybe the rest of us won’t feel so bad when our wives, our daughters and our mothers are being put through this humiliating and degrading, totally unconstitutional, intrusion of their privacy.’”

Meanwhile, on his radio show, Limbaugh compared it to Obama going swimming in the Gulf with his daughter after the oil spill to show that it was safe.

It will be interesting to see if any other opponents of the TSA measures join in on this call. It will also be interesting to see what Huckabee and Limbaugh’s opinions are on the new Elder Scrolls sequel. I mean, I’m sure they’re both psyched to return to the mythical land of Cyrodiil, right?

Check out the clip of Huckabee from Fox News below and the clip of Limbaugh below that:

"

Now it Is 63: NY Rep. Maffei Concedes Election

from - Big Government by Publius



Now it Is 63: NY Rep. Maffei Concedes Election: "

From Syracuse.com:

Ann Marie Buerkle will be Syracuse’s next representative in Congress, its first woman in the U.S. House.

U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei, the Democrat, called Buerkle today to concede, ending three weeks of ballot inspections, recounting and court wrangling.

Buerkle’s staff said she will have a 4 p.m. news conference. Onondaga County Elections Commissioner Ed Ryan confirmed that Maffei conceded.

Read the whole thing here. John McCain received only 43% of the vote in this district in 2008. George W. Bush received only 48% in 2004. Hope and Change!

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First Amendment Victory in Second Circuit

from Cato @ Liberty by Ilya Shapiro

First Amendment Victory in Second Circuit: "

By Ilya Shapiro

As the legal battle against Obamacare continues, we got good constitutional news today in another aspect of health care law. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New York City, ruled that statutes restricting commercial speech about prescription drug-related data gathering are unconstitutional. The court emphasized that the First Amendment protects “[e]ven dry information, devoid of advocacy, political relevance, or artistic expression.”

The case, IMS Health v. Sorrell, concerned a Vermont law that sought to constrain various aspects of prescriber-identifiable data gathering, dissemination, and use. The state argued that such information collection and exchange could induce doctors to alter their prescribing practices in ways that impose additional costs on the state’s budget. Most notably, the law outlawed the transfer of doctors’ prescription history to facilitate drug companies’ one-on-one marketing—a practice known as “detailing” —because the state believed detailing drives up brand-name drug sales and, in turn, health care costs. Thus, the Vermont law would have eliminated a key part of the market by hindering economic incentives to comprehensively gather the data. The state argued that the data sharing isn’t “traditional journalistic activity,” it’s not protected by the First Amendment.

Cato joined the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Progress & Freedom Foundation, and two trade associations to file an amicus brief in the case in support of the plaintiffs challenging the law. The Vermont Prescription Restraint Law (and the similar laws enacted in New Hampshire and Maine) imposed unprecedented censorship on a broad swath of socially important information. We are gratified that the Second Circuit upheld First Amendment protections here and congratulate the plaintiffs on their victory.

You can read Cato’s brief here and the Second Circuit’s decision here.

First Amendment Victory in Second Circuit is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

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Alabama's jobless rate falling faster than other states, report says

from Alabama Business Impact by Roy L. Williams -- The Birmingham News


Alabama's jobless rate falling faster than other states, report says: "Bureau of Labor Statistics says state's rate fell by 1.9 percentage points in year"

The Fed Sees a Slower Recovery and Jobs Rebound

from Business News, Stock Quotes, Investment Advice - DailyFinance by Joseph Lazzaro


The Fed Sees a Slower Recovery and Jobs Rebound: "

In its latest meeting minutes, the Fed said it now expects the U.S. economy to grow more weakly in both 2010 and 2011, with as many as six years needed to return unemployment to normal levels of 5% to 6%.

Continue reading The Fed Sees a Slower Recovery and Jobs Rebound

The Fed Sees a Slower Recovery and Jobs Rebound originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:20:00.

Filed Under: Economy

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CREW: Obama's DOJ is a freedom of information disgrace

from Beltway Confidential by David Freddoso


CREW: Obama's DOJ is a freedom of information disgrace: "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) just issued what is probably its unkindest press release so far about the Obama administration, comparing its Justice Department to the Bush administration when it comes to transparency:
Despite policy directives from President Barack Obama and Attorney General Holder...

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