US helps Ukraine send enriched uranium to Russia

from Headlines from the Associated Press


US helps Ukraine send enriched uranium to Russia: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States has helped Ukraine sent to Russia enough uranium to build two atomic bombs in a secret operation aimed at securing nuclear material...."

Twenty-five Democratic state legislators have switched to GOP

from Beltway Confidential by Mark Hemingway


Twenty-five Democratic state legislators have switched to GOP: "GOPAC chairman Frank Donatelli just sent out a press release crowing that 25 Democratic legislators have now switched parties and become Republican.

"We are pleased with the decision of these men and women to leave the Democratic Party and join with us. They are adding to the ranks of Americans who want to put...

"

How Government Regulations Push Up Cost of Medicine and Limit Patient Choice

from - Big Government by John Bambenek


How Government Regulations Push Up Cost of Medicine and Limit Patient Choice: "

It’s no secret that health care is an industry beset by huge problems. The problem doesn’t as much stem from “evil insurance companies” as it does from a system created by federal and state governments to make a system as economically inefficient as possible.

For instance, most people do not pick their own insurance companies. Their employer does. The customer then isn’t the consumer, it is the business that contracts them to provide insurance for their employees. Patients don’t pay the doctors, the insurance companies do. In fact, the medical industry collects maybe 30% of the bills that aren’t sent to an insurance company. So their customer isn’t the patient, it’s the insurance company (or the government in the case of Medicare/Medicaid).

What you have is a system that puts all the control in people who aren’t the primary two parties in a health care relationship: the doctor and the patient. Is it any wonder why the system sucks? We’ve taken everything we know about economics and done the opposite.

However, for their part the doctors and the insurance companies have more access to legislators (due to campaign contributions and lobbyists) than patients do. The result is a regulatory system that is skewed away from patients, affordability and choice.

Illinois provides a great example of this.

Currently there is a debate on legalizing specially trained nurses to give birth outside of a hospital setting. This legislation is SB3712.

Currently, the interpretation of the Department of Professional Regulation is that attending a birth is “practicing medicine” and must be supervised by a doctor. Illinois is a judicial hell-hole, so liability insurance for doctors is already at least four-times what it is in neighboring states so you won’t find a doctor willing to attend a home-birth (unless you have a crap-ton of money).

So you have doctors (and more accurately) their liability insurance companies who are setting the terms of birth for women who might want to have birth at home. Many people might find the concept of a home-birth not for them. That’s fine. It isn’t for everyone. It certainly isn’t for high-risk pregnancies but many pregnancies aren’t high risk.

However, let’s examine the costs. A homebirth costs around $2,000. A hospital birth with no interventions costs about $25,000. In fact, if you go into labor quickly and can’t get to the hospital in time and have birth at home or in route to the hospital, the hospital charges still run about $20,000 for doing little more than cutting the cord.

27 states currently license homebirth midwives. Illinois isn’t one of them. Many women are pushing to make that licensing legal in Illinois so they can have birth on their terms. There is one obstacle, the Illinois State Medical Society.

They give lots of cash to legislators, so they have access. They say things like “it’s too dangerous” and legislators bow to their wishes. In reality, it’s about income protection. Low-risk, low-maintenance mothers are an “income stream” because they can be charged the full price for giving birth in a hospital where the staff basically sits around and does little.

But shouldn’t medicine be about “informed consent” where the patient decided their standard of care and not some lawyer or bean-counter they never interact with? Not to the Illinois State Medical Society. They also think that doctors who sexually abuse their patients shouldn’t immediately be suspended from medicine. Go figure.

This is somewhat a personal issue for me. My wife has had 2 of our three children at home and the other attempt we transferred into the hospital due to complications. My wife asked me if I was ok with her giving birth at home. My only condition was that I didn’t have to be the one to catch the baby.

Each time, the midwife was professional, well-trained and gave my wife the standard of care she wanted.

However, in Illinois, the ISMS wants to impose their standards on my wife without so much of a discussion. And that standard is written by lawyers who, understandably, are concerned about Illinois’ hellacious tort system.

Regulations should not be designed to limit choice. They should be limited to only what is needed to protect consumers and prevent abuse. In Illinois in the coming weeks, we’ll see if politicians side with women or side with industry lobbyists who simply want to buttress their cashflow.

"

Time Magazine Confirms: Liberal Media Has Jumped the Shark on Global Warming Hoax

from Moonbattery by Van Helsing


Time Magazine Confirms: Liberal Media Has Jumped the Shark on Global Warming Hoax: "

It isn't just the barking moonbat self-parodies at the snicker-inducing New York Times. The establishment liberal press has officially jumped the shark, rendering itself irrelevant to the world of adults with its desperate attempt to convince the cretinously gullible that the harsh winter weather we've been witnessing is caused by the chimerical global warming crisis. See if you can keep a straight face while reading this from Time Magazine:

…while piles of snow blocking your driveway hardly conjure images of a dangerously warming world, it doesn't mean that climate change is a myth. … One theory is that a warmer Arctic may actually lead to colder and snowier winters in the northern mid-latitudes. Even as countries like Britain — suffering through the coldest December on record — deal with low temperatures and unusual snow, the Arctic has kept on warming, with Greenland and Arctic Canada experiencing the hottest year on record.

As noted earlier, claiming that even if it's colder where there are people to witness the temperature, it's warmer in places where there aren't is a favorite trick of warmists.

How's this for an explanation as to how global warming makes it be so cold:

The theory seems counterintuitive, but as Jeff Masters, a meteorologist who writes the great Wunder Blog at Weather Underground, put it in a recent post, it makes sense: "This pattern is kind of like leaving the refrigerator door ajar — the refrigerator warms up, but all the cold air spills out into the house." The planet overall is still warming — and the Arctic fastest of all — but the cold air from the far north can result in biting winter weather and major storms, for a while at least.

Here's an idea: why don't we raise taxes so that World Government can create a giant refrigerator door to keep the cold air from leaking out of the arctic? The sacred man-eating polar bears will stay comfortably cool, and Mayor Bloomberg and the public sector unions crippling NYC might be able to handle snow removal.

Strangely enough, global warming didn't always cause so much snow and cold in Britain. Here's what they were saying 10 years ago:

Global warming, the heating of the atmosphere by increased amounts of industrial gases, is … so far manifesting itself more in winters which are less cold than in much hotter summers. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".

'Children just aren't going to know what snow is,' he said.

The University of East Anglia was among the most esteemed establishment strongholds of global warming ideology. The Climategate scandal revealed it to be infested with liars who deliberately propped up the phony crisis in exchange for a gusher of taxpayer money.

Over 1,000 scientists from more respectable institutions have officially gone on the record that global warming is a fraud. But like the New York Times, Time Magazine will be neck deep in the tar pits before they admit it.

But where there are no people to witness the weather it's warm.

On tips from mega, Lyle, and Jodie.

"

Blizzard Used as Pretext to Nix Second Amendment

from Moonbattery by Van Helsing


Blizzard Used as Pretext to Nix Second Amendment: "

No matter what happens, the liberal establishment will blame it on global warming and use it as an excuse to deprive us of our Constitutional rights. Katrina is one case in point. The East Coast blizzard is another:

The recent blizzard that hammered North Carolina is also taking its toll on the state's law abiding gun owners. Citizens possessing concealed carry permits who are caught packing heat during the 'state of emergency' will be subject to criminal charges, per the state's firearms law.

On Christmas Day, Lt. Governor Walter Dalton, in consultation with Governor Bev Perdue, called in the National Guard as snow covered every county in the state. Once a state of emergency is declared, concealed carry permits become null and void, and those who aren't familiar with this bizarre stipulation in the law are subject to arrest and criminal prosecution.

That is, law-abiding citizens are forbidden from carrying defensive weapons whenever a situation arises that might make them particularly likely to need them. Criminals as always will be unencumbered by this absurd law, because firearms restrictions do no apply to them, as evidenced by the many shootings that occur in 'gun-free' zones.

On a tip from AC.

"

Countermoonbat Piers Corbyn Predicted Brutal Cold for Britain, East Coast

from Moonbattery by Van Helsing


Countermoonbat Piers Corbyn Predicted Brutal Cold for Britain, East Coast: "

While the ideologically addled establishment was yelping that global warming would cause a mild winter, WeatherAction founder Piers Corbyn predicted well in advance that Britain and the US East Coast would be in for exactly the weather we've been seeing:

Dr. Corbyn is unlikely to be first in line for generous government grants, but at least he has the satisfaction of being demonstrably right. His approach is to base predictions on science rather than politics.

On a tip from TED.

"

Obama Moves to Strengthen Labor Unions - Communists Approve

from New Zeal: Security Risk? More Evidence of Mary Jo Kilroy's ... by Trevor Loudon


Obama Moves to Strengthen Labor Unions - Communists Approve: "The best way to keep abreast of the Obama Administration's latest moves is to read the Communist Party USA newszine Peoples World.

Peoples World labor editor John Wojcik has kindly informed us of new Administration moves to strengthen labor unions.

Private employers will be required to post large signs informing workers about their right to form unions under a new rule the Obama administration plans to institute by executive order.

The plan received less than the amount of publicity that might have been expected because it was announced the week before Christmas when the main focus of the news was on the legislative battles in Congress.

The National Labor Relations Board plans to issue a rule requiring almost all employers to post notices in employee break rooms or other prominent spots that explain workers' rights to bargain collectively, distribute union literature or engage in other union activity without reprisal.

In the past the NLRB usually made policy on a case-by-case basis during labor-management disputes.

The decision to issue the new order steps up even further the more aggressively pro-labor role the board has played during the Obama administration.

The president first signaled his determination to strengthen the board's role in protecting organizing rights when he made several recess appointments to give the NLRB its first Democratic majority in ten years.

The recess appointments were made because because the presiden't candidates were held up for months over GOP claims that a former AFL-CIO lawyer, Craig Becker, would be too pro-union.

The administration's new rule is opposed by big business which sees it as an attempt to achieve, by executive order, some of what labor and its allies have not been able to achieve on the legislative front. Republican filibusters have blocked passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier to form unions. The EFCA would allow workers to form a union as soon as a majority sign cards expressing their desire to be in a union.

Others who oppose the rule see it as a step in the direction of reversing a long-term decline in union membership. Only 7.2 percent of the natioon's work force is now unionized. Anti-union forces fear that widespread knowledge of union organizing rights will begin to reverse that trend.

The rule will not take effect until late February. From now until then, the NLRB is taking comments.

I am reminded of a famous quote from V.I. Lenin's Role and Functions of the Trade Unions

Just as the very best factory, with the very best motors and first-class machines, will be forced to remain idle if the transmission belts from the motors to the machines are damaged, so our work of socialist construction must meet with inevitable disaster if the trade unions—the transmission belts from the Communist Party to the masses—are badly fitted or function badly.

Strengthening unions strengthens socialism. The good Leninists of the Communist Party USA and their friends in the Obama Administration are no doubt acutely aware of this.

"

Radical Cause and Effect: Van Jones Policies Are Redistributing Wealth to Hate Group New Black Panthers

from The Blaze - Stories by Naked Emperor News


Radical Cause and Effect: Van Jones Policies Are Redistributing Wealth to Hate Group New Black Panthers: "

"

Top Ten Heritage Videos of 2010

from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News. by Brandon Stewart


Top Ten Heritage Videos of 2010: "

We are continuing our Top Ten in 2010 series with the top 10 Heritage videos as determined by views on The Heritage Foundation’s YouTube channel. Have a YouTube account? Subscribe to our channel to be among the first to find out about new videos.

10. Obamacare the Television Ad

9. A Wall Street Bailout Bill

8. Gov. Mitch Daniels on Obamacare’s Devastating Consequences

7. Federal Spending By The Numbers

6. This Doctor Fights Obamacare One Patient at a Time

5. Heritage’s Entry to the EPA Video Contest

4. How Obama Mis-Spent His Summer Vacation

3. VIDEO: Honoring Constitution Day

2. Obama’s Tax Hike: The Movie

1. The Heritage Foundation Responds to the Health Care Vote

"

Free internet and computers with your tax dollars

from USACTION NEWS by Editor


Free internet and computers with your tax dollars: "

Tampa Housing Authority has secured a $2.1 million federal grant to provide broadband Internet access to 23 public housing sites. The program also will help residents get computers of their own by offering 1,000 computers for only $125 and will install almost 200 computers in two communities to offer residents a designated work space.

By RACHEL PLEASANT at Tampa Tribune

EXCERPTS:

The project will be the first such one in Florida and one of the few in the nation.

Internet access will be available to about 3,400 residents for free for the first two years. After two years, residents will be able to pay for the access for the next three years for $18.35 per month.

While some might view Internet access in subsidized housing as a luxury, housing authority officials don’t. They say Internet access in this day and age is a basic necessity that can mean the difference between moving out of public housing or not.

“Having access to the Internet is like having a stove or refrigerator or a phone. You can’t function without it,” said Jerome Ryans, the authority’s president and CEO. “We’ve got to break the cycle of the revolving door of public housing. We have to give them the help to get things done.”

FULL ARTICLE

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Here comes the official propaganda channel -taxpayer funded

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Time for Government takeover of radio stations like Venezuela?

Could a Chavez-Style Media Crackdown Be Coming Our Way? – Bet on it!

Van Jones: self avowed communist and Obama staffer & other czars

In suggestions eerily similar to Chavez’s takeover of media, Mark Lloyd has pushed for reinstatement of the “fairness” doctrine and called for crippling taxes on privately owned media to fund “diversity” in media.

Venezuelans Protest as Chavez Closes Another TV Station

Obama’s FCC appointee Mark Lloyd praised Chavez for an “incredible democratic revolution.”

"

New GOP House rule requires constitutional authority on every bill introduced

from USACTION NEWS by Editor


New GOP House rule requires constitutional authority on every bill introduced: "

They will read the Constitution aloud. And then they will require that every new bill contain a statement by the lawmaker who wrote it citing the constitutional authority to enact the proposed legislation.

By Philip Rucker and Krissah Thompson Washington Post

EXCERPTS:

When Republicans take over the House next week, they will do something that apparently has never been done before in the chamber’s 221-year history:

Call it the tea party-ization of Congress.

“It appears that the Republicans have been listening,” said Jeff Luecke, a sales supervisor and tea party organizer in Dubuque, Iowa. “We’re so far away from our founding principles that, absolutely, this is the very, very tip of the iceberg. We need to talk about and learn about the Constitution daily.”

House Republican leaders announced dozens of new rules, including several measures designed to increase transparency in the legislative process.

The reading of the Constitution will occur on Jan. 6, one day after the swearing in of Speaker-designate John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

FULL ARTICLE

Text and summary of the new rules

"

17 National Debt Statistics Which Prove That We Have Sold Our Children And Grandchildren Into Perpetual Debt Slavery

from USACTION NEWS by Editor


17 National Debt Statistics Which Prove That We Have Sold Our Children And Grandchildren Into Perpetual Debt Slavery: "

What we have done to future generations over the past 30 years is absolutely criminal.

By Michael T. Snyder at The Economic Collapse

What we have done to future generations over the past 30 years is absolutely criminal. 30 years ago the U.S. national debt was a bit under one trillion dollars, and at that time it was considered a huge national crisis. Today, the national debt is 14 times larger and the years ahead look absolutely apocalyptic at this point. We have literally sold our children and our grandchildren into perpetual debt slavery. We have accumulated the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world, and our children and our grandchildren will be burdened with it for the rest of their lives. All of our politicians keep talking about how it is vitally important that we do something about all of this debt “soon”, but they just can’t seem to stop wildly spending our money. They keep telling us that now is not the time for deficit reduction because it would harm “the economic recovery”, but the “right time” for deficit reduction never seems to come along. The national debt statistics in this article are meant to shock you. Hopefully they will shock you enough to actually take action. Up to this point, the vast majority of Americans have been extremely apathetic about the horrific crime that we are committing against future generations.

How would you feel if you found out one day that your parents had run up a million dollars in debt that now you were obligated to pay off?

Would you be absolutely furious?

Of course you would be, and rightly so.

So how do you think future generations will feel about us?

We were once the wealthiest nation on the planet, but we have taken that great inheritance and we have squandered it.

Now we are handing our children and our grandchildren the largest debt the world has ever seen.

How in the world can we do that?

How can we consign our descendants to perpetual debt slavery and still feel good about ourselves?

The America that we have all been enjoying so much today is going to be wiped out by all of this debt.

We have literally stolen the future.

We just had to keep spending more and more and more and more.

The greed of this generation will be remembered for a very, very long time.

The truth is that both political parties are responsible. Both of them have voted over and over and over to keep running up these huge budget deficits.

If you have voted for big spending Democrats at any point over the past 30 years then you have contributed to the problem. If you have voted for big spending Republicans at any point over the past 30 years then you have contributed to the problem.

Now we have reached a point where a horrific financial meltdown is basically inevitable. We are living in the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and it is only a matter of time until it bursts.

The following are 17 national debt statistics which prove that we have sold our children and our grandchildren into perpetual debt slavery….

#1 As of December 28th, the U.S. national debt was $13,877,230,355,933.00.

#2 If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.

#3 If the federal government began repaying the national debt at a rate of $10 million dollars a day it would take approximately 3,800 years to pay off the national debt.

#4 Today, the U.S. national debt is increasing by roughly 4 billion dollars every single day.

#5 The U.S. government is borrowing approximately 2.63 million more dollars every single minute.

#6 On September 30th, 1980 the U.S. national debt was 907 billion dollars. Just thirty years later, the U.S. national debt is over 14 times larger.

#7 According to a recent U.S. Treasury report to Congress, the U.S. national debt will reach 19.6 trillion dollars in 2015.

#8 It is being projected that the U.S. government will be paying 900 billion dollars just in interest on the national debt by the year 2019.

#9 A trillion $10 bills, if they were taped end to end, would wrap around the globe more than 380 times. That amount of money would still not be enough to pay off the U.S. national debt.

#10 The U.S. Congress has raised the federal debt ceiling six times in just the past three years.

#11 The 111th Congress added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.

#12 The 111th Congress got us into so much new debt that it breaks down to $10,429.64 for each of the 308,745,538 people counted by the 2010 U.S. census.

#13 The U.S. government currently has to borrow approximately 41 cents of every single dollar that it spends.

#14 When you break down the debt that the U.S. government owes to China alone it comes to over $10,000 for every single American family.

#15 If you were alive when Christ was born and you spent one million dollars every single day since that point, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now. Almost unbelievably, the U.S. government will accumulate well over a trillion dollars more debt in 2011.

#16 If right this moment you went out and started spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.

#17 The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that U.S. government debt held by the public will reach a staggering 716 percent of GDP by the year 2080.

But the American people don’t want to hear that we have spent decades creating a horrific debt crisis that is not going to be easy to fix. They just want someone to “tweak” a few things and get us back to being the greatest economy on earth. Unfortunately, it is simply not that easy.

Just check out the chart posted below. Our debt is exploding at an almost exponential rate….

But what do you tell a nation that is completely addicted to debt?

On an individual level, it can be a lot of fun to wildly run up credit card debt, but at some point you have to stop and start paying down that debt.

Unfortunately, on a national level we can’t even get our politicians to slow down the rate at which our debt is increasing.

Sadly, the chart above does not tell the real story. It is based on fraudulent government accounting. If the government used GAAP accounting (like all public companies on Wall Street must), the numbers would look much worse.

John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics says that if the federal government would have used GAAP accounting standards to calculate the federal budget deficit for 2009, it would have been approximately 8.8 trillion dollars and that there is simply no way out of all this debt….

The government’s finances not only are out of control, but the actual deficit is not containable. Put into perspective, if the government were to raise taxes so as to seize 100% of all wages, salaries and corporate profits, it still would be showing an annual deficit using GAAP accounting on a consistent basis. In like manner, given current revenues, if it stopped spending every penny (including defense and homeland security) other than for Social Security and Medicare obligations, the government still would be showing an annual deficit. Further, the U.S. has no potential way to grow out of this shortfall.

The U.S. government is essentially bankrupt at this point. It is just a matter of playing out the hand.

The rest of the world is starting to realize this, and confidence in the U.S. dollar is beginning to significantly decline.

Things did not have to turn out this way, but Americans did not listen to the warnings and so now this is where we are at as a nation.

The next time you see a small child, look into the hopeful eyes of that child and just think about what we have done to the future of all of our children.

We have obliterated the financial future of this nation. Someone should be put into prison for all this. But instead the mainstream media treats prominent politicians from both political parties like rock stars.

The mainstream media continues to perpetuate the myth that the U.S. economy is on the road to a grand recovery and that eventually we can get a handle on all this debt and that somehow everything is going to be okay.

Well, everything is not going to be okay.

All that is on the horizon is great financial pain, and the sad thing is that it could have all been avoided.

But now the game is over and the day of reckoning is coming soon.

We are going to reap what we have sown.

Michael T. Snyder at The Economic Collapse

Michael T. Snyder is a graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and has a law degree from the University of Florida. He is an attorney that has worked for some of the largest and most prominent law firms in Washington D.C. and who now resides outside of Seattle, Washington. He is a very active blogger and is also a respected researcher, writer, speaker and activist.

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"

Video: FOX Sports NFL Commercial Mocks TSA

from theblogprof by The blogprof


Video: FOX Sports NFL Commercial Mocks TSA: "Heh:

In other TSA news, via Instapundit: Woman Who Protested TSA Pat-Downs At OKC Airport Banned From Flying

Banovac was back at the Will Rogers Airport Tuesday and once again, security says she can't board her flight back home to Phoenix.

Last month security denied her access because they said they found traces of nitrate somewhere on her body.

Now, it's something near her bottom that is raising a red flag.

'The stated reason was there was... They were unable to clear an unusual contour of my buttocks area,' said Banovac.

Tammy wouldn't say what the unusual contour was, but says she's sleeping at the airport.

Good grief...

"

Good News: Word Police Look to Erase 'Illegal Immigrant'

from theblogprof by The blogprof


Good News: Word Police Look to Erase 'Illegal Immigrant': "A Fox News report on PC gone awry (pay attention at particularly the 3:54 mark because it will become more important later)

The sentinels in the left wing media immediately sprung into action. From TPMMuckraker via memeorandum: Megyn Kelly: Calling Aliens ‘Undocumented’ Like Calling Rape ‘Non-Consensual Sex’ (VIDEO)

'You could say that a burglar is an unauthorized visitor. You know, you could say that a rapist is a non-consensual sex partner which, obviously, would be considered offensive to the victims of those crimes,' Kelly said. 'So how far could you take this?'

'What if there was a push by the criminal defense... bar to re-brand the use of the word rapist to nonconsensual sex partner?' Kelly asks her guest. Jehmu Greene, the former president of the Women's Media Center, said that was like comparing 'apples and oranges.'

Kelly also expressed frustration over the politically correct language dominating American culture.

'You know, we did a segment earlier in the year on how little people find the term midget offensive, and so you can't say that anymore,' Kelly lamented. 'There's so many words that are suddenly becoming hurtful, and part of the group thinks it's hurtful, and the other group doesn't, and you're left as a journalist saying, I don't know what to do.'

Megyn Kelly is absolutely correct! These left-wing media types are out to get her amplifying comments that are perfectly OK. It's not as if she was excusing an actual rape as not being rape rape you know:

UPDATE: The TPM video is a bit shorter and more focused on the Kelly comments:

"

Audio: Liberal Claims That Ritalin May Turn Children Into Conservatives

from theblogprof by The blogprof


Audio: Liberal Claims That Ritalin May Turn Children Into Conservatives: "By now, many have already heard that being a conservative is a brain disorder: Study: Conservatives have larger ‘fear center’ in brain. Larger fear center as in primate, knuckle-dragging neanderthal.

A study at University College London in the UK has found that conservatives' brains have larger amygdalas than the brains of liberals. Amygdalas are responsible for fear and other 'primitive' emotions. At the same time, conservatives' brains were also found to have a smaller anterior cingulate -- the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism.

Funny that liberals tend not to want to fight and conservatives do, but anyway. An extension of this is the new meme - that Ritalin will damage children's brains and make them... conservative! From the Radio Equalizer on YouTube:

The new lefty conspiracy theory...

"

TARP: Bank Failures at Highest Level Since 1992, A Ton Of Bailed-Out Banks Are On The Brink Of Collapse

from theblogprof by The blogprof


TARP: Bank Failures at Highest Level Since 1992, A Ton Of Bailed-Out Banks Are On The Brink Of Collapse: "

All that TARP money to prop up banks? The prop-up part of it isn't going so well. Via Instapundit:

OH, GOODY: A Ton Of Bailed-Out Banks Are On The Brink Of Collapse. “98 American banks that received $4.2 billion in bailout money are teetering on the edge of collapse, according to the Wall Street Journal. In Q2 the number of unsound banks numbered 86; the increase to almost 100 institutions – most of which are smallish banks with about $439 million in assets – comes as a result of decreasing capital and more bad loans.”

And from the Wall Street Journal via memeorandum: Bank Failures at Highest Level Since 1992

More banks failed in 2010 than any year since the savings-and-loan crisis ended in 1992, but regulators said Wednesday that they believe failures have passed their peak.

So far this year, the 157 banks that failed had total assets of $92.1 billion compared to 140 bank failures with total assets of $169.7 billion in 2009.

Not quite a double-dip, but not exactly good news going into 2011...

"

Good News: US Foreclosures Jump, Housing Prices May Drop Another 20%, Loans in Foreclosure at Record Highs Into 2013

from theblogprof by The blogprof


Good News: US Foreclosures Jump, Housing Prices May Drop Another 20%, Loans in Foreclosure at Record Highs Into 2013: "The result of government meddling in the housing keeps reaping disaster. First, from CNBC via memeorandum: US Foreclosures Jump in Third Quarter: Regulators

U.S. home foreclosures jumped in the third quarter and banks' efforts to keep borrowers in their homes dropped as the housing market continues to struggle, U.S. bank regulators said on Wednesday.

...Newly initiated foreclosures increased to 382,000 in the third quarter, a 31.2 percent jump over the previous quarter and a 3.7 percent rise from a year ago, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision said in their quarterly mortgage report.

The number of foreclosures in process increased to 1.2 million, a 4.5 percent increase from the second quarter and a 10.1 percent increase from a year ago, according to the regulators.

And now the Business Insider: GARY SHILLING: And Now House Prices Will Now Drop Another 20%. Like now:

In October, Gary Shilling of A. Gary Shilling & Co., predicted that house prices would fall another 20%.

In the two months since, house prices have resumed their decline. Below, Gary outlines why he thinks the recent drops are just the beginning.

And it isn't looking like just a blip either. The sump may go another 3 years:

Let's just be reminded of why housing tanked, took the whole economy with it, and who's responsible:

UPDATE: Prepare for a Double Dip in Housing?

"

Good Grief… Leading RNC Candidate’s Law Firm Supports Obamacare – Says It’s Constitutional

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft


Good Grief… Leading RNC Candidate’s Law Firm Supports Obamacare – Says It’s Constitutional: "

This will go over well with the conservative base…

If you thought the fact that RNC Chair candidate, Maria Cino, was an Obamacare lobbyist was outrageous wait until you hear the latest…

The leading candidate in the race – Reince Priebus‘s law firm supports Obamacare and says its constitutional!

Yes, you read that correctly.

Reince Priebus’s law firm supports Obamacare and says its constitutional.

Unbelievable.

Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Wisconsin GOP, is seen here with RNC Chairman Michael Steele. (News One)

The far left Think Progress website reported this today:

On January 14, 168 standing members of the Republican National Committee (RNC) will hold an election to select the next national chairman of the party. Current RNC Chairman Michael Steele is running for a second term against a number of challengers, including Saul Anuzis, Ann Wagner, Maria Cino, Gentry Collins, and Reince Priebus.

Priebus, the current state chairman of the Wisconsin GOP, is positioning himself as the true conservative alternative to Steele…

Despite his heated anti-Obama attacks, Priebus makes a living at a law firm far more comfortable with the policies of President Obama. Priebus works as a partner at the Milwaukee law firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. Over the summer, the firm created a series of presentations to explain health reform to its clients and to pitch the firm’s services for employers looking to comply with new health reform regulations. In one presentation, John Barlament, a colleague to Priebus at the firm, said that a health reform repeal is not only unlikely, but that the lawsuits brought by Republican Party allies to declare the law unconstitutional probably have no merit. Referring to the controversy over the individual mandate, Barlament explained that the commerce clause of the constitution “gives Congress authority to act on his legislation.”

It will be interesting to hear what GOP Leader John Boehner, GOP Whip Eric Cantor and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have to say about this.

Is this really the person who needs to be leading the RNC for the next two years?

"

Lefty Boy Wonder & Journolist Founder Ezra Klein: “The Constitution Is Impossible to Understand Because Its Over 100 Years Old” (Video)

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft


Lefty Boy Wonder & Journolist Founder Ezra Klein: “The Constitution Is Impossible to Understand Because Its Over 100 Years Old” (Video): "

Lefty boy wonder and Journolist founder Ezra Klein made the news again today. He thinks the US Constitution is impossible to understand and is outdated.

This makes perfect sense since Ezra Klein was one of the leading voices behind the unconstitutional Obamacare law.

Via The Blast:



By the way, Klein once insisted that if you oppose Obamacare you will help cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. So this wasn’t the craziest thing he’s ever said.

Iowa Hawk answers Klein.

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Everyone Must Sacrifice… Obama’s Vacation Will Cost Taxpayers $1,474,200

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft


Everyone Must Sacrifice… Obama’s Vacation Will Cost Taxpayers $1,474,200: "

In January 2009, before the president signed his failed $787 billion stimulus bill into law, Barack Obama lectured America saying,

“Everyone must sacrifice for the greater good… Everyone must have some skin in the game.”

Everyone but Barack and Michelle Obama.

The president’s latest vacation will cost taxpayers over a million dollars.

Via the Hawaii Reporter:

President Barack Obama and his family and friends are enjoying a seemingly quiet Christmas vacation.

They could have chosen a less expensive and more secure place to stay such as a beachfront home on the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station – just a two-minute drive away from the Kailuana Place property where they are now. The president visits the military base daily to workout, bowl with his kids or enjoy the more private beach there. He also could have stayed at a home 15 minutes away on the beach fronting Bellows Air Force Base as President Bill Clinton did

Instead, Obama and his friends annually pool their money to pay for the rental of three luxury beachfront homes. The so-called “Winter White House” – or Kailua home that the president rents two weeks a year – can cost an estimated $3,500 a day or $75,000 a month, according to the web site Gadling.com. The site describes the home where the President sleeps: “The 7,000 square foot home features 5 bedrooms, 5 ½ bathrooms, a media room with surround sound, a kitchen suited for a master chef, a dining room and great room, a secluded lagoon-style pool with tropical waterfalls and a lavish island spa. The ocean lanai and garden lanai showcase ornate landscaping and stunning views of Kailua Bay and Mount Olomana.”

…With estimates secured from a host of professionals, city officials and law enforcement, Hawaii Reporter estimates costs to taxpayers will at least include:

* Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii: $63,000 (White House Dossier)

* Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii: $1 million (GAO estimates)

* Housing in beachfront homes for Secret Service and Seals in Kailua ($1,200 a day for 14 days): $16,800

* Costs for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel: $134,400 ($400 per day for 24 staff) – excluding meals and other room costs

* Police overtime: $250,000 (2009 costs reported by Honolulu Police Department)

* Ambulance: $10,000 (City Spokesperson)

* TOTAL COST: $1,474,200

Sacrifice is for the little people.

"

Brrr… Great Britain Experiences Coldest Winter in 1,000 Years

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft


Brrr… Great Britain Experiences Coldest Winter in 1,000 Years: "

It must be global warming.



A girl makes a snowman in front of Tonbridge Castle in Tonbridge. The cold snap that has hit Britain continued to play havoc with the schedule for this weekend’s sports fixtures across the country, with several more postponements announced Thursday. (AFP/Ian Kington)

Great Britain is experiencing its coldest winter since 1683 and possibly the coldest in 1,000 years.

The Star reported:

BRITAIN’S winter is the coldest since 1683 and close to being the chilliest in nearly 1,000 years.

Latest figures reveal that the average temperature since December 1 has been a perishing -1C.

That makes it the second coldest since records began in 1659.

The chilliest on record was 1683/84, when the average was -1.17C and the River Thames froze over for two months.

But with January and February to come, experts believe we could suffer the most freezing cold winter in the last 1,000 years.

Meanwhile… Across the pond, the the Obama Adminstration is going forward with its job-killing global warming policies. The Obama Adminstration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and radical environmentalists are about to set greenhouse gas standards for American industry. The standards have drawn objections from opponents who say the law — last revised in 1990 — was never intended for such purposes. The new regulations will place heavy administrative burdens on state environmental quality agencies, will be costly to consumers and could be devastating to the economy and jobs.

"