Obama looking to give new life to immigration reformSeriously, what is wrong with these people? I guess they figure last summer's Tea Parties weren't quite bad enough politically for them, because if they thought that was bad, let's try amnesty this summer.
The basis of a bill would include a path toward citizenship for the 10.8 million people living in the U.S. illegally. Citizenship would not be granted lightly, the White House said. Undocumented workers would need to register, pay taxes and pay a penalty for violating the law. Failure to comply might result in deportation.
More than 50 ships, including large ferries reportedly carrying thousands of passengers, were stuck in ice in the Baltic Sea Thursday evening, and many were not likely to be freed for hours, Swedish maritime authorities said.
In a surprise announcement, GM also said former CEO Fritz Henderson has been rehired as a consultant. Henderson, who was forced out of the job in December, will work 20 hours a month and will be paid $59,090 a month, the company said.Think about that for a minute, folks. The same administration who has set up a pay czar to make sure that executive compensation is not out of line is now paying the person they ousted nearly $60,000 a month for working a whopping 20 hours.
Whitacre's pay package exceeds the limits imposed on companies that have received U.S. government aid, but the an exemption was worked out with government pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, GM said.I wonder how many exemptions were given to Toyota? But I guess that since the US government doesn't own Toyota, we won't be seeing any special privileges, will we?
The 2009 U.S. Climate Impacts Report found that large-scale cold-weather storm systems have gradually tracked to the north in the U.S. over the past 50 years. While the frequency of storms in the middle latitudes has decreased as the climate has warmed, the intensity of those storms has increased. That's in part because of global warming - hotter air can hold more moisture, so when a storm gathers it can unleash massive amounts of snow. Colder air, by contrast, is drier; if we were in a truly vicious cold snap, like the one that occurred over much of the East Coast during parts of January, we would be unlikely to see heavy snowfall.
Let's face it - if you were drafted into the NFL, there would have been a lot worse places to live than New Orleans, am I right?Friday, Burger King (BKC) will unveil plans to sell beer and burgers at a Whopper Bar ....
Air Canada ordered to offer nut-free seats
Canada's transportation regulator has ordered Air Canada to accommodate passengers with severe nut allergies by seating them in new nut-free zones on aircraft...."The agency has determined that a buffer zone, including an announcement within that zone, is the appropriate accommodation for persons with disabilities due to their allergy to ... nuts," the Canadian Transportation Agency said in its ruling.
The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate apologized on Saturday for comments he made about Barack Obama's race during the 2008 presidential bid and are quoted in a yet-to-be-released book about the campaign. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described in private then-Sen. Barack Obama as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."How funny! The party that claims to be tolerant, understanding, and post-racial is proven yet again to be nothing more than window dressing.
It would be one thing to clearly state that the man was on the payroll of the HHS. However, it looks better in the press to claim you are an "unbiased observer".MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, one of the leading academic defenders of health care reform, is taking heat for failing to disclose consistently that he was under contract with the Department of Health and Human Services while he was touting the Democrats' health proposals in the media.
Gruber, according to federal government documents, is under a $297,600 contract until next month to provide "technical assistance" in evaluating health care reform proposals. He was under a $95,000 HHS contract before that.
But while he was being paid to provide his services to HHS, he was also fending off health care reform critics in the media.
And, just in case you haven't yet seen or heard the video compilation showing several times that Obama said the negotiations would be in the open and "on C-span", here it is for your education:“Americans have already seen and rejected the way Democrats bought their way to 60 votes in the Senate, including political payoffs such as the ‘Louisiana Purchase,’ the ‘Cornhusker Kickback,’ and billions of dollars in ‘Gator Aid.’ Americans lost even more faith in Washington watching the Democrats cut deals with special interest groups, such as the pharmaceutical industry, instead of protecting the interests of patients.
“Rather than heeding the public outcry against the way Washington does business, it appears that Democrats are once again determined to shut out the American people when it comes to merging the Senate and House bills. Rather than an open and honest debate about the best way to solve the real problems in our health care system, the Democrats have once again chosen a closed-door process to get them to 60 votes.”
Sen. Cornyn also made the following comments regarding sweetheart deals that have already been cut with special interest groups and other Senators:
On Small Businesses…
“I call on Democrat leaders to remove the last-minute deal with big labor bosses that would penalize small construction businesses with higher taxes. Considering that these same construction businesses tend to steer clear of unionizing, one has to wonder why they are being singled out.
“When this debate began, Democrat leaders pledged to protect our nation’s small businesses. No one, least of all our small business owners—the nation’s top economic engine—should be penalized with higher taxes as a result of a sweetheart deal for union bosses.”
On Taxpayers…
“Several states are slated to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in extra taxpayer money to fund the pet projects and priorities of Senators who were straddling the fence on whether to support the Reid bill. On top of that, special interests like the pharmaceutical, insurance and hospital industries are also poised to cash in from special deals in the Reid bill.”
Sweetheart Deals In The Reid Bill:
· The Louisiana Purchase: $100 million in extra Medicaid money for the Bayou State. (Original Reid amendment, section 2006, page 432, line 14)
· The Cornhusker Kickback: $100 million in extra Medicaid money for Nebraska. (section 10201, page 96, line 9)
· U Con: $100 million for a medical center in Connecticut. (Manager’s Amendment To H.R. 3590, Pg. 328)
· Gator Aid: $25-$30 billion for a grandfather clause that would protect only senior citizens living in Florida from the deep cuts the bill imposes on Medicare Advantage. (Original Reid amendment, section 3201, page 895, line 9)
· Handout Montana: Medicare coverage for anybody exposed to asbestos -- as long as they worked in a mine in Libby, Montana. (section 10323, page 193, line 21)
· Iowa Pork and Omaha Prime Cuts: Additional Medicare money for low-volume hospitals of the sort commonly found in Iowa, while Nebraska won a "carve out" provision that would reduce fees for Mutual of Omaha and other Nebraska insurers. (Section 10905, page 371, line 1)
· Vermont ($600M), Massachusetts ($500M): Adds targeted state FMAP provisions. Specific FMAP bonuses for VT and MA (starting at page 96, line 9). VT gets a 2.2% FMAP increase for 6 years for their entire program. MA gets a 0.5% FMAP increase for three years for the entire program. (section 10201, page 96, line 9)
· Hawaii: Adds a DSH extension. (section 10201, page 101, line 6)
· Michigan, Connecticut: Amends section 508 extension so that hospitals in Michigan and Connecticut have option to benefit under section 508 if it means higher payments. This was also done in previous legislation. (section 10317, page 174, line 9)
· Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming: Dorgan/Conrad frontier amendment adds 1.0 hosp wage index for those states. MT, SD, ND and WY would qualify (AK and NV also qualify but would not benefit because they are already above 1.0 wage index value). Also establishes a 1.0 practice expense GPCI floor for physicians in those states. (section 10324, page 208, line 16)
· Nebraska and Michigan: Carve-out from the insurance fee for Nebraska Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Michigan Blue Cross/Blue Shield. (section 10905, page 369, lines 10-25 though page 370, lines 1-15)
HONOLULU – President Barack Obama ended a Hawaiian vacation to return Monday to the Washington he never really escaped.I mean, really. How many of you folks get to take a taxpayer paid trip to Hawaii for 14 days? Airfare, food, entourage etc. all covered and paid for by someone else.
No Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Fraction in Past 160 Years, New ResearchHopefully, the recent climategate email fiasco will move this debate back into the realm of science uncorrupted by politics and money.... I'm not entirely hopeful, but at least for the time being, that looks like at least a possibility.
After a sleepless, overnight flight to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, President Barack Obama made a not altogether surprising admission. He was tired.
Who could blame him? The president was on his ninth foreign trip to his 21st country; he added a 10th trip the following week. The year had been bookended by the two most intense periods of his young presidency — the early decisions to bail out the nation’s banks and automobile industry, steps the president deemed unpopular but necessary, and his December orders to deploy 30,000 additional U.S. troops to fight the war in Afghanistan.
Throw in an unemployment rate in the double-digits, a health care bill still stuck on Capitol Hill, and last-minute negotiations on a global climate change agreement, and aides say it’s no secret that the president is tired, and looking forward to recharging during his year-end family vacation in Hawaii.
Not that the commander in chief really thinks he can escape his duties, even on an island. Amid golf, tennis, gym workouts and dinner, Obama has been called on to monitor the airliner attack in Detroit last Friday and what appeared to be another attack on Sunday — that incident turned out to be a false alarm. On Monday, Obama worked out in the morning and played tennis before making his first public remarks on airline security, then hit the golf course.
So much for putting aside the stress of work. Obama himself has been candid about the pressures of being president during what he has called an “extraordinary year.”
“You have a convergence of factors that have made this a difficult year not so much for me but for the American people,” he said in an interview with CBS News last month. “Absolutely that weighs on me.”
The first 20 or so seconds of this video about sum it up!
Over the weekend, four Afghan detainees were transferred to their home country. Two Somali detainees were transferred to authorities in Somaliland, the semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia. Six Yemeni detainees also were sent home.Let's see. Afghanistan continues to see heavy fighting. I'm sure none of the turds going home will soon be pulling the trigger against our troops. Somalia continues to be a hotbed of terror - remember all of the pirates from this summer? And the Yemini contingent? I'm sure it is completely and totally a coincidence that our massively corrupt Attorney General's law firm was representing Yemenis who were being held at Gitmo. Follow the money, because if I were a betting man, I'd have to say that I'd expect a large donation to be made from the Yemeni government to Holder's firm in the future. After all, it's the Chicago way.
I shoot this way because I'm training for real life and not this game.And I cannot tell you how nuts this makes me. Shooting poorly, yet tactically, is not an excuse for sucking. And it gets used as an excuse constantly.
At an emergency meeting convened at the Bella Center this morning, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown assembled 26 heads of state in an attempt to revive a deal. But China's Premier Wen Jiabao did not attend and was replaced by vice foreign minister He Yafei.And oh, it gets better, friends:
This afternoon, the US president and his secretary of state Hillary Clinton called another meeting with China, but were snubbed again when only three low-level Chinese delegates arrived.The man-child running this country get his feelings hurt a bit:
According to a high level source, the US president clearly regarded Premier Wen’s absence as a major diplomatic insult, and snapped: “It would be nice to negotiate with somebody who can make political decisions.”You see, when you are neither respected nor feared, no one tends to listen to or care what you have to say. Let's see... so far, the Chinese have snubbed the great one. The Iranians have snubbed the great one. The Cubans have snubbed the great one. And Chavez continues to poke the great one in the eye at every opportunity. That's some leadership there, fellas, let me tell ya.
Blizzard Dumps Snow on Copenhagen as Leaders Battle WarmingBy Christian Wienberg
Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- World leaders flying into Copenhagen today to discuss a solution to global warming will first face freezing weather as a blizzard dumped 10 centimeters (4 inches) of snow on the Danish capital overnight.
“Temperatures will stay low at least the next three days,” Henning Gisseloe, an official at Denmark’s Meteorological Institute, said today by telephone, forecasting more snow in coming days. “There’s a good chance of a white Christmas.”
Delegates from 193 countries have been in Copenhagen since Dec. 7 to discuss how to fund global greenhouse gas emission cuts. U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive before the summit is scheduled to end tomorrow.
Denmark has a maritime climate and milder winters than its Scandinavian neighbors. It hasn’t had a white Christmas for 14 years, under the DMI’s definition, and only had seven last century. Temperatures today fell as low as minus 4 Celsius (25 Fahrenheit).
DMI defines a white Christmas as 90 percent of the country being covered by at least 2 centimeters of snow on the afternoon of Dec. 24.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net
(t)he failure of a new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile during testing was the cause of the spectacular, spiraling, blue lights seen early Wednesday in the skies over northern Norway, analysts said.How ironic that the man who's stated goal is to rid the world of nuclear weapons was greeted in Norway with a (failed) test of a Russian ICBM. I'm sure that the test's timing was purely coincidental....
"I was surrounded by about six SWAT guys armed with shotguns and assault rifles," he said. "Once they confirmed I wasn't packing any Lego heat, I walked backwards towards them, was then cuffed, pulled into the stairwell and thrown against the wall."The last couple of sentences sum up a PC gone crazy world:While two members of the SWAT team kept Mr. Bell pressed against the wall, he explained that there was a Lego gun in pieces in his office. Sure enough, a few minutes later, an officer confirmed it.
"We found it ... it's Lego," Mr. Bell recalled the officer saying, as the police promptly uncuffed him.
It turns out police were tipped off by a neighbour whose apartment looks in on Mr. Bell's office. Police say a call came in shortly after 5:30 p.m. with the caller reporting that a man was sitting in his office with a gun on his desk and the door closed (Mr. Bell had been on an earlier conference call so had closed the door).
As for why he bought the toy gun in the first place, blame it on a love for Lego.
"I've always been a fan of Lego, so I decided to pick it up," Mr. Bell said. "I wish I had a decent reason for purchasing it, but I don't. For shame, I suppose."
All around the world, blue whales aren’t singing like they used to, and scientists have no idea why.I hope someone in a position of authority is checking out ALL the possibilities here.The largest animals on Earth are singing in ever-deeper voices every year. Among the suggested explanations are ocean noise pollution, changing population dynamics and new mating strategies. But none of them is entirely convincing.
SEN. HERB KOHL: In the worst case scenario and the trial does not result in conviction, what would be your next steps?So is Holder saying that KSM will be found guilty, regardless? Do you think the islamists are going to be happy with American justice - since after all, the Attorney General of the United States is on record of saying that KSM is going to be found guilty, because failure's not an option, right? How's that going to sit with the infamous arab street? So much for Chairman Obama's attempt to get the arab world to love us.
A.G. ERIC HOLDER: Failure is not an option.
GRAHAM: We’re making history here Mr. Attorney General. I’ll answer it for you: the answer’s no. The Ghelani case, he was indicted for pre-nine…for the Cole bombing before 9/11 and I didn’t object going into federal court. But I’ll tell you right now, we’re making history and we’re making bad history. And let me tell you why. If Bin Laden were caught tomorrow would it be the position of this administration that he would be brought to justice? … When does custodial interrogation begin in his case? If we capture Bin Laden tomorrow would he be entitled to Miranda warnings at the moment of capture?
HOLDER: Again, I’m not… it all depends.
GRAHAM: Well it does not depend. If you’re going to prosecute anybody in civilian court, our law is clear that the moment custodial interrogation occurs, the defendant, the criminal defendant, is entitled to a lawyer and to be informed of their right to remain silent. The big problem I have is that you’re criminalizing the war. That if we caught Bin Laden tomorrow, there are mixed theories and we couldn’t turn him over to the CIA, the FBI, or military intelligence for an interrogation on the battlefield because now we’re saying that he is subject to criminal court in the United States and you’re confusing the people fighting this war. What would you tell the military commander who captured him? Would you tell him you must read him his rights and give him a lawyer? And if you did tell him that would you jeopardize the prosecution in a federal court?
According to the government's broadest measure of unemployment, some 17.5 percent are either without a job entirely or underemployed. The so-called U-6 number is at the highest rate since becoming an official labor statistic in 1994.
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
I sincerely appreciate you joining us at Fort Hood, Texas, last week for the memorial ceremony honoring the victims of the horrific November 5 attack. Thank you for your participation and your moving, heartfelt words. In the wake of this massacre, my prayers remain with the fallen, the injured, and their families, as I know yours do.
I look forward to questioning Attorney General Holder on Wednesday about the role that federal law enforcement agencies played in this particular case, as well as what actions they are taking to prevent radical Islam from finding a home in the U.S. Armed Forces. The federal government has a fundamental duty to our men and women in uniform to safeguard them against avoidable harm in the course of their service. We must protect the protectors whenever and wherever we are able, especially at home in the United States. Our government failed the brave Americans who were killed and wounded at Fort Hood. The devastation inflicted on them was preventable, and it is of paramount importance that we ascertain exactly where the system broke down.
The question of how this could ever happen on U.S. soil must be answered as soon as possible, so as to foreclose the possibility of future attacks of this nature. I understand that a myriad of investigations are underway, and I appreciate the importance of ascertaining the facts before making any judgments. Nonetheless, it seems increasingly likely that Islamist terrorism is to blame for this senseless attack. I was pleased that you alluded to this in your remarks at Fort Hood, stating that, “no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor.” I could not agree more.
Islamist terrorism represents one of the single most dangerous threats to the national security of the United States. As you know, this enemy seeks the complete and total destruction of our nation, our government, and our entire American way of life. As the 9/11 Commission stated in its report, “The enemy is not just ‘terrorism.’ It is the threat posed specifically by Islamist terrorism, by Bin Ladin and others who draw on a long tradition of extreme intolerance within a minority strain of Islam that does not distinguish politics from religion, and distorts both.”
Al Qaeda, in a 1998 fatwa signed by its leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, instructed that: “to kill the Americans and their allies—civilian and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it . . . .” Similarly, in a 2006 propaganda video, al Qaeda specifically urged viewers to "go on a shooting spree” at a key military installation. As more and more facts surrounding the Fort Hood attack surface, it looks increasingly probable that the alleged attacker, Major Nidal Hasan, heeded these terrorist calls to violence, compelled by a fanatical religious ideology. If Islamist terrorism was the driving force behind the senseless violence at Fort Hood, as it seems to be, this attack must serve as a call to action for the Federal Government.
The Fort Hood mass murder would not be the first time our service members have been violently assaulted from within their own ranks by an individual driven to act primarily by his religious ideology. As you may know, on March 23, 2003, during the initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, an Army Sergeant named Hasan Akbar attacked his fellow service members in Kuwait with grenades and small arms, murdering two of them and wounding more than a dozen others. Akbar’s diary passages illustrated a strong religious motivation behind his actions: "I will have to decide to kill my Muslim brothers fighting for Saddam Hussein or my battle buddies. . . . I may not have killed any Muslims, but being in the Army is the same thing. I may have to make a choice very soon on who to kill."
We must not blame Islam as a whole for this attack or others of its kind; yet at the same time, we cannot ignore the indisputable fact that some followers of Islam interpret their religion’s scriptures and teachings as a mandate for the mass murder of innocents. Evidence indicating that terrorist activity may be in the offing must always be run to ground; federal agencies must follow every lead and look into every possible threat, regardless of whose particular sensitivities might be offended in the process. We must never allow the safety of those who defend our freedom to be made a secondary priority to political correctness.
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
Now if only the president and his cronies would listen.
How low will he go? Obama gives Japan's Emperor Akihito a wow bow
Apparently, the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful country on the planet hasn’t quite grasped the concept of deferential treatment of heads of state.
This is a mortifying embarrassment to America. To whom does the President of the United States owe obeisance? Judging from this sophomoric behavior, it would appear that both the king of Saudi Arabia and Emperor of Japan. I think perhaps not.
This is why. This. Caramba.
And, oh yeah - SoA means Soldier of Allah. Someone, anyone, please tell me how this turd wasn't booted out of the service?When writing the name of God (Allah), Muslims often follow it with the abbreviation "SWT." These letters stand for the Arabic words "Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala," or "Glory to Him, the Exalted." Muslims use these or similar words to glorify God when mentioning His name.
Definition: When writing the name of God (Allah), Muslims often follow it with the abbreviation "SWT." These letters stand for the Arabic words "Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala," or "Glory to Him, the Exalted." Muslims use these or similar words to glorify God when mentioning His name.Pronunciation: sub-han'-a-hoo wa ta a laAlso Known As: Subhanahu Wa Ta'alaAlternate Spellings: subhana wa ta'ala; subhanna wa ta'alaExamples:Muslims believe that Allah SWT created the universe.
OBAMA: Please, everybody, have a seat. Let me first of all just thank Ken and the entire Department of the Interior staff for organizing just an extraordinary conference.Now, considering it was Obama himself who awarded Dr. Crow with the Medal of Freedom and not the Medal of Honor, one would think that the smartest man in the world, Nobel Peace Prize winner, most eloquent President in the history of mankind, the most powerful man since Julius Ceaser, and the chosen one would know the difference between the two medals but perhaps that's asking a bit much for someone who has so much on his mind....I want to thank my Cabinet members and senior administration officials who participated today. I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow (ph) was around, and so I want to give a shout out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you.
Big. Brass. Balls.
For a girl, I mean. Did I mention she’s HOT?
This made me laugh. Hard.
TO Digs At Tony Romo, Still Stuck In Buffalo | NBC Dallas-Fort Worth
T.O. is such a doofus. Buffalo couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Dramatic video of a fireball at the bottom of an impact crater on farmland outside the town of Mazsalaca was shown all over the world, taken by a group of film students who said that they had heard the meteor strike.
But experts who examined the scene were less star-struck. Dr Ilgonis Vilks, chairman of the scientific council at the University of Latvia’s Institute of Astronomy, said: “It’s a fake. It’s very disappointing, I was full of hope coming here, but I am certain it is not a meteorite.”Gotta say that beats the poop out of any prank I've ever done....
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”The Obama machine is working directly from the Goebbels handbook, folks. The time for niceties and polite discourse is over. If the Republican party doesn't pull its collective head out of its ass and stop supporting liberal RINOS, we are all totally and completely screwed. Read it again:
...VITALLY IMPORTANT FOR THE STATE TO USE ALL OF ITS POWERS TO REPRESS DISSENT.Tell me that the White House is acting contrary to that perspective.
The U.S. pay czar will cut in half the average compensation for 175 employees at firms receiving large sums of government aid, with the vast majority of salaries coming in under $500,000, according to people familiar with the government's plans.If the government can dictate the salaries of these 175 people, they can dictate your salary.
Yeah, nothing in common with the American Socialists running DC today.11. That all unearned income, and all income that does not arise from work, be abolished.
12. Since every war imposes on the people fearful sacrifices in blood and treasure, all personal profit arising from the war must be regarded as treason to the people. We therefore demand the total confiscation of all war profits.
13. We demand the nationalization of all trusts.
14. We demand profit-sharing in large industries.
