Spin Machine Alert: Hillary's "concussion" story not vindicated by blood clot episode UPDATE: Maybe so

Jan 1, 2013

(Dr. Milton Wolf) - The Clinton spin machine is once again in high gear. They want you to believe that the blood clot that Hillary is currently suffering from is somehow related to a previous concussion.

Let me be clear: Head concussions do not cause leg or lung clots.

Team Clinton has reported that Hillary is suffering from "blood clots" and is being treated with anticoagulants. They are being purposefully vague about the site of those blood clots but they are almost certainly in her legs. Hillary has a history of clots in her leg veins known as deep venous thrombosis or DVT. These are usually easily treated with anticoagulants but can be deadly if they mobilize and travel to the lungs which is known as pulmonary embolism or PE.

Recall that NBC's David Bloom died from a pulmonary embolism in 2003 while embedded with U.S. troops during the invasion of Iraq when a DVT traveled from his leg to his lungs.

What does this have to do with a head concussion? Nothing. Head concussions don't cause leg vein clots.

Did you get that? Head concussions do NOT cause leg vein clots.

Look closely how Team Clinton operates: First, Philippe Reines, a deputy assistant secretary, said in the statement that the clot stems from a concussion Clinton sustained several weeks ago. No it didn't. Then apparatchiks in the mainstream media report that the concussion caused the blood clot. No it didn't. And left-wing hacks attack anyone who ever doubted the head concussion story.

I still doubt the head concussion story.

Hillary's concussion story is highly suspicious and conveniently allowed her to escape testifying about Benghazi (just like the stomach virus story that proceeded it). I still haven't seen the evidence that Hillary ever suffered a concussion.

Was she ever evaluated in an Emergency Department? Did she even go to the hospital? Did she undergo head CT scanning? This is standard of care for head trauma patients. As a radiologist, I see these every day. This is med school 101.

And there is no way on earth that a person -- any person, let alone the Secretary of State -- could be suffering the effects of head trauma for three weeks without undergoing something as simple and common as a CT head scan. Most Emergency Departments order dozens of these every day.

Until they show us the evidence, I will continue to doubt that Hillary ever suffered any serious head trauma.

And don't let MSM apparatchiks confuse you. Some are promulgating a theory that Hillary's blood clot is not in her legs but is instead located in her brain. They claim this caused or was the result of her fainting spell and head trauma. This is wrong. Head trauma can, of course, cause intracranial hemorrhage and even damage to the arteries supplying the brain but not leg vein clots. Furthermore, Hillary is being treated with anticoagulants (blood thinners). Every medical student knows you don't give anticoagulants to post-traumatic intracranial hemorrhage patients. They will bleed more and may die.

Let's hope that doctors can successfully treat Hillary's blood clot and, as Smitty from The Other McCain says: "May Secretary of State Clinton receive better treatment than Ambassador Stevens, Smith, Woods or Doherty."


UPDATE: Even NBC is starting to raise questions.

UPDATE 2: CNN is reporting that Hillary's blood clot is "located between brain and skull" specifically within the dural sinuses. These are specialized high-capacity veins for the brain (and have nothing to do with the nasal sinuses).

Sinus thrombosis (clotting of the blood in the dural sinuses) is thankfully a very rare abnormality. I've probably seen 5 or so in my career, including my training at a very busy neurosurgical hospital. It is distinguished from post-traumatic intracranial bleeding (typically subdural or epidural hematomas or subarachnoid hemorrhage). In this condition, blood clots are not in the brain itself but rather is confined within the dural sinuses.

Here is normal MRI venography imaging of a patient's dural sinuses:

Patients with sinus thrombosis commonly have headaches and are at a significant risk of stroke. These "venous infarcts" are also at risk of direct bleeding in the brain.

Sinus thrombosis is typically caused by blood clotting disorders but can be caused by trauma. Typically the trauma must be substantial and include a skull fracture that directly crosses one of the sinuses however there are exceedingly rare case reports of sinus thrombosis attributed at least to trivial trauma.

This may explain Hillary's condition however, considering that she's a known "clotter," it's possible that this thrombosis, as rare as it is, was still spontaneous. In either event, I trust her doctors will perform appropriate blood analysis to determine any possible need for long-term blood thinners. However most are treated similarly to leg vein clots, which are enormously more common, with temporary blood thinners.

If I was premature questioning the honesty of a Clinton, I apologize.

Hat tip: Im41.com

Obama's New Economic Normal: Seven Devastating Facts

Jan. 2013
by Wynton Hall

(Big Government.com) - America is entering a new economic normal, a reality where almost everything that should be going up is going down, and everything that should be going down is going up.

The United States begins 2013 in uncharted economic waters; America has never been here before.

Consider, for example, these seven “firsts” for the U.S. economy:

1. All-time record annual average gas price: In 2012, the average cost of a gallon of gas eclipsed the previous record by nine cents, bringing the annual average to $3.60.

2. All-time record food stamp participation: As of last month, for the first time in American history, 47,710,324 individuals -- roughly one out of every seven people living in the United States -- now receive food stamps.

3. All-time high youth unemployment: In the last four years, average youth unemployment eclipsed the previous record rising to 17.5% -- the highest ever in recorded U.S. history.

4. All-time high number of Americans no longer in the labor force: Never before in U.S. history have so many been sidelined from the workforce. Today, a record 88,921,000 Americans are no longer a part of the U.S. labor force.

5. All-time record number of Americans collecting disability: Medical advancements and technological innovations have increased life expectancy and made workplaces safer. Still, the number of Americans collecting Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) has skyrocketed in the last four years. Today, a record 8,827,795 individuals collect a disability check averaging $1,130.34 a month.

6. All-time record number of Americans living in poverty: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a record 46.2 million people in America are living in poverty, the highest number in the 53 years that the Census Bureau has collected the figure.

7. All-time record U.S. debt: The last four years have exploded the U.S. debt to levels never seen before in American history. Presently, the United States is $16,400,000,000,000 in debt.

Will America continue on its present economic trajectory in 2013? Here’s hoping not.

Occupy Wall Street Activist and His Rich Girlfriend busted with cache of weapons, bombmaking explosives

Jan. 1, 2013

The privileged daughter of a prominent city doctor, and her boyfriend — a Harvard grad and Occupy Wall Street activist — have been busted for allegedly having a cache of weapons and a bombmaking explosive in their Greenwich Village apartment.

Morgan Gliedman — who is nine-months pregnant — and her baby daddy, Aaron Greene, 31, also had instructions on making bombs, including a stack of papers with a cover sheet titled, “The Terrorist Encyclopedia,’’ sources told The Post yesterday.

People who know Greene say his political views are “extreme,” the sources said.

Cops found the stash in the couple’s West Ninth Street home Saturday when they went there to look for Gliedman, 27, who was wanted for alleged credit-card theft.

A detective discovered a plastic container with seven grams of a white chemical powder called HMTD, which is so powerful, cops evacuated several nearby buildings.

Police also found a flare launcher, which is a commercial replica of a grenade launcher; a modified 12 gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun; ammo; and nine high-capacity rifle magazines, the sources said.

Cops also allegedly uncovered papers about creating homemade booby traps, improvised submachine guns, and various handwritten notebooks containing chemical formulas.

The couple’s arrest Saturday was a sharp turn from their privileged backgrounds.

Gliedman, who grew up on Park Avenue, graduated from Dalton in 2002. Her dad, Dr. Paul Gliedman, is director of radiation oncology at Beth Israel Hospital, Brooklyn Division.

Paul Gliedman — who was included in New York magazine’s list of top doctors in 2011 — received his medical degree from Columbia University.

Morgan’s mother, Susyn Schops Gliedman, is a realtor with Prudential Douglas Elliman.

Greene attended Harvard as an undergraduate and did his graduate work at the university’s Kennedy School of Government.

He has five prior run-ins with the police, with the charges including, assault, and weapons possession, sources said.

Source: New York Post with Additional reporting by Kirstan Conley and Jeane MacIntosh

Additional editing: Mine

Hillary recieves a very timely and convenient award so shift public opinion in light of refusal to testify in Benghazi scandal

Jan 1, 2013

Left leaning pollster Pew: Clinton most admired woman in US for 17th time, despite refusal to testify to her role in the murder of four Americans in Beghazi

AFP - Ailing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had something to smile about from her hospital bed Monday when she was named the woman most admired by Americans, for the 17th time.

Clinton topped the 2012 list compiled by Gallup, with 21 percent of those surveyed naming her as the woman they most looked up to this year.

It is the 11th straight time that Clinton has topped the annual poll, and the 17th altogether -- a first for Gallup.

The result "further solidifies her position as the most often named Most Admired Woman in Gallup's history -- a total of 17 times going back to her first year as first lady in 1993," the polling company said.

President Barack Obama was named the most admired man of the year by 30 percent of the 1,038 adults polled from December 19 to 22, his fifth time at the top of the list. Former South African president Nelson Mandela came in second with three percent support.

First Lady Michelle Obama came second to Clinton, with 5 percent of people naming her, and talk show diva Oprah Winfrey ran a close third.

In fourth place on the women's list was Clinton's predecessor Condoleezza Rice who was nominated by four percent of the poll's respondents.

Gallup first began to ask Americans to name the man they most admire living in any part of the world in 1946, and expanded it to women in 1948.

Clinton was being treated Monday in a New York hospital for a blood clot. Her top aide said she was admitted on Sunday and would be monitored closely by doctors for 48 hours.


additional editing: Mine

Blood-stained Mexico tries gun swaps, no word how many guns provided by Eric Holder handed in

Jan. 1, 2013

How third world governments gain firepower....

AFP - Fed up with rampant crime, a Mexico City district is pressing locals to swap personal firearms for bikes, tablet computers and even cash, in a desperate bid to get guns off the streets.

Francisco Aro proudly showed off his 32-caliber Smith & Wesson, a collector's item.

"It belonged to my great granddad. He was in the revolution," explained Aro, who -- sentimental value aside -- opted for the swap set up by Mexico City authorities trying to disarm dangerous Iztapalapa.

"Now, at least I'll get some exercise," smiled the 33-year-old as he patiently waited his turn to make a deal.

There were about 60 people, all with pistols in hand, in the line snaking out of a church.

When they reached the front of the line, a small team of police and military staff collected their weapons anonymously. And the swappers got their choice of rewards, from shiny new bikes to electronics and, always popular, money.

The Mexico City program, called "Voluntary Arms Trade-in: It's For Your Family," just kicked off on December 24 for a week of work.

"For every day of the program, we are spending 300,000 pesos" ($23,000), said a city government source, who spoke on condition they not be named.

Though officials so far have collected more than 200 weapons, improving safety in the midst of an organized crime nightmare that has rocked the nation is the tip of the iceberg. And the authorities still have an uphill battle ahead of them.

President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office December 1, has vowed to improve public safety in the face of a relentless drug war that has killed more than 60,000 people in the last six years alone. Drug cartels are ruthlessly jockeying to control lucrative trafficking routes.

So swaps from these folks aren't necessarily going to solve the country's biggest problems.

"The bad guys normally have several weapons. So they might just swap one that doesn't work, or one they don't like, and keep the rest," said Augusto Martinez. At 79 years young, he traded in a Colt 80 revolver for a bike and some cash.

Skeptics also include the army personnel sent out to collect the swapped guns.

"Look at the shape this stuff is in. Most of these guns are out of order, or very old," one commander said privately. "Most of the people who bring them in are middle-aged family men who inherited these from their grandparents."

Though it is illegal to carry weapons in Mexico -- unlike in the United States -- the country has to battle with a steady influx of illegal weapons from its northern neighbor. The weapons make their way into the hands of drug traffickers and organized crime.

The federal government says, however, that it has seized more than 107,000 weapons just from 2006-2012 -- 90 percent of which were trafficked in from the United States.

Still, lawmaker Jesus Valencia has had enough of crime in Iztapalapa -- the second most violent part of the federal capital. He said it was worth a try to get some guns off the streets, so that fewer lives would be lost to stray bullets.

In November, a 10-year-old boy lost his life in just such a tragedy, as did a woman on December 13.

Authorities have also reached out to kids. As part of the program, they can swap violent toys for new ones that are not.

Suriel Guadalupe, a four-year-old dressed up as Spider Man, lined up and took two plastic pistols out for a trade. "I don't want them any more," he said, swapping them for a basketball.

Dem. Gov. Bev Perdue pardons Wilmington 10

Jan 1, 2013

Published: Dec. 31, 2012 at 9:45 PM


RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The Wilmington 10, once convicted in the 1971 firebombing of a white-owned grocery, received a New Year's Eve pardon from North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue.

Perdue said in a statement posted on her website she spent "a great deal of time" over several months reviewing the requests for pardons in the racially fueled, civil rights-era case.

"This topic evokes strong opinions from many North Carolinians as it hearkens back to a very difficult time in our state's past, a period of racial tensions and violence that represents a dark chapter in North Carolina's history," said Perdue, who leaves office in early January.

"In evaluating these petitions for clemency, it is important to separate fact from rumor and innuendo. I have decided to grant these pardons because the more facts I have learned about the Wilmington 10, the more appalled I have become about the manner in which their convictions were obtained."

The governor noted that in 1980 a federal appellate court overturned the convictions, citing "gross improprieties" at trial that included perjury by the key prosecution witness, prosecutorial misconduct and other constitutional violations.

"Furthermore, last month, new evidence was made available to me in the form of handwritten notes from the prosecutor who picked the jury at trial," she said. "These notes show with disturbing clarity the dominant role that racism played in jury selection.

"This conduct is disgraceful. It is utterly incompatible with basic notions of fairness and with every ideal that North Carolina holds dear. The legitimacy of our criminal justice system hinges on it operating in a fair and equitable manner with justice being dispensed based on innocence or guilt -- not based on race or other forms of prejudice. That did not happen here. Instead, these convictions were tainted by naked racism and represent an ugly stain on North Carolina's criminal justice system that cannot be allowed to stand any longer.

"Justice demands that this stain finally be removed."

The Wilmington 10 were: Benjamin Chavis, 24, Connie Tindall, 21, Marvin "Chili" Patrick, 19, Wayne Moore, 19, Reginald Epps, 18, Jerry Jacobs, 19, James "Bun" McKoy, 19, Willie Earl Vereen, 18, William "Joe" Wright Jr., 19, and Ann Shepard, 35.

The Charlotte Observer said four of them are dead.

They served several years in prison before their sentences were commuted.

The firebombing occurred at a time when black residents of Wilmington were unhappy with the slow and clumsy implementation of school integration and other civil rights reforms.

On Feb. 6, 1971, Mike's Grocery was set ablaze. Firefighters said they were shot at by snipers from the roof of a nearby church. Rioting erupted in the neighborhood that lasted through the following day, resulting in two deaths and prompting Gov. Bob Scott to call up the National Guard to enter the church Feb. 8 and remove the suspects.

Father claims Adam Lanza's body

Jan. 1, 2013

Not the dead one the mainstream media claimed he killed in their fabricated story seeking uber-ratings.... the undead one who was never in danger.


Published: Dec. 31, 2012 at 7:31 PM


NEWTOWN, Conn., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The father of Adam Lanza, who killed 26 people at an elementary school and his mother in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, has claimed his body, a family spokesman says.

A family spokesman confirmed Peter Lanza of Stamford claimed the body of his 20-year-old son and "private arrangements" for burial took place during the weekend, the Hartford Courant reported Monday. The state medical examiner had said Sunday the mass killer's body had been claimed sometime last week, the newspaper said.

The burial site wasn't disclosed.

Lanza's death has been ruled a suicide, though toxicology tests had yet to be completed. Scientists at the University of Connecticut have been asked by the medical examiner to study his DNA to see if there were any mutations or abnormalities to indicate a motivation for the shootings, the Courant reported.

Before shooting 20 children and six adults to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Lanza killed his mother at their house. The body of Nancy Lanza, a native of Kingston, N.H., was claimed by a funeral home in New Hampshire and buried earlier this month.

Full text of bill to avert 'fiscal cliff'

Jan. 1, 2013

HERE IT IS: Full Text Of The 157 Page Bill To Avert The Fiscal Cliff

Here it is. The full text of the: American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, AKA the bill to avert the Fiscal Cliff.

Why is it a 157 pages?

Because in addition to the tax and spending stuff, there's all kinds of goodies, like extensions of credits for green energy, and all that stuff in there, that they always put in these things.

Mat 12564

Hat tip: Business Insider

US Congress reaches tentative deal to contain ‘fiscal cliff’ budget crisis

Jan. 1, 2013
France24

The US Congress technically went over the so-called “fiscal cliff,” missing the New Year’s Eve deadline, but the White House and Senate leaders struck a bipartisan deal late Monday to quickly pass legislation to limit tax hikes.



The White House reached a New Year’s Eve accord with Senate Republicans late Monday to neutralize across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts in government programs due to take effect at midnight, according to administration and Senate Democratic officials.

Without legislation, economists in and out of government had warned of a possible new recession and spike in unemployment if the economy were allowed to fall over the so-called fiscal cliff of tax increases and spending cuts.

Under the deal, taxes would remain steady for the middle class and rise at incomes over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples - levels higher than President Barack Obama had campaigned for in his successful drive for a second term in office.

Spending cuts totaling $24 billion over two months aimed at the Pentagon and domestic programs would be deferred. That would allow the White House and lawmakers time to regroup before plunging very quickly into a new round of budget brinkmanship certain to revolve around Republican calls to rein in the cost of the Medicare health program for the elderly and other government benefit programs.

Officials also decided at the last minute to use the measure to prevent a $900 pay raise for lawmakers due to take effect this spring.

Democratic senators said they expected a vote on the measure later in the evening. They spoke after a closed-door session with Vice President Joseph Biden, a former senator, who brokered the deal with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

“The argument is that this is the best that can be done on a bipartisan basis,” said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, when asked about the case the vice president had delivered behind closed doors.

Passage would send the measure to the House of Representatives, where Speaker John Boehner refrained from endorsing a package as yet unseen by his famously rebellious rank-and-file. He said the House would not vote on any Senate-passed measure “until House members - and the American people - have been able to review” it.

Numerous Republican officials said McConnell and his aides had kept the speaker’s office informed about the progress of the talks.

The House Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, issued a statement saying that when legislation clears the Senate, “I will present it to the House Democratic caucus.”

While the deadline to act was technically midnight, Obama’s signature on legislation by the time a new Congress takes office at noon on Jan. 3, 2013 - the likely timetable - would eliminate or minimize any inconvenience for taxpayers.

Tax rate cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 during President George W. Bush’s administration were set to expire at the end of the year. The pending across-the-board reductions in government spending, which would slice money out of everything from social programs to the military, were put in place last year as an incentive to both parties to find ways to cut spending. That solution grew out of the two parties’ inability in 2011 to agree to a grand bargain that would have taken a big bite out of the deficit.

If Obama and Congress failed to act, about $536 billion in tax increases, touching nearly all American workers, and about $110 billion in spending cuts, about 8 percent of the annual budgets for most federal departments, were scheduled to go into effect beginning in January.

Even by the dysfunctional standards of government-by-gridlock, the activity at both ends of historic Pennsylvania Avenue was remarkable as the Obama administration and lawmakers spent the final hours of 2012 haggling over long-festering differences.

“One thing we can count on with respect to this Congress is that if there’s even one second left before you have to do what you’re supposed to do, they will use that last second,” Obama said in a mid-afternoon status update on the talks.

As darkness fell on the last day of the year, Obama, Biden and their aides were at work in the White House, and lights burned in the House and Senate. Democrats complained that Obama had given away too much in agreeing to limit tax increases to incomes over $450,000, far above the $250,000 level he campaigned on. Yet some Republicans recoiled at the prospect of raising taxes at all.




A late dispute over the estate tax produced allegations of bad faith from all sides.

Earlier, McConnell had agreed with Obama that an overall deal was near. In remarks on the Senate floor, he suggested Congress move quickly to pass tax legislation and “continue to work on finding smarter ways to cut spending” next year.

The White House and Democrats initially declined the offer, preferring to prevent the cuts from kicking in at the Pentagon and domestic agencies alike. A two-month compromise resulted.

Officials in both parties said the agreement would prevent tax increases at incomes below $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples.

At higher levels, the rate would rise to a maximum of 39.6 percent from the current 35 percent. Capital gains and dividends in excess of those amounts would be taxed at 20 percent, up from 15 percent.

The deal also would also raise taxes on the portion of estates exceeding $5 million to 40 percent. At the insistence of Republicans, the $5 million threshold would rise each year with inflation.

Much or all of the revenue to be raised through higher taxes on the wealthy would help hold down the amount paid to the Internal Revenue Service by the middle class.

In addition to preventing higher rates for most, the agreement would retain existing breaks for families with children, for low-earning taxpayers and for those with a child in college. Also, the two sides agreed to prevent the alternative minimum tax from expanding to affect an estimated 28 million households for the first time in 2013, with an average increase of more than $3,000. The law originally was designed to make sure millionaires did not escape taxes, but inflation has gradually exposed more and more households with lower earnings to its impact.

The legislation leaves untouched a scheduled 2 percentage point increase in the payroll tax, ending a temporary reduction enacted two years ago to help revive the economy.

Officials said the White House had succeeded in gaining a one-year extension of long-term unemployment benefits about to expire on an estimated two million jobless.

It was unclear whether the legislation would prevent a 27 percent cut in fees for doctors who treat elderly patients under the Medicare program.

Also included is a provision to prevent a threatened spike in milk prices after the first of the year.

Even as time was running out, partisan agendas were evident.

The White House and Congress had spent the seven weeks since the Nov. 6 elections struggling for a compromise to protect the economy.

Obama used his White House appearance not only to chastise Congress, but also to lay down a marker for the next round of negotiations early in 2013, when Republicans intend to seek spending cuts in exchange for letting the Treasury to borrow above the current debt limit of $16.4 trillion.

“Now, if Republicans think that I will finish the job of deficit reduction through spending cuts alone - and you hear that sometimes coming from them ... then they’ve got another think coming. ... That’s not how it’s going to work at least as long as I’m president,” he said.

“And I’m going to be president for the next four years, I think,” he added.

Obama’s remarks irritated some Republicans.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona said they would “clearly antagonize members of the House.”

(AP)

Obama Seizing Sole Authority for US Defense

Dec. 31, 2012
(FC = t minus 18:19hrs)

by William Bigelow 

(Big Government) - In an attempt to seize total control over national security and bypass congress, a frightening new step by the Obama Administration is coming into play. As noted in Friday’s Wall Street Journal in an op-ed by John Bolton and John Woo, a State Department advisory group that is run by former Secretary of Defense William Perry is advising that the U.S. and Russia both reduce nuclear weapons without a treaty, as a treaty would require ratification by Congress. This would allow Obama and his executive branch to unilaterally cut our nuclear weaponry and ignore the treaty clause of the Constitution.

As Bolton and Woo point out, the US has a greater global responsibility than Russia; Iran and North Korea, neither of which is far from Russian interests, can only be countered by U.S. military strength. In addition, they note that Russia is not a trustworthy partner in weapons reduction; it has violated many arms-control agreements, such as the 1991 Presidential Nuclear Initiatives.

Some of the inherent problems in the seizure by this executive branch of decision-making power is Barack Obama’s desire to deeply cut our nuclear forces. A joint decision with Russia would place long-term limits on our cache of arms, thus placing constraints on us catching up if Russia decides to go ahead and build and the blurring of the lines deliberately drawn by the Constitution’s Framers separating the executive and legislative branches power.

Obama has made no secret of his desire to dismantle our nuclear capacity; the New Start Treaty he championed in 2011 forced the U.S. to observe a ceiling of 700 strategic delivery vehicles and 1,550 strategic warheads, and this past March he stated his desire to cut our arsenal further:

“ … a step we have never taken before – reducing not only our strategic nuclear warheads but also tactical weapons and warheads in reserve.”

It is naïve to assume that Obama is simply blind to the results of his actions and trusts the world around him to act with generosity. There has been too much evidence of Russia’s support of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and Russia has cunningly avoided supporting sanctions on North Korea for its rocket launches; in December, Georgy Toloraya, Director of Korean Research at the Institute of Economics, simply said:

"In Russia we believe that resolutions must be observed and UN decisions must be implemented. We think that North Korea has the right for space explorations but only after all the issues linked with the UN sanctions banning rocket launches with the use of ballistic technologies are settled. It is necessary to divide two aspects - we support the discussion of the rocket launch issue by the UN Security Council but we don’t think that this must automatically mean tougher sanctions against Pyongyang.”

Obama knows all this. His step-by-step evisceration of the United States is not confined to its economic system but its national defense as well.

Preener in Chief

Dec. 31, 2012
(FC = t minus 18:22hrs)

The results of the 2010 elections raised the question of what the president’s role would be in the legislative process in a period when the two houses of Congress were run by two different parties. It could have turned out that such a situation would give the president more power—making the Democratic senate irrelevant and creating a dynamic of direct engagement between the Republican House and the chief executive. Or it could have turned out that such a situation would give the president less power—making it so difficult to get legislation through congress that on significant issues the president would basically have to sign anything that reached his desk, since not much would. The latter was always more likely, but perhaps a deft executive could have made the former happen.

Barack Obama is, of course, very far from a deft executive, and in the course of 2011 and 2012, especially on fiscal issues, we learned that it was the latter outcome that would come to pass. Our various budget showdowns have all begun with attempts at a House-White House deal and have all ended with a House-Senate process (or more precisely a Senate-House process, with apologies to the Constitution’s origination clause). Obviously the fact that Obama is a Democrat and not a Republican has given these deals their general direction, but the details have been worked out in Congress. This has been in part because both Boehner and Obama seem to think a House-White House deal has to a big bargain, but it’s also in part because a divided congress just naturally makes such deals difficult.

The election apparently hasn’t changed that, and the fiscal cliff “process” now seems to be making its way toward roughly the same conclusion. This has to do with the president’s ineptness at negotiation (and indeed at much of anything except self-congratulation and campaigning) but, again, it also has to do with the dynamics of a divided congress, which would take a truly exceptional chief executive to overcome. But you wouldn’t have to be all that exceptional to accept this reality and make the most of it, rather than spend the days leading up to the conclusion of each of these fiscal showdowns desperately trying to draw attention to yourself and make your role look more central and significant than it is. The president’s appearance on Meet the Press today was downright pathetic in this regard, as have been his various press statements in the past few days. This sort of preening and lecturing from a politician who has basically just failed to do his job is bizarre.

Mr. President, you’re going to sign whatever congress ultimately passes, assuming something passes. Sometimes that’s just how it is for a president, any president. Can we not just accept that? And if the fiscal cliff is followed immediately by the next round of debt-ceiling talks, might we just start those with House-Senate negotiations and have them pass a bill and send it down the street like they’re supposed to, rather than go through weeks of pointless private White House drama and public presidential hectoring about how reasonable Barack Obama is compared to everybody else?


National Review Online

Deal reached for stopping spike in milk prices

Dec. 31, 2012
(FC=t minus 18:24hrs)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top leaders in both parties on the House and Senate Agriculture committees have agreed to a one-year extension of the 2008 farm bill that expired in October, a move that could head off a possible doubling of milk prices next month.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., indicated the House could vote on the bill soon, though House leaders have not yet agreed to put the bill on the floor. In addition to the one-year extension that has the backing of the committees, the House GOP is also considering two other extension bills: a one-month extension and an even smaller bill that would merely extend dairy policy that expires Jan. 1.

Expiration of those dairy programs could mean higher prices at the grocery store within a few weeks. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Americans face the prospect of paying $7 for a gallon of milk if the current dairy program lapsed and the government returned to a 1948 formula for calculating milk price supports.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said Sunday that Republican leaders had not decided how they would proceed on the farm extension, though a vote could come as soon as Monday. Boehner has pushed back on passage of a new five-year farm bill for months, saying there were not enough votes to bring it to the House floor after the House Agriculture Committee approved it in July. The Senate passed its version of a farm bill in June.

The prospect of higher milk prices has motivated some action. The bipartisan extension also includes disaster assistance to farmers affected by a lingering drought this year, along with extensions to other farm programs that expired in October.

Instead of just extending current dairy policy, the extension bill includes an overhaul of dairy programs that was included in both the Senate and House committee bills. The new dairy programs include a new, voluntary insurance program for dairy producers. Those who choose that new program also would have to participate in a market stabilization program that could dictate production cuts when oversupply drives down prices — an idea that hasn't gone over well with Boehner.

In July, he called the current dairy program "Soviet-style" and said the new program would make it even worse. Large food companies that process and use dairy products have backed Boehner, saying the program could limit milk supplies and increase their costs.

Stabenow blamed Boehner for getting to the point where an extension is the only option. "The lack of action by the House Republican leadership has put us in a situation where we risk serious damage to our economy unless we pass a temporary extension," she said.

One of the reasons Boehner has balked at bringing up a farm bill is disagreement within his caucus over how much money should be cut from food stamps, which make up roughly 80 percent of the half-trillion-dollar bill's cost over five years. House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., has unsuccessfully pushed his leadership for months to move on the legislation despite the disagreement over food aid.

On Sunday, Lucas said he hoped the extension would pass both chambers quickly as GOP leadership mulled their options.

"It is not perfect — no compromise ever is — but it is my sincere hope that it will pass the House and Senate and be signed by the president by Jan. 1," he said.


source: Washington Examiner

Pathetic, but predictible..

Dec. 31, 2012
(FC minus 17:39hrs)

Obama's description of
four murders in Benghazi.
(Sunday's Meet The Press)

theunrelenter.blogspot.com

A Model Society of Enlightened Wimps

Dec. 31, 2012
(FC minus 18:07hrs)

Nowadays the first step to take after a school shooting, far from mourning or otherwise feeling sorry for the families whose children were killed by a maniac, is calling for new and immediate restrictions on gun ownership.

The second step is insisting that there must be some external reason why this wonderful, loving 20-year-old would commit such an atrocious crime. He must have been driven to it by society’s unrealistic expectations, our culture of violence, or something else. Certainly it couldn’t be that Adam Lanza was the problem, that he fully understood what he was doing and didn’t care.

Many seem to believe otherwise, though. They act as if it’s our collective duty to find out exactly why everyone—with the exception of Adam Lanza—is responsible for the massacre so we may change our ways and become a model society of enlightened wimps. People and organizations are taking ridiculous lengths to ensure that they don’t offend anyone’s delicate sensibilities for the next few weeks.


Stories surfaced claiming that before Lanza stole his mother’s weaponry and shot her in the face several times, he unsuccessfully attempted to purchase his own rifle at Dick’s Sporting Goods. Store employees reportedly turned him away. This unconfirmed report was still enough to scare Dick’s executives into suspending the sale of modern sporting rifles nationwide as well as the sale of all guns at its store closest to Newtown.

Walmart also erased the Bushmaster AR-15, which Lanza used at the elementary school, from its website. (This didn’t stop the surge of gun sales, though; its remaining inventory was bought up in a matter of days.) And then the private-equity firm Cerberus decided to drop its ownership of the gun’s manufacturer, Freedom Group, citing the “national debate on gun control” as a catalyst. I hope the short-term appeasement of public opinion was worth the long-term financial losses Cerberus will incur from parting ways with the nation’s largest firearm manufacturer.

As if it wasn’t enough watching businessmen bend to the will of fools who wouldn’t have purchased their guns anyway, the spontaneously compassionate celebrities were next, apologizing every which way for the content of their entertainment. Radio stations stopped playing Ke$ha’s song “Die Young,” as if Lanza had been dragged into committing violence by lyrics about “young hunks taking shots.” The singer Tweeted:

I’m so so so sorry for anyone who has been effected [sic] by this tragedy.and I understand why my song is now inappropriate. words cannot express.

The National Rifle Association, which has arguably done more to eviscerate gun rights than to protect them, came to Ke$ha’s defense…somewhat. The organization issued a statement undermining the view that violent music inspired the school shooting. What we really need to blame, it explained, are video games such as Mortal Kombat, where human beings and cyborg ninjas fight to the death in the middle of magically complex realms.

Chief executive officer Wayne LaPierre took special note of a game called Kindergarten Killer. The 10-year-old Flash game depicts a rogue janitor who takes up arms against angry cartoon children who shoot back.

“How come my research staff can find it, and all of yours couldn’t?” he asked an intensely confused audience. “I mean, we have blood-soaked films out there…aired like propaganda loops on Splatterdays and every single day.”

He was right about Splatterdays. At least the movie and television industries thought so. They, too, started doing some spring cleaning of their own.


Networks combed through scripts for Law & Order and American Dad and pulled episodes that mentioned schools, shootings, or any variant of the two. Family Guy aired repeats. Evidently the FX network didn’t get the memo about American Horror Story, which is still available on Netflix and features a school shooting as a major plot motif.

I watched the first season last week and have so far felt no inclination to involve myself in mass murder.

It is unfortunate that in a futile search for the external trigger of Adam Lanza’s murder spree, some people are willing to accept curtailing freedom of expression as collateral damage. Obscene or not, as Hustler founder Larry Flynt had to prove in court, this is a freedom without exceptions.

Every hollow self-correction we make in response to this shooting is a passive admission of guilt. We couldn’t have done anything differently, and we shouldn’t.

This massacre was no one’s doing but Adam Lanza’s.


source: Takimag

Chemical castration for pedophiles in the pipeline in Turkey: report

Dec. 31, 2012
(FC minus 18:12hrs)

In addition to tougher jail sentences, Turkey is considering chemical castration of pedophiles. (Reuters)

By Al Arabiya

The Turkish government is considering chemical castration for sex offenders who target miners, a local newspaper reported Sunday.

The draft proposal, titled “Draft Law on Reproductive Health and Child Abuse,” is in the process to be made into a law. However, it doesn’t contain details on how to implement chemical castration on pedophiles, the Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman reported.

The daily said that the Ministry of Heath will decide on the implementation.

The draft, approved by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, proposes “medical intervention for child abusers and convicts clinically diagnosed as pedophiles,” without going into detail.

Other expected changes to be made in the new law is to take off the requirement to have an expert report from the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) in rape cases to prove that the victim’s psychology has been negatively affected.

While sexual offenders will receive longer sentences in the proposal, pedophiles and offenders sexually targeting people with disabilities will also receive tougher sentences.

The draft will keep the 10-week legal period for abortions and 20-week in case of rape victims the same. But in the new proposal, doctors are urged to convince the victims to back off from having abortions. Doctors who perform illegal abortions will also face up to eight years in prison.

The United States, Britain and Germany have already experimented with chemical castration of rapists and molesters, especially serial offenders and pedophiles.

Unlike surgical castration, where the testicles are removed, chemical castration does not castrate or sterilize the person, but works only to reduce the offender’s libido and sexual activity.

Meanwhile, in India where are a recent deadly gang-rape of a university student incident angered and appalled the nation, pleas for chemical castration were made clear.

Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau, stirred uproar, when she urged legislators to consider chemical castration as a punitive measure for rapists, especially pedophiles.

Bomb hits prosecutor's office in Libya's Benghazi

Dec. 31, 2012
(FC minus 18:27hrs)

AFP - An improvised bomb exploded outside the headquarters of the public prosecutor in the Libyan city of Benghazi causing material damage but no fatalities, a security source said.

"Initial evidence suggests the device was a suitcase packed with high yield explosives (TNT)," an investigator at the scene told AFP on Monday, adding that there were no casualties.

The overnight blast marked the third attack on the site in 2012, he said.

It damaged the front of the recently renovated building, which once held the people's court, a special tribunal created by the former regime of Moamer Kadhafi to crack down on opponents, particularly Islamists.

The bomb also punched a hole in the ground and shattered the glass of adjacent vehicles and properties.

December marked a tumultuous month for Benghazi, cradle of the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled the Kadhafi regime and ended in the killing of one of the region's veteran dictators.

A spate of attacks targeting police stations claimed the lives of seven officers this month and pushed the chief of staff to send reinforcements to bolster security there.

In 2012, Libya's second city witnessed a series of assassinations targeting security officials and judges, many of whom had served under the previous regime.

Benghazi has also emerged as a hub for jihadist groups, including militants who killed ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in a September 11 attack on the US consulate.

In a separate incident late Saturday, an explosion rocked a Coptic church near the city of Misrata, killing two Egyptians and wounding two others, according to local and diplomatic sources.

Obama signs warrant-less surveillance bill

Dec. 31, 2012
(FC minus 18:30hrs)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. President Obama Sunday signed a five-year extension of the law allowing warrant-less electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists, the White House said.

The statement from the press secretary's office simply stated the president had signed the measure, without which the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act would have expired at year's end.

The Senate had given its approval to the re-authorization of the act's provisions on a 73-23 vote Friday, the Los Angeles Times said. The House had passed it previously.

The law has bee criticized by privacy advocates, the newspaper noted, because it allows the government to monitor phone calls, emails and other electronic communications between suspected terrorists and U.S. citizens without judicial approval.

Senate faults Obama, who vows Benghazi fix

Dec. 31, 2012
(FC minus 18:34hrs)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- President Obama blamed security "sloppiness" in the deadly attack on the U.S. mission in Libya as a new bipartisan Senate report faulted the White House.

Obama told the NBC News program "Meet the Press" he agreed with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's decision to carry out all 29 recommendations made Dec. 18 by an independent review board that was highly critical of the State Department for failing to identify and respond to security risks before four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi.

The recommendations by the five-member Accountability Review Board, led by retired U.S. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, included sending 225 additional U.S. Marine Corps guards to embassies and consulates and revamping how the State Department adjusts security at posts based on threat warnings.

"My message to the State Department has been very simple, and that is we're going to solve this," Obama told "Meet the Press" in a rare interview. "We're not going to be defensive about it. We're not going to pretend that this was not a problem. This was a huge problem, and we're going to implement every single recommendation that's been put forward."

Obama said a key review board finding -- that the State Department relied too heavily on local Libyan militias to safeguard the compound, leaving diplomats and other U.S. personnel highly vulnerable -- was similar to a finding in internal administration reviews.

"It confirms what we had already seen, based on some of our internal reviews. There was just some sloppiness, not intentional, in terms of how we secure embassies in areas where you essentially don't have governments that have a lot of capacity to protect those embassies," Obama said.

Four State Department officials were removed from their posts a day after the report was released.

The report, which criticized security at the diplomatic compound in Benghazi as "grossly inadequate," was to be followed Monday by a bipartisan Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee report on the assault.

The new report -- written by committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, Ind-Conn., and ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine -- faulted the White House and Pentagon in addition to the State Department, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The report by the Senate's chief oversight committee -- the first bipartisan congressional investigation into the attack -- said there was no way the Defense and State departments could have rescued the Americans, with the evacuation plans they had, which the Journal said report characterized as irresponsibly inadequate.

Because the departments didn't know, for instance, how well U.S. agencies could respond to the Benghazi mission post in the event of a crisis, when the Pentagon mobilized after the attack, it was unable to respond effectively in a timely fashion, said the report, reviewed by the Journal Sunday.

Even if the Pentagon had planned more extensively, the response would still have probably been inadequate because the head of the U.S. military's Africa Command didn't know that roughly two dozen CIA personnel were stationed at an annex close to the Benghazi diplomatic post, Collins told the Journal.

That finding "came as a shock to me," she said.

The report also assailed Obama and other members of the administration for being "inconsistent" about whether the assault was a terrorist attack. The inconsistency "contributed to the confusion in the public discourse" about the attacks, the report said.

The report criticized Obama for giving differing statements about the attack -- referring to it indirectly in White House Rose Garden remarks Sept. 12 as an "act of terror" but then later that day declining in a television interview to characterize the attack.

On Sept. 18, Obama called the attackers "extremists and terrorists" in one TV interview. But days later, on another program, Obama was vaguer, saying an investigation was still under way, the report cited by the Journal said.

Obama made a similar statement about an investigation Sunday, telling "Meet the Press": "You know, with respect to who carried it out, that's an ongoing investigation. The FBI has sent individuals to Libya repeatedly. We have some very good leads, but this is not something that I'm going to be at liberty to talk about right now."

U.S. intelligence reports from the first hours after the attacks suggested they were carried out by militants tied to al-Qaida's North African affiliate and local groups seeking to follow al-Qaida.

Benghazi Update: Guilt From Lies Possible Cause Of Head Pains

Dec. 31, 2012
(FC minus 18:43hrs)

Circle the wagons!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted to hospital with blood clot following concussion 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been admitted to a hospital with a blood clot following a concussion she suffered several weeks ago.

A spokesperson, Philippe Reines, said in a statement the clot was discovered during the course of a follow-up exam. There has been no announcement yet on the location of the clot.

"She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at New York-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours," Reines said.

Doctors are expected to make a determination shortly about whether any further action is required, Reines said, adding that doctors will continue to assess Clinton's condition, "including other issues associated with her concussion."

Clinton was expected to return to work next week, almost three weeks after being sidelined by the concussion.

The secretary of state had been recuperating at home.

The seriousness of a blood clot "depends on where it is," said Dr. Gholam Motamedi, a neurologist at Georgetown University Medical Center who was not involved in Clinton's care.

Clots in the legs are a common risk after someone has been bedridden, as Clinton may have been for a time after her concussion. Those are "no big deal" and are treated with six months of blood thinners to allow them to dissolve on their own and to prevent further clots from forming, he said.

A clot in a lung or the brain is more serious. Lung clots, called pulmonary embolisms, can be deadly, and a clot in the brain can cause a stroke, Motamedi said.

Keeping Clinton in the hospital for a couple of days could allow doctors to perform more tests to determine why the clot formed, and to rule out a heart problem or other condition that may have led to it, he said.

Dr. Larry Goldstein, a neurologist who is director of Duke University's stroke center, said blood can pool on the surface of the brain or in other areas of the brain after a concussion, but those would not be treated with blood thinners, as Clinton's aide described.

Aides and doctors say Clinton contracted a stomach virus in early December and became dehydrated, then fainted, fell and hit her head. She was diagnosed with a concussion on Dec. 13 and hasn't been seen in public since.

Clinton's illness led her to cancel an overseas trip and scheduled testimony before Congress about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya.

The former first lady and senator, who had always planned to step down as America's top diplomat in January, is known for her grueling travel schedule. She is the most traveled secretary of state in history, having visited 112 countries while in the job.

The secretary of state's husband, former President Bill Clinton, suffered from heart disease and underwent successful quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. In 2010, Bill Clinton had two coronary stents implanted in his heart after being hospitalized for chest pain.


cbs

Egypt: The ‘broken step’ culture

Dec. 30, 2012

Through rigging, mobilization, bribery, or religious manipulation, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood managed to deceive simple-minded people that voting “yes” for the constitution is the ticket to heaven and that “no” is only for the enemies of Islam. This way, they were able to pass a document that is going to drag Egypt to an uncertain future. It is through this document that the group plan to take control of Egypt and crush its rivals. We are now facing an ominous reality that we need to deal with and find the ways to change. Surrendering will only take us backwards and that is why we are left with no option except resisting.

For the past few months, I had seen everything I dreaded coming true and every time I struggled to remain hopeful, I was dealt another blow. Liberal powers were not able to overcome their short-sighted ambitions and unite in one strong front and none of them was able to fill the vacuum on its own. Those powers were torn between rivalry, vengeance, and revolutionary romanticism and therefore gave room to groups who claim to represent religion to prevail and to even neutralize the one power that had at the time been capable of making a difference: the army. The end result was they managed to monopolize power and to become the sole players in the political scene.

The group that has not yet emerged in its full power is the silent majority, commonly known as the “couch party.” It is true that members of this party have started breaking their silence, but the magnitude of their influence remains to be demonstrated. Those are the real majority, a majority that is not linked to rigged votes and bribed voters. They are the actual challenge. If we want to change the reality in which we have been forcefully placed by the Muslim Brotherhood, we need to instigate this majority into positive action.

We are suffering from what came to be called the “broken step” culture. When one of the steps in the staircase of a building is broken, the wife asks her husband on his way to work and her children on their way to school to “beware the broken step” and the same applies to guests. However, no one thinks of fixing this broken step and we find ourselves adapting to the problem rather than solving it. This is exactly what we need to get rid of. Instead of adapting to reality, we have to work on changing it and we have to resist falling pray to exhaustion or despair. It is, therefore, important for prominent political leaders to reject adaptation.

January 25 is approaching and I believe it could be a good opportunity for alerting this majority into fearing for the future of this country. The new rulers need to realize that the people will not accept monopoly and exclusion and that the majority that had been made silent for long is now back to take part in the decision-making process. The question is: how can this be achieved? Through utter dedication and faith in the necessity of preserving the civilian character of the state, through giving up personal ambition and prioritizing the welfare of the country over personal grudges and endless incrimination, and through realizing that if the ship is to sink everyone will drown. Before all this, it is absolutely important to rally under one common goal.

This needs to be done not only quickly, but also sincerely. Sincerity is what moves the people and is what this silent majority needs to take an action. We are only weeks away from the first opportunity to put that to the test.

source: (Abdel Latif el-Menawy is the former head of Egyptian Television’s news center. He can be found on Twitter: @ALMenawy)

Fiscal cliff: Barack Obama's trap for Republicans

Dec. 30, 2012

President Obama's purpose is political, not fiscal

America's reckless politicians may still take the country over the cliff into an uncertain land where recession looms.

But President Obama has sprung his trap. The Republicans are in a corner - over a barrel - although perilously unaware of their plight. Before the election, during the election and since his victory, he has insisted the rich must pay a little more in taxes. It is a policy that appeals to his party but doesn't really make much of an economic impact. But its purpose is political, not fiscal.

He has announced his fallback position. If there is no bipartisan deal by the leaders of the Senate, he will get Democrats to introduce a minimalist bill. It would be, Mr Obama said in his weekly address, an "up-or-down vote on a basic package that protects the middle class from an income tax hike, extends vital unemployment insurance for Americans looking for a job, and lays the groundwork for future progress on more economic growth and deficit reduction".

If Republicans vote it down, they will be directly voting to bring in a tax rise on "ordinary Americans".

I'll say it again. Republicans are voting for a tax rise on most people.

It is a powerful incentive to reach a better deal. Some Republicans will glory in sticking to their principles and know the folks back home may agree with them - the rich should have tax cuts too, that it is a matter of principle.

But enough may realise that Mr Obama is manoeuvring to stick their party in aspic and stop them changing in the wake of their defeat in November. He would stick a label on them that would brand them not only out of touch, but so fanatically wedded to the demands of the rich that they are unconcerned about the damage they could do to their country and its people.

It could turn out differently, but I suspect the Republicans are either about to cave in or to lose the blame game.

BBC

French 75% income tax struck down by constitutional council

Dec. 30, 2012

Francois Hollande has favoured tax rises over spending
cuts to tackle France's deficit

France's constitutional council has struck down a top income tax rate of 75% introduced by Socialist President Francois Hollande.

Raising taxes for those earning more than 1m euros (£817,400) has been a flagship policy for Mr Hollande.

The policy angered France's business community and prompted some wealthy citizens to say they would emigrate.

Mr Hollande's government said it would rework the tax, due to take effect in 2013, to meet the council's complaints.

In its ruling on Saturday, the Constitutional Council said the new tax rate "failed to recognise equality before public burdens" because, unlike other forms of income tax, it was to be applied to individuals rather than households.

For example, that meant a household in which one person earned more than 1m euros would pay the tax, but a household in which two people earned 900,000 euros each would not have to pay.

The council also rejected new methods for calculating the tax.

Pressing ahead

But Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the government would press ahead with the new tax rate.

"The government will propose a new system that conforms with the principles laid down by the decision of the Constitutional Council," he said.

The new rate was seen as largely symbolic since it would have only applied to some 1,500 people for a temporary period of two years.

But along with other tax rises, it has still been the subject of fierce debate in France.

French actor Gerard Depardieu recently announced he was moving to Belgium to avoid taxes, sparking a furious reaction from some on the left.

There was also speculation that people employed in high-income jobs like banking and finance would move elsewhere, including to London.

Mr Hollande campaigned against the austerity policies used in many European countries affected by economic crisis, favouring higher taxes rather than spending cuts to bring down the deficit.

The 75% rate for high earners was included in the government's 2013 budget, approved by parliament in September.

source: BBC

Petition To Place Obama In A Safe “Gun Free Zone”

Dec. 30, 2012

URGENT!!! The lives of "Leaders of the Free World" have always been in danger. Sadly though, several of these lunatics, with the most evil intent have succeeded at wounding and even taking the lives of several U.S presidents. Even worse, in this day and age of social media, threats have become far more common than in previous generations. Those threats are taken very seriously. The downside however is, those with the intent to succeed will not be sharing their evil plan with the cyber world. Instead  these "lonewolf" terrorists will plot silently, making the odds of carrying out evil desires to do malice even more likely.

BUT WAIT!!! We the people, teaming up with government, will do any and everything in our power to nip this in the bud. We WILL NOT allow such a tragedy to occur.

Politics aside, Whether republican or socialist democrat, at the end of the day, we are all Americans. And protecting our leader is one thing we can all agree on.  After much brainstorming, it is essential that we enforce the existing laws and expand those available to accomplish our mutual goal. Particularly, the enforcement of Gun-Free Zones...

Listen up America! Why in the world would such an effective tool be overlooked? That is why WE NEED YOUR HELP!!! 

God knows, with each passing day, we grow one day closer to such an horrific tragedy. As Americans, together we need to do our part. *PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION.

What you can do RIGHT NOW:

The first thing to do is head on over to Im41.com for further instruction, some background info and even more useful tips.

HERES THE LINK>>

I would personally like to thank those who have made this possible. Particularly Dave over at Moonbattery.

But most of all I would like to take this opportunity to THANK YOU, THE READER in advance for your signature. 


God Bless America!!!




*if you prefer, you can go directly to the White House petition using this direct link. Whichever way you choose, we have until January 22, 2013 to gain another 10,000 plus signatures. So spread the word to everyone you know. Again, Thank You for all your help.

Hypocritical Irony Exposed: Anti-Gun Senator Shoots Home Intruder

Dec. 30, 2012

Well known anti-gun state senator R.C. Soles (D-NC) pulled a gun on two men breaking into his home, shooting one of them.

The senator, who has spent his political career fighting against the individual right to keep and bear arms, apparently believes the right to keep and bear arms is still valid for elected officials.

The guy he shot, Kyle Blackburn is pictured in the thumbnail on the homepage.

I don’t suppose pointing out the utter hypocrisy of a guy who dedicated himself to gun control will matter much, you can’t shame the shameless.

What it does do is highlight the mindset of our aristocratic ruling elites. People like David Gregory who scoff at the idea of putting armed guards in our schools while he sends his own kids to a private school that employs 11 armed guards or Michael Moore who mocks gun owners for being cowards while he himself employs armed bodyguards for protection or even Diane Feinstein who admitted that she herself carries a concealed weapon.

When did America degenerate into a medieval society where certain individuals entitled by reason of their wealth, power or celebrity status grant themselves license to do as they please while denying the rest of us the same privileges that they take for granted?

What became of our classless society where all men are deemed equal under the law? The great American experiment rejected royalty and the abuses that resulted from that system. But now all that seems to be different is the titles we give our leaders. Congressmen are defacto Barons, Senators defacto Lords and the President a defecto King sitting on his throne next to his Queen.

Shall we have to bow to them next?

Hat tip: BC's Hot Bites

Source: Big Government via Blurbrain