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The man who practically invented alter egos has departed planet earth.RIP, David Bowie, whoever you were; and thanks for the memories:From Happy Anniversary Hub!Around here, where alter egos abound, we’ve been Bowie fans for a long time. Remember this golden oldie, still gracing my sidebar, from my early days as Lady M’s Mirror Of The United States: Just think, without Ziggy Startdust, there might never have been a Madonna, Lady Gaga or President Obama. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with alter egos…butt I guess there’s a downside to everything. Dedicated to the proposition that change can be a good thing,...

Newly-elected Speaker Paul Ryan said in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he's "redesigning" his leadership job. "I'm redesigning this job. I don't think it can work going forward like it's worked in the past. I can't pick up where John (Boehner) left off. It has to be done differently," Ryan said, referring to Rep. John Boehner's, R-Ohio, recently ended tenure as speaker. The House elected Ryan as speaker last Thursday and Boehner resigned from his leadership post and congressional seat. Ryan told host John Dickerson that he wasn't elected "dictator of the House" and...

By our count at the Galen Institute, more than 54 significant changes have been made to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act since it was enacted in 2010 – at least 34 that the Obama administration has made unilaterally, 17 that Congress has passed and the president has signed, and three by the Supreme Court. Our latest count has added two more changes made by the Obama administration contrary to statutory language, and one rewrite of the law’s text from the latest U.S. Supreme Court decision. Our latest additions: Extension of credits to people receiving employer-sponsored coverage. Section 1511...

For the poorest Floridians who rely on Medicaid for their health care, some big changes are coming in the new year that could affect whether they still qualify. Others who currently don't get Medicaid may find that the new rules allow them to sign up. The changes are all part of the Affordable Care Act and affect residents too poor to get a tax break on premiums through the health-care exchange. So whether you apply this year or next could make a big difference. "If you qualify now but won't under the new guidelines, sign up before Jan. 1," said...

The Obama administration is being accused of "burying" key changes to the federal health care overhaul, as discontent grows about the roll-out of the law. The latest surprise came this week, when the Associated Press reported that individuals will have to obtain insurance coverage by mid-February in order to avoid an IRS penalty. That's six weeks earlier than the March 31 deadline that previously was cited. While an administration official confirmed the moved-up deadline to the AP, the reason the public now knows about it is because tax preparation company Jackson Hewitt pointed it out.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that Democrats will not consider making any changes to Obamacare. She said lawmakers may consider amending the bill — but only after it’s been implemented. “None of these suggestions [are] acceptable,” Pelosi said in reference to Republican efforts to delay the law’s individual mandate for one year. “After we open government and a plan is in place — any law that a Congress makes, a Congress can make another law and so bring your ideas forward. But not, with government shut down and before the plan is even in effect, are they...

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Gov. Rick Scott says the state will pull out of a national test for school children to see if they are reaching standards in certain subjects. Scott on Monday called for Education Commissioner Pam Stewart and other state officials to take steps related to the ongoing controversy surrounding the new Common Core State Standards. Those include holding public hearings and possibly altering the standards.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced on Thursday that the Justice Department would ask a court to require Texas to get permission from the federal government before making voting changes in that state. The move opens a new chapter in the political struggle over election rules after the Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Voting Rights Act last month. In a speech before the National Urban League in Philadelphia, Mr. Holder also indicated that the filing, expected later on Thursday, was most likely just an opening salvo in a new Obama administration strategy to try...

Opinion Print Article | Email Friend | Reprint Permissions From their own mouths, Pt 1: LGBT Lobby plans to 'wholly transform the definition of family' by Hilary White Fri Feb 01, 2013 19:52 EST Comments (20) Tags: family, homosexual activism, same-sex 'marriage' ROME, February 1, 2013, (LifeSiteNews.com) – “Transforming the very fabric of society;” and “radically reordering society’s view of reality”: these are what “being queer” means to the ideologues behind the homosexual political movement that is currently sweeping through legislatures around the world. Is this the insane ranting of a right-wing Christian conspiracy theorist? Is it yet another “attack”...

Even small changes in solar activity can impact Earth's climate in significant and surprisingly complex ways, researchers say. The sun is a constant star when compared with many others in the galaxy. Some stars pulsate dramatically, varying wildly in size and brightness and even exploding. In comparison, the sun varies in the amount of light it emits by only 0.1 percent over the course of a relatively stable 11-year-long pattern known as the solar cycle. Still, "the light reaching the top of the Earth's atmosphere provides about 2,500 times as much energy as the total of all other sources combined,"...

(Reuters) - Hopes for overhauling the federal tax system are fading in Washington, but in some state capitals, tax reform experiments - some far-reaching - are fast taking shape. Across the South and Midwest, Republicans have consolidated control of state legislatures and governorships, giving them the power to test long-debated tax ideas. Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, for instance, called on Thursday for ending the state's income tax and corporate taxes, with sales taxes compensating for lost revenue. A similar plan is being pushed by Republicans in North Carolina. Kansas, which cut its income tax significantly last year, may trim...

Shakespeare was right when he wrote, “What’s past is prologue.” The Bard’s quote provides a solid road map for predicting how Obama will run his presidency if re-elected. During his 2008 campaign and subsequent four years in office there have been three iterations defining the man and his approach to governance. Obama 1.0 is the mythic figure and the now crumbling foundation for understanding how the president was presented by the media and perceived by the public. Candidate Obama circa 2008 was calm, collected and cool — smooth as silk. The mainstream media and much of America were captivated by...

Hey guys, earlier today I went to read my "pings" and I don't see any of the content of the comments, only the name of the thread and the respondent. Did something change? :( I like clicking and reading the responses and not necessarily going through the whole thread.

"....but this stuff is not being said in an extremist corner of the internet — it’s being said in a middle-class suburban salon in an area where 30% (or more) of the businesses are now shuttered, and houses are being foreclosed upon and then re-occupied seemingly overnight, creating what the stylist called “a neighborhood full of changes and no hope. Forget about new small businesses,” he said, gesturing across the street, where a small food shop’s “opening soon” banner had become sun-faded and worn, even as the door remained locked. “That guy is never going to open.” “I can’t get...

Rejecting the recommendations of a recent state report, federal officials said Wednesday they cannot postpone the deadline to start construction of California's $43-billion bullet train project or allow the state to move the first leg of the proposed system out of the Central Valley. U.S. Department of Transportation officials said the 2012 deadline is required by federal legislation that provided about $3.1 billion in funding for the project's initial leg, which, they added, was placed in the state's agricultural heartland after considerable study. "This shows that we are on the same page as the feds," said Jeffrey Barker, a spokesman...

During a stop in New Jersey Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the TSA and its new screening procedures could see some “changes,” but not during the Thanksgiving travel rush. The admission follows statements by the TSA Sunday that it was not considering changes. According to Politico, the Secretary said the TSA will “make adjustments or changes when called upon” to its screening procedures at airports, but emphasized not if such changes make Americans less safe on airplanes.

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. State Department is marking lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender “Pride Month” by changing its policy concerning gender change on passports and consular reports of birth abroad. As of June 10, the State Department no longer requires that individuals provide proof that they have had sex reassignment surgery, but only requires certification from an “attending physician” that the individual received “appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition,” which may or may not include surgery. In other words, a conservative group complained, "cross-dressers no longer need to undergo 'sexual reassignment' surgery to change the gender listed on their passports."

After years of debate, a health overhaul is finally becoming a reality. Now what? Many big provisions don't kick in until 2014, including the mandate for most folks to have health insurance and many new requirements for health-plan designs. Before then, you'll see a mishmash of other things go into effect at various times—and of course some of the changes depend on the Senate passing the House's so-called sidecar, or reconciliation, bill of changes. [0321consum] Doug DeMark Taylor Wilhite and her mom, Amy, visited Capitol Hill in May 2009 with American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network volunteers. Here are some...

This winter, on certain days, it would take only two small fish known as delta smelt to show up at California's two largest water projects to trigger pumping restrictions causing the loss of hundreds of millions of gallons of water a day. If two more smelt appear the next day, the pumps are cut more, and so on. Since Jan. 1, the State Water Project has lost nearly 370,000 acre-feet of water, enough to serve the residential needs of San Jose for nearly three years." This is how the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been implemented on a day-by-day,...

J.R. Church talks a little about changes coming upon the earth during the Tribulation. Hit the FRI button for friday's video. Tuesday's is a little interesting too.