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Friends, What an amazing few days on the road this has been. Your spirits have been high, your faith strong and your spine unbendable. I ended my multiday book tour at The Villages with what had been billed as a rally but could be better described as a candid citizen-to-citizen chat. Today, I have stopped looking for a leader to show us the way out because I have come to realize that the only one who can truly save our country...is us. To change America's course we need to change ourselves, our expectations and our willingness to accept the...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/readout-vice-president-biden-s-call-georgian-president-saakashvili Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Vice President For Immediate Release November 19, 2009 Readout of Vice President Biden’s Call to Georgian President Saakashvili Vice President Biden called Georgian President Saakashvili on November 18, 2009, to discuss democratic reform in Georgia and to reiterate the United States’ strong support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Vice President underscored the importance of sustaining the commitment to democratic reform to fulfill the promise of the Rose Revolution. He also emphasized that all parties should live...

I hold an executive position at a private corporation located on Long Island, NY (250+ employees). On Thursday, November 19, 2009, two casually dressed gentlemen showed up at our facility (unannounced) and asked for the Human Resource Manager.They, unilaterally, determined that our company had a connection to the public safety and national security concerns of the United States. As such, they are requiring us to provide them with 100% of the Form I-9 - Employment Eligibility Verifications for all our current employees and employees who have been terminated within the past 12 months.The purpose of the form is for an...

Folks, this is cool. Mark Stein, singer/keyboardist for 60s supergroup "Vanilla Fudge" has a song that isn't all that flattering to the Messiah. Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5LLKs7oW_Q

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--

Mr2001 writes "Consumerist reports that Apple is refusing to work on computers that have been used in smoking households. 'The Apple store called and informed me that due to the computer having been used in a house where there was smoking, [the warranty has been voided] and they refuse to work on the machine "due to health risks of second hand smoke,"' wrote one customer. Another said, 'When I asked for an explanation, she said [the owner of the iMac is] a smoker and it's contaminated with cigarette smoke, which they consider a bio-hazard! I checked my Applecare warranty and...

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today announced his selection of Douglas Guthrie to become the new general manager of the city’s Housing Department. Guthrie, a former top official at the Chicago Housing Authority, most recently worked with private ventures focused on affordable urban development and the redevelopment of old public housing into mixed-use city centers. Guthrie served for six years as president of Kimball Hill Urban Centers in Chicago, which built mixed-income affordable housing in many depressed city centers that most traditional developers would avoid, including a project with former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, one of...

A woman accused of holding down a child while her husband sexually assaulted the girl — an act captured on video — pleaded guilty in a Travis County courtroom Friday and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Mariana Garcia's punishmentfor two counts of aggravated sexual assault was part of a plea bargain with prosecutors. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Charges are pending against Garcia's husband, Adrian Navarro, 30. Garcia, 24, showed little emotion during the proceedings before state District Judge Bob Perkins. At one point, prosecutor Joe Frederick asked her whether Navarro is her...

GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) – Central American nations will demand 105 billion dollars from industrialized countries for damages caused by global warming, the region's representatives said on Friday. Central American environment ministers gathered in Guatemala to discuss the so-called "ecological debt" owed to them and to set out a common position ahead of climate talks in Copenhagen next month.

A new billboard off of Interstate 70 in Missouri provides a short “citizens guide to REVOLUTION of a corrupt government” and issues a call to “PREPARE FOR WAR.” It reads: 1. Starve the Beast. Keep your money. 2. Vote out incumbents. 3. If steps 1 & 2 fail.... You can guess the rest. This billboard replaces one that warned that the socialist “Obama-Nation” is “coming for you.” It’s unclear who the owner of the billboard is, but the first one was the work of a “Missouri businessman.” While it’s unclear who owns it, the Lafayette County Republican Central Committee seems...

Nidal Hasan was an advisor to Homeland Security team.  Look on page 29 of the Homeland Security Institute link below. Go to page number 29, scroll down toward the bottom on the Left Column He is listed under "THINKING ANEW- SECURITY PRIORITIES FOR THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION", as Nidal Hasan, Uniformed Services University School of Medicine (8TH DOWN ON LEFT COLUMN PAGE 29).  http://www.gwumc.edu/hspi/old/PTTF_ProceedingsReport_05.19.09.pdf  

(Excerpt) WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. - Call it Freedom of Speech. A billboard recently erected in Wheat Ridge compares President Barack Obama to a terrorist and questions his U.S. citizenship. The billboard, located at 4855 Miller Road, shows two cartoonish images of Obama wearing a Muslim turban and reads "PRESIDENT or JIHAD?" It also says "BIRTH CERTIFICATE - PROVE IT!" alluding to the conspiracy theory which claims Barack Obama was born in Kenya rather than Hawaii, which would disqualify him for the office of President. The words "WAKE UP AMERICA! REMEMBER FT. HOOD!" appear on the bottom of the billboard. (more...

A GANG of killers who murdered to steal their victims' body fat have been arrested in Peru. Police said the three people held in the jungle province of Huanuco confessed to five killings and said they could sell one litre of fat for £10,000 to the cosmetic industry. The men said the fat was sold to intermediaries in Lima, who police suspect sold it to companies in Europe. Police have found the head of one victim and several bottles of fat, which they displayed at a news conference. Suspect Elmer Segundo Castillejos, 29, led police to the head last month,...

Germans don't want KSM or the other turds to die.

From The Conscience of Kansas radio program, here is the story of the Democrat and the Turkey as read by radio host Paul A. Ibbetson. We invite you to watch and comment.

LONDON — Computer hackers have broken into a server at a well-respected climate change research center in Britain and posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online — stoking debate over whether some scientists have overstated the case for man-made climate change. The University of East Anglia, in eastern England, said in a statement Saturday that the hackers had entered the server and stolen data at its Climatic Research Unit, a leading global research center on climate change. The university said police are investigating the theft of the information, but could not confirm if all the materials posted online are...

Conservative Christian leaders unveiled a declaration Friday calling on Christians not to comply with rules and laws forcing them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other ideals that go against their religious doctrines. The declaration urges Christians to practice civil disobedience to defend their convictions, even though some signers of the document backed away from the strong language. The Catholic Archbishop of Washington, Donald W. Wuerl, was among the first signers of the Manhattan Declaration. He appeared at a news conference in the District on Friday to announce it, even as the Church was considering a city-proposed compromise on its...

Few details emerged Saturday on a reported threat at Fort Benning. Thursday a solider found a suspicious package and a note threatening a massacre similar to the Nov. 5 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, Elsie Jackson, post spokeswoman at Fort Benning confirmed Saturday. The anonymous note and package -- reported by The Army Times as a box of 20 hollow-point bullets -- were found Thursday morning outside a motor pool area at Fort Benning, located near Columbus. "There may be an update Monday," said Jackson Saturday. "But at this time there is an ongoing investigation of the incident." The discovery...

- Browner Says Obama Administration Is Seeking Measures to Include Entire EconomyWASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's top climate adviser on Friday called for "comprehensive energy reform" and threw cold water on the idea of a more modest climate package that would apply mandatory reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions only to electric utilities. The Senate has sidelined until at least next spring a bill to cap U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions and create a system for companies to acquire and trade pollution permits -- a system called "cap and trade" by proponents and "cap and tax" by opponents. Republicans and some conservative Democrats are...

BAGHDAD — In its largest reconstruction effort since the Marshall Plan, the United States government has spent $53 billion for relief and reconstruction in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, building tens of thousands of hospitals, water treatment plants, electricity substations, schools and bridges. But there are growing concerns among American officials that Iraq will not be able to adequately maintain the facilities once the Americans have left, potentially wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and jeopardizing Iraq’s ability to provide basic services to its people. The projects run the gamut — from a cutting-edge, $270 million water treatment plant in...

The picture that emerges of prominent climate-change scientists from the more than 3,000 documents and emails accessed by hackers and put on the Internet this week is one of professional backbiting and questionable scientific practices. It could undermine the idea that the science of man-made global warming is entirely settled just weeks before a crucial climate-change summit. Researchers at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, England, were victims of a cyberattack by hackers sometime Thursday. A collection of emails dating back to the mid-1990s as well as scientific documents were splashed across the Internet. University officials...

When Liz Cheney said “Think Cheney 2012″ on the last FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace – the panel in the studio and lame stream media later assumed she was talking about her father – former VP Dick Cheney. Everybody took the bait – and got caught in… sexism. She did not say “Think Dick Cheney 2012”. It never occurred to the Good Ol’ Boys in the media that Liz Cheney was hinting about a possible run of a Cheney in 2012… like in “Liz Cheney 2012″. Why not? The lady is extremely smart and has a whooping resume that...

What will be the results of Election 2010

Democrats on Saturday clinched the votes needed to advance the Senate's version of President Obama's health care overhaul to the floor for a historic debate scheduled to begin shortly after 8 p.m..

Bariz Ajal Rashid, the Mukhtar of the northern Kirkuk village of Chemin, demonstrates the versatility of his village hoop house, an enclosed farm designed to allow farmers to farm year round for up to ten years. Photo by Lt. Col. Mark Leahey, 1st Cavalry Division. KIRKUK — In the small village of Chemin north of here, 38-year-old Bariz Ajal Rashid serves as the appointed leader (Mukhtar) of villagers who rely on farming, livestock and fishing for income. Rashid 's cousin, Umen Shahidan, is the proprietor of a small family farm, which had been plagued by a lack of water and...

WASHINGTON — Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) arrested five suspected members of the al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and the Islamic State of Iraq (ISoI) terrorist groups, Nov. 20. All arrests were made during three combined security operations conducted with U.S. advisers in the Iraqi cities of Ramadi, Tikrit and Kirkuk, military officials reported. Iraqi forces and U.S. advisers searched two buildings in Ramadi for a suspected AQI leader believed to be responsible for multiple vehicle-borne bomb attacks in the region. After questioning those in the buildings and examining evidence found at the scene, Iraqi forces arrested two suspected AQI associates. In...

Racial tensions are rising within the Rochester School District. The most recent incident took place this morning when a group of students erupted into a fight. School District Officials wouldn't talk to us on camera, but did issue a statement. They say they are continuing to gather information about the fight, and that “student safety is their utmost concern.” We tried calling the diversity council today, but our calls were not returned. This latest fight comes less than a week after a racially inspired altercation broke out at Owatonna High School. Students say it was between 20 Somali students and...

A forklift pushes the remains of several Hesco barriers onto the back of a 7-ton truck aboard Al Asad Air Base, Nov. 20. The base-wide cleanup effort is dubbed “Operation Blue Spoon,” and the goal is for Marines with Multi National Force - West to leave the base in good order as they wind down their role in Operation Iraqi Freedom. U.S. Marine Corps photograph by Cpl. Meg Murray. AL ASAD AIR BASE — As the clouds and drizzle of the rainy winter season roll into Iraq, many Marines with Multi National Force - West are rolling out. The gradual...

Under Leader Reid’s amendment, in the year 2019 about 16 million U.S. citizens would be uninsured and be forced to pay a penalty tax of almost $800 per year. About eight million illegal aliens would be uninsured and would owe no penalty tax. Both groups would get their health care through a combination of out-of-pocket spending and use of uncompensated care in emergency rooms and free health clinics. This seems unfair.

SHALIMAR, Fla. (AP) -- A Panhandle man has fatally shot a black bear known to roam a neighborhood, leaving behind two cubs. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Stan Kirkland says the man who shot the bear told officers he was afraid the animal would charge him in his yard Thursday night. An investigation into the shooting began Friday. The shooter has not been charged. The female bear had two cubs. Kirkland says the cubs are old enough and can live on their own. He says with acorns in the area now for fall, this is the best time...

Well, it would seem that the AP is all for fair use … when it applies to them........No matter how you slice it, the AP copied Palin's book (without permission), distributed it (without permission) and now stands up to say it was all done under fair use.......... The Associated Press has essentially claimed there is no such thing as ‘fair use’ when it comes to quoting its articles or reprinting its headlines, but when the news organization scans an entire book, then fair use does indeed exist. Bloggers and news aggregation sites such as Google News have felt the wrath...

Dems snare 60 votes to move ahead on health careBy ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer – 4 mins ago WASHINGTON – Democratic leaders secured the last two votes to move ahead on historic health care legislation, clearing the way for a Saturday night showdown on President Barack Obama's top domestic initiative. In long-awaited speeches, centrist Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said they would stand with their party and vote "yes" on the crucial test vote despite deep reservations with elements of the 2,074-page bill to remake the nation's health care system. "The truth is this...

In response to Senator Lincoln's decision to vote in favor of cloture, Governor Palin tweets the following: Not sure I can convince Sen. Lincoln to vote no - but will do everything in my pwr to convince my friends in Arkansas to vote against her.,/u>,/b> Senator Lincoln is up for re-election in Arkansas in 2010. Only 29% of Arkansans support Obama's healthcare plan.

Al Gore's award-winning global warming film "An Inconvenient Truth," socked two years ago by a British court ruling that found several errors, is facing additional scrutiny with the release of a new documentary that seeks to rebut many of Gore's claims. In Gore's film, directed by Davis Guggenheim and released in 2006, the former vice president argues that humans are causing climate change, a problem he says is the biggest moral challenge facing the globe. If humans don't act to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, Gore contends, the deaths caused by climate change will double in 25 years to...

The effects of climate change have driven women in communities in coastal areas in poor countries like the Philippines into dangerous work, and sometimes even the flesh trade, a United Nations official said. [snip] “Climate change could reduce income from farming and fishing, possibly driving some women into sex work and thereby increase HIV infection," Mukherjee said during the Wednesday launch of the UNFPA annual State of World Population Report in Pasay City. [snip] Of the 92 million Filipinos, about 60 percent are living in coastal areas and depend on the seas for livelihood, said former Environment secretary Dr. Angel...

As Americans we are facing the most challenging era in the history of our country. Perhaps more challenging than the Great Wars and the Great Depression. The ultimate government intrusion into all of our lives and the loss of human freedoms will be the replacement of the American Medical Association (AMA) by the Obama Medical Association (OMA). This was initiated in the 1990's by Hiliary Clinton with the advent of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO's) and the other alphabetical nightmares that followed. More and more physicians are employees of hospitals and other large entities whose bottom lines have nothing to do...

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said she’d deliver the deciding vote to push forward with a sweeping health reform plan in the Senate Saturday, ending days of speculation over whether President Barack Obama’s signature priority would proceed to the floor or suffer a debilitating blow. As with several centrists before her, Lincoln’s yes vote to start debate came wrapped in series of serious concerns about the current bill – and she said it would require major revisions before she could cast a similar vote in favor of final passage. "I'm prepared to vote against moving to the next stage of consideration...

Concerns are growing in Israel’s government over the possibility of a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence within the June 4, 1967 borders, a move which could potentially be recognized by the U.S. and the United Nations Security Council. On August 26th, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad issued a 54-page plan ("Palestine: Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State") that proposed the establishment of a de-facto Palestinian state within two years – a state to be established regardless of negotiations with Israel and outside the framework of the performance-based March 2003 Roadmap and the Oslo Agreement. [1] While the Plan adopts...

Rangel Plans to Renew Expiring Tax BreaksBy Michael Cohn November 20, 2009 House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., intends to introduce legislation next month that would keep a variety of tax breaks from expiring before the end of the year. Instead of sending the bill through his committee, Rangel plans to dispatch the bill directly to the floor of the House, according to Bloomberg.com. There are about 73 tax provisions scheduled to expire by Dec. 31, including the credit for research and experimentation expenses, deductions for tuition and state and local taxes, film and TV production expensing...

When Obama wrote a book and said he was mentored as a youth by Frank, (Frank Marshall Davis) an avowed Communist, people said it didn't matter. When it was discovered that his grandparents, were strong Socialists, people said it didn't matter. When he admittedly, in his book, said he chose Marxist friends and professors in college, people said it didn't matter. When he sought the endorsement of the Marxist Party in 1996 as he ran for the Illinois Senate, people said it doesn't matter. When he finally completed his transformation of America into a Socialist State, people finally woke up,...

Activists Gather To Read Mayflower Compact, Sing Songs. About 100 people are expected at the Colorado Capitol Saturday afternoon to sing traditional Thanksgiving songs and to read historic documents from the nation's founding. The sing-along and reading are sponsored by Tea Party activists, who decry federal spending and call for a return to more limited government.

The Garland County Sheriff's Department has wrapped up a short news conference this afternoon to brief the media on details about a shootout Thursday night and to release information about the three suspects in five murders.Also at today's news conference, the Sheriff's Office revealed that a gag order was in place over the case and that no further details would be released.In the Pearcy killings, the remains of four of the victims were found inside their burned home on Old Airport Road just down the street from the Lake Hamilton school. The fifth victim was found inside his home located...

At Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Oct. 29th press conference, a CNS News reporter asked, “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?”

In an embarrassing blow to the movement to combat global warming, hackers have posted hundreds of e-mails from a world-renowned British institute that show researchers colluding to exaggerate warming and undermine skeptics. University of East Anglia officials confirmed the Climate Research Unit’s e-mails were hacked, but were unable to confirm the veracity of posted content... “This is not a smoking gun, this is a mushroom cloud,” climatologist Patrick J. Michaels told the New York Times [NYT] The Times contacted researchers who confirmed they had sent or received some of the most damning e-mails, including a discussion of how to use...

Dems’ health plan would limit immigrant aidLatinos shaken by Senate gambit to win conservative and moderate votes By LYNSI BURTON HOUSTON CHRONICLE Nov. 21, 2009, 9:16AM WASHINGTON — The latest loser in the political pandemonium over health care reform may be immigrants living in America, an estimated 24 million people likely to be bartered in order to win support in Congress from fence-sitting Democratic moderates and conservatives. Just as House Democratic leaders sacrificed the wishes of abortion-rights activists in a successful gambit to win the votes of anti-abortion Democrats last week, the Senate leadership has included provisions in its health...

As the Republican Governors Association gathers in Austin this week, there is a real sense among conservatives that the Obama Bubble is about to burst. And all eyes are on the assembled governors to see who might do the bursting in 2012. Ever since his 2002 election, I've kept close tabs on Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. As governor, Pawlenty coined the phrase “Sam’s Club Republican,” which Ross Douthat and I later used to refer to a strain of Republicanism that aims to meet the needs of working and middle class voters. In an interview with the Ripon Society, a storied...

China , Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan... US president Barack Obama ran through the gamut of nations as he articulated another elegant Asia policy speech in Tokyo this week. Conspicuous by its absence was India. Was India not on his radar? Or was it such a close ally that he skipped naming it at a public function? It left New Delhi wondering. Just two days later, bam! He did something even more astonishing by acquiescing in a Chinese demand to let Beijing assume the role of a monitor in South Asia, an area where China is seen by India as...

Atheist Student Groups Flower on College Campuses ASSOCIATED PRESS November 21, 2009 AMES, Iowa (AP) -- The sign sits propped on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: ''Ask an Atheist.'' Whenever a student gets within a few feet, Anastasia Bodnar waves and smiles, trying to make a good first impression before eyes drift down to a word many Americans rank down there with ''socialist.'' Bodnar is the happy face of atheism at Iowa State University. Once a week at this booth at a campus community center, the PhD student who spends most of her time researching the nutritional traits of...

Bill Moyers to Leave Weekly TelevisionBy ELIZABETH JENSEN; Compiled by DAVE ITZKOFF Published: November 20, 2009 The PBS mainstay Bill Moyers, left, said he was retiring from weekly television and would end his Friday night public affairs show, “Bill Moyers Journal,” on April 30, 2010. That date will also be the last for “Now on PBS,” which has been canceled. Mr. Moyers said he had been planning for some time to retire the program on Dec. 25 but was asked by PBS to raise the funds to continue through April, which he did. “I am 75 years old,” he said...