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Radio and television broadcasts of baseball games beamed into Cuba has become the latest brainchild of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), whose Radio/TV Marti programs will make the cherished American sport available to Cuban citizens for free. The anticipated sole-source contract that BBG intends to award to Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., comes on the heels of a congressional report questioning the usefulness of such investments of U.S. taxpayer funds into Cuba-targeted programming. Similarly, it also should be noted that, late last year, Radio/TV Marti journalist Manuel Vazquez Portal resigned in protest of the station's alleged over-reliance on...

The topic of BLS propaganda seasonal adjustments has been discussed extensively here especially in light of January's NFP beat. We'll leave it at that. However, we were rather surprised to note that the Census Bureau may have also ramped up its seasonal adjustment "fudge factoring" because when looking at the January headline retail sales data, which naturally was a smoothly continuous line on a Seasonally Adjusted basis, rising from $399.9 billion in December to $401.4 billion in January, something rather odd happened in the Unadjusted data set: the plunge from $459.8 billion in December to $361.4 billion in January, or...

While billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson may have rescued Newt Gingrich’s campaign in its early days, today, he may have just buried it. Bloomberg News reports that Adelson, who has donated $11 million to Gingrich’s Super PAC, does not plan to send any more money Gingrich’s way. Bloomberg is citing an anonymous source “familiar with their deliberations,” though an Adelson spokesman declined to comment. The move seems to be weeks in the making. After poor showings by Gingrich in the last several races and the re-resurgence of Rick Santorum, the former House speaker has once again been pushed to the...

Rick Santorum backed Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in 2004. It was a tough race with Toomey mounting a credible, well-financed challenge. Toomey’s candidacy, by his own estimation, was one of the precursors to the Tea Party movement: The “battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party” between big spending moderates and committed conservatives that was evident in 2004 may have inspired subsequent Tea Party efforts, Toomey suggested. Despite losing out on key endorsements from leading Republican figures in 2004, Toomey believes his primary campaign created a strong foundation for conservative activism that translated into victory in 2010....

American kids denied food stamps in Alabama under immigration law By Liz Goodwin Some U.S.-born children with parents who are illegal immigrants have been denied food stamps under Alabama's new immigration law, Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen told Yahoo News on Monday. Five people have called into the group's Alabama hotline to say they were denied food stamps because they couldn't prove they were legal residents, even though the food stamps are for their children, who are citizens. Cohen says the civil rights group, which has already filed two lawsuits against Alabama over the law, will most likely...

I’m sure in his feeble mind this makes sense. (NewsOK) — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney explained that the number of people dropping out of the work force, which artificially depresses the unemployment rate, can be regarded as an “economic positive.” “A lot of that is due to younger people getting more of an education, which is an economic positive,” Carney said. He had been asked what would happen when people “inevitably” raise the unemployment rating with their return to the work force.

Obama says he deserves re-election, job's not done WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says he deserves re-election, despite the nation's economic troubles. Obama said in a pre-Super Bowl interview on NBC that his administration is creating more than 250,000 jobs a month, the most since 2005, and a reversal from the 750,000 jobs the economy was losing three years ago. The president said American manufacturing still needs a boost and "We have got to make sure we are pushing American energy, not just oil and gas, but clean energy." Obama also said the country needed to return to "old-fashioned...

DO AMERICA’S failed gun policies contribute to the terrible violence in Mexico? Alejandro A. Poire Romero makes a compelling case that the answer is yes. Law enforcement officials in both countries acknowledge that 70 to 80 percent of the traceable guns seized in Mexico can be tracked to the United States. Mr. Poire Romero, a top Mexican national security and criminal justice official, offers additional evidence that the United States has been an enabler of the violence. In 2005 roughly one-third of the seized guns were assault weapons. Today, according to Mr. Poire Romero, assault weapons represent 60 to 65...

WASHINGTON — The burst of job growth in January gives President Obama a fresh — but tricky — opportunity to revise the grim economic narrative of his presidency while offering Mitt Romney a choice: embrace a new optimism or campaign against a sinking economy even as it shows signs of turning around. The Labor Department reported on Friday that the unemployment rate had fallen all the way back to the level of President Obama’s first full month in office, to 8.3 percent, from a high of 10 percent in late 2009. Yet unemployment also remains higher than it has been...

Mike Vanderboegh is drinking Diet Mountain Dew in the cafeteria of the Rayburn building on Capitol Hill, and he is pissed. Not because his flight from Alabama was almost “as bumpy as [his] first marriage,” nor because he almost got into a physical altercation with an “idiot street urban adventurer” outside the National Archives who said Vanderboegh looked like Newt Gingrich. The former militia man turned gun rights blogger is angry because he thinks the Republican “sons-a-bitches” on the House Oversight Committee put on the “ultimate display of public limp dickery” during a Thursday hearing in which Attorney General Eric...

A 6-year-old Whittier Elementary student got the surprise of her young life Friday as she was telling her classmates what she wanted the most for her birthday -- her father back home. Just as she was doing show-and-tell in class, Bailey Page's father, Sgt. Adam Page, walked in to surprise her after coming back from his Afghanistan deployment.

... The stock photo was then sold to New York City's Department of Health, who digitally altered the photo to remove Berry's right leg and is using the photo as part of an anti-diabetes campaign. "I cried at my computer screen for, like, a minute." Berry said of first seeing the altered photo. "I said: 'Oh my gosh, they even gave me crutches. Come on, people.' " The health department said it's common practice to alter photos without the model's participation. And Berry agrees he signed a waiver before the shoot, allowing for such alterations and distribution. "This issue isn't...

President Barack Obama turned up the heat on the GOP Saturday, sounding a now-familiar refrain about obstructionist tactics by congressional Republicans and holding up as an example a pledge by one senator to block presidential nominations until the president gives in to his demands. “We weren’t sent here to wage perpetual political campaigns against each other. We were sent here to serve the American people. And they deserve better than gridlock and games,” Obama said in his weekly address to the nation. “One senator gumming up the whole works for the entire country is certainly not what our founding fathers...

Is WikiLeaks biased against the West and the US in particular? This news item would tend to indicate so. According to Christian Science monitor Moscow correspondent Fred Weir, Kremlin funded media outlet Russia Today, is to hire WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. This despite the fact that Assange remains under house arrest in Britain, awaiting a Supreme Court decision on his extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations

First Lady Michelle Obama received a warm welcome from the students and teachers at an elementary school Wednesday where she promoted new tougher nutrition standards for school meals. The students clapped and cheered as Mrs. Obama entered the cafeteria at Parklawn Elementary School in Alexandria, Va. The first lady, who was was joined by celebrity chef Rachael Ray and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, picked up food from the lunch line before sitting with the kids and teachers. Obama and Vilsack unveiled the updated nutrition standards for school meals required by the 2010 school nutrition bill.

Another Super-Bullish Sign For The Economy And Obama Joe Weisenthal January 25, 2012 If you missed it, you should check out this poll from WSJ/NBC regarding people's view on the economy and Obama. It's just a fact: Optimism is rising, and along with it, Obama's approval is going up. This is the key question. As you can see, Obama's relative Approval/Disapproval is one of his best in nearly a year. What's interesting is that his worst marks on the economy were in August of last year. This chart of the S&P 500 explains why. As for questions about the economy...

Jay Leno thought he was poking gentle fun at the lifestyles of rich and famous Republican presidential candidates — Mitt Romney in particular. But last Thursday when Leno’s slide show came to a location cited as Mitt Romney’s summer home — in reality an image of the Sikh holy shrine Golden Temple in Amritsar, India — it sparked a diplomatic incident. And now, a lawsuit charging Leno and NBC with libel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YhwIS0_0zwA

Who is to blame for the eurozone crisis? The governments that ran up the debts? The officials who fudged the criteria so that Italy and Greece could join? The dolts who dreamed up the single currency in the first place? Nope: it's those wicked Anglo-Saxons again. In Die Welt, the EPP's Elmar Brok claims that the US has launched an economic war against Europe. For those who can't read German, here is a rough summary of his argument. The US ratings agencies, he says, had no conceivable reason to downgrade nine eurozone states last week. What this is really about...

Climate change subscribers say the fight against global warming will require younger soldiers. On Monday, the National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit group that denounces intelligent design and supports an evolution-only curriculum in the classroom, will expand its mission. The organization of scientists, anthropologists and others is turning its attention to climate change, and it will mount an aggressive effort to teach the nation’s schoolchildren that climate change is real and is being driven by human activity.

Attorney General Eric Holder used Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy on the anniversary of the civil rights leader’s birthday Monday to emphasize the Obama administration’s dedication to protecting the American people from discriminatory voting practices. “Despite our nation’s record of progress, and long tradition of extending voting rights – today, a growing number of citizens are worried about the same disparities, divisions, and problems that Dr. King fought throughout his life to address and overcome,” Holder said at an MLK Day event in Columbia, S.C.

The following is edited from remarks given at the Nov. 11, 2011 meeting of the Communist Party National Committee.2012 is a big election year and as we know the stakes are very high. The right-wing Republican opposition unashamedly defends the wealth and privilege of the 1% over the 99% that includes tens of millions who are struggling to survive. These self-proclaimed patriots are willing to wreck our country in order to defeat Barack Obama in 2012 elections. Our party and youth league are an active part of the great democratic mass that is standing against them. These so called patriots...

A few days ago, a Democrat handed me an Obama fundraising brochure even though he knows I never give political donations. I guess the guy wanted me to see what I'm missing. Anyway, the two-sided pamphlet extolled the president's record on, among other things, "women's rights," health care and the economy. The economy? Yes. According to the Obama for America organization, which paid for the pamphlet, Obama is responsible for "an economic recovery program (that) supported as many as 3.6 million jobs by cutting taxes, investing in clean energy, roads and bridges, keeping teachers in classrooms, and protecting unemployment benefits."...

WASHINGTON – Iran has agreed to host a high-level team of United Nations nuclear inspectors later this month, according to Western diplomats. The surprise development could help to curb building tensions with the West, The Wall Street Journal reported. However, the U.S. warned Tehran against making good on its threats to close the Strait of Hormuz -- a strategic waterway where 20 percent of the world's daily oil trade passes through -- The New York Times reported, adding that the Obama administration would consider such a move a "red line" and would respond accordingly. The warning came as diplomats Thursday...

Andrew Rosenthal has dragged the New York Times’ reputation to a new low. I didn’t think it was possible. Andy pens an inappropriately titled column called The Loyal Opposition. Anyone familiar with the now irrelevant Forth Estate sees the irony of naming a newspaper column The Loyal Opposition, and the side-splitting frivolity for it being under the NYT banner. Most media produces propaganda and the Times has positively made an art of misinformation masking as news. That they pay Andy to mint propaganda is not surprising, though the notion that the Times is loyal or opposes authority makes Three Stooges...

Tom Friedman, please take note. China’s lack of political wrangling is not an asset, it’s what will drag it down. Friedman’s and other liberals’ utopian dream of a benevolent dictator has never worked. It fails because unrestrained dictators, with the best of intentions, make mistakes – often grandiose mistakes. And when they are criticized and challenged, they fight to hold on to power. And then they become the Stalins, the Pol Pots and the Kim Jong Ils of the world. And China’s single party autocracy has made a grandiose mistake. It has embarked on a building spree that according to...

In a short piece in the “Culture Monster” section of the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Knight decries a satirical depiction of the First Lady based on a 1775 portrait of famed French lover of luxury, Marie Antoinette. The image replaces Marie’s face with Mrs. Obama’s, and the young queen’s puffy-sleeved left arm with a bare muscular black arm – clearly a poke at Mrs. Obama’s penchant for going sleeveless to show off her buffed guns. Her right hand points to a spot on a world globe, and the image caption reads “Choosing the next vacation.” Obviously a pointed commentary on...

(CALGARY, Alberta) - There were sombre ceremonies across Tucson, Arizona on Sunday, January 8, 2012, in remembrance of Jared Loughner’s shooting spree a year earlier where he seriously wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords, killed six and wounded 12 more. I suggest that the Untied States, is the only country in world, where remembrances could be held virtually every single day of the year for egregious killings of citizens by other citizens—all indirectly supported by the National Rifle Association. The day before the Tucson ceremonies, on January 7, there was a funeral in Brownsville, Texas, for a fifteen-year-old eighth grader who was...

Global warming activists like to cite extreme weather as one of the main reasons that we must take firm action on global warming. No hurricane or heat wave passes without a politician or activist claiming it as evidence of the need for a global climate deal, like the one that just got postponed until the end of the decade in Durban, South Africa. Such claims merit close scrutiny. A 2007 report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change received considerable media attention. But it was discovered two years later that some of the IPCC report’s key claims—for example, that...

"I don't have lobbyists running my campaign. I don't have lobbyists tied to my..." [then a reporter takes Romney to task].

The Justice Department sent nearly 500 pages of documents to Republican lawmakers Thursday that suggest the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives may have used questionable tactics and lost track of American-made weapons in a gun trafficking investigation on the Mexican border as early as 2006. The documents sent to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) could add a new dimension to a political controversy that's raged on Capitol Hill for a year. Issa and other Republican lawmakers have accused the Obama administration of acting recklessly by losing track of almost 2,000 guns on the...

Dave Zweifel of the Madison WI Cap Times doesn’t like Wisconsin’s new shall-issue permit to carry law, and doesn’t mind telling the world about his feelings. And neither does the house cartoonist. In Zweifel’s piece, the scribe tries to make the case that there’s no way to know if concealed carry is safer or not. Despite all the evidence staring him in the face. If he cares to look. Unfortunately, he also doesn’t seem to mind lying through his teeth about the law, its passage and its proponents… Oh sure, he starts out well enough: Now that Wisconsin’s learned Legislature...

I admit it: My prediction that the Communist Party would fall by 2011 was wrong. Still, I'm only off by a year In the middle of 2001, I predicted in my book, The Coming Collapse of China, that the Communist Party would fall from power in a decade, in large measure because of the changes that accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) would cause. A decade has passed; the Communist Party is still in power. But don't think I'm taking my prediction back. Don't believe any of this. China outperformed other countries because it was in a three-decade upward...

Another audience member questioned the candidate about Santorum awarding former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky with the Angels in Adoption Award. Santorum explained that he lacked knowledge of the situation at the time and noted that the award has since been withdrawn. In response to his explanation, the audience member asked, "So we shouldn't trust Obama with our kids, but we can trust you?"

It is, of course, reason to celebrate that Flagstaff is on track to finish 2011 without a single murder inside the city. Flagstaff is hardly Mayberry, RFD, but violent crimes of all types have plummeted in recent years, thanks to more community policing and better use of neighborhood-level police reports. We'd like to think that the absence of a murder so far this year is due, in part, to those initiatives by the police and community leaders. But we are also realistic enough to know that lethal violence in a state with lax gun laws is hard to keep at...

One poll is getting the big headlines this morning: NBC poll: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul neck-and-neck in Iowa; Newt Gingrich in 5th The numbers from that poll, conducted Tuesday and Wednesday: Romney 23% Paul 21% Santorum 15% Perry 14% Gingrich 13% Bachmann 6% Similar numbers from a Rasmussen poll conducted Wednesday: Romney 23% Paul 22% Santorum 16% Gingrich 13% Perry 13% Bachmann 5% Thesed results have been enough to move Santorum to third place in the Real Clear Politics average of Iowa polls, but there’s yet another poll — conducted Thursday by We Are America — which shows Santorum now...

My local "news" outlet on in my YMCA cardiovascular room just showed an extensive story just oozing with admiration for how Hussein handled the little baby at the Marine base that grabbed his face. Nothing but a big smooch to these fake journalist's little tin god. Made me want to hurl.

On Friday's CBS Evening News, as correspondent Sharyl Attkisson filed a report to inform viewers that the House of Representatives had approved the Senate plan for a two-month payroll tax cut extension, Attkisson included a clip of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid directing a "lecture" at and blaming House Republican freshmen for the delay, as she recounted his hope that they had "learned a lesson." While the report included two soundbites from Democrats that allowed them to put forth some of their message - in the form of one clip each from Reid and President Obama - the CBS correspondent...

For the first time since 1949, the United States is poised to become a net exporter of petroleum, according to the Petroleum Supply Monthly report for November, put out by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Jeremy Friesen, a commodity strategist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg News that part of the reason for the shift is that America's consumption of oil has remained stagnant compared to the rest of the world. "The U.S. has been flat or down for overall oil consumption versus the world, which continues to rise mainly due to emerging markets," he said. "Latin...

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea says a fierce snowstorm paused and the sky began glowing red above sacred Mount Paektu just minutes before leader Kim Jong Il's death. State media say the ice on volcanic Lake Chon at the mountain in the far north cracked with a load roar. And in the city of Hamhung, a Manchurian crane circled a statue of Kim's father, late President Kim Il Sung, before alighting on a tree, its head drooping before it took off toward Pyongyang. State media say Kim died Saturday morning at age 69. His death was announced two...

HBO Films seems to have two essential mission statements. First, to corner the market on Al Pacino’s good acting (see: Angels in America, You Don’t Know Jack, the upcoming Phil Spector biopic. Second, and more importantly, the moviemaking arm of the network appears to be constructing a complete chronology of American history, from the Revolution (John Adams) through the Great War (Band of Brothers, The Pacific), and right up to our disturbing modern moment (Recount, Too Big to Fail). Next year’s Game Change is an intriguing new entry in the HBO History canon, adapting the addictive behind-the-scenes muckrake of the...

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama's approval rating, a crucial indicator of his reelection chances, is on the rise, according to a new national survey. A CNN/ORC International Poll out Tuesday also indicates that the partisan battle over extending the payroll tax cut may be partially responsible for the jump in the president's numbers. Full results (pdf) According to the survey, 49% of Americans approve of the job Obama's doing in the White House, up five points from last month, with 48% saying they disapprove, down six points from mid-November. The 49% approval rating is the president's highest since May,...

From Jake Tapper’s Tweet: A group of progressive media stars meeting with POTUS at the WH -- @AriannaHuff, @WeGotEd, @EzraKlein, @KatrinaNation, @ChrisLHayes et al 1 hour ago via TweetDeck Progressive talking heads and journolisters meeting the President? Any guesses in the comments as to their meeting agenda? I’m sure the these transparent media folks will disclose this on their shows tonight or within their column inches soon.

Protesting villagers in southern China said they will march on government offices this week unless the body of a local leader is released and four villagers in police custody are freed. The 13,000 residents of Wukan, in the wealthy province of Guangdong, are in open revolt against officialdom and have driven out local Communist Party leaders who they say have been stealing their land for years. Many local businesses have been closed for the past week while schools have been shuttered as riot police blockade the village, which has for months been the scene of occasionally violent protests over land...

Breaking New Study => Newt Gingrich’s Amnesty Plan ~ Covertly Gives 3.5 Million Criminal Aliens U.S. Jobs & U.S. Residency. This Is Larger Than The 1986 Blanket Amnesty! The most recent polling finds that Republican voters have elevated Newt Gingrich to presidential frontrunner status. But it is difficult to believe that those supporting him agree with his amnesty plan or are even aware that his proposal sounds like it would give U.S. jobs and residency to around 3.5 million illegal aliens (according to a new Pew Hispanic Center study). Unless Gingrich supporters push him to back off, he is promising...

It has been a terrible week for Newt, a very good week for Mitt, and a week of surprising momentum for the two Ricks. The Washington Examiner, the center-right alternative to the Washington Post and Politico which is staffed by the best of center-right journalists and pundits, endorsed Mitt Romney. About Newt the editors said "[H]e is like an exploding cigar, waiting to be lit." The National Review narrowed the field to Romney, Santorum or Huntsman. (Santorum's "moneybomb" had a good first day for the "little engine that could" among the campaigns.") About Newt, the NR editors opined: "We fear...

Jessica Lynch was just 19 when the world first saw her — a broken, blond soldier caught on combat video in Iraq, her face wearing something between a grimace and a grin. The Army supply clerk was being carried on a stretcher after nine days as a prisoner of war. She had been captured along with five others after the 507th Maintenance Company took a wrong turn and came under attack in Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003. Eleven of her fellow soldiers died. Lynch had joined the Army at 18 to earn money for college and become a school teacher....

The Obama administration is alerting employees to the possibility of a government shutdown if talks on bills to fund the government and extend the payroll tax cut collapse later this week. With Congress facing a midnight Friday deadline to either pass a short-term or final measure to fund government operations for the remainder of the fiscal year, Cabinet secretaries and agency heads planned to send an e-mail message to workers by close of business Wednesday informing them that a shutdown could occur, according to multiple administration officials familiar with the plans. In a statement, Office of Management and Budget spokesman...

> According to Automotive News, Honda has issued an ultimatum to its dealers: Stop selling cars below invoice price through these websites, or lose the per-car marketing spiffs that the factory gives dealers. Since Honda corporate turned the screws on its dealers in October, TrueCar says Honda sales through its service are down. >

Iran discovers gas field in Caspian SeaAP – Sun, Dec 11, 2011 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's oil minister says the country has discovered a huge gas field containing an estimated 50 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Caspian Sea. **SNIP** Iran sits atop the world's second largest proven reserves of natural gas and is the second largest OPEC oil producer.