Subject: txt 1st fnn -
A stealth potentially huge tax increase buried in Pelosi's bill.
[Today's insult.]
"Buried in Nancy Pelosi's health-care bill is a provision that will partially repeal tax indexing for inflation, meaning that as their earnings rise over a lifetime these youngsters can look forward to paying higher rates even if their income gains aren't real.
"In order to raise enough money to make their plan look like it won't add to the deficit, House Democrats have deliberately not indexed two main tax features of their plan: the $500,000 threshold for the 5.4-percentage-point income tax surcharge; and the payroll level at which small businesses must pay a new 8% tax penalty for not offering health insurance."
Subject: txt 1st hcare - 
Senate Democrats on Wednesday gleefully unveiled their version of President Obama's sweeping health care overhaul plan that congressional budget analysts estimate would cost $849 billion over 10 years-- a figure in line with Obama's call for a price tag of no larger than $900 billion.
''We all acknowledge this legislation is a tremendous step forward,''
If the public option passes, organized labor would have considerable influence over decisions affecting most doctors, nurses and patients
- According to research firms, unions are woefully short of funds to pay their retirees' anticipated insurance claims.
- Thus, under the House resolution, union leaders who have mismanaged these plans for their members could receive up to $10 billion in taxpayer-funded bailout money, innocuously referred to as a "reinsurance program."
- The House resolution establishes a scenario that would effectively exclude non-union employers from eligibility to work on program-funded contracts.
- It also requires participating health care providers to pay wages and benefits that have been collectively bargained or that union-friendly appointees determine are competitive; this is plainly a move toward coerced unionization.
- With guaranteed seats at the table, unions are poised to control many newly formed oversight posts and/or committees, formed in connection with new employer mandates and cooperative health care associations.
Subject: txt 1st hcare bdd vals - Jesse Jackson: '
Jesse Jackson on Wednesday night criticized Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) for voting against the Democrats’ signature healthcare bill. Jackson said at a reception Wednesday night.
“We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill,” ...
“You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”
Subject: txt 1st gwot nsec
In a meeting with the press in China, President Obama said that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be "convicted" and had "the death penalty applied to him" . . . and then said he wasn't "pre-judging" the case. He made the second statement after it was pointed out to him — by NBC's Chuck Todd — that the first statement would be taken as the president's interfering in the trial process.
Obama said that wasn't his intention. I'm sure it wasn't — he's trying to contain the political damage caused by his decision — but that won't matter. He has given the defense its first motion that the executive branch, indeed the president himself, is tainting the jury pool.
Nice work.
[And there you have it: This inane decision can only result in a) a farce in which they're given a 'fair' trial - "before we hang 'em", or b) acquittal. due to lack of Miranda warnings and a bevy of other 'technicalities' for which criminals are routinely set free by our courts. I.e., a travesty of just either way, for all the world to see.
It's about re-trying the war and the Bush administration, harm to our country be damned.]
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Subject: txt gwot nsec -
During Wednesday's Justice Department oversight hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-ino) stumped Attorney General Eric Holder on what should have been a fairly routine question for America's top law enforcement official. Maybe more surprisingly, NPR reported it at its website. As NPR's Frank James noted, "The exchange started with Graham stumping Holder with a question one would prepared for...
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R-S.C): Can you give me a case in United States history where a enemy combatant caught on a battlefield was tried in civilian court?
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don't know. I'd have to look at that. I think that, you know, the determination I've made --
GRAHAM: We're making history here, Mr. Attorney General. I'll answer it for you. The answer is no.
HOLDER: Well, I think --
GRAHAM: The Ghailani case -- he was indicted for the Cole bombing before 9/11. And I didn't object to it going into federal court. But I'm telling you right now. We're making history and we're making bad history. And let me tell you why...
Subject: txt gwot nsec - 
As a candidate for president in 2004, Senator John Kerry described international terrorism as “primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation,’’ and urged voters to think of deadly jihadist violence as merely “a nuisance’’ that we need “to reduce’’ — akin, he said, to gambling or prostitution.
Kerry lost that election, and the Bush administration’s very different approach - treating terrorist attacks as acts of war, not criminal violations - continued for four more years. Pre-empting terror in advance, not prosecuting it after the fact, remained the overriding priority. Counterterrorism efforts under George W. Bush were aggressive and they drew much criticism. But whatever else might be said about them, there was no repeat of the Sept. 11, 2001, catastrophe on American soil during Bush’s presidency.
It was always clear that the Obama administration tends to see global terrorism the way Kerry did, as a criminal issue to be handled through the criminal-justice system. In a speech last May, President Obama announced that “wherever feasible,’’ Guantanamo Bay detainees would be tried in regular federal courts. “Some have derided our federal courts as incapable of handling the trials of terrorists,’’ he said. “They are wrong.’’
But Obama also said that “detainees who violate the laws of war’’ would be “tried through military commissions,’’ the time-honored venue for prosecuting wartime enemies. And come what may, the president vowed, he would not release the most dangerous detainees of all - those who “expressed their allegiance to Osama bin Laden or otherwise made it clear that they want to kill Americans . . . people who, in effect, remain at war with the United States.’’
If that description fits anyone, it is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed...
[It's not about justice or keeping us safe, it's about retrying the war and the Bush administration - consequences be damned.]
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Subject: txt gwot nsec msm -
The news that Dr. Nidal Hasan served on a Presidential Transition task force and helped set national security priorities continues to be ignored by the media. It reveals the extent to which political ideology has crippled common sense in the conduct of national security affairs, leaving us vulnerable to our sworn enemies.
In the proceedings report for the Presidential Transition Task Force entitled, "Thinking Anew -- Security Priorities for the Next Administration," in APPENDIX C Task Force Event Participants, on page 29, we find the name of Nidal Hasan, Uniformed Services University School of Medicine.
This is the same Nidal Hasan, Major, US Army, who murdered and maimed fellow soldiers at Ft Hood. This is the same Nidal Hasan who had been spouting Jihadist rhetoric and defending radical Islam for years without disciplinary action or censure. This is the same Nidal Hasan who communicated with Islamic radicals and was tracked by - but never questioned by - the FBI.
Political correctness and group exceptionalism let him, and probably others, skip by. Fear of the never materializing "backlash" against Muslims just because a few radicals kill people results in de-facto blinders. If he were a member of a militia however, he would have been out. The DOD's security clearance questionnaire asks about militia membership, but not a peep about radical or violent Islamic groups.
You can see Hasan acknowledged (page 32 here), but it is worthwhile reading the document. But be prepared to get angry. The authors and participants are serious. How safe should we feel?
George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute published the document. The executive summary starts out full of hope and change:
The nation is in the midst of a crossroads in its consideration of security policy. A coherent strategy to address 21st century threats to the United States, one that treats national and homeland security as a seamless whole, has yet to emerge. Washington is now marked by a new Administration, a new tone, and a new space - offering a rare opportunity to catch our collective breath, to think creatively and anew about the most vexing challenges this country faces, and to put the most powerful of those reasoned ideas into action.
Subject: txt 1st gwot nsec bdd vals lbrty - 
It cannot be said often enough that the chief of staff of the United States Army, Gen. George Casey, responded to a massacre of 13 Americans in which the suspect is a Muslim by saying: "Our diversity … is a strength." As long as the general has brought it up:
Subject: txt bbro legal libs intl -
The famous figure of Justice at the Old Bailey must be weeping tears of despair behind her blindfold. Instead of protecting our society, the legal system has now become a conspiracy against the British public.
This schizophrenic pattern has been graphically high- lighted by two events of recent days. Last week, it was revealed that young mother Vanessa Kelly has been fined £75 by the West Midlands borough of Sandwell for feeding bread to ducks while out with her son in her local park.
The entirely innocent and com- passionate activity of feeding the birds, something almost instinctive to humanity, has been turned into a crime by the power-crazed commissars of Labour’s Britain.
In dramatic contrast to the harassment of Ms Kelly is the sick leniency shown to Malaysian immigrant Agnes Wong, who was convicted last year of the savage manslaughter of a toddler she was sup- posed to be child-minding. having served only 13 months of her five-year jail sentence, Wong was released in July and now, incredibly, has been paid £4,500 to return to Malaysia... [snip]
We live in a land where the state metes out punishment to the innocent, neglects the vulnerable and rewards the criminals...
[And we're following them.]
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The unit took cover, and Monti radioed for air support. But he soon learned that one of his men, Pfc. Brian Bradbury, was badly hit and out in the open — 30 feet away. The other patrol leader was closer to the wounded soldier and offered to go.
Monti wouldn't have it. Bradbury was his responsibility.
Monti made it a short distance before the intensity of the fire forced him to take cover behind a stone wall where another soldier lay dead.
He tried a second time to reach Bradbury but was again forced back behind the wall.
Asking his men to cover him with heavier gunfire at nearby woods, Monti gave it a third try but was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade that cost him his life. He was 30.
"for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty."
Subject: txt edu bdd vals crpt libs reps bbro - 
An independent task force assembled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue recommendations on the best way to teach teens how to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases has reported that “comprehensive risk reduction” programs are more effective than abstinence programs, even though the CDC will not release the data the task force used to reach its conclusion...
“This prevents the public from scrutinizing the body of evidence underlying the CDC Task Force Recommendations in the same time frame in which the CDC recommendations will influence the decisions of policymakers and public health professionals,”
Subject: txt mny -
[Finally, progress!]
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Subject: txt mny crpt libs - fnn -
Bad news: No such district
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Subject: txt mny msm bias -
The Economy: We knew something was funny when the White House claimed that 640,000 to 1 million jobs had been created from this year's stimulus. What we didn't know was that it would turn into a massive fraud. Not only have 640,000 new jobs not been created from the stimulus — an absurd claim, given the economy's loss of nearly 4 million payroll positions this year — but it now seems that even that figure was simply made up...
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Subject: txt mny -
President Obama brushed off criticism over his administration's inaccurate reporting on job creation Wednesday, telling Fox News the accounting is an "inexact science" and that any errors are a "side issue" when compared with the goal of turning the economy around...
[Us little people, always worrying about the wrong things - like being lied to.]
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Subject: txt mny =
"Important headwinds... likely will prevent the expansion from being as robust as we would hope... Overall a number of factors suggest that employment gains may be modest during the early stages of the expansion."Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Jobs lost from December 2007 (start of recession) to December 2008: 3.078 million.
Jobs lost from December 2008 to October 2009: 4.226 million.
Jobs lost from June 2009 to October 2009 (when GDP grew): 867,000.
Most recent month in which there were job gains: December 2007 (22 months ago).
Subject: txt grn -
The Environmental Transport Association has called for the new generation of vehicles to carry meters to calculate how much electricity they are using. A total of £250 million has been allocated by the Government to promote electric cars, much of which will be used to reduce the cost to the consumer by up to £5,000.
But the ETA – which describes itself as a "Green AA" – has voiced doubts about who much good they will do in a report published today.
According to the report, the source of the electricity must also be taken into account when calculating the environmental benefit.
"Even if the grid has the capacity and the basic infrastructure to meet the needs of electric cars, the new demand patterns they will create may mean greater use of coal and nuclear power,"
[Nonetheless...]
In what is presented to readers of an Associated Press report as a done deal, the Netherlands will impose a mileage tax on drivers beginning in 2012. It goes beyond most if not all other government-imposed taxes in that it will charge more during so-called peak times or if a vehicle is considered a heavier polluter.
The abolition of two other taxes is apparently the mechanism for forcing the Dutch into acquiescing to this intrusive arrangement...
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Subject: txt grn engry - 
As the fallout continues to settle from the 2009 elections, among the more overlooked results was a ballot issue in Boulder County, Colorado that would have extended an existing sales tax to fund the acquisition of additional “open space.”
Approval of this “open space” tax in Boulder, set to expire in 2019, seemed like a perfect storm – even in this bitter economic climate. After all, it wasn’t technically a tax increase – it was a future extension (a decade down the road) of an existing tax, and not a particularly large tax at that. On top of that, it was expressly devoted for the purpose of land conservation, something Boulder voters have supported at the polls for the past two decades.
In other words, this was precisely the sort of referendum that routinely wins by landslide margins in the suburbs of Denver, where “green” voters dominate and Republicans have been virtually extinct since the Reagan revolution.
And yet amazingly, the “open space” ballot issue was defeated by Boulder voters... [snip]
An editorial in the Denver Post a few days after the election managed to muster the appropriate shock.
“When Boulder voters reject a tax increase meant to create more open space, it's clear there has been a sea change in political moods,”
Subject: txt mny crpt libs reps -
Washington - President Barack Obama's choice for a top job in the Treasury Department did not disclose all of her late tax payments until she was repeatedly prodded by Senate investigators, a congressional report issued Wednesday said. Obama's nominee for undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs, Lael Brainard, is the fifth presidential nominee to reveal tax issues during the congressional vetting process...
[I'm beginning to realize why liberals don't really mind tax increases...]
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Subject: txt lbrty - 
How can we ever hope to influence China, Iran and other undemocratic regimes to provide more Internet access and freedom to their citizens and businesses when our FCC is proposing a radical take back of existing Internet freedoms without legitimate authority or justification?
The grave mistake the FCC is making in the broader international context is claiming that private companies are the primary threat to Internet freedom and free speech, and not governments. History and common sense tell us only Governments have the effective coercive power to dictate real censorship.
The FCC is effectively declaring “open season” on well-established Internet freedoms... [snip]
The U.S. has a unique responsibility to not screw up the Internet’s freedoms. As the country that invented, privatized and promoted a free, open and competitive Internet, the world has long taken its cue from America on Internet policy. President Clinton whose administration oversaw the privatization of the Internet, said:
For electronic commerce to flourish, the private sector must continue to lead. Innovation, expanded services, broader participation, and lower prices will arise in a market-driven arena, not in an environment that operates as a regulated industry
In what western New York calls "political downsizing," communities are voting by referendum to reduce the number of seats on town councils
Discouraged by unemployment and depopulation and frustrated by politicians' inability to solve either, voters aren't just throwing the rascals out of office -- they're throwing out the offices, says USA Today.
The movement's theory, as voiced by its founder, Kevin Gaughan: The best (and maybe only) way to cut government is to start with your own representatives.
It's part of a national wave of frustration over big government that was illustrated this year by raucous town-hall-style meetings over health care and the rise of the Tea Party movement. There's even talk of dissolving whole villages (which are parts of towns but levy additional taxes and have their own elected boards):
Last month, with visions of a 40 percent tax cut in their heads, the villagers of Limestone voted 3-to-1 to dissolve.
Downsizing is not unique to New York:
Holyoke, Mass., for example, has lost a third of its population over the past 75 years but kept a 15-seat council.
This month voters elected to consider changing the city charter and possibly reduce the size of the council.
"Everybody is becoming aware that local governments are spending well beyond their means," ... "There's a sense that something's out of control."
Subject: txt msm bias gdd palin -
Newsweek's effort to take a stab at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on the heels of her book tour appears to be backfiring - at least from a legal standpoint. Recently, the latest cover of Newsweek took an image of Palin that originally appeared in Runner's World magazine. Palin has criticized the posting on her Facebook page, as NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard reported.
"The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now..."
Subject: txt gdd palin -Lucy Vigmostad wasn't old enough to vote for her heroine in last year's election. She turned 18 while waiting in the cold outside the suburban Grand Rapids shopping mall where Sarah Palin will kick off her book tour tonight.
The three young women drove from Brighton, Mich., two hours away, to get in line at 9 p.m. Tuesday. "We had sleeping bags and blankets and stuff," said Laura. "It wasn't that bad."
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[look again at who those 'fans' are]
.
Subject: txt gdd palin - 
Thousands gathered outside a Barnes & Noble and chanted "Palin! Palin! Palin!" for the kickoff of the former Republican vice presidential candidate's "Going Rogue" book tour, which has taken on the feel of a political pep rally...
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Subject: txt gdd palin -
Have you ever seen so much hatred for, and vitriolic criticism of, someone who had only a brief stint on the national political stage? More than a year after the presidential election in which Sarah Palin, as the GOP nominee for Vice-President, campaigned for about three months, she is still being pilloried by the left-wing loons as though she had been elected and were actively engaged in dismantling the liberal establishment.
Not a day goes by in which we don't hear or read vicious attacks on a woman who represents the wholesome conservative values of Middle America -- values that have been insidiously and incrementally eroded during the last few decades... [snip]
What this country needs is a strong conservative leader with the courage of her convictions.
Sensing those qualities in Sarah Palin, the liberal left is becoming frantic because they can't seem to halt her popularity. The reason they're panicking is because they're afraid of her connection with regular folks who work for a living, pay their taxes, attend a religious worship service regularly, and believe that our country has lost the moral fiber that once united us.
The book Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy covered several historical figures who stood up against the corruption surrounding them and defeated it. Sarah Palin literally did exactly that in her home state of Alaska.
In a saner time in our history, she'd be a shoo-in for the White House... [snip]
Sarah Palin is a threat because she symbolizes decency in a country taken hostage by moral degenerates. If she isn't stopped, this country might end up reclaiming some of the values that made us the envy of the world... and the Left is petrified of the idea...
