Center for Free Opinions

Fort Hood

2012-02-02T21:38:00.000-05:00

Huge Win for US Security: 83 Victims of Islamic Terrorist Shooting at Fort Hood File Lawsuit

In November, 2009, an Islamic jihadist shouting "Allahu Akbar" (which means "Allah is Greatest," not "God is Great") opened fire at the Fort Hood army base, killing 8 soldiers. From Time Magazine:

"We asked him pointedly, 'Nidal, do you consider Shari'a law to transcend the Constitution of the United States?' And he said, 'Yes,' " a classmate told TIME on Monday. "We asked him if homicidal bombers were rewarded for their acts with 72 virgins in heaven and he responded, 'I've done the research — yes.' Those are comments he made in front of the class." But such statements apparently didn't trigger an inquiry. "I was astounded and went to multiple faculty and asked why he was even in the Army," the officer said. "Political correctness squelched any opportunity to confront him."

In a huge win against the political correctness that cost American lives at Fort Hood, and continues to endanger Americans, eighty-three victims of Nidal Hasan have filed lawsuits seeking $750 million in compensation from the Army, "alleging that wilful negligence enabled psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan to carry out a terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas."

This political correctness that blinds Americans to the facts about Islam must end. Any reading of the Koran and the Hadith (the holy works of Islam), reveals quickly that these documents absolutely urge all Muslims to do everything they can, including violence, murder, etc., and including subversion of the targeted society from within, in order to make Shariah Law the ruling law of the land, and to make those of all other religions, as well as Athiests, second-class citizens with brutally reduced legal rights.

Glitter

2012-02-02T12:03:00.004-05:00

Kliphnote: How to stop assault and battery. Fight back.

A punch in the face will stop that. Break their nose.

Glitter bombing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Glitterbomb.

Vermin Supreme glitter bombs Randall Terry during a Democratic Party presidential debate

Glitter bombing is an emerging act of protest in the United States in which activists throw glitter on people at public events.^[1] Glitter bombers have frequently been motivated by their targets' opposition to same-sex marriage.^[2] Glitter bombing is "technically assault and battery" according to Mark R. Vernazza, a legal associate at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, although Vernazza also states that without proof of intent to injure, prosecution is unlikely.^[3]

Europe freeze

2012-02-02T11:34:00.002-05:00

KN: So much for Global Warming.

Europe freeze: More deaths in Ukraine and Poland

Heavy snowfalls have caused major disruption across the continent

Another 20 people have died in Ukraine and nine in Poland as temperatures fall below -30C (-22F), officials say.

Europe's current cold snap has claimed more than 110 lives so far, including 63 in Ukraine and 29 in Poland.

The Serbian authorities say about 11,000 villagers have been cut off by snow and blizzards in remote areas.

Emergency services have described the situation, close to Serbia's south-western borders with Kosovo and Montenegro, as very serious.

In places, the snow has reached a depth of 2m (6ft 6in). Fourteen municipalities are affected, emergency official Predrag Maric told the BBC, adding that the unusual harshness of the winter was causing problems for the sick and the elderly in particular.

Heavy snow has also caused widespread disruption in northern and central Italy. Weather experts say it is the coldest week in the country for 27 years.

NBC Uses Warm Weather During 'Most Unusual' Winter to Promote Global Warming

By: Kyle Drennen | February 01, 2012 | 17:52

On Tuesday's NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams fretted over winter doing a "disappearing act" and proclaimed: "It was so warm today across much of the country, as you know, they're calling it June-uary. It's got a lot of people wondering whatever happened to winter?" The headline on screen pondered: "Where's Winter?"

Cracker Counties

2012-02-02T11:21:00.001-05:00

Politico's Jonathan Martin Mocks Conservative Florida Voters as the 'Cracker Counties'

By Scott Whitlock | January 31, 2012 | 11:41

Change font size: A | A

Politico reporter Jonathan Martin on Tuesday mocked the "cracker counties" of Florida's conservative Panhandle. Talking to Daily Rundown host Chuck Todd, he derided, "Chuck, a lot of the counties in the Panhandle, in north Florida, the cracker counties, if you will...more resemble Georgia and Alabama than they do Florida." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Medicaid

2012-02-01T22:21:00.000-05:00

KN: The Left-headed loons are at it again.

Guantánamo Bay

2012-02-01T20:41:00.000-05:00

Administration briefs Senate leaders on Taliban transfer

Posted By Josh Rogin Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 11:37 PM Share

Top Obama administration officials briefed eight senior Senate leaders Tuesday on a pending deal to transfer as many as five Taliban prisoners from the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to Qatar.

Catch-and-release of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan angers troops

By: Sara A. Carter | 12/06/10 8:05 PM
National security correspondent | Follow on Twitter @SaraCarterDC

FILE: Surrendering Taliban militants stand with their weapons as they are presented to the media on November 4, 2010 in Herat, Afghanistan. Twenty Taliban fighters from Afghanistan's Herat province have surrendered to government troops in Herat, west of the capital city of Kabul. After an amnesty launched by President Hamid Karzai in November 2004, hundreds of anti-government Taliban militants have since surrendered to the government. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

More than 500 suspected Taliban fighters detained by U.S. forces have been released from custody at the urging of Afghan government officials, angering both American troops and some Afghans who oppose the policy on the grounds that many of those released return to the battlefield to kill NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians.

Panetta: U.S., NATO will seek to end Afghan combat mission next year

Jacquelyn Martin/AP - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta answers questions from the media on board his plane en route to a NATO conference in Brussels on Wednesday.

By Craig Whitlock and Karen DeYoung, Updated: Wednesday, February 1, 2:59 PM

BRUSSELS — The United States and NATO will seek to end their combat mission in Afghanistan next year and shift to a role of providing support and training to Afghan security forces, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Wednesday.

U.S. military commanders had said in recent weeks they would begin a transition this year toward taking more of an advisory role as Afghanistan’s national army and police take greater responsibility for fighting the insurgency. But Panetta’s remarks were the first time the Obama administration has said it could foresee an end to regular U.S. and NATO combat operations by the second half of next year.

Brian Williams

2012-02-01T13:12:00.000-05:00

As NewsBusters previously reported, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on Thursday, reacting with predictably similar disgust as the rest of the media to the picture of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer pointing her finger at Barack Obama, asked viewers, "Who have you ever seen talking to the president like this?"

Maybe he should have looked in the archives of interviews he did with George W. Bush wherein he was guilty of making the exact same supposedly offensive hand gestures at the President of the United States

Nation Of Dependents?

2012-02-01T10:28:00.000-05:00

Business

Is President Obama Creating A Nation Of Dependents?

By JOHN MERLINE, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 01/26/2012 08:05 AM ET

View Enlarged Image

If the Republican primaries are any indication, one big debate in the upcoming election will be whether President Obama is pushing the country toward a European-style welfare culture.

Mitt Romney, for example, argues that "over the past three years, Barack Obama has been replacing our merit-based society with an entitlement society."

Newt Gingrich has taken to calling Obama "the best food-stamp president in American history."

Obama, in contrast, says the government must play an increasing role — what he likes to call "shared responsibility" — to ensure a society that is fairer.

So is Obama turning the country into a welfare society and away from one focused on opportunity?

While it's true that the country has been headed in this direction for many years — with the explosion in entitlements since the 1960s and the aging of the population — Obama has, in fact, greatly accelerated the trend. Examples:

Direct payments. The amount of money the federal government hands out in direct payments to individuals steadily increased over the past four decades, but shot up under Obama, climbing by almost $600 billion — a 32% increase — in his first three years. And Obama's last budget called for these payments to climb another $500 billion by 2016, at which point they would account for fully two-thirds of all federal spending.

People getting benefits. According to the Census Bureau 49% now live in homes where at least one person gets a federal benefit — Social Security, workers comp, unemployment, subsidized housing, and the like. That's up from 44% the year before Obama took office, and way up from 1983, when fewer than a third were government beneficiaries.

Food stamps. This year, more than 46 million (15% of all Americans) will get food stamps. That's 45% higher than when Obama took office, and twice as high as the average for the previous 40 years. This surge was driven in part by the recession, but also because Obama boosted the benefit amount as part of his stimulus plan.

Disability. The number of people on Social Security disability has steadily climbed since the 1970s, thanks mainly to easier eligibility rules. But their numbers jumped 10% in Obama's first two years in office, according to the Social Security

Administration. That sharp rise was due largely to meager job prospects since the recession ended in 2009. When employment opportunities are scarce, experts note, many who could otherwise work sign up for disability benefits instead.

Health care. The government's role in health care has grown over the past decades, with 45% of all health spending now coming from the federal government, up from 32% in 1990. But this trend will dramatically accelerate should ObamaCare remain the law of the land. In eight years, ObamaCare will add 16 million people to Medicaid, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and another 24 million will be getting coverage through heavily subsidized government-run insurance exchanges, with the cost of those subsidies running $130 billion a year.

Corporate welfare. Prior to Obama, the federal government was already dishing out $92 billion in corporate welfare programs — in the form of subsidized loans, special tax breaks, bailouts and the like — the Cato Institute found. Obama added tremendously to this largesse. Federal grants to the energy sector, for example, quadrupled to over $18 billion in 2009, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts' Subsidyscope.

While each of these and other federal benefit programs may be designed with good intentions, their combined weight is already overwhelming the budget.

In just nine years, entitlement spending is on track to eat up 61% of the federal budget, according to the CBO. And unless these programs are cut back, they will soon consume all federal taxes, one CBO budget scenario predicts.

The problem is that once federal benefits get started, few Americans want to see them cut back, much less eliminated. Even with $1 trillion annual deficits, just 24% would support cutting Social Security and only 16% would back Medicare cuts, according to the November 2011 IBD/TIPP poll.

"Once we thought 'entitlement' meant that Americans were entitled to the privilege of trying to succeed in the greatest country in the world," Romney said in a recent speech. "But today the new entitlement battle is over the size of the check you get from Washington."

Unemployment 10%

2012-01-31T21:00:00.000-05:00

KN: Being setup for VAT!

CBO: Taxes Will ‘Shoot Up by More Than 30 Percent’ Over Next 2 Years

By Terence P. Jeffrey

January 31, 2012

President Barack Obama, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

(CNSNews.com) - The amount of money the federal government takes out of the U.S. economy in taxes will increase by more than 30 percent between 2012 and 2014, according to the Budget and Economic Outlook published today by the CBO.

At the same time, according to CBO, the economy will remain sluggish, partly because of higher taxes.

Latest Congressional Budget Outlook For 2012-2022 Released, Says Real Unemployment Rate Is 10%

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2012 10:30 -0500 What do the NAR, Consumer Confidence and CBO forecasts have in common? If you said, "they are all completely worthless" you are absolutely correct. Alas, the market needs to "trade" off numbers, which is why the just released CBO numbers apparently are important... And the fact that the CBO predicted negative $2.5 trillion in net debt by 2011 back in 2011 is largely ignored. Anyway, here are some of the highlights.

2012 Deficit: $1.1 trillion; 2013 Deficit: $0.6 - yes, we are cackling like mad too...
Unemployment to remain above 8% in 2012 and 2013; will be around 7% by end of 2015; to drop to 5.25% by end of 2022.
- This forecast is utterly idiotic and is completely unattainable unless the US workforce drops to all time lows and the US economy generates 300,000 jobs a month for 10 years
Needless to say, CBO assumes the best of all worlds in this meaningless forecast
But here is the kicker: "Had that portion of the decline in the labor force participation rate since 2007 that is attributable to neither the aging of the baby boomers nor the downturn in the business cycle (on the basis of the experience in previous downturns) not occurred, the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2011 would have been about 1¼ percentage points higher than the actual rate of 8.7 percent" translation: CBO just admitted that the BLS numbers are bogus and real unemployment is 10%. Thank you

Here is the CBO's alternative forecast which is a little closer to reality:

CBO has developed budget projections under an “alternative fiscal scenario,” assuming—instead of current law—that certain tax provisions that have recently expired or are set to expire (including most of the provisions in the 2010 tax act but excluding the Social Security payroll tax reduction) are instead extended, that the AMT is indexed for inflation after 2011 (starting from the 2011 exemption amount), that Medicare’s payment rates for physicians’ services are held constant, and that the automatic enforcement procedures of the Budget Control Act do not take effect. Under this scenario, deficits from 2013 through 2022 would average 5.4 percent of GDP, compared with the 1.5 percent in the baseline.

Pay

2012-01-31T19:14:00.001-05:00

Obama mistakenly refers to Georgia as 'Russia' in meeting with Georgian president.

President Obama mistakenly described the independent nation of Georgia as "Russia" before correcting himself Monday while sitting next to Georgia's president.

KN: If that was Bush he would called a dummy.

Governor Cuomo

2012-01-31T10:06:00.002-05:00

Kliphnote: Governor Cuomo wants to test teachers.

George Bush wanted to test schools.

What's the difference between the two? Nothing!

I can't wait for the liberals to complain about that.

Every day I worked I was tested. If I didn't do my job, 100% of the time,

I would be fired! Why not teachers?

Dear New Yorker,

No area of government needs reform more than our education system. New York State spends more than any other state per pupil, yet ranks only 38th in graduation rates. Why aren’t New Yorkers getting what they’re paying for?

Our system has suffered because Albany has spent more time worrying about the business of education -- contracts, salaries, and benefits -- than it has worrying about the children. Education should be about the STUDENTS. We need to have a system in Albany that focuses on improving student performance and school accountability.

Adopting a real teacher evaluation system is the key to this effort. In 2010, our state was awarded a $700 million grant from the federal government that required teacher evaluations, but the state has failed to produce the system. Currently there is a lawsuit between the teachers unions and the State Education Department that is blocking the evaluations from moving forward. If we do not act, we are at risk of losing $700 million in federal funding.
We must act now: CLICK HERE to see the Governor's proposal on education and encourage your fellow New Yorkers to join the fight to put students first.
But the issue of performance in education goes beyond teacher evaluations. Last year Governor Cuomo proposed two competitive grants funds to encourage student performance and administrative efficiency in school districts. This year the first grant recipients will be awarded and the program will be expanded.
Let’s ensure our students are getting the education they deserve.
Thanks for getting involved.

Tax Tax and more Taxes

2012-01-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

Kliphnote: Why is it, the 47% that pay NO federal income tax want others to pay more? It's because the left-heads want to increase that to over 50% that pay

no federal taxes.

Some people should start telling the truth, start with Obama.

IBD Editorials

Obama's Big Six State of the Union Tax Myths

Posted 01/25/2012 06:42 PM ET

Taxes: If President Obama wants to create a fairer country, shouldn't he start by fairly portraying our tax code? Instead, he used his State of the Union speech to peddle a number of blatant tax falsehoods.

In his speech, Obama repeatedly turned to the tax code to explain what's wrong with the country. It favors the rich, he said. It benefits companies that send jobs abroad. It subsidizes the dirty old oil industry. It's the cause of our deficit problem. And worst of all, plenty of people and businesses aren't paying their "fair share."

None of it is true.

But that hasn't stopped Obama from repeating them every chance he gets, hoping that no one will notice or that his critics will get tired of correcting the record.

Since we don't fall into either category, here are the facts behind Obama's State of the Union tax deceptions.

• "We need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes."

The claim that the rich don't pay their fair share is simply untrue. The current tax code is extremely progressive, more progressive in fact than it was back in 1979, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

As a result, the richest 1% today accounts for 36% of all income taxes paid, while nearly half of taxpayers owe nothing at all, or get cash back.

If that isn't fair, Obama owes it to the country to describe just what sort of distribution would be fair.

• "Right now, because of loopholes and shelters in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class households."

Even Obama's own Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, couldn't back up this claim when asked about it by reporters.

And no wonder, since there's not a shred of evidence to support it.

Internal Revenue Service data show that families with incomes of $50,000 to $100,000 pay an average 8.9% in income taxes, while those with incomes of more than $1 million pay 23%.

It may be the case that a few rich folks manage to get away with paying little in taxes, but that's clearly the exception, not the rule.

• "Right now, we're poised to spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was supposed to be a temporary tax break for the wealthiest 2% of Americans."

The fact is that tax payments by the rich went up during the Bush years, despite the intervening tax cut. In fact, in 2007 the richest 1% paid $84 billion more in taxes than they did before Bush took office.

The bottom half, in contrast, paid $6 billion less, IRS data show.

• "Do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Or do we want to keep our investments in everything else? Because if we're serious about paying down our debt, we can't do both."

The idea that the nation's budget problems can be resolved by hiking taxes on the rich is ludicrous.

Even if you managed to take all their money, you still couldn't close the budget gap.

Obama should know this, especially since his own debt reduction commission told him so.

In a Washington Post op-ed, commission heads Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles explained: "We can't simply cut or tax our way out of this problem. Bringing our debt under control will require tackling the growth of entitlements and reforming the tax code to promote economic growth."

But you'll search Obama's speech in vain for any ideas along these lines.

• "Right now, companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas."

This is an old chestnut among Democrats. John Kerry ran on this claim during his 2004 presidential campaign. But it's a phony issue.

The real problem isn't some alleged unfair tax break for unpatriotic companies; it's that the U.S. has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, which drives companies to shift operations abroad.

But instead of lowering corporate rates overall, Obama talks about adding an alternative minimum tax on multinationals (apparently not realizing there's already a corporate AMT).

• "We've subsidized oil companies for a century. ... It's time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that rarely has been more profitable."

What Obama is talking about are basic tax credits and deductions available to every other industry. Oil companies aren't raking in billions through subsidies specific only to them. Nor do they receive direct taxpayer-funded payments. In fact, the industry accounts for $92 billion a year in tax revenues.

Targeting oil companies for special punishment just because Obama and his environmentalist cronies don't like them is the very definition of unfairness.

What's truly unfair about the tax code is that it punishes the economy with grinding complexity and disincentives to invest and grow.

Any hope of fixing that will have to wait until someone else is giving State of the Union speeches.

Joe Biden

2012-01-30T21:26:00.003-05:00

KN: Worse VP ever!

Joe Biden Advised Against the Osama Bin Laden Raid

By Mary Bruce | ABC News – 9 hrs ago

Vice President Joe Biden confessed this weekend that he advised President Obama not to launch the mission that ultimately killed Osama bin Laden last spring.

During remarks at a Democratic congressional retreat this weekend, Biden explained that when it came time to make the final decision, he had some lingering uncertainties about whether the 9/11 mastermind was in the suspected compound in Pakistan.

When the president asked his top advisers for their final opinion on the mission, all of them were hesitant, except for the former CIA director, now Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Biden said.

"Every single person in that room hedged their bet except Leon Panetta. Leon said go. Everyone else said, 49, 51," Biden said, as he offered the unsolicited details of the decision-making process.

"He got to me. He said, 'Joe, what do you think?' And I said, 'You know, I didn't know we had so many economists around the table.' I said, 'We owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is, don't go. We have to do two more things to see if he's there,'" Biden recalled.

While the vice president did not explain what those two more things were, the next morning the president gave National Security Adviser Tom Donilon the "go" to launch the SEAL raid of the compound.

"He knew what was at stake, not just the lives of those brave warriors, but literally the presidency," Biden said.

Debt

2012-01-30T13:17:00.001-05:00

Debt ceiling skyrockets, Obama no longer calls Bush 'unpatriotic' for increases

As President Obama prepares to raise the debt ceiling -- after the Senate waived its opposition last week -- the commander in chief's $5 trillion hike evidently is no longer "unpatriotic," as it was when he was on the campaign trail in 2008 describing former President George W. Bush's $4 trillion increase over eight years.

OWS

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

U.S. NEWS
JANUARY 27, 2012, 5:27 P.M. ET

Occupy DC Warned to End Camping Monday

Article
Comments (1)

more in US »

BY RYAN TRACY

WASHINGTON—The National Park Service said it would start enforcing a prohibition against camping at the site of "Occupy DC" protests on Monday, setting up a potential clash between protestors and authorities at one of the nation's last remaining "Occupy" encampments.

The move reflects a change in course for the Obama administration, which is overseeing the protests here because they are taking place in two federal parks.

Police Use Tear Gas on Occupy Oakland Protesters

Associated Press

OAKLAND, California — Police used tear gas and "flash" grenades Saturday to break up hundreds of Occupy protesters after some demonstrators started throwing rocks and flares at officers and tearing down fencing.

Three officers were hurt and about 300 people were arrested, the Oakland Police Department said . No details on the officers' injuries were released.

Police said the group started assembling at a downtown plaza Saturday morning, with demonstrators threatening to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center. The group then marched through the streets, disrupting traffic.

Iraq War Vets

2012-01-29T23:37:00.002-05:00

Tens of Thousands Waving Flags Turn Out in Cold for St. Louis Tribute to Iraq War Vets

Rep. Allen West

2012-01-29T22:32:00.000-05:00

Rep. Allen West - "Obama, Reid, Pelosi, get the hell out of the USA" - 28 January 2012

Global Warming

2012-01-29T19:26:00.002-05:00

Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to worry about (and if NASA scientists are right the Thames will be freezing over again)

A painting, dated 1684, by Abraham Hondius depicts one of many frost fairs on the River Thames during the mini ice age

Met Office releases new figures which show no warming in 15 years

By David Rose

Last updated at 5:38 AM on 29th January 2012

The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.

The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.

Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.

scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html#ixzz1ktdglWej

OWS??

2012-01-28T20:53:00.002-05:00

Kliphnote: What happened to Occupy Wall Street.

Now it's occupy anything. Over 5,000 arrested nation wide.

Rape, drugs, murder, crap and piss in the street.

The rapes were so bad that the leaders of OWS asked

them not to be reported, because it made them look bad.

They call it "protesting" I call it camping in the city park.

Occupy activists march in Oakland, plan to take over building

By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 6:54 PM EST, Sat January 28, 2012

Smoke rises between Occupy Oakland protesters and police cordoning off an intersection Saturday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Police declare an "unlawful assembly" and say protesters tore fences
Scores of Occupy demonstrators march through the streets of Oakland
Their plan is to take over a "vacant" building, which they haven't identified
After protesters earlier shut down the port, the city's mayor said "it's got to stop"

(CNN) -- Scores of Occupy protesters marched through the streets of Oakland, California, on Saturday afternoon, planning to take over a building that will serve as their new home base.

Aerial video showed the activists proceeding through the city's streets, many of them toting signs while others carried what appeared to be supplies.

On its Twitter feed, Oakland police wrote around 3 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET) Saturday that "an unlawful assembly was declared." Police claimed, too, that parts of the Oakland Museum and Kaiser Center were "severely impacted," with people cutting and tearing fences.

Police, at one point, could be seen throwing what appeared to be smoke grenades at the crowd.

\The protesters responded by moving backward and, in some cases, openly challenging and throwing objects back at authorities. Those on the front line of the march held up signs reading, "Cops move out" and "Commune move in."

While touting the action as "Move-In Day" on their website, occupyoaklandmoveinday.org, organizers have not stated what "large, vacant" building they plan to occupy. They also acknowledged that "like the encampment at Oscar Grant Plaza, the building move-in is not legal."

But the group said the move was necessary, in part because "since November, the city of Oakland and its police force have made it impossible for us to meet, to serve food, and to provide a place for people to stay."

"Occupy Oakland is about people providing for themselves and for others, since it is clear that the system can no longer provide for them," the group said on its website. "It is a place where people who are fed up can come together and develop new forms of struggle."

In a letter to Mayor Jean Quan, the city council and the Oakland police department, protesters threatened several actions if authorities try to "evict us again." They include "blockading the airport indefinitely, occupying City Hall indefinitely, shutting down the Oakland ports" and getting help from the activist hacking group known as Anonymous.

Oakland has been a flash point of the Occupy movement since October when police used tear gas to break up demonstrators who refused to leave downtown. One demonstrator, a Marine veteran of the war in Iraq, suffered a skull fracture after being hit with a police projectile, according to a veteran's group; police said they acted after the crowd threw paint and other objects at officers.

In mid-December, Occupy protesters shut down the Oakland port terminal.

Mayor Quan responded then by saying the Occupy movement isn't thinking about the consequences of its actions.

"They are saying ... they have to get the attention of the ruling class. I think the ruling class is probably laughing and people in this city will be crying this Christmas," she said. "It's really got to stop."

GDP:

2012-01-28T19:52:00.000-05:00

2011 GDP: 1.7%

Joe Weisenthal | 3 hours ago | 117,680 | 100

João Trindade via Flickr

That's the final, pathetic growth number for 2011.

From the just-released GDP report:

Real GDP increased 1.7 percent in 2011 (that is, from the 2010 annual level to the 2011 annual level), compared with an increase of 3.0 percent in 2010.

The increase in real GDP in 2011 primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from state and local government spending, private inventory investment, and federal government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

Not exactly a barnburner.

Food Stamps

2012-01-28T12:48:00.000-05:00

video platform video management video solutions video player

CNN

2012-01-27T19:45:00.004-05:00

KN: Remember, CNN was called the Clinton News Network by some in the 1990"s.

For a reason. Things haven't changed. But not for the Kool-aid drinkers.

IBD Editorials

CNN Turns Blind Eye To Obama-Alinsky Ties

Posted 01/26/2012 06:54 PM ET

Journalism: As the president launches his re-election bid by striking a more centrist tone, the partisan press is helping him whitewash his radical past. Teamwork or not, it'll be hard to bleach.

Exhibit A is CNN's Soledad O'Brien. Earlier this week, she hosted a segment that tried to de-link Obama from Chicago socialist Saul Alinsky. The late Alinsky is the father of community organizing and the author of the far-left bible "Rules for Radicals."

O'Brien opened her piece by scolding GOP front-runner Newt Gingrich for warning Obama "will represent Saul Alinsky (and) European socialism" in a second term. "President Obama has never said that he was influenced by Alinsky," O'Brien insisted.

Of course he hasn't. He's not stupid enough to publicly link himself to a socialist. But the record is clear that he was in fact influenced by Alinsky, if only CNN's "journalists" would do their homework. Allow us to do it for them:

• Obama first learned Alinsky's rules in the 1980s, when Alinskyite radicals with the Chicago-based Alinsky group Gamaliel Foundation recruited, hired, trained and paid him as a community organizer in South Side Chicago. (Gamaliel's website expressly states it grew out of the Alinsky movement.)

• In 1988, Obama even wrote a chapter for the book "After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois," in which he lamented organizers' "lack of power" in implementing change.

• Gamaliel board member John McKnight, a hard-core student of Alinsky, penned a letter for Obama to help him get into Harvard Law School.

• Obama took a break from his Harvard studies to travel to Los Angeles for eight days of intense training at Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation, a station of the cross for acolytes.

• In turn, he trained other community organizers in Alinsky agitation tactics.

• Obama also taught Alinsky's "Power Analysis" methods at the University of Chicago.

• During the presidential campaign, Obama hired one of his Gamaliel mentors, Mike Kruglik, to train young campaign workers in Alinsky tactics at "Camp Obama," a school set up at Obama headquarters in Chicago. The tactics helped Obama capture the youth vote like no other president before him.

• Power would no longer be an issue, as Obama infiltrated the highest echelon of the political establishment — the White House — fulfilling Alinsky's vision of a new "vanguard" of coat-and-tie radicals who "work inside the system" to change the system.

• After the election, his other Gamaliel mentor, Jerry Kellman (who hired him and whose identity Obama disguised in his memoir), helped the Obama administration establish Organizing for America, which mobilizes young supporters to agitate for Obama's legislative agenda using "Rules for Radicals."

• Obama's favorite rule is No. 13: "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it." You see that in his attacks on "fat cat bankers," "greedy health insurers" and "millionaires and billionaires." He also readily applies Alinsky's fifth rule of "ridiculing" the opposition.

"Obama learned his lesson well," said David Alinsky, son of the late socialist. "I am proud to see that my father's model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing."

Bizarrely, O'Brien was more than willing to connect Alinsky with the Tea Party, without citing a shred of real evidence to back up the silly claim. The CNN anchor closed her segment by saying she would pin Gingrich down on his supposedly misleading claims. "We will be sure to ask the former speaker the next time we get a chance to talk to him about that," she said.

Wouldn't it make more sense to just ask Obama? You know, "Mr. President, have you ever read Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals'"? Or "Have your ever trained at organizations founded by Alinsky?"

Is she really this clueless? Or is she covering for Obama? Either way, it does not reflect well on a journalist of her stature and influence.

It's plain CNN plans to gloss over the president's radical past in this campaign, just like it did in 2008.

Liberal Prejudice

2012-01-27T11:02:00.000-05:00

Kliphnote: Talk about prejudice, this is it. I don't know who Gordon Hodson is. But I bet he's a liberal. Living in a upper class neighborhood. Making good money. Isolated from the "real" world. He has never seen liberal prejudice? Just look( or better yet, walk , if you dare) at any inner city and you will see low IQ and liberal prejudice. Take the blinders off.

Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice

By Stephanie Pappas | LiveScience.com – 8 hrs ago

There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario.

Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

"Prejudice is extremely complex and multifaceted, making it critical that any factors contributing to bias are uncovered and understood," he said.

Read the rest Here,----if you must

Home sales

2012-01-26T19:30:00.000-05:00

Kliphnote: Somehow the Kool-aid drinkers will say it's no fault of Obama's

policy's. Obama can do no wrong. They will blame it on Bush and the GOP.

Watch and see.

New-home purchases fall, 2011 worst ever for sales

By DEREK KRAVITZ | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans bought new homes in December. The decline made 2011 the worst year for new-home sales on records dating back nearly half a century.

The Commerce Department said Thursday new-home sales fell 2.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 307,000. The pace is less than half the 700,000 that economists say must be sold in a healthy economy.

About 302,000 new homes were sold last year. That's less than the 323,000 sold in 2010, making last year's sales the worst on records dating back to 1963. And it coincides with a report last week that said 2011 was the weakest year for single-family home construction on record.

Vet and HUD

2012-01-26T14:54:00.003-05:00

KN: More BS from Obama's people.

How Does Washington D.C. Count America's Homeless Vets?

The Obama administration recently said that the number of homeless veterans dropped by 12 percent from 2010 to 2011. But getting accurate counts of the homeless is extremely difficult, and the government changed its counting methods during the year of the reported drop. Is the number of homeless vets really going down, or is the drop an artifact of murky statistics?

By Joe Pappalardo

Homeless U.S. military veterans stand in line to receive free services at a "Stand Down" event hosted by the Department of Veterans Affairs on November 3, 2011 in Denver, Colorado.

John Moore/Getty Images

It's extraordinarily difficult to get accurate statistics on the number of homeless people in the United States. That's why it's so interesting that Shaun Donovan, the secretary for Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced in late December a double-digit percentage point drop in the national number of homeless veterans over one year.

"I'm thrilled to announce that we have evidence that this funding is making a real difference to getting homeless veterans off the street and into homes they can call their own," Donovan said during a press conference. "Thanks to the work done by HUD, and agency partners across the Obama Administration, the most recent homeless estimate shows veteran homelessness fell by nearly 12 percent in just one year."

Donovan attributed the improvement to billions in anti-homeless initiatives invested by the federal government since 2009. But what he didn't mention is that between 2010 and 2011, HUD changed the way it counts homeless veterans, and those changes could throw uncertainty on the veracity of the numbers. Last year, HUD stopped using statistical estimates and instead mandated that homeless organizations that receive federal money survey homeless people to determine if they are veterans. They also used figures supplied by local Veteran Administration (VA) programs instead of estimates.

The big question, then, is: Are we really seeing a substantial drop in the number of homeless vets? Or could the 12 percent decline in homeless vets be an artifact of 2011's new methodology?

After speaking to HUD officials, homeless shelters, and statisticians, PM found good and bad news. There has been very real local coordination between the VA and HUD to help homeless veterans. But the truth is that no one—not even HUD's number crunchers—is sure if the new method of counting homeless vets is driving the stats up or down. Furthermore, federal reports warn that drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the White House's proposal to cut overall troop levels, may lead to spikes in homelessness in young veterans, which local aid workers say is a growing problem.

Read the rest Here