US Drops In Ranking Of Free Economies

The United States’ reputation as home to one of the world’s freest economies continues to decline, according to an international report released Tuesday.

The U.S. dropped to 18th worldwide, compared to 10th in 2008 and third from 1980 to 2000, the 2012 Economic Freedom of the World report found. The findings are based on information through 2010.

“The U.S. is on the wrong track,” said co-author James Gwartney, a Florida State University economics professor.He says the 48-page report shows countries with the freest economies grew more rapidly and achieved higher income levels for citizens, while the United States' decade-plus course of government expansion, increased debt and regulation and other moves created a “system of crony capitalism.”

“The declining economic freedom rating of the U.S. provides confirmation of this trend,” Gwartney concludes.

The report, published in the United States by the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute think tank, again ranks Hong Kong first among 144 countries, followed by Singapore, New Zealand and Switzerland.  

The U.S. also ranked behind Finland and Denmark – “two European welfare states,” the study authors also pointed out.

The authors said the report is intended to measure the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom -- with cornerstones including the size of government, personal choice, the freedom to trade internationally and the security of private property.

The report is the most recent to suggest the United States is falling behind as a world economic power.

Via Fox News

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No Interest by the Media in Kathleen Sebelius’s Unlawful Campaign Activity

The media isn’t very interested in the illegal campaign activity by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She pretty much admitted she broke the law, but all we get from the media is silence.

Reporters covering the White House don’t seem to have many questions about Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who was last week found in violation of federal law against engaging in political activity while on the job.
A review of transcripts by The Daily Caller indicate that no questions have been asked by the reporters who cover the president about Sebelius during official White House briefings or gaggles since Sept. 12, when the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said in a report that the cabinet secretary violated the Hatch Act earlier this year.
It’s still up to President Obama whether Sebelius should keep her job or face some sort of punishment after being found in violation of the Hatch Act. (Read More)

This evening ABC News spent about 10 minutes on the video of remarks Mitt Romney made at a private fundraiser. They didn’t mention this.

Via: The Lonely Conservative

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Judge: Police to enforce Ariz. immigration law now

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge in Arizona ruled Tuesday that police can immediately start enforcing the most contentious section of the state's immigration law, marking the first time officers can carry out the so-called "show me your papers" provision.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton is the latest milestone in a two-year legal battle over the requirement. It culminated in a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that upheld the provision on the grounds that it doesn't conflict with federal law.

Now, with the requirement finally in full effect, both sides are anxious to see the outcome.

The supporters want local police to use it vigorously, but worry federal immigration officials won't respond to calls to come arrest people.

"I am mulling what I will do if they don't respond," said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who more than any other police boss in the state pushed the bounds of immigration enforcement. "I don't feel comfortable letting the illegal alien back on the street."

Federal officials said they will check people's immigration status when officers call. But they'll only send an agent to arrest someone if it fits with their priorities, such as catching repeat violators and those who are a threat to public safety and national security.

Meanwhile, civil rights advocates are preparing for a battle.

Via: CNS News

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MSM's Bias Continues to Help Elect Obama: Aggressive on 'Secret Romney Tape' But Lax on O's Failed Foreign and Economic Policies

NBC’s Williams Jumps to Highlight Surreptitiously-Recorded Romney Comments, Insists They Will ‘Raise Eyebrows When Heard’

Once again serving as the broadcast arm of MSNBC, Monday’s NBC Nightly News devoted a full segment to the supposed outrage over what Mitt Romney said in a surreptitiously-recorded video promoted by the left wing Mother Jones magazine, remarks which Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow put at the top of their MSNBC shows. And CNN soon joined in the hysteria with Anderson Cooper 360 treating it as “Breaking News.”

 

Of course, Romney had simply provided an obvious assessment of the state of the electorate where many have an “entitlement” mentality and nearly half avoid the income tax.

 

In an online post, David Corn of Mother Jones, who appeared on Hardball, summarized Romney’s comments:

 

During a private fundraiser earlier this year, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a small group of wealthy contributors what he truly thinks of all the voters who support President Barack Obama. He dismissed these Americans as freeloaders who pay no taxes, who don't assume responsibility for their lives, and who think government should take care of them.

And the inaccuracy is?

 

Nonetheless, NBC anchor Brian Williams insisted “the GOP presidential candidate is heard giving a snapshot of the electorate that is going to raise eyebrows when heard.” Williams correctly observed, without acknowledging how NBC had taken a side:  “It’s another eye of the beholder issue, people will make what they make of these comments coming out tonight.”

Via: Fox News

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke The greatest fraud in history

Too few Americans are prepared for what’s coming our way. We are facing a grave crisis that will have a dramatic effect on every American citizen, our national security and our very way of life. It is the asymmetrical warfare of financial terrorism, and the U.S. politicians, the central bankers, the global leaders are the terrorists. Sound harsh? Absolutely. Frightening? Although a healthy dose of fear is indeed warranted, it should not paralyze you, but compel you to act. Preparation is an effective antidote for fear.

But prepare for what? I’ll admit that I was never that good in Economics classes as I found them to be very boring. Even today, I find the talk of derivatives, toxic assets, off balance sheet loans, and so on to be complex and hard to follow. I suspect I’m not alone in thinking this way. It was not until gas reached almost $5.00 per gallon in 2008 and I realized that I had “more month than money” that I wanted to know everything I could about what’s going on in the financial world.

Having accepted that I’m only good at a few things, one being an investigator, I decided to spend as much time as possible investigating the who, what, when, where, why and how behind our current economic situation. Why are we going broke as a nation, and why are we, as Americans, running out of money before the end of the month while our standard of living declines as well?

What I found disturbed and alarmed me. The challenge now is to articulate my findings so everyone is able to understand given the complexity of the subject. That’s no reflection on you as a reader, but an indictment of our elected and appointed “leaders” who deliberately cover their greed and financial criminal activity by talking in a manner that only a select few can understand. However, one thing I understand is fraud, which is what is being perpetuated on everyone reading these words. Hopefully, I’ll be able to convey the urgency at hand, and plainly explain how we are being systematically robbed and looted, and the fallout that will result.

Via: Canada Free Press

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Good News For Romney: Poll Finds Majority Of Americans Still Want Obamacare Repealed…

As we get further removed from a Republican convention that, at least in prime time (and apart from Paul Ryan), didn’t emphasize the importance of repealing Obamacare, and a Democratic convention at which President Obama was praised for spearheading Obamacare’s passage regardless of the considerable difficulties he faced (namely, the opposition of the vast majority of the American people), Americans’ attitudes toward repeal now seem to have reverted back to what they’ve been across the better part of the past two-and-a-half years. This is good news for the Romney campaign.

The latest polling from Rasmussen Reports shows that, by a margin of 10 percentage points (53 to 43 percent), likely voters support the repeal of Obamacare.  By a margin of 11 points (52 to 41 percent), independents support repeal. 

By overwhelming margins, Americans think Obamacare would increase, rather than decrease, health costs (52 to 20 percent); reduce, rather than improve, the quality of care (46 to 22 percent); and raise, rather than lower, deficit spending (51 to 16 percent).

It’s hard to imagine any president being reelected when his signature legislation is this unpopular and is so widely predicted to cause such harm — and Rasmussen (like most pollsters) didn’t even ask Americans about Obamacare’s likely effect on their liberty.

Via: Weekly Standard

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THE FOOD STAMP RECOVERY: The Unprecedented Increase in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 2008–12

Three years after the end of the 2007–09 recession, which officially began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, 47 million people each month are using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). At the beginning of the recession, fewer than one in 10 Americans received SNAP benefits. Nearly 15 percent of Americans now use SNAP benefits, formerly called food stamps, a program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This translates to more than one in 7 Americans currently using SNAP benefits, a record non-emergency high.[2]

There is much concern surrounding this unprecedented increase in America's SNAP program, which began in 2008. Food stamp participation has always increased during a recession and in the initial stages of a recovery. The purpose of this report is to determine whether the recent increase in SNAP participation is comparable to increases during other recent recessions. Our results demonstrate that levels seen since the end of this recession are far higher than in prior recoveries (see Figure 1). 

While the 36 month periods following the recessions of the early 1980s saw decreases in food stamp usage, the recessions of the early 1990s and in 2001 saw increases between 1 and 2 percent over the same period, in comparison with an increase of 3.5 percent following the recession ending in 2009. In addition to the difficult job market, this is because of changes in the program that began in October 2008, including expansion of benefits and elimination of the cap for child care expenses.

Via: Manhattan Institute
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Feds Use Stimulus Cash To Buy Chinese Solar Panels

Feds Ignore Rules And Use Stimulus Cash To Buy Chinese Solar Panels

Government officials blame unfair competition from China for the collapse of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, but such concerns didn’t stop the federal government from breaking stimulus program rules to use Chinese solar panels atop a federal building housing the offices of a senator, congressman and several agencies.

Even the contractor questioned whether Chinese-made panels could be used under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus program that mandated use of U.S.-made products. His query in early 2010 was dismissed and the General Services Administration moved forward with using the Chinese panels on the Sen. Paul Simon Federal Building in Carbondale, Ill., records show.

Questions about the panels, which were assembled overseas, were raised in a four-page advisory memo sent by the inspector general to the GSA in the summer of 2011, but the findings take on added significance as government officials increasingly place blame on Chinese subsidies for troubles in the U.S. solar market.

Since last summer, Solyndra LLC and another solar company, Abound Solar, have filed for bankruptcy despite receiving generous federal loan guarantees. After both bankruptcies, government officials were quick to place blame on subsidies from China that allowed foreign solar panel manufactures to sell their products below cost, squeezing U.S. solar companies.

Meanwhile, the contractor on the Illinois building project, J.R. Conkey & Associates, initially questioned GSA officials on whether solar panels assembled in China could be used under the stimulus program, but a procurement officer told the company to proceed, according to records.

Via: Washington Times

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Poll: Approval of Obama foreign policy drops 12 Points Since last week

Approval of President Obama's handling of foreign policy has taken a beating since last month, according to a new NBC/WSJ poll taken after violence erupted last week in Egypt and Libya. 

The poll found approval among registered voters dropped to 49 percent, down from from 54 percent a month earlier, NBC's FirstRead reports. The fall was steeper among independents, going from 53 percent in August to 41 percent. Even support among Republicans dropped eight points -- from 19 percent to 10 percent.

NBC did not immediately release results about Mitt Romney's foreign policy approval. The full poll results are scheduled to be released Tuesday evening. The survey was conducted in the days following the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, from Sept. 12 through 16.

Via: Politico

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Report: Median Income Worse Now Than It Was During Great Recession

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — A new report put out by the Pew Research Center finds that the median income is worse now than it was during the Great Recession.

According to Pew, the Census Bureau showed that the median income for American households in 2009 – the official end of the Great Recession – was $52,195 (in 2011 dollars), while the median income dipped to $50,054 last year, falling 4.1 percent over two years.

“The decrease in household income from 2009 to 2011 almost exactly equaled the decrease in income in the two years of the recession,” the Pew report stated. “During the Great Recession, the median U.S. household income (in 2011 dollars) dropped from $54,489 in 2007 to $52,195 in 2009, a loss of 4.2 percent. By this yardstick, the recovery from the Great Recession is bypassing the nation’s households.”

The Pew report added that the recovery is the “most negative for household income during any post-recession period in the past four decades,” which means that the median household income has not risen above a previous peak over the past 12 years.

The poverty rate rose from 12.5 percent in 2007 to 15 percent last year as the median household wealth fell by 39 percent over a three-year span, from $131,016 in 2007 to $79,431 in 2010.

“[T]he economic health of American families deteriorated further in the first two years of the recovery from the Great Recession,” the Pew report explains. “Much like an unwelcome dinner guest who does not know when it is time to leave, the Great Recession seems blissfully unaware that it was declared over in June 2009.”

Via:CBS DC

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DHS Purchases 200 Million More Rounds of Ammunition

Following controversy over its purchase of around 1.2 billion bullets in the last six months alone, the Department of Homeland Security has put out a new solicitation for over 200 million more rounds of ammunition, some of which are designated to be used by snipers.

A series of new solicitations posted on the FedBizOpps website show that the DHS is looking to purchase 200 million rounds of .223 rifle ammunition over the next four years, as well as 176,000 rounds of .308 caliber 168 grain hollow point boat tail (HPBT) rounds in addition to 25,000 rounds of blank .308 caliber bullets.

As James Smith over at the Prepper Podcast website highlights, “It is the type of ammunition and not necessarily the quantity that is troubling.”

Smith points out that the DHS’ acquisition of .308 rounds is of concern because they are set to be used by well-trained snipers.

“All of the sniper grade ammunition is being used by trained, or in-the-process-of-being-trained snipers,” writes Smith, noting that the math adds up to 135,384 potential kills for the snipers to make, using the 176,000 rounds of ammunition, basing the figures on the fact that United States Army and Marine Corps snipers in the Vietnam War expended 1.3 rounds of ammunition for each claimed and verified kill.

As this police training website documents, .308 caliber 168 grain bullets are the ammunition of choice for experienced law enforcement snipers.

Via: Infowars

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American prison labor means longer unemployment lines

Two southeast companies that make U.S. military uniforms are shedding hundreds of jobs, as the government looks to federal inmates for the fatigues.

American Power Source makes military clothing in Fayette, Ala., but its government contract expires in October. Federal Prison Industries – which also operates under the name UNICOR will snag the work, and leave the task to inmates. FPI has the first right of refusal for U.S. Government contracts, under a 1930 federal law.

American Apparel, the Selma, Ala., based military clothing manufacturer closed one of its plants and continues to downsize others due to the loss of some of its contracts to FPI. According retired Air Force colonel and spokesman Kurt Wilson, the company laid off 255 employees and cut the hours of 190 employees this year alone. So private workers end up losing their jobs to prisoners.

"The way the law is – Federal Prison Industries gets first dibs and contracts up to a certain percentage before they have to compete against us," Wilson, the executive vice president of business development and government affairs, said. "The army combat uniform, for instance, is an item that they take off the top. As a result American tax payers pay more for it – but the bottom line is each soldier is paying more for their uniform."

American Apparel charges $29.44 per uniform, but the FPI uniform costs $34.18 – a 15 percent difference.

FPI has been around since the 1930s. It provides training, education and employment for inmates in federal custody. With more than 13,000 inmates, FPI operates in about 80 factories across the United States. The company is not allowed to sell its goods to the private sector -- and the law requires federal agencies to buy its products, even if they are not the cheapest.

"It has been going on for some time," Wilson said. "Unfortunately what comes to bear now is, as demand for uniforms begins to decrease, budgets decrease and the problem gets bigger for us. Therefore we have to lay people off."

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Via: MyFoxDC

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[VIDEO] Senator Rand Paul on the “Charade and Farce” of Debate in the Senate

On Wednesday, Senator Rand Paul (R–KY) requested a vote on two amendments to S.3457, the Veterans Jobs Corps Act. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) blocked a vote on those amendments and has not allowed a free and fair debate on a very important issue to the American people.

Via: The Foundry

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GOP Fighting Back in 'War On Coal'

Congressional Republicans are turning up the heat this week in an effort to head off EPA regulations and stop the Obama administration’s “war on coal,” voting on a package of five bills that would curb EPA regulatory authority and environmental rules.

“Affordable energy is critical for our nation’s economic future,” said Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo, one of the leading critics of President Obama’s coal policies.

“President Obama’s War on Coal means fewer jobs and higher energy costs for Americans. Coal is a critical component to our nation’s energy future, and I am proud to support this legislation that will help preserve this vital energy source for future generations,” Pompeo continued.

The Stop the War on Coal Act of 2012 contains a bundle of provisions which the House has already passed.

One provision prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions and restricts planned EPA rules regarding coal ash disposal and management.

The bill also restricts the Interior Department from issuing regulations regarding surface mining operations and limits the EPA’s ability to veto permits issued under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, while also promoting the cooperation between the federal government and the states regarding water pollution controls.

“The heavy-handed regulatory regime championed by this Administration and EPA is strangling the economy, driving up energy prices for consumers, and putting people out of work,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica, a Florida Republican who sponsored one of the provisions included in the bill.

Via: The Daily Caller

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8,786,049: Yet Another Record for Americans Collecting Disability

One person in sixteen collecting Disability Payments

(CNSNews.com) - The Social Security Administration has releasednew data revealing that 8,786,049 American workers are collecting federal disability insurance payments in September. That sets yet another record for the number of Americans on disability.

The 8,786,049 workers taking federal disability in September is a net increase of 18,108 from the 8,767,941 workers who took federal disability in August.

Over the past 45 years, the number of American workers taking federal disability payments has increased four-fold relative to the number actually working.

In August 1967, 74,767,000 Americans were working (according to theBureau of Labor Statistics) and 1,152,861 were taking federal disability insurance (according to the Social Security Administration). That means that at that time there were about 65 Americans working for each worker collecting disability.

In August 2012, 142,101,000 Americans were working and 8,767,941 were on disability--meaning there were only 16.2 people working for each person collecting disability.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a record 88,921,000 Americans were “not in the labor force” in August. These were Americans who were at least 16 years old, who were not in the military or in an institution such as a prison or a nursing home, and who did not have a job and had not actively sought one in the last four weeks.

Also in August, according to the BLS, only 63.5 percent of the civilian population (those over 16, who were not in the military or in an institution) participated in the labor force. That was the lowest level of labor force participation in 31 years. To participate in the labor force a person must either have a job or at least be actively trying to find one.

Via: CNS News

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Majority in U.S. Still Say Government Doing Too Much

But fewer Americans now say government has too much power

PRINCETON, NJ -- A majority of Americans (54%) continue to believe the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses, although that is down from the record high of 61% earlier this summer. About four in 10 Americans (39%) say the government should do more to solve the nation's problems.

Track the 2012 race and compare it to past elections >

Only a few times in Gallup's 20-year history of asking this question has a higher percentage of Americans said the government should do more to solve the nation's problems than said the government is doing too much. Two of these were in the fall of 1992 and again in early 1993, as Bill Clinton ran for and took office as president. Another was in October 2001, just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and at a time when Americans were especially supportive of government and its efforts to help the nation recover from the attacks and retaliate against those who were responsible.

Americans have been most likely to say the government was attempting to do too much during the middle years of the Clinton administration, and in recent years during the Obama administration.

Via: Gallup

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College suspends professor for allegedly attempting to force students to vote for Obama

A college professor has been placed on leave after she allegedly forced her class to sign a pledge to vote for President Obama in the upcoming elections.

Early last week Professor Sharon Sweet at Brevard Community College (BCC) allegedly told students to sign a pledge that reads: “I pledge to vote for President Obama and Democrats up and down the ticket.”

A college professor has been placed on leave after she allegedly forced her class to sign a pledge to vote for President Obama in the 2012 elections.

The pledge was printed off ofGottaVote.org, a website funded by the Obama campaign.

University administrators said they learned about the incident late Thursday afternoon and launched an investigation, after they received a phone call from a concerned parent.

“Based on the allegations, Associate Professor Sweet has requested, and been granted, a leave of absence without pay effective immediately,” reads a statement put out by John Glisch, Associate Vice President for Communications at BCC.

“The college will continue its investigation into the matter, which will include interviews with all students in her class,” continues the statement.

Sweet’s actions may have also violated Florida’s election laws.

Via: Campus Reform

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Setbacks Piling Up in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) — The end game in Afghanistan is off to a shaky start.

Just as the last U.S. "surge" troops leave the country, trouble is breaking out in ways that go to the core of the strategy for winding down the U.S. and allied combat role and making Afghans responsible for their own security. At stake is the goal of ensuring that Afghanistan not revert to being a terrorist haven.

Nearly two years after President Barack Obama announced that he was sending another 33,000 troops to take on the Taliban, those reinforcements are completing their return to the United States this week. That leaves about 68,000 American troops, along with their NATO allies and Afghan partners, to carry out an ambitious plan to put the Afghans fully in the combat lead as early as next year.

But the setbacks are piling up: a spasm of deadly attacks on U.S. and NATO forces by Afghan soldiers and police, including three attacks in the last three days; an audacious Taliban assault on a coalition air base that killed two Marines and destroyed six fighter jets; and a NATO airstrike that inadvertently killed eight Afghan women and girls.

The Pentagon on Monday identified the two Marines killed at Camp Bastion on Friday as Lt. Col. Christopher K. Raible, 40, of Huntingdon, Pa., and Sgt. Bradley W. Atwell, 27, of Kokomo, Ind. Raible was commander of the Harrier squadron that had six of its planes destroyed in the assault.

Tensions over the anti-Islam movie produced in the U.S. that ridicules the Prophet Mohammad also spread to Kabul, where demonstrations turned violent Monday when protesters burned cars and threw rocks at a U.S. military base.

Those events help the Taliban's aim of driving a wedge between the Americans and their Afghan partners. They also show that the Taliban, while weakened, remains a force to be reckoned with, 11 years after the first U.S. troops arrived to drive the Taliban out.

The extra troops began moving into Afghanistan in early 2010, pushing the total U.S. force to a peak of 101,000 by mid-2011.

The U.S. troop surge was supposed to put so much military pressure on the Taliban that its leaders — most of whom are in Pakistan — would feel compelled to come to the peace table. That hasn't happened. Preliminary contacts began, but have been stymied.

Via: Town Hall

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It's Later Than Any Dare Think

By BEN STEIN 

When republics fall, it's not always slow.

SaturdayIt is smoky up here in North Idaho today. Apparently there are major fires in Washington State and they are belching smoke. The smoke is blowing our way into the Idaho Panhandle. I can feel it in my pitiful weak lungs even with the windows closed and the air conditioning on.

I slept most of the day and then Alex and I roused ourselves and made our way west and north to Hill's Resort. The ride is beautiful along the Pendoreille River, with its vast width and sunny smoky meadows.

We stopped at the little store in Laclede and a kindly man from Canada gave me a lovely Exacto knife to allow me to open CD cases. Just out of the blue. I love that.

Then, gasoline in Priest River at Mama Mac's and up to the Falls Café, a tiny little bar/restaurant with a pool table about halfway between Priest River and Luby Bay. The Falls Café just might be the most perfect-looking small restaurant in the world. It has a glass floor in a place where you can look at the falls of a swift creek running under the building. It also has a pool table.

Today, there was a three generational family having dinner. Grandparents, parents, aunt, and children. As far as I could tell, it was a birthday party for a 12-year-old, incredibly pretty daughter. She smiled at me and I told her she would be a movie star. Her brother, possibly a twin, said, "Wait! I want to be a movie star, too."

On that note, I left. I did find out that the family was from Priest River. For some reason, Priest River has an amazing number of good-looking men and women. That whole family were great looking, male and female. I think their name was "Clark."

At Hill's, there was a big wedding so we ate in the bar very quickly, but alas, I got a HORRIBLE case of heartburn from a potato chip I had on the way up from the Falls Café. Nothing would help except my mother's home remedy -- peppermint Lifesavers -- and my sister's home remedy, Tazo Refresh tea.

I got the hot water for the tea back at the Falls Café. The manager/bartender told me about his 15 years as a cowboy in Montana. He said he worked fifteen-hour days, often starting at two in the morning, for room and board and $1500 a month. But, he loved the outdoor life. Now, he's planning to grow and sell organic vegetables and stay in Idaho. His name was Chance and he was as pleasant as can be.

About ten minutes later, as we were entering Priest River, the speed limit rapidly dropped from 60 to 35. Many are the tickets I have gotten there. Sure enough, a police car pulled me over just as I approached Mama Mac's gas station and café and general store. When the policeman saw it was me, he laughed, agreed I was not driving too fast, and said he just wanted to see if I had been drinking too much.

"I haven't had a drink since 1988," I said.

"Probably a good idea," he said.

He laughed more and walked away.

We stopped for more hot water at Mama Mac's just as it was closing. A very kind man with a shaved head who was sweeping up and closing the place shouted, "Drive safe, Ben." That touched me very much. I love being known in these small towns in North Idaho.

The main thing to be grateful for is how patiently my saint wife waits for me while I buy Tums and Pepto and tea and so forth. I am married to a goddess.

Via: The American Spectator

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VIDEO: Teachers’ Unions in Their Own Words

You may have heard: Chicago teachers are on strike.

Some facts you may not have seen (unless, of course, you’ve been reading the Foundry): the average Chicago teacher makes $71,000 a year before benefits. That’s $24,000 more than the average Chicago resident, and second only to New York City in teachers’ salaries.

Yet unions are demanding a hefty raise – though they’ve backed down from their initial demand for a 30 percent pay hike. And this is in a city where only 15 percent of fourth graders are proficient in reading, and only 56 percent actually graduate from high school.

So what is the teachers’ strike about, exactly? In a new Heritage video, we present some statements from the Chicago Teachers Union and other teachers’ unions about what exactly their goals are. Are they on strike for the students? For the schools? For themselves? You might be surprised.

Via: The Foundry

What If There Is NO President by January 20th

I think America should be prepared for every sort of political gymnastics conceivable come Tuesday, November 6th, 2012.

Battalions of lawyers are set to spring into action if there is a hint that Obama may lose. Planning and preparations for such an eventuality have been in progress since the early days of the Obama Administration.

Tying the election up in the courts is the plan. And these people are serious!

So what happens if, indeed the US election is tied up in the judicial system come noon on January 20th, 2013?

“In cases where a President has not been chosen by January 20 or the President-elect “fails to qualify,” the Vice President-elect becomes Acting President on January 20 until there is a qualified President. If the President-elect dies before noon January 20, the Twentieth Amendment states the Vice President-elect becomes President. In cases where there is no President-elect or Vice President-elect, the Amendment also gives the Congress the authority to declare an Acting President until such time as there is a President or Vice President. At this point the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 would apply, with the office of the Presidency going to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, followed by the President pro tempore of the Senate and various Cabinet officers.” SOURCE:

OK. But how exactly is the President-elect and Vice-President-elect decided, I mean, legally decided. And here it gets cloudy and open to all sorts of legal challenges.
There are at least two schools of thought on that.

“Some commentators doubt whether an official President- and Vice President-elect exist prior to the electoral votes being counted and announced by Congress on January 6, maintaining that this is a problematic contingency lacking clear constitutional or statutory direction. Others assert that once a majority of electoral votes has been cast for one ticket, then the recipients of these votes become the President- and Vice President-elect, notwithstanding the fact that the electoral votes are not counted and certified until the following January 6.” SOURCE:

Via: Canada Free Press

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'THE HOPE AND THE CHANGE' MOVIE TO AIR ON BROADCAST, CABLE TV

"The Hope and the Change,” the movie about Democrats and independents who voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 and will not do so in 2012, will air on a dozen television stations this fall leading up to the presidential election, Citizens United announced on Monday.  

Citizens United produced the film and has struck a deal to begin airing the movie on six broadcast stations and six cable stations beginning Tuesday on HDNet and through November’s presidential election. It will reach 130 million households and air on broadcast stations in Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Hawaii, and Colorado. The movie will air on cable channels such as FamilyNet, Rural TV, and HDNet movies. 

Sean Hannity said “The Hope and the Change” was the “most powerful documentary” he had “ever seen,” and the movie could only be produced because of the Supreme Court decision that did not place limits on political speech. 

“It is important to note that these distribution opportunities would have been against the law a mere three years ago. This is why I went to the United States Supreme Court – to fight for the right to produce a political documentary,” said Producer David N. Bossie. “’The Hope and The Change’ exposes the hard truth that many Democrats and independents are suffering at the hands of President Obama’s failed policies, and we will aggressively market this film so Americans can finally have an unfiltered conversation they deserve."

Stephen K. Bannon, who directed the film, said “the ability to reach 130 million American cumulative households with this historic deal is astonishing.”

“The power of the film comes from the collective unscripted and unrehearsed voices of the participants - ordinary Americans from every walk of life - who broke through the white noise of political speak,” Bannon said. 

Pat Caddell, the former Jimmy Carter adviser who helped conduct the film’s focus groups of Reagan Democrats from swing states like Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Colorado, said “this documentary gives real voice to ordinary Americans, Democrats and independents, who are, until now, unheard and ignored by the political class and mainstream media.”

“The power of these 2008 Obama voters comes from the fact that they were unscripted and spoke from their hearts,” Caddell said. 

Via: Breitbart

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