Report: Obama To Release 55 Prisoners From Gitmo

President Barack Obama is about to release or transfer 55 Gitmo prisoners, despite reports that the Libyan believed to be behind the killing of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens was a former Guantanamo inmate transferred to Libyan custody.

The large percentage of those scheduled to be released are Yemeni, according to a list made public by the Obama administration.

Obama stopped the release or transfer of Yemeni inmates in 2010, because the conditions in the country were viewed as too "unsettled" at the time. 

A release or transfer of 55 inmates means Obama is moving out one third of the prisoners at Guantanamo. And while it doesn't represent a shutdown of the facility, it's certainly indicative of a move toward that end. 

Could it be that Obama is trying to set himself up to campaign as the man who is taking steps to finally close Gitmo, just as he recently reversed the Afghanistan surge in order to campaign as the man who's winding down the war in the Afghanistan? 

The ACLU has praised the releases as "a partial victory for transparency."

Via: Breitbart

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Dems in hock to SEIU-owned bank

Classic crony capitalism from the Democrats.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) owes at least $8 million to a bank owned by one of the largest unions in the country, according to the committee's most recent financial report.

The DNC initiated an $8 million loan with the Amalgamated Bank of New York on Aug. 10, the report shows, accounting for the majority of the committee's overall debt of $11 million.

Amalgamated Bank, often described as "America's Labor Bank," is a national entity, the majority of which is owned by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a politically active union with deep ties to the Democratic Party. The SEIU is also involved with the Democracy Alliance, a shadowy group of wealthy left-wing donors founded by billionaire investor George Soros.

The bank announced in an August press release that the DNC had "moved its primary banking relationship" to Amalgamated Bank, which would handle the committee's "day-to-day banking needs."

The DNC had previously done most of its banking with Bank of America, which helped finance the Democratic convention in Charlotte.

DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz hailed the transition to Amalgamated Bank, and noted the longstanding political and financial ties between the two organizations.

The committee, she said, had a "fiduciary responsibility to those who invest in our party."

"It is critical that we honor their efforts to strengthen our infrastructure and build our organization by partnering with an institution that shares our commitment to standing with America's working families and small businesses," she said in a press release.

Via: American Thinker (BLOG)

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Rick Perry Reminds Obama What The National Debt Is...

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From Rick Perry's Twitter

More Americans now commit suicide than die in car crashes as miserable economy takes its toll

Suicide is a bigger killer than car crashes, according to an alarming new study.

The number of people dying from suicide has drastically increased, while car accident deaths haven lessened, making suicide the leading cause of injury death.

Suicides via falls or poisoning have risen significantly and experts fear there could be en more going unrecognised, specifically in cases of overdose.

The number of car crashes has declined, while suicides have increased

'Suicides are terribly under-counted,' said Ian Rockett, author of the study, published on Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health.

'I think the problem is much worse than official data would lead us to believe. We have a situation that has gotten out of hand.'

 

More...

• Tony Scott 'left $1million estate to wife and children' before committing suicide
• Horror at New York zoo as man, 25, is brutally mauled by a TIGER after leaping into its den from monorail in bizarre suicide attempt
• Two British soldiers killed in 'suspected suicides' on bases in southern Afghanistan

He added that his goal is to see the same attention paid to other injuries as has been paid to traffic injuries.

The results were compiled using National Centre for Health Statistics data gathered from 2000 to 2009. 

Researchers noted a 25 per cent decrease in car accident deaths, medicalxpress.com reported, while deaths from falls rose 71 per cent, from poisoning 128 per cent and from suicide 15 per cent.

Former U.S. Senator Gordon Smith spoke at a news conference to launch the suicide prevention programme

Higher automobile standards were credited for the traffic deaths drop, with harsher penalties for underage drinking and failing to wear seat belts named as contributing factors.

Previous research has suggested that suicide rates go up during recessions and times of economic crisis.

'Economic problems can impact how people feel about themselves and their futures as well as their relationships with family and friends,' Feijun Luo of CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention told Bloomberg.

'Prevention strategies can focus on individuals, families, neighborhoods or entire communities to reduce risk factors.'

The shift makes suicide the most frequent cause of injury deaths, followed by car crashes, poisoning, falls and murder.

The study also looked at gender and race, concluding that fewer women die from the top four causes than men, while Hispanics have fewer car crashes and suicides than whites but a higher murder rate.

In 2009, more than 37,000 Americans took their own lives, a number that the government and private groups such as Facebook are fighting to lower.

Via: Daily Mail

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Obama Campiagn: Messina: Forget The Tied National Polls, We're Winning

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina told reporters on Saturday that despite national tracking polls showing the president and Romney tied, Obama is still winning.

"In all the battleground states, we continue to see all our pathways there," he told the White House pool at an Obama fundraiser in Milwaukee. "We're either tied or in the lead in every battleground state 45 days out."

Messina, who drove from Chicago to Wisconsin to be with Obama on his first trip to a state that appears to have come into play when Paul Ryan was selected to be Romney's running mate, predicted that the national polling will get even closer, but that the president's lead will hold in key swing states.

"I think you will see a tightening in the national polls going forward," he said. "What I care way more about it Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, Wisconsin, etc. In those states, I feel our pathways to victory are there. There are two different campaigns, one in the battlegrounds and one everywhere else. That's why the national polls aren't relevant to this campaign."

In Wisconsin, Messina said the GOP is stronger than they are nationally, but maintained that the Obama campaign still has an edge

"This is one where ... because of the recall election, they test drove their car whereas in other states they haven't. It would make sense they're strong here, as are we. They are stronger than McCain was in '08, no question, on the ground. But we continue to have a strategic advantage" because of more field offices and infrastructure.

UPDATE: Romney Political Director Rich Beeson sends this statement in response to Messina:

“Governor Romney is seeing strong support across all the battleground states, including those President Obama won with close to double digit margins or more. We’ve had more people come out to knock on doors and make phone calls in support of Governor Romney because they understand we can’t afford four more years of policies that increase our debt, don’t create jobs, and have people working more for less. It’s why we now see states like Wisconsin, which Republicans haven’t won since 1984, now in play.”

Via: Buzz Feed

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Dick Morris: Why The Polls Understate Romney Vote

Republicans are getting depressed under an avalanche of polling suggesting that an Obama victory is in the offing. They, in fact, suggest no such thing! Here’s why:

1. All of the polling out there uses some variant of the 2008 election turnout as its model for weighting respondents and this overstates the Democratic vote by a huge margin.

In English, this means that when you do a poll you ask people if they are likely to vote. But any telephone survey always has too few blacks, Latinos, and young people and too many elderly in its sample. That’s because some don’t have landlines or are rarely at home or don’t speak English well enough to be interviewed or don’t have time to talk. Elderly are overstated because they tend to be home and to have time. So you need to increase the weight given to interviews with young people, blacks and Latinos and count those with seniors a bit less.

Normally, this task is not difficult. Over the years, the black, Latino, young, and elderly proportion of the electorate has been fairly constant from election to election, except for a gradual increase in the Hispanic vote. You just need to look back at the last election to weight your polling numbers for this one.

Via: Dick Morris

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Should there be early voting?

Early voting has begun in the 2012 election and some people, like our friend Matt Lewis, seem to think that’s a bad thing. Being opposed to extended voting opportunities is an idea which immediately sets off alarms for me, but it’s worth a moment to examine it as election day approaches.

Matt’s responding to an NBC News story which proclaims that nearly half the nation is already voting. Of course, that figure seems to include absentee ballots, which are not technically “early voting” since they won’t be recorded until election day. Also, there are plenty of people (especially our troops serving overseas) who have no other access to the ballot, so I would hope people aren’t protesting that.

But Matt is more focused on the places where the polls open days – if not weeks – in advance and in person voting is taking place. Follow the link for the full explanation of each, but here are the five points he’s making.

1. It doesn’t work
2. Voters are casting ballots before they have all the information
3. The cost — both to the taxpayer and the campaigns
4. Ballot integrity
5. Community

Item number one isn’t even worth a lengthy debate, in my opinion. The study in question relies on torturing the data with so many vague and glossy “variables” to arrive at a number – rather than just counting the number of votes cast – that it becomes a very murky soup. And the basic premise – that having more days with the ballots open somehow hinders voters – is counterintuitive on its face. They do make a point about it being “harder for the campaigns” to organize their get out the vote strategy, but that’s the problem of the campaigns, not the voters.

A part of me wants to sympathize with Matt on item number two, but this still comes down to a matter of personal responsibility. Something can always happen later. When do you get in on buying a new stock? On the first day or after it’s had time to ripen? Plus, these elections last so long now that you’ve doubtless got all the information you’re looking for prior to the final fifteen seconds before midnight on Monday. You pick when to vote and you live with your choice.

As to number four, ballot integrity, I have to scoff. Matt argues that most early voting is done by mail, “opening the door” to mischief of various sorts. Oregon and Washington vote exclusively by mail and somehow the specter of angry spouses throwing out votes has failed to materialize.

Via: Hot Air

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BACKFIRE: Medicare Bills Rise as Records Turn Electronic

When the federal government began providing billions of dollars in incentives to push hospitals and physicians to use electronic medical and billing records, the goal was not only to improve efficiency and patient safety, but also to reduce health care costs.

But, in reality, the move to electronic health records may be contributing to billions of dollars in higher costs for Medicare, private insurers and patients by making it easier for hospitals and physicians to bill more for their services, whether or not they provide additional care.

Hospitals received $1 billion more in Medicare reimbursements in 2010 than they did five years earlier, at least in part by changing the billing codes they assign to patients in emergency rooms, according to a New York Times analysis of Medicare data from the American Hospital Directory. Regulators say physicians have changed the way they bill for office visits similarly, increasing their payments by billions of dollars as well.

The most aggressive billing — by just 1,700 of the more than 440,000 doctors in the country — cost Medicare as much as $100 million in 2010 alone, federal regulators said in a recent report, noting that the largest share of those doctors specialized in family practice, internal medicine and emergency care.

For instance, the portion of patients that the emergency department at Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare in Utica, N.Y., claimed required the highest levels of treatment — and thus higher reimbursements — rose 43 percent in 2009. That was the same year the hospital began using electronic health records.

The share of highest-paying claims at Baptist Hospital in Nashville climbed 82 percent in 2010, the year after it began using a software system for its emergency room records.

Via: NYT

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Report: More than 200 coal-fired generators slated for shutdown

Within the next three to five years, more than 200 coal-fired electric generating units will be shut down across 25 states due to EPA regulations and factors including cheap natural gas, according to a new report by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).

“This is further evidence that EPA is waging a war on coal, and a war on affordable electricity prices and jobs. EPA continues to ignore the damage that its new regulations are causing to the U.S. economy and to states that depend on coal for jobs and affordable electricity,” said Mike Duncan, president and CEO of ACCCE, in a statement.

However, ACCCE notes that EPA policies may have played a role more than 4,800 megawatts of announced closures not included on in their report which would bring total shutdowns to 241 coal generator in 30 states — more than 36,000 MW of electric generation or 11 percent of the U.S. coal fleet.

The most affected states include Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, which will see a combined 103 coal-fired generators shut down.

“Actually our utility rates are higher and the impact is such that it’s going to interfere with the quality of life that a lot of individuals have in my community,” said John McNeil, mayor of Red Springs, N.C., in an ACCCE video — one of the heavily affected states.

According to ACCCE, coal provides more than half of North Carolina’s power. Poorer areas, like Red Springs, where a number of residents are on fixed income or live below the poverty line, are adversely affected by higher electricity bills because they eat up a greater portion of their income.

“During my lifetime, Red Springs has gone through some fairly significant changes. We don’t have the large textile plants which provide employments opportunities for many people. We’ve just shifted away,” said John Roberts of John’s Fuel Service, also in Red Springs.

Via: The Daily Caller

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Pelosi: Raise Taxes On All Workers Next Year

The Social Security payroll tax cut should be allowed to expire at the end of this year and lawmakers should turn instead to overhauling the entire federal tax code, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday.

The 2 percentage point reduction in the 6.2 percent payroll tax, first enacted last year, had been a major element of President Barack Obama's proposals to rejuvenate the economy. The effort to renew it for 2012 prompted a prolonged battle with Republicans last winter, especially in the House, and resulted in an eventual GOP surrender and a major victory for the president.

There has been little talk among Democrats about reviving the payroll tax cut yet again for next year, and Obama did not propose renewing it in his 2013 budget. Even so, few Democrats until now have said openly that the measure should be allowed to lapse.

Pelosi, D-Calif., declined to tell reporters whether she would continue as her party's leader next year should they fail to gain control of the House in November's elections. The one-time House speaker said that would be up to her fellow Democrats and her family as well "after all this time." Democrats need to gain 25 seats in the 435-member chamber to become the majority, which most analysts and many politicians consider unlikely.

Pelosi, 72, has been in the House since 1987 and has been the chamber's Democratic leader since 2003. She became the first female House speaker in history in 2007.

Pelosi also said she believes that "there isn't any way on the face of the Earth" that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be elected. Most national polls show Obama with a slight edge.

Via: Breitbart

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SECOND 'OCCUPY' WAVE COULD BE MORE DESTRUCTIVE

When the “Occupy” movement began a year ago, many initially dismissed it as a gathering of harmless college students. But the late Andrew Breitbart saw in the movement professional left-wing anarchists and radicals who sought to use the “Occupy” protests to violently overthrow the United States government, then destroy its institutions and the free market system.

Breitbart’s friend, Stephen K. Bannon, was one of those who had initially not taken the “Occupy” movement seriously until he saw occupiers shut down the Brooklyn Bridge. He knew then Breitbart was right, and immediately started a project with Breitbart that would turn into “Occupy Unmasked,” a movie that opened nationwide in theaters this week that systematically dismantled the notion that the Occupy movement was good-natured and peaceful. 

The lessons from the movie “Occupy Unmasked” are important to keep in mind as liberal intellectuals again try to mainstream a radical and violent movement to breathe life into something that, for now, has faded. The movie documents all the violence, filth, rapes, and systemic coordination between left-wing radicals and labor unions like the SEIU that was the real story behind the "Occupy" movement. 

In glorifying the “Occupy” movement and looking ahead to the its future, liberals revealed that a potential second coming of “Occupy” could be even more dangerous and violent than the first. 

Last week, progressive journalist Zeeshan Aleem, writing in The Huffington Post, claimed the Occupy movement “rivaled the Arab Spring” when it started. Though he was being complimentary in his comparison, his analogy may have been more apt than he realized. 

The Arab Spring led to violent radicals like the Muslim Brotherhood gaining power in countries like Egypt and heralded a wave of violence throughout North Africa and the Middle East -- attacking U.S. interests and murdering and ambassador in Libya -- as radical Islamists gain more of a foothold. Liberals celebrated these radicals and the “Arab Spring,” which ended up becoming more of an awakening for violent Islamists. 

Similarly, the second phase of Occupy has the same potential for more widespread destruction, chaos, and violence. 

Aleem conceded that for now the second phase of Occupy has not been as successful as the first. He admitted that a recent “Occupy”-style protest attempt on Wall Street “could not be called a success,” mainly because the NYPD was better prepared this time around.

But Aleem disturbingly asks, “What if instead of being fragmented into dozens of free-forming groups, all the Occupiers targeted one bank or one intersection simultaneously?”

These flash mobs, often violent, have popped up throughout the country, with crowds beating up random strangers or stealing merchandise from stores. 

Could these focused, violent flash mobs be in Occupy’s future? 

Via Breitbart

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Networks Favor Romney '47%' 13-1 Over Obama 'Redistribution'

In a clear sign of where their heart lies, the Big Three TV networks, by a whopping 13 to 1 margin, devoted much more coverage to Mitt Romney's month's old "47 percent" secret video than to President Obama's 14-year-old but just discovered wealth "redistribution" audio.

Over the three days this week that they hit the media, network morning shows and evening news devoted one hour, 28 minutes, 23 seconds to the Romney tape over 42 stories and just six minutes, 28 seconds over eight stories to the Obama clip.

And even if the timeline is shortened to the Tuesday night release of the Obama audio, the ratio is 10-1, according to an analysis provided to Secrets from conservative media watchdog Media Research Center.

And their analysis doesn't include Thursday night's NBC Saturday Night Live Weekend Update hit on the 47 percent tape or print coverage of the comments that NBC News anchor Brian Williams suggested was a "game changer" in the election still stuck at 47 percent to 47 percent according to Gallup.

"The double-standard within just one week of the news cycle is staggering. A surreptitiously taken video of Mitt Romney published by leftist magazine Mother Jones outpaced coverage of an Obama tape at a public event by a 10 to 1 ratio. It has to be asked if the scenarios were reversed and it was a hidden camera video of Obama published by the conservative National Review would the liberal media have reacted as excitedly?" asked MRC.

MRC collected some of the media's characterization of the Romney video that suggested it would doom his campaign:

"The media's furor over the Romney tape began on Monday night, September 17, when NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams teased viewers about Romney comments that he promised will 'raise eyebrows when heard.' By Tuesday morning the Big Three journalists were in full attack mode against Romney. ABC's Amy Robach, on Good Morning America, exclaimed: 'New bombshell rocking the Mitt Romney campaign.' ABC's George Stephanopoulos wondered where Romney's comments would 'register on the Richter Scale?' Later that evening, on ABC's World News, anchor Diane Sawyer joined her colleague in the tectonic imagery as she told viewers of the 'political earthquake that occurred on a seismic day' for the campaign."

Via: The Washington Examiner

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Pelosi claims 60 percent chance she’ll return as speaker despite polls to the contrary

In the end Pelosi will be the big loser and so will the party 

Nancy Pelosi told reporters Friday that she has a 60 percent chance of retaking the speaker’s gavel from John Boehner come January due to Republican plans to restructure Medicare for those 55 and younger.

“The momentum is coming our way,” Politico quoted Pelosi as saying.

Yet Pelosi’s rhetoric fails to square with polling data suggesting Democrats may pick up four seats and fall far short of the 25 seats Democrats need to reclaim the majority.

“[O]verall conclusions are pretty similar — modest Democratic gains, but continued Republican control,” Kyle Klondik, House editor for Larry Sabato’s “Crystal Ball” writes.

Other political pundits see similar wishful thinking in Pelosi’s comment.

“With the economy soft and 25 seats needed to retake the chamber, Democrats face considerable odds,” theBoston Globe reported Thursday . “Even as polls show public approval of Congress sinking to an all-time low, the vast majority of incumbents will win easy reelection.”

Pelosi also repeated her contention that Romney will go down in flames against President Obama.

“I don’t think there’s any way on the face of the earth that Mitt Romney wins the presidential,” Pelosi said.

Via Red Alert Politics

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Obama's Quasi-Tax Increases

When most people think about taxes, the first thing that comes to mind are federal and state taxes.  Some will remember sales taxes, Social Security taxes, and Medicare taxes. 

What unites all of these taxes are that they are burdens placed by government on the citizens of America.  When we talk about the full tax burden Americans endure, it behooves us to count all of the ways in which the government forces us to spend our money.

To understand the full tax burden of Americans, we need to look at all the government does that directly financially impacts each American.  For example, since 9/11, every time you fly, you have to allocate an extra hour or more to deal with security.  That hour you lose is a burden imposed by the government that does not show up on your regular tax bill, but since time is money, that hour does impact your life.

Any sort of government imposed non-tax financial burden can be called a quasi-tax in that it takes money out of the pockets of Americans, but it is not levied in the manner normal taxes are, and the money does not necessarily go directly to the government.

These quasi-taxes can have a huge impact on both the economy and the financial well-being of every American.  Additionally they can be extremely regressive and disproportionately target those Americans with the least money.

Obama has imposed a number of highly regressive quasi-taxes on Americans since he assumed office in 2009.

The price of gas has doubled under Obama.  While that entire price change is not Obama's fault, his support for dramatic reductions in new drilling permits on federal lands and his inept foreign policy in the Middle East have contributed to reducing the oil supply and hence increasing the price of gasoline.

Via: American Thinker

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LA CONFIDENTIAL: MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA COVERS UP $400M TAXPAYER BOONDOGGLE

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who also ran the Democratic National Convention, has now embroiled himself in a scandal of epic proportions with taxpayer dollars. Villaraigosa and staff negotiated a deal with Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) to build a football stadium in downtown Los Angeles. The price tag for the taxpayers: almost $400 million in debt, supposedly to be repaid by AEG. The stadium will be built on land currently occupied by the Los Angeles Convention Center. Los Angeles, as you may recall, doesn’t have a football team.

Sounds like a typical stadium boondoggle.

Except that it turns out that AEG is being sold, which means that the group that will perform the contract with the City of Los Angeles is not the same as the group that negotiated the contract. Here’s where it gets truly ugly: Villaraigosa knew about the upcoming sale, and told nobody. He kept it a secret. He said nothing to Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller and City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana. Members of the City Council, who will have to sign off on the deal, were kept in the dark, too.

“I’ve met with ... people who are looking to bring a football team. I'm not going to tell everybody everything we’re doing because we want a football team. And a lot of what happens here is, it’s got to be negotiated quietly,” said a frustrated Villaraigosa to the media.

Now, there is only one reason for Villaraigosa to hide the AEG sale from those who most needed to know about it. According to mayoral candidate Kevin James, that reason is simple: AEG received a sweetheart deal at taxpayer expense, which upped AEG’s sale price. Now the new buyers will have a great deal with the City of Los Angeles. And Villaraigosa will get to look like a hero for bringing the NFL to Los Angeles. Perfect for his gubernatorial run.

There’s something seriously fishy going on here. The details of the AEG deal must be examined closely, especially given the fact that Los Angeles already carries a $258 million deficit and a $27 billion unfunded pension liability.

But this is how Democrats do business. There’s a reason that Villaraigosa and Barack Obama are thick as thieves – when it comes to taxpayer dollars, they are thieves.

Via: Breitbart

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AP: Mitt Romney Runs Campaign Like CEO He Was

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney seems to be both candidate and campaign CEO these days, and some Republicans say he's trying to do too much.

He reviews TV ads and polling data on an iPad. He writes many of his speeches. He's often talking like a consultant.

One instance of that gave him trouble last week, when a secretly taped speech to donors was posted online just as polls show him narrowly trailing President Barack Obama.

"Here are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them," Romney said at the May fundraiser. "And so my job is not to worry about those people — I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Democrats accused Romney of writing off half of the country. The former Massachusetts governor insisted he was just talking about the polls and trying to make the point that 47 percent of people probably will support the Democratic incumbent, no matter what their reasons.

Some Republicans grimaced.

They say Romney's explanation was evidence of a big problem with his campaign: The nominee simply is taking on too many duties. Romney's job is to inspire voters, they say, and not manage every detail of his campaign.

"He was talking about the electorate as if it were a ledger sheet," said Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist who worked closely with Romney on his 2008 presidential campaign. "It diminishes him."

More broadly, the episode illustrated Romney's leadership style, which he's honed over decades in the private sector, where he was an actual CEO. It also provided a look at how he might lead the country as president.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden defended Romney's approach.

"It's his campaign," Madden said. "On a campaign like this, everything is derived from the candidate's vision, and the reason they are offering their leadership to the American people."

During three decades in private business, Romney made big money turning around struggling companies with hands-on leadership and a laser-like focus on the smallest details.

Via: AP

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More Americans Added to Food Stamps Than Find Jobs

An alarming data point from the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee: More Americans are being added to food stamps than are finding jobs. The data is detailed in this chart, provided by the committee:

As the chart shows, between April-June 2012 (the most recent three month block for which government data is available), only 200,000 jobs have been created while 265,000 individuals have been added to the food stamp rolls. Additionally, in that time period, 246,000 workers were awarded disability.

Another chart shows that the last three month block is part of a larger trend. The chart, also from the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee, shows that "Workforce Shrinks Since January 2009 While Millions Sign Up For Disability And Food Stamps."

As the chart shows, since January 2009, when President Barack Obama took office, the net change jobs has been negative (-1.3 million), while 5.7 million workers and dependents have been awarded disability and a whopping 15.1 million have been added to the food stamp rolls.

"A total of 46,670,373 Americans are now on food stamps," according to the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee. "The food stamp program has doubled in size since 2008 and quadrupled since 2001."

And the government program isn't cheap: "Spending on food stamps alone is projected to reach $770 billion over the next decade."

Via: The Weekly Standard

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POLITICO: 'OCCUPY UNMASKED' BREITBART'S 'LAST MAJOR PIECE OF WORK'

Today, Politico interviewed the two of the chief creators, along with Andrew Breitbart, of Occupy Unmasked, the new documentary examining the origins, motives, and effects of Occupy Wall Street. Citizens United President David Bossie and writer and director Stephen K. Bannon sat down with Politico’s Patrick Gavin, who rightly called Occupy Unmasked Andrew Breitbart’s “last major piece of work.”

The film, says Gavin, “portrays the occupy movements in such cities as New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., as dirty and dangerous encampments that exploited the grievances of average Americans.” Bossie described the movement as “this very well-organized machine, very much the hard-core left, the anarchists movement,” which “utilized the people who kind of felt put upon, or that their American dream or their hope of an American dream had been taken away: College kids that weren’t finding work, middle age folks who were out of work for a long period of time.”

Bannon added that the attitude prevalent in Occupy Unmasked – what he called “the fighting spirit of Andrew Breitbart” – is missing from the political debate today. “You just need that,” he added. “He was a unique guy at a unique sense of time. The conservative movement has really never had a guy who was that physical and that magnetic …. We’re really missing that.”

Via: Breitbart

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