Impeachment Lessons: The Nineties taught us it’s not guilt that matters; it’s political will.

Well whaddya know: The topic of impeachment reared its head at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Jonathan Strong’s report here at NRO noted the wincing consternation of GOP-leadership aides at utterances of the “i-word” during the testimony of prominent legal experts. For the Republican establishment, it seems, history begins and ends in the 1990s: No matter howtimes have perilously changed, any talk of shutdowns or impeachment is bad, bad, bad. Yes, the Obama “uber-presidency,” as left-of-center law professor Jonathan Turley called it, has enveloped the nation in what he conceded is “the most serious constitutional crisis . . . of my lifetime,” but GOP strategists would just as soon have us chattering about immigration “reform” and bravely balancing the federal budget by, oh, around 2040.

But as we discussed in this August column — back when the first anniversary of the Benghazi massacre loomed, back when many Americans still believed that if they liked their health-insurance plans, they could keep their health-insurance plans — it is not crazy to talk about impeaching President Obama. And if you’re going to have a congressional hearing about systematic presidential lawlessness, it is only natural that the word “impeachment” gets bandied about. Not only is impeachment the intended constitutional remedy for systematic presidential lawlessness; it is, practically speaking, the only remedy.

Via: NRO

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IBD Poll: 65 Percent of Americans Oppose Bailing Out Insurers If Obamacare Can't Draw Enough Young Customers

The front page of Friday’s Investor’s Business Daily carried bad polling news for Obamacare. John Merline reported: “The public overwhelmingly opposes any ObamaCare bailout of the insurance industry, the latest IBD/TIPP Poll found, even as the Obama administration is paving the way to do just that.”

You might not see this poll elsewhere, but it found that 65 percent oppose a federal bailout of insurance companies if their profits take a hit because not enough young, healthy people sign up for ObamaCare plans.

Opposition is widespread, the poll of 907 adults found, with 51% of Democrats, 71% of Republicans and 76% of independents against it. It's opposed by every age and demographic group as well.

Although few people knew about it until recently, the health law contains a three-year "risk corridor program" designed to bail out insurers if costs were higher than anticipated from too few young people enrolled.

The administration planned on 2.7 million young enrolling in the first year. Early data show that relatively few are doing so. And a Harvard University survey found less than a third of young uninsured say they plan to buy an ObamaCare exchange plan.

Merline added that Gary Cohen, a top official at HHS, told the industry not to worry, since, as he put it in a letter to state insurance commissioners, "the risk corridor program should help ameliorate unanticipated changes in premium revenue." He concluded: “Translation: Taxpayers will bail the industry out of any costs created by Obama's ‘fix.’”

Via: Newsbusters.org

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[VIDEO] Watch the Terrifying ‘War on Christmas’ Ad That’s Been Airing on Fox and MSNBC

If you thought Sarah Palin was the fiercest fighter in the war against the War on Christmas, think again. The four-year-old girl who stars in a new ad that’s been popping up on Fox News and MSNBC over the past week has Palin beat.

The ad, which was produced by St. Mary’s Parish of Barnegat, New Jersey, features a young girl only identified as “Amy” who goes from smiling to frowning to screaming to laughing over the course of 30 seconds as the voiceover warns that “not everyone is OK” with her celebrating Christmas. The full narration reads:

“This is Amy. She lives in America. She’s free to smile to show she’s happy. Everyone’s OK with this.

Amy is a Christian. She’s also free to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ to show she’s happy. But not everyone is OK with this.

We are one nation under God. No man owns Amy’s happiness. No man will define how she shows it.”

If you live in New York or New Jersey and watch a lot of cable news, chances are you’ve seen the ad. If not, you’re in for quite a treat. Is this a genuine fight against the War on Christmas? Some elaborate form of satire in the vein of Stephen Colbert‘s “Blitzkrieg on Grinchitude”? Either way, it should help inspire/amuse you this holiday season.

Watch video below, via Fox News:

Via: Mediaite.com

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Reflecting on America's Resolve: 72nd Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Attack

Today marks the 72nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. As Americans reflect on what President Franklin D. Roosevelt called “a date which will live in infamy,” let us also remember the resolve Americans and the U.S. military showed in response.

The attack killed over 2,400 Americans, destroyed nearly 200 aircraft, and sunk or damaged eight battleships. Japanese officials intended to maim the U.S. fleet to deter America from fighting Japan’s advances in the Pacific, but they failed to account for the resiliency of the American spirit.

Six of the sunken battleships were quickly resurrected from the sea bed, and fortunately, the U.S. aircraft carriers were not in Pearl Harbor that day, thus preserving one of America’s most important naval assets. While the Japanese hoped the attack would bring the U.S. to its knees, Americans responded undeterred. Leading up to the Battle of Midway, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz promised “to meet our expected visitors with the kind of reception they deserve.”

Admiral Nimitz recognized one major strategic weakness in the Pacific Fleet: the U.S. Navy did not have sufficient maintenance capabilities forward deployed in the Pacific. Putting these secondary assets in place proved essential in outlasting the Japanese. In battles such as Coral Sea, Midway, and Tarawa, American aircraft carriers proved to be a decisive factor.

The U.S. Navy today faces similar challenges with both fleet size and maintenance. The shipbuilding budget has been chronically underfunded for years, jeopardizing the production of new carriers, destroyers, submarines, and support vessels. As a result, older ships are kept in the fleet longer and deployed longer without maintenance. Fleet readiness has fallen. For example, mechanical failures forced the USS Essex, an amphibious assault vessel, to cancel numerous deployments. One mechanical failure even resulted in the Essex colliding with a tanker.

Via: The Foundry

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1,148,000 Fewer Americans Have Jobs Today Than 7 Yrs Ago

(CNSNews.com) - 1,148,000 fewer Americans held jobs this November than did seven years ago in November 2006, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Back then, according to BLS, 145,534,000 Americans held jobs. This November, according to BLS, only 144,386,000 Americans hold jobs. That is a drop of 1,148,000 in the number of Americans working.

This decline in the number of Americans who actually have jobs has come even though the size of the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population and the size of the nation’s civilian labor force have both grown significantly over the last seven years.

Via: CNS News
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IRS using Google Maps to spy on taxpayers

Agents from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are using Google Maps as part of their tool kit to audit taxpayers and organizations, The Daily Caller has learned.

A redacted IRS letter dated Sept. 8, 2011 reveals that at least in one case the IRS’s examiners used photos of a property, obtained through Google Maps, as evidence to revoke the 501(c)(4) status of a homeowner’s association.

“The road consists of a two-mile loop around the inside of the property. It goes not have any sidewalks or bicycle lanes. The examining agent printed and copied a map from Google Maps (www.google.com) into this report,” states the letter.

501(c)4 is a tax-exempt status that includes certain “social welfare organizations,” “local associations of employees,” “homeowners associations,” “volunteer fire companies,” and certain lobbying organizations.

The IRS became mired in scandal in May 2013 after a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that IRS staffers had singled out tea party groups seeking 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status for extra scrutiny.

The agency did not return The Daily Caller’s request for comment for this report.

In formal guidance issued to IRS agents inspecting historical conservation sites, however, Google Maps and the online real estate database Zillow are mentioned as tools to help determine whether a property meets the regulatory requirements necessary to receive charitable contributions.

In addition to using freely available aerial and street photographs to survey property, agents are also encouraged to use search engines to research background information on suspected tax cheats.

Via: Daily Caller

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‘President Latch-on’ knows how to find the limelight

President Barack Obama never even once visited the iconic Nelson Mandela while he was still alive, but count on him hogging all the limelight he can at the freedom hero’s funeral.

t is a matter of public record that Obama ignored Mr. Mandela during all four years of his first term as president.

Michelle Obama briefly visited Mandela during her 2011 South African trip before going on safari with her two daughters. 

During Obama’s June 2013 South African trip, Obama “deferred” to the family of an ailing Mandela by not visiting Mandela at his sick bed.

Does anyone notice how Obama excels at latching on to public figures like any common opportunist?  Today it’s Nelson Mandela.  Yesterday it was Pope Francis.

Obama gives the world the impression that he has suddenly fallen in love with an allegedly-gone-completely-Marxist Francis.

After first channeling most of the American presidents, Obama proves he will hitch a ride on anybody’s little red wagon he views as important.

“I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela’s life,” said Obama.  “And like so many around the globe, I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example that Nelson Mandela set”.

Too bad, Obama hadn’t taken the opportunity to speak those passionate words into the ear of Mr. Mandela during his first term of office when Mr. Mandela was still alive.

These are the words Obama used in describing his newfound admiration for Pope Francis: “I think Pope Francis is showing himself to be a just and extraordinarily thoughtful, and soulful, messenger of peace and justice.”

Via: Canada Free Press

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Obama Warns Millennials of Bar-Related Injuries

Something is up!  The "young invincibles" who were largely responsible for catapulting Barack Obama into the seat of power appear to be spurning ObamaCare and its joke of a website.  A recent Harvard University Institute of Politics poll revealed that 50% of 18- to 29-year-olds disapprove of ObamaCare and believe that it will raise their health care costs. 

Compounding that problem is the fact that less than one third of uninsured young people say they plan to enroll in coverage, which means that those the president was depending upon to carry the weight of health care costs would rather spend the little money they have trying to get their Obama logo tattoo lasered off.

Good for them!  America's youth are smarter than Obama gives them credit for.  They've figured out that the guy who's ruined their chances for a lucrative career now wants them to shoulder the bulk of the costs for his health care bill with money that his economic policies have prevented them from earning.  Seems those between the ages of 18 and 29 are on to the president's Ponzi scheme, wherein the government wrangles the young into shifting their nonexistent resources to older, sicker Americans.

A recent Gallup survey found that more than one quarter of people without health insurance would rather pay the fine. 

Via: American Thinker

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