Do Democrats really need to promote religious persecution?

Democrat politicians do not want respectful disagreement between evangelicals and gays.  War between homosexuals and evangelicals is important for them.  The Democratic Party, in order to raise money from gays and lock in millennial votes, is attacking freedom of thought, speech and religion.  This is a basic community organizing tactic: encourage grievance, divide the community, fan the flames of conflict, and inject government power into social problems.  By putting their own political interests before every other value, Democrats have pushed our country into a culture clash that is becoming unresolvable.

It is time to take a deep breath and reaffirm the principles we all love.  Phil Robertson, imperfect human being, master of the duck call, has given us a wake up call.

Gays have civil rights in our society -- along with all the rest of us.  When gay rights are made absolute, they threaten everyone's fundamental civil rights.  Homosexual wants and desires for universal acceptance are not civil rights. 

These are our civil rights:  freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom from involuntary servitude, the right to vote, the right to equality in public places, the right to due process of law, the right to equal protection under the law.  That's it.  

Our constitutional civil rights are inalienable, meaning God-given rights, based ultimately on the teachings of the Bible.  These are rights of individuals, not groups. 

Via: American Thinker

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Video: Big rush on ObamaCare, but how many will be insured?

As anyone could have predicted, the deadline for ObamaCare enrollment has prompted a surge in traffic to Healthcare.gov and state exchange websites. Mandate compliance will tend to focus attention, especially when the IRS could end up breathing down your neck for non-compliance. CBS News reports that record numbers of people signed up for insurance on the exchanges over the past week, but no one’s really sure if they actually will have insurance after January 1:

CBS calls these “enrollments,” but that’s actually the question. As CBS notes, insurers aren’t sure that the sign-ups will equate to actual enrollments for a number of reasons. Two of those reasons don’t get a mention in the report. First, the federal exchange and perhaps some of the state exchanges still have issues with their 834s, the electronic report that transmits enrollment data to insurers. The failure rate, by the administration’s own admission, is at least 10%. If the insurers don’t get the proper data, then they can’t enroll the customers. Second, the back-end subsidy payment system isn’t even in place, although the Obama administration’s workaround will be to have the insurers bill CMS for subsidy payments and to issue them without confirmation for a while. If enrollment data gets confused, customers might find their insurance cancelled even if they have been making their partial payments — unless insurers really want to go out on a limb and into the red on provider payments with short revenue.

Via: Hot Air

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[CARTOON] NSA Spying on Santa

Via: California Political Review

EIGHT WAYS TO OPT OUT OF OBAMACARE

With the deadline to sign up for Obamacare having come and gone, many Americans have decided to “opt out” of President Obama’s signature health care reform law, choosing instead to pay the $95 penalty for sidestepping the individual mandate.

“For many Americans opting out of Obamacare is the best decision they can make, but it's important that they do it the right way—just refusing to buy health insurance and not having another way to pay for catastrophic medical expenses is a mistake,” Sean Parnell, author of the newly-released The Self-Pay Patient, told Breitbart News. “People who want to opt out should be looking at alternatives to conventional health insurance, such as joining a health care sharing ministry or purchasing a fixed benefits policy."

Parnell also strongly advises Americans against opting out and simply paying the “list” price for medical visits and prescription drugs without shopping around, or by relying solely on the local hospital emergency room for routine medical care.

“This approach leaves people who opt out vulnerable to sky-high medical expenses at inflated ‘list’ or ‘chargemaster’ rates, and can result in an inability to obtain needed care because of cost,” Parnell writes on his blog, selfpaypatient.com.

Instead, Parnell recommends the following eight options for those who have opted out of ObamaCare:

1. Join a health care sharing ministry, which are voluntary, charitable membership organizations that share medical expenses among the membership.

Parnell states that Samaritan Ministries, Christian Healthcare Ministries, and Christian Care Ministry are open to practicing Christians, while Liberty HealthShare is open to those who are committed to religious liberty.

Healthcare sharing ministries “operate entirely outside of ObamaCare’s regulations, and typically offer benefits for about half the cost of similar health insurance,” says Parnell. “Members are also exempt from having to pay the tax for being uninsured.”

Via: Breitbart

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Liberal Commercial Talk Radio Disappears in NY, LA, SF in 2014

2014 will mark the beginning of a massive change for liberal talk radio across the country. In New York, WWRL 1600 AM will flip to Spanish-language music and talk, throwing Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, and Alan Colmes off the air. In Los Angeles, KTLK 1150 will be dumping Stephanie Miller, Rhodes, Bill Press and David Cruz off the air in favor of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. In San Francisco, KNEW 960 will leave Miller, Hartmann, and Mike Malloy without a radio home in the market.

Thanks to radio consolidation and the secondary status of leftist talk in major markets across the country, the final death knell for liberal talkers could be tolling. Leftist talkers simply don’t have the same radio draw as conservatives; KTLK was ranked #41 in the market in November 2013, with WWRL registering almost no pulse at all. KNEW registered just an 0.4 in the San Francisco market in December 2013, placing it #31 in the market.

The failure of commercial leftist talk means that only government-sponsored NPR remains in many major markets.

Via: Truth Revolt

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Poll: Americans Say 113th Congress is Worst Ever

An overwhelming majority of Americans say the 113th Congress is the worst in their lifetime, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll released Thursday. 

While nearly three quarters of the respondents said this has been a "do-nothing" Congress, two thirds of those surveyed said the current Congress is the worst in their lifetime, with 28 percent disagreeing.

Editor's Note: Should ObamaCare Be Defunded? Vote in Urgent National Poll 

"That sentiment exists among all demographic and political subgroups. Men, women, rich, poor, young old — all think this year's Congress has been the worst they can remember," Keating Holland, CNN polling director, said.

"Older Americans — who have lived through more congresses — hold more negative views of the 113th Congress than younger Americans. Republicans, Democrats and independents also agree that this has been the worst session of Congress in their lifetimes."

The telephone poll of 1,035 adults nationwide showed that 73 percent say Congress has done nothing to solve the country's problems, with roughly 25 percent disagreeing.

Indeed, less than 60 bills have been passed and signed into law during the past year, according to CNN, and there is not much optimism that next year will be much better.

Fifty-two percent believe the policies of Democratic leaders in Congress would move the country in the wrong direction, and 54 percent think the policies of the Republican leaders would do the same, the survey found. The poll, conducted Dec. 16-19, had a sampling error of plus or minus three percent.

One of the first tests of where Congress is headed in 2014 will be the fight over the debt ceiling, and analysts are somewhat divided about the prospects, reports The Washington Times. 

Via: Newsmax
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Tax Dollars at Work: Trooper Catches Dummy in HOV Lane

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
December 20, 2013 1:17 pm

A Seattle man was pulled over and ticketed Wednesday for driving in the HOV lane without a passenger, despite the driver’s use of a human-looking dummy, KCPQ reports.

State Trooper Anatolly Nazariya believed something was fishy and pulled the driver over, seeing that the passenger, dressed in Seattle Seahawks garb, was in fact fake. The driver was cited with an HOV violation, a fine worth $124.

Via: WFB

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Citizens take law into own hands after cash-strapped Ore. county guts sheriff's office

When budget woes reduced the sheriff's department in one rural Oregon county to a bare-bones force, residents decided to take matters into their own hands -- creating armed patrol groups in defiance of local officials. 

Their decision has raised safety concerns with the county government, which would prefer residents instead hike their own taxes to fund the hiring of trained deputies. But despite the risks, the move stands as a unique, some would say innovative, response to one of the country's most severe local budget crunches. 

The government in Josephine County, where nearly 70 percent of the land is owned by the U.S. government, had long relied on federal timber subsidies to pay the bills. When the feds terminated the funds, county officials scrambled to pass a May 2012 tax levy to make up a nearly $7.5 million budget shortfall.

However, the county's residents voted against the levy, and as a result the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office was gutted. The major crimes unit closed, dozens of prisoners were released from the county jail and the department reduced operations to Monday-Friday, eight hours a day.

The Sheriff’s Office then issued a press release announcing their deputies would only be responding to what they deemed “life-threatening situations.”

Ken Selig -- who was the longest-serving law enforcement officer in all three local agencies when he was forced to retire from the department due to cuts -- told FoxNews.com he found the sheriff’s declaration unacceptable. And he felt compelled to guard his community’s vulnerable members.

Vis Fox News Politics

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[CARTOON] Reason for the Season

Via: California Political Review

Lack aid? Many counties have only pricey plans for ObamaCare

More than half of the counties in 34 states using the federal health insurance exchange lack even a bronze plan that's affordable — by the government's own definition — for 40-year-old couples who make just a little too much for financial assistance, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

Many of these counties are in rural, less populous areas that already had limited choice and pricey plans, but many others are heavily populated, such as Bergen County, N.J., and Philadelphia and Milwaukee counties.

More than a third don't offer an affordable plan in the four tiers of coverage known as bronze, silver, gold or platinum for people buying individual plans who are 50 or older and ineligible for subsidies.

Those making more than 400% of the federal poverty limit — $47,780 for an individual or $61,496 for a couple — are ineligible for subsidies to buy insurance.

The USA TODAY analysis looked at whether premiums for the least expensive plan in any of the metal levels was more than 8% of household income. That's similar to the affordability test used by the federal government to determine whether premiums are so expensive consumers aren't required to buy plans under the Affordable Care Act.

The number of people who earn close to the subsidy cutoff and are priced out of affordable coverage may be a small slice of the estimated 4.4 million people buying their own insurance and ineligible for subsidies. But the analysis clearly shows how the sticker shock hitting many in the middle class, including the self-employed and early retirees, isn't just a perception problem. The lack of counties with affordable plans means many middle-class people will either opt out of insurance or pay too much to buy it.

Via: USA Today

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CNN Poll: GOP has edge in early midterm indicator

Washington (CNN) - Democrats have lost their advantage and Republicans now have a slight edge in the battle for control of Congress, according to a new national poll.

A CNN/ORC International survey released Thursday also indicates that President Barack Obama may be dragging down Democratic congressional candidates, and that the 2014 midterm elections are shaping up to be a low-turnout event, with only three in 10 registered voters extremely or very enthusiastic about voting next year.

Two months ago, Democrats held a 50%-42% advantage among registered voters in a generic ballot, which asked respondents to choose between a Democrat or Republican in their congressional district without identifying the candidates. That result came after congressional Republicans appeared to overplay their hand in the bitter fight over the federal government shutdown and the debt ceiling.

But the Democratic lead evaporated, and a CNN poll a month ago indicated the GOP holding a 49%-47% lead. The new survey, conducted in mid-December, indicates Republicans with a 49%-44% edge over the Democrats.

The 13-point swing over the past two months follows a political uproar over Obamacare, which included the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov and controversy over the possiblity of insurance policy cancelations due primarily to the new health law.

"Virtually all the movement toward the GOP has come among men," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "Fifty-four percent of female voters chose the Democratic candidate in October; 53% pick the Dem now. But among male voters, support for Democratic candidates has gone from 46% in October to just 35% now."

Republicans have a 17-seat advantage in the House and Democrats hold a 55-45 majority in the Senate.

Via: CNN

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Target hackers stole encrypted bank PINs, could make fraudulent withdrawls

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) — The hackers who attacked Target Corp and compromised up to 40 million credit cards and debit cards also managed to steal encrypted personal identification numbers (PINs), according to a senior payments executive familiar with the situation.

One major U.S. bank fears that the thieves would be able to crack the encryption code and make fraudulent withdrawals from consumer bank accounts, said the executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the data breach is still under investigation.

Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said “no unencrypted PIN data was accessed” and there was no evidence that PIN data has been “compromised.” She confirmed that some “encrypted data” was stolen, but declined to say if that included encrypted PINs.

“We continue to have no reason to believe that PIN data, whether encrypted or unencrypted, was compromised. And we have not been made aware of any such issue in communications with financial institutions to date,” Snyder said by email. “We are very early in an ongoing forensic and criminal investigation.”

The No. 3 U.S. retailer said last week that hackers stole data from as many as 40 million cards used at Target stores during the first three weeks of the holiday shopping season, making it the second-largest data breach in U.S. retail history.

Target has not said how its systems were compromised, though it described the operation as “sophisticated.” The U.S. Secret Service and the Justice Department are investigating. Officials with both agencies have declined comment on the investigations.

The attack could end up costing hundreds of millions of dollars, but it is unclear so far who will bear the expense.

While bank customers are typically not liable for losses because of fraudulent activity on their credit and debit cards, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Santander Bank said they have lowered limits on how much cash customers can take out of teller machines and spend at stores.

Via: Daily Caller

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Jesse Jackson: ‘Duck Dynasty’ star is worse than Rosa Parks’ bus driver

Political activist and former presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson ripped suspended Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson in a statement on Wednesday, saying his actions were worse than that of the bus driver who denied service to Rosa Parks, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law,” Jackson said in his statement. “Robertson’s statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was ‘white privilege.’”

Jackson’s remarks effectively serve as a rebuke to Illinois Republican congressional candidate Ian Bayne’s Dec. 20 email to supporters calling Robertson “the Rosa Parks of our generation” for what Bayne portrayed as an attempt to withstand persecution of Christians.

While various Republican figures have tried to defend Robertson’s statements to GQmagazine regarding homosexuality by arguing that he was expressing his religious beliefs,there has been less attention paid to his allegations that Black people he knew were “singing and happy” while living under Louisiana’s Jim Crow laws.

“I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’ — not a word,” Robertson told GQ. “Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.”

Jackson’s statement also called for executives at A&E Network, which airs Robertson’s show, and Cracker Barrel, which sells Duck Dynasty-related merchandise, to meet with himself and representatives from not only his organization, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, but the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the National Organization for Women.

“It is unacceptable that a personality who has been given such a large platform would benefit from racist and anti-gay comments,” the statement read.

Cracker Barrel reversed course on Sunday and resumed selling the show’s merchandise after fans of the program complained.

Via: The Raw Story

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