New York Panel Wants Taxpayers to Foot the Bill for Gender Reassignment Surgery

A state panel advising New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants taxpayers to foot the bill for transgender residents to get "sexual reassignment surgery," allowing them to change their physical characteristics from a man to a woman or woman to man. "Provide Medicaid coverage for transgender surgery/hormone replacement therapy and treatment," read the proposal submitted by the state's health disparities work group.

The panel is submitting recommendations to Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team for possible inclusion in the governor's budget plan.

A state Health Department spokesman confirmed that requiring Medicaid to cover gender reassignment surgery is being considered.

"Medicaid doesn't cover the surgery," said the department's Jeff Gordon. "This issue is under review by the Medicaid Redesign Team."

The proposal -- coming just months after Cuomo won national attention for steering a gay-marriage law through the state legislature -- came under fire from the political right.

"This is an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars," said state Conservative Party chairman Mike Long.

Long insisted sex-change procedures are cosmetic and encourage permissiveness, adding, "I hope the governor doesn't push the envelope on this." More on the AMA's Adadictomy procedure!

Unemployment rates in 20 selected cities

Highest unemployment rates August 2011
El Centro, Calif. 32.4
Yuma, Ariz. 29.4
Merced, Calif. 17.5
Yuba City, Calif. 17.0
Stockton, Calif. 16.1
Modesto, Calif. 16.0
Fresno, Calif. 15.8
Visalia-Porterville, Calif. 15.7
Hanford-Corcoran, Calif. 15.3
Palm Coast, Fla. 14.9

Lowest unemployment rates August 2011
Bismarck, N.D. 3.0
Lincoln, Neb. 3.6
Fargo, N.D. 3.9
Portsmouth, N.H. 4.4
Rapid City, S.D. 4.5
Sioux Falls, S.D. 4.5
Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb. 4.6
Burlington, Vt. 4.6
Midland, Texas 4.8
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, La. 4.9

Federal judge upholds most of Alabama immigration law

A Birmingham federal judge today upheld most sections of Alabama's tough new immigration law. U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn ruled on a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to block the law.

Blackburn upheld a provision of the state law related to police stops and detentions of people suspected of being in the country illegally.

She also upheld sections requiring schools to check the citizenship status of children and sections that would nullify contracts knowingly entered into with unauthorized aliens.

Blackburn also upheld a section making it a felony for "an alien not lawfully present in the United States" to apply for a license plate, driver's license, business license or other business license. Source!

There's always next year . . .

Woman reportedly injured by exploding D.C. toilet

A toilet reportedly exploded Monday and injured a woman at the General Services Administration Building in D.C.

The D.C. Fire and EMS Department confirms a woman went to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

"The GSA National Capital Regional Office Building experienced a building mechanical incident, which we understand may have resulted in injuries," a GSA statement reads. A memo made the rounds in the GSA building, warning people not to flush.

"Do NOT flush toilets or use any domestic water," Channel 9 quotes the memo as saying.

"Due to a mechanical failure, there is high air pressure in the domestic water system that resulted in damage to toilets ... There has been damage to flushed toilets that has resulted in injuries."

The GSA has refused to respond to specific questions, only referring to its statement.

"The restrooms are back in service, and mechanical systems are being monitored as we speak," the statement says.

The incident is not the first of its kind in the United States. A trial lawyer in Memphis, Tenn., Parke Morris, says he represented a client who was seriously injured when a urinal exploded in a GSA building. Porcelain terror source!

Michael Moore, in full sedition

Tummy-tuck candidate and filmmaker Michael Moore is throwing his weight behind the angst-ridden Day of Rage protesters. After dinner Monday, Moore headed down to Wall Street to speak to a few hundred participants claiming that the protests are going to “grow pretty fast.”

In speaking to the individuals who continue to camp out against “corruption,” Moore said, ”It warms my heart to see all of you here.”

Dumbo continued, “These people on Wall Street ripped off the future of many of these young people here and their not-yet-born fatherless children. It was the greatest heist of my lifetime and I will find a way to profit off their 'pretend' pain. This protest has to start somewhere, and it might as well have started here.”

But on CNN, Michael Moore admitted he's made his fortune on the backs of the little guy:

Trucking Industry Collapsing Under Obama's Regulations

As President Barack Obama is touring the country touting his so-called jobs bill, he’s not talking about one of the largest job killers facing American industry — regulation. American Job Creators is compiling stories of how over-regulation is destroying jobs nationwide.

One of the most regulated industries in the United States is over-the-road trucking. Nearly anything you have in your house, from light bulbs, to toilet paper, to your flat-screen television, was delivered to where you bought it by truck – indeed, 70 percent of all goods travel by truck. And every year, more regulations are piled on top of one of the key industries for the American economy.

Wayne Meyer drives a refrigerated truck, delivering 640-pound blocks of cheese, and he has been driving for 42 years: "When I first started driving we had log books, but they weren’t enforced. Then they got into control of speed, but I was over in California and California has always been nasty about trucks and speed anyway. We’re around 200,000 drivers short, and they’re making it to where you’ve got to be a jail house lawyer to get down the road. It’s turning a lot of guys off from being a driver."

Chris Christie Reconsidering 2012 Run

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is reconsidering his decision not to enter the 2012 presidential race — and he says he will let top Republican donors know within days about his plans, Newsmax has learned.

During the past few weeks, several leading Republican donors and fundraisers have been urging the popular Republican governor to reconsider his decision not to run and to enter the GOP primary.

These Christie supporters note that significant GOP support has remained on the sidelines of the primary fight. Many leading fundraisers have yet to commit to any current primary contender, including frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Source!

Georgia Middle School Assignment: Depict ‘Positive’ Aspects of Shariah Law

A Georgia middle school adjusted its lessons after a father complained that his daughter’s homework assignment promoted Shariah law.

According to the Marietta Daily Journal, the assignment was supposed to teach students at Campbell Middle School about the pros and cons of school uniforms. It featured a letter from a woman who said she is “proud and happy” to be Muslim and to completely cover herself in public — and also that her husband could take another wife rather than divorce her if their marriage gets rocky: Read the LETTER!

Americans Express Historic Negativity Toward U.S. Government

A record-high 81% of Americans are dissatisfied with the way the country is being governed, adding to negativity that has been building over the past 10 years. Graphs!

San Antonio High School Teacher calls local Tea Party president a Nazi (video)

Tempers flared during a town hall meeting on the Dream Act Tuesday night. During the meeting a San Antonio high school government teacher called the local Tea Party president a Nazi.

The exchange was recorded and posted on You tube.
"When you get to name calling that just shows that there is no logic to your argument any further. It's all emotion, " said George Rodriguez, President of the San Antonio Tea Party.

The teacher's emotion came from a panelist's comment that school administration should deport undocumented students.

"So you would have students in this room deported?" asked the teacher.

The panelist replied, "Yes, I would if they were illegal. You bet."

Rodriguez also told the teacher if the person is here illegally, they are breaking the law. "You know what I would have? I would have you teach more balanced - conservative," added Rodriguez.

After those remarks is when the teacher made the Nazi comment saying, "You can just say what you are - a Nazi."

(But of course) Edgewood ISD will not be taking any disciplinary action against the teacher.

East Wing Bling: Mooch-chelle's enjoying a lavish year

Michelle Obama dazzles in New York, wearing diamond bangles (She's gotta be lovin' this)

That was no ordinary bling on the wrist of First Lady Michelle Obama at the DNC fundraiser in New York Tuesday night. Those fancy diamond cuffs were the creation of 23-year-old Katie Decker, whose namesake jewelry line has been making a serious splash since her graduation from Texas A&M two years ago.

The native Houstonian is over the moon with the fab pub that photos of the first lady in Katie Decker are already providing. Michelle Obama's stylist picked up the bracelets at Katie's showroom in Fragments in Soho. The bracelets were on loan for the evening; a common practice in the fashion industry. You can see more photos of the Obamas from the evening here by checking out the Gotham Hall event.

If you've been saving your nickels and dimes, the cuffs are available locally at Judith Ann Jewels. The First Lady wore Katie's Lotus cuff priced at $15,000 with 2.9 carats of diamonds, her Gothic cuff at $15,350 with 2.17 carats in diamonds and the Quatrefoil bracelet at $11,800 with 1.73 carats in diamonds.

As Katie continues her rise in the ranks of jewelry design she has participated in Couture, the trade show for jewelery designers, in Las Vegas and has now been accepted for the Centurion Jewelry Show in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Is this embarrassing Obama photo a fake?

The photo has sparked widespread debate about whether it’s real or not (proof?); "hopefully the Chinese won't recall all those loans."

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Made in China

When it was built in 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was a Depression-era project that put scores of Americans to work. When its $6.3 billion replacement opens in two years, it will be an international affair from the bottom up, an example of massive outsourcing that has drawn criticism. Video!

Ed: 35 States received less taxpayer money for bridges and highways than Obama's Green darling (and personal political supporter) Solandra received and flushed down the toilet.

"We Are Heroes, Who Need to Create a Crisis," SEIU.

SEIU’s Stephen Lerner at Progressive Summit Tells Unions, Community Organizers and Students They Need to Escalate Protests, Break Laws, Occupy Abandoned Houses and Spread the Crisis All Over U.S.

Ed: B...b...but I thought it was those crazy TEA Partiers that are inciting riots?

Mr. & Mrs. Taxpayer: You Are STUPID! Watch this video!

And now, fools; the EBT song!

So, Mr. & Mrs. Taxpayer; how many freeloaders are you allowed to deduct as dependants? Call your Representative!

Obama, Holder and Mexico join together fighting millions of U.S. citizens

The person in this video is Professor Terry J. Lovell, Ph.D., at Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona. He puts a different spin on what Obama and Attorney General Holder are doing to Arizona:

Obama's urgent jobs plan: Right now, 'right now' means sometime next month . . . maybe

Everybody remembers the urgency of President Obama's attitude toward the awful jobs situation.

Back in early August, Obama said the jobs situation was so urgent that he was going to give another speech about it -- in a month or so, in September after his vacation on Martha's Vineyard.

And then in September the president announced he would give his major jobs speech to a joint session of Congress on Sept. 7. But he neglected to check with congressional leaders first. And they suggested the 8th. So, since it was their House, the 8th it was.

"Tonight," the president said in the first 34 of his 4,021 words to a national television audience that night, "we meet at an urgent time for our country. We continue to face an economic crisis that has left millions of our neighbors jobless, and a political crisis that has made things worse."

The speech got panned as another political campaign one with Obama announcing, in effect, that since the first stimulus spending plan of $787 billion hadn't really worked, maybe another $447 billion stimulus spending plan would.

This is the kind of thinking that can make sense within Washington. But since "stimulus" has become a laugh line, he didn't use that word anymore. Source!

Obama to propose $1.5 trillion in new tax revenue

Drawing a bright line with congressional Republicans, President Barack Obama is proposing $1.5 trillion in new tax revenue as part of his long-term deficit reduction plan, according to senior administration officials.

The president on Monday will announce a proposal that includes repeal of Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers, nearly $250 billion in reductions in Medicare spending, $330 billion in cuts in other mandatory benefit programs, and savings of $1 trillion from the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the officials said.

All in all, the president's plan is as much an opening bid as it is a political statement designed to draw contrasts with Republicans, who control the House of Representatives.

As such, it was not intended as a compromise and did not include agreements Obama had reached with House Speaker John Boehner during failed deficit reduction negotiations this summer.

TSA Workers at Honolulu Airport Fired for Not Screening Bags

Dozens of employees at Honolulu's airport were fired or suspended after an investigation found workers did not screen checked bags for explosives, the Transportation Security Administration said Friday.

The firings and suspensions amounted to the single largest personnel action for misconduct in the federal agency's history. It said in a statement that 28 workers were "removed," 15 suspended, and three resigned or retired. The cases of two other employees were still being decided.

The agency began an investigation at the end of last year after two Honolulu employees told officials that thousands of bags weren't checked properly or screened for traces of explosives.

The probe, which included interviews with more than 100 employees, determined that some checked bags during one shift at the airport were not properly screened.

In June, the TSA placed 36 of the workers on paid administrative leave as it began the process of firing them. It also suspended 12 workers at that time. The Honolulu airport has 750 TSA employees.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents TSA workers, has said the employees faced pressure to make sure flights departed on time.

The workers can appeal the decision, the agency said. A TSA spokesman declined to comment because it involved personnel issues. Story!

Motive Unclear In Attack By Group Of Black, Hispanic Teens On 16th Street Mall

Police are asking for the public’s help tracking down a large group of violent teenagers.

They say 10 to 15 young people — described as black or Hispanic and both male and female — attacked four white men on the 16th Street Mall at about 10:45 p.m. on Sunday.

Denver police say the men were standing on the mall near Arapahoe when they were approached by the group. After a conversation, the group turned violent and they attacked the men. Source!

3-Year-Olds Branded “Racist,” “Homophobic” Put In Government Database

Over 30,000 British schoolchildren, some as young as three, have had their names registered on a government database and branded “racist” or “homophobic” for using playground insults, infractions that could impact their future careers.

The shocking figures were disclosed after civil liberties group the Manifesto Club made a Freedom of Information Act request which betrayed the fact that kids who used petty jibes are now being treated as thought criminals by education authorities.

34,000 incidents of “racism” in total were reported for the year 2009-2010, with nursery school toddlers as young as three being put on a state database for using the words “gay” and “lesbian”. One child who called another “broccoli head” was also reported to authorities. Other cases included a child who used the word “gaylord,” while another who told a teacher “this work is gay,” was also added to the thought crime database.

The majority of the reported cases involved primary school children.

“The record can be passed from primaries to secondaries or when a pupil moves between schools,” reports the Daily Mail. Source!

Chicago thugs rule D.C., forcing 4-Star Gen to lie

The Pentagon has worried for months that a project backed by a prominent Democratic donor might interfere with military GPS. Now Congress wants to know if the White House pressured a general to change his testimony.

The four-star Air Force general who oversees Air Force Space Command walked into a highly secured room on Capitol Hill a week ago to give a classified briefing to lawmakers and staff, and dropped a surprise. Pressed by members, Gen. William Shelton said the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a large Democratic donor.

The episode is the latest in a string of incidents that have given Republicans sudden fodder for questions about whether the Obama administration is politically interfering in routine government matters that affect donors or fundraisers. Already, the FBI and a House committee are investigating a federal loan guarantee to a now failed solar firm called Solyndra that is tied to a large Obama fundraiser.

Now the Pentagon has been raising concerns about a new wireless project by a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared, whose majority owner is an investment fund run by Democratic donor Philip Falcone.

According to officials familiar with the situation, Shelton’s prepared testimony was leaked in advance to the company. And the White House asked the general to alter the testimony to add two points: that the general supported the White House policy to add more broadband for commercial use; and that the Pentagon would try to resolve the questions around LightSquared with testing in just 90 days. Shelton chafed at the intervention, which seemed to soften the Pentagon’s position and might be viewed as helping the company as it tries to get the project launched, officials said.

“There was an attempt to influence the text of the testimony and to engage LightSquared in the process in order to bias his testimony,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) said in an interview. “The only people who were involved in the process in preparation for the hearing included the Department of Defense, the White House, and the Office Management and Budget.” Source!

For Lexiphiles:

 
· Writing with a broken pencil is pointless.
· Fish in schools sometimes take debate.
· A calendar thief got twelve months.
· When smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.
· A professor found her earthquakes theory was on shaky ground.
· Batteries are to be given out free of charge.
· A dentist & a manicurist were in love but fought tooth and nail.
· A will is a dead giveaway.
· Pay your exorcist  - you can get repossessed.
· Once married she had a new name and a dress.
· You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
· An Australian computer network - the LAN down under.
· A boiled egg is hard to beat.
· When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
· Police called to a day care found a three-year-old resisting a rest.
· The fellow whose left side was amputated is all right now.
· Running with a laptop computer jogs your memory.
· A bicycle can't stand alone - it is two tired.
· In democracy - your vote counts; in feudalism, your Count votes.
· A hungry clock goes back four seconds
· The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
· His photographic memory was never developed.
· Those too big for their britches are exposed in the end.
· She thought she’d dye when she first saw strands of gray hair.
· Acupuncture: a jab well done.
· He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
· Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
· Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat.
· An optometrist fell into a grinder and made a spectacle of himself.

Michigan To Track Childhood Obesity

In an attempt to combat Michigan's childhood obesity epidemic, Gov. Rick Snyder announced Wednesday that the state would begin tracking kids' body mass index through the Michigan Care Improvement Registry. Although the policy would be one of the most extensive government anti-childhood obesity efforts, pediatricians were divided over whether it would have the desired impact.The tracking system would require pediatricians to calculate patients' BMI using height and weight measurements, and report these numbers to the state through the existing immunization tracking system, the Michigan Care Improvement Registry. The numbers would be reported anonymously, meaning that the child's identity would not be connected to his or her BMI in state records.

The hope is that having doctors track height and weight in this way would encourage more discussion among parents, kids and doctors about the dangers of being overweight, says Geralyn Lasher, director of communications at the Executive Office of the Governor.

The new policy does not require doctors to discuss obesity with parents, just quietly keep track. More HERE and HERE!

Obama's "Rat on Your Neighbor" website; German literacy helpful

Obama for America national field director Jeremy Bird told ABC News that the site’s goal is to offer “resources to fight back” against attacks. Mostly, that means fact checking statements from the likes of GOP presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Rick Perry and conservative commentator Glenn Beck and offering evidence to the contrary.

Add your email address here, then change your name, move to California and apologize to your kids.

Obama to Tout Jobs Act at Company that Outsources

President Obama today is visiting a small North Carolina manufacturing company that has outsourced half its workforce to Costa Rica and whose president is a Democratic politician who has contributed $2,000 to Obama.

WestStar Precision, a machine manufacturing firm headquartered in the Raleigh-Durham area, has a second plant located in San Jose, Costa Rica. There are 24 employees at each site, according to an NBC affiliate in Raleigh.

Ironically, Obama is traveling to the company’s headquarters to tout his new proposal to create jobs in the United States.

While he’s there, he can thank WestStar President Ervin Portman for his financial assistance. Source!

New website to rat on Obama-bashers

Rats enter HERE!

Obama picks more females, minorities for judges

President Barack Obama is moving at a historic pace to try to diversify the nation's federal judiciary: Nearly three of every four people he has gotten confirmed to the federal bench are women or minorities. He is the first president who hasn't selected a majority of white males for lifetime judgeships.

More than 70 percent of Obama's confirmed judicial nominees during his first two years were "non-traditional," or nominees who were not white males. That far exceeds the percentages in the two-term administrations of Bill Clinton (48.1 percent) and George W. Bush (32.9 percent), according to Sheldon Goldman, author of the authoritative book "Picking Federal Judges."

"It is an absolutely remarkable diversity achievement," said Goldman, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who is only counting judges once, even if they fit more than one category.

The White House recently has been touting its efforts to diversify the federal bench during Obama's tenure, now approaching three years in office. Source!

TSA officers arrested on drug charges in Connecticut

Federal prosecutors in Connecticut say a state trooper, a police officer and three Transportation Security Administration officers based at airports have been arrested on charges of participating in a conspiracy to distribute tens of thousands of highly addictive painkiller pills.

Authorities say the TSA officers, based at airports in Florida and New York, a Westchester County, N.Y., police officer and a Florida state trooper received cash payments to help transport oxycodone pills from Florida to New York and Connecticut and/or transport cash proceeds from the sale of the drugs back to Florida.

Authorities plan to announce details of the arrests at a news conference in Stamford this afternoon. Source!

Stunning Video: Bystanders Lift Burning Car Off Crashed Motorcyclist

This is the most incredible videos you'll ever see. Not just because it involves a burning car, a burning motorcycle, and a trapped rider, but because it shows the compassionate side of humanity. On Monday around noon, a man was riding his motorcycle near Utah State University. While driving down the road, he noticed a car pull out in front of him. Unable to stop in time, he had to intentionally lay his bike down to avoid a head-on collision. He still collided with the car and that’s when the two burst into flames.

“It was very hot. It was hot and very dangerous,” bystander and rescuer Anvar Abdumitalimovic Suyundikov told KSL-TV, Salt Lake City. “I thought it was close to explode.”

Suyundikov explained that the group of people had to take matters into their own hands because there was no time to wait for rescuers. Source!

Victim's Name Misspelled on 9/11 Memorial

The first name reads "Jeffery" and should say "Jeffrey"

The name of a 9/11 victim etched on the just-opened memorial in Lower Manhattan was misspelled, his family told NBC New York.

"I couldn't believe it," said Janice Hart, whose brother, Jeffrey Schreier, died while working in the mail room at brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

He was one of 658 from the firm who died that day. His remains were never recovered.

The memorial opened on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. It features 2,983 names etched in bronze panels surrounding 30-foot waterfalls that flow into square pools that evoke the footprints of the twin towers.

Hart and her husband, David Hart, noticed the error Sunday after locating Schreier's name among the thousands of victims.

Liberals . . .

Third Gun Linked to 'Fast and Furious' Identified at Border Agent's Murder Scene

A third gun linked to "Operation Fast and Furious" was found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, new documents obtained exclusively by Fox News suggest, contradicting earlier assertions by federal agencies that police found only two weapons tied to the federal government's now infamous gun interdiction scandal.

Sources say emails support their contention that the FBI concealed evidence to protect a confidential informant. Sources close to the Terry case say the FBI informant works inside a major Mexican cartel and provided the money to obtain the weapons used to kill Terry.

Unlike the two AK-style assault weapons found at the scene, the third weapon could more easily be linked to the informant. To prevent that from happening, sources say, the third gun "disappeared."

In addition to the emails obtained by Fox News, an audio recording from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent investigating the Terry case seems to confirm the existence of a third weapon. In that conversation, the agent refers to an "SKS assault rifle out of Texas" found at the Terry murder scene south of Tucson.

The FBI refused to answer a detailed set of questions submitted to officials by Fox News. Instead, agency spokesman Paul Bresson said, "The Brian Terry investigation is still ongoing so I cannot comment." Bresson referred Fox News to court records that only identify the two possible murder weapons. More!

Comprehensive List of Obama Tax Hikes

Since taking office, President Barack Obama has signed into law twenty-one new or higher taxes:

1. A 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco: On February 4, 2009, just sixteen days into his Administration, Obama signed into law a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco, a hike of 61 cents per pack. The median income of smokers is just over $36,000 per year.

2. Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (takes effect in Jan 2014): Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income surtax according to the higher of the following

2014
1% AGI/$95
1% AGI/$190
1% AGI/$285

2015
2% AGI/$325
2% AGI/$650
2% AGI/$975

2016 +
2.5% AGI/$695
2.5% AGI/$1390
2.5% AGI/$2085

Exemptions for religious objectors, undocumented immigrants, prisoners, those earning less than the poverty line, members of Indian tribes, and hardship cases (determined by HHS). Bill: PPACA; Page: 317-337

3. Obamacare Employer Mandate Tax (takes effect Jan. 2014): If an employer does not offer health coverage, and at least one employee qualifies for a health tax credit, the employer must pay an additional non-deductible tax of $2000 for all full-time employees. Applies to all employers with 50 or more employees. If any employee actually receives coverage through the exchange, the penalty on the employer for that employee rises to $3000. If the employer requires a waiting period to enroll in coverage of 30-60 days, there is a $400 tax per employee ($600 if the period is 60 days or longer). Bill: PPACA; Page: 345-346

Combined score of individual and employer mandate tax penalty: $65 billion/10 years

4. Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income (Tax hike of $123 billion/takes effect Jan. 2013): Creation of a new, 3.8 percent surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single). This would result in the following top tax rates on investment income: Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 87-93

2011-2012
15%
15%
35%

2013+ (current law)
23.8%
43.4%
43.4%

2013+ (Obama budget)
23.8%
23.8%
43.4%

*Other unearned income includes (for surtax purposes) gross income from interest, annuities, royalties, net rents, and passive income in partnerships and Subchapter-S corporations. It does not include municipal bond interest or life insurance proceeds, since those do not add to gross income. It does not include active trade or business income, fair market value sales of ownership in pass-through entities, or distributions from retirement plans. The 3.8% surtax does not apply to non-resident aliens.

5. Obamacare Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans (Tax hike of $32 bil/takes effect Jan. 2018): Starting in 2018, new 40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans ($10,200 single/$27,500 family). Higher threshold ($11,500 single/$29,450 family) for early retirees and high-risk professions. CPI +1 percentage point indexed. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,941-1,956

6. Obamacare Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax (Tax hike of $86.8 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Current law and changes:

Current Law
1.45%/1.45%
2.9% self-employed
1.45%/1.45%
2.9% self-employed

Obamacare Tax Hike
1.45%/1.45%
2.9% self-employed
1.45%/2.35%
3.8% self-employed

Bill: PPACA, Reconciliation Act; Page: 2000-2003; 87-93

7. Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax (Tax hike of $5 bil/took effect Jan. 2011): Americans no longer able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin). Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957-1,959

8. Obamacare HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike (Tax hike of $1.4 bil/took effect Jan. 2011): Increases additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,959

9. Obamacare Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax” (Tax hike of $13 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Imposes cap on FSAs of $2500 (now unlimited). Indexed to inflation after 2013. There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,388-2,389

10. Obamacare Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers (Tax hike of $20 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Medical device manufacturers employ 360,000 people in 6000 plants across the country. This law imposes a new 2.3% excise tax. Exempts items retailing for <$100. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,980-1,986

11. Obamacare "Haircut" for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI (Tax hike of $15.2 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Currently, those facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction for medical expenses to the extent that those expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). The new provision imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI. Waived for 65+ taxpayers in 2013-2016 only. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994-1,995

12. Obamacare Tax on Indoor Tanning Services (Tax hike of $2.7 billion/took effect July 2010): New 10 percent excise tax on Americans using indoor tanning salons. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,397-2,399

13. Obamacare elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D (Tax hike of $4.5 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013) Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994

14. Obamacare Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike (Tax hike of $0.4 bil/took effect Jan. 1 2010): The special tax deduction in current law for Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies would only be allowed if 85 percent or more of premium revenues are spent on clinical services. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,004

15. Obamacare Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals (Min$/took effect immediately): $50,000 per hospital if they fail to meet new "community health assessment needs," "financial assistance," and "billing and collection" rules set by HHS. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,961-1,971

16. Obamacare Tax on Innovator Drug Companies (Tax hike of $22.2 bil/took effect Jan. 2010): $2.3 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to share of sales made that year. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,971-1,980

17. Obamacare Tax on Health Insurers (Tax hike of $60.1 bil/takes effect Jan. 2014): Annual tax on the industry imposed relative to health insurance premiums collected that year. Phases in gradually until 2018. Fully-imposed on firms with $50 million in profits. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,986-1,993

18. Obamacare $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives (Tax hike of $0.6 bil/takes effect Jan 2013). Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,995-2,000

19. Obamacare Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2 ($min/takes effect Jan. 2012): Preamble to taxing health benefits on individual tax returns. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957

20. Obamacare “Black liquor” tax hike (Tax hike of $23.6 billion/took effect immediately). This is a tax increase on a type of bio-fuel. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 105

21. Obamacare Codification of the “economic substance doctrine” (Tax hike of $4.5 billion/took effect immediately). This provision allows the IRS to disallow completely-legal tax deductions and other legal tax-minimizing plans just because the IRS deems that the action lacks “substance” and is merely intended to reduce taxes owed. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 108-113
Source!

Al Gore is a Financially Successful Con Artist

In April 1990, Al Gore published an open letter in the New York Times "To Skeptics on Global Warming" in which he compared them to medieval flat-Earthers. He soon became vice president and his conviction that climate change was dominated by man-made emissions went mainstream. Western governments embarked on a new era of anti-emission regulation and poured billions into research that might justify it. As far as the average Western politician was concerned, the debate was over.

But a few physicists weren't worrying about Al Gore in the 1990s. They were theorizing about another possible factor in climate change: charged subatomic particles from outer space, or "cosmic rays," whose atmospheric levels appear to rise and fall with the weakness or strength of solar winds that deflect them from the earth. These shifts might significantly impact the type and quantity of clouds covering the earth, providing a clue to one of the least-understood but most important questions about climate. Heavenly bodies might be driving long-term weather trends.

The theory has now moved from the corners of climate skepticism to the center of the physical-science universe: the European Organization for Nuclear Research, also known as CERN. At the Franco-Swiss home of the world's most powerful particle accelerator, scientists have been shooting simulated cosmic rays into a cloud chamber to isolate and measure their contribution to cloud formation. CERN's researchers reported last month that in the conditions they've observed so far, these rays appear to be enhancing the formation rates of pre-cloud seeds by up to a factor of 10. Current climate models do not consider any impact of cosmic rays on clouds. Source!

Nearly 40 percent of Europeans suffer mental illness

Mental disorders may be a normal part of a European’s life, since a new study reports that 38 percent of them suffer from one each year.

Researchers analyzed data from 514 million people in 30 European countries, looking at 100 different mental health and neurological disorders. Results showed that mental disorders place a very high burden on society, as they are a major cause of death and disability.

Nearly 165 million people suffer from mental disorders in Europe, such as anxiety, depression and dementia, the study reports, and only about a third of them receive the therapy and medication they need. The four most debilitating disorders are depression, dementia, alcohol dependence and stroke.

"Mental disorders have become Europe's largest health challenge of the 21st century," wrote the study authors. Source!

Editor's note: Remember this anytime you're talking to two Europeans at the same time; one of them is a democrap!

USPS may shut down this Winter

The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances.

“Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, said in an interview. “If Congress doesn’t act, we will default.” Source!

Libyan rebels round up black Africans

Rebel forces and armed civilians are rounding up thousands of black Libyans and migrants from sub-Sahara Africa, accusing them of fighting for ousted strongman Moammar Gadhafi and holding them in makeshift jails across the capital.

Virtually all of the detainees say they are innocent migrant workers, and in most cases there is no evidence that they are lying. But that is not stopping the rebels from placing the men in facilities like the Gate of the Sea sports club, where about 200 detainees — all black — clustered on a soccer field this week, bunching against a high wall to avoid the scorching sun.

Handling the prisoners is one of the first major tests for the rebel leaders, who are scrambling to set up a government that they promise will respect human rights and international norms, unlike the dictatorship they overthrew. Source!

Dashcam Captures Heroic Officers Pulling Teens From Burning Car

Incredible video out of Des Moines, Iowa, of police officers pulling trapped teenage passengers out of a flaming car.
The 17-year-old driver was killed, but the tragedy could have been much worse if it hadn’t been for the bravery of the officers who pulled out the three other trapped teenagers from the burning car. The three survivors were taken to the hospital where two of the them will have lengthy hospital stays. The STORY!

Libya Rebel Commander Plays Down Islamist Past

The rebels' Tripoli military commander, a former leader of an Islamic militant group that sent fighters to Iraq and Afghanistan, insisted Friday that the new Libya will shun extremism and won't become a breeding ground for terrorism.The commander, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, said he was detained in 2004 in Malaysia and sent to a secret prison in Thailand where he was tortured by CIA agents. Then he was sent to Libya and jailed for seven years by Muammar Qaddafi's regime. Source!

Union leader draws lucrative pension perk based on false information

Every month, Thomas Villanova gets a $9,000 reminder of how lucrative it can be to serve as a union leader in Chicago.

The sum is part of a city pension that comes on top of the $198,000 annual salary he is paid to represent the interests of thousands of city workers.

Villanova last worked for the city in 1989 as an electrical mechanic with the Department of Streets and Sanitation, making about $40,000 a year. Yet in 2008 he was allowed to retire at age 56 with a $108,000 city pension. That's because, under a little-known state law, his pension was based not on his city paycheck but on his much higher union salary.

This kind of deal is available only to union officials who meet certain requirements, but a Tribune/WGN-TV investigation has uncovered documents that show Villanova violated state law when he applied for the pension and cast doubt on whether he truly qualifies for all that money.

To boost his taxpayer-supported city pension, Villanova signed documents certifying that he had waived his union pension and had two union officials write letters supporting his claim. In fact, records show dues collected from the rank-and-file were still set aside for Villanova's union pension. More!

Inter-City Football Flash Mob Attacks Referee (video)

A youth football game turned into a massive brawl in Sarasota, Fla. Saturday afternoon, after a referee’s call apparently prompted an upset coach and several others to charge him.

It happened just before halftime on a local high school field. Video of the melee shows players, coaches and others quickly massing onto the field, pushing, throwing punches and piling onto one another. One woman is heard screaming, “Oh my God!” over the bedlam, and a man shouts through the public address system for everyone to get back.

The players on the teams were 13 and 14 years old. Source!