Choosing The right Lane To Follow

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American Fantasyland: Obama Regime Repeats Lie That Affordable Care Act Will Cut Deficit

Americans ready to jump off the fiscal cliff are about to find their parachutes packed with anvils. The White House’s assistant storyteller had the temerity to stand in front of the American people and repeat the fraudulent claim that Obamacare will reduce the deficit. White House spokesman Jay Carney put quite a bit of dressing on the Obamacare turkey leftovers:

“The Affordable Care Act reduces the deficit considerably,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters today. “I would simply point out to you that the Supreme Court has spoken, the American people have spoken, congressional leaders of both parties have spoken, and we’re going to continue with implementation.”

It doesn’t matter how many out-to-lunch politicians have “spoken,” reality left a message and it says the numbers don’t add up. The Affordable Care Act saving taxpayer money is mathematically impossible, given the costs the federal government will be taking on under Obamacare. The much-vilified looting of $716 billion from Medicare doesn’t begin to touch the overhead.

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Obama says “No” to Obamacare Cuts in Fiscal Cliff Negotiations

Barack Obama, through his moronic mouthpiece Jay Carney, announced today that Obamacare isn’t on the table for cuts to avoid the so-called Fiscal Cliff because it saves money. It’s interesting, frustrating, and annoying that the federal government can take over part of the private sector, incur a large ongoing expense after doing so, and then make the claim that their takeover somehow saves money.

Why do we accept this nonsensical premise? See above and below!

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Shocker: State Healthcare Exchanges Already Seeing Cost Bloat

A lot of the focus on the battle over the state health insurance exchanges in the Obamacare law has been over states like North Dakota which have refused, so far, to implement them. But what about the states that are going ahead with implementation? Things aren’t going so hot. The State of Minnesota just announced that their exchange has already exceeded cost estimates by 35% before it’s even implemented, and the cost to taxpayers is expected to rise another 18% in the first year after implementation. ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota’s state health insurance exchange will cost $54 million in 2015 to operate, according to the Gov. Mark Dayton administration. The cost comes in at greater than earlier estimates of $30 to $40 million. The state would not have to find the money until 2015, when the state exchanges are required to be financially self-sustaining. But the cost rises to a projected $64 million in 2016. State officials are still weighing how the exchange will pay for itself. Options include user fees, a sin tax, and selling ads. The exchange, a cornerstone of the federal health care overhaul, will create an insurance marketplace where consumers and small businesses can comparison shop for health insurance policies starting in October of next year. Coverage would take effect in 2014.

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Liberty Challenge Could Doom Obamacare

The Supreme Court’s decision to have a lower court to revisit the constitutionality of Obamacare’s employer mandates sends an optimistic message to religious universities and companies that the controversial legislation could be stopped, the chancellor of Liberty University told Newsmax. Further, countless companies could show in court that the controversial healthcare overhaul violates free exercise of religion if the new Supreme Court challenge to President Barack Obama’s mandate is upheld, Jerry Fallwell Jr. said in an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV.“I could see not just Christian universities and churches claiming that exemption. So, yes, it could fatally wound the legislation for that reason,’’ Falwell Jr. said. “Every company would then be claiming some sort of religious exemption, or many would.’’

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In U.S., Majority Now Against Government Healthcare Guarantee 54% vs. 44%

For the first time in Gallup trends since 2000, a majority of Americans say it is not the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage. Prior to 2009, a majority always felt the government should ensure healthcare coverage for all, though Americans’ views have become more divided in recent years. The current results are based on Gallup’s annual Health and Healthcare poll, conducted Nov. 15-18 this year. The shift away from the view that the government should ensure healthcare coverage for all began shortly after President Barack Obama’s election and has continued the past several years during the discussions and ultimate passage of the Affordable Care Act in March 2010.

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Mortgage Interest Deduction, Once a Sacred Cow, Is Under Scrutiny
A tax break that has long been untouchable could soon be in for some serious scrutiny. Many home buyers deduct their mortgage interest when assessing their tax bill, a perk that has helped bolster the income of millions of families — and the broader housing market. But as President Obama and Congress try to hash out a deal to reduce the budget deficit, the mortgage interest deduction will likely be part of the discussion. Limits on a broad array of deductions could emerge in any budget deal. It is likely that any caps would be structured to aim at high-income households, and would diminish or end the mortgage tax break for many of those taxpayers.

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Boston Tea Party Was Act of Terrorism Says New School Lesson Plan by Giacomo

One of the single most important events leading up to our declaring independence from Great Britain was the Boston Tea Party.  The event was an act of rebellion against the British taxation of the American colonists without having any representation in Parliament.  It was a protest demonstration designed to send a message to the British crown that we were not going to just do nothing while they levied undue taxes on us. At least that is what I was taught and have always heard.  However, history revisionists who have been doing their best to re-write American history are portraying the Boston Tea Party as an act of terrorism and not a political protest. A lesson plan now available to school teachers in Texas is being promoted by the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative.  This collaborative is a non-profit K-12 curriculum provider in Texas who received $25 million from the state funding last year. According to a report, part of the lesson plan reads:

“A local militia, believed to be a terrorist organization, attacked the property of private citizens today at our nation’s busiest port.  Although no one was injured in the attack, a large quantity of merchandise, considered to be valuable to its owners and loathsome to the perpetrators, was destroyed. The terrorists, dressed in disguise and apparently intoxicated, were able to escape into the night with the help of local citizens who harbor these fugitives and conceal their identities from the authorities.”

“It is believed that the terrorist attack was a response to the policies enacted by the occupying country’s government. Even stronger policies are anticipated by the local citizens.”

If the Boston Tea Party was an act of terrorism, then so was the entire Revolutionary War which would make George Washington the leading terrorist.  All of our nation’s early leaders would also be considered terrorists instead of patriots and liberators.

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Boehner to Obama: Debt Ceiling Is ‘My Leverage’ By Martin Gould

The increase in the nation’s debt limit is the Republicans’ “leverage” in discussions about wider fiscal issues, House Speaker John Boehner has told President Barack Obama. “There is a price for everything,” Boehner told the president during a Nov. 16 meeting with the president on ways to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” Politico reported on Tuesday. But Democrats told the web site that the GOP should not expect anything in return for agreeing to an increase in the debt. “Do you really think we would come up with a $4 trillion grand bargain and then try to find another $1 trillion in cuts to offset a debt ceiling increase? I don’t think so,” one unidentified Senate aide said.

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MSNBC Anchor Touré makes shameful attack

Perhaps it’s time to change MSNBC to MSRBC, with the “R” standing for race. The far-left network has reached a point where every issue is about race no matter what host is ranting. The latest example of this comes from perennial race-baiting anchor Touré who on Nov. 26 attacked Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham as “old, white, establishment folks.”  Toure, the Boston bred, prep school educated Milton Academy graduate, who appears to have ditched his last name to gain street cred, is co-host of the cable channel’s “The Cycle.” In Touré’s black-and-white world, McCain is a “bitter” failed candidate who has no right to dare question potential Secretary of State candidate Susan Rice because she is a “much younger black woman.” He also claimed McCain was on a “witchhunt” and “tarring” Rice, another unsubtle code word.

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You Won’t Believe What Glenn Beck Did to an Obama Bobblehead During His Show on Tuesday

On Monday, TheBlaze alerted readers to a new painting that depicts Barack Obama as Jesus Christ crucified, adorned with a crown of thorns. The work, entitled “Truth,” is part of a larger exhibit at the Bunker Hill Community College Art Gallery in Boston titled “Artists on the Stump – the Road to the White House 2012.” This, of course, is not the first controversial rendition that has been labeled “artwork,” nor is it the first time President Obama has been likened to Christ, or in general, God. Now, the creator of “Truth,” Michael D’Antuono, said that his “First Amendment rights should override someone’s hurt feelings” and that “we should celebrate the fact that we live in a country where we are given the freedom to express ourselves.” After receiving roughly 4,000 angry emails over the painting, D’Antuono also said he respects “their right to express themselves” and hopes they will afford him the same. With this in mind, Glenn Beck chose to “express himself,” during his Tuesday evening broadcast by featuring a piece of artwork of his own creation. At some point, Beck decided that submerging an Obama “bobblehead” doll in “urine” (later revealed to be beer) was necessary to convey his artistic message. He of course realizes this will be controversial and that many will find his use of the Obama figurine to be disrespectful. The idea, for Beck however, is not to be untoward, but through irony, to highlight the hypocrisy of those who would shout in defiance at defacing the image of a sitting U.S. president, but not that of an image so sacred to Christianity — the world’s largest religion. Of course, Beck’s “art” is similar to the infamous anti-Christian photograph titled “Piss Christ,” showing a small plastic crucifix soaked in the artist’s real urine. Here’s a visual representation of how it all went down:

UPDATE: Ebay, the online marketplace where Glenn Beck put his Obama creation up for auction for charity, has now pulled the ad. At its last bidding around 11:00 a.m. ET, the bid for the Obama doll in the jar was up to $11,300. All of the proceeds were to do to the Mercury One charity. Click the link below for the story. 

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Morsi vs. Obama: The Professional vs. the Amateur

The current situation in the Middle East offers a clear example of what happens when amateurs face off against professionals – the amateurs end up with egg on their faces. Someone once said that whenever the savages fight the civilized, the savages always win. The same can be said when professionals face off against amateurs: the professionals win hands down, leaving the amateurs with egg all over their faces. The current situation in the Middle East offers a clear example. Hamas, a terror group that is always for sale to the highest bidder (whether it be Shiite Iran or Sunni Egypt), did Egypt's bidding by rocketing Israel. The reaction from Israel was predictable and absolutely necessary: defend its citizens at any cost from the deluge of Gaza bombs.  Hence we have a crisis that was manufactured by one of Hamas's master puppeteers: the Muslim Brotherhood rulers in Cairo. Are you following the professionals at work?

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Social Security is a Fiscal Cliff that no One Wants to Discuss by Gary DeMar
The idea of creating a supplemental retirement system called “social security” sounded like a good idea when president Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law August 14, 1935. With the Great Depression a recent memory, selling security to the American people was easy. Each month, the federal government would take a small percentage of money from an employee’s paycheck. The employee’s employer would also be required to “contribute” (under duress) an equal percentage. At retirement, any person who paid into the system would get a monthly check from the Social Security Administration. Social Security’s inherent problem. In 1935, the highest amount an employee had to pay was one percent of $3,000. The employer’s portion was also one percent of the first $3000 of wages for a total of $60 per year. Today, an employee and employer each pay 6.2 percent of Social Security taxes up to around $110,000. That’s more than $12,000 per year. Even with the increase in rates and the elevation of the top rate, Social Security keeps having fiscal problems. The problem was given a quick fix in the early 1980s. In order to raise revenue for future recipients, Congress revised the law and brought more people into the system.

How did such good intentions go astray? When Social Security was first implemented, it functioned as a compulsory savings program. What you paid in, you got out plus interest. But in 1939, Congress “began to abandon the fully-funded method of financing it had adopted in 1935 and embraced the concept of pay-as-you-go financing” that would use “current taxes to pay current benefits.” What will happen when the people who are not saving for retirement finally retire and hope to live off of Social Security? Will younger workers rebel at having to pay 20 percent or more of their income to fund the bankrupt system.

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GOP Senators Offer 'Calm and Reasonable' Pathway to Citizenship for Illegal Aliens By Elizabeth Harrington

Senators John Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) introduced an alternative to the DREAM Act on Tuesday as, they said, to “take a little baby step” to tackle the issue of illegal immigration “in a calm and reasonable way.” The senators, who are both retiring at the end of this year, held a press conference on Capitol Hill to unveil their version, entitled the Achieve Act, which would provide young illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship. “We’re not saying that this is the end all, be all,” Hutchinson said, “we’re saying that there is a very time- sensitive issue of these young people.”  “We think that the best thing we can do to utilize their talents, the education they have received, is to give them a legal status and have them earn their way into a permanent legal status,” she said. “We’re trying to take a little baby step here in a calm and reasonable way,” Kyl said. The bill would allow illegal immigrants who came to the United States before the age of 14, younger than 28 and have lived in the country for 5 years to be eligible to enroll in a series of visa programs, eventually leading to permanent status. Applicants who have “good moral character,” no felony criminal record, speak English, and have knowledge of American history will be qualified to receive a W-1 nonimmigrant visa that would enable them to pursue an educational degree or enlist in the military.

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FLASHBACK: Reid Says Effort to Curtail Filibuster ‘Is About the Arrogance of Power’

In 2005, then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that a plan by Republican Senate leaders to end the use of filibusters against presidential judicial nominations demonstrated "the arrogance of power."  “Rather than changing the Senate rules, shouldn’t we be concerned about the largest deficits in the history of the world?” Reid asked at a March 15, 2005 event entitled “Rally to Save the Courts.” “This is not about judges, it’s about the arrogance of power,” Reid said. On Jan. 4, 2005, at the start of the 109th Congress, then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn) expressed support for changing Senate rules related to judicial nominations if Senate Democrats continued to filibuster President George W. Bush's judicial nominees.

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McConnell: Limiting Filibuster Would Shut Millions of Americans Out of Legislative Process By Susan Jones

There's a reason the Senate requires a two-thirds vote for anything significant to become law: It's so the majority party can't "simply roll over those who disagree with them," Sen. Mitch McConnell said Monday.

In a speech on the Senate floor, McConnell argued against a Democrat plan to change Senate rules in a way that would limit Republican filibusters. Requiring 67 votes to cut off debate and proceed to a vote on a bill "protects minority views from majority rule," he said. Changing the rule to require a majority vote instead of a 67-vote threshold would suppress the views of millions of Americans, he said.

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House to Probe Ways to Combat $65 Billion in Medicare, Medicaid Fraud By Fred Lucas

U.S. taxpayers spend at least $65 billion on health care waste and fraud, according to the government’s own numbers and even more according to independent studies, even as the federal purview over health care expands under Obamacare.  On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing into Medicare and Medicaid fraud and ways to combat the problem. In fiscal year 2010, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimated it made more than $65 billion in “improper payments.” Improper payments are defined as Medicare and Medicaid payments that should not have been made or were made in an incorrect amount, according to a memo by the committee. The background memo for the hearing states, “The true annual cost of health care fraud and abuse to the Federal government is not known.” However, it could be more costly than the government states, even according to more left-leaning sources. And we should expect even more under Obamacare!

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"If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Cooper, 1802