Obama Admin. using Spanish soap operas to push food stamps on non-citizens

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The government has been targeting Spanish speakers with radio “novelas” promoting food stamp usage as part of a stated mission to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.

Each novela, comprising a 10-part series called “PARQUE ALEGRIA,” or “HOPE PARK,” presents a semi-dramatic scenario involving characters convincing others to get on food stamps, or explaining how much healthier it is to be on food stamps.

The majority of the episodes end with the announcer encouraging the listener to tune in again to see if the skeptic applies for benefits or learns to understand the importance of food stamps to their health.

“Will Claudia convince Ramon to apply for SNAP?” the announcer exclaims at the end of a standard episode titled “The Poet,” “Don’t miss our next episode of ‘HOPE PARK.’”

While the United States Department of Agriculture encourages its outreach partners not to stereotype SNAP applicants, the agency’s use of novelas is notable. The USDA is not promoting an equivalent English-language drama series and telenovelas are a popular form of entertainment in Latin American countries and a culturally relevant way to appeal to potential applicants.

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Photo credit: Karen Apricot New Orleans

Hypocrite: Pelosi made up to $5 million on Asian investments in 2011

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On the heels of The Weekly Standard’s report yesterday that DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz — a vocal critic of Mitt Romney‘s investing practices, had herself dabbled in the foreign markets — we can add Nancy Pelosi to the list of prominent Democrats to profit from overseas investments.

According to Pelosi’s 2011 financial disclosure statement, the Democratic House Minority Leader received between $1 million and $5 million in partnership income from ”Matthews International Capital Management LLC,” a group that emphasizes that it has a “A Singular Focus on Investing in Asia.” A quick trip to the company website reveals a featured post extolling the virtues of outsourcing.

“Designed in California, Made in Manila” sounds like an excellent title for a smear ad to be run the by the Barack Obama campaign. Instead, it appears to be Nancy Pelosi’s investment strategy.

Pelosi is also a small investor in the embattled “Moduslink Global,” one of the “outsourcing pioneers” that Mitt Romney has been criticized for associating with while at Bain Capital.

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Photo credit: Talk Radio News Service

New Research Finally Provides Answers to Soaring Suicide Rates in U.S. Military

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When researchers asked 72 soldiers at Fort Carson, Colo., why they tried to kill themselves, out of the 33 reasons they had to choose from, all of the soldiers included one in particular — a desire to end intense emotional distress.

“This really is the first study that provides scientific data saying that the top reason … these guys are trying to kill themselves is because they have this intense psychological suffering and pain,” said Craig Bryan, co-author of the study by the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah that will be published in the coming months.

Suicide within the military has soared since 2005 as the military has waged two wars at once, and this year may set a record with troops committing suicide at the rate of one per day, according to Pentagon figures.

But military scientists say that finally, after years of congressional funding and the launch of randomized studies of a subject rarely researched, a few validated results are beginning to surface.

The findings by the Pentagon-funded study offer perhaps some guidance on how to attack the problem, said Army Col. Carl Castro, who is coordinating $50 million in research into suicide prevention and treatment.

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Photo credit: Joe Miller, All Rights Reserved

Murkowski supporter makes history: first legislative candidate to be kicked off ballot for claiming to be “homeless”

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Barbara Bachmeier, a candidate for the legislature, was kicked off the ballot by Alaska’s Division of Elections, for being homeless.  More specifically, she did not meet the residency requirements for state house District 13 because, as recently as ten months ago, she had been “living in a camper shell on the back of her truck,” according to Newser.

Some suspect that Bachmeier was not homeless at all, but that she was actually living in another residence outside of the district.  They believe that the story about her living out of her truck was fabricated in an unsuccessful attempt to meet the district’s residency requirements.

The decision to give her the boot from the ballot after she had already been certified may be unprecedented in Alaska state history.   The Division of Elections reported yesterday that such decertification has not happened during the current director’s four year tenure, maybe longer.

Ms. Bachmeier, a former service member who claims a stress-related disability, was a prominent Murkowski supporter who harassed Joe Miller personally as well as some of his supporters in 2010.  In one particularly infamous event following the general election debate in October, Bachmeier followed Mr. Miller’s party out of the parking lot and tail-gated Miller’s vehicle at high speeds.

Photo credit: BarbaraBachmeier.com

US rushing dozens of submersible killer drones to Persian Gulf

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The Navy is rushing dozens of unmanned underwater craft to the Persian Gulf to help detect and destroy mines in a major military buildup aimed at preventing Iran from closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the event of a crisis, U.S. officials said.

The tiny SeaFox submersibles each carry an underwater television camera, homing sonar and an explosive charge. The Navy bought them in May after an urgent request by Marine Gen. James Mattis, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East.

Each submersible is about 4 feet long and weighs less than 100 pounds. The craft are intended to boost U.S. military capabilities as negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program appear to have stalled. Three rounds of talks since April between Iran and the five countries in the United Nations Security Council plus Germany have made little progress.

Some U.S. officials are wary that Iran may respond to tightening sanctions on its banking and energy sectors, including a European Union oil embargo, by launching or sponsoring attacks on oil tankers or platforms in the Persian Gulf. Some officials in Tehran have threatened to close the narrow waterway, a choke point for a fifth of the oil traded worldwide.

The first of the SeaFox submersibles arrived in the Gulf in recent weeks, officials said, along with four MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopters and four minesweeping ships, part of a larger buildup of U.S. naval, air and ground forces in the region aimed at Iran.

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Photo credit: Official U.S. Navy Imagery

Romney slams Obama’s pandering statement to Spanish TV that Chavez is no threat to US interests

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Republican Mitt Romney chided President Barack Obama on Wednesday for playing down “the threat” posed by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez as he sought to portray the Democrat as soft on national security, an issue that may resonate with Latino voters in November’s election.

Romney was reacting to remarks Obama made to a Spanish language television station that Chavez’s actions over recent years had “not had a serious national security impact” on America.

“This is a stunning and shocking comment by the president. It is disturbing to see him downplaying the threat posed to U.S. interests by a regime that openly wishes us ill,” Romney said in a statement. “President Obama’s remarks continue a pattern of weakness in his foreign policy, one that has emboldened adversaries and diminished U.S. influence.”

Pushing back, Obama’s campaign team accused Romney of playing into the hands of the leftist Venezuelan leader by granting him the international attention that he craved.

“Hugo Chavez has become increasingly marginalized and his influence has waned. It’s baffling that Mitt Romney is so scared of a leader like Chavez whose power is fading,” said Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt.

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Photo credit: William Hernández

Who knew she was political? Miley Cyrus sports new tattoo with Teddy Roosevelt quote

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Miley Cyrus debuted a new tattoo yesterday, with eagle-eyed fans spotting that the phrase is a quote from former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt.

The tattoo, which features on 19-year-old Miley’s left forearm, reads: ‘So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.’

The quote is taken from Roosevelt’s speech which he made at the the Sorbonne, Paris, on April 23rd 1910.

The full speech reads: ‘It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

‘The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.’

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Photo credit: Philip Nelson

Rielle Hunter’s book tour about affair with John Edwards comes to abrupt end with pathetic sales

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It was billed to be an explosive tell-all about what ‘really happened’ during the affair that ended a marriage and the dreams of the man who was being pipped to be the next U.S. president.

But after all the hype, it seems not that many people really wanted to hear Rielle Hunter’s side of the story, as the book about her relationship with former senator John Edwards has sold just 6,000 copies.

Due to poor sales, Hunter seems to have dropped under the radar and scheduled no additional tour dates despite an initial media blitz.

Boookscan told the New York Post that ‘What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter And Me’ sold enough copies to make it onto the New York Times best-seller list but ‘not big enough to make the major houses sorry’ for not choosing it.

New York publishers had said they were not interested in Hunter’s book, citing her negative image, so it was instead released through Dallas-based boutique publisher BenBella Books – who reportedly only gave her a small cash advance.

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Photo credit: Tony Fischer Photography

Teenagers on the Pill are at risk of significantly higher blood pressure

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Teenage girls who are on the Pill are at risk of having high blood pressure in later life, according to research.

Scientists have found that even those who have been taking the contraceptive for only a few months have readings which are significantly higher than those of other girls.

Doctors have long known that high blood pressure is one of several side-effects of the Pill but this is one of the first studies to show its effect on young girls within such a short space of time.

Although the girls’ blood pressure was still within the healthy range, the Australian researchers are concerned that it may rise further when they get older, putting them at risk of heart attacks and strokes.

High blood pressure is known as the ‘silent killer’ within the NHS as there are rarely any symptoms, but it gradually puts extra strain on the blood vessels and heart.

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Photo credit: Gnarls Monkey

Russia sends flotilla of 11 warships to eastern Mediterranean in direct challenge to US

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Russia said on Tuesday that it had dispatched a flotilla of 11 warships to the eastern Mediterranean, some of which would dock in Syria. It would be the largest display of Russian military power in the region since the Syrian conflict began almost 17 months ago. Nearly half of the ships were capable of carrying hundreds of marines.

The announcement appeared intended to punctuate Russia’s effort to position itself as an increasingly decisive broker in resolving the antigovernment uprising in Syria, Russia’s last ally in the Middle East and home to Tartus, its only foreign military base outside the former Soviet Union. The announcement also came a day after Russia said it was halting new shipments of weapons to the Syrian military until the conflict settled down.

Russia has occasionally sent naval vessels on maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean, and it dispatched an aircraft-carrying battleship, the Admiral Kuznetsov, there for maneuvers with a few other vessels from December 2011 to February 2012. There were rumors in recent weeks that the Russians planned to deploy another naval force near Syria.

But the unusually large size of the force announced on Tuesday was considered a message, not just to the region but also to the United States and other nations supporting the rebels now trying to depose Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

Tartus consists of little more than a floating refueling station and some small barracks. But any strengthened Russian presence there could forestall Western military intervention in Syria.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: AN HONORABLE GERMAN