Newt Gingrich: Obama Deserves Credit

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Breitbart

By Donovan Slack. Newt Gingrich, the former speaker who famously wanted to create a moon colony, is now backing President Obama’s plan to spend $100 million mapping the human brain.

“President Obama is taking a very important step toward the most dramatic breakthroughs in human health. Brain research is vital for Autism, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, traumatic brain injury, mental health, and a host of other concerns,” Gingrich said in a statement. Read more from this story HERE.

Obama proposes $100M for brain mapping project

By Associated Press. President Barack Obama on Tuesday asked Congress to spend $100 million next year on a new project to map the human brain in hopes of eventually finding cures for disorders like Alzheimer’s, epilepsy and traumatic injuries.

Obama said the so-called BRAIN Initiative could create jobs and eventually lead to answers to ailments including Parkinson’s and autism and help reverse the effect of a stroke. The president told scientists gathered in the White House’s East Room that the research has the potential to improve the lives of billions of people worldwide.

“As humans we can identify galaxies light-years away,” Obama said. “We can study particles smaller than an atom, but we still haven’t unlocked the mystery of the three pounds of matter that sits between our ears.”

Read more from this story HERE.

US Corporations Get Cold Feet About Reducing Tax Rates

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Washington is finally starting to get serious about corporate tax reform — and now businesses are getting cold feet.

At first, it seemed like an idea the White House, Congress and corporate America could all agree on. Every company would play by the same tax rules: They would give up their special tax breaks in exchange for lowering the basic tax rate from 35 percent to as little as 25 percent.

But with Congress starting to dig into the details, many captains of industry are backpedaling — and fast.

The corporations aren’t keen on giving up the special tax breaks that have let many of them pay Uncle Sam less than advertised for years.

And they’ve gone on the offense to protect their favorite loopholes.

Read more from this story HERE.

Another RINO Embraces Gay Marriage

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Sen. Mark Kirk bucked most of his fellow Republicans on Tuesday, becoming the second GOP senator to publicly endorse same-sex marriages…

“When I climbed the Capitol steps in January, I promised myself that I would return to the Senate with an open mind and greater respect for others,” The Illinois senator said in a statement. “Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage…”

Read more from this story HERE.

Read about Alaska’s Senator Murkowski’s “evolving” homosexual marriage views HERE.

Activist Head of US Goddard Space Institute Quits So He Can Sue Government Over Global Warming

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: ALICE OLLSTEIN

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!

NASA’s James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a controversial and highly vocal voice of alarm about the planet’s changing climate, will retire as the director of the space institute, NASA announced Tuesday — and plans to immediately sue his former employer.

Hansen will step down from his $180,000 a year position to join a number of lawsuits challenging the federal and state governments for their failure to police industry over man’s effect on the climate, the New York Times reported.
Hansen was clearly aware of the irony.

“As a government employee, you can’t testify against the government,” he told the Times. Hansen is a central figure in the battle against climate change; on Feb. 13, he was arrested alongside of actress Daryl Hannah, activist Bill McKibben and a small group of activists protesting the planned Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

That was at least the fourth arrest for the climate scientist — and his high profile was raising eyebrows at NASA headquarters.
“It was becoming clear that there were people in NASA who would be much happier if the ‘sideshow’ would exit,” Hansen told the Times.

Read more from this story HERE.

Son Fatally Shoots Dad During Easter Service, Yells Killing Was ‘Will Of Allah’

/15 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images

Witnesses say the 25-year-old man accused of walking into an Ohio church and fatally shooting his father after an Easter service Sunday was yelling about God and Allah after the killing.

Police say Reshad Riddle walked into the Hiawatha Church of God in Christ in Ashtabula and killed his father, 52-year-old Richard Riddle, with a single shot from a handgun Sunday afternoon.

Associate Pastor Sean Adams told The (Ashtabula) Star Beacon newspaper that worshippers started screaming, ducking down and calling 911 on cellphones after the shooting.

“It was terrifying,” Adams told the newspaper. “The children were screaming and people were dialing 911. We were afraid to breathe.”

Adams said Reshad Riddle then continued into the church, still holding the gun, and yelled that the killing was “the will of Allah. This is the will of God.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Illegal Border Crossings Double in Anticipation of DC's Amnesty Deal

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: CBP intelligence

As the immigration reform Gang of Eight inside the Beltway prepares to announce a deal later this week, claiming border security will come before a path to citizenship for millions of illegals, Border Patrol agents have seen illegal border crossings double and warn the cutting of agent work hours will only result in less border security, not more…

“We’ve seen the number of illegal aliens double, maybe even triple since amnesty talk started happening,” an agent told Townhall, who asked to remain unnamed due to fears of retaliation within Customs and Border Protection [CBP], something he said is common. “A lot of these people, although not the majority, are criminals or aggravated felons. This is a direct danger to our communities.”

Data obtained by Townhall and reported within CBP from February 5 through March 1, 2013 shows 504 illegal aliens were spotted exploiting the Tucson/Nogales area, 189 were caught on CBP intelligence cameras. Of those 504, only 174 were apprehended and 32 of the 189 on camera were carrying large drug load packs for Mexican cartels. Some were armed with AK-47 style weapons.

Read more from this story HERE.

White House Refuses To Denounce Easter Sunday Attack On Conservatives

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: CNN via nomorcocktails

By Joe Newby. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney refused to denounce an attack made against conservatives during Sunday’s service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., Breitbart.com reported Monday.

“It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back … for blacks to be back in the back of the bus … for women to be back in the kitchen … for immigrants to be back on their side of the border,” Dr. Luis Leon said at the Easter service attended by the Obamas.

But when asked about the remarks during Monday’s press briefing, Carney refused to repudiate the comments, saying that Leon is not a politician or an elected official.

Jay Carney refuses to repudiate attack on conservatives during Easter Sunday sermon. Initially, Carney brushed off the question by Fox News’ Ed Henry by saying that he wasn’t at the service and had not spoken to the president about it.

But Henry pushed the issue. Read more from this story HERE.

Pastor at Obama’s Easter Church Service: ‘Captains of the religious right’ want ‘blacks in the back of the bus’, women ‘back in the kitchen’

By Madeleine Morgenstern. The pastor at the Washington, D.C. church where the Obama family celebrated Easter on Sunday said members of the religious right want blacks “in the back of the bus,” women “back in the kitchen” and immigrants “back on their side of the border.”

“It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back…for blacks to be back in the back of the bus…for women to be back in the kitchen…for immigrants to be back on their side of the border,” Rev. Dr. Luis Leon said in his sermon, according to the White House press pool report.

Reuters reporter Jeff Mason tweeted that Leon also said the religious right wants gays in the closet. Read more from this story HERE.

Lady Gaga Turned Down $1 Million To Perform During RNC

/53 Comments/in , /by

Not even a million dollars could convince Lady Gaga to perform during last summer’s Republican National Convention.

The snub by the pop star is included in a lawsuit filed by a powerful Republican nonprofit fundraising organization, American Action Network, against a vendor whose job was to stage entertainment just outside the doors to the GOP’s convention in August.

Documents filed with the lawsuit show that other entertainers also said “no thanks” to appearing at the GOP convention including Dolly Parton and the rapper Pitbull, who Republicans hoped to feature at an event for the Hispanic Leadership Network.

Many entertainers, including Journey and Lynyrd Skynyrd, agreed to perform at the convention, but Lady Gaga’s offer was the most lucrative, according to an email sent last summer by AAN’s director of development, Pete Meachum.

“See what it would take to get Gaga instead of Dolly,” Meachum requests of Rob Jennings, who heads Cater America LLC, an event production company based in Wyoming.

Read more from this story HERE.

U.S. on Alert For EMP Nuclear Blast Overhead

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: EMP

U.S. officials quietly are expressing concern that North Korea could use its “space launch vehicle” to explode a high-altitude nuclear device over the United States, creating an electromagnetic pulse that would destroy major portions of the U.S. electrical grid system as well as the nation’s critical infrastructures.

The concern is so great that U.S. officials who watch North Korea closely are continually monitoring the status of the North Korean “space launch vehicle,” whose status could suggest a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States.

They are aware of the three-stage missile North Korea launched last December that also orbited a “package,” which experts say could be a test to orbit a nuclear weapon that then would be deorbited on command anywhere over the U.S. and exploded at a high altitude, creating an EMP effect.

This concern is in addition to North Korea’s latest threat to strike targets in Hawaii and the continental U.S., as well as possible attacks against U.S. bases in South Korea and Japan.

The 28-year-old North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has signed an order for North Korea’s strategic rocket forces to be on standby to fire at U.S. targets.

Read more from this story HERE.

Strange Sleep Disorder Makes People See 'Demons'

/3 Comments/in /by

Photo Credit: RelaxingMusic

When filmmaker Carla MacKinnon started waking up several times a week unable to move, with the sense that a disturbing presence was in the room with her, she didn’t call up her local ghost hunter. She got researching.

Now, that research is becoming a short film and multiplatform art project exploring the strange and spooky phenomenon of sleep paralysis. The film, supported by the Wellcome Trust and set to screen at the Royal College of Arts in London, will debut in May.

Sleep paralysis happens when people become conscious while their muscles remain in the ultra-relaxed state that prevents them from acting out their dreams. The experience can be quite terrifying, with many people hallucinating a malevolent presence nearby, or even an attacker suffocating them. Surveys put the number of sleep paralysis sufferers between about 5 percent and 60 percent of the population.

“I was getting quite a lot of sleep paralysis over the summer, quite frequently, and I became quite interested in what was happening, what medically or scientifically, it was all about,” MacKinnon said. [Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders]

Her questions led her to talk with psychologists and scientists, as well as to people who experience the phenomenon. Myths and legends about sleep paralysis persist all over the globe, from the incubus and succubus (male and female demons, respectively) of European tales to a pink dolphin-turned-nighttime seducer in Brazil. Some of the stories MacKinnon uncovered reveal why these myths are so chilling.

Read more from this story HERE.