Socialism Viewed Positively by 36% of Americans

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adolf_hitlerMore than one-third of Americans (36%) have a positive image of “socialism,” while 58% have a negative image. Views differ by party and ideology, with a majority of Democrats and liberals saying they have a positive view of socialism, compared to a minority of Republicans and conservatives.

“Socialism” was one of seven terms included in a Jan. 26-27 Gallup poll. Americans were asked to indicate whether their top-of-mind reactions to each were positive or negative. Respondents were not given explanations or descriptions of the terms.

Americans are almost uniformly positive in their reactions to three terms: small business, free enterprise, and entrepreneurs. They are divided on big business and the federal government, with roughly as many Americans saying their view is positive as say it is negative. Americans are more positive than negative on capitalism (61% versus 33%) and more negative than positive on socialism (36% to 58%).

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India’s Supreme Court Upholds Law Against Homosexual Conduct

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal

India’s Supreme Court struck down a 2009 lower court decision to decriminalize homosexual conduct, dealing a blow Wednesday to gay activists who have fought for years for the chance to live openly in India’s deeply conservative society.

The judges said only lawmakers and not the courts could change a colonial-era law that bans homosexual acts and makes them punishable by up to a decade in prison.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community across India reacted to the surprise decision with defiance.

“We cannot be forced back into the closet. We are not backing off from our fight against discrimination,” said Gautam Bhan, an activist who had petitioned the court.

After the ruling, dozens of activists outside the court began crying and hugging each other in consolation.

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Romanian State TV Airs Christmas Carol About Burning Jews

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Photo Credit: photo credit: www.dortransilvan.startr.ro

Photo Credit: photo credit: www.dortransilvan.startr.ro

A Romanian public broadcaster aired a Christmas carol celebrating the Holocaust.

TVR3 Verde, a television channel for rural communities, presented the carol on December 5 during its maiden transmission.

Sung by the Dor Transilvan ensemble, it featured the lyrics: “The kikes, damn kikes, Holy God would not leave the kike alive, neither in heaven nor on earth, only in the chimney as smoke, this is what the kike is good for, to make kike smoke through the chimney on the street.”

In a statement, TVR3 (Romanian Public Television Channel 3) distanced itself from the broadcast, saying it did not select the carol but only broadcast songs that were chosen and compiled by the Center for Preservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture, which belongs to the eastern county of Cluj.

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Under Obama, Troops Forced to Rely on Welfare, Holiday Charity to Make Ends Meet (+video)

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Photo Credit: Masterfile/Radius Images

Photo Credit: Masterfile/Radius Images

Jamie Boling and her husband, Joseph, know that providing for a military family can be trying — waiting for orders, often living on a single income, and, in especially tough cases, supporting a spouse wounded in the line of duty.

Around the holidays, the challenges — especially the financial ones — can tax families already struggling to make ends meet.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit D.C.-based think tank, estimates that as many as 340,000 veterans rely on federal or state rental assistance. About 900,000 veterans live on food stamps, and an additional 5,000 active-duty service members are food stamp recipients.

The nonprofit groups Operation Homefront and Fisher House Foundation stepped in Monday to provide the Bolings and about 300 other military families in the D.C. area with grocery bags filled with the fixings for a holiday meal.

“My husband medically retired in October, and it’s a big transition to go from active duty to medical retirement,” said Mrs. Boling, 29, of Gaithersburg. “It gets hard around this time of year. My husband is making about 30 percent of what he used to be making. You have to start stretching dollars. This literally puts food on the table.”

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Poll: 2/3rd’s Would Like to See Their Member of Congress Replaced

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Photo Credit: AP/J.Scott Applewhite

Photo Credit: AP/J.Scott Applewhite

Heading into a congressional election year, Americans hold Congress in strikingly low regard, and nearly two-thirds say they would like to see their House member replaced, a new poll finds.

Even though Americans are feeling somewhat better about the economy — and their personal finances — elected officials in Washington aren’t benefiting from the improved mood, the Associated Press-GfK poll found.

President Barack Obama’s approval rating was negative: 58 percent disapprove of the job he’s doing as president, while 42 percent approve.

Obama isn’t running for office again, however, whereas all 435 House seats and one-third of the Senate’s seats are on the ballot next November. And nearly 9 in 10 adults disapprove of the way lawmakers are handling their jobs.

The low opinions of Congress don’t necessarily signal major power shifts next year in the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate. House Democrats need to gain at least 17 net seats to claim the majority. But many House districts are so solidly liberal or conservative that incumbents can withstand notable drops in popularity and keep their seats.

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Deaf Interpreter at Mandela Event a Phony

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

As one world leader after another paid homage to Nelson Mandela at a memorial service, the man standing at arm’s length from them appeared to interpret their words in sign language. But advocates for the deaf say he was a faker.

The incident, which outraged deaf people and sign-language interpreters watching the service broadcast around the globe, raised questions of how the unidentified man managed to crash a supposedly secure event attended by scores of heads of state, including President Barack Obama.

It also was another example of the problems plaguing Tuesday’s memorial, including public transportation breakdowns that hindered mourners going to the soccer stadium and a faulty audio system that made the speeches inaudible for many. Police also failed to search the first wave of crowds who rushed into the stadium after the gates were opened just after dawn.

The man, who stood about a yard (one meter) from Obama and other leaders, “was moving his hands around, but there was no meaning in what he used his hands for,” Bruno Druchen, national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

When South African Deputy President Cyril Rampaphosa told the crowd that former South African President F.W. de Klerk was among the guests, the man at his side used a strange pushing motion unknown in sign language that did not identify de Klerk or say anything about his presence, said Ingrid Parkin, principal of the St. Vincent School for the Deaf in Johannesburg.

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Dr. Oz Sounds Alarm on Dangers of Processed Chicken from China

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Photo Credit: Fox screencap

Photo Credit: Fox screencap

Dr. Oz said there are serious public-health risks associated with processed chicken from China and said we should take action now to stop these products from coming to the United States.

“This has me outraged,” Dr. Oz said on the Dec. 10 episode of his show. “I’m calling on the USDA to shut down this proposal. You have America’s health in your hands.”

As early as next summer, chicken nuggets and other chicken products (such as canned soup, frozen chicken wings and breaded chicken patties) made from chicken processed in China could be sold in grocery stores around the country.

Under the proposal, chickens that are raised and slaughtered in the U.S. and Canada will be sent to China for processing and then returned to the U.S. for mass consumption.

This was a recent decision made by President Barack Obama to address a decade-long trade dispute. Since 2003, China has refused to import U.S. beef, citing concerns over mad-cow disease, so we’re effectively trading chickens for beef in this quid-pro-quo political scenario. Obama has been widely criticized over this move.

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Vet Brutally Murdered Trying to Buy a Christmas Present on Craigslist

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Photo Credit: YouCaring

Photo Credit: YouCaring

I must admit that this story hit me pretty hard this morning. It’s not often that I get upset – I mean it seems like every day we’re bombarded with stories of violence, crime and debauchery, so it takes a lot these days to upset me.

I’m not really sure why this story affected me so much when I read it, but something about it hit me deep down inside. Maybe it’s because this man was a father, maybe it’s because he was just trying to do something nice for his parents, or maybe it’s because I’m so sick of seeing good people hurt by a culture that’s out of control.

Last week, National Guard Sergeant First Class Jim Vester was killed while trying to buy his parents an iPad that he found listed on Craigslist.

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Obama Plans to Bypass Congress Even More? Adds ‘Executive Power’ Czar To Staff

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

A senior progressive strategist and former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton who specializes in the use of executive authority to bypass Congress is reportedly joining the White House.

The New York Times is reporting John Podesta, founder of the Center for American Progress, has agreed to serve as counselor to President Obama for a year.

Podesta last month announced the establishment of a new group, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, that will work within his Center for American Progress. The new center bills itself as a research and grant-making organization founded to accelerate the closing of what it calls the income gap in the U.S. by fighting so-called income inequality.

The Times reported Podesta will help the White House on “matters related to the health care law, administration organization and executive actions,” with particular focus on so-called climate change issues, according to a person familiar with the plans.

Podesta is a long-time champion of the use of executive powers, including bypassing the legislative branch to enact progressive change.

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The Solution to This Present Crisis

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Dear Friend of Liberty,479px-Official_Portrait_of_President_Reagan_1981

With the latest round of budget talks in Washington, it appears some Republicans on the Hill are in the spirit of giving once again. This time it’s the sequester cuts, more taxes, and some are even suggesting we adjust to the “new normal” of ObamaCare. 

And what will ordinary Americans get in return? An uptick in the federal deficit, more debt on their children’s backs, fewer jobs, healthcare with higher costs and less access, and perhaps another downgrade to America’s credit rating. When will the madness end?

Ronald Reagan hit the nail on the head over 30 years ago, when he announced in his first inaugural address, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.”

He then led the charge to get the federal government off the backs of the American people, and the people responded to the renewal of freedom and opportunity by making the United States once again the envy of the world. 

The answer in our present crisis will only come when ordinary citizens like you and me stand up and be counted. 

The goal and the object of this great fight is nothing less than a renewal of the American Dream and the restoration of our constitutional principles. That’s why I’ve filed to run for US Senate in 2014. Will you join with me in the fight?

Conventional politicians – Republicans and Democrats alike – have shown time and time again that they won’t join this fight. That’s why I need your help, so I can stand alongside other patriots in the fight like Senators Cruz and Lee!

Every day we see the crisis of leadership in our country deepening. Whether it’s the rampant corruption in our nation’s capital, the cultural decay resulting from incessant attacks upon religion and morality, or the erosion of our individual liberties –  the time for action is now.

I cannot stand idly by and watch while “the last best hope of man on earth” is dismantled by Barack Obama’s “fundamental transformation” of America. And neither can I allow the “me too” Republicans to go unchallenged while they aid and abet him through passive resistance, or even cooperation.

This is the time to face our challenges squarely and soberly. We must get our spending problem under control. We must repeal or defund ObamaCare. And we must confront this lawless administration. 

Mark Begich isn’t going to do it. The “me too” Republicans aren’t going to do it. But I will work tirelessly to do exactly that.

If we fail to take action now, we are responsible for depriving our children and grandchildren of hope. They will be paying for our mistakes for generations to come.

It’s time to rebuild the foundations, return to Constitutional government, and restore freedom and economic prosperity. And if we all do our part, the future will be ours again.

Together, we can make the fundamental restoration of the America we love a reality. Can I count on your support to offer Alaska an alternative to politics as usual?

Thank you for standing with me!

In Liberty,

Joe