Mark Steyn: A Vote For Obama-Biden Is A Vote For National Collapse

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photo credit: nmhschoolIn political terms, Hurricane Sandy and the Benghazi consulate debacle exemplify at home and abroad the fundamental unseriousness of the United States in the Obama era.

In the days after Sandy hit, Barack Obama was generally agreed to have performed well. He had himself photographed in the White House Situation Room nodding thoughtfully to bureaucrats (“John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; Tony Blinken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President; David Agnew, Director for Intergovernmental Affairs”) and Tweeted it to his 3.2 million followers.

He appeared in New Jersey wearing a bomber jacket rather than a suit to demonstrate that when the going gets tough the tough get out a monogrammed Air Force One bomber jacket.

He announced that he’d instructed his officials to answer all calls within 15 minutes because in America “we leave nobody behind.”

By doing all this, the president “shows” he “cares” — which is true in the sense that in Benghazi he was willing to leave the entire consulate staff behind, and nobody had their calls answered within seven hours, because presumably he didn’t care. So Brennan, the counterterrorism guy, and Blinken, the national security honcho, briefed the president on the stiff breeze, but on Sept. 11, 2012, when a little counterterrorism was called for, nobody bothered calling the Counterterrorism Security Group, the senior U.S. counterterrorism bureaucracy.

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Nancy Pelosi Held Secret Fundraiser With Islamic Jihad Group

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Democratic leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi headlined a high-dollar fundraiser in May that was attended by U.S.-based Islamist groups and individuals linked by the U.S. government to the Hamas jihad group and to the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood movement.

The donors at the undisclosed May 16 event included Nihad Awad, the co-founder of the Council on American Islamic Relations, according to data provided by the nonpartisan Investigative Project on Terrorism.

The CAIR group was named an unindicted conspirator in a 2007 trial of a Hamas money-smuggling group.

A covertly-taken photograph provided by the IPT shows Pelosi standing near Awad at the fundraiser. Roughly 30 people attended the fundraiser, according to the IPT.

The cheapest tickets cost $5,000, and the most expensive were $30,800 per couple, according to the event invite from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which used the cash to fund Democratic candidates.

Read more from this story HERE.

Conflict-of-Interest Concerns Raised as Obama Races to Implement Health Reform

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photo credit: mlangsam2004 The Obama administration is relying heavily on outside contractors to implement a core component of healthcare reform as it races to set up a federal health insurance marketplace before 2014.

The fast-approaching deadline gives the administration little time to scrutinize private-sector partners for conflicts of interest.

The purchase of one of these contractors, Quality Software Services, Inc. (QSSI), by UnitedHealth Group, a major healthcare conglomerate, has sparked concerns about a potentially uneven playing field.

QSSI, a Maryland-based contractor, in January won a large contract to build a federal data services hub to help run the complex federal health insurance exchange. It will be working with several other contractors, including CGI Federal, Inc., to create the technological architecture for the exchange.

The quiet nature of the transaction, which was not disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has fueled suspicion among industry insiders that UnitedHealth Group may be gaining an advantage for its subsidiary, UnitedHealthcare.

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Soldier Pays $90 to Vote Absentee

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What’s the value of being able to vote? For one junior Army officer, it was worth almost $100.

After 2nd Lt. Benjamin Nygaard had a few conversations with military colleagues about the challenges of getting an overseas absentee ballot in on time, he decided he wasn’t taking any chances.

A tank platoon leader stationed near South Korea’s demilitarized zone at Camp Casey, Nygaard has always been a politically active citizen, said his father, Dan Nygaard of Fort Collins, Colo.

“Via discussions with Army (non-commissioned officers), my son…developed so little faith in the military balloting system that he asked us to FedEx his mail-in ballot to him,” Nygaard said.

While officials with Colorado’s Secretary of State told Human Events they haven’t had complaints about a new state system that delivers military absentee ballots electronically and allows troops to mail them back, the return journey isn’t foolproof.

Read more from this story HERE.

Red Cross Runs Campaign-Like Ad Featuring Obama (+video)

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photo credit: rclaburnOn Friday night, swing-voters across the nation saw a one-minute advertisement paid for by the Red Cross featuring President Barack Obama.

The ad comes on the weekend before the election, and while the Red Cross does unquestionable good for millions of Americans, the choice to run this ad comes noticeably close to a campaign endorsement for President Obama.

The ad sounds harmless, but giving the President free, positive airtime this close to the election can and will affect this race—especially when the President snuck in some campaign language.

Here’s the transcript from the ad:

When a natural disaster strikes, it can leave tens of thousands of families in need of help, and it can also bring out the best in the American people. In this country, we look out for one another. We have each other’s backs, because despite our differences, we are Americans first—and that’s what Americans do. These efforts are often led by the American Red Cross and other members of the national voluntary organizations active in disasters. These groups are on the ground at the very beginning of a crisis until long after the TV cameras are gone, providing food, shelter, and other services to those in need. They do incredible work, and they can’t do it alone. They need your support. We can’t always predict when the next natural disaster will happen, but if we do our part, each of us, then together we can make a difference. Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Wrong Again: Unemployment Now Even Higher Than What He Predicted Without $800 Billion Stimulus

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Remember those halcyon days early in 2009 when some people believed all things seemed possible with the Messiah to lead the United States?

Remember when the White House, via their economists Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, sold the $800 billion stimulus by saying that if it were passed, the unemployment rate would be 5.2% in October 2012?

Now those days are gone. The October 2012 unemployment rate was 7.9%, up from 7.8% in September, and the same number as when Barack Obama took office. Romer and Bernstein’s projection even had unemployment under 6% by now — without the stimulus.

23 million people out of work. 8% or higher unemployment for 42 months – 3 ½ years.

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Video: ‘Obama is telling kids, f–k your parents’

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photo credit: jglsongsA newly compiled video exposes the chief “anti-bullying” activist endorsed by the Obama administration spewing an obscenity-laced, startling message to “gay” kids in America.

The White House website, under its “Civil Rights” section, includes links and videos recorded by Barack Obama, Joe Biden and others, supporting the mission of “gay” activist Dan Savage’s It Gets Better Project, an effort to help homosexual teens survive bullying during their teenage years.

But a recent video produced by the Faith Family Freedom Fund reveals Savage has touted the White House’s support as proof the president is backing his shocking message:

“That meant,” Savage says of Obama’s participation in his It Gets Better Project, “the president of the United States was telling queer kids, ‘There’s something wrong with your parents, there’s something wrong with your preachers, there’s something wrong with your teachers, and f— those people!’”

The video reveals Savage further blasting those who believe in Jesus as “spiritually abused,” wishing Republicans would die and referring to politically conservative Christians as “pieces of s—.” Read more from this story HERE.

Court OKs Warrantless Use of Hidden Surveillance Cameras on Private Property

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photo credit: fonstokPolice are allowed in some circumstances to install hidden surveillance cameras on private property without obtaining a search warrant, a federal judge said yesterday.

CNET has learned that U.S. District Judge William Griesbach ruled that it was reasonable for Drug Enforcement Administration agents to enter rural property without permission — and without a warrant — to install multiple “covert digital surveillance cameras” in hopes of uncovering evidence that 30 to 40 marijuana plants were being grown.

This is the latest case to highlight how advances in technology are causing the legal system to rethink how Americans’ privacy rights are protected by law. In January, the Supreme Court rejected warrantless GPS tracking after previously rejecting warrantless thermal imaging, but it has not yet ruled on warrantless cell phone tracking or warrantless use of surveillance cameras placed on private property without permission.

Yesterday Griesbach adopted a recommendation by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Callahan dated October 9. That recommendation said that the DEA’s warrantless surveillance did not violate the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and requires that warrants describe the place that’s being searched.

“The Supreme Court has upheld the use of technology as a substitute for ordinary police surveillance,” Callahan wrote.

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Our Future Death Panels: British Hospitals Being Paid to Hasten Death of Terminally Ill Patients

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Almost two thirds of NHS trusts using the Liverpool Care Pathway [a program where doctors withdraw treatments or tests from patients] have received payouts totalling millions of pounds for hitting targets related to its use, research for The Daily Telegraph shows.

The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal the full scale of financial inducements for the first time.

They suggest that about 85 per cent of trusts [NHS hospitals providing secondary care in the UK] have now adopted the regime, which can involve the removal of hydration and nutrition from dying patients.

More than six out of 10 of those trusts – just over half of the total – have received or are due to receive financial rewards for doing so amounting to at least [$19 million].

At many hospitals more than 50 per cent of all patients who died had been placed on the pathway and in one case the proportion of forseeable deaths on the pathway was almost nine out of 10.

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Islamists Protest in Cairo, Call for Sharia Law

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photo credit: BeBOprincessMore than 1,000 Islamists rallied in Cairo on Friday and called for the implementation of sharia Islamic law, highlighting divisions in society as rival factions jostle to shape the new Egypt.

Liberals have locked horns over the role of Islam with Islamists who dominate a 100-strong assembly that is drawing up a new constitution, which must be approved in a referendum before a new parliamentary election can be held.

“Islamiya, Islamiya,” the protesters chanted in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the centre of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak who spent 30 years keeping a tight lid on Islamists.

The turnout at Friday’s demonstration was smaller than had been expected after some of the main groups that espouse the ultraconservative Salafi school of Islamic thinking backed out. Some groups said they would demonstrate next Friday.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled President Mohamed Mursi to power earlier this year and which takes a less conservative approach, was also not involved in the protest.

Read more from this story HERE.