W.H.: Obama has Signed Up for Insurance Under Obamacare

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

President Barack Obama has signed up for health insurance through an Affordable Care Act exchange, the White House said Monday.

In what an official acknowledged is a “symbolic” move since the president gets his medical care from the military, Obama selected a low-cost bronze plan through the District of Columbia exchange. He made the pick over the weekend while vacationing in Hawaii.

Obama “was pleased to participate in a plan as a show of support for these marketplaces which are providing quality, affordable health care options to more than a million people,” the official added.

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The Navy’s Amazing Ocean-Powered Underwater Drone

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Photo Credit: NATO

Photo Credit: NATO

While you were out shopping Sunday for those last-minute holiday gifts, the Navy pushed ahead with its own vision of an underwater sugar plum: a fleet of “long endurance, transoceanic gliders harvesting all energy from the ocean thermocline.”

And you thought Jules Verne died in 1905.

Fact is, the Navy has been seeking—pretty much under the surface—a way to do underwater what the Air Force has been doing in the sky: prowl stealthily for long periods of time, and gather the kind of data that could turn the tide in war.

The Navy’s goal is to send an underwater drone, which it calls a “glider,” on a roller-coaster-like path for up to five years. A fleet of them could swarm an enemy coastline, helping the Navy hunt down minefields and target enemy submarines.

Unlike their airborne cousins, Navy gliders are not powered by aviation fuel. Instead, they draw energy from the ocean’s thermocline, a pair of layers of warm water near the surface and chillier water below.

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Eagles Honor Cheerleader Turned Soldier

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Photo Credit: CNN

Photo Credit: CNN

Rachel Washburn once carried pompoms. Now she carries an M4 carbine.

The military brat who became an NFL cheerleader is today a first lieutenant in the United States Army.

On Sunday, she was honored as a Hometown Hero by the Philadelphia Eagles, the team she cheered for from 2007 to 2009.

The Bronze Star recipient served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, including one as a member of the Army’s new Cultural Support Program.

It was a dangerous and stressful job, where she would go on missions with special operations forces and help search and talk to Afghan women and children.

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New Armored Tank for Town Police Sparks Fear, War of Words

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Photo Credit: bizpacreview

Photo Credit: bizpacreview

A war of words has broken out over police force in California getting a new armored vehicle built more for a state of war than patrolling in the Golden State.

The Salinas Police Department recently issued a news release proudly announcing the arrival of the armored truck built to survive minefield explosions, which it got compliments of federal taxpayers as part of a program to convert military equipment to law-enforcement use.

Critics took to the police department’s Facebook page to ask exactly why a city of 150,000 on the northern California coast really needs a vehicle designed for battlefield use. It’s more likely to be used against its own citizens, they said..

“That vehicle is made for war. Do not use my safety to justify that vehicle,” one wrote. “The Salinas Police Department is just a bunch of cowards that want to use that vehicle as intimidation and to terrorize the citizens of this city.”

‘To stop gang members?” another wrote. “Hmmm gang members don’t riot in mass numbers. It’s right in front of our faces and we don’t see it. Why would the ARMY!!! give something like that for FREE!!! Let’s think for once people.”

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Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson Breaks His Silence: Reality Star Says He’s ‘a lover not a hater’ But REFUSES To Back Down

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article-2528043-1A425F9700000578-41_634x563Phil Robertson spoke out on Sunday for the first time since a furor erupted last week over his comments regarding homosexuality in a GQ magazine interview. Will Payne, the author of the following article, mistakenly contended that Robertson’s comments were “homophobic,” but then went to report:

The Duck Dynasty patriarch led a small Bible study group in his home town church in West Monroe, Louisiana on Sunday, granting MailOnline exclusive access. And the deeply religious outdoorsman stood by his incendiary statements – which saw him call homosexuality a sin and led to his suspension from the hit reality show by network bosses at A&E.

During Sunday’s speech, he defended himself, saying he was simply quoting from the Bible and even went so far as to say Jesus could save gay people. ‘I love all men and women. I am a lover of humanity, not a hater,’ he added.

The 67-year-old has been slammed by gay rights groups since his interview in January’s issue of GQ magazine was made public last week. He was quoted as saying: ‘It seems like, to me, a vagina – as a man – would be more desirable than a man’s anus.

‘That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.’ But despite the criticism Robertson has faced, his family and local community have come to his defense and stood firmly behind him.

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Benson, Oregon Math Teacher Fired for Pro-Life Views (+video)

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Photo Credit: Free Patriot

Photo Credit: Free Patriot

With a major push to improve math scores through the Common Core in Oregon, it seems they can hardly afford to fire math teachers, particularly the only one who is qualified to teach dual high school and college credit math courses. To achieve that goal, one would think that Planned Parenthood’s role in the classroom would be less important than math. Yet, it seems they fired a math teacher who wanted to teach math rather than turn his classroom into a Planned Parenthood recruitment ground.

Bill Diss was a math and technology teacher at Benson High School in Portland, Oregon for 11 years. Mr. Diss was opposed being forced to allow recruiters from the Teen Outreach Program (TOP), a program administered by Planned Parenthood, to enter his classroom during tutorial sessions. Previously, a “health education team” came into his computers science class uninvited to enroll his students in the Health and Human Services’ Teen Outreach Program (TOP).

He was fired this week because he told Planned Parenthood they were not allowed in his class.

His objections to the TOP outreach program seems well grounded. The “facilitators” had not gone through the mandatory background checks that are required for school personnel/volunteers nor did they have the certifications for sex/child abuse that the state requires. Further, he felt the use of monetary rewards for enrollment to be troublesome. Then there is the issue of effective use of classroom time, particularly since the TOP program has no relevance to anything he is teaching.

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Biblical Scholar Smacks Down Piers Morgan When Asked To Explain How Jesus Condemned Homosexuality (+video)

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Photo Credit: Downtrend

Photo Credit: Downtrend

Piers Morgan is clearly a glutton for punishment. We saw that repeatedly during the gun control debates in the wake of the Newtown shooting.

A couple of nights ago on his program, Morgan criticized Phil Robertson’s recent anti-gay remarks as “repulsive” and claimed that he should be fired. Apparently, that’s Morgan’s way of handling opposing viewpoints from major celebrity figures.

On his program last night, he decided to invite a Biblical scholar, Dr. Michael Brown, on the show so that he could trap him into admitting that Jesus did not, in fact, condemn homosexuality.

That trap was not set properly.

When Morgan asked Brown to cite just one instance of Jesus condemning homosexuality, he probably thought that he had already won the debate. But alas, he was hoisted on his own petard.

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Dem. Sen. Joe Manchin Warns Over NSA: ‘Big Brother is Truly Watching You’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Blue Dog Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia strongly suggested Sunday that the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) domestic surveillance program upsets the “fine balance” between safety and civil liberties, saying the data collection programs prove “Big Brother is truly watching you.”

The West Virginia lawmaker appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Candy Crowley to discuss newly-proposed curbs to the NSA’s invasive spying program, including over 40 recommended changes from a White House-appointed panel and an unconstitutional ruling on the program from a federal judge.

Unlike some lawmakers from both parties — California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and New York Republican Rep. Peter King spring to mind — Manchin expressed his willingness to rope in the NSA. “The things we need to do in this country — which is our responsibility, especially as elected officials and government as a whole — is how do we protect the privacies of each and every american but also protect the security of our country?” he asked. “There’s a fine balance there. So I’m open to listen to all the recommendations that have come out to see if we can improve upon that.”

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An NSA Coworker Remembers The Real Edward Snowden: ‘A Genius Among Geniuses’

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Photo Credit: Frederic Jacobs/flickr

Photo Credit: Frederic Jacobs/flickr

Perhaps Edward Snowden’s hoodie should have raised suspicions.

The black sweatshirt sold by the civil libertarian Electronic Frontier Foundation featured a parody of the National Security Agency’s logo, with the traditional key in an eagle’s claws replaced by a collection of AT&T cables, and eavesdropping headphones covering the menacing bird’s ears. Snowden wore it regularly to stay warm in the air-conditioned underground NSA Hawaii Kunia facility known as “the tunnel.”

His coworkers assumed it was meant ironically. And a geek as gifted as Snowden could get away with a few irregularities.

Months after Snowden leaked tens of thousands of the NSA’s most highly classified documents to the media, the former intelligence contractor has stayed out of the limelight, rarely granting interviews or sharing personal details. A 60 Minutes episode Sunday night, meanwhile, aired NSA’s officials descriptions of Snowden as a malicious hacker who cheated on an NSA entrance exam and whose work computers had to be destroyed after his departure for fear he had infected them with malware.

But an NSA staffer who contacted me last month and asked not to be identified–and whose claims we checked with Snowden himself via his ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner—offered me a very different, firsthand portrait of how Snowden was seen by his colleagues in the agency’s Hawaii office: A principled and ultra-competent, if somewhat eccentric employee, and one who earned the access used to pull off his leak by impressing superiors with sheer talent.

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Susan Rice: Snowden Doesn’t Deserve Amnesty

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

National Security Adviser Susan Rice kept her cards close when asked Sunday on “60 Minutes” whether the United States would consider granting secrets leaker Edward Snowden amnesty if he promised to stop revealing classified information.

But she didn’t sound very open to the idea.

“We don’t think that Snowden deserves amnesty. We believe he should come back, he should be sent back, and he should have his day in court,” Rice told CBS’s Lesley Stahl.

Snowden is believed to still have 1.5 million classified documents he has yet to share.

Snowden, who’s living in Russia under temporary asylum, said he stole and leaked the documents to let Americans know that their personal phone calls and emails were being collected and stored as part of the National Security Agency’s fight against terrorism.

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