Obama, Biden Meet with Begich, Other Senate Dems Up For Re-electiion

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A group of 15 Senate Democrats–all up for re-election in a year–met with President Barack Obama Wednesday to get an update on the beleaguered website where Americans are supposed to be able to register for exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act.

The Democrats, along with Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Sen. Michael Bennet, met with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to discuss progress made to HealthCare.gov, a White House official said, adding that security and privacy concerns were also raised during the session.

Democrats on Capitol Hill, many who vocally supported the Affordable Care Act during the lead-up to its passage in 2010, have grown increasing wary of the rollout of Obama’s signature legislation, particularly as technical concerns with the website have prevented Americans whose insurance plans are canceled from enrolling online…

Some of the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election in 2014 – including Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Kay Hagan of North Carolina – attended Wednesday’s meeting…

A congressional source with knowledge of a meeting between Obama and the group of Democratic Senators told CNN concerns about the impact of Obamacare on next year’s mid-term elections were a part of the reason for the gathering at the White House. “There would not have been this meeting if you didn’t have this group of Senators up in 2014,” the Democratic staffer with knowledge of the meeting told CNN.

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Study Suggests Life Began with Clay, Echoing Bible Creation Story

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Photo Credit: Fox News A new study suggests clay may have been the birthplace of life on Earth.

Cornell University researchers found that clay may have served as the first breeding ground for the complex biochemicals that make life possible, a finding that may reverberate with anyone familiar with the Biblical creation story.

“We propose that in early geological history, clay hydrogel provided a confinement function for biomolecules and biochemical reactions,” said Dan Luo, professor of biological and environmental engineering and a member of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, according to Science Daily.

The clay absorbs liquids like a sponge and acts as the perfect place for chemicals to react with one another to form proteins, DNA and eventually living cells.

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Everything You Need to Know About Reading the Polls

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Photo Credit: TheBlaze TVJohn Cardillo, the president and CEO of PsyID, a company specializing in actionable social media intelligence and analytics, appeared on The Glenn Beck Program Wednesday to explain what Americans should know when reading the polls.

Namely, take them with a grain of salt, and there may actually a better way to gauge public opinion. Sometimes, the inaccuracies in polls are even intentional.

“You said to me, ‘I’m doing some polling for the GOP, and they want me to change things to try to change the outcome,’” Beck told Cardillo. “Am I getting that right?”

“Yeah,” Cardillo responded. “There are certain things that if we skew what we do a certain way, the outcome will predict what they want.”

Cardillo said that what his company does is far more accurate than traditional polling because it’s more of a “fly on the wall” approach than “somebody calling you up with ten questions that are designed to elicit a certain response from you to fit an agenda.”

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Number of Poor People in America is 3 Million Higher than the Official Count

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Photo Credit: AP/k.vineysThe number of poor people in America is 3 million higher than the official count, encompassing 1 in 6 residents due to out-of-pocket medical costs and work-related expenses, according to a revised census measure released Wednesday.

The new measure is aimed at providing a fuller picture of poverty but does not replace the official government numbers. Put in place two years ago by the Obama administration, it generally is considered more reliable by social scientists because it factors in living expenses as well as the effects of government aid, such as food stamps and tax credits.

Administration officials have declined to say whether the new measure eventually could replace the official poverty formula, which is used to allocate federal dollars to states and localities and to determine eligibility for safety-net programs such as Medicaid.

Congress would have to agree to adopt the new measure, which generally would result in a higher poverty rate from year to year and thus higher government payouts for aid programs.

Based on the revised formula, the number of poor people in 2012 was 49.7 million, or 16 percent. That exceeds the record 46.5 million, or 15 percent, that was officially reported in September.

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Navy Claims No Ban on ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Patch

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Photo Credit: U.S. NavyNavy SEALs can still wear the First Navy Jack with its motto of “Don’t Tread on Me” on their shoulder, according to service officials, following a report that some units were banning their use.

Last week, Carl Higbie, a former SEAL and author, wrote in the Daily Caller that some Navy SEAL teams have banned the display of the First Navy Jack, also called the Union Jack by the Navy, on military uniforms. Mr. Higbie wrote that the patch was likely banned because it was now too closely associated with the tea party.

The “Don’t Tread on Me” motto is popular among tea party groups, who often fly another Revolutionary War era flag with the motto, the yellow Gadsden Flag…

Mr. Higbie said his information came from several current SEALs and he stood by his article. He said the Navy was clearly backpedalling in the face of criticism. “They are going to say they never said this,” he said. “But as long as [SEALs] are allowed to wear it, I am happy with that.”

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Michelle Obama: ‘We Want to Honor and Embrace All…Faith Traditions’

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Photo Credit: APAt a White House Diwali celebration on Tuesday afternoon, First Lady Michelle Obama said that she and her husband wanted to celebrate all the faith and culture traditions ‘that make us who we are as Americans.”

Even as she was saying this, there were 200 plaintiffs pursuing 77 lawsuits asking federal courts to protect their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion from a regulation issued by the administration under Obamacare that requires health insurance plans to cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion inducing drugs and devices.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty maintains a website that tracks the lawsuits.

The plaintiffs range from the Hobby Lobby stores to the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. In September, the Department of Justice appealed the Hobby Lobby case to the Supreme Court, asking the court to force the family that owns Hobby Lobby to act against their Christian faith by making them buy insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and devices.

“As you may know, we’ve celebrated this holiday here at the White House every year since Barack took office,” Mrs. Obama said at the Diwali celebration.

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New Mexico Man Claims He Was Anally Probed 8 Times Following Traffic Stop

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Photo Credit: Joe Raedle/GettyA New Mexico man claims he was anally probed several times by police and medical officials following a traffic stop.

The victim, David Eckert, claims in a federal lawsuit that officers from the Deming Police Department pulled him over after he failed to make a complete stop at a stop sign outside a Walmart this past January.

When Eckert got out of his car, officers indicated that they believed he was in possession of drugs – in his anal cavity.

“They say when he stepped out of his car he was standing in a manner that looked as if he was clinching his buttocks,” Shannon Kennedy, Eckert’s attorney, told KOB-TV.

A judge granted a search warrant to perform an anal cavity search on Eckert shortly after he was taken into custody. KOB reports that a doctor refused to perform the anal cavity search at a Deming emergency room, saying it was “unethical.” Eckert was then transported to Gila Regional Medical Center, where his alleged trauma began.

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Obama Denies ‘You Can Keep It’ Videotaped Promises

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Photo Credit: APPresident Barack Obama told his enthusiastic supporters Monday night that he never promised what video recordings show him promising at least 29 times.

The videos show Obama promising 300 million Americans that “if you like your health-care plan, you will be able to keep your health-care plan, period.”

But that’s not what he really said, Obama announced Monday in a speech to about 200 Organizing for Action supporters, gathered at the St. Regis hotel in D.C.

“What we said was you could keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law was passed,” he told Obamacare’s political beneficiaries and contractors.

That claim is not supported by his videotaped statements, which don’t include any mention of his new “if it hasn’t changed” exception.

But the newly-revealed exception is justified by a higher-priority promise in Obamacare, Obama declared.

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No White House Petition to Defund or Repeal Obamacare

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhiteWith so many Americans complaining about Obamacare–the cancellation of individual insurance policies, the dysfunctional enrollment process, and privacy concerns–it is curious that a search of the White House petition website does not produce a single petition urging the defunding, repeal, delay or even repair of the Affordable Care Act.

There is, however, a petition titled, “Defund the House of Representatives,” created on Sept. 20.

The White House promises to respond to petitions that gather 100,000 signatures in 30 days, and presumably a petition focusing on one of the hottest topics of the year would easily rise to that level. But an overwhelming response might also embarrass a White House intent on defending President Obama’s signature legislation.

On Monday morning, Nov. 4, CNSNews.com searched “We the People,” the White House petition website, for the terms “Obamacare,” “Affordable Care Act” and “federal health care law.”

“Obamacare” returned only one petition, posted a year ago, urging the White House to “Include Licensed Naturopathic Physicians as primary care providers in the Federal Healthcare Law.”

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Army Veteran Banned from Daughter’s School after Posting Picture of Weapons Permit

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Photo Credit: WRDW.COMAn Army veteran living in Georgia says she wants an apology from her daughter’s former school after being banned from the building for posting a photo of her concealed weapons permit to her Facebook page, WRDW.com reports.

Tanya Mount says she was approached by a police officer from the Richmond County Board of Education at McBean Elementary School and was warned that she was about to get a criminal trespass warning.

The officer told her that the principal at the school was “scared” of her and did not want her on the school property, she told the station.

“He asks: ‘Were you in the Army?,”‘ she said. “I said, yes. He’s like, ‘Do you have a concealed weapons permit?’ I said yes,” she told the station.

A phone call from FoxNews.com to Richmond County Board of Education was not immediately returned. WJBF.com asked Janina Dallas, the school’s principal, if the “no trespass order” was issued over the post, and Dallas responded: “Yes, it was.”

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