Health and Human Services Department Sought to Spend an Estimated $159 MILLION Per Year on New Employees to Help Run Obamacare

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Photo Credit: Reuters Documents obtained from the Health and Human Services Department through a Freedom of Information Act request show that on the day the Affordable Care Act became law, the agency received fast-track authority to hire 1,814 new high-level employees to put Obamacare into practice, at a likely cost of more than $159 million per year.

It’s unclear whether those employees were ever hired. HHS did not respond to a request for comment.

But the hiring request was approved by the Obama administration’s Office of Personnel Management despite a government-wide hiring freeze.

Judicial Watch, a nonprofit that has told MailOnline it files ‘hundreds’ of such FOIA requests, showed MailOnline the documents on Thursday. They show that HHS designated the hiring as a project worthy of ‘direct-hire appointing authority,’ a mechanism designed to sidestep normal restrictions on how much federal agencies can spend on personnel.

An analysis by MailOnline indicates that the annual base pay for those 1,814 employees, many of them slated for hiring at the highest salary levels available, would exceed $127.7 million.

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Obama Killing Race Relations in U.S.

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Photo Credit: WNDPublic attitudes about race relations have drastically worsened since Americans elected the first black president, according to a new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, and talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh has an explanation for the disturbing trend.

According to the survey, 52 percent of whites and 38 percent of blacks now have a favorable opinion of race relations in the U.S.

In just four-and-a-half years, since the election of President Obama, those numbers have dropped sharply. In the month of Obama’s inauguration, January 2009, 79 percent of whites and 63 percent of blacks held a favorable view of race relations. The data show a decline of 27 points for whites and 25 points for blacks today.

Limbaugh weighed in on the news, telling his listeners Thursday that while many expected the election of a half-black president would ease racial strife in American, it is worse than ever now.

“You know what’s kind of stunning about this to me?” he asked. “You would think – and I hope all of you white people that voted for Obama hoping it was gonna end racism, that 63 percent, why isn’t that higher? I mean, it was truly historic – electing the first African-American to the highest office in the land.

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Atheist Group Opposes Holocaust Memorial on Ohio Statehouse Grounds

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Photo Credit: daniel-libeskind.comA Wisconsin-based atheist group has expressed its opposition to a Holocaust memorial set to be built on the ground of the Ohio statehouse, arguing that its location violates the separation of church and state and calling the Star of David “exclusionary” in memorializing victims of the Nazis.

But Ohio Gov. John Kasich and proponents of the memorial say it will teach people about man’s inhumanity to man and that, contrary to the atheists’ claim, it will include all those killed by the Nazis — including U.S. soldiers, ethnic and religious minorities, homosexuals and the mentally ill.

Joyce Garver Keller, executive director of Jewish Communities, an organization that represents Jewish groups across the state, said the memorial is intended “mostly to honor those who had survived and who had come to Ohio to build a life.”

Keller said it is appropriate to build the structure on state grounds because it will “remind lawmakers and those who work in and around government of the important role and responsibility they have in speaking out in the face of hatred, anti-Semetism and genocide.”

“The Holocaust did not begin in concentration camps in the ovens with smoke stacks and mass graves,” Keller told FoxNews.com. “It began in the halls of government with the passage of laws that targeted Jews, taking their properties, their businesses, their home, their freedom and ultimately their lives.

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Campaign Puts ‘Gay Rights’ Behind Constitution

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Photo Credit: WNDThe cases are well known: The Colorado baker in trouble because he declined to violate his faith and promote same-sex “marriage” with his work, the Washington florist who made the same decision and the New Mexico photographer who was fined by the state for turning down a request to promote lesbianism with her services.

More and more people who adhere to the biblical definition of marriage are finding themselves in that no-win situation of being forced by “nondiscrimination” laws to endorse and support “alternative lifestyles.”

An attorney whose work on constitutional issues is well known says such conflicts shouldn’t happen. Matt Barber, vice president for Liberty Counsel Action, told WND that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is supreme, and local ordinances that demand people violate its precepts must fall.

But some place their own agenda above the Constitution, and therein lies the conflict, he said.

The solution?

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Two Americans Added to Food Stamp Rolls for Every Job Created

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Photo Credit: WonderlaneWhite House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday that the Obama administration has pulled the nation from the depths of the “Great Recession” with the creation of 7.2 million private sector jobs.

“And what is absolutely true is that we have come a long way since the depths of the Great Recession. We’ve created over 7.2 million private sector jobs,” Carney told reporters at a press briefing.

Here’s what Mr. Carney didn’t say:

Since February of 2009, the first full month of Obama’s presidency, 9.5 million Americans have dropped out of the labor force. Nearly 90 million Americans are not working today!

Read more from this story HERE.

Congress to Probe Lethal Crash that Killed SEAL Team 6 Members

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Congress has launched an investigation of the helicopter crash that killed 30 Americans in Afghanistan, including members of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 unit, The Hill has learned.

The victims’ families say the Pentagon hasn’t provided answers to their many questions about the deadly attack, which took place on Aug. 6, 2011, three months after Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by Team 6 forces.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on National Security, told The Hill, “We’re going to dive into this.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Sen. Coons Denies Knowledge of or Involvement with Christine O’Donnell Tax Breach

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As unanswered questions swirl around Christine O’Donnell and the breach of her personal tax records, the other key figure in Delaware’s 2010 U.S. Senate race said neither he nor his campaign had anything to do with it.

Democratic Sen. Christopher A. Coons, who handily defeated Ms. O’Donnell three years ago in the contest to fill Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s Senate seat, says he hasn’t been contacted by congressional investigators or the Treasury Department watchdog responsible for looking into the improper use of Americans’ private tax records.

“Any political abuse of the government’s power is inappropriate, wrong and ought to be investigated fairly,” said Ian Koski, a spokesman for the senator. “This particular matter was already subject to a months-long investigation by the Treasury Department — which found no wrongdoing — and no evidence has been presented that indicates that the Treasury investigation was unfair or inadequate.”

The Washington Times first reported last week that Ms. O’Donnell’s personal tax records were accessed by a Delaware official, who has now been identified as David Smith, an investigator with the state’s Division of Revenue. The breach occurred in March 2010, the same month Ms. O’Donnell announced she would challenge Republican Michael Castle in the party’s Senate primary.

The timing and release of information related to Ms. O’Donnell’s taxes to the media raises questions about the possible role her political enemies played, and whether Delaware state officials used a backdoor into Americans’ confidential IRS tax records.

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House Rejects Bid to Curb Spy Agency Data Collection

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Photo Credit: Reuters/NSABy David Alexander. A U.S. spy program that sweeps up vast amounts of electronic communications survived a legislative challenge in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the first attempt to curb the data gathering since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed details of its scope.

The House of Representatives voted 217-205 to defeat an amendment to the defense appropriations bill that would have limited the National Security Agency’s ability to collect electronic information, including phone call records.

Opposition to government surveillance has created an unlikely alliance of libertarian Republicans and some Democrats in Congress, The House vote split the parties, with 94 Republicans in favor and 134 against, while 111 Democrats supported the amendment and 83 opposed it.

The White House and senior intelligence officials opposed the amendment by Republican Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, which had been prompted by Snowden’s revelations. Snowden, a fugitive from the United States, has been holed up at a Moscow airport for the past month unable to secure asylum.

The House later approved the defense appropriations bill, which included nearly $600 billion in Pentagon spending for the 2014 fiscal year, including the costs of the Afghanistan war. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesAmericans Have Completely Flipped On Edward Snowden In The Past Month

By Brett Logiurato. The American public’s views of National Security Agency leak source Edward Snowden have flipped in the past month, according to one poll — and now most support him being charged with a crime.

According to the ABC-Washington Post poll, 53% say that Snowden should be charged with a crime after exposing a trove of NSA secrets, compared with 36% who disagree. That’s a sharp turn from the point immediately after his revelations in June, when Americans opposed him being charged by a 48-43 margin.

Snowden is currently in Russia, where he is reportedly being allowed to leave the Moscow airport transit zone in which he has been stationed for the past month. Read more from this story HERE.

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Poll: Majority more worried U.S. surveillance goes too far

By Mark Murray. More than a month after leaker Edward Snowden revealed information about the National Security Agency’s surveillance and data-gathering programs, 55 percent of Americans say they’re more worried the United States will go too far in violating privacy rights, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Click here for full poll results (pdf)

That’s a significant shift from the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when an equal number in the Dec. 2001 NBC/WSJ poll — 55 percent — worried more that the United States wouldn’t go far enough in monitoring potential terrorists who live in the U.S.

The last time the poll asked this question, in July 2006, Americans were split, with 45 percent worried that this surveillance would violate privacy rights and with 43 percent worried it wouldn’t go far enough to pursue potential terrorists. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APPoll: Congress Rating Plunges

By Melanie Batley. A whopping 83 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, giving the nation’s legislative body its worst grade ever in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

According to the survey of 1,000 adults taken July 17 to July 21, voter frustration with partisan gridlock in Washington is driving the levels of dissatisfaction with Congress. Voters also blame President Barack Obama whose job-approval rating fell to 45 percent, its lowest level since late 2011 in the Journal/NBC poll.

Perhaps most worrying for the president was the slump in support among his strongest backers, including blacks and core Democrats, while independents dropped sharply too.

Pollster Bill McInturff, who helped conduct the survey, called the dip “a telling scratch” in the president’s armor that could hurt the Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections if it gets worse.

“If ever there is an edge that falls off in the president’s core support, that is always very meaningful in an off-year election,” McInturff said. Read more from this story HERE.

‘Obamacare’ National Marketing Campaign To Cost Nearly $700 Million

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Photo Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty ImagesIt will make you stronger. It will give you peace of mind and make you feel like a winner. Health insurance is what the whole country has been talking about, so don’t be left out.

Sound like a sales pitch? Get ready for a lot more. As President Barack Obama’s health care law moves from theory to reality in the coming months, its success may hinge on whether the best minds in advertising can reach one of the hardest-to-find parts of the population: people without health coverage.

The campaign won’t come cheap: The total amount to be spent nationally on publicity, marketing and advertising will be at least $684 million, according to data compiled The Associated Press from federal and state sources.

About 16 percent of Americans are uninsured, but despite years of political debate and media attention, more than three-quarters of them still know little about the law known as “Obamacare,” according to recent surveys.

“It’s not sugar cereal, beer and detergent,” said Brooke Foley, chief executive officer of the Chicago-based Jayne Agency, one of the advertising firms crafting messages to reach the uninsured.

Read more from this story HERE.

Federal Agents Raid Marijuana Dispensaries in Washington

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Photo Credit: APFederal agents have raided a number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the Puget Sound region.

Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Jodie Underwood said Wednesday afternoon the operation ended Wednesday evening, but she declined to provide any specifics of the operation.

Washington state legalized adult possession of up to an ounce of marijuana last fall, but marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

Read more from this story HERE.