Conservative Group Targeting McConnell in Kentucky Over Fiscal-Cliff Deal

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A conservative group has begun running online ads in Kentucky targeting Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who is up for reelection in 2014, because of the “fiscal-cliff” deal he brokered.

Brent Bozell, the chairman of ForAmerica, which reports an online membership of 3 million, has launched one of the first ads of the 2014 cycle on conservative websites in Kentucky. The group says it is a five-figure buy.

The ad, titled “Whose Side Are You On,” asks conservatives to sign a petition letting Republican lawmakers know they will be held accountable if they vote for legislation to further increase taxes.

“As negotiations over the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ were intensifying, conservatives called on McConnell and congressional Republicans to hold the line on tax rates and demand cuts to spending, as they had promised,” the petition states. “But when the deadline was looming, McConnell called Vice President Joe Biden and signed off on a deal with the White House that included tax increases and virtually no spending cuts.”

Bozell said in an interview that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if McConnell faced a conservative challenger in the 2014 Kentucky Republican primary.

Read more from this story HERE.

National Cathedral to Perform Same-Sex Weddings

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington National Cathedral had been ready to embrace same-sex marriage for some time, though it took a series of recent events and a new leader for the prominent, 106-year-old church to announce Wednesday that it would begin hosting such nuptials.

The key development came last July when the Episcopal Church approved a ceremony for same-sex unions at its General Convention in Indianapolis, followed by the legalization of gay marriage in Maryland, which joined the District of Columbia. The national church made a special allowance for marriage ceremonies in states where gay marriage is legal.

Longtime same-sex marriage advocate the Very Rev. Gary Hall took over as the cathedral’s dean in October. Conversations began even before he arrived to clear the way for the ceremonies at the church that so often serves as a symbolic house of prayer for national celebrations and tragedies.

The Episcopal bishop of Washington, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, authorized use of the new marriage rite in December for 89 congregations in D.C. and Maryland. Each priest then decides whether to marry same-sex couples.

The cathedral’s congregation and leadership include many gays and lesbians. The church was just waiting for the right moment and the right leader.

Read more from this story HERE.

Biden Pledges Unilateral Obama Action on Gun Control, Executive Orders Considered (+video)

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By Erica Werner. Vice President Joe Biden vowed urgent action against gun violence in America Wednesday, pledging steps by the Obama administration that he said could “take thousands of people out of harm’s way” and improve the safety of millions more.

But a day ahead of a meeting with the National Rifle Association, which has sunk past gun control efforts and is opposing any new ones, Biden signaled that the administration is mindful of political realities that could imperil sweeping gun control legislation, and is willing to settle for something less. He said the administration is considering its own executive action as well as measures by Congress, but he didn’t offer specifics.

“I want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the notion that unless we can do everything, we’re going to do nothing,” Biden told an array of gun control advocates, crime victims and others at the White House. “It’s critically important we act.”

Shortly after last month’s slaughter of schoolchildren at Newtown, Conn., President Barack Obama tasked Biden with heading a commission to come up with recommendations on gun policy by the end of this month. Obama supports steps including reinstating a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and closing loopholes that allow many gun buyers to avoid background checks.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says that some 40 percent of gun sales are made without background checks, such as at gun shows and over the Internet. Read more from this story HERE.

Sen. Graham Threatens to Block Obama’s CIA Pick for Benghazi Answers

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In a statement released Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) telegraphed that he would delay the confirmation of President Barack Obama’s CIA nominee John Brennan if the White House fails to answer questions about the Benghazi attacks.

“I do not believe we should confirm anyone as Director of the CIA until our questions are answered,” he declared.

Mr. Graham said that any effort on his part to delay the confirmation process was not directed at Mr. Brennan but rather was meant to get to the bottom of intelligence failures involved in the Benghazi fiasco.

Senate rules allow any United States senator to block a potential nominee from proceeding to the Senate floor by placing a hold on the nomination.

Read more from this story HERE.

Iowa Lawmaker Calls for Retroactive Gun Ban, Confiscation of Semi-Automatic Weapons

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In an interview with the Daily Times Herald in Caroll, Iowa, state Rep. Dan Muhlbauer said governments should start confiscating semi-automatic rifles and other firearms.

Muhlbauer, a Democrat from the western Iowa town of Manilla, is a cattleman and farmer. The newspaper reported that he owns a .410 shotgun, a .22 rifle and a .22 pistol.

“We cannot have big guns out here as far as the big guns that are out here, the semi-automatics and all of them,” Muhlbauer told the newspaper during a December 19 audiotaped interview. “We can’t have those running around out here. Those are not hunting weapons.”

“We should ban those in Iowa,” he said, adding that such a ban should be applied retroactively.

“We need to get them off the streets — illegally — and even if you have them, I think we need to start taking them,” Muhlbauer told the Daily Times Herald. “We can’t have those out there. Because if they’re out there they’re just going to get circulated around to the wrong people. Those guns should not be in the public’s hands. There are just too many guns.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Did CIA Pick Sanitize Obama’s Passport Records?

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NEW YORK – John Brennan, the Obama counter-terrorism adviser nominated this week to head the CIA, played a controversial role in what many suspect was an effort to sanitize Obama’s passport records.

On March 21, 2008, amid Obama’s first presidential campaign, two unnamed contract employees for the State Department were fired and a third was disciplined for breaching the passport file of Democratic presidential candidate and then-Sen. Barack Obama.

Breaking the story, the Washington Times on March 20, 2008, noted that all three had used their authorized computer network access to look up and read Obama’s records within the State Department consular affairs section that “possesses and stores passport information.”

Contacted by the newspaper, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack attributed the violations to non-political motivations, stressing that the three individuals involved “did not appear to be seeking information on behalf of any political candidate or party.”

“As far as we can tell, in each of the three cases, it was imprudent curiosity,” McCormack told the Washington Times.

Read more from this story HERE.

Biden, NRA to Meet on Guns

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Vice President Biden will meet with the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a range of other groups this week as President Obama’s gun violence task force shifts into high gear.

A flurry of meetings with Biden and other Cabinet members were announced on Tuesday that will include gun-safety and sportsmen’s groups as well as Hollywood and video-game interests.

The pace and scope of Biden’s work — the task force he is leading is said to be considering significant changes to gun laws and is scheduled to deliver recommendations to Obama by the end of the month — have left groups scrambling over who can attend.

Movie studios, for example, were at press time still mulling whether to send their local representatives in Washington or corporate executives to meet with Biden.

The powerful NRA, which had warned that Obama, if reelected, would push for tighter gun laws, said it had accepted an invitation to attend a meeting.

Read more from this story HERE.

Customer Complains that She Can’t Use Her Food Stamps on Amazon.com

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Fox News announced this morning that Bill O’Reilly is going to expose how food stamps are being misused for wild parties and other improper purchases. Later today, as we were visiting Amazon’s website, we noticed a customer had posted a question regarding why she couldn’t use her food stamps on Amazon.com.

She states that, “I don’t understand this. I get food stamps as do tens of other millions of people in the USA. Why I can’t I use them on Amazon? I would like to use them on grocery items. It would be easier and less embarrassing for me than going into the local stores where people know me. Does anyone else have this problem or concern?”

An Amazon user reacts with amazement: “Incredible! You voted for Obama so you would get food stamps. You should have voted for Romney so you could have a job.”

Another customer asks, “Are you kidding?” She then suggests that increased government spending has forced businesses like Amazon to raise prices and burdened our children with debt: “Do you have any idea why Amazon has raised their prices so high and so fast this new year compared to other years? Let me clue you in food stamp user. You are already draining this economy and have spiraled out of control the deficit for future generations.”

She then asks,

Have you thought about looking to your friends and your family for support instead of the government? Have you thought about looking into faith-based or other charities helping you out instead of the taxpayers?

How much have you contributed to the country to warrant all of us supporting you more with increased taxes?

Why are you on food stamps to begin with?

I am so sick and tired of this….

Almost as an afterthought, the critical Amazon customer then says, “However, my aplogies if you have a legitimate reason…”

The food stamp user then explains that she has fallen on hard times, that as a legal immigrant, she had “made mistakes” and was suffering from a “bad marriage”:

I am so sorry to offend. Was not my intention, yes? My reasons for being on food stamps is because of a bad marriage. It was my fault and I take responsibility. I am a legal immigrant, but have made mistakes in this country. It has affected my children as a result. I need those food stamps. But they prevent me at the same time from getting respect and a job in the town I live in. You would call it a catch-22, yes?

I try hard for explaining in English. Please do not shun me. I am a good person. I just want to know why Amazon does not accept the food stamps?

As we have reported previously in past postings, Obama’s federal food stamp program is completely out-of-control. The conversation above, whether a serious exchange or not, is symptomatic of the growing misuse and abuse of a constitutionally questionable problem administered by a bankrupt federal government. Welfare programs such as these should be returned to the states’ jurisdiction and administered as their citizens decide.

Obama to Boehner: ‘We Don’t Have a Spending Problem’

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In an interview with Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal, newly re-elected House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) opened up about President Obama’s utter unwillingness to cut a single dollar from federal spending. In a stunning admission, Obama reportedly told Boehner, “We don’t have a spending problem.”

Boehner added that President Obama continues to maintain that America’s federal deficit is caused not by governmental overspending but by “a health-care problem.” Said Boehner, “They blame all of the fiscal woes on our health-care system.” Boehner told Obama, “Clearly we have a health-care problem, which is about to get worse with Obamacare. But, Mr. President, we have a very serious spending problem.” Obama eventually replied, “I’m getting tired of hearing you say that.”

Obama may be tired of hearing Boehner talk about a spending problem, particularly when Obama has been re-elected on the basis of ignoring government spending. Nonetheless, America does have a spending problem, which Obama is steadfastly ignoring. “He’s so ideological himself,” Boehner explained, “and he’s unwilling to take on the left of his own party.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Bank of America Freezes Gun Manufacturer’s Account, Company Owner Claims

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Bank of America has reportedly frozen the account of gun manufacturer American Spirit Arms, according to its owner, Joe Sirochman.

In a Facebook post dated December 29, Sirochman wrote the following:

“My name is Joe Sirochman owner of American Spirit Arms…our Web site orders have jumped 500 percent causing our Web site e-commerce processing larger deposits to Bank of America. So they decided to hold the deposits for further review.

“After countless hours on the phone with Bank of America, I finally got a manager in the right department that told me the reason that the deposits were on hold for further review — her exact words were — ‘We believe you should not be selling guns and parts on the Internet.’”

Read more from this story HERE.