Obama Administration Mandates Oil Firms Hire Sea Turtle Observers

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Photo credit: spakattacksThe Department of Interior (DOI) is requiring private oil companies to hire marine mammal and sea turtle monitors if the companies are granted a lease to drill offshore. A marine mammal observer’s job is to watch for whales, dolphins, and similar sea creatures and to advise on minimizing the underwater noise created by offshore drilling, which can affect the sea mammals.

The DOI announced in a press release last week that it will open up 20 million acres in the Western Gulf of Mexico for an oil and gas lease sale to be held Nov. 28, which is part of the administration’s “Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012–2017 (Five Year Program).”

The terms of the sale, which were finalized by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), include several environmental safeguards.

“These terms include measures to protect the environment, such as stipulations requiring that operators protect biologically sensitive features and provide trained observers to monitor marine mammals and sea turtles to ensure compliance and restrict operations when conditions warrant,” the release said.

“Every time we do a sale we do an environmental analysis and in that we list the terms to protect the environment,” said John Filostrat, of the BOEM Public Affairs Office. “One of those terms is requiring operators to observe marine mammals when they’re conducting operations.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Family in Freefall: Single Motherhood Over 40%, Birthrate at All-Time Low

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The birth rate in the United States hit an all-time low in 2011, according to a report released this month by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The 2011 preliminary number of U.S. births was 3,953,593, 1 percent less (or 45,793 fewer) births than in 2010; the general fertility rate (63.3 per 1,000 women age 15-44 years) declined to the lowest rate ever reported for the United States,” said the report.

More than 40 percent of all babies born in the country last year, the report said, were born to unmarried women.

While the overall birth rate declined to a record low, the birth rates for women in the 35-39 and 40-44 age groups actually increased from 2010 to 2011.

Among all women in the United States (including those as young as 10 and as old as 54), the birth rate declined from 64.1 per 100,000 in 2010 to 63.2 per 100,000 in 2011. Among women 10 to 14 years old, it held steady at 0.4 per 100,000. Among women 15-19 years old, it declined from 34.2 to 31.3. Among women 20-24 years old, it declined from 90.0 to 85.3. Among women 25-29, it declined from 108.3 to 107.2. And among women 30-34 years old, it held steady at 96.5.

Read more from this story HERE.

Eric Holder’s Family Tied to One of Georgia’s Most Notorious Abortion Doctors

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Eric Holder Jr.’s family is moving fast and furiously to bury the U.S. Attorney General’s ties to one of Georgia’s most notorious abortion doctors.

Just cleared by an internal report in the “Fast and Furious” gunrunning debacle, the nation’s top lawman now faces allegations that his connection to Dr. Tyrone Cecil Malloy is a conflict of interest that helps explain Holder’s failure to prosecute abortion providers who run afoul of federal law.

Critics say it may also explain why Holder has been eager to prosecute pro-life advocates who counsel women outside abortion clinics.

Documents obtained by Watchdog show that Holder’s wife and sister-in-law co-own, through a family trust, the building where Malloy operated. A Georgia grand jury indicted Malloy on Medicaid fraud charges in 2011. A state medical board twice reprimanded the doctor.

Holder and his wife, Sharon Malone Holder, an obstetric and gynecological doctor at Foxhall OB/GYN in Washington, D.C., failed to respond to several requests for comment.

Read more from this story HERE.

Democratic Opponent Says Special Forces Colonel “Not Qualified” for Congress

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A retired Army colonel who served with the elite Special Forces — and who is now running for Congress — is being accused by his Democratic congressional opponent of being unqualified to serve in Congress.

Chris Perkins is running for the 11th congressional seat in Virginia, which encompasses the Washington, DC, suburbs and a large constituency of federal government employees. Perkins served most of his 24 years in uniform as an Army Green Beret overseas.

But incumbent Democrat Gerry Connolly recently told The Washington Post, which has endorsed his candidacy, that Perkins’ military service makes him unqualified to hold federal office because he has not been civically engaged in the 11th District.

In response, Perkins says Connolly has been bragging about his career in government.

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: New Jersey Senator Up for Reelection Tied to Dominican Prostitutes

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By Matthew Boyle. Two women from the Dominican Republic told The Daily Caller that Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez paid them for sex earlier this year.

In interviews, the two women said they met Menendez around Easter at Casa de Campo, an expensive 7,000 acre resort in the Dominican Republic. They claimed Menendez agreed to pay them $500 for sex acts, but in the end they each received only $100.

The women spoke through a translator in the company of their attorney, Melanio Figueroa. Both asked that their identities remain obscured for fear of reprisals in the Dominican Republic.

When shown a photograph of Sen. Menendez, the women said they recognized him as the man with whom they’d had sexual relations at Casa de Campo this spring. Both said they were brought to the resort with the understanding they would be paid for sex.

Neither knew the identity of the man at the time. Both claimed to recognize him later as Sen. Menendez. Read more from this story HERE.

Dailykos Response to “Possible” Menendez Scandal

By Coolelegans. Apparently there is a rumor flying around that Sen. Menendez hired prostitutes while touring the Caribbean and it’s being pushed on Drudge. I have a few things to say about this. First of all it’s by the guy Tucker Carlson who got his *ss kicked by Jon Stewart and no longer has a job. He is desperate to hype up some breaking news because he is irrelevant, so I would take this news with a grain of salt. But, at the same time, I wouldn’t discount it completely, because they were right about Anthony Weiner before.

In either case, this whole thing is stupid. First of all, Menendez is crushing his opposition right now, and things aren’t going to move too much in a few days. Second, New Jersians right now care about what their politicians do for them, and Obama and co. are showing how good they are at handling the storm. Third, I don’t even think Menendez is married, Wikipedia says that he is divorced. So, basically conservatives are accusing Menendez of being attracted to women. Whoop-de-doo. As long as he didn’t use tax payer money for his trysts- who cares. Read more from this story HERE.

Biden: Transgender discrimination is ‘civil rights issue of our time’

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Vice President Joe Biden described transgender discrimination as the “civil rights issue of our time” after speaking with a woman at a campaign event Tuesday in Sarasota, Fla.

As reported by Politico, Biden singed Linda Carragher Bourne of Sarasota out because of her beautiful eyes. Bourne told reporters that she spoke with the vice president and told him that her daughter was Miss Trans New England and asked if he would help. In response, Biden said the words, “civil rights issue of our time”.

Biden has been very passionate and dedicated when it comes to LGBT issues. It was just this past August in Provincetown, MA that Biden enthusiastically told a group of LGBT advocates that they were “freeing the souls of the American people” and are a symbol for the advancement of “civil rights of every straight American”.

Bourne was encouraged by Biden’s response and believes the Democratic ticket is the country’s best chance of obtaining civil rights for all.

Read more from this story HERE.

Hurricane Sandy: Over $20 Billion in Damages, Longest Weather-Related Stock Market Shutdown Since 1888

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Photo credit: Paul LowryHurricane Sandy’s economic toll is poised to exceed $20 billion after the biggest Atlantic storm slammed into the Eastern U.S., damaging homes and offices and flooding subways in America’s most populated city.

The total would include insured losses of about $7 billion to $8 billion, said Charles Watson, research and development director at Kinetic Analysis Corp., a hazard-research company in Silver Spring, Maryland. Much of the remaining tab will be picked up by cities and states to repair infrastructure, such as New York City’s subways and tunnels, he said.

“It is really hard to tell at this stage since the system is still moving, but it will be among the 10 to 15 most damaging storms and probably the top three in the Northeast after Irene and Agnes from 1972,” Bill Keogh, president of Eqecat Inc., an Oakland, California-based provider of catastrophic risk models, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

Sandy, spanning 900 miles, slammed into southern New Jersey at about 8 p.m. local time and brought a record storm surge of 13.88 feet (4.2 meters) into Manhattan’s Battery Park. Flooding, high winds and fallen trees cut power to about 8 million customers from South Carolina to Maine, and travelers were stranded as U.S. airlines grounded more than 16,000 flights. U.S. stock trading is closed again today in the first back-to- back shutdown for weather since 1888.

New York City committed $29.2 million to emergency contractors and the costs related to Sandy will probably reach “the tens of millions of dollars,” City Comptroller John Liu said. The city “will easily be able to absorb the actual cost of the clean out” and state or federal agencies will help cover the expenses, he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Sources: Recordings of Benghazi Defenders “Begging for Help” are “Damning” But Obama Still Says He’s Offended (+videos)

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On Fox this evening, Hannity discusses the Benghazi cover up with left-leaning Juan Williams. Hannity debates whether or not Obama should release the audio recordings relating to the attack and the defenders like Ty Woods who came to the consulate’s aid.

Hannity said about the tapes, “My sources say they’re pretty damning, they’re begging for help.” Juan Williams responds that he had not heard that from anyone. Hannity retorts, “You learn it here first”:

In a subsequent interview with former Senator Fred Thompson, Hannity plays a clip of Obama saying that he “takes offense” at people saying that his administration hasn’t been forthcoming with what really happened in Benghazi:

Facebook Censors Special Ops PAC to Help Obama (+video)

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By AWR Hawkins. Over the weekend, Facebook took down a message by the Special Operations Speaks PAC (SOS) which highlighted the fact that Obama denied backup to the forces being overrun in Benghazi.

The message was contained in a meme which demonstrated how Obama had relied on the SEALS when he was ready to let them get Osama bin Laden, and how he had turned around and denied them when they called for backup on Sept 11.

I spoke with Larry Ward, president of Political Media, Inc — the media company that handles SOS postings and media production. Ward was the one who personally put the Navy SEAL meme up, and the one who received the warning from Facebook and an eventual 24 hour suspension from Facebook because Ward put the meme back up after Facebook told him to take it down. Read more from this story HERE.

Here’s the SEAL’s PAC’s (Special Operations Speaks PAC) latest video:

Crazy Things That Obama Supporters Are Threatening To Do If Romney Wins

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Will cities all over America erupt in violence if Mitt Romney wins the election? Right now we are probably witnessing the most divisive campaign in modern U.S. history, and both sides truly hate one another. Even CNN is running articles about how polarized politics in America has become and how vicious both sides can be.

There is a lot of anger and frustration out there that has been bottled up for a long time, and this election could end up being a trigger event that releases a lot of it. Both sides are entirely convinced that they can win this tightly contested election, and one side is going to feel bitterly disappointed when it does not happen.

Both sides are talking as if it is going to be “the end of America” or “the end of the world” if they lose this election. This is particularly true when it comes to Obama supporters. On social networking sites such as Twitter, many of them have actually been proclaiming that Mitt Romney wants to “exterminate black people” and many of them have been openly threatening to harm him if he does win the election.

This is a very dangerous sign, and these threats should be taken very seriously. Of course a lot of Romney supporters are also likely to go absolutely insane if Obama ends up winning. In fact, one Romney supporter [may have] put a bullet through the window of an Obama campaign office in Denver the other day. But when it comes to threatening to do crazy things if the election does not go their way, Obama supporters definitely take the cake.

Read more from this story HERE for 50 crazy things that Obama supporters are threatening to do if Romney wins, along with supporting links.