Sources Claiming As Few As 5-15% Of ObamaCare 'Enrollees' Have Paid Their Premiums

January is going to be an ugly month for ObamaCare....

The administration and its liberal allies love to cite their new, severely massaged, set of November numbers. If they're to be believed, as of November 30th 365,000 people have signed up for private insurance through ObamaCare. Most of these came from state-run exchanges, with the majority hailing from California and New York. For a moment, let's set aside the fact that this number is probably inflated. We'll also ignore the fact that it counts "people who have selected a plan" as enrollees, and we'll overlook the fact that 41 states have enrollment numbers that are, at their best, in the four-figure range.

We'll just go with the 365,000.

365,000 enrollees means that, since its launch, ObamaCare has managed to "enroll" just over a million people - if you count 800,000 Medicaid signups. However, as we all know, enrollees in private plans are not insured until they actually make a payment. Last week, CNN reported that at least one insurer in Indiana was seeing a payment rate of only about 20%. Since we all know CNN likes to paint as rosy a picture of the ACA as possible, that horrible number actually seemed a bit...optomistic.
More

Democrats Plunder Bell City, California

Hi Joe

If you think Salisbury is full of corruption - wait until you see what has happened in Bell City, CA. I have seen the news bulletin streaming on the bottom ticker all morning on FOX news regarding Bell officials plundering the City.

What do they all have in common? They are all die-hard Democrats.

More

Nation of Islam Leader’s Home In Hyde Park Received $100,000 in Farm Subsidies

Your tax dollars at work…
Millions of dollars in farm subsidies were given to city dwellers including over $100,000 to Louis Farrakhan in Hyde Park!

Open the Books just completed and released a new report called, “The Federal Transfer Report- Farm Subsidies & The Big Dogs”
Within the report, the group discovered this…

Case Study Example: Three Year Economic Savings Program, Inc., Hyde Park, 60615

A non-profit organization called Three Year Economic Savings Program, Inc received 19 payments totaling $103,529 (2008-11). The address matches Louis Farrakhan’s home and mosque address.More

Why Our Consumer-Debt Dependent Economy Is Doomed

If you understand the difference between the first pair of shoes and the 25th, you understand why America's debt-dependent consumer economy is doomed.

Yesterday I explained Why We're Stuck with a Bubble Economy:

Now that interest rates are near-zero and mortgage rates are rising from historic lows, there is no more juice to be squeezed from low rates. Asset bubbles always burst, destroying collateral and rendering borrowers and lenders alike insolvent.

More

Price Tag Placement Can Change The Product Name...12-12-13

 

AMERICA...OUR STOLEN COUNTRY - PART III

When Dr.Terrence Lakin, former U.S.Army Lt.Col., began hearing of many legal challenges to Barack Obama's presidental eligibility, he, in compliance with his sworn oath (similar to Obama's) , to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic", went through military channels for clarification of this issue. Receiving no help, he then wrote directly to Obama, asking him to confirm that a valid "Certificate of Live Birth"(required by Hawaiian law) had been filed by him in 2008. In previous inquiries Obama never responded to others or he referred them to a "Certification of Live Birth"(COLB) which was posted on the Daily Kos website, as proof of his eligibility. In so doing, Obama lied to America. A COLB was not only inadequate for Presidential aspirants, as Obama, a Constitutional teacher, well knew but his copy had also been declared fraudulent by many computer document experts. Not once did Obama offer or even mention the existence of a valid "Certificate of Live Birth"(not a COLB), which might have confirmed his eligibility. Instead, he continued deceiving the Nation through the 2008 election! In Col.Lakin's case, Obama completely ignored his letter, the letter of a man who had given 18 years of faithful allegiance to America, merited a Bronze Star and became a leading flight surgeon charged with caring for the Chief of Staff's pilots and air crews. Feeling that Obama's authority to command had not been established, Col.Lakin refused a second deployment to Afghanistan. He was then arrested and underwent a military court-martial at which the presiding judge, Major General Carla Hawley-Bowland would not allow him to introduce any Obama records in his defense "lest they prove embarrassing to the President." (her words). Unbelievable! If Col.Lakin's attorney had wished to introduce the Constitution into the records because the oath taken to defend it was contained therein, would she also have rejected that request?

The General's concern for sparing Obama possible "embarrassment" (read: a deception being exposed) overrode any concern for the truth.The "sham" guilty verdict was followed by a dishonorable discharge, loss of all pay and benefits and imprisonment. Her kangaroo court had done its job well! A man who had served his Country honorably was brought down by a "Commander -in-Thief", Barack Obama, the only President in our history who refused to produce a valid birth certificate of his own and who,unlawfully, remains in Office to this day. If anyone has doubts as to how far Obama would go to continue his deception please re-read the above.No terrorist could have inflicted more serious wounds upon Col.Lakin than did Obama by his ignoring the Colonel's request for transparency! Obama destroyed an American soldier's career in order to keep his own career intact.

Consider: Two men took an oath to defend the Constitution. One (Col.Lakin) faithfully did for 18 years while the other, Obama, used lies, false documents and the "sound of silence" (aided by a subservient News Media} as he plotted to upend,not defend that same Constitution.. Just recently, he accidentally spoke before an "open" mike and America heard him telling his aides to "find a way to get around the Constitution!" Treasonous words, which spoke volumes as to Obama's moral honesty. To take an oath requires one to live that oath.

Obama did find time to fill out a form with names of basketball teams he favored in an upcoming tournament and to go on multiple vacations, including one to Hawaii at the same time Lt.Col.Lakin was "leaving" for Leavenworth,Kansas Penitentiary. How sad....one traveled in comfort, the other in chains! Why? For seeking confirmation that the service and salute which each serviceman and woman rendered to their President was being received by someone entitled to command their allegiance. Col. Lakin, who spent years mending broken bodies now found himself incapacitated not by enemy action but by a man who repeatedly boasted of being "transparent".....unless his eligibility was being questioned. I pray that all recipients of this letter add their voices to the call for vindication and restoration of Lt.Col.Lakin to the Army, if he so desires and to demand that Obama, who constantly boasts of being "transparent" be ordered to produce whatever birth documents (if any) are in the Hawaiian Health Dept.files and submit them to an impartial analysis for verification. After the manner in which he treated Col.Lakin and others, we cannot expect Obama to voluntarily produce any records. After all,in his own words in Newsday, Aug.22,2010 in New York he unwittingly characterized himself when he said:"The only people who don't want to disclose the truth are those with something to hide". AMEN.

(to be continued)

Holiday Gift Ideas For The Toughest Folks On Your List

We know you're starting to panic. With just a few weeks left in the holiday season, you still need Christmas gift ideas for some of the people on your list: the babysitter you want to keep happy, the co-worker you drew in the office Secret Santa exchange, the in-laws who have everything, the new niece or nephew who already seems to have so much for such a tiny person.

Stop the freakout: Try this list for inspiration. You can pick up most of these gifts on your way home tonight!
More 

Letter From New Haven. Black Mob Violence Unreported?

I live in Connecticut. The horrible attack on a white businessman in New Haven was completely ignored by Connecticut media. He works for, or owns, a “motorsports” business in New Haven.

He was trying out a scooter, sitting at a red light, when he was attacked by a mob of about six or so black men. He does not remember the attack, but just an angry man walking toward him. New Haven is a liberal city to the max.

As far as I know, they did not “find” the attackers, despite having found the scooter! The man is lucky to be alive. He was given such a head injury, and his photo was online. If you look up “New Haven scooter attack” you will probably come across it. Let me know if you don’t. It was all hush-hushed or ignored in our sickening liberal state.

TV did not really touch it, and the print media, only in the New Haven Independent, or some such tiny newspaper. This major assault on a white man by a black mob was just swept under the rug. I mean, it garnished NO attention!

More

BREAKING NEWS: House Approves Budget Plan On Bipartisan Vote

The House approves a two-year budget plan, 332-94, on a bipartisan vote. From Fox News

How Isaac Newton Went Flat Broke Chasing A Stock Bubble

For practitioners of Schadenfreude, seeing high-profile investors losing their shirts is always amusing.

But for the true connoisseur, the finest expression of the art comes when a high-profile investor identifies a bubble, perhaps even makes money out of it, exits in time – and then gets sucked back in only to lose everything in the resultant bust.

An early example is the case of Sir Isaac Newton and the South Sea Company, which was established in the early 18th Century and granted a monopoly on trade in the South Seas in exchange for assuming England’s war debt.

Investors warmed to the appeal of this monopoly and the company’s shares began their rise.

Britain’s most celebrated scientist was not immune to the monetary charms of the South Sea Company, and in early 1720 he profited handsomely from his stake. Having cashed in his chips, he then watched with some perturbation as stock in the company continued to rise.

In the words of Lord Overstone, no warning on earth can save people determined to grow suddenly rich.

More

Walk Through Bethelehm

NSA Chief: We Must Keep Collecting To Protect U.S.

WASHINGTON — The NSA chief said Wednesday he knows of no better way his agency can help protect the U.S. from foreign threats than with spy programs that collect billions of phone and Internet records from around the world.

Pleading with the Senate Judiciary Committee to not abolish the National Security Agency’s bulk-collection programs, Gen. Keith Alexander warned that global threats are growing — specifically in Iraq and Syria — that pose what he called “an unacceptable risk” to America.

“How do we connect the dots?” Alexander said, referring to often-hidden links between a foreign terror threat and a potential attack on the U.S. “There is no other way that we know of to connect the dots. … Taking these programs off the table is absolutely not the thing to do.” 
More 

Math For American Politicians

VEGAS RULES: Harry Reid Pushed Feds To Change Ruling For Casino’s Big-Money Foreigners

The Obama administration overruled career Homeland Security officials and expedited visa applications for about two dozen foreign investors for a politically connected Las Vegas casino hotel after repeated pressure from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his staff, according to internal government documents obtained by The Washington Times.

The move to overturn what is normally a non-appealable visa decision came despite concerns about “suspicious financial activity” involving some of the visa applicants from Asia, and it ultimately benefited several companies whose executives have donated heavily in recent years to Democrats, the documents show. It also ensnared Mr. Obama’s current nominee to be the No. 2 Homeland Security official, Alejandro “Ali” Mayorkas, whose appointment is to be reviewed by the Senate on Wednesday.

The intervention from Mr. Reid’s staff was so intense at one point a year ago that a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) official reported that it prompted a phone shouting match, turning a normally bureaucratic review process inside the Homeland Security Department into a politically charged drama that worried career officials.
More

Obama's Wrong: GOP Is Pitching Alternative Healthcare Plans

Despite the president's assertions that GOP critics of Obamacare haven't offered anything better, Republicans have in fact put forward alternatives aimed at not only repealing the flawed law but also fixing many of its shortcomings.

In the House, the Republican Study Committee has put together the latest and most comprehensive version of a GOP healthcare plan. The American Health Care Reform Act, introduced in September, now has 108 co-sponsors.

The proposal flips Obamacare's focus on a vast role for the federal government in overseeing the nation's healthcare system to a free-market approach, including tax deductions geared at giving consumers the ability to purchase their own health insurance, and tort reform aimed at lessening costs to medical providers.

The plan leans on ideas previously proposed by Republicans, including allowing competition from insurance providers across state lines, creating pools for small businesses that keep rates down, and allowing the federal government to contribute to high-risk insurance pools in the states, bolstering support for those with pre-existing conditions.

More

Lawmakers Recommend Closing City Detention Center; Maynard Praised

Members of a state legislative task force approved their final recommendations today in the wake of a smuggling scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center.

The task force doesn’t assign blame to any state official for the scandal. Instead it offers policy changes that lawmakers will consider in their new session starting next month.

The task force recommended closing the state run city jail, over a ten year period, at a cost of more than $533-million.
More

Volcker Rule Passed By All 5 Regulators

All five regulatory agencies put to a vote and approved the Volcker rule on Tuesday, supposedly, as The WSJ reports, ushering in a new era of tough oversight that drills to the core of Wall Street's profitable markets and trading businesses. As President Obama just ordered via Bloomberg:

OBAMA SAYS VOLCKER RULE WILL MAKE FINANCIAL SYSTEM SAFER

Of course, now the various regulators line up at the trough demanding more funding to cover all the details of all the pages of all the new laws that all of the banks will now have to address on all of their trades...

Source

Baltimore Steel Plant Closing

Another steel plant is closing in our area.

Worthington Steel is shutting its doors in Essex. The company said Wednesday it will lay off 54 workers at its Baltimore County plant.

The workers will be offered jobs at other Worthington plants or get a severance package
More

Island Club Apartments

Female Correctional Officer Punched In Face During 'Knockout Game'

CO: "Came right out of the bathroom and punched me in my eye"

NEW YORK — Rikers Island is a tough place on a good day, but now going to work for correction officers has become even more dangerous.

It looks like the crime fad known as the knockout game has spread to Rikers Island, with women officers the main targets. I spoke exclusively with one female C.O. who is still reeling from a punch to the face.

We have an exclusive picture of the damage the woman said was done to her on November 30, 2013, on Rikers Island. The 22-year-old rookie correction officer told me the knockout game we've seen spread across the country is also spreading inside the jail.

"Came right out of the bathroom and punched me in my eye," she said.

Full story: Knockout game at Rikers Island

More

Politicians' Criminal Minds

It may have been either Will Rogers or Mark Twain, I cannot now recall which of the two great American humorists it was, who said all politicians are criminals. But it makes no difference because when something is true, its source is not the main issue. Fact is, politicians are extortionists at heart since their forte is that they will allow you and me to live and work provided we fork out nearly half of what we earn or otherwise obtain honestly so they can then dispose of it as they see fit.

In our time, not entirely unlike in others, the main appeal politicians hold out for millions is that they join them in their resentful bashing of the rich. This is a successful ploy because in the past, of course, most riches came from conquest, from governments and their favorite minions sending out thugs to confiscate whatever they desired from those who had some. As the saying has it, behind every great fortune lies a great crime, including extortion via taxation! This is why Robin Hood became a hero to so many: He went out and recovered what the tax takers took by force and returned it to the rightful owners. (No, Robin Hood didn't steal from the rich and give to the poor; he repossessed from the ruler and his vicious taxers!)

More

‘The Operating Principle Is Deception’

Devious influence putting U.S. 'in grave peril'

Critics of President George W. Bush’s declaration days after Sept. 11 that Islam is a “religion of peace” say it illustrated how disconnected the government was from the source of the attacks.

Under the administration of President Obama, however, kowtowing to Islam has been taken to a whole new level, jeopardizing the country’s security by rewriting history and allowing activists to dictate what law enforcement officers are taught, charges a major new report from government watchdog Judicial Watch.

More

SC Bill Would Nullify Obamacare, Could Be Model For Others

A bill set for fast-track passage in the South Carolina Senate would effectively nullify Obamacare in that state – and could become a model for other states fed up with the president’s signature healthcare law.

House Bill 3101 passed the state House of Representatives in April and now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate with special-order priority, the Daily Caller reported Monday.

More

CARSON: Why Did The Founders Give Us The Second Amendment?

When I was in high school, I joined the ROTC initially because I was attracted to the uniforms. I figured they would provide an opportunity to escape the constant berating by fellow students owing to my outdated clothing. I was fascinated with the guns and became an excellent marksman, winning several marksmanship awards.

I also led a drill team, which was very advanced with the art of disassembling and reassembling military rifles in record time. I advanced through the ranks, eventually becoming the city’s ROTC executive officer and was offered a scholarship to West Point.

I gained great respect for the military and its role in procuring and maintaining our freedom. I also gained great appreciation for firearms, as well as an understanding of how they can be used for great good or great harm.
More

Uruguay Set To Become First Country To Legalize Marijuana Trade

(Reuters) - Uruguay's Senate is expected to pass a law on Tuesday making the small South American nation the world's first to allow its citizens to grow, buy and smoke marijuana.

The pioneering government-sponsored bill establishes state regulation of the cultivation, distribution and consumption of marijuana and is aimed at wresting the business from criminals.

Cannabis consumers would be allowed to buy a maximum of 40 grams (1.4 ounces) each month from state-regulated pharmacies as long as they are over the age of 18 and registered on a government database that will monitor their monthly purchases.

More

Latter-Day Marxist

A week ago, the White House Marxist declared that income inequality was the “defining challenge” we face. If Obama really means what he says (which he almost never does) he could begin by giving up the millions he has already pocketed and the fancy houses and the fancy vacations he funds with taxes coming from Americans who are scraping to make ends meet. Or he could close down Obamacare, the largest redistribution of income from the have nots to the haves in our lifetimes. Or he could end his economic and regulatory programs, which have produced poverty and deprivation not only for the present generation but for generations to come. But don’t hold your breath. None of the filthy rich progressives around Obama will see the light or give up a dime. You can rest assured of that.

I guess if one is so eaten up with envy of the other guy’s toys, or is delusional in the Marxist vein, income inequality can seem a problem and even a challenge. But no person in their right mind thinks that all people are equal in ability and talent. Not even a five-year-old. Consequently, unless you are prepared to take away individual freedom (which, granted, is a thought in the back of every progressive mind) there will be income inequality forever. It’s inevitable. And just that simple. The only question is whether rewards for those extra brains and talents will be distributed by an impersonal open market, or by a political mafia that will make sure the redistribution flows into the pockets of their political friends. Now where do you think all that Obama stimulus money actually went?

More

Two Charged In Slaying Of Iraq War Vet Who Wanted To Buy iPad

(CNN) -- Two Indianapolis brothers have been charged in the slaying of an Iraq war veteran who was trying to purchase an iPad through Craigslist, the Marion County prosecutor's office said.

James Vester, 32, was shot to death Wednesday in an Indianapolis parking lot. The father of a 1-year-old boy had served 12 years in the Indiana National Guard, including a year in Iraq.

He was a mechanic for the Guard and was a member of the Guard's ceremonial team, which appears at funerals and special events.

Authorities said Vester was responding to a Craigslist ad when he went to the west side of Indianapolis to purchase the iPad as a Christmas present for a parent.

More

How Presidents Lie

It’s nothing new for a president to lie to us, but Obama’s style is unique.

In the past there have been all sorts of presidential fibbing. Some chief executives make promises that they know they probably cannot or will not keep. Before his reelection for his third term in the midst of a world war, Franklin Roosevelt swore that he would never send American boys to fight in a foreign war. In just a little over a year, he did just that. Lyndon Johnson likewise before the 1964 election said he would not send troops to Vietnam. But once reelected, he sent nearly 200,000 troops to fight the North Vietnamese; by the time he left office, over a half-million Americans were deployed in Vietnam.

In 1988 presidential candidate George H. W. Bush pledged that he would not raise taxes and did so emphatically: “Read my lips — no new taxes!” But in 1990 he flipped and agreed to tax hikes.

More

40 Percent Of Households Paid Negative Taxes In 2010

The bottom 40 percent of households paid minus 9.1 percent in taxes while receiving nearly $19,000 on average in government benefits in 2010, according to a new study by the Congressional Budget Office.

On the other hand, the top 40 percent of households paid 106.2 percent of the nation's net income taxes in 2010, according to the CBO study entitled The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes 2010.

"When refundable tax credits, such as the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit, exceed the other federal tax liabilities of the households in an income group, those households are said to have a negative average tax rate,” said the CBO study.

More

Bongino Book Analyzes Law Enforcement Failures ‘Inside The Bubble’

Campaign biographies about political candidates are almost passé in this era of tweets and social media. But Dan Bongino’s new book “Life Inside the Bubble” actually has something interesting to say, besides revealing more personal details of the current candidate for Congress in the 6th District and last year’s nominee for U.S. Senate.

The final four chapters that are the most interesting are not about Bongino’s life with a single mom in Queens, N.Y., walking the beat as a NYPD cop, or his 12 years in the Secret Service, including the elite presidential protection detail. The most engaging chapters are his own analysis of law enforcement and protection controversies such as “Fast and Furious,” the Benghazi attack and the Boston Marathon bombing.
More

The Hidden Obamacare Taxes That Will Crush The Middle Class

This looming scandal could ruin the 44th President and disrupt the entire..

Get ready to be blindsided by a barrage of new taxes. $1 trillion worth…

They’ll be coming courtesy of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

And they won’t just be affecting those who make over $250,000. The bulk of these taxes will be passed on directly to the middle class.

That’s because while a majority of these “stealth taxes” were designed to be taxes on businesses, they’re actually transferred directly to ordinary citizens.

They include the investment income surtax, a Medicare payroll tax, even a “tanning tax” on those who utilize indoor tanning services.

More

Runaway Bay Apartments

How The ATF Manufactures Crime

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation exposes the agency’s shameful tactics.

Since the president was reelected in November of last year, a good deal of poison has been poured into Washington’s grimy alphabet soup. Among the departments that have become embroiled in scandal are the IRS, the DOJ, the DOE, the EPA, the NSA, the USDA, and, of course, the ATF. This week, the lattermost is back in the news — and for good reason.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is probably best known these days for the failure of its disastrous Fast and Furious scheme — a botched initiative that aimed to give American guns to Mexican cartels first and to ask questions later. Under pressure, the administration was quick to imply that the mistake was an aberration. But a watchdog report, published last week by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, suggests that the caprice, carelessness, and downright incompetence that marked the disaster was no accident. In fact, that it is endemic in the ATF.

More

We Live In A Trifecta State

That is a Democratic Governor, Democratic House, and Democratic Senate.  In the past couple of years they have managed to increase the tax on gas, alcohol, and even a rain tax to be implemented by county and have gone along with everything from Washington.  I know we cannot change the state to a conservative state however, we need some conservative voices that fight for the eastern shore in Annapolis. 

I am soliciting for Charles Otto, who is presently republican in the House of Delegates, representing District 38A (find attached map).   Charles is a good conservative voice in the House of Delegates, voting to help Eastern Shore business, the farmers and watermen.

 Please help with a donation to keep Charles in office.

Dick Carey  

 q Yes, I would like to Help enclosed is my check in the amount of

________ $500______   $250 ______$150______$100_____$50_______$25

CORPORATE or PERSONAL Checks can be made payable to:                             Citizens for Charles Otto

And Mail to:                           ESW

                                                   Box 99

                                         Fruitland MD 21826

Contributor: ____________________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip: _____________________________________________________________________

Phone: __________________________ Email: ______________________________

Authority: Citizens for Charles Otto: Asher Daisy Treasurer

Police Called To Home To Break Up Family Fight Over Decorating Of Christmas Tree

Police were called last night to a South Carolina residence to break up a fight between relatives who pushed and yelled at each other over the decorating of the family’s Christmas tree.

According to a sheriff’s report, the fight began around 10:30 PM and involved three women who live together at the Spartanburg home. The dispute between the women--aged, 76, 61, and 24--was triggered “due to the Christmas tree being decorated by 2 of the females while the other female was at work.”

More

Boogie Woogie Twins / Dr. John

Senate Dems Use New Power To Confirm Nominee, Tilt Appeals Court

Senate Democrats on Tuesday muscled through the confirmation of a key judicial nominee, in the first such vote since they weakened the chamber's filibuster rules and undermined the power of the minority party.

Senators voted 56-38 to approve Washington lawyer Patricia Millett to join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the nation's second most powerful court.

Amid objections from Republicans, the vote now sets the stage for a series of votes on nominees who otherwise could have had a tough time getting confirmed.

Both sides saw Millett's appointment as pivotal. It will give Democratic-appointed judges a 5-4 majority over those chosen by Republican presidents for that court, which rules on the legality of White House actions and federal agency regulations.

"I'm confident she will serve with distinction on the federal bench," President Obama said in a statement.

More

WestJet Christmas Miracle: Real-Time Giving A MUST WATCH VIDEO

Pay Raises For Governor, Legislators In The Works, As Revenues Improve Slightly

Salary hikes for Maryland’s next governor, members of the General Assembly and other statewide officials elected next year are set to be decided next week by two compensation commissions specially appointed for this task.

None of these officials have had pay hikes since 2006, and the legislature rejected recommendations from these same commissions four years ago to increase the salaries slightly.

“Are they really going to pay attention to us this time?” asked Robert Neall, who was elected chairman of the Governor’s Compensation Commission in his absence but spoke to the other members by speaker phone at their first meeting Wednesday night. Neall had served on the commission four years ago, and “I feel like Charlie Brown with the football.”
More

Timing Is (Not) Everything

“Federal Reserve officials are closer to winding down their controversial $85 billion-a-month bond-purchase program, possibly as early as December, in the wake of Friday’s encouraging jobs report.”

That from the much-deservedly maligned John Hilsenrath, widely regarded to be the Federal Reserve’s ventrioloquist dummy over at the Wall Street Journal, as in, from God’s mouth to the jittery multitudes. Of course the jobs number was just another highly seasoned and over-leavened cupcake from the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s magic hedonic oven, so you can be sure that the predicate of that statement is… how to put it delicately… the latest arrant lie with hypothetical icing on top.

Everybody knows that the Federal Reserve’s money-pumping operations have become a replacement for what used to be an economy. Therefore, no more money pumping = no more so-called economy. It’s that simple. But it doesn’t mean that the Federal Reserve won’t make a gesture and I wouldn’t be surprised if they try it during the season that Santa Claus hovers over the national consciousness — or what little of that remains when you subtract the methedrine, the Kanye downloads, the fear of an $11,000 bill for an emergency room visit requiring three stitches, and all the other epic distractions of our time.

The next meeting of the Fed’s Open Market Committee (FOMC), where such things as taper-or-not are considered, is Dec. 17. The Fed has to make some kind of gesture to retain any credibility, so I suspect they’ll go for a symbolic shaving of five or ten billion a month off the current official bond-buying operation number of $85 billion a month (or $1.2 trillion a year). If they don’t do it, no one will ever believe them again. I call it the “head-fake” taper, because it is essentially a false move.

More

Health Bill Exempts Volunteers, Just In Case

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators took steps Wednesday to protect volunteer fire and rescue workers from a problem that might not even exist.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and others introduced a bill that keeps cities and towns from having to provide health care for volunteer emergency workers, a cost that would drive most rural volunteer fire houses out of business.

There's no indication they need to provide the service, but reports in recent weeks by Fox News, other media outlets and opponents of the Affordable Care Act created a frenzy that sparked fear and prompted both houses of Congress to introduce measures Wednesday.

More

'A Public Safety Disaster': Obamacare Could Force THOUSANDS Of Volunteer Fire Departments To Close

Environmentalists Who Oppose GM Crops Are Unscientific And Dangerous

In August, environmentalists in the Philippines vandalized a field of Golden Rice, an experimental grain whose genes had been modified to carry beta-carotene, a chemical precursor of vitamin A.

Golden Rice is not produced by a corporate behemoth but by the public sector. Its seeds will be handed out free to farmers. The aim is to improve the health of children in poor countries by reducing vitamin A deficiency, which contributes to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and cases of blindness each year.

Environmentalists claim that these sorts of actions are justified because genetically modified (GM) crops pose health risks. Now the main ground for those claims has crumbled.

More

The Real 1%

Rich Get Richer, Rest Stagnate In Economic 'Recovery'

While President Obama condemns inequality in contemporary America, new data from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank indicate that the disparity between rich and poor continues to get more extreme.

The Fed’s Flow of Funds report for the third quarter shows that the bulk of the quarter’s $1.9 trillion growth in household net worth came from appreciation in assets held primarily by wealthy Americans.

Household net worth came to $77.3 trillion in the third quarter, up from an adjusted figure of $75.34 trillion in the second quarter. (The second quarter figure is inflated by a wholesale revision of economic data, including GDP and other widely used indicators, that was imposed in July and resulted in a massive apparent increase in America’s putative wealth.)

More

Ryan Deal Limits Senate GOP's Power To Block Tax Increases

Senate Republicans scrubbing the Ryan-Murray budget deal have come across a little-noticed provision that will limit the GOP’s ability to block tax increases in future years.

The bill includes language from the Senate Democrats’ budget that voids senators’ ability to raise a budget “point of order” against replacing the sequester cuts with tax increases.

The process is quite complicated, but in practice it grants Harry Reid the authority to send tax increases to the House with a bare majority, rather than the 60-vote threshold that would be required under a point of order.

More

SFD Calls For Service 12-11-13

• Wednesday December, 11 2013 @ 22:33:04Nature: Subject FallenCity: Salisbury
• Wednesday December, 11 2013 @ 21:53:18Nature: Chest PainCity: Salisbury
• Wednesday December, 11 2013 @ 21:45:57Nature: Chest PainCity: Salisbury
• Wednesday December, 11 2013 @ 20:24:24Nature: Medical AssistAddress: 809 Alvin Ave Salisbury, MD 21801
• Wednesday December, 11 2013 @ 14:36:21Nature: StrokeCity: Salisbury
• Wednesday December, 11 2013 @ 09:33:33Nature: Debris In RoadwayAddress: 4207 Coulbourn Mill Rd Fruitland, MD 21826
• Wednesday December, 11 2013 @ 08:41:27Nature: StrokeCity: Salisbury
• Wednesday December, 11 2013 @ 06:19:36Nature: Structure FireAddress: 705 E Pine St Delmar, MD 21875
• Wednesday December, 11 2013 @ 05:05:41Nature: Sick SubjectCity: Salisbury
• Wednesday December, 11 2013 @ 02:55:31Nature: Sick SubjectCity: Salisbury

No New Farm Bill In 2013

There will be no new farm bill passed by the end of 2013, according to House and Senate negotiators. The Agriculture Committee members said they cannot proceed with a new bill until they receive the budget scores from the Congressional Budget office, and because one of the two people responsible for the scores was stuck in New Jersey over the weekend from bad weather, the scores aren’t in.

Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) said, “We got a problem. We thought we were going to have a CBO score Monday morning. Turns out, there's two guys that do [these scores]. One of them has his work done, the other went to a wedding in northern New Jersey over the weekend and got stuck, and is still not back."

More

9-Year-Old Suspended For Saying ‘Merry Christmas’ To Teacher

San Francisco, CA — The ‘war on Christmas’ continues as a simple well-wishing of ‘Merry Christmas’ has led to big trouble for one fourth-grade San Francisco boy this week.

Timothy Dawson, a 9-year-old student at Argon Elementary School in San Francisco, CA., was in the school cafeteria Monday eating with friends when he was taken to the principal’s office and given a week-long suspension. His punishment was consequence for saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to his homeroom teacher earlier that morning.

Dawson’s teacher, 35-year-old Paul Horner who is an outspoken Atheist, was offended at the students display of Christmas spirit and had staff suspend the young boy for the rest of the week.

“I say ‘Merry Christmas’ to everyone,” the boy told CNN. “I didn’t think it would cause so much trouble just for saying a couple little words.”

The boy’s mother, Laura Dawson, 41, was fuming over the issue.

More

Crash Kills Newlyweds; Limo Driver Charged

ASHEVILLE, N.C. —A limousine driver has been charged in an Asheville crash that killed a newlywed couple who had just attended a college friend's wedding.

Asheville police Sgt. Dave Romick said Rodney Koon, 46, of Asheville, is charged with DWI and two counts of felony death by motor vehicle. A police release said the white 2003 Lincoln Town Car had gone over an embankment and struck a large tree.

More

ST ANDREWS CHURCH CONCERT

SPECIAL WORSHIP SERVICES

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Sunday, Dec.15th at 3:00 pm, St Andrews Methodist Church, 400 E. Vine St.,will hold their Christmas Concert -- Pastor Gary Tulak officiating.

A free - will offering will be taken to be used for the Churches' new roof.

Refreshments following the concert------Handicap Ramp is Available.

Gannett Adding Content, Raising Prices

Gannett to Add USA Today to Local Papers

Gannett Company, one of the nation’s largest newspaper chains, will try to expand its advertising and circulation revenue by inserting parts of its flagship newspaper, USA Today, into its local newspapers.

The company is expected to announce its plans Wednesday morning at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference.

Beginning in January, Gannett will add 12 to 14 pages of USA Today content each day to 35 newspapers in its largest markets, including The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y., The Tennessean in Nashville and The Cincinnati Enquirer. That means readers, along with their local news, will get a broader mix of news from the USA Today content.

More