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Almost 15% of US households experienced a food shortage at some point in 2009, a government report has found. US authorities say that figure is the highest they have seen since they began collecting data in the 1990s, and a slight increase over 2008 levels. Single mothers are among the hardest hit: About 3.5 million said they were at times unable to put sufficient food on the table. Hispanics and African Americans also suffer disproportionately. The food security report is the result of an annual survey conducted by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Households deemed "food insecure" experienced a...

Washington, DC --(AmmoLand.com)- Data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for the year reported 14,033,824 NICS Checks for the year of 2009, a 10 percent increase in gun purchases from the 12,709,023 reported in 2008. So far that is roughly 14,000,000+ guns bought last year! The total is probably more as many NICS background checks cover the purchase of more than one gun at a time by individuals. To put it in perspective that is more guns than the combined active armies of the top 21 countries in the world.

" At least 36 terminally ill people died last year after taking lethal medication prescribed by doctors under Washington State’s new physician-assisted suicide law, according to a state report released Thursday, the first since the law went into effect a year ago. A total of 63 people filled prescriptions for lethal medication, but not everyone took it. All those who did take it died. Some people who did not take it died from other causes." "Oregon, whose law went into effect in 1998, also released its annual report this week. The Oregon Public Health Division said 59 people died last...

Barack Obama ‘destroys first year in office’ Barack Obama Christina Lamb in Washington WHEN President Barack Obama took office last year he was compared to Superman, even joking at a dinner that he had been “born on Krypton and sent here ... to save the planet Earth”. Last January he appeared on the cover of Spider-Man. Now, with his ambitious legislative agenda in tatters, the once invincible president has moved from comic-strip hero to comparisons to one of the great flawed figures of American literature. Ten days ago a leading election analyst, Charlie Cook, compared Obama and his battle to...

http://www.acuratings.org/ They were released last week. Currently they're only available in PDF format. They aren't the be all end all but they are a usual barometer among many. They look at 25 votes for each house across a wide spectrum of issues. In 2008 there was a huge lurch to the left according to their scores. Some called their ratings outliers because of this. 2009 saw a general improvement of scores more in line with other years.

Among the many groups that opposed Barack Obama's presidential race, few were more certain or vehement than gun rights organizations. "Barack Obama would be the most anti-gun president in American history," the National Rifle Association announced. "Obama is a committed anti-gunner," warned Gun Owners of America. So it's no stunner that after a year in office, the president is getting hammered by people who have no use for his policy on firearms. The surprise is that the people attacking him are those who favor gun control, not those who oppose it. Obama's record on this issue has been largely overlooked—except...

WASHINGTON – What recession? Health care and business interests led the way as clients spent a record $3.5 billion on lobbying last year, prompted by Obama administration drives to reshape federal policy for the medical, financial and energy industries. Amid a stagnant national economy and the worst unemployment in nearly three decades, lobbying expenditures grew by 5 percent from the $3.3 billion spent in 2008, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The growth also came despite efforts by President Barack Obama to curb lobbyists' influence. The figures underline the vast and growing sums that industries, unions and ideological...

A record $3.47 billion was spent on federal lobbyists in 2009, according to a new study by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Ergo, fair now to say that Wall Street and K Street had a bull year, while Main Street suffered in recession. The lobbyist boon times were tied to the legislative debates of the day: health care reform, financial reform and energy policy.

The number of illegal immigrants living in the United States dropped by 1 million people in two years, according to new estimates by the Department of Homeland Security. The government thinks that 10.8 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in January 2009, down from a peak of nearly 12 million in 2007. If the official estimates are correct, not since 2005 has the population of illegal immigrants been as low as it was last year. Some private researchers, however, are questioning the magnitude of the drop. # Top countries of origin for illegal immigrants in the U.S.: Mexico: 6.65...

WASHINGTON - Finding a job got much tougher last year, as the number of available openings fell by nearly one quarter. At the same time, the unemployed population soared by more than one-third, leaving more laid-off workers competing for fewer jobs. All told, there were 6.1 unemployed workers in December, on average, for every available position, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday. That's a sharp increase from 3.4 jobless workers per opening in December of 2008, and much worse than the 1.7 unemployed people per opening in December 2007, when the recession began.

Job openings fell by nearly one-quarter last year as layoffs also soared Finding a job got much tougher last year, as the number of available openings fell by nearly one quarter. At the same time, the unemployed population soared by more than one-third, leaving more laid-off workers competing for fewer jobs. All told, there were 6.1 unemployed workers in December, on average, for every available position, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday. That's a sharp increase from 3.4 jobless workers per opening in December of 2008, and much worse than the 1.7 unemployed people per opening in December 2007,...

AP: First lady Michelle Obama says President Barack Obama "has done a phenomenal job," but that people have a right to criticize him. In an interview broadcast Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America," she said getting things accomplished in heavily politicized Washington is "a constant struggle."

Here is video of First Lady Michelle Obama reacting to criticism by Sarah Palin and others by saying she believes "my husband has done a phenomenal job" during his first year in office. She was reacting to Sarah Palin's question to Americans, "How's that Hopey Changey stuff working out for you." Michelle Obama also said she is very "proud" of her husband and the job he is doing. . . . (VIDEO)

Video: Rising unemployment and an ever-increasing deficit, a stimulus bill that failed to stimulate the economy, budget-busting health care legislation that would raise taxes and cut Medicare, and broken promises on transparency and closing Guantanamo it hasn't been a very good year for Democrats. Here, the year in review.

Well, is God blessing Barack Obama? The beleaguered US President must wonder about that every time he wakes up in the White House. Part of his problem, of course, is that when he ran for the presidency under the slogan of change, the electorate projected their own dreams and aspirations onto what was effectively a blank slate; some even saw him as a black messiah. The problem with being viewed in this way is that when expectations are not met, the messiah can quickly morph into the scapegoat. So what is it with Obama and God? Last week’s television programme...

The Obama administration's economic stimulus program created nearly 600,000 jobs in the final three months of 2009, a figure in line with the administration's goals for job creation through the end of 2010, the White House reported Saturday night. The new total was down from the totals reported for the previous quarter, partly because the administration decided in December to count only the jobs paid for with stimulus funding instead of estimating the number of jobs "created or saved" with the money. Critics had panned the "created or saved" measurement as a subjective and confusing way of determining the program's...

People often mistake being named Time’s “Person of the Year” as an honor, but that men as sinister as Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin and Rudy Giuliani have all been given the title suggests otherwise. According to Time, the award is primarily a recognition of influence and by that measure the 2009 selection of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke makes sense. Explains Time, the Fed is “an independent government agency that conducts monetary policy, which means it sets short-term interest rates - which means it has immense influence over inflation, unemployment, the strength of the dollar and the strength of your...

Last night I figured out how much money last year I SAVED by being a Freeper and what I got out of Freerepublic! AMAZING....Here is the breakdown: Money I saved... 1. Not buying the local newspaper--$125. 2. No subscriptions to "News" magazines--$110. 3. Taking my homemade lunches, thanks to Granny's Frugal Cooking Thread--$260. 4. Mercury Light bulb Professional Cleaning ( cause Freeprs warned me!)I didn't need cause I didn't buy those dumb bulbs---$260. 5. Investment Newsletter I didn't have to order cause I get so much info here--$189. 6. Making my own Greeting cards using pics and cartoons on Freep...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2010 – Most people would be hard-pressed to squeeze the highlights of their past year – and what they hope to accomplish in the year ahead -- into 50 seconds. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates took a crack at it in, ticking off the Defense Department’s most significant milestones since January 2009. The secretary focused on three top efforts: the war effort in Afghanistan, the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, and submission of a defense budget that supports major reforms while increasing military capabilities and taking care of troops and their families. Operations in Afghanistan topped...

This week marks the one year anniversary of Susan Rice’s confirmation by the United States Senate to represent the American people at the United Nations. Over the past 12 months, the U.S. has faced some serious foreign policy challenges such as Iran’s nuclear ambitions, North Korea’s ongoing nuclear weapons’ tests, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, freezing terrorists’ assets world-wide and now the on-going disaster in Haiti. But while the UN struggles to find common ground on these and other important issues, Susan Rice has chosen to spend several days of the work week over the last year in Washington, DC hanging out...