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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is determined to attack Iran before the US elections,” Israel’s Channel 10 News claimed on Monday night, and Israel is now “closer than ever” to a strike designed to thwart Iran’s nuclear drive. The TV station’s military reporter Alon Ben-David, who earlier this year was given extensive access to the Israel Air Force as it trained for a possible attack, reported that, since upgraded sanctions against Iran have failed to force a suspension of the Iranian nuclear program in the past two months, “from the prime minister’s point of view, the time for action is getting...

Iran or Israel: Which is more deserving of censure? On the one hand, as the French news agency Agence France-Presse reported last week, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is calling Israel “a cancerous tumor” that, he threatened, will “soon be excised.” He added: “The nations of the region will soon finish off the usurper Zionists. . . . With the grace of God and help of the nations, in the new Middle East there will be no trace of the Americans and Zionists.” On the other hand, the AFP article goes on to say: “Israel has been employing its own invective...

On August 18, the Washington Post published an editorial calling Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s tax reform plan “garbage”. Citing reports from the (allegedly) non-partisan Tax Policy Center, the Post said that it is not possible to “broaden the (tax) base” sufficiently to pay for Mr. Romney’s proposed tax rate reductions. The critics of the Romney tax plan are missing the point. The only “tax base” that matters is GDP. The Romney tax plan will broaden the tax base by increasing GDP. Whatever it does or does not do to broaden the tax base by “closing loopholes” is a sideshow....

Rocker DEE SNIDER has lashed out at U.S. vice presidential hopeful PAUL RYAN for allegedly using his popular tune WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania. Ryan, who is currently touring America to support Mitt Romney's bid for the White House, reportedly tried to boost morale during a political rally on Tuesday (21Aug12) by blaring the classic Twisted Sister hit to pump up the crowd. However, Snider has taken issue with the politician's use of the song and has lodged a formal complaint with Ryan's camp. A statement from the 57 year old reads, "I emphatically...

The Bremerton-based aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, will deploy four months early to the Persian Gulf. To thank sailors for their service, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited U.S. Naval Base Kitsap at Bremerton Wednesday.Speaking to the more than 2,000 men and women of the Stennis strike group, Panetta said U.S. military needs them."I understand that its tough, we're asking an awful lot of each of you. But frankly, you are the best I have and when the world calls we have to respond," he told them.Panetta will spend the rest of the day on base, meeting with...

A former Disney employee is expected to announce Monday a federal lawsuit against the entertainment giant, saying she was harassed and unfairly removed from her hostess job after refusing to remove her head scarf while at work. Imane Boudlal, who is Muslim, said she had worked at Storyteller's Cafe in Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa in Anaheim for two years when she began wearing her hijab to work in August 2010. Boudlal said she was told wearing her scarf was a violation of company policy, and she would either have to remove it, cover it with a hat or...

More than 200 people rallied for Lincoln's gay and lesbian community on the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday night, one day after police said a lesbian woman staged a hate crime one month ago. The scene echoed the candlelight vigil the night after Charlie Rogers, 33, told police three men broke into her house, tied her up, carved anti-gay slurs into her skin and tried to light her house on fire. "We were all brought together by a woman who needs prayers and support," said Beth Loofe, a Lincoln woman who works as a chaplain at Inclusive Life Church...

Labor Department spent $500G in stimulus on green-job ad blitz on Olbermann, MaddowThe Obama administration paid a PR firm nearly $500,000 in stimulus funds to run a barrage of ads on White House-friendly cable programs promoting its green job training program. According to government records, the Labor Department paid the money in late 2009 to a company that negotiated a media buy on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and "The Rachel Maddow Show." The ad was set to run more than 100 times -- 14 times a week for two months. It's unclear how many people might have gotten involved...

Rasmussen will be releasing a poll this morning showing Akin costing us dearly in Missouri: McCaskill 48% Akin 38%. Time to pack it up and stop screwing us, big guy.

Two longshot efforts to alter the Republican Party’s official position on same-sex marriage failed Tuesday morning. Republicans drafting the party’s platform in Tampa rejected the pair of amendments, but each found some support among the delegates. The first, proposed by Rhode Island delegate Barbara Fenton, called for ending government-recognized marriage and replacing it with civil unions for both homosexual and heterosexual couples. ... Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a delegate from Louisiana, opposed the measure. “This would move us away from a party that recognizes the benefits that marriage extends to a society,” Mr. Perkins said. “We recognize nature,...

CAMDEN, NJ — New Jersey's child-welfare agency, long under federal oversight for high-profile lapses, said it will review its role in the case of a mother who decapitated her 2-year-old son and killed herself just five months after regaining custody of the child. The Department of Children and Families said Wednesday night it had been working with members of Chevonne Thomas' family to support the woman and her son, who were reunited under a court order in April.

TULSA, Oklahoma - An east Tulsa neighborhood is sending a message to would-be criminals. Residents in the Magic Circle neighborhood want everyone to know that the homeowners there may be packing heat. The signs are hard to miss around 21st and Garnett.The Magic Circle neighborhood association put them up earlier this year in an effort to curb crime. Jonathan Penick and his wife, Leah, have lived in the Magic Circle neighborhood for four years. "Neighborhood association does a real good job cleaning up, keeping crime out as much as they can, putting speed bumps in, and just taking care of...

A Navy SEAL is releasing the real story on the Osama Bin Laden raid. For the first time a member of SEAL Team 6 has written a book setting the record straight on the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. The book was not authorized by the Obama Administration and will give the real story not told by the Obama-media. The book was vetted by a former special operation’s attorney. The majority of the proceeds from the book will go to charities that support families of fallen Navy SEALs. Reuters reported: The U.S. government was surprised by the...

There are 366 major metropolitan areas in the United States, and a comprehensive new study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy ranks them on the basis of generosity -- the percentage of income the median household in each city gives to charity. According to the Chronicle, the most generous city in America is Provo, Utah, where residents typically give away 13.9 percent of their discretionary income. Boston, by contrast, ranks No. 358: In New England's leading city, the median household donates just 2.9 percent of its income to charity. Provo's generosity is typical for its region. Of the 10 most generous...

Hurricane Isaac isn’t the only storm developing in Tampa. The Republican National Committee is brewing up one of its own. Florida has a penchant for jumping in the gun when it comes to scheduling presidential primaries. We did it in 2008 and again in 2012. Republican National Committee rules provide that when a state moves its primary ahead of those of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the state forfeits half its delegates. That rule ended up reducing Florida’s delegates from 99 to 50 at Tampa convention.

What’s more important than ensuring that children get a better education? For most Americans this election cycle, it’s the federal budget. As President Obama continues to assail the Republican presidential ticket for pushing a budget blueprint that could cut education spending, polling data that emerged Wednesday shows that the vast majority of Americans think getting the U.S. back on solid fiscal footing trumps increasing school funding. A survey by Gallup and the Phi Delta Kappa International education association finds that 60 percent of Americans think it’s more important to balance the federal budget than to “improve the quality of education.”...

The campaign for presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney laid out a plan Wednesday for America to be energy independent by 2020. On an embargoed conference call with reporters, Romney staffers touched on familiar themes they said would wean the country off imported oil and spark an economic boom at home. Namely, they called for fewer regulations and more drilling. The staffers pointed to the revolution in drilling technology in recent years that's unlocked an energy boom in this country, and contrasted that with President Obama's support for renewable energy, which they said has failed to pay off. "There's incredible...

Authorities are investigating a late Tuesday night shooting where a Pharr homeowner shot a man who broke into his home. It all happened at a home on the 900 block of East Marion Avenue around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Investigators told Action 4 News that a burglar broke into a couple's home. Pharr police said that the homeowner's wife entered a room when the burglar confronted her. The woman called out for her husband who came armed with a handgun. The homeowner followed the suspect outside and shot at the burglary suspect. Bullets from the gun hit the burglary suspect's left...

Billionaire investor Peter Thiel’s sale of a majority of his Facebook [FB 19.669 0.23 (+1.18%) ] stock was “completely outrageous,” “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer said Tuesday. Cramer blasted Thiel, a member of Facebook’s board of directors, for unloading about 20 million shares on Thursday, with about 5 million shares remaining in his portfolio. ........................................................ “To me, Thiel’s sale is basically saying, ‘Hey, all you chumps who bought Facebook, listen up. I am a responsible investor and a megatron gazillionaire, and I know better than to own this piece of trash.’ I hope you see that’s the case, too,” he...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- "The citizens out here are looking for them to come up with a solution and people don't want to panic. People want to know and have confidence in the city leaders," San Jose resident Michelle Bertolone told ABC7 News Wednesday. Residents are asking for help following a murder in a grocery store Tuesday night. It was the city's seventh killing in just eight days. The pressure is mounting on San Jose's police chief to ask for outside help to deal with the city's unprecedented surge in violence. There have been 32 homicides in San Jose...

Victoria Cobb, President Wednesday, August 22, 2012 Information Alert: AG Defends Federal Marriage Law The attack on the definition of marriage is never ceasing, so neither is our work. In late May, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, covering Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Puerto Rico, ruled that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), legislation protecting the definition of marriage that was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, was unconstitutional. The decision by that court threatens not only the federal DOMA, but the definition of marriage, both constitutional and by statute, in 42...

...the veterans' partisan excesses and absurd public remarks are turning them into a laughingstock within the special forces community.

The criticisms of the recent absurd comments by Missouri Republican Congressman Todd Akin, who at this writing is his party’s nominee to take on incumbent Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in November in a contest he had been expected to win, have focused on his clearly erroneous understanding of the human female anatomy. In a now infamous statement, in which he used the bizarre and unheard-of phrase “legitimate rape,” the congressman gave the impression that some rapes of women are not mentally or seriously resisted. This is an antediluvian and misogynistic myth for which there is no basis in fact...

E-MAIL SHARE FONT-SIZE 8/23/2012 8:37 AM ET (RTTNews) - First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly showed a modest increase in the week ended August 18th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The report showed that initial jobless claims edged up to 372,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 368,000. The modest increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to slip to 365,000 from the 366,000 originally reported for the previous week. Additionally, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 368,000 from the...

Maybe 15 terms in Congress is enough. In at least one case, we now have proof that it’s more than enough. California Rep. Darrell Issa finally confirmed today what has been generally known for a long while: Even as Democrats were promised to get to the bottom of the scandal surrounding sup-prime mortgage loans, a least one top Democrat was working hard to cover-up the names of Democrats who got favors from Countrywide Financial Corp. Countrywide was the biggest abuser of sub-prime mortgages and was one of the main culprits in the housing collapse that eventually infected the rest of...

Eurozone Headed For Recession As Economic Rot Spreads The Telegraph (UK) Aug. 23, 2012, 7:05 AM The eurozone looks destined for its second recession in three years, as business surveys showed the economic rot is even spreading to Germany, the region's largest and strongest economy. Markit's Flash eurozone composite PMI, which measures manufacturing and services activity, edged up to 46.6 in August. Although this was marginally better than the 46.5 forecast by economists, it is the seventh month that the PMI has fallen below the 50 level that divides growth from contraction. The data suggested that the eurozone will contract...

New York Times bestselling author Dinesh D’Souza spoke at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, yesterday about his new book, “Obama’s America.” The book, which I read over this past weekend, seeks to explain the actions and policies of President Barack Obama using the principles of Anti-Colonial ideology. Obama’s Anti-Colonialism, D’Souza suggests, is based on the premise that rich countries got rich by looting poor countries and that, within the rich countries, plutocratic and corporate elites continue to exploit ordinary citizens. Throughout the book, D’Souza endeavors to explain the origins of Obama’s ideology, including stories about the president’s father, Barack...

A week before his big speech at the Republican National Convention, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio made a dry run of sorts in an appearance Wednesday at Forum Club of the Palm Beaches luncheon. And his request to keep the press from videotaping Wednesday’s talk has one local newspaper accusing the senator of censorship. It’s an allegation that political analyst Jack Furnari called “hyperventilating.”

Is Brandon Raub a political prisoner of the Obama Administration? That is the impression you receive if you talk to members of an organization called Special Operations Speaks. In a press release the group states, “Brandon Raub, a 26-year-old former Marine who completed tours of Iraq and Afghanistan and lives in Chesterfield, Va., was recently arrested and forcibly committed to a psychiatric facility for mental evaluation by a court based solely on controversial Facebook postings, which took the form of song lyrics, political messages and virtual card games.”

New Jersey is seeing a rise of inclusive homeschooling groups that aim to provide opportunities for parents to network and for children to socialize, conduct science experiments, and play sports and games, says Homeschool World of the Practical Homeschooling Magazine. Before New Jersey parent Heather Kirchner decided to homeschool her daughter, she believed that mothers who homeschooled their children were only the types “who wore long skirts and praised Jesus and all that,” writes Alesha Williams Boyd and Sergio Bichao at USA Today. Kirchner is one of number of parents joining secular organizations across the country that offer homeschooling. And...

llinois is the only state in the country that denies all rights to carry arms. When I arrived there this week, however, I felt like I was free compared to the District. To get better at shooting, I took a ladies self-defense training course taught by Rob Pincus at the Winchester Company in the Prairie State. With my gun in a locked box, I was able to take it from the St. Louis airport to the hotel in Collinsville and the two shooting ranges. In Washington, I can only legally have my gun in my home. A visitor to the...

Imagine for a moment, if you will, Sarah Palin attending an event at Ohio State University. She casually greets college aged supporters, and a group of excited, young students decide to spell out the word “Ohio” using the old YMCA routine. The group is in place, arms readied, fans surrounding them armed with their cameras and cellphones. Then this happens… OIHI. It is inarguable that the media, in all their smugness and ‘we are intellectually superior’ attitude would have ripped her from the California coast to the glaciated plains of … well … Oihi. Oi. Hi. More like oy vey....

(Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, suggesting the labor market is healing too slowly to make much of a dent in the unemployment rate. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 372,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That was the highest level in five weeks. The data keeps pressure on President Barack Obama ahead of his November re-election bid. His Republican challenger is trying to focus voters' attention on a lofty unemployment rate that has dogged Obama's presidency. Many economists think the Federal Reserve...

An alliance of more than 60 labor, peace, student, immigrant rights, gay and lesbian and other groups says it's ready for a 5,000-person march on the first day of the Republican National Convention. "There will be nothing that will stop us from marching in the streets to demand good jobs, health care, affordable education, equality and peace and to oppose the party of legitimate rape," said Corey Uhl of the local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. ...........Protesters are expected to come on buses from as far away as New York, Minnesota, Illinois and the state of Washington, organizers...

Gov. Mitt Romney's selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate has turned the 2012 presidential election into a referendum on Medicare reform. Ryan has sponsored multiple Medicare reform bills in Congress, with the Left charging that the Romney-Ryan ticket would "gut Medicare" by turning it into a "voucher system," and even "ending Medicare as we know it." Moreover, President Obama's supporters say, the Romney-Ryan approach would force seniors to pay an extra $6,400 per year toward their Medicare costs. But would Ryan and Romney's reform ideas, known as "premium support," really do all of these...

Washington D.C., Aug 22, 2012 / 06:03 pm (CNA).- Platform drafters for the Republican Party have approved language asserting a firm commitment to the defense of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. “The institution of marriage is the foundation of civil society,� the draft document states. “Its success as an institution will determine our success as a nation.� The document says that both experience and studies indicate that marriage has physical, emotional, academic and economic benefits for children. It reaffirms the party's support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman, while also...

Aquille Carr, a star high school basketball player who has verbally committed to playing at Seton Hall, was arrested in Baltimore Friday for allegedly assaulting the mother of his child. . .According to the Baltimore Sun, the assault occurred after the victim, 26-year-old Treshonda Williams, informed Carr, 18, that she no longer wished to be in a relationship with him. . . Carr grabbed her by her shirt and threw her to the ground. He then is accused of kicking her in the back, and punching her in the head and face before fleeing in his vehicle, according to...

Spending: Remember when President Obama promised he'd cut the deficit in half in his first term? Well, the results are in, and red ink will once again top $1 trillion. Calling this an epic failure isn't enough. In his first budget message to the country, Obama promised to make the "tough choices necessary to restore fiscal discipline, cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office, and put our nation on sound fiscal footing." His plan projected a deficit of $557 billion this year, and $512 billion next year. On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office...

<p>Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul E. Singer is one of the Republican Party's most important money men, raising millions for presidential candidate Mitt Romney and giving even more to a super PAC supporting his campaign.</p> <p>But Singer is also a longtime backer of marriage rights for gay men and lesbians, putting him in stark conflict with Romney and the Republican establishment.</p>

Readers with long memories may recall that Charles E. Wilson, president of General Motors and nominee for secretary of defense, got into trouble when he told a Senate committee, "What is good for the country is good for General Motors, and what's good for General Motors is good for the country." That was in 1953, and Wilson was trying to make the point that General Motors was such a big company -- it sold about half the cars in the U.S. back then -- that its interests were inevitably aligned with those of the country as a whole. Things are...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—Despite a statewide ban on concealed weapons, gun owners in one central Illinois county don't need to worry about facing charges because its top prosecutor is refusing to enforce a law he considers unconstitutional. Illinois is the only state that still bans residents from carrying concealed guns. McLean County State's Attorney Ronald Dozier calls the law antiquated and said Wednesday that he hopes his policy against prosecuting harmless violations will send a message. "I felt like I just wanted to make a statement to the Legislature," said Dozier, a retired judge who was appointed state's attorney in December and...

Which is worse, Rep. Todd Akin's, R-Mo., ignorance about human anatomy -- or the way Republicans jump, run and hide when the Democrat-media complex decides they should? Akin is the Republican candidate for a crucial Senate seat in Missouri. In an interview, he said that he believed that pregnancy following an act of rape is "really rare -- if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down." Incredibly dumb. The married father of six, including two daughters, apologized the next day and then recorded an ad apologizing yet again. That, at...

..The Ukraine is considering a move to censor several children's shows after a new study from a conservative commission labeled the shows "a real threat" to the country's youth. The Ukraine's National Expert Commission for Protecting Public Morality released the report, which attacks several U.S. and international programs as detrimental to the country. Psychologist Irina Medvédeva is quoted in the study, alleging that children aged 3 to 5 years old, "pull faces and make jokes in front of adults they don't know, laugh out loud and repeat nonsense phrases in a brazen manner," after viewing the shows. The Ukrainian paper...

An Update on West Coast Gasoline Markets Between August 6 and August 13, the price of retail regular grade gasoline on the West Coast (PADD 5) increased 19 cents per gallon, well above the 8-cent-per-gallon increase for the United States as a whole. While rising global crude oil prices have pushed gasoline prices higher nationwide, an August 6 fire at Chevron's Richmond, California refinery placed added pressure on West Coast prices. After an initial increase of 32 cents per gallon on August 7, spot prices in Los Angeles for California-specification Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending (CARBOB) have fallen 18 cents...

ST. PAUL, Minn.—A Minnesota Democrat who had a rest-stop sexual encounter with a 17-year-old boy dropped his re-election bid Wednesday, hours after declaring he would stay in the race in defiance of party leaders who wanted him out as they fight to regain control of the state Legislature. Rep. Kerry Gauthier, 56, told The Associated Press the decision was his own after multiple conversations with Democratic leaders pressing him to withdraw. He said he had been going back and forth about running "every 20 minutes for a week." "I changed my mind," he said. "Too much. It's just too much."...

USA Today. Link only: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-08-22/perot-deficit-budget-economy/57217860/1

UPDATE: Kim Jong Eun to Iran? No, Kim Yong Nam August 22, 2012, 6:54 PM KST By Evan Ramstad A report that suggested North Korean dictator Kim Jong Eun might travel to Iran lit up the North Korea watch-o-sphere Wednesday. But it appeared to be a misunderstanding over the role of Kim Yong Nam, the poor old guy who has the biggest title in the North’s government but has always been second fiddle to the leader from the family of Kim Il Sung. The German news agency DPA, citing an Iranian news website Tabnak, got the report going around the...

As gas prices climb back toward $4 a gallon, the Obama administration -- facing a tough re-election campaign and rising Middle East tensions -- is once again considering tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. For years, administrations have bought and stored oil for emergencies, in fear of a cutoff of imported oil, as happened during the Arab embargo of 1973-74. But since 2009, the U.S. government has declared most federal lands off-limits to new oil and gas exploration -- despite vast recent finds of energy and radically new means to tap it. President Obama also canceled the most vital sections of...

Progressives and the Obama Administration and this current edition of Congress have put this nation on its back. This is an extraordinary nation, and President Obama and his surrogates have made an extraordinary effort the past four years to fundamentally transform it, to change it to their vision for America. Their vision and their effort includes demolishing free market delivery of health care with the Affordable Care Act, trying to destroy capitalism, and attempting to make the Constitution a useless document. They have set us on a course to European style socialism, crippled our economy, put millions of people out...

In politics, where there are more men than women in elected positions, it's easy to get the impression that men matter most. You see them on TV, see their pictures in the paper, hear them pontificating on the issues on TV and radio. So it may surprise you to learn that women matter more than might be evident. Why? They outvote men. In 2008, 66 percent of women voted versus 62 percent of men. Women voted for Barack Obama over Sen. John McCain by 56 percent to 43 percent, while men were almost evenly split between the candidates at 49...