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Obama wants all Americans to now report voluntarily to the government regarding any foreign travel. The program is currently voluntary, but the word on the Hill is there are those who are suggesting this should be mandatory to protect Americans of course. The program is called STEP “Smart Traveler Enrollment Program.” Today, most Americans are willfully blind. They refuse to connect the dots and think the government would never do anything really to harm the people. This is not about harming or protecting anyone. Look at Benghazi. They asked for help and it was not sent in for political reasons....

Watch the 7 minute 17 second video Beauty Beneath the Dirt: Thru-Hiking 101. It's brief description : Everything you need to know about thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail in 7 minutes. For the story beneath the surface... check out: http://beautybeneaththedirt.com.

The Rude Man of Cerne, better known as the Cerne Abbas Giant, is a giant figure of a naked man with an inappropriately erect phallus, wielding a primitive club in his right hand, made on a hill near the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset, England. The Cerne Abbas Giant was created by carving through the turf of the hillside to a depth of approximately 30cm to reveal the underlying chalk common in this region. Measuring 55 meters in length and 50.5 meters wide, if measured from hand to hand, it is one of the largest and the most popular...

World-renowned chef, author and Emmy winning television personality Anthony Bourdain visits Libya in the next episode of "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown," airing Sunday, May 19, at 9 p.m. ET. Follow the show on Twitter and Facebook (CNN) -- Following Libya's revolution, oil production has been restored and the country has slipped from the front pages. Once more, Libya has become North African rather than southern Mediterranean, and news dispatches surface only when Western government's worst fears appear close to being realized. As most Libyans admit that after four-plus decades of Moammar Gadhafi, it will take time to build a mature...

Passenger satisfaction on airlines has risen to its highest level since 2006, before baggage fees became widespread, according to the J.D. Power & Associates 2013 North America Airline Satisfaction Study released Wednesday. O'Hare's main airlines, United and American, continued to score poorly though. Southwest Airlines, the main carrier out of Midway airport, continued its streak of high rankings. Baggage fees continue to be a source of passenger dissatisfaction but the impact is less pronounced than in the past, as passengers gradually become more accepting of the fees, the study said.

The Mail On Sunday today exposes the massive international security risk posed by a gun that can be easily made with new 3D printers. We built the weapon, which is capable of firing a live round, from blueprints available on the internet – then smuggled it on to a packed Eurostar train. Two reporters passed completely unchallenged through strict airport-style security to carry the gun on to a London to Paris service in the weekend rush-hour, alongside hundreds of unsuspecting travellers. The pistol, capable of firing a deadly 0.38-calibre bullet, was produced in under 36 hours using a revolutionary £1,700...

Do you dream of living on Mars? Then turn on your webcam. You've got an application video to make. Mars One, a Netherlands-based group that wants to turn the colonizing of Mars into a reality television phenomenon, has started accepting applications for its astronaut selection program. In just two weeks, more than 78,000 people from more than 120 countries have applied. You don't need previous experience in rocket science, astronomy or really anything to apply for the Mars One astronaut selection program - but you will need to be at least 18 years old and have nerves of steel. Mars...

The Obama administration spent between $2.52 million and $2.77 million for hotel rooms and rental cars during the president's 2012 trip to Mexico for a G-20 summit, MailOnline has learned. Government travel documents available online show that the State Department contracted with a travel agency to spend between $1,889,383 and $2,078,327 on hotel rooms alone, for the President, the Secret Service, and the rest of the State Department and White House staff and VIPs. And rental cars for the trip cost between $630,760 and $693,836, according to a separate contract document. That paperwork disclosed that on previous visits to Mexico,...

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday backed a plan that would temporarily eliminate spending cuts disrupting U.S. air travel, while lawmakers in Washington scrambled to avoid blame as the impact of the reductions began being felt across the country.

In response to a lawsuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit ... ordered the TSA to give the public a 90-day comment period, which the agency did not do when it launched the scanning program. The TSA began the comment period online in March, and so far it has been getting an average of 26 comments a day — nearly all of which blast the TSA and the scanners for a variety of reasons .... To add your comments, visit www.regulations.gov and type in the case code TSA-2013-0004.

Every time I say “Just when I thought the TSA couldn’t stoop any lower”, the TSA goes and does something that proves that yes, they absolutely *can* stoop lower. On February 9, Nathan Forck and his wife Annie, along with their three children, were at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on their way to Orlando for a family vacation to Disney World. The Forcks’ three-year old daughter, Lucy, has spinal bifida and is confined to a wheelchair. They got through the TSA security checkpoint quickly and without incident but as they were getting ready to walk to their gate to board...

We all hear the news reports – laptops, tablets, jewelry, cash, and more… stolen from passengers by sticky-fingered TSA agents. Thefts became such a problem that even the TSA had to step up to the plate and take action.In recent years, the TSA has fired over 400 agents for allegedly stealing from passengers in our nation’s airports.Thanks to ABC News and a Freedom of Information Act request, the TSA is releasing the names of the airports where those employees worked. Predictably, many of our nation’s busiest airports also rank at the top of the list for the number of TSA...

Detroit Gets The Destination Nod Over Chicago DETROIT (WWJ) – Detroit is better than Chicago!! That’s according to at least one travel writer, who has compiled a list of over-rated destinations and suggested alternatives. While Michiganders can give you a plethora of choices in the state that are select and unique it’s always nice to get a nob from outsiders. Among the reasons David Landsel tells travelers to try the Motor City over the Windy City? World-class architecture, a great music scene, and cheaper and better beer. • Typical Detroit neighborhood • Community activists in Chicago promote "peace"

Long security lines, ever changing rules about what is and is not allowed, manhandling pat-downs... Thanks to the TSA, air travel is unpleasant enough as it is and now we have to worry about TSA agents stealing from us? And there's no way to NOT have them go through your luggage.They go through your checked baggage and rifle through your carry-on. You have no choice but to submit to this if you want to be able to board your flight.So what is a law abiding air traveler to do in order to protect his or her belongings from the very...

We've seen an alarming number of stories about sex attacks on female travelers in recent weeks, from a Swiss tourist who was gang-raped in India to an American student who was raped in a van in Rio de Janeiro. It doesn't mean that women shouldn't visit foreign places or that no parts of those countries are safe. But women traveling in these areas should do so with extreme caution and a knowledge of the culture. We rounded up eight popular tourist destinations where women should be extra cautious, based on reports from Human Rights Watch, the State Department, and crime...

Crowdfunding for NASA – in a round about way. Unknown to most people, NASA is barred from purchasing advertising. Recently a campaign on Indiegogo was launched to purchase a trailer to run prior to the next Star Trek film which will soon be in theaters across the country. As quoted from the campaign; "When the Space Shuttle landed for the last time, many Americans thought NASA was closed for good. Nothing could be further from the truth. Right now, men and women from the space program are designing and building next generation space vehicles to go to new destinations in...

President Obama's job approval polls have dropped to 46 percent and the Fed says the jobless rate will remain high for the next two years, so it was time for a road trip. When things are going badly at home, presidents often go abroad to shift the focus away from their failures, so the president left the country this week for what was seen in the press as a symbolic, ceremonial visit to the Middle East to repair frayed relations with Israel. Obama joked he was "getting away from Congress" by visiting the Holy Land. And the Associated Press said...

Update on Carnival Dream March 14, 2013- 10:45 am The Carnival Dream has a technical issue with the ship’s backup emergency diesel generator which our engineering team is currently working on. Yesterday, during regularly scheduled testing of the ship’s emergency diesel generator, a malfunction occurred. At no time did the ship lose power and the ship’s propulsion systems and primary power source was not impacted. The ship is at dock in St. Maarten. All guests are safe and comfortable. There were periodic interruptions to elevators and restroom services for a few hours last night. However, all hotel systems are functioning...

Uncomfortable seats and sky-high airline fees are among the top complaints among air travel passengers, according to the results of a consumer survey. In TripAdvisor’s annual air travel poll, in addition to limited legroom and exorbitant ticket prices, 2,000 respondents in the US also named unpredictable flight delays, long security lines and “other passengers” -- notably loud, crying children -- the top five pet peeves about air travel. The survey also found that more US passengers will be flying the global skies this year, with 67 percent of respondents indicating they plan to take an international flight this year, compared...

FNN exclusive: The Obama administration, still smarting from the disclosure of their previous fake skeet shooting, scheduled a skeet shooting session with reporters and cameras invited. Obama, aka "The One", had Reggie Manlove as his partner for the session. Obama had his Roy Rogers outfit on: Mom jeans, Roy Rogers boots with matching buckskin shirt and white hat and Reggie had his Dale Evans outfit on: leopard skin pattern leotards, Dale Evans boots with matching pink silk blouse with yellow scarf and dayglow orange hat. Ande4rson Cooper and Chrissy Matthews both had to leave early after wetting themselves due to...