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WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - Nearly 4 million homes and businesses were without power on Saturday amid a record heat wave in the eastern United States after deadly thunderstorms downed power lines from Indiana to New Jersey. At least 11 people were killed. Statewide emergencies were declared in Washington D.C., Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia because of damage from overnight storms, which brought hurricane-force winds along a 500-mile (800-km) stretch. Forecasters predicted more severe thunderstorms as renewed heat blanketed the area on Saturday. Utilities or state emergency agencies reported the following outages and damage: - Maryland: About 869,000 customers without...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Minority leader Nancy Pelosi says House Democrats are happy to debate dismantling Obamacare, but repeal is unrealistic.

In the aftermath of their Supreme Court victory, supporters of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) are lamenting over their inability to sell the law to the American people. According to a recent poll, only 34 percent approve of Obamacare while 48 percent disapprove and that was before the Supreme Court affirmed that it is one of the biggest tax increases in history. Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a former White House adviser who was involved in developing Obamacare blames a lack of salesmanship. "Unfortunately, we never had a really effective strategy around communicating to the public the...

I’d like people’s opinion on this and I’m surprised that I have not seen this idea posted. 1) Romney should be asked to sign a pledge that he will sign an executive order halting Obamacare within one week of his inauguration. If he refuses this to this, he’s not serious about repealing this law and does not deserve conservative support. 2) All House and Senate republicans up for election should be asked to sign a pledge that they will immediately introduce and or support legislation defunding all aspects of Obamacare. Same logic here, if they can’t make the commitment they...

An alleged murderer may escape the death penalty because of where he grew up. The lawyer for Manuel De Jesus Rosales, accused of slitting the throat of his baby grandson and attempting to stab his daughter to death, planned to file a motion to bar the use of the death penalty. The attorney claimed it would be too dangerous to travel to his client’s native Honduras to gather information about his past.

On Thursday, the Obama administration unveiled its latest five-year oil-leasing plan, and I have to say, it looks pretty awesome — you know, as long as you’re not into creating jobs or economic growth or any other such silly material interests. U.S. oil companies will be allowed to drill in more areas of the Gulf of Mexico but won only limited access to the Arctic under the final version of the Obama Administration’s five year drilling plan that was slammed by industry and some environmentalists. The 2012-2017 plan calls for three potential lease sales in areas offshore Alaska but the...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida Gov. Rick Scott now says Florida will do nothing to comply with President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and will not expand its Medicaid program. The announcement is a marked changed after the governor recently said he would follow the law if it were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. "Florida is not going to implement Obamacare. We are not going to expand Medicaid and we're not going to implement exchanges," Scott's spokesman Lane Wright told The Associated Press on Saturday. Wright stressed that the governor would work to make sure the law is repealed.

It seems to be a stretch for Chief Justice John Roberts to re-label an unconstitutional health insurance mandate as a tax, after the legislative and executive branches of government insisted they were not passing a new tax on the American people. Had it been presented as a tax, it probably would not have been enacted. It seems like the judicial branch of government is doing the job of the legislature. Wouldn't it have been better for the Supreme Court to punt the law back to Congress? Yes, that probably would have caused great disarray, but it seems more appropriate. President...

<p>On Friday, the Obama Administration threatened to veto a defense appropriations bill in part because it does not include increased health care fees for members of the military, the Washington Free Beacon reported.</p> <p>“The Administration is disappointed that the Congress did not incorporate the requested TRICARE fee initiatives into either the appropriation or authorization legislation,” the White House wrote.</p>

Joseph Williams, Politico's White House Correspondent who was suspended last week after launching a racial attack against Mitt Romney on MSNBC and a series of unprofessional tweets, is leaving the left-wing publication permanently. Early this morning, Politico Editor-In-Chief John Harris issued the following statement: After some cordial discussions, Joe Williams and I mutually decided that the best step for him is to begin a transition to the next phase of his career. Joe is an experienced and respected journalist, with keen insights into politics. After nearly 30 years in the business, he has the authority and is ready to give...

On CNN HLN, when you don’t know how to answer an interview question, bash the Catholic Church. You’ll actually have your anti-Catholic bigotry promoted by CNN. In an interview with HLN’s Dr. Drew featured on CNN.com, stripper Joslyn Jones claimed that “most stuff that goes on at church” is “dirtier than what goes on in strip clubs.” When challenged by Dr. Drew about the drug use and trauma history common among strippers, Jones deflected the question, bizarrely arguing: “It’s definitely very common, but it’s actually like, um, like I always try to use the analogy. You know, you look at...

Monitoring a location or person with a camera or microphone has become a lot easier in recent years due to cameras having much higher resolutions while being fitted into ever smaller devices. Just about every smartphone now carries a high resolution camera capable of recording video along with a decent microphone. If you want to record someone covertly though, you still have the issue of hiding your recording devices from view. You’re also going to want to leave them recording for long periods of time without being discovered. Qwonn, a manufacture of security products, has come up with the...

The Carbon Charade Continues Monday, June 25, 2012 – by Staff Report MPs have no idea how to meet the 'carbon' target they voted for ... When readers asked their MPs to explain how the UK would cut emissions by 80 per cent, the answers made worrying reading ... The great scare has long been dying on its feet, but that sad fiasco of a conference in Rio last week saw it finally dead and buried. "It's pathetic, it's appalling," wailed a spokesman for , one of the thousands of green activists who flew to Rio, many at taxpayers'...

COMMENTARY | Could Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, a former New Mexico governor, play a spoiler role in the 2012 election, especially out west? Most polls aren't even giving him the benefit of the doubt, failing to include him as an option. But those polls that do include Johnson find him doing surprisingly well. He could tip the balance in several western swing states like Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. And with every state mattering, that could be the difference in a close race in 2012. A poll by the group "We Ask America" released on June 26 in Colorado...

The day after Barack Obama won a major victory for his signature health care overhaul legislation -- which he and his allies insist will ultimately LOWER health care costs for Americans -- the president is threatening to veto a defense authorization bill in part because Congress is not acting to RAISE health care costs for American servicemen. The Washington Free Beacon has the story here, and I've also excerpted it below the page break. It remains to be seen to what extent the Obama-boosting liberal media will acknowledge the president's hypocrisy: The Obama administration on Friday threatened to veto a...

I just have to say this one thing. The MARKETPLACE is always, always, always right in the end. That's as true with healthcare as with anything else. Not everyone can afford a doctor. I get that. Now, we could use the NANNY STATE to "fix" that, or we can lift the regulations and allow the marketplace to offer alternatives. First, we need to cut off the spigot to freeloaders and parasites. About 90% of illness is the fault of the person who got sick. And while it is fashionable these days to bail people out from the consequences of their...

A 2011 Gallup poll found that 40% of Americans consider themselves conservative and only 21% consider themselves liberal. So why does the advertising community — a.k.a Madison Avenue — and their clients continue to hire outspoken liberals for their advertising campaigns? I recently lost two very big advertising campaigns (add those to the many others) because I am a conservative. The advertisers actually stated this. Ironically, the more I speak out about the non-partisan values of our United States Constitution and the necessities of a free-market system to keep businesses thriving, the more ad campaigns (whose goal it is to...

In a 5-4 ruling based on the power of Congress to impose taxes, the nation's highest court preserved the law's "individual mandate" requiring that most Americans obtain health insurance by 2014 or pay a tax.twenty - yes, twenty - hidden new taxes of this law. Making matters even more relevant is that seven of these taxes are levied on all citizens regardless of income. (With audio Taxman! From The Beatles's album)

LIBERTY “[I]t’s hideous what liberalism does to the human spirit, it attempts to destroy it, even to the point of making enemies out of people who have achieved something, out of people who have become successful... Conservatism, on the other hand, doesn’t seek to control anybody. Conservatism seeks to liberate. Conservatism believes that the human being, the United States of America citizen, is capable of anything he or she wants. Conservatism believes in the goodness and the greatness and the potential... in every human being and wants to get as much out of the way in terms of obstacles as...

Did the Court agree with the president that "no illness or accident should lead to any family's financial ruin”? Yesterday, a giddy President Barack Obama began his remarks on the Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision by saying, Good afternoon. Earlier today, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act — the name of the health care reform we passed two years ago. In doing so, they’ve reaffirmed a fundamental principle that here in America — in the wealthiest nation on Earth — no illness or accident should lead to any family’s financial ruin. Two things are striking about...