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CGI Federal Inc, the company that created large parts of the error-plagued ObamaCare exchange website, which it says it is scrambling to fix, has recently been awarded several other government contracts. Since the ObamaCare exchange website launched on Oct. 1, government officials have signed at least five different agreements with CGI totaling $7 million, according to USASpending.gov, a government website that lists government contracts. The contracts were for computer and software development at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Commerce, and the Environmental Protection Agency. One contract, for instance, was signed Oct. 19 by Department of...

AS the Abbott government begins to take on union power and corruption, a timely new book reveals the union movement's role in one of the most shameful periods of Australian history. What the wharfies did to Australian troops - and their nation's war effort - between 1939 and 1945 is nothing short of an abomination. ..... One of the most obscene acts occurred in October, 1945, at the end of the war, after Australian soldiers were released from Japanese prison camps. They were half dead, starving and desperate for home. But when the British aircraft-carrier HMS Speaker brought them into...

Five teens kidnapped Serge, an 8-year-old llama, from a Franco-Italian circus in Bordeaux on Thursday morning. After taking the animal on a tram, passengers took out their cellphones to take pictures - and call the police about their unusual fellow rider.Drunken teens in France stole a llama before taking it on a tram ride, police said. The five boys allegedly kidnapped 8-year-old Serge from a Franco-Italian circus in Bordeaux early Thursday morning minutes after they'd stumbled out of a nightclub. The teens took the llama around with them for a short period of time. Leading their "pet" to the Bassins...

Trotter burst on the scene in 1987, when the self-taught chef opened Charlie Trotter’s restaurant on Armitage Avenue. In short order, the chef’s intense creativity and never-repeat-a-dish dictum made Trotter’s the most talked-about restaurant in Chicago, and his fame quickly spread throughout the country and beyond. Charlie Trotter, whose eponymous Chicago restaurant was considered one of the finest in the world, has died. The 54-year-old chef was found unconscious and not breathing in his Lincoln Park home this morning and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Trotter was found by his son Dylan at the...

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday said that President Obama couldn't "go back in time" as he was peppered with questions about whether the president regretted promising that Americans who liked their health insurance plans could keep them. "The president, as awesomely powerful as the office is, can't go back in time," Carney told reporters. Carney conceded that "there is no question that this rollout has not gone as smoothly as we had hoped," but sidestepped repeated questions about whether the president had over-promised. Instead, Carney said that the president's repeated guarantee that “if you like your healthcare...

Anyone who is familiar with British political history, or has simply watched too much V for Vendetta, knows Guy Fawkes. The man apprehended with a massive stockpile of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords in 1605, Fawkes was tortured and killed, leaving behind the macabre refrain to "remember, remember the fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot." However, it is often a misconception that Fawkes was simply an anarchist with a penchant for explosives, and his legacy surprisingly extends beyond an annual burning of his likeness. For example... 1. He wasn't an anarchist. Despite the idealization Fawkes has received...

In a recent wishful thinking propaganda piece the New York Times hit some themes that we’ve seen before, but broke some new ground with quotes from a Republican pollster and a “friendly” Democrat pollster. After pounding away with the usual tired lies about how racist Whites are, it quoted a useful idiot Republican pollster named Fred Steeper saying, “The Republican Party needs to throw in the towel on the immigration issue.” How much wrong can you pack into one stupid head? In spite of solid statistical evidence that had Mitt Romney won even 70% of the Hispanic vote he would...

Obamacare isn’t just a glitchy site, CBS News reports. It’s so badly put together that it’s hazardous to your Internet privacy. (Video at link.)

Last week a gentleman who declared himself a Sedevacantist contacted me via email in an attempt to persuade me to his position. For those of you who are unaware of what a Sedevacantist is, it is essentially the belief that the current occupant of the Chair of Peter is not truly pope.I have read several books on the subject, both pro and con, and while I do not consider myself an expert on the issue, I find most Sedevacantist arguments interesting but ultimately unconvincing. The argument this particular gentleman was making involved his objection to Church teaching on baptism...

In July, Coach is Right reported that the Affordable Care Act saw to it that the nation’s best, doctor-owned hospitals would be forced to close. And now it appears that the favor is being returned as most of the nation’s top commercial hospitals will either refuse to accept ObamaCare patients, or “…accept insurance from just one or two companies operating under Obamacare.” (1) It seems Kathleen Sebelius’ Health and Human Services Department went too strong in demanding insurance companies participating in ObamaCare cap their premiums. After all, prospective insureds must be able to afford premiums on the policies Obamacare is...

Establishment Republicans, looking to push back against Tea Party conservatives they blame for undermining the GOP brand, face an early test of their clout with the grassroots in Tuesday’s primary election for Alabama’s 1st congressional district. Amid a concerted effort by the Chamber of Commerce to secure a win for former state Sen. Bradley Byrne in the deep-red district, polls show his race against conservative underdog Dean Young remains a toss-up. “No one can say that one side will definitely win, and that’s what’s got everybody so nervous,” said David Mowery, an Alabama-based Republican strategist. Byrne and Young are vying...

Title length was too long, here's the title at the header of the article: What is referred to as Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) or loosely termed Cold Fusion has been focused on thermal events. The idea is to heat a device up and harvest more heat out than input. The of the issues with this for electricity production is losses of at least 60% to convert heat into electricity. To date many researchers can clearly demonstrate an anomalous event, but no one has been able to engineer it into a practical application. LENR ElectricThis is where the research from...

For nearly 25 years, Steven Crittenden has been condemned to Death Row at San Quentin State Prison for the gruesome 1987 murder of a prominent Chico couple in their home. Since the day of his arrest, Crittenden has looked for a way to escape, first briefly breaking out of the Butte County Jail prior to his trial, and through endless appeals since he was sent to prison. Crittenden, 45, is now closer to freedom than ever. And it has nothing to do with whether he killed the affable town doctor and his wife. A federal judge in Sacramento recently overturned...

Asked by The Wall Street Journal if she had any stories about her father she wished to share, 22-year-old Kathryn Lhota, daughter of New York City mayoral candidate Joe Lhota, praised his taste in footwear. The guy has an amazing sense of women’s shoes. I will say 80% of my shoes come from my dad, and I can’t wait for Christmas. And my birthday. My dad runs the gamut with shoes: high heels, boots, flats, slingbacks, everything. And he knows; he has a sense. He really has a gift. For those following the first-daughter race, Kathryn’s signature accessory — her...

For all of us nearing middle age, or slogging through it, yes, there is a benefit in eating a Mediterranean-style diet rich in fish, nuts, vegetables and fruit. A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that women who followed this pattern of eating in their 50s were about 40 percent more likely to reach the later decades without developing chronic diseases and memory or physical problems, compared to women who didn't eat as well. Researchers tracked the dietary habits and lifestyles of more than 10,000 women, beginning in late middle age. Every two years, the women...

Craving a burger off a fast-food dollar menu? Chances are that it now costs more than a buck. Customers are still reeling from McDonald's move last month to update its Dollar Menu, which for more than a decade offered burgers, fries and other items for less than a dollar apiece. The menu accounts for as much as 14 percent of the chain's overall U.S. sales. But soon, the list will morph into what's being called the Dollar Menu & More, which mixes the standard $1 items in with $2 goods and $5 shareable family meals designed to, as McDonald's puts...

The White House on Tuesday asked health insurers for help in quelling the growing furor over the cancellation of insurance plans under ObamaCare. In a meeting at the White House, Obama chief of staff Denis McDonough asked insurance executives to explain to customers who are losing their plans what new options are available under ObamaCare, and what new subsidies they might qualify for. “He emphasized the need for all involved in the marketplaces, including the administration, issuers and other stakeholders, both federal and private, to ramp up communication and education efforts to consumers who have received or might receive letters...

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told Bloomberg News' Jeffrey Goldberg that Israeli threats of military action against Iran's nuclear program helped U.S.-led sanctions in pushing the regime into talks. "...I think that Iran is responding to the constant pressure from Israel, knowing that Israel believes them to be an existential threat. I think all of this, combined, probably brought the Iranians to where we are today," Hagel said.

CNN last week experienced its worst ratings week since Jeff Zucker took over as president at the beginning of the year, averaging 385,000 viewers compared with Fox News's 2.4 million and MSNBC's 683,000. The New York Times' Bill Carter suggests that's thanks to too much coverage of the troubled Obamacare launch, which partisan viewers want to hear about from their own teams. "Friday's shooting at the Los Angeles International Airport drove viewers to competitors," The Hollywood Reporter asserted. If CNN can't win the ratings during a breaking crisis, it really is in trouble.

In October, some of the first tangible aspects of the Affordable Care Act made their debut, allowing millions of Americans to start signing up for new health insurance options, Times journalists covering the rollout would like to hear how you have been affected by it. If you have shopped for insurance through one of the new state-run insurance exchanges — online markets where people can browse health plans and see if they qualify for federal subsidies — please tell us about your experience by answering the questions below. Your comments and contact information will not be published, but a reporter...