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December 18, 2014Thursday of the Third Week of Advent    Reading 1 Jer 23:5-8 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David;As king he shall reign and govern wisely,he shall do what is just and right in the land.In his days Judah shall be saved,Israel shall dwell in security.This is the name they give him:“The LORD our justice.” Therefore, the days will come, says the LORD,when they shall no longer say, “As the LORD lives,who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt”;but rather, "As the LORD...

The U.S. Air Force has a complicated relationship with its low- and slow-flying A-10 Warthog attack jet. And that's putting it mildly. The flying branch has tried more than once to retire the ungainly A-10 in favor of speedier planes, only for ...

HIPAA is why there's a new plan to share your data. A 28-page federal document proposes to share your medical records with 37 federal agencies. (See graphic of the week below). The deadline for public comments on this sweeping intrusion is Friday, February 6, 2015. Go here to tell them what you think. Without privacy, you have no control. He who holds the data makes the rules. The Obama administration is gathering your data to seize control of your doctor. The 2009 mandate for every doctor to have electronic health records (EHRs) was considered foundational to imposing Obamacare. Even though...

Pro-choice writer Molly Coddle: “Abortion is killing, but not murder. Americans would like to think that death is avoidable, and for that reason liberals have tried to sugarcoat a women’s right to choose with an “it’s-not-about-the-fetus” argument that disregards the emotional intensity that everyone I know has experienced when choosing to abort. When we recognize that something is dying—if only a possibility of life—then it’s possible to grieve and move forward.” Molly Coddle Herbal Abortion is not D.I.Y Slingshot

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)There's no doubt that many Republican senators, and plenty of conservative commentators, were angry at GOP Sen. Ted Cruz for raising a time-consuming objection to passage of the "Cromnibus" spending bill in an effort to oppose President Obama's unilateral executive action on immigration. It's not that fellow Republicans don't oppose the president's move; they do. It's just that 1) Cruz's gambit had no hope of succeeding, and 2) the maneuver set off a series of parliamentary events that allowed Majority Leader Harry Reid to get a head start on his other remaining business, which was the confirmation of a number...

Three Parent Babies Given Green Light By Government Parliament will now vote on whether to allow a change in legistlation which would see the first three parent babies born by 2016 By Sarah Knapton 17 Dec 2014 Controversial laws to allow three parents babies will be voted on by Parliament and could come into force next year. The government has laid down draft legislation which will change the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 to allow mitochondrial DNA transfer. The procedure, which was developed British scientists, is currently banned, but ministers want to change the law to prevent children suffering...

"The exciting thing for me is there are 30,000 itty-bitty, perfect octahedrons, and not one big diamond," said Larry Taylor, a geologist at the University of Tennessee, who presented the findings at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting. "It's like they formed instantaneously. This rock is a strange one indeed."

From a woman who had 3 abortions “A lot of people would argue that, that’s a life, but I say, what about my life?… Do I think abortion is pro-life? It’s pro-my life, and I am the most important person in the world and I want to make myself happy.… A good friend of mine has 2 kids, she’s a perfect mother, roast on Sundays. Good for you, if that’s what you want, more power to you. Let me have what I want.” Patricia Launneborg Abortion: a Positive Decision (New York: Bergin & Garvey, 1992) 134 Result of an abortion...

New population projections released by the U.S. Census Bureau show that whites will become a “minority” by 2044, replaced by a “majority” of minority groups, mostly blacks and Hispanics.The new projections, analyzed in a Brookings Institution report, show the huge rise of Hispanics, projected to make up 25.1 percent of the U.S. population in 2044, double African-Americans.According to the analysis, the white will make up 49.7 percent of the country in 2044, minorities the rest. What’s more, by 2060, whites will account for just 44 percent of the country.Brookings attributed the shift to a “majority minority nation” this way:— The...

The outcries throughout our country -- protests, demonstrations, disruptions of traffic, and riots -- that have dotted our collective landscape since white Ferguson police office Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown isn't just about Ferguson, the city. It's about the hundreds and thousands of "Fergusons" throughout our country where black youth are by-definition disadvantaged in their relationship with police simply because they're black. It's about the fact that police throughout our country have systematically violated our shared American values, which instruct us to have respect, provide equality, live together as community, and do the right thing....

Church bells rang out Wednesday afternoon in Havana, marking a major moment in history -- Cuba and the United States are renewing diplomatic relations after decades of ice-cold tension. Word of the massive change was met with passionate opinions and some protests in the United States. And tearful celebrations erupted in the streets of the island after President Raul Castro announced the news in a televised address. SNIP In Miami, where the vast majority of the large population of Cuban exiles once fiercely opposed any change in the U.S. stance toward the island, reactions were split, largely along generational lines....

They cited the example of the asthma drug albuterol sulfate. The average cost for a bottle of 100 pills was $11 last October, the pair said. The average charge by this April was up to $434. The antibiotic doxycycline hyclate cost $20 last October for a bottle of 500 tablets, the congressmen observed. By April, the price was $1,849. Experts say generics are growing more expensive because of reduced competition among manufacturers and shortages of raw materials. However, that might not explain triple-digit price hikes for some drugs. "Most generics are increasing in price by an average 10% a year,"...

Fresh off his 2012 re-election victory, President Barack Obama summoned senior advisers to a series of meetings, asking them to “think big” about a second-term agenda, including the possibilities of new starts with long-standing U.S. foes such as Iran and Cuba. Two years later, after painstaking secret diplomacy on separate but surprisingly similar tracks, efforts with Tehran and Havana are in full swing. The nuclear negotiations with Iran continue and are far from a guaranteed success. But Wednesday’s announcement that the U.S. and Cuba will normalize relations after more than 50 years of hostility suggests one of the last chapters...

The lander is sleeping in a shady spot on the comet’s surface after the dramatic touchdown — actually, three touchdowns — on Nov. 12, when it flew for more than two hours across the surface and bounced as high as two miles (3.2 kilometers). This was partly because harpoons expected to secure it to the surface failed to deploy, and also because the comet crust was icier than expected, according to Gizmodo.

Some officials in the Indiana city of South Bend have called on a police officer to stop selling T-shirts that make light of the “I can’t breathe” refrain used in recent protests of the police killing of a New York City man. Mishawaka police officer Jason Barthel this week began selling T-shirts with the message “Breathe easy, don't break the law” at a South Bend store he owns in response to a weekend protest at the University of Notre Dame. …

A petition urging TLC to cancel “19 Kids and Counting” over the political views of the Duggar family “won’t succeed,” according to family patriarch Jim Bob Duggar. In fact, he said recently, all of the attention around the effort is working in the family’s favor, giving the Duggars even more exposure. The petition, which currently has more than 180,000 signatures, began as a response to the family’s recent comments against LGBT rights. It gained traction quickly and drew a lot of attention to some of the family’s recent activism. But Jim Bob Duggar probably has good reason not to be...

No matter how many common sense pro-life bills Ken Cuccinelli introduced in the Virginia State Senate, he found absolutely no compromise from his Democratic colleagues. Year after year, liberal legislators routinely rejected bills that would have ensured necessary regulations in the state’s abortion clinics. Now, they are left with what they call an ‘extreme’ law named TRAP, the Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers. I spoke to former Attorney General and 2013 Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli (R-VA) about his experience in the Virginia State Senate, where he says Democrats have no right to cry foul over the current law, when...

I'm European (Swedish) and won't interfer with whom you Americans elect for president, but I can tell you Obama doesn't enjoy the same degree of appreciation over here he did during the months that followed his famous act of Builder Bob-plagiarism. Okay, that was perhaps trifle disrespectful as he is your elected president, but I mean no harm. Just like the Swedish Chef never has offended anyone in my country I sincerely hope foreigners are allowed to make fun of Obama. At least on a site like this. Anyhow, recently, Obama has been expressing warm feelings towards Castro's idyllic little...

Liberal comedian Bill Maher is “all for” a Jeb Bush run at the White House for one simple reason — He’s not Ted Cruz. Maher published a blog post Tuesday after Bush’s “actively explore” presidential announcement declaring this sentiment. “Jeb Bush is openly talking about a presidential run, and I, for one, am all for it. Because he’s not Ted Cruz,” Maher wrote. “If we had to have a Republican president, I’d prefer that it be someone who eats with a fork and a knife. As for the prospect of another Clinton-Bush race, and the rise of dynastic politics in...

Matt Johnston December 17, 2014The US government is planning to announce Thursday that North Korea is directly to blame for the devastating and unprecedented attack on Sony, according to multiple reports. Now we wait and see how the US Government may respond to that attack now that they've placed their blame. That threat is likely retaliation for the controversial comedy "The Interview," which depicts the assassination of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un. US Investigators have been able to parse through enough evidence now to claim that North Korea is "centrally involved." On Tuesday, an online threat was posted against theaters...