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Politics:
What if Al Gore won in 2000?
Even in the age of Obama, President Al Gore is a terrifying thought isn't it? Clearly Al's inner crazy wasn't hidden too far beneath the surface, soon after his defeat the beard came out, the seclusion began and he talked about things like inner chakra. So what would life have been like if Al Gore had actually been the one 'selected not elected'? Glenn was asked by New York Magazine to write about what a Gore presidency would look like, and ended up writing about the 2004-2005 time period of President Gore. How'd it end up?
Source: http://nymag.com/news/politics/gore/69915/
Politics:
OBAMA RACES TO CUT TAXES BEFORE REPUBLICANS: 6.2% Social Security tax would drop to 4.2% for workers for one year
The White House and Republican lawmakers were close to an agreement on a broad tax package that would extend the Bush-era rate cuts, reduce worker payroll taxes for one year and give more favorable treatment to new business investments.
Other possible elements of the still-developing deal include a temporary reinstatement of the estate tax at 35%—the level favored by most Republican lawmakers—as well as an extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and temporary tax breaks for students and working families.
The outcome of the negotiations is vital, because the current tax levels signed into law by President George W. Bush expire on Dec. 31. Unless Congress acts beforehand, tax rates on virtually all Americans who pay income taxes will rise on Jan. 1. That could affect economic growth and even holiday sales.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870415630457600...
Politics:
Bush job approval rating higher than Obama's
George W. Bush’s job approval rating as president has spiked to 47 percent, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.
That’s 1 point higher than President Barack Obama’s job approval rating in a poll taken the same week.
This is the first time Gallup asked Americans to retrospectively rate Bush’s job performance. And it was a stunning turnaround from his low point of 25 percent in November 2008. The 47 percent number is 13 points higher than the last Gallup poll taken before Bush left office in 2009 and the highest rating for him since before Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Still, Bush’s 51 percent disapproval rating means he’s only one of two U.S. presidents in the past 50 years whose disapproval exceeds approval. The other is Richard Nixon, who resigned in disgrace 36 years ago and whose approval rating stands at 29 percent.
Source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46019.html
Politics:
As Negotiators Search for Deal, Obama Says No Permanent Tax Rates for Upper-Income Earners
President Obama was scheduled to meet with Democratic congressional members on Monday after returning from a technical college in North Carolina where he argued that the United States can't afford to keep tax rates for high-income earners and urged U.S. investment in education and innovation.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/06/obama-push-unempl...
General:
Kate Gosselin Whines Way Through Sarah Palin's 'Alaska'
Kate Gosselin is not a happy camper.
On this week's edition of "Sarah Palin's Alaska," she and her brood make a much-anticipated guest appearance. But don't expect it to reveal her inner Daniel Boone.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/12/06/kate-gosseli...
Politics:
Kyl Repeatedly Corrects Video: Schieffer - No Tax ‘Cuts’ for Rich, Just Extending Existing Rates; Schieffer: ‘I Gotcha’
On Sunday’s Face the Nation, Republican Senate whip Jon Kyl kept correcting host Bob Schieffer about how extending tax “rates,” not “cuts,” is what is being debated, leading Schieffer to conceded “I gotcha” and even prompted Schieffer to let Kyl fill in for him the correct term. Schieffer: “Are the votes there now in the Senate, in your opinion, to extend these tax ah-“ Kyl: “Rates.”
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2010/12/05/kyl-repeatedly-corrects-schieffer-no-tax-cuts-rich-just-extending-exist#ixzz17LUAm1nY
Source: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2010/12/05/kyl-repe...
Politics:
Hold the Brownies! Obama Set to Sign Bill Limiting School Bake Sales
Don’t touch my brownies!
A child nutrition bill on its way to President Barack Obama — and championed by the first lady — gives the government power to limit school bake sales and other fundraisers that health advocates say sometimes replace wholesome meals in the lunchroom.
Republicans, notably Sarah Palin, and public school organizations decry the bill as an unnecessary intrusion on a common practice often used to raise money.
“This could be a real train wreck for school districts,” Lucy Gettman of the National School Boards Association said Friday, a day after the House cleared the bill. “The federal government should not be in the business of regulating this kind of activity at the local level.”
The legislation, part of first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to stem childhood obesity, provides more meals at school for needy kids, including dinner, and directs the Agriculture Department to write guidelines to make those meals healthier.
Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/hold-the-brownies-obama-set-...
Politics:
Park Service: Dissing Christians just dandy
The National Park Service is suggesting apparent mistakes about the historical record of the Founding Fathers presented by a tour guide to visitors to the Independence Hall National Historical Park in Philadelphia are just part of the "multiple points of view" that are designed to let visitors "draw their own conclusions."
That apparently includes the performance of a guide who "mimicked and mocked [a Christian] carrying and swinging an oversized Bible ... ."
"Even if I said the founders were Christians, how could we really know? Just because people carry a big ol' Bible in their hand, they can still be atheists!" said the guide.
Source: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=235361
Politics:
WikiLeaks sold classified intel, claims website's co-founder - Selling secrets 'lucrative,' but 'usually cloaked in some kind of public benefit'
One of the early members and co-founders of the tight-knit, secretive WikiLeaks operation charged today that the website and its co-founder, Julian Assange, sold intelligence information the site had obtained.
John Young, whose name was listed as the public face of WikiLeaks in the site's original domain registration, also alleged that the website is a lucrative business.
Young said he left the site in 2007 due to concerns over its finances and that WikiLeaks was engaged in the selling of documents.
Young was speaking today to WND senior reporter Aaron Klein on Klein's radio program on New York's WABC Radio.
"I think it is a money-making operation, no doubt," Young said of WikiLeaks.
"It follows the model of a number of other business intelligence operations. Selling intelligence information is a very lucrative field, and so they are following that model, usually cloaked in some kind of public benefit," he told Klein.
Source: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=236345
Politics:
U.S. Cables: Arab Allies Fund Terror Groups
Saudi Arabia has made "important progress" in aggressively trying to curtail the flow of funds to terrorist groups, but the oil rich kingdom and its Gulf Arab neighbors still remain major sources of financing for militant movements like Al Qaeda and the Taliban, according to leaked U.S. government documents.
The findings, detailed in a series of internal U.S. diplomatic cables spanning a period of several years, paint a stark picture of Washington's challenges in convincing key allies of the need to clamp down on terror funding, much of which is believed to stem from private donors in those nations.
But the cables, obtained and released by WikiLeaks, also offer a window into the delicate balancing act Gulf governments must perform in cracking down on extremist sympathizers while not running afoul of religious charitable duties and casting themselves as U.S. stooges before an increasingly skeptical populace.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/05/leaked-documents-hig...