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Six-year-old suspended
for making gun gesture

Telegraph [UK], by Mark Hughes Original Article

Posted By: Pluperfect- 1/3/2013 4:40:56 AM Post Reply

The child, who attends school in Silver Spring, Maryland, was given a one-day suspension after the incident, which took place a week after the US massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Robin Ficker, the boy´s lawyer, said that the child was suspended after he made a gun with his hands, pointed it at another student and said "pow". "What they´re doing is looking at the worst possible interpretation of a young, naive six-year-old," Mr Ficker said. "This is a little child who can´t form the intent to do anything like that."

‘Unlearning’: A Hail Mary
Government Cannot Stand

National Review Online, by Michael Austin Original Article

Posted By: Pluperfect- 1/3/2013 4:38:27 AM Post Reply

Jay, your lamentation on “we get the government we deserve” is spot on, and I firmly believe it has everything to do with the larger culture (not pop culture, but the totality of our sense of values, priorities, level of civic education, etc.). But I think what is happening now is more than a deep, bitter ideological split. It is an “unlearning” of government. The fiscal-cliff “deal” is a perfect example of unlearning how to govern. First, one cannot govern through Hail Marys. It simply cannot be expected that serious, thoughtful legislation or policy can be created

Mark Steyn: Biden-McConnell
fiscal cliff negotiation ´deeply
embarrassing,´ ´a mark of shame´

The Daily Caller, by Jeff Poor Original Article

Posted By: Donttaxmebro- 1/3/2013 2:03:28 AM Post Reply

On Fox News Radio’s “Kilmeade & Friends” on Wednesday, National Review columnist Mark Steyn expressed strong dissatisfaction with the process that led to Tuesday’s fiscal cliff agreement. “I think it ought to be deeply embarrassing to any developed society that 300 million people are sitting there on Monday, and they don’t know what their tax rates are going to be on Tuesday,” Steyn said. “That’s the mark of shame.” Steyn, the author of “After America: Get Ready for Armageddon,” told host Brian Kilmeade that the fiscal cliff negotiations resembled a scene from the Soviet Union.

Obama signs fiscal
crisis deal from Hawaii

Associated Press, by Staff Original Article

Posted By: LittleHoodedMonk- 1/3/2013 12:59:59 AM Post Reply

Honolulu - President Obama has signed a bill that boosts taxes on the wealthiest Americans, while preserving tax cuts for most American households. The bill, which averts a looming fiscal cliff that had threatened to plunge the nation back into recession, also extends expiring jobless benefits, prevents cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors and delays for two months billions of dollars in across-the-board spending cuts in defense and domestic programs. The GOP-run House approved the measure by a 257-167 vote late Tuesday, nearly 24 hours after the Democratic-led Senate passed it 89-8.

Time Warner Cable drops arts channel

Charlotte Observer [NC], by Brooke Cain Original Article

Posted By: LittleHoodedMonk- 1/3/2013 12:54:11 AM Post Reply

Time Warner Cable rang in the new year by shedding the low-rated Ovation channel from its lineup. Ovation, an independent channel dedicated to arts programming, was notified in mid-December that the cable company would not be carrying it after Dec. 31. Ovation is still available on local carriers DirecTV, AT&T U-verse and Dish Network. (Snip) Time Warner Cable initially had signed a deal to keep Current TV, but on Wednesday, Current TV was sold to pan-Arab news giant Al Jazeera. Time Warner Cable then announced plans to drop it as quickly as possible.

Delhi Bus Rape Accused Face
Murder Charge as India Seeks
Justice

Bloomberg News, by Bibhudatta Pradhan & Pratap Patnaik Original Article

Posted By: PageTurner- 1/2/2013 11:36:50 PM Post Reply

Police are set to bring formal murder charges against six men accused of gang-raping a woman aboard a bus in New Delhi amid protests demanding a rapid overhaul of how sexual assaults are prosecuted in India. Charges are expected to be filed today in a court in the Indian capital, according to police spokesman Rajan Bhagat. One of the accused may be a juvenile and as a result subject to a separate judicial process. The six are alleged by police to have beaten and assaulted the 23-year-old physiotherapy student on Dec. 16

Jellyfish populations might not
be exploding after all, suggests
Dauphin Island Sea Lab scientist

AL.com [AL], by Ben Raines Original Article

Posted By: Ribicon- 1/2/2013 10:44:22 PM Post Reply

After a decade or so of somewhat breathless warnings of a jellyfish apocalypse unfolding in the world’s oceans, new research by an international coalition of scientists suggests that the global jellyfish population may be about the same size it always was. Rob Condon with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab was the lead researcher on a scientific paper published this week by the Global Jellyfish Group, "Recurrent jellyfish blooms are a consequence of global oscillations."(Snip) The group’s research shows, in a nutshell, that jellyfish experience a population surge about every 20 years, and go through several years of greater than normal

Virginia joins pro-life wave
with abortion clinic rules

Washington Times, by David Hill and Cheryl Wetzstein Original Article

Posted By: Dreadnought- 1/2/2013 10:30:10 PM Post Reply

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed off on permanent regulations that will hold abortion clinics to the same building standards as hospitals, joining Arizona and Michigan as states looking to tighten their abortion-facility standards to among the most stringent in the nation. The new regulations come amid 43 abortion restrictions enacted by states last year — the second-most on record, after 92 such measures were adopted in 2011, according to a report released Wednesday by the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute. About half the measures last year were passed in six states

Tax hike deal: Obama’s
first or GOP’s last?

Washington Times, by Dave Boyer Original Article

Posted By: Dreadnought- 1/2/2013 10:28:32 PM Post Reply

President Obama and congressional Republicans have learned sharply different lessons from the deal to avert the “fiscal cliff” as they prepare to battle again over the next two months on a series of budget deadlines that carry risks such as crippling defense cuts and a government default. Mr. Obama, having won the first round by forcing congressional Republicans to accept a tax increase for the first time in 20 years, said the deal set a precedent for agreements on deficit reduction and federal spending. All deals, he said, must achieve balance by requiring wealthier

Grumbling on Boehner’s
speakership not a mutiny

Washington Times, by David Sherfinski Original Article

Posted By: Dreadnought- 1/2/2013 10:23:23 PM Post Reply

A rough two-month stretch has left Speaker John A. Boehner facing a growing rebellion within his party ahead of a vote on whether he will continue to lead the House when the 113th Congress convenes Thursday. No challenger had stepped forward as of Wednesday evening, making it unlikely that Mr. Boehner will fall — even if it takes him several ballots to win the speakership. But the growing complaints signal a rocky road for the Ohio Republican in the months ahead as he tries to negotiate on debt and spending fights that are likely to dominate the next two years.

Has the ‘fiscal
cliff’ fight changed
how Washington works?

Washington Post, by Karen Tumulty and Peter Wallsten Original Article

Posted By: Dreadnought- 1/2/2013 10:20:53 PM Post Reply

As ugly as they were, the “fiscal cliff” negotiations produced something Washington hadn’t seen in a long time: strongly bipartisan votes in the House and the Senate on a big, contentious issue. The question now is whether that victory of pragmatism over ideology offers a new model of governing as President Obama approaches his second term and the shattered Republican Party tries to regroup. The answer: probably not, though it may have helped define the terms of engagement for the battles to come. “We’re still in a pretty fluid period

Obama missing in action

Washington Post, by David Ignatius Original Article

Posted By: Dreadnought- 1/2/2013 10:16:45 PM Post Reply

It would be hard to imagine a more dispiriting prelude to a new presidential term than this week’s sorry “fiscal cliff” deal to defer (and perhaps multiply) the nation’s financial problems. After President Obama failed to negotiate a serious “grand bargain,” he had to be rescued with a mini-bargain brokered by Vice President Biden, the loquacious master of old-time, cracker-barrel politics. Obama had seemed poised a few weeks ago to become at last the political leader the country needs. He won a brilliant election victory, using political tools so sophisticated

America could still go
over the cliff--and
take the rest of
us with it

Daily Mail [UK], by Simon Heffer Original Article

Posted By: Attercliffe- 1/2/2013 10:07:44 PM Post Reply

After America postponed its jump off the fiscal cliff in the small hours of Tuesday night, world stock markets soared. Anyone listening to the BBC yesterday with its headlines praising Barack Obama would think something quite profound had changed in the world’s greatest--if battered--economy. However, it has not.[Snip] The tackling of those issues has merely been postponed until the end of next month, when America’s legally enforceable ‘debt ceiling’ will probably be reached. That will be the moment that U.S. debt passes a pre-determined point--north of $16 trillion--and a raft of dramatic public spending cuts will be triggered.

The Left and the Cliff

National Review Online, by Yuval Levin Original Article

Posted By: Dreadnought- 1/2/2013 9:54:37 PM Post Reply

For Republicans, the question presented by the fiscal-cliff deal was fairly straightforward: Is the bill better or worse than the plausible alternatives? The answer was not self-evident, and it depended in part on one’s trust in the Republican congressional leadership. The peculiar structure of this particular showdown, with tax rates expiring and higher ones automatically taking effect, meant that taking no action at this point would have sent taxes far higher for far more people than this deal would. And what we know about congressional Republicans suggests to me that the ensuing public, press, and voter pressure

A Bad Deal Beats
a Calamitous Outcome

Commentary Magazine, by Peter Wehner Original Article

Posted By: Dreadnought- 1/2/2013 9:45:46 PM Post Reply

The deal to avoid going over the so-called fiscal cliff was a lousy one: tax rate increases during a weak economy, no spending reductions, nothing on entitlement reform. And yet if House Republicans had succeeded in derailing this deal, negotiated between Senator Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden, it would have been disastrous. It would have led to much higher tax increases on all Americans, even beyond the increase in payroll taxes that will now go into effect, and triggered decimating cuts in the defense department. And it would have done a great deal to advance the storyline

Al Jazeera completes
deal to buy Current TV

Los Angeles Times, by Joe Flint Original Article

Posted By: loosbolt- 1/2/2013 9:19:52 PM Post Reply

Current TV, the small cable news channel that was co-founded by former vice president Al Gore, has been sold to Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based media company. The acquisition gives Al Jazeera, which is funded by the Qatar government, the opportunity to establish a footprint in the United States, where it already has an English-language version of its Qatar service -- called Al Jazeera English -- but only limited reach. Just buying Current does not guarantee instant distribution, however. Time Warner Cable, which offered Current in roughly 10 million of its homes, is dropping the channel.

Hillary Angst

Daily Beast, by Tina Brown Original Article

Posted By: Drive- 1/2/2013 8:59:27 PM Post Reply

Anxiety about Hillary Clinton’s health has had something of a reprieve with the news that her doctors expect a full recovery from a sinister-sounding blood clot near her brain. Even so, the brief dread that it could be something worse sent panicky messages ricocheting throughout her enormous network of friends and admirers. Haunting memories returned of how her ambassador, Richard Holbrooke, fatally exhausted by grueling Af-Pak missions that his friends begged him to curtail, collapsed in her office two years ago and died days later from a ruptured aorta.

Clinton discharged from hospital,
doctors expect full recovery

Reuters, by Arshad Mohammed Original Article

Posted By: earlybird- 1/2/2013 8:58:53 PM Post Reply

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was discharged from a New York hospital on Wednesday after being treated for a blood clot near her brain and her doctors expect her to make a full recovery, the State Department said. (Snip)"Secretary Clinton was discharged from the hospital this evening. Her medical team advised her that she is making good progress on all fronts, and they are confident she will make a full recovery," Philippe Reines, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said in a statement.

Injunction over negative Yelp
review overturned by Virginia
Supreme Court

Washington Post, by Justin Jouvenal, Original Article

Posted By: Drive- 1/2/2013 8:57:25 PM Post Reply

The Virginia Supreme Court has overturned a preliminary injunction against a Fairfax woman who is facing a $750,000 defamation lawsuit for her negative reviews on Yelp and Angie’s List. A Fairfax County Circuit Court had previously ordered Jane Perez to remove some claims she made in her negatice reviews of a D.C. contractor who performed work on her home and barred her from repeating those accusations in future posts. But on Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court found the preliminary injunction was not limited to a prescribed period, was not justified

I-T finds Tirupur man
with US bonds worth $5bn

Times of India, by Binoy Valsan Original Article

Posted By: crabam- 1/2/2013 8:26:27 PM Post Reply

COIMBATORE - The investigation wing of the Income Tax (I-T) department in Coimbatore has seized US treasury bonds worth about Rs 27,500 crore from a 45-year- old man claiming to be a financial broker-cum-business consultant in Dharapuram in Tirupur district. I-T sleuths here said the bonds were seized in a raid on December 31 at the residence of T M Ramalingam on Dharapuram-Palani Road near Upputhurai, about 80 kms from Coimbatore, in Tirupur district. The bonds are worth $5 billion.
Staff split headline.

500 Murders In Chicago Show
Gun Bans Don´t Work

Investor´s Business Daily, by Staff Original Article

Posted By: HollowLeg- 1/2/2013 8:09:13 PM Post Reply

Guns: The mayor of what is at once America´s most gun-controlled city and its murder capital wants an assault weapons ban like the one he pushed in 1994. Except it didn´t work then, and it won´t work now Nathaniel T. Jackson, 40, an alleged gang member with a long arrest record, was gunned down last week outside a store in Chicago´s Austin neighborhood, becoming the Windy City´s 500th murder victim in 2012. Up to 80% of Chicago´s murders and shootings are gang-related, according to police. By one estimate, the city has almost 70,000 gang members.

Fiscal-Cliff Ink Barely Dry,
Obama Already Moving
To Hike More Taxes

Investors Business Daily, by Betsy Mccaughey Original Article

Posted By: Desert Fox- 1/2/2013 7:24:46 PM Post Reply

When you get your W-2 wage and tax statement this month, look at Box 12. For the first time ever, as a result of the Obama health law, the IRS is requiring employers to report the cost of health insurance you get at work. The Obama administration claims that it´s informational, so you´ll appreciate the value of your health plan. Believe that and I´ll sell you a bridge in Brooklyn. "Taxpayers should be uncomfortable with the implications of the W-2 reporting requirement," warns Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. He calls Box 12 a "clear set-up"

Obama to ´Quickly´ Go
for Immigration
Reform and Gun Control

Weekly Standard, by Daniel Halper Original Article

Posted By: Desert Fox- 1/2/2013 7:23:24 PM Post Reply

President Barack Obama will go for immigration reform and gun control this month, the White House tells the left-leaning Huffington Post. Obama´s actions will reportedly be done "quickly." "An Obama administration official said the president plans to push for immigration reform this January. The official, who spoke about legislative plans only on condition of anonymity, said that coming standoffs over deficit reduction are unlikely to drain momentum from other priorities. The White House plans to push forward quickly, not just on immigration reform but gun control laws as well," reports the Huffington Post.

Cliff Deal Only Whets
Obama´s Appetite For
More Taxes

Investors Business Daily, by Staff Original Article

Posted By: Desert Fox- 1/2/2013 7:17:32 PM Post Reply

Taxes: Anyone who thinks the fiscal cliff deal will end President Obama´s soak-the-rich campaign isn´t paying attention. Even before the ink had dried on his $620 billion tax hike, Obama was talking up his desire for more. Obama hinted at this on Sunday on "Meet the Press," when he told David Gregory that "you are not only going to cut your way to prosperity" and that "one of the fallacies" was that "deficit reduction is only a matter of cutting programs." But as the fiscal cliff agreement looked increasingly likely, Obama started talking more specifically about additional tax hikes.

Give Up On The Constitution?
The Political Left Already Has

Investors Business Daily, by Staff Original Article

Posted By: Desert Fox- 1/2/2013 7:11:37 PM Post Reply

Law: For many, the Constitution is the barrier that blocks government from trampling a free people. Yet many on the political left see it as a hurdle to their ambitions. Consider the constitutional law professor who wants to kill it. The headline of Louis Michael Seidman´s op-ed in the Sunday New York Times was "Let´s Give Up on the Constitution." The message from the Georgetown professor of constitutional law is that the Constitution is "archaic" and "idiosyncratic," and even has within it "downright evil provisions." Naturally, Seidman dredges up slavery and the "white propertied men" who

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