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More Than 130 Dead in Syria amid Clashes in Aleppo Souk
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Page 6: Politix
4 22:23 JosephMendiola [10] 
2 19:30 Uncle Phester [5] 
6 14:10 Iblis [1] 
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8 19:41 Procopius2k [7] 
3 15:51 JohnQC [1] 
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Home Front: Politix
Obama adviser admits: 'We need death panels'
A top Democrat strategist and donor who served as President Obama's lead auto-industry adviser recently conceded that the rationing of heath services under Obamacare is "inevitable."

Steven Rattner advocated that such rationing should target elderly patients, while stating, "We need death panels."

Rattner serves on the board the New America Foundation, or NAF, a George Soros-funded think tank that was instrumental in supporting Obamacare in 2010. Soros' son, financier Jonathan Soros, is also a member of the foundation's board.

Rattner was the so-called "car czar," the lead auto adviser to the Treasury Department under Obama.

Last month, Rattner penned an opinion piece in the New York Times titled "Beyond Obamacare" in which he proclaimed "We need death panels" and argued rationing must be instructed to sustain Obama's health-care plan. His comments have been virtually ignored by traditional media as the president campaign's for a second term.

"We need death panels," began Rattner. "Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health-care resources more prudently -- rationing, by its proper name -- the exploding cost of Medicare will swamp the federal budget."
For future reference, please highlight as commentary anything which is not the original text. This is the third one I've done today. Thank you.

For the moderators,
trailing wife at 1:23 ET
And do NOT include any such tag as 'more at the link'. That is always assumed. I've deleted four of these today and I don't have time. AoS.
Posted by: Omerong Angeregum8930 || 10/02/2012 12:58 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yup, create a new treatment, call it 'heterocide' and establish a new class of specialists, 'thanaticians.'
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/02/2012 18:14 Comments || Top||

#2  D *** NG IT, Amerika, Solyent Green is People!

Support your friendly neighborhood Futurama Self-Suicide Sidewalk Chamber + OWG Union, or else the Babes of Omicron Perseus 6 won't like youse anymore!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/02/2012 19:29 Comments || Top||

#3  CHINESE MILITAY FORUM > ELDERLY WOMAN LEFT TO WET BED IN [Sidney, AUS] HOSPITAL, for six hours includ for two hours after she soiled the sheets.

She was also denied pain-killers for her condition despite repeated oral requests for medications to ease pain.

Hospital at issue is allegedly "chronically under-staffed/stressed", but thus far has denied doing anything improper.

As per the USA, NAU + desired 2015 target year for same is just around the corner - other than signing the NAFTA, THE US IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO MEETING THAT GOAL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/02/2012 22:22 Comments || Top||

#4  CHINESE MILITAY FORUM > ELDERLY WOMAN LEFT TO WET BED IN [Sidney, AUS] HOSPITAL, for six hours includ for two hours after she soiled the sheets.

She was also denied pain-killers for her condition despite repeated oral requests for medications to ease pain.

Hospital at issue is allegedly "chronically under-staffed/stressed", but thus far has denied doing anything improper.

As per the USA, NAU + desired 2015 target year for same is just around the corner - other than signing the NAFTA, THE US IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO MEETING THAT GOAL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/02/2012 22:23 Comments || Top||


Blood Gold
An oil company founded by a former Obama administration trade adviser has been ordered by a Texas jury to pay $32.4 million in damages resulting from a botched plot to buy millions in illegal gold from a corrupt Congolese warlord.

A civil jury in Dallas determined last week that CAMAC International, an oil and gas conglomerate founded by maxed-out Obama donor Kase Lawal, violated the terms of its agreement with the owner of a jet allegedly used during the gold transaction.

Lawal, who was selected by President Barack Obama to serve as a member of the White House's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations in 2010, invoked the Fifth Amendment dozens of times when questioned in court. Lawal's name no longer appears on the trade committee's website.

The massive fine is a major blow to Lawal and CAMAC, which has come under scrutiny by the United Nations and others for its alleged role in a deal to purchase $10 million in illicit gold from Gen. Bosco Ntaganda, a rebel commander who has been linked by the International Criminal Court to ethnic massacres and rapes.

It also reflects poorly on the Obama administration, which had tapped Lawal to serve as an adviser on global trade issues and hosted him at the White House in 2010 and 2011--after details of the incident began to emerge.

The jury determined that CAMAC and one of its officials violated the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act, which prevents American companies from doing business with international criminals.
Posted by: Omerong Angeregum8930 || 10/02/2012 12:41 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tim Geithner was a far worse appointment by the Great One.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/02/2012 13:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Fear not. 90% of the American public shall not be informed of nor bothered by this....
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 10/02/2012 19:30 Comments || Top||


New Tax on Property Owners
Posted twice --- chose the one that was posted first by time submitted
The housing market may indeed be recovering, as many experts suggest, but investors are still struggling to understand what, if any, taxes they'll owe upon selling their homes.

At issue is how the new "Medicare tax" will apply to real-estate transactions.

Passed in 2010 to help fund the health-care overhaul, this 3.8% surtax kicks in next year on many forms of investment income--including some interest, dividends, rents and capital gains.

While its effect on home sales won't be as far-reaching as many fear, the Medicare tax could pack a punch for certain investors. It is not a sales tax. And it won't apply to home-sale gains excluded from income under current law. But it could affect investors with outsize gains or gains from the sale of a vacation home or investment property.

Determining whether you will be subject to the tax is no easy matter.

"The confusion lies in the fact that it's not a yes or a no," says Melissa Labant, director of tax for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. "It's a sometimes or a maybe."

"We're waiting for guidance from the IRS on a lot of specific issues," she adds. "We don't have all of the answers yet."

Here's what we do know:

The new tax will hit individuals with more than $200,000 in adjusted gross income, and married couples with adjusted gross income above $250,000 ($125,000 for married taxpayers filing separately). These thresholds are not indexed for inflation, so more people may be affected over time.

Specifically, the tax will apply to either your net investment income or the amount that your adjusted gross income exceeds the threshold--whichever is less.
There is lots more. How did we miss this?
We had to pass the bill to read it. Now, we're reading it...
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 10/02/2012 12:18 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How did we miss it? -- It took that long for someone to drill down through the legal mess that is the ObamaNation-care law.
There are, I'm sure, even more unpleasant surprises to come.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/02/2012 13:18 Comments || Top||

#2  How did we miss this? Because THEY told us THEY had to pass it before WE could find out what was in it.
Posted by: Ptah || 10/02/2012 13:18 Comments || Top||

#3  These thresholds are not indexed for inflation...

Ah, another aspect of the Bernanke Plan(c), comes to light. /sarc off
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/02/2012 13:26 Comments || Top||

#4  I had a client ask about this yesterday; I couldn't give him a straight answer because I saw a lot of different interpretations of the law, and (as the article mentions) the IRS hasn't provided guidance on this yet, which isn't a surprise because of all the tax law changes getting thrown at them by Congress.
Posted by: Raj || 10/02/2012 13:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Sounds more like another tax on earnings to me...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/02/2012 13:54 Comments || Top||

#6  FYI -- the real estate market is NOT recovering.

The upshot is that foreclosures have been delayed due to the upcoming election. Without these distressed properties being sold the housing numbers showed an artificial increase (if you take numbers off the bottom your average goes up). There is now a backlog of foreclosures which will hit the market next year and, if anything, further depress prices.
Posted by: Iblis || 10/02/2012 14:10 Comments || Top||


Military Absentee Ballot Requests Down 70%
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 10/02/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Because ballots are not being requested because military absentees don't care much who wins? Or because the system is failing to deliver the requests?
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/02/2012 8:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Did those 'other duties as assigned' overseas. Back then we just had an old fashion printed book with the states listing where and when to send the registration/request for ballot printed postage paid application to. The unit Voting Officer was expected to contact every member of the unit to make sure each soldier got one and assisted in preparation as required. Some states required the authentication signature of a commissioned officer or designated individual, usually the JAG or AG. An extra copy of the form was provided for accompanying qualified dependents.

Amazing they have time for 'sensitivity training', but not time to do the aforementioned action these days. It recalls an old service proverb, 'that which doesn't get inspected, doesn't get done'.

Remember 'Voter Suppression' is a Freudian Projection of the Left.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/02/2012 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Should read - military absentee ballot denials down 70%.
Posted by: Lowspark || 10/02/2012 10:33 Comments || Top||

#4  DoD didn't have nearly as much trouble with the distribution of troop surveys regarding the termination of DADT. Strange, very strange.

Worthless phueching, parasitic, leftest, in the tank, senior leadership!
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/02/2012 11:17 Comments || Top||

#5  How hard can it be to get out the military vote in a timely manner? If an enemy can be tracked with a drone and knocked off, how hard can it be to deliver a ballot to one of our guys or gals overseas? If whomever is responsible and they can't or won't, they should be prosecuted for voter suppression.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/02/2012 11:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Ballot requests are down because funding for the military voting centers has been withheld. They can't make a request for an absentee ballot because they can't find a voting center open or staffed.
Posted by: jvalentour || 10/02/2012 18:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Worthless phueching, parasitic, leftest, in the tank, senior leadership!

Yep. First order of business after his inauguration, President Romney needs to purge the Lefty upper echelons of the services. By EO of course.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 10/02/2012 18:19 Comments || Top||

#8  Won't need an EO. All promotion orders read '..residing special trust and confidence..'. It isn't there. You just ask them to retire tomorrow.

Technically, it doesn't even require the President to act. Just hold up all further promotions and appointments till the good o'boys are retired cause that is a key power the Constitution invested in solely in Congress. The Executive nominates but Congress is the basis of authority.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/02/2012 19:41 Comments || Top||


-Election 2012
Romney Attacks Obama's 'Dangerous' Mideast Policy
[An Nahar] U.S. Republican Presidential nominee Willard Mitt Romney
...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney has a record as a successful businessman, heading Bain Capital, and he rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from the midst of bribery and mismanagement scandals. More to the point, he isn't President B.O...
attacked President Barack Obama
We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us...
's Middle East policy late Sunday, stepping up the pressure after a wave of anti-U.S. protests in the Islamic world.

In an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, Romney said of recent "disturbing" developments in the Middle East that the United States "seems to be at the mercy of events rather than shaping them.

"We're not moving them in a direction that protects our people or our allies. And that's dangerous," Romney added.

"If the Middle East descends into chaos, if Iran moves toward nuclear breakout, or if Israel's security is compromised, America could be pulled into the maelstrom."

Attacking Obama's Middle East policy, he wrote: "We needed a strategy for success, but the president offered none. And now he seeks to downplay the significance of the calamities of the past few weeks."

An amateur U.S. film posted on the Internet that insults the Prophet Mohammed provoked a wave of anti-American protests in several Moslem countries last month, and dozens of people were killed in the ensuing violence.

A related attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador, on September 11.

Romney said Obama had also dismissed Israel's concerns about Iran's nuclear program as mere "noise" that he preferred to "block out". He accused him of having declined to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Obama throws down gauntlet to Romney on debate
[Bangla Daily Star] US President Barack Obama
In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed...
prepared yesterday for his first debate with Willard Mitt Romney
...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney has a record as a successful businessman, heading Bain Capital, and he rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from the midst of bribery and mismanagement scandals. More to the point, he isn't President B.O...
, saying the clash was about security for hard-working Americans, not rhetorical "zingers."

Obama heaped pressure on his foe, who is angling for a dramatic turnaround for his ailing campaign in Wednesday's showdown, before bunkering down in a resort in Nevada's rocky desert to shake off his mothballed debating skills.

"The media is speculating already on who is going to have the best zingers ... who's going to put the most points on the board," Obama told a floodlit rally of 11,000 people in a Hispanic suburb of Las Vegas Sunday.

"Governor Romney, he's a good debater... I'm just okay," Obama said tongue-in-cheek, as he upped the stakes in the classic game of expectations setting that rival campaigns wage before big debates.

Obama sought to frame Wednesday's face-off, the first of a trio of presidential debates, as a contrast between substance and style, and to paint himself as the champion of the hurting middle class.

"What I am most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country going and restore security for hard working Americans," Obama said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/02/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Governor Romney, he's a good debater... I'm just okay,"

Oooo... my knees just went all weak at teh 0ne's weakness. What a progressive man!
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/02/2012 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  saying the clash was about security for hard-working Americans, not rhetorical "zingers."


I count that as a Zinger, Mr. President.

I hope Willare can work in a "There you go again, Barack!" Maybe two or three media wonks would remember Reagan in 1980.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/02/2012 5:58 Comments || Top||

#3  "What I am most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country going and restore security for hard working Americans," Obama said.

"because I obviously don't have a clue"
Posted by: Frank G || 10/02/2012 8:05 Comments || Top||

#4  I won't be watching. Can't stand to hear Obama talk.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/02/2012 9:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Mitt, pick up the gauntlet and smack this narcissist twit across the face with it.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/02/2012 11:14 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm must "Okay".

Okay for what?
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/02/2012 11:26 Comments || Top||

#7  I won't be watching. Can't stand to hear Obama talk.

I'm not sure I can bear it either.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/02/2012 15:13 Comments || Top||

#8  At any rate, watch for the post debate media spin. In particular, watch out for ABC's George Stephanopoulos. Disgusting.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/02/2012 17:35 Comments || Top||

#9  Somewhere I saw the post-debate analysis already. Looked pretty accurate.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/02/2012 19:25 Comments || Top||

#10  "...I'm just okay" > yokay, I'll bite, I thought Mittens "feared the debate" precisely because of the Bammer's oratory skills???

That being said, is it just me or does the Bammer look like a ST:DS9 Ferengi in the side pic???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/02/2012 23:56 Comments || Top||


10 House Democrats We Really Need to Beat
Posted by: Frozen Al || 10/02/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  However, (Haitian-American Mormon Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia) Love has spent the past week fending off allegations that she is a so-called “anchor baby” — a term for someone whose foreign-born parents gave birth to her in the U.S. to ensure their citizenship.

My irony meter is locked up. The Dims are for more immigration, unless it involves Trunks. Is being an 'anchor baby' illegal, somehow, under the current, unenforced laws? Did Ms. Love lie about her citizenship? Don't we need to see her bith certificate? I mean, her real birth certificate.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/02/2012 6:09 Comments || Top||

#2  MSM comes up with term "birthers" for those who pint out Obama's birth cert "scan" isn't a scan.

Makes "allegations" about things that are irrelevant to the particular office Mia Love is running for.

Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/02/2012 7:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Only 10?
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/02/2012 15:51 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2012-10-02
  More Than 130 Dead in Syria amid Clashes in Aleppo Souk
Mon 2012-10-01
  Children killed in Kenya church attack
Sun 2012-09-30
  Thousands rally in Karachi against anti-Islam film
Sat 2012-09-29
  Kenyan Army Claims Fall of Kismayo
Fri 2012-09-28
  Iraq militants attack Tikrit prison, freeing 90 inmates
Thu 2012-09-27
  Clinton Sees Link to Qaeda Offshoot in Deadly Libya Attack
Wed 2012-09-26
  Damascus bombers 'hit Syria military HQ'
Tue 2012-09-25
  Syrian President's Sister 'Now in Dubai'
Mon 2012-09-24
  France: 2 Men Plot To Behead Editor Who Published Offensive Cartoons
Sun 2012-09-23
  Violent mobs rule Peshawar
Sat 2012-09-22
  Pakistani gov minister offers $100K reward for death of film maker
Fri 2012-09-21
  Pakistan film protests: 15 die in Karachi and Peshawar
Thu 2012-09-20
  Ex-Gitmo hard boy involved in consulate attack
Wed 2012-09-19
  Rally against sacrilege: Ten Lahore rioters injured in clash with police
Tue 2012-09-18
  U.S. military suspends joint patrols with Afghans


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