"... It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings."....I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
There is a stage in your life when a minivan is not a shameful thing – and you’re there now. I’ve done a zillion kilometres in various Caravans, hauling kids, dogs, building materials, furniture. Across the continent twice, trouble-free.
The Caravans get better and better while being priced lower and lower. Get the Canadian Value Package and you’ll get everything you need for a little more than $19,000. End of story.
International experts gathered in Russia on Friday approved a plan to ship Syria's most dangerous chemical weapons to Italy for their eventual destruction aboard the specially-equipped US vessel Cape Ray.
The unprecedented plan, part of a US-Russian deal for Syria to surrender its stash of more than 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons, will see Danish and Norwegian frigates escort cargo ships loaded with the deadly agents from the Syrian port of Latakia to international waters off the coast of Italy.
But according to French NGO Robin des Bois, the plan to dispose of the chemical weapons at sea is “adventurous” and poses a serious threat to the crew and the environment.
In a report published on Thursday, Robin des Bois pointed to Cape Ray’s single hull and the absence of transverse partitions as indicators that the ship was not suited to perform such a critical task.
“Adjustments being made to the Cape Ray cannot guarantee that the ship will remain afloat should it incur severe damage,” such as a water leak or a fire, said the NGO, which is specialised in monitoring vessels and the impact of the ship-breaking process on the environment.
'Pilot system designed for ground use'
The 200 metre-long Cape Ray is equipped with the newly developed Field Deployable Hydrolysis System (FDHS), which was designed by the Pentagon to neutralise components used in chemical weapons.
According to Robin des Bois, the FDHS is a “pilot system (…) designed for ground use”, which has never been tested before in such a vast operation.
“To attempt a first use on such a scale aboard a ship is an adventurous operation that carries multiple risks for the crew, the technicians, and the environment,” the NGO added.
Facebook is losing its appeal to teenagers as more and more parents start using it to keep tabs on them, researchers have discovered.
They say youngsters now consider the social networking site ‘dead and buried’ and are too embarrassed to post intimate details in case their mothers or fathers find out.
The research, which looked into the online habits of teenagers in eight European countries including the UK, found many young Facebook users were switching to alternatives such as Snapchat and WhatsApp.
An American public already reeling from the catastrophic rollout of ObamaCare will more than likely be hearing an unfamiliar term being bandied about in the new year. “Risk corridor” refers to a provision in the law that allows the government to “stabilize” premium costs for insurance companies during the first three years of the healthcare rollout. If insurance companies’ “target” costs for providing healthcare has been miscalculated, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will intercede on their behalf. Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer illuminates the nature of that intercession. ”The insurers understand that they’re going to be completely ruined,” Krauthammer explains. “And what’s going to happen as a result of this? There’s only one way out, a huge government bailout of the insurers is waiting at the end of next year.” More accurately, it will be a taxpayer-funded bailout, similar to the ones given to the banks and the car companies.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/arnold-ahlert/a-taxpayer-bailout-for-obamacare/
American progressives like to think of their country as backward and reactionary compared to Europe. And they have never been more right than now when Europe and the rest of the First World have gone right while America under Obama has been left back.
Recently Australia, Japan and Norway welcomed in conservative governments. Tony Abbott, Australia’s new prime minister, is a former heavyweight boxer who attended Oxford and is putting a spoke in the wheel of the Global Warming ecohoax. Japan is casting off its pacifism and standing up to the People’s Republic of China and Norway gave its left-wing government the boot and moved in “Iron Erma” in a coalition with the libertarian Progress Party which opposes taxes and immigration and supports free enterprise.
Australia, Japan and Norway are not outliers. The majority of First World countries now have conservative governments.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/a-left-wing-america-stands-alone/
The American negotiators involved in the current round of “peace talks” for Israel and the Palestinian Arabs are pressuring Israeli leaders to speak out publicly in support of the U.S. positions regarding Israel’s security, according to recent Israeli media reports.
In an Israeli channel 2 news report, political correspondent Amit Segal explained that Amb. Martin Indyk, the U.S. Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations, and his team have been meeting with many Israeli military leaders, trying to convince them that the U.S. security plans for the Jordan Valley are good for Israel.
Indyk reportedly told the Israelis, essentially, that “if you support” the American position on Israeli security regarding the Jordan Valley, then “go to the media and be interviewed because they have the impression that the Israeli public has doubts about” the American plan.
One of the names mentioned in the news report was Maj. Gen. (Res.) Avi Mizrachi, who was the head of the Israeli Central Command from October, 2009 until March, 2012.
Mizrahi has already publicly stated his position that he is convinced Israeli forces must remain in the Jordan Valley. Those forces must be present in order to prevent a missile threat from foreign controlled – including Palestinian Arab – territories, as well as to bar the transfer from across the border of explosives, equipment or people who could be used in terrorist attacks.
Israel cannot trust an international force, even an American one, for the existential security of the Jewish State.
Mizrachi reportedly told the American negotiators that he sees two central flaws in the U.S. plan. First, the troops to guard the Jordan Valley must be Israeli troops, not American soldiers. Secondly, the guards must be stationed in the Jordan Valley for 50 years, not the 10 years proposed in the American plan.
The sense conveyed by Segal was the Israelis understood the “diplomatic initiative” by the U.S. to be an effort to convince the Israeli public that they should support the American proposal, even if the Israeli government does not.
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-pushing-israelis-to-publicly-endorse-us-not-israeli-plans-video/2013/12/27/
Here comes the ObamaCare tax bill.
The cost of President Obama’s massive health-care law will hit Americans in 2014 as new taxes pile up on their insurance premiums and on their income-tax bills.
Most insurers aren’t advertising the ObamaCare taxes that are added on to premiums, opting instead to discretely pass them on to customers while quietly lobbying lawmakers for a break.
But one insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, laid bare the taxes on its bills with a separate line item for “Affordable Care Act Fees and Taxes.”
The new taxes on one customer’s bill added up to $23.14 a month, or $277.68 annually, according to Kaiser Health News. It boosted the monthly premium from $322.26 to $345.40 for that individual.
The new taxes and fees include a 2 percent levy on every health plan, which is expected to net about $8 billion for the government in 2014 and increase to $14.3 billion in 2018.
There’s also a $2 fee per policy that goes into a new medical-research trust fund called the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
Insurers pay a 3.5 percent user fee to sell medical plans on the HealthCare.gov Web site.
http://nypost.com/2013/12/25/new-obamacare-fees-coming-in-2014/
On Paul Preston’s Agenda 21 Radio Dr. Orly Taitz today Orly Taitz expressed her complete joy at being vindicated by the Obama administration when it was reported by FOX News Ed Henry that healthcare.gov could not verify his (Obama’s) identity when they went to sign up the resident foe ObamaCare. See the video below:
The technology President Obama is touting for coal plants to cut back on emissions is helping an unlikely source: the oil industry.
The carbon-capture technology is still locking in carbon dioxide to cut back on emissions but it is now being sold to oil companies, which pump it into oil fields as a means to force more crude to the service, according to The Associated Press.
The oil industry is using government energy money to subsidize oil production. The deal highlights "the environmental trade-off Obama is willing to make, but rarely talks about in his fight against global warming," AP writes.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/193864-obama-gets-clean-coal-by-aiding-oil-industry
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King,
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th’ angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”Christ, by highest heaven adored;
Christ, the everlasting Lord;
late in time behold him come,
offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th’ incarnate Deity,
pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman’s conquering Seed,
bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface;
stamp thine image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”http://www.lyricsforchristmas.com/christmas-carols/hark-the-herald-angels-sing/
