Matrk Steyn: Obamacare is the fast-track to a permanent left-of-center political culture.

Last week, during a bit of banter on Fox News, my colleague Jonah Goldberg reminded me of something I’d all but forgotten. Last September, during his address to Congress on health care, Barack Obama declared: “I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.”

Dream on. The monstrous mountain of toxic pustules sprouting from greasy boils metastasizing from malign carbuncles that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve is not the last word in “health” “care,” but the first. It ensures that this is all we’ll be talking about, now and forever. more…..

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Gateway Pundit: Cash for Caulkers… Government Spent $2 Million of Stimulus Money to Caulk 7 Homes (Video)

The US government spent two million dollars of Stimulus money to caulk 7 homes.  more…….

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HotAir: US uncaps Fannie/Freddie support, announces during Christmas holiday

If an administration wanted to pull a fast one on American citizens and keep a move that puts them on the hook for hundreds of billion dollars as quiet as possible while still disclosing it, when would be the best time to take that action?  How about an evening when people all across the country turn off their televisions and laptops to spend time with family and friends, celebrating an important religious holiday?  Could any President be as calculating and cold-blooded as to do something like that? more…..

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Redstate: The Filibuster is Essential for Democracy

The filibuster is essential for democracy, because it protects Americans from a tyranny of the majority, whether that majority be Democrats or Republicans.  Right now, liberals are angry at Congress because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was not allowed to steamroll the minority party, and moderates within his own caucus, to pass a version of ObamaCare with a public option.  The left wants to exterminate the only remaining tool for individual members of the Senate to slow down legislation. more…..

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Washington Examiner: Here’s the real story on America’s unemployment

One of the ways we kid ourselves is calling our unemployment rate 10 percent. In government-speak that’s the “U-3″ number, which counts just current job seekers. What it doesn’t count are “discouraged” workers, who have given up looking, and the “involuntarily part-time” or underemployed workers, who also can’t find full-time work.

That’s the “U-6″ number, a more recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics metric. Today it’s more than 17 percent, which means real unemployment is approaching one in five Americans. And, yes, that’s a (post-Depression) record. more…..

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-Cnation