Obama Nixes Safe Drilling

Contempt....of court and this nation.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was in Houston this weekend talking with oil executives who are eager to start drilling again in the Gulf of Mexico. That may sound like progress, but after the meeting Salazar said that nothing had changed. He was not ready to approve any new drilling.

Despite everything that energy companies have done to devise advanced containment systems, Salazar is unwilling to issue a single new permit. Systems constructed by the nonprofit Marine Well Containment Company and other entities are now able to handle a flow equal or greater than that experienced during the Deepwater Horizon accident last summer. But that's not enough for Salazar, who stated that even the most advanced systems have "limitations on water depth and barrel-per-day containment capacity."

Well, yes. Any system that could be devised would have limitations on depth and per-barrel capacity. But that's not the point, as Mr. Salazar must know. The question is whether the new systems are able to handle the sorts of accident that might actually take place. Not the worst scenario that someone from the Interior Department could dream up. Combined with safely protocols now in place, the new containment equipment can do just that.

So why no permits for new drilling? It appears that the Obama administration is more interested in kowtowing to environmental donors in advance of the 2012 election than it is in controlling energy prices. Even with a federal court order to decide on new drilling in the Gulf by March 20, the Obama administration remains obdurate.

THE HILL POLL: On Government Shutdown

Look for the Democrats to start getting blamed by the people for pretty much everything from here on out.

Twenty-nine percent of likely voters would blame Democrats for a government shutdown, compared to 23 percent who would hold Republicans responsible, according to a new poll conducted for The Hill.

The results are surprising because most people blamed the GOP for the last government shutdown, which occurred during President Clinton’s first term. A week before the 1995 shuttering, polls showed the public blamed Republicans by a two-to-one-margin.

Part of I-44 closed because of MASSIVE MAYONNAISE spill

Now who's gonna supply the 200,000 lbs of Tuna and the 100,000 loaves of bread?

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. | A section of Interstate 44 in southwest Missouri was closed for several hours after a tractor-trailer crashed and spilled its load, creating a giant slick of mayonnaise.

Springfield police closed the eastbound lanes of the interstate near U.S. 65 for several hours Saturday night as crews cleaned up debris including about 40,000 pounds of mayonnaise.

Lt. Scott Leven told The Springfield News Leader that the truck driver lost control, taking the rig through a cable guard and into the median.

Saturday Funny

Recast.

Global Warming Hits San Francisco

Maybe the cold will shock some sense into this mecca of liberal fanaticism.

Reuters) - Snow fell overnight in areas of San Francisco for the first time in 35 years, the Weather Channel reported on Saturday.

The storm system that could bring snow to Los Angeles and Las Vegas on Saturday is expected to move across Nevada and Utah with snow reaching Arizona, Colorado and northern New Mexico later this evening, said AccuWeather.com meteorologist Heather Buchman in an online report.

In addition to the rare snowfall event, record low temperatures could hit California in the morning hours over the next few days, said Weather Channel meteorologist Chris Dolce.

Breaking: Kathleen Parker Is Out At CNN

Couldn't happen to a nicer RINO.

After months of turbulence at CNN’s Parker Spitzer, the network will drop co-host Kathleen Parker from the show, according to sources and a memo released to CNN staff. Eliot Spitzer will continue with the show. “I wish Kathleen all the best in continuing on with her spectacular career. It has been a joy working with her as a teammate, and I continue to be a huge fan of the wisdom that jumps from her written work and the wit, charm and insight she brings to all that she does,” said Spitzer in a statement.

According to CNN chief Ken Jautz, the new show will feature Spitzer in an “ensemble format” of contributors and be called In the Arena. The new show debuts Monday.

Memo to CNN, It won't help.

Fourth-quarter growth revised down to 2.8 percent

How many times can you rembember the economic estimates actually being revised UP during Obama's term in office?...Bueller, anyone?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy grew slower than initially estimated in the fourth quarter as government investment contracted more sharply and consumer spending was less robust, a government report showed on Friday.

Gross domestic product growth was revised down to an annualized rate of 2.8 percent, the Commerce Department said in its second estimate, from 3.2 percent.

Economists had expected GDP growth, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, to be revised up to a 3.3 percent pace. The economy expanded at a 2.6 percent rate in the third quarter. For the whole of 2010, the economy grew 2.8 percent instead of 2.9 percent.

The report confirmed the Federal Reserve's concerns that the pace of growth remained too slow to significantly lower a 9.0 percent unemployment rate. It makes it very likely that the U.S. central bank will complete its $600 billion government bond- buying program to further stimulate demand by lowering interest rates.

67% Disapprove of Legislators Fleeing Wisconsin to Avoid Vote

Too bad Mitch Daniels didn't see this poll prior to destroying and chance he might have had at the Republican nomination for POTUS.

Half of America’s voters favor public sector unions for government workers, but they strongly oppose the tactic by Wisconsin state senators to flee their state to prevent a vote that would limit the rights of such unions.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that only 25% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of this tactic, while 67% disapprove. State legislators in Indiana have used the same approach to avoid a vote in their state. (To see survey question wording.

Sizable majorities of Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major party reject such a strategy. Democrats are fairly evenly divided, with 48% approving and 44% disapproving.

New-home sales in January drop 12.6 pct

Obamaville continues to disappoint.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of new homes fell significantly in January, a dismal sign after the worst year for that sector in nearly a half-century.

New-home sales dropped to a seasonally adjusted rate of 284,000 homes last month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That's down from 325,000 in December and less than half the 600,000-a-year pace that economists view as healthy.

Obama’s Leadership Ratings Fall To A New Low

It's gonna get worse...

President Obama’s job approval ratings have taken a dive this week in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, and the number of voters who give him favorable ratings for leadership has fallen to its lowest level since he took office in January 2009.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 37% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the president is doing a good or excellent job as a leader. Forty percent (40%) rate his performance as poor. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Last month, right after the president’s State of the Union speech, 47% of voters viewed his leadership positively. At that time, the number who gave Obama poor marks (33%) fell to its lowest level since September 2009.

Khadafy ordered Lockerbie bombing, says Libyan minister

Not that there was ever any doubt.

TRIPOLI, Libya -- Libyan leader Moamar Khadafy personally ordered the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, the former Libyan justice minister said in an interview Wednesday with Swedish newspaper Expressen.

"I have evidence that Khadafyordered the Lockerbie attack," Mustapha Abdeljalil said in an interview with the newspaper, after he defected from Ghadafi's crumbling regime in protest against violence used on protesters.

A total of 270 people, mostly Americans, died when the flight blew up over the Scottish town on Dec. 21, 1988.

Democrats delay Indiana House amid Union protests

INDIANAPOLIS — The absence of Democratic legislators from the Indiana House extended into the afternoon with several hundred union members at the Statehouse protesting Republican-backed labor bills.

Speakers at a midday rally today told the union members that Republicans had declared a “war on labor” with proposals restricting teacher collective bargaining and so-called right-to-work legislation.

The new spin. Ever heard any MSM report refer to pro-abortion as “so called” pro choice legislation. Or how about eliminating the private union ballot being referred to as the "so called" Employee Free Choice Act?

Home Prices in Toilet Again

Until this improves, neither will the economy.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Home prices in a majority of major U.S. cities tracked by a private trade group have fallen to their lowest levels since the housing bubble burst.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index fell in December from November in all but one of the 20 cities it tracks. The 20-city index declined 1 percent.

The only market to see a gain was Washington.

Eleven of the markets hit their lowest point since the housing bust, in 2006 and 2007: Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tampa, Fla.

Gallup Finds Fewer Americans Identify Themselves As Democrats

Ominous sign if your a lefty.

A Gallup analysis of interviews of more than 350,000 Americans in all 50 states and the District of Columbia finds that fewer people defined themselves as Democrats in 2010 than did in 2008.

In fact, notes Gallup “every state and the District of Columbia had fewer residents identifying as Democrats, or identifying as independents but leaning Democratic, in 2010 than in 2008.” States carried by Barack Obama in 2008, including New Hampshire, Maine, Wisconsin, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, and Nevada, saw some of the most significant shifts away from Democratic identification. Back in 2008, for example, Democrats had an 18-point lead in party affiliation in Wisconsin. By the end of 2010, however, that lead had shrunk to 2.6 percent.

In 2008 there were only seven states (Alabama, Kansas, Nebraska, Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah) where the number of people who identified themselves as Republicans outnumbered those who identified themselves as Democrats. By the end of 2010 that had tripled to twenty-two states.

Wisconsin State Senate to Reconvene Without Dems, GOP Leader Says

Pass every non-monetary bill in sight and watch liberal heads explode.

Wisconsin Republicans on Sunday upped the pressure on Democrats who fled to Illinois to return home and vote on an anti-union bill, with the governor calling them obstructionists and a GOP lawmaker threatening to convene without them.

Gov. Scott Walker said the 14 minority Democrats who left Madison on Thursday were failing to do their jobs by "hiding out" in another state. And Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said his chamber would meet Tuesday to act on non-spending bills and confirm some of the governor's appointees even if the Democrats don't show up -- a scenario that should outrage their constituents.

Milwaukee Teachers Earn More than $100,000 a Year

According to the MacIver Institute total teacher compensation in Milwaukee is $100,005 a year. Salaries average $56,500 and benefits are $43,505. It's a strange salary to benefit ratio, but unions have been pushing benefits over salaries for decades. It was their choice to do this.

Teachers work less than 37 weeks a year. They get 10 weeks off in the summer, 1 week at Christmas, 1 week for mid-winter break, 1 week for spring break, and 11 holidays. The leaves 1472 hours for work. $100,005 / 1472 hours is $68 an hour.

My heart bleeds.

Daily Rasmussen Pres Tracking Poll

Obama's numbers back in the toilet.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -18

Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.

Republican House votes to defund Environmental Protection Agency

It would be nice to have the Senate but controlling the House is controlling the pursestrings.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved an amendment late Friday afternoon that will eliminate funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The measure, known as the Poe-Carter Amendment after its sponsors, Reps. Ted Poe and John Carter of Texas, is part of the Fiscal Year 2011 Continuing Resolution.

The amendment will specifically cut funding for EPA efforts to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from stationary sources.

“I am pleased that my colleagues in the House have chosen to put a stop to the back-door attempts by the administration to bypass Congress and circumvent the will of the American people,” said Poe in a statement after the amendment’s passage. “The era of EPA overstepping its authority by imposing over-burdensome and unnecessary regulations at the expense of American businesses is over.”

And this: House votes 244-179 to kill U.S. funding of IPCC

Saturday Funny

The escape vehicle used by Wisconsin Senate Democrats has been located!

Friday NOT so Funny

Jeff Bingaman to Retire

The rats continue to jump the sinking ship.

New Mexico Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman will announce his retirement today, Democratic sources confirmed.

Bingaman, who is serving his fifth term, is among the most senior Democrats in the Senate. He also serves as chair of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Former Republican Rep. Heather Wilson has shown interest in running for the New Mexico Senate seat in 2012, and some reports suggest her candidacy would be contingent on Bingaman's decision.

Canadian Death Panel Decides Baby Should Die, Canadian Court Agrees

Grim previews of coming attractions.

LONDON, Ont. — A Windsor, Ont. couple's fight to bring their gravely ill baby home to die ended in bitter tears Thursday when a Superior Court judge dismissed their appeal to stop doctors from removing the infant's breathing tube at the hospital.

The father and relatives of one-year-old Joseph Maraachli wept outside a London courthouse after an emotional Justice Helen Rady upheld the earlier decision of an independent provincial tribunal forcing the baby's parents to comply with doctors' orders.

With all of their legal avenues exhausted, the family will have to say goodbye to Joseph Monday morning — on Family Day — when his breathing tube will be removed.

Protests swell to 25,000 people at Wis. Capitol

Typical Democrats, can't have their way so rather than accept the majority judgement they throw a tantrum.

MADISON, Wis. — Authorities say an estimated 25,000 people are protesting anti-union legislation at the Wisconsin state Capitol, and nine demonstrators have been arrested.

On the third day of protests, the Statehouse was completely jammed with protesters opposed to a bill that would strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights. The crowd filled the building's hallways, sat cross-legged across the floor and chanted slogans.

For the moment, a group of Democratic senators have blocked the bill by refusing to attend a midday vote and leaving the Capitol. The sergeant at arms was looking for them.

One member of the group told The Associated Press that they had all left Wisconsin in an effort to force Republicans to negotiate.

Obama's Budget Increases 2012 Deficit by a Third

Bottom line...

Obama's budget increases 2012 deficit by a third. Yes, that's correct. President Obama submitted his proposed 2012 budget this past Monday. This budget produces a $1.1 trillion deficit for 2012. This deficit is 33 percent higher than his 2011 budget projection, which targeted the 2012 deficit at $828 billion. This higher 2012 deficit is equivalent to $3,217 per person in the United States (based on the U.S. Census Bureau's population clock).

This year's forecast of the 2011 deficit is $1.6 trillion, 30 percent higher than Obama's 2011-budgeted deficit of $1.3 trillion.

Carney Crashes and Burns on First Day

Needs a teleprompter like his boss.

New White House Press Secretary Jay Carney punted on Iran, fumbled a question on the national debt, and blamed Bush just minutes into his first press briefing.

Scott turns down $2 billion in federal rail money

Nice to have an adult in charge of Florida.

Gov. Rick Scott has turned down more than $2 billion in federal money for a high-speed rail project that would link Tampa and Orlando.

"The truth is that this project would be far too costly to taxpayers and I believe the risk far outweighs the benefits,'' Scott said this morning in a release announcing his decision to turn down the rail money.

Scott said he weighed three main points in deciding to turn down the money:

Cost to build the project could cost Florida taxpayers up to $3 billion; ridership and revenue projections could be overly optimistic and that if the federal government decides to shut down the project, the state would have to return the money.

Report: O.J. Simpson brutally beaten in prison

Divine retribution, Karma call it what you will, justice is justice.

O.J. Simpson's been an afterthought since he went to prison, but a report today that he was brutally beaten by skinheads in his prison cell has him back in the media spotlight.

The National Enquirer, which gained noticeable sports cred when they broke the Tiger Woods scandal, reports that Simpson was "beaten unconscious in a brutal prison yard attack" and is now so messed-up mentally that he can't leave his cell.

"Unfortunately for O.J., a group of young skinhead punks were within earshot - and they were enraged," Bruce Fromong, a former business partner of Simpson's told the Enquirer.

The Enquirer's report indicates that Simpson decided to "brag about his sexual conquests of beautiful white women" and that didn't sit to well with a group of "white supremacists."

‘Sheriff Joe’ Arpaio Leads in Arizona Poll for Senate Race

This is surprising.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio led a field of potential Republican Senate candidates in Arizona with 21 percent in a poll of likely GOP primary voters last week.

Rep. Jeff Flake, who announced his candidacy for the seat of retiring Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) on Monday, finished second with 16.8 percent in the Summit Consulting Group survey. Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth took third, with 16.6 percent. He was unsuccessful in his primary challenge to Sen. John McCain last year.

Iran Protesters in the Thousands

Initial reports: at least 250 arrests, 1 killed , 2 injured.

More HERE.

Egypt's Military Suspends Government

Egyptian military rulers dissolve parliament and put the constitution on hold, meeting two key demands of pro-democracy protesters after taking over the government from President Hosni Mubarak.

As to putting the constitution on hold, Obama can relate.

If You Can't Beat em, Choke em.

House bill unveiled late Friday cuts EPA budget by $3 billion:

A government spending bill unveiled Friday night by House Republicans would prohibit funding for Environmental Protection Agency climate regulations through September of this year.

The continuing resolution, which would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, is the latest attempt by Republicans to stop EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans argue that pending EPA climate rules will destroy the economy and result in significant job losses. GOP lawmakers, including House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), have introduced legislation to permanently block the agency’s climate authority.

The bill would block funding for all current and pending EPA climate regulations for stationary sources.

Ex-President Carter congratulates Egyptians

De javu all over again.

ATLANTA (AP) -- Former President Jimmy Carter is congratulating the people of Egypt on taking the first steps toward a new era of democratic legitimacy.

The Georgia Democrat says in a statement that he wants Egyptians to know they have the international community's support as they work to build a truly democratic nation after the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

The Atlanta-based Carter Center says it stands ready to assist Egyptians in the transition, but warned the president's resignation is only a step toward self-governance. It called for an inclusive transitional government that can lead Egypt through elections.

House GOP back on same page on spending cuts

Thank goodness for the new guys.

House Republicans emerged from an emergency meeting about the budget Thursday night sounding unified around a newfangled stop-gap spending measure that would achieve cuts of $100 billion.

Freshmen, once again, were the driving force that sent the GOP leadership to head back to the drawing board for deeper slashes to spending just a month into their majority.

The newly elected lawmakers wanted what GOP leadership assured: $100 billion in cuts, now. Not prorated over the remainder of the fiscal year. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Thursday night in the basement of the Capitol that the cuts Republicans are proposing would equal $170 billion over 12 months, instead of the seven months covered by the CR.

Oprah Winfrey Network Ratings Keep Falling; Now Well Below Discovery Health Women 25-54 Averages

That's one channel which is blocked in this household.

In its fifth full week of programming (1/31-2/6), OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network was down 17% vs. last week with last week among women 25-54 in total day (40,000 vs. 48,000), and down 34% among women 25-54 in prime time (54,000 vs. 82,000).

OWN is now well below last year’s women 25-54 averages for Discovery Health . OWN replaced Discovery Health which averaged 51,000 W25-54 Total Day, and 84,000 W25-54 in Prime Time during 2010.

Huffington Post 'Slave' Writers in Revolt Over AOL Sale

SUCKERS!

As a contributor to The Huffington Post since 2008, I have posted 25 original articles that I value at more than $25,000, for free.

So eager to have a platform for my stories about U. S. soldiers returning from Iraq with Cancer, I didn’t ask for payment; I merely handed over the 20 to 30 hours of reporting on each piece gratis.

Over that period, I had asked Arianna Huffington several times for financial support. But after being referred to the D.C. based Huffington Post Investigative Fund as a candidate for payment, I was turned down by the fund, as well as by Executive Editor Roy Sekoff .

Wednesday Funny

No Joke: Ex-Mayor's Name Too Funny For Building

And now for something completely different.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- A former Indiana mayor who won over voters in the 1930s is proving less popular with modern city leaders trying to choose a name for a new government center.

Harry Baals is the runaway favorite in online voting to name the new building in Fort Wayne.

The name had received more than 1,200 votes on the city’s website as of Tuesday afternoon -- more than triple that of its nearest competitor, the Eugene Johnson Memorial Center.

Supporters say it's unfair that the former mayor can't be recognized simply because his name makes some people snicker. But others say they don't want the city to become the target of jokes.

"We realize that while Harry Baals was a respected mayor, not everyone outside of Fort Wayne will know that," Malloy said Tuesday in a statement to The Associated Press. "We wanted to pick something that would reflect our pride in our community beyond the boundaries of Fort Wayne."

Obama to call for $53B for high-speed rail

I don't know where he thinks he's going to get the money as this boondoggle is DOA when it hits the House.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government will dedicate $53 billion over six years to build new high-speed rail networks and make existing ones faste, Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday.

The initiative will allow the Department of Transportation to choose corridors for the new projects and increase U.S. use of the passenger rails, the White House said in a statement.

President Barack Obama's budget for fiscal year 2012, which is to be unveiled next week, includes $8 billion for the plan. The rest of the money will be allocated over the six-year time period.

Hill poll shows 62% opposed to raising the debt ceiling

27%, the same percentage of people that strongly approve of President Obama's performance, go figure.

Only 27 percent of likely voters favor raising the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, while 62 percent oppose it, according to an exclusive poll for The Hill.

The poll found solid opposition from Republicans and also from independent voters, who are critical to President Obama’s re-election in 2012.

Seventy-seven percent of likely GOP voters and 64 percent of independent voters said they don’t want the debt ceiling to be raised. Even among Democrats, more oppose raising the ceiling (46 percent) than support it (42 percent).

LIES, DAMN LIES, AND UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS

Everyone needs to lose their job and quit looking then the unemployment rate would be at zero!

The drop in unemployment the Obama Administration reported for January is totally phony. Real, unweighted data showed an increase from 9.1% to 9.8% in joblessness rather than a cut in the highly weighted figure from 9.4% to 9.0%.

Put those weighted numbers on a diet!

Economist Jim Fitzgibbon, head of the Highlander Fund, calls the report “worthless” noting that “the entire report is seasonally adjusted to be positive while the non-seasonally adjusted data is just awful.”

While the seasonally adjusted jobless rate dropped from 9.8% in November to 9.0% now, the non-adjusted data went from 9.1% in November to 9.8% now – the exact reverse!

Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the real data:

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

Fitzgibbon calls the entire report a “statistical mirage.”

Sunday Funny

Already Record Food Prices Rise By 3.4% In January

This is what printing money at unprecedented rates will reap. I've been in the food business for 30 years and let me tell you, things are going to get worse, A LOT WORSE.

When last month we highlighted the FAO's periodic report which noted that food prices had surged to a fresh all time high, Zero Hedge first predicted that food riots were imminent. Fast forward 6 rioting countries and 2 revolutions later, to today when we get an update from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, where we read that, not surprisingly "the FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) rose for the seventh consecutive month, averaging 231 points in January 2011, up 3.4 percent from December 2010 and the highest (in both real and nominal terms) since the index has been backtracked in 1990."

McCain says a 'much more centrist' Obama 'much' easier to work with

I've always believed that McCain was a brick short but now I believe the man has gone right off his rocker.

The president has become more centrist, which makes him easier to work with, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday.

Speaking with Bloomberg Television a day after a private meeting with President Obama, McCain said he could picture working with Obama on several issues going forward.

"I think there's a number of issues we could work on together, and I think it's pretty clear that the president has really pivoted to a much more centrist position, which I think makes it much more for us easier to work with him," McCain said.

McCain said his meeting with Obama was "cordial," as his relationship with the president has been.

Whoopi! 36000 new jobs

The bad news is it takes 200,000 new jobs to keep up with the population increase just to break even.

Egypt: Muslims attack Christian families, murdering 11

Please pray for our Christian brothers, it's going to get a lot worse for them.

(AINA) -- News of a massacre of two Christian Coptic families by Islamists just emerged from Upper Egypt with the return of the Internet connections after a week of Internet blackout by the Egyptian regime. The massacre took place on Sunday, January 30 at 3 PM in the village of Sharona near Maghagha, Minya province. Two Islamists groups, aided by the Muslim neighbors, descended on the roof of houses owned by Copts, killing eleven Copts, including children, and seriously injuring four others.

Anba Agathon, Bishop of Maghagha, told Coptic activist Dr. Mona Roman in a televised interview on Al-Karma TV that the killers are their neighbors, who seized the opportunity of the mayhem prevailing in Egypt and the absence of police protection to slaughter the Copts. He said that he visited today the four injured Copts, who escaped death despite being shot, at Maghagha General Hospital and they told him that they recognized the main attackers as they come from the same village of Sharona. They gave the Bishop details of what happened.

Murdoch on rumors Fox may rehire Olbermann: ‘We don’t believe in firing people twice’

Whether or not he wants to work there again, former Fox Sports Net anchor Keith Olbermann is unwelcome at the network.

In a FNC interview that aired Wednesday, host Neil Cavuto asked News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch if he would consider rehiring Olbermann, who was canned from the network.

“No,” Murdoch said. ”We fired him once, we don’t believe in firing people twice.”

“You called him a ‘nut,’” Cavuto said.

“Well he was a nut on…We had him on ‘Late Night Fox Sports’…It was impossible,” Murdoch said.

Olbermann worked at Fox from 1998 to 2001, when Murdoch gave him the boot.

“I fired him…He was crazy,” Murdoch said.

Florida gives back money to implement Obamacare

Anyone think those elections in Florida were not important?

Florida officials made their direction clear: We will not move forward to implement this law.

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty on Tuesday gave back a $1 million federal grant awarded to the state to assist with reforms. The money would have paid for a system to provide information to consumers on the rates of large-group insurers.

And Florida Gov. Rick Scott said the state will wait until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in on the case before it plans for pieces of the legislation that haven't gone into effect.

"We are not going to spend a lot of time and money with regard to trying to get ready to implement it," he said.

Walkin Like an Egyptian...well, kindof

In a taped address to the Egyptian people, President Hosni Mubarak, 82, said he intends to serve the remaining months of his term so he can oversee a peaceful transition to a new government.

Muslim Brotherhood’s Message Same as Hamas: Kill Jews

Well, Obama's cool with it.

Many Western analysts agree that the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are one and the same. One leading Brotherhood cleric has said: "Kill Jews – to the very last one.” A Brotherhood takeover of Egypt would strengthen Hamas in Gaza.

Another Brotherhood leader told an Arab language newspaper Monday that Egyptians “should prepare for war against Israel."

The Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are rooted in the same ideology. "If the Muslim Brotherhood groups gain a prominent place in the government, this would definitely help consolidate Hamas's hold on Gaza,'' Atiyeh Jawwabra, a political science professor at Jerusalem's Al Quds University, told The Wall Street Journal’s Joshua Mitnick.

The journalist added, “Hamas, whose founder was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, has rejected negotiations with Israel and refuses to foreswear military and terrorist attacks."