Pelosi Expected to Remain Democratic Leader

WASHINGTON -- Despite suffering near-historic election losses this month, House Democrats appear ready to keep their leadership team intact, with Nancy Pelosi of California still on top.

Both parties will hold closed-door House leadership elections Wednesday. But the main focus will involve the soon-to-be minority party, the Democrats.

Pelosi, the nation's first female speaker, appeared to soothe enough angry colleagues Tuesday to ensure her election to the top post. Barring a surprise, she will become minority leader in January, when the new Congress convenes. The second- and third-ranking Democrats seem likely to hold their positions as well.

Republicans, meanwhile, are expected to keep Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as their leader, putting him in place to become speaker in January.

By quarreling among themselves and sticking with Pelosi, House Democrats are departing from the example set by Republicans, who quickly closed ranks around a new leader, Boehner, four years ago when they lost the majority.

Pelosi let her supporters and critics vent their emotions Tuesday at a four-hour closed meeting in the Capitol. She got an earful at times from colleagues who said a party must change leaders when it suffers the type of losses Democrats absorbed Nov. 2.

Rep. Allen Boyd of Florida was particularly pointed in his remarks, according to people present, saying Pelosi is the wrong person to represent Democrats as they try to rebuild. But others defended the San Francisco liberal, and even her toughest critics said she is likely to defeat Rep. Heath Shuler, a moderate from North Carolina.

Shuler told reporters he's trying to make a point. After a whopping election defeat, he said, it's not wise "to go back and put the exact same leadership into place."

Bailey Comment: " I hope that the Demos put Nancy back in because she and Reid are one of the reasons we voted out so many Demos."  That way when 2012 comes around we can vote the rest of the dumbcrats out!

Muslims Reach Out To Christians?

CAIRO-- Muslims set fire overnight to at least 10 houses belonging to Coptic Christians in a village in southern Egypt over rumors that a Christian resident had an affair with a Muslim girl, security officials said Tuesday.

The officials said security forces have sealed off the village of al-Nawahid, in Qena province some 290 miles south of Cairo, to prevent the violence from spreading to neighboring towns. They said several people were arrested.

The attacks started after locals spotted a young Copt and a Muslim girl together at night inside the village cemetery, the officials said. They added that both were put under police custody as authorities investigate.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Clashes between Christians and Muslims occasionally occur in southern Egypt, mostly over land or disputes over church construction. But sectarian tensions have also been on the rise recently in the capital.

Rangel Storms Out of Ethics Trial

By Jim Meyers

Embattled Rep. Charles Rangel stunned a House ethics panel weighing charges against him by walking out of the hearing room as the proceedings were about to begin Monday morning.

Despite having had months to prepare for the hearing, the New York Democrat showed up without a lawyer and claimed he had not had enough time to set up a defense fund and did not have the money to hire an attorney.
“I respectfully remove myself from these hearings,” 80-year-old Rangel said before bolting from the eight-member subcommittee.

Rangel, who is charged with 13 ethics violations, told the panel that he had already spent $2 million on his defense and insisted that moving ahead with the hearing would be unfair, ABC News reported.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” Rangel said, asserting that he needed time to raise $1 million to retain new counsel for the hearing.

After leaving the hearing room, Rangel — who was first elected in 1970 — was asked if he walked out of the hearing to delay the proceedings, the New York Daily News reported. Rangel responded: “I would say that’s a stupid question.”

After he departed, the ethics panel comprised of four Democrats and four Republicans met behind closed doors and decided to continue with the proceedings.

“We recognize that Mr. Rangel has indicated that he does not intend to participate, and that is his right,” said committee chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat.

“These matters have been underway for quite some time. We are prepared to proceed today . . .

“Mr. Rangel has repeatedly sought and received legal guidance as to how he can pay [for legal counsel]. Mr. Rangel was provided with all the material and evidence on June 17 of this year.”

Lofgren has said the proceedings need to be completed by the end of the current Congress, according to ABC News.

As a series of allegations of ethics violations, including tax questions, came to light, Rangel in March stepped aside as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation’s tax code. And three months ago, Rangel demanded a hearing before the ethics panel and dared his colleagues to kick him out on the ethics charges.

In February, the House Ethics Committee concluded that Rangel had violated House gift rules by accepting payment from corporations for reimbursement for travel to conferences in the Caribbean, and required him to repay those expenses.

The ethics panel is also looking into allegations that Rangel was improperly living in several rent-stabilized apartments in Manhattan while claiming his Washington, D.C. home as his primary residence for tax purposes.

The New York Times reported in July 2008 that Rangel rents four apartments in Harlem at below-market rates and has used one apartment as a campaign office, which violates city and state regulations requiring that rent-stabilized apartments be used only as a primary residence.

Rangel was also accused of failing to report income from the rental of a villa he owns in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, which he rented out for as much as $1,100 a night.

In September 2008, Rangel paid back taxes of $10,800 owed from rental income on his Punta Cana villa.

Also in September 2008, the New York Post reported that Rangel “has been using a House of Representatives parking garage for years as free storage space for his old Mercedes-Benz, a violation of congressional rules and a potential new tax woe for the embattled lawmaker . . . The spaces are valued by the House at $290 per month.”

Rangel has also been charged with using his official congressional letterhead to solicit funds for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York, and failing to reveal more than half a million dollars in income and assets on financial disclosure forms.

On July 22, a four-member investigative subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee indicated it had “substantial reason to believe” that Rangel had violated ethics rules. And on July 29, Rangel was charged by the committee with 13 counts of violating House rules and federal laws.

The last ethics trial in the House was in 2002 for Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat later expelled from Congress.

Krugman Backs Death Panels for Elderly to Solve Debt Crisis

Breaking News from Newsmax.com

Krugman Backs Death Panels for Elderly to Solve Debt Crisis New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman told ABC's 'This Week' that 'death panels' will stop rising medical costs and continuing deficits. He also called for a VAT national sales tax to solve the debt crisis. Read the Full Story -- Go Here Now

Feds Pay Millions to 'Sanctuaries' That Flaunt Immigration Laws

They bill themselves as 'sanctuaries' for illegal immigrants, but a recently released report shows that more than two dozen communities that openly defy immigration enforcement also take millions of taxpayer dollars to cover the cost of — immigration enforcement. 


The Department of Justice has spent tens of millions of dollars this year to compensate more than two dozen states, counties and cities for their costs of jailing illegal immigrants -- even though those communities have adopted policies that obstruct immigration enforcement, according to a recently released report.

"Subsidizing Sanctuaries: The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program," a report from the Center for Immigration Studies, found that the federal grant program commonly known as SCAAP allocated $62.2 million -- more than 15 percent of its $400 million total -- to 27 jurisdictions that are widely considered to be "sanctuary communities."

Some of those jurisdictions -- including San Francisco, Chicago and California's Santa Clara County -- are even trying to opt-out of Secure Communities, a program that automatically alerts Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials when criminal illegal immigrants are booked into jail, according to the report.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies and a co-author of the report, said that the grant system as currently structured makes little sense.

"Basically, the federal government is subsidizing through this grant program jurisdictions that on the one hand are complaining about the cost of illegal immigration and demandingreimbursement from the federal government, while at the same time they have policies in place that make their locality a magnet for illegal aliens," Vaughan told FoxNews.com. 

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"And that's just illogical," she said.

According to Department of Justice figures cited in the report, five of the top 10 SCAAP grants to localities and two of the top 10 grants to states went to jurisdictions that are considered sanctuaries. That includes $14.2 million to Los Angeles County, $13.4 million to New York City and $88 million to the state of California.

Rather than award SCAAP grants to jurisdictions that incur costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens, Vaughan said federal officials should use the grant program as an incentive for communities to participate in immigration enforcement programs like Secure Communities or the 287(g) program, which trains deputies to check the immigration status of individuals they arrest and has identified more than 180,000 illegal immigrants for deportation nationwide since 2006.

In a statement obtained by FoxNews.com, U.S. Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif., said he disagreed with funding sanctuary cities using SCAAP grants and called on the Obama administration to take action.

"In its lawsuit challenging the Arizona immigration law, the Obama administration claims that the law creates a patchwork of immigration enforcement," Miller's statement read. "If this is the case, then the Obama administration should also sue sanctuary cities, for their policies are arguably a 'patchwork' of immigration enforcement as well. It is time for the administration to end its double standard."

To that end, Miller has authored legislation -- the Loophole Elimination and Verification Enforcement Act, or LEAVE -- that would prohibit sanctuary communities from receiving both Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security funds.

"I hope the next Congress will take up this commonsense proposal and penalize sanctuary cities for their irresponsible policies," Miller's statement concluded.

In a statement to FoxNews.com, the Department of Justice said it administers the SCAAP grants in accordance with legislation authorizing the program and passed by Congress.

"Funding under this program is provided to any eligible jurisdiction that incurs costs associated with detaining criminal aliens," the statement read. "SCAAP does not inhibit, but rather supports the accountability process by reimbursing local agency costs for detaining illegal aliens who commit crimes."

The statement continued, "Making any jurisdiction ineligible for these funds could have an unintended consequence -- creating a disincentive to detain criminals  who are greater flight risks and pose a danger to our communities. The Department of Justice is committed to providing support to our state and local partners to protect the safety of communities."

Bob Dane, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, suggested that the number of sanctuary communities would reduce significantly if the DOJ grants were discontinued.

"One of the best fixes is to deny state and federal funding to the places that harbor illegal aliens," Dane said. "The entire country is slowly but surely moving from a sanctuary mentality to a 'fix it' mentality, but you've got these remaining pockets of resistance, many of them in big cities."

Dane continued, "You hit 'em where it hurts, in the wallet, and maybe they'll get it. We're reimbursing cities for a problem of their own making."

Veterans Day

Armistice Day Becomes Veterans Day

World War I officially ended on June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The actual fighting between the Allies and Germany, however, had ended seven months earlier with the armistice, which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Armistice Day, as November 11 became known, officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926, and a national holiday 12 years later. On June 1, 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans.

In 1968, new legislation changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.

Tomb of the Unknowns

Official, national ceremonies for Veterans Day center around the Tomb of the Unknowns.

To honor these men, symbolic of all Americans who gave their lives in all wars, an Army honor guard, the 3d U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard), keeps day and night vigil.

At 11 a.m. on November 11, a combined color guard representing all military services executes "Present Arms" at the tomb. The nation's tribute to its war dead is symbolized by the laying of a presidential wreath and the playing of "Taps."

Unknown Soldier Identified

On Memorial Day (which honors U.S. service people who died in action) in 1958, two more unidentified American war dead, one from World War II and the other from the Korean War, were buried next the unknown soldier of World War I.

A law was passed in 1973 providing interment of an unknown American from the Vietnam War, but because of the improved technology to identify the dead, it was not until 1984 that an unidentified soldier was buried in the tomb.

In 1998, however, the Vietnam soldier was identified through DNA tests as Michael Blassie, a 24-year-old Air Force pilot who was shot down in May of 1972 near the Cambodian border. His body was disinterred and reburied by his family in St. Louis, Missouri.

Read more: Veterans Day — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/veteransday1.html#ixzz14y6gygHY

Reach out to Muslims??

I don't know about how you feel on this continuous call to reach out to Muslims, try to get along with Muslims, try understanding the Muslim faith, and on and on and on! But I as a average hard working American is tired of hearing all that crap. Its' time for all of the bleeding heart politicians to realize  that understanding and getting along with each other is not just a ONE WAY STREET! When is the last time you heard one of them say, " the Muslims need to try and understand and get along with all of the Christians"? I'm not going to kiss any ones ass just to get them to like or respect me. I believe that understanding and respect has to be a two way street and I haven't heard to many Muslims trying to reach out to us, unless it's just to do bad things.

Feds Shell Out $1 Billion to Dead People

The federal government has paid out well over $1 billion to 250,000 deceased individuals over the past decade — and can’t figure out how to fix the problem, according to a new report from Sen. Tom Coburn.

“Washington paid for dead people’s prescriptions and wheelchairs, subsidized their farms, helped pay their rent, and even chipped in for their heating and air conditioning bills,” the Oklahoma Republican’s report says.

Among the disclosures, based on a review of government audits and reports by the Government Accountability Office, inspectors general, and Congress:

● The Social Security Administration sent $18 million in stimulus funds to 71,688 dead people, and $40.3 million in questionable benefit payments to 1,760 deceased individuals.
● The Department of Agriculture sent $1.1 billion in farming subsidies to dead farmers.
● The Department of Health and Human Services sent $3.9 million to 11,000 dead people to help pay heating and cooling costs.
● Medicare paid up to $92 million in claims for medical supplies prescribed by dead doctors and $8.2 million for medical supplies prescribed for dead patients.

In some cases, the payments went to dormant bank accounts, while in others they landed in the pockets of living people who are “defrauding the system by collecting benefits meant for a now-deceased relative,” according to Coburn’s report.

The detected waste “is likely only a small picture of a much larger problem,” the report notes.

In June, the Obama administration announced new steps to avert payments to the deceased. Federal agencies are now required to check their payees against the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File.

“But SSA admits its records are fraught with errors,” the report states. “It is extremely expensive and may even be impossible to determine if a person is alive or dead, particularly if the person died many years ago.”

Coburn concludes: “At this point in our nation’s history, it is of the utmost importance that every tax dollar spent by the government be put to good use. This means spending within our means on the living, not outside our means on the dead.”