Online story: "Former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) will in all likelihood be nominated as secretary of Defense by President Barack Obama, according to reports from Foreign Policy, The Daily Beast and NBC News. * Hagel had come under intense criticism from pro-Israel interest groups for past comments. Drawing particular fire was a quote from his 2008 book, wherein he said, "I'm not an Israeli senator. I'm a United States senator." He added, "I support Israel, but my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States, not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel. * Hagel had also drawn criticism from the LGBT community over comments made during the 1998 confirmation hearing for the first openly gay ambassador, James Hormel. At the time, he called Hormel "openly, aggressively gay" but has since apologized for the comment." -- I really thought pot-US Obluster floated this 'lead balloon' just to make nominating some ill-qualified crony seem tolerable, but obviously Obluster wanta someone the media can pick apart as a Republican hatemonger/bigot as the mid-East flares up the next couple of years.

---

Online headline: "Reid Would Back Obama Decision To Ignore GOP On Debt Ceiling" -- DOH! Unfortunately, America needs Reids support, not pot-US Obluster, but Obluster signs/autopens the checks Reid wants.

---

From the "here we go again" department: "Despite the public lashing Virginia GOP lawmakers took in 2012 over their support for an infamous mandatory ultrasound bill, some of them are kicking off the 2013 legislative session with a slew of new controversial bills that restrict women's access to abortion and birth control." -- It doesn't matter how 'pro-life' we are, this is not a battle that can be won legislatively. It's an issue with the individual and God, and until Republicans grasp this, women will vote for a lying DUMBERat over a Republican who doesn't respect women's feelings. Abortions will happen regardless of legislation, and who wants such to be relegated to 'back-alleys' again?

---

Online story: "WASHINGTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress that expired this week might have steered the nation away from the "fiscal cliff" of potentially devastating tax hikes and spending cuts, but it did not do much to save the U.S. Postal Service from its own fast-approaching cliff. * The cash-strapped mail carrier that lost almost $16 billion in the past year, ran into its legal borrowing limit and defaulted twice on required payments to the federal government, now turns to the newly sworn-in Congress for help. * The Postal Service loses $25 million every day, it says, as more Americans communicate by email and the massive payments for future retiree benefits take a toll." -- The Post Office is at (has been for decades) the point that the makers of the finest buggy whip maker dealt with as cars became eminent, and for the maker of the finest slide-rule felt as it watched handheld graphing calculators reach the retail shelves. Things have changed that leads to obsolescence unless it can adapt to, modify, and overcome the realities. In truth, what has lead to this inevitability is DUMBERats not wanting to collide with the union.

---

Online story: "The gunman in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December used an AR-15 to kill 20 first-graders and six educators in the school. The gun belonged to the shooter's mother, but it's not clear where it was purchased. " -- "it's not clear where it was purchased"? Huh? Is our government so incompetent that it cannot track a serial number on the gun? If the gun was an antique, there might be difficulty in doing so, but there have been strict registration laws on the books way past when the semi-automatic versions of these rifle took effect.

---

Online story: "Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who just left the House of Representatives Thursday after 32 years, said Friday that he has told Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) that he would like an interim appointment to fill the Senate seat that would open if Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is confirmed as secretary of state." -- Surely even Massachusetts politicians and voters don't want to open this closet door again.

---

Online headline: "Would You Have Sex In A Hospital?" -- Ooops, my bad. Thought some hospital had come up with a billing code to charge you a second time for what it does when you walk in the front door. The story was about a Chinese hospital that offers sex wards for infertility 'treatments'.

---

Online story: "Rex Ryan and the New York Jets missed the playoffs and the coach left town without speaking to the media. He briefly found some escape from scrutiny by traveling to the Bahamas this week with his wife. * That was until the New York Daily News tracked him down and photographed a tattoo that featured his wife, Michelle, posed in a classic pin-up style, wearing a Mark Sanchez jersey." -- Hmmm, can't wait for the headline that reads: "Michelle Ryan tells husband, "I know Mark Sanchez, and you are certainly no Mark Sanchez."

---

Unless you drive a golf cart, the east parking garage at St Francis Hospital is the worst one in Columbus!

---

McClatchy story: "With Republicans promising another climactic fight over the $16.4 trillion debt limit in two months, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday that if she were president, she would invoke the Constitution to raise the ceiling on her own — with or without permission from the GOP. * “I would do it, in a second, but I’m not the president of the United States,” Pelosi said. * Like many other Democrats, Pelosi is eyeing the language in the 14th Amendment stating that the validity of U.S. public debts “shall not be questioned.” Prominent Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, have argued that language — added in the aftermath of the Civil War — gives Obama all the authority he needs to break the ceiling" -- What the DUMBERats don't do is quote the entire 4th Section of the 14th Amendment. This clause, "But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States,". Seems to me that breaking spending and budgetary laws is an "act of insurrection or rebellion" in the literal sense.

---

Another McClatchy story highlighted the saga of Lincolnton Furniture. Seems a North Carolina furniture maker went to China to see how the Chinese manufacturing could help his business, BUT observed there was a market for Chinese people wanting furniture "Made in America", so he came back and started such a business. pot-US Obluster highlighted and blessed his initiative as an innovative way to create jobs . Lincolnton Furniture Company closed abruptly Thursday just one year after it was hailed by President Barack Obama as an example of the recovering U.S. economy.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/04/3167317/lincolnton-furniture-company-praised.html#storylink=cpy

---

Question: Whatta pot-US Obluster, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the mainstream media gonna call the "Bush Tax Cuts" now?

---

Liberal's L-E "soundoff": "If the NRA were an auto club, there'd be no speed limits, no drunk driving laws, no licenses, no registration, no stop signs, no safety regulations, no driving tests, no tags, no age requirement..." -- How many more ways will liberals find to show how stupid they are? Elizabeth Barrett Browning sorta had a grasp on it... "let me count the ways"...

---

L-E headline: "Columbus Civic Center brings monster trucks " -- Hmmm, I know how much it costs to park my truck in the parking lot, but how much will the City charge those monster trucks to park inside the Civic Center?

---

L-E headline/story: "Man cleaning gun fires into neighbor's apartment * Wilbur Glass, 52, also was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the 8:20 p.m. shooting at a 6363 Flat Rock Road apartment. * Glass told police he was about to clean his 9mm Beretta pistol when he pulled back the slide and the trigger. The gun fired, sending the bullet through his apartment wall and into his neighbor's bathroom." -- What BS! If that sequence COULD happen, it would have blown up in his face. Emptying a gun is step one of cleaning one.

---

L-E headline: "US pushes to finish Afghan dam as challenges mount" -- Hmmm, why don't we plan to pull out of the dam project on the same schedule as pulling our troops out? Bet the Afghani's would start being supportive of our efforts.

---

Online story: "ROME — Six Russians were killed and two others were injured when their snowmobile slammed into a fence and flipped over into a ditch during a night run down an Italian ski slope. * RAI state radio reported early Saturday that the crash occurred on an unlit slope late Friday on Mount Cermis in northeast Italy. * Russian news reports said the snowmobile was pulling a sled, which is where most of the passengers were sitting." -- Hmmm, snowmobile pulling a sled on an unlit course... sorry to be appear callous, but it musta been Russian college fraternity boys on School Break.

---

Lawmakers in Michigan and New Jersey are trying to pass legislation keeping the names of lottery winners secret; talk about a way to speed up the scandal/bribery/graft of a government project, and this would 'take the cake'! This is so diabolically wrong, I don't know how Washington, DC and Chicago weren't the driving force to get this done long ago.

---

Online headline: " Obesity is a crisis" -- Ooops, my bad. Thought this was about the National Debt.

---

Hillary has brought this public response to her using a 'blood clot' upon herself. She has dodged every investigation into her past in every way she could think of, and we know she's capable of throwing the sympathy card at the drop of Bill's pants.

---

The new 'title tax' is going to kick the car industry in the teeth. All those 'two year' leases are going to have 7% +/- added into the cost of them on both ends of the deal (that's going to be about $6,300.00 on a big luxury import, or about $3,000.00 on popular cars every two years! Looks bleak for the car dealers.

---

Following the Texas A&M-OU game, we have to suffer through the Compass Bowl & the Go-Daddy Bowl before the Bama-Irish game. Great scheduling, BCS...NOT!

---

From the 'only in California (but probably soon in Colorado & Washington state)" department- L-E story: "Bridgeport, Calif-Grammy nominated R&B singer Frank Ocean is facing a marijuana possession charge after police say he was pulled over on New Year's Eve in California's Eastern Sierra Nevada for driving more than 90 mph in a 65 mph zone. & Sheriff's spokeswoman Jennifer H---- says a strong odor of marijuana wafted out as a deputy approached the vehicle. * She says the Beverly Hills resident was cited for marijuana possession and released." -- "a strong odor of marijuana wafted out"? Charged only with possession? What happened to driving under a controlled substance laws?

---

Follow up: A while back, famed French actor, Gerard Depardieu announced he was going to seek citizenship in another country because of the French tax rate hike to 74% (from 41%) on his income bracket. The Russians have granted it. The Russian income tax rate... a flat 13%. No wonder pot-US Obluster wants to model his socialism after the French rather than the Russians.

---

Passed along by a fellow BCer: "Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him, better take a closer look at the American Indian!" Henry Ford -- Bet Bleep Veep Biden didn't tell the Congressional Hispanic Caucus or the Congressional Black Caucus this tidbit.