Palestinian State within 2 years?; Pakistan Nukes to fall to Taliban?: US ranks 50th in currency stability

1) Morning Bell: Obamacare Invades Your Wallet …The Senate Finance Committee bill written by Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) (the Baucus bill) first drives up the cost of health insurance for all Americans and then forces everyone to buy it or face tax penalties or jail time. While the Baucus bill does cap out-of-pocket costs based on a person’s income, the effect on American families is still staggering. According to the Center for Data Analysis, the Baucus bill would: -For individuals making $34,140 (three times the Federal Poverty Level) the Baucus health care proposal could mandate up to $4,097 in annual premiums, a sum which could have been spent on over nine months of food, almost four months of housing or well over a year of utilities. -For a family of four making $69,480 (300% above poverty) the Baucus bill mandates annual health insurance premiums of $8,338, which would be worth the equivalent of over ten months of food, four months of housing or almost two years of utilities. -For individuals earning $45,520(400% above poverty) Baucus mandates $5,462 for health insurance, or over a year of food, four months of rent or a year and a half of utilities. -For families earning $92,640 (400% above poverty) Baucus mandates $11,117 in health premiums, the equivalent of over a year of food, five months of housing or two years of utilities. …PricewaterhouseCoopers has done a study on what all these new taxes and regulations will do to Americans health insurance premiums and the results are not pretty. Instead of reducing the average family’s health insurance premiums by $2,500 per year, as President Obama promised, the Baucus bill would actually raise them by $4,000 more than they would have been without reform. See: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/10/12/morning-bell-obamacare-invades-your-wallet/ 1a) Insurers Push Back as Senate Health Vote Nears WASHINGTON -- Democrats are poised Tuesday to push health-overhaul legislation through the influential Senate Finance Committee, but they face new hurdles from insurers ratcheting up concerns about the sweeping bill. A report released Monday by America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group, said the Finance Committee bill would impose stiff costs on consumers. Among other things, the report said a family health-insurance policy that costs $12,300 today would increase to $25,900 on average by 2019 under the bill, more than under current law. …The bill is expected to pass the Finance Committee, where Democrats hold a 13-10 majority. After that, Senate Democratic leaders must merge the Finance bill with a more liberal measure approved by the Senate health committee. See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125538009602681039.html 1b) Sean Hannity’s Comments on above (from e-mail newsletters 10-12-09): The U.S. Senate Finance Committee will vote tomorrow on a bill to reform our health care system. “Democrats have been stunned by the August town halls, the tea parties and the march on Washington. Liberals know the window is closing on their plan to nationalize one sixth of America’s economy,” said Sean. Democrats are now working in the dark to try to ram this bill through before the American people can fully digest the enormity of the changes the Obama administration is proposing. “They vote on the bill and then they add what we call these ‘phantom’ amendments after the Republicans have already voted for the bill,” Sean said detailing the secrecy in which Democrats are working. “In short, Senators may vote on something that doesn’t even exist yet. In other words, the wording of the bill does not exist!” Sean concluded. 2) Welcome to Zimbabwe: World Economic Forum ranks U.S. financial stability 38th, currency stability 50th globally  The World Economic Forum has issued its 2009 Financial Development Report (PDF) and the news for the United States is decidedly poor. ...the impact of the systemic risk potentially created by some of these activities is captured only in the financial stability pillar; the United States achieves very low scores in overall financial stability (38th) …Particular disadvantages are evident in currency stability (50th) and banking stability (36th) measures. The banking system in general also exhibits signs of weakness, with relatively lower scores in size (21st) and efficiency (26th). See: http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/10/third-world-country-world-economic.html 2a) Job competition toughest since recession began …There are about 6.3 unemployed workers competing, on average, for each job opening, a Labor Department report shows. That's the most since the department began tracking job openings nine years ago, and up from only 1.7 workers when the recession began in December 2007. The highest point after the 2001 recession was 2.8 workers per opening in July 2003, as the economy suffered through a jobless recovery. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091010/ap_on_bi_ge/us_job_openings 3) Top Ten Reasons Obama Won the Nobel Peace Prize With David Letterman somewhat distracted, I thought I’d solicit nominations for a top 10 list. Here’s a few to start off: Consolation prize for losing the Olympics Who gives a rat’s you-know-what about Afghanistan, anyway The Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology were already taken “We couldn’t give an ‘un-prize’ to George W. Bush, and this was the next best thing” For extraordinary diplomacy at the Gates-Crowley “Beer Summit” UPDATE: “Obama? I thought we were giving it to Osama“ The Norwegians wanted to honor one of their own, and the committee discovered that Obama was born in Oslo, Norway, the son of a Volvo factory worker. ONE MORE: Norway needed to stimulate its prize industry, and Obama was willing to trade in an older, less efficient prize. AND FROM THE COMMENTS: He was the 10th caller. See: http://volokh.com/2009/10/09/top-ten-reasons-obama-won-the-nobel-peace-prize/ 4) Security of Pakistan nuclear weapons questioned ISLAMABAD – An audacious weekend assault by Islamic militants on Pakistan's army headquarters is again raising fears of an insurgent attack on the country's nuclear weapons installation. Pakistan has sought to protect its nuclear weapons from attack by the Taliban (yeah, the same Taliban Obama is thinking of giving Afghanistan’s government over to - see last post) or other militants by storing the warheads, detonators and missiles separately in facilities patrolled by elite troops. …Analysts say a more realistic scenario would involve militant sympathizers getting work as scientists at the facilities and passing information to extremists. …Pakistan is estimated to have between 70 and 90 warheads, according to Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists. …While stringent security checks on personnel are meant to prevent militant sympathizers from working at the facilities, Pakistan's nuclear establishment has seen serious leaks of nuclear knowledge and materials by insiders.  Top government scientist A.Q. Khan operated a global black market nuclear network for more than a decade until he was uncloaked by U.S. intelligence. And the CIA has confirmed a meeting between Khan associates and bin Laden before 9/11. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091013/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_nuclear_safety 5) Obama opens up billions in business for Syria Damascus gets crucial deal without promising to drop alliance with Iran TEL AVIV – The Obama administration was instrumental in facilitating a partnership deal that will see billions of dollars in trade flow between the European Union and Syria that may revitalize Damascus' stagnant economy, Egyptian and other Palestinian diplomatic sources told WND.  U.S. opposition was a main factor in the deal being delayed since it was drawn up as a draft pact in 2004. The deal is worth an estimated $7 billion a year for the Syrian economy. The Bush administration was particularly opposed to Syria's interference in Lebanese affairs and Damascus' military alliance with Iran.  According to the Egyptian and Palestinian diplomatic sources, the Obama administration dropped American opposition to the deal without first extracting a concession from Syria to end its alliance with Iran. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=112435 6) Barack Obama adviser says Sharia Law is misunderstood President Barack Obama's adviser on Muslim affairs, Dalia Mogahed, has provoked controversy by appearing on a British television show hosted by a member of an extremist group to talk about Sharia Law. Miss Mogahed, appointed to the President's Council on Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships, said the Western view of Sharia was "oversimplified" and the majority of women around the world associate it with "gender justice".  The White House adviser made the remarks on a London-based TV discussion programme hosted by Ibtihal Bsis, a member of the extremist Hizb ut Tahrir party. The group believes in the non-violent destruction of Western democracy and the creation of an Islamic state under Sharia Law across the world. …During the 45-minute discussion, on the Islam Channel programme Muslimah Dilemma earlier this week, the two members of the group made repeated attacks on secular "man-made law" and the West's "lethal cocktail of liberty and capitalism". …Miss Mogahed, who was born in Egypt and moved to America at the age of five, is the first veiled Muslim woman to serve in the White House. Her appointment was seen as a sign of the Obama administration's determination to reach out to the Muslim world. …Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said Miss Mogahed was “downplaying” Sharia Law.  “There is a reason sharia has got a bad name and it is how it has been exercised. Regrettably in the US there have been acts of injustice perpetrated against women that are driven by the Sharia-type mindset that women are objects not human beings,” she said.  She cited the example of Muzzammil Hassan, a Buffalo man who ran a cable channel aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes and was charged earlier this year with beheading his wife after she filed for divorce. See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6274387/Obama-adviser-says-Sharia-Law-is-misunderstood.html 7) Obama's FCC Diversity Czar Complained About White-Dominated Media in 2005 In 2005, President Obama's current chief diversity officer for the Federal Communications Commission, at the time a representative of the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress, said that fundamental policy changes must be made to white-dominated media in order to solve the problems society faces. Speaking as a part of the National Radio Project on May 11, 2005, Mark Lloyd said that white Americans are "in a very protected position vis a vis broadcast stations." In his view, "As a result of this, we end up in a situation where we don't know the problems and challenges that a variety of the communities living in the United States face." See: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/10/08/fcc-diversity-czar-2005-policy-changes-needed-alter-white-dominated-m 8) Sunstein: Take organs from 'helpless patients' 'Though it may sound grotesque, routine removal would save lives' TEL AVIV – President Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar defended the possibility of removing organs from terminally ill patients without their permission.  Cass Sunstein also has strongly pushed for the removal of organs from deceased individuals who did not explicitly consent to becoming organ donors.  In his 2008 book, "Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness," Sunstein and co-author Richard Thaler discussed multiple legal scenarios regarding organ donation. One possibility presented in the book, termed by Sunstein as "routine removal," posits that "the state owns the rights to body parts of people who are dead or in certain hopeless conditions, and it can remove their organs without asking anyone's permission." See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=112757 8a) Sunstein: Economic crises could usher in socialism 'With a little nudge our culture could go in many directions' TEL AVIV – Economic crises can be used to usher socialism into the U.S., argued President Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein.  In his 2004 book "The Second Bill of Rights," Sunstein used the precedent of the Great Depression to point out that historic economic crises "provided the most promising conditions for the emergence of socialism in the U.S."  "With a little nudge or a slight change in emphasis, our culture could have gone, and could still go, in many different directions," wrote Sunstein in his book, which was reviewed by WND. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=112630 9) Besieged czar, EEOC chief safe, Obama tells homosexual crowd 'I'm here with a simple message: I'm here with you in that fight' WASHINGTON – President Obama last night received a warm welcome at the annual dinner of the homosexual support group Human Rights Campaign, promising to sign hate crimes legislation, to repeal both Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act and to continue supporting his besieged appointments as "safe schools czar" and head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  WND revelations about Kevin Jennings, the safe schools czar, and Chai Feldblum, his EEOC nominee, have resulted in criticism in Congress and from group's concerned about their actions and statements from the past.  A dozen members of Congress demanded Friday that Obama dismiss Jennings following WND disclosures about his past, including an incident in which he counseled a 15-year-old student to keep quiet about being seduced by an older man.  WND disclosures that Feldblum proclaimed "gay sex is morally good" have also made her a target for criticism.  "I'm here with a simple message: I'm here with you in that fight," Obama told the homosexual activist group. "For even as we face extraordinary challenges as a nation, we cannot and we will not put aside issues of basic equality. I greatly appreciate the support I've received from many in this room. I also appreciate that many of you don't believe that progress has come fast enough. I want to be honest about that. Because it's important to be honest amongst friends." See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=112585 And: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/Obama_wows_gay_rights_activists-63946042.html 10) Palestinian State Within Two Years? TEL AVIV – Senior Palestinian Authority officials told WND the Obama administration offered their group guarantees that the U.S. would pressure Israel over a Palestinian state in exchange for the PA's withdrawal of support for immediate U.N. action over an investigation claiming Israel committed war crimes.  The PA officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND the guarantees include pressing Israel to agree to a two-year timetable to negotiate a Palestinian state set along the pre-1967 lines – meaning a state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.  The officials said the Obama administration hopes to set the timetable publicly before March. They said Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, presented the timetable to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in meetings here the past few days. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=112638 11) 83 pastors challenge IRS to investigate Preach about electoral candidates, government officials Eighty-three pastors in churches in 30 states and the District of Columbia have challenged the Internal Revenue Service to investigate them for preaching biblically based sermons about the positions of electoral candidates or government officials. It is a sad state of affairs when ONLY 83 pastors feel compelled to participate in this defense of liberty - the basis for the CHRISTIAN founding of this country…but at least it’s a start.  …"The government shouldn't be used to intimidate pastors into giving up their constitutional rights, as church leaders have a right to speak about biblical truths from the pulpit without fear of punishment," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley. …Stanley explained that, contrary to the misunderstandings of many, tax-exempt status is not a "gift" or "subsidy" from the government.  "Churches were completely free to preach about candidates from the day that the Constitution was ratified in 1788 until 1954," explained Stanley. "The real effect of the Johnson Amendment is that pastors are muzzled for fear of investigation by the IRS. Rather than risk confrontation, many pastors have self-censored their speech, afraid to be critical of blatant immorality in government and foregoing opportunities to praise moral government leaders. The participants in Pulpit Freedom Sunday refuse to be intimidated into sacrificing their First Amendment rights." See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=112374