Obama, labor leaders to square off over tax on high-cost health plans

The Hill "Proponents of the tax say it will force insurance companies to lower prices and improve the efficiency of their plans. This, in turn, could free companies to spend more on wages and less on health benefits. But many union members have negotiated for better insurance plans instead of higher wages. Labor officials fear workers will see cuts to their benefits as insurance companies lower their prices to avoid the tax." h/t to Heritage.

Predicting the next bomb plot

Washington Examiner "That's not to say security precautions are pointless. But it is a sobering reminder that we can't win this war simply by playing defense. Al Qaeda is the 21st-century Terminator. You can't reason with it. You can't negotiate with it. It has to be destroyed and humiliated. The war won't be won or lost at airport scanning stations. The vital front is Afghanistan. And Pakistan. And all the other places around the world where al Qaeda affiliates plot and recruit and train for terrorist attacks. Maybe the White House should call it a global war on terrorism. " h/t to Heritage.

Liberalism is What is Killing California

George Will, RealClearPolitics "It took years for liberalism's mania for micromanaging life with entangling regulations to make California's once creative economy resemble Gulliver immobilized by the Lilliputians' many threads. The state, which between 1990 and 2007 lost 26 percent of its factory jobs and 35 percent of its high-tech manufacturing jobs, ranks behind only New York, another of liberalism's laboratories, in the number of outward-bound moving vans."

Avatar: Cameron Stacks the Deck for Green Religion

Verum Serum "...Cameron cheated. He was so eager to make his case for a simple, green life that he rigged the outcome to an absurd degree. He’s written a morality tale in which the natives must be respected because their beliefs can be proven scientifically and Pandora’s trees must be respected because they are part of a grand, living intelligence. "

Hey, Another Passenger Threatens Flight Crew, Mentions 9/11

Debbie Schlussel "Like I said, yesterday, it’s absolutely no coincidence that there have been so many of these passenger threats, disruptions, and “testing the system” by Arab Muslims on flights in the last two months. I warned you this would happen when US Airways was forced to settle with the Flying Imams."

Our president 'just wants to get away'

J.C. Arenas, AT "In September, while tens of thousands marched on the streets of Washington D.C. to demonstrate their opposition towards the president's domestic agenda, Obama hopped on a plane and escaped from the nation's capital. Apparently, it was more important to deliver a speech at a health-care rally in front of a mere 15,000 adoring supporters in the friendlier confines of Minneapolis's Target Center than it was to attempt to win the support of some of his naysayers."

'Fairness doctrine for the internet' challenged in court

Joseph Smith, AT "The FCC rules would require, for example, that a carrier could not feed their own content faster than a competitor's content. Net neutrality has broad populist appeal, but is likely to have the same deleterious effects that government intervention brings to other industries. "

Beating the Dead Terrorist Horse

Victor Davis Hanson , NRO "There are now proven protocols for dealing with terrorism that work and are not at odds with the Constitution. For all the talk of al-Qaeda’s resilience, it has lost thousands of its top echelon. The regime in Iran is shaky — and shakier still for the continuance of a constitutional system in neighboring Iraq. Europe is shedding its politically correct appeasement of Islam, and several countries have already enacted statutes about Islamic dress and mosques unthinkable in the United States. “Bush did it” is becoming ironic, and having the unintended consequence of reminding us how well we once defended ourselves — and how risky it is not to appreciate why and how.

Census Concerns

Snopes.com refers us to this info at the BBB website: BBB Alerts Consumers about U.S. Census Workers: Be Cooperative, But Cautious! "The big question is - how do you tell the difference between a U.S. Census worker and a con artist? BBB offers the following advice:"

Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez

Townhall

A letter to the White House

Powerline "Ranking Senate Judiciary Committee member Senator Jeff Sessions joined 21 other GOP Senators from the Judiciary, Intelligence, and Armed Services Committees to send the letter urging President Obama not to afford Abdulmutallab a civilian trial in federal court. Thieir letter is somewhat more informative than the Times article on yesterday's arraignment. This is the text of [the] letter:"

Charles Krauthammer Says Obama Talks About Terrorists as if they are "Disgruntled Postal Workers"

Freedom's Lighthouse "Krauthammer said Obama uses words like "suspect," "alleged attack," "isolated extremist," as if he's talking about a "disgruntled postal worker." It took Obama a "5th attempt" (following the attempted terror attack on Northwest Flight 253) before he actually used the language of us being in a "War on Terror.""