Telegraph [UK], by Richard Alleyne Posted By: Attercliffe- Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:22:09 GMT Doctors in hot spots around the country have warned services are being exhausted by demand for treatment and the pressures on hospitals are "not sustainable". The problems are so severe in some areas that non'urgent operations have been cancelled. The alarm bells have sounded as official figures show that there are now 738 people in intensive with the disease''almost double the figure of 460 last week. The critically ill include 42 children under five, up from 26 seven days ago. James Paget University Hospital in Great Yarmouth was among those forced to declare a "black alert"''an NHS hospital's most severe status level.

Daily Caller, by Jeff Poor Posted By: Rufus2007- Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:19:50 GMT Is the idea that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could be America’s next president laughable? Not only to many on the left, but also to conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. On Friday’s broadcast of “Inside Washington,” Krauthammer offered several reasons why Palin shouldn’t be considered the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2012 presidential election. “What do you mean if not Sarah Palin in 2012?” Krauthammer said. “Who’s saying she’s going to be the presidential candidate? I don’t

Telegraph [UK], by Simon Heffer Posted By: Attercliffe- Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:12:45 GMT In 1980, Harold Macmillan wrote to Margaret Thatcher (in an 11'page letter now disclosed under the 30'year rule) imploring her to behave more like a socialist in her economic policy. It is not surprising that Mrs Thatcher ignored the old charlatan. It is surprising, though, that various Leftists should have used the disclosure to lecture Dave about how he ought to run Britain. The parallels with 1980 are striking. Unemployment was heading to three million, a programme of strict spending cuts was in place, and the trades unions, used for decades to deference and respect from the political classes, were cutting

Canada Free Press, by Doug Hagmann Posted By: snowcloud- Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:09:33 GMT A memorandum dated 24 December 2010 signed by TSA Director John Pistole and Deputy Administrator Gale Rossides was sent to all Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, praising the advances made by the TSA this year. Not all federal agents who received this memo were in agreement with the reported strides made by the TSA as Pistole alleges, with some calling the memo “pure propaganda” and “boldly inaccurate.”

Telegraph [UK], by James Delingpole Posted By: Attercliffe- Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:07:42 GMT My final post of the year is not about Global Warming. Or rather, it is, but only in the most tangential way. As the sharper among you will long since have recognised, the reason I bang on about AGW is not because I’m obsessed with “Climate Change” but because I recognise it as a strategically vital campaign in a much broader global culture war. On the outcome of this war depends not only the future of Western civilisation but also more immediately concerning things like whether or not our children and grandchildren have jobs, and whether or not we

National Review Online, by Jonah Goldberg Posted By: FlyRight- Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:46:21 GMT With just hours left in 2010, Michael Bloomberg manages to go the extra mile to offer even more asininity. The Blizzard of 2010 may have forever dented Mayor Bloomberg’s popularity. The mayor admitted today that the botched snow removal effort this week was a “character building” experience for him. “This year is not ending the way I would have preferred, but it’s still been a good year,” he said this morning on his radio show.

Investor's Business Daily, by David Hogberg Posted By: slyscribe- Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:28:38 GMT Ron Radosh notes that socialist Frances Fox Piven is back in the Nation magazine calling for a revival of the “Cloward'Piven Strategy.” For those unfamiliar with that strategy, Piven formulated it with her late husband, Richard Cloward, for an article in a 1966 issue of the Nation. According to DiscoverTheNetworks, the Cloward'Piven Strategy “seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.”

Vanity Fair, by Juli Weiner Posted By: StormCnter- Fri, 31 Dec 2010 21:40:37 GMT This morning Christine O’Donnell took to the airwaves to address the current criminal investigation into her use of campaign funds. According to the failed senatorial candidate, there was “no impermissible use of campaign funds whatsoever.” In fact, O’Donnell alleged, the investigation is about far more than possibly nefarious bookkeeping: the probe is a plot against her orchestrated by one Joe Biden, the current vice president of the United States and ruthless political capodecina who exclusively targets powerless first'time authors. “Given that the king of the Delaware political establishment

New Republic, by Alexander C. Hart Posted By: Pluperfect- Fri, 31 Dec 2010 21:37:36 GMT The tax'cut war is over for now. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal has been signed into law. The New START treaty has been ratified. But another big battle between Democrats and Republican is looming. The subject is something most Americans have likely never heard of—the debt ceiling. And, unlike the lame'duck battles that somehow found their way to happy conclusions, this one could very easily end in disaster. The debt ceiling does exactly what it sounds like it does: It caps the total amount of money the government is allowed to owe.

Salon, by Justin Elliott Posted By: Pluperfect- Fri, 31 Dec 2010 21:33:30 GMT Punch the terms "Park51" and "Ground Zero Mosque" into Google News' timeline creator and this is what you get: (Snip for graph) To be sure, Google News is a blunt instrument for measuring volume of press coverage. But the timeline nevertheless conveys a lot about the strange, still somewhat inexplicable burst of coverage surrounding what became known as the "Ground Zero Mosque." The story began inorganically, with misleading framing pushed into the mainstream by a right'wing blog and the New York Post. It evolved into the national political obsession of the summer and, finally, into a midterm election issue.