IRS: Yeah we could take your refunds for Obamacare penalities.

The enforcers have arrived to make sure you feed Obamacare well.

The Internal Revenue Service could tap individual tax returns to collect fines against people who fail to buy health insurance as required under recently enacted healthcare legislation, the U.S. tax commissioner said on Monday.

Most individuals are required to get health insurance under the new law, or face penalties that would be phased in over time. By 2016, people without coverage could see fines of 2 percent of their income.

Subsidies would help poorer people buy coverage, and states would set up exchanges to allow individuals and small groups shop for insurance.

People who do not comply would be levied penalties, and if they don't pay them the penalties could be taken out of their tax refunds.

Volcker: Time for America to get Euro style VAT.

Charles Krauthammer nailed Obama's strategy to change America into Europe Jr when he said this bit.

Obama set out to be a consequential president, on the order of Ronald Reagan. With the VAT, Obama’s triumph will be complete. He will have succeeded in reversing Reaganism. Liberals have long complained that Reagan’s strategy was to starve the (governmental) beast in order to shrink it: First, cut taxes — then ultimately you have to reduce government spending.

Obama’s strategy is exactly the opposite: Expand the beast, and then feed it. Spend first — which then forces taxation. Now that, with the institution of universal health care, we are becoming the full entitlement state, the beast will have to be fed.

Volcker being vocal about taxes which will skyrocket to feed Obamacare and the new culture of Dependency that is crucial to Obama and the Dems continued political success.

Volcker, answering a question from the audience at a New York Historical Society event, said the value-added tax "was not as toxic an idea" as it has been in the past and also said a carbon or other energy-related tax may become necessary.

Though he acknowledged that both were still unpopular ideas, he said getting entitlement costs and the U.S. budget deficit under control may require such moves. "If at the end of the day we need to raise taxes, we should raise taxes," he said.

NYTIMES: Just say yes to restricting health care from Americans.

Death Panels!!!! But this is an inevitable and needed component of any healthcare to keep costs down especially as Obamacare is going to be a bigger part of our lives. Now Obamacare is law, watch for more articles like this to be written to educate the masses on the need to just say no.

How can we learn to say no?

The federal government is now starting to build the institutions that will try to reduce the soaring growth of health care costs. There will be a group to compare the effectiveness of different treatments, a so-called Medicare innovation center and a Medicare oversight board that can set payment rates.

But all these groups will face the same basic problem. Deep down, Americans tend to believe that more care is better care. We recoil from efforts to restrict care.

Managed care became loathed in the 1990s. The recent recommendation to reduce breast cancer screening set off a firestorm. On a personal level, anyone who has made a decision about his or her own care knows the nagging worry that comes from not choosing the most aggressive treatment.

This try-anything-and-everything instinct is ingrained in our culture, and it has some big benefits. But it also has big downsides, including the side effects and risks that come with unnecessary treatment. Consider that a recent study found that 15,000 people were projected to die eventually from the radiation they received from CT scans given in just a single year — and that there was “significant overuse” of such scans.

From an economic perspective, health reform will fail if we can’t sometimes push back against the try-anything instinct. The new agencies will be hounded by accusations of rationing, and Medicare’s long-term budget deficit will grow.

So figuring out how we can say no may be the single toughest and most important task facing the people who will be in charge of carrying out reform. “Being able to say no,” Dr. Alan Garber of Stanford says, “is the heart of the issue.”

Live Science - 13 Glaring iPad Shortcomings.

This covers almost all my complaints about the iPad and why paying so much money for something that has less functions than a 300 dollar netbook is stupid. The most glaring mistake is not to have mulitasking out of the box. You can't tell me that no one at Apple played with the iPad and not think maybe the ability to read e-books while music is playing in the background wouldn't be cool?

Making fun of Hank Johnson is racist against Blacks.

This is why I love the Guardian Comment section. When you need entertaining white liberal guilt this is the place.

I mean honestly. Hank Johnson. I guess I probably must have heard of him when he won the seat, but I've never heard his name since. There are dozens of such people in the House. You just never hear of them.

He doesn't represent the Democratic Party or its level of collective intelligence or lack thereof any more than Blaine Leutkemeyer of Missouri, of whom I've also never heard until I sat down to write this post, represents all those things about the GOP. Besides which, if I spent my time writing posts about every ill-considered word that came out of a member of Congress' mouth...you get the idea.

I will highlight dumb statements if they're laced with hatred and uttered for the sake of lying to people and whipping them into a state. But this doesn't qualify. And anyway, it sure looks to me as if the point of all the hubbub around this in the conservative blogosphere is for the purpose of demonstrating implicitly that Johnson and therefore black people, and therefore Obama, are stupid and don't deserve to be where they are in life.

Donavan Mcnabb to the Redskins for 2nd round pick.

Just breaking by Adam Schefter.

The two sides still must finalize language, but McNabb is now headed to Washington. Sources said the deal involved the Redskins' second-round pick in the 2010 draft and either a third- or fourth-round pick next year, depending on several factors.

The move means the Redskins now have a new starting quarterback and the Eagles have a new one as well in Kevin Kolb. Michael Vick is now in line as the team's backup.

Redlettermedia's Attack of the Clones review is now up!

WOOO! I am more excited about this review than the actual opening of the movie.

Obama lashes out at media and critics over Obamacare.

This isn't arrogant Obama more than its thin-skinned Obama who seems to realize the anger about his policies is not going away. When you have company after company restating to hundreds of millions of dollars more expense from Obamacare, you would get prickly as well.

New gas milege rules means more cost and less choice for the consumer.

Its a subtle form of government control over the auto industry that most people won't notice till its too late.

Drivers will have to pay more for cars and trucks, but they'll save at the pump under tough new federal rules aimed at boosting mileage, cutting emissions and hastening the next generation of fuel-stingy hybrids and electric cars.

The new standards, announced Thursday, call for a 35.5 miles-per-gallon average within six years, up nearly 10 mpg from now.

By setting national standards for fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes, the government hopes to squeeze out more miles per gallon whether you buy a tiny Smart fortwo micro car, a rugged Dodge Ram pickup truck or something in between.

The rules will cost consumers an estimated $434 extra per vehicle in the 2012 model year and $926 per vehicle by 2016, the government said. But the heads of the Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency said car owners would save more than $3,000 over the lives of their vehicles through better gas mileage.

Touting the plan, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, "Putting more fuel-efficient cars on the road isn't just the right thing to do for our environment, it's also a great way for Americans to save a lot of money at the pump."

The MPG is the average over an entire fleet of cars, so makers can meet it by cutting out bigger vehicles and focusing on smaller vehicles that cost more to the average consumer which makes most cars and trucks out of reach. This please the environuts and cuts down on the amount of cars that are made and sold in the country.

California's last car plant (NUMMI) shuts down.

Blame GM, Blame the unions and most of all blame California.

California's sole auto plant shut down Thursday as the last car rolled off the assembly line and thousands of now unemployed workers walked out the doors, some crying.

A red Toyota Corolla was the last of nearly 8 million vehicles that have moved through production at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., known as Nummi, and a throng of workers accompanied it on the final leg of the line.

"I saw a whole lotta men crying in there when things started going quiet and we said our goodbyes. It made me choke up," said David Guerra, who has worked at Nummi for 25 years — as long as the plant's been open. He also worked at the site for 14 1/2 years before that, when it was a General Motors Co. plant.

The Nummi plant, established in 1984 as a joint venture between GM and Toyota Motors Corp., employed 4,700 workers. GM made the Pontiac Vibe there but decided to withdraw from the alliance last year after filing for bankruptcy protection; the Detroit automaker is now liquidating its stake in the factory.

Toyota made the Corolla sedan and Tacoma pickup at the plant but said in August that without GM, it could not sustain the factory and would halt production April 1.

Obamacare! Verizon takes $970 million charge from health care bill

Change for the better?

NEW YORK (AP) -- The corporate tax impact of the recent health care overhaul grew Thursday as Verizon Communications Inc. announced it will record a related $970 million non-cash charge in the first quarter.

So far at least 15 companies have disclosed about $2.8 billion in charges prompted by the health care overhaul. Verizon's charge is the second-largest after AT&T, which last week announced a $1 billion charge related to the tax bill.

Verizon and other companies currently receive a government subsidy to keep prescription drug benefits for retirees. They've been able to deduct all of their expenses, but that ends in 2013 under the recently passed legislation.

So far Obamacare has cost companies over $2 billion dollars in tax hikes and the chance of people on their medical plans being thrown off. Niceeeee.

Actor Neal McDonough leaves ABC show over sex scenes.

There are still some people here and there in Hollywood who has some moral stances I guess. The hilarious bit is in the comment section asking how he can play killers but not have sex scenes. You can pretend to kill someone but you can't pretend you are not touching or kissing another woman.

Neal McDonough is a marvelous actor who elevates every role he plays, whether it's in Band of Brothers or Desperate Housewives. So when he was suddenly replaced with David James Elliott 3 days into the filming on ABC's new series Scoundrels earlier this week, there had to be a story behind the story. The move was officially explained as a casting change.

But, in fact, McDonough was sacked because of his refusal to do some heated love scenes with babelicious star (and Botox pitchwoman) Virginia Madsen. The reason? He's a family man and a Catholic, and he's always made it clear that he won't do sex scenes. And ABC knew that.

Because he also didn't get into action with Nicolette Sheridan on the network's Desperate Housewives when he played her psycho husband during Season 5. And he also didn't do love scenes with his on-air girlfriend in his previous series, NBC's Boomtown, or that network's Medical Investigation. "It has cost him jobs, but the man is sticking to his principles," a source explained to me.

iPad reviews pouring in and I refuse to get it.

TEAM HTC/ANDROID! Down with Apple and it smary lawsuits!

Seriously though I am going to wait till the second or third revision. If I am going to spend a ton of money on an iPad then it should have all or most of the features you could find in a netbook. As this review by David Pogue points out what is missing from it.

There’s an e-book reader app, but it’s not going to rescue the newspaper and book industries (sorry, media pundits). The selection is puny (60,000 titles for now). You can’t read well in direct sunlight. At 1.5 pounds, the iPad gets heavy in your hand after awhile (the Kindle is 10 ounces). And you can’t read books from the Apple bookstore on any other machine — not even a Mac or iPhone.

When the iPad is upright, typing on the on-screen keyboard is a horrible experience; when the iPad is turned 90 degrees, the keyboard is just barely usable (because it’s bigger). A $70 keyboard dock will be available in April, but then you’re carting around two pieces.

....YouTube, Vimeo, TED.com, CBS.com and some other sites are converting their videos to iPad/iPhone/Touch-compatible formats. But all the news sites and game sites still use Flash. It will probably be years before the rest of the Web’s videos become iPad-viewable.

There’s no multitasking, either. It’s one app at a time, just like on the iPhone. Plus no U.S.B. jacks and no camera. Bye-bye, Skype video chats. You know Apple is just leaving stuff out for next year’s model.

The bottom line is that you can get a laptop for much less money — with a full keyboard, DVD drive, U.S.B. jacks, camera-card slot, camera, the works. Besides: If you’ve already got a laptop and a smartphone, who’s going to carry around a third machine?

Pogue points out from a hype POV and just a casual fan this is a hit because its the latest coolest gadget to get from Apple. My point is the lack of features and no multitasking is a major deal breaker.

Rep. Hank Johnson: Guam could 'tip over and capsize'

This is the same district that kept electing Cynthia Mckinney and I thought they came to their senses but they sent another moron to Congress.

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) is afraid that the U.S. Territory of Guam is going to "tip over and capsize" due to overpopulation.

Johnson expressed his worries during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the defense budget Friday.

Addressing Adm. Robert Willard, who commands the Navy's Pacific Fleet, Johnson made a tippy motion with his hands and said sternly, "My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize."

Willard paused and said: "We don't anticipate that."

Like other islands, Guam is attached to the sea floor, which makes it extremely unlikely that it will tip over, even if there are lots and lots of people on it. Guam is 30 miles long and up to 9 miles wide in certain spots, with a population of 175,000 civilians. The military is proposing the addition of 8,000 U.S. servicememebers and their families.

David Cameron attacks Obama over Falkland Islands snub.

This is another example of Obama's treat allies like shit policy. The Falklands argument was settled decisively by The Iron Lady. Obama conduct was spectacularly stupid.

David Cameron said he was ' disappointed' with Barack Obama last night over the President's refusal to support British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

The Tory leader signalled he will end Gordon Brown's attempt to cosy up to Mr Obama if he wins the election and will not be frightened of talking tough with America.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently offered to mediate between Britain and Argentina after Buenos Aires made further claims to the islands.

Mr Cameron said: 'I thought it was disappointing, yes,' pointing out that America's priority ought to have been backing the democratic right of the Falkland islanders to remain British.

He said: 'I would want to make the point very strongly to them that if you believe in self-determination as a key part of the UN charter, then there's the strongest possible case that the Falkland Islands should maintain under the sovereignty of Britain, because that is what the people who live there want.

'That's what we went to war over. The population of the Falkland Islands wants to be British. So I think it was disappointing, frankly.'

Mr Cameron rejected the conclusion of a Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee report that the 'special relationship' with the U.S. is over.

Cities taking on unions over government worker's benefits/pay.

If you want two Americas, it is now the difference between private and public sector workers. There is zero reason why the pricey and extravagant pay and benefits to government workers should not be cut down because it is unaffordable to the people(taxpayers) who pay their salaries in most cases.

Nationwide, politicians looking for budget cuts are confronting politically powerful unions that represent state and local government employees—15% of U.S. workers and organized labor's biggest stronghold.

In Memphis, the city's health-care committee recently recommended raising current and retired employees' health-insurance premiums by as much as 15%. And Toledo's city council last week wrung $3.1 million in concessions from its firefighters' union as part of a measure to close its budget gap.

Similar things are happening at the state level. Over the past two years, 17 states have cut benefits for employees or increased the amount that individuals must contribute to their pension plans. Three of those states—Kentucky, Texas and Vermont—did both, according to the Pew Center on the States, a public-policy think tank.

At the heart of this fight is an unbalanced equation: The economy is shrinking cities' and states' tax income as their pension and health-care costs have soared. As a result, some governments are diverting money from services to cover benefits, or raising taxes and fees. That doesn't sit well with some taxpayers—many frustrated at seeing their own benefits being cut by private-sector employers.