IRS warns employers: Do not try to avoid ObamaCare insurance mandate. “The IRS said it would issue a so-called ‘anti-abuse rule’ in an attempt to prevent employers from using temp agencies to circumvent the mandate…” Wonder how the IRS feels about employers moving production to China?

Surprise – Electronic medical records turn out to potentially add costs rather than reduce them. A 2005 RAND study said digital medical records would save $81 billion a year – a study coincidentally “paid for by a group of companies, including General Electric and Cerner Corporation, that have profited by developing and selling electronic records systems to hospitals and physician practices.” Another key ObamaCare initiative flops – unexpectedly.

Surprise – David Gregory will not be prosecuted. “OAG has made this determination, despite the clarity of the violation of this important law, because under all of the circumstances here a prosecution would not promote public safety in the District of Columbia nor serve the best interests of the people of the District to whom this office owes its trust.” In other words, Gregory’s a media personality (who provides cover for the Administration) and you’re not. Gregory’s lawyer did receive a sternly-worded letter. That’ll show ‘im.

Everyone’s moving away. “Detroit is such a mess people are simply fleeing Michigan.” Are people leaving the less fiscally sound states for better situated ones or are blue-state residents simply not reproducing? Maybe both?

Larry King hammers “self-absorbed” Piers Morgan. “Morgan is more about Morgan than he is about the guests, King said.” Self-absorbtion – there’s a lot of that going around these days for some reason. Like the old saying – sh*t rolls downhill from the top.

Donald Trump finally discovers long-lost birth certificate. On Leno’s Monday show, “Maher said he would donate $5 million to the charity of Trump’s choice if the ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ host could prove he is not the ‘spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan’. … On Tuesday, a lawyer for Trump sent the letter to Maher with the birth certificate attached, asking the ‘Real Time’ host to make good on his late-night offer.” Maher’s foot is in his mouth, but in his case that’s an improvement.

Al Gore is richer than Romney thanks to Current TV sale. “Gore now has a personal fortune of $300 million… That puts him ahead of … Mitt Romney, whose estimated $230 million left him vulnerable to charges…” Al made big money off of big (Arab) oil and has a carbon footprint the size of a brontosaurus, but he worships in the Church of the Left which grants him remission from punishment. Isn’t modern religion wonderful? Not at all like that Middle Ages bunk.

How the failures of K-12 education are killing the skilled trades. “Where are our electricians, auto mechanics, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) workers and CNC (computer numeric control) operators? We’ve ripped out all the shop classes and replaced them with calculus.” Not calculus but lotsa agenda-driven BS. They’ve dumped the skilled trades and replaced them with the shilled trades.

Devastated, and then motivated, by the re-election of Barack Obama. “Mr. Obama is a terrible president. He’s out of his depth in foreign policy. He has the aptitude of a 3rd grader as far as the economy goes, and his massive ego is on display for all to see. As a Hispanic, raised in a tradition that promotes a strong work ethic, I find President Obama lazy. He seeks leisure and is genuinely uninterested in anything that doesn’t promote his personal brand or agenda. …there’s nothing I see that is all that special about President Barack Obama. Note to Republicans, you’re either with us or against us. If you’re not up for the fight, get the hell out of the way.” We have nothing to add. Awesome.

Chicago Teachers Union Prez: Kill the rich! Yeah, ’cause wealthy people are the reason incompetent people suck at their jobs. From the YouTube comments: “They talk like working in the schools is the same as working in an 1850s coal mine. If they’re that damn dangerous maybe the students would be better off somewhere else.” Exactly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEKskEgXW9Y&feature=player_embedded

1/32 Cherokee Elizabeth Warren has refused to list herself as Massachusetts’ first Native American senator. No longer proud of your heritage, kemosabe?

Inflation since the American Revolution. Key events: Creation of the Fed (1913) and Nixon’s cancelling the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold (1971.) “Since that time, America has seen a period of non-existent real wage growth and a huge gap grow between the rich and the poor ever since.” Which the pols propose to “cure” with more of the same. “Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero.” – Voltaire

Hugo Chavez a victim of Cuban health care? “…by choosing secrecy in Cuba over medical competence at the Sirio-Libanese Hospital in Sao Paulo… Chavez had condemned himself to a shorter life.” Believing one’s own BS is bad, but believing Michael Moore’s is worse. The irony meter is working overtime today.

NY Times: Health insurance rates going up by double digits. “…even though one of the biggest objectives of [ObamaCare] was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers. Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own.” What a shame the election was two months ago – the voters could’ve tossed out the pols who perpetrated this disaster. Oh, well.

Social Security crisis arrives at the NY Times. The NYT notices a boo-boo in Social Security’s math: “…the Social Security Administration underestimates how long Americans will live and how much the trust funds will need to pay out — to the tune of $800 billion by 2031, more than the current annual defense budget — and that the trust funds will run out, if nothing is done, two years earlier than the government has predicted.” A lot of these “oopsies” have and will be surfacing in the MSM now that the election is over.

Illinois lawmakers propose new pension fix, but unions vow suit. “Illinois has an eye-watering $96B in unfunded liabilities, which is threatening the state’s A2 rating and hurting its ability to finance its services.” “Eat the rich” didn’t work, time for plan B: “The proposals including limiting pensionable salaries and raising retirement ages, although unions have vowed to fight the measures.” Of course. For the children. And the middle class.

Exit of EPA boss a protest. “EPA chief Lisa Jackson suddenly resigned last week because she was convinced that President Obama is planning to green-light the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline… ‘She was going to stay on until November or December,’ said a Jackson insider. ‘But this changed it. She will not be the EPA head when Obama supports it [Keystone] getting built.'” Sounds like a win-win.

“The Two State Solution for America” – a path to political sanity? Author proposes an idea many of us have at least considered. The problem we see with it is that the division is really more between urban/rural than by state. Illinois, for example, is Chicago surrounded by a red state, but because of the former’s large population, the state as a whole is blue. A better idea might be simply to have more power devolve back to the individual states – if that were possible with the current statist political class.

Forget discouraged, 3 million workers hopelessly unemployed. “Employers may be hiring, but there’s another big problem with the job market that isn’t being tracked as closely: the hopelessly unemployed.” CNN has a Fox Butterfield moment, two months too late to make the change that might’ve ameliorated the situation, of course. Unexpectedly.

Study reveals rocketing sense of entitlement on U.S. campuses. “Books aside, if you asked a college freshman today who the Greatest Generation is, they might respond by pointing in a mirror.” I’m waaay above average, just like everybody else. “Self-love: New data suggests students today are convinced of their own greatness regardless of whether they’ve accomplished anything.” No wonder they’re such fans of you-know-who.

Barack Obama’s $7 million Hawaii vacation is an insult to America’s struggling middle class. “In a move that is rich in irony, President Obama agreed Tuesday night to sign an emergency deficit reduction bill that does almost nothing to rein in spending and then jetted out to Hawaii to resume his vacation at an extra cost of more than $3 million to taxpayers.” Nah, shameless hypocrisy is not a bug, it’s a feature – at least for correct-thinking people, anyway.

The fiscal cliff deal: America’s European moment. “The troubling similarities between the fiscal mismanagement in Washington and the mess in the euro zone.” Just remember that the US has a fiat currency that its pols can print at will whereas the Euro-cliff-jumpers do not (the ECB is controlled by the EU member states.) So while an EU country could theoretically go bankrupt, our Fed will just print money until a loaf of bread costs $20 or more. Doesn’t that make you feel better?

“Cash for Clunkers” was bad for Gaia and other living things. Mandated shredding of cars instead of recycling. Also, it dried up the used car supply for those who needed affordable transportation but couldn’t afford a new car. “It’s obvious what we need here, and that’s for Congress to pass a law against unintended consequences.” Right after they repeal the Law of Gravity.

CA tax revenues continue to drop despite tax hikes. “At the end of November, ‘taxes were 3% short in the fiscal year that started in July,’ which is ‘a gap of $936 million.’ The state was 0.7% short a month before.” Gee, what about those prestigious “studies” Moonbeam had done that showed people don’t care how high tax rates were? Hope he didn’t borrow money to pay for ’em.

“What happened that my SS withholdings in my paycheck just went up?” A Democratic Underground.com post: “My paycheck just went down by an amount that I don’t feel comfortable with. I guarantee this decrease will hurt me more than the increase in income taxes will hurt those making over $400,000.” The lord Obama giveth and the lord Obama taketh away: “Workers making $30,000 will take a bigger hit on their pay than those earning $500,000 under new fiscal deal.” Elections have consequences, but you don’t find out until January.