The Cafe' [Think Tank]

from Fox and Friends // Oct 04 2013 // 10:33am Residents in Bartow, Florida, are outraged after the city threatened at least $25-a-day fines over "God Bless America" signs on their lawns.   Two Years Later: Are Police Any Closer to Finding Baby Lisa? According to Fox affiliate WTVT-TV and reported on Fox & Friends this morning, the signs were handed out by a local church after a Fourth of July sermon. Now, the town says it's time for residents to take the signs down. The city ordinance allows temporary signs around relevant holidays, but the locals argue that being patriotic shouldn't just be limited to July 4th. Furthermore, the signs are on private property. "Being a veteran, I felt like I was just kicked in the gut. I couldn't believe it, that I couldn't display my love for my nation by putting a sign up that says "God Bless America," said resident, Marcus Seger. Mom...

From paychecks to childcare, money and services have been brought to a grinding halt. And fewer FDA inspectors means higher prices -- which could make an impact in the grocery store. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.   By Allison Linn and Erin McClam, NBC News It’s one thing for the government shutdown to sink your family vacation to Dry Tortugas National Park. But the budget fight is shifting from annoyance to hardship as thousands of federal workers get their last paychecks until — well, nobody knows. Federal pay cycles are a patchwork calendar. The stargazers at NASA, at least those deemed nonessential, got their last paychecks on Tuesday. The bean-counters at Treasury got them Thursday. But one thing is clear as an estimated 800,000 furloughed workers warily watch their checking accounts: The frustration — and fear — are growing every day. Nicholas Kamm / AFP - Getty Images Federal workers demonstrate against the government shutdown in front of the US Capito...

Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff of PBS interview President Barack Obama. (White House photo/Pete Souza) (CNSNews.com) - On the first day of the “shutdown” of the federal government, when members of the U.S. Senate were going to the well of their house to point out that the shutdown would prevent the National Institutes of Health from starting clinical trials for cancer patients and others facing possibly terminal illnesses, the administration was giving $445,000,000 to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to the  Daily Treasury Statement . That means PBS NewsHour, National Public Radio and Sesame Street got a taxpayer subsidy during the shutdown, but not would-be cancer patients at the NIH. The $445 million the Treasury handed over to CPB was more than the $119 million the Treasury paid on the first day of the shutdown in interest on U.S. government debt that is held by the public. It was also more than $171 million in Social Security benefits the Treasury p...

"For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency." So begins the controversial three part series, published last August, by Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News. The story makes the allegation that beyond selling drugs in America in the 1980's, the U.S.-backed Contra rebels, fighting a Cuban-backed Nicaraguan regime, were largely responsible for introducing crack-cocaine into the U.S. This issue has raised interest to the point that a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has begun hearings on it. The story has been picked up by other news organizations, notably The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times. These two papers question some of Mr. Webb's sources and his findings, especially regarding the introduction of crack into America, the targetting by...

WASHINGTON October 5, 2013 (AP) By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press Man Sets Himself on Fire on National Mall NEXT VIDEO Woman Killed Allegedly Trying To Breach White House Gate AUTO START: ON   |   OFF A man set himself on fire on the National Mall in the nation's capital as passers-by rushed over to help put out the flames, officials and witnesses said Friday afternoon. The reason for the self-immolation was not immediately clear and the man's identity was not disclosed. But it occurred in public view, on a central national gathering place, in a city still rattled by a mass shooting last month and a high-speed car chase outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday that ended with a woman being shot dead by police with a young child in the car. The man on the Mall suffered life-threatening injuries and was airlifted to the hospital, said District of Columbia fire department spokesman Tim Wilson. He was standing by himself in the center porti...

Former abortion doctor played Chopin as investigators searched his home for fetal remains NBC10.com - Daralene Jones A gag order in the case of former abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was lifted Wednesday. NBC10's Daralene Jones talked to Philadelphia crime scene investigator John Taggart, who was the first on the scene of the West Philadelphia clinic raid back in 2010. He describes what he saw. Investigator Recounts Abortion Clinic Raid Link Embed Email Copy Close Link to this video http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/video/#!/news/local/Investigator-Recounts-Abortion-Clinic...

Defund Obamacare?  A newly elected congressman from North Carolina cited sincere “moral obligation” for lawmakers attempting to delay Obamacare. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), a freshman congressman, constructed the plan to defund Obamacare through the continuing resolution to fund the 2014’s federal budget. This plan led to the congressional stalemate between the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate that ultimately caused the government shutdown. In a speech on the House floor, Meadows referenced the Federalist Papers   in encouraging members to recognize their duties as elected representatives.  He urged Republicans to use “the power of the purse … as the most complete and effectual weapon … for obtaining a redress of every grievance.” This grievance, obviously, is Obamacare. Meadows also slammed Pres. Barack Obama for using his power to illegally thwart laws without the consent of Congress. “We did not elect a dict...