Cave News

Feds with semiautomatic rifles check ID at Social Security office!

It may have looked like they were ready for war or some deranged person looking for his late Social Security benefits.

It was Federal Protective Service officers with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with high powered rifles checking ID's, and security in general, at a Social Security Office in Leesburg, Florida.

With their blue and white SUVs circled around the Main Street office, at least one official was posted on the door with a semiautomatic rifle, randomly checking identifications.

Other officers, some with K-9s, sifted through the building.

Officers on the scene would not speak to the press and by noon they were gone.

Pretty scary!

They claimed they were conducting a random training operation early Tuesday morning when they surprisingly showed up at the Social Security Administration office in downtown Leesburg.

Training exercises this intense with semiautomatic weapons and dogs have always been conducted in abandoned buildings rather than in downtown Leesburg against innocent civilians!

Is this a preview of the private police force Obama promised during his presidential campaign?

This video shows Obama calling for a Gestapo.

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Report: Obama most arrogant president in decades

In December Barack Obama vainly declared himself the fourth best president in American history comparing himself to some of our great presidents.

On a recent 60 Minutes interview he said:

The issue here is not gonna be a list of accomplishments. As you said yourself, Steve, you know, I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president – with the possible exceptions of Johnson, FDR, and Lincoln – just in terms of what we've gotten done in modern history.

Barack Obama can be more closely compared to Jimmy Carter, one of the worst Democrat presidents since James Bucanan.

Perhaps this display of self-importance is not surprising, coming from a president who enthusiastically accepted the Nobel Peace Prize after just a few months in the job, and even campaigned thousands of miles across the Atlantic in Berlin while running for office.

This is a leader who thinks nothing of taking a $4 million, taxpayer-subsidized vacation in Hawaii – nearly 100 times the average annual salary of an American worker.

Shortly after his $4 million fun in the sun, the president decided to bypass the elected representatives of the US Congress on Wednesday by unilaterally installing three member of the National Labor Relations Board as well as a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to placate the powerful Left-wing labor unions.

The move has been condemned on Capitol Hill and described by a prominent legal scholar as a tyrannical abuse of power.

There is something rotten at the heart of the White House when the President ignores the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution and rules with impunity. Not only is it an unhealthy power play by executive authority in the freest nation on earth, but it is also a display of extraordinary contempt for the American people.

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Survey: most see Occupy Wall Street as a public nuisance

The Occupy Wall Street movement began with favorable press coverage from the main stream media as well as praise from Democrat politicians. Nancy Pelosi went so far as to say, "God bless the Wall Street Occupiers."

As a result there was initially a favorable public perception of the movement.

That has changed as murders, rapes, assaults, public urination and defecation became the trademark of Occupy Wall Street.

The latest Rasmussen survey on Occupy Wall Street shows fifty-one percent of likely voters now see Occupy Wall Street as a “public nuisance.” Only 39% see them as “a valid protest movement representing the frustrations of most Americans.”

Those numbers will continue to get worse as long as the Occupy thugs continue with their crime spree.

Liberals, who have championed the Occupiers, have a problem. How can they bring the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations to a satisfactory conclusion before they do further damage?

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GM to recall 8,000 Chevy Volts for battery fire hazard

General Motors will ask Volt owners to return their cars to dealers for structural modifications.

The automaker is making the repairs after three Volt batteries caught fire following crash tests done by federal safety regulators. The fires occurred seven days to three weeks after tests and have been blamed on a coolant leak that caused an electrical short.

A Chevy Volt is shown above connected to a charging station.

The Volt has a T-shaped, 400-pound (181-kilogram) battery pack that can power the car for about 35 miles (56 kilometers). After that, a small gasoline generator kicks in to run the electric motor.

NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has been investigating the batteries after a Volt caught fire in June at a crash test facility in Wisconsin. The fire broke out three weeks after a side-impact crash test.

GM said the Volt's battery should have been drained after the crash, but it never told NHTSA to do that.

Later, two GM executives said the company had no formal procedure to drain the batteries until after the June fire. GM has said that the liquid solution used to cool the Volt's battery leaked and crystallized, causing an electrical short that touched off the fire.

GM now sends out a team to drain the batteries after being notified of a crash by GM's OnStar safety system. What about Volt owners who don't choose to pay the OnStar fee?

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New York Times: G.M's Electric Lemon

From a 2010 New York Times op-ed that is just as relevant today as it was in 2010:

General Motors introduced America to the Chevrolet Volt at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show as a low-slung concept car that would someday be the future of motorized transportation.

(click on the drawing to enlarge)

The illustration above is from a New York Times op-ed.

It would go 40 miles on battery power alone, promised G.M., after which it would create its own electricity with a gas engine.

Three and a half years — and one government-assisted bankruptcy later -- G.M. brought a Volt to market that makes good on those two promises. The problem is, well, everything else.

For starters, G.M.’s vision turned into a car that costs $41,000 before relevant tax breaks ... but after billions of dollars of government loans and grants for the Volt’s development and production.

Instead of the sleek coupe of 2007, it looks suspiciously similar to a Toyota Prius.

It also requires premium gasoline, seats only four people (the battery runs down the center of the car, preventing a rear bench) and has less head and leg room than the $17,000 Chevrolet Cruze, which is more or less the non-electric version of the Volt.

In short, the Volt appears to be exactly the kind of green-at-all-costs car that some opponents of the bailout feared the government might order G.M. to build.

Click here for more of the New York Times Volt exposé.

Report: Kodak preparing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing

Eastman Kodak is reportedly preparing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in case it is unable to sell its digital patents to raise capital.

The once-iconic photographic film pioneer is in talks with potential lenders to secure about $1 billion in debtor-in possession financing to sustain Kodak through bankruptcy proceedings.

Kodak warned in November that it might not survive 2012 if it was unable to secure $500 million in new debt or sell its patents.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Eastman Kodak was founded by George Eastman, the inventor of roll film.

George Eastman is shown (above left) with Thomas Edison who is operating a movie camera.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975 when one of its engineers developed a prototype that was as big as a toaster (pictured below) and captured black and white images.

The company failed to capitalize on digital photography and it was only when Kodak's film business began to decline a decade ago that it tried to catch up with rivals by launching a mass-market line of digital cameras.

The catch up was apparently too little too late.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = How the mighty have fallen.

Eastman Kodak was a corporate icon whose products were in every home. Now this latecomer to the digital age has fallen to penny stock status whose shares of common stock are valued at less than one dollar. EK is about to be delisted by the NYSE, and is close to receivership.

Kodak shares, which traded as high as $5.85 in the past year was down to 47 cents the last time we looked.

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Chicago man survives after being shot 3 times and thrown in car's trunk

A 24-year-old Chicago man was shot multiple times and stuffed into the trunk of his car.

He somehow managed to free himself and call for help after being taken on a harrowing ride through the city.

He is now hospitalized in critical condition.

Chicago police officer Robert Perez said four masked men approached the man as he sat in his 2003 Nissan in a tough southwest side neighborhood.

According to Perez, the gunmen -- while trying to steal the car -- shot the young man at least three times and then shoved him in the trunk.

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Obama defies Congress with unprecedented power grab

President Obama used his recess appointment powers Wednesday to name a head for the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three new members to the National Labor Relations Board -- moves Republican lawmakers said amounted to an unconstitutional power grab.

Details here.

Trump announces cast of new Celebrity Apprentice

Donald Trump has unveiled the new lineup of famous faces that will appear on the fifth installment of Celebrity Apprentice premiering Sunday, February 12 at 9 p.m. on NBC.

The video below shows a chat with a few of the new cast members.

The men are: late-night legend Arsenio Hall, pop star Clay Aiken, radio host Adam Carolla, the “Incredible Hulk” Lou Ferrigno, magician/comedian Penn Jillette, rock star Dee Snider, actor George Takei, IndyCar legend Michael Andretti, and star of “American Chopper,” Paul Teutul, Sr.

Paul Teutul, Sr. (pictured) head of the dysfunctional family on "American Chopper" won't add class nor intellect to the program but his appearance should be interesting especially if he has one of his usual temper tantrums and destroys the set.

The women are: supermodel Cheryl Tiegs, pop star Debbie Gibson, actress and multi-Grammy winner Tia Carrere, author and reality star Victoria Gotti, comedienne Lisa Lampanelli, former Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza, singer and actress Aubrey O’Day, actress and model Patricia Velásquez, and star of “Real Housewives of New Jersey,” Teresa Giudice.

Newt Gingrich down but not out - yet

Bruised, battered, defiant and maddern a wet hen, Newt Gingrich limped out of Iowa after a fourth-place finish in the state's Republican presidential contest on Tuesday. But he is still alive.

Hit by plummeting poll numbers in recent days, Gingrich (pictured) is likely now to hold on until the South Carolina primary on January 21 and hope for the backing of conservatives there.

His main rival, Mitt Romney, is expected to handily win the next vote, in New Hampshire on Tuesday, leaving South Carolina as the main battleground in the early balloting for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in the November election.

Gingrich, known for his feisty nature during his time in the House of Representatives, had vowed not to have a negative campaign in Iowa. But he lashed out at Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, blaming SuperPAC fundraising groups linked to Romney and libertarian Ron Paul for the negative TV ads that knocked him from atop the Iowa polls.

Battling back:

Gingrich took out a full-page ad in Wednesday's Union-Leader newspaper in New Hampshire comparing "Bold Reagan Conservative" Gingrich with "Timid Massachusetts moderate" Romney.

The ad lays out Gingrich's argument that he is the more reliable conservative on a host of issues from jobs to taxes to abortion and guns.

Republican strategists say Gingrich already should have been responding to negative attacks and wonder if it is coming too late.

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