Saturday, January 8, 2011
Provocative RT ads rejected in US airports
Major US airports refused to display images intended for use in the RT's December'09 US advertising campaign. An alternative version (the one saying 'Our Ad. Politically correct.) was accepted though, and can be seen on display in airports of New York NY, Washington DC, Baltimore MD and Newark NJ.
RT advertisements, which are turning heads in the UK, juxtapose provocative images which show different sides of a story.
RT asks questions and encourage viewers to question more, since you can only reach a balanced judgment by being better informed.
By challenging the accepted view, RT reveals a side of the news that you wouldn't normally see. After all, the more you question, the more you know.
The Russians figured out why the birds are dying!!!
Poisonous Space Clouds Slamming Into Earth Cause Mass Bird And Fish Deaths
Posted by EU Times on Jan 8th, 2011
A grim report prepared by Russia’s Ministry for Extraordinary Situations (MCHS) is warning today that our world is currently “under attack” from “poisonous space clouds” penetrating our planets upper atmosphere due to the “accelerated movement” of the Earth’s magnetic poles and are responsible for the many reports of mass animal deaths being reported all around the globe.
In our previous report, Pole Shift Blamed For Russian Air Disaster, Closure Of US Airport, we had detailed how the shifting of our planets poles were wreaking havoc on planes having to adjust their air-fuel mixtures to compensate for distorted altitude readings in their computer avionic systems, and now this new MCHS report warns the situation is getting even worse.
According to this report, the rapid shifting of our planets poles is allowing the normal streams of solar wind that buffet Earth’s magnetic field to enter into our lower atmosphere at nearly 700 kilometers per second carrying with them parts of the deadly space clouds that have “mysteriously” been appearing in greater numbers around the globe these past few years.
The name given to these deadly space clouds by Western scientists are Noctilucent Clouds (NLC’s) [photo 2] and are described as tenuous cloud-like phenomena that are the “ragged-edge” of a much brighter and pervasive polar cloud layer called polar mesospheric clouds in the upper atmosphere, visible in a deep twilight.
Noctilucent Clouds began to first appear over our Earth in 1885 as our world began its full assent into what is called the Industrial Revolution that has seen our planets human population rise from about 1 billion to over 7 billion today.
Not just mysterious are these clouds, this report continues, but they are also deadly as they are comprised of the poisonous gas Hydrogen Cyanide which gives them their electric blue-like colour.
Hydrogen Cyanide was first isolated from a blue dye (Prussian Blue) which had been known from 1704 but whose structure was unknown. It is now known to be a coordination polymer with a complex structure and an empirical formula of hydrated ferric ferrocyanide.
In 1752, the French chemist Pierre Macquer made the important step of showing that Prussian blue could be converted to iron oxide plus a volatile component and that these could be used to reconstitute the dye. The new component was what we now know as hydrogen cyanide.
Important to note, this report continues, is that Hydrogen Cyanide is also formed in interstellar clouds through one of two major pathways: via a neutral-neutral reaction (CH2 + N → HCN + H) and via dissociative recombination (HCNH+ + e- → HCN + H). The dissociative recombination pathway is dominant by 30%; however, the HCNH+ must be in its linear form. Dissociative recombination with its structural isomer, H2NC+ produces hydrogen isocyanide (HNC), exclusively.
Upon the solar wind breeching our Earth’s magnetic field, this MCHS report asserts, these poisonous Hydrogen Cyanide Noctilucent Clouds would be carried down into the lower atmosphere where they could, literally, “poison in seconds” flocks of birds in its path, not mention the force of these winds by themselves would cause massive trauma and instantaneous death.
An example of the mass deaths being caused by this phenomenon we can read, in part, as reported by London’s Daily Mail news service yesterday on the tragic events in Italy:
“Thousands of dead turtle doves rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town in the latest in a growing spate of mass animal deaths across the globe. Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like ‘little Christmas balls’ with strange blue stains on their beaks. Initial tests on up to 8,000 of the doves indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia.”
Not just to birds, either, can this phenomenon cause mass death as this MCHS report states that upon these poisonous space clouds hitting our planets waters it is a “near certainty” aquatic creatures will be killed too, and as evidenced this past week alone with the reports that millions of fish and crab deaths in the United States, South America, Italy, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Sweden and New Zealand. [Complete Global list of dead birds and fish for 2011]
Important to note about all of the animal deaths being reported this past week, the MCHS says, are that they have been confined to a very specific latitude range between 24 and 58 North and 8 to 24 South indicating two separatebreeches of our Earth’s upper atmosphere allowing these poisonous space cloud gasses to come through to the lower atmosphere.
Though this MCHS report does not say how long these breeches in our Earth’s magnetic will remain open allowing these poisonous space clouds to continue to cause mass death, it is instructive to note that though this phenomenon is new to our world today, the same cannot be said of the ancients.
In her seminal work Battle Begins For Throne of This World: The Return of the Einherjar Warriors, the Sorcha Faal detailed how much the ancient myths of our forbearers are equaling the world we live in today, where men believe they are ‘gods’ while at the same time they begin the wholesale destruction of not only themselves, but all life forms on this planet we call Earth.
And if these ancient myths are true, then, once again, the “overturning” of our arrogant human race is upon us all where the “balance” will be restored, but not without the deaths of billions. Where today stands the nations of the United States, Russia and China, a future history written of these times may very well describe them with the awe and reverence we do today for Atlantis, Mu and Lemuria, who, like us today, really believed they were in charge.
Source http://www.eutimes.net/2011/01/poisonous-space-clouds-slamming-into-earth-cause-mass-bird-and-fish-deaths/
Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp Lose in Foreclosure Cases
By ROBBIE WHELAN, ALAN ZIBEL and VICTORIA MCGRANE
The highest court in Massachusetts ruled against Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bancorp in two foreclosure cases that cast doubt over whether some home loans were properly handled when packaged into securitizations.
Justices in the state's Supreme Judicial Court upheld a lower court's decision to void foreclosure sales of two homes in Springfield, because owners of the loans couldn't prove that the mortgages had been assigned to them. Both loans were assembled into mortgage-backed securities sold to investors.
A Wells Fargo branch in San Francisco. Shares of the bank fell 2% on the ruling, and other banks saw share-price losses as well.
Bank stocks fell on worries that Friday's ruling could make it harder for financial firms to foreclose on mortgages that wound up in securities. The defeat also might provide ammunition to mortgage-bond investors who have accused and even sued servicers for what the investors claim is systematically shoddy loan documentation.
The ruling against the fourth- and fifth-largest U.S. banks in assets came amid a delay in the crafting of new standards for mortgage lending as top U.S. regulators clash over protections for homeowners facing foreclosure.
The logjam is a sign of how strongly the financial crisis still looms as regulators work to implement the Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law passed last summer. To help prevent another housing collapse, lawmakers included a provision requiring issuers of mortgage-backed securities to keep 5% of the risk, since investors would suffer losses when loans go bad.
Six federal agencies must sign off on the provision before it is released for comment, but their tentative goal of completing a proposal by the end of December came and went with no agreement. The delay was caused partly by disagreement about whether to include new protections for homeowners on the brink of foreclosure within this so-called risk-retention rule or separately, people familiar with the negotiations said. The Dodd-Frank law requires that the regulators finalize the risk-retention requirement by April.
The snag indicates that implementing the changes triggered by the new law could be messy as regulators wrestle to reach consensus. Friday's court ruling brought even more anxiety to the mortgage-securitization market.
The Massachusetts case is a closely watched example of what some mortgage experts describe as "show-me-the-paper" cases over widely used procedures for transferring loans after they are made. Individual loans often are sold to an investor, with the new owner's name left blank in loan documents to minimize paperwork hassles as the loan subsequently changes hands before being combined with other loans into mortgage-backed securities.
Justice Robert J. Cordy concluded in a concurring opinion that the two banks showed "utter carelessness" when they "documented the titles to their assets." If the ruling is followed by lower courts in Massachusetts or emboldens borrowers and investors elsewhere, it could delay or even derail some foreclosures. That would make it harder for banks to recoup loan losses by selling homes that are seized through foreclosure proceedings.
"It's deeply disturbing to investors that it even got to this point, but it potentially strengthens any bondholder claim that the servicers are mishandling foreclosures," said Talcott Franklin, a lawyer representing bond investors.
Susan Wachter, a real-estate finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania, called the ruling a "landmark decision" with nationwide implications because Massachusetts loans wound up in many securities.
Shares of Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, fell 2%; U.S. Bancorp, Minneapolis, slipped 0.8%. Betsy Grasek, an analyst with Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note to clients that the declines created "buying opportunity for bank stocks," adding that the court ruling "is not saying the foreclosure process is flawed."
R. Bruce Allensworth, a partner at law firm K&L Gates who represents U.S. Bancorp, said the decision would have no effect outside Massachusetts. In a statement, Wells Fargo said the ruling "does not prevent foreclosures on loans in securitizations."
In the risk-retention spat, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has insisted that forthcoming rules also contain new standards for mortgage servicers that collect mortgage payments and distribute them to investors.
Other regulators agree on the need for such changes but want to tackle them through a separate rule or possibly legislation. Those officials are concerned that the FDIC's approach wouldn't cover all mortgages, adding that it is unclear whether regulators have legal authority under the law to impose standards on mortgage servicers.
Industry officials are pressing for a delay, claiming that trying to define what kind of mortgages are deemed safe and therefore exempt from risk-retention requirements is complicated enough. "There should be a discussion on how you look at servicing standards and what they should be," said Paul Leonard, vice president of government affairs at the Housing Policy Council, a mortgage industry group. "We think they should be done separately."
The FDIC has the support of some top Democratic lawmakers, along with some investors in mortgage securities, economists and consumer groups. Supporters argue that servicing standards are a crucial part of the housing market's recovery and that the industry is long overdue for reform.
"We needed this three years ago; we needed it 20 years ago," said Alys Cohen, a lawyer with the National Consumer Law Center, a liberal consumer group. Including standards in the Dodd-Frank mortgage rules guarantees they will be in place by April, "which is lightning speed by federal rule-making standards."
Last month, the FDIC published a legal memo stating that servicing standards are "clearly permitted" under the risk-retention rules. Andrew Gray, an FDIC spokesman, said regulators were asked as part of the new law to "help ensure strong underwriting and a safe and stable securitization market, and the FDIC strongly believes that servicing standards are a critical part of this effort."
As a result of the recent foreclosure mess, regulators have been reviewing the mortgage-servicing system. Possible guidelines being discussed include a requirement that servicers establish a single point of contact for delinquent homeowners and disclose whether they own an interest in loans they handle.
—Liz Moyer contributed to this article.Write to Robbie Whelan at Robbie.Whelan@wsj.com, Alan Zibel at Alan.Zibel@dowjones.comand Victoria McGrane at Victoria.McGrane @wsj.com
Gabrielle Giffords' Suspected Shooter Identified
AP sources: Ariz. gunman ID'ed as Jared Loughner
By EILEEN SULLIVAN
The Associated Press Saturday, January 8, 2011; 4:55 PM
WASHINGTON -- People familiar with the investigation tell The Associated Press that the gunman held in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and others has been identified as Jared Loughner.
Little information is known immediately about Loughner - such as his background or a possible motive in the attack.
U.S. officials who provided his name to the AP spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release it publicly.
(This version corrects spelling to Loughner to Laughner.)
The man who allegedly shot Arizonacongresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has been identified as 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, ABC News has learned.
Giffords was shot, along with several other people including federal judge John Roll, outside a grocery store in Tucson, Ariz. where she was holding an event called Congress on Your Corner.
On a Myspace page apparently maintained by Loughner, he said goodbye to friends and said, "Please don't be mad at me... I cannot rest."
Authorities said the shooter was in custody.
U.S. officials who provided his name to the AP spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release it publicly.
(This version corrects spelling to Loughner to Laughner.)
Jared Lee Loughner Tackled After Allegedly Shooting Congresswoman, Five Dead
The man who allegedly shot Arizonacongresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has been identified as 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, ABC News has learned.
Giffords was shot, along with several other people including federal judge John Roll, outside a grocery store in Tucson, Ariz. where she was holding an event called Congress on Your Corner.
On a Myspace page apparently maintained by Loughner, he said goodbye to friends and said, "Please don't be mad at me... I cannot rest."
Authorities said the shooter was in custody.
Loughner reportedly made several YouTube videos with walls of text protesting the government and ranting against low literacy rates.
"Hello, my name is Jared Lee Loughner. This video is my introduction to you!" the video, uploaded Dec. 15, says. "My favorite activity is conscience dreaming; the greatest inspiration for my political business information. Some of you don't dream -- sadly... My ambition - is for informing literate dreamers about a new currency; in a few days, you know I'm conscience dreaming! Thank you!"
Congresswoman Giffords survived the shooting and doctors said she's expected to recover. Five others, including judge Roll and a 9-year-old girl, perished, President Obama said in an address today.
Obama called the shooting "an uspeakable act."
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona shot in the head, several dead, fed judge shot dead
From the Huffington Post [live updates]:
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday and an unknown number of others were wounded when an assailant opened fire in an area where the lawmaker was meeting with constituents, officials said.
John McCarthy Roll, federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, is confirmed dead. TPM reports: Roll faced death threats in 2009 after presiding over a $32 million civil-rights lawsuit, the Arizona Republic reported:When Roll ruled the case could go forward, Gonzales said talk-radio shows cranked up the controversy and spurred audiences into making threats. In one afternoon, Roll logged more than 200 phone calls. Callers threatened the judge and his family. They posted personal information about Roll online. … Max Blumenthal in his The Transformation of the American Conservative Movement into Fascism notes: “In Tucson, Arizona, the windows of Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords’ office were shattered by shots from a pellet gun [last year].”
… While there is no evidence at this point to suggest that the shooting was politically motivated, Matt Yglesias points out that an anti-Giffords event was held in June with the billing: “Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly.”
Rep. Giffords was also on Sarah Palin’s “target list.”
As noted earlier, a gun was dropped at a Giffords event in 2009, and her office was vandalized in March.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords among ‘at least 12′ others shot outside Tucson grocery store
Saturday, January 8th, 2011 -- 1:57 pm
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS STORY... DEVELOPING...
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot Saturday during a public event outside a Tucson, Arizona grocery store.
She was killed in the attack,according to NPR and CNN, but moments after those reports a surgeon on the scene told MSNBC that she was still living and in critical condition. CNN
Though numerous reports said she died, her condition was unclear and her office had made no statement at time of this story's publication.
She was among a number of people shot by an unidentified gunman. So far, six others have also died in the sudden attack, according to published reports.Fox News reported that she'd been shot point-blank in the head. Giffords had been staging a "Congress on Your Corner" event outside a Safeway grocery store. Members of Giffords staff were among those reportedly injured.
The suspect was described by witnesses as a young man in his late teens or early 20s. He has been taken into custody.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department said that up to 12 people were injured in the incident, and a witness told CNN they heard up to 20 gunshots.
Giffords, 40, took her seat in Congress in 2007 and has advocated for immigration reform, among other Democratic-led issues.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS STORY... DEVELOPING...
Initial report by Stephen C. Webster. Updates by Nathan Diebenow.
Is Phosgene poisoning of all the fish and birds and animals and Humans?
Counting Dead Blackbirds: Conspiracy Theories Abound in Arkansas
The mystery: Dead blackbirds, dead fish.
The setting: Rural Arkansas on New Year's Eve.
The story: In a town named Beebe, thousands of red-winged blackbirds begin to drop dead out of the sky onto New Year's revelers. Coincidentally, the surname of the Arkansas governor is Beebe. Meanwhile, 125 miles away, 100,000 drum fish are found belly-up in the Arkansas River. Two days later, in Louisiana, 500 more red-winged blackbirds are discovered dead on a highway, andKentucky reports bird deaths. Religious leaders begin preaching about the end times. Officials say loud fireworks or weather are tied to the bird deaths. The fish likely died from disease. Social media erupts with conspiracy theories. It makes the news in Russia. People don't believe the government.
Questions, fear and plenty of speculation erupt.
As one Democrat quipped, "Could the birds be harbingers of bad things to come as they fell right as the GOP was taking over?"
Many people joke that maybe too many people were playing the computer game "Angry Birds."
Or as Jon Stewart said Monday night on "The Daily Show," maybe Arkansas is just in the running this year for "leading exporter of bat-bleep crazy." Last year, it was South Carolina.
The official line is that the birds died of blunt trauma to their organs and suffered blood clots resulting from a massive midair collision. The theory is that they were startled by something -- fireworks or weather.
But the storms that rocked the state earlier in the day had moved way east of Arkansas by the time the birds fell, according to the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. On the fireworks front, the city of Beebe does not host a large pyrotechnic display on New Year's Eve. Would a few bottle rockets do that kind of damage? Arkansas officials are still investigating the fish kill.
Dead fish have also been found in Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. More than 100 tons of sardineswere found dead in Brazil on Sunday. New Zealand media reported on Tuesday that dead, mostly eyeless, snapper had washed up on several Coromandel Peninsula beaches.
Naturally, people have jumped from disease explanations to government cover-ups worthy of an old "X-Files" episode, to signs of the apocalypse.
The town of Beebe sits less than 20 miles from the Little Rock Air Force Base. Could the base be conducting secret tests? Last year, it was reported that some Air Force researchers were testing high-powered microwave blasts to knock small robo-planes out of the sky. Officials with the Little Rock Air Force Base did not return calls for comment.
Perhaps, Sarah Palin is sending a missive from Alaska to convince Mike Huckabee not to make a White House run in 2012. If so, she's behind the times. He's moved to Florida. How are the fish there?Other theories involve poison from the BP Gulf disaster. Another one centers on drilling and fracking throughout Arkansas. Environmental causes are often the reason behind many wildlife deaths such as honeybees and birds. Is the world at an ecological tipping point?
One theory that could have some real basis also looms.
Arkansas sits on the New Madrid earthquake fault line. It extends from northeast Arkansas through southeast Missouri and into western Tennessee, western Kentucky and southern Illinois. A series of strong earthquakes occurred in 1812 in this area. Reports from the time say that wildlife died before the big ones.
Geologists have predicted that in the next 50 years, if not sooner, a devastating earthquake of 6.5 or higher might happen. In late 2008, the Obama administration's Long Term Disaster Recovery Working Group held five meetings around the country, including in Memphis, which sits in the heart of the fault line. Maybe they need to meet again.
Arkansas sits on the New Madrid earthquake fault line. It extends from northeast Arkansas through southeast Missouri and into western Tennessee, western Kentucky and southern Illinois. A series of strong earthquakes occurred in 1812 in this area. Reports from the time say that wildlife died before the big ones.
Geologists have predicted that in the next 50 years, if not sooner, a devastating earthquake of 6.5 or higher might happen. In late 2008, the Obama administration's Long Term Disaster Recovery Working Group held five meetings around the country, including in Memphis, which sits in the heart of the fault line. Maybe they need to meet again.
Then, there's the conspiracy theory that links two major news stories this week -- the birds and the death of John P. Wheeler, III.
According to WhatDoesItMean.com, (one headline from the site: US Descends Into Total Police State As 2012 'Solar Chaos' Fears Grow) a document has been prepared for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin by the Foreign Military Intelligence Directorate. It supposedly shows a linkage between the birds and Wheeler, the special assistant to the secretary of the Air Force from 2005-2008 who was found dead in a Delaware landfill.
Basically, as the story goes, a malfunction in an Air Force tanker carrying Phosgene poisonous gas caused the deadly brew to be sprayed over central Arkansas. Wheeler then confronted the Pentagon and ended up dead.
But the strange but true tales of wildlife deaths also prompted some folks to exercise their capitalist muscles. A T-shirt with a dead bird is already on sale in Little Rock. With bird deaths occurring globally, the creator may soon have a thriving business.
Phosgene is also known as carbonyl chloride and has the chemical structure COCl2. The British chemist John Davy first synthesized phosgene in 1812 by combining chlorine gas and carbon monoxide with activated charcoal as a catalyst (CO + Cl2 → COCl2). Although it is typically colorless as a gas, phosgene may appear as a white cloud under conditions of concentrated release due to slow hydrolysis with airborne water vapor. Phosgene has a boiling point of 8°C (47°F) and exists as a gas at room temperature. Below the boiling point, it exists as a colorless fuming liquid. Vaporization is still significant at lower temperatures, making inhalational exposure possible even in cold conditions. Phosgene is usually transported as a compressed liquefied gas, and direct contact with this form of the substance may produce frostbite injuries.
Although phosgene is nonflammable, it is a strongly reactive substance and demonstrates electrophilic properties. It reacts with alkalis, ammonia, amines, copper, and aluminum. It can also attack plastics and rubber materials. Because phosgene is poorly soluble in water, it reacts minimally with oropharyngeal and conducting airway tissues and as a result can penetrate deeply into the lung, where it exerts its effects at the alveolar-capillary membrane.
The odor of newly mown hay characterizes phosgene gas exposures, but this olfactory warning signal may not be appreciated by all individuals. Since the odor detection threshold concentration is approximately 0.5-1.5 ppm, which is at least 5 times the permissive exposure limit of 0.1 ppm1 set by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), significant exposure may occur before any unusual scent is perceived. This odor detection threshold approaches the NIOSH-defined immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH) level of 2 ppm1 . As a result, the odor of new mown hay is an insufficient warning signal for dangerously high phosgene levels. Other pulmonary irritant gases such as chlorine are so noxious that exposed persons flee the immediate area of release, but persons exposed to phosgene may inadvertently remain in a highly contaminated area, unaware that they are in any danger.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
George Soros talks New World Order
George Soros talks New World Order, Special Drawing Rights, Decline of Dollar, and Replacing Dollar with International Currency and how this is already taking place on a small scale. Eye-opening!
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Sunday, January 2, 2011
Issa: Obama 'one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times'
TRENDING: GOPer calls Obama administration 'corrupt'
CNN's Gabriella Schwarz
(CNN) – The incoming House Oversight and Government Reform chairman on Sunday tried to clarify his recent remarks to Rush Limbaugh where he called President Obama "one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times."
Rep. Darrell Issa said he meant to say the Obama administration instead of the president.
"When you hand out $1 trillion in TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) just before this president came in, most of it unspent, $1 trillion nearly in stimulus, that this president asked for, plus this huge expansion in health care and government, it has a corrupting effect," Issa said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"When you hand out $1 trillion in TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) just before this president came in, most of it unspent, $1 trillion nearly in stimulus, that this president asked for, plus this huge expansion in health care and government, it has a corrupting effect," Issa said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Although TARP – the program passed in 2008 intended to strengthen the financial sector by purchasing assets from financial institutions – was passed by Congress under the Bush administration, Issa said the unregulated funds were used by Obama like "presidential earmarks."
But the California Republican also admitted Congress shares some of the blame.
"All of that would not have been possible if Congress had done its job," Issa told CNN Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry. "Instead what happened was we gave President Bush (the money and) President Obama inherited $800 billion worth of walking-around money with no guidelines."
New Congress sets its eyes on oversight
January 2, 2011 11:17 a.m. EST
Washington (CNN) -- The new Republican-majority House will vote on repealing or changing last year's health care overhaul before the State of the Union address, Rep. Fred Upton, incoming chairman of the energy and commerce committee, said on "Fox News Sunday."
Upton, a Michigan Republican, said that his party had 242 votes in favor of repeal, and that "there will be a significant number of Democrats who will join us."
if the House does manage to repeal the health care bill, such a move would likely meet strong obstacles in the Democrat-controlled Senate and White House.
President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March, after promoting Democratic-led health reform efforts for months after taking office. The law is widely considered to be the signature legislative accomplishment of the president's first two years in office.
Among other things, the measure was designed to help millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans receive adequate and affordable health care through a series of government-imposed mandates and subsidies. Critics have equated it to socialized medicine, fearing that a bloated government bureaucracy will result in higher taxes and diminished health care services.
Congressional leaders return to Washington Wednesday to open the first session of the 112th Congress.
In general, the theme for the new Congress will be one of more oversight over government spending and programs, Republicans said.
"The sooner the administration figures out that the enemy is the bureaucracy and the wasteful spending, not the other party, the better off we'll be," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, on "Fox News Sunday."
Issa also had strong words for Attorney General Eric Holder.
The Justice Department, he said, has failed to investigate properly the leak of thousands of classified documents on the WikiLeaks website.
The failure to go after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was especially troubling to him.
"I think he needs to realize that, if the president says, 'I can't deal with this guy as a terrorist,' then (Holder) has to be able to deal with him as a criminal. Otherwise, the world is laughing at the paper tiger we've become," Issa said.
Holder is hurting the administration, Issa said, and either needs to "stop hurting the administration or leave."
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