Freedom took a knife in the back when Democrats passed Obamacare last night. The looting of your wallet to follow.

Sweeping Health Care Plan Passes House – NYTimes.com.

Handing President Obama a hard-fought victory, the House narrowly approved a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system on Saturday night, advancing legislation that Democrats said could stand as their defining social policy achievement.

After a daylong clash with Republicans over what has been a Democratic goal for decades, lawmakers voted 220 to 215 to approve a plan that would cost $1.1 trillion over 10 years. Democrats said the legislation would provide overdue relief to Americans struggling to buy or hold on to health insurance.

“This is our moment to revolutionize health care in this country,” said Representative George Miller, Democrat of California and one of the chief architects of the bill.

Democrats were forced to make major concessions on insurance coverage for abortions to attract the final votes to secure passage, a wrenching compromise for the numerous abortion-rights advocates in their ranks.

Many of them hope to make changes to the amendment during negotiations with the Senate, which will now become the main battleground in the health care fight as Democrats there ready their own bill for what is likely to be extensive floor debate.

The debate to turn medical doctors into slaves has begun in the US House of Representatives.

Obama Weighs In as House Debates Health Overhaul – NYTimes.com.

President Obama exhorted Democrats on Saturday to approve a sweeping overhaul of health care and to “answer the call of history” as the House began debating legislation that would transform the nation’s health insurance system.

Democrats quickly took a significant step toward passage of the plan by surmounting a key procedural hurdle in approving the rules for debate.

Despite a sharp party divide over how strictly to limit spending for abortions, leading Democrats were increasingly confident they had locked up the necessary support for the measure. A handful of undecided lawmakers announced they were ready to back it.

“We are on the cusp of making a historical decision on behalf of the American people,” said Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House.

Thanks to Barack Obama and George W. Bush, the rich get bailed out, but the poor suffer. But that’s the nature of our government, it takes from the poor and gives to the rich.

Broader Measure of Unemployment Stands at 17.5% – NYTimes.com.

For all the pain caused by the Great Recession, the job market still was not in as bad shape as it had been during the depths of the early 1980s recession — until now.

With the release of the jobs report on Friday, the broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment tracked by the Labor Department has reached its highest level in decades. If statistics went back so far, the measure would almost certainly be at its highest level since the Great Depression.

In all, more than one out of every six workers — 17.5 percent — were unemployed or underemployed in October. The previous recorded high was 17.1 percent, in December 1982.

If you had any doubt that the government of California (and probably a few other states as well) is just a bunch of thieves, then here’s definitive proof. Californication, in other words.

Also note the incompetent collusion of the Bank of America in this scheme. Since the bailouts, you can’t really consider banks as being independent of the government; instead, they’re becoming just another means for the government to take your property and snoop on your private business.

Those of you living in California might want to consider living somewhere else, given the culture of thievery in the name of government.

Not-So-Safe-Deposit Boxes: States Seize Citizens’ Property to Balance Their Budgets – ABC News.

San Francisco resident Carla Ruff’s safe-deposit box was drilled, seized, and turned over to the state of California, marked “owner unknown.”

“I was appalled,” Ruff said. “I felt violated.”

Unknown? Carla’s name was right on documents in the box at the Noe Valley Bank of America location. So was her address — a house about six blocks from the bank. Carla had a checking account at the bank, too — still does — and receives regular statements. Plus, she has receipts showing she’s the kind of person who paid her box rental fee. And yet, she says nobody ever notified her.

“They are zealously uncovering accounts that are not unclaimed,” Ruff said.

To make matters worse, Ruff discovered the loss when she went to her box to retrieve important paperwork she needed because her husband was dying. Those papers had been shredded.

And that’s not all. Her great-grandmother’s precious natural pearls and other jewelry had been auctioned off. They were sold for just $1,800, even though they were appraised for $82,500.

Via Gizmodo, apparently now a fashion blog:

Based on my non-existent Chinese skills, I managed to understand that this inflatable bra makes boobs big, BIG, BIG. And I guess it comes with odd sound effects included? Can someone watch please this commercial and translate for me?

When, do you suppose, Microsoft will actually write a secure operating system?

Never. Gotta keep those anti-virus companies fat, dumb and happy. After all, the anti-virus companies can’t make money on Mac OS X or Linux.

Windows 7 Still Vulnerable to Viruses — Durr, Really? | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.

Anti-virus software vendor Sophos tested Windows 7’s built-in anti-virus capabilities by feeding a clean system 10 pieces of the newest malware. Eight out of the 10 samples ran successfully, claims Sophos.

“Unfortunately, despite Microsoft’s claims, Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows,” says Chester Wisniewski, a senior security advisor at Sophos, in a blog post. “The good news is that, of the freshest 10 samples that arrived, 2 would not operate correctly under Windows 7.”

Sophos’ findings aren’t surprising: Windows 7 promises backward compatibility with most software that works on older operating systems, such as Windows XP. It would be reasonable to infer most malware compatible with Windows XP or Windows Vista is likely going to harm Windows 7.

OK, the RFID thing I can understand, but fingerprints?

Teacher Claims Fingerprinting Is ‘Mark of the Beast’ | Threat Level | Wired.com.

A 22-year veteran kindergarten teacher in the Texas Bible Belt could lose her job for refusing, on religious grounds, to give fingerprints under a state law requiring them.

The evangelical Christian, Pam McLaurin, is fighting a looming suspension, claiming that fingerprinting amounts to the “Mark of the Beast,” and hence is a violation of her First Amendment right to practice her religion. Her case is similar to a lawsuit by a group of Michigan farmers, some of them Amish, challenging rules requiring the tagging of livestock with RFID chips, saying the devices are also the devil’s mark.

A voter initiative does something useful for a change. No more red light cameras in College Station, TX.

Traffic cameras voted down | Bryan/College Station, Texas – The Eagle.

College Station’s red light cameras will be coming down.

Voters on Tuesday opted to remove the city’s nine cameras at seven intersections by a margin of 4,081 to 3,809.

For the first time since College Station resident Jim Ash began his crusade against he cameras, he had a hard time Tuesday night finding words to express his feelings.

“I’m ecstatic,” he said. “People told me that to challenge the status quo, it’s very difficult, and I could do nothing but agree with them after this.”

The College Station City Council approved the use of red light cameras in 2007. Four were activated in February 2008, and five were added in May 2009.

Alrighty, then.

Iraq Swears by Bomb Detector U.S. Sees as Useless – NYTimes.com.

Despite major bombings that have rattled the nation, and fears of rising violence as American troops withdraw, Iraq’s security forces have been relying on a device to detect bombs and weapons that the United States military and technical experts say is useless.

The sensor device, known as the ADE 651, from $16,500 to $60,000 each. Iraq has bought more than 1,500 of the devices.

The small hand-held wand, with a telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints in Iraq. But the device works “on the same principle as a Ouija board” — the power of suggestion — said a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod.

Still, the Iraqi government has purchased more than 1,500 of the devices, known as the ADE 651, at costs from $16,500 to $60,000 each. Nearly every police checkpoint, and many Iraqi military checkpoints, have one of the devices, which are now normally used in place of physical inspections of vehicles.