Top News Stories of the Week

By Drudge Retort

Friday, December 31, 2010 at 08:00 AM

The following stories were the biggest news events of the preceding week, according to the users of the Drudge Retort.

Paul: Social Security is a Tax

Ron Paul: The new congress comes to Capitol Hill with a mandate to end profligate spending and restore fiscal sanity, we are told. But when the House and Senate convene in January, the newly elected members will face tremendous pressure to maintain spending levels for entitlement programs. Even the most modest proposals to trim Social Security or Medicare spending will be met with howls of indignation and threats of voter revolt. Legislators who propose any kind of means testing or increased retirement ages can expect angry visits from senior citizen lobbyists ready to fund a candidate back home who supports the status quo.

Posted by ExpsRedemption at 09:59 AM on December 29, 2010 | 251 COMMENTS

India Rocket Explodes at Takeoff

An unmanned Indian space rocket carrying a communications satellite has exploded on take-off. Live TV showed the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket disappearing in a plume of smoke moments after its launch in Sriharikota.

Posted by zatoichi at 02:30 PM on December 26, 2010 | 186 COMMENTS

Feds Will Fund End-of-Life Advice

A new Obama administration policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment. "Advance care planning improves end-of-life care and patient and family satisfaction and reduces stress, anxiety and depression in surviving relatives," the administration said in the preamble to the regulation.

Posted by mysterytoy at 11:29 AM on December 27, 2010 | 149 COMMENTS

Juan Williams: Palin is No Intellectual

Fox News contributor Juan Williams said Sunday that Sarah Palin "can't stand on the intellectual stage" with President Obama. Williams, the fired NPR contributor who's an analyst on Fox News Sunday, called the Republican presidential field weak. "There's nobody out there, except for Sarah Palin, who can absolutely dominate the stage," he said, "and she can't stand on the intellectual stage with Obama."

Posted by reinheitsgebot at 02:15 PM on December 28, 2010 | 143 COMMENTS

Journalists: 'Illegal Immigrant' Offensive Term

The Diversity Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists is seeking to sensitize reporters nationwide about how offensive the term "illegal immigrant" is to Latinos, urging them to use "undocumented immigrant" instead.

Posted by ChevyChase at 10:10 AM on December 28, 2010 | 125 COMMENTS

Ala. Town Stops All Pension Checks

When the city of Pritchard, Aba., ran out of money to fund its pension system in 2009, it broke state law and stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers. One retiree died in his home after his utilities were shut off. "When they found him, he had no electricity and no running water in his house," said fellow retiree David Anders. "He was a proud enough man that he wouldn't accept help."

Posted by boaz at 07:32 AM on December 24, 2010 | 112 COMMENTS

Pope: Child Porn Once Was 'Normal'

In his Christmas address to cardinals and officials in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI said that child pornography is increasingly considered "normal" by society. "In the 1970s, pedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children," the Pope said. "It was maintained -- even within the realm of Catholic theology -- that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a 'better than' and a 'worse than'. Nothing is good or bad in itself."

Posted by mysterytoy at 04:30 PM on December 24, 2010 | 100 COMMENTS

GOP Chair Wants Higher Taxes for Poor

Incoming House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) wants Congress to make things harder on the poor. Camp regards the fact that 46.7 million lower- and middle-income Americans pay no income tax -- giving them no incentive to restrain the growth of government. "I believe, you've got to have some responsibility for the government you have," Camp said. People have co-payments under Medicare, and everyone should similarly have some "skin in the game" under the income tax system, he said.

Posted by tonyroma at 09:31 PM on December 28, 2010 | 95 COMMENTS

New Hawaii Governor Outraged by Birthers

Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) of Hawaii is incensed over "birthers" who question his citizenship. "It's an insult to his mother and to his father, and I knew his mother and father; they were my friends, and I have an emotional interest in that," he said. "It's an emotional insult. It is disrespectful to the president; it is disrespectful to the office."

Posted by rcade at 05:09 PM on December 25, 2010 | 90 COMMENTS

Obama Admin Bets on High-Speed Rail

The Obama Administration hopes to spread high-speed passenger rail service across the United States, beginning with $10.5 billion on Orlando-Tampa and Los Angeles-San Francisco lines to sell the benefits of bullet trains as an alternative to congested highways.

Posted by rcade at 08:23 AM on December 30, 2010 | 86 COMMENTS

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