This time it’s a 3.5 percent tax on premiums from health plans sold on upcoming federal exchanges.

This latest Obama tax on the middle class was unveiled Friday during the release of 373 pages of new Obamacare regulations.

The tax will be imposed on insurers and paid by consumers.

It makes one wonder what other hidden tax, job-killing regulations and health-endangering meddling will be unveiled in a second Obama term.

Montebourg, a member of the Socialist Party, suggested Indian steel company ArcelorMittal should leave the country and the government take over control of their plants.  “The French government announced on Thursday that it could nationalize the factory in question, with backing from an unnamed businessman,” NBC reports.

“Barack Obama’s nationalized,” said Montebourg in reference to the Obama administration seizing control of General Motors.  “Nationalizing is a very modern step to take…It’s a way of making the economy work in the interests of industry.”

• 77 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the cost of health care in the U.S.

• 67 percent describe the U.S. health-care system as being in a “state of crisis” with “major problems.”

• 62 percent rate the actual quality of health care in the U.S. as good to excellent.

• 58 percent rate health care coverage in the U.S. as fair to poor.

But despite all that:

• 54 percent say it is not the responsibility of the federal government to ensure all Americans have health care

Source: A Gallup poll of 1,015 U.S. adults conducted Nov. 15-18, and reported by The Washington Times’ Jennifer Harper.

In fact, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent election night calling unsuccessful candidates to tell them to not stop campaigning — because the next election is just 24 months away.

“Literally on election night 2012, I was calling candidates who fell short and urging them to run in 2014,” the DCCC chairman, Congressman Israel, told BuzzFeed. “We literally started recruiting before the election was over.”

While some political parties and groups spent the morning after the election clucking about things on websites, just hours after the polls closed Israel was already “holding the first in a series of recruitment meetings designed to replenish his ranks.”

“The game’s not over until the bottom of the ninth, and even then you go for extra endings,” Israel says, “If you grew up like I did, even if you’re up 20 runs you don’t stop man.”

Have you started yet?

Are you contacting Libertarians urging them to run in local, state and federal elections next year and in 2014?

Are you calling your friends and family asking them to make a major donation to a Libertarian candidate?

Are you going door to door to identify potential new Libertarian voters?

Will you be greeting voters as they leave the polls during the upcoming local elections in 2013?

Her margin of victory was only 45 votes out of more than 12,000 cast, winning 6,153 votes to opponent Bill Kroonen’s 6,108.  That’s only around one-third of one percent.

And it’s proof that putting in the hard work of knocking on doors, making phone calls and running a professional direct mail campaign to find, dig out and turn out votes can be the difference between victory or defeat.

The Libertarian National Campaign Committee congratulates City Councilwoman-Elect SusanMarie Weber.

The government study, conducted over four years through interviews with more than 11,000 American adults, claims that while soda and other sugary drinks are responsible for six percent of the average adult’s calorie consumption, alcoholic beverages account for a nearly identical five percent.

‘We’ve been focusing on sugar-sweetened beverages. This is something new,’’ said Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a study author, tells the Associated Press.

The “Center for Science in the Public Interest,” a special interest group dedicated to expanding governemnt controls on food consumption and other private behavior, is already using the findings to agitate for new government controls on alcohol labeling.

Anti-calorie activists like the CSPI are already using the study to push for federal regulations mandating calorie labeling on alcohol, along with punitive taxes on those who drink an alcoholic beverage.

“Health officials should think about enacting policies to limit alcoholic intake…said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest,” the AP reports.

‘‘In New York City, it was smart to start with sugary drinks. Let’s see how it goes and then think about next steps,’’ Wooten crowed.

The federal government outlawed alcohol entirely in 1919 through a constitutional amendment, but repealed it in 1933 after prohibition led to a violent and bloody black market.

But as with most government prohibition efforts, bureaucrats are finding it easier to control behavior through punitive taxation than criminalization.

In 2009 the Obama administration proposed a federal tax on calorie-loaded beverages as part of an effort to socially engineer the nation’s health.  It was dropped after heated citizen opposition.

Electricity, running water and a road allowing people to reach it.

For $29 million dollars the American people got “mostly just a big hole in the ground, local radio station KUCB reports.

Usually the federal government will not fund port construction if there is no infrastructure to support the port, the Army Corps of Engineers tells KUCB.

“Yes. It’s not normal. And it has prevented the construction of harbors in the past, when that supporting infrastructure is not there,” says Steve Boardman, head of the Corps’ civil projects division.

Building a road to reach the port won’t happen for at least another two years, and that will come at a cost of $11 million per mile.

Even if the Obama-funded port is ever connected to a road, or to electricity, or to running water, there’s no guarantee anyone will even want to use it.  The harbor will have 58 slips.  But locals only own five boats.

If the Court agrees to hear the case, it will decide whether states can protect the rights of gays and lesbians to marry.

Proposition 8 was struck down by a federal judge who ruled it violated the state constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law, a ruling upheld by a 2-1 vote of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

While it appears a majority of justices may be interested in hearing an appeal it does not appear a majority would rule to overturn it, clouding the possibility of the Court taking up the case.

Like most Americans, Libertarians believe government should not define, regulate, license or tax marriage, leaving it up to people, businesses and other parties who to treat as married couples.

Advice to Libertarians who wish to run for City Council:

You may or may not follow my path.  It’s a change of life and a lot of work.

Find a leadership area in your community that’s of interest to you.  Seek a volunteer or appointed position in a community organization such as PTA, charity, local committee, city board or commission.  Attend City Council and commission meetings regularly.  Know the agenda topics. Write and speak to the City Council. Write letters to the editor.  Establish name recognition.

After you have a community resume and some name recognition, start a city council campaign 6-12 months before the election.  Know approximately how many votes it takes to be elected and focus on getting those votes.  Votes are all that matter.

Form an organizing committee.  Recruit campaign committee members to coordinate volunteers, manage a bank account, file state forms, and prepare your printed material (brochure/door hanger, signs, newspaper ads, campaign mailer).  You the candidate must do fund raising (about $15,000 for my successful re-election campaign for the Nov 2012 election).  You also must develop your campaign priorities and platform to reach voters, answer questionnaires, attend press interviews, attend candidate forums and walk precincts to meet voters.

Those are the essentials.  As an elected official you do not need to preach everything that is contained in the Libertarian Party Platform. There are enough bad policies and squandered taxpayer dollars to reasonably argue against.   You must have complete command of the facts involving a wide range of Council agenda topics and just use common sense in policy making.

“If Congress fails to act, there could be postal slowdowns or shutdowns that would have catastrophic consequences for the 8 million private sector workers whose jobs depend on the mail,” Art Sackler, co-coordinator of the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, told Bloomberg News.

The Postal Service’s financial losses stand to grow even worse.  Revenue is shrinking as mail volume continues to drop, but employee costs are growing.  The USPS retirement account, previously estimated to hold a surplus that could cover losses, has come up $17.8 billion short.  The USPS has been defaulting on annual payments into the fund of around $5 billion.

USPS proposals to grow revenue and cut losses consist mainly of ending Saturday delivery and eliminating offices and branches, which will not stop the bleeding and could have a detrimental effect on the economy.

But not everyone in the USPS is seeing a loss. “(A)ll but one of the top five executives for the nation’s mail service had an overall compensation increase this year,” The Washington Times reports.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe saw his overall compensation grow from $384,229 in 2011 to $512,093 in 2012.  Chief Information Office Ellis Burgoyne’s total compensation exploded more than $270,000 last year to $510,505 in 2012.

Making matters worse is the fact you stop the wasteful spending by getting rid of mail delivery.  The economy depends on it.

Libertarians have a better idea: Repeal federal laws granting the Postal Service a monopoly on first class, or “non-urgent” mail delivery.

Force the USPS to compete with FedEx, UPS and other parcel delivery companies.  Not only will it make the USPS undergo needed employee compensation reforms, it gives Americans an “escape hatch” should the Postal Service harshly cut back on service and/or increase rates.