What’s interesting in the news today?
Open thread, as always. Here’s a few to start off with.
This first one is a couple of weeks old, but we will start off with it because it’s where the story begins.
From TampaBay.com “This had been his idea. He’d heard something about God helping people who help themselves. So here he was, on a Sunday in September, surrounded by strangers, taking his future into his sweaty hands.”
“Davion always longed for a family. His caseworker took him to picnics, put his portrait in the Heart Gallery. But he had thrown chairs, blown his grades, pushed people away.
When he learned his birth mother was dead, everything changed. He had to let go of the hope that she would come get him. Abandon his anger. Now he didn’t have anyone else to blame.
“He decided he wanted to control his behavior and show everyone who he could be,” Going said. So someone would want him.
“I’ll take anyone,” Davion said. “Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don’t care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be.”
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Well I’m happy to say it looks like this young man will get his wish. 🙂
From Yahoo/GMA “A Florida orphan whose church plea for a family to “love me until I die” has received about 10,000 requests from people asking to adopt him and will “without a doubt” be getting a family, his caseworker said today in an appearance with him on ABC’s “The View.”
Davion Only, 15, took the opportunity of being on national TV today to thank the group homes and foster homes that have “taken good care of me.” He also apologized for being a “butthead” to some of them when he was younger.
Only has been in foster care his whole life, but has never had a family. On a recent Sunday, he stood in front of St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in St. Petersburg, Fla., and made a public plea for a family.”
“”Without a doubt, Davion will have a family,” his caseworker Connie Going said on “The View” today.”
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I wish the young man the best. After reading his story though, I read another story on adoption which shows this young teenager is smarter than some adults. It seems some would deny Davion his wish simply for the prospective parent’s political views. How truly sad. They need to grow up and consider the children instead. They should take these words from Davion to heart.
“I’ll take anyone,” Davion said. “Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don’t care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be.”
From Rare.us “Last week, I wrote about a strange phenomenon we experienced firsthand after adopting our daughter from Ethiopia: Liberals think adoption is great, unless white, Christian, Republicans are the ones doing it. It was odd and sad to have strangers questioning and criticizing our family composition. The same crowd who emphasizes that there are all kinds of families — gay, lesbian, straight, divorced — suddenly got the vapors when they saw my black child on my hip at a GOP convention.
Apparently, according to the comments on my blog, many people believe conservatives have no business adopting a black child. The New York Times has occasionally jumped in the fray, questioning whether black kids might be better off without parents at all if their only option is of the white variety.”
“I got many comments from liberals accusing me of exaggeration, claiming I’d created a straw-man argument, and that my “persecution complex was showing.” Then, as if on cue, Ann Romney tweeted out a photo of their newest grandchild, adopted by their son Ben and his wife Andelyne:
“The response from the liberal Twitterverse was swift, predictable and damning. Here is a selection of the responses:”
And then it gets as bad as you would expect.
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Next up a reminder that voter fraud is a myth.
From TheHill “A former chief of staff to Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.) is heading to jail for his role in organizing an online absentee ballot-request scheme in the 2012 elections.
Jeffrey Garcia, 41, who isn’t related to the congressman, will spend about three months in jail as part of a plea deal reached with the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office, the Miami Herald newspaper reported Sunday.”
“Prosecutors found Jeffrey Garcia had requested hundreds of ballots without voters’ permission, the Herald said. None of them, however, were mailed, forged or cast.
Florida law prohibits anyone but voters or their immediate family members from requesting ballots online.”
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Since the ObamaCare website is so riddled with errors and problems, the President decided to tell folks about the 800 number to call where you could get help with problems.
And that doesn’t work either…….. 🙄
From NationalReview “President Obama emerged on Monday to assure Americans that the “kinks” surrounding the federal and state health-care exchanges are improving and urged consumers to call the exchange hotline if they continue to encounter problems online. Shortly after he made the suggestion, Twitter lit up with reporters and others who attempted to do so but failed to get through to a navigator as promised. After dialing the number, some callers got a busy signal, others received an automated message, and yet others were referred back to Healthcare.gov.”
You couldn’t make this stuff up even if you were trying to write a tragic comedy. I shouldn’t be laughing when it’s such a serious thing, and yet I can’t help myself.
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Wandering Views 
Thanks to Donna J for posting Dr. Albert Mohler’s speech at BYU on the politics thread late yesterday. His analysis of our current situation was brilliant, comprehensive and devastating.
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Once they find a home for this child, help the others 1499 find another child.
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If anyone still thinks that having a health care system like Canada’s, you might want to read and share this article with everyone you know.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/10/canada_has_death_panels_and_that_s_a_good_thing.html
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ricky, glad someone saw that, it was late — I figured I’d have to repost today.
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Obamacare will have death panels too. Though they will never be called that.
It has to be thay way. Someone has to make life/death decisions about how they spend money.
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I have to say I’ve really come to highly respect Mohler, he’s one of those who has filled the void — in terms of offering a keen assessment of our crumbling culture — that I think was left when Chuck Colson died.
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Donna J, I agree with you about Mohler. He is one of a number of seminary presidents who have moved the SBC back to orthodoxy over the last 25 years. Billy Graham appealed to our hearts. Mohler appeals to our minds. That is where we have lost too many battles.
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Chas, You are correct. Paul Ryan tried to reintroduce the free market to healthcare with his proposed Medicare reforms a couple of years ago. For that brave act he was slandered by all Democrats and worthless Republicans such as Gingrich. Eventually, our lenders will dictate what procedures they will finance even as Germany dictated to Greece.
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Chas,
“Obamacare will have death panels too.”
Already does, but they have a much more benign sounding, PC term for it. But it’s already wreaking havoc too.
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23321
“Signs of ObamaCare’s failings mount daily, including soaring insurance costs, looming provider shortages and inadequate insurance exchanges. Yet the law’s most disturbing feature may be the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). The IPAB, sometimes called a “death panel,” threatens both the Medicare program and the Constitution’s separation of powers, say David Rivkin, who served in the Justice Department under Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and Elizabeth Foley, a professor of constitutional law at Florida International University.
The board, which will control more than half of a trillion dollars of federal spending annually, is directed to “develop detailed and specific proposals related to the Medicare program,” including proposals cutting Medicare spending below a statutorily prescribed level. In addition, the board is encouraged to make rules “related to” Medicare.
The ObamaCare law also stipulates that there “shall be no administrative or judicial review” of the board’s decisions. Its members will be nearly untouchable, too. They will be presidentially nominated and Senate-confirmed, but after that they can only be fired for “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”
“The IPAB’s godlike powers are not accidental. Its goal, conspicuously proclaimed by the Obama administration, is to control Medicare spending in ways that are insulated from the political process.”
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougschoen/2013/08/27/medicares-independent-payment-advisory-board/
“For instance, one program that is up for debate is Medicare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB. IPAB was created in 2010 following the implementation of President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and is a fifteen-member Government agency tasked with reducing Medicare costs while retaining quality of care.
The debate over IPAB has been fierce, and both Republicans and a number of prominent Democrats have come out against the panel. However, despite this, President Obama, in making his requests for the 2014 budget, has proposed that the Independent Payment Advisory Board’s authority only be increased.”
“IPAB takes the Medicare decision-making process away from doctors and away from Americans’ elected representatives in Congress and gives it to an unelected, unrepresentative and unaccountable advisory board. This panel is flawed and unethical–but it has total authority to make decisions regarding Medicare funding, how to implement spending cuts within the Medicare program, and how to allocate medical services.
Further, IPAB jeopardizes the quality of medical treatments and services for Medicare beneficiaries: proponents of IPAB argue that the program will improve care by reducing costs, but in reality, by advising such reduced spending per capita, IPAB can actually result in the denial of certain medical treatments, limiting services for seniors and Americans with disabilities.”
And just for fun….
SARAH PALIN WAS RIGHT!!!! 🙂
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More here.
http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2013/04/cuts-hit-cancer-patients-foreshadowing-broader-limits-under-federal-health-care-law/#.UmbK8z3D-M8
“In a joint statement from the Community Oncology Alliance, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the International Oncology Network, and US Oncology Network, they reported that 72% of cancer clinics (when surveyed) plan to deny new Medicare patients or send all Medicare patients to the hospital for treatment due to the cuts. Disrupting cancer treatment for tens of thousands will no doubt put many lives at risk.”
“Not only will current patients have their care disrupted and possibly delayed, but future treatments and cures will be impacted. This one sector, cancer clinics for Medicare patients, is feeling the pain of cuts today.”
“The 2010 federal law creates an Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), an 18-member cost-cutting board. In addition to having authority to limit Medicare reimbursement rates, IPAB also has a key role in suppressing nongovernmental health care spending.”
“If cancer clinics are turning away tens thousands of patients because of a 2% reduction, it will not take very long for the IPAB limits to have an even more devastating effect on nearly every aspect of medical care.”
And,
http://www.theihcc.com/en/communities/policy_legislation/the-new-health-law-bad-for-doctors-awful-for-patie_gn17y01k.html
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