Month: October 2013

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Our Daily Thread 10-21-13

Good Morning!

On this day in 1797 “Old Ironsides,” the U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, was launched in Boston’s harbor.

In 1858 the Can-Can was performed for the first time in Paris.

In 1879 Thomas Edison invented the electric incandescent lamp.

In 1917 the first U.S. soldiers entered combat during World War I near Nancy, France. Nah, too easy. 🙂

In 1967 thousands of demonstrators marched in Washington, DC, in opposition to the Vietnam War.

And in 1983 the Pentagon reported that 2,000 Marines were headed to Grenada to protect and evacuate Americans living there.  

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Quote of the Day

“A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don’t need it.”

Bob Hope

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For today’s birthdays, we start with Rich Mullins.

Today is also Charlie Lowell’s birthday.

And it’s Brian Pittman’s too.

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 10-21-13

Who has a request or praise to share today?

Psalm 66

¹Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:

2 Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.

3 Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.

4 All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.

5 Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.

6 He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.

7 He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

8 O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard:

9 Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.

10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.

11 Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.

12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.

13 I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,

14 Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.

15 I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.

16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.

17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.

18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

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News/Politics 10-21-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

The Obama admin continues to refuse to enforce the laws they dislike.

From WeaselZippers  “Chris Crane, president of the ICE Council, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ union, said that the President has effectively told ICE agents that they can no longer enforce the law, even as that applies to illegal aliens who have committed other crimes. He noted that while there has been investigation of the scandals of the IRS and Benghazi, “there has been no investigation into the President’s lawless activities with regard to immigration enforcement”.

“You can be in the country illegally, you can have an extensive criminal history, you can have multiple criminal convictions for serious offenses, and there is nothing that we can do to touch you,” Crane said. He pointed out that the numbers from the administration seeming to indicate “record deportations” were in fact falsely inflated. The numbers included mostly illegal aliens caught at the border, into the numbers of those deported from the interior, thereby juicing the numbers. Nothing the President says matches what he has been done, says Crane.

The ICE union has repeatedly asked for a meeting at the White House. But despite meeting with all manner of other groups on the issue, including illegal alien groups, the President has still refused to meet with the ICE union.

‘We are completely ignored,” Crane said, ‘The President will not respond to us…He gave some speeches where he called ICE agents “terrorists”. He said we went into neighborhoods and terrorized children, babies, nursing mothers, purposely tore apart families. So this President, I think, brings with him a real dislike, at the very least, for ICE agents and officers, and the mission we perform. I think there’s a real misunderstanding about what we do, and for that reason he has absolutely refused to let us be a part of any conversation.”

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The UN says the President is probably violating international law with his drone program. That’s impossible, don’t they know he’s a Peace Prize winner. 🙄

From TheGuardian  “Drone strikes by US may violate international law, says UN

Report says CIA attacks led to civilian deaths and casualties and says US protocols are ‘hurdle to transparency'”

“A United Nations investigation has so far identified 33 drone strikes around the world that have resulted in civilian casualties and may have violated international humanitarian law.”

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The Catholic church has filed a new lawsuit against the Obama admin.

From CNSNews  ” The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., is arguing in a new lawsuit that the Obama administration is engaged in a “conscious political strategy to marginalize and delegitimize” Catholic “religious views on contraception by holding them up for ridicule on the national stage.”

At issue in the lawsuit is whether the administration can force the archdiocese to secure a third-party administrator for its self-insurance plan who will provide sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs at no cost to church employees at some of the archdiocese’s separately incorporated subunits.”

“Lawyers representing the archdiocese filed a memorandum with U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Sept. 24, pointing to actions and statements made by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to demonstrate that the administration is deliberately targeting the Catholic Church for its religious views.”

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Young folks who supported the President’s re-election are gonna get rewarded for their loyalty. Just like the unions were.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Young people in 45 states will see their health insurance premiums increase under Obamacare because the law relies on the money they pay into the system to offset the cost of caring for older enrollees, according to a new study.

Virginia leads the pack, as individuals aged 27 and under will see their health insurance premiums jump by 252.5 percent — $416.55 — according to the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis.

Virginians under the age of 50 will see their premiums jump by an even greater percentage, rising from $228 to $991.03.”

You’ve earned it kids! 🙄

Now remember this next election.

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And last one from me today. Sen. Ted Cruz has been hammered in the press for standing on principle and actually doing what the voters that elected him wanted. The press and Dems despise the man, but his constituents have quite a different opinion.

From YahooNews  “Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement, returned home to a rousing welcome in Texas on Saturday after his attempt to derail Obamacare with a shutdown of the federal government led to sharp criticism of his tactics as reckless and futile.

“After two months in Washington, it’s great to be back in America,” Cruz joked in speaking to a crowd of about 750 people in a packed downtown San Antonio hotel ballroom.

Cruz was greeted with an eight-minute standing ovation in an appearance organized by the Texas Federation of Republican Women. People in attendance, many of them wearing red to show their support for keeping Texas a conservative-leaning state, lined up to greet him.”

Harry Reid and John McCain were hardest hit by the news. 🙂

LOVE IT!

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Our Daily Thread 10-19-13

Good Morning!

And Happy Saturday! 🙂

On this day in 1765 the Stamp Act Congress met and drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.

In 1781 British General Charles Lord Cornwallis surrendered to U.S. General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia.

In 1933 basketball was introduced to the 1936 Olympic Games by the Berlin Organization Committee.

In 1937 “Woman’s Day” was published for the first time.

In 1960 the United States imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.

And in 1977 the Concorde made its first landing in New York City.

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Quote of the Day

“When men take pleasure in feeling their minds elevated with strong drink, and so indulge their appetite as to disorder their understandings, neglect their duty as members of a family or civil society, and cast off all regard to religion, their case is much to be pitied.”

John Woolman

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Today is Billy Smiley’s birthday.

It’s also Wendy Foy Green’s.

And it’s Patrick Simmons’ as well.

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Anyone have a QoD for us?

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Prayer Requests 10-19-13

Who has a request or praise to share today?

Psalm 65

¹Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.

2 O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.

3 Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.

4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

5 By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea:

6 Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power:

7 Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.

8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.

9 Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.

10 Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof.

11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.

12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.

13 The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.

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News/Politics 10-19-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, what’s on your mind?

The “official” national debt sat at the same number (20 Million under) for 150 days leading up to the extension of the debt ceiling. Everyone knew it was a fraud and a lie. Now we know how big of a lie it was. About a 328 Billion dollar lie. How is this not fraud?

From TheWashingtonTimes  “U.S. debt jumped a record $328 billion on Thursday, the first day the  federal  government was able to  borrow money under the deal President  Obama and Congress sealed this week.

The debt now equals  $17.075 trillion, according to figures the Treasury  Department posted online on Friday.”

“The $328 billion increase shattered the previous high of $238 billion set two  years ago.”

“In this case, the Treasury  Department borrowed $400 billion from  other funds beginning in May, awaiting a final deal from Congress and  Mr. Obama.”

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It. Just. Gets. Worse.

From WSJ/MarketWatch  “Insurers say the federal health-care marketplace is generating flawed data that
is straining their ability to handle even the trickle of enrollees who have gotten through so far, in a sign that technological problems extend further than the website traffic and software issues already identified.”

“Emerging errors include duplicate enrollments, spouses reported as children, missing data fields and suspect eligibility determinations, say executives at more than a dozen health plans. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Nebraska said it had to hire temporary workers to contact new customers directly to resolve inaccuracies in submissions. Medical Mutual of Ohio said one customer had successfully signed up for three of its plans.”

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Tech experts say it needs a complete overhaul.

From USAToday  “The federal health care exchange was built using 10-year-old technology that may require constant fixes and updates for the next six months and the eventual overhaul of the entire system, technology experts told USA TODAY.

The site could be perfect, but if the systems from which it draws data are not up to speed, it doesn’t matter, said John Engates, chief technology officer at Rackspace, a cloud computer service provider.

“It is a core problem in the sense of it’s fundamental to this thing actually working, but it’s not necessarily a problem that the people who wrote HealthCare.gov can get to,” Engates said. “Even if they had a perfect system, it still won’t work.”

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And as I predicted, after all, it wasn’t hard to figure out, more than half of the first sign-ups are low-income and pre-existing conditions. Those that will be heavily subsidized, or dumped into Medicaid.

From MyNorthWest.com  “Enrollments in health care plans through Washington state’s new health care exchange continue to increase, but it turns out a majority of the enrollees so far won’t be paying for their plans.

“The Medicaid newly eligible population accounts for a little more than half of the 25,000 that we’ve seen,” Michael Marchand, with the new Washington Health Care Exchange, tells KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross.”

“”We’ve figured out that probably more than 90 percent of those who are of the 1 million who are currently uninsured, they’re going to receive financial help in one way or another, whether it’s free or through tax credits.”

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Our Daily Thread 10-18-13

Good Morning!

It’s finally Friday! 🙂

On this day in 1767 the Mason-Dixon line was agreed upon. It was the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania.

In 1842 Samuel Finley Breese Morse laid his first telegraph cable.

In 1867 the U.S. took formal possession of Alaska from Russia. The land was purchased of a total of $7 million dollars (2 cents per acre).

In 1873 the first rules for intercollegiate football were drawn up by representatives from Rutgers, Yale, Columbia and Princeton Universities.

In 1943 the first broadcast of “Perry Mason” was presented on CBS Radio.

And in 1969 the U.S. government banned artificial sweeteners due to evidence that they caused cancer.

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Quote of the Day

“A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living.”

Charles R. Swindoll

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Today is Janet Paschal’s birthday.

Today is Cynthia Weil’s birthday as well. Her and her husband Barry Mann have written numerous songs for a wide variety of people. Everyone from the Righteous Brothers, Elvis, and Skynyrd, to the Monkees, Andy Williams, and Dolly Parton. It was tough to pick a favorite to play. But I settled on this, from one of my daughter’s favorite movies. And I’ve heard it a million times because of that 🙂  I like this version better than Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram’s anyway.

And now we have yet another birthday, Gary Richrath’s, and one of my favorite bands as well. 

And this one, because it gives Gary more of the spotlight. “The Flying Turkey Trot.” With a little “Ghost Riders in the Sky” in the middle. 🙂

We sure have a lot of musicians with birthdays today. Last one, I promise. Chuck with some old guy in a suit. 🙂

I seem to have gotten a little carried away today. But this is nothin’, you should see the news thread. 🙂

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 10-18-13

Who can we pray for today?

Psalm 64

¹Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:

3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.

5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?

6 They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.

7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.

8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.

9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.

10 The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

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News/Politics 10-18-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

I have a bunch this morning, so they’ll be Fast and Furious. Like the first one, which will be one of the longest today.

I have to give Sharyl Attkisson and CBS credit, They just keep at it.

From CBSNews  “CBS News has learned of a shocking link between a deadly drug cartel shootout with Mexican police last week and a controversial case in the U.S. The link is one of the grenades used in the violent fight, which killed three policemen and four cartel members and was captured on video by residents in the area.

According to a Justice Department “Significant Incident Report” filed Tuesday and obtained by CBS News, evidence connects one of the grenades to Jean Baptiste Kingery, an alleged firearms trafficker U.S. officials allowed to operate for years without arresting despite significant evidence that he was moving massive amounts of grenade parts and ammunition to Mexico’s ruthless drug cartels.”

“The gun battle took place last week in Guadalajara. Authorities say five members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel used at least nine firearms and ten hand grenades against Mexican police. If one of the grenades was supplied with the help of Kingery, as believed, it adds to the toll of lives taken with weapons trafficked by suspects U.S. officials watched but did not stop.

The Kingery case was overseen by the same Arizona U.S. Attorney and ATF office that let suspects traffic thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels in the operation dubbed Fast and Furious. The strategy was to try to get to the cartel kingpins, but it was halted after CBS News reported that Fast and Furious weapons were used by cartel thugs in the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry on December 15, 2010. Weapons trafficked by other ATF suspects under surveillance were used two months later in the cartel murder of Immigration and Customs Agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico on February 15, 2011.”

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This one, well let’s just say it’s too funny. 🙂

From Politico  “A finding in a study on the relationship between science literacy and  political ideology surprised the Yale professor behind it: Tea party members  know more science than non-tea partiers.

Yale law professor Dan Kahan posted on his blog this week that he analyzed the responses  of more than 2,000 American adults recruited for another study and found that,  on average, people who leaned liberal were more science literate than those who  leaned conservative.”

“However, those who identified as part of the tea party movement were actually  better versed in science than those who didn’t, Kahan found. The findings met  the conventional threshold of statistical significance, the professor said.”

Hehehe…  🙂

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We all knew this was coming. And maybe that’s why govt employees weren’t getting much sympathy during the shutdown. Back pay, and a raise to boot.

From TheWashingtonPost  “The budget measure that ended the partial government shutdown allows for a 1 percent raise for federal employees in January in addition to providing back pay for those furloughed, according to two Democratic Maryland senators.”

““I’m proud we were able to fulfill our promise to make them whole again with back pay and finally break through the pay freeze with a modest adjustment for next year,” said Cardin, a member of the Senate Finance Committee.”

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And now, The Debacle continues.

Doh!

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Gee, maybe this had something to do with it. 🙄

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Federal officials did not permit testing of the Obamacare healthcare.gov website or issue final system requirements until four to six days before its Oct. 1 launch, according to an individual with direct knowledge of the project.

The individual, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the troubled Obamacare website project as suffering from top-level management disarray, changing systems requirements and recurring delays.”

Really could use that face-palm smiley here.

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But while the problems mounted, the cash flow to contractors increased. Typical Dem response, who cares if it’s a failure, just throw more money at it. 🙄

From TheFreeBeacon  “As U.S. officials warned that the technology behind Obamacare might not be ready to launch on October 1, the administration was pouring tens of millions of dollars more than it had planned into the federal website meant to enroll Americans in the biggest new social program since the 1960s.

A Reuters review of government documents shows that the contract to build the federal Healthcare.gov online insurance website – key to President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform – tripled in potential total value to nearly $292 million as new money was assigned to the work beginning in April this year.”

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This one I suggest everyone read.  This is who is responsible for this website mess, and what could potentially be a lot more taxpayer-funded govt debacles. It’s like Haliburton, but with a lot more tentacles.

From TheWaPo  “CGI Federal is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian firm CGI Group, which was founded in Quebec City in 1976 by a pair or 26-year-olds named Serge Godin and Andre Imbeau. (CGI stands for “Conseillers en Gestion et Informatique” in French, which roughly translates to “Information Systems and Management Consultants”). Growing through scores of acquisitions, and providing outsourced IT services to massive companies such as Bell Canada and Quebec’s provincial pension plan, CGI’s business model depends on embedding itself deeply within an institution.

“The ultimate aim is to establish relations so intimate with the client that decoupling becomes almost impossible,” read one profile of the company.”

“That said, they’ve learned quickly, and see the U.S. federal government as their area of biggest growth. CGI Federal’s health-care practice has grown 90 percent year over year, largely due to the Healthcare.gov project. And for a contractor, ballooning projects are a good thing. “In the Federal Government business, we continue to see more extensions and ceiling increases on our existing work, while we further leverage our position on contract vehicles,” said CEO Michael Roach on their latest earnings call. Those “contract vehicles” now amount to $200 billion, which Roach later referred to as a “hunting license.””

“The healthcare.gov debacle has taken its toll on the working environment at CGI Federal’s 10-story complex in Fairfax, Va., according to a staffer working on a related project who asked not to be named. “There’s been a lot of agitation and anger, because CGI really prides itself on having family flexibility,” he said, noting the firm’s liberal telework policy. Instead, the Obamacare contract has sucked more and more staff off other projects, and people have been working around the clock to first get the site ready for Oct. 1, and then fix it when things started to go wrong. “There’s a lot of frustration,” the staffer said. “People are getting sick, fainting in conference calls.”

Oh boy.

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I expect the longer this mess goes on, the better chance there is that you see Dems pulling stunts like this one, in an attempt distance themselves from their roles.

From BuzzFeed  “Visit the website of Michigan-based design firm Teal Media today and you’d never know designers there helped create HealthCare.gov, the troubled online portal for Obamacare.

Just a few days ago, the site looked very different. Teal Media’s homepage featured its work on Obamacare prominently, placing a link to the firm’s work on one of the most well-known websites in America front and center. Now that link, as well as the page devoted to Teal’s work on HealthCare.gov, have been removed.”

“Teal Media doesn’t seem interested in talking about its work on HealthCare.gov. A woman who answered the phone at the company’s headquarters immediately referred BuzzFeed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) at the Department of Health And Human Services (HHS) before a single question was asked. CMS is listed as Teal’s client on the firm’s now-erased HealthCare.gov page.”

And again, insert face palm smiley here. They had so many calls about removing it that they actually put it back up. Might as well, the screen shots already documented what you did. The cat is out of the bag. 🙄

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Oh, and the ObamaCare website is possibly violating software licensing copyrights. Nice. Again, the face palm smiley would be perfect here.

From TheWeeklyStandard  “Healthcare.gov, the federal government’s Obamacare website, has been under heavy criticism from friend and foe alike during its first two weeks of open enrollment.  Repeated errors and delays have prevented many users from even establishing an account, and outside web designers have roundly panned the structure and coding of the site as amateurish and sloppy.  The latest indication of the haphazard way in which Healthcare.gov was developed is the uncredited use of a copyrighted web script for a data function used by the site, a violation of the licensing agreement for the software.

The script in question is called DataTables, a very long and complex piece of website software used for formatting and presenting data.  DataTables was developed by a British company called SpryMedia which licenses the open-source software freely to anyone who complies with the licensing agreement.  A note at the bottom of the DataTables.net website says: “DataTables designed and created by SpryMedia © 2008-2013.”  

🙄 It’s a comedy of errors, but it isn’t really all that funny.

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Here’s something to keep in mind if you have to enter your personal info into the ObamaCare website. This is the kind of fine upstanding folks who will have access to your info.

From NationalReview  “A community organization established by Wade Rathke, founder of ACORN, will be participating in a “navigator” drive aiding people attempting to sign up for health-care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, according to a Fox News report. The organization, United Labor Unions Council Local 100, is based in New Orleans and was created by Rathke after ACORN went bankrupt amidst widespread scandal.”

“Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action, a non-partisan watchdog group, said, “At a time when our government has ceased functioning due to an appropriations gap, it is ironic that America’s tax dollars are being doled out to an entity whose poor stewardship of our funds was well-established by Congress.” Congress voted to defund ACORN in 2009 after secret videos revealed ACORN employees coaching people on how to conduct illegal activities.”

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And here’s the type of people he employs.

From FrontPageMag  “The fact that Wade Rathke, a disreputable, radical left-wing community organizer, is allowed anywhere near the enrollment process ought to give all Americans pause. The only reason Rathke hasn’t been federally investigated for racketeering is because his allies control the federal law enforcement apparatus. President Obama pretends he has no connection to ACORN and Attorney General Eric Holder doesn’t care what laws have been broken because he approves of ACORN’s goals.”

“Yes, that’s President Obama’s former employer, ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

ACORN is the nonprofit group that knowingly hired felons convicted of identity theft to work on voter registration drives, giving them custody of sensitive voter information.”

Yeah. 🙄

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