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News/Politics 11-5-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

First up today, a trend that many parents like myself and my wife have noticed. I have my own theory, one which involves the overuse of steroids in chicken production. 

This one thinks it’s linked to one of the latest liberal cause du jour, childhood obesity. That theory doesn’t hold much water around here as obesity isn’t the problem.

Maybe it’s C, all of the above. Or D, none of them. Or even E, a combination.

From MSN/HealthyLiving  “U.S. girls are developing breasts at a younger age compared to years past, and obesity appears to explain a large share of the shift, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that between 2004 and 2011, American girls typically started developing breasts around the age of 9. And those who were overweight or obese started sooner — usually when they were about 8 years old.”

“The findings, reported online Nov. 4 and in the December print issue of the journal Pediatrics, add to evidence that American children are hitting puberty earlier than in decades past. The rising tide of childhood obesity has been suspected as a major cause, but the new study gives more hard data to support the idea.

Biro said, however, that excess pounds do not seem to be the full explanation. And it’s possible that other factors — such as diet or chemicals in the environment — play a role.”

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It’s always interesting when different liberal ideals collide. 2 powerful lobbies in Democrat circles are going to be butting heads in their liberal Utopia, also known as Chicago.

From Chicago/CBSLocal  “With an expected vote on same-sex marriage in Springfield next week, African-American clergy members campaigning against the issue are threatening to unseat lawmakers who vote in favor, reports WBBM’s Mike Krauser.”

“Bishop Larry Trotter, of Sweet Holy Spirit Church in Chicago, is vowing that there will be consequences for those lawmakers who support same sex marriage.

“I think that they will feel the crunch.  I think that they cannot take for granted that they can come to the church; and get the church’s sanction, and votes, and signatures; and then go to Springfield, and don’t speak what the people want them to speak. And so now, if that’s how we have to be heard, we will be heard,” Trotter said.”

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So how’s the “call the hotline, or submit a paper application to bypass ObamaCare website problems” thingy workin’ out? Not well people, not well at all…..

From ABCNews  “A series of internal Obama administration memos obtained exclusively by ABC News reveal for the first time how dysfunction with HealthCare.gov has upended the entire Affordable Care Act enrollment process, including applications by paper and phone that officials have been pushing as more reliable alternatives.

While President Obama and other top aides have publicly reassured frustrated consumers that they can bypass the troubled website and apply by phone in as little as 25 minutes, those working most closely with the rollout acknowledged privately that even the nonelectronic avenues would be no more efficient or guaranteed, the documents show.

“The same portal is used to determine eligibility no matter how the application is submitted (paper, online),” reads a Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight memo from Oct. 11.

“The paper applications allow people to feel like they are moving forward in the process and provides another option,” it says. “At the end of the day, we are all stuck in the same queue.”

DOH! 😦

Here’s the video.

Again, DOH!

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I’m having a hard time feeling bad for this guy, like most people I’m sure, but I feel for his son.

From YahooNews  “Little more than a week after millions of consumers received health care cancellation notices, lawmakers in both parties are pushing legislation to redeem President Barack Obama’s long-ago pledge that anyone liking their coverage will be allowed to keep it under the nation’s controversial new law.

The result is a stern new challenge for the White House as it struggles to fix website woes for the signup portal for those seeking to enroll under the law, and simultaneously copes with angry consumers who rightly or wrongly blame “Obamacare” for cancellation letters mailed by insurers.

Democratic officials said top administration aides got a close-up view of the cancellation controversy last week, when Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., said at a closed-door meeting of the party’s rank and file that his son had received notice his coverage was being terminated.

In response, these officials said White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough referred to a speech Obama had made earlier in the week saying some of those losing coverage would qualify under Medicaid, some would receive federal subsidies for individual coverage, and others would have options in the so-called exchanges the law set up to allow individuals to shop for insurance. Donnelly’s office declined several requests for comment. The officials who described the incident did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss a private meeting.”

At least this kid can complain to one of the people who is actually responsible for it. And I hope he does. Often. Like every day.

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We’ve been hearing that the folks getting cancellation notices are only suffering because they have sucky plans. Pres. Obama says it will be about 5% of policyholders. This expert says it will be much, much worse than that. Try 68%.

From TheDailyCaller  “If Obamacare is fully implemented, 68 percent of Americans with private  health insurance will not be able to keep their plan, according to health care  economist Christopher Conover.

Conover is a research scholar in the Center for Health Policy &  Inequalities Research at Duke University and an adjunct scholar at the American  Enterprise Institute. In an interview with The Daily Caller, he laid out what he  estimates the consequences of Obamacare’s implementation will ultimately be.

“Bottom line: of the 189 million Americans with private health insurance  coverage, I estimate that if Obamacare is fully implemented, at least 129  million (68 percent) will not be able to keep their previous health care plan  either because they already have lost or will lose that coverage by the end of  2014,” he said in an email. ”But of these, ‘only’ the 18 to 50 million will  literally lose coverage, i.e., have their plans entirely taken away. This  includes 9.2-15.4 million in the non-group market and 9-35 million in the  employer-based market. The rest will retain their old plans but have to pay  higher rates for  Obamacare-mandated bells and whistles.”

Looks like somebody’s pants are on fire again.

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11 thoughts on “News/Politics 11-5-13”

  1. On the bright side: The passage of Obamacare and all the disasters that followed may prevent the Democrats from communizing anything else during his administration. The result is that a sector of the economy that was already largely communized was made worse, but Obama was neutered by that “victory”. One could argue that the eight years of Little Bush (with Medicare D, No Child Left Behind, the Iraq disaster and runaway spending) was even worse for conservatives than Obama has been. However, that is before Obama’s judges start their work. Those radical leftists will be with us for decades.

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  2. It is liberal logic to mess up the lives of 189 million (not counting all who have had their rates go up or their hours cut) for the sake of 48 million. Don’t he teach math at Brown.

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  3. I read where a Democratic Senator’s Son from Indiana lost his health care plan due to the Affordable Health Care Act. Oh to be a fly on the wall this Holiday Season in that house. 🙂

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  4. Everything on the news last night was about Obamacare. The Brotherhood is at work and the rest of the world is falling apart and we’re concerned with Obamacare.
    It is, of course, a disaster, but it looks as if Obama will get away with it.
    As someone said, Obama has the Senate, he has the veto pen, it is his baby until 17 January 2017 and there’s nothing anyone else can do.

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  6. It’ll be interesting to see if the administration tries to hit (another, longer) ‘pause’ button on all of this — next year it’ll be the employer health plans that’ll be targeted and could start falling by the wayside, which will cause a much bigger uproar.

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  9. Obama had great success with the Affordable Care Act, so I have persuaded him to support the Affordable Car Act. Millions of Americans will be forced to ditch their cars and buy more expensive cars approved by Obama. Anyone who doesn’t buy a car will be fined. Importantly, all revenue raised will go to buy free cars for persons with the initials BHO or RBW. Mr. President, Make my new Corvette a red one with a standard transmission.

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  10. Wow. Check out Peggy Noonan’s blog:

    http://blogs.wsj.com/peggynoonan/2013/11/04/obamas-catastrophic-victory/

    “Maybe they could even call in some people from the White House and Congress, the ones who helped write and interpret this famous law that you had to pass before you could know what was in it, and ask: ‘Did you ever meet a normal human? Did you understand what you were doing when you produced this thing?’

    “Maybe they could even ask the president: ‘In your entire life, from community organizer to lawyer to politician, did you ever buy an insurance policy? Were you always on your wife’s plan, or immediately put on a plush government plan? Did you ever have to do anything like what you’re telling the people of your country to do?'”

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