news

by

News/Politics 2-14-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Today, some good news for a change.

1. There’s nothing like a Mother’s love. 🙂

You may need to log in to Facebook to read it all. What a nice outpouring from the public for this youngster as well.

From Facebook  “I am Colin’s mom, I created this page for my amazing, wonderful, challenging son who is about to turn 11 on March 9th. Because of Colin’s disabilities, social skills are not easy for him, and he often acts out in school, and the other kids don’t like him. So when I asked him if he wanted a party for his birthday, he said there wasn’t a point because he has no friends. He eats lunch alone in the office everyday because no one will let him sit with them, and rather than force someone to be unhappy with his presence, he sits alone in the office. So I thought, if I could create a page where people could send him positive thoughts and encouraging words, that would be better than any birthday party. Please join me in making my very original son feel special on his day.”

________________________________________

2. 13 reasons why your pet is the best Valentine you could ever hope for.

From TheHuffPost  “Valentine’s Day is fast approaching … you know, that special day when Americans are expected to go buy their loved ones everything they can find at their local CVS: cards, chocolate and stuffed animals.

But what if your “special someone” in your life is actually not a human? More specifically, your pet. You’re fine with telling your significant other that he or she is your Valentine, but you know, deep down in your heart, your furry (or not so furry) sidekick takes first place. We understand — humans are so overrated. That’s why we have highlighted 13 reasons your pet is your actual one true love forever and ever.”

My favorite? Number 2. If you’re dog slobbers, it’s cute. We humans can’t get away with that. 🙂

________________________________________

3. Folks typically don’t look to competitors in time of need. But sometimes help comes from people you wouldn’t usually expect it from.

From MyNorthWest  “Chief Bob Vellias with South Pierce Fire and Rescue was among the first to arrive that day and said the silo was too unstable for his crew to save 44-year-old Steve Green, whose body was recovered more than two days later.”

“As an employer, especially a family business, it’s the worst thing you could ever imagine happening,” said Andy Wilcox. “The fact that we weren’t able to find Steve for two days was really tough.” While the Wilcox brothers said it was their first priority, rescue efforts at the feed mill were a small part of what the farm was faced with after the collapse.”

“The loss of life is your number one concern, but the next priority is, ‘How do we feed our chickens?'” said Brent Wilcox, who knew that without feed, the chickens could fall ill and starve to death in a matter of days.”

“Immediately, we had 800,000 hens that need food. A third of those need food within a day,” Andy Wilcox said. “We called up what is typically our competitors and said, ‘Hey, we’re in a terrible situation here.'”

Within 24 hours of the collapse, competitors were shipping truckloads of feed to Roy. National in Everett, Steibrs in Yelm, and Briarwood in Rochester were among those who pitched in to help.”

________________________________________

4. A display of sportsmanship, and paying it forward.

From GlobalNews  “In true Olympic spirit, Canada’s head cross-country ski coach Justin Wadsworth rushed to help a Russian skier after the athlete crashed in the semi-final of the men’s freestyle sprint and broke one of his skis.

Cross-country skier Anton Gafarov tumbled on the course for the third time Tuesday as he was heading down the hill toward the finish line. With a new ski in hand, Wadsworth rushed toward the struggling athlete and fixed the new ski to Gafarov’s ski boot.”

“During the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino the director of cross-country skiing in Norway, Bjornar Hakensmoen, assisted Canadian cross-country skier Sara Renner when her pole broke during the third lap of a six lap relay. Hakensmoen gave Renner his pole and the Canadians came in a close second behind Sweden (Norway came in fourth).”

________________________________________

5. A pharmacist who goes above and beyond for his customers.

From MyNews13  ” The calls for help come in constantly. On the line are usually working people with insurance who have been diagnosed with a serious illness.

“And when they go to fill their medication they find that their copay, their responsibility is in the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, on a monthly basis and there’s not a lot of people out there that can afford that,” said Jeff Spafford.”

“In 2009, Spafford and business partner Edward Hensley founded The Assistance Fund with the goal of making access to medicine for all a reality. To date, they’ve helped more than 19,000 people nationwide.
 
“We really see that as our role, as being their advocates and helping them navigate, helping them get access, so we work very closely with the pharmacies. We work with their physicians. We work with their health care insurance providers to sort of bring everyone together in understanding what that patients situation is,” Spafford said.”

To date they’ve raised over a 100 million from corporations, grants, and even drug companies, to help their customers.

________________________________________

by

News/Politics 2-13-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, with a few from me to start off.

1. And he called the Bush admin corrupt for the Katrina response. Looks like he may have been projecting. Here’s a running report on Mayor Ray Nagin’s 20 convictions for corruption and tax evasion.

From NOLA.com  “Ray Nagin has been found guilty on 20 of 21 corruption charges. Here’s our early take on the conviction.“

” Tania Tetlow, a former federal prosecutor who is now a Tulane law professor, said Nagin’s decision to take the stand might add years to his sentence.

Federal sentencing guidelines allow Judge Berrigan to penalize Nagin if she believes he lied under oath. She can assess the extra time without prosecutors bringing a formal charge of perjury against the former mayor. It won’t be clear just how much the potential penalty would impact his sentence until after a pre-sentencing report has been conducted.

That report will fill in variables in the federal sentencing guidelines, a complex calculus that takes into account not only the charges, but the facts in the case. For example, part of the calculus depends on how much Nagins bribery scheme cost the city of New Orleans. The contractors accused of bribing him benefited from millions of dollars in city work, so there’s a lot of  potential for stiff penalties.”

_________________________________________

2. I’m not a Redskin’s fan, but I sure like their response to this liberal whiner.

From FoxNews  “As the former Chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Senator Cantwell should be aware that there are many challenges facing Native Americans, including an extremely cold winter with high energy bills, high unemployment, life threatening health problems, inadequate education and many other issues more pressing than the name of a football team which has received strong support from Native Americans.

If the Senator wants us to change our team name, has she already told that to the team named ‘Redskins’ in Wellpinit, Wash., where the school’s population is more than 90 percent Native American?  We hope Senator Cantwell has visited with those students in order to hear their thoughts. We hope Senator Cantwell is aware how upset the students in Port Townsend were when they were forced to change their name.

In an ESPN report on Sept. 18, 2013, Tim Ames, the superintendent of Wellpinit schools stated, ‘I’ve talked to our students, our parents and our community about this and nobody finds any offense at all in it. Redskins is not an insult to our kids. ‘Wagon burners’ is an insult. ‘Prairie n—–s’ is an insult. Those are very upsetting to our kids. But ‘Redskins’ is an honorable name we wear with pride… In fact, I’d like to see somebody come up here and try to change it.’

Finally, why did Senator Cantwell send her letter to the New York Times before she had the courtesy of sending it to the NFL?  No one other than a politician does that. Surely, with all the issues Congress is supposed to work on such as the economy, jobs, war and health care, the Senator must have more important things to do.”

She does, but those things would require really work and solutions. She has none of those and she is unqualified for leadership. So she panders to her base instead of tackling the hard issues and real work.

________________________________________

3. This is not shocking. Say it with me now…..

Most transparent administration EVAH! 🙄

From TheWashingtonTimes  “The Obama administration’s handling of whistleblower Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency leaks and the investigation of a string of leaks produced a plunge in the country’s rating on press freedoms and government openness, according to a global survey released Tuesday.

The U.S. under President Obama, who once promised to run the “most transparent” administration in the country’s history, fell from 32nd to 46th in the 2014 World Press Freedom Index, a drop of 13 slots. The index, compiled by the press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, analyzes 180 countries on criteria such as official abuse, media independence and infrastructure to determine how free journalists are to report.

Officials of the group said press freedoms were under attack around the world as governments grow increasingly sophisticated in collecting sensitive data and in tracking down those who leak it.”

________________________________________

4. Also not shocking. This should put to bed the liberal meme that leftist groups were targeted too.

From TheWallStJournal  “On Tuesday, House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R., Mich.) said his committee’s continuing investigation has found that the IRS also singled out established conservative tax-exempt groups for audits.

“We now know that the IRS targeted not only right-leaning applicants, but also right-leaning groups that were already operating as 501(c)(4)s,” Mr. Camp said in a statement. “At Washington, DC’s direction, dozens of groups operating as 501(c)(4)s were flagged for IRS surveillance, including monitoring of the groups’ activities, websites and any other publicly available information. Of these groups, 83% were right-leaning. And of the groups the IRS selected for audit, 100% were right-leaning.”

________________________________________

by

News/Politics 2-12-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. First up today, a sad story, made worse because a state refuses to acknowledge the personhood of a child less than 1 month from birth. This grieving mother is trying to do something about that.

From NBCNews  “Heather Surovik was eight months pregnant when a drunk driver smacked into her car on a summer afternoon on the outskirts of Denver. A 27-year-old preschool teacher at the time, she was expecting to give birth within days, in July 2012, to a boy she called Brady. “I survived,” she said. “Brady did not.” To Surovik, that was a homicide. But not according to Colorado law. “I was told that because my son did not take a breath, he was not considered a person,” she said. “He was considered part of my injuries—a loss of a pregnancy.” In her case, a repeat drunk driver named Gary Sheats pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and vehicular assault. “

“Her experience is at the heart of a heated debate that will bring Colorado voters to the polls this November to decide on a measure known as the Brady Amendment, which would change the criminal code to redefine “person” and “child” to include “unborn children.” The measure made the state ballot after activists collected enough signatures to put it there.

Also called Amendment 67, the measure is backed by “personhood” proponents, who believe life begins when egg meets sperm. These activists are busy pushing for laws around the country that would define human embryos as full-fledged people with legal rights, thereby banning abortion. Personhood measures have made the state ballot twice before in Colorado, led by the efforts of a Denver-based nonprofit called Personhood USA, but did not pass.

Surovik says that for her, this law is personal. “There were two victims here,” she said. “My son wasn’t a loss of a pregnancy—he was a person, an eight-pound boy.” She said the law is a bid for justice for “both the mother and unborn child.””

The usual suspects are of course against the measure. Click the text to read the whole thing.

_________________________________________

2. This is why prosecuting Gitmo detainees in the US is a bad idea. If you fail to convict, you’re stuck with ’em.

From Politico  “The failed prosecution of an alleged Somali pirate — and the fact that that failure could leave him living freely, and permanently, inside U.S. borders — is highlighting anew the risks of trying terror suspects in American courts.

Just a few weeks ago, Ali Mohamed Ali was facing the possibility of a mandatory life sentence in a 2008 shipjacking off the coast of Yemen — an incident much like the one dramatized in the film “Captain Phillips.” Now, the Somali native is in immigration detention in Virginia and seeking permanent asylum in the United States.”

“Ali, who was accused of piracy for acting as a translator and negotiator for a crew of pirates, was partially acquitted by a jury in November after a trial in Washington. Prosecutors initially vowed a retrial but decided last month to drop the rest of the case against him.

That’s just the kind of situation that opponents of U.S. criminal trials for Al Qaeda suspects caught abroad have long feared: The government falls short at trial — and the courts eventually order an accused terror figure freed to live legally among Americans.”

_________________________________________

3. The GOP is continuing to strong-arm donors and threatening those who back Tea Party/conservative type candidates. RINO’s don’t like tea I guess.

From Mediaite  “In an effort to head off “new Todd Akins” in the GOP primary field, the Republican Party is starting to put pressure on conservative donors to choose more establishment, competitive candidates, the New York Times reported Monday.

“I’ve been told by a number of donors to our ‘super PAC’ that they’ve received calls from senior Republican senators,” said FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe, who characterized the message thusly: “’I can’t give to you because I’ve been told I won’t have access to Republican leadership.’ So they’re playing hardball.”

“Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) got the National Republican Senatorial Committee to drop a major advertising firm over its work for the Senate Conservatives Fund, which targets incumbent Republicans. SCF executive director Matt Hoskins said his employees have felt pressure to leave the group or be blacklisted.

“[McConnell’s] essentially joined the I.R.S. in targeting conservative groups,” Hoskins said. “It’s all meant to intimidate.”

🙄

They seem intent on fighting a civil war. It will cost them a very winnable election cycle. They’re a Democrat’s best friend.

_________________________________________

4. Without a fight.

From Reuters  “The House of Representatives narrowly approved a one-year extension of federal borrowing authority on Tuesday after Republicans caved into President Barack Obama’s demands to allow a debt limit increase without any conditions.

The 221-201 vote, carried mainly by Democrats, marked a dramatic shift from the confrontational fiscal tactics House Republicans have used over the past three years, culminating in last October’s 16-day government shutdown.

It came after House Republicans repudiated House Speaker John Boehner’s latest plan to link an increase in the $17.2 trillion borrowing cap to a repeal of planned cuts to military pensions.

_________________________________________

5. Gee, I wonder why? 🙄

From KVUE/ABC  “Attorney General Eric Holder called on a group of states Tuesday to restore voting rights to ex-felons, part of a push to fix what he sees as flaws in the criminal justice system that have a disparate impact on racial minorities.

“It is time to fundamentally rethink laws that permanently disenfranchise people who are no longer under federal or state supervision,” Holder said, targeting 11 states that he said continue to restrict voting rights for former inmates, even after they’ve finished their prison terms.

“Across this country today, an estimated 5.8 million Americans — 5.8 million of our fellow citizens — are prohibited from voting because of current or previous felony convictions,” Holder told a symposium on criminal justice at Georgetown University.”

_________________________________________

6. Another state exchange success story. 🙄

Also from Mediaite   “The Seattle Children’s Hospital is suing Washington state’s insurance commissioner over a “failure to ensure adequate network coverage” in the insurance exchanges established as part of the Affordable Care Act. “We’re seeing denials in care, disruptions in care. We’re seeing a great deal of confusion and, at times, anger and frustration on the part of these families who bought insurance thinking that their children would be covered,” a doctor with the  hospital said. “And, in fact, it’s a false promise.”

_________________________________________

by

News/Politics 2-11-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Here we go again. 🙄

And to my friends in the south and their children I have two words of advice.

Stay Home.

From AccuWeather  “Rounds of snow and ice will severely impact travel and daily routines across the interior South through this week before a major winter storm attempts to take a run at the Northeast.

The same storm that brought record snow to Seattle on Saturday will cause some snow and an icy mix to drop southward to northern Texas and the Tennessee Valley Monday and Monday night.

Initially through Monday night, the ice and snow will not be substantial. However, that does not mean residents and travelers should let their guard down.”

“According to Senior Meteorologist Mark Mancuso, “There is the potential for a major ice storm from northern Georgia to central and upstate South Carolina to central North Carolina Tuesday night and Wednesday.”

We’re expecting up to a foot Wed. night thru Thurs.. Yay. Not.

________________________________________

2. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…..

From FoxNews  “The glitches and other problems with the ObamaCare website that sparked a national firestorm are similar to those military veterans using the federal government’s online benefits system have routinely faced for about the past 18 months.

Eric Jenkins, a veteran and American Federation of Government Employees representative, recently told Congress that during January the Veterans Benefits Management System crashed about once a week with downtimes ranging from one hour to multiple days.

The $537 million system went online in fall 2012 at a Department of Veterans Affairs office in New England and is now in all 56 regional offices.”

_________________________________________

3. A Republican alternative to ObamaCare?

From TheWeeklyStandard  “Obamacare is failing. Faced with this unpleasant reality, President Obama offered up during his State of the Union address his only remaining defense of his eponymous program: There is no alternative. “[M]y Republican friends…if you have specific plans…tell America what you’d do differently….We all owe it to the American people to say what we’re for, not just what we’re against.”

“We accept the challenge. The 2017 Project, with which we’re associated, has developed an alternative to Obama’s 2,700 pages of federal largess. The proposal builds upon prior efforts by conservative policymakers and thinkers, including recent proposals from the House Republican Study Committee (RSC) and a trio of senior GOP senators (Tom Coburn, Richard Burr, and Orrin Hatch). It would solve the three core problems that called out for real reform even before the Democrats passed Obamacare: getting more people insured; dealing with the problem of preexisting conditions; and lowering costs. In providing politically attractive and substantively sound solutions to these three core concerns, it would justify bringing an end to Obamacare, and thus would pave the way for full repeal.

Just as important as what our proposal would do is what it wouldn’t do.  It wouldn’t force anyone to buy insurance. It wouldn’t auto-enroll anyone in any plan. It wouldn’t reduce the tax break for employer-based insurance (aside from closing the tax loophole at the high end). It wouldn’t cost anywhere near the $2 trillion over a decade that Obamacare would cost. It wouldn’t undermine religious liberty. It would allow Americans to keep their current plan if they like it.”

________________________________________

4. Just like the last change, this one is illegal according to their own law.

From CNSNews  “President Barack Obama’s Treasury Department issued a new  regulation  today that for the second time directly violates the plain and unambiguous text of the  Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by allowing some businesses  to avoid the law’s Dec. 31, 2013 deadline to provide health insurance  coverage to their employees.

Initially, on July 2, 2013, the administration unilaterally delayed the deadline for the employer mandate until 2015. Now, the administration is unilaterally delaying it for some businesses until 2016.”

“The final words in the section of PPACA mandating that employers with  more than 50 full-time employees provide their employees with “minimum  essential coverage” imposes a specific statutory deadline for doing so.  It says: “EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by this section shall  apply to months beginning after December 31, 2013.”

” Last summer, the administration unilaterally moved this hard statutory deadline back  one year to 2015 for all employers with more than 50 full-time employees. Now, without any action by Congress, the administration is moving it back again for some employers—despite the plain language of the law.”

It’s good to be the king I guess. Laws don’t apply to you, you just sign them.

________________________________________

5. This is taking N.I.M.B.Y. to whole new levels. 🙂

From USNews  “The National Security Agency’s headquarters in Ft. Meade, Md., will go dark if a cohort of Maryland lawmakers has its way.

Eight Republicans in the 141-member Maryland House of Delegates introduced legislation Thursday that would deny the electronic spy agency “material support, participation or assistance in any form” from the state, its political subdivisions or companies with state contracts.

The bill would deprive NSA facilities water and electricity carried over public utilities, ban the use of NSA-derived evidence in state courts and prevent state universities from partnering with the NSA on research.”

“State or local officials ignoring the NSA sanctions would be fired, local governments refusing to comply would lose state grant funds and companies would be forever barred from state contracts.”

________________________________________

6. An effort to “professionalize”, or to ensure the flow of only approved propaganda, while limiting free speech?

From MarineCorpsTimes  “Marine Corps leaders have ordered the independent Marine Corps Times newspaper removed from its prominent newsstand location at base exchange stores worldwide and placed instead in areas away from checkout lines, where it is harder to find and fewer copies are available.

The move raises troubling questions about motive and closely follows a directive prohibiting commanders from using budget funds to buy Marine Corps Times and a number of other publications.

Marine Corps Times is widely recognized for its comprehensive coverage of the Corps, focusing on everything from career tracks, to pay and benefits, family and spouse issues, and employment after leaving the military.”

“Throughout much of the past year, the paper has published dozens of articles as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations the service’s commandant, Gen. Jim Amos, abused his authority to ensure Marines were punished for an embarrassing war-zone scandal. Numerous reports have captured the attention of mainstream media outlets, including NPR, CNN and Time magazine, among several others.”

Ummmm….. B. Final answer.

________________________________________

7. One of the men responsible for the murder of border agent Brian Terry has been sentenced. The criminals (DoJ, ATF) who supplied the guns to the murderer however still walk free and hold positions of power in D.C..

From MSNNews  “A man convicted in the shooting death of a federal Border Patrol agent during a firefight that revealed the government’s botched gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison.

Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, who is from El Fuerte in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, is the only person to be convicted in the Dec. 14, 2010, shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry near the Arizona-Mexico border.

U.S. District Court judge David C. Bury handed down the sentence, 360 months with credit for time served.”

“Two rifles bought by a gun-smuggling ring that was being monitored in the Fast and Furious investigation were found at the scene of the firefight, though authorities have declined to say whether the murder weapon in Terry’s death was linked to a purchase from the investigation.”

Declined to say…. isn’t a denial that it was one of those weapons. If one wasn’t involved, they’d have been clear that it wasn’t.

________________________________________

by

News/Politics 2-10-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Like at the IRS, the Veterans Admin is rewarding poor performance with bonuses.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Big bonuses paid to top officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs are justified despite rising numbers of patient deaths and a stubborn backlog of disability claims, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a letter released Friday.

Shinseki said VA officials continue to investigate the performance of employees in charge of medical facilities where preventable patient deaths occurred, including one who got a $63,000 bonus and another with a perfect performance evaluation.

“There is a direct correlation between organizational performance and performance ratings at VA,” Shinseki said in his letter to Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. “Results, or lack thereof, for which employees and executives are responsible and accountable, are factors when evaluating performance.”

““I am extremely disappointed with Secretary Shinseki’s attempt to downplay VA’s widespread and systemic lack of accountability,” Miller said. “It’s becoming more apparent by the day that there seems to be just two types of people who think VA is properly holding its leaders accountable: VA executives who have received huge performance bonuses year after year despite failing in their jobs and those who work in VA’s central office.”

________________________________________

2. What does it cost to buy an ambassadorship? And is money raised the only qualification now? Sure seems like it.

So it’s like the healthcare bill, you have to appoint them to see if they can do the job. Her answer to a follow-up is just as lame.

________________________________________

3. Anyone who believes the President will negotiate an immigration overhaul in good faith should keep this in mind. Everything he does is for his political benefit, and nothing more.

From TheDailyCaller  “President Barack Obama’s 2012 unilateral legalization of 500,000 young illegal immigrants helped him win the 2012 election — at the cost of splitting 500,000 innocent, law-abiding American families for months on end, according to a New York Times article.

The ruthless political calculation was buried deep in the low-key article, which was published on page 20 of the local “New York edition” of the national newspaper.

Obama directed officials to award work-permits to the illegal immigrants, preventing them from preparing green cards for Americans’ foreign-born spouses and children.”

“The scandal likely will be cited by advocates of immigration reform to show that Obama places his partisan calculations above his duty to implement the law, and above his inauguration oath, which says “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States.”

He only enforces and implements those he agrees with. On the others, like DOMA and border enforcement, he ignores and neglects his duties.

_________________________________________

by

News/Politics 2-8-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, with a few to start things off.

1. This should be fun to watch. 🙂

From FoxNews  “A conservative activist targeted by the IRS and other agencies claimed Thursday that Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings also tried to intimidate her, filing a formal complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics alleging an “abuse of power.” 

Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote and the King Street Patriots, aired the allegations during a hearing hosted by the committee on which Cummings sits. An attorney working with her also questioned whether Cummings might have encouraged the IRS and other agencies to target her groups.”

“Congressman Cummings on three separate occasions sent letters on letterhead from this committee, stating that he had concerns and felt it necessary to open an investigation on True the Vote,” Engelbrecht said during the hearing, where she and other witnesses were otherwise testifying on IRS targeting. 

She also said that after she applied for tax-exempt status, “an assortment of federal entities including law enforcement agencies, and Congressman Cummings came knocking at my door.” 

________________________________________

2. Here’s why the delayed the employer mandate until after November. Once this hits, they’re toast.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Adding to a devastating CBO report of how Obamacare could damage the economy, a Duke University survey of top companies found that 44 percent are considering reducing health benefits to current employees due to Obamacare, confirming the fears of millions of American workers.

In its December survey of chief financial officers around the country, Duke also found that nearly half are “reluctant to hire full-time employers because of the Affordable Care Act.”

And 40 percent are considering shifting to part-time workers and others will hire fewer workers of fire some to avoid the costs of the program.

What’s more, they said in the study, “One in five firms indicates they are likely to hire fewer employees, and another one in 10 may lay off current employees in response to the law.”

________________________________________

3. Trey Gowdy is pointing out the obvious flaws in the White House’s latest talking points regarding the IRS scandal.

________________________________________

by

News/Politics 2-7-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Yesterday was the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC. I’m sorry, but I just can’t help but shake my head and say “WHAT!!?” to some of the President’s remarks. We’ll start with this one. How does a man who supports abortion so vehemently have the gall to make such a statement? Is he so used to yes men that he thinks no one will point out his record on the matter? Can he be so tone-deaf as to not see his own hypocrisy?

From CNSNews “At the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on Thursday,  President Barack Obama said that “killing the innocent” is the “ultimate  betrayal of God’s will.”

But the president was talking about terrorism, not abortion:

“Extremists  succumb to an ignorant nihilism that shows they don’t understand the  faiths they claim to profess, for killing the innocent is never  fulfilling God’s will. In fact, it is the ultimate betrayal of God’s  will,” Obama said.”

You sure don’t understand it Mr. President, because your own extremism and nihilism get in the way.

_________________________________________

2. Here’s the second “WHAT!!?” moment. Freedom of religion, except on the matter of contraceptives right Mr. President? And again, the dignity of every human being, except the unborn. We know they’re not covered by his statement.

From RealClearPolitics  “PRESIDENT OBAMA: Today we profess the principles we know to be true. We believe that each of us is wonderfully made in the image of God. We, therefore, believe in the inherent dignity of every human being. Dignity that no earthly power can take away. And central to that dignity is freedom of religion. A right of every person to practice their faith how they choose, to change their faith if they choose, or to practice no faith at all. And to do this free from persecution and fear.”

“History shows that nations that uphold the rights of their people, including the freedom of religion are ultimately more just and more peaceful and more successful. Nations that do not uphold these rights sow the bitter seeds of instability and violence and extremists. So freedom of religion matters to our national security.”

Empty platitudes Mr. President. Your actions prove your words false.

_________________________________________

3. The taxpayers are about to get hammered again. Billions in taxpayer dollars will be paid to insurance companies to make up for the rollout debacle.

From Forbes  “There’s been a lot of discussion about whether the risk adjustment tools embedded in ObamaCare amount to a bailout for the insurance companies, or are a reasonable feature of the law. There’s been far less information about how much money the insurers stand to gain from these measures, to offset their expected losses.

Now we have some hard numbers. Humana announced that it expects to tap the three risk adjustment mechanisms in ObamaCare for between $250 and $450 million in 2014. This amounts to about 25 percent of the insurer’s expected exchange revenue. This money is needed to offset losses that the insurer will take as a result of slower enrollment in its ObamaCare plans, and a skewed risk pool that weighs more heavily toward older and less healthy members than it originally budgeted.

More than half of the money will come from the $25 billion reinsurance pool that ObamaCare provides (collected through a tax on employer-sponsored health plans). The other half will come mostly from the risk corridors. Humana is expected to book the money as revenue to offset shortfalls between what it collects in exchange premiums and pays out in medical claims.

The company blamed the Obama Administration’s decision late last year to extend grandfathering of individual market plans for the overall deterioration in the risk pool. That means that Humana (like other insurers) was counting on people from the individual market being forced to transition into ObamaCare plans. It’s widely perceived that the Obama Administration counted on that migration as well. But Humana’s statement was a very clear expression of this expectation.”

________________________________________

4. Do you smell that? Smells like desperation, doesn’t it? Pad the numbers, and still bill the taxpayers. State govts are off the hook, and we add it to the federal debt and Medicaid bill.

From Bloomberg  “Being arrested in Chicago for, say, drug possession or assault gets you sent to the Cook County Jail to be fingerprinted, photographed and X-rayed. You’ll also get help applying for health insurance.

At least six states and counties from Maryland to Oregon’s Multnomah are getting inmates coverage under Obamacare and its expansion of Medicaid, the federal and state health-care program for the poor. The fledgling movement would shift to the federal government some of the more than $6.5 billion in annual state costs for treating prisoners. Proponents say it also will make recidivism rarer, because inmates released with coverage are more likely to get treatment for mental illness, substance abuse and other conditions that can lead them to crime.”

________________________________________

5. The widow of a fallen police officer is being blocked from testifying on an Obama DoJ nominee.

From FoxNews  “The Philadelphia district attorney is speaking out against President Obama’s nominee for a top Justice Department post, saying his link to the case of a convicted cop killer “sends a message of contempt” to police — as the widow of the fallen officer is apparently denied the chance to testify. 

Maureen Faulkner, whose husband Daniel Faulkner was killed in 1981, was hoping to speak publicly on the case before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which plans to vote Thursday on the nomination of Debo Adegbile to lead the Civil Rights Division. 

But she told FoxNews.com she’s “extremely frustrated” after being told by representatives of Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that she won’t be able to do so.”

“Faulkner, in seeking to testify, claimed Adegbile “personally took on” the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal while working with the NAACP to overturn Abu-Jamal’s death penalty. Abu-Jamal was convicted in the 1981 killing of Daniel Faulkner.”

________________________________________

6. This one? Good. I can name a few more that should get similar treatment.

From TalkRadioNewsService  “Dave Brat is challenging Rep. Eric Cantor in a Republican primary — and giving the House majority leader a verbal thrashing on immigration.

“Cantor is following the agenda of the Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce — pursuing policies that are good for big business, but come at the exclusion of the American people,” said Brat, an economics professor at Randolph-Macon College.”

“Brat asserts that Cantor has lost his way on Capitol Hill after seven terms in office. Once considered a reliable conservative, Cantor, along with other Republican leaders, appears more interested in seeking cooperation with Democrats while courting Hispanic votes this election year.”

________________________________________

by

News/Politics 2-6-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The hits from the CBO just keep on comin’.

From TheWeeklyStandard  “Remember back when the Democrats tried to sell Obamacare to a skeptical citizenry as health care “reform” that would cost “only” $848 billion—far less than a trillion—over a decade?  Indeed, that was the alleged 10-year gross cost of Obamacare’s coverage provisions, according to the Congressional Budget Office (see Table 3), when Harry Reid, Mark Pryor, Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu, Al Franken, Mark Udall, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Begich, Mark Warner, and the rest of the Democrats rammed President Obama’s signature legislation through the Senate on Christmas Eve without a single Republican vote.  That 12-digit price-tag was widely cited by the New York Times and other sympathetic outlets, who treated it as gospel, even as conservatives observed that it was clearly a sham number.

 Well, now the CBO is out with a new report on Obamacare’s costs, and—sure enough—its 10-year price-tag now eclipses $2 trillion.  To be more exact, the CBO now projects (see Table B-1) that the 10-year gross cost of Obamacare’s coverage provisions will be a cool $2,004,000,000,000.00.

________________________________________

2. What?!

Shockingly it appears that giving people free stuff creates a disincentive for people to work.

Huh. That’s not what the President says.

From CNSNews  “The subsidies that help low-income people buy expensive health  insurance are a ‘disincentive for people to work,” Douglas Elmendorf,  director of the Congressional Budget Office, told Congress on Wednesday.

“What  the Affordable Care Act does, is to provide subsidies focused on lower-  and lower-middle-income people to buy health insurance. And in order to  encourage a sufficient number of people to buy an expensive product  like health  insurance, the subsidies are fairly large in dollar terms.  Those subsidies are then withdrawn over time — withdrawn from people as  their income rises.

“And by providing heavily subsidized health  insurance to people with very low income, and then withdrawing those  subsidies as income rises, the (Affordable Care) Act creates a  disincentive for people to work, relative to what would have been the  case in the absence of that Act,” Elmendorf told the House Budget  Committee.

He added that the subsidies “make those lower-income people better off…but they do have less of an incentive to work.”

________________________________________

3. Meanwhile enrollees are continuing to hit snags at the doctor’s office.

From TheLATimes  “A month into the most sweeping changes to healthcare in half a century, people are having trouble finding doctors at all, getting faulty information on which ones are covered and receiving little help from insurers swamped by new business.

Experts have warned for months that the logjam was inevitable. But the extent of the problems is taking by surprise many patients — and even doctors — as frustrations mount.”

“To hold down premiums under the healthcare law, major insurers have sharply cut the number of doctors and hospitals available to patients in the state’s new health insurance market.

Now those limited options are becoming clearer, and California officials say they are receiving more consumer complaints about access to medical providers. State lawmakers are also moving swiftly to ease some of the problems that have arisen.”

________________________________________

4. Another unhappy customer.

From TheNYPost  “ObamaCare was supposed to help me. That’s all I could think as I sat in the House of Representatives last Tuesday night as the guest of my congresswoman, only a few hundred feet away from President Obama as he gave his State of the Union address. Four years ago, I’d have been there cheering for ObamaCare’s passage. But the real ObamaCare has made my life a nightmare.”

“My plan was canceled last fall. According to the regulators behind ObamaCare, it was a subpar plan that should no longer be sold to consumers. Another 16,000 Tennesseans on the same plan were similarly dumped. Many, like me, liked their plans and wanted to keep them.

This wasn’t my insurer’s fault at all. CoverTN actually fought for me to keep my health care. After I received my cancellation notice, the folks at CoverTN requested that the federal government give them a waiver, which would let them grandfather my plan into ObamaCare. Their request was rejected.”

“For me, the impact of ObamaCare is a health plan that is both unaffordable and uncaring. For a law named “The Affordable Care Act,” this is both backward and perverse.”

$6,000 more a year, less benefits, less choices, and she lost her doctor. Also note that the “evil” insurance company went to bat for her to keep her lower priced plan, yet it was the govt that denied her.

________________________________________

5. Just a reminder to voters in states with Democrat Senators up for re-election. It’s time to make them pay at the polls. Vote them out.

From RollCall  “Every vulnerable Senate Democrat up for re-election in 2014 voted with President Barack Obama at least 90 percent of the time in 2013, according to CQ Roll Call’s latest vote studies, released Monday.

Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor broke with the president most often, opposing him in 10 percent of all 2013 votes where the administration stated a preferred outcome. Sens. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, Mary Landrieu, D-La. and Kay Hagan, D-N.C., voted for Obama’s position 97, 97, and 96 percent of the time, respectively. Of those four, only Begich serves with a Republican who has bucked the GOP to back Obama with any frequency. (See our Jan. 21 story.)

Support for Obama’s initiatives from incumbent Democrats who are favored but not safe was just as high if not higher than from vulnerable members: Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Mark Warner of Virginia supported the president in 99 and 97 percent of votes.

On the flip side, Republican senators who are wary of primary challengers from the right opposed Obama so often that the president’s support from GOP senators in 2013 — 40 percent — was the lowest of his five years in office. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., opposed Obama 67 percent of the time. Sens. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, opposed the Obama position on 66, 50, 48 and 66 percent of votes respectively.”

_________________________________________

6. The President and his minions tried to keep their harassment of Tea Party groups hidden from the public.

From CNSNews  “Mich.). In a hearing on the IRS-Tea Party scandal on Wednesday, Chairman Camp questioned IRS Commissioner John Koskinen about the Treasury Department apparently crafting rules to limit the ability of conservative and Tea Party groups to get 501(c)4 exemptions to engage in public debate.”

“In his questioning of Koskinen, Camp also noted that e-mails showed that IRS officials in Cinncinati, Ohio first started flagging Tea Party applications in February 2010 because of “media attention” and apparently not because there was any confusion over the application rules for a 501(c)3 or (c)4 group.

In an e-mail from Feb. 25, 2010 from Cincinnati IRS official Jack Koester to his boss, Screening Group Manager John Shafer, Koester says, “John, Here is the case number for the ‘Tea Party’ application for 501c(4) exemption that we discussed this morning. Recent media attaention to this type of organization indicates to me that this is a ‘high profile case’.”  Then part of the e-mail is blacked out, redacted.”

________________________________________

7. The CBO is also warning that the plummeting workforce participation rate will have an adverse effect on the economy for a long time. This is Obama’s economic legacy. Like the rest, a failure of leadership.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “When Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf appeared before the House Budget Committee on Wednesday, there were plenty of lawmakers, Republican and Democrat, who wanted to make points about Obamacare. Republicans stressed the CBO’s finding that Obamacare will create such a sharp disincentive to work that Americans will stop working to the tune of 2.5 million full-time jobs. Democrats tried to cast doubt on the number or, alternately, to suggest that Americans leaving the work force because they no longer need a job to secure health coverage would be a good thing.

The points had been pretty much exhausted by the time Republican Rep. Diane Black got her turn to address Elmendorf. Her question was straightforward: “What effect [will] the reduced labor force participation have on the economy?”

“Elmendorf’s answer was simple, short, and devastating. “It is the central factor in slowing economic growth,” he said. “After we get out of this current downturn, but later in this decade and beyond, the principal reason why we think the economic growth will be less than it was for most of my lifetime will be a slower rate of growth by the labor force.”

He used it for political gain to fraudulently lower his unemployment numbers, but the economy will suffer long term because of it.

_____________________________________

by

News/Politics 2-5-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The scariest part of this is that the CBO tends to under-estimate.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Obamacare will push the equivalent of about 2 million workers out of the labor market by 2017 as employees decide either to work fewer hours or drop out altogether, according to the latest estimates Tuesday from the Congressional Budget Office.

That’s a major jump in the nonpartisan budget agency’s projections and it suggests the health care law’s incentives are driving businesses and people to choose government-sponsored benefits rather than work.

“CBO estimates that the ACA will reduce the total number of hours worked, on net, by about 1.5 to 2 percent during the period from 2017 to 2024, almost entirely because workers will choose to supply less labor — given the new taxes and other incentives they will face and the financial benefits some will receive,” CBO analysts wrote in their new economic outlook.”

And just as a reminder, this isn’t what they said would happen. In fact, quite the opposite. I’ll let Nancy remind you what was promised. She said it would create 4 million jobs, 400,000 of them immediately. Yet another ObamaCare lie.

Yeah, accountability for insurance companies, but not you, right Nancy?

_________________________________________

2. The White House and Harry Reid are calling this news a success, because even though they’ll lose their jobs, as a consolation prize they’ll still be able to take their policy with them.

If they can afford it, which will be tough with no job. 🙄

From Mediaite “A Congressional Budget Office report indicating that more than two million Americans will voluntarily leave America’s already reduced workforce because of the options provided in the Affordable Care Act exploded like the bombshell it was on Tuesday.

The White House already has its hands full as the attempt to mollify the concerns of nervous Democrats heading into the 2014 midterm election cycle. Now, Democrats can add the White House’s reaction to this CBO report to their list of gripes as they head into political strategy sessions with President Barack Obama.”

“On Tuesday, the White House called the report misleading and inaccurate, but they also took the odd step of praising the disincentives contained within the ACA to leave the labor market.

Lisa Desjardins reported that the CBO report indicates that more workers will choose to leave the labor market because they no longer have to depend on their employer to provide them with health insurance. She noted that the White House pushed back on that report by claiming that Americans taking advantage of the opportunity to abandon the workforce was a welcome development.”

That’s some serious spin there. Wow.

_________________________________________

3. Oh look, ObamaCare fraud. That didn’t take long. One govt. agency defrauding another.

From KATUNews  “You already know the process that led to the failed rollout of the Cover Oregon website was bad. But was it criminally bad?

Former Republican state Rep. Patrick Sheehan told the KATU Investigators he has gone to the FBI with allegations that Cover Oregon project managers initiated the design of dummy web pages to convince the federal government the project was further along than it actually was.

If Sheehan’s allegations are true, those managers could face time in jail for fraud.

“One of the allegations that was made was so alarming that it went way beyond a legislative oversight committee and so I did reach out and contact the FBI,” Sheehan said.”

Well if they’re going to jail for overstating the readiness of the state exchange, shouldn’t Sebelius, Obama, and Dems for the same type of thing on the federal level? 🙂

_________________________________________

4. Is this one an insult to women? They must think very little of you if they believe puppies and kitties is what it will take to get you to sign up for ObamaCare.

From FoxNews  “Enroll America, the advocacy group leading efforts to enroll Americans in ObamaCare, is launching a multi-million dollar advertising campaign featuring cats, dogs, birds and other pets in a bid to convince young women to sign up for health coverage, USA Today reported.

With less than two months to go before the March 31 deadline to apply for coverage under ObamaCare, Enroll America officials tell the newspaper 81 percent of the public is unaware of the deadline and 69 percent don’t know that financial aid is available to those earning less than 400 percent of the poverty level.

Enroll America President Anne Filipic told USA Today the pet-themed ads are designed to “help break through the clutter.” She cited statistics showing that more than 60 percent of American homes have a pet and that most female pet owners would risk their lives for their pets. “

Here’s the video from  ACORN Enroll America.

Everybody now!!!!

Enroll Today! 🙄

_________________________________________

5. How do you reward the IRS for targeting your political enemies? Like this.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Citing the need to boost employee morale, the Internal Revenue Service’s new commissioner said Monday that he will pay out millions of dollars in bonuses to agency employees, reversing a decision his predecessor made to save money amid the sequester budget cuts and other belt-tightening last year.

The agency remains under fire for targeting tea party groups, but Commissioner John Koskinen said the bonuses are needed to retain and attract good employees in a time of cutbacks.

“This is money best spent on our existing employees,” he said in an email to agency employees. “The performance award payouts are in recognition of that great work done in very trying circumstances. I firmly believe that this investment in our employees will directly benefit taxpayers and the tax system.”

Yep. Great work. Especially the Cincinnati office.

_________________________________________

6. Everyone already knows the Benghazi talking points were altered to benefit Obama’s re-election campaign. Now it looks like we know who altered them.

_________________________________________

by

News/Politics 2-4-14

What’s interesting in the news?

We’ve been busy digging out, so I’m behind on the news. This will be an open thread. You folks can catch me up.

I did see a couple that was caught my eye though.

1. From TheFreeBeacon  “U.S. intelligence agencies last week urged the Obama administration to check its new healthcare network for malicious software after learning that developers linked to the Belarus government helped produce the website, raising fresh concerns that private data posted by millions of Americans will be compromised.

The intelligence agencies notified the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency in charge of the Healthcare.gov network, about their concerns last week. Specifically, officials warned that programmers in Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with Russia, were suspected of inserting malicious code that could be used for cyber attacks, according to U.S. officials familiar with the concerns.

The software links the millions of Americans who signed up for Obamacare to the federal government and more than 300 medical institutions and healthcare providers.

“The U.S. Affordable Care Act software was written in part in Belarus by software developers under state control, and that makes the software a potential target for cyber attacks,” one official said.”

________________________________________

2. From TheWashingtonTimes  “Congress‘ mammoth farm bill restores the imposition of an extra fee on home heating oil, hitting consumers in cold-weather states just as utility costs are spiking.

The fee — two-tenths of a cent on every gallon sold — was tacked on to the end of the 959-page bill, which is winding its way through Capitol Hill. The fee would last for nearly 20 years and would siphon the money to develop equipment that is cheaper, more efficient and safer, and to encourage consumers to update their equipment.

It’s just one of dozens of provisions tucked into the farm bill, which cleared the House on a bipartisan 251-166 vote last week and faces a key filibuster test in the Senate on Monday. It is expected to survive and face final passage Tuesday before heading to President Obama’s desk.

Taxpayer groups say the bill could increase spending over the previous version and that it’s crammed with favors for individual lawmakers, such as rules legalizing industrial hemp. The heating oil fee was backed by Northeast lawmakers who said it would fund important research to benefit consumers.”

Let me fix that since accuracy matters. Northeastern fossil fuel hatin’ liberal lawmakers.

________________________________________