politics

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News/Politics 1-8-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. President Obama is taking heat from the nation’s largest police union over his selection for Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the DoJ. And rightfully so.

From JudicialWatch  “Obama’s nominee to be Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Debo Adegbile, spent more than a decade in various leadership positions—including director—at the Legal Defense and Education Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During Adegbile’s leadership the NAACP volunteered its services to represent Mumia Abu-Jamal, a member of the Black Panthers who murdered a police officer (Daniel Faulkner) in Philadelphia three decades ago.

Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death by the jury that convicted him in 1982 and his supporters—including the man who could soon be an Assistant Attorney General—have long claimed that he was the victim of a racist legal system. Nevertheless, Abu-Jamal has lost multiple appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court has twice rejected his case. In 2012, under the leadership of Adegbile, the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund represented Abu-Jamal in his latest appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The cop murderer lost that one too, but the fact remains that Adegbile continues fighting on his behalf.

Understandably, this is upsetting to hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers represented by the National Fraternal Order of Police. In a hard-hitting letter to President Obama, the group expresses “extreme disappointment, displeasure and vehement opposition” to Adegbile’s nomination. “As word of this nomination spreads through the law enforcement community, reactions range from anger to incredulity,” the letter says, reminding that there is no disputing that Officer Faulkner was murdered by the “thug” who Adegbile continues defending.”

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2. He’s also taking some harsh criticism from the former Sec. of Def. Robert Gates in a new book. Much of it confirms what we already knew.

From TheWaPo  “In a new memoir, former defense secretary Robert Gates unleashes harsh judgments about President Obama’s leadership and his commitment to the Afghanistan war, writing that by early 2010 he had concluded the president “doesn’t believe in his own strategy, and doesn’t consider the war to be his. For him, it’s all about getting out.”

Leveling one of the more serious charges that a defense secretary could make against a commander-in-chief sending forces into combat, Gates asserts that Obama had more than doubts about the course he had charted in Afghanistan. The president was “skeptical if not outright convinced it would fail,” Gates writes in “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.”

“Biden is accused of “poisoning the well” against the military leadership. Thomas Donilon, initially Obama’s deputy national security adviser, and then-Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, the White House coordinator for the wars, are described as regularly engaged in “aggressive, suspicious, and sometimes condescending and insulting questioning of our military leaders.”

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3. More here from the NYT. He doesn’t appear to be a big fan of Joe Biden, shocking as that is. 🙂

From TheNYTimes  “Mr. Gates describes his running policy battles within Mr. Obama’s inner circle, among them Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; Tom Donilon, who served as national security adviser; and Douglas E. Lute, the Army lieutenant general who managed Afghan policy issues at the time.       

Mr. Gates calls Mr. Biden “a man of integrity,” but questions his judgment. “I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” Mr. Gates writes. He has high praise for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who served as secretary of state when he was at the Pentagon and was a frequent ally on national security issues.       

But Mr. Gates does say that, in defending her support for the Afghan surge, she confided that her opposition to Mr. Bush’s Iraq surge when she was in the Senate and a presidential candidate “had been political,” since she was facing Mr. Obama, then an antiwar senator, in the Iowa primary. In the same conversation, Mr. Obama “conceded vaguely that opposition to the Iraq surge had been political,” Mr. Gates recalls. “To hear the two of them making these admissions, and in front of me, was as surprising as it was dismaying.”       

Mr. Gates discloses that he almost quit in September 2009 after a dispute-filled meeting to assess the way ahead in Afghanistan, including the number of troops that were needed. “I was deeply uneasy with the Obama White House’s lack of appreciation — from the top down — of the uncertainties and unpredictability of war,” he recalls. “I came closer to resigning that day than at any other time in my tenure.”

Like I said, not surprising. It was always obvious that they’d chosen to make Iraq a political football.

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4. Here’s an update to a story I posted a while back on the govt. setting up “voluntary checkpoints” which coerced people into giving blood and saliva samples, as well as taking breath samples. The use of uniformed officers gives the appearance that they have the authority to even ask.

From USAToday  “A tactic used by the federal government to gather information for anti-drunken and drugged driving programs is coming under criticism in cities around the country, and some local police agencies say they will no longer take part.

The tactic involves a subcontractor for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  that uses off-duty but uniformed police at voluntary roadside checkpoints where motorists are asked  on their behavior behind the wheel.  In some cases, workers at the checkpoints collect blood and saliva samples,  in addition to breath samples. NHTSA has said previously that the surveys do not collect any DNA. Drivers are not charged at the checkpoints.”

“However, the mere presence of uniformed officers gives the checkpoints an aura of authority, says Mary Catherine Roper, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. She is studying the issue there after motorists complained about a survey checkpoint last month in Reading.

“We have a whole bunch of rules about when police can pull you over,” she says. “It looks like an exercise of official authority when a cop pulls you over. People assume it’s mandatory, and of course you’re going to stop. That’s a constitutional problem right there.”

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5. Who needs laws and a legislature when you can just rule by presidential decree? This is what happens when you have a weak Senate that won’t do their job, and a House that can’t because what they send up never makes it out of the Senate.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “The Obama administration made up for the lack of laws passed in Congress last year, issuing a whopping 3,659 rules regulations, crushing claims that Washington isn’t doing anything.

Only 65 public laws were signed by President Obama in 2013, meaning that his government issued an average of 56 new regulations for every one, a record high ratio, according to the annual analysis by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

The surge in regulations has led critics to charge that Congress is now a bystander to federal regulatory agencies.”

“Said CEI’s Wayne Crews, who provided Secrets with his new analysis, “The deterioration of the Constitution’s separation of, and balance of, powers means that regulators and bureaucrats now make most laws. Congress is so 1789, after all. The executive branch increasingly imposes its will: President Obama and his administration repeatedly say they are not going to wait for Congress, so brace yourselves.”

Harry Reid seems OK with it. He would rather just spout partisan nonsense as the White House lackey instead of doing his job anyway.

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6. It’s the end of the world as we know it, or something…. 🙄

From LifeNews  “For those of us so very blessed to have raised our personal white flag in mankind’s inherently fruitless struggle against the Creator, there can be no joy in watching God-deniers continue to labor under the grandest of all deceptions. Regardless of how nasty they may be as individuals, there can be only sadness, genuine pity and prayer. Still, it is instructive.

When the atheist gives voice to his or her God-denial, it provides those in Truth a small glimpse into the same dark spirit – old as Adam – that prompted the psalmist to observe: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

Valerie Tarico is one such God-denier. She’s on a fool’s errand. A steadfast disciple to the unholy trinity of “LGBT,” atheist and pro-abortion activism, Ms. Tarico proudly sits on the Board of Advocates for Planned Parenthood – America’s premier one-stop-death-shop.”

“For “progressives” like Tarico, the term “religious fundamentalism” is a euphemism for orthodox Christianity. In a tedious, though unintentionally funny screed recently published at Salon.com under the headline: “10 signs that religious fundamentalism is going down,” Ms. Tarico gives empty hope to her fellow hopeless with a word salad steeped in anti-Christian bigotry and wishful thinking. I share excerpts only because they so clearly encapsulate the broader secular-”progressive” mindset. Ms. Tarico’s reflections are so hyperbolic – so far removed from reality – that they require little additional commentary.”

You can read more of her delusions at the link. But something tells me her tales of our demise are greatly exaggerated. 🙂

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News/Politics 1-7-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Huh. And I just read in the NY Times that Al-Qaeda had nothing to do with Benghazi, and wasn’t even there according to the Times reporter. Go figure… 🙄

From FoxNews  “The U.S. government is trying to apprehend an al Qaeda terrorist wanted for his role in the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack that killed four Americans.

 The suspect, Muhammad Jamal, was imprisoned in Egypt last fall and in September was being held by the Egyptian government. His current whereabouts could not be confirmed, said U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. One official said Jamal remains in Egyptian custody, contrary to reports that he was in Yemen.

Jamal was labeled a designated terrorist by the United Nations Oct. 18, identifying him and the group he formed, the Muhammad Jamal Network, as linked to the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attack.”

Just further proof that the Times piece was nothing more than an attempt to provide cover for the Hillary 2016 team.

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2. Once again Democrats seeking to be all-inclusive almost let the fox into the hen-house. Just like with the Brotherhood, they’re enabling questionable people, assisting them, and taking their advice.

From TheFreeBeacon  “The representative of a human rights group headed by a designated al Qaeda terrorist was denied a visa by the State Department after being invited by congressional Democrats to discuss drone strikes.

Mohammad Al Ahmady, the Yemen director for Geneva-based NGO Al Karama, was expected to brief Reps. Alan Grayson (D., Fla.), Barbara Lee (D., Calif.), and Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.) the morning of the Nov. 19, according to press release from Grayson’s office.

Ahmady, who also serves as a top official in an al Qaeda-linked Yemeni political party, did not attend because of visa issues. The State Department said it could not comment on visa matters.

Several Al Karama officials have faced terrorism allegations. Al Karama’s founder and current president Abdul Rahman Naimi was designated as a terrorist and al Qaeda supporter by the U.S. Treasury Department in December, along with the group’s Yemen representative Abdulwahab Al-Humayqani. Al Karama’s legal director, Rachid Mesli, is currently wanted for terrorism charges in Algeria.”

And it gets worse. These people are involved with AQ in Iraq and Syria, as well as funding them. In the case of Iraq, they sent as much as 2 million a month to the very people our soldiers were fighting. 

Now they all play dumb and blame each other for their blunder. Typical.

Click the text and read the whole thing. This wasn’t an accident. This is the type of people Democrats and the president regularly take advice from. And the UN is considering their application for “consultant” status as well.

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3. Here’s an interesting read on the percent of men arrested before the age of 23. If this is accurate, it’s over 40%. I think more details on how this was figured would be helpful because those numbers are pretty shocking. Or is this the chickens of a fatherless society coming home to roost? And how much is the result of the failed “War on Drugs?”

From TheHuffPost  “A large number of American men have already been arrested by the time they’re in their early 20s, according to a new report.

The study, published on Monday in the journal Crime & Delinquency, found that nearly half (49 percent) of African-American men and 40 percent of white men have been arrested by the age of 23, “which can hurt their ability to find work, go to school and participate fully in their communities,” according to a press release.

The research was based on an analysis of national survey data from 1997 to 2008 of teenagers and young adults. The arrests included minor crimes like truancy as well as serious violent crimes. It excluded traffic offenses.”

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4. Looks like the talking heads at MSNBC are getting a much-needed babysitter so they stop embarrassing the network, as if that alone is their problem. But don’t be too optimistic, his previous babysitting job was as executive producer for Keith Olbermann, and we all know how well that turned out…. 🙂

From NationalReview  “MSNBC, the left-leaning cable-news network, has settled on one solution to its recent problems. It now has an executive reviewing scripts before they go on the air. The role, which has fallen to Rich Stockwell, a former executive producer of The Ed Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann who now oversees special projects at the network, was created as several of the network’s hosts have, to the embarrassment of network brass, conducted a master class in political incorrectness. In recent months, Alec Baldwin, Martin Bashir, and, most recently, Melissa Harris-Perry have awkwardly crashed into the trinity of sexual orientation, gender, and race, leading many to wonder if there are any adults in charge at MSNBC.

There is one such adult, actually, and her name is Rachel Maddow. Though she provides the network’s ideological vision — MSNBC president Phil Griffin has called her “our quarterback” — she’s neither an executive nor a manager. Griffin, who wears both hats, is, from all appearances, letting the inmates run the asylum. Meanwhile, the network that Griffin has labeled “the place for progressives” is experiencing a free fall in its ratings, which are down 29 percent from 2012. A decline was expected after a presidential-election year, but MSNBC’s competitors did not suffer as acutely. Fox News was down only 5 percent in total viewers (it suffered far more in the coveted 25–54 demographic, where the network has persistently struggled); CNN’s numbers, under the stewardship of newly installed president Jeff Zucker, remained flat.

Apologies are rare in the world of television, but they have come from MSNBC at a regular clip in recent months. “Anti-gay slurs are wrong,” Baldwin said in late November. Days before, he had accosted a photographer who was following his family and allegedly hurled an anti-gay slur in his direction. The same day Baldwin issued his apology, Martin Bashir took to the air with a clumsy pontification about Sarah Palin, slavery, and human excrement. By early December, both Baldwin and Bashir had announced that they were leaving the network.

The dust had hardly settled before Tulane professor cum MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry was tearfully apologizing to “families formed through transracial adoption.” She had led a holiday humor segment on December 30 that used as its jumping-off point a Romney-family photo. Harris-Perry said the segment took an “unexpected” turn as her guests poked fun at Mitt Romney’s adopted African-American grandson.”

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5. We have a winner! After Auburn pulled a Kansas City and blew a big lead, FSU wins the national championship 34-31.

From MSN/FoxSports  “For all Jameis Winston had done as a redshirt freshman for Florida State, he never had to pull the Seminoles from the brink of defeat.

In the biggest game of the year, down by four with 79 seconds left, the Heisman Trophy winner put together the drive of his life, and the Seminoles proved they could take a punch to win a championship.

Winston threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left and No. 1 Florida State beat No. 2 Auburn 34-31 to win the BCS national title game on Monday night.”

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News/Politics 1-6-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Welcome to the new norm in employer healthcare plans.

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2. An interesting read from a teacher leaving the profession.

From TheWaPo  “To pursue this calling, I worked hard to earn the title of “classroom teacher,” but I became quickly disillusioned when my title of teacher did not in any way reflect my actual job. I realized that I am not permitted to really teach students anything. When I was in middle school, I studied Shakespeare, Chaucer, Poe, Twain, O. Henry, the founding fathers, if you will, of modern literary culture. Now, I was called to drag them through shallow activities that measured meaningless but “measurable” objectives.

Forced to abandon my hopes of imparting the same wisdom I had gained through my experiences and education, I resigned myself to the superficial curriculum that encouraged mindless conformity. I decided that if I was going to teach this nonsense, I was at least going to teach it well. I set my expectations high, I kept my classroom structured, I tutored students, I provided extra practice, and I tried to make class fun. At this point, I was feeling alright with myself. I quickly rose through the ranks of “favorite teacher,” kept open communication channels with parents, and had many students with solid A’s.

It was about this time that I was called down to the principal’s office with a terse e-mail that read only, “I need to speak with you.” Clueless, I took down my grade sheets, communication logs, lesson plans, and sat down as an adult still summoned down to the principal’s office. “I need to talk to you about these students.” She handed me a list of about 10 students, all of whom had D’s or F’s. At the time, I only had about 120 students, so I was relatively on par with a standard bell curve. As she brought up each one, I walked her through my grade sheets that showed not low scores but a failure to turn in work—a lack of responsibility. I showed her my tutoring logs, my letters to parents, only to be interrogated further. Eventually, the meeting came down to two quotes that I will forever remember as the defining slogans for public education:

“They are not allowed to fail.”

“If they have D’s or F’s, there is something that you are not doing for them.”

And then it gets worse. It’s time for some accountability in all areas of public education.

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3. This is probably the weirdest story I’ve read in a while. Is exorcism a “cure” for PTSD? Or is this just a cult type operation preying on those suffering from it?

From TheNYPost  “The 2005 tragedy haunted him when he returned to his home in Savannah, Ga. At night, a tall, shadowy figure crept into his room. Sometimes the Black Thing would threaten to kill him; other times it would choke his dead best friend.

The dark figure, a “Destroyer demon,” punished him, he said, “for killing and for living.”

Without answers — his PTSD diagnosis offered little explanation — he went to the one person he felt could save him: a minister who offered $199 exorcisms out of his trailer.

Daniels, profiled in the book “Demon Camp” by first-time author Jennifer Percy, is just one of many deeply troubled soldiers suffering from the after-effects of war who are so desperate for respite they undergo exorcisms at a fringe Pentecostal retreat.

Bear Creek Ranch, in Portal, Ga., is ministered by Tim and Katie Mather, a husband-and-wife team that has conducted over 5,000 exorcisms, some of them on veterans.”

Like I said, weird.

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4. Facebook is being sued for trolling the private messages of users for advertising purposes.

From TheDailyMail  “The social networking site, is accused of monitoring messages and website links sent between users so they can profile what people read online. This in turn allows the website, which has 24million UK members, to charge more for the information.”

“Facebook apparently tracked such messages so they could collect data on the interests of people who use the site. Advertising agencies and marketing companies are then allegedly sold this information so they can build up profiles of a person’s interests, and target them accordingly.

If the linked webpage contains a ‘like’ button, Facebook will activate this so any company who has been ‘liked’ will see the person is interested in their products.

Google, Yahoo! and LinkedIn are among six companies facing accusations of intercepting communications for profit.”

Facebook is denying the claims.

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News/Politics 1-4-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. First up today, some good news. And the people who profit from this industry blame the Tea Party. 🙂

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Some 22 states enacted 70 new provisions to target abortion last year, the second most ever, prompting an outcry from Planned Parenthood, which accused “out-of-touch Tea Party politicians” with using “every underhanded trick in the book to get these laws passed.”

““The historic rise of these attacks on women’s health can be traced back to 2010, when out-of-touch Tea Party politicians picked up key seats in legislatures across the country, promising to create jobs and boost our economy — but immediately focused on ending access to safe and legal abortion and limiting women’s health care options,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.”

Thank you Tea Party. 🙂

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2. Al-Qaeda on the run? Hardly.

From TheWaPo  “A rejuvenated al-Qaeda-affiliated force asserted control over the western Iraqi city of Fallujah on Friday, raising its flag over government buildings and declaring an Islamic state in one of the most crucial areas that U.S. troops fought to pacify before withdrawing from Iraq two years ago.

The capture of Fallujah came amid an explosion of violence across the western desert province of Anbar in which local tribes, Iraqi security forces and al-Qaeda-affiliated militants have been fighting one another for days in a confusingly chaotic three-way war.”

“In Fallujah, where Marines fought the bloodiest battle of the Iraq war in 2004, the militants appeared to have the upper hand, underscoring the extent to which the Iraqi security forces have struggled to sustain the gains made by U.S. troops before they withdrew in December 2011.”

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3. This better be nothing more than a rumor. Even he can’t be this stupid. You’ll just give them another target in the area besides Israel.

From YahooNews  “Unconfirmed news reports out of Israel signal that an offer of US troops to secure the borders of a new Palestinian state is in the mix in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. US defense analysts urge caution.

Secretary of State John Kerry is proposing to offer up US troops to help secure the borders of the new state of Palestine, according to some unconfirmed news reports coming out of Israel.”

“The US troops would be tasked with helping to prevent anti-Israel forces from coming out of Jordan and reaching Israel, according to Debkafile, an Israeli intelligence and security news service.”

“Samantha Power, then a Harvard professor and now the US ambassador to the United Nations, seemed to indicate in a 2008 interview with Harry Kreisler of the University of California at Berkeley’s Institute of International Studies that crisis in the region could possibly be ameliorated by the introduction of US troops to provide security needs.”

Samantha Power, the best friend of the UN and oppressive regimes everywhere. 🙄

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4. Another ObamaCare success story.

Or not. 🙄

From WashingtonCBSLocal  “The new year brought relief to some Illinois patients newly insured under the nation’s health care law. Others still weren’t sure whether they were covered, despite their best efforts to navigate the often-balky new system.

The major benefits of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul took effect Wednesday, the first day of 2014. By Thursday, the first business day of the new insurance system, it became clear that snags in the rollout of the Affordable Care Act still remained.”

“Paperwork problems almost delayed suburban Chicago resident Sheri Zajcew’s scheduled surgery Thursday, but Dr. John Venetos decided to operate without a routine go-ahead from the insurance company. That was after Venetos’ office manager spent two hours on hold with the insurer Thursday, trying to get an answer about whether the patient needed prior authorization for the surgery. The office manager finally gave up.

“I’m not a happy camper,” said Nate Zajcew, the patient’s husband. The couple signed up for a Blue Cross Blue Shield bronze plan through the federal HealthCare.gov site on Dec. 16. “I understand it’s just a matter of paperwork and yesterday was a holiday. I can be an SOB, too, at times, but since they’re going on with the procedure, it’s OK.”

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5. ObamaCare faces a new test in the coming days.

From TheHill  ” The number of people seeking to use their new ObamaCare coverage for the first time is expected to spike next week.”

“They’re expected to turn out in force at the nation’s clinics and hospitals as early as next Monday.

 “Two worries are paramount. The first is that a sizable number of consumers who show up at the doctor’s office will discover that they don’t have the insurance they thought they purchased.

A second is that people have enrolled in ObamaCare, but have to make a payment. Some will discover they don’t have the insurance they thought they purchased as a result .”

If the previous story is any indication, office managers at doctors offices everywhere are gonna be on hold for a loooong time.

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6. The Obama admin has released executive orders to further restrict access to guns. While I think we all agree that guns should be kept from the mentally ill, and I agree with the general idea, I just don’t trust them to not abuse the rules and be overly restrictive.

I also dislike the new reporting guidelines which doctors will be forced to comply with. Asking doctors to snitch on private conversations and personal health info will greatly restrict what patients may be willing to share with their doctor. Nobody likes a snitch.

From FoxNews  “The Obama administration on Friday proposed two new executive actions to make it easier for states to provide mental health information to the national background check system, wading back into the gun control debate after a months-long hiatus. 

Vice President Biden’s office announced the proposals Friday afternoon. Both pertain to the ability of states to provide information about the mentally ill and those seeking mental health treatment to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. 

One proposal would formally give permission to states to submit “the limited information necessary to help keep guns out of potentially dangerous hands,” without having to worry about the privacy provisions in a law known as HIPAA.”

“The other proposal would clarify that those who are involuntarily committed to a mental institution — both inpatient and outpatient — count under the law as “committed to a mental institution.” According to the administration, this change will help clarify for states what information to provide to the background check system, as well as who is barred from having guns. “

That last proposal I don’t really have a problem with. But I don’t like all these lists and registries nonsense. Sounds too much like a national registry in bits and pieces. And how long would someone stay on the list if they did have something like this in their past? Is it a lifetime ban once your name hits the criminal background check system? And they’re not criminals, but you just added them to the criminal database as if it qualifies as a criminal background. Too many questions.

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News/Politics 1-3-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Why does this not surprise me? 

From TheHuffingtonPost  ” A dying former civil rights lawyer convicted in a terrorism case but released early from prison has arrived in New York City.”

“The 74-year-old Stewart was released from Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday. A judge ordered her release after prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Prisons recommended she be set free because she has less than 18 months to live. She suffers from recurrent Stage 4 breast cancer.

Stewart was convicted of helping a blind Egyptian sheik communicate with his followers from prison.”

What HuffPo neglects to mention is it’s the blind sheik responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing. They also neglected to mention how unrepentant she is for her crimes. But hey, she’s a hero to many on the left, so again, it’s not surprising.

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2. The Obama admin has responded to their court loss to a bunch of nuns. And they’ve suffered another defeat, this time to a bunch of priests.

From HotAir  “It didn’t take long for the Obama administration to respond publicly to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s temporary injunction against HHS for enforcement of the contraceptive-coverage mandate. Expressing confidence in their position, the White House insisted that their “compromise” for religious organizations satisfied any risk to conscience objections.”

“The White House will need to argue in court that they know better how to be faithful to the tenets of Christianity than a bunch of nuns. And, for that matter, a bunch of priests, too:

In a huge victory for Priests for Life, a pro-life organization, a federal appeals court has issued a ruling saying it doesn’t have to pay massive fines to the federal government for not obeying the HHS mandate, which forces religious groups and companies to pay for birth control or abortion-causing drugs for their employees.

An emergency injunction granted late this afternoon in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit means that Priests for Life will not have to obey the contraception mandate contained in the Affordable Care Act as its appeal is being heard. It also means that, tomorrow, Priests for Life will not have to cancel health insurance for its employees.”

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3. So once again ObamaCare delivers the opposite of what they promised.

From TheNYTimes  “Supporters of President Obama’s health care law had predicted that expanding insurance coverage for the poor would reduce costly emergency room visits because people would go to primary care doctors instead. But a rigorous new experiment in Oregon has raised questions about that assumption, finding that newly insured people actually went to the emergency room a good deal more often.

The study, published in the journal Science, compared thousands of low-income people in the Portland area who were randomly selected in a 2008 lottery to get Medicaid coverage with people who entered the lottery but remained uninsured. Those who gained coverage made 40 percent more visits to the emergency room than their uninsured counterparts during their first 18 months with insurance.       

The pattern was so strong that it held true across most demographic groups, times of day and types of visits, including those for conditions that were treatable in primary care settings.       

The findings cast doubt on the hope that expanded insurance coverage will help rein in emergency room costs just as more than two million people are gaining coverage under the Affordable Care Act. And they go against one of the central arguments of the law’s supporters, that extending insurance to large numbers of Americans would reduce emergency room use, and eventually save money.”

Yeah…..

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4. And some folks are discovering that just because you signed up, doesn’t mean you’re insured, and even if you are insured, you’ve got a huge deductible to satisfy first.

From TheDailyMail  “Hospital staff in Northern Virginia are turning away sick people on a frigid Thursday morning because they can’t determine whether their Obamacare insurance plans are in effect.

Patients in a close-in DC suburb who think they’ve signed up for new insurance plans are struggling to show their December enrollments are in force, and health care administrators aren’t taking their word for it.”

‘They had no idea if my insurance was active or not!’ a coughing Maria Galvez told MailOnline outside the Inova Healthplex facility in the town of Springfield.”

“It’s unlikely that a valid insurance card would have changed Galvez’ fortunes, however. Her Carefirst plan, identified on the Obamacare website as BlueChoice Plus Bronze, carries a $5,500 per-person deductible for 2014 – an amount she would have to pay out-of-pocket before her coverage would apply to medical expenses.”

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5. The Marines have delayed the new fitness standards for women after nearly half failed to meet the new standards.

From MSNNews  “More than half of female Marines in boot camp can’t do three pullups, the minimum standard that was supposed to take effect with the new year, prompting the Marine Corps to delay the requirement, part of the process of equalizing physical standards to integrate women into combat jobs.

The delay rekindled sharp debate in the military on the question of whether women have the physical strength for some military jobs, as service branches move toward opening thousands of combat roles to them in 2016.”

“Starting with the new year, all female Marines were supposed to be able to do at least three pullups on their annual physical fitness test and eight for a perfect score. The requirement was tested in 2013 on female recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C., but only 45 percent of women met the minimum, Krebs said.

The Marines had hoped to institute the pullups on the belief that pullups require the muscular strength necessary to perform common military tasks such as scaling a wall, climbing up a rope or lifting and carrying heavy munitions.”

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News/Politics 1-2-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Nixon would be so jealous. And unlike Nixon, they’ll get away with it.

From TheNYPost  “The personal e-mail account of a State Department whis­tle­­blower was hacked, and four years worth of messages — some detailing alleged wrongdoing at the agency — were deleted, The Post has learned.

The computer attack targeted the Gmail account of Diplomatic Security Service criminal investigator Richard Higbie, his lawyer, Cary Schulman, confirmed.

“They took all of his e-mails and then they deleted them all,” said Schulman. He said that he could not prove who was responsible for the hack job, but said the attack was “sophisticated” and called the targeting of Higbie “alarming.”

“The e-mails included evidence about misconduct by top officials at the department, communications with other potential whistleblowers there, and correspondence with members of Congress who are investigating the allegations, Schulman said.”

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2. Congressman Trey Gowdy is blasting the NY Times for their latest effort to provide cover for Hillary in the upcoming 2016 election. The NYT wrote an extensive piece on Benghazi, 15 months late I might add, yet not once was Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s name mentioned. Odd since all this happened on her watch.

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3. The folks over at The Week have finally seen the obvious, that ObamaCare is sucker punching the middle class. This is exactly what it was intended to do.

From TheWeek  “ObamaCare has delivered another sucker punch to the middle class. This time it’s sticker shock.

Now that most people can get past the tech problems of HealthCare.gov and actually see the real cost of insurance plans available, they are finding that Affordable Care is a big hit to the family budget. And when the family budget gets hit in the solar plexus, guess what happens to consumer spending and the economy?

In California, policies for about 900,000 Californians are being canceled because of ObamaCare’s mandates, and about two-thirds of these do not qualify for subsidies, according to The Chicago Tribune. The result: These folks will be paying higher premiums.

In Alabama, premiums have doubled for some middle-class families, like that of Courtney Long, a stay-at-home mother of four. She told WHNT News, “It’s devastating. I started crying.”

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4. I found this interesting. By now you’ve probably heard of the young California girl who underwent a tonsillectomy and ended up in a coma. The hospital wants to pull the plug, while the family got an injunction to stop it while they seek a private facility to take her. The family now has an ally assisting them, and it’s a name you’ll recognize.

From LifeNews  “The family of Terri Schiavo, who made international headlines when her husband starved and dehydrated her to death over the course of two weeks, has been quietly helping the family of Jahi McMath find a new hospital or medical facility that will provide her care.

News that Terri Schiavo’s brother Bobby Schindler, also a LifeNews guest blogger, is assisting the McMath family, follows on a judge’s decision allowing the McMath family more time to secure transfer for Jahi to a facility. Schindler told LifeNews that, under the direction of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, he and other patient advocates have been working on behalf of Jahi McMath and her family in relative silence for the sake of the sensitivity of her case.

It also follows on a prominent pediatrician saying he believes Jahi is not brain dead and can recover with proper care and treatment.

Schindler said Terri’s Network, Life Legal Defense, Angela Clemente & Associates, The Wrongful Death & Injury Institute, New Beginnings and others defending Jahi’s life are now stepping forward publicly to represent the many supporters who have been working tirelessly to obtain Jahi’s release from Children’s Hospital Oakland and transfer her to a safe place.”

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5. A new study is out on the effects of “spirituality” on the brain.

From YahooNews  “For people at high risk of depression because of a family history, spirituality may offer some protection for the brain, a new study hints. Parts of the brain’s outer layer, the cortex, were thicker in high-risk study participants who said religion or spirituality was “important” to them versus those who cared less about religion.

“Our beliefs and our moods are reflected in our brain and with new imaging techniques we can begin to see this,” Myrna Weissman told Reuters Health. “The brain is an extraordinary organ. It not only controls, but is controlled by our moods.”

“While the new study suggests a link between brain thickness and religiosity or spirituality, it cannot say that thicker brain regions cause people to be religious or spiritual, Weissman and her colleagues note in JAMA Psychiatry.

It might hint, however, that religiosity can enhance the brain’s resilience against depression in a very physical way, they write.”

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by

News/Politics 12-31-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

We’ll start with a huge CONTENT WARNING!!!!! for adult subject matter. This one is not acceptable reading for the kids.  

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I don’t even know where to start with this piece. It’s repulsive on many levels, and what is being advocated is monstrous in my personal opinion. It seeks to justify adult/child relationships that society has long shunned, and rightly so. It advocates preying on the young and vulnerable for adult gratification. I find it disgusting. 

So I don’t offend anyone, let me be clear here that I am not saying homosexuality and pedophilia are the same thing. Homosexuality is generally something between consenting adults. Pedophilia on the other hand involves preying on young, underage children. While I believe what the Bible says, that homosexuality is a sin, it’s not on the same level as pedophilia. We’ve talked before about “degrees of sin” and I think that applies here. While homosexuality is called a sin, pedophilia is called a crime, because there’s always a victim. They’re not the same by a long shot.

But the advocates of both are now using the same tactics. Not long ago homosexuality was considered a mental illness, and abnormal behavior. Over time, and with a concerted and well-funded effort, the gay community convinced the mental health community to abandon such labeling. It appears that the advocates of this have adopted a similar strategy and now seek to get the mental health community to provide them with cover to carry on with the advancement of what was long considered taboo.

Which brings us to the slippery slope. Looks pretty real now huh? This is exactly what those who spoke against acceptance of the homosexual “agenda” said would come, an ever quickening slide to the bottom. We were assured that allowing gay marriage and the lowering of societal standards and the like wouldn’t lead to things like this. Many of you have read those arguments numerous times. You read how folks like Joel Mark were mocked and ridiculed, and they said that he was exaggerating, and that it would never lead to this sort of thing. Just a straw man, hyperbole, nothing more…. 

And yet it has led to a lowering of standards. The question is how far are we as a society going to allow this to go? Will we again be silenced because we want to be kind and loving, and not be called bigots? Because hey, they can’t help it right? They were born this way according to this “expert.”

Pervert seems more accurate IMO. This nonsense needs to be squashed. I have no sympathy for these pedophiles, or those who would enable them. I’ll save the kindness and love for the real life victims who this sort of stuff scars for life. They actually need and deserve it.

I could go on, but I won’t. I’d like to hear your thoughts on it after you read the piece.

From The Toronto Star

“Pedophilia has been widely viewed as a psychological disorder triggered by early childhood trauma.

Now, many experts see it as a biologically rooted condition that does not change — like a sexual orientation — thanks largely to a decade of research by Dr. James Cantor at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Cantor’s team has found that pedophiles share a number of physical characteristics, including differences in brain wiring. It’s now thought that about 1 to 5 per cent of men are pedophiles, meaning they are primarily attracted to children.

These findings have been widely accepted among scientists, but have had little impact on social attitudes or law. However, we are left with the alarming question: if some men are born pedophiles, what should society do with them?

Bolstered by this research, pedophiles who have never molested children are seeking social acceptance.”

“Similar experiments are being conducted across the globe, most notably at Berlin’s Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine, but Cantor’s research has greatly influenced the view among researchers that pedophilia has a biological basis.”

And that’s how it begins, a change in the views of the experts. Simple really, and it’s been done before.