Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Red versus Blue States: A Divide Worth Having!

American Thinker ^ | 12/31/2013 | J. Robert Smith 

The left has long sought to nationalize government, which means a subordination of the states. In the meantime, liberals aren't blind to the advantages red states enjoy over blue states, in terms of siphoning off blue states' productive citizens and enterprises. Liberals see where many businesses choose to relocate. They appreciate that red states are often more affordable to Americans.
Critical to the nation's ongoing experiments in democracy is the imperative to roll back intrusive -- and often coercive -- national government. Washington is an informal ally of blue states, like Maryland, at the expense of red states, via legislation, court rulings, or executive fiat. What Washington can't annex from states outright, it uses taxpayers' dollars to leverage compliance with federal rules and regulations.
The Obama presidency has been largely an attempt by the left to reenergize and reassert national government at the expense of true federalism. President Obama is the "anti-Reagan." The left wants leftism regnant in every state and locality and is using a bolder national government to impose itself.
But the left's error may be in thinking that conservative Americans will eventually go quietly into the good night, permitting the left to work its will. Big fights loom if the left continues to try to ram its agendas down the throats of red state Americans (ObamaCare is a first critical battle). There's now a long history of leftism in America. The right's rejection of leftism is grounded in the left's demonstrated failures and in cultural and societal constructs that conservative Americans view as wrong-headed and deficient. The lines have been drawn and set.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...

Brutal Knockout Attack at Upscale Mall Results in Cracked Ribs, Broken Ankle and Knocked Out Teeth!

Gateway Pundit ^ | December 30, 2013 | Jim Hoft 


The knockout victim lies on the ground during a brutal assault in Virginia.

A Charlottesville, Virginia couple were assaulted on Friday night by three young black men at an upscale mall. But don’t expect the Obama DOJ to look into this. After all, the victim was white.
C-Ville reported:
A couple’s late night stroll on the Christmas-lit Downtown Mall turned to terror in the early morning hours of Friday, December 20, when they were brutally assaulted by three men in what appears to have been a random act of violence.
Even though one of the victims, Jeanne Doucette, managed to take photos that appear to show the assailants as they kicked and pummeled her boyfriend Marc Adams to unconsciousness, Charlottesville Police still do not have any suspects. Doucette says there were other witnesses to the crime, which allegedly occurred just outside the Wells Fargo building at around 1am as she and Adams walked from Miller’s to Rapture, and she is baffled as to why the police haven’t shared her images more widely with people who could have seen the suspects earlier in the evening.
“I cannot understand why they didn’t let people know what happened,” said Doucette, who still bore injuries from the assault when she met for an interview a week later. “Those pictures might have prompted some tips.”
The images she captured are blurry but nonetheless appear to corroborate her account of the night’s events, including the brutality of the beating, during which she says the assailants joked and laughed, even stopping to hug in the midst of the onslaught.
Doucette said the assault occurred after she and Adams, both 39, had met for a drink at Miller’s after Adams finished his shift as chef for a downtown food cart. They headed east up the Mall toward Rapture to end their night with music, when Adams tripped and fell in front of Derriere de Soie lingerie store, a block from Miller’s. As he was getting up, a man approached quickly, said something that Doucette couldn’t make out, and kicked Adams while he was on the ground, before being joined by his friends who beat Adams severely, breaking his ankle, cracking ribs and knocking out one of his teeth.
The grainy photos that Doucette took with her phone (posted above story) show the faces and clothing worn by the three alleged assailants, all black males.

Conflicting Statements

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B-Rock

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The Train Wreck

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At least!

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Barackomouse

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Eat free speech!

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I must believe!

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Redefine everything?

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Hope and Change, baby!

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They bargained

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Liberal Fantasyland

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LURKING!

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Why don't you TRUST ME?

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Would he lie?

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Suck Dynasty

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Moving the goal post!

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How many more?

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The last thing I remember...

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Obamacare Ignites Revolution Inside The Democratic Party

moneymorning.com ^ | 12/31/13 | Money Morning Staff Reports 

As 2014 midterms approach, some Democrats are running-not walking-away from Obamacare....coming out of the woodwork to voice opposition.
•39th President Jimmy Carter: "His major accomplishment was Obamacare, and the implementation of it now is questionable at best."
•Barney Frank, former Massachusetts Congressman: "I think we paid a terrible price for health care."
•Former Democratic Presidential candidate, Howard Dean, a doctor: "The Affordable Care Act's Rate-Setting Won't Work."
Obamacare was primarily designed to decrease the number of uninsured Americans and reduce healthcare costs. But experts say it will have the exact opposite effect. What started as a promise to insure 40 million Americans has quickly morphed into another game of Washington politics. And average Americans are getting the short end-again.
.....on top of higher healthcare costs and skyrocketing deductibles, Americans will be hit with $1 trillion new taxes.....taxes that won't just affect those making over $250,000 a year......because while a majority of Obama's "stealth taxes" were designed to tax businesses, they're transferred directly to ordinary citizens.
According to former NY state Lt Governor Betsy McCaughey's extensive research, senior citizens will get hit the hardest. "If you're a senior or a baby boomer, expect less care," she says. "Hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery will be especially hard to get from Medicare." She warns seniors to get procedures done now before Obamacare goes into effect.
.... many will find it difficult to keep medical records private. "The law will compel Americans to share with millions of strangers who are not physicians confidential private and personal medical history." (from Betsy McCaughey's "Beating Obamacare: Your Handbook for Surviving The New Health Care Law.")

Monday, December 30, 2013

Late Deliveries and Misplaced Blame

Illinois Review ^ | December 30, 2013 A.D. | John F. Di Leo 

Many are complaining this week – mostly the typically anti-business leftists, who can never resist a chance, legitimate or not, to attack the private sector – because some presents weren’t delivered by Christmas. Some are even calling for class-action suits, perhaps because they think that this certain type of predatory lawyer needs a stimulus program.
Now, it should be obvious that there’s no conspiracy by the private sector to sadden spouses and children or to defraud businesses. A lot of orders were placed at the last minute, more than the transportation network could handle. We could leave it at that.
But as long as some leftists are indeed trying to make it a political issue, let’s consider the real, legitimate political facts behind some of the various components to this issue, shall we?
Drivers and Other Personnel Shortfalls
As Christmas approached, and it became evident that carriers’ projections had been low – so there would be much more product to deliver than some of the carriers had staffed for – the carriers were limited in how many people they could put on overtime. Most drivers and loading/unloading personnel always put in a good deal of overtime in December, and most would have been willing to put in even more overtime than planned in those last couple of days, but union work rules and federal Hours of Service regulations banned it.
After all, you can’t just hire new people for two or three days. You can hire seasonal employees for four to six weeks, as the retail industry does, but not for the last three days before Christmas. These are jobs that often require licenses, bonds, hazmat training, and experience in driving trucks, in operating forklifts, in processing manifests and bills of lading, in designing stowage plans to keep dangerous cargo separate… at the busiest time of the year. Any additional hours you add simply MUST be with experienced staff doing overtime. This makes it a severe challenge.
Now, if carriers’ and their employees’ hands are tied, by federally-enforced (Surface Transportation Board, Department of Labor, etc.) union contracts and federally-mandated Hours of Service Rules (Department of Transportation), you simply can’t blame the carriers. They were willing, but federal government rules held them back. To the extent that this issue is anybody’s fault, it’s easy to see whose fault it was.
The Limits of Equipment
The domestic transportation industry is incredibly efficient. There are firms that specialize in large shipments of truckload size (roughly 7.5 feet by 7.5 feet by 40 to 53 feet in length). There are other firms that specialize in smaller shipments (roughly a few boxes to a few pallets at a time) that get consolidated together to share trucks. And there are other firms that specialize in still smaller shipments, of courier pouches, or just a small box or two each.
These three groups of businesses, known as FTL, LTL, and Small Package, make up thousands of companies from coast to coast, using air, road, and rail in the most efficient way possible, as they meet the needs of both business and personal customers, year in and year out, at incredibly low prices.
There was a time when this sector wasn’t that efficient, when trucks, trains and planes tended to be a third empty, or even half empty, but no more. Modern commerce, along with modern transportation management software, have enabled these carriers to optimize their “equipment” – the industry’s term for their trucks, trains, and planes – much as containerization enabled the international oceanfreight industry to optimize theirs.
The invisible hand of the free market has enabled our transportation industry to plan their equipment needs appropriately. Carriers now have the right number of trucks, planes, and boxcars for their typical needs throughout the year; they are able to deliver a package cross-country – for just a few dollars! – due to this wonderful efficiency, because for eleven months of the year, their business averages out to be reasonably predictable.
December changes things, however. All of a sudden, from the day after Thanksgiving onward, the transportation business is jolted by a huge spike in home deliveries, which are far more labor-intensive than typical deliveries. They’re not complaining; business is business, and they’ve adjusted to manage it, but every year, as online ordering grows proportionately, the final weeks before Christmas become more and more of a challenge.
Remember, these carriers only have so many planes, and each plane only has so much room. As December 25, approaches, virtually all of them are full, every year.
Every UPS and FedEx cargo flight in the last week was full; they couldn't take any more cargo. It's like jamming your car full of stuff when you're moving, so there's only room for the driver; there’s no room to fit anything else, so you need to make another trip... The same goes for most of the trucks, in most of the densely populated trade lanes, wherever there were issues in those final pre-Christmas days.
Now, if the carriers had more and bigger planes, and more 53' trucks instead of mostly 20' trucks, as well as more people, the same companies could have moved more cargo. But they have the number and sizes of vehicles that they need for the amount of business they have all year long.
If we had a growth economy, they WOULD have more and bigger equipment, but we're still stuck in a seven-year recession that started when the Democrats took over after the 2006 elections. This flat-lined economy has flattened the transportation industry just like it's flattened the rest of the country. As our population increases, the number of transportation companies has shrunken, and the national driver shortage has only worsened.
In a boom economy, there would be more year-round commerce, justifying more transportation companies, more equipment, more people to man those deliveries. But this isn’t a boom economy. And whose fault is that?
Only ___ Shopping Days ‘Til Christmas!
Some people are wonderful at shopping all year long; these rare, organized souls present no strain on the transportation sector whatsoever. Others begin on Black Friday, or Cyber Monday, and do their shipping in early December; these modern shoppers have driven the transportation industry’s December planning for a decade or more, and the transportation sector handles their business, too, without strain.
And there have always been people who shop at the last minute, either because they must, or because they can… often, nowadays, because they have to work two or three part time jobs to pay the bills and be able to buy gifts.
Lots of today’s last-minute shoppers used to be in those earlier two groups, but they now have to wait for the final sales so they can afford to shop… because just as the macro economy has changed, so too have their personal micro economies changed. The person who was happy to buy at full price or 25% off a decade ago is now waiting for a 50% off sale, or better, before he or she can afford to buy for everyone on the list.
Just as the Left is telling us that part time work, high fuel prices, and previously unimaginable levels of unemployment are “the new normal,” so too is last-minute shopping, as people wait for the last paycheck and the best deals before they can buy presents.
Did they think that all these years of unemployment, low raises, and huge inflation in food, gasoline, and other necessities wouldn’t have an effect? Did they think – when people stop doing better economically every year, and instead, do worse and worse – as taxes rise, utilities skyrocket, and career advancement plans are frustrated by an obamacare-saddled economy – that these people wouldn’t be more desperate for deals than they used to be?
Of course people wait more for sales, and therefore do more last minute shopping, needing rush delivery at the end more than ever before, creating a growing burden on a transportation sector that’s not growing at the same pace, because the rest of their clientele – the American business sector, year-round – has remained so sluggish for so long.
Economic contraction, inflation, energy shortages, hiring freezes. Again, now, whose fault is all this?
In Conclusion…
I do feel sorry for people whose presents are late. A couple of mine (luckily just a couple) didn't arrive before Christmas either, though I was impressed at how fast a couple DID arrive (because I honestly admit that I did order several things too late).
My basic point is this: don't blame the transportation folks, because they do work hard, and they do a great job, considering the fact that some 80-plus percent of their personal deliveries all happen in the last two weeks of the year.
You can’t make an employee work more hours than the law allows him to work, even if both he and his employer are willing. You can’t fit more cargo in a truck or plane than there’s room for, when the company has all the equipment space that the rest of the year’s volume supports. You can’t blame people for shopping late when their economic condition mandates that they look for that last sale and wait for that last paycheck.
But DO blame the people responsible for these conditions. Do blame the rotten management by Washington, D.C., the taxes and regulations that have created this miserable environment. And feel free to share that blame with Springfield, Sacramento, Albany, and all other such meeting places for miscreants and fools.
Destructive legislation and strangling regulations do have consequences. And sometimes, those consequences hit home.
Most of these miscreants' countless other mistakes cause much more serious destruction than the late delivery of some online purchases. Be glad that in this case, it was just a gift or two being a couple days late, perhaps causing people to reflect a little bit more on the real meaning of Christmas, from which the gift culture is mostly just a distraction anyway.
Copyright 2013 John F. Di Leo
John F. Di Leo is a Chicago-based Customs broker and international trade compliance trainer. His columns appear regularly in Illinois Review.
Permission is hereby granted to forward freely, provided it is uncut and the byline and IR URL remain included. Follow John F. Di Leo on Facebook or LinkedIn, or on Twitter at @johnfdileo.
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2013/12/late-deliveries-and-misplaced-blame.html

Romneycare: Health care spending in Massachusetts highest in the nation!

American Thinker ^ | 12/30/2013 | Rick Moran 

The fact that Romneycare is the progenitor of Obamacare and that the state-run health insurance program has led to citizens experiencing the highest per capita cost for health care in the nation, should make even President Obama hesitate to use the program when touting his own legislation.

We're probably not going to be hearing anymore about Romneycare as a template for Obamacare.

Examiner:


On Oct. 30, as President Obama was under fire for the botched rollout of his signature health care law, he visited Boston's Faneuil Hall. It was in that hall in 2006 that then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, with a smiling Ted Kennedy by his side, signed a sweeping health care overhaul into law that would eventually become the model for Obamacare.

As with Obamacare, the Massachusetts program (also known as Romneycare), expanded Medicaid, mandated that individuals purchase government-approved coverage, and provided subsidies to individuals to purchase government-designed insurance plans on a government-run exchange.

In his October remarks, Obama used the Massachusetts experience to argue that Obamacare could work, despite what the naysayers claimed.

"All the parade of horribles, the worst predictions about health care reform in Massachusetts never came true," Obama said. "They're the same arguments that you're hearing now ... Care didn't become unaffordable; costs tracked what was happening in other places that wasn't covering everybody."

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...

Voters Take Negative View of Labor Unions; Liberals in Favor of Strikes (Until Strikes Happen)

Townhall.com ^ | December 30, 2013 | Mike Shedlock 

In what is decidedly a good thing for California as well as the nation at-large, a recent Field Poll shows California Voters Take Negative View of Labor Unions.
According to the latest Field Poll, California voter views of labor unions have taken a decidedly negative turn over the past two and one-half years. Whereas a March 2011 survey found voters by a four to three margin, believing that labor unions generally do more good than harm, opinions about this have shifted, with more voters now saying they do more harm than good, 45% to 40%.

The poll also finds Californians sharply divided on the question of whether public transit workers should be allowed to go on strike, with 47% feeling they should continue to have this right, while 44% believe they shouldn’t. Voters in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, who faced a paralyzing strike by its Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) workers in both July and October and who face the possibility of a third strike, are more likely than voters elsewhere to oppose public transit workers having the right to strike.

Overall Results


click on any chart for sharper image

Demographic and Political Breakdown



Union Household Trends
  • Those on the take at the expense of everyone else (unions) are overwhelmingly pro-union.
  • Even among union households, note the sharp 13% increase in the percentage of people who say unions do more harm than good.
  • By a 49-35 margin, nonunion households no say unions do more harm than good.

Primary Union Support
  • Union households
  • Los Angeles County
  • San Francisco Bay Area
  • Age Group 18-29
  • Latinos
  • Blacks

The age demographic is interesting. Are teachers pounding pro-union propaganda into kids heads from age six through college?

Support for Ability to Strike



Those in Favor of Ability to Strike
  • Democrats
  • Independents
  • Liberals
  • Union households
  • Los Angeles County
  • Age Group 18-29
  • Age Group 30-39
  • Latinos
  • Blacks

Those Against Strikes
  • Republicans
  • Conservatives
  • San Francisco Bay Area
  • 65 and older
  • Asians

These results are extremely interesting. Of course we see the expected political breakdowns.

Aging Population an Anti-Union Force?

Those 40-64 are against strikes by a 49-43 margin. Those 65 and older are against strikes by a 50-39 margin.

Those over 65 may be increasingly dependent on reliable public transportation and may be on fixed income as well. Those on fixed income budgets do not like price hikes because their income cannot keep up.

Implications suggest that an aging population is an anti-union force.

Liberals in Favor of Strikes (Until Strikes Happen)

On the humorous side, take a good look at San Francisco which suffered through a massive BART (Bay Area Transportation) strike. For details, please see my October 18 post BART Holds San Francisco Hostage; Best Way to Deal With Public Unions

The San Francisco Bay area, a bastion of liberal foolishness, is now against the ability of public transportation strikes by a 52-41 margin.

Conclusion: Liberals are all in favor of strikes until they are personally affected by them!

What follows is a repeat of things I have stated earlier. Some might not be aware but even FDR saw the light regarding public unions.

Message From FDR

Inquiring minds are reading snips from a Letter from FDR Regarding Collective Bargaining of Public Unions written August 16, 1937.
All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.

The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations.

Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees.

A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable.
For more on public union slavery, coercion, bribery, and scapegoating please see ...

Best Way to Deal With Public Unions

The best way to deal with public unions is to not deal with them at all. Ronald Reagan had the right idea when he fired all of the PATCOworkers.

Scott Walker had the right idea in Wisconsin when he ended collective bargaining of some public unions. Unfortunately, Walker failed to include police and firefighters.

Actual Wisconsin results prove Union-Busting is a "Godsend"; Elimination of Collective Bargaining is the Single Best Thing one Can do for School Kids

It's time to implement national right-to-work laws and put an end to public union collective bargaining nationally.

Yoo-hoo ObamaCare reaches 4% of Goal (Epic Failure! on the ObamaCare Roll Out Scale)

 by Lockbox

The media is cheering reports that about one million people signed up for ObamaCare. Guess they forgot the goal was 30 million. Talk about Epic Failure, less than 4% of the goal.

Remember that when your boss asks how the large project is going. You can use the ObamaCare Roll Out Scale. 'Well boss our project is three times as successful as the ObamaCare roll out'.

Or for the up coming Valentines day tell you loved one that you 'love them 10 times as much as the ObamaCare roll out'. Good luck with that one......but dear it's ten times as much.

Or you can tell your Lib neighbor that you support them 'twice as much as the ObamaCare roll out'.

In fact we should all use the ObamaCare Roll Out Scale to describe other Obama / Lib programs.

TODAY IS THE OLDEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN, YET THE YOUNGEST YOU'LL EVER BE SO ENJOY THIS DAY WHILE IT LASTS.

AND THEN IT IS WINTER!

You know ... time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate. Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams.

But, here it is... the "back nine" of my life and it catches me by surprise...How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go?

I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that "I was only on the first hole" and the "back nine" was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like.

But, here it is...my friends are retired and getting gray...they move slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than me...but, I see the great change...Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant...but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd become.

Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore... it's mandatory! Cause if I don't on my own free will... I just fall asleep where I sit!

And so...now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!! But, at least I know, that though I'm on the "back nine", and I'm not sure how long it will last...this I know, that when it's over on this earth...it's over.

A new adventure will begin! Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't done...things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime.

So, if you're not on the "back nine" yet...let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly! Don't put things off too long!! Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether you're on the "back nine" or not!

You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!!

"Life" is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one. LIVE IT WELL! ENJOY TODAY! DO SOMETHING FUN! BE HAPPY ! HAVE A GREAT DAY Remember "It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. LIVE HAPPY IN 2014!

LASTLY, CONSIDER THIS: ~Your kids are becoming you......but your grandchildren are perfect! ~Going out is good.. Coming home is better! ~You forget names.... But it's OK because other people forgot they even knew you!!! ~You realize you're never going to be really good at anything.... especially golf. ~The things you used to care to do, you no longer care to do, but you really do care that you don't care to do them anymore. ~You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV blaring than in bed. It's called "pre-sleep". ~You miss the days when everything worked with just an "ON" and "OFF" switch.. ~You tend to use more 4 letter words ... "what?"..."when?"... ??? ~Now that you can afford expensive jewelry, it's not safe to wear it anywhere. ~You notice everything they sell in stores is "sleeveless"?!!! ~What used to be freckles are now liver spots. ~Everybody whispers. ~You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet.... 2 of which you will never wear. ~~~But Old is good in some things: Old Songs, Old movies, and best of all, OLD FRIENDS!!

Stay well, "OLD FRIEND!" Send this on to other "Old Friends!" and let them laugh in AGREEMENT!!! It's Not What You Gather, But What You Scatter That Tells What Kind Of Life You Have Lived.

National ID headed for your wallet, purse Homeland Security to require digital features in driver's

wnd ^ | 12/29/13 | Jerome R. Corsi 

Just as you were wrapping your mind around the idea that under Obamacare and the accompanying changes in the health-care system, your medical records will be floating around in some online repository, available to far too many people, you’re being told you’ll soon have a National Identity Card and a Western Hemisphere-compliant travel document whether you want it or not, if you plan to drive in the United States.
The federal government says it soon will be enforcing its demands that state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards comply with Department of Homeland Security standards.
DHS announced just before Christmas a final schedule for the full enforcement of the REAL ID Act of 2005.
That was set for a phased implementation beginning in January 2014 and full-scale enforcement planned no later than May 2017, at which time the federal government will no longer accept state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards that do not meet the minimum security standards set by DHS.
For many Americans, the full implementation of the REAL ID act is certain to trigger unfortunate memories of World War II and the modus operandi of fascist, totalitarian states, where travelers and ordinary citizens on the street are stopped by authorities and demanded, “Your papers, please!”
In the U.S., the justification for the REAL ID Act of 2005 was the concern for enhanced travel security after the 9/11 Commission documented several of the 9/11 terrorists had valid state-issued driver’s licenses and were able to freely board airplanes even though they were terrorists who had entered the U.S. illegally.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...

A New Report

A new report says that members of Congress work harder than the average American. 

You know why? 

That's because thanks to Congress the average American is out of work. 

-- Leno

The Game is Over

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Some Assembly Required!

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Democrat Blocking

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You talking to me, numb nuts?

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Cognitive Dissonance

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PRICELESS

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The American Dream

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Clinton-Blame

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GETLYING

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Chik-fil-A'd

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FACTS

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Podestaisms

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Never Mind!

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How it works

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Quack Dynasty

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Untruthful

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Pig Lipstick!

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Black Man

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Saigon flash-back

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Turd Polishing

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I LIE!

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Obama-in-Wonderland with Special Guest Hillary Clinton and the GOP All-Stars

Townhall.com ^ | December 30, 2013 | John Ransom 


Despite the mixed signals that the economy is flashing, the stock market at least believes that finally the economy is starting to recover.
So does the bond market.
And that’s the problem.
Just after making record low yield in the spring near 1.50 percent, the Ten Year Treasury note did an “about face” and has nearly doubled just in 8 months with rates closing on Christmas Eve at 2.80 percent.
This is significant because if means that the bond market either thinks the economy is gaining steam or it means bonds are predicting inflation. Bond rates tend to go up as the market gains steam in order to contain inflation.
In either case, the stock market looks to be moving higher short term
Dow 20,000 in 2014?
Not likely, but… if, if, if, voters, politicians and lobbyists can get their act together and do something to HELP the economy, there certainly is enough money to get a large portion of the way to Dow 20,000.
In order for that to happen, we’ll have to see GDP normalize at 3 percent or higher AND inflation to remain in check.
That’s a tough thing to manage, especially with oil and other commodities trading like financial assets rather than commodities.
Bonds look to me like they are betting on inflation.
But inflation isn’t the only thing that stands in the way of the economy and the stock market.
In 2014, many of the headwind provisions of Obamacare will ramp up again. Given the type of dislocation that Obamacare has already had on the economy, there are some predicting 2014 to be worse as the more strenuous parts of Obamacare are contemplated, if not fully enacted.
And despite the lame duck status of Obama, I think that any meaningful changes to Obamacare—including even repeal, are largely up to the president.
He seems however content to go down with the SS Obamacare, taking both women and children with him.
“Real federal government consumption expenditures and gross investment decreased 1.5 percent in the third quarter,” says the Bureau of Economic Analysis “compared with a decrease of 1.6 percent in the second.”
Whatever else might be hurting the economy, it’s not the decrease in government spending that’s holding the economy back.
It’s the regulations.
At this rate, I'd like to see more sequester, since it seems to be working out so well for the economy.
How do we sequester Obamacare?Helloooo? Anyone? Bueller? Boehner? Boehner?
“Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States,” writes the BEA, “increased at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in the third quarter of 2013 (that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to the ‘third’ estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.In the second quarter, real GDP increased 2.5 percent.”
Those GDP numbers are closer to historic norms for our economy, but in the Obama-in-Wonderland economy nothing necessarily is as it seems.
We’ve been in this territory before and have seen the economy stutter, gasp, cough and stop.
In 2011, the 4th quarter poster 4.9 percent and then trailed off posting weaker and weaker numbers until the Fed cried “uncle” and began the latest round of quantitative easing in the summer of 2012.
GDP is probably expanding because of the little bit of fiscal restraint that we’ve shown since 2010. Add in the delayed provisions of Obamacare and 2013 GDP performance is credible. But that doesn’t mean that it will carry into 2014, an election year and the last of where Obama will control the levers to reward or punish.
Look for Hillary to ride in to the mid-terms on her white horse proposing some final solution for Obamacare (pun intended) that Mitch McConnell, John McCain and John Boehner will gush over publicly in order to poke the eye of Tea Party conservatives.
2014 looks to be a watershed year for the country politically, economically and historically.
The decision will be left in the hands of the voters.
Ouch. And at this point, it shouldn’t be that close.

A Hate Crime in Texas

Frontpage ^ | 12/30/2013 | Colin Flaherty 

122713-national-Conrad-Barrett-knockout-game-hate-crimeFirst came the shock. Then disbelief. Then the questions: Why him? Why now? Why did Attorney General Holder choose to file hate crime charges against a white man in Texas for allegedly playing the Knockout Game against a black man?

And the biggest question of all: When will public officials and the media stop ignoring — and denying — the black mob violence and black on white crime that exists exponentially out of proportion?

As examples, many point to recent episodes of large scale black mob violence; smaller but lethal cases of black on white crime; and even more bouts of the Knockout Game.
Let’s start in Los Angeles, two weeks before Christmas. At first seemed it like nothing: The Los Angeles Times called it a fraternity brawl among 25 people with no particular racial identity at a local hotel and no one hurt. The local CBS affiliate talked to the fraternity president who also downplayed the violence: It was just a few guys trying to “impress the females.”
By the next day, a different picture emerged: More than 1000 people were fighting in and out of the hotel. Before during and after the party. Video showed one person throwing a large metal table into a crowd of party -goers. People got hurt, at least one person was hospitalized for stitches.
The local ABC affiliate cobbled it together:
According to hotel management, the fight broke out between two different fraternities. Police said everything from fists, tables and chairs were thrown. Some witnesses said fights occurred on several floors of the hotel. They also said police used pepper spray on the crowds.
“It was pretty bad. The whole party was engulfed in pepper spray. You could feel it in your lungs,” said one witness.
Authorities say the pepper spray was used when the partygoers refused to cooperate.
Other hotel residents said the violence and commotion went on all night inside the hotel.
The party was sponsored by a black fraternity at Cal State Long Beach. No one was arrested.
Near Charlotte, North Carolina, four black people are under arrest in the shooting death of Marcus Kauffman, a volunteer firefighter and expectant father. Kauffman died a few days before Christmas.
At the University of Michigan, three black people were charged in December with  the murder of a medical student during a home invasion robbery.
On December 15, Dustin Friedland and his wife were leaving a New Jersey mall when a group of black people allegedly killed him and took his SUV. The New York Daily News filled in a few blanks:
Friedland, a beloved husband and lawyer from Hoboken, had just finished loading holiday gifts into his silver 2012 Range Rover when two men ambushed him so they could steal the SUV. He never had a chance — the men shot him four times before he had a chance to resist or question his greedy attackers.
Police arrested four black people are few days before Christmas and charged them with murder.
Many public officials and members of the media deny there is any kind of systematic problem with black mob violence or black and white crime. Their sympathetic denials do not protect them.
In Washington, D.C.,  in December, several black people severely beat a CNN news producer walking the two blocks from his home to work at 4 a.m. He said he will never walk in that neighborhood again.
In Minneapolis at the Mall of America, several black people beat and robbed one of the area’s more visible liberal politicians. Just about a month after Mark Andrew finished second in the November race for mayor of Minneapolis, he was sitting in a Starbucks when someone grabbed his phone and ran out of the store.
As Andrew ran after the thief, two young women waiting outside the coffee shop tackled him, and one began beating him on the head and face with a club.
Andrew said he jumped back to his feet and physically restrained one attacker while the other continued striking him. They yelled, “We’re going to kill you! We’re going to kill you!”
When police arrived, the two black women said they were the victims: Andrew had attacked them. That story did not hold up very well and the two were arrested.
Andrew was taken to the hospital where he received nine stitches. The third person is still at large. They don’t have to worry too much: Andrew is not mad at them: “I think there’s redemption for everybody,” said Andrew. “So we’ll try to find a way for them to get in a place where they can turn their lives around.”
So far Andrew and his social reformers have not had much success with that in Minneapolis. The Mall of America has been the site of several examples of black mob violence. Many documented in White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It.
Here’s how one resident describes the New Minneapolis:
Formerly bustling suburbs like Robbinsdale and St. Louis Park have turned into ghettos. Malls, restaurants and shops are few and far between in downtown areas.
Even the Mall of America is under assault. Go there on a Saturday afternoon and you’ll see gangs of blacks with colors flying and pant legs rolled up.
They ogle, whistle at and harass white women, even following them around. They occupy the food courts, which are a constant source of intimidation and mayhem.
Last January, some 200 blacks got into a violent chair throwing fracas at one of the food courts. It quickly spread to other areas, forcing
stores to close their gates and paying customers to flee. There was cell phone video all over the Internet, showing conclusively that the combatants were black.
We’ll never know if there were any arrests made or charges filed because the print and broadcast media had little to say.
And downtown Minneapolis and the campus of the University of Minnesota have been the site of several recent examples of black mob violence and black on white crime.
In December, Minneapolis police told a Chinese exchange student they were “too busy” to investigate the whereabouts of her stolen computer, even though she had located it using a built-in GPS device.
Several black people had assaulted her, knocked her out, and taken her computer several days before. Campus police followed up on the lead and found the computer. They arrested one person, who said he took the computer but someone else assaulted her.
She is just one of dozens of victims of black on white and black and asian violence near the campus. The University of Minnesota school paper reports that black students are unhappy the assailants are identified by race — as is required in the Cleary law for reporting violence on college campuses. They say they are being profiled.
Down in Jacksonville, Florida, a “massive” Christmas night fight and riot erupted in and out of a movie theater after 600 black people — many waiting to see a Nelson Mandela movie — tried to gain free admission by rushing the ticket taker.
Private security and police used tear gas on the rioters. According to the Florida Times-Union out of Jacksonville:
One of the young suspects refused orders to leave and began to incite the crowd yelling, “—  — you, crackers, I ain’t going nowhere,” according to her arrest report. Most of the crowd was black, while several officers were white.
According to NewsOne.com, a black web site, “the pepper spray is what apparently sparked the brawl that broke out.”
Some would say the riot provoked the pepper spray, not the other way around.
During the 90 minutes it took to get the fighting under control, several of the rioters threatened attacked police, including Jaquade Marquis Miller.
When Miller appeared before a judge, his mother told the court he was a good boy and this was not like him. She later told reporters her son was crying and scared.
Instead of sending him to jail, Miller agreed to take an eight-week course in accountability from a group called Save Our Sons. The program teaches accountability, “healthy choices” and “gives them a chance to vent,” said SOS leaders.
Jacksonville has been the scene of several episodes of recent large scale black mob violence.  In 2012, 300 black people stormed a Wal-Mart, looted it, videoed it, and ran away as police arrived. But not before the chaos was captured on video.
On Memorial Day 2013, hundreds of black people were involved in large scale violence at the beach. Much of it on video.
Self-described youth advocate, Donteacia Seymore of Jacksonville, told First Coast News this kind of violence happens a lot in Jacksonville: “But it was a reminder that this is something that’s common. It’s prevalent. It’s not going away,” Seymore said.
Chicago residents and police report at least two episodes of large scale black mob violence over the holiday season. In the suburb of Orland Park, dozens of black people were fighting and destroying property at a local mall. Five people were arrested. The reporters at the local Patch outlet were careful to avoid the racial issue, but its readers were not:
How does one comment on this and NOT sound racist or some stereotype. You can’t. So I won’t try.  Though some liberal will say I’m being racist or stereo typical but I’m not the ones who named their children “Shat-I-Vanna” SERIOUSLY?! Then raised her in a way to think this was an appropriate way to behave. Sadly, all too often stereotypes exist for a reason. You may call it a stereotype or racist while I call it STATISTICS. See, no way to reply to this TRUTHFULLY and not sound like some dumb ass clan member, so I won’t try. Sorry, if the truth hurts. People are too afraid to speak the truth these days.
Over at America’s best cop blog: Second City Cop, readers learned about 500 black people “wilding” at Chicago’s North Riverside mall a few days after Christmas.
When the wilding started in the mall. I would have estimated about a 500 hundred Amish thugs fighting and running like savages. Store locked their doors and security waited until about 25 squad cars from the surrounding areas came and cleared the mall.
They were not really Amish. And readers report neither episode received much attention in the local news.
In Syracuse over the weekend, eight black people were arrested at the Destiny USA mall after police and security responded to a “large fight.” One of the people arrested, a 14-year-old boy, allegedly swung a knife at police.
Many in Syracuse said it reminded them of a similar incident at the same mall last year, when police were called to another large fight involving black people. When police attempted to detain a 15-year-old suspect, he resisted. Two of his friends attacked the officers.
After he was subdued and arrested, police found a sawed-off shotgun in his long coat. Three shotgun shells were found next to the body of an unconscious person at the scene of the fight.
Also over the weekend, police found one man dead when they responded to reports of a large fight of over 100 black people near New Haven, Connecticut. Neighbors said two things: It happens a lot. And it has been going on for a long time.
In Indianapolis in December, the last of 11 black people were arrested in connection with a series of home invasion robberies and sexual assaults. A few days before Christmas, two white women were allegedly murdered by a black disgruntled former employee of the family business.
Indianapolis is the site of frequent and intense black mob violence, including mayhem at the annual Indiana Black Expo, documented inWhite Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore it.
No account of the racial violence over the last several weeks would be complete without mentioning the Knockout Games, and how they are still happening. (Or not, if you work for CNN, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC and other media outlets.)
From Brooklyn, Columbus, Rochester, Milwaukee, Harlem, Florence and other places, reports of spontaneous, unprovoked, black on white racial violence continue to come to flood conservative news sites.  And continue to be denied in many — but not all — popular press outlets.
Recent large scale black mob violence –often at night after the clubs close, or in the day at black high schools  — has also been reported in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Tulsa, Washington, Baton Rouge, Middletown (Connecticut), Pittsburgh, Tifflin, Peoria, Oakland, Long Island, Rochester, Roanoke, among others.
What recently received the most attention were the (pick one) 300, 400, 500, or 600 “teens” rampaging through Kings Plaza mall in Brooklyn — the same neighborhood  where 10 black people surrounded a white couple in a car at a stoplight and beat them in November.
For two hours on the day after Christmas, “the teenagers stole merchandise, assaulted security guards, and broke candy jars. A group of teenage girls were caught on camera fighting and shouting while security guards tried to break them up.”
Merchants reported widespread panic and property damage, so much so that many were forced to close their doors to protect their customers and merchandise.
The New York Post made a perfunctory attempt to convince its readers this was not another example of black mob violence. It reported “A tall white guy with a grey bubble coat was wearing a ski mask and a skull cap and he had his hand under his coat like he was holding a gun.”
But videos, social media and members of law enforcement tell a different story: This was a black crowd at mall with a large black clientele. Chicks on the Right tracked down some of their Facebook postings.
“[Kings Plaza] was on tilt today but n-ggas wasn’t catching me,” Ray Ray Sextana posted on Facebook.
Another teen, Mark Wallace, posted, “S–t was crazy at Kings Plaza. So the security started shutting down the mall and kicking all teens out but it was so much of us they couldn’t get control.”
He added,“F–ked up my middle finger tryna fight them bitch ass security guards.”
At least viewer at the ABC news affiliate in New York was having trouble figuring it all out: “Just wondering, but why are there so many variations on what happened Thursday? Some say claim that there were hundreds of teenagers, that nothing was stolen or it was just these group of girls fighting.”
A few days later, a group of black people beat and robbed a man for his iPhone. The NBC affiliate posted pictures of the suspects. Law enforcement officials in Brooklyn say this happens every day in their borough.
Cops on the beat in Brooklyn, Chicago, Houston, and other cities laugh when they read the denials or see them on television news: There are too many witnesses, too many videos, too many victims, too much damage, for people to deny the existence of large scale black mob violence and black on white crime, they say.
Many black media outlets are way past the denials — and now into explaining why it is happening. This article from the Atlanta Black Star is as good as anything you can find in Ebony, Jet, The Grio, One News, Huffington Post Black Voices, The Field Negro, or dozens of other black media outlets: 5 Reasons Young Black Men Resort To Violence.

Tempers flare as power outages persist in Michigan, Maine [Democrat States suffer; Obama Golfs!]

LA TIMES ^ | 12/28/13 | SABA HAMEDY 

Flo Baerren of Lansing, Mich., was planning on giving her granddaughter a hand-knit quilt for Christmas when she went to Chicago to see family for the holidays.
Instead, the 68-year-old found herself renting a room at a Hampton Inn in Jackson, 38 miles away, and eating Christmas dinner at Denny’s.
Baerren is among tens of thousands of people who were left in the dark, some for up to a week, in areas of Michigan and New England after ice storms felled power lines.
“I understand it was a major storm. I understand a lot of trees fell down,” Baerren, whose power went out a week ago, told the Los Angeles Times.
“What I don’t understand is the complete and utter lack of communication of what’s going on … and an apparent lack of any kind of cohesive plan to deal with an emergency like this.”
Denay Kelley of Lansing, whose power has been out for six days, had to return to her home on Dec. 27 because she could no longer afford living in a motel.
“That night I bought 200 candles and candle holders to try and warm up my home,” she told The Times in an email. “It didn’t do much.”
Kelley, 23, who has a 14-month-old son, said she “can’t even afford a generator” and is worried the temperature will continue to drop. In the past few days, weather in Lansing has hit lows of 25 degrees and highs in the 40s.
Meanwhile, utility companies continue to work on fixing the outages. Last Saturday’s ice storm caused 409,000 outages for customers of Consumers Energy, Michigan’s largest utility. As of 11:30 a.m. Saturday, about 18,000 customers remained without power, the utility's website reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at touch.latimes.com ...
Fear not for your Dear Leader, Democrat states! He is playing golf in warm, sunny Hawaii while you freeze! 

2013 Year in Review: Tea Party Beats Washington

 Breitbart.com ^ | 12/29/13 | Matthew Boyle

The past year has by far been the best for the Tea Party movement in its short history. In 2013, the five-year old conservative grassroots upsurge has grabbed Washington, D.C. by the collar, tearing the city colloquially known as “Boomtown” in a conservative direction for the first time in decades. As the Tea Party movement matures, it is getting more professional in its political activism.
The way the Tea Party won 2013 is by entrenching itself in Washington warfare and fighting for conservative victories by connecting powerful grassroots activists directly with lawmakers in decision-making positions. What has happened is the movement has matured, and learned how to manipulate the ways of Washington to promote conservative policies while defeating liberal ones.
In the short months after President Barack Obama’s re-election, a core group of conservative House Republicans--many of whom were elected in 2010 or 2012--developed a plan to attempt to unseat House Speaker John Boehner on the House floor. While the early January vote was ultimately unsuccessful, the 12 House conservatives willing to stand up to Speaker Boehner scared him as he began the 113th Congress. That 12 of his own members were willing to vote against the Speaker was unprecedented in modern times, and given that only 17 votes were needed to actually remove Boehner, it put the veteran Ohio Republican leader on notice that any caving in 2013 would have drastic consequences for his future as Speaker. The narrative had been set: The Tea Party runs the House, and by extension, Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Unnerved DNC Sends-Out Letter Re. Possible Obama Impeachment...


Reaganite Republican ^ | 29 December 2013 | Reaganite Republican 
Posted on 12/29/2013 6:25:57 AM by Reaganite Republican


Not that Karl Rove noticed while he's preoccupied with battling hia party's own base,  but the White House is in a tailspin as Dear Leader plunges new depths of unpopularity nationwide... and our bewildered country at long last shows signs of snapping-out-of-it.
Reality has never been a friend of the 'progressive' left, and on top of tanking poll numbers now we're talking about daylight finally being cast upon Obama graft and dishonesty issues the MSM swept-under-the-rug for 5 years. And since the one who lied repeatedly while doing unconstitutional/illegal things is their messiah, down at Democratic HQ they're positively freaking out: the DNC sent a letter to 'Obama for America' supporters with the simple, daunting subject line 'IMPEACHMENT'-

The email ...sent to Obama for America supporters, imploring them to contribute to ... 2014 (Democratic congressional campaign) efforts.

“What do these people all have in common?,” the email asked, featuring quotes from GOP Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, et. al... discussing the possibility of impeaching Obama for one of his numerous instances of presidential misconduct.

 The DNC email discussed the “I-Word” and said that “Republicans are actually excited about the idea.”

 “Show these Republicans that they are way, way off-base, and give President Obama a Congress that has his back,” (Democrats need to win 17 GOP House seats to reclaim a majority).

 The DNC, which recently expanded its political tactics to include boycotting independent news outlets, previously supported the last president to be impeached: Bill Clinton.

 Obama’s staff changed key talking points on the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack; his IRS targeted conservative groups during the 2012 election cycle; and Obama personally lied to the American people when he told them that they could keep their existing doctors and health insurance plans under Obamacare...

If there's any speck of rule of law left in the United States -and I know it's easy to lose faith in that in the wake of Judge Roberts' Obamacare ruling- Barack Obama will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law... right now. How it there any doubt whatsoever he's been lying -primarily to cover up his own misdeeds- for years.... it's wrong to do that, what else is there to talk about. Hey John Boehner/Mitch McConnell, you two made some deal with Obama not to prosecute... even if we conservatives hand you a stronger hand on the hill?

The Daily Caller   TPNN   Politico   hat-tips Bad BlueDrudge

Saturday, December 28, 2013

A reminder of what the “broken” US healthcare system Obama is bent on destroying has done.

Flopping Aces ^ | 12-28-13 | DrJohn 

1703
If he said it once he said it a million times. Obama claimed the US health care system is broken.

Stepping up his push to enact legislation to reform the nation's health-care system, President Obama today declared, "The status quo is broken," and he warned that the current system could eventually collapse if nothing is done to control spiraling costs.With Congress poised to debate sweeping health-care legislation in the coming weeks, Obama warned that if "we do nothing, everyone's health care will be put in jeopardy."
Speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said that the fast-rising cost of health care is placing an unsustainable burden on personal budgets, small businesses and the federal government.
"Within a decade we'll spend one dollar out of every five we earn on health care -- and we'll keep getting less for our money," he said. "That's why fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve; it's a necessity we cannot postpone any longer."
Obama said that health-care reform can address rising costs by reining in profiteering by health insurers and providers, stoking competition in the industry, and creating a mechanism for building on the models of efficient care that exist around the country.
Let's remind our liberal colleagues what Barack Obama is bent on destroying. Let's remind them what a "broken" system has accomplished:
Overall cancer:

•American women have a 63 percent chance of living at least five years after a cancer diagnosis, compared to 56 percent for European women. [See Figure I.] U.S. Cancer Care Is Number One. fig1 •American men have a five-year survival rate of 66 percent — compared to only 47 percent for European men. •Among European countries, only Sweden has an overall survival rate for men of more than 60 percent. •For women, only three European countries (Sweden, Belgium and Switzerland) have an overall survival rate of more than 60 percent.
Specific cancers:

•Of cancers that affect primarily men, the survival rate among Americans for bladder cancer is 15 percentage points higher than the European average; for prostate cancer, it is 28 percentage points higher. 2 •Of cancers that affect women only, the survival rate among Americans for uterine cancer is about 5 percentage points higher than the European average; for breast cancer, it is 14 percentage points higher. •The United States has survival rates of 90 percent or higher for five cancers (skin melanoma, breast, prostate, thyroid and testicular), but there is only one cancer for which the European survival rate reaches 90 percent (testicular).
Canada is better? Not

•For women, the average survival rate for all cancers is 61 percent in the United States, compared to 58 percent in Canada. •For men, the average survival rate for all cancers is 57 percent in the United States, compared to 53 percent in Canada.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...

Confusing reporting rules will bite the IRS: Nasty surprises in store for taxpayers.

American Thinker ^ | 12/28/2013 | Rick Moran 

If you are currently receiving a subsidy from the government for your health insurance, you better be aware that any "life changes" that occur during the year - marriage, divorce, increase in income - has to be reported to the IRS. Otherwise, you're liable to get a nasty surprise come tax time.

Politico:

It's a new responsibility for this group - many of whom are just struggling to sign up.
The IRS, for its part, must make sure consumers don't get blindsided - or it will face a bunch of angry taxpayers who didn't realize they would owe Uncle Sam money back, tax experts said.
"If I were the IRS, I would be very concerned that I'm going to be viewed as the villain when people have to pay back money the government gave them for health insurance," said Chris Condeluci, who was Senate Finance Committee GOP tax counsel during drafting of the Affordable Care Act.
There is time. Potential "repayments" to the government will not come due until 2015, when recipients file next year's taxes. But the new rule for reporting these life changes begins this January.
(WATCH: Obamacare timeline)
But there might be good news: If a recipient's income were to fall and it wasn't reported, the recipient could get a nice, fat check because he or she would be owed a larger Obamacare tax credit than was received.
Right now, the IRS does explain the issue on its website, but consumers would have to be looking for the information to find it.


(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...

Why The Chamber of Commerce Is Planning To Attack Conservatives and Tea Party Candidates…

The Conservative Treehouse ^ | 12-28-2013 | sundance 

Yesterday we shared the story of the CoC announcing their intention to spend $50 million in order to protect and maintain establishment Republicans. Yesterday the SCF (Senate Conservatives Fund) also sent out a distribution letter notifying supporters of the same issue.
However, the SCF misses the point when they note:
“The Chamber is pro-bailout, pro-stimulus, and pro-debt so it’s no surprise they want to elect more liberal Republicans.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theconservativetreehouse.com ...

KWANZAA

Court: Obama Admin “Doesn’t Have the Right” to Impose HHS Mandate on Christian Colleges

Life News ^ | Steven Ertelt 

The Obama administration has lost yet another court case against the controversial HHS mandate that forces companies, colleges, and religious groups to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions under their employee health plans.
Today a Houston federal court delivered a major blow to the controversial HHS mandate ruling in favor of East Texas Baptist University and Houston Baptist University. In a 46-page opinion, the court ruled that the federal mandate requiring employers to provide employees with abortion-causing drugs and devices violates federal civil rights laws, and issued an injunction against the mandate. Religious plaintiffs have now won injunctions in 9 out of 12 such cases involving non-profit entities challenging the mandate.
“The government doesn’t have the right to decide what religious beliefs are legitimate and which ones aren’t,” said Eric Rassbach, Deputy General Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and lead attorney for East Texas Baptist and Houston Baptist Universities. “In its careful opinion, the Court recognized that the government was trying to move across that forbidden line, and said “No further!”
In its opinion, the federal court specifically rejected the government’s argument that it evaluate the Universities’ beliefs: “The religious organization plaintiffs have shown a sincerely held religious belief that the court cannot second-guess.”
The decision is part of a recent groundswell of cases decided against the government. In nine of the twelve cases decided thus far, federal district courts across the country have issued injunctions against the mandate.
“The government has enforced the health care reform law very unevenly, handing out exemptions to those it sees as its allies,” stated Rassbach. “Perhaps the worst part of the government’s approach is that it seems to have decided that religious institutions are the only ones not to get an exemption.”
Also participating as plaintiff in the case is Westminster Theological Seminary, a Reformed Protestant seminary based in Philadelphia. Westminster is represented by Kenneth Wynne of Wynne & Wynne, LLP.
To date, there are currently 89 lawsuits challenging the unconstitutional HHS mandate.
The decision is good news in the battle against the mandate after, in another case, Priests for Life had its lawsuit tossed.
Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, tells LifeNews he is very concerned after learning that Priests for Life’s lawsuit against the HHS contraception mandate was dismissed by a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“The judge’s decision today is a complete contradiction to Judge Cogan’s decision of just a few days ago in New York for organizations situated similarly to us and using exactly the same arguments.
“The New York decision recognized that the religious nonprofits were being forced to cooperate with evil.Our judge, instead, claims that we are not being forced to cooperate with evil. Our judge’s decision is wrong, and we are confident of victory in our appeal.
“Meanwhile, injunction or not, we will absolutely not obey, cooperate with, or tolerate in any way this unjust mandate. As Scripture says, we will obey God rather than men.”
The Supreme Court recently agreed to take a case from Christian-run business Hobby Lobby, which is suing the Obama administration over its mandate that it pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs for its employees. But where do Americans stand on the issue of whether employers should be forced to comply with the mandate?
A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows they apparently agree.
“Half of voters now oppose a government requirement that employers provide health insurance with free contraceptives for their female employees,” Rasmussen reports.
The poll found: “The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% of Likely U.S. Voters still believe businesses should be required by law to provide health insurance that covers all government-approved contraceptives for women without co-payments or other charges to the patient.
Fifty-one percent (51%) disagree and say employers should not be required to provide health insurance with this type of coverage. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.”
Another recent poll found 59 percent of Americans disagree with the mandate.

Missouri bill would gut Obamacare

Washington Times ^ | 12/27/2013 | by Michael Boldin 

Next month, the Missouri Senate will consider a bill which would effectively cripple the implementation of the Affordable Care Act within the state.

Following the lead of South Carolina, where lawmakers are fast-tracking House Bill 3101 in 2014, and Georgia, where HB707 was recently introduced by Rep. Jason Spencer, Missouri State Senator John T. Lamping (R-24) pre-filed Senate Bill 546 (SB546) to update the Health Care Freedom Act passed by Missouri voters in 2010. It passed that year with more than 70% support.

SB546 would ban Missouri from taking any action that would “compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in any health care system.” That means the state would be banned by law from operating a health care exchange for the federal government.

The bill also proposes suspending the licenses of insurers who accept federal subsidies which result in the “imposition of penalties contrary to the public policy” set forth in the legislation. Since it is unlikely that any insurer would then accept a subsidy, not a single employer in the state could be hit with the employer-mandate penalties those subsidies trigger.
In a press release, Lamping said his goal was make health care better for the people of his state. “These ideas are aimed at improving … health care decisions for Missourians.”
Following significant portions of the Tenth Amendment Center’s four-step plan to nullify Obamacare on a state-level, Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano noted that such actions were not just legal, but effective.
“If enough states do this, it will gut Obamacare because the federal government doesn’t have the resources … to go into each of the states if they start refusing,” he said.
Based on the long-standing principle known as the anti-commandeering doctrine...
(Excerpt) Read more at communities.washingtontimes.com ...

The Ongoing Liberal Plague

RightWingPatriot.com ^ | December 27, 2013 | RightWingPatriot 

There is a foul pestilence making its way across America today. Where once proud bastions of conservatism and traditional American values have stood the test of time, a lingering disease has penetrated and spreads its malicious infection. I'm talking about the progressive liberal plague that occurs when liberals pick up and leave bastions of liberal thinking and move to areas of the country where conservatism was the backbone of the culture.
States such as Colorado, Texas, and Florida have all had an invasion of liberals. These entities have left behind states such as New York and Michigan after liberal policies destroyed those states. You would think that seeing the effects of liberalism would wake these people up, especially as they move to another state to better themselves economically. Sadly, that is not the case as logic and reason are two concepts that liberal minds cannot grasp or even begin to comprehend. Liberals will gladly complain of the insane taxes and regulations imposed by the very politicians they vote for, election after election, but when they move to another state that isn't strangled by red tape, high taxes, or anti-free market labor unions, they'll continue to support politicians that support the very things they are running from.
I've seen this firsthand in my home state of Florida. According to the US Census Bureau, New York is about to be displaced by Florida as the third most populous state. There are 50,000 people moving from New York to Florida every year, but it's just not old retirees. In fact, 78% of those moving are under the age of 60 and there are roughly the same number of people who are in their 30's and 40's as there are retirees. I actually find this stunning as the job situation in Florida is deplorable. Most of the jobs are low-wage jobs as Florida has long been a tourism/hospitality state for employment. Sadly, the number of New Yorkers (and others) moving to Florida is increasing the cost of living for native-born crackers. While Florida was always a low-wage state, the cost of living was also extremely low, plus we have no state income tax. Yet, the massive influx of liberals from the North and their voting habits is making the state extremely hard to afford to live in for normal people. South Florida is incredibly expensive to live in as housing prices and property taxes have gone through the roof in the last decade. I, myself, had to move from South to Central Florida just to be able to afford paying my property tax. When I lived in South Florida, the vast majority of people that I knew worked in counties to the south, but they were unable to afford to own or even rent a place to live in the counties that they worked. I'm not just talking about restaurant workers, but also teachers, firemen, and policemen.
When these liberals invade a new state, they don't discard their ideology despite the fact that they've been forced to relocate due to the effects of that ideology of big government and big taxes. They'll rail that the place they moved to is backward and this isn't "how things were done back home!" The obvious rebuttal is don't screw up my state just because you've screwed up yours. The proof is in the pudding, my friends. Florida was a solidly Republican state but voted for Obama twice. Colorado was a solid state for Republicans as well but now votes Democrat. Heck, a lunatic like Alan Grayson would not be electable twenty years ago, but he's now one two elections overall.
This is why I consider the population shift a liberal plague. They mess up their own state and are then forced to move to a state that is more business-friendly. Once in the new state, they continue to practice their infectious ideology of liberal progressivism and the sickness begins to spread. Eventually, the healthy (conservative) part of the state's body is marginalized and the very same practices that bankrupted other states are adopted and become the norm. It's an insidious spread and it's hard to combat. Liberal states still vote liberal Democrat but states that used to vote conservative or Republican are getting flipped. One wishes that there were a vaccine to cure this mind rot of liberalism, but, as the old adage goes, you just can't fix stupid.

Ted Cruz: 2013 Person of the Year

http://thehill.com/ ^ | December 27, 2013 | Rick Manning

No politician had a greater impact on the past year than freshman U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Cruz came from the Lone Star State not owing the D.C. political establishment anything, after he beat the chosen replacement for Kay Bailey Hutchison in an underfunded, grassroots driven Republican primary election.
Using his historic first speech on the Senate floor to support Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s quest to force the Obama administration to agree not to use drones to kill Americans on American soil, Cruz showed he would sacrifice personal glory for the cause of liberty. By helping shine a constitutional light on the Justice Department’s unwillingness to unequivocally declare that the federal government cannot just send a missile through the windshield of American citizens driving down I-95, Cruz chose to take his first stand on a seemingly esoteric, but important, constitutional issue.
Of course, Cruz made his biggest mark when he and fellow freshman Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) led a last-ditch national grassroots effort to defund ObamaCare before the law went into effect fully. Imagine how many Senate Democrats wish right now that they had heeded Cruz's entreaties and agreed to delaying or defunding it for one year. Now, they are stuck with the law and all its consequences.
Since the short federal government shutdown, Americans are coming to the conclusion that ObamaCare was sold through a series of lies, and they are not happy. Fear of losing coverage, fear of significantly increased healthcare costs and fear of losing the doctor/patient relationship have become the table topic in households.
These households know that Republicans, because of Cruz and Lee, did everything possible to protect America from the impact of ObamaCare.
snip
....his unique combination of intelligence, education and fierce determination to do what is right, regardless of [whose] cage gets rattled.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...



 


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